Homilies on Jeremiah 6.0–7.3

Homily 6. On “Lord, your eyes are upon faithfulness” as far as “I will go to the great men and speak to them.”

“Lord,” he says, “your eyes are upon faith.” As “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,” for he turns them away from the unrighteous, so the eyes of the Lord are upon faith, for he turns them away from unbelief. That is why “Lord, your eyes are upon faith” is well said by one who understands what he is saying in prayer. So what is written here is “Lord, your eyes are upon faith.” But since “if a man of understanding hears a wise word, he will praise it and add to it,” see how much can be done with “Lord, your eyes are upon faith.” Paul says, “But now these three remain, faith, hope, love; but the greatest of these is love.” As the eyes of the Lord are upon faith, the eyes of the Lord are upon hope, the eyes of the Lord are upon love. And since there is “a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline,” as the eyes of the Lord are upon love, so the eyes of the Lord are upon power, so the eyes of the Lord are upon self-discipline … the eyes of the Lord are upon righteousness. So the eyes of the Lord are upon all the virtues. If, then, you too wish the rays of God's spiritual eyes to reach you, take up the virtues. And as it is “Lord, your eyes are upon faith,” so it will be “Lord, your eyes” are upon each of the goods you acquire. And if you become so great that the eyes of the Lord shine upon you, you will say, “The light of your face has been signed upon us, O Lord.”

Then let us look at what is said about sinners: “You scourged them, and they felt no pain.” These perceptible whips, when applied to living bodies, cause pain to those who are whipped, whether they wish it or not; but God's whips are such that some of those who are whipped feel pain, and some of those who are whipped do not. Let us see whether we can explain what it is to feel pain from God's whips and what it is not to feel it, and that those who feel no pain from God's whips are wretched, while those who feel pain from God's whips are blessed. For Wisdom says: “Who will set whips over my thought, and the seal of the prudent upon my lips, that they may not spare my ignorances, and my sins may not destroy me?” Notice “Who will set whips over my thought?” So there are whips that scourge the thought. The whips of God scourge the thought; for a word that takes hold of the soul and brings it to awareness of its sins scourges it. It scourges the blessed person, who feels pain under the whips, for what is said reaches him, and he does not make light of the one who rebukes him. But when someone is found, so to speak, insensible, it will be said of him, “You scourged them, and they felt no pain.” When the same word is spoken by way of rebuke, for example so that what is said may reach the mind of one whose conscience is stained by some sin, if one of the hearers is pained, so that it is said of him, “Did you see how so-and-so was cut to the heart?”, while another of the hearers is not pained but is insensible to those who rebuke him, clearly it will be said of the one who does not even feel it: “You scourged them, and they felt no pain.” This is one explanation of “they felt no pain” or “they felt pain”; let us see whether we have another too. Deadness and dryness occur in certain parts of bodies, and often the deadened members are so affected, in contrast with the living ones, that when things able to cause pain are applied to a living member, the one to which the painful thing is applied feels pain; but when things that cause pain are applied to the insensible member, it does not feel them, since there is deadness about it. If you have seen this in the body, transfer it to the soul, and see that there is also a soul deadened in its members, so as not to feel the whips, even if painful things are applied. Dreadful things are applied, but this soul will not feel them, while another will. And perhaps the one who does not feel the pains applied to him is more grieved at not feeling than he would be at feeling, praying rather to feel pain if painful things were applied (since this is a sign that he is alive), and distressed at not feeling the painful things. Just as this happens with bodies, so I think something of this kind is shown in “They will wish that they had been burned with fire”: as though, when fire is applied to someone and the one burned does not feel it, they will wish, having understood the comparison between those who do not feel their pains and those who do, rather to feel the fire than not to feel it. And one might pray, when that fire appointed for sinners is applied, rather to feel it than not to feel it. So much on “You scourged them, and they felt no pain.” “You made an end of them, and they would not receive instruction.” When God, who provides for the universe, does the cleansing things for the salvation of the soul, he has brought to completion what depends on him. You will understand “You made an end of them, and they would not receive instruction” from the example of one who hands on knowledge and one who does not wish to receive knowledge from the one who hands it on. Let the teacher do everything in his power and bring everything to completion for the handing on of knowledge, but let the other not accept what is said: I would say to the teacher about such a person, “You have completed this one, and he would not receive instruction.” If, then, everything from providence comes to us so that we may be completed and perfected, but we do not accept the things of the providence that draws us toward perfection, it might be said to God by one who understands: “Lord, you made an end of them, and they would not receive instruction.”

