Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 5.1–6.1

“Now all this took place, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.”

I hear many saying that while we are present and enjoying the hearing, we are humbled; but when we have gone out, we become different men again, quenching the fire of our zeal. What then could be done so that this does not happen? Let us consider where it comes from. Where, then, does so great a change in us come from? From spending our time in unfitting ways and from the company of wicked men. For when we leave the assembly we ought not to throw ourselves into affairs unfitting for the assembly, but go home at once, take the book in hand, call wife and children to share in recalling what was said, and then take up the affairs of life. For if after the bath you would not choose to plunge into the marketplace, so as not to spoil the refreshment from there with the business of the marketplace, much more ought we to do this after the assembly. But as it is we do the opposite, and that is why we lose everything. For before the benefit of what was said has become firmly fixed, the great rush of things from outside falling upon us sweeps everything away and is gone. So that this may not happen, when you leave the assembly, count nothing more necessary than recalling what was said. For it would be the height of ingratitude to give five and six days to the affairs of life, and to spiritual things not even one day, or rather not even a small part of a day. Do you not see that our children practice the lessons they receive throughout the whole day? Let us too do this; otherwise we shall have nothing more from coming here, drawing water every day into a pierced jar, and not giving even as much care to keeping what is said as we show for gold and silver. For someone who receives a few denarii puts them in a purse and sets a seal on it; but we, receiving oracles more precious than gold and costly stones, and taking in the treasures of the Spirit, do not store them in the storerooms of the soul, but let them flow out of our minds idly and at random. Who then will pity us any longer, plotting against ourselves and casting ourselves into such poverty? So that this may not happen, let us write for ourselves an unshakable law, and for our wives and children, to devote one day of the week wholly to hearing and to recalling what has been heard. For so we shall come more ready to learn what is to be said, the labor will be less for us and the gain greater for you, when you hear what follows bearing in memory what was said before. For this too contributes not a little to understanding what is said, to know exactly the sequence of the thoughts we weave for you. For since it is not possible to lay everything down in one day, make what is laid up for you over many days into a kind of chain by continual remembering, and so put it around your soul, so that the body of the Scriptures may appear whole. Having reminded ourselves, then, of what was said lately, let us go on to what lies before us today.

What, then, lies before us today? “Now all this took place, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying.” He cried out worthily of the wonder, as far as was possible for him, saying, “Now all this took place.” For when he saw the sea and the abyss of God's lovingkindness, and what had never been hoped for come to pass, the laws of nature undone, reconciliation made, the one higher than all coming down to the one lower than all, the dividing walls broken down, the obstacles removed, and many more things than these happening, he set forth the wonder in one phrase, saying, “Now all this took place, that what was spoken by the Lord might be fulfilled.” For do not think, he says, that these things were decided now; they were foreshadowed long ago. Paul too was eager to show this everywhere. And the angel refers Joseph to Isaiah at last, so that even if on waking he should forget the angel's words, as just spoken, he might, remembering the prophetic words with which he had always lived, hold fast to what had been said by him too. And to the woman he said none of this, since she was a girl and unacquainted with these things; but to the husband, a righteous man who studied the prophets, he speaks from this source. And before this he says, “Mary your wife”; but here, when he has brought the prophet into the midst, then he entrusts to him the name of virginity. For he would not have remained so undisturbed on hearing “virgin” from the angel, had he not heard it first from Isaiah too. For he was going to hear from the prophet nothing strange, but the familiar thing he had studied for a long time. That is why the angel, making what he said easy to receive, brings Isaiah forward. And he does not stop even here, but ties the saying to God; for he says that the saying is not Isaiah's but that of the God of all. That is why he did not say, “that what was spoken by Isaiah might be fulfilled,” but “what was spoken by the Lord.” For the mouth was Isaiah's, but the oracle was borne from above.

What then does this oracle say? “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” “How then,” someone says, “was his name not called Emmanuel, but Jesus Christ?” Because he did not say “you shall call,” but “they shall call,” that is, the crowds, and the outcome of events. For here he gives the event as a name; and this is the custom of Scripture, to give the events that happen in place of names. So “they shall call him Emmanuel” shows nothing other than that they will see God with men; for he was always with men, but never so clearly. And if the Jews are shameless, we shall ask them: When was the child called “Quickly spoil, speedily plunder”? They could not say. How then did the prophet say, “Call his name Quickly spoil”? Because when he was born, there was taking and dividing of spoils; that is why he gives the event that happened in his time as his name. And “the city,” he says, “shall be called a city of righteousness, the faithful mother-city Zion”; and nowhere do we find that the city was called “righteousness,” but it remained called Jerusalem; but since this came to pass when it changed for the better, he said it would be so called. For when something happens that makes known the one who accomplishes it, or enjoys it, more clearly than a name, Scripture says that the reality of the thing is his name.

