Homilies on Matthew, Homily 34

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the other; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” After speaking of those fearful and horrible things, enough to melt even the hardest stone, which would happen to them after His cross, resurrection, and ascension, He turns His discussion again to something more reassuring, letting those He is training catch their breath and giving them complete assurance. For He did not command them to engage the enemy when persecuted, but to flee. That is, since this was still only a beginning and a prelude, He adapted His words very gently to their weakness. For He is not speaking now about the persecutions that would follow, but about those before the cross and the passion. He showed this by saying, “You will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” That is, to keep them from saying, “What if we flee when persecuted, and there again they catch up with us and drive us out?”—to dispel this fear, He says, “You will not have made your way around Palestine before I come to you at once.” And see how here again He does not remove the terrors, but stands beside them in their dangers. For He did not say, “I will snatch you away and put an end to the persecutions.” What did He say? “You will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” Yes, simply seeing Him was enough to comfort them. But notice, please, how He does not leave everything to grace on every occasion, but requires them to contribute something too. “For if you are afraid,” He says, “flee”; this is what He meant by saying, “flee,” and “do not be afraid.” And He did not command them to flee at the outset, but to withdraw when persecuted; nor does He allow them to go a great distance, but only around the cities of Israel. Then again, He trains them in another kind of self-control: first, He casts out all anxiety about their food; second, all fear of their dangers; and now, fear of slander. He freed them from that first anxiety by saying, “The worker deserves his wages,” and by indicating that many would welcome them; and from their distress about their dangers by saying, “Do not worry about how or what you will say,” and, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” But since they were also likely to acquire a bad reputation, which many people find harder to bear than anything else, see how He comforts them even in this case. He draws encouragement from Himself and from everything that had been said about Him; nothing else could equal this. For just as in that other passage He said, “You will be hated by everyone,” and added, “for my name’s sake,” so He does here too. And He eases this in another way, adding a fresh consideration to the previous one. What is it? “The disciple,” He says, “is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple to be like his Master, and the servant like his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call the members of His household that? So do not be afraid of them.” See how He reveals Himself to be the Lord and God and Creator of all things. What then? No disciple is above his Master, or servant above his Lord. As long as he is a disciple and a servant, he is not, by the very nature of that position. Do not bring up rare exceptions here; take the principle from the majority. And He does not say, “How much more His servants,” but “the members of His household,” to show how very close He felt them to be to Him. Elsewhere too He said, “From now on I do not call you servants; you are my friends.” And He did not say, “If they have insulted the Master of the house and slandered Him”; He also states the exact form of the insult: they “called Him Beelzebub.” Then He also gives another consolation, no less powerful than this. This one is indeed the greatest; but because those who were not yet living a disciplined life also needed another, one with particular power to refresh them, He states that too. The saying does indeed look like a universal proposition, but it is spoken only about the matters at hand, not about everything. For what does He say? “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” What He means is this: It is indeed enough to encourage you that I too have shared the same reproach with you—I who am your Master and Lord. But if hearing these words still grieves you, consider this too: you will soon be cleared even of this suspicion. For why are you grieving? Because they call you sorcerers and deceivers? Wait a little, and everyone will call you saviors and benefactors of the world. Yes, for time uncovers everything concealed; it will both refute their false accusation and reveal your virtue. For when the outcome shows you to be saviors, benefactors, and examples of every virtue, people will pay attention to the facts, not to their words. They will be exposed as false accusers, liars, and slanderers, while you will shine brighter than the sun, as the passage of time reveals and proclaims you, speaks with a voice clearer than a trumpet, and makes everyone a witness to your virtue. So do not let what is being said now bring you down; let the hope of the good things to come lift you up. For the truth about you cannot remain hidden. 