Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 28.1–28.4

“And when he had got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but he was asleep.” Luke, freeing himself from being required to keep the order of times, spoke thus: “Now it came to pass on one of the days that he got into a boat, and his disciples”; and Mark likewise. But this evangelist does not do so, but keeps the sequence here too. For they did not all write everything in the same way. And this I have said before too, so that no one may think that an omission is a disagreement. He sent the crowds on ahead, then, but took the disciples with him; for the others say this too. And he took them not idly or at random, but so as to make them spectators of the miracle that was about to happen. For like an excellent trainer he was preparing them for both: to be undismayed in dangers, and to be modest in honors. For so that they might not be proud because he had sent the others away and kept them, he lets them be tossed by the waves, accomplishing this and at the same time training them to bear temptations nobly. For the former miracles too were great, but this one also contained no small training, and was a sign akin to the ancient one. That is why he takes only the disciples with him. For where there was a display of miracles, he let the people be present too; but where there was an uprising of temptations and fears, he takes with him only the athletes of the world, whom he was going to train. And Matthew simply said that he was asleep, but Luke says that it was on a pillow, showing his freedom from pride and teaching us great philosophy from this. When the storm, then, was roused and the sea was raging, they wake him, saying, “Lord, save us; we are perishing.” But he rebuked them before the sea. For, as I said, these things were permitted for the sake of training, and were a type of the temptations that would overtake them. For afterward too he often let them fall into harsher storms of affairs, and was long-suffering. That is why Paul too said, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life”; and again afterward, “who delivered us from so great deaths.” Showing them, then, from this that they must be of good courage even if great waves are raised, and that he arranges everything for their benefit, he first rebukes them. For their very being troubled happened for their benefit, so that the miracle might appear greater and the memory of what happened might be lasting. For when something wonderful is about to happen, many things that make for remembrance are prepared beforehand, so that after the miracle has passed they may not fall into forgetfulness. So too Moses first fears the serpent, and fears not simply but with great anguish, and then sees that wonderful thing happen. So too these men, having first expected to perish, were then saved, so that, having acknowledged the danger, they might learn the greatness of the miracle. That is why he sleeps too; for if it had happened while he was awake, either they would not have feared, or they would not have entreated him, or they would not even have thought him able to do such a thing. That is why he sleeps, giving time to their cowardice and making their perception of what happened clearer. For one does not see what happens in other people’s bodies in the same way as what happens in oneself. Since, then, they had seen all others benefited, while they themselves had enjoyed nothing, they were even careless (for they were neither lame nor had any other such disease); and they had to enjoy his benefits through their own perception; so he permits the storm, so that through their deliverance they might receive a clearer perception of the benefit. That is why he does not do this with the crowds present either, so that they might not be condemned for little faith; but taking them alone, he corrects them, and before the storm of the waters he stills the storm of their soul, rebuking them and saying, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”, and teaching them at the same time that fear is produced not by the onset of temptations but by the weakness of the mind. And if someone should say that it was not cowardice or little faith to come and wake him, I would say this: that this very thing was above all a sign that they did not have the fitting opinion about him. For they knew that he could rebuke the sea when awake, but not yet that he could do it while asleep. And why do you wonder at this now, when even after many other miracles they were still rather imperfectly disposed? That is why they are often rebuked, as when he says, “Are you also still without understanding?” Do not wonder, then, if, when the disciples were so imperfectly disposed, the crowds imagined nothing great about him. For they marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the sea and the winds obey him?” And Christ did not rebuke them because they called him a man, but waited, teaching them through the signs that their supposition was mistaken. And why did they think him a man? From his appearance, from his sleep, and from his using a boat. That is why they fell into perplexity, saying, “What sort of man is this?” For the sleep and the appearance showed a man, but the sea and the calm revealed God.

