John Chrysostom

Conversation 18

“Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, Resist not evil. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also; and whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer garment also.” (Matthew 5:38-40) Explanation 5:38-48. For what purpose the law of an eye for an eye was given. - What it means not to resist evil. - The command to turn the other cheek to him who strikes the other expresses the general law of unkindness. - Evil is overcome by patience. - The commandments of non-resistance are easy to fulfill. - Their fulfillment also benefits the offender. - Even suffering must be tolerated without resistance. - Nine degrees of unkindness. - The highest degree of virtue is to pray for enemies. - The pattern of unkindness given by Christ. - The exhortation to treat those who are angry as sick, to warn one another with salutations, and to be ready for every offense and contempt is for God. 1. Do you see that the Savior, in prescribing above the commandment to pluck out the tempting eye, did not mean the eye itself, but the person who by his friendship harms us, and casts us into the ditch of destruction? Indeed, if here He offers such a high rule that He does not allow us to pluck out an eye even from him who would pluck it out from us, could He command anyone to pluck out an eye from himself? But if anyone censures the Old Law because it enjoins such vengeance, he, in my opinion, has no conception of the wisdom of the Lawgiver, is not in touch with the circumstances of the time, and does not know how useful leniency can sometimes be. In fact, if you consider who were those who heard this command, what was the disposition of their spirit, and at what time they accepted this law, you will recognize the wisdom of the Lawgiver and see that both the law of vengeance and the law of unkindness were given by the same Lawgiver, and both were prescribed in good time and with the greatest benefit. If these high and great commandments had been proposed by the Lawgiver from the beginning, men would not have accepted either these commandments or the former. But now, having offered them both at the proper time, He has corrected the whole universe by them. On the other hand, the Lawgiver has prescribed an eye for an eye, not that we should pluck out one another's eyes, but that we should restrain our hands from offenses; for the threat that makes us fear punishment restrains the desire for criminal deeds. Thus the Lawgiver sows piety in hearts little by little, when he commands that he who has offended should pay equally for the wrong done to him, although, according to the demands of justice, the instigator of the crime would have deserved a greater punishment. But since it pleased Him to dissolve justice with humanity, He condemns the one who has committed a greater offense to a much lesser punishment than he deserves, thus wishing to teach us to show great gentleness even in the midst of suffering. Having therefore cited the decree of the Old Law, and having read it from word to word, the Savior again shows that it is not the brother who causes offense, but the evil one. Therefore he adds: “But I say unto you, Resist not evil” (tw ponhrw). He does not say: “Do not resist your brother”, but: to the evil one, showing that the offender does everything at the instigation of the devil, and thus, by laying the blame on another, he weakens and stops the anger against the offender very much. What, you will say, should we not resist the evil one? We must, but not in this way, but as the Savior Himself commanded, that is, by willingness to bear evil. In this way you will truly overcome the evil one. It is not fire that extinguishes fire, but water. And that you may know that in the Old Testament the victory and the crown remain on the side of the one who has been wronged, consider what happens in this case, and you will see that the advantage remains on the side of the wronged one. Indeed, he who first raises his hand to do wrong plucks out two eyes,-both of his neighbor and of himself. He is therefore justly exposed to general hatred and innumerable accusations. Meanwhile, the offended one, though he repays an equal for the evil done to him, does no evil, why many are even sorry for him, since he is clean from sin in this matter, though he repaid an equal for an equal. And though the misfortune of both is the same, yet the judgment of them is not the same, both of God and of men, and consequently the misfortune is no longer the same. So the Savior first said: “He that is angry with his brother in vain shall be subject to judgment, and he that shall say, 'Madman,' shall be subject to Gehenna of fire”; and here He demands still higher common sense, commanding the offended one not only to be silent, but also to turn the other cheek to the offender, and thus to overcome him still more strongly by His magnanimity. And this he says, not only to give a law commanding us to bear offenses, but also to teach us in all other cases to be unkind. 