Chapter Fourteen

¹ And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees on the sabbath to eat bread, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spoke to the Pharisees and lawyers, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; and answering them said, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things. Even though the Lord knew the perverseness of the Pharisees, yet he entered into their houses; for he had a care for the profit of souls, and for this cause he entered; for either from word and teaching, or from the display of signs, it was possible for them to be profited, if they were but willing. When, therefore, the man with the dropsy had come into the midst, the Lord regarded not this, how he might not offend them, but how he might do good to the man that needed healing. For it behoves us, where very great profit arises, not to take thought of those who are senselessly offended. And he reproves the folly of those who were about to accuse him, wherefore he also asks, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not? For does he not openly laugh them to scorn as senseless men? — seeing that, though God blessed the sabbath, they forbid to do good on it, and make it altogether accursed. For the day that admits no good work is not blessed. But these men, perceiving where the question tended, held their peace; then indeed Jesus does his own work, and by the touch heals the man; then by this he also puts the Pharisees to shame, all but saying to them such things as these: If the law has forbidden to show mercy on the sabbath, take no thought of a son that is in peril on the sabbath? And why do I say a son? when you will not leave even an ox unhelped, if you see him in peril? How then is it not senseless to watch closely against the healing of the man with the dropsy on the sabbath? And every one too is a man with the dropsy who, having through a loose and fluid manner of life sickened grievously in soul, has need of Christ; therefore he also shall be healed, if he come to be before Christ. For he that ever bethinks himself to be before God, and to be seen of him, shall sin very little.

² And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying to them, When you are bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than you be bidden of him; and he that bade you and him come and say to you, Give this man place; and you begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade you comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher: then shall you have glory in the presence of them that sit at meat with you. For whoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Do you see what kind of things the dinners of Christ are — turning to the profit of souls, not to the surfeit of the belly? For behold, he healed the man with the dropsy, he taught the Pharisees that it is good to do good on the sabbath. And since he saw them troubled also about the chief seat, he heals this affliction too, which takes its beginning not from a small occasion, but from a great and hardly-escaped one, I mean vainglory; and let no one think the teaching concerning this to be a small thing, and unworthy of the magnificence of God. For indeed you would not even call a physician a lover of man, who professed to heal the gout and such diseases as are of note, but undertook not to treat the bruising of a finger or the aching of a tooth. Moreover, how is the passion of vainglory a small thing, which altogether troubled those that sought the chief seats? It behoved, then, it behoved Christ, the teacher and author and finisher of humility, to cut off every branch of the wicked root of vainglory. And reckon me this also: if it were not the season of the table, and the Lord, leaving discourses about other things, discoursed about these, the censure would have reason; but now, when there was a dinner, and the passion of love of precedence was, before the eyes of the Saviour, troubling the wretched men, the exhortation had its season. For see, moreover, from how great a blemish it frees a man, and how it makes him orderly. For of how much shame is it full, when, having sought the place that befits you not, then, when the more honourable man comes, he that bade you says, Give this man place — and this oftentimes — and you yourself go down, while they sit in the first seats? And how worthy of praise is the contrary, when he that is worthy of the first seat, having gone down at the beginning, is then found in the first seat, all yielding to him the first places? Does so great an exhortation of the Lord seem to you a small thing, which sketches the greatest of the virtues, humility, and sets it in the souls of the hearers, and brings him that hears it to seemliness? — even that which the disciple of Christ, Paul, afterward said: Let all things be done decently and in order. How, then, shall this come to pass? Let no man seek his own, but each that of the other. Do you see the disciple uttering the same things as the teacher? And the [saying], Whoever exalts himself shall be abased, how shall we understand it? For indeed many in this life, exalting themselves, enjoy honour. This, then, is to be abased — when one enjoys greater honour in the world; for then he is wretched and lowly with God. And, besides, not to the end, nor with all, is such a one honoured, but, in so far as he is honoured by these, those tear him in pieces, or even these very ones that honour him. True, therefore, is the declaration of the Truth. And every one unworthy of exaltation, who usurps it, shall be abased — both with God, at the last judgment, and in this life too most of all; and by nature every man is unworthy of exaltation. Let no one, then, be lifted up, lest he be abased to the uttermost.

