Chapter Eighteen

¹ And he spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night to him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? Since he had made mention of tribulations and perils, he brings on also the remedy of these, and this is prayer — and not simply prayer, but persevering and careful [prayer]. For all these things, he says, are about to befall those of that time, but a great helper against these is prayer, which we ought to make perseveringly and continually, considering how the widow’s sitting-by importuned the unjust judge. For if this man, full of all wickedness, and shameless toward both God and men, was softened by her endurance, how much more shall we draw God, the Father of mercies, to pity, even though he bear long for the present? And note that the not being ashamed even before men is a token of worse vice; for God indeed many fear not, yet are ashamed before men, and for this cause sin the less. But when one becomes shameless even toward men, here is already the summit of vice. Wherefore also the Lord placed afterward the [phrase], neither regarding man, as if saying this: that the judge feared not God; and why do I say this, that he feared not God? he had the greater token of vice, that he was not even ashamed before man. These things, then, the parable teaches us, as we have often said, admonishing [us] not to faint in our prayers, even as elsewhere also he said: Which of you having a friend, then, when he comes and knocks by night, will send him away? for because of his importunity, if for nothing else, he will open. And again, Which of you, of whom if his son ask bread, and what follows. For through all these things he sets before us the constant attendance in prayers. And some have attempted to take this parable more curiously, and have dared to liken it to the truth. The widow, they said, is every soul that has cast off her husband whom she had before, the devil I mean, and for this cause has him as an adversary, ever setting upon her; and she comes to God, the judge of unrighteousness — that is, who condemns unrighteousness — who neither fears God (for he himself is God alone, and has no other whom he shall fear), nor is ashamed before man (for God accepts not the person of man). This widow, the soul that continually entreats God because of her adversary the devil, God pities, this sitting-by having importuned him. These things, then, let him to whom they are dear receive; for they were set down lest they should be unknown. Now, the Lord having taught us these things about the duty of praying, and having shown that, if this lawless man, full of all wickedness, was moved to pity by the continuance of the supplication, how much more shall God, the author of all righteousness, do the avenging speedily, although he bears long, and appears not to hear those that supplicate him night and day? Having taught these things, then, and shown us that at the season of the consummation we must use prayer against the perils that shall then come upon [us], he adds, Shall the Son of man, then, when he comes, find faith on the earth? — in the form of a question signifying the rarity of the faithful that shall then be found. For so greatly shall the son of lawlessness then prevail, as to deceive even the elect, if it were possible. And it is his wont, of that which is rarely found, to use the interrogative manner, as also in the [saying], Who then is the faithful and wise servant? And here too, indicating the same thing, and that they shall be few and very scanty who keep the faith both toward God and toward one another, he used this question. And with reason he joined the word about faith to the exhortation concerning prayer. For since faith is the base and foundation of all prayer — for if a man believe not that what he asks he shall receive to profit, vain is the prayer which he makes — for this cause the Lord, teaching about prayer, made mention also of faith, hiddenly showing that the praying too shall belong to few then, since the faith also shall be found in few. The Lord, then, coming in the clouds, shall not find the faith [strong] at that time; for all, even against their will, shall confess [him] — yet these things must one call faith, and not necessity — none [denying] the Saviour from him [who was] before blasphemed.

