THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
'He who searches the hearts.' Do you see that the discussion is not about the Comforter, but about the spiritual heart? Otherwise he should have said, 'He who searches the Spirit.'
But so that you may understand that he is speaking of the spiritual man who has the gift of prayer, the Apostle adds: 'He who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit,' that is, of the spiritual man.
'Because according to God he intercedes for the saints.' He intercedes, the Apostle reasons, not because God does not know our needs, but so that we may learn to pray for what is necessary and to ask God for what is pleasing to Him.
This is what 'according to God' means. Thus this was done both for the consolation of those present and for the best instruction, since the One Who communicates gifts and bestows countless blessings was the Comforter.
'All these things,' the Apostle says, 'are worked by one and the same Spirit' (1 Cor 12:11). This also happens for our instruction and to manifest the love of the Spirit, Who descends to us to such a degree.
Therefore all listened to the one praying, because the prayer was offered according to God's will. Do you see how many lessons the Apostle gives them about God's love for them and the honor shown to them?
Indeed, what has God not done for us? For us He created the corruptible world, and for us the incorruptible. For us He willed that the prophets suffer afflictions.
For us He sent them into captivity. For us He allowed them to fall into the furnace and endure countless sufferings. For our sake He created the prophets themselves, and for us the apostles.
For us He gave up the Only-begotten. For us He punishes the devil. He seated us at His right hand. For us He endured reproaches, for it says, 'The reproaches of those who reproached You fell upon Me' (Ps 69:9).
Yet if after this we depart from Him, He does not abandon us. He calls us again and disposes others to ask for us, so that He may grant us His grace.
This happened with Moses, to whom God said, 'Leave Me, and I will destroy them' (Ex 32:10), in order to move him to intercede for the Jews. He does the same now, which is why He gives the gift of prayer.
God did this not because He Himself needs our prayer, but so that, if saved without prayers, we might not become worse. For this same reason He repeatedly says that He is reconciled to the Jews for David's sake, or for one or another person.
He does this to give reconciliation the appearance of lawfulness, although He would show Himself more loving toward mankind if He said that He ceased His anger against the Jews for His own sake and not for another's.
But He cared not so much about this as about ensuring that the very cause of reconciliation not become an occasion of negligence for those being saved.
Thus, when He said to Jeremiah, 'Do not pray for this people; for I will not hear you' (Jer 11:14), He did not wish the prophet to stop praying. God greatly desires our salvation.
Rather, He wished to frighten the Jews. The prophet, knowing this, did not stop praying. To convince you that this was said to shame the Jews, not to turn the prophet away from prayer, hear what God says: 'Do you not see what they are doing?'
When He says to the city of Jerusalem, 'Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, you are stained before Me' (Jer 2:22), He does not wish to cast it into despair, but to move it to repentance.
As He frightened the Ninevites and most of all disposed them to repentance by uttering an indefinite sentence against them and giving them no good hope, so He acts here.
He rouses the Jews and instills reverence for the prophet, so that by this way at least they might obey him. Since they remained in incurable sickness and were in no way instructed by the captivity of others, God first exhorts them to remain there.
When they could not endure this and began fleeing to Egypt, God allowed it, but required them not to surrender to Egyptian impiety. When they did not obey even in this, He sent the prophet to them, lest they be utterly corrupted.
Since they did not come at His call, He Himself goes after them, corrects them, restrains them from greater impiety, and constantly accompanies and follows them, like a tenderly loving father after a son who fails in everything.
For this reason God sent not only Jeremiah to Egypt, but Ezekiel to Babylon. The prophets did not resist this, because they knew how greatly the Master loved the Jews.
They even did it gladly, like a grateful servant who is filled with pity for his master's undisciplined son when he sees that the father grieves and is crushed over him.
And what did the prophets not suffer from the Jews? They were sawn in two, persecuted, reviled, subjected to countless afflictions, and after all this they came to them again.
Samuel did not cease grieving over Saul, though he had been cruelly insulted by him and endured unbearable wrongs. Yet he remembered none of them.
Jeremiah even wrote a lamentation for the Jewish people. When the Persian commander gave him complete freedom to live safely wherever he wished, he preferred to suffer evil with his people and endure hardship in a foreign land rather than remain in his homeland.
So Moses, leaving the royal palace and courtly life, hastened to share the misfortunes of the Israelites. Daniel for twenty-six days tasted no bread and afflicted himself with the strictest fast, in order to appease God toward the Jews.
The three youths, while in the furnace and in the mighty fire, offered fervent prayers for the Jews and did not lament over themselves, because they were unharmed. Since they hoped then to have special boldness, they prayed for them, saying: 'With a contrite soul and a humble spirit may we be accepted' (Dan 3:39).
For their sake Joshua tore his garments (Josh 7:6). For their sake Ezekiel shed tears and lamented when he saw them being killed. Jeremiah said: 'Leave me, that I may weep bitterly' (Isa 22:4).
