Homilies on Matthew, Homily 8

“And when they came into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother.” How, then, does Luke say that He was lying in the manger? Because at His birth she immediately laid Him there (for, as was quite likely, in that great crowd gathered for the census, they could find no house; Luke also indicates this when he says, “Because there was no room, she laid Him” there); but afterward she picked Him up and held Him on her knees. For as soon as she arrived at Bethlehem, her labor ended. From this, too, you can learn about the whole divine plan, and that these things did not happen at random or by chance, but were all being fulfilled according to divine foreknowledge and prophetic order. But what led them to worship? The Virgin was not prominent, the house was not distinguished, and nothing else they saw was likely to amaze or attract them. Yet they not only worship but also “open their treasures” and “offer gifts”—gifts offered to God, not to a man. For the frankincense and myrrh symbolized this. What, then, moved them? The same thing that moved them to leave home and make so long a journey: both the star and the light God brought to their minds, guiding them little by little toward more complete knowledge. Surely, if this had not been so, they would not have shown such great honor when everything they could see was ordinary. So none of the outward circumstances there was grand: there was a manger, a shed, and a mother living in poverty. This laid the wise men’s love of wisdom naked and bare before your eyes and proved to you that they approached Him not as a mere man, but as God and Benefactor. That is why nothing they saw outwardly offended them; instead, they worshiped and brought gifts. Their gifts were not only free from Jewish material-mindedness, since they did not sacrifice sheep and calves, but also came close to the Church’s offering of herself, for what they offered Him was knowledge, obedience, and love. “And being warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another way.” See their faith in this, too: they took no offense but were teachable and thoughtful. They were not troubled and did not argue with themselves, saying, “And yet, if this Child is great and has any power, why must we flee and retreat in secret? And why, when we have come openly and boldly and stood against so great a people and a king’s madness, does the angel send us out of the city as runaways and fugitives?” But they neither said nor thought any of these things. For this above all belongs to faith: not to demand an explanation of what is commanded, but simply to obey the commandments given to us. 2. “And when they had departed, look, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up, take the young Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt.” There is something here worth examining about both the magi and the Child. Since even they were not troubled but accepted everything with faith, we should examine why they and the young Child were not kept safe while remaining there, but instead went away as fugitives, they to Persia and He with His mother to Egypt. But what should have happened? Should He have fallen into Herod’s hands and then escaped being killed? No; people would not have believed that He had taken on flesh. They would not have believed in the greatness of the incarnation. For even while these things were happening and many circumstances were being mysteriously arranged in an ordinary human way, some dared to say that His taking our flesh is a fable. How badly would they have been shipwrecked in impiety if He had done everything in a way befitting His Godhead and according to His own power? As for the wise men, He sends them away quickly, both commissioning them as teachers to the land of the Persians and thwarting the king’s madness, so that he might learn that he was attempting the impossible, extinguish his anger, and abandon this useless effort. For easily deceiving His enemies, as well as openly subduing them, is worthy of His power. For example, He also deceived the Egyptians in the case of the Jews. Although He had the power to transfer their wealth openly into the Hebrews’ hands, He tells them to do this secretly and by trickery. Surely this, no less than the other miracles, made Him terrifying to His enemies. At any rate, after the people of Ashkelon and all the others had taken the ark and been afflicted, they advised their countrymen not to fight or resist Him. Along with the other miracles, they also brought this forward, saying, “Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened theirs? After He had mocked them, did He not then send His people out, and they departed?” They said this because they considered this latest act no less effective than the other signs done openly in proving His power and greatness. The same thing happened on this occasion, too—something enough to astonish the tyrant. Consider what Herod would naturally have felt, and how his very breath would have stopped when he was deceived by the wise men and so held up to ridicule. What if he did not become better? That was not the fault of Him who wonderfully arranged all this, but of Herod’s extreme madness. He would not yield even to things that had the power to persuade him and turn him away from his wickedness, but went still further, bringing an even harsher punishment on himself for such great folly. 