Commentary on Matthew 1 part 2/6

For sometimes they say concerning someone:

'So-and-so is hard, inhuman, greedy for base gain, a lover of money, cruel, senseless' — and then, in attaching these things to others, they do not perceive that they are painting a portrait of their own character.

How great a loss the condemning of others entails, we have learned from the Pharisee who despised the tax-collector.

Having therefore done away with all these things by this excellent legislation, he introduced yet another precept, saying:

The beginning of virtue is to pray that the way of truth may be made known to one;

the second step is to inquire how one must travel the way;

the third is, having laid hold of virtue, to knock at Christ, that He may open the door to him, and release him from the narrow and afflicted way, and lead him into the broad ground of contemplative knowledge — all of which one receives through prayer that is from God and directed toward God.

Perhaps too He hinted at asking together with action, by His saying:

for one knocks with the right hand.

And the right hand is a symbol of good action.

But if you do not immediately receive, do not even so despair;

for on this account He said, 'Knock.'

For the Holy Spirit is Himself that which is good by nature.

Wherefore also He gives good things to those who partake of Him.

But to those who are exceedingly wicked, on account of their sinning without relenting, in a certain manner their evil becomes their nature — such as is Satan and the demons;

for one may indeed call even these evil by nature, although they were not created evil by nature, but were hardened out of self-chosen wickedness.

The saying is directed against those who at the beginning believed rightly and diligently practiced virtue, so as even to work signs and cast out demons and prophesy, but afterward turned aside to baseness, out of voluntary choice and depravity and eagerness.

For if He says, 'I never knew you,' He sets the one who at the beginning lived virtuously, but at the end was condemned, on a level with those who were never known at all.

But God says that He knows those whom He loves;

and He loves those who believe in Him wholeheartedly and do the things that are pleasing to Him.

The hearer of the law as spiritually understood, who is nevertheless not a doer, is likened to a house built upon the sand, which in the time of trial falls down and is buried when the spirits of wickedness blow upon it — when the troubled waters have entered even to the soul, and the turbid torrent of their lawlessness has stirred it up and brought on the danger concerning the last things.

And well did He say concerning the prudent man, 'I will liken him,' but concerning the foolish, 'he shall be likened';

for the worker of virtue is in every way strong in Christ who strengthens him, from whom comes to men every thing that is rightly accomplished, from whom is wisdom and understanding and the being made like unto the good;

but the base man does not have God as the cause of his own evil and folly, but he himself is made like the fool, having departed from that which is according to nature and come to be in that which is contrary to nature.

For the Spirit purifies, while the communion of the body works sanctification.

In touching the leper, the Savior healed him, showing that the Spirit which is in Him heals diseases, while the body by its touch bestows sanctification.

And the living bird He sent forth outside the city into the open field.

Observe, then, how through the things spoken Christ is portrayed to us in His entirety.

For by the living bird you will understand the living and heavenly Word; by the blood of that which was slain, the precious blood of the Lord who suffered (for we say that He suffered in the flesh, yet as in His own body); by the incorruptible wood (for such is that of cedar), the incorruptible flesh;

for the body of Christ did not see corruption.

And by the hyssop, the fervor of the Spirit (for the herb is warm and cleansing of the ailments that come from coldness); and such is the energy and power of the Holy Spirit;

and by the scarlet, the confession of the covenant that is in blood;

and by the living water, the life-giving grace of baptism, through which he who has been made leprous by sin is cleansed;

and by the living bird's being sent outside the city, we are taught the removal from the world and the ascent into the heavens of Christ.

For having thus come to the Father and God on behalf of us all, He will make propitiation, and we shall be cleansed.

And by the anointing of the right parts of the leper — the ear and hand and foot — we are taught that we must come to be, in the things of God, at once in contemplation, in action, and in our course of life.

Now Christ withdrew from the crowds, lest anyone should think Him fond of display, rejoicing in the praises of the many, and lest the Pharisees should be enraged against Him;

for it grieved them exceedingly that many were following Him;

and also that His own and saving light might shine upon the neighboring cities.

Now Jesus bids the disciples alone go over to the other side, so that the disciples might not seem to be hindered by the crowds that pressed upon Him from hearing the teachings suited to them, and the mysteries of God that were about to be revealed to them more intimately — those which were spoken to the crowds in parables;

since, having left behind all the things in their hands, they alone followed Him for the love of learning. And He bids them cross over from the temporal to the eternal, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the fleshly to the spiritual.

