Homilies on Matthew, Homily 70

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might trap Him in His words.” Then. When? When they should most of all have felt remorse, when they should have been amazed at His love for humanity, when they should have feared what was coming, when what had already happened should have led them to believe what He said about the future too. For the things He had spoken of were crying out through their actual fulfillment. I mean that tax collectors and prostitutes believed, and prophets and righteous men were killed. These things should have kept them from disputing their own destruction and instead led them to believe and come to their senses. But even then their wicked acts do not stop; they labor to bring forth more and go still further. And since they could not lay hands on Him (because they feared the crowd), they took another approach, intending to put Him in danger and make Him guilty of crimes against the state. For “they sent their disciples to Him with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God truthfully, and that You are not swayed by anyone, for You show no favoritism. So tell us, What do You think? Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not?” For they were now paying tribute, since their state had come under Roman rule. Since they saw that Theudas and Judas and their followers had been put to death for this reason, as men who had prepared a revolt, they intended to use these words to bring Him under the same suspicion. So they sent both their own disciples and Herod’s soldiers, digging, as they thought, a precipice on either side and setting traps in every direction, so that whatever He said, they could seize on it. If He answered in favor of the Herodians, they themselves could accuse Him; but if He answered in their favor, the others could charge Him. Yet He had paid the didrachmas, but they did not know that. They expected to catch Him either way, but they preferred that He say something against the Herodians. That is why they also sent their disciples, to push Him in that direction by their presence, so that they could hand Him over to the governor as a usurper. Luke also indicates and explains this by saying that they asked in the presence of the crowd as well, so that the testimony would be stronger. But the result was the exact opposite: they provided a larger audience with proof of their own foolishness. And look at their flattery and their hidden cunning. “We know,” they say, “that You are truthful.” How, then, could you say, “He is a deceiver,” and “deceives the people,” and “has a demon,” and “is not from God”? How could you have been plotting to kill Him just a little while before? But they will do anything their schemes against Him suggest. A little earlier, when they stubbornly said, “By what authority do You do these things?” they received no answer to their question. So now they hope to inflate His pride with flattery and persuade Him to say something against the established laws and the ruling government. That is why they also testify to the truth about Him, acknowledging what was really true, though neither sincerely nor willingly. And they add, “You are not swayed by anyone.” See how plainly they want to push Him into statements that would both offend Herod and bring Him under suspicion of being a usurper who opposed the laws, so that they could punish Him as an instigator of rebellion and a usurper. For when they said, “You are not swayed by anyone,” and “You show no favoritism,” they were hinting at Herod and Caesar. “So tell us, What do You think?” Now you honor Him and regard Him as a Teacher, after so often despising and insulting Him when He spoke about the things that concern your salvation. This is also why they have become allies. And look at their cunning. They do not say, Tell us what is good, what is beneficial, what is lawful. They say, “What do You think?” They were so focused on this one goal: to betray Him and make Him an enemy of the rulers. Mark makes this clear and exposes their stubbornness and murderous disposition more plainly, saying that they asked, “Shall we pay tribute to Caesar, or shall we not pay?” So they were breathing anger and laboring to bring forth a plot against Him, yet they pretended to show respect. What, then, does He say? “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?” Do you see how He speaks to them more severely than usual? Since their wickedness was now complete and obvious, He cuts deeper, first confounding and silencing them by exposing their secret thoughts and making it clear to everyone what intentions they were bringing to Him. He did this to check their wickedness, so that they would not harm themselves by attempting the same things again. Yet their words were full of respect: they called Him Teacher and testified to His truthfulness and His lack of favoritism. But because He is God, none of these things deceived Him. So they too should have concluded that His rebuke did not come from guesswork but was a sign that He knew their secret thoughts. 