Before this, not daring to intercede for the complete cessation of disasters, he asked when they would end, saying, 'How long, O Lord?' Thus the whole assembly of holy men was filled with love.
Therefore Paul also said: 'Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy, bowels of mercies, kindness, humility' (Col 3:12). Do you notice the full force of the words, and how the Apostle wants us always to be merciful?
He did not simply say, Be merciful, but, 'Put on,' making known that mercy, like clothing, must always be with us. Nor did he simply say, Put on mercy, but, 'bowels of mercies,' so that we might imitate the natural feeling of tender love.
But we act otherwise. If someone approaches asking for the smallest coin, we rebuke him, revile him, and call him a deceiver.
Do you not shudder, man? Are you not ashamed that for a piece of bread you call him a deceiver? Even if he is pretending, for that very reason he deserves pity, because hunger torments him so greatly that he is forced to assume such a mask.
This is proof of our cruelty. Since we do not easily give voluntarily, the poor are forced to invent countless devices to deceive our inhumanity and soften our harshness.
It would be different if he asked you for a silver or gold coin; then you would have grounds for suspicion. But if he comes to you for necessary food, why philosophize without need and examine with excessive precision, accusing him of idleness and laziness?
If this must be said, we should accuse not others but ourselves. Therefore, when you come to God asking mercy for your sins, remember these words.
You will understand that it would be more just for you yourself to hear them from God than for the beggar to hear them from you. Yet God has never spoken such words to you.
He did not say: Go away, for you are a hypocrite. You constantly go to church and hear My laws, but in the marketplace you prefer gold, your desire, friendship, and in short everything to My commandments.
Now you appear humble, but after prayer you become insolent, harsh, and inhuman. Therefore, go away and never come to Me. We deserve to hear this and even more, yet God has never reproached us with anything of the kind.
He is long-suffering, fulfills everything on His part, and gives us more than we ask. Reflecting on this, let us deliver those who ask from poverty. Even if they pretend, let us not investigate it.
We ourselves need salvation, and salvation with condescension, love for mankind, and much mercy. If strict inquiry were made into our affairs, it would be impossible ever to be saved.
All would have to undergo punishment and perish. Therefore let us not be strict judges of others, so that strict account is not demanded from us, for we are burdened with sins beyond all pardon.
Let us have greater compassion for those who sin without deserving indulgence, so that we ourselves may hope for such mercy toward us. However much we try, we will never be able to show such love for mankind as we need from the God Who loves mankind.
Is it not senseless, then, when we ourselves are in such great need, to examine the affairs of our brothers strictly and do everything against ourselves?
You do not so much show him unworthy of your benefaction as yourself unworthy of God's love for mankind. Whoever strictly exacts from his brother will be much more strictly examined by God.
Therefore let us not speak against ourselves. Whether someone approaches through carelessness or laziness, let us give. We ourselves often, indeed always, sin through negligence.
Yet God does not at once demand an account from us, but gives us time for repentance. Every day He feeds us, corrects us, teaches us, and provides everything else, so that we too may imitate Him in such mercy.
Let us put aside cruelty and cast off savagery, for by this we benefit ourselves more than others. To others we give money, bread, and clothing, but for ourselves we prepare the greatest glory, which cannot be described in words.
Clothed in incorruptible bodies, we shall be glorified and reign with Christ. How great this is we shall learn from what follows. Or rather, at present we cannot by any means receive a clear notion of it.
But to form some understanding of it from our present goods, I shall try, as far as I can, to describe what I have said. Tell me: if someone promised suddenly to make you, now old and living in poverty, young again, to bring you into flowering age, make you stronger and more beautiful than all. And give you royal authority over the whole earth for a thousand years, securing your reign with perfect peace, what would you not agree to do and endure for such a promise?
But behold, Christ promises not this, but far greater things. The difference between old age and youth is not so great as that between corruption and incorruption.
Nor is the difference between kingship and poverty so great as that between future glory and present glory. Between them is the same difference as between a dream and reality.
Yet even by this I have still explained nothing. In general, there are no words to depict the greatness of the difference between the future and the present, since because of time the whole difference is impossible for the mind to grasp.
How can one compare with the present a life that has no end? The peace of the future life differs from the peace of this life as much as peace differs from war.
Incorruption surpasses corruption as much as a pure pearl is better than a lump of dirt. Or rather, whatever anyone says will not fully depict this difference.
If I compare the beauty of future bodies to the light of a sunbeam or to the brightest lightning, I will still have said nothing worthy of that splendor.
For the sake of such things, what earthly treasures, what bodies, or rather what souls, should we not despise? If someone now brought you into the royal palace, enabled you to speak with the king before all, and even to be with him and eat at the same table, you would certainly count yourself happier than all.