Chapter Seven

On Saturday, the first day after the second day of the Passover, it happened that He was passing through the sown fields, and His disciples plucked the ears of grain and ate, rubbing them with their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them; Why do you do things that you ought not to do on the Sabbath? Jesus answered and said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he hungered and those who were with him? How did he enter into the house of God, and take the showbread, which was not to be eaten by any man but the priests, and did he eat it, and gave it to those who were with him? And he said to them, The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. The Jews called every holiday the Sabbath, for the Sabbath means rest. Often the holiday was celebrated on Friday, and this Friday, for the sake of the holiday, was called Saturday. Later, Saturday proper was called the second one, as the second after the previous other holiday and Saturday. A similar thing happened then, and this Sabbath is called the second one. To the Pharisees, who accuse the disciples of eating on the Sabbath, "plucking," that is, plucking, the ears of corn and crumbling, that is, rubbing with their hands, the Lord points to David, who hungered and ate the showbread. For he, fleeing from Saul, came to the high priest Abiathar and deceived him, saying that the king had sent him for a certain necessary work, and in hunger he took from the priest the showbread, of which twelve were offered every day at the sacred table, six from the right hand, and six from the left hand (Lev. 24:5, 6). He also received the sword of Goliath (1 Samuel 21:1-9). The Lord, reminding them of this story, shames them by David's act. If you," he says, "revere David, how then do you condemn My disciples? And in other words: the Son of Man, that is, I, the Lord of the Sabbath, and as Creator and Creator and Master and Lawgiver, have the power to destroy the Sabbath. "The Son of Man" could be called none other than Christ, Who, being the Son of God, for the sake of men miraculously deigned to be and be called the Son of Man. For there is nothing new in the fact that you and I are called the Son of Man, and it is remarkable that He, miraculously incarnate, is called the Son of Man.

And it happened that on the next Sabbath He went into the synagogue and taught Him. There was a man who had a dry right hand. And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him to see if He would heal Him on the Sabbath, in order to find an accusation against Him. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to the man who had a withered hand, "Get up and come out into the middle." And he stood up and spoke. Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you, What shall you do on the Sabbath?" Good or evil? To save the soul, or to destroy it? They were silent. And having looked at them all, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so; and his hand was as healthy as another. And they were furious, and said among themselves what they should do with Jesus. What we said in the explanation of the Gospel of Matthew is known (see Chapter 11; Mark 3). And now let us say that he has a dry hand who does not perform any works of piety. For the hand is an instrument of activity, and whoever has it withered is undoubtedly idle. Therefore, whoever wants to heal his hand will heal it on the Sabbath. Explain. He cannot perform works of piety who does not first calm down from malice. Turn away first from evil, and then do good (Psalm 36:27). Therefore, when you keep the Sabbath, that is, rest from evil deeds, then you will stretch out your hand to the works of godliness, and it will be restored to you. It is fitting to say, "His hand is made whole." For there was a time when human nature had good activity and a hand, that is, an active force, healthy; then it lost it, and by the grace of Christ gained it again, and returned to its former goodness.

In those days He went up to the mountain to pray and remained all night in prayer to God. And when the day came, He called His disciples, and chose twelve of them, whom He called Apostles: Simon, whom He called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James of Alpheus, and Simon called the Zealot, Judas of James, and Judas Iscariot, who afterwards became a traitor. And having come down with them, he stood on a level place, and a multitude of his disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea, and Jerusalem, and from the seaside places of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases, and also those who were afflicted by unclean spirits; and were healed. And all the people sought to touch Him, because power came from Him and healed everyone. The Lord creates all things for our teaching, so that we also do as He does. For example, He intends to pray. He ascends the mountain. For one should pray after resting oneself from one's work and not in the face of many, and pray all night long, and not in such a way as to stand up for prayer and immediately cease. - He chooses his disciples after prayer, desiring to teach that we, too, when we have the opportunity to appoint someone to spiritual service, take up this task with prayer, seek guidance from God, and ask Him to show us the worthy one. - Having chosen the twelve, he comes down from the mountain to heal those who have come from the cities and to do double good, namely, in soul and body. For listen: "Come to hear Him" is the healing of souls; "And to be healed of their diseases" - this is the healing of bodies. - "From Him proceeded power and healed all." The prophets and other saints did not have power coming from them, for they were not themselves the sources of strength. And the Lord had power coming from Him, for He Himself was the source of strength, while the prophets and saints received special power from above.

