Homilies

Homily Fifteen, Part Two. St. John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew. Homily Fifteen, Part Two. Matthew 5, Thirteen through Sixteen Now then, after giving them due exhortation, he refreshes them again with praises, as thus, the injunctions being high, and far surpassing those in the Old Testament, lest they should be disturbed and confounded, and say, How shall we be able to achieve these things? Hear what he saith. Ye are the salt of the earth, implying that of absolute necessity he enjoins all this. For not for your own life apart, saith he, but for the whole world shall your account be. For not to two cities, nor to ten, or twenty, or to a single nation am I sending you, as I sent the prophets, but to earth, and sea, and the whole world, in that an evil case. For by saying, Ye are the salt of the earth, he signified all human nature to have lost its savour, and to be decayed by our sins. For which cause, you see, he requires of them such virtues as are most necessary and useful for the superintendence of the common sort. For first, the meek, and yielding, and merciful, and righteous, shuts not up his good deeds unto himself only, but also provides that these good fountains should run over for the benefit of others. And he again who is pure in heart, and a peacemaker, and is persecuted for the truth's sake, he again orders his way of life for the common good. Think not then, he saith, that ye are drawn on to ordinary conflicts, or that for some small matters you are to give account. Ye are the salt of the earth. What then? Did they restore the decayed? By no means, for neither is it possible to do any good to that which is already spoiled, by sprinkling it with salt. This therefore they did not. But rather, what things had been before restored, and committed to their charge, and freed from that ill savour, these they then salted, maintaining and preserving them in that freshness which they had received of the Lord. For that men should be set free from the rottenness of their sins was the good work of Christ. But their not returning to it again any more was the object of these men's diligence and travail. Seest thou how by degrees he indicates their superiority to the very prophets? In that he saith they are teachers, not of Palestine, but of the whole world, and not simply teachers, but awe-inspiring ones too. For this is the marvellous thing, that not by flattering nor soothing, but by sharply bracing them as salt, even so they became dear to all men. Now marvel not, saith he, if leaving all others I discourse to you, and draw you on to so great dangers. For consider over how many cities, tribes, and nations I am to send you to preside. Wherefore I would have you not only be prudent yourselves, but that you should also make others the same. And such persons have great need to be intelligent, in whom the salvation of the rest is at stake. They ought so much to abound in virtue, as to impart of the profit to others also. For if ye do not become such as this, ye will not suffice even for your own selves. Be not then impatient, as though my sayings were too burdensome. For while it is possible for others who have lost their savour to return by your means, you, if you should come to this, will with yourselves destroy others also. So that in proportion as the matters are great, which ye have put into your hands, you need so much the greater diligence. Therefore he saith, But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. For other men, though they fall never so often, may possibly obtain indulgence. But the teacher, should this happen to him, is deprived of all excuse, and will suffer the most extreme vengeance. Thus lest that the words, When they shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you, they should be too timid to go forth, he tells them, Unless ye are prepared to combat with all this, ye have been chosen in vain. For it is not evil report that ye should fear, but lest ye should prove partners in dissimulation. For then ye will lose your savour, and be trodden under foot. But if ye continue sharply to brace them up, and then are evil spoken of, rejoice. For this is the very use of salt, to sting the corrupt, and make them smart. And so their censure follows, of course, in no way harming you, but rather testifying your firmness. But if through fear of it you give up the earnestness that becomes you, ye will have to suffer much more grievously, being both evil spoken of, and despised by all. For this is the meaning of trodden under foot. After this he leads on to another, a higher image. Ye are the light of the world. Of the world, again, not of one nation, nor of twenty states, but of the whole inhabited earth. And a light to the mind, far better than this sunbeam, like as they were also a spiritual salt. And before they are salt, and now light. To teach thee how great is the gain of these strict precepts, and the profit of that grave discipline, how it binds, and permits not to become dissolute, and causes clear sight, leading men on to virtue. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle, and put it under the bushel. Again, by these words, he trains them to strictness of life, teaching them to be earnest in their endeavors, as set before the eyes of all men, and contending in the midst of the amphitheatre of the world. For, look not to this, he saith, that we are now sitting here, that we are in a small portion of one corner. For ye shall be as conspicuous to all as a city set on the ridge of a hill, as a candle and a house on the candlestick, giving light. Where now are they who persevere in disbelieving the power of Christ? Let them hear these things, and let them adore his might, amazed at the power of the prophecy. For consider how great things he promised to them, who were not known even in their own country, that earth and sea should know them, and that they should by their fame reach to the limits of the inhabited world, or rather, not by their fame, but by the working of the good they wrought. For it was not fame that bearing them everywhere made them conspicuous, but also the actual demonstration by their works. Since, as though they had wings, more vehemently than the sunbeam did they overrun the whole earth, sowing the light of godliness. But here he seems to me to be also training them to boldness of speech. For to say, A city set on a hill cannot be hid, is to speak as declaring his own powers. For as that city can no by means be hidden, so it was impossible that what they preached should sink into silence and obscurity. Thus, since he had spoken of persecutions and calumnies, of plots and wars, for fear they might think that these would have power to stop their mouths, to encourage them, he saith, that so far from being hid, it should overshine the whole world, and that on this very account they should be illustrious and renowned. By this then he declares his own power. In what follows, he requires that boldness of speech which was due on their part, thus saying, Neither do men light a candle, and put it under the bushel, but on the candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. For I, saith he, it is true, have kindled the light, but it is continuing to burn, let that come of your diligence, not for your own sakes alone, but also for their sake, who are to profit by these rays, and to be guided unto the truth. Since the calumnies surely shall not be able to obscure your brightness, if you be still living a strict life, and as becomes those who are to convert the whole world. Show forth, therefore, a life worthy of his grace, that even as it is everywhere preached, so this light may everywhere accompany the same. Next he sets before them another sort of gain, besides the salvation of mankind, enough to make them strive earnestly, and to lead them unto all diligence. As thus, ye shall not only, saith he, amend the world, if ye live aright, but ye will also give occasion that God shall be glorified, even as if ye do the contrary, ye will both destroy men, and make God's name be blasphemed. And how, it may be asked, shall God be glorified through us, if at least men are to speak evil of us? Nay, not all men, and even they themselves, who in envy do this, will in their conscience admire and approve you, even as the outward flatterers of such as live in wickedness do in mind accuse them. What, then, dost thou command us to live for display and vainglory? Far from it, I say not this, for I did not say, Give ye diligence to bring forward your own good deeds, neither did I say, Show them, but let your light shine, that is, let your virtue be great, and the fire abundant, and the light unspeakable. For when virtue is so great, it cannot lie hid, though its pursuer shade it over ten thousandfold. Present unto them an irreprehensible life, and let them have no true occasion of evil speaking, and then, though there be thousands of evil speakers, no man shall be able to cast any shade upon you. And well did he say, Your light, for nothing makes a man so illustrious, how manifold soever his will to be concealed, as the manifestation of virtue. For as if he were clad with the very sunbeam, so he shines, yet brighter than it, not spending his rays on earth, but surmounting also heaven itself. Hence also he comforts them more abundantly. For what though the slander pain you, saith he, yet shall ye have many to honour God on your account. And in both ways your recompense is gathering, as well because God is glorified through you, as because ye are defamed for God's sake. Thus, lest we should on purpose seek to be reproached, on hearing that there is a reward for it, first, he hath not expressed that sentiment simply, but with two limitations, namely, when what is said is false, and when it is for God's sake. And next, he signifies how not that only, but also good report hath its great profit, the glory of it passing on to God. And he holds out to them those gracious hopes. For, saith he, the calumny of the wicked avails not so much as to put all others in the dark, in respect of seeing your light. For then only, when you have lost your savour, shall they tread you under foot. But not when you are falsely accused, doing right. Yea, rather then shall there be many admiring, not only you, but for your sake your father also. And he said not God, but your father, already sowing beforehand the seeds of that noble birth, which was about to be bestowed upon them. Moreover, indicating his parity and honour, as he said above, Grieve not when ye are evil spoken of, for it is enough for you that for my sake ye are thus spoken of. So here he mentions the father, everywhere manifesting his equality. Since then we know the gain that arises from this earnestness, and the danger of indolence. For if our Lord be blasphemed because of us, that were far worse than our perdition. Let us give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. And while the life which we present before them is brighter than the sun, yet if any one will speak evil of us, let us not grieve at being defamed, but only if we be defamed with justice. For on the one hand, if we live in wickedness, though there be none to speak ill of us, we shall be the most wretched of all men. On the other hand, if we apply ourselves to virtue, though