“They made their faces harder than rock.” You will understand this too from more bodily things. Of those who sin, some, when they hear words of rebuke for their sin, blush and shrink and bow down when the rebuking word touches them; but others are such that they are shameless, not abashed at the things for which they are rebuked, at the sins they have committed. So you might say of those who are not abashed: “They made their faces harder than rock.” If you have understood it of bodily things, pass over with me in thought to the soul, understanding a face about which it is said, “but then face to face.” And see a hard soul, such as was Pharaoh's hardened heart, so that it stands resistant to what is proclaimed, and as though throwing off what is said, not being shaped by what is proclaimed. For there you will find that “They made their faces harder than rock and would not turn back” fits. “And I said: Perhaps they are poor, because they would not know the way of the Lord and the judgment of God. I will go to the great men and speak to them.” Having understood this about those who would not be instructed, who have no understanding under God's whips, he speaks, having understood the cause of these things: their soul is poor. “And I said: Perhaps they are poor, because they were not able, because they did not know the way of the Lord and the judgment of God.” “I will go to the great men and speak to them.” Those who are great in soul are so called in praise. For among the Greeks too “greatness” and the grandeur of the rational soul are often named. For when someone undertakes great things and has worthy purposes and always considers what is needed, how he may live according to right reason, wishing nothing low and small and looking at nothing such, such a one has greatness and grandeur in his soul. So these, since they were poor, the first ones whom the Word blamed, did not listen, says the prophet. They did not listen for this reason, because they are poor. “I will go to the great men and speak to them.” And if it is a blessed thing to speak “into the ears of those who listen,” it is a blessed thing if one finds a great and noble hearer. So, since these things are said in this way, knowing that the failure to accept what is proclaimed is not so much a loss to those who speak as to those who hear, and that it convicts the poverty of their mind and understanding, let us pray to receive from God, as the Word grows in us, greatness and grandeur in Christ Jesus, so that we may be able to hear the sacred and holy words; to him be the glory and the power for ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 7. On “And it shall be in those days, says the Lord your God, I will not strike you to the end” as far as “so you shall serve foreigners in a land not yours.”

God, who judges “little by little,” gives room to those who are punished, and does not, as soon as someone has sinned, bring the full end of punishment on the one who has sinned. That is why, “judging little by little,” he punishes. And an example of this is in Leviticus; for in the curses on those who transgress the law it is written, after the earlier punishments: “And it shall be, if after this you do not turn back, says the Lord, I too will add seven plagues to you.” And again it describes another punishment: “And it shall be, if after this you do not turn back, but walk crosswise toward me, I too will walk with you in crosswise fury.” And you will find God measuring out punishments with restraint, since he wishes to bring the sinner to conversion, and not paying them all out at once. Such things, then, as far as the letter goes, had happened to the people; and the Word, threatening them with what they will suffer after those things, says: “And it shall be in those days, says the Lord your God, I will not strike you to the end.” Whether these words reach especially to the punishments to come … if not, let him who is able pass over from what happened to the people in this life to those punishments as well. For I would be persuaded to say that, as they “serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things,” so that people was punished for its sins with a copy and shadow of the true punishments, so that every punishment in the law and the prophets concerning the people contains a shadow of true punishments. If, then, the full end did not come upon them at once for their sins, but only at last, at some time, so perhaps there will be punishment for sinners even after their departure from this life. There was an end for Jerusalem when the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar came. Yet someone will say that not even then was there an end, nor in the times of the Maccabees; but the end for the people came at the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ. For as long as the Savior had not said to them, “Behold, your house is left to you,” it was not left. But when he wept over Jerusalem, saying, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her, how often I wished to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate,” the house was left, “Jerusalem was surrounded by armies,” since the house had been left, and “its desolation drew near.” Then after their trespass salvation came to us from the nations. So they were being punished, and the end did not reach them until the coming of my Lord Jesus.

