Homilies on Matthew, Homily 25

“And when Jesus had finished these sayings, the people were astonished at His teaching.” Yet it would have been more natural for them to grieve at how hard His sayings were and to shudder at how demanding His commands were. But the Teacher’s power was so great that many of them were captivated by them, filled with tremendous admiration, and persuaded by the sweetness of His sayings not to leave Him even after He stopped speaking. For His listeners did not leave when He came down from the mountain; even then the entire audience followed Him. He had instilled such a love for His sayings in them. But above all, they were astonished at His authority. For He did not speak by appealing to someone else, as the prophet and Moses did, but everywhere presented Himself as the one with the power to decide. Thus, when laying down His laws, He kept adding, “But I say to you.” And when reminding them of that day, He declared Himself the judge, both through the punishments and through the honors. And yet this too might well have disturbed them. For if the scribes wanted to stone and persecute Him when they saw Him demonstrate His authority through His works, wouldn’t they have been likely to take offense when there were only words to prove it, especially since these things were said at the very beginning, before He had given proof of His own power? But they felt nothing of the kind, for an open heart and mind are easily persuaded by the words of truth. This is precisely why one group took offense even when the miracles proclaimed His power, while the other was persuaded by hearing words alone and followed Him. The evangelist too, I would add, suggests this when he says, “great crowds followed Him”—none of the rulers or scribes, but those who were free from vice and whose judgment was uncorrupted. Throughout the whole Gospel, you see that people like these stayed close to Him. While He spoke, they listened in silence, without interrupting, breaking the flow of His sayings, testing Him, or trying to find something to use against Him, as the Pharisees did. And after His exhortation, they followed Him again in wonder. But please notice the Lord’s care: how He varies the way He helps His listeners, moving from miracles to words, and then from teaching through words back to miracles. Thus, before they went up the mountain, He healed many, preparing the way for His sayings. And after finishing that long address to the people, He returns to miracles, confirming what He had said by what He did. And so, because He was teaching as “one having authority,” He does the very same in His works, showing that He also has authority to heal, so that His teaching will not seem boastful and arrogant. They would no longer be puzzled to see Him teach this way when He also performed His miracles in the same way. 2. “For when He had come down from the mountain, a leper came, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” The man who approached Him this way showed great understanding and faith. For he did not interrupt the teaching or push through the audience, but waited for the right time and approached Him “when He had come down.” And he did not ask casually, but pleaded with great earnestness, kneeling before Him, as another evangelist says, with genuine faith and a right understanding of Him. For he did not say, “If You ask God,” or, “If You pray,” but, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Nor did he say, “Lord, cleanse me,” but left everything to Him, made his recovery depend on Him, and testified that all authority was His. “What then,” someone says, “if the leper’s opinion was mistaken?” It would have been right to reject it, rebuke him, and correct it. Did He do that? Certainly not. On the contrary, He establishes and confirms what had been said. That is why, you see, He did not simply say, “Be cleansed,” but, “I am willing; be clean,” so that the teaching would no longer rest on the other man’s supposition, but on His own approval. But the apostles did not act this way. How did they act? When all the people were amazed, they said, “Why do you pay attention to us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or authority?” But although the Lord often spoke humbly and in ways beneath His own glory, what does He say here to confirm the understanding of those amazed at His authority? “I am willing; be clean.” Yet among the many great signs He performed, He does not appear to have used this expression anywhere else. Here, however, to confirm what both all the people and the leper supposed about His authority, He deliberately added, “I am willing.” And He did not say this without doing it; the deed followed immediately. If the man had spoken wrongly and his statement had been blasphemous, the deed should have been prevented. But instead, nature herself yielded to His command, and did so quickly, as was fitting—even more quickly than the evangelist has said. For the word “immediately” falls far short of how quickly the deed took place. But He did not merely say, “I am willing; be clean.” He also “reached out His hand and touched him,” something especially worth examining. For why, when He was cleansing him by His will and word, did He also add the touch of His hand? It seems to me that His only purpose was to show through this too that He is not subject to the law, but stands above it, and that from now on nothing is unclean to the clean. This is why, as we see, Elisha did not even see Naaman. Although he knew that Naaman was offended because he did not come out and touch him, he strictly observed the law, stayed at home, and sent him to wash in the Jordan. But the Lord also touches the man to show that He heals as absolute master, not as a servant. For His hand did not become unclean from the leprosy; instead, the leprous body was made clean by His holy hand. For, as we know, He came not only to heal bodies, but also to lead the soul to self-control. Just as from that time forward He no longer forbade eating with unwashed hands, introducing that excellent law that foods are morally indifferent, so here too He Himself first touches the leper to teach us for the future that we must care for the soul: we must leave outward purifications behind, cleanse the soul, and fear only its leprosy, which is sin (for being a leper is no obstacle to virtue). And no one finds fault. For those judging Him were not corrupt, nor were the spectators controlled by envy. So, far from blaming Him, they were instead astonished at the miracle and accepted its force. For both what He said and what He did, they worshiped His power, which nothing could restrain. 