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| Matthew IX. 1, 2.
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Homily XXIX.
Matt. IX. 1, 2.
“And He entered into a ship, and passed over,
and came into His own city. And, behold, they brought to Him a man sick
of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto
the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven
thee.”1211
| 1211[R.V., accepting the same Greek text with
Chrysostom, “thy sins are forgiven.”—R.] |
By His own city here he means
Capernaum. For that which gave Him birth was Bethlehem; that which
brought Him up, Nazareth; that which had Him continually inhabiting it,
Capernaum.
This paralytic, however, was different from that one who
is set forth in John.1212
For he lay at the pool, but this at Capernaum; and that man had his
infirmity thirty and eight years, but concerning this, no such thing is
mentioned; and the other was in a state destitute of protectors, but
this had some to take care of him, who also took him up, and carried
him. And to this He saith, “Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee,”1213
| 1213[R.V., accepting the same Greek text with
Chrysostom, “thy sins are forgiven.”—R.] | but to that He saith, “Wilt thou be made whole?”1214
And the other He healed on a sabbath day, but this not on a sabbath,
for else the Jews would have laid this also to His charge; and in the
case of this man they were silent, but in that of the other they were
instant in persecuting him.
And this I have said, not without purpose, lest any one
should think there is a discrepancy from suspecting it to be one and
the same paralytic.
But do thou, I pray thee, mark the humility and meekness
of our Lord. For He had also before this put away the multitudes from
Him, and moreover when sent away by them at Gadara, He withstood not,
but retired, not however to any great distance.
And again He entered into the ship and passed over, when
He might have gone over afoot. For it was His will not to be always
doing miracles, that He might not injure the doctrine of His
humanity.1215
| 1215τ τ
οκονομα λγ.
[“Incarnation” expresses better the technical sense of the
Greek term, as here used. Comp. Homily XIII. 2, p. 81,
note.—R.] |
Now Matthew indeed saith, that “they brought
him,” but the others, that they also broke up the roof, and let
him down.1216
And they put the sick man before Christ, saying nothing, but committing
the whole to Him. For though in the beginning He Himself went about,
and did not require so much faith of them that came unto Him; yet in
this case they both approached Him, and had faith required on their
part. For, “Seeing,” it is said, “their faith;”
that is, the faith of them that had let the man down. For He doth not
on all occasions require faith on the part of the sick only: as for
instance, when they are insane, or in any other way, through their
disease, are out of their own control. Or rather, in this case the sick
man too had part in the faith; for he would not have suffered himself
to be let down, unless he had believed.
Forasmuch then as they had evinced so great faith, He
also evinces His own power, with all authority absolving his sins, and
signifying in all ways that He is equal in honor with Him that begat
Him. And mark; He implied it from the beginning, by His teaching, when
He taught them as one having
authority; by the leper, when He said, “I
will, be thou clean,”1217
by the centurion, when upon his saying, “Speak the word only, and
my servant shall be healed, He marvelled at him,”1218
and celebrated him above all men; by the sea, when He curbed it with a
mere word; by the devils, when they acknowledged Him as their judge,
and He cast them out with great authority.
Here again in another and a greater way He constrains
His very enemies to confess His equality in honor, and by their own
mouth He makes it manifest. For He, to signify His indifference to
honor (for there stood a great company of spectators shutting up the
entrance, wherefore also they let him down from above), did not
straightway hasten to heal the visible body, but He takes His occasion
from them; and He healed first that which is invisible, the soul, by
forgiving his sins; which indeed saved the other, but brought no great
glory to Himself. They themselves rather, troubled by their malice, and
wishing to assail Him, caused even against their will what was done to
be conspicuous. He, in fact, in His abundance of counsel, made use of
their envy for the manifestation of the miracle.
Upon their murmuring,1219
| 1219[ἐθορυβοντο; a
stronger word than the Gospel narratives suggest. The translator tones
it down, as above.—R.] | then, and saying, “This man blasphemeth; who can forgive sins but
God only?”1220
| 1220Matt. viii. 3. Comp. Mark ii. 7 [from which the latter part of the
citation is taken.—R.] | let us see what He saith. Did He indeed take away the suspicion? And
yet if He were not equal, He should have said, “Why fix upon me a
notion which is not convenient? I am far from this power.” But
now hath He said none of these things, but quite the contrary He hath
both affirmed and ratified, as well by His own voice, as by the
performance of the miracle. Thus, it appearing that His saying certain
things of Himself gave disgust to his hearers, He affirms what He had
to say concerning Himself by the others; and what is truly marvellous,
not by His friends only, but also by His enemies; for this is the
excellency of His wisdom. By His friends on the one hand, when He said,
“I will, be thou clean,”1221
and when He said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel;”1222
but by His enemies, now. For because they had said, “No man can
forgive sins but God only,” He subjoined,
“But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath
power to forgive sins upon the earth (then saith He to the sick of the
palsy), Arise, and take up thy bed, and go unto thine
house.”1223
| 1223Matt. viii.