Where no honor toward God is at stake, it is just to honor one's parents;

but when the two are set in the midst, one must cleave to the one and despise the other — especially if honor toward parents is a hindrance to pleasing God;

for we must glorify God with the first honors, lest we be found, like Cain, rendering the second-best to God.

Likewise the old Law also forbade the priests to draw near to the dead and to attend to their own liturgy while so doing, and not to be dragged down by fleshly affections; but that Law taught through shadows, whereas Christ teaches without veil that the one who wishes to attend upon God should make no account of any kinship, so as to be occupied with being together with Christ;

for He Himself also, for the sake of the benefit of those who were with Him, disregarded mother and brothers, saying:

'Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?' — and He is Himself both mother.

The saying 'Save' has the praise of faith, but the saying 'We are perishing' bears the charge of little faith against those who, while Christ sailed with them, expected danger.

They were not wholly unbelieving, but of little faith—those who did not take courage amid dangers, though Christ was present with them.

Behold, together with faith, littleness of faith.

For they believe that He is able to save; yet, as being of little faith, they say, 'Save us, we are perishing.'

For it was in no way possible ever to perish, while He who is all-powerful was present with them.

having overthrown the tyranny of the devil.

'You have come,' they say, 'before the time.'

For they knew from the Scripture that Christ was to come, and that He was the one to judge them.

But if they said 'before the time' as slandering the season of the Incarnation, as though it had come to pass out of due time, it is no wonder that, being wicked, they dare to say even this.

And yet, though knowing that they would be punished, they speak thus as scorners.

For the Judge has an account with us, from the time we transgressed His commandments.

The Lord beheld not the faith of the paralytic, but of those who had brought him.

For there are times when one is healed through the faith of others, and the sacred Scripture of the Gospels is full of such instances.

Beholding therefore their faith, He does not declare their labor to be in vain, but says, 'Child'—calling him 'child' either because he had believed, or according to the principle of creation.

He called the paralytic 'child' by the principle of creation, or as one who had believed in Him and known Him to be Lord and Creator.

The word went forth, and the miracle followed close upon it.

And why did He say that the Son of Man forgives sins, while a divine sign was being accomplished? It was that He might show that He had brought down into human nature the authority of the Godhead, by reason of its indivisible union with it.

'For though I have become man,' He says, 'being God the Word, and for the sake of the economy I live and move upon earth, nonetheless I accomplish miracles beyond words and grant forgiveness of sins.

For I took away nothing of the properties of the Godhead, nor diminished them, by my becoming—unchangeably and truly—upon the earth, according to the flesh, the Son of Man.

And by the economy He says 'upon the earth,' that He might show that, even having become man and having appeared upon the earth, He was God by nature.

He commanded the paralytic to take up his bed and go home, so that through him He might also confirm to those who were absent the thing that had been done in him.

And this too is full of divine sign: that by a word alone such a man was turned to so great a virtue.

In calling Matthew, He shows that, though no one comes to Him unless the Father draw him, yet the drawing comes about through Christ.

The Savior, therefore, having without shame called a tax-collector to discipleship, and having come into his house, in which there was no other good thing except the conversion of its master—

there was, then, a great crowd of tax-collectors reclining together with Jesus; and the Savior is not indignant, nor does He receive what was done as an insult to Himself, but as Master of nature He comes to the banquet and eats and drinks, both demonstrating the reality of His body and blessing the timely use of foods.

There were present also Pharisees and scribes, not that they might learn, but that they might busily scrutinize the things that were done.

They see the tax-collectors reclining together, and they call the disciples and find fault with what was being done.

Jesus hears, and says to them:

You too have need of a physician.

For if you were not sick, you would not find fault with the physician's love of mankind.

For do I not know that they are tax-collectors? Or am I ignorant of the maladies of their soul? I know that they are ill.

For this reason I have come to them, that I might heal their ailing souls.

The reason for which the Pharisees take hold of the Savior for eating with sinners is that there was a law to distinguish between the holy and the profane.

But they did not know that Christ, above the observance of the law, bestowed the grace that loves mankind.

For the one [the law] cast out the evil, but the other [grace] transformed it.

He showed, therefore, that He is present not as a judge but as a physician, and does what belongs to the art by being with those who need also healing.

If a profane person runs to what is holy, one must turn him away, according to the passage:

'You shall not abhor an Edomite, nor an Egyptian.'

But in the case of Christ, who is above all wickedness and passion, one must conceive nothing of the kind.

For He desires faith, which justifies man, not the law in letters which enjoins sacrifices through blood; and, making this plain, He adds also, 'and the knowledge of God rather than whole burnt offerings.'