2. Just as when the Savior says that “whosoever shall say, ‘Madman,’ shall be subject to Gehenna of fire,” He means not only this offensive word alone, but also every insult in general, so here He not only enjoins that we should bear with generosity mere injuries, but that we should not be troubled by every other affliction. Wherefore, just as there He chose the most sensitive offense, so here He mentions a slap on the cheek, which is considered especially shameful and constituting a great offense. In giving this commandment, the Savior has in view the benefit of both the one who strikes and the one who endures it. In fact, if the one who is offended is armed with the kind of zeal taught by the Savior, he will not think that he has suffered an offense, he will not even feel the offense, considering himself a fighter rather than a person who is beaten. And the offender, being ashamed, not only will not strike a second blow, even if it was fiercer than any beast, but for the first will be extremely accusing himself. Truly, nothing so restrains those who offend as the meek patience of those who are offended. It not only keeps them from further impulses, but also makes them repent of the previous ones, and makes them move away from the offended, marveling at their meekness, and finally, from enemies and enemies become not only their friends, but even the closest people and slaves. On the contrary, vengeance produces completely opposite effects. It causes shame to both, hardens them and inflames their anger even more, and the evil, extending further, often leads to death. That is why the Savior not only forbade the one who was struck to be angry, but also commanded to satiate the desire of the one who struck, so that it would not even be noticeable that you suffered the first blow involuntarily. Indeed, in this way you will strike the shameless much more sensitively than if you had struck him with your hand, and from the shameless you will make him meek. “Whosoever will sue thee, and take thy shirt, give him also thy outer garment.” The Savior wants us to show the same unkindness not only when we are beaten, but also when they want to take away our possessions. Hence again He offers the same high rule. As there He commands us to conquer by patience, so here He commands us to concede more than the covetous man expects. He did not, however, merely propose this last rule, but with reservations - He did not say: “Give him also his outer garment,” but - ‘and whosoever will want to sue thee,’ i.e., if he draws thee into court and wants to make a case with thee. And, just as after the commandments not to call a brother mad and not to anger him in vain, in His last sermon He demanded more, commanding to turn the right cheek, so now, after the command to make peace with a rival, He again extends His demand still further, commanding not only to give to the rival what he wants to take, but also to be more generous. Well, shall I walk naked? We would not be naked if we were to obey these commands exactly; on the contrary, we would still be much better clothed than anyone else. Firstly, because no one would attack a man who has such a disposition of mind, and secondly, if there were anyone so cruel and unmerciful that he would dare to do so, there would no doubt be even more who would cover a man who had risen to such a degree of wisdom, not only with clothes, but, if it were possible, with his very flesh. (3) And if anyone had to walk naked for the sake of such wisdom, there would be no shame in it. Adam in paradise was naked and was not ashamed (Gen. 2:25). And Isaiah, who walked naked and without shoes, was more famous than all the Jews (Isaiah 20:3). Joseph then especially shone (with virtue) when he left his clothes. It is not at all bad to be so naked, but it is shameful and ridiculous to be clothed as we are clothed now, i.e. in precious garments. That is why God glorified them, but condemned us through the prophets and apostles. Let us not therefore regard the Lord's commands as impossible. They are both useful and very easy to fulfill, if only we keep awake. They are so salvific that they are of great benefit not only to us, but also to those who offend us. Their special merit is that they, persuading us to tolerate offenses, thereby teach us to be virtuous and those who cause them. In fact, when the one who offends importantly esteems to take the property of others, and you actually show him that it is easy for you to give even what he does not ask, and thus contrast his beggary and covetousness with your own generosity and good sense, then imagine how strong he will be edified, not by words, but by his very deeds learning to despise evil inclinations and love virtue! God wants us to be useful not only to ourselves, but also to all our neighbors. Therefore, if you give what you demand without any dispute and judgment, you will benefit yourself only. But if you give something else in addition to what is required, you will let your rival go from you better. This is what that salt means, which the Savior wants His disciples to be; it both saves itself, and preserves other bodies, salted by