Homilies on Matthew, Homily 45

“And the disciples came and said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, Because you have been given the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they have not.” We have good reason to admire the disciples: eager as they are to learn, they know when to ask. They do not ask in front of everyone, and Matthew shows this by saying, “And they came.” That this is not a guess is shown more clearly by Mark, who says that “they came to Him privately.” His brothers and His mother should have done this too, instead of calling Him out and making a scene. But notice their kindness too: they care deeply about the others and seek their good first, and then their own. For they ask, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” They did not say, Why do You speak to us in parables? And on other occasions too, their kindness toward people shows itself in many ways, as when they say, “Send the crowd away;” and, “Do you know that they were offended?” What, then, does Christ say? “Because you have been given,” He says, “the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but they have not.” He says this without introducing necessity or any allocation made without a reason and at random. Instead, He indicates that they are responsible for all their own evils, and wants to show that this knowledge is a gift, a grace bestowed from above. But the fact that it is a gift by no means implies that free will is therefore taken away. This is clear from what follows. So that one group will not despair and the other will not grow careless when told that “you have been given,” He indicates that the beginning lies with us. “For whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have will have even what he seems to have taken away from him.” Although the saying is very obscure, it points to justice beyond words. For what He says amounts to this: When someone has eagerness and zeal, God too will give him everything on His part; but if he lacks these and does not do his own part, God's gifts are not bestowed either. For even “what he seems to have,” He says, “will be taken away from him.” God is not so much taking it away as judging him unworthy of His gifts. We do this too. When we see someone listening carelessly, and cannot persuade him to pay attention despite repeated appeals, all that remains is for us to be silent. For if we keep going, his carelessness grows worse. But we lead someone who is striving to learn further along and pour much into him. And He rightly said, “Even what he seems to have.” For he does not really have even this. Then He also made what He had said clearer, explaining the meaning of, “Whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have will have even what he seems to have taken away from him.” “That is why,” He says, “I speak to them in parables: because seeing, they do not see.” “Then He should have opened their eyes,” someone may say, “if they do not see.” Yes, if the blindness were natural, He should have opened them. But because it was a voluntary blindness they chose for themselves, He did not simply say, “They do not see,” but, “Seeing, they do not see.” So their blindness comes from their own wickedness. For they even saw demons cast out and said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons.” They heard Him guiding them to God and demonstrating His complete agreement with Him, and they say, “This man is not from God.” Since the judgment they pronounced contradicted both what they saw and what they heard, He says, I take away their very hearing. For they gain no benefit from it, but instead greater condemnation. For they not only disbelieved, but also found fault, accused Him, and set traps. Yet He does not say this, because He does not want to repel them by accusing them. Nor did He speak to them this way at the beginning, but very plainly. But because they corrupted themselves, from then on He speaks in parables. 2. After this, so that no one would suppose His words were merely an accusation, and so that people would not say, He is our enemy and is bringing these charges and slanders against us, He also introduces the prophet, pronouncing the same judgment as Himself. “For in them,” He says, “the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, You will hear and hear, but will not understand, and you will see and see, but will not perceive.” Do you see how the prophet too accuses them with this same precision? For He did not say, You do not see, but, “You will see and not perceive”; nor again, You will not hear, but, “You will hear and not understand.” So they first brought the loss on themselves by stopping their ears, closing their eyes, and making their hearts fat. For they not only failed to hear, but also “heard sluggishly,” and they did this, He says, “For fear that they might turn back and I might heal them.” He is describing their extreme wickedness and their determined desertion of Him. He says this to draw them to Him, to stir them, and to show that if they would turn back, He would heal them. It is much as if someone said, “He would not look at me, and I thank him for it; for if he had granted me that, I would immediately have given in.” He says this to show how ready he would have been to be reconciled. So here too it says, “For fear that they might turn back and I might heal them,” implying both that their return was possible and that through repentance they could be saved, and that He was doing everything for their salvation, rather than for His own glory. For if He had not wanted them to hear and be saved, He should have remained silent instead of speaking in parables. But as it is, He stirs them by this very act of speaking under a veil. “For God does not want the death of the sinner, but for him to turn to Him and live.” For proof that our sin does not come from nature, necessity, or compulsion, hear what He says to the apostles: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” He does not mean this physical sight or hearing, but the sight and hearing of the mind. For these men too were Jews, brought up in the same circumstances. Nevertheless, the prophecy did them no harm, because the root of His blessings was firmly established in them: I mean their power of choice and their judgment. Do you see that “you have been given” did not imply necessity? For they would not have been blessed unless their good conduct had been their own. Do not tell me that He spoke obscurely, for they could have come and asked Him, as the disciples did. But they would not, because they were careless and idle. Why do I say they would not? They were actually doing the very opposite: not only disbelieving, not only refusing to listen, but even waging war and inclined to be very hostile toward everything He said. He introduces the prophet charging them with this in