For the evangelical word is mercy.

Wherefore we are justified by faith, freely, apart from the works of the law.

And He calls not those who are near, but those who have stood far off.

The Pharisees, being like a torn garment or an old wineskin, cannot receive the youthful teaching that sets aside the bodily precepts of the law.

And He says the rent is worse, because those who hear the gospel and do not receive it are punished more than those who have not heard.

And since the disciples of John asked the Lord two things:

'Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?'—to them He spoke the parable of the bridegroom, but to the Pharisees the one concerning the wineskins.

Christ, perceiving the woman with the issue of blood, did not disdain her, but healed her and called her daughter as being faithful, at the same time also showing that with God he who has an involuntary disease is not unclean.

Wherefore also the Lord summons the woman with the issue of blood, that He might transfer the typical law into spiritual contemplation.

It is a custom among men to lament unmarried maidens who die when they are at the age for marriage, by means of symbolic weddings.

Wherefore also there were flute-players within, even though the Jews at that time did this contrary to the Jewish ordinance.

He calls the disciples laborers, whom, being few, He sent into all that is under heaven.

These twelve disciples both the law prefigured beforehand and the prophets proclaimed in advance.

It is written, at any rate, in the Mosaic book:

'And you shall take fine flour and make it into twelve loaves, and you shall set them upon the pure table before the Lord, and you shall put on frankincense and salt.'

For the bread which came down from heaven and gives life to the world is Christ Himself; and in imitation of Him the blessed disciples too are called loaves.

For having become partakers of Him who nourishes us unto eternal life, they too nourish, through their own writings, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

And just as the Savior, being the true light, named them light ('for you,' He says, 'are the light of the world'),

so too, being Himself the bread of life, He granted also to the disciples to be reckoned in the rank of loaves.

And observe with me the skillful artistry of the law.

'For upon the loaves,' it says, 'you shall put frankincense and salt.'

And the frankincense is a symbol of fragrance, while the salt is a symbol of prudence and understanding.

And both of these were present in the highest degree in the holy apostles.

For their life was fragrant; indeed they said:

'We are the fragrance of Christ unto Christ.'

And besides this, they were also full of all understanding.

You are the salt of the earth.

'There is Benjamin the younger in ecstasy, the princes of Judah their leaders, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.'

For the divinely-inspired disciples became chosen out of well-nigh every tribe of Israel, and became luminaries for the whole world, holding forth the word of life—men who had been craftsmen and seafarers and fishermen, not possessing an abundance of polished words, but unlearned indeed in speech, yet rich in knowledge.

These God indicated also through the voice of Jeremiah, speaking concerning Satan:

'the things that are not his—for suddenly there shall rise up those who bite him, and your plotters shall awaken, and you shall become plunder for them.'

For Satan gathered together all the men upon the earth, though they were not his own, and made them out to be his own worshippers; but there arose those who plunder his goods.

For the net of the apostolic teaching caught all who had gone astray, and they brought to God all that is under heaven.

That one must first preach to the Jews.

For the promises had been made to them, that from them Christ should appear according to the flesh; and when they proved disobedient, then the gospel should pass over to the Gentiles.

He joins the Samaritans with those of the Gentiles, since they too were of Gentile stock, being Babylonians who had settled in Judaea.

But when they proved disobedient, it was necessary to pass over to the Gentiles.

He joins the Samaritans with those of the Gentiles, inasmuch as they too were of Gentile origin and had settled in Judaea.

By 'the kingdom of heaven' he means the grace that comes through faith, the adoption that comes through the Spirit, which unites man to God.

By way of hyperbole the word forbids every possession, from gold to a staff, as being a very great hindrance to virtue and godliness.

But he does not forbid necessary food; so that, if it were possible for us even to live without food, he would have forbidden this too.

He does not wish them to change from place to place and from house to house, lest grief should come to the one who first received them, nor lest they incur a suspicion of gluttony and self-indulgence.

The dust shaken off from their feet is a proof of the fruitless journey to those people and of the labours which they endured for their sake.

They shall be punished equally with the men of Sodom, seeing that those dishonoured the angels, while these dishonour the apostles.

He wishes them to be prudent, so that they may teach the doctrines of piety openly, and, through not being ignorant of the malice of wicked men, if any should attack, not to resist, but to depart from them and not turn back heedlessly into suffering.

