Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 63.1–63.4

“And behold, one came up and said to him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” Some accuse this young man of being deceitful and wicked, and of coming to Jesus to test him. I would not decline to call him a lover of money and a slave to wealth, since Christ too exposed him as such; but deceitful, by no means, both because it is not safe to venture judgments on what is hidden, especially charges, and because Mark has removed this suspicion. For he says that he ran up and knelt and entreated him, and that Jesus, looking at him, loved him. But great is the tyranny of money, and this is plain from this: even if we are virtuous in everything else, it ruins all the rest. With reason, then, Paul said that it is the root of all evils: “For the love of money is the root of all evils,” he says. Why then did Christ answer him in this way, saying, “No one is good”? Because he had come to him as to a mere man, one of the many, a Jewish teacher; for this reason he converses with him as a man. For in many places he answers according to the opinions of those who come to him, as when he says, “We worship what we know,” and, “If I bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.” When, then, he says, “No one is good,” he does not say this to exclude himself from being good (away with the thought!); for he did not say, “Why do you call me good? I am not good,” but, “No one is good,” that is, no one among men. And when he says this very thing, he does not say it to deprive men of goodness either, but by way of contrast with the goodness of God. That is why he added, “except one, God.” And he did not say, “except my Father,” so that you may learn that he had not revealed himself to the young man. So also earlier he called men evil, saying, “If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.” For there too he called them evil not as condemning the whole of human nature for wickedness (for he says “you,” not “you men”), but comparing the goodness in men with the goodness of God, he named them so; and for this reason too

he added, “how much more will your Father give good things to those who ask him.” “And what was the urgency,” someone says, “or what the use, that he should answer him in this way?” He leads him up little by little, and teaches him to be free of all flattery, drawing him away from earthly things and fastening him to God, and persuading him to seek the things to come, and to know what is truly good, the root and source of all, and to refer the honors to him. For when he says too, “Do not call anyone teacher on earth,” he says this by way of contrast with himself, and so that they may learn what the first principle of all things is. For the young man had shown no small eagerness so far, having fallen into such a longing; and when of the others some came to test him, and others came on account of diseases, their own or other people’s, he himself came and conversed about eternal life. For the soil was rich and fat, but the multitude of thorns choked the seed. Consider, at any rate, how prepared he was up to this point to obey the commands. “What shall I do,” he says, “to inherit eternal life?” So ready was he to carry out what would be said. And if he had come to test him, the evangelist would have made this plain to us too, as he does in the case of the others, as in the case of the lawyer. And even if he had kept silent, Christ would not have let him escape notice, but would have exposed him plainly, or at least hinted at it, so that he might not seem to have deceived him and gone unnoticed, and so be harmed. If he had come to test him, he would not have gone away grieved at what he heard. Not one of the Pharisees, at any rate, ever felt this; they grew savage when they were silenced. But this man did not; he goes away downcast, which was no small sign that he had not come with an evil intention but with a weaker one, and that he desired life but was held fast by another, most grievous passion. When, then, Christ said, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments,” he says, “Which?” not testing him (God forbid!), but thinking that there were some others besides those of the law that would gain him life; which was the mark of one who desired it greatly. Then, when Jesus had told him those of the law, he says, “All these I have kept from my youth.” And he did not stop even here, but asks again, “What do I still lack?” which itself too was a sign of his intense desire. And it is no small thing either that he thought he still lacked something, and did not consider what had been said enough to obtain what he desired. What then does Christ say? Since he was about to enjoin something great, he sets out the prizes first, and says, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” [2] Do you see how many prizes, how many crowns he sets for this race? If he had been testing him, he would not have said these things to him. But as it is, he both speaks so as to draw him on, and shows him that the reward is great, and leaves the whole to his own will, by every means overshadowing what seemed heavy in the exhortation. Therefore, even before mentioning the contest and the toil, he shows him the prize, saying, “If you wish to be perfect,” and then he says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor,” and at once again the prizes: “You will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” For to follow him is a great recompense. “And you will have treasure in heaven.” For since the talk was about money, and he was urging him to strip himself of everything, he shows that he is not taking away what he has, but adding to what he has, and has given more than he commanded him to give up; and not only more, but so much greater as heaven is than earth, and still more. And he said “treasure” to show the abundance of the recompense, its permanence, its security, as far as it was possible to hint at it to the hearer by human things. It is not enough, then, to despise money; one must also feed the poor, and