2. Yet He did not stop at the rebuke, although simply exposing their purpose and shaming them for their wickedness would have been enough. He did not stop there, but silenced them in another way as well. “Show me,” He says, “the tribute money.” And when they had shown it, He did what He always does: He drew the judgment from their own mouths and made them decide that it was lawful. This was a clear and unmistakable victory. So when He asks a question, He does not ask out of ignorance, but because He wants to bind them by their own answers. For when He asked, “Whose image is this?” and they said, “Caesar’s,” He said, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” This is giving back, rather than simply giving, and He shows this by both the image and the inscription. Then, so that they could not say, You are making us subject to men, He added, “And to God the things that are God’s.” For it is possible both to meet people’s rightful claims and to give God what we owe Him. That is why Paul also says, “Give everyone what you owe them: tribute to whom tribute is due, customs duties to whom customs duties, fear to whom fear.” But when you hear, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” understand that He is speaking only of things that do no harm to godliness. If anything does such harm, it is no longer tribute to Caesar, but to the devil. When they heard these things, they were silenced and “marveled” at His wisdom. Should they not, then, have believed? Should they not have been amazed? For He gave them proof of His Godhead by revealing the secrets of their hearts, and He silenced them gently. What then? Did they believe? Not at all. They “left Him and went away,” and after them “the Sadducees came to Him.” What foolishness! When the others had been silenced, these men attacked, when they should have been all the more hesitant. But that is the nature of rashness: shameless, persistent, and willing to attempt the impossible. So the evangelist, also amazed at their foolishness, pointed to this very thing by saying, “On that day they came to Him.” On that day. What day? The day on which He had exposed their cunning and put them to shame. But who are these men? A Jewish sect different from the Pharisees, and much worse than they, who said “that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit.” For these were people of a coarser kind, eager for bodily things. There were many sects even among the Jews. That is why Paul also says, “I am a Pharisee, of the strictest sect among us.” They say nothing directly about a resurrection, but invent a story and construct a case that, I suppose, never actually happened. They think they can leave Him at a loss, and they want to overthrow both things: that there is a resurrection at all, and that there is a resurrection of this kind. Again, these men too attack Him with a show of moderation, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, If a man dies without children, his brother must marry his wife and have offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married a wife and died, and since he had no offspring, he left his wife to his brother. The same happened to the second and the third, down to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died too. So in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be married to?” See how He answers them as a teacher. Although they approached Him with cunning, their question came more from ignorance. So He does not say to them, “You hypocrites.” Also, to keep Him from criticizing them by asking, “Why did seven men have one wife?” they invoke Moses’ authority, although, as I said before, the story was invented, at least in my judgment. For the third would not have married her after seeing two bridegrooms dead; or if the third did, the fourth or fifth would not. And even if they did, the sixth or seventh would have been still less likely to approach the woman, but would have recoiled from her. For that is the nature of the Jews. If many people have this feeling now, they had it much more then, when even apart from this they often avoided such marriages, even though the law required them. Thus Ruth, that Moabite woman, was passed over to a more distant relative; and Tamar too was forced in this way to obtain offspring secretly from her husband’s relative. And why did they invent seven, instead of two or three? To bring even more ridicule, as they thought, on the resurrection. That is why they go on to say, “They all had her,” as though they were putting Him in a difficult position. What, then, does Christ say? He answers both points, addressing their purpose rather than just their words, and on every occasion revealing the secrets of their hearts. Sometimes He exposes them; at other times He leaves the refutation of those who question Him to their own conscience. See here, at any rate, how He proves both points: that there will be a resurrection, and that it will not be the kind of resurrection they imagine. For what does He say? “You are mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” Since they put forward Moses and the law as though they knew them, He shows that this question comes from men who are deeply ignorant of the Scriptures. For their testing Him also arose from this: their ignorance of the Scriptures and their failure to know the power of God as they should. “Why, then, is it surprising,” He says, “that you test me, whom you do not yet know, when you do not even know the power of God, of which you have had so much experience, and have learned about it neither from common sense nor from the Scriptures?” For even common sense teaches us that all things are possible for God. First He answers the question they asked. Since the reason they did not believe in a resurrection was that they thought the order of things there would be like this one, He cures the cause and then the symptom as well (for the disease also arose from that cause), and shows what the resurrection will be like. “For in the resurrection,” He says, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in Heaven.” But Luke says, “Like Sons of God.” If, then, they do not marry, the question is pointless. But they are not angels because they do not marry; rather, they do not marry because they are like angels. By this He also removed many other difficulties, all of which Paul indicated in a single expression when he said, “For the form of this world is passing away.” With these words He showed how great the resurrection is; and He also proves that there is a resurrection. This had already been demonstrated at the same time by what He had said, but He adds further support to His statement through what He says now. For He did not stop with their question, but also addressed their thought. Thus, when they are asking out of ignorance rather than great cunning, He teaches them even more than they ask; but when their question comes entirely from wickedness, He does not even answer it. Again He silences them through Moses, since they too had brought forward Moses. He says, “But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” He means, not of those who no longer exist, who have been utterly erased and will never rise again. For He did not say, I was, but, I am: the God of those who exist and live. Just as Adam, though alive on the day he ate from the tree, died under the sentence, so these men, though they had died, lived in the promise of the resurrection. How, then, does He say elsewhere, “That He might be Lord of both the dead and the living”? This does not contradict that. For here He speaks of the dead who will themselves live again. Besides, “I am the God of Abraham” is different from “That He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.” He also knew another kind of death, about which He says, “Let the dead bury their dead.” “And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.” Yet even here the Sadducees were not; they went away defeated, while the impartial crowd benefited. Since the resurrection is like this, come, let us do everything we can to gain the highest honors there. But if you wish, let us show you some people who, even here before the resurrection, pursue and reap these blessings, by going once again to the deserts. For I will return to the same subject, since I see that you are listening with greater pleasure. So today let us look again at the spiritual camps; let us look at their pleasure, unmixed with fear. For they do not camp with spears like soldiers—this was where I recently ended my discussion—or with shields and breastplates. You will see them without any of these things, yet accomplishing what those soldiers cannot accomplish even with weapons. And if you can look closely, come, reach out your hand to me, and let us both go to this war and see their battle formation. For they too fight every day, slay their adversaries, and conquer all the lusts that plot against us. You will see these lusts thrown to the ground, unable even to struggle, proving by actual deeds the apostle’s words: “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.” Do you see the multitude of dead lying there, slain by the sword of the Spirit? That is why there is no drunkenness or gluttony in that place. Their table proves it, as does the trophy set on it. For drunkenness and gluttony lie dead, routed by the drinking of water, although drunkenness is a monster with many forms and many heads. Just as with the legendary Scylla and Hydra, you can see many heads in drunkenness: sexual immorality growing up on one side, anger on another; laziness on one side, lawless lusts on another. But all these things have been removed. Yet all those other armies, though victorious in ten thousand wars, are taken captive by these things. Neither weapons nor spears nor anything else can withstand these phalanxes. You will find even giants, heroes, and men who perform countless brave deeds bound without chains by sleep and drunkenness, lying like wounded men without having been struck or injured—or rather, in a still worse condition. For wounded men at least struggle; these men do not even do that, but surrender at once. Do you see that this army is greater and more admirable? For it destroys by its will alone the enemies that defeated the others. They weaken the mother of all their evils so thoroughly that she can no longer even trouble them. And once the leader is overthrown and the head removed, the rest of the body lies still too. You can see each person who lives there winning this victory. For it is not like our wars, where an enemy struck down by one person no longer threatens another, once he has been overthrown. Everyone must strike this monster, and anyone who has not struck her down and overthrown her is certainly troubled by her. Do you see a glorious victory? Each of those men sets up a trophy that all the armies throughout the world could not erect even if they joined forces. And everything belonging to the army of drunkenness lies wounded in a heap: delirious words of frenzy, insane thoughts, offensive arrogance. And they imitate their own Lord, of whom Scripture says in wonder, “He will drink from the brook along the way; therefore He will lift up His head.” Would you like to see another multitude of dead? Let us look at the lusts that arise from luxurious living, those nurtured by sauce makers, cooks, banquet providers, and confectioners. I am ashamed to speak of them all, but I will mention the birds from Phasis, the soups mixed from various ingredients, the moist dishes, the dry dishes, and the laws laid down about these