He likens them to serpents, teaching that they must be swift to flee if any should come intending to kill them; and to doves, since the little bird bears no grudge and always loves to dwell in the places to which it is accustomed, returning to the same spot when the one who drove it away has ceased.

The word therefore teaches that one must not depart altogether from those who persecute, but, having yielded for a little while, to return again to admonish them, when the rage has ceased.

So too Christ himself did for them, being persecuted and withdrawing from Judaea, and again returning.

But 'it shall be given,' he says, to some the word, when it is expedient to make a defence, so that through the confession some may be benefited and the Church may be strengthened.

In that very hour he promised to give the grace of eloquent speech, so that the gift of the Spirit might be made manifest.

For if he had given it before the time by experience, the matter would have been thought to be of human nature and cleverness; but they were destined to be hated not by all, yet by many, especially at that time.

Therefore, from the greater part, he said 'by all,' since those who received the word loved them.

For he does not wish them to be cowardly, but the contrary: not, out of longing for the things hoped for, to give themselves up readily to death and so injure those who were to be benefited by the preaching.

He exhorts the disciples to flee from this city to another, and from that one to yet another.

This he says, not teaching them to be cowardly, but not to throw themselves into dangers and die easily and injure those who were to be benefited through the preaching.

By 'the cities of Israel' he means also the communities of the faithful, which exist until the consummation of the age; nor do the teachers and the taught cease until the second appearing of the Lord.

And the disciples and evangelists seem to live until then, seeing that all men are taught from their writings.

At the time of judgement all things are made manifest.

For he attends not to reproaches, but to the hearts.

Concerning the boldness of the apostles in preaching, the marvellous Habakkuk also foretold.

'For they shall loose,' he says, 'their bridles like a poor man who eats in secret'; that is, the apostles, who formerly spoke scarcely and secretly to a few, and were nourished by the faith of those who believed, these afterwards, having burst the bridle of fear laid upon them, shall fill all that is under heaven with their own voice.

But meanwhile, since — for what does he say?

He who confesses that Christ is God, having humbled himself, shall have Christ confessing concerning him to the Father, that he is a genuine servant.

Toward the enemies of God and friends of Satan one must have no friendship.

'He who loves this present transient life,' he says, 'and prefers it to me, is not worthy of me;'

'but he who has cared nothing for the transient life here and makes much of me and my commandments shall find life eternal.'

By 'the loss of the soul' he here calls, in a loose sense, the separation from the body.

'He who has found his soul' — that is, he who prefers the transient life here and, as it were, gains it — endures something worse than death, being consigned to unending punishment and death.

'He who receives you,' he says, who preach the truth, receives that very Godhead, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

For this is what he says:

He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the Father himself.

Lest anyone should plead poverty as an excuse, he said this, wishing to give a reward to those who receive them.

He asks not because he is ignorant that this is the Christ, nor because he was about to descend into Hades, as some say;

wherefore also he named him the Lamb;

but so that, while still living, he might persuade them, and that after his death they might not attach themselves to another teacher.

He prepared the way of the Lord, that is, he made the people ready to receive the law-giving of God.

He showed it therefore even from this — thereafter from himself he adds a verdict, saying:

With an oath he confirms the things concerning John.

He said 'has arisen' on account of the greatness and loftiness of his dignity, as of a distinguished king or of a well-grown plant;

for indeed he both saw the one prophesied and made him known to all.

And see how with an oath he confirms the things concerning John;

for 'amen,' he says, 'I tell you, that there has not arisen one greater than he.'

He said 'has arisen' as concerning a distinguished king, or as concerning a plant exceedingly tall and mounting up to a height by its virtues.

Together with the others who came even before him, he is born of a woman; but those who have embraced the faith are no longer styled 'born of women,' but, as the all-wise Evangelist says, 'as many as received him, to them he gave authority to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'

For we were begotten again unto the adoption of God, not of corruptible seed, but through the living and abiding word.

John indeed was born of a woman, but those who have embraced the faith are no longer styled 'born of women,' but were born of God.

But when Christ rose again, having despoiled Hades, then the Spirit of adoption is given.

And the blessed John departed before the Spirit was given; so that, even though we be less than those who achieved righteousness under the Law, yet we have come to be among the greater ones through Christ.

He calls the believer, who has been born again through the washing, greater than John — which state he calls the kingdom of heaven — since the kingdom of heaven is given to the faithful, which the Baptist had not yet attained.

But he who has merely been baptized, even if he has not yet a virtuous life, is greater than John.

The word therefore contains praise of holy baptism.

