Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 33.6–33.11

If, then, it should happen (which may it not happen, nor ever befall) that war against the churches and persecution should arise, consider how great the laughter will be, how many the reproaches. And very reasonably; for when no one trains in the wrestling school, how will he be illustrious in the contests? For what athlete, not knowing a trainer, will be able, when the Olympic games call, to show anything great and noble against his opponent? Ought we not to wrestle and box and run every day? Do you not see those called pentathletes, how, when they have no opponent, they fill a sack with much sand and hang it up and exercise all their strength on it? And the younger of them practice on the bodies of their companions the fight against their enemies. Emulate these too, and practice the wrestling bouts of philosophy. For many provoke you to anger, and throw you into desire, and kindle a great flame. Stand, then, against the passions; bear nobly the pains of the mind, so that you may bear those of the body too. For the blessed Job, had he not trained well before the contests, would not have shone so brilliantly in the contests; had he not practiced being free of all despondency, he would have said something rash when his children died. But as it was, he stood against all the bouts: against the loss of money and the destruction of so great an estate, against the loss of children, against the pity of his wife, against the scourges of his body, against the reproaches of friends, against the abuse of servants. And if you wish to see his training too, hear him saying how he despised money: “If I rejoiced when great wealth came to me; if I counted gold as dust; if I trusted in a precious stone.” That is why he was not troubled when these things were snatched away either, since he did not desire them while they were present. Hear how he also managed the affairs of his children: not growing soft beyond what was fitting, as we do, but requiring all exactness of them. For he who offered sacrifice even for their unknown sins, consider how exact a judge he was of their manifest ones. And if you wish to hear of his contests for chastity too, hear him saying, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look upon a virgin.” That is why his wife did not break him down; for he loved her before this too, but not beyond measure, but as one fittingly loves a wife. Whence I am led to wonder how it occurred to the devil, knowing his training, to stir up the contests. How, then, did it occur to him? The beast is wicked and never despairs; which becomes the greatest condemnation for us, that he never despairs of our destruction, while we despair of our own salvation. But consider how he practiced for the maiming and disfigurement of the body. For since he himself had never undergone anything of the kind, but continued living in wealth and luxury and the rest of splendor, he dreamed every day of the misfortunes of others. And showing this he said, “For the fear that I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has met me.” And again, “I wept over every helpless man, and groaned when I saw a man in distress.” That is why nothing of what befell him, great and unbearable as it was, troubled him. For do not look only at the loss of money, nor at the taking of the children, nor at that incurable wound, nor at the plotting of his wife, but at things much harder than these. “And what did Job suffer harder than these?” someone says; “for from the history we learn nothing more than these.” Because we sleep, we do not learn; since the one who is careful and searches out the pearl well will know much more than these. For the harder things, able to bring in greater turmoil, were others. First, knowing nothing clear about the kingdom of heaven and the resurrection; which he lamented when he said, “For I shall not live forever, that I should be patient.” Second, being conscious of many good deeds in himself. Third, being conscious of nothing evil. Fourth, thinking that he was suffering these things from God; and even if from the devil, this too was enough to offend him. Fifth, hearing his friends slander him for wickedness: “For you have been scourged less than your sins deserve,” they say. Sixth, seeing those who live in wickedness prospering and mocking him. Seventh, having no one else to look to who had ever suffered such things.

And if you wish to learn how great these things are, consider the present. For if now, when the kingdom is expected and the resurrection hoped for, and the unspeakable good things, and when people are conscious of countless evils in themselves, and have so many examples, and share in so great a philosophy, some, if they lose a little gold, and that often gold they had seized, think life not worth living, though no wife is pressing them, no children have been taken away, no friends are reproaching them, no servants trampling on them, but there are many to comfort them, some by words and some by deeds: of how many crowns would that man not be worthy, who saw what he had gathered from just toil snatched away at random, and after all that endured countless snowstorms of temptations,

and remained unmoved through all, and offered to the Master the fitting thanksgiving for these things? For even if no one had said anything else, the words of his wife alone were enough to shake a rock. See, at any rate, her malice. She does not mention money, she does not mention camels and flocks and herds (for she knew her husband’s philosophy in these things), but what is more burdensome than all these, I mean the children; and she broadens the tragedy and adds her own touches. And if women have often persuaded men of many things when they were in prosperity and suffering nothing unpleasant, consider how vigorous that soul was, repelling her when she came with so many weapons, and trampling on two most tyrannical passions, desire and pity. And yet many who have mastered desire have been bent by pity. That noble Joseph, at any rate, mastered the most tyrannical pleasure and repelled that barbarian woman who brought countless devices against him; but he did not master his tears, but, seeing the brothers who had wronged him, he was set on fire by the passion, and quickly throwing off the mask, he revealed the drama. But when it is a wife, and she says pitiful things, and has the occasion working with her, and the wounds and the weals and the countless waves of misfortunes, how could one not justly declare that soul, which suffered nothing under so great a storm, firmer than any adamant? Allow me to say with boldness that this blessed man was, if not greater, at least not less than the apostles. For they were consoled by suffering for Christ; and this remedy was so sufficient to raise them up every day that the Master set it down everywhere, saying, “for me” and “for my sake,” and, “If they called the master of the house Beelzebul.” But he was destitute of this consolation, and of that from the signs, and of that from grace; for he did not have so great a power of the Spirit. And what is greater, having been brought up in great luxury, not among fishermen and tax collectors and those who had lived meanly, but having enjoyed so much honor, he suffered all that he suffered. And what seemed most burdensome in the case of the apostles, he too endured: being hated by friends, by servants, by enemies, by those he had benefited; and the sacred anchor and the harbor free from waves (this was what was said to the apostles, the words “for my sake”), this he could not see. I marvel at the three youths too, that they braved the furnace, that they rose up against the tyrant. But hear what they say: “We do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the image you set up.” This was the greatest consolation to them, to know clearly that they were suffering all for God’s sake, whatever they suffered. But he did not know that these were contests and wrestling; for if he had known, he would not have felt what happened. When, at any rate, he heard, “Do you think I dealt with you otherwise than that you might appear righteous?”, consider how he revived at once from a bare word, how he made himself of no account, how he did not even think he had suffered what he suffered, saying thus: “Why am I still judged, admonished and reproved by the Lord, hearing such things, I who am nothing?” And again, “I had heard of you before by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you; therefore I have despised myself and melted away, and I count myself earth and ashes.” Let us, then, emulate this courage and this gentleness, we who live after the law and grace, emulating him who lived before the law and grace, so that we may be able to share the eternal tabernacles with 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.