things. As though they were organizing a city and arranging armies, these people too make laws, prescribing one thing first and another second. Some first bring in birds roasted over embers and stuffed with fish; others begin these lawless feasts with other ingredients. There is great rivalry over these things: their quality, their order, and their quantity. They take pride in things for which they should bury themselves in shame, some saying they have spent half the day on them, some the whole day, and some that they have added the night as well. Look, you wretched man, at the size of your belly, and be ashamed of your boundless effort! But there is nothing like this among those angels; all these desires are dead too. They eat to meet their needs, rather than to fill themselves up or live luxuriously. There are no bird hunters there, no fishermen, but bread and water. All this confusion, disturbance, and turmoil has been removed from there, from both the house and the body. Their harbor is wonderfully calm, while among these others the storm is fierce. Now imagine bursting open the belly of those who eat such things, and you will see the vast mass of waste, the filthy drain, and the whitewashed tomb. I am ashamed even to describe what comes after this: the foul belching, the vomiting, the discharges downward and upward. But go and see even these desires lying dead there, along with the more violent lusts that spring from them—I mean those of impurity. You will see these too all overthrown, with their horses and their beasts of burden. For a filthy word is the beast of burden, the weapon, and the horse of a filthy deed. You will see such horse and rider together, with their weapons thrown down; but here it is just the opposite, and souls lie fallen and dead. Yet the victory of these holy men is glorious not only at their meals, but in other things too: money, glory, envy, and every disease of the soul. Surely this army seems mightier to you than the other, and its meal better? Who would deny it? No one, not even one of those people themselves, however mad he might be. For the one guides us to Heaven, while the other drags us to hell. The devil lays out the luxurious table, Christ the other. Luxury and lack of self-control make the rules for the one; self-denial and sobriety for the other. Here Christ is present, there the devil. For where there is drunkenness, the devil is there; where there are filthy words and overeating, the demons hold their choirs. That rich man had such a table, and so he did not have even a drop of water at his command. But these men have no such table; they already practice the ways of the angels. They neither marry nor are given in marriage, nor do they sleep excessively or live luxuriously. Apart from a few things, they are even without bodies. Now who overcomes his enemies as easily as someone who sets up a trophy while eating dinner? That is why the prophet also says, “You have prepared a table before me, in the presence of those who trouble me.” It would be right to repeat this divine saying about this table. For nothing troubles a soul as much as disordered lust, luxury, drunkenness, and the evils that spring from them. Those who have experienced them know this very well. And if you also learned where this table comes from, and where the other comes from, you would see the difference between them clearly. Where, then, does this luxurious table come from? From countless tears, from widows cheated, from orphans robbed; but the other comes from honest labor. The simple table is like a beautiful, lovely woman who needs no outward adornment, because her beauty is natural. The luxurious one is like an ugly, unattractive prostitute wearing a great deal of makeup, yet unable to hide her deformity; the closer she comes, the more it is exposed. For this table too reveals its ugliness more clearly as it comes closer to the person sitting at it. Do not look at the guests only as they arrive, I tell you, but also as they leave, and then you will see its ugliness. For the simple table, like a free woman, allows those who come to it to say nothing shameful; but the luxurious one, like a dishonored prostitute, allows nothing decent. The one seeks the benefit of the person sitting at it, the other his harm. One does not allow us to offend God; the other leaves us no choice but to offend Him. So let us go to those men. There we will learn how many bonds surround us. There we will learn to set before ourselves a table full of countless blessings, wonderfully sweet, costing nothing, released from care, free from envy and jealousy and every disease, full of good hope, and bearing its many trophies. There is no turmoil of soul there, no sorrow, no anger; everything is calm, everything is peace. Do not tell me about the silence of the servants in rich people’s houses, but about the clamor of the diners. I do not mean the noise they make to one another (though that too deserves ridicule), but the noise within, in the soul, which brings them into terrible captivity: the turmoil of their thoughts, the sleet, the darkness, the storm that mixes and confuses everything, like a battle at night. But there is nothing like this in the monks’ tents; there is deep calm and deep quiet. The luxurious table is followed by sleep like death, but this one by sobriety and wakefulness; that one by punishment, this one by the kingdom of heaven and immortal rewards. Let us therefore follow this way, so that we may also enjoy its fruits. 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.