His rejection of a voluntary Follower. 407 VIII. Many now perchance have fallen into a passionate desire MATT. of seeing That Form; but if we are willing we shall behold 19. One far better than That. For if we can pass through our present life with Christian boldness', we shall receive Him' μrà in the clouds, meeting Him in an immortal and incorruptible as body. But observe how He doth not simply drive them away, lest He should hurt them. For He did not say, " withdraw," but gave commandment to depart to the other side, giving them to expect that He would surely come thither. [4.] And the multitudes for their part evinced this great love, and were following with much affection; but some one person, a slave of wealth, and possessed with much arrogance, approaches Him, and saith, Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. Seest thou how great his arrogance? For as not deigning to be numbered with the multitude, and indicating that he is above the common sort, so he comes near. Because such is the Jewish character; full of unseasonable confidence. So too another afterwards, when all men were keeping silence, of his own accord springs up, and saith, Which is the first commandment?? παῤῥη v. 19. 2 Matt. Luke Yet nevertheless the Lord rebuked not his unseasonable 22, 36. confidence, teaching us to bear even with such as these. 10, 25. Therefore He doth not openly convict them who are devising mischief, but replies to their secret thought, leaving it to themselves only to know that they are convicted, and doubly doing them good, first by shewing that He knows what is in their conscience, next by granting unto them concealment after this manifestation, and allowing them to recover themselves again, if they will: which thing He doth in the case of this man also. For he, seeing the many signs, and many drawn after Him, thought to make a gain out of such miracles; wherefore also he was forward to follow Him. And whence is this manifest? From the answer which Christ makes, meeting not the question, as it stands verbally, but the temper shewn in its meaning. For, "What?" saith He, "dost thou look to gather wealth by following Me? Seest thou not then that I have not even a lodging, not even so much as the birds have?" XXVII. 408 Our Lord's way of speaking to Men's Thoughts. HOMIL. For the foxes, saith He, have holes, and the birds of the 46. air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay v. 20. His head. Now these were not the words of One turning Himself away, but of One who while putting to the proof his evil disposition, yet permitted him (if he were willing with such a prospect) to follow Him. And to convince thee of his wickedness, when he had heard these things, and had been proved, he did not say, I am ready to follow Thee. [5.] And in many other places also Christ is clearly doing this; He doth not openly convict, but by His answer He manifests the purpose of them that are coming unto Him. Thus to him again that said, Good Master, and had thought by such flattery to gain His favour, according to his purpose He made Matt. answer, saying, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God'. 19, 16. 17. Luke 18, 18. 19. 2 Matt. 12, 47. 48. And when they said unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren seek Thee2; forasmuch as these were under the influence of some human infirmity, not desiring to hear something profitable, but to make a display of their relationship to Him, and therein to be vain-glorious; hear what He saith: Who is My mother, and who are My brethren? And again to His brethren themselves, saying unto Him, John Shew thyself to the world3, and wishing thence to feed their 7, 4. 6. vain-glory, He said, Your time (so He speaks) is always ready, but My time is not yet come. 47. And in the opposite cases too He doth so; as in that of Nathanael, saying, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is John no guile1. And again, Go and shew John again those Matt. things which ye do hear and see. For neither in this did 11, 4. He reply to the words, but to the intention of him that sent them. And with the people again in like manner, He addresses His discourse unto their conscience, saying, What 6 Matt. went ye out into the wilderness to see? That is, because 11, 7. they were probably feeling about John, as though he had been a sort of easy and wavering person; to correct this their suspicion, He saith, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? or, a man clothed with soft raiment? by both these figures declaring, that he was neither of himself a waverer, nor would be softened by Why one was forbidden to bury his Father. 409 any luxury. Thus then in the present case also He makes MATT. His answer to their meaning. And see how in this also He shews forth great moderation: in that He said not, "I have it indeed, but despise it," but "I have it not." Seest thou what exact care goes along with His condescension? Even as when He eats and drinks, when He seems to be acting in an opposite way to John, this too He doeth for the sake of the Jews' salvation, or rather for that of the whole world, at once both stopping the mouths of the heretics, and desiring to win also more abundantly those of that day to Himself. [6.] But a certain other one, we read, said unto Him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. VIII. 20, 21. v. 21. Didst thou mark the difference? how one impudently saith, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest; but this other, although asking a thing of sacred duty', saith, Suffer me,1ör. Yet He suffered him not, but saith, Let the dead bury their dead, but do thou follow Me. For in every case He had regard to the intention. And wherefore did He not suffer him? one may ask. Because, on the one