Homilies on Matthew, Homily 67

“And Jesus went into the temple and drove out everyone buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves, and said to them, It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” John says this too, but he places it at the beginning of his Gospel, while this account comes at the end. So it is likely that this happened twice, on different occasions. This is clear both from the timing and from their reply. There He came at the very time of Passover, but here much earlier. And there the Jews say, “What sign do You show us?” but here they remain silent even when rebuked, because everyone now marveled at Him. This makes the charge against the Jews more serious: even after He had done this twice, they continued their trading and said He was an enemy of God, when this very act should have taught them His reverence for His Father and His own power. For He also performed miracles, and they saw that His words agreed with His deeds. But even this did not persuade them. Instead, they “were very displeased,” even as they heard the prophet crying out and the children proclaiming Him in a way beyond their years. So He Himself also brings Isaiah forward to accuse them, saying, “My house will be called a house of prayer.” He shows His authority not only in this way, but also by healing various illnesses. “For the blind and the lame came to Him, and He healed them,” demonstrating His power and authority. But even this would not persuade them. Hearing even the children proclaiming Him, along with all the other miracles, they were ready to choke with anger and said, “Do You not hear what these children are saying?” Yet it was Christ who should have said to them, “Do you not hear what these children are saying?” For the children were singing to Him as to God. What does He say, then? Since they were speaking against things that were obvious, He corrects them with a sharper rebuke, saying, “Have you never read, Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have perfected praise?” And He was right to say, “Out of the mouth.” For what they said came from His power giving clear speech to their still immature tongues, rather than from their own understanding. This was also a type of the Gentiles, lisping and yet immediately proclaiming great things with understanding and faith. This also gave the apostles considerable comfort. To keep them from wondering in confusion how they could proclaim the gospel when they were uneducated, the children went ahead of them and removed all their anxiety, teaching them that He who made even these children sing praises would give them words to speak. And beyond this, the miracle showed that He is the Creator even of nature. The children, though still immature, spoke words with a clear meaning that agreed with those above, while the men spoke words full of frenzy and madness. For that is the nature of wickedness. Since so many things were provoking them—the crowd, the expulsion of the sellers, the miracles, and the children—He leaves them again, allowing their rising anger room to subside. He is unwilling to begin teaching, so that, boiling with envy, they will not become still more displeased at His words. “Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.” How is He hungry in the morning? When He allows the flesh to do so, it expresses its sensations. “And when He saw a fig tree along the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves.” Another evangelist says, “It was not yet the season for figs.” But if it was not the season, how does the other evangelist say, “He came to see whether He might find fruit on it”? Clearly, this reflects the supposition of His disciples, whose understanding was still somewhat imperfect. For in many places the evangelists record the disciples’ suppositions. Just as this was their supposition, so was the idea that the tree was cursed because it had no fruit. Why, then, was it cursed? For the disciples’ sake, to give them confidence. For everywhere He did good for people but punished no one. Yet He needed to give them clear proof of His power to exact vengeance as well, so that both the disciples and the Jews might learn that, although He could wither those who crucified Him, He submits willingly and does not wither them. And because He did not wish to demonstrate this on people, He used the plant to prove His power to exact vengeance. But when something like this is done to places, plants, or animals, do not pry or ask how the fig tree could justly be dried up if it was not the season for figs. Raising this question is utterly pointless. Instead, look at the miracle, marvel, and glorify the One who performed it. For in the case of the pigs that drowned, too, many have said this, working through the question of justice. But there too, one should pay no attention to such objections, for these were animals, just as that was a plant without life. Why, then, did the act take this form, with this apparent reason for a curse? As I said, this was the disciples’ supposition. But if it was not yet the season, those who say that the law is meant here speak without grounds. For the fruit of the law was faith, and it was then the season for this fruit, and the law had indeed borne it. “For already the fields are white for harvest,” He says, and, “I sent you to reap what you had not worked for.” 2. So He is not suggesting any of these things here. Instead, as I said, He displays His power to punish. The words, “It was not yet the season,” show this, making it clear that He went for this particular purpose, and for His disciples’ sake, rather than out