3. But why, someone may ask, is the young Child sent to Egypt? First, the evangelist himself gives the reason, saying, “That it might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I have called my Son.” At the same time, the first signs of bright hopes were being announced beforehand to the world. For Babylon and Egypt, more than anywhere else on earth, were burning with the flame of ungodliness. By sending the wise men to the one and visiting the other Himself with His mother, He showed from the beginning that He intended to correct and reform both, and so encouraged people to expect His generous gifts for the whole world as well. Besides what I have said, this teaches us another lesson that contributes greatly to true self-control. What is it? To expect trials and plots from the beginning. See how this happened immediately, even while He was in swaddling clothes. At His birth you see first a raging tyrant, then flight and departure across the border; and His mother, guilty of no crime, is exiled to the land of foreigners. This is so that, when you hear these things—if you are considered worthy to serve in some spiritual work and then find yourself suffering incurable evils and facing countless dangers—you will not be deeply troubled or say, “What can this mean? Surely I ought to be crowned and celebrated, glorious and distinguished, for carrying out the Lord’s commandment.” Instead, with this example before you, you can bear everything nobly, knowing that this is especially the pattern of all spiritual things: trials accompany them everywhere. See how this applies not only to the young Child’s mother but also to those foreigners. They withdraw secretly as fugitives; and she, who had never stepped beyond the threshold of her house, is commanded to endure so long and painful a journey because of this wonderful birth and her spiritual labor. And see another wonder. Palestine plots against Him, and Egypt receives and protects the One targeted by the plots. For, as it appears, types occurred not only in the case of the patriarch’s sons but also in our Lord’s own case. We know that in many instances His actions at that time prophetically announced what would happen afterward, as, for example, in the matter of the donkey and the colt. 4. Now, when the angel appears in this way, he speaks to Joseph, not Mary. And what does he say? “Get up, and take the young Child and His mother.” Here he no longer says “your wife,” but “His mother.” For after the birth had taken place, the suspicion had been removed, and the husband had been reassured, the angel speaks openly. He calls neither the child nor the wife Joseph’s, but says, “Take the young Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt.” He also gives the reason for the flight: “For Herod,” he says, “will seek the young Child’s life.” When Joseph heard these things, he took no offense, nor did he say, “This is hard to understand. Didn’t you just say that He would save His people? And now He does not even save Himself, but we must flee, go far from home, and stay away a long time. The facts contradict the promise.” No, he says none of these things, for the man was faithful. Nor does he inquire about the time of his return, even though the angel had left it indefinite, saying, “Stay there until I tell you.” Nevertheless, even this did not make him tremble; he submits and obeys, enduring all the trials with joy. This was because God, who is full of love for humanity, mixed pleasant things with these hardships. This is His way with all the saints: He makes neither their dangers nor their relief continuous, but weaves the lives of all righteous people out of both. He did this very thing here. Consider: Joseph saw that the Virgin was pregnant, and this threw him into agitation and extreme distress, because he suspected the young woman of adultery. But immediately the angel came to remove his suspicion and fears; and when he saw the young Child born, he experienced the greatest joy. Again, this joy was followed by no small danger: the city was troubled, and the king in his madness was searching for the One who had been born. But this trouble was followed by another joy: the star and the worship of the wise men. Again, after this pleasure came fear and danger. “For Herod,” he says, “is seeking the young Child’s life,” and He must flee and withdraw as any mortal might, since the time for working miracles had not yet come. For if He had displayed wonders from His earliest infancy, He would not have been considered a Man. For this reason, I would add, a temple is not formed all at once. Instead, there is an ordinary conception, a period of nine months, labor pains, delivery, nursing, silence for so long a time, and His waiting for the proper age of manhood—all so that the mystery of His incarnation might gain acceptance by every