2. Then, after freeing them from all distress, fear, and anxiety, and lifting them above people’s reproaches, then, and only then, He speaks to them at the right moment about boldness in their preaching. For He says, “What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, preach on the housetops.” Yet it was not dark at all when He said these things, nor was He whispering in their ears. He was using a vivid figure of speech. That is, because He was speaking with them alone, in a small corner of Palestine, He said, “in darkness,” and “in the ear,” contrasting the boldness of speech He would later give them with the tone of the conversation then taking place. “For you will preach not to one, two, or three cities, but to the whole world,” He says, “crossing land and sea, inhabited country and desert; to rulers and peoples alike, to philosophers and orators, saying everything with an uncovered face and complete boldness of speech.” That is why He said, “On the housetops,” and, “In the light,” without shrinking back and with complete freedom. And why did He not simply say, “Preach on the housetops,” and, “Speak in the light,” but also add, “What I tell you in darkness,” and, “What you hear in the ear”? It was to lift their spirits. Just as when He said, “The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and will do greater works than these,” so here too He added this to indicate that He will do it all through them, and more than through Himself. “For I have provided the beginning and the prelude,” He says, “but I intend to accomplish the greater part through you.” This is the language of someone who is not only giving commands, but also declaring beforehand what will happen, encouraging them with His words, indicating that they will prevail over everyone, and quietly relieving their distress about their bad reputation once again. For just as this teaching, after remaining hidden for a while, will spread everywhere, so too the Jews’ evil suspicion will quickly disappear. Then, because He had lifted them so high, He warns them again about the dangers too, giving wings to their minds and raising them high above everything. For what does He say? “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Do you see how He set them far above everything, persuading them to despise not only anxiety and slander, dangers and plots, but even what everyone considers most terrible: death? And not only death, but violent death too? And He did not say, “You will be killed.” Instead, with the dignity proper to Him, He set this before them, saying, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; instead, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell,” turning the argument, as He always does, to its opposite. What is this? “Are you afraid of death,” He says, “and therefore reluctant to preach? No, the very reason I tell you to preach is that you fear death, for this will deliver you from what is truly death. What if they kill you? They will still have no power over the better part, though they try in ten thousand ways.” That is why He did not say, “Who do not kill the soul,” but who “cannot kill” it. For however much they wish to, they will not succeed. So if you fear punishment, fear that punishment, which is far more severe. Do you see how again He does not promise to deliver them from death, but allows them to die, giving them more than if He had not allowed them to undergo it? For deliverance from death is nowhere near as great as persuading people to despise death. You see, He does not thrust them into dangers, but raises them above dangers. In a short sentence He fixes in their minds the doctrines concerning the immortality of the soul; and after planting a saving doctrine in two or three words, He comforts them with other considerations too. So, to keep them from thinking that when they were killed and butchered they suffered this because they had been abandoned, He again introduces the argument from God’s providence, saying, “Are not two sparrows sold for a small copper coin? And not one of them will fall into a snare without your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” “For what is more insignificant than they are?” He says. “Nevertheless, not even these will be caught without God’s knowledge.” For He does not mean, “They fall through His action”—that would be unworthy of God—but, “Nothing that happens is hidden from Him.” If, then, He knows everything that happens to us, loves us more truly than a father, and loves us so much that He has numbered even our hairs, we should not be afraid. He said this not to mean that God counts our hairs, but to show His perfect knowledge and His great providential care for them. So if He knows everything that happens, and is both able and willing to save you, whatever you may have to suffer, do not think you suffer because you have been abandoned. For His will is not to deliver you from the terrors, but to persuade you to despise them, since this, more than anything else, is deliverance from the terrors. 3. “So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Do you see that fear had already taken hold of them? Yes, for He knew the secrets of the heart; that is why He added, “So do not be afraid of them.” For even if they prevail, it will be over the inferior part—I mean the body—which, even if they do not kill it, nature will surely take away with her when she departs. So even this does not depend on them; people receive it from nature. And if you fear this, you should fear what is greater much more, and dread “Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” And He does not openly say here that He Himself is the one “who can destroy both soul and body,” but where He previously declared Himself to be judge, He made that clear. But now the opposite happens: we do not fear Him who can destroy the soul—that is, punish it—but we shudder at those who kill the body. Yet while He punishes the body along with the soul, they cannot even punish the body, much less the soul; and however severely they punish it, they actually make it more glorious in that way. Do you see how He shows that the struggles are easy? For death did indeed greatly