6. [“Upon the
earth” is placed in this peculiar position by Chrysostom here. In
the next reference to the passage the correct order is
followed.—R.] |
And not here only, but also in another case again, when
they were saying, “For a good work we stone thee not, but for
blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself
God,”1224
neither in that instance did He put down this opinion, but again
confirmed it, saying, “If I do not the works of my Father,
believe me not; but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the
works.”1225
2. In this case indeed He discloses also another sign,
and that no small one, of His own Godhead, and of His equality in honor
with the Father. For whereas they said, “To unbind sins pertains
to God only,” He not only unbinds sins, but also before this He
makes another kind of display in a thing which pertained to God only;
the publishing the secrets in the heart. For neither had they uttered
what they were thinking.
For “behold, certain of the scribes,” it
saith, “said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus
knowing their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil in your
hearts?”1226
But that it belongs to God only to know men’s
secrets, hear what saith the prophet, “Thou most entirely
alone1227
knowest the hearts;”1228
and again, “God trieth the hearts and reins;1229
” and Jeremiah too saith, “The heart is deep above all
things, and it is man, and who shall know him?”1230
and, “Man shall look on the face, but God on the heart.”1231
And by many things one may see, that to know what is in the mind
belongs to God alone.
Implying therefore that He is God, equal to Him that
begat Him; what things they were reasoning in themselves (for through
fear of the multitude, they durst not utter their mind), this their
opinion He unveils and makes manifest, evincing herein also His great
gentleness.1232
“For wherefore,” saith He, “think ye
evil in your hearts?”1233
And yet if there were cause for displeasure, it was the
sick man who should have been displeased, as being altogether deceived,
and should have said “One thing I came to have healed, and
amendest Thou another? Why, whence is it manifest that my sins are
forgiven?”
But now he for his part utters no such word, but gives
himself up to the power of
the
healer; but these being curious and envious, plot against the good
deeds of others. Wherefore He rebukes them indeed, but with all
gentleness. “Why, if ye disbelieve,” saith He, “what
went before, and account my saying a boast; behold I add to it also
another, the uncovering of your secrets; and after that again
another.” What then is this? The giving tone to the body of the
paralyzed.
And whereas, when He spake unto the sick of the palsy,
He spake without clearly manifesting His own authority: for He said
not, “I forgive thee thy sins,” but, “thy sins be
forgiven thee:” upon their constraining, He discloses His
authority more clearly, saying, “But that ye may know that the
Son of Man hath power1234
| 1234[R.V., margin, “authority;” compare the
next paragraph. On the order, see note 7, p. 196.—R.] | on earth to forgive sins.”
Seest thou, how far He was from unwillingness to be
thought equal to the Father? For He said not at all, “The Son of
Man hath need of another;” or, “He hath given Him
authority,” but, “He hath authority.” Neither doth He
say it for love of honor, but “to convince you,” so He
speaks, “that I do not blaspheme in making myself equal with
God.”
Thus everywhere His will is to offer proofs clear and
indisputable; as when He saith, “Go thy way, show thyself to the
priest;”1235
and when He points to Peter’s wife’s mother ministering,
and permits the swine to cast themselves down headlong. And in the same
manner here also; first, for a certain token of the forgiveness of his
sins, He provides the giving tone to his body: and of that again, his
carrying his bed; to hinder the fact from being thought a mere fancy.
And He doeth not this, before He had asked them a question. “For
whether is easier,” saith He, “to say, Thy sins be forgiven
thee? or to say, Take up thy bed, and go unto thine house?”1236
Now what He saith is like this, “Which seems to you easier, to
bind up a disorganized1237
| 1237δικισμνον,
literally, “distributed into different habitations;” as
when the population of Mantinea was broken up by the
Lacedæmonians, δικσθη
Μαντινεα: see Xen.
Hellenic, v. 2, 7; comp. Dem. de Pace, i. 59, ed. Reiske;
de Fals. Leg. i. 366. | body, or to undo1238
the sins of a soul? It is quite manifest; to bind up a body. For by how
much a soul is better than a body, by so much is the doing away sins a
greater work than this; but because the one is unseen, the other in
sight, I throw in that, which although an inferior thing, is yet more
open to sense; that the greater also and the unseen may thereby receive
its proof;” thus by His works anticipating even now the
revelation of what had been said by John, that “He taketh away
the sins of the world.”