But if, stopped here, they seek another point, about what was said of virginity, and put forward other translators to us, saying that they did not say “virgin” but “young woman,” first we shall say this: that the Seventy would justly have more credibility than all the others. For those others translated after the coming of Christ, remaining Jews, and might justly be suspected of speaking rather from hostility and of deliberately obscuring the prophecies; but the Seventy, having come to this work a hundred or more years before the coming of Christ, and being so many, are free from all such suspicion, and because of the time, the number, and their agreement would rather deserve to be believed.

And even if they bring forward the testimony of those translators, the victory is ours this way too. For Scripture is accustomed to use the word “youth” of virginity, not only of women but also of men: “young men,” it says, “and virgins, old men with younger.” And again, speaking of a girl who is assaulted, “if the young woman cries out,” it says, that is, the virgin. And what is said before establishes this sense. For he did not say simply, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive,” but having first said, “Behold, the Lord himself will give you a sign,” then he added, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive.” Yet if the one who was to conceive were not a virgin, but this happened by the law of marriage, what sign would the event be? For a sign must surpass the ordinary course of things, and be strange and extraordinary; otherwise how would it be a sign?

“And Joseph, rising from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” Do you see obedience and a submissive mind? Do you see a soul awake and impartial in everything? For neither, when he suspected something unpleasant and wrong, did he consent to keep the virgin, nor, when he was freed from this suspicion, did he bear to cast her out; but he keeps her and serves the whole dispensation. “And he took Mary his wife.” Do you see how the evangelist keeps using this name, not wishing that mystery to be revealed for a time, and removing that evil suspicion? “And having taken her, he did not know her until she had borne her firstborn son.” He said “until” here, not so that you may suspect that he knew her afterward, but so that you may learn that before the birth the virgin was entirely untouched. “Why then,” someone says, “did he put ‘until’?” Because Scripture often does this, and uses this expression without setting limits of time. For of the ark too it says, “The raven did not return until the earth was dried,” and yet it did not return even afterward. And speaking of God it says, “From age to age you are,” not setting limits here; and again, announcing good news and saying, “In his days righteousness shall spring up, and abundance of peace, until the moon is taken away,” it does not set an end to this fair element. So too here it said “until,” securing what was before the birth, and leaving to you to reason about what came after. For what you had to learn from him, this he himself said, that the virgin was untouched until the birth; but what appeared to follow from what was said and was agreed, this he leaves to you to see: namely, that not even afterward would that righteous man have borne to know her who had become a mother in this way and had been counted worthy of new birth pangs and a strange childbearing. For if he had known her and kept her in the rank of a wife, how is it that Christ commits her to the disciple as unprotected and having no one, and bids him take her to his own home?

“How then,” someone says, “are James and his companions called his brothers?” In the same way that Joseph himself was thought to be Mary's husband. For there were many veils, so that such a birth might be concealed for a time. That is why John too called them so, saying, “For not even his brothers believed in him.” Yet those who did not believe at first became wonderful and illustrious later. When Paul and his companions went up to Jerusalem about doctrine, they went in to him at once. For he was so wonderful that he was the first to be entrusted with the episcopate. And they say that he gave himself to such austerity that all his limbs were deadened, and that from continual prayer and constant contact with the ground his forehead had become so hardened that, because of this callousness, it was no better than a camel's knees. He too later instructed Paul when he went up again to Jerusalem, saying, “You see, brother, how many myriads there are of those who have come together.” So great was his understanding and his zeal; or rather, so great is the power of Christ. For those who mocked him while living were so amazed after his death that they even died for him with great eagerness, which shows above all the strength of the resurrection. For that is why the more splendid things were kept for later, so that this proof might become indisputable. For if we forget even those admired among us in their lifetime once they have departed, how did those who mocked him while living think him God afterward, if he were one of the many? And how