3. After healing his body, He therefore tells him, “Tell no one, but show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Now some say He told him to tell no one so that they could not use any trickery in determining whether he had been cured—a very foolish suspicion on their part. For He did not cleanse him in a way that left the cleansing in doubt. Instead, He tells him to “tell no one” to teach us to avoid boasting and craving empty praise. He knew very well that the man would not obey, but would proclaim his benefactor; nevertheless, He does His own part. “Why, then, does He tell people elsewhere to speak about it?” someone may ask. He is not contradicting or opposing Himself, but teaching people to be grateful. For even there He did not command them to proclaim Himself, but to “give glory to God.” Through this leper He trains us to be free from pride and the craving for empty praise; through the other, to be thankful and grateful. And on every occasion He teaches us to offer the Lord praise for everything that happens to us. That is, because people generally remember God in sickness but become less attentive after recovering, He tells them to pay constant attention to the Lord, both in sickness and in health, with these words: “give glory to God.” But why did He also command him to show himself to the priest and offer a gift? To fulfill the law here again. For He did not set it aside in every instance or keep it in every instance. Sometimes He did one, sometimes the other: by the one, preparing the way for the higher way of life to come; by the other, holding the Jews’ insolent speech in check for a while and accommodating their weakness. And why be surprised that He Himself did this at the very beginning, when even the apostles themselves sometimes observed the law and sometimes disregarded it, after they had been commanded to go to the Gentiles, after the doors had been opened for their teaching throughout the world, the law had been brought to an end, the commandments had been made new, and all the old things had ceased? But someone may ask, how does this saying, “Show yourself to the priest,” contribute to keeping the law? A great deal. For there was an ancient law that a leper who had been cleansed must not judge his cleansing for himself, but must show himself to the priest, present visible proof to him, and be counted among the clean by his verdict. For if the priest did not say, “The leper is cleansed,” he still remained with the unclean outside the camp. That is why He says, “Show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded.” He did not say, “which I command,” but for a time refers him to the law, silencing them in every way. Thus, so that they could not say He had taken over the priests’ honor, although He performed the deed Himself, He entrusted its approval to them and made them sit as judges of His own miracles. “Why,” He says, “I am so far from contending with either Moses or the priests that I direct those who receive My favor to submit to them.” But what does “as a testimony to them” mean? As a rebuke, as proof, as an accusation, if they are ungrateful. For since they said, “We persecute Him as a deceiver and impostor, as an enemy of God and a transgressor of the law,” He says, “You will bear witness for Me at that time that I am not a transgressor of the law. Indeed, after healing you, I refer you to the law and to the priests’ approval.” This was the act of someone who honored the law and admired Moses, who did not oppose the ancient teachings. And if they were in fact going to be no better for it, this shows His respect for the law most clearly: although He knew beforehand that they would gain no benefit, He did everything required of Him. For He did indeed know this beforehand and foretold it. He did not say, “for their correction,” or, “for their instruction,” but, “as a testimony to them”—that is, as an accusation, a rebuke, and a witness that I have done everything on My part. And although I knew beforehand that they would remain incorrigible, even so I did not leave undone what ought to be done; they alone persisted in their own wickedness to the end. We can observe that He says this elsewhere too: “This gospel will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come”—to the nations, to those who do not obey, to those who do not believe. Thus, to prevent anyone from saying, “And why preach to everyone if not everyone is going to believe?”—it is so that I may be shown to have done everything on My part, and so that afterward no one can find fault on the grounds that he had not heard. For the preaching itself will testify against them, and afterward they will not be able to say, “We did not hear,” for the word of godliness “has gone out to the ends of the world.” 4. So, keeping these things in mind, let us also fulfill all our duties to our neighbor, and let us continually give thanks to God. For it is truly appalling that, while we enjoy His generosity in action every day, we do not acknowledge His favor even in words—and this although all the benefit of that acknowledgment comes back to us. For He needs nothing from us, be sure of that; but we need everything from Him. Thus thanksgiving itself adds nothing to Him, but brings us nearer to Him. For if remembering people’s generous gifts warms us still more through the charm of the love they inspire, much more will continually recalling our Lord’s noble deeds toward us make us more diligent about His commandments. This is why Paul also said, “Be thankful.” For the best way to preserve any benefit is to remember it and continually give thanks. This is why even the awe-inspiring mysteries, so full of that great salvation, which are celebrated at every gathering, are called Eucharist: because they commemorate many benefits, express the full extent of God’s care for us, and do everything to make us thankful. For if His birth from a virgin was a great miracle, and the evangelist said in amazement, “now all this was done,” where does His also being slain fit? Tell me. I mean, if being born is