² And he spoke this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. The Lord ceases not to cleanse away the passion of pride by many [means]. For since it troubles human minds more than the other passions, for this cause in many places and oftentimes he teaches concerning it. And indeed now too he cleanses away the worse kind of it. For many are the offshoots of self-love. For both self-conceit, and boastfulness, and vainglory spring from it. But more destructive than all is pride; and pride is the setting at nought of God. For when one inscribes his right-doings not to God, but to himself, what else is it than a denial of God, and a setting up against God? This passion, then, which is set against God, against which the Lord arrays himself as enemy against enemy, the Lord promises through this parable to heal. For because of those that trust in themselves, and reckon not the whole to God, but for this cause also despise others, he says these things, and shows that righteousness, in other respects a thing to be marvelled at, and setting man near to God, when it takes to itself pride, casts man into the lowest places, and makes [him] a demon who hitherto passed for one equal to God. The words of the Pharisee, then, seem at the beginning to be the words of a thankful man. For, I thank you, he says, O God; but the things that follow are full of all senselessness. For he said not, You have made me to abstain from unrighteousness, from extortion; but how? I am not. He attached the right-doing to himself, and to his own strength. And the condemning of others too, how is this [the part] of a man that knows that he has from God what he has? For altogether, if he had believed that he had the good things of another by grace, he would not have despised the others, reckoning that he too is alike naked, so far as concerns his own power, but was clothed freely through mercy. For this cause the Pharisee is proud, as inscribing to his own strength the things wrought; and hence he was led on also to condemn the others. And the Lord marks also, by the [word] stood, his high-mindedness and want of humility; for of the humble-minded even that which is seen is lowly, but this man displayed haughtiness even in his posture. And if the [word] standing is said of the publican also, yet mark also what follows, that he would not lift up his eyes to heaven, so that his standing was stooping. But the [Pharisee’s] eyes too were lifted up to heaven, and were proud together with the heart. And note in the prayer of the Pharisee also an order shown to us. For first he said what he is not, and then reckoned up what he is. For having said, I am not as the many of men, such and such things, he added also the things of virtue, the fasting twice in the week, and the tithing of all that he possesses. For one ought not only to turn aside from evil, but also to do good. And first one must abstain from vice, and then set hand to virtue, even as, being about to draw clean water from a fountain that has been fouled, you first cleanse out the mire, and then draw the clean. And note this also, how he said not, I am not as the many, an extortioner, an adulterer; for he did not even endure, so much as in bare word, to attach to his own person a name that is held in ill repute in the singular, but flung these things in the plural upon the rest of men. And having said, I am not as the rest, he set against this, I fast twice in the week, that is, the second [day] of the week. For the week was called sabbath, named from the last and restful day. For ‘sabbat’ is the rest, and they called the week ‘sabbaths’ in the plural. Whence also they called the first day of the week — the Lord’s day with us — ‘one of the sabbaths’; for with the Hebrews ‘one’ signifies the same as ‘first.’ And there is yet another deeper account. Against the passion of adultery, then, he boasted of the fasting; for lust comes of luxury, and he, throttling the body by fasting, was far from such passions. And the Pharisees fasted the second and the fifth [day]. And against the [words], extortioners and unjust, he set the [words], I tithe all that I possess; for I am so opposed, he says, to extortion and unrighteousness, that I give over even my own. And the tithing seems to some to be enjoined by the law simply and once; but to those that search it deeply, it is found to introduce three tithings, and this you shall learn exactly from Deuteronomy, applying your mind. These things, then, [were of] the Pharisee; but the publican, all the contrary. For he stood afar off, both in posture, and in word, and in contrition of heart being very far from him, and not only by the distance of place; for he was ashamed to lift his eyes to heaven, judging them unworthy of the sight of the heavenly things who had willed to look upon and reap the good things of earth. And he smote upon his breast, as it were striking his heart for its wicked counsels, and rousing it to a sense [of itself] as though it slept, and said nothing else than, God be merciful to me a sinner. And through all these things he went down justified rather than the other — that is, in comparison with that other. For unclean before the Lord is every one that is high in heart, and, The Lord sets himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble. But one might marvel, how the Pharisee, putting forth a few words of high-mindedness, is condemned, but Job, having uttered very many great-sounding words, is crowned. Because, namely, the Pharisee stood, none constraining [him], uttering such vain things, and condemning others, no need pressing; but Job, when his friends were choking him, and laying on the calamity more heavily, and saying that he suffered these things because of sin, was compelled to reckon up his own right-doings, and that on behalf of the divine glory, and that the course of men toward virtue might not be cut off. For if men had been persuaded that the things Job did were sins, and that for those he suffers, they would have abstained from doing the same, and so would have become haters of strangers instead of lovers of strangers, unmerciful and unjust instead of merciful and righteous. For these were the works of Job. That many, then, might not be harmed, for this cause he reckons up his right-doings. These, then, [were] the reasons for Job; not to say that in the very words that seem to be great-speaking, all humility shines forth. For Who shall set me, he says, as in the months of former days, when God preserved me? Do you see that he attributed the whole to God, and neither condemns others, but rather [accuses] himself? And he is brought in apart [from the other]. For every one that exalts himself shall be abased by condemnation, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted, being justified by God. Be not you, then, justified by yourself, nor refer the whole to yourself, that you may be justified.