above all follow Christ: that is, do everything he commands, be ready for slaughter and for daily death. “For if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” So this command, to pour out one’s very blood, is far greater than throwing away money; but being rid of money contributes not a little to it. “But when the young man heard, he went away grieved.” Then, as if showing that he had suffered nothing unnatural, the evangelist says, “For he had great possessions.” For those who have little are not held fast in the same way as those who are drowned in great abundance; for then the passion becomes more vehement. As I never cease to say, the addition of what comes in kindles the flame the more, and makes those who acquire poorer, if indeed it sets them in greater desire and makes them feel their want the more. See, at any rate, here too what strength the passion showed. For the one who came with joy and eagerness, when Christ bade him throw away his money, it so overwhelmed and weighed down that he could not even answer about giving these things up, but went away silent, downcast and gloomy. What then does Christ say? “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven!” not finding fault with money, but with those who are held fast by it. And if a rich man enters with difficulty, much more the grasping man. For if not giving away one’s own is a hindrance to the kingdom, consider how much fire taking what belongs to others heaps up. But why did he say to the disciples, who were poor and possessed nothing, that a rich man will enter with difficulty? Teaching them not to be ashamed of poverty, and as it were making his defense to them for not having allowed them to possess anything. And having said “hard,” he goes on to show that it is even impossible; and not simply impossible, but impossible to an intensified degree; and this he made plain by the example of the camel and the needle. “It is easier,” he says, “for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” From this it is shown that no ordinary reward awaits those who are rich and are able to live by philosophy. That is why he said that it is God’s work, to show that the one who is going to achieve this needs much grace. When the disciples, at any rate, were troubled, he said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” And why are the disciples troubled, being poor, and very poor? Why then are they disturbed? Grieving for the salvation of others, and having great affection for all, and having already taken on the heart of teachers. So at any rate they trembled and were afraid for the whole world at this sentence that they needed much comfort. For this reason he first looked at them and said, “The things impossible with men are possible with God,” and not simply possible, but abundantly so. For with a gentle and mild look he consoled their shuddering minds and dispelled their anguish (for this the evangelist showed by saying, “looking at them”); then by his words too he relieves them, bringing God’s power into the middle and so making them take courage. And if you wish to learn the manner too, and how the impossible might become possible, listen. For he did not say, “The things impossible with men are possible with God,” so that you might fall back and abstain as from things impossible, but so that, considering the greatness of the achievement, you might leap at it readily, and, calling on God to help you in these noble contests, might obtain life. [3] How then might this become possible? If you throw away what you have, if you empty out your money, if you stand apart from the evil desire. For that he does not reckon it to God alone, but said this to show the magnitude of the achievement, hear what follows. For when Peter said, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you,” and asked, “What then will there be for us?” having fixed their reward, he added, “And everyone who has left houses, or fields, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.” So the impossible becomes possible. “But how,” someone says, “might this very thing happen? How is it possible for one who has once been drowned in such a desire for money to come up again?” If he begins to empty out from what he has, and to cut off what is superfluous. For so he will advance further, and will thereafter run more easily. Do not, then, seek the whole at once, but quietly and little by little climb this ladder that leads you up to heaven, if the whole at once seems hard to you. For as those who have a fever, with sharp bile overflowing within them, when they throw in food and drink, not only do not quench the thirst but even kindle the flame, so also lovers of money, when they throw money onto this evil desire, sharper than that bile, inflame it the more. For nothing stops it so much as standing apart for a while from the desire for gain, just as sparing food and purging stop the sharp bile. “And how will this itself come about?” he says. If you consider that while you are rich you will never stop thirsting and wasting away with the desire for more; but if you are rid of what you have, you will be able to stop this disease too. Do not, then, heap up more, so that you may not pursue what cannot be overtaken, and be incurably diseased, and be more pitiable than all men in raging so. For answer me: whom would we say is tormented and in pain, the one who desires costly food and drink and cannot enjoy them as he wishes, or the one who has no such desire? Plainly the one who desires but cannot partake of what he desires. For this is so painful, to desire and not enjoy, to thirst and not drink, that Christ too, wishing to depict Gehenna for us, depicted it in this way, and brought in the rich man roasting so: desiring a drop of water and not having it, he was punished in this way. So the one who despises money has stopped the desire; but the one who wishes to be rich and heap up more has kindled it the more, and it never stops; but even if he gets ten thousand talents, he desires as many more; and if he obtains these, again he longs for twice as