And He lifted up His eyes upon His disciples, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are they that mourn now, for ye shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they excommunicate you, and revile you, and carry out your name as dishonorable for the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Thus did their fathers deal with the prophets. On the contrary, woe to you, you who are rich! for you have already received your consolation. Woe to you, you who are satiated now! for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now! for you will weep and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you! for thus did their fathers deal with false prophets. The Lord, having ordained the disciples, through the beatitudes and teaching, brings them to a more spiritual state. For He speaks to them. And, first, it blesses the poor; if you want, understand by them those who are humble-minded, if you want, who lead a life that does not love money. In general, all the beatitudes teach us moderation, humility, humiliation, and the endurance of reproach. In the same way, "sorrow" is assigned to those who are rich in the present age (of whom it is said that they receive consolation, that is, here, in the present age, they taste joy, rejoice, enjoy pleasures, and receive praise). Let us be afraid, brethren, for woe to those who have praise from men. For one must earn praise from men, but first from God.

But to you who hear, I say, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you. To him who smote you on the cheek, offer the other also, and to him who takes away your outer garment, do not hinder him from taking your shirt also. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not demand back from him who has taken what is yours. And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them. And if you love those who love you, what gratitude do you have for that? for even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what gratitude do you have for that? for sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what gratitude do you have for that? for sinners also lend to sinners in order to get back as much. But you love your enemies, and do good, and lend without expecting anything; and you will have a great reward, and you will be the sons of the Most High; for He is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, therefore, even as your Father is merciful. The Apostles were to be sent to preach, and therefore they expected many persecutors and libelers. Thus, if the apostles, burdened by persecution, and then wishing to take revenge on the offenders, had fallen silent and ceased to teach, then the sun of the Gospel would have been extinguished. That is why the Lord first urges the Apostles not to take revenge on their enemies, but to endure everything that happens courageously, whether anyone offends them, or unjustly plots against them. This is what He Himself did on the Cross, saying: "Father, forgive them! forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Then, lest the Apostles should say that such a commandment – to love one's enemies – is impossible, He says: "What thou wilt for thyself, do also to others, and be in relation to others as thou wouldst have others in relation to thyself." If you want your enemies to be harsh, uncompassionate, and wrathful to you, then be so you. If, on the contrary, you wish them to be kind and compassionate, and unforgiving, then do not consider it impossible to be such yourself. Do you see the innate law written in our hearts? Thus the Lord said: "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33). Then he offers them another motive, namely: if you love those who love you, then you are like sinners and pagans; but if you love those who are angry with you, then you are like God, who is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. What do you desire, then, to be like sinners, or to be like God? Do you see the Divine teaching? At first He urged you by the natural law: "What you want for yourself, do to others; then he convinces you with both death and reward, for as a reward he promises you that you will be like God.

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you: with a good measure, shaken, pressed, and overflowing, they shall pour it into your bosom; for with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you also. He also told them a parable: Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will not both fall into the pit? A disciple is never higher than his teacher; but even when he is perfected, everyone will be like his teacher. The Lord cuts off from our souls the most difficult illness, I mean, the root of arrogance. For whoever does not watch over himself, but only spies on his neighbor and wishes to defame him, he, obviously, captivated by arrogance, has forgotten himself. He certainly thinks of himself that he does not sin, and therefore condemns others when they sin. Therefore, if you do not want to be condemned, do not condemn others. For tell me, perhaps, why do you condemn another as a transgressor of the Divine Laws in all things? And do you not transgress the Divine Law (not to mention other sins) by condemning others? For the Law of God decisively commands you not to condemn your brother. It means that you also transgress the Law. And being a criminal yourself, you should not condemn another as a criminal; for the Judge must be above nature, which falls into sin. Therefore let go, and it shall be forgiven thee; Come on, and it will be given to you. For a good measure, pressed, shaken, and full will be given into your bowels. For the Lord will measure not sparingly, but richly. As you, intending to measure some flour, if you wish to measure without miserliness, press it, shake it, and apply it in abundance, so the Lord will give you a greater and full measure. Perhaps some witty person will ask: How does He say that they will give you a full measure in your bowels, when He said that He will be measured to you by the same measure as you measure, for if it overflows over the top, it is not the same? We answer that the Lord did not say: "He will be measured to you by "the same" measure, but "in the same way." If He had said, "By the same measure," then the speech would have been difficult and contradictory; and now, by saying, "In the same way," He resolves the contradiction, for it is possible to measure by the same measure, but not in the same way. The Lord says: if you do good, they will do good to you too. This is the same measure. It is called full because for one of your good deeds you will be repaid innumerable. - The same is true of condemnation. For he who condemns receives the same measure when he is subsequently condemned; but since he is condemned more as one who has condemned his neighbor, this measure is full. The Lord, having said this and forbidden us to condemn, presents us with a parable, that is, an example. He says: he who condemns another and commits the same sins himself! Tell me, perhaps, are you not like a blind man who guides a blind man? For if you condemn another, and you yourself fall into the same sins, then you are both blind. Though you think that through condemnation you lead him to good, you do not lead. For how will he be guided by you to do good, when you yourself fall? A student is never higher than a teacher. If, therefore, you, the alleged teacher and guide, fall, then, without a doubt, so does the disciple you lead. For even the prepared disciple, that is, the perfect one, will be like his teacher. Having said this, that we should not condemn our weakest and apparently sinners, He adds something else on the same subject.