of hunger. They were indeed utterly amazed, although He had performed many greater miracles. But, as I said, this was unfamiliar, for this was the first time He had displayed His power to exact vengeance. That is why He worked the miracle on the juiciest of all cultivated plants, making the miracle appear greater in this respect too. And to learn that this was done for their sake, to train them to have confidence, listen to what He says afterward. What does He say? “You too will do greater things, if you are willing to believe and to be confident in prayer.” Do you see that everything is done for their sake, so they will not be afraid and tremble at plots against them? That is why He says this a second time, to make them hold firmly to prayer and faith. “For you will not only do this, but will also move mountains; and you will do many more things through confidence in faith and prayer.” But the boastful and arrogant Jews, wanting to interrupt His teaching, came to Him and asked, “By what authority do You do these things?” Since they could find no fault with the miracles, they challenged Him over His correction of the traders in the temple. In John too, they appear to ask this, though in different words, with the same intent. For there too they say, “What sign do You show us, since You do these things?” But there He answers them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days,” whereas here He puts them in a dilemma. This makes it clear that the earlier occasion was the beginning and prelude of the miracles, while this one was at the end. What they mean is this: Have You been given a teacher’s seat? Have You been ordained a priest, giving You the right to exercise such authority? Yet He had done nothing arrogant, but had taken care to maintain good order in the temple. Still, having nothing else to say, they object to this. And when He drove them out, they did not dare say anything because of the miracles, but when He appeared, then they found fault with Him. What does He say, then? He does not answer them directly, to show that they could have recognized His authority if they had been willing. Instead, He asks them in return, “John’s baptism—where does it come from? From heaven, or from men?” And what kind of inference does this allow? Surely the strongest possible. For if they had said, from heaven, He would have said to them, why, then, did you not believe him? For if they had believed, they would not have asked these questions. John had said of Him, “I am not worthy to untie the strap of His shoe,” and, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” and, “This is the Son of God,” and, “He who comes from above is above all,” and, “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His threshing floor.” So if they had believed John, nothing would have kept them from knowing by what authority Christ does these things. Then, because they deceitfully said, “We do not know,” He did not say, neither do I know. What did He say? “Neither will I tell you.” For if they had really been ignorant, they would have needed instruction. But since they were being deceitful, He rightly gives them no answer. And why did they not say that the baptism came from men? “They feared the people,” it says. Do you see a perverse heart? In every case they despise God and do everything for the sake of people. They feared this man too because of the people, without reverence for the holy man himself, and they were unwilling to believe in Christ because of people. All their evils grew out of this. After this He says, “What do you think? A man had two sons, and he said to the first, Go, work in the vineyard today. But he answered, I will not; afterward, however, he repented and went. And he came to the second and said the same thing. And he answered, I will, sir, but did not go. Which of the two, then, did his father’s will? They say, the first.” Again He exposes their guilt through a parable, showing both their unreasonable stubbornness and the obedience of those they utterly condemned. For these two children represent what happened with both the Gentiles and the Jews. The former, though they had neither undertaken to obey nor become hearers of the law, showed obedience in their deeds. The latter, though they had said, “Everything the Lord says we will do, and we will listen,” were disobedient in their deeds. And, let me add, to keep them from thinking that the law would benefit them, He shows that this very thing condemns them, just as Paul also says, “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” To make them condemn themselves, He has them pronounce the judgment themselves, as He also does in the following parable of the vineyard. 3. To accomplish this, He tests the accusation by applying it to someone else. Since they were unwilling to confess directly, He uses a parable to bring them to the admission He wanted. But after they had pronounced judgment without understanding His words, He then reveals His hidden meaning and says, “Tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom of Heaven before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors believed him. And even after you saw this, you did not repent afterward and believe him.” For if He had simply said, prostitutes go before you, the statement would have seemed offensive to them. But now, spoken after their own judgment, it does not seem too harsh. So He also adds the accusation. What is it? “John came,” He says, “to you,” rather than to them, and beyond that, “in the way of righteousness.” “For you cannot find fault with him on the grounds that he was careless and