Wednesday of the 24th week after Pentecost

(Serm. 106.) But if they cannot be cleansed except they believe on Him who cleanses the heart by faith, what is this which He says, Give alms, and behold all things are clean to you? Let us give heed, and perhaps He Himself explains it to us. For the Jews withdrew a tenth part from all their produce, and gave it in alms, which rarely a Christian does. Therefore they mocked Him, for saying this to them as to men who did not give alms. God knowing this adds, But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God. This then is not giving alms. For to give alms is to show mercy. If thou art wise, begin with thyself: for how art thou merciful to another, if cruel to thyself? Hear the Scripture, which says unto thee, Have mercy on thy own soul, and please God. (Ecclus. 30:23.) Return unto thy conscience, thou that livest in evil or unbelief, and then thou findest thy soul begging, or perhaps struck dumb with want. In judgment and love give alms to thy soul. What is judgment? Do what is displeasing to thyself. What is charity? Love God, love thy neighbour. If thou neglectest this alms, love as much you like, thou doest nothing, since thou doest it not to thyself.

However, he briefly exposes their many sins who devote all their effort to contributing the tithes of cheaper fruits: they have no fear of the future judgment or any love for God, since their works are worthless without faith; for they disregard the judgment and love of God: the judgment, because they do not bring everything they do under judgment; the love, because they do not love God out of devotion.

But so that it does not make us diligent in faith, neglectful of works, he concludes the perfection of a faithful man with a short discourse; so that he may be approved both by faith and works, saying: These things you ought to do, and not leave the others undone.

Or judgment, because they do not bring to examination every thing that they do; charity, because they love not God with their heart. But that He might not make us zealous of the faith, to the neglect of good works, He sums up the perfection of a good man in a few words, these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

But woe to you, he said, Pharisees. As if he said, I indeed warned you to give alms, by which everything would be clean to you: but woe to you, because you tithe mint and rue and every herb; for I know these as your alms, so do not think that I now admonish you about them.

And you neglect justice and the love of God. By this alms you might be cleansed of all inner impurity, so that the bodies you wash might also be clean to you, for this is indeed everything, both the inner and the outer, as it is read elsewhere: Cleanse what is inside, and what is outside will be clean (Matthew XXIII). But lest it seem that he rejects those alms made from the fruits of the earth...

These things, however, you ought to have done. That is, justice and the love of God, so that judging rightly of our own misery and loving the charity of God that He has bestowed, we may live piously and rightly, confessing His righteous judgment, which the Apostle says, Judgment came through one to condemnation: and giving thanks to His great charity (Romans V), of which the same grace preacher says: But God commends His charity in us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Ibid.).

These things you ought to have done, and not leave the others undone, that is, alms from the fruits of the earth. Therefore, let them not deceive themselves who think that by giving the most generous alms from their fruits, or any money, they are buying impunity while remaining in the enormity of crimes and the wickedness of disgraces.

But woe to you, Pharisees, etc. After the rebuke of duplicity, there is here subjoined against the double-minded and hypocrites a threatening of calamity: whence in Matthew twenty-three this determination is as it were added: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" And since these two classes of persons, namely the Pharisees and the scribes, especially feigned religiousness, therefore against these two classes he directs his invective — but in Matthew jointly, here however distinctly. The threatening of eternal damnation is repeated three times against the Pharisees on account of a threefold cause, namely on account of negligence, on account of arrogance, and on account of fraudulence, so that negligence consists in the omission of good, arrogance in the commission of evil, and fraudulence in the concealment of evil and the display of good.