would they have consented even to be slain for him, if they had not received clear proof of the resurrection? We say these things not only that you may hear, but that you may also imitate their courage, their boldness, and all their righteousness; so that no one may despair of himself, even if he was careless before; so that he may put his hopes in nothing else, after the mercy of God, but in his own virtue. For if these men gained nothing from such kinship, though of the same house and family as Christ, until they showed virtue, what pardon shall we be able to obtain, putting forward righteous kinsmen and brothers, unless we are very upright and have lived in virtue? For the prophet too, hinting at this very thing, said: “A brother does not redeem; shall a man redeem?” Even if it be Moses, even if Samuel, even if Jeremiah. Hear, at any rate, what God says to him: “Do not pray for this people, for I will not hear you.” And why do you wonder if I do not hear you? “Even Moses himself,” he says, “and Samuel, if they were present, I would not accept their supplication for them.” Even if it be Ezekiel who entreats, he will hear: “Though Noah, Job, and Daniel stand, they shall not deliver their sons and daughters.” Even if it be the patriarch Abraham entreating for those who are incurably sick and do not change, God will depart, leaving him, so as not to receive his voice for them. Even if it be Samuel again who does this, he will say to him, “Do not mourn for Saul.” Even if one entreats unfittingly for a sister, he will hear again what Moses heard: “If her father had spat in her face.” Let us not, then, gape toward others. For the prayers of the saints have the very greatest power, but only when we too repent and become better. For Moses too, who snatched his own brother and six hundred thousand from the wrath sent by God at that time, could not deliver his sister; and yet the sin was not equal; for she had insulted Moses, while there what was dared was ungodliness.

But this question I leave to you; the one harder than this I shall try to solve. For why speak of the sister? He who had led so great a people could not suffice for himself; but after countless labors and hardships, and his attendance for forty years, he was prevented from setting foot on the land about which there were so many promises and pledges. What, then, was the cause? This favor would not have been profitable, but would have done much harm, and would have tripped up many of the Jews. For if, when they had only been freed from Egypt, they abandoned God and sought Moses and ascribed everything to him, how far into ungodliness would they not have run aground, had they seen him bring them into the land of promise? That is why not even his tomb was made known. And Samuel could not free Saul from the wrath from above, but he often saved the Israelites. And Jeremiah did not avail for the Jews, but he sheltered someone else in his prophecy. And Daniel rescued the barbarians from being slain, but did not rescue the Jews from being taken captive. And in the Gospels too we shall see both these things happening, not with different people, but with the same: the same man now sufficing for himself, now betrayed. For the one who owed the ten thousand talents rescued himself from the danger by entreaty, and again could not; while another, conversely, first betrayed himself, but later was able to help himself greatly. Who is this? The one who devoured his father's property. So if we are careless, we shall not be able to be saved even through others; but if we are sober, we shall be able to do this even through ourselves, and through ourselves rather than through others. For God wishes to give the grace to us rather than to others on our behalf, so that we may enjoy confidence and become better by striving ourselves to undo his wrath. So the Canaanite woman …

And I say this not that we should not entreat the saints, but that we should not be careless, nor, lying back and sleeping ourselves, entrust our affairs to others alone. For when he said, “Make friends for yourselves,” he did not stop there only, but added, “by the mammon of unrighteousness,” so that the good deed may again be yours; for he hinted at nothing else here than almsgiving. And what is wonderful, he does not even deal strictly with us, if we depart from unrighteousness. For what he says is this: Have you acquired wrongly? Spend well. Have you gathered unjustly? Scatter justly. And yet what virtue is it to give from such things? But God, being a lover of mankind, condescends even to this; and if we do so, he promises us many good things. But we have come to such insensibility that we do not give even from what is unjust; but seizing countless things, if we put down the smallest part, we think we have fulfilled everything. Have you not heard Paul saying, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly”? Why then do you spare? Is the thing an expense? Is it an outlay? It is revenue and trade. Where there is trade, there is also increase; where there is sowing, there is also harvest. But you, if you were going to farm rich and deep land that could receive much seed, would have thrown in what you had and borrowed from others, thinking sparing a loss in such things; but when you are about to farm heaven, which is subject to no unevenness of weather, but will surely return what is sown with greater increase, you hesitate and draw back, and do not consider that it is possible by sparing to lose, and by not sparing to gain. Scatter, then, that you may not lose; do not keep back, that you may keep; throw out, that you may preserve; spend, that you may gain. And if they must be guarded, do not you guard them, for you will certainly lose them; but entrust them to God; for no one can snatch from there. Do not you do the trading, for you do not even know how to make a profit; but lend to the one who gives interest greater than the principal. Lend where there is no envy, no accusation, no plotting, no fear. Lend to the one who needs nothing, and yet has need because of you; to the one who feeds all and is hungry, that you may not starve; to the one who is poor, that you may be rich. Lend where it is possible to reap not death but life instead of death. For the one kind of interest procures the kingdom, the other hell; the one comes from love of money, the other from love of wisdom; the one from cruelty, the other from lovingkindness. What defense, then, shall we have, when, though it is possible to receive more, and with security, at the fitting time, in great freedom, without mockery and fears and dangers, we let go these gains and pursue those shameful, mean, unsafe, and perishing ones, which procure for us a great furnace? For there is nothing, nothing more shameful than the interest of this world, nothing more cruel. For such a man makes merchandise of other people's misfortunes, makes another's bad day his revenue, and demands a wage for lovingkindness, as though afraid of appearing merciful; and under the pretense of lovingkindness he digs the pit deeper, crushing poverty while he helps, and pushing down while he stretches out his hand; receiving the man as into a harbor, but casting him into shipwreck as on a rock and a reef and a hidden crag.

