Homilies on Joshua, Homily 10

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places,” says the Word of God. And the resurrection of the dead too will not give equal glory to those who rise; but “one is the flesh of birds, another of cattle, another of fish; and there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one and that of the earthly another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. Star differs from star in glory; so also is the resurrection of the dead.” Many differences, then, are indicated among those who come to salvation. Hence I think that these Gibeonites too, whose history has been read, are a certain small portion of those who are to be saved, yet in such a way that they are not saved without being branded with some mark of disgrace. For you see that they are condemned to the service of the people and to the ministry of the altar of God, because they approached the sons of Israel with deceit and trickery, dressed in old rags and shoes and carrying a provision of old bread. These, then, come to Jesus with all their old things and ask of him only this, that they may be saved. In their figure something like this seems to me to be shown. There are some in the church who believe indeed and have faith in God and assent to all the divine commands; who are also devout toward the servants of God and desire to serve them, and are quite ready and prepared for the adornment of the church or its service; but in their own acts and conduct they are wrapped in obscenities and vices, by no means putting off the old self with its deeds, but wrapped in their old vices and obscenities as if covered with old rags and shoes. Apart from believing in God and seeming devoted to the servants of God or to the worship of the church, they do nothing to improve or renew their habits. To these, then, Jesus our Lord grants salvation indeed, but in a way their very salvation does not escape the brand of disgrace. A similar figure of these is also described in the little book called the Shepherd. For it says that there is a certain tree called the elm, which bears no fruit, yet carries the vine, which bears much fruit; and because it is a support to the vine, which, leaning on its strength, can bear or keep a great deal of fruit, the elm too, though fruitless, seems necessary and useful by the very fact that it serves the fruitful vine. Understand something of this kind also in the Gibeonites, who have not put off the old self with its deeds, yet minister to the saints, serve them, and provide some assistance, and in such a rank receive salvation from Jesus with an oath added. I would not wish to obtain salvation in the rank of the Gibeonites, nor to be numbered among the woodcutters or the carriers of water, but to take an inheritance among the Israelites and receive a portion of the land of promise.

It must indeed be noted that heretics, those who do not receive the Old Testament, are accustomed to bring false charges when they read this passage, and they say: See how Jesus son of Nun had no humanity, in that, while granting salvation to people who had come to him asking for help, he inflicted on them a mark of disgrace and the yoke of slavery. If a soul little instructed in the divine Scriptures hears this, it can at once be weakened and endangered, so as to flee from the catholic faith. For such souls do not understand their deceptions. For Jesus, looking at the measure of their faith, kept a fitting judgment toward them. Rahab the prostitute, moreover, who believed with whole faith together with all her house and received the Israelite spies with the fullest devotion, was received wholly into the fellowship and society of the people, and it is written of her that she was added to the sons of Israel until this day. But these men, who did not so much love fellowship with the Israelite nation as, terrified by fear of their own destruction, approach Jesus with cunning and fraud — how could they earn freedom of life and fellowship in the kingdom by servants’ tricks? Indeed, do you want to know that the condition assigned to them by Jesus was worthy of their degraded state of mind? They themselves say: “We have heard how great things the Lord did for you at the Red Sea and in the desert.” And though they said this, and confessed that they had heard and knew of the divine wonders, yet they did nothing worthy of faith, nothing worthy of their admiration for such great mighty works. And therefore Jesus, seeing their narrow and slight purpose in faith, treats them with complete justice, so that those who had brought some faith, however little, should obtain salvation, yet should not receive the summit of the kingdom or of freedom, because their faith was ennobled by no addition of works; for the apostle James declares that faith without works is to be held dead.

Yet we must know how much we are taught by the foreshadowings of such figures: that if there are any such among us whose faith extends only so far as to come to church and bow their heads, show courtesy to the priests, honor the servants of God, and also contribute something to the adornment of the altar or the church, but who apply no zeal to cultivating their habits too, amending their acts, laying aside their vices, cultivating chastity, softening their anger, restraining their greed, curbing their predatory greed, and do not remove from their mouth malicious talk and foolish talk or vulgar abuse and the poison of malicious gossip — let those who are such, who do not wish to amend themselves but persist in these things until extreme old age, know that their part and lot will be assigned by the Lord Jesus with the Gibeonites. But rather we urge you, brothers, fulfilling our mission as ambassadors of the word of God, that while we can still change for the better, we may make every effort and hurry, casting away the ancient filth and old rags of vices, to be joined and united to the freedom of the Israelites. And do you want to see how great is the freedom of the Israelites? It is commanded in the law that a Hebrew boy, if he happens to fall into servitude, may not serve more than six years, but in the seventh year the law orders that he be released free. So great is the care for freedom among them. If we bring this back to its spiritual meaning: even if you are a Hebrew boy who has fallen into servitude (for he is a boy who falls into servitude through weakness of mind — what servitude? Scripture says, “He who sins is a slave of sin”; into this servitude it is not a manly and perfect mind that falls, but a boyish and weak one) — even, then, if you are a Hebrew boy, that is, one of the faithful who has also received baptism in the church, and after this have fallen into the servitude of sin, let six years’ servitude be enough for you; in the seventh year take care not to serve, but hurry toward your freedom. The number seven signifies the law of the commandments, but the number six bears the figure of this world. As long, then, as you savor the things of this world, occupy yourself with them, and think according to the flesh, you must serve sin. But when you come to the number seven, that is, to the knowledge of the law, then seek your freedom and return to your father’s nobility. If instead you remain in your evils and persist in sins, with a mark fixed in your ear as one who does not hear the words of God admonishing you and calling you back to your former freedom, you will become a slave of sin forever. Then I ask you whether you would willingly become a slave in this world, from being a householder and a man of noble birth. You undoubtedly refuse, since we see very many even who are enslaved hurry toward freedom and desire, as far as they can, even to become rich, and to cover the baseness of their low birth with honors sought from wherever they may. If, then, in this life no one wants to be a slave, but everyone desires as far as possible to be free and rich and noble, so as not only to have enough for himself but also to give to others, should we tolerate servitude with indifference in those eternal things that are never to be changed, and does it seem a small matter to us to be assigned to the woodcutters and carriers of water? Therefore, while it is day, let us do what is good and make every effort to improve, so that by our acts, our conduct, and our habits we may deserve to be ennobled and be made worthy to receive the spirit of adoption, that we may rather be counted among the sons of God, through his only and true Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.