it. This is what that light also means; it shines both to itself and to others. Therefore, since the Lord has made you one of His disciples, enlighten him who sits in darkness; teach him that what he demanded of you he did not take from you by force; convince him that you do not consider yourself offended. In this way, you yourself will earn more respect and honor when you assure him that he did not take anything from you, but that you yourself gave it to him. By your meekness turn his sin into an occasion for the display of your nobility. If this seems very high to you, wait till you see that it is not the height of perfection. The Savior does not stop yet here, prescribing to you the rules of forbearing offenses, but extends further, saying, “And whosoever shall compel thee to walk with him one path, walk with him two” (Matt. 5:41). Do you see to what heights of any-mindedness the Savior raises you? He says that even when you give your enemy both your upper and lower garments, you should not resist him, even if he wants to subject your naked body to suffering and labor. He wants all things to be common, both bodies and possessions, and he wants us to serve them both to the poor and to those who wrong us. The latter is a duty of courage, and the former of humanity. That is why He said: “And whosoever shall compel thee to walk with him one path, walk with him two,” elevating thee still higher, and commanding you to render new experiments of equal magnanimity to the former. If His former injunctions, which require much less, give to those who fulfill them such great felicity, consider what lot awaits those who fulfill these latter, and what even before rewards are those who, in a human and passionate body, show perfect impassivity. If they are not only not offended by insults, blows, or the taking away of property, not only not overcome by anything else of the kind, but still long for great suffering, imagine what their souls are made like. Therefore Christ, as He commanded to do in the case of blows and deprivation of property, so He also commands to do in this case. What do I say,” he says, as it were, ”about offenses and deprivation of property? If someone wants to subject your body to hard and exhausting labor, and even unjustly, then you must defeat his unjust desire, and become superior to him. To “compel by force” means to draw someone unjustly, without reason and with offense. But thou shalt be ready for this also; be ready to suffer even more than how much he wants to inflict upon thee. “Give to him who asks of you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away” (Matt. 5:42). By these words the Savior demands less than by the former words, but do not be surprised at this. The Savior usually does this: He always adds the small to the great. If, however, these words are small in comparison with the first, let those who take the things of others, and give their own property to prostitutes, and thus kindle for themselves a great fire through unrighteous gain and pernicious dissipation, take heed to them. By prescribing here to lend, the Savior does not mean to lend money in growth, but a simple favor. And in another place He requires more, saying that we should also give to those from whom we do not hope to receive. “Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for He commands His sun to rise over the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:43-45). Here is the highest height of the virtues! That is why the Savior taught not only to bear patiently with the bruises, but also to turn the right cheek, not only to give the lower garment together with the upper garment, but also to walk two versts with the one who forces to walk one! He offered all these things so that you might willingly accept what is far above them. What is above them, you say? Not to regard him as an enemy who wrongs you is even something higher than that, since the Lord did not say, Do not hate, but love; nor did He say, Do not offend, but also charity. 4. But if we examine the Savior's words more carefully, we see that a new injunction, much higher still, is contained in them. Indeed, He commands not only to love enemies, but also to pray for them. Do you see to what degrees He has ascended, and how He has placed us on the very top of virtue? See and number them, beginning with the first: The first degree is not to begin an offense; the second, when it has already been inflicted, not to repay the offender with equal evil; the third, not only not to do to the offender what you have suffered from him, but also to remain calm; the fourth, to give yourself up to suffering; the fifth, to give more than what the offender wants to take; the sixth, not to hate him; the seventh, even to love him; the eighth, to do him good; the ninth, to pray to God for him. Do you see how high is the height of common wisdom? But the reward is also brilliant. Since the command is great and requires a courageous soul and a great feat, the Savior promises a reward for the fulfillment of it, such as He did not combine with any of the previous commandments. He