hand, there were those that would fulfil that duty, and the dead was not going to remain unburied; on the other, it was not fit for this man to be taken away from the weightier matters. But by saying, their own dead, He implies that this is not one of His dead. And that because he that was dead, was, at least as I suppose, of the unbelievers. Now if thou admire the young man, that for a matter so necessary he besought Jesus, and did not go away of his own accord; much rather do thou admire him for staying also when forbidden. Was it not then, one may say, extreme ingratitude, not to be present at the burial of his father? If indeed he did so out of negligence, it was ingratitude, but if in order not to interrupt a more needful work, his departing would most surely have been of extreme inconsideration. For Jesus forbad him, not as commanding to think lightly of the honour due to our parents, but signifying that nothing ought to be d i. e. of those heretics who com- Manichæan and Marcionite Schools. manded to abstain from meats, as though Comp. S. Chrys. on 1 Tim. 1, 5. possessed with some Evil Principle: the XXVII. 410 Meaning of, Let the Dead bury their Dead. HOMIL. to us more urgent than the things of Heaven, and that we 6, 7. ought with all diligence to cleave to these, and not to put them off for ever so little, though our engagements be exceeding indispensable and pressing. For what can be more needful than to bury a father? what more easy? since it would not even consume any long time. φιλοσο φίαν. But if one ought not to spend even as much time as is required for a father's burial, nor is it safe to be parted even so long from our spiritual concerns; consider what we deserve, who all our time stand off from the things that pertain to Christ, and prefer things very ordinary to such as are needful, and are remiss, when there is nothing to press on us? And herein too we should admire the instructiveness' of His teaching, that He nailed him fast to His word, and with this freed him from those endless evils, such as lamentations, and mournings, and the things that follow thereafter. For after the burial he must of necessity proceed to enquire about the will, then about the distribution of the inheritance, and all the other things that follow thereupon; and thus waves after waves coming in succession upon him, would bear him away very far from the harbour of truth. For this cause He draws him, and fastens him to Himself. But if thou still marvellest, and art perplexed, that he was not permitted to be present at his father's burial; consider that many suffer not the sick, if it be a father that is dead, or a mother, or a child, or any other of their kinsmen, to know it, nor to follow him to the tomb; and we do not for this charge them with cruelty nor inhumanity: and very reasonably. For, on the contrary, it were cruelty to bring out to the funeral solemnity men in such a state. But if to mourn and be afflicted in mind for them that are of our kindred is evil, much more our being withdrawn from spiritual discourses. For this same cause He said elsewhere also, No man having put his hand to the plough, and look2 Luke ing back, is fit for the kingdom of Heaven 2. And surely it is Barfar better to proclaim the kingdom, and draw back others 9, 62. iv λείᾳ. from death, than to bury the dead body, that is nothing advantaged thereby; and especially, when there are some to fulfil all these duties. Description of the Living Dead. 411 VIII. 22. [7.] Nothing else then do we learn hereby, but that we MATT. must not wantonly lose any, no not the smallest time, though there be ten thousand things to press on us; but to set what is spiritual before all, even the most indispensable matters, and to know both what is life, and what is death. Since many even of them that seem to live are nothing better than dead men, living as they do in wickedness; or rather these are worse than the dead; For he that is dead, it is said, is freed from sin1, but this man is a slave to sin. For tell me1 Rom. 6, 7. not of this, that he is not eaten of worms, nor lies in a coffin, nor hath closed his eyes, nor is bound in graveclothes. Nay, for these things he undergoes more grievously than the dead, no worms devouring him, but the passions of his soul tearing him to pieces more fiercely than wild beasts. And if his eyes be open, this too again is far worse than having closed them. For those of the dead see no evil thing, but this man is gathering unto himself diseases without number, while his eyes are open. And whereas the other lies in a coffin, unmoved by any thing, this one is buried in the tomb of his innumerable distempers. But thou seest not his body in a state of decay. And what of that? Since before his body, his soul is corrupted and destroyed, and undergoes greater rottenness. For the other stinketh a few days, but this for the whole of his life. exhales evil odours, having a mouth more foul than sewers. And so the one differs from the other, by just so much as this, that the dead indeed undergoes that decay only which comes of nature, but this man together with that, brings in also that rottenness which is from intemperance, devising each day unnumbered causes of corruption. But is he borne on horseback? And what of that? Why, so is the other on a couch. And what is very hard, while the other is seen by no one in his dissolution and decay, but hath his coffin for a veil, this man is going about every where with his evil savour, bearing about a dead soul in his body as in a tomb. And if one could but once see a man's soul who is living in luxury and vice, thou wouldest perceive that it is far better to lie bound in a grave than to be rivetted by the chains of our sins; and to have a stone laid over thee, than |