HOMILY 40
HOMILY 40
"God said to Abraham, 'Sarah your wife will not be called Sarah; instead, Sarrah will be her name.'"?
S9)| OME [368] Now, let us spread before you the leftovers || from yesterday's table and let us desire the goal of | today' s sermon—or, rather, the blessing and promise that the God of all made to the patriarch. But when you hear
"table leftovers," don't form an impression of anything material; you see, the leftovers from food are not the same as spiritual [369] leftovers: while the former don't provide eaters with the same enjoyment once they have gone stale, but if left a day or two become completely useless, these other leftovers, on the contrary, provide equal benefit even if left not for a day or two, but for all time, without losing their taste. They are from God, after all, and spiritual, and far from risking any damage from the passage of time they show fresh attractiveness as each day passes and fill with great relish those wishing to enjoy them. So, since this is the efficacy of these leftovers, come now, be enthusiastic about satisfying your enjoyment of them, and let us have confidence in their efficacy as we set them before you, dearly beloved.
(2) In order, however, that the sermon may be clearer to you, we need to recall the close of yesterday's remarks so that by picking up the thread in this way we may link the instruction together. We brought to your attention the command about circumcision and God's words to the patriarch, "'Every male among you shall be circumcised, and it will act as a sign of the covenant between me and you. Your child of eight days shall be circumcised; whoever is not circumcised, that person
1. Gen 17.15.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
shall be rooted out for breaking my covenant.'"? At this point we terminated our teaching on the matter of circumcision and, not to overwhelm your brain with a plethora of words we couldn't bring ourselves to proceed further. You see, it 1s not our sole concern to speak at great length and then take our leave; rather, we want to gauge the instruction in the sermon by your ability so that you may reap some benefit from what is said and then all go off home.® (3) So, come now, let us add the remainder to what has been said, and see what the loving God proceeded to address to the patriarch after the command about circumcision. "God said to Abraham," the text goes on, "'Sarah your wife will not be called Sarah; instead, Sarrah will be her name.'" As in your case, he is saying, I indicated by adding a syllable that you would be father of many nations, so likewise also I am adding a letter to Sarah, for you to learn that now the time has come for the promises made of old by me to come into effect.4 "'Sarrah will be her name,'" the text says, remember.
"Now, I shall bless her, and I shall give you a child by her; he will become a nation, and kings of nations will spring from him.'"® My reason for previously making the addition of a syllable was for you to learn that my words would be completely realized. Instead of being despondent by having in mind the limitations of nature, have regard for the greatness of my power and trust in what has been said by me. "'I shall bless her, and I shall give you a child by her; he will become
2. A précis of Gen 17.11—14, approximating more closely this time in one detail to the LXX text.
3. As we have noted frequently before (see Introduction (11) and (12) in FOTC 74), Chrysostom was often in danger of testing the patience of his congregation, to judge from his own admissions and the increasing length of the homilies. He preferred to have his congregation going home to discuss and ruminate on the day's theme.
4. Once again Chrysostom's exegetical instincts lead him to see great significance in this morphological item—and again without sound linguistic support. De Montfaucon notes that the change in the Hebrew feminine ending from Sarai to Sarah is represented by the Greek translators by a double consonant in Sarrah—nothing more.
5. Gen 17.16. The Greek translators have applied the second half of this verse to Isaac instead of Sarah.
HOMILY 40
several nations, and kings of nations will spring from him.'"
The promises exceeded human nature; it was like promising to make people out of stones. After all, they were no different from stones as far as childbearing was concerned: the patriarch by this stage was impotent through old age and without the capacity to have children, and Sarrah in addition to her sterility had the extra handicap of extreme old age.®
(4) The just man, however, upon hearing this, thought that the promise made of old by God had been fulfilled in Ishmael. You see, when God said, ""To you and your descendants I will give this land,'" without making clear that it was about [370] the child born of Sarrah that he was speaking,
Abraham thought within himself that the fulfillment of the promise had already occurred. But now, hearing the Lord
God saying, "'I shall bless Sarrah, and I shall give you a child by her, and he will become several nations,'" and again,
"'kings of nations will spring from him,'" he had nothing to say—after all, he couldn't fail to believe the words spoken by God, being the godly man he was. So, having regard to his own old age and Sarrah's sterility that had lasted to her old age, and being at a loss and in a quandary about God's promise, "he fell on his face and laughed,"' Scripture says.
