Homilies on Matthew, Homily 35

“Do not think that I have come to send peace on earth; I have not come to send peace, but a sword.” Again, He presents the more painful things, and makes them sound much worse. He anticipates the objection they were sure to raise by stating it Himself. I mean, to keep them from hearing this and saying, “Is this, then, what You have come for—to destroy both us and those who obey us, and to fill the earth with war?” He first says Himself, “I have not come to send peace on earth.” How, then, did He command them to pronounce peace when entering each house? And again, how did the angels say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”? And how did all the prophets also announce it as good news? Because this, more than anything, is peace: when the diseased part is cut off, when the rebellious element is removed. For this is how Heaven can be united with earth. A physician, too, preserves the rest of the body this way, by amputating the incurable part; and a general does the same by separating those who have joined together in wrongdoing. This also happened in the case of that famous tower: their evil peace ended through their good discord, and peace was established by it. Paul likewise divided those who were conspiring against him. And in Naboth’s case, that agreement was more terrible than any war. For harmony is not always a good thing, since even robbers agree with one another. The war, then, results from their disposition, not His purpose. His will was indeed for everyone to agree in the word of godliness; but because they fell into disagreement, war arises. Yet He did not put it that way. What does He say instead? “I have not come to send peace,” comforting them. It is as if He said, “Do not think that you are to blame for these things. I am the one who arranges them this way, because people are disposed this way. So do not be bewildered, as though events had taken an unexpected turn. This is what I have come for: to send war among people, for this is My will. So do not be troubled when the earth is at war, as though it were under some hostile scheme. For when the worse part is torn away, Heaven is then joined to the better.” He says these things to strengthen them against the crowd’s malicious suspicions. And He did not say “war,” but something more terrible: “a sword.” If these expressions are painful and alarmingly forceful, do not be surprised. He wanted to accustom their ears to the severity of His words so that they would not turn aside when difficulties came, and He shaped His teaching accordingly. To keep anyone from saying that He persuaded them through flattery and by concealing the hardships, He gave even things that deserved to be expressed differently a more cutting and painful turn in His words. For it is better to see people’s gentleness in their actions than in their words. 2. That is why He did not stop there, but also explains the very nature of the war, showing that it is far more terrible even than a civil war. He says, “I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” For not only friends, He says, or fellow citizens, but even relatives will stand against one another, and nature will be divided against herself. “For I have come,” He says, “to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” That is, the war is not merely among people in the same household, but among those who are dearest and closest to one another. And this, more than anything, shows His power: after hearing these things, they both accepted Him and set about persuading everyone else. Yet He was not the one who did this—of course not. It was the wickedness of the other people. Nevertheless, He calls it His own doing, for this is Scripture’s customary way of speaking. Elsewhere, too, He says, “God has given them eyes so that they should not see.” And here He speaks this way so that, having trained themselves through these words, as I said before, they would not be bewildered when they suffered reproaches and insults. But if anyone finds these things intolerable, let them remember an ancient account. For this also happened long ago, which especially shows that the old covenant is related to the new, and that the One speaking here is the same One who gave those commands. I mean that among the Jews, too, He put aside His anger against them after each had killed his neighbor, both when they made the calf and when they joined themselves to Baal Peor. Where, then, are those who say, “That God is evil, and this One is good”? For look: He has filled the world with blood shed by relatives. Nevertheless, we affirm that even this is an act of great love for humanity. So, you see, to imply that He was also the One who approved those other actions, He also mentions a prophecy that, even if it was not spoken for this purpose, still carries the same meaning. And what is it? “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” For something like this also happened among the Jews. There were prophets and false prophets, and the people were divided, and families were in conflict; some believed one side, and some the other. That is why the prophet warns, “Do not trust friends; do not place your hope in guides. Yes, even with her who lies against your chest, be careful about telling her anything”; and, “A man’s enemies are the men in his own house.” He said this to prepare anyone who would receive the word to rise above everything. For dying is not evil, but dying an evil death is. This is why He also said, “I have come to cast fire on the earth.” He said this to declare the intensity and warmth of the love He required. Because He loved us so much, He likewise wants us to love Him. These sayings would also strengthen those present and lift them higher. “For if those others,” He says, “are to despise relatives, children, and parents, imagine what kind of people you, their teachers, ought to be. The hardships will not stop with you, but will also reach the rest. For since I have come bringing great blessings, I also demand great obedience and resolve of heart.” 