promises here not the earth as to the meek, not comfort and pardon as to the mourners and the merciful, but the Kingdom of Heaven, but that they will be like God, as far as it is possible for people: “May you be sons,” He says, “of your Father in heaven” (Mt.5:45)10. Notice that neither here nor before does He call God His Father; but there, when He spoke of oaths, He called Him God and the great King, but here He calls Him our Father. He does so because he wants to leave the conversation about this until a decent time. Explaining, then, what God's likeness consists in, He says: “For He commands His sun to rise over the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust;” that is, God not only does not hate those who offend Him, but even favors them. Of course, there is no equality of anything here, for not only the goodness of God, but the greatness of His dignity surpasses anything imaginable. You are insulted by one like you, while He is insulted by a servant, and by one who has received countless favors from Him. You, when you pray for your enemy, favor him with words, while God favors him with very great and marvelous deeds, illuminating him with sunshine and sending rains at a certain time every year. And with all this, I allow your godhood, as much as is possible for man. Therefore, do not hate the man who does you harm, when you have gained such benefits and achieved such great honor through him. Do not curse the one who offends you; otherwise you will suffer the offense and lose the fruit, - you will suffer harm and not be rewarded. And this is extremely mad - having endured the hardest, not to endure the easiest. But how is it possible, you say? You see that God became man for you, that He humbled Himself so much and suffered so much for you, and yet you ask and wonder how you can forgive offenses to your equals? Do you not hear what He said on the cross, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)? Do you not hear what Paul says: He who ascended into heaven, and sits “at the right hand of God, He also makes intercession for us” (Rom. 8:34)? Do you not see that even after His crucifixion and ascension into heaven, He sent apostles to the Jews who killed Him, who brought them innumerable benefits, and at the same time suffered innumerable evils from them? But are you offended in many ways? What have you suffered that would be like the suffering of your Master, who, after His countless favors, was bound, strangled, scourged, scourged, and spat upon by slaves, and finally suffered death, the most humiliating of all deaths? If you are much offended, then by that very fact you should be even more beneficent, in order to receive the most brilliant crown for yourself, and to save your brother from an extremely cruel disease. When patients who are in madness, strikes and offenses to their doctors, the latter at this time and especially sorry for them and try to cure them, knowing that their insolence comes from excessive disease. In the same way you have the same disposition to those who maliciously intend against you, and in the same way do with those who offend you, because they are quite sick and do everything completely involuntarily. So, free your enemy from his heavy pride, make him give up his anger, and get rid of the fierce demon - rage. Seeing those who are raging, we shed tears, and do not think like them to rage. Let's do the same with those who are angry, because they are like the demoniacs, or even more miserable than them, because although they are mad, but have not yet lost their minds. Therefore their frenzy is unforgivable. 5. So, do not attack him who is lying down, but feel sorry for him. When we see how a person suffering from bile, tormented by dizziness and tries to vomit this harmful phlegm, we immediately give a hand, support the tormented, and do not turn away from him, even if dirty and clothes, but about that only and try to somehow relieve him from such a difficult situation. In the same way let us do with those who are angry, let us help them as those who spew out bile and are tormented, and let us not leave them until they have spewed out all bitterness. And when such a man has calmed down, he will give you the greatest thanks. Then he will clearly recognize the disorder from which you have delivered him. But what do I say about his gratitude? God himself will immediately crown you and reward you with countless blessings for having delivered your brother from a cruel disease. And he will honor you as his master, and will always look at your meekness with awe. Do you not see how those who are in labor bite the women standing near them, and yet the latter feel no pain? It is more accurate to say that they feel the pain, but they bear it courageously, sympathizing with those who suffer and are tormented by the diseases of childbirth. Be jealous of their generosity and do not be weaker than women. When these wives give birth, and those who are angry are more weak-willed than the wives themselves, then they will recognize in you a husband. If these commands seem hard to you, consider