Chapter Thirteen

¹ There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilæans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said to them, Suppose you that these Galilæans were sinners above all the Galilæans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think you that they were debtors above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Judas the Galilæan, of whom this same evangelist makes mention also in the Acts, being supposedly a man learned in the law, persuaded many other Galilæans to be drawn away after his own doctrine. And he taught that no man should endure even so much as with the mouth to call any one lord, neither for any honour and courtesy, not even the reigning emperor himself; whence many of them, for not calling Cæsar lord, were grievously tortured. And they taught that nothing ought to be offered beyond the sacrifices ordained by Moses; wherefore they hindered the sacrifices that were made for Cæsar and for the nation of the Romans. It is likely, then, that Pilate, being indignant at these things, commanded these Galilæans to be slaughtered at the very sacrifices which were forbidden by them to be made for the nation of the Romans, so that their blood was mingled with the blood of the sacrifices. Certain men, then, reported these things to the Saviour as though they were done for piety’s sake, wishing to learn what was pleasing to him concerning them. For some supposed that they had suffered most justly as sinners, inasmuch as they had stirred up sedition, and had provoked Pilate to hate the Jews; for their sedition, which was for not calling Cæsar lord, touched the whole nation of the Jews. The Saviour, therefore, denies not indeed that they were sinners, yet he says not that they suffered these things as being more sinful than the rest who had not suffered. For, he says, if you too repent not, and, ceasing from sedition and from kindling civil wars, hasten not to serve God by your works, you shall suffer worse things; for under the pretext of piety you clothe yourselves with a [false] reputation, and turn aside to civil seditions. And the tower that fell in Siloam was a token of the things that should afterward befall the people; for through the few who then were destroyed he instructed the many, that they too should suffer the worse things; for the tower is a foreshadowing of the whole city, and the eighteen of the whole nation. When the city, then, fell under Titus, the whole nation perished together with it, abiding in their unbelief. Let this be to us an admonition with respect to all things that daily befall us. For let us not, because certain men fall into [calamities] while we are left untried, take this as ground for utter unconcern, [as though] we are left untried because we are righteous; but [let us rather judge] that those suffered in order that we might be made better, and if we are not, [then we too shall suffer] the worse things.

² And he spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he to the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbers it the ground? And he answering said to him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and cast dung [upon it]: and if it bear fruit, [well]: but if not, then after that you shall cut it down. Fittingly he brings in this parable; for since he had said, Except you repent, you shall perish, with reason he subjoins this parable. The fig tree, then, is the generation of the Jews, putting forth leaves only, and bitter ones, but yielding no fruit. And it stood in the vineyard of God, [namely] in the Jewish commonwealth. The householder, Christ, having come and sought in it the fruit of faith and of well-doing, found none. And three years he came — through Moses, through the prophets, and the third time through himself; yet afterward, when they repented not, he cut them off from the love of God; for no longer are they called a portion of the Lord and a holy people, but into their place were brought in the nations that are able to bear fruit. And the whole of mankind too might be understood as the fig tree; the householder, God and Father; and the vine-dresser, the Son of God, who came to sojourn [among us] that he might labour over and cleanse our vineyard. Christ suffers not this fig tree to be cut down as unfruitful, saying such things as these: Let it alone this year also. If through the law and the prophets they were not bettered, and gave not the fruit of repentance, yet will I also water them with my own doctrines and sufferings; and if they bear the fruit of obedience, [well]; but if not, then after that you shall cut it down, cutting them off from the portion of the righteous. And our nature, sought a third time for fruit, gave it not: once, when in paradise we transgressed the commandment; secondly, when under the law they made the calf, and changed the glory of God into the likeness of a calf that eats grass; and thirdly, when they refused the Saviour and Lord, saying, We have no king but Cæsar. And each one of us also is a fig tree in the vineyard of God, the Church — or, to speak simply, planted in this world. God comes, then, seeking fruit, and if he find you unfruitful, he commands [you] to be cut off from this life; [but] the vine-dresser entreats him to spare. And who is the vine-dresser? Either the angel that is each man’s guardian, or even the man himself; for each is his own vine-dresser. Oftentimes, then, falling into deadly sicknesses or other dangers, we say, Spare, O Lord, this year also, and we will repent; for this is what the digging and the casting of dung about it signify. For the soul is digged when it shakes off the dust of the cares of this life, and is lightened. And dung is cast about it, [that is,] the warmth of the more dishonoured manner of life that is trodden under foot by all; for when one casts himself down from glory into an inglorious life for the soul’s salvation, this is called the casting of dung about the soul, that it may bear fruit. If, then, we bear fruit, [well]; but if not, he no longer leaves us in his vineyard, but cuts us off out of this world, that we cumber not the place. For one who sees the sinner long-lived is harmed, and becomes worse; and so the sinner is found neither bearing fruit himself, nor [letting] another who is able to bear fruit. But if he be cut off from this life, perhaps those who see him cut off, coming to a sense [of themselves], shall change and bear fruit. And the householder is said to come three years to the fig tree, perhaps both because of the three laws given to us, through which the Lord comes to us; and these are the natural, the [law] of Moses, and the spiritual. For we ought, being instructed by the natural law, to bear fruit; for nature herself teaches what is due; but since he found the natural [law] useless in us, he gave the Mosaic as a helper of the natural law; and since this too was found useless through our slothfulness, he gives the spiritual. When, then, these three better not a man’s soul, nor is it bettered by [his] long-suffering and love toward man, then indeed for the time to come it is no longer let alone; for God is not oftentimes deceived by [our] delays. And may you understand by the three years also the three estates of the ages [of life]? The childish, that is, of striplings, which is reckoned at about eighteen years; the manly; and the third, of those already beginning to grow grey. When, then, in old age, the third year, we give not fruit, and are yet suffered to live that dung may be cast about [us] — having taken up the dishonoured life for Christ’s sake — and then even so prove false, the Lord will no longer spare us, but will cut us off, that we cumber not the ground and harm others. This interpretation seems to me to be the more suited to the present aim.