3. “Anyone who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.” Do you see a teacher’s dignity? Do you see how He shows Himself to be a true Son of the One who begot Him, commanding us to let go of everything below and give preference to love for Him? “And why,” He says, “do I speak of friends and relatives? Even if it is your own life that you value more than your love for Me, your place is far from My disciples.” What then? Are these things contrary to the Old Testament? Far from it; they are very much in harmony with it. For there, too, He commands people not only to hate idol worshipers, but even to stone them. And again in Deuteronomy, praising such people, He says, “He said to his father and his mother, ‘I have not seen you’; he did not acknowledge his brothers, and he disowned his own sons: he kept Your oracles.” And if Paul gives many instructions about parents, commanding us to obey them in everything, do not be surprised. He means that we should obey them only in things that do not hinder godliness. It is indeed a sacred duty to give them every other honor; but when they demand more than is due, we should not obey. This is why Luke says, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life too, he cannot be My disciple.” He is not commanding us simply to hate them, since that would be entirely contrary to the law. Rather, “When someone wants to be loved more than I am, hate him in this respect. For this ruins both the person loved and the person who loves.” He said these things both to make the children more resolute and to make the fathers who would hinder them gentler. For when they saw that He had such strength and power that He could separate their children from them, they would give up, realizing that they were attempting the impossible. That is also why He leaves the fathers and addresses the children, teaching the fathers not to make the attempt, since what they are attempting cannot be done. Then, to keep them from becoming indignant or thinking it harsh, see where He takes His argument: after saying, “Anyone who does not hate father and mother,” He adds, “and his own life.” “For why,” He says, “do you speak to Me of parents, brothers, sisters, and a wife? Nothing is closer to anyone than his life. Yet if you do not hate this too, everything you experience will be the opposite of what someone who loves Me experiences.” His command was not even simply to hate it, but to expose it to war, battles, slaughter, and blood. “For anyone who does not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” So He did not merely say that we must face death, but a violent death; and not only a violent death, but a disgraceful one too. He says nothing yet about His own suffering, so that after they had spent some time being instructed in these things, they might more easily accept His teaching about it. Is it not astonishing, then, that when they heard these things, their souls did not fly from their bodies, with hardships close at hand everywhere and good things still only hoped for? How, then, did their souls not flee? Both the speaker’s power and the hearers’ love were great. That is why, although they heard things far more intolerable and painful than what those great men, Moses and Jeremiah, heard, they continued to obey and said nothing against it. “Anyone who finds his life,” He says, “will lose it; and anyone who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Do you see how great the harm is to those who love it excessively? How great the gain is to those who hate it? I mean, because the commands were unpleasant, when He told them to stand against parents, children, nature, relatives, the world, and their very soul, He also presents the benefit, which is very great. “These things,” He says, “will be far from harmful; they will benefit you very greatly. Their opposites will harm you.” As He always does, He urges them on through the very things they desire. For why are you unwilling to despise your life? Because you love it? Then despise it for that very reason, and you will benefit it as much as possible and act as someone who loves it. And notice an instance of indescribable consideration. He uses this reasoning not only about our parents or our children, but also about our life, which is closer to us than anything else. This makes the other point unquestionable from then on and teaches them that in this way they will also benefit their relatives as much as possible, since this is true even of our life, which is more essential to us than anything else. 4. Now these things were enough to persuade people to welcome them as their appointed healers. Indeed, who would not eagerly welcome people so noble, such true heroes, running like lions across the earth and disregarding everything of their own so that others might be saved? Nevertheless, He also offers another reward, showing that His concern here is