Since Moses too once did something of this kind, he shows his superiority from this too, and that the one works miracles as a servant, the other as Master. For he did not stretch out a rod as that man did, nor stretch out his hands to heaven, nor need prayer; but, as is fitting for a master commanding a maidservant and a creator his creature, so he calmed it and bridled it by a word and a command alone; and at once the whole tempest was ended, and not even a trace of the turmoil remained. For this the evangelist showed by saying, “And there was a great calm.” And what had been said of the Father as a great thing, this he showed again by his deeds. And what had been said of him? “He spoke,” it says, “and the stormy wind stood still.” So here too: he spoke, and there was a great calm. That is why the crowds especially marveled at him, who would not have marveled if he had done it as that man did. And when he had come from the sea, another miracle follows. For men possessed by demons, like wicked runaway slaves who see their master, said, “What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us?” For since the crowds called him a man, the demons came proclaiming his Godhead; and those who did not hear the sea when it raged and was again still heard the demons crying out what the sea had cried out by its calm. Then, so that the thing might not seem to be flattery, they cry out from the experience of the facts, saying, “Have you come here before the time to torment us?” That is why the enmity is confessed first, so that their supplication might not be suspected. For they were being scourged invisibly, and were more storm-tossed than the sea, being pricked and burned and suffering intolerable things from his presence alone. For since no one dared to bring them, Christ himself goes to them. And Matthew says that they said, “Have you come here before the time to torment us?”; but the others added that they also entreated and adjured him not to cast them into the abyss. For they thought that the punishment was already upon them, and they feared, as if they were already about to fall into vengeance. And if Luke’s account says that there was one, while this evangelist says two, not even this shows disagreement. For if they had said that there was only one and there was not another, they would have seemed to contradict Matthew; but if the one spoke of one and the other of two, what is said is not a matter of conflict but of a different narration. For it seems to me that Luke chose the harsher of the two and spoke of him; that is why he reports the calamity more tragically, as that, breaking the bonds and the chains, he wandered in the desert; and Mark says that he also cut himself with stones. And their words too are enough to show their cruelty and shamelessness. “For have you come here before the time to torment us?” they say. That they had not sinned they could not say, but they ask not to pay the penalty before the time. For since he had caught them working those intolerable and lawless evils, distorting his creation in every way and punishing it, and they thought that because of the excess of what had been done he would not wait for the time of punishment, for this reason they entreated and begged; and those who could not endure even iron chains come bound; and those who ran over the mountains came out into the plains; and those who prevented others from passing by, seeing the one who walled off the road against them, stood still. And why do they also love to haunt the tombs? Wishing to put a destructive doctrine into the many: that the souls of the departed become demons; which may it never come to pass even in thought. “What then,” someone says, “would you say when many sorcerers take children and slaughter them, so as to have the soul working with them afterward?” And how is this clear? That they slaughter them, many say; but that the souls of the slain are with them, how did you know? tell me. “The possessed themselves,” he says, “cry out, ‘I am the soul of so-and-so.’” But this too is a piece of stagecraft and deceit of the devil. For it is not the soul of the dead man that cries out, but the demon who plays this part so as to deceive the hearers. For if it were possible for a soul to enter into the substance of a demon, much more could it enter into its own body. And besides, it would not be reasonable for the wronged soul to work together with the one who wronged it; or for a man to be able to change an incorporeal power into another substance. For if this is impossible with bodies, and no one could make a man’s body into a donkey’s, much more is this impossible with the invisible soul, and no one would be able to transform it into the substance of a demon.

So these words are the talk of drunken old women and bogeys for children. For it is not possible for a soul, once torn from the body, to wander here any longer. For “the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God”; and if those of the righteous, then also those of children; for those are not wicked. And those of sinners too are led away from here at once. This is clear from Lazarus and the rich man; and elsewhere Christ says, “This day they demand your soul from you.” And it is not possible for a soul that has gone out of the body to wander here; and very reasonably. For if, walking on familiar and well-known ground and clothed with a body, when we travel a strange road we do not know which way to go unless we have someone to lead us by the hand, how will the soul torn from the body, and gone out of everything familiar, know where it must walk without someone to guide it? And from many other places one could see that it is not possible for a soul that has gone out to remain here. For Stephen says, “Receive my spirit”; and Paul, “To depart and be with Christ is far better”; and of the patriarch Scripture says, “And he was gathered to his fathers, having been nourished in a good old age.” And that not even the souls of sinners can stay here, hear the rich man entreating much for this and not obtaining it; since, if it had been possible, he himself would have come and reported what had happened there. From