Homilies on Matthew, Homily 74

“Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate their graves, and say, If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” He does not say “woe” because they build or because they blame the others, but because, while pretending to condemn their fathers both by these actions and by what they say, they do worse things themselves. To prove that their condemnation was a pretense, Luke says that you approve because you build: “Woe to you,” He says, “for you build the graves of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly you bear witness to and approve the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their graves.” Here He condemns their purpose in building: they were not honoring those who had been killed, but making a display of the murders. Afraid that when the tombs crumbled with time, the evidence and memory of such audacity would fade away, they erected these magnificent buildings as a kind of trophy, taking pride in those men’s outrageous deeds and displaying them. For the things you now dare to do show that you do these things in the same spirit. Although you say the opposite, He says, as if condemning them—for example, “If we had lived in their days, we would not have joined them”—the disposition behind your words is clear. So He has exposed it, though indirectly. For after saying, you say, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets,” He added, “So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who killed the prophets.” And what blame is there in being a murderer’s son if you do not share your father’s disposition? None. Clearly, then, He brings this charge against them for that very reason, pointing to their kinship in wickedness. This is also clear from what follows. He adds, “You serpents, you brood of vipers.” Just as those creatures resemble their parents in the deadly power of their venom, so you resemble your fathers in your murderousness. Then, because He was examining their state of mind, which most people could not see, He also establishes His words from the deeds they were about to commit, which would be clear to everyone. For after saying, “So you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who killed the prophets,” He made it clear that He was speaking of their kinship in wickedness, and that their claim, “We would not have joined them,” was a pretense, by adding, “Then fill up the measure of your fathers.” He was not commanding this, but declaring beforehand what would happen: His own murder. So, after refuting them and showing that what they said in their own defense was a pretense—for example, “We would not have joined them” (for how could those who do not spare the Lord have spared His servants?)—He makes His language more condemning, calling them “serpents” and a “brood of vipers,” and saying, “How will you escape condemnation to hell,” when you commit such things while denying them and concealing your purpose? Then He rebukes them still more severely on another ground: “I will send you prophets, wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues.” To keep them from saying, “Although we crucified the Lord, we would have spared the servants if we had lived then,” He says, “Look, I send servants to you too, prophets themselves, and you will not spare them either.” He says these things to show that it was no surprise that He should be murdered by these sons, who were murderous and deceitful, full of cunning, and surpassed their fathers in their outrages. Besides what has already been said, He shows that they are also extremely vain. For when they said, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have joined them,” they spoke out of vanity, practicing virtue only in words while doing the opposite in their actions. You serpents, you brood of vipers—that is, wicked sons of wicked men, and more wicked than those who fathered them. He shows that their crimes are greater both because they commit them after those others and because they do far worse things, even while insisting that they would never have fallen into the same sins. For they add what is both the culmination and the crown of their evil deeds. The others killed those who came to the vineyard, but these kill both the son and those who were inviting them to the wedding. He says these things to separate them from kinship with Abraham and to show that it gave them no advantage unless they followed his works. So He also adds, “How can you escape condemnation to hell,” when you follow those who have committed such acts? Here He reminds them of John’s accusation, for he too called them by this name and reminded them of the coming judgment. Then, because judgment and hell do not alarm them at all, since they do not believe in them and the event is still in the future, He frightens them with things in the present, saying, “Therefore, look, I send you prophets and scribes, and some of them you will kill and crucify and flog, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.” 