(5) He saw the extraordinary scope of the promise, and considering the greatness of the power of the one making it
"he fell on his face and laughed," that is, he was overjoyed.
His mind was entertaining thoughts of how, by human logic, this could never happen, and whether a child could be born to a man of a hundred, and whether a sterile woman who had continued childless into her nineties could all of a sudden be awakened to fertility. Though entertaining these thoughts in his mind, he did not presume to utter the like in speech, but to show his gratitude he referred to the comfort found in Ishmael as if to say, Lord, you have sufficiently consoled me
6. De Montfaucon gravely remarks that Chrysostom is stretching the comparison, with stones; he concedes Sarah's condition but points out that Abraham later had other children—which goes to show that later editors are not always more critically minded than early commentators.
Fem (Enel yet 7 &)
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
and changed into joy my disappointment at being childless by the gift of Ishmael. I mean, once that child was born, I no longer had any idea or ever imagined I would have a child by Sarrah, nor did she expect it; that was the reason why she gave Hagar into my arms, giving up all hope on her own account. Consequently we both had sufficient consolation with the birth of Ishmael. Let this child, therefore, given us at your hands, live in your sight,® and we will have sufficient comfort, and his life will console our old age.
(6) So what was the response of the loving Lord? Since he had sufficiently tested the godliness of the just man's attitude through the passage of time, and Sarrah's faith as well, and saw that both had no expectations, the one on account of old age and the other on account of sterility and advanced years, he said, This now seems to you to be quite impossible. In fact, my reason for being responsible for such a long delay was to show you that the gift given by me is beyond the possibilities of human nature, and for you and everyone else to learn through the events themselves that I am the Lord of nature, that it responds to my wishes and yields to my commands.
After all, if I created it from being nothing, much more, now that it exists, can I correct its impediments. Accordingly, so that you may be able to have confidence, listen, bestir yourself, banish the thought rising in your mind, receive sufficient certitude from what I say. Behold, in fact, Sarrah your wife, whom you judge incapable any longer of having children owing to both sterility and old age—she will bear you a son. For you to have no doubt about this, lo, I foretell to you as well the name of the child that will be born: you will call the child
Isaac. "'I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him.'"? You see, he is the one I promised you from the very outset, and in him the fulfillment of my promise will be achieved. Hence I am foretelling everything to you, not only that she will have a child, [371] but the name you will give him and the fact that I will establish my covenant with him, and not only that, but "'with his descendants after him.'"
8. Cf. Gen 17.18. g. Gen 17.19.
HOMILY 40
(7) Then the Lord, ever generous with his gifts and surpassing by far our requests, since he had uplifted the just man's spirits and had, you might say, turned an old man into a young one by his promises, and had by his words breathed new life into a corpse, so to speak, now lavished further blessings on him in these words: What I promised I will put into effect, and I accept as well your prayer about Ishmael.!° You see, I have heeded your petition, "'and I have blessed him. I will make him numerous and increase his numbers over and over. He will father twelve nations, and I will make him grow into a mighty nation.'"!! Since, you see (he is saying), he is your offspring, I will make him numerous to that extent and increase his numbers exceedingly so that twelve nations will spring from him.
(8) "'Nevertheless, my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarrah will bear you by this time next year.'"!? See in this case, I ask you, dearly beloved, how in one brief moment the just man gained the rewards of a lifetime, and that saying of Christ to his disciples was fulfilled, "Whoever has left father or mother, house or brothers, for my name, will receive a hundredfold here and will inherit eternal life."!* Consider,
I ask you, this just man: he promptly obeyed the Lord's command, left his fatherland and preferred a foreign country to his native country; he gradually gave evidence of sustained endurance, and having reached the summit of virtue he became so conspicuously the object of attention of all eyes that those born from him were compared with the multitude of the stars.
(9) Perhaps if someone wanted to understand this in a proper sense, what this just man received here would be merely not a hundredfold, but even a thousandfold. If, however, he had been granted so much, what language could succeed in expressing his enjoyment in the next life? As far as possible, however, our sermon will still manage to demon10. Chrysostom's editors find the text at this point, Chrysostom's paraphrase of v. 20a, uncertain.
11. Gen 17.20.
To. Gen ai72a.
