Homilies on Matthew, Homily 28

“And when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves, but He was asleep.” Now Luke, to avoid being required to follow chronological order, puts it this way: “And it happened on a certain day that He went into a boat with His disciples”; and Mark does the same. But this evangelist does not; he maintains the sequence here too. For they did not all write everything in this way. I have mentioned these things before so that no one would suppose that an omission meant a contradiction. He sent the crowds ahead, but took the disciples with Himself, for the others mention this too. He took them with Him for a purpose, not at random: to make them witnesses of the miracle that was about to happen. Like an excellent athletic trainer, He was anointing them for both purposes: to remain fearless in danger and humble when honored. So, to keep them from becoming proud because He had sent the rest away and kept them with Him, He allows them to be tossed by the storm, both correcting their pride and training them to endure trials courageously. The earlier miracles were certainly great too, but this one also involved training, and very significant training at that, and was a sign like the one in ancient times. This is why He takes only the disciples with Himself. When miracles were being displayed, He allowed the people to be present too; but when trials and terrors were rising against Him, He took with Him only the champions of the whole world, whom He was going to train. While Matthew simply mentioned that “He was asleep,” Luke says that it was “on a pillow,” showing His freedom from pride and teaching us through this a high degree of self-discipline. So when the storm had fully broken and the sea was raging, “They wake Him, saying, Lord, save us: we are perishing.” But He rebuked them before He rebuked the sea. As I said, these things were allowed for their training and were a pattern of the trials that would overtake them. Indeed, even after this, He often allowed them to fall into fiercer storms of circumstance and was patient with them for a long time. This is why Paul also said, “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life”; and again after this, “Who delivered us from such great deaths.” To show them that they should be confident even when the waves rise high, and that He directs everything for good, He first reproves them. Their very alarm was beneficial, making the miracle seem greater and their memory of the event lasting. For when something extraordinary is about to happen, many things are arranged beforehand to make people remember it, so that after the miracle has passed, they will not lapse into forgetfulness. In the same way, Moses is first afraid of the serpent, and not merely afraid, but deeply distressed; then he sees that extraordinary thing happen. These men too first expected to perish and were then saved, so that, having acknowledged the danger, they might learn how great the miracle was. This is also why He sleeps. If He had been awake when it happened, either they would not have been afraid, or they would not have pleaded with Him, or they would not even have thought that He could do anything like this. So He sleeps to give their fear an opportunity to emerge and to make their perception of what was happening clearer. For a person does not see what happens to others in the same way as what happens to himself. They had seen everyone else benefit, while they themselves had received no such benefit and remained complacent (for they were neither lame nor suffering from any other such infirmity). Since they too needed to experience His benefits personally, He allows the storm, so that through their deliverance they might gain a clearer understanding of the benefit. He also does this away from the crowds, so that they will not be condemned for their little faith. He takes them aside and corrects them, and before ending the storm on the water, He ends the storms in their souls, rebuking them and saying, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” He also teaches them that people's fear is caused by the weakness of their minds, not by the approach of trials. But if anyone says that coming to Him and waking Him was no sign of fearfulness or little faith, I would answer that this very act was a particular sign that they lacked the right understanding of Him. They knew that He had the power to rebuke when awake, but they did not yet know that He could do so even while sleeping. And why be surprised that this was so then, when even after many other miracles their understanding was still rather incomplete? This is why they are often rebuked, as when He says, “Are you still without understanding too?” So do not be surprised if, when the disciples' understanding was so incomplete, the crowds had no elevated understanding of Him. “For they were amazed, saying, What kind of man is this, that even the sea and the winds obey Him?” But Christ did not scold them for calling Him a man. He waited to teach them through His signs that their assumption was mistaken. What made them think He was a man? First His appearance, then His sleeping and His use of a boat. This is why they were bewildered and said, “What kind of man is this?” For while His sleep and outward appearance showed Him to be man, the sea and the calm declared Him God. Because Moses had once done something similar, He shows His own superiority in this respect too: the one works miracles as a slave, the other as Lord. He did not extend a rod as Moses did, nor stretch His hands toward Heaven, nor need any prayer. Instead, as a master would command his female servant or a creator his creature, He quieted and restrained it by His word and command alone. All the surging immediately ended, and not a trace of the disturbance remained. The evangelist declared this by saying, “And there was a great calm.” And what had been spoken of the Father as a great deed, He displayed again through His works. What had been said about Him? “He spoke,” it says, “and the stormy wind ceased.” Here too He spoke, and “there was a great calm.” This above all made the crowds marvel at Him; they would not have marveled if He had done it in the same way as Moses. 