useless. His life was beyond reproach, and his concern for you was great, yet you paid no attention to him.” Along with this comes another charge: the tax collectors did pay attention. And along with that, yet another: “You did not do so even after they did. You should have done so even before them, but failing to do so even afterward left you without any excuse.” The praise of the one group and the charge against the other were both beyond words. “He came to you, and you did not accept him; he did not come to them, and they receive him, yet you did not take even them as your teachers.” See how many things establish the praise of the one group and the charge against the other. He came to you, not to them. You did not believe; this did not deter them. They believed; this did not benefit you. But the words “go before you” do not mean that you were following them. They mean that you still had hope, if you were willing. For nothing rouses the more insensitive as much as jealousy. That is why He is always saying, “The first will be last, and the last first.” That is why He brought up both prostitutes and tax collectors, to stir them to jealousy. For these are indeed two leading sins, born of violent lust: one from sexual desire, the other from the desire for money. And He indicates that believing John was above all what it meant to listen to God’s law. For it was not through grace alone that prostitutes entered, but also through righteousness. They did not enter while continuing as prostitutes. They entered after obeying and believing, after being purified and converted. Do you see how He made His words less offensive and more penetrating through the parable and His mention of the prostitutes? He did not immediately say, why did you not believe John? Instead, in a far more piercing way, He first brought forward the tax collectors and prostitutes, and then added this. Through the sequence of their actions, He exposed their inexcusable conduct and showed that they do everything out of fear of people and a desire for empty admiration. They did not confess Christ for fear of being expelled from the synagogue. And again, they did not dare speak against John, even here out of fear rather than reverence. He exposed all this through His words, and afterward went on to strike a still harder blow, saying, “But even after you knew this, you did not repent afterward and believe him.” For it is evil to fail to choose the good at first, but it is a more serious charge to refuse even to change. This above all makes many people wicked, and I see it happening with some people now because of their extreme insensitivity. But let no one be like this. Even if someone has sunk to the very depths of wickedness, let him not despair of changing for the better. For it is easy to rise even out of the deepest abysses of wickedness. Have you not heard how that prostitute who surpassed everyone in lustfulness outshone everyone in reverence for God? I do not mean the prostitute in the Gospels, but the one in our own generation who came from Phoenice, that utterly lawless city. She was once a prostitute among us, holding the highest honors on the stage, and her name was famous everywhere, not only in our city but even as far as the Cilicians and Cappadocians. She ruined many estates and brought many orphans to ruin. Many also accused her of sorcery, saying that she wove such snares through her drugs as well as her physical beauty. This prostitute once won over even the empress’s brother, so powerful was her tyranny. But suddenly—I do not know how, or rather, I know very well: it was through her resolve, her conversion, and her drawing God’s grace down upon herself—she despised all those things, cast away the arts of the demons, and rose to heaven. Indeed, nothing was more vile than she was when she was on the stage. Nevertheless, afterward she surpassed many in exceptional self-restraint, clothed herself in sackcloth, and spent all her time disciplining herself in this way. Because of this woman, the governor was stirred to action and soldiers were armed, yet they could not drag her back to the stage or take her away from the virgins who had received her. This woman was counted worthy of the mysteries beyond words and showed diligence proportionate to the grace (given her). In this way she ended her life, having washed everything away through grace and shown great self-restraint after her baptism. She would not even let her former lovers see her when they came for that purpose. She shut herself away and spent many years as though in prison. This is how “the last will be first, and the first last.” This shows how we need an ardent soul in every case, and nothing prevents anyone from becoming great and admirable. 4. So let no one who lives in vice despair, and let no one who lives in virtue fall asleep. Let the latter not be overconfident, for often a prostitute will pass him by; and let the former not despair, for he can pass even the one who is first. Hear what God says to Jerusalem: “I said, after she had committed all these acts of prostitution, Return to Me, and she did not return.” When we return to an earnest love of God, He does not remember the past. God is not like a human being: He does not reproach us for the past or say, Why were you away so long? when we repent. Only let us approach Him as we should. Let us cling to Him earnestly and fasten our hearts to the fear of Him. Such things happened not only under the new covenant, but even under the old. For who was worse than Manasseh? Yet he was able to appease God. Who was more blessed than Solomon? Yet when he grew