Homilies on Acts 5.1–5.4

[Lemma] “Jewish men, and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.”

Those whom he called strangers above, to them he here directs his speech; and he seems to be addressing them, but he is setting right those who mocked. For it was so arranged that some mocked, so that he might take a starting point for his defense, and in defending himself might teach. So they thought it a great praise to dwell in Jerusalem. “Let this be known to you,” he says, “and give ear to my words.” For the time being he makes them more attentive. Then he also makes his defense: “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose.” Do you see how gentle the defense is? Though he had the greater part of the people with him, he nevertheless speaks to them with restraint; and first he removes the wicked suspicion, and then establishes the other point. That is why he did not say, “not as you mock,” nor, “as you laugh,” but, “as you suppose,” wishing to show that they were not saying it on purpose, and for the time to attach to them a charge of ignorance rather than of malice. “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose; for it is the third hour of the day.” And what does he mean by this? Is it not possible to be drunk at the third hour too? It is; but he does not dwell long on this; for they were not in the state that those who mocked them said. So we learn from this that one should not spend many words on matters that are not necessary. Besides, what follows also establishes this; and from now on the speech is addressed to all in common. “But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days, says the Lord God.’” Nowhere yet is there the name of Christ, nor the promise as his promise, but as the Father's. See his prudence. He did not come forward and at once tell what concerned Christ, that he had promised these things after being crucified; for then he would have upset everything by saying so. “And yet,” someone says, “these things were enough to show his Godhead.” Yes, if they were believed (and what was sought for the time being was that they be believed); but if they were not believed, they would even have caused them to be stoned. “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” He gives them too good hopes, if they were willing. And he does not allow the advantage to belong to the apostles alone, a thing which was also causing envy; and in this way he cuts off the jealousy. “And your sons,” it says, “shall prophesy.” “This is neither your achievement,” he says, “nor indeed your praise; the grace has passed to your children,” calling the apostles their sons, and those men fathers. “And your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and even upon my menservants and upon my maidservants in those days I will pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” For the time being he shows that the apostles had won approval, since they had been counted worthy of the Spirit, but those men had not, since they had crucified him. So too Christ, wishing to soften their anger, said, “By whom do your sons cast out the demons?” He did not say, “my disciples,” for it would have seemed like flattery. So too Peter did not say, “They are not drunk,” but, “They speak by the Spirit”; and not simply so, but he took refuge in the prophet, and sheltering under him he makes his stand. So he freed them from the charge himself, but brings in the prophet as witness of the grace. “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” He spoke thus because the grace was poured out on some through dreams, and on others openly. For the prophets too saw through dreams and received revelations. Then he goes on to the part of the prophecy that also has something fearful in it: “And I will give,” it says, “wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below.” In saying these things he hints both at the judgment to come and at the capture of Jerusalem: “blood and fire and vapor of smoke.” See how he described the capture. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” He said this from the state of mind of those who suffer. Yet it is said that many such things also happened in the sky, as Josephus testifies. At the same time he also struck them, reminding them of the darkness that had happened, and making them expect what was to come. “Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.” “Do not be confident,” he says, “because you now sin unpunished. These things are the preludes of a great and terrible day.” Do you see how he shook their soul and stirred it, and turned their laughter into defense? For if these are preludes of that day, the danger must hang over their very lives. What then? Does he dwell on saying fearful things? Not at all. But what? He gives them breath again, and says, “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” This is said about Christ, as Paul says; but Peter does not dare to reveal it plainly.

Let us, then, look at what was said from the beginning. He rightly sets about it as addressing men who were laughing and mocking: “Let this be known to all of you, and give ear to my words.” And at the beginning he said, “Jewish men.” By “Jews” he seems to me to mean those who live in Judea. And if you like, let us set beside these words those in the Gospel, so that you may learn what a man Peter had suddenly become. “There came,” it says, “a servant girl, saying, ‘You too were with Jesus the Nazarene.’ And he answered, ‘I do not know the man.’ And …”