the whole world speak evil of us, at that very time we shall be more enviable than any, and we shall draw on to follow us all who choose to be saved, for not the calumny of the wicked, but our good life will draw their attention. For indeed no trumpet is so clear as the proof that is given by our actions, neither is the light itself so transparent as a pure life, though our calumniators be beyond number. I say, if all the above-mentioned qualities be ours, if we be meek and lowly and merciful, if we be pure and peacemakers, if hearing reproach we revile not again, but rather rejoice, then shall we attract all that observe us no less than the miracles do, and all will be kindly disposed towards us, though one be a wild beast, a demon, or what you will. Or, if there should even be some who speak evil of thee, be not thou at all troubled thereat, nor because they revile thee in public, regard it, but search into their conscience, and thou shalt see them applauding and admiring thee, and numbering up ten thousand praises. See, for instance, how Nebuchadnezzar praises the children in the furnace, yet surely he was an adversary and an enemy. But upon seeing them stand nobly, he proclaims their triumph and crowns them, and that for naught else but because they disobeyed him and hearkened unto the law of God. For the devil, when he sees himself affecting nothing, from that time departs, fearing lest he should be the cause of our winning more crowns. And when he is gone, even one who is abominable and depraved will recognize virtue that missed being withdrawn. Or if men still argue perversely, thou shalt have from God the greater praise and admiration. Grieve not now, I pray thee, neither despond, since the very apostles were to some a of death, to others a saver of life. And if there be nothing to lay hold of in thyself, thou art rid of all their charges, or rather thou art become the more blessed. Shine out, therefore, in thy life, and take no account of them who speak evil of thee. For it cannot, it cannot be, that one careful of virtue should not have many enemies. However, this is nothing to the virtuous man, for by such means his brightness will increase the more abundantly. Let us then, bearing these things in mind, look to one object only, how to order our own life with strictness. For thus we shall also guide to the life that is there, such as are now sitting in darkness. For such is the virtue of that light, is not only to shine here, but also to conduct its followers thither. For when men see us despising all things present, and preparing ourselves for that which is to come, our actions will persuade them sooner than any discourse. For who is there so senseless, that at sight of one who within a day or two was living in luxury and wealth, now stripping himself of all, and putting on wings, and arrayed to meet both hunger and poverty, and all hardship, and dangers, and blood, and slaughter, and everything that is counted dreadful, will not from this sight derive a clear demonstration of the things which are to come? But if we entangle ourselves in things present, and plunge ourselves in them more and more, how will it be possible for them to be persuaded that we are hastening to another sojourn? And what excuse after this shall we have, if the fear of God avail not so much with us, as human glory availed with the Greek philosophers? For some of them did really both lay aside wealth, and despised death, that they might make a show before men, wherefore also their hopes became vain. What plea then shall deliver us, when with so great things set before us, and with so high a rule of self-denial laid open to us, we are not able even to do as they did, but ruin both ourselves and others besides? For neither is the harm so great when a heathen commits transgression, as when a Christian doeth the same. Of course not, for their character is already lost, but ours, by reason of the grace of God, is even among the ungodly venerable and glorious. Therefore, when they should most revile us, and aggravate their evil speech, they add some such taunt as, Thou Christian! A taunt which they would not utter, did they not secretly entertain a great opinion of our doctrine? Hast thou not heard how many, and how great precepts Christ enjoined? Now, when wilt thou be able to fulfill one of those commandments, while thou leavest all, and goest about gathering interest, tacking together usuries, setting on foot transactions of business, buying herds of slaves, procuring silver vessels, purchasing houses, fields, goods without end? And I would this were all. But when, to these unseasonable pursuits, thou addest even injustice, removing landmarks, taking away houses by violence, aggravating poverty, increasing hunger, when wilt thou be able to set thy foot on these thresholds? But sometimes thou showest mercy to the poor. I know it as well as thou. But even in this again great is the mischief. For thou doest this either in pride or in vainglory, so as not to profit even by thy good deeds. What can be more wretched than this, to be making thy shipwreck in the very harbor? To prevent this, when thou hast done any good action, seek not thanks from me, that thou mayest have God thy debtor. For lend, saith he, unto them from whom ye do not expect to receive. Thou hast thy debtor. Why leave him, and require it of me, a poor and wretched mortal? What, is that debtor displeased when the debt is required of him? What, is he poor? Is he unwilling to pay? Seest thou not his unspeakable treasures? Seest thou not his indescribable munificence? Lay hold then on him, and make thy demand. For he is pleased when one thus