³ And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath, and said to the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, You hypocrite, does not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. By a malicious assault of the devil this affliction befell the woman, even as indeed the Lord himself says, whom Satan has bound eighteen years. For perhaps, being for certain faults forsaken by God, she was punished by Satan. For he is the cause to the bodies of men of all grievous things, when from above it is permitted by God; since from the beginning he became to us the procurer of falling away from the incorruption for which we were created, and of being bound to a sickly body receptive of sufferings; for by this we altogether understand the coats of skin. The Lord, however, with a voice most befitting God and full of authority, drives away the sickness of this woman. And he lays his hands also upon her, that we may learn that the holy flesh bore the power and the energy of the Word; for it was his own, and not of any other beside him, existing apart and as a separate hypostasis, as indeed it seems to the impious Nestorius. Such, then, was the goodness of the Lord, and thus did he have mercy on his own creature. But he that from the beginning had bound the woman, Satan, being vexed at her loosing, as wishing her to be the more ill-treated, binds the ruler of the synagogue with envy, and through this man’s mouth assails the miracle; thus everywhere does he set himself against good things. He is indignant, then, that the healing came to pass on the sabbath, for which the Lord reproves him by a most graceful example of the irrational beasts; whence not he alone, but all the rest also that were set against Jesus were put to shame by his words. For it was exceedingly senseless to forbid a man to be healed on the sabbath, because of the idleness, forsooth, that was enjoined by the law upon the sabbath. The adversaries of Jesus, then, were put to shame by his words, but the multitudes rejoiced at his works — those [adversaries] indeed rejoiced not at the works, but were consumed [with envy] while Christ wrought wonders; but they of the multitude, as being profited by the signs, rejoiced, enjoying the healings. And take me these miracles also with respect to the inner man: for the soul is bowed together when it inclines toward earthly cares alone, and imagines nothing heavenly or divine; wherefore it is said to be sick eighteen years. For when one is weak concerning the keeping of the commandments of the divine law, which are ten, and concerning the hope of the eighth age, he is said to be bowed together eighteen years; or is not he that cleaves to the earth, and ever sins, both setting at nought the commandments, and not looking for the age to come? But the Lord on the sabbath and in the synagogue heals such a soul. For when one gathers within himself the reasonings of confession — for Judah is interpreted confession — and has a sabbath, that is, a rest from evils, then Jesus heals him, not by word only, saying to him, You are loosed from your infirmity, but [giving him] also his hands, that he may receive the healing as a fellow-working toward the doing of the works of virtue.