13. Cf. Matt 19.29.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
strate it. You see, when you hear that all the just from that time until now, and up to the very end, make it the object of their prayer to be carried into the bosom of the patriarch, what greater honor than this could you propose? Do you see what endurance means, how great a thing virtue is, and how great it is to love God and to give evidence of deep gratitude for the Lord's kindnesses? I mean, since he contributed what he could at the appropriate time and received everything gratefully, both favorable and unfavorable, accordingly the loving God granted him this also as the very summit of all good things and the particular object of the just man's virtue for twenty-four years: when he left Charran in response to the Lord's command he was seventy-five, Scripture says, whereas now when he heard this he was in his hundredth year.
(10) Hearing this, dearly beloved, let us learn to give evidence of great endurance and never grow uneasy or fainthearted by the fact of the effort virtue involves, but rather realize that our Lord, generous and munificent as he is, returns us lavish rewards for meager efforts; he not only lays up imperishable blessings in the future but also supports the weakness of our nature in the present life by lavishing many gifts upon us. This can be seen to be true from the patriarch's enduring not a few [372] hardships lest our weakness give way to pressure, but rather he comes in person to offer ready support, strengthening our enthusiasm and enlivening our reason. Nor does he leave us in perpetual ease lest we become more indifferent and thus drift into wickedness. Human nature, after all, when it finds itself in complete relaxation, forgets its nobility and no longer respects its proper limits; consequently, like a loving father he sometimes gives respite, sometimes checks us, so as in this way to prescribe for our soul's health.
(11) A physician, too, in treating a patient does not invariably confine him to abstinence nor invariably allow him to enjoy food without a care in the world, in case gluttony gives rise to fever and aggravates the complaint or energy is exhausted by constant fasting and the patient is made weaker;
HOMILY 40
instead, by carefully estimating the patient's strength and carefully employing his skill he marshals his resources. In exactly the same way the loving God, when he sees what befalls each of us, sometimes permits us to enjoy ease, sometimes puts us through our paces by way of trials. If in fact some people are more virtuous and prove to be more conspicuous with the onset of trials, they will win greater favor from on high; if, like us, they are in fact sinners, and yet by thus welcoming the onset of trials, they gratefully lose the heavy load of sins, they too in turn will enjoy generous pardon.
(12) Hence I beg you, aware as we are of the inventive wisdom of the physician of our souls, let us never pry into his dealings. I mean, even if our mind does not succeed in grasping these things, let us on this account rather marvel at God's wise provisions and praise him above all for the fact that we have such a Lord whose designs neither our mind nor the reasoning of human nature can do justice to. After all, we do not know what is for our benefit as well as he understands it; we do not have as great a concern for ourselves as he cares for our salvation, moving might and main so as to lead us to virtue and snatch us from the hands of the devil. When he sees us unable to profit from good times, like a skillful physician noting his patients becoming obese through gluttony and bringing them to health through dieting, in exactly the same way the wonderful physician of our souls allows us gradually through the onset of trials to encounter a sense of the harm we sustained from prosperity. When he sees the complete restoration of health, then it is that through his own assistance he grants us release from trials and gives evidence of providence on his part in generous measure.
(13) If, therefore, on the one hand, people of virtue encounter trials, let them not panic but all the more on that account buoy themselves up in the sound hope that the onset of trials will prove for them grounds for reward and commendation. If, on the other hand, people living in sin fall into trouble, let them likewise not get upset, knowing as they do that the experience of this will in good time prove the purifying of their sins, when we accept all that befalls us with
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
gratitude. This, after all, is the mark of a grateful servant, not simply to be grateful to his master [373] when he enjoys peace, but also to give evidence of the same gratitude in difficult situations. This, you see, was the way the patriarch distinguished himself, finding much confidence with God, and by vanquishing human nature he was rewarded with gifts.
(14) It is necessary once more, however, to return to the theme of our sermon,'* and to see the just man's obedience and the way he put into effect the directions from God without looking for an explanation or seeking reasons, unlike many silly people who pry into God's dealings, saying, What's the point of this? What's the point of that? What value comes from this or that? Not so the just man; instead, like a dutiful servant he made it his concern to put into effect without question whatever he was commanded. To learn this, listen to what follows: when the Lord had made the promise to him and finished his remarks, at once the just man carried out the order and marked on Ishmael the sign ordered by God—
I mean circumcision—and all his household and acquired slaves,!> as God had told him. Now, he too was circumcised;
"He was ninety-nine when he was circumcised in the skin of his foreflesh, while Ishmael was thirteen."!® Don't think it was without purpose that Scripture indicated to us his age; instead, it was for you to learn from the just man's obedience in meekly submitting to pain despite his extreme old age on account of God's command, and not only he but also Ishmael and all the servants—that was the reason for giving the ages.