more for the hosts than for the guests. The first honor He grants is expressed in these words: “Anyone who receives you receives Me, and anyone who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” What could compare with this—receiving the Father and the Son? But along with this, He also offers another reward. “Anyone,” He says, “who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and anyone who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.” Just as He previously threatened punishment for those who do not receive them, here He also specifies relief for the good. And to teach you how much greater His care for them is, He did not simply say, “Anyone who receives a prophet,” or, “Anyone who receives a righteous man,” but added, “in the name of a prophet,” and, “in the name of a righteous man.” That is, if someone receives him, not for worldly advancement or any other temporary advantage, but because he is a prophet or a righteous man, he will receive a prophet’s reward and a righteous man’s reward: either the reward appropriate for someone who has received a prophet or a righteous man, or the reward that the other man himself will receive. Paul also said something like this: “So that your abundance may supply their need, and their abundance may also supply your need.” Then, so that no one could plead poverty, He says: “Or anyone who gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink, in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, he will certainly not lose his reward.” “Even if your gift is a cup of cold water, which costs you nothing, a reward will be stored up for you even for this. For I do everything for the sake of you who receive them.” Do you see what powerful appeals He used, and how He opened the houses of the whole world to them? Indeed, He showed that people are in their debt: first, by saying, “The worker deserves his wages”; second, by sending them out with nothing; third, by exposing them to wars and battles on behalf of those who receive them; fourth, by also entrusting miracles to them; fifth, by bringing peace, the source of all blessings, through their lips into the houses of those who receive them; sixth, by threatening those who do not receive them with things more terrible than Sodom; seventh, by showing that everyone who welcomes them receives both Himself and the Father; eighth, by promising both a prophet’s and a righteous man’s reward; ninth, by guaranteeing great rewards even for a cup of cold water. Each of these things, even by itself, would have been enough to draw people to them. For tell me, who would not welcome an army commander who appeared with countless wounds and drenched in blood, returning with many trophies from war and battle, and throw open every door in his house? 5. “But who is like this now?” someone may say. That is why He added, “In the name of a disciple, and of a prophet, and of a righteous man,” to teach you that His reward is assigned according to the intention of the person who welcomes, rather than the visitor’s worthiness. For although He speaks here of prophets, righteous men, and disciples, elsewhere He tells people to receive even the most despised outcasts, and punishes those who fail to do so. For, “Since you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me”; and He also affirms the converse about the same people. For even if he is doing no such great work, he is a human being, living in the same world as you, seeing the same sun, having the same soul and the same Lord, sharing the same mysteries with you, called to the same heaven as you. He has a strong claim: his poverty and his lack of necessary food. Yet those who wake you with flutes and pipes in winter, disturbing you without purpose or benefit, go away having received many gifts from you. And those who carry swallows around, smear themselves with soot, and insult everyone receive a reward for their conjuring. But if a poor man comes to you in need of bread, there is no end to the abuse, reproaches, accusations of idleness, scolding, insults, and jeers. And you do not consider that you too are idle, yet God gives you His gifts. For do not tell me that you too are doing something; show me instead whether what you do and keep busy with is really necessary. But if you tell me about making money, trading, and managing and increasing your property, I would also tell you that real work consists of giving alms, praying, protecting the wronged, and things like these, rather than those things. And in this work we live in complete idleness. Yet God has never told us, “Because you are idle, I will not light the sun for you; because you do nothing that really matters, I will extinguish the moon, paralyze the womb of the earth, hold back the lakes, springs, and rivers, blot out the atmosphere, and withhold the yearly rains.” Instead, He gives us everything abundantly. And He freely gives the benefit of these things even to some who are not merely idle, but are doing evil. So when you see a poor man and say, “It takes my breath away that this fellow, young and healthy as he is, has nothing and wants to be fed while doing nothing. He must be a slave and a runaway who has deserted his rightful master,” I tell you to say these same words to yourself. Or rather, let him freely say them to you, and he will say with greater justice, “It takes my breath away that you, though healthy, are idle and practice none of the things God has commanded. Instead, having run away from