Homilies on Acts 10.1–10.5

[Lemma] “And while they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple came upon them.”

They had not yet caught their breath from the earlier trials when they stepped straight into others. And see how events are ordered. First they were all mocked together: this is no small trial. Second, the leaders themselves fall into dangers. The two did not come one right after the other, nor at random; but first they gained credit by their speeches, and after this worked a great miracle; and so at last, having taken courage, with God’s permission they take up the contests. But consider, I pray you, how in Christ’s case they looked for someone to betray him, but here they now lay hands on them themselves, [being bolder] after the cross. For sin, while it is still in labor, has a certain shame; but once it is completed, it makes those who commit it more shameless. And why does the captain come upon them as well? “For the priests and the captain of the temple came upon them,” he says. So that again they might give what was happening the look of a public offense, and not seem to be avenging a private one; which is what they everywhere strive to do. “Greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people.” They were annoyed not only because they were teaching, but because they said not only that he had been raised, but also that we rise through him. “Because they were teaching the people,” he says, “and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” So strong had the resurrection become that he became for others too the cause of resurrection. “And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day; for it was already evening.” O the shamelessness! They still had their hands full of the earlier blood, and did not shrink, but laid them on others again, so as to fill them with more blood. Or perhaps they were also afraid of them, since they had already become a multitude, and that is why the captain came upon them with the priests. “For it was already evening,” he says. They, then, did this and kept them in custody wishing to soften them; but the delay made the apostles bolder rather. And see who are seized: the leaders of the apostles, who now became an example to the others, so that they would no longer look for one another nor need to be together … “and the number of the men came to about [five thousand].” What is this? Did they see them in honor? Did they not see them bound? How then did they believe? Do you see the power plainly at work? And indeed those who had already believed should have become weaker; but they did not, for Peter’s address had sown the seeds deep and had touched their minds. And the rulers were angry for this reason, that the people did not fear them at all, that they counted the present dangers as nothing. For if the crucified one, they said, does such things, and raised up the lame man, we are not afraid of these men either. So this too came about by God’s dispensation. As a result those who now believed became more numerous than the first. Afraid of this, they bound the apostles while the people looked on, so as to make them more cowardly too. But the opposite of what they wished happened. That is why they do not examine them in front of the people but in private, so that the hearers might not profit from their boldness. “On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.” Again they gather together. For along with their other evils, the requirements of the law were no longer kept. And again they put the form of a court on the matter, so that the apostles might be made answerable to an unjust judgment. “And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power or by what name did you do this?” And yet they knew; for “greatly annoyed,” he says, “because they were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection.” That is exactly why they had seized them. Why then do they ask? Expecting that because of the crowd they would deny it, and thinking that by this they would have won the whole. See, at any rate, what they say: “By what name did you do this?” “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them.” Remember with me now the words of Christ, and how what he said came true: “When they hand you over to synagogues, do not be anxious how or what you will speak; for it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” So they received great power. And hear what he says: “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel.” See the man’s philosophy: how, full of boldness, he utters nothing insulting, but speaks with respect. “Rulers of the people,” he says, “and elders [of Israel, if we are being examined today] for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel.” From the very opening he laid hold of them very nobly and sounded them out; or rather he also reminded them of their earlier deeds, that they put men on trial for a good deed, as if he said: We ought rather to be crowned for these things and proclaimed as benefactors; but now we are even put on trial for a good deed done to a sick man, not to a rich man, not to a powerful one, not to a man of rank; and yet in this who would …

The announcement is full of great weight. It is shown from this that they are piercing themselves through with the evils. “That in the name of Christ the Nazarene.” He adds what grieved them most. So this was what Christ meant when he said to them, “What you heard in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.” “That in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands before you in good health.” Do not think, he says, that we hide his hometown or his passion. “Whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands before you in good health.” Again the passion, again the resurrection. “He is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.” He also reminded them of a saying able to frighten them: “For whoever falls on this stone,” he says, “will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.” “And there is salvation in no one else.” What blows do you think they took from these words? “For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Here he utters lofty things too. For when there is nothing to accomplish but only boldness to display, he does not hold back; for he had no fear of striking them. And he did not say simply, “through another,” but “there is salvation in no one else,” showing that this one is able to save us, and at the same time wishing to frighten them. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they wondered; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” And how, someone says, did unlettered men out-argue both them and the high priests? Because it was not they who spoke, but the grace of the Spirit through them. “And seeing the man who had been healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say against it.” Great was the man’s boldness; and that is clear from his not leaving them even in the very court. So if they had said, “It is not so,” he would have accused them. “But when they had commanded them to go out of the council, [they said,] What shall we do with these men?” You see them at a loss, and again human fear doing everything. So just as in Christ’s case they could neither overturn nor obscure what had happened, but the more they hindered, the more the faith advanced, so it happens now too. “What shall we do?” O the folly! If they thought that men who had tasted the contests would now be terrified; or rather, if, having had no power at the beginning, after such eloquence they expected to accomplish something. So the more they wished to hinder, the more the cause grew. “For that a notable sign has been done through them is evident to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it may not spread further [among the people, let us warn them] to speak no more in this name to anyone. And they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” See both their shamelessness and the apostles’ philosophy. “But [Peter and John answered] them: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had threatened them further, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people.” The signs stopped their mouths, and after that they did not even let them finish their speech, but cut them off in the middle very insultingly. “For all were glorifying God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.”