First, therefore, he threatens the Pharisees with eternal punishment on account of negligence, by which, intent upon the least things, they omitted the greatest. And this, when he says: But woe to you Pharisees: who tithe mint and rue and every herb, as though you were greatly intent upon the fulfillment of the divine commandments: whence below in the eighteenth chapter the Pharisee boasted: "I give tithes of all that I possess." But nevertheless they were not justified by this on account of their omission of the best things; whence he adds: And you pass over every judgment and the charity of God, that is, justice and mercy. And this is what God most requires, according to that passage of Micah 6: "I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: namely, to do judgment and to love mercy." And this he calls charity: Zechariah 7: "Judge true judgment and show mercy and compassion, each one with his neighbor"; so that there is judgment with respect to oneself, and charity or mercy with respect to one's neighbor. Or, by judgment may be understood the divine precept, according to that passage of the Psalm: "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified in themselves" etc.; charity however is called the end of the precept and its fulfillment; First Timothy 1: "The end of the precept is charity" etc. Or, by judgment may be understood the judicial precepts, according to that passage of Exodus 21: "These are the judgments which you shall set before them: If you buy a servant" etc.; by charity, the moral precepts: whence Romans 13: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. For You shall not kill" etc. He reproves them, therefore, because on account of the ceremonial precepts they were neglecting the judicial and moral precepts, which were to be observed with greater solicitude. And therefore he adds: But these things it was necessary to do, namely judgment and charity first and principally; whence Hosea 6: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering." And not to omit those things, because, Sirach 19, "he who despises small things shall fall little by little"; and Ecclesiastes 7: "He who fears God neglects nothing."

The transgression of one commandment transgresses the law. It proves the man to be without the law. When anyone disregards those commandments, which especially are important above the rest, what words will he find able to save him from deserved punishment? The Lord proved that the Pharisees merited these severe censures, saying, "Woe to you, Pharisees, who tithe mint, rue and all herbs and pass over judgment and the love of God!" You should have done these things and not passed by the others, that is, to leave them undone. They omitted as of no importance those duties which they were especially bound to practice, like justice and the love of God. They carefully and scrupulously observed, or rather commanded the people subject to their authority to observe, only those commandments that were means of great revenues for themselves.

Or He says it by way of censure upon the Pharisees, who ordered those precepts only to be strictly observed by their people, which were the cause of fruitful returns to themselves. Hence they omitted not even the smallest herbs, but despised the work of inspiring love to God, and the just awarding of judgment.

(Hom. 73. in Matt.) Where indeed the subject treated was the Jewish cleansing, He altogether passed it by, but as the tithe is a kind of almsgiving, and the time was not yet come for absolutely destroying the customs of the law, therefore He says, these ought ye to have done.

In like manner, He upbraids them for tithing paltry herbs, but at the same time "passing over hospitality and the love of God. The vocation and the love of what God, but Him by whose law of tithes they used to offer their rue and mint? For the whole point of the rebuke lay in this, that they cared about small matters in His service of course, to whom they failed to exhibit their weightier duties when He commanded them: "Thou shalt love with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, the Lord thy God, who hath called thee out of Egypt.

The Pharisees, precisely in order not to transgress the Law, tithed even from the most insignificant items, and if anyone reproached them for pettiness, they would appeal to the Law, which commanded that a tithe of everything be brought to the priests (Deut. 14:22-23). Therefore the Lord says: just as you do not neglect these things, so you ought to practice justice and the love of God. Since the Pharisees were unjust, oppressing widows and orphans, the Lord says: you ought to have "justice," that is, righteousness. And since they were contemptuous even toward God, laying their hand on sacred matters without due reverence, the Lord commands them to have "the love of God." For whoever loves God does not approach His works with negligence. And it seems to me, since there are two kinds of love — love of God and love of neighbor — that perhaps the Lord is alluding to these two kinds: by the word "justice" He denotes love of neighbor, since righteousness and not oppressing one's neighbor arise from love for him; and by the phrase "love of God" He undoubtedly denotes wholehearted devotion to God. And when someone loves his neighbor not out of any worldly or shameful inclination, but for God's sake, then this love too may be called the love of God, since it is commanded by God and is well-pleasing to Him.

For because they despised God, treating sacred things with indifference, He commands them to have love to God; but by judgment He implies the love of our neighbour. For when a man judges his neighbour justly, it proceeds from his love to him.

He also criticizes the arrogance and boasting of the Jews, as they seek the places of honor at banquets.