means. “But why, then,” someone may ask, “were even these signs performed at the beginning?” For His mother’s sake; for the sake of Joseph and Simeon, who was soon to depart; for the sake of the shepherds and the wise men; for the sake of the Jews. For if they had been willing to pay careful attention to what was happening, this event, too, would have greatly helped them understand what was to come. But if the prophets do not mention the things concerning the wise men, do not be troubled. They neither foretold everything nor kept silent about everything. For just as seeing these things happen without any warning would naturally cause great astonishment and distress, so being told everything would lull the hearer to sleep and leave nothing for the evangelists to add. 5. And if the Jews raise a question about the prophecy and say that the words “Out of Egypt I have called my Son” were spoken about themselves, we would tell them: This is a principle of prophecy, that in many cases much that is said about one group of people is fulfilled in another. Such is the saying about Simeon and Levi: “I will divide them,” He says, “in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” Yet this did not happen to them personally, but to their descendants. Again, Noah’s saying about Canaan came true in the Gibeonites, Canaan’s descendants. You can see that the same happened with the saying about Jacob. For the blessings that say, “Be lord over your brother, and let your father’s sons worship you,” were not fulfilled in Jacob himself (how could they have been, when he was afraid and trembling and repeatedly worshiped his brother?), but they were fulfilled in his offspring. The very same can be said here. For who can more truly be called God’s son: the one who worships a calf, joins himself to Baal-peor, and sacrifices his sons to demons? Or He who is a Son by nature and honors Him who begot Him? So unless this Man had come, the prophecy would not have received its proper fulfillment. Notice, too, that the evangelist indicates the same thing by the phrase “that it might be fulfilled,” implying that it would not have been fulfilled unless He had come. This also makes the Virgin glorious and distinguished to an extraordinary degree: what had been the whole people’s special claim to praise could now be hers as well. I mean that, while they were proud of their coming up from Egypt and used to boast of it (which the prophet also hinted at when he said, “Have I not brought up the foreigners from Cappadocia, and the Assyrians from the pit”), He gives this distinction to the Virgin as well. More precisely, however, both the people and the patriarch, by going down there and coming back up, together completed the type of His return. Just as they went down to escape death by famine, so He went down to escape death by conspiracy. But while they were temporarily delivered from famine when they arrived, this Man, when He went down, sanctified the whole land by setting His foot on it. Notice, at least, how the signs of His Godhead are revealed in the midst of His humiliations. First of all, when the angel said, “Flee to Egypt,” he did not promise to travel with them, either on their way down or on their return. This indicated that they had a great fellow traveler, the Child who had been born: One who changed everything immediately upon His appearance and brought it about that His enemies served this divine plan in many ways. Thus magi and foreigners leave their fathers’ superstition and come to worship. Thus Augustus serves the birth at Bethlehem through his decree for the census. Egypt receives and protects Him when He is driven from His home and plotted against, and gains a kind of first impulse toward union with Him. So, when she later hears Him preached by the apostles, she can at least boast of having received Him first. Yet this privilege had belonged to Palestine alone; but the second proved more fervent than the first. 6. And now, if you come to the desert of Egypt, you will see this desert become better than any paradise: ten thousand choirs of angels in human form, nations of martyrs, companies of virgins, and all the devil’s tyranny overthrown, while Christ’s kingdom shines in its brightness. Egypt, the mother of poets, wise men, and magicians, the inventor of every kind of sorcery and its spreader among all others—you will now see her taking pride in the fishermen and treating all those others with contempt, while carrying the tax collector and the tentmaker everywhere and protecting herself with the cross. These good things are found not only in the cities but even more in the deserts. For everywhere in that land you can truly see Christ’s camp, the royal flock, and the ordered community of the powers above. And you can find these principles practiced not only by men but also by women. Yes, they pursue wisdom no less than men do. They do not take up shields and mount horses, as the solemn lawgivers and philosophers of the Greeks prescribe; they undertake another, far harder fight. For the war against the devil and his powers belongs equally to them and to men, and the delicacy of