disturb their souls, inspiring terror for a time, because it had not yet been made easy to overcome, and those who were to despise it had not yet received the grace of the Spirit. After casting out the fear and distress that troubled their souls, you see, He encourages them again through what follows, driving out fear by fear—and not only by fear, but also by the hope of great prizes. He threatens with great authority, urging them in both ways to speak boldly for the truth, and goes on to say, “So whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in Heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in Heaven.” So He urges them on not only through good things, but also through their opposites, and He ends with the grim part. And notice His precise care: He did not say “me,” but “in me,” indicating that the person who confesses does so not by his own power, but with the help of grace from above. But of the person who denies, He did not say “in me,” but “me”; for his denial follows after he has lost the gift. “Why then is he blamed,” someone may ask, “if he denies because he has been abandoned?” Because the person abandoned is himself responsible for being abandoned. But why is He not satisfied with faith in the mind, but also require confession with the mouth? To train us in boldness of speech, in greater love and determination, and to lift us up. That is also why He addresses everyone. He certainly does not apply this only to the disciples themselves, for He is now making not only them courageous, but their disciples too. For someone who has learned this lesson will not only teach boldly, but will also endure everything easily and willingly. At any rate, this brought many over to the apostles: their belief in this saying. For both the punishment inflicted is heavier and the reward among the good things is greater. I mean that while the person who does right has the advantage of going first in time, and the sinner counts the delay of punishment as a gain, He has introduced an equivalent advantage—or rather a much greater one—in the increase of the rewards. “Do you have the advantage,” He says, “by having confessed me here first? I too will gain an advantage over you by giving you greater things, things greater beyond words; for I will confess you there.” Do you see that both the good things and the evil things are to be handed out there? Why then are you in such a hurry? Why do you seek your rewards here, you who are “saved by hope”? So if you have done something good and have not received its reward here, do not be troubled (for its reward, increased, awaits you in the time to come). Or if you have done something evil and have not paid the penalty, do not rest easy; for punishment will meet you there unless you turn back and change your ways. But if you do not believe it, use what happens here to judge what is to come as well. Why, if those who confess are so glorious during the struggles, imagine what they will be when it is time for the crowns. If their enemies applaud here, how could that most tender of all fathers fail to admire and proclaim you? Yes, then we will receive both our gifts for good and our punishments for evil. So those who deny will suffer harm both here and there: here, living with an evil conscience, they will certainly be dead even if they never die; and there, they will undergo the final punishment. But the others will benefit both here and there: here, gaining by their death and in this way becoming more glorious than the living; and there, enjoying those blessings beyond words. God, then, is certainly eager both to punish and to give blessings—and more eager to give blessings than to punish. But why has He mentioned the reward only once and the punishment twice? He knows that this would be more likely to correct us. That is why, after saying, “Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell,” He says again, “I will also deny him.” Paul does the same, continually mentioning hell. So we see that after training His pupil in every way (by opening Heaven to him, setting that fearful judgment seat before him, and pointing to the amphitheater of angels and how the crowns will be proclaimed in their midst, which would then prepare the way for the word of godliness to be very readily received), He goes on to tell them to be prepared even for slaughter itself, so that they will not become timid and the word be hindered. He makes them aware that those who persist in their error will have to suffer, among other things, for plotting against them. 4. So let us despise death, even though the time that requires it of us has not come; for it will indeed carry us into a far better life. “But the body decays.” Why, that is the very reason we should rejoice most of all: because death decays and mortality perishes, not the substance of the body. For if you saw a statue being cast, you would not call the process destruction, but the shaping of a better form. Think about the body in just the same way, and do not mourn. It would be right to mourn if it remained under its punishment. “But,” someone says, “this should happen without our bodies decaying; they should remain intact.” And how would this have benefited either the living or the departed? How long will you remain lovers of the body? How long will you be fastened to the earth, gazing longingly at shadows? Why, what good would this have done? Or rather, what harm would it not have done? For if our bodies did not decay, first of all, the greatest of all evils—pride—would have remained in many people. For if, even while this happens and worms pour out, many have eagerly sought to be gods, what would have happened if the body remained? Second, people