2. See how many warnings He has given them. He said, You condemn your fathers by saying, “We would not have joined them,” and this gives them ample reason to feel ashamed. He said, While condemning them, you yourselves do worse things, and this is enough to cover them with disgrace. He said, These things will not go unpunished, and so He instills in them fear beyond words. He has reminded them of hell. Then, because that was still to come, He brought its terrors home to them as already present. “For all these things,” He says, “will come upon this generation.” He also made the vengeance unspeakably severe, saying that they would suffer worse things than everyone else. Yet none of these things made them better. But if someone asks, Why do they suffer more severely than everyone else? we would answer, Because, to begin with, they have committed worse things than everyone else, and nothing that has happened to them has brought them to their senses. Have you not heard Lamech saying, “Vengeance will be taken for Lamech seventy times sevenfold”—that is, “I deserve more punishment than Cain”? Why would that be? After all, he did not kill his brother. It was because even Cain’s example had not changed his heart for the better. This is also what God says elsewhere: “Repaying the sins of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” This does not mean that anyone is to be punished for crimes committed by others. Rather, those who have not become better even after many others have sinned and been punished, but have committed the same offenses, justly deserve to suffer those others’ punishments as well. But see how appropriately He also mentioned Abel, indicating that this murder too comes from envy. What, then, do you have to say? Do you not know what Cain suffered? Did God remain silent about his deeds? Did He not impose the severest penalty? Have you not heard what your fathers suffered when they killed the prophets? Were they not handed over to countless punishments and acts of vengeance? How, then, did you fail to become better? And why do I speak of your fathers’ punishments and what they suffered? You yourself condemn your fathers; how is it that you do worse? Besides, you yourselves have declared that “He will bring those wicked men to a terrible end.” What mercy, then, can you expect after this, when you commit such things after such a sentence? But who is this Zechariah? Some say John’s father; some, the prophet; some, a priest with two different names, whom Scripture also calls the son of Jehoiada. But notice that the outrage was twofold. They killed holy men, and they did so in a holy place. In saying these things, He not only alarmed them but also comforted His disciples, showing that the righteous men before them had suffered these things too. But He alarmed the others by foretelling that, just as those earlier murderers paid their penalty, these too would suffer the most extreme punishments. That is why He calls them “prophets, wise men, and scribes,” once again taking away every excuse. “For you cannot say,” He says, “You sent people from among the Gentiles, and that is why we took offense.” Instead, they were driven to this by their murderousness and thirst for blood. That is also why He said beforehand, “For this reason I send prophets and scribes.” The prophets too brought this charge against them, saying, “They mingle blood with blood,” and calling them men of blood. That is also why He commanded that blood be offered to Him, showing that if it is so precious in an animal, it is much more precious in a human being. He says the same to Noah: “I will require all blood that is shed.” And one could find ten thousand other such commands of His against committing murder. That is why He commanded them not even to eat anything that had been strangled. Oh, God’s love for humanity! Although He knew beforehand that they would gain nothing from it, He still does His part. “I will send,” He says, knowing that they would be killed. So this too proved that their words, “We would not have joined our fathers,” were empty. For these men too killed prophets, even in their synagogues, respecting neither the place nor the dignity of the people. They did not kill merely ordinary people, but prophets and wise men against whom they could bring no charge. By these He means the apostles and those who came after them, for many did indeed prophesy. Then, wishing to increase their fear, He says, “Truly, truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation”—that is, I will bring everything upon your heads and make the vengeance severe. For someone who knew that many had sinned and was not sobered by it, but himself committed the same sins again—and not merely the same, but far worse—would justly deserve a far more severe punishment than they did. Just as he would have gained greatly if he had been willing to improve through their examples, so, because he continued without changing, he is subject to heavier vengeance: he had the benefit of more warning from those who had sinned before him and been punished, yet gained nothing from it. 3. Then He addresses the city, wishing in this way too to correct His hearers, and says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” What does the repetition mean? It is the way someone speaks who pities her, mourns for her, and loves her deeply. For He pleads as with a beloved woman who has always been loved, but who has despised the One who loves her and is therefore about to be punished; He pleads even as He is about to inflict the punishment. He does this in the prophets too, using these words: “I said, Return to me, and she did not return.” Then, after calling to her, He also recounts her bloody deeds: “You who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I wanted to gather your children together, and you were unwilling.” In this way too He explains His own dealings with her: Even these things have not turned me away or drawn me back from my great affection for you. Even so, I wanted to draw you to me, not once or twice, but often. “For how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks, and you were unwilling.” He says