⁴ And he said, To what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and grew a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. To a grain of mustard seed he likens the kingdom of God; and the kingdom of God is the word and the preaching. For through the preaching he reigned over the souls of men. As, then, the mustard seems to be small, but has great power, so also the word of the Gospel is despised by the many, and seems to be foolishness; but a man, having taken it and cast it into his garden, that is, into his own soul, makes [of it] a great tree, so that there are branches to it, and the fowls of the air — which is to say, the men that wish to fly aloft — lodge in these branches. For they that are lifted above earthly things rest in the branches of the preaching, that is, in its expanded meanings. As, for example: Paul took a grain, the small catechizing of Ananias; but having planted this grain in his rich garden, he made branches, [I mean] the many and beautiful teachings and epistles, in which lodged not only the lofty and wise in mind and wisdom of that time, such as the Corinthians, Dionysius, Hierotheus, and very many others, but also those of every several time. The grain of mustard seed may be understood to be the Lord himself, mean indeed in appearance — for he was the son of a carpenter, and most poor — but having fallen into the heart of the earth by being put to death, and being buried in the garden, he made fair branches, the apostles, on whom rest all those formerly carried about by every wind of error, such as those of the nations, who are compared to fowls because of the easily-turned and easily-deceived [nature] of their reasoning, and its great fulness of levity. For such are all that are in error, like to the fowls of the heaven, that is, of the air. Again, the divine word is like leaven, which a woman, that is, human nature, took and hid in three measures of meal, that is, in body, soul, and spirit, that these might be sanctified, even as the blessed Paul says, and become one lump by the communion with the Holy Spirit. And you may understand by the woman the soul, and by the three measures its threefold [part] — the rational, the irascible, and the concupiscible. If, then, one hide the word of God in this threefold [part], he will make the whole of it spiritual, so that neither does the reasoning [part] err in the doctrines, nor are anger and desire borne irrationally, but they are leavened and made like to the word of God. And Jesus went through the cities and villages, teaching; for neither did he visit the small only, such as the villages, while neglecting the cities — which they do that wish to deceive the simpler sort — nor, visiting the cities as one fond of display and a lover of glory, did he neglect the small, but as the common Master, or rather the Father providing for all, he went about everywhere. Did he, then, go about the cities without, in which there were not so many learned in the law, but flee from Jerusalem, as fearing the reproofs from those learned in the law, or apprehending the death [coming] from them? It cannot be said; but rather, since the sick were more [there], there rather did he press in.

⁵ Then said one to him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said to them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say to you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut to the door, and you begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence you are: then shall you begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets. And he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are; depart from me, all you workers of unrighteousness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. Few are they that are saved, because it is not possible for many to be received by the strait [gate]. The householder, then, is the Lord, and he calls together all men to a banquet and to the enjoyment of the goods that are not to be spent; as many, therefore, as are diligent hasten to enter even up to the hour of the dinner. But as many as are more sluggish, coming after the hour of the dinner, are shut out. And what is the hour of the dinner, but the present life? For this is truly the season fit for the spiritual preparation toward being feasted. When, therefore, the householder is risen up, that is, rises up to judgment, and shuts the door — the way of virtue, I mean, which after the departure hence is no longer travelled, for while we are in this life the way of virtue is travelled — they that have lived here more carelessly begin to knock at the door; for then indeed, then, by unprofitable repentance they seek out the way of virtue with bare words, as with certain clappings and knockings calling it back, while works are absent. But the householder, having now justly shut [the door], makes as though he knew not even whence they are; and with reason, for they are of the devil, and the Lord knows them that are his. And the [saying], We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets, is said simply thus to Israel. For of them was Christ according to the flesh, and with them he ate and drank. Yet may it also be understood more loftily, the [saying], In your presence we have eaten and drunk; for, performing the legal service, and offering to God the sacrifices by blood, they ate and made merry, and heard also the divine books in the synagogues. For altogether the Lord taught also through the prophets; for the prophets put not forth their own things, but uttered the things of God, wherefore they said also, Thus says the Lord. But the service by blood sufficed not the Jews to justification, since they admitted not the faith that justifies the ungodly. And to the Christians of my own day also, who are careless in their life, these things may be fitted; for do not we too eat the divine Body, and drink the Blood of God, in his presence, approaching daily to the mystic table, and does not the Lord teach in the streets of our souls? But there is no profit, if we become hearers of the divine law, and not doers; nay rather, on the contrary, the hearing becomes to us an occasion of greater torments, even as also the partaking of the divine holy things becomes [an occasion] of judgment. And observe that they are cast out, in whose streets the Lord teaches; whereas if we have him teaching not in streets, but in strait and afflicted and contrite hearts, we shall not be cast out. And the [saying], There shall be weeping, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, fits indeed the Israelites, to whom he discoursed these things, and still also the unbelievers of every time. For the Jews were stung most of all by hearing this, that others, of the nations, should rest with Abraham and the fathers, but they themselves should be thrust out. And it fits us also, who do not the things consequent upon the faith; for we too, glorying in the law of Christ, and then by transgression of it setting him at nought, are first indeed in seeming, as having been catechized in the word from our swaddling-clothes, [yet become last]; while those at the end of life [are] preferred, [obtaining] the time of life [though they came] toward the end.