would not believe it was made of earth; for if some still doubt even when its end bears witness to this, what would they not have imagined if they did not see this? Third, bodies would have been loved excessively, and most people would have become more carnal and coarse. If even now some cling to people’s tombs and coffins after the people themselves have perished, what would they not have done if they had even their likeness preserved? Fourth, they would not have eagerly desired the things to come. Fifth, those who say the world is eternal would have become more convinced and would have denied God as Creator. Sixth, they would not have known the excellence of the soul, or how great a thing the presence of a soul in a body is. Seventh, many who lose their relatives would have left their cities, lived among the tombs, and gone mad, continually talking with their own dead. For if even now people make images for themselves because they cannot keep the body (for this is impossible; whether they want it to or not, it slips away and quickly escapes them), and cling to wooden panels, what monstrous thing would they not have devised then? I think most people would even have built temples for such bodies, and those skilled in such sorceries would have persuaded evil spirits to speak through them, since even now those who venture into the arts of necromancy attempt many things stranger than these. And how many forms of idolatry would have arisen from this, when people eagerly pursue those practices even after the body has become dust and ashes? So, to put an end to all our excesses and teach us to detach ourselves from all earthly things, God destroys bodies before our eyes. For even someone who is in love with bodies and deeply moved by the sight of a beautiful young woman will learn the ugliness of that substance from the sight itself, if he will not learn it through words. Yes, many women the same age as the one he loves, and often more beautiful, have died and, after the first or second day, given off a foul smell and putrid discharge, and decayed with worms. Consider, then, what kind of beauty you love, and what kind of elegance has the power to disturb you so much. But if bodies did not decay, this would not be clearly known. And just as evil spirits run to people’s graves, so too many of our lovers, continually sitting beside the tombs, would have received evil spirits into their souls and quickly perished in this terrible madness. But as things are, along with everything else, this also comforts the soul: the form is no longer seen, and this leads people to forget their grief. Indeed, if this were not so, there would be no tombs at all; instead, you would see our cities filled with corpses in place of statues, each person wishing to look at his own dead. Much disorder would result, and no ordinary person would attend to his soul or make room for the doctrine of immortality to enter. Many other things more shocking than these would also have resulted, things it would be indecent even to mention. That is why the body decays so quickly: so that you may see the soul’s beauty unveiled. For if she produces all that beauty and life, she herself must be far more excellent. And if she preserves what is so deformed and unsightly, much more will she preserve herself. 5. For beauty lies not in the body, but in its expression and in the bloom that the soul spreads over its substance. So I urge you to love what makes the body itself look as it does. And why speak of death? Even in life itself, I want you to notice how everything beautiful belongs to her. For when she is pleased, she showers roses over the cheeks; when she is in pain, she takes that beauty and wraps it all in a dark robe. If she is continually joyful, the body’s condition improves; if she is grieving, she makes it thinner and weaker than a spider’s web. If she is angry, she makes it repulsive and foul again; if she makes the eye calm, she gives it great beauty; if she expresses envy, she spreads a very pale, bluish-gray color over us; if love, she immediately gives us abundant gracefulness. In fact, many women whose features are not beautiful have gained great charm from the soul; others with a radiant bloom have spoiled their beauty by having a graceless soul. Consider how a pale face grows red and, through its change of color, gives great delight when shame and blushing are called for. On the other hand, if the soul is shameless, she makes the face more unpleasant than any monster. For nothing is more beautiful, nothing sweeter, than a beautiful soul. While longing for bodies comes with pain, the pleasure in souls is pure and calm. Why then let the king go and be wild about the herald? Why leave the philosopher and gaze longingly at his interpreter? Have you seen a beautiful eye? Get to know what is within; and if that is not beautiful, despise the eye as well. For surely, if you saw an ugly woman wearing a beautiful mask, she would make no impression on you. In the same way, on the other hand, you would not allow a lovely, beautiful woman to be disguised by a mask, but would take it away because you preferred to see her beauty unveiled. This is what I urge you to do with the soul too: get to know her first. For she wears the body as a mask; that is why the body remains as it is, while the soul, even if she is misshapen, can quickly become beautiful. Even if she has an eye that is ugly, harsh, and fierce, it can become beautiful, mild, calm, sweet-tempered, and gentle. So let us seek this beauty and adorn this face, so that God too may “take pleasure in our beauty” and share His everlasting blessings with us, through the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.