spiritually careless, he fell. Or rather, I can show you both things happening in one person, this man’s father, for the same person became both good and bad at different times. Who was more blessed than Judas? Yet he became a traitor. Who was more wretched than Matthew? Yet he became an evangelist. Who was worse than Paul? Yet he became an apostle. Who was more enviable than Simon? Yet he himself became the most wretched of all. How many other changes like these could you see, both in the past and happening every day now? That is why I say, let neither the person on the stage despair nor the person in the church be overconfident. For to the latter it is said, “Let anyone who thinks he stands take care that he does not fall,” and to the former, “Will someone who falls not rise again?” and, “Lift up the drooping hands and the weak knees.” Again, to the one group He says, “Keep watch,” but to the other, “Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead.” The former need to preserve what they have, and the latter to become what they are not; the former to preserve their health, and the latter to be freed from their illness, for they are sick. Yet many of the sick become healthy, and many of the healthy become sick through negligence. To the one He says, “Look, you have been made well; sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you,” but to the others, “Do you want to be made well? Get up, take up your bed, and go to your house.” For sin is a dreadful, dreadful paralysis—or rather, it is not only paralysis, but something still more serious. Such a person is not only inactive in doing good, but also active in doing evil. Nevertheless, even if you are in this condition, if you are willing to stir yourself even a little, all the terrors come to an end. Even if you have been this way for “thirty-eight years,” if you earnestly desire to become well, no one can stop you. Christ is present now too and says, “Take up your bed.” Only be willing to stir yourself; do not despair. Do you have no one? But you have God. Do you have no one to put you into the pool? But you have Him who frees you from needing the pool. Have you had no one to put you in there? But you have Him who commands you to take up your bed. You cannot say, “While I am coming, someone else steps down ahead of me.” For if you are willing to go down into the fountain, no one can stop you. Grace is not used up or exhausted; it is like a fountain constantly springing up. By His fullness we are all healed in both soul and body. So let us come to it even now. For Rahab too was a prostitute, yet she was saved; and the thief was a murderer, yet he became a citizen of paradise. While Judas perished even though he was with his Master, the thief became a disciple while on a cross. Such are the wonderful works of God. This is how the magi proved themselves, how the tax collector became an evangelist, and how the blasphemer became an apostle. 5. Look at these things and never despair, but always have confidence and stir yourself. Just take hold of the road that leads there, and you will advance quickly. Do not shut the doors or close the entrance. The present life is short, and the labor is small. But even if it were great, we still should not refuse it. For if you do not undertake this most glorious labor of repentance and virtue, you will certainly labor and wear yourself out in other ways in the world. But if both paths involve labor, why do we not choose the one with abundant fruit and a greater reward? Yet the two kinds of labor are not the same. Worldly pursuits bring continual dangers, one loss after another, and uncertain hopes. They require a great deal of subservience and take a heavy toll on wealth, bodies, and souls alike. And then the yield falls far below our expectations, if it grows at all. For labor over worldly affairs does not always bear fruit. And even when it does not fail, but produces abundantly, its fruit lasts only a short time. For only when you have grown old and can no longer fully enjoy things does your labor bring you its reward. You labored while your body was strong, but the fruit and its enjoyment come when you are old and weak, when time has dulled even your capacity to enjoy them. And even if it had not dulled it, the expectation of the end keeps us from taking pleasure. But in the other case it is different. The labor takes place in a decaying, dying body, but the crown comes in a body that is incorruptible, immortal, and without end. The labor comes first and lasts only a short time; the reward follows and lasts forever, so that afterward you can rest securely, expecting nothing unpleasant. For you no longer have to fear change or loss as you do here. What kind of good things are these, then, which are insecure, short-lived, earthly, vanishing before they have even appeared, and acquired with so much labor? And what good things can equal those that cannot be shaken, never grow old, involve no toil, and bring you crowns even during the struggle? For whoever despises money receives his reward even here, freed from anxiety, rivalry, false accusation, plotting, and envy. Whoever practices self-restraint and lives an orderly life is crowned and enjoys life even before his death, freed from shameful behavior, ridicule, the dangers of accusation, and the other things we fear. All the other parts of virtue likewise give us a return even here. So, to attain both present and future blessings, let us flee vice and choose virtue. In this way we will both experience joy and receive the crowns to come. 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.