DUMINICA 1-a după RUSALII (a Tuturor Sfinților). Serbarea celor 12 Sfinți Apostoli.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- 11:32-40 SUMMARY OF THE ACTS OF THE FAITHFUL
OVERVIEW: Some find fault with Paul, because he puts Barak, Samson and Jephthah in these places of honor. Nevertheless, as is the case with Rahab, Paul is not concerned with the rest of their lives but only whether they did or did not believe (CHRYSOSTOM). Faith is tested in the adversity that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel and the prophets suffered. For this is faith: when things are turning out adversely, then we ought to believe that nothing adverse is done but all is in order. Even as all the heroes of faith did not see the promise but had faith, we, believing in the promise having come also, need to wait in faith, even in suffering, for the final consummation (EPHREM, CHRYSOSTOM, SEVERIAN). The wonderful qualities of faith are two; it accomplishes great things and suffers great things and counts itself to suffer nothing (CHRYSOSTOM). We are called to imitate that faith (CLEMENT OF ROME, JEROME, BASIL). The martyrdom of Isaiah signifies Christ (JUSTIN). The saints of the Old Covenant will share their reward with us in the second coming (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE, THEODORE), the day of retribution and resurrection (EPHREM, ORIGEN).
12:1-2 THAT WE MAY SHARE GOD’S HOLINESS
OVERVIEW: Appealing to this great cloud of witnesses, that is, the heroes of the faith, the author of Hebrews now turns to the present persecutions and sufferings of contemporary Christians and calls for a patient striving in the Lord that is active in faith and long in endurance (Theodore, Ephrem, Chrysostom). The early writers recognized the call for striving and holiness in this pericope while insisting on the priority of the gift of faith. “The author and finisher of our faith has put faith within us.… He put the beginning into us, he will also put on the end” (CHRYSOSTOM, OECUMENIUS). He is the beginning and completion of our faith (AUGUSTINE). It is his death and resurrection that give us faith and endurance to reach the glory of the eternal life (CHRYSOSTOM, GREGORY OF NYSSA). The life of faith and virtue is not unlike the contest in the arena in which we are to demonstrate strength, endurance (CHRYSOSTOM, JEROME, SEVERIAN), and discipline (CHRYSOSTOM, OECUMENIUS).
Commentary on the Gospel accorsing to St. Matthew 10,32-33.37-38;19,27-30
10:32 Acknowledged Before the Heavenly Father
WHO ACKNOWLEDGES ME. APOLLINARIS: The prize is superior insofar as it comes from God. It is not the same thing to acknowledge in a human manner and to be acknowledged in God’s manner.… The believer then must acknowledge God with both heart and mouth. “For one believes with one’s heart and so is justified, and one confesses with his one’s lips and so is saved.”1 FRAGMENT 56.2
10:33 Denied Before the Father
WHOEVER DENIES ME. CHRYSOSTOM: The Son does not here speak soothing words but rather speaks of the consequences of denial. Note carefully: It is not by some power within yourself that you make your confession but by the help of grace from above. But if you deny me, the Son, he is saying, then I will deny you in the presence of the Father. Someone may then object: “How then am I to be blamed if God, forsaking me, denies me?” The answer is, Your being forsaken is the fault of you yourself, the forsaken person, not of God.
“But why,” you object, “should I need to confess faith with my mouth if I confess faith in my mind?” No, we must confess with our mouths in order that we may be steadily trained to speak boldly. It is only through this more abundant love and determination that we will be raised on high.
In this way Jesus addresses himself to each one of us personally. He is not here addressing his original disciples only but every one of us who follows after his disciples in accord with their witness to him. One who learns this lesson will teach it in boldness to others, prepared to suffer all things easily and with a ready mind. This is why so many have come to have faith in the witness of the apostles to this Word. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 34.3.3
FAITH OF THE HEART AND CONFESSION OF THE LIPS. ANONYMOUS: He does not say, “Every one who acknowledges me in his own heart” but “before others.”4 If one does not acknowledge him before others, it does one no good to believe in Christ in one’s heart. For it is impossible that one who denies with one’s lips can believe in one’s heart. For the root of confession is the heart’s faith. Confession is thus the fruit of faith. As long as a root is living, it must produce either branches or leaves, and if the plant does not produce these, we know beyond a doubt that its root is withered in the ground. In the same way, as long as the faith of the heart is healthy, it always sows the seeds of confession with the lips. But if there is no acknowledgment with the lips, you should know beyond a doubt that the faith of the heart has already withered away. For the apostle says, “For one believes with one’s heart and so is justified, and one confesses with one’s lips and so is saved.”5 And so confession by the lips is worth nothing without faith of the heart, and faith of the heart is worth nothing without confession by the lips. If it benefits you to believe with the heart without confessing before others, does it also benefit an infidel to confess Christ deceitfully, even though he does not believe in his heart? If it results in no benefit to an unbeliever to confess without faith in the same way, it will not benefit you to believe without confessing. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 25.6
10:37 Not Worthy of Me
FAMILIAL LOYALTY AND LOVE OF GOD. JEROME: For he had previously said, “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.”22 He adds that he has divided people against father and mother and relatives, so that no one will place familial loyalty before religion. He says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”23 We also read in the Song of Songs, “He established love in me.”24 We must preserve this order in all our relations. Love your father, your mother, your sons. If a time comes when love for a parent and for the children of God are in conflict and both cannot be maintained, then forthright rejection of your family may be a higher form of familial loyalty in relation to God. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.10.37.25
WHETHER LOVE OF PARENTS IS COMPARABLE TO THE LOVE OF GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: He said this to bring fathers to greater gentleness and children to greater freedom, just at the point where love might be most tempted to hinder them. He bids parents not to attempt what is impossible by assuming that their love of their children can be rightly compared with their love toward God. He instructs the children not to attempt what is impossible by seeking to make their love of parents greater than their love of God.