that Christ came to plant them in our hearts, and to make us useful to our enemies as well as to our friends. Therefore He commands us to care for both; for brethren, when He says, “If thou bring forth thy gift;” for enemies, when He commands us to love them and pray for them. And He urges the fulfillment of these things, not only by pointing out the example of the goodness of God, but also the contrary: “For if ye love,” says He, “them that love you, what reward have ye? Do not the same thing and tax collectors do” (Mt.5:46)? Paul confirms the same: “You have not yet fought to the point of bloodshed,” he says, “struggling against sin” (Hebrews 12:4). So, if you fulfill the commandment to love your enemies, you are with God; but if you forsake it, you are with the tax collectors. Do you see that these commandments are not yet as great as the difference between tax collectors and God? Let us not therefore think of the difficulty of the command, but let us imagine the reward, and let us consider to whom we shall be like when we fulfill this command, and to whom we shall be compared when we do not fulfill it. The Savior commands us to make peace with our brother, and not to depart from him until we have completely eradicated the enmity. But when He speaks of all in general, He does not impose such a duty upon us, but only requires what depends upon us, and thus eases the difficulty of the law. He said above, “So they persecuted [also] the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:12); now, desiring that His disciples should not be vexed at their persecutors for the same thing, He commands them not only to bear with those who do so to them, but also to love them. Do you see how He eradicates anger, addiction to the flesh, riches, glory, and the present life from the very root? This He had already done at the beginning of His preaching, but much more so now. Indeed, the poor in spirit, the meek and mourner casts out anger; the just and merciful destroys the addiction to riches; the pure in heart is free from evil lust; the persecuted, the offended, and the reviled are accustomed to a perfect contempt for temporal things, and remain pure from arrogance and vainglory. Having thus freed the hearer from all these bonds, and prepared him for exploits, Christ again, in another way and with great care, expels from his heart the said passions, beginning with anger, and destroying all the power of this passion, when He says that he who is angry with his brother, and calls him a foolish and empty man, deserves punishment; that he who brings a gift should not eat until he has ceased from enmity; that he who has a rival, before he sees the judgment, should make him a friend from his enemy. Then he again turns to lust and says that he who looks with lustful eyes deserves to be punished as an adulterer; he who is seduced by a lustful wife or husband or anyone else close to him should cut off all such persons from himself; he who has a lawful wife should never remove her from him and turn his eyes to another. With these suggestions the Savior expels the roots of evil lust. He then curbs the love of wealth, forbidding swearing, lying, and withholding even the shirt that one has on his body; He commands that the outer garments be given away, and that not even the body be spared for services to the demanding one. Thus He destroys at last the addiction to riches. 6. Finally, the Savior adorns all these commands with the most beautiful crown, saying, “Pray for those who abuse you and persecute you,” and in this way He raises His disciples to the highest peak of wisdom. Just as to bear afflictions is a higher feat than to be meek; to give one's shirt and outer garment is a more important work than to be merciful; to bear offenses is a higher virtue than to be righteous; to bear beatings and not to resist when compelled to go is more important than to be a peacemaker - so, in the midst of persecution, to bless the persecutor is more important than to be persecuted. Do you see how little by little He is bringing us up to heaven itself? Therefore, what shall we be worthy of, who have been commanded to strive zealously to resemble God, and yet, perhaps, we are not yet equal to the tax collectors? Indeed, if the tax collectors, sinners, and Gentiles love those who love them, and we do not do it (and we do not do it when we envy the good glory of our brothers), what punishment shall we not be subjected to, being lower than the Gentiles, when we should be more excellent than the scribes? How then, tell me, can we behold the kingdom? How can we enter its sacred doors, being no better than the tax collectors? This is what the Savior points to, saying, “Do not the tax collectors also do the same?” What is especially remarkable in the teaching of Christ is that the rewards of exploits He offers everywhere in great abundance: He promises to the ascetics that they shall see God, and inherit the kingdom of heaven, and shall be sons of God, and like God, and shall be pardoned, and comforted, and shall receive many rewards in heaven; and if there