demands the debt of him. Because, if he see another required to pay for what he himself owes, he will feel as though he were insulted, and repay thee no more. Nay, he justly finds fault, saying, Why, of what ingratitude hast thou convicted me? What poverty dost thou know to be in me, that thou hastenest by me, and resortest unto others? Hast thou lent to one, and dost thou demand the debt of another? For, although man received it, it was God that commanded thee to bestow. And his will is to be himself, and in the original sense, debtor and surety, affording thee ten thousand occasion to demand the debt of him from every quarter. Do not thou then let go so great facility and abundance, and seek to receive of me who have nothing? Why, to what end dost thou display to me thy mercy shown to the poor? What, was it I that said to thee, Give? Was it from me, that thou didst hear this, that thou shouldest demand it back of me? He himself hath said, He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to God. Thou hast lent to God, put it to his account. But he doth not repay the whole now. Well, this too he doth for thy good. For such a debtor is he, not as many, who are anxious simply to repay that which is lent, whereas he manages and doeth all things with a view of investing likewise in security that which hath been given unto him. Therefore some, you see, he repays here, some he assigns in the other place. Knowing, therefore, as we do these things, let us make our mercifulness abundant. Let us give proof of much love to man, both by the use of our money and by our actions. And if we see anyone ill-treated and beaten in the marketplace, whether we can pay down money, let us do it, or whether by words we may separate them, let us not be backward. For even a word has its reward, and still more have sighs. In this the blessed Job said, But I wept for every helpless one, and I sighed when I saw a man in distress. But if there be a reward for tears and sighs, when words also, and an anxious endeavor, and many things besides are added, consider how great the recompense becomes. Yea, for we too were enemies to God, and the Only Begotten reconciled us, casting himself between, and for us receiving stripes, and for us enduring death. Let us then likewise do our diligence to deliver from countless evils such as are incurring them, and not as we do now, when we see any beating and tearing one another, we are apt to stand by, finding pleasure in the disgrace of others, and forming a devilish amphitheater around. Then which what can be more cruel? Thou seest men reviled, tearing each other to pieces, rending their clothes, smiting each other's faces, and dost thou endure to stand by quietly? What, is it a bear that is fighting? A wild beast? A serpent? It is a man, one who hath in every respect fellowship with thee, a brother, a member. Look not on, but separate them. Take no pleasure, but amend the evil. Stir not up others to the shameful sight, but rather drive off, and separate those who are assembled. It is for shameless persons, and born slaves, to take pleasure in such calamities, for those that are mere refuse, for asses without reason. Thou seest a man behaving himself unseemly, and dost thou not account the unseemliness thine own? Dost thou not interpose, and scatter the devil's troop, and put an end to men's miseries? That I may receive blows myself, saith one, is this also thy bidding? Thou wilt not have to suffer even this, but if thou shouldest, the thing would be to thee a sort of martyrdom, for thou didst suffer on God's behalf. And if thou art slow to receive blows, consider that thy Lord was not slow to endure the cross for thee. Since they, for their part, are drunken in darkness, wrath being their tyrant and commander, and they need some one who is sound to help them, both the wrong-doer and he who is injured, the one that he may be delivered from suffering evil, the other that he may cease to do it. Draw nigh, therefore, and stretch forth the hand, thou that art sober, to him that is drunken, for there is a drunkenness of wrath, too, and that more grievous than the drunkenness of wine. Seest thou not the seamen, how, when they see any meeting with shipwreck, they spread their sails, and set out with all haste to rescue those of the same craft out of the waves? Now, if partakers in an art show so much care one for another, how much more ought they who are partakers of the same nature to do all these things? Because, in truth, here, too, is a shipwreck, a more grievous one than that, for either a man under provocation blasphemes, and so throws all away, or he forswears himself under the sway of his wrath, and that way falls into hell, or he strikes a blow and commits murder, and thus again suffers the very same shipwreck. Go thou, then, and put a stop to the evil, pull out them that are drowning, though thou descend into the very depth of the surge, and having broken up the theatre of the devil, take each one of them apart, and admonish him to quell the flame, and to lull the waves. But if a burning pile wax greater, and the furnace more grievous, be not thou terrified, for thou hast many to help thee, and stretch forth a hand, if thou furnish but a beginning, and above all thou surely hast with thee the God of peace. And if thou wilt first turn aside the flames, many others also will follow, and of what they do well thou wilt thyself receive the reward. Hear what precept Christ gave to the Jews, creeping as they did upon the earth. If thou see, saith he, thine enemy's beast of burden falling down, do not hasten by, but raise it. And thou must see that to separate and reconcile men that