³ Then said he also to him that bade him, When you make a dinner or a supper, call not your friends, nor your brethren, neither your kinsmen, nor your rich neighbours; lest they also bid you again, and a recompense be made you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and you shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense you: for you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. The dinner being made up of two parts, both of those who invite and of those who are invited, the part of the invited he first took in hand, leading them by exhortation toward the saving humble-mindedness, and setting before them a relish that is not to be spent; and for the rest he repays the inviter with a like generosity, and feasts him in return by exhortation, drawing him away from making his feasts for the sake of some human favour, and looking for the immediate recompense. For the small-souled, calling friends or kinsmen, do this for the sake of the favour [returned] forthwith, and if they obtain it not, are vexed. But the great-souled, awaiting the future from him who is truly rich, look for the recompenses. And the Lord, in saying these things, debars us not from honour toward friends, but instructs us not to sell our kindly courtesy. And one, having heard these things, and supposed that God will repay with a like generosity, and feast the just in return with bodily tables, said, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. For he was not spiritual, that he should understand the things above sense, but was yet natural, that is, governed by human reasonings; for such is the natural [man], believing nothing above nature, but understanding all things according to nature. For there are three estates, the carnal, the natural, and the spiritual. And the carnal is, when one wishes to be pleased, and to rejoice, together with doing evil also to others, such as is the whole tribe of the covetous; and the natural estate is, when one wishes neither to harm nor to be harmed; for this is to live according to nature, since nature herself suggests this to us; and the spiritual is, when one wishes even to be harmed for the good’s sake, and to be ill-treated. The first, then, is contrary to nature, the middle according to nature, and the third above nature. Every one, therefore, that minds human things, and is able to understand nothing of the things above nature, is called natural, as being governed by soul and spirit; but when one is led by the Spirit, and no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him, this is the spiritual man, who has risen above nature. He, then, was natural who supposed that the recompenses to the saints would be perceptible by sense, as being able to understand nothing of the things above nature.

⁴ Then said he to him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, I have bought a field, and I must needs go and see it: I pray you have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray you have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. When he that sat at meat had said, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God, the Lord teaches him more amply how we ought to understand the feasts of God. And so he speaks a parable of this sort, naming by the [word] man his loving Father. For when God hints at his punitive power, he is named in the Scripture panther, and leopard, and bear; but when he is about to hint at some love toward man, a man is brought in, even as also now; since the parable treats of the most loving dispensation which he wrought in us, having made us partakers of the flesh of his own Son, [who is] God, he named him a man. And he called this dispensation a great supper — a supper, because in the last seasons, and as it were at the setting of the age, the Lord came. And great is this supper, since confessedly great is the mystery of our salvation. And he sent his servant at supper time. Who is this servant? The Son of God, who took the form of a servant, becoming man, and as man is said to be sent. And mark how he said not, a servant, but with the article, the servant — the one, he says, who in his manhood was properly well-pleasing to him, and served well. For not only as Son and God is he well-pleasing to the Father, but also as man, he alone, having sinlessly ministered to all the counsels and commandments of the Father, and fulfilled all righteousness, is said to have served God and the Father; wherefore he alone may properly be called the servant of God. And he was sent at supper time, that is, in the appointed and fitting season. For there was no other season fitter for our salvation than that under the empire of Augustus Cæsar, when, wickedness being come to a head, it behoved it to be taken down. For as physicians suffer a festering and malignant disease to break out all its evil humour, and then so apply the remedies, so also it behoved sin to display all its own kinds, and then for the great Physician to lay on the medicine. For this cause the Lord waited for the devil to fill up the measure of wickedness, and so, being made flesh, he healed every kind of wickedness through all his holy manner of life. He was sent, then, in the [right] hour, that is, in the seasonable and fitting time, even as David also says: Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty One, in your comeliness; for altogether the sword is the word of God, and by the thigh is signified the birth in the flesh, which came to pass in comeliness, that is, in the fitting season. And he was sent to say to them that were bidden. And who are these that were bidden? Perhaps indeed all men; for God called all to the knowledge of him, partly through the good order of the things that are seen, and partly through the natural law; but perhaps more properly those of Israel, who were called through the law and the prophets. To these, then, the Lord was sent first, to the sheep of the house of Israel. He, then, said, Come; for all things are now ready; for the Lord brought to all the good tidings that the kingdom of heaven is near, and within you. But they all with one consent began to make excuse, that is, as from one agreement; for all the rulers of the Jews, having refused to have Jesus for their king, were not even counted worthy of the supper; the one through love of riches, the other through love of pleasure. For he that bought the field, and he [that bought] the yoke of oxen, may be understood as lovers of riches; and he that married a wife, a lover of pleasure. And, if you will, he buys a field who, because of the wisdom of the world, receives not the mystery. For the field is the world, and nature simply; and he that looks to nature receives not that which is above nature. Seeing, then, the field — that is, looking to the laws of nature — the Pharisee received not that a virgin should bear God, as being above nature; nay, all those also that boast in the outward wisdom, because of this field, that is, nature, were ignorant of Jesus who innovated upon nature. And he that bought five yoke of oxen, and proves them, may be understood as the lover of matter, who yoked the five senses of the soul to the bodily [senses], and made the soul flesh; for this cause, as one busied about the earth, he wishes not to partake of the rational supper; for the wise man too says, How shall he be made wise that holds the plough? And he that falls away because of the wife may be the lover of pleasure, who, cleaving to the flesh, the consort of the soul, and being in it, as glued to it, cannot please God. And you may understand all these things also according to the letter; for we too fall away from God when we cleave to these things, and break our necks over them all our life, but imagine no divine thought or [deed].