But let us look at what was said from the beginning. “What shall we do with these men?” At first, then, they did everything for human glory; but now something else was added: not to seem to be murderers; which they said later: “You want to bring this man’s blood upon us.” “Let us strictly threaten them to speak no more in this name to anyone.” O the folly! Persuaded that he had risen, and having received this proof that he is God, do they think to restrain by threats the one who was not held fast by death? What is equal to this folly? And do not be surprised that again they attempt what cannot be done. For such is wickedness: it sees nothing, but is thrown into confusion everywhere. … For they felt like people who had been deceived, as happens with those who have been taken in, mocked by someone. And indeed, from first to last, the apostles said for this reason that God raised him and that in the name of Jesus this man stands in good health: to show that Jesus had risen. Besides, they themselves believed in a resurrection, a cold and childish one, but still they believed in it; but now they disbelieve and are in confusion, considering what to do to them. Was not this alone, then, enough to persuade them to do nothing to them: that they spoke with such boldness? Why do you disbelieve, tell me, O Jew? You ought to have attended to the sign that was done and to the words, not to the wickedness of the many. And why ever do they not hand them over to the Romans? They had already been discredited with them over the affair of Christ, so that they would rather have brought reproach on themselves; and so they put off exposing the apostles. With Christ it was not so: in the middle of the night they took him away secretly and at once, and did not put it off, because they greatly feared the crowd. About these men they had no such courage, nor do they bring them to Pilate, being wary and suspicious about the earlier events, lest they be accused over those too.

[3] “On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered in Jerusalem.” Again councils in Jerusalem, and there the blood is shed: they had no respect even for the city. “[And Annas the high priest],” he says, “and Caiaphas.” Peter could not bear the questioning of this man’s maidservant; before him he denied, when another was held. But now, coming forward into their midst, see how he speaks: “If we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been healed, let it be known to you all.” They say, “By what name did you do this?” Why do you not say the name, but obscure it? “By what name did you do this?” And yet he had said, “We did not do it.” See his good sense: he did not say at once, “We did it in the name of Jesus,” but what? “In his name this man stands before you in good health.” And he does not say, “He was made healthy by us.” And again, “If we are being examined for a good deed done to a sick man.” He strikes them as men who always bring such charges and find fault with good deeds done to people; and he reminds them of their earlier deeds, that they run to murders; and not only that, but they also bring charges over good deeds. Do you see how weighty his words are? For they had been trained in these things and were now not to be terrified. By these words he shows them that it is rather they who proclaim Christ against their will, and that they, the examiners and inquisitors, are the ones who exalt the doctrine. “Whom you crucified.” What boldness! “Whom God raised from the dead.” This again shows still greater freedom of speech. What he says is this: Do not think that we hide what is shameful; we are so far from obscuring it that we speak of it boldly. He says these things all but reproaching them, and not simply in passing, but he even dwells on the word: “This is the stone,” he says, “that was rejected by you, the builders.” Then, showing that they did this to something exceedingly well proven, he adds, “which has become the head of the corner”; that is, the one who is by nature precious and proven was rejected. So great was the boldness they had from the sign. But consider, I pray you, how, when they must teach, they bring forward many prophecies, but when they must speak boldly, they only declare. “For there is no other name,” he says, “under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” That the name was given to all men, and not to them alone. To this too he brings them in as witnesses. For since they said, “By what name did you do it?”: By Christ’s, he says; there is no other name. How then can you ask? So everywhere this is clear. “For there is no other name under heaven,” he says, “by which we must be saved.” These are the words of a soul that has passed sentence on the present life. The great boldness shows this. Here he makes clear that even when he spoke lowly things about Christ, he did so not from fear but in condescension; but since now was the right time, he speaks so loftily as to astonish all the hearers by this very thing. See, here is another sign, no less than the first. “And they recognized them,” he says, “that they had been with Jesus.” The evangelist did not put in this remark idly, but to show where they had been with him: in the passion, he means. For these alone were with him then, when the rulers also saw them lowly and downcast; and this especially amazed them, the sudden change. For Annas and Caiaphas and their party were there, and these men too stood by them; but now their great boldness astonished them. For not only by their words did they show that they did not care about such things, though they were on trial and danger of the worst was hanging over them, but by their bearing too, by their voice, their look, and in short by everything they displayed boldness before the people, by what they said. And they wondered, perhaps, “that they were unlettered and ordinary men”; since it is possible for someone to be unlettered and yet not ordinary, or ordinary but not unlettered. He shows here that the two came together. “Perceiving,” he says. From what? From what they said. He does not stretch out long speeches, but shows their boldness from the very telling and its arrangement; so that the rulers would have laid charges on them, if the man had not been with them. “And they recognized them,” he says, “that they had been with Jesus.” This made them believe that they had learned these things from him and were doing everything as his disciples. And no less than their voice, the miracle and the sign sent out a voice; and this above all stopped their mouths. “Whether it is right,” he says, “in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge.” When the fear had been cut down further (for their giving that command was nothing other than letting them go), then they speak more mildly; so far were they from rashness. “That a notable sign has been done, we cannot deny.” So they would have denied it, if this were not so, if there were not the testimony of the many. And indeed it was evident to all. But such is wickedness: bold and reckless. “Let us strictly threaten them.” What are you saying? Do you expect to stop the preaching by a threat? So everywhere beginnings are hard … and to speak boldly … that very sign; and now, if you threaten, do you expect to make us stand aside? Bonds did not persuade us to speak submissively, and will you persuade us? Of course you will: men who count you as nothing, even when you threaten! “Whether it is right,” he says, “in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God.” Here they say “God,” meaning Christ. Did you see how what he had told them now came true: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; do not fear them”?