³ And they brought to him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, and said, Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. This [matter] of the little children also contributes toward moderate-mindedness. For through this the Lord teaches [us] to be humble-minded, and to receive all, and to despise no one. For the disciples thought it unworthy of so great a teacher that children should be brought to him. But he shows them that one ought to be so humble-minded as not even to abominate the least. And thus he teaches moderate-mindedness by the things he did, not sending [them] away, but gladly receiving the infants. And he teaches also by word, that the kingdom of the heavens belongs to those who are disposed like little children. The little child is not lifted up, despises no one, is without malice, without guile, neither puffed up at splendid things, nor cast down at grievous things, but lives in all simplicity. So that he that lives humble-mindedly and without malice, that man is to be received by God; and he that receives the kingdom of God as a little child — that is, without guile, without curious meddling, faithfully. For the curious man, ever asking the [question], How? perishes together with [his] unbelief, since he would not receive [it] simply, and without curious meddling, and moderate-mindedly. All the apostles, then, and simply all that believed on Christ, may be called little children, even as the Lord himself named the apostles: Children, have you any meat? But the wise of the Greeks, seeking wisdom in the mystery [...] of God, and being unwilling to receive this without reasoning, were with reason thrust out of this kingdom. And he said not, Of these is the kingdom, but, Of such — that is, of those that have acquired by choice the guilelessness and moderate-mindedness which the children have by nature. Let us, then, receive all the things of the Church, which are the kingdom of God, without curious meddling, and faithfully, and moderate-mindedly; for the curious meddling is [the mark] of self-conceit and of [false] reputation for wisdom.

⁴ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and your mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said to him, Yet do you lack one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. This man seems to some to be a crafty fellow, and as it were seeking to ensnare Jesus in words. But this seems not [to be so], but rather that he was a lover of money. Since Christ also reproved him as being such. For indeed Mark says that, running up and kneeling, he besought Jesus, and that Jesus, looking on him, loved him; [yet] he was a man fond of money. And he comes to Jesus desiring to learn about eternal life, perhaps as a money-lover [seeking] this too. For nothing is so fond of life as a money-loving man. He supposed, then, that Jesus would suggest to him a way through which he should live eternally, enjoying the holding of his money. But when the Lord said that the renouncing [of possessions] is the procurer of eternal life, he goes away, as though blaming himself for the question, and Jesus for the answer. For he, indeed, for the sake of holding his money long, had need of eternal life; since, if he was to renounce his money, what need had he of eternal life, being about to live as a poor man, so it seemed to him? He comes, then, to the Lord as to a mere man and teacher. Wherefore the Lord, showing that one ought not to come to him as a bare man, said, None is good, save one, God. You called me good, he says; why then did you add the [word] Master? For it appears that you suppose me [to be] one of the many. But if this [be so], I am not good; for none of men is properly good, save one, God. So that, if you will call me good, call me good as God, but come not [to me] as to a bare man. For if you reckon me a certain common man, neither call [me] good; for in truth good, and the fountain of goodness, and the origin of very-goodness, is God. But as for us men, even if we are good, yet [we are] not so properly, but by participation, and having the good mixed and mutable. You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not bear false witness, and what follows. First the law corrects the things in which we more easily slip, then the things in which not many, nor oftentimes [slip] — such as adultery, since the fire is both natural and within; [and] killing, since anger is a great wild beast. But stealing is lighter, and into false witness one may rarely fall. Wherefore those [the law] corrects first, as [things] into which we easily slip, and which are otherwise heavier. But these — stealing, I mean, and false witness — it sets second, as both rarely deceiving, and lighter. Since the sinning against parents, even if it be a great sin, yet, as not often happening — for not so beastly are the many easily found as to be insolent toward parents, but seldom, and [only] a few — he set after these. And when the young man said that he had kept all these from his youth, the Lord sets before him as the chief point of all, possessionlessness. And behold the laws of the Christian commonwealth in very truth: Sell all that you have, he says; for if anything remain over, you are the servant of that; and distribute, not to rich kinsmen, but to the poor. And I think that the [word] Distribute has an indication of making the scattering of money with judgment, and not as it may chance. And since, together with possessionlessness, there must be present to the man all the rest of virtue also, for this cause he said, And come, follow me — that is, In all the other things too be my disciple, and follow [me] always, not to-day, and to-morrow not. But when, to a money-lover, he promised the treasure in the heavens, the ruler attended not, for he was a servant of his money; wherefore also, hearing [it], he was grieved, that he suggests to him the deprivation of his possessions, seeing he himself desired eternal life for this very cause, that he might live long and eternally in the abundance of his money. And his being grieved indicates [him to be] a man of good disposition, but not crafty. For none of the Pharisees was ever grieved, but rather they grew savage. And I am not ignorant that the great luminary of the world, golden in tongue [Chrysostom], received [it] that this young man desired the truly eternal life, and indeed loved it, but was held by the greater passion, the love of money; nevertheless what is now added is not without grace, that as a money-lover he desired eternal life.

