Homily 30 — Acts 13, verse 42, to 14, verse 13

“And as they were going out, they begged that these words might be spoken to them on the next Sabbath.” [a]

Do you see Paul’s wisdom? He not only won their admiration at the time, but also put into them a longing to hear him a second time. In what he said he dropped a few seeds, so to speak, and held back from resolving the questions he raised or following the subject through to its end. His plan was to interest them and win their goodwill for himself, and not to make people listless and indifferent by throwing everything at once into the minds of those who were hearing him for the first time. He told them the fact, that “through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,” but the how he did not explain.

“And when the gathering had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts followed Paul and Barnabas” — from this point on he puts Paul first — “who spoke to them and persuaded them to continue in the grace of God” (verse 43). Do you notice how great their eagerness is? They “followed” them, it says.

Why did they not baptize them at once? It was not the right time. They first needed to be persuaded, so that they would hold firmly to it. [c]

“And on the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (verse 44). “But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with envy, and contradicted the things Paul was saying, contradicting and blaspheming” (verse 45). See how malice is wounded while it wounds others! The contradiction they raised only made the apostles stand out the more. At first, then, they had begged them of their own accord to speak, and now they opposed them: “contradicting,” it says, “and blaspheming.” What recklessness!

“Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. But since you push it away from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look, we are turning to the Gentiles’” (verse 46). Do you see how by their quarrelsomeness they spread the preaching further, and how the apostles here gave themselves all the more to the Gentiles? By this very thing they had made their defense and cleared themselves of all blame before their own people in Jerusalem. See how by their “envy” the Jews bring about great things, other than they looked for: they made the apostles speak out boldly and go to the Gentiles! That is why it says, “And speaking out boldly, Paul and Barnabas said.”

They were going to go out to the Gentiles; but notice how measured the boldness is. If Peter had to defend himself, these men needed a defense much more, since no one had called them there (Acts 11, verse 4). But by saying “to you first,” he showed that they had a duty to preach to the others as well; and by saying “necessary,” he showed that it was necessary for the word to be preached to those others too. “But since you push it away” — he does not say, “Woe to you,” or “You are punished,” but “We are turning to the Gentiles.” How much gentleness this boldness is full of! Again, he does not say, “You are unworthy,” but “You have judged yourselves unworthy. Look, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have sent you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the ends of the earth’” (verse 47). [d]

The Gentiles might have been hurt at hearing this, as though, had the Jews been in earnest, they themselves would never have received the blessings. So that they would not be hurt, he brings in the prophecy: “a light for the Gentiles,” and “salvation to the ends of the earth.” “And hearing” this, “the Gentiles” (verse 48) — this cheered them all the more, seeing that though the Jews had the right to hear first, it was they who enjoyed the blessing; and at the same time it stung the Jews all the more — “and the Gentiles,” it says, “hearing this, were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed”: that is, set apart for God.

Notice how he shows the speed of the benefit: “And the word of the Lord was carried through the whole region” (verse 49) — “carried,” that is, conveyed through it. “But the Jews stirred up the devout women of honorable standing, and the leading men of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district” (verse 50). “The devout women” means the women who were converts. They did not stop at “envy”; they added deeds as well. Do you see what they accomplished by opposing the preaching? What dishonor they brought on these “honorable” women?

“But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium” (verse 51). Here they used that terrible sign which Christ had commanded: “If anyone does not receive you, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10, verse 14; Mark 6, verse 11). And they did not do it on slight grounds, but because they had been driven out.

This did the disciples no harm; on the contrary, they held to the word all the more: “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13, verse 52). For the teacher’s suffering does not check his boldness, but makes the disciple more courageous. [f]

“And it happened in Iconium that they went together into the synagogue of the Jews” (Acts 14, verse 1). Again they went into the synagogues. See how far they were from growing more timid! Although they had said, “We are turning to the Gentiles,” by going into the synagogues they more than fully strengthened their defense before their fellow Jews. “So that,” it says, “a great crowd of both Jews and Greeks believed.” It is likely that they addressed Greeks as well.

“But the Jews who did not believe stirred up the Gentiles, and poisoned their minds against the brothers” (verse 2). Now they took to stirring up the Gentiles along with themselves, as though they were not enough on their own. Then why did the apostles not leave? Well, they had not been driven out, only attacked. “So they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (verse 3).

This produced their boldness. Or rather, their boldness came from their own wholehearted eagerness — that is why for a long time they work no signs — while the conversion of the hearers came from the signs, though their boldness also contributed something. “But the people of the city were divided: some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles” (verse 4). This division was no small matter. And this is what the Lord said: “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10, verse 34). [g]

“And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region; and there they preached the good news” (verses 5 to 7). Once again, as if they wanted on purpose to spread the preaching further now that it had grown, they sent them out again.

See how on every occasion the persecutions work great good, defeating the persecutors and making the persecuted famous. For when he came to Lystra, he works a great miracle by raising up the lame man. “And at Lystra there sat a man who had no strength in his feet, crippled from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice” — why with a loud voice? So that the crowd would believe — “Stand upright on your feet” (verses 8 to 10).

But notice: he listened, it says, to what Paul was saying. Do you see the loftiness of the man’s mind? His lameness did not hold him back at all from eagerness to hear. “Who, fixing his eyes on him, and seeing,” it says, “that he had faith to be made well.” He was already prepared in the purpose of his mind. And yet with the others it was the reverse: they first received healing in their bodies and were then taken in hand for the cure of their souls; but not this man. It seems to me that Paul saw into his soul. “And he leaped up,” it says, “and walked” (verse 10). The leaping was proof that he was completely cured.