But see here his boldness and his great freedom of speech. He did not praise those who said, “We hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God,” but … wishing by his severity toward the mockers to make these too more earnest, and to show that his speech was free of flattery. For it is good to observe this everywhere: how, in the course of condescension, the speech is free of all flattery and all insolence, which is a hard thing. And that these things happened at the third hour was not arranged idly. For it is when the full brightness of the light is shown, when men are not yet busy with breakfast, when the day is bright, when all are in the marketplace. Do you see that the speech is full of freedom too? “And give ear to my words.” Having said this, he added nothing, but went on, “This is what was spoken through the prophet: ‘And it shall be in the last days.’” For he shows that the consummation is now near. So “in the last days” has a certain emphasis. Then, so that he might not seem to confine the matter to the sons only, he adds, “And your old men shall dream dreams.” … First the sons; as David too says, “Instead of your fathers your sons were born”; and Malachi again, “turning the hearts of fathers to the children.” “And upon my menservants and upon my maidservants.” This too is a proof of virtue; for we have become his servants, having been freed from sin. And great is the gift too, when the grace passes over to the other sex as well, and is not confined to one or two as in ancient times, such as Deborah and Huldah. And he did not say, “It is the Holy Spirit,” nor did he interpret the prophet's words; but he brought in the prophecy alone, contending on its own behalf. And he says nothing about Judas for the time, since it was plain to all what penalty he had paid; he keeps silent, knowing that there was nothing stronger than to reason with them from prophecy: this is stronger even than the facts themselves. For when Christ worked signs, they often spoke against him; but when Christ brought before them the prophet saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,” they were so silenced that no one could answer him a word any more. And he himself often refers to the Scriptures, saying, “If he called them gods to whom the word of God came.” Or rather, one could find this everywhere. That is why here too he says, “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh,” that is, the Gentiles. But he does not yet reveal this, nor hint at it; for it was not expedient, since this too was obscure. “I will give wonders in the heaven above.” For it frightened them the more by being obscure. If he had interpreted it, they would rather have recoiled from him. Then too he passes it over as if it were plain, wishing to give that impression. At any rate he interprets it for them afterward, when he discourses about the resurrection, when he had prepared the way by his speech. That is why he passes it by on purpose, since the good things were not enough to draw them [he adds the wonders] … And yet this never happened [before]. For no one escaped then; but now the believers escaped under Vespasian. And this is what he says: “If those days had not been shortened, no flesh would have been saved.” The harsher thing happened first; for first it befell those who dwelt there to be captured, and then … Then he dwells on the metaphor, bringing the destruction and capture near to the hearers' sight: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood.” What is it for the moon to be turned into blood? He seems to me by this to speak of the excess of slaughter, and to fill his speech on purpose with much perplexity. “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “Everyone,” he says, even if he is a priest (but he does not yet reveal this), whether he is a slave, he says, or free. For “in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, neither slave nor free.” Rightly so; for these distinctions belong here, where everything is a shadow … For in palaces no one is well born or low born, but each is seen for what he is from his deeds; and in a craft each is shown from his work; much more in that state. “Everyone who calls on.” “Calls on,” not simply (for “not everyone,” he says, “who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’”), but with the right disposition, with the best life, with fitting boldness. For the time he makes his speech inoffensive, bringing in what concerns faith and not hiding what is fearful about punishment. How? By showing that salvation is in calling on him.

What are you saying? Tell me: do you speak of salvation after the cross? Bear with me a little; for great is the loving-kindness [of God. And this, no less than the resurrection,] shows him to be God, and [no less than] the signs: that he calls these men to himself. For to be exceedingly good is above all God's own. That is why he also says, “No one is good except one, God.” But let us not take his goodness as an occasion for indolence; for he also punishes, as God. At any rate it was he himself who brought these very things about, he who said, “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” I mean what befell Jerusalem, that unbearable punishment, of which I wish to tell you a few things that are useful to us against the Marcionites and many other heretics. For since they say that Christ is a good God and that other one evil, let us see who did these things. Who, then, brought them about? The evil one, avenging Christ? By no means. How then is he alien to him? Or the good one? But both the Father and the Son are shown to have done it: the Father in many places, as when he says in the parable of the vineyard that he sends his armies; and the Son, when he says, “But bring here those enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, and slaughter them before me.” Besides, he himself speaks of the tribulations to come, than which nothing more savage was ever done, and he himself declared them. Do you want, then, to hear what happened? They pierced them through with spits. What could one see more grievous than this? Shall I tell you of the woman's suffering, that tragedy which eclipsed every calamity? Or of the famines and the plagues? I pass over things harsher than these. Among them nature was disregarded, law was disregarded; they outdid wild beasts. All these things happened through the necessities of war, but with God and Christ willing it. These things will serve against the Marcionites and against those who disbelieve in hell; for they are enough to stop the mouths of their shamelessness. Are not these things worse than the evils in Babylon? Are not these far more grievous than those famines? Christ himself declared this about them, saying, “There will be tribulation such as has not been, nor ever will be.” How then do some say that Christ let them off their sin? Perhaps the question seems commonplace; but you are able to solve it. No one anywhere can show a fiction like what happened in reality. And if the man who wrote these things had been a Christian, his account might have been suspect; but if he was a Jew, and a zealous Jew, who came after the Gospel, how are the events not plain to all? For you will see him everywhere extolling things Jewish. So there is a hell, and God is good.