called “all this,” what can we call being crucified, pouring out His blood, and giving Himself to us as a spiritual feast and banquet? So let us continually give Him thanks, and let this come before both our words and our deeds. But let us be thankful not only for our own blessings, but also for those of others. In this way we can both destroy our envy and strengthen our love, making it more genuine. For you will not even be able to keep envying those for whom you give thanks to the Lord. That is why, as you know, when that sacrifice is set out, the priest also calls on us to give thanks for the world, for things past, for things present, for what has been done for us before, and for what will happen to us afterward. For this is what frees us from earth, carries us into heaven, and makes us angels instead of human beings. For they too form a choir and thank God for the good things He has bestowed on us, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among people.” “And what does this have to do with us, who are not on earth and are not human beings?” “Indeed, it has a great deal to do with us, for we have been taught to love our fellow servants so much that we even count their blessings as our own.” That is why Paul too, throughout his letters, gives thanks for God’s gracious acts toward the world. So let us too continually give thanks for our own blessings and those of others, for the small and the great alike. For even if the gift is small, being God’s gift makes it great. Or rather, nothing that comes from Him is small, not only because He gives it, but also in its very nature. And to pass over all the rest, which outnumber the grains of sand, what can equal the saving work accomplished for our sake? For He gave for us, His enemies, what was more precious to Him than everything else: His only-begotten Son. And He not only gave Him, but after giving Him, even set Him before us as food. He Himself did everything for our good, both in giving Him and in making us thankful for all this. For because human beings are generally ungrateful, He Himself everywhere takes charge of bringing about what is good for us. And what He did for the Jews, reminding them of His benefits through places, times, and feasts, He did here too, using the form of the sacrifice to keep us constantly mindful of His generosity in these things. No one has worked so hard for us to win approval, become great, and exercise sound judgment in everything as the God who made us. That is why He often helps us against our will, and more often than not without our knowing it. And if you are surprised at what I have said, I can point to this happening to no ordinary person, but to the blessed Paul. For even that blessed man, when facing great danger and affliction, often pleaded with God to take the trials away from him. Yet God looked to his benefit, not his request, and to make this clear He said, “My grace is enough for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So, before telling him the reason, He benefits him against his will and without his knowing it. 5. Now what great thing does He ask when He requires us to be thankful in return for such tender care? So let us obey and keep this up in every circumstance. For nothing ruined the Jews so much as ingratitude. Nothing else brought those many blows upon them, one after another; or rather, even before those blows, this had ruined and corrupted their soul. “For the hope of the ungrateful,” someone says, “is like winter’s white frost”: it numbs and deadens the soul, as frost does our bodies. And this springs from pride and from thinking that we deserve something. But the contrite person will recognize reasons to thank God not only for good things, but also for what seems adverse. However much he suffers, he will consider none of his sufferings undeserved. So let us too become more contrite the further we advance in virtue, for this, more than anything else, is virtue. For just as the sharper our sight, the more fully we learn how far we are from the sky, so the further we advance in virtue, the more we learn the difference between God and ourselves. And being able to recognize what we ourselves deserve is no small part of true wisdom. For the person who considers himself nothing knows himself best. Thus we see that both David and Abraham practiced this most fully when they had reached the height of virtue: one called himself “earth and ashes,” the other “a worm.” And all the saints, like them, acknowledge their own wretchedness. So surely the person inflated with boasting is the very one who is most ignorant of himself. That is why in everyday speech we commonly say of a proud person, “he does not know himself,” “he is ignorant of himself.” And if someone does not know himself, whom will he know? For just as someone who knows himself will know everything, someone who does not know himself will not know the rest either. Such was the one who says, “I will raise my throne above the heavens.” Because he was ignorant of himself, he was ignorant of everything else. But Paul was not like that. Instead, he used to call himself “one born at the wrong time” and the last of the saints, and even after so many great acts of goodness, he did not consider himself worthy even of the title of apostle. So let us imitate and follow him. And we will follow him if we free ourselves from earth and earthly things. For nothing makes a person so ignorant of himself as being fastened to worldly concerns; and nothing, in turn, fastens people so firmly to worldly concerns as ignorance of themselves. These things depend on each other. I mean that someone who loves outward glory and highly values the things of this present life cannot understand himself, however long he struggles. But someone who disregards these things will easily know himself; and once he has come to know himself, he will advance in turn to all the other parts of virtue. So, to gain this good knowledge, let us free ourselves from all the perishable things that kindle such a great flame in us, recognize their worthlessness, and show complete humility and self-restraint, so that we may attain blessings both present and future, through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom may glory, might, and honor be to the Father, together with the Holy and Good Spirit, now and forever, through all ages. Amen.