2. Now when He leaves the sea, another, still more awe-inspiring miracle follows. For men possessed by demons, like wicked runaway slaves at the sight of their master, said, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Because the crowds called Him man, the demons came proclaiming His Godhead. Those who had not heard the sea swelling and subsiding heard from the demons the same cry that the sea was loudly uttering through its calm. Then, so that this would not seem to be flattery, they cry out from what they are actually experiencing and say, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” Their hostility is made clear beforehand so that their plea will not arouse suspicion. For they were receiving invisible blows, and the sea was not in such a storm as they were: tormented, inflamed, and suffering unbearable things simply from His presence. And since no one dared bring them to Him, Christ goes to them on His own. Matthew reports that they said, “Have You come here before the time to torment us?” But the other evangelists add that they also pleaded with Him and put Him under oath not to cast them into the deep. They thought their punishment was now close at hand and were afraid, as though vengeance were about to fall on them at that very moment. Although Luke and those who follow him say that there was one person, while this evangelist says two, this presents no discrepancy at all. I grant that if they had said there was only one and no other, they would appear to disagree with Matthew. But if one spoke of the one and the other of the two, the difference comes from their manner of telling the story, not from disagreement. For my part, I think Luke singled out the fiercer of them for his account, which is why he also describes their miserable condition in more tragic terms: for example, that he broke his bonds and chains and used to wander in the wilderness. And Mark says that he also cut himself with stones. Their words also clearly reveal their relentless and shameless nature. For, he says, “Have You come here to torment us before the time?” You see, they could not deny that they had sinned, but they demand not to suffer their punishment before the time. He had caught them in the act of committing those terrible, incurable, lawless deeds, disfiguring and tormenting His creature in every way. They thought that because their crimes were so extreme, He would not wait for the appointed time of their punishment. This is why they begged and pleaded with Him. Those who could not endure even iron bonds come bound; those who run through the mountains have come out onto the plain; and those who prevent everyone else from passing stand still when they see Him blocking the way. 3. But why do they also love to live in tombs? They want to plant a harmful belief in the crowd: that the souls of the dead become demons. God forbid that we should ever accept such an idea. “But what will you say,” someone may ask, “when many sorcerers take children and kill them so that afterward they can have their souls to help them?” Well, what evidence is there for this? Many people do tell us that they kill them, but how, I ask you, do you know that the souls of those killed are with them? “The possessed themselves,” comes the reply, “cry out, I am the soul of so-and-so.” But this too is a performance and a deception of the devil. It is not the spirit of the dead person crying out, but the evil spirit pretending these things to deceive the listeners. For if it were possible for a soul to enter the substance of an evil spirit, it would be much more possible for it to enter its own body. Besides, it makes no sense that the injured soul would cooperate with the wrongdoer, or that a human being could change an incorporeal power into another substance. If this were impossible with bodies, and no one could turn a human body into a donkey's body, it would be even more impossible with the invisible soul; no one could transform it into the substance of an evil spirit. So these are the tales of foolish old women, phantoms used to frighten children. Nor can a soul, once torn from the body, wander here any longer. For “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God”; and if the souls of the righteous are there, then those children's souls are too, since they are not wicked. The souls of sinners are also immediately led away from here. This is clear from Lazarus and the rich man; and elsewhere Christ also says, “Today they demand your soul from you.” A soul cannot wander here once it has left the body, and the reason is easy to see. Even while we are in our bodies and walking on the earth that is familiar and well known to us, when we travel on an unfamiliar road, we do not know which way to go unless someone guides us. How, then, could the soul, torn from the body and having left all her familiar surroundings, know where to go without someone to show her the way? Many other things also show that a disembodied soul cannot remain here. Stephen says, “Receive my spirit”; Paul says, “To depart and to be with Christ is far better”; and Scripture also says of the patriarch that “he was gathered to his ancestors, cherished at a ripe old age.” As proof that the souls of sinners cannot remain here either, listen to the rich man pleading earnestly for this and failing to obtain it. If it had been at all possible, he would have come and told what had happened there. So it is clear that after our departure from here, our souls are led away to some place, with no power of their own to return, but awaiting that dreadful day. 4. Now, if anyone asks, “Why did Christ grant the demons' request, allowing them to go into the herd of pigs?” our answer would be that He did this, not to give in to them, but to accomplish several purposes. One was to teach those delivered from those wicked tyrants how great the malice of their treacherous enemies was. Another was to teach everyone that the demons do not dare attack