which it is clear that after their departure from here the souls are led away into some place, no longer having power to return, but awaiting that fearful day. And if someone should say, “And why did Christ do what the demons asked, permitting them to go into the herd of swine?”, we would say this: that he did this not obeying them, but arranging many things by it: first, to teach those freed from those wicked tyrants the greatness of the destructiveness of those who plotted against them; second, that all might learn that they dare not attack even swine unless he himself permits; third, that they would have done worse things to those men than to the swine, had the men not enjoyed, even in their calamity, much of God’s providence. For that they hate us more than the irrational animals is plain to everyone. So those who did not spare the swine, but hurled them all down in a single moment of time, would much more have done this to the men they held, leading them about into deserts and away, had there not been, even in that very tyranny, great care from God, bridling and restraining their further violence. From which it is clear that there is no one who does not enjoy God’s providence. And if not all enjoy it alike, nor in one way, this too is a very great form of providence. For providence is displayed according to what profits each. And besides what has been said, we learn something else from this: that he provides not only for all in common, but also for each individually; which he showed with the disciples too when he said, “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” And from these possessed men one could see this clearly, who would long ago have been choked had they not enjoyed great care from above. For these reasons, then, he permitted them to go into the herd of swine; and so that those who lived in those places too might learn his power. For where his name was great he did not display it much; but where no one knew him, and they were still without feeling, he made his miracles shine forth, so as to draw them to the knowledge of his Godhead. For that those who inhabited that city were somewhat unfeeling is clear from the outcome. For when they ought to have worshiped him and marveled at his power, they sent him away and begged him to depart from their borders. But why did the demons destroy the swine? Everywhere they are eager to throw people into despondency, and everywhere they rejoice in destruction. This, at any rate, the devil did in the case of Job too; and yet there too God permitted it; but not there either because he obeyed the devil, but wishing to make his own servant more glorious, to cut off from the demon every pretext for shamelessness, and to turn upon his head what was done against the righteous man. For now too the opposite of what they wished has happened. For Christ’s power was splendidly proclaimed, and the wickedness of the demons, from which he freed those held by them, was shown more clearly, and that they have no power even to touch swine without the permission of the God of all.

And if someone also takes these things in a higher sense, nothing prevents it. This is the history; but one must know clearly that swinish men are easily assailed by the workings of demons. And while those who suffer this are still men, they can often prevail; but if they become swine entirely, they are not only possessed by demons but also hurled down headlong. And besides, so that no one might think that what happened was stagecraft, but might believe clearly that the demons had gone out, this is made plain by the death of the swine. But consider his gentleness too, together with his power. For when those who lived in that country, after receiving such benefits, drove him away, he did not resist, but withdrew, and left those who had shown themselves unworthy of his teaching, giving them as teachers those who had been freed from the demons, and the swineherds, so that they might learn from them everything that had happened; and by withdrawing himself he leaves the fear at its height in them. For the greatness of the loss spread the report of what had happened, and the event reached their minds. And from many sides voices were carried proclaiming the wonder of the miracle: from those who had been healed, from those that were drowned, from the owners of the swine, from the men who herded them. One could see these things happening now too, and many possessed in the tombs, whom nothing restrains from their madness, not iron, not chain, not a multitude of men, not exhortation, not admonition, not fear, not threat, nor anything else of the kind. For when someone is licentious, excited by every body, he differs in nothing from the possessed man, but goes about naked as that man did, clothed in garments indeed, but deprived of the true covering and stripped of the glory proper to him, cutting himself not with stones but with sins harder than many stones. Who then will be able to bind such a man? Who will stop him behaving disgracefully and goaded by frenzy, never coming to himself, but always haunting the tombs? For such are the lodgings of harlots, full of much stench and much rottenness. And what of the covetous man? Is he not such? For who will ever be able to bind him? Are there not fears and daily threats and exhortations and counsels? But he breaks all these bonds; and if anyone comes to free him, he adjures him not to free him, thinking it the greatest torment not to be in torment. What could be more wretched than this? For that demon, even if he despised men, yet yielded to the command of Christ and quickly leaped out of the body; but this man does not yield even to the command. See, at any rate, every day he hears him saying, “You cannot serve God and mammon,” and threatening hell and the incurable punishments, and he does not obey; not because he is stronger than Christ, but because Christ does not bring us to our senses against our will. That is why such people live as in deserts, even if they are in the midst of cities. For who in his senses would choose to associate with such men? I for my part would rather consent to live with ten thousand possessed