Then again they confirm the resurrection by what they go on to say: “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” So we are witnesses worthy of belief, and you, by threatening further, threaten in vain once more. When they ought to have changed their minds over the things for which the people were glorifying God, they even threaten to kill: such fighters against God they were. “And when they had threatened them further, they let them go.” By this they became more conspicuous and more illustrious. “For my power,” he says, “is made perfect in weakness.” Already these men had borne witness, drawn up in battle against all. What does “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” mean? If what we say is false, he says, refute it; but if it is true, why do you hinder it? Such is philosophy. They were at a loss, these in gladness; they were full of great shame, these did everything with boldness; they were in fear, these in confidence. For who, tell me, were the ones afraid? Those who said, “So that it may not spread further among the people,” or those who said, “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard”? These were in pleasure and boldness and a gladness greater than all; those in despondency, in shame, in fear; for they were afraid of the people. These said what they wished; those did not do what they wished. Who were in bonds and dangers? Was it not these above all?

Let us, then, hold fast to virtue; let what is said not stop at delight, nor at a kind of comfort. This, beloved, is not the theater of lyre-singers and tragic actors, where the fruit goes no further than delight, and when the day has run its course the delight has passed. And would that it were delight only, and not harm as well along with the delight! But for all that, each one goes home from there having wiped off on himself, as from some filth, much of what is there. The young man has picked up some tunes of those satanic songs, as many as he could store in his memory, and sings them continually at home; the old man, as being more dignified, does not do this, but remembers all the words spoken there. From here you go away having nothing. And how is that not worthy of shame? We laid down a law; or rather, it was not we who laid it down, heaven forbid! For “do not call anyone teacher on earth,” he says. Christ laid down a law that no one should swear. What has become of this law, tell me? For I will not stop speaking of it, “lest, if I come again,” as the apostle says, “I do not spare.” Did you take thought for the matter? Did you care? Has there been any effort among you, or shall we take up the same words again? Rather, whether there has been or not, we shall take up the same words: if not, so that you may take thought; and if you have taken thought, so that you may do it more firmly and exhort others. Where then shall we begin our speech? Do you want us to begin from the Old Testament? But this is our shame: that the things in the Old Testament which we ought to have gone beyond, we do not even keep. For we ought not to be hearing about these things (for these commandments belong to Jewish meanness), but about those perfect ones: Throw away your money; stand nobly; give your life for the preaching; laugh at everything on earth; have nothing in common with the present life; if someone wrongs you, if he reviles you, honor him; be above all things. These are the things, and things like them, we ought to hear. But now we are discussing the oath; and it is the same as if someone took a man who ought to be studying philosophy away from his teachers and made him read syllables and spell out letters one by one. Think how great a shame it is for a man with a deep beard, carrying a staff and wearing the cloak off one shoulder, to go to school with the children and learn the same lessons as they: is the laughter not great? But ours is greater. For the difference between the Jewish way of life and ours is not as great as that between philosophy and letters, but as great as that between angels and men. If someone, tell me, [made an angel] stand and listen to our words as though he had to be set in order by them, would it not be a shame and a laughingstock? And if it is a laughingstock to be taught anything about these things, how great a condemnation, tell me, how great a shame, not even to heed them? And how is it not shameful that Christians are still being taught that one must not swear? But let us bear it, so that we may not be laughed at more. Come, then, let us speak to you today from the Old Testament. And what does it say? “Do not accustom your mouth to an oath, and do not make a habit of naming the Holy One. Why? For as a servant who is continually examined will not be free of bruises, so neither will the one who swears …”