this to show that they were always scattering themselves through their sins. He indicates His affection through the comparison, for this creature’s love for its young is indeed warm. This same image of wings appears throughout the prophets, in the song of Moses, and in the Psalms, indicating His great protection and care. “But you were unwilling,” He says. “Look, your house is left desolate,” stripped of the help that comes from me. Surely He was the same One who had protected them before, held them together, and preserved them. Surely He was the One who had always disciplined them. And He assigns a punishment they had always dreaded greatly, for it meant the complete overthrow of their political order. “For I tell you, you will not see me from now on until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” This is the language of someone who loves deeply, earnestly drawing them to Himself through what is to come, as well as warning them through the past. For here He is speaking of the future day of His second coming. What, then? Did they not see Him after that time? But when He says “from now on,” He does not mean that very hour, but the time up to His crucifixion. For since they were always accusing Him of being a kind of rival God and an enemy of God, He moves them to love Him by showing Himself to be in agreement with His Father. And He indicates that He is the same One who was in the prophets. That is also why He uses the same words the prophets used. Through these words He indicated both His resurrection and His second coming, and made it clear even to those who utterly disbelieved that then they would most certainly worship Him. And how did He make this clear? By speaking of many things that were to happen first: that He would send prophets; that they would kill them; that this would happen in the synagogues; that they themselves would suffer the most extreme punishments; that their house would be left desolate; that they would suffer worse things than anyone else had, things never suffered before. All these things are enough to give even the most senseless and argumentative people clear proof of what will happen at His coming. For I will ask them: Did He send the prophets and wise men? Did they kill them in their synagogue? Was their house left desolate? Did all the vengeance come upon that generation? It is completely clear that it did, and no one denies it. Just as all these things happened, so those things too will happen, and then they will most certainly submit. But they will gain no defense from this, any more than those who repent of their way of life at that time will. So let us do what is good while there is still time. Just as their knowledge brought them no benefit afterward, so our repentance for our wickedness will bring us none then. For a pilot has no further remedy when his ship has sunk in the sea through his negligence, nor does a physician when the sick person has died. Each must plan and carry out everything before the end, to avoid danger and disgrace. Afterward, everything is useless. So let us too, while we are sick, send for physicians, spend money, and make an unceasing effort, so that we may recover from our affliction and leave this world in health. Let us give ourselves as much care when our soul is diseased as we give our servants when their bodies are sick. Indeed, we are closer to ourselves than to our servants, and our souls are more essential than their bodies. Yet it would be good if we made at least an equal effort. For if we do not do this now, once we have departed we will have no further defense. 4. Who is so miserable, someone may ask, as not to show even this much concern? That is precisely the astonishing thing: we value ourselves so little that we neglect ourselves more than our servants. When our servants have a fever, we send for physicians, set them apart in the house, and make them follow the rules of medicine. If they neglect these, we are displeased and appoint people to watch them, who will not allow the sick servants to satisfy their cravings even if the servants want to. If those caring for them say that costly medicines must be bought, we agree. Whatever they prescribe, we obey, and we pay them for these instructions. But when we are sick (or rather, there is never a time when we are not sick), we do not even call in the physician or spend money. We neglect our soul as though we were dealing with some executioner, enemy, or foe. I say this without criticizing our care for our servants, but because I think we should take at least as much care of our souls. And how should we do that? someone may ask. Show your sick soul to Paul; call in Matthew; let John sit beside it. Hear from them what someone so ill ought to do. They will certainly tell you and conceal nothing. For they are not dead, but live and speak. But does the soul ignore them because the fever weighs it down? Compel it to listen and awaken its power of reasoning. Call in the prophets. There is no need to pay these physicians, for they neither demand payment for themselves nor force you to spend money on the medicines they prepare, except for almsgiving. In everything else they even add to your possessions. For example, when they require you to exercise self-control, they free you from ill-timed and improper expenses; when they tell you to abstain from drunkenness, they make you wealthier. Do you see the skill of physicians who give you riches as well as health? Sit beside them, then, and learn from them the nature of your disease. For instance, do you love wealth and greedy gain as feverish