their nature is no obstacle at all in such conflicts. These struggles are decided by the mind’s choice, not by bodily constitution. That is why women have often been more eager in the contest than men and have raised more brilliant trophies. Heaven with its varied choir of stars is not as glorious as the wilderness of Egypt, displaying the monks’ tents all around us. Anyone who knows ancient Egypt—Egypt that fought madly against God, was enslaved to cats, and feared and dreaded onions—will fully recognize Christ’s power. Or rather, we have no need of ancient histories, for remnants of that senseless race still remain as a sample of their former madness. Nevertheless, those who long ago all broke out into such great madness now seek wisdom about heaven and the things above heaven. They ridicule their fathers’ customs, acknowledge their ancestors’ wretchedness, and have no respect for the philosophers. They have learned from the facts themselves that everything those philosophers taught was merely the invention of drunken old women, while the true philosophy, worthy of heaven, is what the fishermen proclaimed to them. For this very reason, along with their great precision in doctrine, they also display extreme seriousness in their lives. For after stripping themselves of everything they own and being crucified to the whole world, they press still further ahead, working with their bodies to feed those in need. They do not think that fasting and keeping watch make it right to be idle during the day. Instead, they spend their nights in holy hymns and vigils, and their days in prayer while also working with their own hands, imitating the apostle’s zeal. For if he, when the whole world was looking to him, worked in a workshop and practiced a trade to feed those in need, and while so occupied did not even sleep at night, how much more fitting is it, they say, that we, who have made our home in the wilderness and have nothing to do with the turmoil of the cities, should use the leisure of our quiet life for spiritual labors! Let all of us, rich and poor alike, be ashamed when those who have nothing but a body and hands press forward and eagerly strive to use them to provide for the poor, while we, with endless stores at home, do not even touch our surplus for these purposes. What defense, I ask you, will we have then? What excuse? Consider further how these Egyptians in ancient times were greedy and gluttonous, along with their other vices. For there were the pots of meat that the Jews remember; there was the belly’s great tyranny. Nevertheless, because they were willing, they changed. And when Christ set them on fire, they immediately began their voyage toward heaven. Although they were more passionate than the rest of humanity and more headstrong, both in anger and in bodily pleasures, they imitate the incorporeal powers in gentleness and in the rest of that freedom from passions that belongs to self-denial. 7. Anyone who has been to that country knows what I mean. But if someone has never entered those dwellings, let him remember the man whose name is still on everyone’s lips—the man Egypt produced after the apostles, the blessed and great Anthony. Let him say to himself, “This man, too, was born in the same country as Pharaoh. Nevertheless, he suffered no harm from that, but was granted a divine vision and displayed the kind of life Christ’s laws require.” Anyone who reads the book containing the history of that man’s life will understand this fully; in it he will also find much prophecy. I mean Anthony’s prediction about those infected with Arius’s errors and his account of the harm they would cause. Even then God had shown them to him and outlined before his eyes everything that was coming. Among other things, this is especially powerful proof of the truth: no one belonging to the heresies outside the Church has such a man to point to. But rather than depend on us for this information, study what is written in that book, and you will learn everything accurately and receive much instruction in self-denial. I give this advice so that we will not merely read what is written there but also imitate it, and make neither our location, our upbringing, nor our ancestors’ wickedness an excuse. For if we pay attention to ourselves, none of these things will hinder us. Even Abraham had an ungodly father, but he did not inherit his wickedness; and Hezekiah had Ahaz, yet he became dear to God. Joseph, too, in the midst of Egypt, adorned himself with the crowns of chastity. The Three Children likewise showed the greatest self-denial in the midst of Babylon and the palace, when a table like those at Sybaris was set before them. So did Moses in Egypt and Paul throughout the world. Nothing hindered any of them in the race of virtue. Keeping all these things in mind, then, let us put aside our needless defenses and excuses and devote ourselves to the hard work that virtue requires. In this way we will gain more favor from God, persuade Him to help us in our struggles, and obtain the eternal blessings. 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 victory forever and ever. Amen.