⁵ And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed you. And he said to them, Truly I say to you, There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. Since the rich man, hearing of the renouncing of his goods, was grieved, the Lord says, in a wondering manner, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! He said not that it is impossible for them to enter, but hardly. For it is not impossible for such to be saved. For it is possible, having parted with the money, to attain the things above. Yet this is hard; for more clinging than birdlime are riches, and hardly is he that is held by them torn away. But going on, he sets it down even as impossible; for he says, It is easier for a camel to enter through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to be saved; for it is altogether impossible for a camel to pass through the hole of a needle, whether you understand the [word] camel [as] the animal itself, or [as] a certain thick ship’s cable. If, then, for a camel to be brought through the hole of a needle is easier than for a rich man to be saved, and this is impossible, then more impossible is it for a rich man to be saved. What, then, is to be said? First, that it is truly so; for being a rich man it is impossible to be saved. For tell me not that such a one, being rich, gave his goods, and was saved; for he was not saved [while] rich, but either, having become possessionless, was saved, [or] being a steward, [was saved], and not [as] rich. For a steward is one thing, and a rich man another; for the rich man is he that keeps the riches for himself, but the steward is he that has been entrusted with them for the sake of others. So that, even if this man was saved, he was not saved [as] rich, but either, as we said, having renounced all that he had, or as a steward disposing of them well. Then consider this also, that for the rich man it is impossible to be saved, but for him that has money [it is] hard; as if he said, He that is held by his money, and serves it, and is mastered [by it], shall not be saved, but he that has the money — that is, being lord of it, and himself holding it, but not held by it — shall hardly be saved because of human weakness. For it is impossible not to misuse the things we have; for as long as we have money, the devil is diligent to trip us up, so that there is when [we] use [it] beside the rule and the law of stewardship, and it is hard to escape his snares. For this cause possessionlessness is good, and well-near untempted. And they that heard it, he says, said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things impossible with men are possible with God. For with those that have a human mind — that is, that are dragged below and desire the earthly things — it is impossible to be saved, as has been said; but with God [it is] possible — that is, when one has God for counsellor, and takes the ordinances of God, and the commandments concerning possessionlessness, [as his] teachers, and calls upon the succour from him, this shall be possible; for ours it is to will the good, but God’s to perfect [it]. And otherwise too, if, rising above all human small-mindedness about riches, we shall will to make these our friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, we shall be saved, being escorted by them into the everlasting habitations. For it is better if we part with all; but if not with all, yet at least to make the poor partakers, and thus the impossible becomes possible. For it is impossible for him that parts not with all to be saved; nevertheless, through the love of God toward man, even the imparting in part comes to be to a proportionate profit. To these things Peter asks, Lo, we have left all; and he asks not on behalf of himself only, but to the comfort of all the poor. For lest the rich only should be of good hope, as about to obtain much, inasmuch as they despised much, while the poor should be of ill hope, as having departed from few [things], and for this cause expecting few recompenses, Peter asks, and hears, that both in the present age and in the age to come he shall have the recompenses, every one that has for God’s sake despised aught of his possessions, even though they be small. For consider not this, that they were small, but that those small things were the whole livelihood to the man; and as you [have attachment] to your many and great things, so he looked to live out [his life] in his few and small things — not to say that he that has few has the greater attachment to them; and this is plain from fathers, who, when they have one child, show the greater attachment toward this one than toward many. So also the poor man is more keenly disposed toward his one house, and toward his one field, than you toward your many. But if not, yet at least the [attachment] is equal in both; and for this cause the [despising] also [is equal]. Whence indeed even in the present age they receive manifold the recompenses, as these very apostles. For each having despised a hut, they now have most splendid temples, and fields, and revenues, and many women bound to them by warmth and faith toward them, and simply all the other things; and in [the age to come, not that] they receive bodily recompenses, but life [everlasting].