(15) You see, dearly beloved, it is no slight thing to cut away healthy skin as though it were morbid. I know, of course, that surgeons amputate a gangrenous limb, but the pain in that case is not the same: then it's dead, so to speak, and they amputate something deprived of vital power. In our story, however, an old man advanced in years (he was, in fact, a 14. Chrysostom seems to get second wind here, after appearing to move to a conclusion beforehand by way of his normal moral exhortation. Evidently he has not yet said all he wants to say on the question of circumcision and its comparison with baptism, so a few more verses are commented on.
15. Cf. Gen 17.26-27.
16. Gen 17.24-25.
HOMILY 40
hundred, remember) meekly submitted to pain, at once being anxious to carry out God's command and also rendering his son and all his servants more zealous to avoid delay and with all haste to discharge the command from God. Do you see what a wonderful thing a man of virtue is, how he instructs all his servants as well to follow in his footsteps? In other words, what I said yesterday I repeat today, that the command came from God at that time so that the children would undergo this process in early years and so have no experience of pain from submitting to the removal of skin while yet insensitive.
(16) Consider, on the other hand, I ask you, dearly beloved, God's loving kindness and his unspeakable kindness to us. In that case pain and distress resulted from the action, and no benefit came from circumcision, except simply making people recognizable through this sign and separating them from the other peoples. Our circumcision, on the contrary—I mean the grace of baptism—involves a physic free from pain and is the means of countless good things for us, filling us with the grace of the Spirit; it has no limited span as in that other case, but rather in early years, in middle age and in the very height of old age can a person receive this circumcision not the work of human hands,!' which involves not simply endurance but laying aside sin's burden and [374] finding pardon for the faults of all time. You see, when the loving God saw the extraordinary degree of our limitations and the fact that we are suffering from incurable diseases and need a lot of care as well as his ineffable love, he is in his provision for our salvation granted us the renewal that comes from the bath of rebirth, so that by setting aside the former person—that is, evil deeds—and putting on the new we may advance along the way of virtue.
(17) I beseech you, however, let us not be worse than the ungrateful, unresponsive Jews;'* they, for their part, by receiving this sign of circumcision, had sufficient caution against tia Cie Coleen) us 18. Cf. Homily 39, n. 33, on the degree of Chrysostom's antisemitism in the Genesis homilies.
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
mingling any further with other peoples on the basis of commerce, whereas, being the ungrateful lot they were, they even surpassed them in impiety. Let us, on the contrary, having once received circumcision through baptism, manage our own conduct with caution. I am not warning against our mingling with other peoples, but recommending that we adhere to our own ways of virtue and when mingling with them we attract them to religion, and through a life of good works we may become the occasion of instruction for them. The reason, after all, that the common Lord of all permitted good people and wicked to mingle together, the religious and the irreligious, was that the evil might profit from the good and those still imprisoned in impiety might be guided to religion. Nothing, you see, is so anxiously sought by God as the soul's salvation. Accordingly, let us not neglect it, I beseech you, neither our own nor our neighbors': our own, by managing our affairs in the way pleasing to God; our neighbors', by being so conspicuous that without our saying a word those espying us may have sufficient instruction.
(18) As, therefore, by being virtuous we both gain the greatest advantage ourselves and also benefit non-believers, likewise, should we be indifferent,!® we will incur heavy punishment ourselves and prove a cause of scandal to others. I mean, just as those who practice virtue gain a double reward from God, for practicing it and also for attracting the neighbor to a like practice of it, in just the same way with evil we are punished not merely for what we have committed, but also for matters in which we have scandalized others. But God forbid that this sort of thing should happen to anyone attending here; let us all direct our own life to the edification of those who see us so that we may be able with confidence to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be found worthy of those ineffable blessings which it may be the good for1g. Again Chrysostom's frequent moral correlatives rhathumia, "indiffer-
ence,"
"neglect," and careful attention. See Introduction (13) and (17) in FOTC 74.
HOMILY 40
tune of all of us to attain, thanks to the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power and honor, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.