⁶ The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying to him, Get you out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill you. And he said to them, Go you, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. Wasting away with envy, the accursed Pharisees attempt to affright the Lord, and threaten him with Herod; for they wished not to see him working wonders, lest by the multitude of the signs he should draw the crowds to himself, and, teaching by the power of the word, should turn them toward himself. They make Herod, then, their pretext, and feign to care for the Saviour. But he, knowing their hearts, mildly and under a veil, as was his custom, answers them, and says, Tell that fox; and he seems indeed to name Herod a fox, but rather the Pharisees, if one consider accurately. For he said not, to that fox [yonder], but to this [fox], using a certain middle expression, and that skilfully. For by saying in the singular fox, he gave those men to suppose Herod; but by saying demonstratively this, he hinted at those very crafty men; for in truth the Pharisees displayed the cunning and perverse [nature] of the fox. And see me how he answers them according to their malice. For since they, envying because of the healings, shook over him the fear from Herod, he says that very thing which he knew would grieve them: Behold, he says, I do cures, and cast out devils; for, as has been said before, for this cause they drove him away, that he might not, using the display of marvels, ensnare many to believing on him. And the [saying], to day and to morrow, signifies more days. As, then, we too are wont in common speech to say, To day and to morrow such a thing happens, not at all shutting up the work within so great an interval, but signifying that it shall come to pass quickly; so also Christ, having said, I do cures to day and to morrow, and on the third day I shall be perfected, signified not at all this, that he should of necessity be perfected on the third day, but signifies that his death should come to pass shortly. Nevertheless I must to day and to morrow, that is, for some time, remain here working wonders, and on the day following journey to Jerusalem; for there I appointed for myself the passion. For since they said to him, Get you out, for Herod is about to slay you — and these things they said in Galilee, for Herod ruled over it — he shows them that, even though Herod take much counsel, it shall not be his to slay him; for not in Galilee, but in Jerusalem, was it foreordained for him to suffer. And that I may set forth to you the saying of the Gospel more clearly: understand not that I must to day and to morrow journey, but rather, stay until the to day and to morrow; and so take the [saying], to journey on the day following — even as we, often numbering, are wont to say, I go out on the Lord’s day, the second, and the third — not as about to go out both on the Lord’s day and on the second, but only numbering off the two, that I may signify the third. So, then, the Lord here also, as it were numbering off, says, I must to day and to morrow, then on the third journey to Jerusalem; for there has the end been appointed for me. And, as we said above, not as shutting up his own life within three days does the Lord say these things, but he hints at more days indeed, yet not a very long time. For he says, as it were, such things as these to those that envy him: Why do you meditate my death? Behold, after a little this comes to pass. And when you hear that it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem, think not that a forcible necessity is laid upon the Jews to do such things from the fact that such things are written, but that this is said in accordance with their murderous purpose; just as, seeing a most murderous robber lying in wait upon a road, one might say, It cannot be that this road, on which the robber lies in wait for the wayfarers, be clean of blood; for altogether he speaks the consequence of the robber’s works. So [too], by reason of the Pharisees and Scribes, it was not possible that the Master of the prophets [should perish] elsewhere; for being accustomed to such things...

⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kill the prophets, and stone them that are sent to you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate: truly I say to you, You shall not see me henceforth, until you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. By the doubling of the name he shows the tender affection which the Lord has toward them; for as some lover despised by his beloved, so does he call back the adulterous Synagogue. And he shows also his own love toward man, that oftentimes he wished to gather them together, and signifies their senselessness in saying, You would not; I leave you henceforth. For so greatly did I hate your wickedness, that I say the temple is not even my house, but your house; for as long as virtue had its citizenship among you, the temple too was mine; but since you defiled it also, and made it a place of merchandise and a den of robbers by your much huckstering, and, by the money-loving of your mind, slaying one another — for this is the trade of robbery, to trip up the brother and seize his goods, which the robbers also do, for, tripping up the wayfarers, so then they take away their goods — since, then, you made the temple a den of robbers by the kind of traffickings which you carried on in the very house of prayer, it is no longer my house, but yours. And not the temple only shall you understand [as] the house, but also the whole generation of the Jews; for the Scripture knows to name the race also a house, as the [saying], O house of Levi, bless you the Lord. And here too may the [word] house be understood instead of, your race is left [forsaken] by me; as also through the prophet elsewhere he says, I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance; for there he calls the Israelites a house. And he shows that even before this he was himself the one holding them together, and delivering them from the enemies. And the [saying], You shall not see me until you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, signifies the second coming. For then even against their will shall they confess him Saviour and Lord, when it shall profit them nothing. What then? Did they not see him from the time he said these things? Yea truly. When, then, he says, You shall not see me from now, he signifies not that hour then, but the time after the cross; as if he said, From the time you crucify me, you shall no more see me, until I come again.