Why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye, and do not feel the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother! Let me take the mote out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see how to take the mote out of your brother's eye. There is no good tree that bears bad fruit; And there is no bad tree that bears good fruit, for every tree is known by its fruit, because they do not gather figs from thorns, nor take grapes from bushes. A good man brings forth good things out of the good treasure of his heart, but an evil man brings forth evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart, for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks. What, he says, do you see the mote, that is, the small sin of your brother, and do not notice the beam, your great sin? This can also apply to everyone, and especially to teachers and superiors, who punish even the small errors of their subordinates, and leave their own, no matter how great, unpunished. That is why the Lord calls them hypocrites, because they seem to be different (for by punishing the sins of others, they seem righteous), and another thing is in fact, because they themselves sin, and even worse. Then He confirms His speech by example. As a good tree, he says, does not bear rotten fruit, and a rotten tree does not bear good fruit, so he who intends to make others chaste, to correct and bring them to a better condition, should not be evil himself; but if he himself is evil, he will not make others better. For everyone's heart is a treasury. If it contains good, then man is good, and speaks good; but if the heart is full of evil, then the man is also evil, and speaks evil. All this speech can be understood about the Pharisees. For He, addressing them, said: "Cast the beam out of your own eye first, and then the mote out of your brother's eye," just as in another place He said: "They that strain out a gnat, but devour a camel" (Matt. 23:24). How, then, he says, can you, Pharisees, being rotten trees, bring forth good fruit? For as your doctrine is rotten, so is your life, for you speak out of the abundance of your heart. How then will you correct others and punish the crimes of others, when you yourselves sin more?

Why do you call Me, Lord! God! - and do not do what I say? Whosoever cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will tell you to whom he is like. He is like a man building a house, who has dug and deepened and laid a foundation on a rock; Why, when there was a flood and the water fell on this house, it could not shake it, because it was founded on a rock. But he who hears and does not obey is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, which, when the water fell on it, immediately collapsed; and the destruction of this house was great.

This necessarily applies to us, who confess Him to be Lord with our lips, but deny Him with our deeds (Titus 1:16). If," he says, "I am the Lord, then you must walk like slaves in all things. And the duty of slaves is to do what the Lord commands. Then He tells us what benefit it is to him who hears Him and not only listens to Him, but also fulfills Him in practice. Such a man is like a man who builds a house, who has built it on a rock. And the stone, as the Apostle testifies (1 Cor. 10:4), is Christ. - He who does not receive the words of Scripture superficially, but seeks their depths in the spirit, digs and deepens. Such a one founds on a stone; Then, when there is a flood, that is, persecution or temptation, the river will come up to this house, that is, the tempter, whether it be a demon or a man, and yet he cannot shake it. A tempting person can very justly be compared to the flooding of a river. For as the flood of the river is produced by the water that falls from above, so the tempting man is raised up by Satan, who has fallen from heaven. The house of those who do not keep the words of the Lord falls, and the destruction of this house is great. For the failures of those who hear but do not do are great, because he who does not hear and does not do sins more easily, but he who hears and yet does not do sins more severely.