He reproves also the arrogance of the boasting Jews in seeking the preeminence: for it follows, Woe unto you, Pharisees, for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, &c.

Woe to you Pharisees who love the foremost seats in synagogues, and the greetings in the market. Woe to us miserable ones, to whom the vices of the Pharisees have passed, who, in the brief and uncertain course of our life in which we ought to have humbly lamented our sins, by proudly contending with each other for priority, we did not fear to burden ourselves further with sins.

Second, he repeats this threatening on account of arrogance, when he adds: Woe to you Pharisees: because "you love the first seats in the synagogues, with regard to the ambition for dignities. Whence the Gloss: "He reproves arrogance, because they sought primacies." But this is not to be sought: whence Sirach 7: "Do not seek leadership from man nor the seat of honor from the king." For such a seat is not one of true excellence, but rather of pestilence, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Blessed is the man who has not sat in the seat of pestilence"; upon which nevertheless the scribes and Pharisees sat: yet as unworthy, because they had words but not fitting deeds. Whence it is said in Matthew 23: "The scribes and Pharisees have sat upon the seat of Moses; do what they say, but do not act according to their works."

And because the appetite for praise follows upon the ambition for dignity, He therefore adds: And greetings in the marketplace, that is, praises in the sight of many, so that they might appear more honorable than the rest: whence Matthew twenty-three: "They love greetings in the marketplace and to be called rabbi by men." Whence here they are reproved, because they sought vain glory, on account of which they did not even dare to confess the truth they knew, according to that passage in John twelve: "Yet many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they be cast out of the synagogue. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God." From which it is clear that we ought entirely to despise praises and honors according to the divine pattern, not to seek them after the manner of the Pharisees. For he who loves these things, as Jerome says, is not a disciple of Christ, but a scribe and Pharisee. For Christ, when He was sought for kingship, "fled to the mountain," John six; when He was praised, He withdrew into the desert to pray, above in chapter five.

Further, He banishes utterly love of glory, saying, "Woe to you, Pharisees! for ye love the chief seat in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets." But He welcomes the repentance of the sinner-loving repentance-which follows sins. For this Word of whom we speak alone is sinless. For to sin is natural and common to all. But to return [to God] after sinning is characteristic not of any man, but only of a man of worth.

Those who desire to be greeted by everyone in the marketplace and anxiously consider it a great matter to have the foremost seats in the synagogue do not differ in any way from graves that do not appear as graves. On the outside, they are beautifully decorated but are full of all impurity. See here, I pray that hypocrisy is utterly blamed. It is a hateful malady toward God and humanity. The hypocrite is not whatever he seems to be and is thought to be. He borrows the reputation of goodness and conceals his real shame. He will not practice the very thing that he praises and admires. It is impossible for you to hide your hypocrisy for long. Just as the figures painted in pictures fall off as time dries up the colors, so also hypocrisies, after escaping observation for a very little time, are soon convicted of being really nothing.

By means of those things for which He blames us He makes us better. For He would have us be free from ambition, and not desire after vain show rather than the reality, which the Pharisees were then doing. For the greetings of men, and the rule over them, do not move us to be really useful, for these things fall to men though they be not good men. Therefore he adds, Woe unto you, who are as graves which appear not. For in wishing to receive greetings from men and to exercise authority over them, that they might be accounted great, they differ not from hidden graves, which glitter indeed with outward ornaments, but within are full of all uncleanness.

(con. Julian. lib. 10.) Now here the apostate Julian says, that we must avoid graves which Christ says are unclean; but he knew not the force of our Saviour's words, for He did not command us to depart from the graves, but likened to them the hypocritical people of the Pharisees.

They (the Pharisees) loved for every person to pay them honor and for people "in public assemblies" to call them by the title "teacher" (Matt. 23:7); this is what the words "greeting" and "chief seat" mean.

Or He means, "That which is uppermost." For wealth rules the covetous man's heart.