⁵ And the servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Cast off, then, were the rulers of the Jews, and none of these believed on Christ, even as they themselves boasted in their wickedness. For, it says, Have any of the rulers believed on him? These, then, the men learned in the law, and the Scribes, as the prophet says, being made foolish, fell from grace; but those of the Jews that were unlettered, likened to lame, and blind, and maimed — the foolish things of the world, and the things set at nought — these were called. For the multitude wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus, and rejoiced in the teaching. After these of Israel had entered, the election, I mean, which God foreordained to his glory — such as were Peter, and the sons of Zebedee, and the rest of the myriads of them that believed — the goodness of God is poured out over and above to the nations also; for they that are in the highways and the hedges may be understood as the nations. The Israelites were within the city, inasmuch as they had received the giving of the law, and had obtained a more refined manner of life; but the nations, being strangers from the covenants, and aliens from the lawgiving of Christ, and not fellow-citizens of the saints, abode not in one way, but in many [ways] of lawlessness and rusticity, and in the hedges, that is, the sins; for sin is a great hedge, and a middle wall parting us from God. The brutish manner of life of the nations, then, divided into many opinions, he hints at by the highways, but their life in sins by the hedges. And he commands not simply to call these, but to compel [them], although the believing is in the power of all to choose; but that we may learn that it is a sign of the great power of God for the nations, having so great ignorance, to have believed, for this cause he said, Compel. For if the power of the thing preached were not great, and the truth of the word great, how should men maddened after idols, and working shameful things, have been persuaded all at once to recognize the true God, and to perform a spiritual life? Wishing, then, to show the marvel of the change, he named the thing a necessity; as if one should say that even the Greeks, unwilling to forsake the idols and the luxury, were nevertheless by the truth of the preaching compelled to flee these things. And, besides, the power of the signs brought a great necessity of being changed to the faith of Christ. And this supper is prepared daily, and we are all called to the kingdom which God prepared for men even before the foundation of the world; but some through the curious meddling of wisdom, others through love of matter, others through love of the flesh, are not counted worthy of it; and the love of God toward man bestows it freely on other sinners — on the blind in their inward eyes, who understand not what is the will of God, or who understand indeed, but being lame, and unmoved toward the doing of it; and altogether on the poor who have fallen away from the glory above; and on the maimed, who display not a blameless life. To these sinners, then, wandering in the streets and broad ways of sin, the Father sends his Son, the inviter to the supper, who became also a servant according to the flesh, who came to call not the righteous, but sinners; and he feasts these with much honour in the stead of those knowing and rich ones who gratify the flesh. And on many, sending also sicknesses and dangers, he makes them, even against their will, renounce this life, by what judgments he knows; and he brings them in to his supper, laying upon them the necessity of the visitation of dangers; and of this the examples are many. And the parable teaches us also, in the simpler sense, to show kindness to the poor and maimed rather than to the rich; which, having a little before exhorted, for this very cause he seems to feast them with the parable. And we learn another thing also: that we owe [a debt] to the brethren, so as to constrain even the unwilling [to come]; for great is the admonition, so as to bring in even the unwilling.

⁶ And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said to them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. Since many of those that journeyed with Jesus followed not with all readiness and renunciation, but were disposed more coldly, teaching them what manner of man his disciple ought to be, he declares concerning this, and as it were moulds him, and paints him, setting forth that he must hate not only those akin to him from without, but even his own life. But take heed lest you be carried away by the letter thus simply and unskilfully. For he that loves man teaches not inhumanity, nor does he admonish [men] to make away with themselves, but he wishes his genuine disciple then to hate those akin to him by race, when they hinder him toward godliness, and through his relation to them he is hindered from pursuing the good; since, if they hinder not, he rather teaches [him] to honour [them] even to the last breath. And how does he teach it? By the greater teaching, I mean, by the things which he himself did; for to Joseph, although he was not properly his father, but [his] reputed [father], he was subject; and of his Mother he ever took so great forethought, that not even while being crucified did he neglect her, but delivered her to the beloved disciple. How, then, should he who taught these things by his works bring in other things by his words? But, as I said, he enjoins us to hate parents when God [and his service] is in peril. For then they are reckoned neither parents nor kinsmen, when they oppose us to such profit. And hence too is plain what we say, from the [command] to hate even his own life; for altogether he commands not this, to kill ourselves, but to renounce the desires of the soul that separate us from God; and if martyrdom be set before [us], to take no thought of the life, only when eternal gain is set before [us]. And that he teaches this, and not simply the killing of ourselves, he shows again himself from the fact that, when the devil tempted him to cast himself down from the temple, he beat back the temptation, and gave not himself up to the Jews, but withdrew, and passing through the midst of them hid himself from those that sought him. Whoever, then, being harmed toward godliness by any of his kinsmen, cherishes his relation to them, and makes this more honourable than the well-pleasing of God, and still also through love of life oftentimes [does so], this man too cannot be Christ’s.