Since the kingdom of heaven is faith in Christ, it began from the preaching of John, who pointed out him who was proclaimed as leading, through baptism, into the kingdom.

And those men force their way into the kingdom of heaven who renounce the old and vain custom of idolatry, and who attend not to the letter, but are as it were drawn over by some force through faith in Christ.

In saying that the kingdom is seized by violent men, he hints at the malice of the Jews, who not only did not believe in Christ, but also hindered others by threats and blows.

And it was necessary that those who wished, through faith in Christ, to partake of the kingdom of heaven should be shown steadfast in their resolve, despising the threats of the Jews.

Moreover the believer also, when he vigorously resists the bodily and psychical passions in order to press into the kingdom of heaven, this man is a God-loving violent one.

And the 'until now' means until the perpetual continuance.

Faith in Christ through baptism is the kingdom of God, which began from the preaching of John, who pointed out the Christ.

And those who force their way are those who renounce idolatry and the old custom.

Just as, when some children are dancing and others are wailing, agreement does not settle upon one single wish (for both parties blame their companions for not agreeing with them), something of this sort the Jews suffered, accepting neither the austerity of John nor the freeness of Christ, and being benefited by neither manner.

For John, by an ascetic life, mortified the passions of the flesh, while Jesus, as God, mortified these by an authoritative law, not being aided by ascetic labours.

John, proclaiming a baptism of repentance, was a figure of mournful dejection for those who ought to grieve over this; but the Lord, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, displayed in himself that which is bright and glad, through which he now sketches out for the faithful the life to come and joy without toil.

It was fitting for John, as a servant, through excessively severe self-discipline to mortify the passions of the flesh; but for Christ, as one who is free, by the power of his Godhead to put to death authoritatively the impulses of the flesh and the inborn law of the flesh, and not to be aided to this by ascetic labours.

Nevertheless John, proclaiming a baptism of repentance, offered himself as a figure to those who ought to mourn; but the Lord, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, fittingly displayed in himself that which is relaxed and glad, through which he sketched out for the faithful the unspeakable joy and the life without toil.

For the sweetness of the kingdom of heaven is a flute, but the pains of Gehenna are a dirge.

The word 'I confess' he uses, according to human custom, in place of 'I acknowledge gratitude', that is, 'I glorify you.'

For it is the practice of the God-inspired Scripture to take the word 'confession' in some such sense.

It is written, at any rate, 'Let them confess, O Lord, to your great name, for it is fearful and holy.'

But those who are perverted in mind say:

'See,' they say, 'he acknowledges gratitude to the Father; how then is he not less than him?' To this one of those who well know how to stand shoulder to shoulder with the doctrines of truth might reply:

And what is there to prevent, my good sirs, the consubstantial Son from receiving and praising his own Father, who through him saves all that is under heaven? But if you suppose that on account of the confession he is inferior to the Father, consider also what follows.

For he confesses and calls the Father Lord of heaven and earth.

But the Son of the God who rules over all things assuredly reigns together with him over all things, not as inferior or of another substance, but as God from God, crowned with equal glories and possessing in every respect whatsoever an equality with him according to substance.

The knowledge of God is according to various conceptions:

as Creator, in that he created; as Judge, in that he judged; and the rest.

But all these things are made manifest to whomever the Son reveals them, he being Son of God in no other way.

Therefore, whoever has received authority to become a child, when he has it but has not known it, does not possess the Father; but when he comes to be, once Jesus has revealed it, he will know him as a brother.

But when he comes to be, once Jesus has revealed it, he will know him as a brother.

Just as, therefore, the Father is said to have made all things, although he makes all things through the Son, so too the Son is said to hand over all things to him, since he has power and through him rules over all and is together with him.

Yet even if, as man, he is said in the economy to receive authority, since human nature is not by nature able to hold dominion, not even this is outside what is fitting.

He who sees the Son having in himself the image of the Father sees the Father himself.

And he reveals the Father, being himself made manifest to the Father as in an archetype, while again in his own form he intimates the prototype.

But these things must be understood in a manner befitting God.

And since he said 'All things have been handed over to me,' lest he should seem to be of another kind and inferior to the Father, he added this, in order to show that his own nature is ineffable and incomprehensible, as is that of the Father;

for the divine nature of the Trinity alone knows itself.

The Father alone knows his own Son, the fruit of his own nature; the divine Offspring alone knows the One from whom he was begotten; the Holy Spirit alone knows the depths of God, which are the thoughts of the Father and of the Son.

He, then, who has heard the call and has drawn near and been joined to the One who summoned him—this man finds rest.