The sentence of condemnation is also pronounced against those who deceive others with a false appearance, like hidden tombs that are not visible and deceive by their outward beauty; they promise good things on the outside, but inside they are full of decayed bones. This is what many teachers do, demanding things from others that they themselves cannot accomplish. And therefore these are their monuments, as it is also said elsewhere: Their sepulcher is open throat.

And like graves which appear not, they deceive by their outside beauty, and by their look impose upon the passers by; as it follows, And the men that walk over them are not aware of them; so much that in truth, though they give outward promise of what is beautiful, inwardly they enclose all manner of pollution.

Woe to you who are like unseen tombs, and men walking over them do not know it. And this challenges the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who outwardly present an appearance of correct doctrine, but within conceal what filth they carry, like tombs which, while showing the common surface of the earth outwardly, are filled within with the stench of rotting corpses. Of these the Psalmist said: Their throat is an open sepulcher (Psalm 5); and he immediately clarified what he said by adding: They dealt deceitfully with their tongues.

Thirdly, He repeats this denunciation on account of fraudulence, when He adds: Woe to you!, who are as monuments that do not appear, namely as to what they are within, because they are fetid and unclean within, but outwardly they are beautiful: whence He adds: And men walking over them know it not. Such are hypocrites, who though they are evil within, outwardly appear perfect: whence they are rightly called sepulchres, according to that passage of the Psalm: "Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues" etc. And therefore they are not children of the Bridegroom, nay rather entirely the opposite. For in Song of Songs one: "I am black, but beautiful"; these, however, are white, yet fetid: therefore they are rightly called monuments: whence Matthew twenty-three: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you are like whitewashed sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but within are full of the bones of the dead and all uncleanness." Whence Chrysostom: "The bodies of the just are called temples, but the bodies of sinners are called sepulchres, because within is a dead soul: for that soul is not to be considered alive which has done nothing living, that is, nothing spiritual, in the body." And afterwards: "Tell me, hypocrite, if it is good to be good, why do you not wish to be what you wish to appear? Moreover, what is shameful to appear is more shameful to be. Therefore either be what you appear, or appear as what you are."

From these words of the Lord it can be gathered who those are who ought to be judged hypocrites, namely those in whom negligence, arrogance, and fraudulence reign. These moreover are those who prefer the least things to the greatest, the transitory to the eternal, appearances to realities. But to judge concerning these things belongs not to any man whatsoever, but to Christ, who looks upon the heart, according to that passage in First Corinthians four: "Judge not before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things of darkness" etc. For the Lord does not reprove goodness that is apparent and evident, but goodness that is sophistical and non-existent.

(Hom. 73.) But that the Pharisees were so, cannot be wondered at. But if we who are counted worthy to be the temples of God suddenly become graves full only of corruption, this is indeed the lowest wretchedness.

The Lord says: you are like tombs that are full of every kind of rottenness, but on the outside gleam with marble; people by their outward appearance do not know what principles they are guided by in life (by what they walk), but if they knew, they would turn away because of the inner foulness.

(in Esai. 1.) This word woe, which is uttered with pain intolerable, is suited to those who were shortly after to be cast out into grievous punishment.

But he said: Woe to you lawyers also, because you load men with burdens that cannot be carried, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one finger. The burdens of the law cannot be carried in the way these lawyers imposed them on the people. Hence, they rightly hear that they do not touch the burdens with one finger, that is, they would not fulfill them even in the smallest part, which they presumed, contrary to the custom of the fathers, to keep and hand down to be kept without the faith and grace of Jesus Christ. Therefore, they attempted to cast away and exterminate the yoke of Christ which is sweet and His burden which is light, where there is rest for souls, since it is written: The righteous shall live by faith (Romans 1). And the apostle Peter, to those who were teaching that Gentile believers should be circumcised, protested and said: Now therefore why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they (Acts 15).

Now they are rightly told that they would not touch the burdens of the Law even with one of their fingers, that is, they fulfil not in the slightest point that law which they pretend to keep and transmit to the keeping of others, contrary to the practice of their fathers, without faith and the grace of Christ.