⁷ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest perhaps, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Through the parable of the tower the Lord teaches us, having once chosen to follow him, to keep the same purpose, and not to lay down a foundation, that is, a beginning of following, and then not to set on the end, as not having a sufficient preparation of readiness. Such were those of whom John the evangelist said, Many therefore of his disciples went back. And every man also who, having chosen to practise virtue, but not having attained so as to receive also the divine knowledge, because he began virtue imperfectly and unreasonably, builds imperfectly, being unable to finish the tower of the lofty knowledge; whence he is mocked also by those that behold him, both men and demons. And otherwise also: by the foundation you may understand the word of teaching. For the word of teaching that treats, let us say, of self-control, is like a foundation laid upon the soul of the disciple. It behoves, then, upon this word, that is, upon the foundation, to build also the things of practice; that there may be perfected for us a tower of strength from the face of the enemy — that virtue, I mean, which we set before us. And that the word is the foundation, but the practice the building, the Apostle sufficiently teaches us, saying, I have laid a foundation, Jesus Christ, and another builds thereon; and next he reckons up the different buildings, that is, the workings either of good or of evil works. Let us fear, then, lest the demons mock us, concerning whom the prophet says, Mockers shall have dominion over them, that is, over those plainly that are rejected by God.

⁸ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an ambassage, and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that has ears to hear, let him hear. This parable too teaches us not to be double-souled, nor to be nailed both to the flesh and to God; but, if we are to take up the war against the wicked powers, to bear ourselves toward them as enemies, and truly to set ourselves in array against [them]. A king, then, is sin also, reigning in our mortal body, that is, in [the body] of us who admit it; and a king too was our mind created. If, therefore, [it] is to withstand sin, let it war against it with the whole soul. For terrible is its army, and fearful, and seems both greater and more than ours; for the demons are the soldiers of sin, who seem to hold the number of twenty thousand, against our ten thousand; for being bodiless, and compared with us who are in the body, they seem to have the greater strength. And even if they seem stronger, yet we are able to set ourselves in array [against them]; for, it says, In God we shall do valiantly; and, The Lord is my light and my Saviour, whom shall I fear? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. For altogether the God who for our sakes was made flesh has given us to tread upon all the power of the enemy. Wherefore also, since, being in the flesh, we have not carnal weapons, even though we seem to have ten thousand because of our being in the body, while those are twenty thousand because of the bodilessness of their nature, yet ought we to say, O Lord, my God, my strength; and let us never make peace with sin, which is to be enslaved to the passions; but rather let us withstand them, and take up an implacable hatred toward them, wishing to have nothing of the passionate things of the world, but renouncing all; for he cannot be Christ’s disciple who renounces not all, but is at peace with some of the soul-harming things in the world. For the disciple of Christ ought to be salt — not only being himself good, and without share in wickedness, but also imparting goodness to others; for such is salt: itself remaining without corruption and unharmed, it keeps also other things uncorrupt, to which it imparts its quality. But if the salt cast away its own nature, it becomes wholly useless, being fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill. And what he says is of this sort: I wish every Christian to be profitable and seasoning — not only him to whom the gift of teaching is entrusted, such as were the apostles, and teachers, and pastors, but I require even the laity themselves to be useful and helpful to their neighbours. But if he that is to benefit others becomes himself reprobate, and falls out of the estate befitting a Christian, he shall be able neither to benefit nor to be benefited. For it is fit, he says, neither for the land nor for the dunghill. And he hints, by the land, at that which is benefited, and by the dunghill, at that which benefits. Wherefore, as neither benefiting nor benefited, he is altogether to be cast out and thrown away. And since the word was dark and parabolic, the Lord, rousing the hearers not to receive simply what was said concerning the salt, says, He that has ears to hear, let him hear, that is, He that has understanding, let him understand; for here we must understand by the ears the perceptive power of the soul, and the aptitude toward understanding. Each one of us, then, of the faithful is salt, having received this quality from the divine words and the grace from above; and that grace is salt, hear Paul: Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt; for when the word is without grace, it may be called saltless. If, then, we despise the quality of the divine words, and receive it not into ourselves, and make [savour] of it, then we become foolish and without understanding, and truly our salt is made savourless, as not having the quality of the grace from above.