Well then, having raised him up, He sends him to his
house; here again signifying His unboastfulness,1239
and that the event was not a mere imagination; for He makes the same
persons witnesses of his infirmity, and also of his health. For I
indeed had desired, saith He, through thy calamity to heal those also,
that seem to be in health, but are diseased in mind; but since they
will not, depart thou home, to heal them that are there.
Seest thou how He indicates Him1240
| 1240[The reference here seems to be to God, but a
reflexive sense is not improbable; “indicates that He Himself
is,” etc.—R.] | to be Creator both of souls and bodies? He heals therefore the palsy in
each of the two substances, and makes the invisible evident by that
which is in sight. But nevertheless they still creep upon the
earth.
“For when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled,
and glorified God, which” (it is said) “had given such
power unto men:”1241
| 1241Matt. ix. 8. [R.V., “they were afraid,”
for “they marvelled” (A.V.). But Chrysostom’s text
agrees with that of the received, followed by the A.V.] | for the flesh was an offense unto them.1242
But He did not rebuke them, but proceeds by His works to arouse them,
and exalt their thoughts. Since for the time it was no small thing for
Him to be thought greater than all men, as having come from God. For
had they well established these things in their own minds, going on
orderly they would have known, that He was even the Son of God. But
they did not retain these things clearly, wherefore neither were they
able to approach Him. For they said again, “This man is not of
God;”1243
“how is this man of God?” And they were continually harping
on these things, putting them forward as cloaks for their own
passions.
3. Which thing many now also do; and thinking to avenge
God, fulfill their own passions, when they ought to go about all with
moderation. For even the God of all, having power to launch His
thunderbolt against them that blaspheme Him, makes the sun to rise, and
sends forth the showers, and affords them all other things in
abundance; whom we ought to imitate, and so to entreat, advise,
admonish, with meekness, not angry, not making ourselves wild
beasts.
For no harm at all ensues unto God by their blasphemy,
that thou shouldest be angered, but he who blasphemed hath himself also
received the wound. Wherefore groan, bewail, for the calamity indeed
deserves tears. And the wounded man, again,—noth
ing can so heal him as gentleness: gentleness,
I say, which is mightier than any force.
See, for example, how He Himself, the insulted one,
discourses with us, both in the Old Testament, and in the New; in the
one saying, “O my people, what have I done unto thee?”1244
in the other, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me.”1245
And Paul too bids, “In meekness instruct those that oppose
themselves.”1246
And Christ again, when His disciples had come to Him, requiring fire to
come down from heaven, strongly rebuked them, saying, “Ye know
not what manner of spirit ye are of.”1247
| 1247Luke ix.
55. [This clause is not found
in the oldest Greek mss. of the New Testament.
Comp. R.V. text and margin.—R.] |
And here again He said not, “O accursed, and
sorcerers as ye are; O ye envious, and enemies of men’s
salvation;” but, “Wherefore think ye evil in your
hearts?”
We must, you see, use gentleness to eradicate the
disease. Since he who is become better through the fear of man, will
quickly return to wickedness again. For this cause He commanded also
the tares to be left, giving an appointed day of repentance. Yea, and
many of them in fact repented, and became good, who before were bad; as
for instance, Paul, the Publican, the Thief; for these being really
tares turned into kindly wheat. Because, although in the seeds this
cannot be, yet in the human will it is both manageable and easy; for
our will is bound by no limits of nature, but hath freedom of choice
for its privilege.
Accordingly, when thou seest an enemy of the truth, wait
on him, take care of him, lead him back into virtue, by showing forth
an excellent life, by applying “speech that cannot be
condemned,”1248
by bestowing attention and tender care, by trying every means of
amendment, in imitation of the best physicians. For neither do they
cure in one manner only, but when they see the wound not yield to the
first remedy, they add another, and after that again another; and now
they use the knife, and now bind up. And do thou accordingly, having
become a physician of souls, put in practice every mode of cure
according to Christ’s laws; that thou mayest receive the reward
both of saving thyself and of profiting others, doing all to the glory
of God, and so being glorified also thyself. “For them that
glorify me,” saith He, “I will glorify; and they that
despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.”1249
| 12491 Sam. ii.
30. [“Shall be
despised,” according to the form given in the text. But in the
LXX. the last verb is not the same as the
preceding one.—R.] |
Let us, I say, do all things unto His glory; that we may
attain unto that blessed portion, unto which God grant we may all
attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