your Lord’s commandments, you go around living in wickedness as in a foreign land: in drunkenness, overeating, theft, extortion, and the ruin of other people’s households.” You accuse him of idleness, but I accuse you of evil deeds: your scheming, your swearing, your lying, your plundering, and the countless other things you do. I say this without making a law in favor of idleness—far from it. Rather, I very earnestly wish everyone to work, for laziness teaches every kind of wickedness. But I beg you not to be merciless or cruel. Paul, too, after making countless complaints and saying, “If anyone will not work, do not let him eat either,” did not stop there, but added, “But you, do not grow tired of doing good.” “But these things contradict each other. If you have commanded them not to eat, how can you urge us to give?” “I do so,” he says, “for I have also commanded you to avoid them and ‘not associate with them’; and again I said, ‘Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them.’ I am not making contradictory laws, but laws that are entirely in harmony with one another.” For if you are quick to show mercy, both the poor man will soon be rid of his idleness and you of your cruelty. “But he tells many lies and makes things up,” you reply. Well, that is another reason to pity him: he has fallen into such distress that he has become hardened even to these actions. But instead of pitying him, we even add those cruel words, “Haven’t you received something again and again?” That is how we talk. What then? Because he was fed once, does he have no need to be fed again? Why do you not make these laws for your own belly too, and say to it likewise, “You were filled yesterday and the day before; do not ask for it now”? Yet while you fill it beyond measure, even to bursting, you turn him away when he asks only for a moderate amount. You ought instead to pity him precisely because he is forced to come to you every day. Yes, if nothing else moves you toward him, you should pity him for this: the pressure of poverty forces him into these actions, and so he does them. And you do not pity him because he feels no shame when spoken to this way; the reason is that his need overpowers him. Instead of pitying him, you even make a spectacle of him. Although God has commanded you to give secretly, you stand there publicly exposing the man who has approached you and reproaching him for what ought to move you to pity. If you do not intend to give, why add reproach and bruise that weary, miserable soul? He came as if into a harbor, seeking help from your hands. Why stir up waves and make the storm worse? Why do you condemn him for degrading himself? What? If he had expected to hear such things, would he have come to you? Or if he did come knowing this beforehand, that is good reason both to pity him and to shudder at your own cruelty. Even when you see him under an inescapable necessity, you do not become gentler or consider his fear of hunger enough to excuse his persistence, but accuse him of shamelessness. Yet you yourself have often behaved more shamelessly, and in serious matters too. Here, the very shamelessness carries grounds for pardon; but we often brazen it out while doing things that deserve punishment. And when we ought to remember all this and be humble, we instead trample on these miserable people, and when they ask for medicine, we add to their wounds. I ask, if you will not give, why strike? If you will not be generous, why be insulting? “But he will not let himself be put off any other way.” Well then, do as that wise man commanded: “Answer him with peaceful words and gentleness.” Surely he is not so persistent by his own choice. For there is no one—there cannot be anyone—who wants to be put to shame for its own sake. However much anyone may argue, I can never be persuaded that a man living in abundance would choose to beg. 6. So let no one deceive us with arguments. Although Paul says, “If anyone will not work, do not let him eat either,” he says this to them. To us he says the opposite: “Do not grow tired of doing good.” We do the same thing at home: when two people are quarreling, we take each aside and give them opposite advice. God and Moses also did this. For while Moses said to God, “If You will forgive their sin, forgive it; otherwise, blot me out too,” he commanded them, on the other hand, to kill one another and everyone who belonged to them. These things are contrary, yet both aimed at one end. Again, God said to Moses within the Jews’ hearing, “Leave Me alone, so that I may consume the people” (for although they were not present when God said this, they would hear it afterward). But privately He gives him instructions to the opposite effect. Moses, under pressure, later revealed this when he said, “What? Did I conceive them, that You tell me, ‘Carry them as a nurse would carry a nursing child against her chest’?” These things also happen in households. Often a father privately blames the tutor for speaking abusively to his child, saying, “Do not be rough or harsh,” while he speaks to the young man in the opposite way: “Even if you are reproached unjustly, bear it.” From these opposites he produces one beneficial result. Paul likewise said to healthy people who beg, “If anyone will not work, do not let him eat either,” to urge them to work. But to those able to show mercy he said, “You, for your part, do not grow tired of doing good,” to lead them to give alms. Likewise, when he was