was any unfortunate thing to be mentioned, He mentions it briefly, so that the name of Gehenna, for instance, He used only once in such a long discourse. In other cases He corrects the hearer by gentle admonitions, persuading him more by exhortations than by threats, as when He says: “Do not the publicans also do the same? Or, “If the salt lose its strength”; Or, “The least shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Sometimes He puts sins instead of punishment, leaving it to the hearer to deduce from the gravity of the latter the severity of the punishment, for example, when He says: “He committed adultery with her in his heart”; or: “Whoever divorces his wife...gives her an excuse to commit adultery.” /. For the edification of those who have a mind, it is not necessary to mention the punishment, but only to present the gravity of the sin. That is why He presents the Gentiles and tax collectors as an example, so that His disciples might be ashamed, seeing to what kind of people He compares them. Paul did the same thing when he said, “Lest ye be grieved as others who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13), and “as also the Gentiles who know not God” (1 Thess. 4:5). Moreover, the words are these: “Do not the Gentiles do likewise?"/ (Matt. 5:47) the Savior said also to show that He does not demand anything excessive, but a little more than ordinary. With this, however, He does not conclude His word, but ends it with an indication of rewards and good hopes, saying, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). He often mentions heaven in His entire discourse, in order to stir up the hearts of His disciples by presenting the place itself, for at this time they were still rather weak and rude. Let us, therefore, presenting all that has been hitherto said, show all love to our enemies. Let us reject that ridiculous custom which many unwise people suffer from, who wait for those who meet them to warn them with their greeting, and thus are not jealous of that which is of great felicity, but chase after that which is worthy of laughter. Why then do you not greet him before? Because, you will say, he expects it. But therefore thou thyself oughtest to hasten, that the crown may go to thee. Nay, thou sayest, I do not greet him because he wants it so much. What can be worse than such madness? Since, thou sayest, he greatly desires to give me an occasion of reward, therefore I do not wish to take advantage of it. If he warns you with his greeting, you will get no benefit, although afterwards you will answer him in the same way; but if you hurry to express your greeting to him first, you, as if bargaining with his pride, will get yourself a great benefit and gather abundant fruit from his arrogance. Therefore, are we not extremely foolish, when, having had occasion to acquire such a great benefit by two words, we let it go out of our hands, and fall into the same folly for which we condemn another? If you accuse him of expecting first a greeting from another, why do you imitate what you yourself condemn, and try to adopt as good what you yourself call evil? Do you see that there is nothing madder than a man who lives in malice? Therefore I beseech you, let us avoid this evil and ridicule-worthy habit. This disease has dissolved innumerable friendly alliances, and produced many strife. Let us, therefore, by our greetings warn others. If we are commanded to endure even when our enemies are earning us, forcing us to see ourselves off, and exposing us to nakedness, shall we deserve any forgiveness if we refuse a simple greeting with such persistence? You will say, I shall be despised and spit upon when I do him this honor. Therefore, lest a man should despise you, do you insult God? In order that you may not be despised by a raging slave who is your equal, do you despise the Lord who has favored you so much? If it is unreasonable for a man your equal to despise you, it is even more unreasonable for you to despise God, who created you. Moreover, notice also that he who despises you thereby makes it possible for you to receive a greater reward, since you bear it for God, obeying His laws. And with this reward what honor, what crowns can compare with it? I would rather endure all insults and contempt for God than to be honored by all kings, for nothing, nothing can compare with this glory. Let us seek this glory as the Savior Himself commanded, and not caring a bit about the judgments of men, but showing true prudence in everything, we will arrange our lives according to it. Thus, while still here we shall anticipate the blessings of heaven and the glory of the crowns of paradise; we shall treat men as angels, and dwell on earth as the powers of heaven, free from all lust and all earthly passions; and together with all these things we shall also receive unspeakable blessings, to which we may all be made worthy through the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory, dominion, and worship, with the Father without beginning, and the Holy and Blessed Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.