Chapter Eight

After this, He went through the cities and villages, preaching and preaching the Kingdom of God, and with Him the twelve, and certain women, whom He healed from evil spirits and diseases: Mary, who was called Magdalene, from whom came seven demons, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who served Him with their possessions. Having descended from heaven in order to present to us in all things His model and predestination, the Lord teaches us not to be lazy in teaching, but to go to all places and preach; for whatever he did, he did for our instruction. He went through all the cities and villages, and led with Him twelve disciples, who did not teach or preach, but learned from Him and were edified by His works and His words. - The Lord preached not about earthly goods, but about the Kingdom of Heaven. For who else was more fitting to preach about heavenly things than Him who comes from heaven? That is why none of the prophets preached about the Kingdom of Heaven. For how could they preach about what they did not see? That is why the Forerunner said: "He that is of the earth, and speaketh as he that is of the earth, and he that cometh from heaven, that which he hath seen, beareth witness to" (John 3:31, 32). - The wives also followed the Lord, so that we would know that weakness does not prevent the female sex from following Christ. See also how they, being rich, despised, and yet all chose poverty for Christ's sake and with Christ. And that they were rich, know from the fact that they served the Lord with "their own" possessions, and not with someone else's or unjustly acquired possessions, as many do. - In the words: "from which seven demons proceeded" a certain number "seven" is taken indefinitely, instead of "many", for in the Scriptures the number seven is often taken instead of "many". Another, perhaps, will say: just as there are seven spirits of virtue, so, on the contrary, there are seven spirits of malice, for example: there is a spirit of the fear of God, there is, on the other hand, a spirit of God's fearlessness; there is the spirit of understanding, there is, on the other hand, the spirit of foolishness, and so on. If these seven spirits of wickedness are not driven away from the heart, no one can follow Christ. For first Satan must be cast out, and then Christ must be instilled.

And when he had said this, he cried out, Whosoever hath ears to hear, let him hear. And His disciples asked Him, What would this parable mean? He said, "It is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, so that when they see they do not see, and when they hear they do not understand." Now what David said long ago in the presence of Christ has come to pass. "I will open," he said, "my mouth in a parable" (Psalm 77:2). The Lord spoke in parables for many purposes, namely: to make the hearers more attentive and to stir up their minds to investigate what is being said (for we, people, are usually more occupied with hidden speeches, and pay little attention to clear ones), and so that the unworthy would not understand what is said mysteriously; and for many other motives He speaks in parables. The "sower" came out, that is, the Son of God. He "came out" from the bosom of the Father and from His hiddenness, and became visible. Who came out? The One Who always sows. For the Son of God does not cease to sow always in our souls: He sows good seeds in our souls, not only when He teaches, but also through this world, and through those phenomena that happen to us and around us. He did not come out to destroy the farmers or to burn the country, but only to sow. For the farmer often goes out not only to sow, but also after others. "He went out to sow his own seed." For the word of His teaching was His own, and not someone else's. The prophets, for example, did not speak from themselves, but from the Spirit; wherefore they said, "This saith the Lord." But Christ had His seed; wherefore, when He taught, He did not say, "This saith the Lord," but, "I say unto you." - When He sowed, that is, taught, another seed fell by the wayside. He did not say, "The sower threw it away," but, "It fell; for the sower sows and teaches, but the word falls into the hearts of the hearers. They turn out to be either a road, or a stone, or thorns, or good land. - When the disciples asked about the parable, the Lord said to them: "It is given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, that is, to you who want to learn; for everyone who asks receives. And to the rest, who are unworthy of the sacraments, they are communicated covertly, and such seem to see, but do not see, and hear, but do not understand, and this is for their own good. For Christ hid these things from them for this reason, so that they, having known the sacraments and despised them, would not fall under greater condemnation, since he who knows and despises is worthy of the most grievous punishment.

Having said this, He cried out: "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!" There are three categories of people who are not saved according to this parable. To the first belong those who are like the seed that fell on the way, that is, they did not accept the teaching at all, for just as the trodden and beaten road does not receive the seed, because it is hard, so the hard-hearted do not accept the teaching at all, because although they listen, they do not pay attention. To the other belong those who are like a seed that fell on a stone, that is, those who, although they accepted the teaching, but later, through human weakness, turned out to be powerless before temptations. The third category are those who know the teaching, and yet are suppressed by the cares of life. So, three parts are perishing, and one is being saved. Thus, there are few who are saved, and there are a lot of those who are dying. See how He says about those who are oppressed by the cares of life: He did not say that they are oppressed by riches, but by cares for riches. For it is not wealth that harms, but the care of it, because many have benefited from riches, distributing them to satisfy the hunger of the poor. Perhaps note the accuracy of the Evangelist, as he said of those who are being saved: "When they hear the word, they keep it." He said this for the sake of those who are on the way; for these do not contain doctrine, but the devil takes it away from them. "And they bear fruit," He said for the sake of those who are overwhelmed by the cares of life and do not endure to the end, for such, that is, those who do not bear fruit to the end, do not bear fruit. "In patience," he said, for the sake of those who are on the rock; they accept the teaching, but, unable to resist the temptation that has found them, they turn out to be worthless. Do you see how He said of those who are saved: "They keep and bear fruit in patience," and through these three qualities He distinguished them from those who do not contain, such as those who are on the way, from those who do not bear fruit, such as those who are in thorns, and from those who cannot endure the temptation that comes upon them, such as those who are on stones.