Secondly, as regards the threat of calamity on account of sloth in doing good, it is said: But he said: And woe to you lawyers also! namely, of eternal damnation. And the reason for this is that they said much and did little. Therefore he adds: Because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear, that is, with precepts and superstitious and useless traditions, so that rightly may be said that word of Acts 15: This is a burden "which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear." Whence Matthew 23: "They bind heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on the shoulders of men"; to which, namely, no one is bound, yet they say that they are bound. And because they imposed these burdens, they taught, but did not bear them by doing; he adds: And you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

Note pointedly that he says: With one finger you do not touch: he does not say: you do not carry, because there could be an excuse of inability. Frequently a teacher teaches what he cannot do: nevertheless his teaching is not to be despised, if he wills to do it, because the will is reckoned to him as the deed. Whence first Kings thirty: "Equal shall be the share of him who goes down to battle and of him who remains with the baggage, and they shall divide alike"; and this is said concerning the men who had stayed behind because they were weary: but he who does not wish to put a finger to the baggage, it is manifest that he wishes to endure no labor. And such a one, whether he imposes burdens in the manner of a master or in the manner of a prelate, is altogether reprehensible and is not an imitator of Christ, of whom it is said in Acts one: "Jesus began to do and to teach." Whence against such men, Deuteronomy twenty-five: "You shall not have in your bag diverse weights"; and Proverbs twenty: "A weight and a weight, a measure and a measure: both are abominable before God." Now this happens when a man is merciful to himself and harsh to his neighbor or subject: when he carries nothing, but imposes everything on others to carry. Whence Chrysostom: "Do you wish to appear and to be holy? Regarding your own life, be austere; regarding the lives of others, be kind. Let men hear you commanding small things and doing great things."

But Christ brings a severe charge against the Lawyers, and subdues their foolish pride, as it follows, And he said, Woe unto you also, ye Lawyers, for ye lade men, &c. He brings forward an obvious example for their direction. The Law was burdensome to the Jews as the disciples of Christ confess, but these Lawyers binding together legal burdens which could not be borne, placed them upon those under them, taking care themselves to have no toil whatever.

But the modern laws are almost always laws made to affect the governed class, but not the governing. We have public-house licensing laws, but not sumptuary laws. That is to say, we have laws against the festivity and hospitality of the poor, but no laws against the festivity and hospitality of the rich. We have laws against blasphemy—that is, against a kind of coarse and offensive speaking in which nobody but a rough and obscure man would be likely to indulge. But we have no laws against heresy—that is, against the intellectual poisoning of the whole people, in which only a prosperous and prominent man would be likely to be successful. The evil of aristocracy is not that it necessarily leads to the infliction of bad things or the suffering of sad ones; the evil of aristocracy is that it places everything in the hands of a class of people who can always inflict what they can never suffer. Whether what they inflict is, in their intention, good or bad, they become equally frivolous. The case against the governing class of modern England is not in the least that it is selfish; if you like, you may call the English oligarchs too fantastically unselfish. The case against them simply is that when they legislate for all men, they always omit themselves.

So also are there now many severe judges of sinners, yet weak combatants; burdensome imposers of laws, yet weak bearers of burdens; who wish neither to approach nor to touch strictness of life, though they sternly exact it from their subjects.

He also inveighs against the doctors of the law themselves, because they were "lading men with burdens grievous to be borne, which they did not venture to touch with even a finger of their own; " but not as if He made a mock of the burdens of the law with any feeling of detestation towards it.

They (the lawyers) laid upon people "burdens heavy and hard to bear"; but they themselves did not touch these burdens "even with their finger," that is, they themselves observed nothing of what they commanded others. For when a teacher himself does what he teaches, then he lightens the burdens, providing in himself an example and encouraging the disciples. But when he does nothing of what he teaches, then the burdens seem to the disciples truly heavy, since even the teacher cannot fulfill them.

As often also as the teacher does what he teaches, he lightens the load, offering himself for an example. But when he does none of the things which he teaches others, the loads appear heavy to those who learn his teaching, as being what even their teacher is not able to bear.