Did you shudder on hearing this? But these things that happen here are nothing compared with those there. Again I am forced to seem unpleasant and burdensome and severe; but what can I do? This is the post I am set in. Just as a strict tutor is set in this post, to be hated by those he tutors, so are we too. For is it not absurd that those appointed by kings to some post do what is commanded even if it is unpleasant, but that we, because of your blame, should fall short in the post to which we were appointed? One man has one work, another another; many of you have the work of showing mercy, of kindness, of being pleasant and gentle to those you benefit. But we appear severe and harsh, burdensome and unpleasant to those we benefit; for we help not by what delights but by what stings. Such too is the physician. But he is not very unpleasant, for he at once provides the benefit of his art; but we provide it in the future. Such too is the judge, painful to those who are sick and quarrelsome; such is the lawgiver, painful to those for whom he legislates. But not the man who invites to luxury, nor the one who gives public festivals and assemblies, nor the one who crowns the people; these are agreeable, feasting the cities with all kinds of shows, contributing, spending. That is why those who have been well treated repay them with acclamations, hangings, a multitude of torches, garlands and branches and splendid clothing. But if the sick see the physician, they become gloomy and downcast; if litigants see the judge, likewise they shrink; they do not relax nor dance, except when he too changes over to that other role. Let us see, then, who benefit the cities most: those who conduct these festivals and banquets, and costly tables, and various delights; or those who put a stop to all that, and bring in the rod and the whip and … full of great trembling, and give charges to those in the marketplace. Let us see, then, where the gain ends. These are unpleasant, those are longed for. What then comes from those who give delight? A cold pleasure lasting till evening and gone the next day, disorderly laughter, unseemly and dissolute words. And what from these? Fear, self-control, a restrained mind, gentleness of soul, the removal of indolence, a bridle on the passions within, a wall against those that attack from without. Because of these we each keep our property, but because of those festivals [we lose it; not through robbers], but through vainglory that robs us while it pleases. Each one sees the robber carrying everything off, and is delighted. New is this way of robbery: it has persuaded …

But there is nothing of the kind there; but God, as a common Father, has walled off everything, both what is seen and what is not seen. “See,” he says, “that you do not do your almsgiving before men.” From this the soul learns to flee injustice. For injustice is not only grasping money, but also giving the belly more than the appointed food, and carrying gladness beyond its proper measure and making it run riot. From the one it learns self-control, from the other licentiousness. For licentiousness is not only to have intercourse with a woman, but also to look with licentious eyes. From the one it learns reasonableness, from the other conceit. “All things are lawful for me,” he says, “but not all things are profitable.” From the one decorum, from the other indecency. For I pass over what happens in the theaters. And that there is not even any pleasure in it, but grief: show me, one day after the festival, both those who spent and those who were feasted with shows, and you will see them all downcast, and the man who spent in greater dejection. And rightly; for the day before he delighted the private citizen; and the private citizen was in good spirits and great pleasure, for the time he rejoiced in his splendid clothing; but not having the use of it, and seeing himself stripped of it, he was grieved and stung. But the man who spent thought his own good fortune small compared with the other's. That is why on the next day they exchange places, and that man receives the greater share of the dejection. If, in the affairs outside, things that delight bring such unpleasantness and things that are bitter bring benefit, much more in spiritual matters. That is why no one is indignant at the laws; all regard the matter as a common benefit. For it was not strangers and enemies of those governed who came from elsewhere and ordained these things, but the citizens themselves, the patrons, the guardians; and they think the making of laws a proof of care for their safety and of good will. And yet the laws are full of punishment, and one cannot find a law without punishment. How then is it not absurd that men call those who expound those laws saviors and benefactors and patrons, but think us severe and harsh if we speak of the laws of God? For when we discourse about hell, we are putting those laws into action; and just as those outside put in motion all laws of that kind, so do we the laws that punish, which no man laid down, but the only-begotten Son of God himself. “Let the unmerciful man be punished,” he says (for this is what the parable means); “let the one who bears malice pay the utmost penalty; let the one who is angry without cause be thrown into the fire; let the reviler pay the penalty in hell.” If you think you are hearing strange laws, do not be disturbed. For if he was not going to lay down new laws, why did Christ come at all? Those other things are plain to us, that the murderer and the adulterer must be punished. If, then, we were going to hear the same things, what need was there of a heavenly teacher? That is why he does not say, “Let the adulterer be punished,” but “the one who looks with licentious eyes.” And where and when he will pay the penalty, he adds. And he did not set his laws on wooden tablets and pillars, as Solon's were, nor set up bronze steles and engrave letters on them; but setting up for us twelve souls, those of the apostles, he wrote these letters in their minds through the Spirit. These things we rightly read out to you. For if this was right for the Jews, so that no one could take refuge in ignorance, much more for us. And if anyone says, “I do not even hear, and so I am not under judgment,” he will be punished most of all for this. For if there were no one teaching, one could take refuge in this; but if there is, no longer. See at any rate how he deprives the Jews of pardon, saying, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin”; and again, “Their voice has gone out into all the earth.” For there is pardon when there is no one speaking; but when the watchman is sitting at his post and has this as his work, there is no longer pardon. Or rather, Christ did not want us only to look at those steles, but to be steles ourselves. But since we have made ourselves unworthy of these letters, let us at least look at those. For just as steles threaten others but are not themselves liable, as neither are the laws, so too with the blessed apostles. And see: this stele does not stand in one place, but the letters are carried about everywhere. Whether you go to the Indians, you will hear them; whether to Spain, or to the very ends of the earth, no one fails to hear them, except through his own indolence. Do not then be vexed, but attend to what is said, so that you may be able to lay hold of the works of virtue and obtain the eternal good things, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.