even pigs unless He allows them. A third was to show that they would have treated those men more cruelly than the pigs if, even in their misery, the men had not received so much of God's providential care. Surely everyone can see that they hate us more than animals. So those who did not spare the pigs, but in a single moment drove them all over the cliff, would much more readily have done the same to the men they possessed, leading them toward the wilderness and carrying them away, if God's abundant protecting care had not restrained and checked their excessive violence even under their tyranny. This makes it clear that there is no one who does not benefit from God's providence. And if not everyone benefits equally or in the same way, this itself is a very great example of providence, since its work is displayed according to what benefits each person. Besides what has been mentioned, we learn something else from this: His providence extends not only to everyone collectively, but also to each person individually. He also declared this about His disciples, saying, “But the very hairs of your head are numbered.” We can see this clearly from these demon-possessed men too, who would have “been choked” long before if they had not received so much tender care from above. For these reasons He allowed them to go into the herd of pigs, and also so that the people living there would learn His power. Where His name was already well known, He did not make a great display of Himself. But where no one knew Him and they were still without understanding, He made His miracles shine out, to bring them to the knowledge of His Godhead. The outcome makes it clear that the inhabitants of that city were a senseless sort of people. When they should have worshiped Him and marveled at His power, they sent Him away and “begged Him to leave their territory.” But why did the demons destroy the pigs? Everywhere they have worked to terrify people, and everywhere they delight in destruction. This is what the devil did to Job, for example. God allowed it in that case too, but there too He was not yielding to the devil. He intended to make His own servant more glorious, deprive the evil spirit of every excuse for his shamelessness, and turn what was done against the righteous man back on the devil's own head. Here too the opposite of what they wanted happened. Christ's power was gloriously proclaimed, and the wickedness of the demons from whom He delivered the possessed men became more obvious, as did their lack of power to touch even pigs without permission from the God of all. And if anyone wishes to understand these things in a hidden sense, nothing prevents it. This is what happened historically, but we must also recognize that people who are like pigs are especially vulnerable to the activity of demons. As long as those suffering these things remain human, they can often still overcome them; but if they have become pigs altogether, they are not only possessed but also thrown over the cliff. Besides, so that no one would suppose what happened was mere acting, rather than firmly believing that the demons had gone out, the death of the pigs makes this clear. Notice His gentleness as well as His power. When the inhabitants of that country, after receiving such benefits, drove Him away, He did not resist but withdrew. He left those who had shown themselves unworthy of His teaching, giving them as teachers the men freed from the demons and the pig herders, so that they could learn from them everything that had happened. By withdrawing Himself, He kept their fear alive. The very size of the loss spread the news of what had happened, and the event sank into their minds. Reports came from many directions, proclaiming how extraordinary the miracle was: from the men who were cured and the animals that drowned, from the owners of the pigs and the men who tended them. 5. Anyone can see these things happening now too: many people in the tombs, possessed by evil spirits, whom nothing restrains from their madness—not iron, chains, crowds of men, advice, warnings, terror, threats, or anything else of the kind. For when a man is sexually unrestrained, eager for every embrace, he is no different from the demon-possessed man. Like him, he goes around naked: clothed in garments, certainly, but deprived of his true covering and stripped of the glory that properly belongs to him. He cuts himself, not with stones, but with sins more harmful than many stones. Who can bind such a man? Who can stop his indecency and frenzy, his habit of never coming to his senses but forever haunting the tombs? For that is what the haunts of prostitutes are: full of foul odors and decay. And what about the greedy man? Is he not like this too? Who will ever be able to bind him? Are there not fears and daily threats, warnings and advice? Yet he breaks all these bonds. If anyone comes to free him, he begs him not to set him free, considering it the greatest torture to be free from torture. What could be more miserable than this? For that evil spirit, though he despised human beings, still yielded to Christ's command and quickly sprang out of the man's body. But this man does not yield even to His commandment. Just see how he hears Him saying every day, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” and threatening hell and torments that cannot be cured, yet does not obey. It is not that he is stronger than Christ, but that Christ does not correct us against our will. So such men live as though in deserted places even while they are in the middle of cities. For who with any sense would choose to be with such men? For my part, I would sooner agree to live with ten thousand demon-possessed people than with one person suffering from this disease. Their respective attitudes make it clear that I am not mistaken in saying this. These greedy people consider someone who has done them no wrong an enemy. They even want to enslave him when he is free and surround him with ten thousand evils. But the demon-possessed do nothing like this; their disease rages back and forth within themselves. While