“But what do you order?” someone says. “That I give the money I have gathered, useful to me too, to another for his business, and demand no wage?” Far from it; I do not say this; on the contrary, I greatly wish you to receive a wage, not a mean and small one, but a far greater one; for instead of gold I wish you to receive heaven as interest. Why then do you shut yourself into poverty, dragging along the ground and demanding small things instead of great? For this belongs to one who does not know how to be rich. For when God promises you the good things in heaven in return for a little money, and you say, “Do not give me heaven, but instead of heaven this perishing gold,” this belongs to one who wishes to remain in poverty. For one who desires wealth and plenty will choose what abides before what perishes, what cannot be spent before what is used up, the many before the few, the incorruptible before the corruptible; for so those others will follow too. For one who seeks earth before heaven will certainly lose earth too; but one who prefers heaven to earth will enjoy both in great abundance. That this may happen with us too, let us despise all things here and choose the good things to come. For so we shall obtain both these and those, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might to the ages of ages. Amen.

“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

We need much wakefulness and many prayers to be able to go through the present passage and learn who these magi are, where they came from and how, who persuaded them, and what the star is. Or rather, if you wish, let us first bring forward what the enemies of the truth say. For the devil has breathed so hard against them that they try to arm themselves even from here against the words of truth. What then do they say? “See,” they say, “when Christ was born too a star appeared, which is a sign that astrology is reliable.” How then, if he was born according to that law, did he undo astrology, abolish fate, stop the mouths of demons, drive out error, and overturn all such sorcery? And what do the magi learn from the star itself? That he was king of the Jews? Yet he was not king of this kingdom, as he said to Pilate too: “My kingdom is not of this world.” At any rate he displayed nothing of the kind; for he had no spearmen, nor shield-bearers, nor horses, nor team of mules, nor anything else of the kind about him; but he pursued this mean and poor life, taking twelve mean men about with him. And even if they knew that he was a king, why do they come? For it is not the work of astrology to know from the stars those who are being born, but to foretell from the hour of birth what will happen, as they say. But these men were neither present with the mother in labor, nor did they know the time at which he was born, nor did they start from there and calculate from the movement of the stars what would happen; but the reverse: having seen a star appear in their own country long before, they come to see the one who was born; which itself would be far more puzzling than the former. For what reason persuaded them, what hope of good things, to worship a king from so great a distance? If he were going to reign over them, not even so would the thing make much sense. For if he had been born in royal courts, with his father the king present, one might reasonably have said that they, wishing to court the father, worshiped the child that was born, and so laid up for themselves great ground for goodwill. But as it is, not expecting that he would be their king, but king of a strange nation far from their own country, and not seeing him already grown to manhood, why do they set out on so long a journey and bring gifts? And that when they were going to do it all at their peril? For Herod, on hearing, was troubled, and the whole people was in turmoil, hearing these things from them. “But they did not foresee this.” That makes no sense. For however foolish they were, they would not have been ignorant that, coming into a city under a king, proclaiming such things and pointing to another king besides the one then reigning, they would draw countless deaths upon themselves. And why did they worship one in swaddling clothes at all? For if he had been a man, one could have said that, expecting help from him, they threw themselves into open danger; which itself was the height of unreason, that a Persian, a barbarian, with nothing in common with the nation of the Jews, should wish to leave his home, abandon country, kin, and household, and put himself under another kingdom.