⁶ Then he took to him the twelve, and said to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. He foretells to them the things of his passion, that he might accomplish these two things: one, to show that not unwillingly, nor as a bare man ignorant of [his] death, is he crucified, but he both foreknew, and willingly suffers; for if he willed not to suffer, he would have turned aside, as one foreknowing — for to be taken [unawares] is [the part] of those that foreknow not; and the second, to persuade them to bear easily the things that should come to pass, inasmuch as they had heard [them] beforehand, and they fell not upon them suddenly. And yet, if the things spoken of old by the prophets are to be accomplished in you, O Lord, why do you go up? For this very cause, then, that I may work salvation. So that he comes willingly. But he [said] these things; and the disciples then understood nothing; for this saying was veiled from them, most of all the saying of the resurrection; for the other things they did not recognize, such as the being delivered to the Gentiles, but most of all the [saying] of the resurrection they did not recognize at all; for neither was this in common use, nor did all who Judaized believe even the resurrection simply, and [this is] plain from the Sadducees. But you will say, If they did not recognize [it], why then did he foretell them these things? For what was the profit to them toward the comfort at the season of the cross, [they] not understanding what was said? They were profited not a little for the time after, calling to mind that these were the things which, the Lord foretelling [them], they hitherto understood not; and this is plain from many [places], and most of all from what John says: But these things understood not his disciples [at the first], yet afterward they remembered that these things were written of him. And the Comforter too, calling to their remembrance all things, placed in them a more credible witness concerning Christ. And concerning how the burial was of three days, it has been sufficiently said in the other Evangelists.

⁷ And it came to pass, that as he was come near to Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passes by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, you Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, You Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought to him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What will you that I shall do to you? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said to him, Receive your sight: your faith has saved you. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. As a by-work of the way the Lord works the miracle upon the blind man, that not even his passing-by might be unprofitable to us [as] a teaching, and to the disciples of Christ, that through all things, and always, and everywhere we may be profitable, and that nothing of ours be idle. The blind man, then, having believed him to be the very Christ that was hoped for — for it was likely that he, as nurtured in the things of the Jews, was not ignorant that the Christ is of the seed of David — cries with a great voice, You Son of David, have mercy on me; and by saying, Have mercy on me, he shows that he had a more divine conception about him, and reckoned [him] not a bare man. And marvel me also at his firm standing in the confession, how, although many rebuked him, he held not his peace, but cried the more, for warmth was that which moved him within. Wherefore Jesus also calls him to him, as in truth worthy to draw near to him; and asks him, What will you that I shall do to you? not as ignorant, but lest he should seem to those present, that, while [the man] asked one thing, he himself gave another, and as though that man asked money, but he, as a lover of display, healed blindness; for perhaps envy would have slanderously alleged such senseless things. Wherefore, having asked, since he found him desiring to receive [his] sight, he gives this. And note the [Lord’s] freedom from boasting: Your faith, he says, has saved you; for you believed that I, the proclaimed [one], am that Son of David, the Christ, and displayed so great warmth, as not even when rebuked to hold your peace. And we learn from this, that when we ask with faith, we ask not one thing and he gives another, but those very things; so that, when, asking one thing, we receive another, it is plain that we ask not well nor faithfully; for, You ask, he says, and receive not, because you ask amiss. And note also the authority: Receive your sight. For which of the prophets ever healed thus, in so great authority, I mean? Whence indeed the word became light to the suffering man, proceeding from the true Light. And note also the good disposition of the man that was healed. For he followed Jesus, glorifying God, and became to others also an occasion of glorifying [God].