the greedy ruin many households, cause God's name to be blasphemed, and are a plague to their city and the whole earth, those afflicted by evil spirits deserve our pity and tears instead. The latter usually act without awareness, but the others are frenzied while retaining their reason, carrying on their orgies in the middle of cities and raging with some new kind of madness. For what do all the demon-possessed do that is as bad as what Judas dared to do when he displayed that extreme wickedness? And all who imitate him, like fierce wild beasts escaped from their cage, throw their cities into turmoil, with no one restraining them. They too have bonds on every side: fear of judges, the threats of the laws, condemnation by the public, and still more besides. Yet they break even these and turn everything upside down. If anyone removed all these restraints from them, he would know for certain that the demon within them is far fiercer and more frenzied than the one who has just gone out. But since this cannot be done, let us suppose it for the moment for the sake of argument. Let us take off all his chains, and then we will clearly see his obvious madness. But do not be afraid of the monster when we uncover it; this is a description in words, not the actual thing. Imagine, then, a man with fire flashing from his eyes, black, with serpents hanging from each shoulder instead of hands. Give him a mouth with sharp swords set in it instead of teeth, and for a tongue a gushing fountain of poison and some deadly drug; a belly more consuming than any furnace, devouring everything thrown into it; and feet with wings, fiercer than any flame. Let his face combine a dog's and a wolf's, and let him utter nothing human, but something discordant, unpleasant, and terrifying. Let him also have a burning piece of wood in his hands. Perhaps what we have described seems terrible to you, but we have not yet portrayed him adequately; we must add still more to these things. I mean that he must also kill those he meets, devour them, and fasten onto their flesh. Yet the greedy man is much fiercer even than this, attacking everyone like hell, swallowing everyone up, going around as the common enemy of the human race. Why, he would have no one else exist, so that he could possess everything. And he does not stop even there. When in his desire he has destroyed everyone, he also longs to ruin the very substance of the earth and see it all become gold—not only the earth, but hills, woods, springs, and, in a word, everything in sight. To convince you that we have still not fully described his madness, imagine that no one is there to accuse or frighten him. Remove the fear of the laws in your imagination for a while, and you will see him seize a sword, attack everyone violently, and spare no one: no friend, relative, brother, or even his own parent. Actually, in this case there is no need even to imagine it. Let us ask him whether he is not forever forming such fantasies, and whether in his thoughts he does not range among all people to destroy them—friends, relatives, and even his own parents. Indeed, there is no need even to ask, because everyone knows that those under the power of this disease grow weary even of their father's old age. And having children, something sweet and universally desired, they consider burdensome and unwelcome. At least many have even paid money to remain childless for this reason and have mutilated their nature, not only by killing their children after birth, but by not even allowing them to be born at all. 6. So do not be surprised that we have portrayed the greedy man this way (for he is actually far worse than we have said). Instead, let us consider how to deliver him from the demon. How, then, will we deliver him? By making him clearly aware that his love of money stands very much in the way of this very goal: gaining money. For those who seek gains in small things suffer great losses, which is why a proverb has been coined to this effect. For example, many people on many occasions, wishing to lend at high interest and failing to investigate the borrowers because of their expectation of profit, have lost all their principal along with the interest. Others, finding themselves in danger and refusing to give up a little, have lost their lives along with their property. Again, when people have had the opportunity to buy profitable offices or something else of the kind, some petty stinginess has cost them everything. Because they do not know how to sow, but have always practiced reaping, they naturally keep missing their harvest. No one can always be reaping, just as no one can always be making a profit. So because they are unwilling to spend, they do not know how to gain either. And if they need to marry, the same thing happens again. Either they are deceived into taking a poor wife for a rich one, or they bring home a rich woman with countless faults, and here too they suffer more loss than gain. For it is virtue, not an abundance of possessions, that produces wealth. What good is her wealth if she is extravagant and dissolute and scatters everything more violently than any wind? What if she is unchaste and brings in countless lovers? What if she is a drunkard? Will she not quickly make her husband the poorest of men? And it is not only in marriage: their great greed also makes them take great risks when buying, as they try to find cheap slaves rather than good ones. So consider all these things (for you are not yet able to listen to words about hell and the kingdom), and remember the losses you have often suffered because of your love of money—in loans, purchases, marriages, positions of power, and everything else. Turn away from your infatuation with money. In this way you will be able to live your present life in safety and, after making a little progress, to hear teaching about self-control as well, to see clearly and look upon the very Sun of Righteousness, and to attain the good things He has promised. May God grant that we all attain them, through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.