I consider whether things are not such for us too, and certain punishments come about, so that some have no experience of second punishments but are sufficed by the first, while others come also to the second, but not to the third, and others will come even to the fourth. For “I will add seven plagues” shows some mystery, the first plague coming on some, and a second and a third, up to the seven mentioned. Not all are struck with seven plagues; but I think some will be struck with six plagues, others with five, others with four, others with three or two; and those lowest of all in punishments I think will be struck with one plague. So God knows the matters of the plagues too. That is why it is written here at the beginning of the reading: “And it shall be in those days,” the days concerning what was spoken, “I will not make an end of you.” Not in those days is there an end; for there are certain days when he will make an end of those of whom he will make an end.

“And it shall be, when you say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these evils to us?’ you shall say to them: ‘Because you forsook me and served other gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land not yours.’” Let the literal sense be understood, and it is enough for the present to set out a reminder from the literal sense for those able to hear. The sons of Israel had the holy land, the temple, the house of prayer. They were bound to worship God. But transgressing the divine commandments, they worshipped idols and took over the idols of Damascus, as is written in the books of Kingdoms, and brought other idols of the nations into the holy land. By taking over the idols of the nations they made themselves worthy to be cast down into the land of the idols, to live there where they worshipped the idols. So the Word says to them according to the letter: “Because you forsook me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreign gods in a land not yours.” Everyone who makes a god of anything serves foreign gods. Do you deify food and drink? Your god is “the belly.” Do you honor money as a great good, and the wealth here below? Your god and lord is mammon. For Jesus called it the lord of lovers of money, saying: “You cannot serve God and mammon; no one can serve two lords.” So the one who honors money and admires wealth and thinks it a good, and welcomes the rich as gods while despising the poor as not having their god, makes a god of money. If someone who is in the house of God, the church, worships foreign gods, making gods of things not worthy to be made gods, he will be cast out into a foreign land; and let him worship the gods whom he worshipped while he was inside. Outside let the lover of money be, cast out of the church; outside the church let the glutton be. This is according to one figurative interpretation, so that I may not now busy myself with things beyond me, about the land of which the Savior said, “Who will give you what is ours?”, and that, when a certain worship took place in the land, God so arranged it that some were cast out from his own land and came to the land about which it is written: “Hear, O Israel: why are you in the land of your enemies? You have been counted with those who go down to Hades. You have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord. If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in peace for ever.” Now, then, we are in a foreign land, and we pray to do the opposite of what the sons of Israel did in the holy land. For they worshipped foreign things in the holy land; but we in a foreign land worship the God who is foreign to the land, foreign to earthly affairs. For the ruler of this age rules here, and God is a stranger to his sons. When I say “foreign,” I do not mean this: not foreign as though he did not create the world, but foreign to the lord of wickedness, foreign to the sins at hand. And yet, wishing to worship God, who is foreign to the affairs of sin, in this land of affliction, let us see what we do. We do not say, “How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” but, “How shall we sing the Lord's song if not in a foreign land?” We seek a place in it to sing the Lord's song, a place to worship the Lord our God in a foreign land. What, then, is the place? I have found it. He came to this land wearing the body that saved, having taken up “the body of sin” “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” so that in this place, because of Christ Jesus who came to dwell here and destroyed the ruler of this age and destroyed sin, I may be able to worship God here, and after this I will worship in the holy land. For if one who worshipped idols in the holy land went away into the foreign land, one who worships God in the foreign land will go away to the holy land in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and the power for ever. Amen.