are fighting, is a much lighter thing than to lift up the fallen beast. And if we ought to help in raising our enemy's ass, much more our friend's souls, and most when the fall is more grievous, for not into mire do these fall, but into the fire of hell, not bearing the burden of their wrath. And thou, when thou seest thy brother lying under the load, and the devil standing by, and kindling the pile, thou runnest by, cruelly and unmercifully, a kind of thing not safe to do, even where brutes are concerned. And whereas the Samaritan, seeing a wounded man, unknown, and not at all appertaining to him, both stayed and set him on a beast, and brought him home to the inn, and hired a physician, and gave some money, and promised more. Thou, seeing one fallen, not among thieves, but amongst a band of demons, and beset by anger, and this not in a wilderness, but in the midst of the forum, not having to lay out money, nor to hire a beast, nor to bring him on a long way, but only to say some words, art thou slow to do it, and holdest back, and hurriest by cruelly and unmercifully? And how thinkest thou, calling upon God, ever to find him propitious? But let me speak also to you, who publicly disgrace yourselves, to him who is acting despitefully, and doing wrong. Art thou inflicting blows? Tell me, and kicking and biting? Art thou become a wild boar, and a wild ass, and art thou not ashamed? Dost thou not blush at thus being changed into a wild beast, and betraying thine own nobleness? For though thou be poor, thou art free. Though thou be a working man, thou art a Christian. Nay, for this very reason, that thou art poor, thou shouldest be quiet. For fightings belong to the rich, not to the poor, to the rich, who have many causes to force them to war. But thou, not having the pleasure of wealth, goest about gathering to thyself the evils of wealth, enmities, and strifes, and fightings, and takest thy brother by the throat, and goest about to strangle him, and throwest him down publicly in the sight of all men. And dost thou not think that thou art thyself rather disgraced, imitating the violent passions of the brutes? Nay, rather, becoming even worse than they. For they have all things in common. They herd one with another. They go about together. But we have nothing in common, but all in confusion, fightings, strifes, revilings, and enmities, and insults. And we neither reverence the heaven unto which we are called, all of us in common, nor the earth, which he hath left free to us all in common, nor our very nature. But wrath and the love of money sweeps all away. Hast thou not seen him who owed the ten thousand talents, and then, after he was forgiven that debt, took his fellow-servant by the throat for one hundred pence? What great evils he underwent, and how he was delivered over to an endless punishment? Hast thou not trembled at the example? Hast thou no fear? Lest thou too incur the same? For we likewise owe to our Lord many in great debts. Nevertheless he forbears, and suffers long, and neither urges us as we do our fellow-servants, nor chokes and takes us by the throat, yet surely had he been minded to exact of us but the least part thereof, we had long ago perished. Let us then, beloved, bearing these things in mind, be humbled, and feel thankful to those who are in debt to us. For they become to us, if we command ourselves, in occasion of obtaining most abundant pardon, and giving a little, we shall receive much. Why then exact with violence, it being meat, though the other were minded to pay, for thee of thine own accord to excuse him, that thou mayest receive the whole of God? But now thou doest all things, and art violent and contentious, to have none of thy debts forgiven thee. And whilst thou art thinking to do despite unto thy neighbor, thou art thrusting the sword into thyself, so increasing thy punishment in hell. Whereas if thou wilt show a little self-command here, thou makest thine own accounts easy. For indeed God therefore wills us to take the lead in that kind of bounty, that he may take occasion to repay us with increase. As many, therefore, as stand indebted to thee, either for money or for trespasses, let them all go free, and require of God the recompense of such thy magnanimity. For so long as they continue indebted to thee, thou canst not have God thy debtor. But if thou let them go free, thou wilt be able to detain thy God, and to require of him the recompense of so great self-restraint in bountiful measure. For suppose a man had come up, and seeing thee arresting thy debtor, had called upon thee to let him go free, and transferred to himself thy account with the other. He would not choose to be unfair after such remission, seeing he had passed the whole demand to himself. How, then, shall God fail to repay us manifold, yea, ten thousandfold, when for his commandment's sake, if any be indebted to us, we urge no complaint against them, great or small, but let them go exempt from all liability? Let us not then think of the temporary pleasure that springs up in us by exacting of our debtors, but of the loss, rather, how great, which we shall thereby sustain hereafter, grievously injuring ourselves in the things which are eternal. Rising accordingly above all, let us forgive those who must give account to us, both their debts and their offenses, that we may make our own accounts prove indulgent, and that what we could not reach by all virtue besides, this we may obtain by not bearing malice against our neighbors, and thus enjoy the eternal blessings, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might now and always, even for ever and ever. Amen. End of Homily 15