Then lest his hearers should become riled or count this saying as too demanding, see how he turns the argument even further in a more drastic direction. For after saying “who hates not father and mother,” he even adds, “and his own life!” So do not compare love of God merely with love of parents, brothers and sisters and wife. If you are serious, compare it with the love of your very life. For nothing is dearer to you than your life. Yet if you are also not ready to give up this love, in all things you must bear the opposite lot. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.2.26
LOVE YOUR FAMILY IN CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: Let a father say, “Love me.” Let a mother say, “Love me.” To these words I will say, “Be silent.” But isn’t what they are asking for just? Shouldn’t I give back what I have received? The father says, “I fathered you.” The mother says, “I bore you.” The father says, “I educated you.” The mother says, “I fed you.” … Let us answer our father and mother when they justly say “love us.” Let us answer, “I will love you in Christ, not instead of Christ. You will be with me in him, but I will not be with you without him.” “But we don’t care for Christ,” they say. “And I care for Christ more than I care for you. Should I obey the ones who raised me and lose the One who created me?” SERMON 65A.5.27
10:38 Taking One’s Cross
READINESS TO DIE. ANONYMOUS: The man who bears his own cross is one who, if necessary, is ready to face any danger for the sake of God, up to and including death, rather than abandon Christ. He is ready to be tortured any day, because of his way of life. Even if he does not suffer anything as great as death, he will still receive mercy. For it is the intention that is rewarded, not the deed. Intentions come from our free choice, but a deed is accomplished only through the grace of God.
“He who finds his life will lose it.”28 It is better to die for God’s sake and live eternally than to live for the sake of human interests and suffer eternal death. He died for us, although he was incapable of dying unless he wished to. How much more ought we to die for him, we who are mortal even if we do not wish to be? If our Lord died for his servants without even a reward, it is more than equitable that a servant should die for the Lord and be rewarded besides. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 26.29
19:27 What Shall We Have?
WE HAVE LEFT EVERYTHING. CHRYSOSTOM: What is “everything,” blessed Peter? Is it your fishing rod? your net? your boat? your skill? Are you telling me these are the “everything”? “Yes,” he says, “I am not saying these things to show off but in order that by this question I may embrace the multitude of the poor.” For when the Lord said, “If you wish to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven,” one of the poor may say, “What then? If I have no possessions, can I not be perfect?” Peter asks the question so that you, the poor man, may learn that you are in no way inferior to the disciples. Peter asks the question, not so that you may have doubts if you learn it from Peter (for he was still imperfect and as yet unfilled by the Spirit) but so that you may hear the word from Peter’s Master and so believe. When we dispute on behalf of others, we often make their concerns our own. That is what the apostle did when he offered this question to the Master on behalf of the wider world of the poor. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 64.1.37
19:28 Judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel
YOU WILL SIT ON TWELVE THRONES. ORIGEN: In gift giving it is not the gift itself that God praises and approves but the will and sincerity of the giver. He excuses and holds more acceptable the one who gave less but gave it with more perfect sincerity than the one who gave more from a fuller store but with less pure affection.38 Thus, from what is written about the gifts of the wealthy and from the two mites which the widow in the treasury sent for the poor,39 it is clear that the same also happens to those who leave everything that they possess for the love of God so as to follow undistractedly the Christ of God. They will do everything according to his word. The one who leaves the greater wealth is not more acceptable than the one who leaves the lesser. This is especially so if he leaves the lesser with his whole heart. What Peter left, along with his brother Andrew, was small and of no value, but when they both heard, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, immediately they left their nets and followed him.”40 Yet they were not valued lightly by God, who knew that they had done this with great love. God knew that even if they had been endowed with much wealth they would still not have been distracted by it, nor would their desire to follow Jesus have been thwarted by it.… Those who follow the Savior, therefore, will sit on the twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel and will receive this power in the resurrection of the dead. For this is the regeneration, a new birth, when the new heaven and the new earth are established for those who renew themselves, and a New Testament with its chalice is given. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 15.21-22.41
THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL. CHRYSOSTOM: But what does it mean that they will “judge the twelve tribes of Israel”? It means they will judge them insufficient and convicted. For they are not going to sit as jurymen. But just as he said that the queen of the south is to judge that generation42 and the Ninevites will condemn them,43 so will these too. For this reason he did not say “the nations and the world” but “the tribes of Israel.” The Jews and the apostles had been brought up in the same laws and customs and political system. When the Jews said that they were not able to believe in Christ because the law forbade them to receive his commandments, he brings forward these people who had received the same law and had believed, and thus he condemns all those others. That is why he had already said, “Therefore they shall be your judges.”44 THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 64.2.45
YOU WHO HAVE FOLLOWED ME. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW: On the day of judgment the Jews will reply, “Lord, we did not know that you were the Son of God incarnate. For what man could see the treasure hidden in the earth46 or the sun hidden in a cloud? Who suspected that the morning star47 was born upon earth? Who thought that the woman who shut us out from paradise and prevented us all from entering it should herself become the first door of paradise? Or that the light should go forth through her who had caused the darkness to enter? And so it was not obstinacy of heart that drove us to injure you, but we were deceived by consideration of the flesh.”
You will reply to them, “We too were men just like you, having a similar soul and the same carnal nature, and we lived in one and the same world. We were threatened by the same factions of worldly spirits, helped by the same safeguards of God. Further, you had this advantage over us: we were simple, unpolished men and sinners, and obscure in the crowd, while you were priests and scribes and leaders of the people. We, simple, rustic sinners, could recognize him. You, though priests and scribes, who had Scriptures before your eyes like beacons and pathways, still could not recognize him. Even before witnessing his miracles, we understood him. But you, even after witnessing all his powers, could not understand him? How could it be that almost the whole race was ignorant of him whom Twelve knew? You did not believe him. You did not know that he was the Son of God. What caused you to kill him when you did not find any fault in him? In us the goodwill of our rustic ignorance was like a lantern. But in you, the malice of your knowledge enveloped you like darkness.” HOMILY 33.48
19:29 Inheriting Eternal Life
A HUNDREDFOLD HARVEST. HILARY OF POITIERS: They followed him in the washing of baptism, the sanctification of the faith, in the adoption of the inheritance and in the resurrection from the dead. For this is that regeneration that the apostles received and that the law could not grant. It joined them together above the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, to the glory of the twelve patriarchs. To others following him in scorn of the secular world, he promises the abundance of hundredfold harvests. This hundredfold harvest is the same as that which is filled with heavenly joy at the hundredth sheep.49 This hundredfold harvest is that which the fruitfulness of the perfected earth will provide. This honor was also destined to the church in Sarah’s name.50 This honor will be merited through the loss of the law and the faith of the gospel. And thus he says that the first are to be made from the last because the last are made from the first. ON MATTHEW 20.4.51
ETERNAL SPIRITUAL JOYS. THEODORE OF HERACLEA. THEODORE OF HERACLEA: “A hundredfold” means that which is incomparably better as regards the future in heaven. When Mark says he will receive a hundredfold “in this age,”52 we should understand him as speaking about spiritual joys far exceeding earthly ones, inasmuch as they are pledges of future blessings. FRAGMENT 107.53
RECEIVING THE SPIRITUAL. JEROME: So the meaning is this: He who has given up the carnal for the Savior will receive the spiritual. In comparison and merit this will be as if a small number were compared with a number in the hundreds. Hence the apostle, who had given up only a house and his small provincial fields, also says, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”54 COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 3.19.30.55
EVERYONE WHO HAS LEFT ALL. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: So that no one should think that what was said applied only to the disciples, he extended the words to cover all those doing likewise. The rest might not receive the same as the disciples; yet instead of their relatives of the flesh they will have kinship with God and fraternity with the saints. In fact, he means the older men and women of the church, who were, as it were, relatives through love, beloved from disposition, who loved them much more than their relatives of the flesh. They also received money from them to spend as they wished, while the future treasures were laid up in store for them. Instead of their fields they will receive paradise. They will receive paradise instead of their fields. They will receive Jerusalem above, the mother of their firstborn, in place of their houses built of stone. FRAGMENT 221.56