many others; and going on, he prays that the mountains and the earth and the sea and everything might become gold for him, raging with a strange and fearful madness that can never be quenched in this way. And that you may learn that this evil is stopped not by addition but by subtraction: if you had ever conceived an absurd desire to fly and be carried through the air, how would you have quenched this absurd desire, by fashioning wings and constructing other instruments, or by persuading your reason that it desires impossible things and must attempt none of them? Plainly by persuading your reason. “But that,” someone says, “is impossible.” But this too is more impossible, to find a limit to this desire. For it is easier for men to fly than to stop the passion by adding more. For when the things desired are possible, one can be consoled by enjoying them; but when they are impossible, one thing alone must be striven for, to lead ourselves away from the desire, since otherwise it is not possible to recover the soul. That we may not suffer pain needlessly, then, let us leave the love of money, which grieves us continually and never endures to be quiet, and shift our anchorage to another love, one that both makes us blessed and is very easy, and let us desire the treasures above. For there the toil is not so great, and the gain is unspeakable, and it is not possible for one who is in any way watchful and sober and disdains things present to fail; just as for one who serves them and has given himself up to them once for all it is wholly necessary to fall away from those. [4] Considering all these things, then, cast out the evil desire for money. For you could not say this either, that it gives things present while depriving you of things to come (though even if this were so, it would be the utmost chastisement and punishment); but as it is, not even this is so. For besides Gehenna, and before that Gehenna, it casts you here too into a harsher punishment. For this desire has overturned many houses, and stirred up grievous wars, and compelled men to end their life by a violent death; and before these misfortunes it ruins the nobility of the soul, and has often made the one who has it cowardly, unmanly, reckless, a liar, a false accuser, a robber, grasping, and everything that is worst. But perhaps, seeing the gleam of silver, and the multitude of servants, and the beauty of buildings, and the court paid in the marketplace, you are bewitched? What then could be the cure for this evil wound? If you consider how these things dispose your soul, how they make it dark and desolate and shameful and ugly; if you reckon with how many evils these things were acquired, with how many toils they are guarded, with how many dangers; or rather, they are not even guarded to the end, but when they have escaped the grasp of everyone else, death comes and often carries them off into the hands of your enemies, while it takes you away destitute, dragging none of these things with you, except only the wounds and sores which the soul has received from them and departs with. When, then, you see someone shining outwardly in his garments and his great retinue, open up his conscience, and you will find many cobwebs within and will see much dust. Think of Paul, of Peter; think of John, of Elijah; or rather of the Son of God himself, who had nowhere to lay his head. Become an imitator of him and of his servants, and picture their unspeakable wealth. And if after looking up a little from these things you should be darkened again, as in a shipwreck when a storm comes on, hear the sentence of Christ which says that it is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And set against this sentence the mountains and the earth and the sea; and if you like, make everything gold in imagination; you will see nothing equal to the loss that comes to you from there. And you speak of so many and so many acres of land, and ten and twenty houses, or even more, and so many baths, and a thousand slaves, or twice as many, and carriages inlaid with silver and spangled with gold; but I say this: if each of you rich men, leaving this poverty (for these things are poverty compared with what I am about to say), possessed a whole world, and each of them had as many men as there now are everywhere on land and sea, and each the inhabited world, and earth and sea, and buildings everywhere, and cities and nations, and on every side gold flowed to him instead of water, instead of springs, I would not say that those who were so rich were worth three obols, if they fell from the kingdom. For if now, when they lose their money, they are in pain, what then, when they come to perceive the loss of those unspeakable good things? What will be enough to console them then? There is nothing. Do not, then, speak to me of abundance of money, but consider how great the loss that those who love it undergo through it, losing heaven in exchange for these things, and suffering the same as if someone, fallen from the greatest honor in the palace, and owning a heap of dung, should pride himself greatly on it. For the heap of money differs in nothing from that heap; or rather that one is even better. For the one is useful for farming and for heating a bath and for other such things, but buried gold for none of these. And would that it were only useless! But as it is, it even lights many furnaces for its owner, if he does not use it as he ought; at any rate, countless evils spring from it. That is why those outside called the love of money the citadel of evils, but blessed Paul far better and more expressively called it the root of all evils. Considering all these things, then, let us learn to emulate what is worth emulating: not splendid buildings, nor costly lands, but men who have great boldness toward God, who are rich in heaven, the masters of those treasures, the truly rich, who are poor for Christ’s sake; so that we may obtain the eternal good things, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, might, honor, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.