warning the Gentiles in his Epistle to the Romans not to be arrogant toward the Jews, he also brought up the wild olive tree, and he seems to say one thing to these people and another to those. So let us not sink into cruelty, but listen to Paul saying, “Do not grow tired of doing good.” Let us listen to the Lord, who says, “Give to everyone who asks you,” and, “Be merciful as your Father is.” Although He has spoken about many things, He has used this expression only about our acts of mercy. For nothing makes us so like God as doing good. “But nothing is more shameless,” someone says, “than a poor man.” Why, I ask you? Because he runs up and calls after you? Will you let me show you how we are more persistent than they are, and very shameless? Remember now, during the season of fasting, how often, when your table was set in the evening and you had called the servant who waits on you, you overturned everything because he moved rather slowly—kicking, insulting, and abusing him merely over a little delay. Yet you knew perfectly well that, if not immediately, you would enjoy your food a little later. You do not call yourself shameless for this, though you have turned into a wild beast over nothing. But the poor man, alarmed and trembling over something more serious—for all his fear concerns starvation, not delay—you call him brazen, shameless, impudent, and every insulting name you can find. How is this anything but extreme shamelessness? But we do not consider these things, and so we think such people are troublesome. If we examined our own actions at all and compared them with theirs, we would not think them intolerable. So do not be a harsh judge. Even if you were free of every sin, God’s law would still not allow you to scrutinize other people’s sins so severely. And if the Pharisee perished for this, what defense will we find? If He does not allow those who have done well to examine other people’s actions bitterly, much less does He allow those who have sinned. 7. So let us not be savage or cruel, without natural feeling, unforgiving, or worse than wild beasts. For I know many who have become so brutal that, to avoid a little trouble, they disregard starving people and say these words: “I have no servant with me now; we are far from home; I do not know any money changer here.” What cruelty! Did you promise the greater thing, yet fail to carry out the lesser? Must he perish from hunger to spare you a short walk? What insolence! What pride! Even if you had to walk a mile and a quarter, should you hesitate? Does it not even occur to you that your reward grows greater this way? For when you give, you receive a reward for the gift alone; but when you also go yourself, another reward is assigned to you for that. Yes, we admire the patriarch himself for this: he personally ran to the herd and seized the calf, even though he had three hundred and eighteen servants born in his house. But now some people are so full of pride that they do these things through servants and feel no shame. “But do you require me to do these things myself?” someone may say. “How, then, will I avoid seeming vain?” Yet as things stand, another kind of vanity leads you to do this: you are ashamed to be seen talking with a poor man. But I do not insist on this at all. Just give, whether you choose to do it yourself or through someone else; and do not accuse, strike, or abuse. The person who comes to you needs medicine, not wounds; mercy, not a sword. Tell me, if someone had been struck by a stone and wounded in the head, and passed everyone else by to run to your knees, drenched in his blood, would you really strike him with another stone and add another wound? I do not think so; instead, you would try to heal the wound he already had. Why, then, do you do the opposite to the poor? Do you not know how much power a word has, both to lift someone up and to cast someone down? For it is said, “A word is better than a gift.” Do you not realize that you are thrusting the sword into yourself and receiving a more serious wound when he silently withdraws after being abused, with groans and many tears? For it is indeed God who sends him to you. Consider, then, whom your insult reaches when you insult him: God sends him to you and commands you to give, but instead of giving, you even insult him when he comes. And if you do not realize how terribly wrong this is, look at it as a matter between people, and then you will fully understand the greatness of the sin. For example, suppose you commanded one of your servants to go to another servant who held some of your money and collect it, and he returned not only empty-handed, but also having been insulted and mistreated. What would you not do to the man who had insulted him? What penalty would you not demand, as though it were you yourself who had been mistreated? Apply this same reasoning to God too. For truly He is the One who sends the poor to us, and what we give belongs to Him, if we do give. But if, besides giving nothing, we also send them away insulted, consider how many lightning bolts, how many thunderclaps, our actions deserve. So, after carefully considering all these things, let us bridle our tongues, put away inhumanity, and reach out our hands to give alms. Let us relieve those in need with words as well as money, so that we may both escape punishment for abusive speech and inherit the kingdom granted for blessing others and giving alms, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.