the words, “They heard sluggishly.” But the disciples were not like this, and so He also blessed them. And He reassures them again in another way, saying, “For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things you see and have not seen them, and to hear the things you hear and have not heard them.” He means My coming, My very miracles, My voice, My teaching. For here He places them above not only these corrupt people, but even those who have lived virtuously. Indeed, He declares them more blessed even than those people. Why is this? Because they see not only what the Jews did not see, but even what people of ancient times desired to see. For those people saw by faith alone, but these see with their eyes too, and much more clearly. Do you see how He again connects the old order with the new, showing that people of ancient times not only knew what was coming but also greatly desired it? But if these things had belonged to some foreign and opposing God, they would never have desired them. “So hear the parable of the sower,” He says. And He speaks about what we mentioned before: carelessness and attention, cowardice and courage, wealth and voluntary poverty, pointing out the harm from the one and the benefit from the other. Then He also presents different forms of virtue. For in His love for humanity, He laid out more than one way. He did not say, “Unless someone produces a hundred, he is an outcast.” Someone who produces sixty is saved too, and not only that person, but also the one who produces thirty. He said this to show that salvation is easy. 3. And you, then: are you unable to practice virginity? Be chaste in marriage. Are you unable to give up your possessions? Give from what you have. Can you not bear that burden? Share your goods with Christ. Are you unwilling to give Him everything? Give Him just half, just a third. He is your brother and fellow heir; make Him a fellow heir with you here too. Whatever you give Him, you will give to yourself. Do you not hear what the prophet says? “You must not overlook those who belong to your own family.” But if we must not overlook our relatives, we must certainly not overlook our Lord, who has a claim on you not only through His authority as Lord, but also through kinship, and many other claims besides. For He too has given you a share in His goods, receiving nothing from you, but taking the first step with this indescribable blessing. What could be more senseless than failing to become kind toward others even through this gift, failing even to repay a freely given gift, to give smaller things in return for greater ones? So, while He has made you an heir of Heaven, will you not share with Him even the things of earth? When you had done no good work and were even an enemy, He reconciled you. And will you not repay Him, now that He is your friend and benefactor? Yet surely, even before the kingdom and everything else, the very fact that He gives should make us feel indebted to Him. For servants too, when inviting their masters to a meal, consider themselves to be receiving rather than giving. But here the reverse has happened: the Lord has first invited the servant to His own table, instead of the servant inviting the Lord. And will you not invite Him, even after this? He first brought you under His own roof; will you not take Him in, even after He took you in first? He clothed you when you were naked; and will you not welcome Him as a stranger even after this? He first gave you a drink from His own cup; and will you not share even cold water with Him? He has given you the Holy Spirit to drink; and will you not even relieve His bodily thirst? He gave you the Spirit to drink when you deserved punishment; and will you neglect Him even when He is thirsty, when everything you are to do for Him comes from what is His own? Do you not consider it a great thing, then, to hold the cup from which Christ will drink, and put it to His lips? Do you not see that only the priest is permitted to give the cup of His blood? But I am not at all strict about this, He says. Even if you yourself give it, I receive it; even if you are a layman, I do not refuse it. And I do not ask for the kind of thing I have given: I am asking for cold water, not blood. Consider whom you are giving a drink to, and tremble. Consider: you have become a priest of Christ, giving with your own hand bread instead of flesh, a cup of cold water instead of blood. He clothed you with a garment of salvation, and clothed you Himself; at least have your servant clothe Him. He made you glorious in Heaven; deliver Him from shivering, nakedness, and shame. He made you a fellow citizen of angels; at least share the shelter of your roof with Him, give Him room in your house at least as you would your own servant. “I do not refuse this lodging or that, though I have opened all Heaven to you. I have freed you from a terrible prison; I do not ask the same in return, nor do I say, Free me. But if you would only come to see me when I am bound, that is enough to refresh me. When you were dead, I raised you; I do not ask this of you in return, but I say, Only visit me when I am sick.” Now, when His gifts are so great and His requests so easy, and we do not provide even these things, what depth of hell do we not deserve? We will justly depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, more unfeeling than any rock. For tell me, how unfeeling is it for us, who have received and are to receive so much, to be slaves to money, from which we will soon be separated even against our will? Others have given up even their lives and shed their blood; and will you not even give up your surplus for Heaven's sake, for the sake of such great crowns? And what favor can you deserve? What defense can you offer, when you gladly pour out everything in sowing your land, and spare nothing in lending to people at interest, but are cruel and inhuman when it comes to feeding your Lord through His poor? So, after considering all these things and taking stock of what we have received, what we are to receive, and what is required of us, let us devote all our efforts to spiritual things. Let us finally become gentle and humane, so that we do not bring unbearable punishment on ourselves. For what is there that cannot condemn us? We have enjoyed so many blessings, and such great ones; nothing great is required of us; the things required are things we will leave here even against our will; and we show such generosity in our worldly affairs. Each of these alone would be enough to condemn us. But when they all come together, what hope of salvation will there be? So, to escape all this condemnation, let us show some generosity toward those in need. For in this way we will enjoy all good things, both here and there. May we all attain them, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.