than with one sick with this disease. And that I am not mistaken in saying this is clear from what each of them does. For these men think the one who has done them no wrong an enemy, and wish to take the free man as a slave, and surround him with countless evils; but the possessed do nothing of the kind, but turn the disease within themselves. And these men overturn many houses, and cause the name of God to be blasphemed, and are a pestilence to the city and to the whole world; while those troubled by demons are rather worthy to be pitied and wept for. And the latter do most things without perceiving; but the former rave with deliberation, frenzied in the midst of cities and mad with a new kind of madness. For what such thing do all the possessed do as Judas dared, displaying the utmost lawlessness? And all who emulate him, like savage beasts escaped from a cage, throw the cities into turmoil, with no one restraining them. For bonds surround these too on every side, such as the fear of judges, the threat of the laws, the condemnation of the many, and other things more than these; but nevertheless, breaking these too, they turn everything upside down. And if anyone were to take these entirely from them, then he would know clearly that the demon in them is much fiercer and madder than the one that went out just now. But since this is not possible, let us for the time suppose it in word, and take away all its chains, and then we shall know clearly its splendid madness. But do not fear the beast when we uncover it; for the scene is in words, not the thing in truth. Let there be, then, a man sending out fire from his eyes, black, having serpents hanging from both shoulders instead of hands; and let him have a mouth too, with sharp swords fixed in it instead of teeth, and instead of a tongue a fountain gushing forth venom and deadly poison; and a belly more consuming than any furnace, devouring everything thrown into it; and feet winged, and more vehement than any flame; and let his face be made from a dog and a wolf; and let him utter nothing human, but something discordant and unpleasant and fearful; and let him have flame in his hands as well. Perhaps what has been said seems fearful to you; but we have not yet portrayed him as he deserves; for other things must be added to these. Let him slaughter those he meets, devour them, fasten on their flesh. But the covetous man is much harsher than this, attacking all like Hades, swallowing all, going about as the common enemy of the human race. For he wishes there to be no other man, so that he may possess everything. And he does not stop even there; but when he has destroyed all in his desire, he desires to do away with the substance of the earth too, to see it turned to gold; and not only the earth, but also mountains and glens and springs and simply all things that appear. And so that you may learn that we have not yet set forth his madness, let there be no one to accuse him and frighten him; take away in word for the time the fear that comes from the laws, and see him seizing a sword and making away with all, sparing no one, not friend, not kinsman, not brother, not his very father. Or rather there is no need of supposition here; let us ask him whether he does not always form such fancies within himself, and attack all, slaying them in his thoughts, friends and kinsmen and his very parents. Or rather there is no need even of a question; for all know that those held by this disease are burdened even by a father’s old age, and think that sweet thing, desired by all, having children, heavy and burdensome. Many, at any rate, have for this reason even bought childlessness and maimed nature, not killing their children after birth, but not allowing them to come into being at all. Do not wonder, then, that we have portrayed the covetous man in this way (for he is much worse than what has been said); but let us consider how we may free him from the demon. How then shall we free him? If he were to learn clearly that covetousness is opposed to him in this very thing above all, in getting money; for those who wish to make small gains suffer great losses; from which the proverb too has been brought out for this very thing. Many, at any rate, wishing to lend at high interest, have often, in the expectation of gain, not examined the borrowers, and have lost the interest together with the whole principal. Again, others, having fallen into dangers and not willing to give up a little, have lost their life together with their substance. Again, when it was possible to buy profitable offices or some other such thing, being stingy they lost everything. For since they do not know how to sow, but have practiced always reaping, they continually lose the harvest too. For no one can always reap, just as no one can always gain. Since, then, they will not spend, they do not know how to gain either. And if they must take a wife, they suffer this same thing again; for either they have been deceived, taking a poor woman instead of a rich one, or, bringing in a rich one full of countless faults, they have suffered a greater loss again. For it is not abundance but virtue that makes wealth. For what is the use of wealth when she is extravagant and wasteful and carries everything away more violently than the wind? What if she is licentious and draws countless lovers? What if she is a drunkard? Will she not quickly make her husband poorer than all? And they not only marry but also buy recklessly, from their great desire, seeking out not good slaves but cheap ones. Considering all these things, then (for you cannot yet hear discourses about hell and the kingdom), and thinking of the losses you have often suffered from love of money, in loans and in purchases and in marriages and in patronage and in all other things, give up loving money. For in this way you will be able both to live the present life in safety, and, advancing a little, to hear discourses about philosophy too, and, looking up, to see the very sun of righteousness, and to obtain the good things promised by him; which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might for ever and ever. Amen.