See the good sense of this wise man. He did not say, “Do not accustom your mind to an oath,” but “your mouth,” because he knows that the whole thing belongs to the mouth, and that it is easily put right. For it is a habit, which in the end happens without our choosing; just as there are many who, going into the baths, sign themselves the moment they step over the threshold. The hand knows how to do this from habit, though no one commands it. Again, when a lamp is lit, often while the mind is thinking of something else, the hand makes the sign. So too the mouth speaks not with the soul but from habit, and the whole thing lies in the tongue. “And do not make a habit,” it says, “of naming the Holy One. For as a servant who is continually examined will not be free of bruises, so neither the one who swears.” Here he cuts off not perjury but the oath itself, and sets the punishment for it. So swearing is a sin. Such truly is that soul: full of so many wounds, so many bruises. But do you not see it? That is the terrible thing; and yet you can see, if you wish, for God has given you eyes. With such eyes the prophet saw, saying, “My bruises have grown foul and festered because of my folly.” We have despised God, we have hated the good name, we have treated Christ with contempt, we have cast off reverence: no one remembers the name of God with honor. And you, if you love someone, are roused at his very name; but God you call on continually as though he were nothing. Call on him for the good of an enemy; call on him for the salvation of your own soul: then he will be present, then you delight him; but now you provoke him. Call on him as Stephen called on him. Saying what? “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Call on him as the wife of Elkanah called on him, with tears, with lamentation, with prayer. That I do not forbid; I urge it strongly. Call on him as Moses called on him, when he cried out pleading for those who had made him flee. And if you mention some respected man idly, the thing is an insult; but when you carry God about in your talk, not only idly but out of season, do you think it nothing? And what punishment would you not deserve? I do not forbid you to have God always in mind (that I both pray for and wish), but not against his pleasure: rather in praising him, rather in honoring him. This would have done us great good, if we called on him only when we should and for what we should. Why, tell me, were there so many mighty works in the time of the apostles, but not in ours? And yet it is the same God, the same name. But the case is not the same. How? Because they called on him only for the things I have mentioned; but we do not call on him for these, but for other things. If the other man does not believe you, and that is why you swear, say, “Believe me”; or, if you wish, swear by yourself. I do not say this to make laws against Christ, heaven forbid! For “let your yes be yes,” he says, “and your no, no.” But I say it condescending to you, so that I may lead you the more toward this, and lead you away from the tyrannical habit. How many who were well thought of in other respects have perished through these things? Do you want to learn why the men of old were allowed to swear? (For swearing falsely was not allowed even to them.) Because they swore by idols. Are you not ashamed to remain under the laws by which those weak men were guided? For now too, if I take on a Greek, I do not at once enjoin this on him, but first urge him to know Christ; but the believer, who has learned him and heard him, if he is to need the same condescension as the Greek, what is the use? What is the gain? “But habit is a hard thing, and I find it hard to tear myself away.” Then, since the tyranny of habit is so great, transfer it to another habit. “And how is it possible?” he says. What I have often said, I say now too: let there be many who keep account of what is said; let there be examiners and correctors. It is no shame to be corrected by others; rather it is a shame to push away those who correct you, and to do this to the harm of your own salvation. If you put on your garment the wrong way round, you let a child put you right, and are not ashamed to learn from him, though there is great shame in this; but here, when you are being harmed in your soul, are you ashamed, tell me, to be taught by another? You put up with a servant who arranges your clothes and puts on your shoes, but one who sets your soul in order you do not put up with? What great folly is this? Let even a servant be the teacher of these things, let a child be, let a wife be, let a friend be, and a relative, and a neighbor. For as a wild beast driven from every side cannot escape, so the one who has so many guards, so many to rebuke him, who is struck from every side, cannot fail to be on his guard. On the first day he will find it hard to bear, and on the second, and on the third; but then it will be very easy, and after the fourth the thing will not even exist. Make the trial, if you do not believe it; take thought, I beg you. It is no chance matter, either the failure or the success, but great on either side, both the evil and the good. May it turn out good, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, and honor, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.