people love water? At least listen to their warnings. Just as the physician tells you, If you satisfy your craving, you will die and suffer this or that, so Paul says, “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare of the devil, and into foolish and harmful desires, which drown people in destruction and perdition.” But are you impatient? Hear him saying, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. The Lord is near; be anxious about nothing”; and again, “The form of this world is passing away.” For he not only gives commands but also offers comfort, as a physician should. Just as physicians find other things to take the place of cold things, so he redirects the desire. Do you want to be rich? he says. Let it be “in good works.” Do you want to store up treasure? I do not forbid it at all; only let it be in Heaven. And just as the physician says that cold things harm the teeth, nerves, and bones, so he too, more briefly because he values brevity, yet far more clearly and powerfully, says, “For the love of money is the root of all evils.” What, then, should one use? He tells us this too: contentment instead of greed. “For contentment,” he says, “with godliness is great gain.” But if you are dissatisfied, want more, and cannot yet throw away everything unnecessary, he also tells someone suffering from this disease how to handle these things: “Let those who rejoice in wealth be as though they did not rejoice; those who have, as though they did not possess; and those who use this world, as not misusing it.” Do you see the kinds of things he prescribes? Would you like to call in another physician too? At least to me, that seems good. For these physicians are unlike physicians of the body, who often overwhelm the sick person by competing with one another. These do not: they care about the sick person’s health, rather than their own vanity. So do not be afraid of their number. One Master speaks in them all: Christ. 5. See, for instance, another physician coming in and speaking sternly about this disease—or rather, the Master speaking through him: “For you cannot serve God and mammon.” Yes, someone says, but how will this happen? How will we stop desiring it? We can learn this here too. And how will we know? Hear Him saying this as well: “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” Do you see how, through the place and the things that destroy there, He draws people away from this earthly desire and fixes their hearts on Heaven, where everything is secure against attack? For if you transfer your wealth there, where neither rust nor moth destroys and thieves do not break in and steal, you will both drive out this disease and give your soul the greatest abundance. Along with what we have said, He also presents an example to teach you moderation. Just as a physician, to alarm a sick person, says that someone died from drinking cold water, so He presents the rich man, struggling and longing for life and health, but unable to obtain them because he had set his heart on greed, and going away empty. Besides this man, another evangelist shows you another: the man in torment who did not have even a drop of water at his disposal. Then, showing that His commands are easy, He says, “Look at the birds of the air.” But in His compassion He does not allow even the rich to despair. “For the things that are impossible with human beings are possible with God,” He says. Even if you are rich, the physician can cure you. For what He removed was not wealth, but slavery to riches and love of greedy gain. How, then, can a rich man be saved? By holding his possessions in common with those in need, being like Job, rooting the desire for more out of his soul, and never going beyond actual need. Along with these examples, He also shows you this very tax collector, who was severely afflicted by the fever of greed and quickly freed from it. For what could be more sordid than a tax collector? Yet the man became indifferent to wealth by obeying the physician’s rules. Indeed, He has as His disciples people like these, who suffered from the same diseases we do and quickly recovered their health. He shows us each one so that we will not despair. Look at this tax collector. Notice another too, a chief tax collector, who promised to repay four times everything he had extorted and to give away half of all he possessed, so that he might receive Jesus. But are you burning with an overwhelming desire for riches? Have everyone’s possessions instead of your own. For I give you, He says, more than you seek by opening to you the houses of the wealthy throughout the world. “For whoever has left father or mother, lands or house, will receive a hundred times as much.” In this way you will enjoy more abundant possessions and also remove this terrible thirst altogether. You will endure everything easily, so far from desiring more that often you will not even seek necessities. In this way Paul goes hungry and is held in greater honor than when he ate. For a wrestler too, while competing and winning crowns, would not choose to quit and rest; and a merchant who has begun making sea voyages would not want to be idle afterward. And so, if we taste spiritual fruits as we should, we will no longer consider present things worth anything, seized by the desire for things to come as though by a most noble intoxication. Let us taste them, then, so that we may both be freed from the turmoil of present things and attain the good things to come, by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might, now and forever, and for ages without end. Amen.