“And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.’ And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of the Jupiter that stood in front of their city brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds” (verses 11 to 13). [h]

But their intention was not yet plain, since they spoke in their own language, saying, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.” That is why the apostle said nothing to them yet. But when they saw the garlands, then they went out and tore their clothes. “When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out among the crowd, crying out and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We too are men, with feelings like yours’” (verses 14 and 15).

See how on every occasion they are free of the craving for glory. They not only do not covet it; they even refuse it when it is offered. Just as Peter too said, “Why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made him walk?” (Acts 3, verse 12), so these men say the same. And Joseph too said of the dreams, “Does not their interpretation belong to God?” (Genesis 40, verse 8). And Daniel likewise: “And to me also it was revealed, not through any wisdom that is in me” (Daniel 2, verse 30). And Paul says this everywhere, as when he says, “And who is sufficient for these things? Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (Second Corinthians 2, verse 16, and 3, verse 5). But let us look again at what has been said.

“And as they were going out,” and so on (verse 42). Not only were the crowds drawn to them — but how? They begged to have the same words spoken to them again, and by their actions they showed their eagerness. “Now when the gathering,” and so on (verse 43). See how the apostles on every occasion exhort people, not simply accepting them or courting them; but “speaking to them,” it says, “they persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” “But when the Jews,” and so on (verse 45). Why did they not contradict before this? Do you see how on every occasion they were moved by passion? And they did not only contradict; they blasphemed as well. [i]

For malice truly stops at nothing. But see what boldness of speech! “It was necessary,” he says, “that the word should be spoken to you first; but since you push it away” (verse 46) — it is not put as an insult, though that is in fact what they did in the case of the prophets: “Do not talk to us,” they said, “with talk” (Isaiah 30, verse 10) — “but since you push it away”: it, he says, not us; for your insult is not against us. And so that no one would take “you judge yourselves unworthy” as a mark of their devotion, he first says, “You push it away,” and then, “We are turning to the Gentiles.” The expression is full of gentleness. He does not say, “We are abandoning you,” but speaks so as to leave it possible — this is his meaning — that we may turn back here again. And even this is not the result of your insult: “for so the Lord has commanded us” (verse 47).

“Then why have you not done this?” It was indeed necessary that the Gentiles should hear, but not before you; the “before you” is your own doing. “For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation’” — that is, the knowledge that leads to salvation — and not to the Gentiles only, but to all people, “to the ends of the earth.” “As many as were appointed to eternal life” (verse 48): this too is proof that their accepting these Gentiles agreed with the mind of God. But “appointed” is not said in the sense of necessity: “Those whom he foreknew,” says the apostle, “he predestined” (Romans 8, verse 29). “And the word of the Lord,” and so on (verse 49).

No longer were their teachings spread only in the city, but through the whole region as well. For when the Gentiles had heard it, they too came over after a little while. “But the Jews stirred up the devout women, and raised a persecution” — notice that even what the women do, it is the Jews who are behind it — “and drove them,” it says, “out of their district” (verse 50): not merely out of the city. Then, what is more terrible: “They shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came to Iconium. But the disciples,” it says, “were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (verses 51 and 52). The teachers were suffering persecution, and the disciples were rejoicing. [k]

“And they spoke in such a way that a great crowd,” and so on (Acts 14, verse 1). Do you see the nature of the good news, the great power it has? “Poisoned their minds,” it says, “against the brothers” (verse 2): that is, they slandered the apostles and raised countless accusations against them. These people were simple, and the Jews “poisoned their minds,” turning them to act with malice.

And see how on every occasion he refers everything to God. “They stayed a long time,” he says, “speaking boldly in the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace” (verse 3). Do not think that this phrase, “bore witness,” takes anything away from the Lord’s divine majesty: “who bore witness,” it is said, “before Pontius Pilate” (First Timothy 6, verse 13). Then the boldness: “and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Here he says this with their own nation in view. “And the people of the city,” and so on (verses 4 and 5). So they did not wait for it, but saw that the intention was to attack them, and fled, never inflaming their anger, “to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region” (verse 6). They went off into the countryside, not into the cities only.

Notice both the simplicity of the Gentiles and the malice of the Jews. The Gentiles showed by their actions that they were worthy to hear: they honored the apostles so highly from the miracles alone. The one side honored them as gods; the other persecuted them as public pests. The Gentiles not only took no offense at the preaching, but what do they say? “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.” But the Jews took offense. “And they called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury” (verses 11 and 12). I suppose Barnabas was also a man of dignified appearance. Here was a new kind of trial, and no small one, arising from excessive zeal. But this too shows the virtue of the apostles, and how on every occasion they give God the credit for everything.

Let us imitate them. Let us think nothing our own, seeing that even faith itself is not our own, but God’s more than ours. “For by grace you are saved through faith; and this,” he says, “is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2, verse 8). [l]

Then let us not think great things of ourselves or be puffed up, since we are human beings — dust and ashes, smoke and shadow. For tell me, why do you think great things of yourself? Have you given alms and poured out your wealth? What of that? Think: what if God had chosen not to make you rich? Think of those who have become poor. Or rather, think how many have given not their wealth only but their bodies too, and after their countless sacrifices have still felt that they were wretched creatures! You gave for your own sake; Christ gave, not for his own sake, but for yours. You only paid a debt; Christ owed you nothing. See how uncertain the future is, and “do not be proud, but fear” (Romans 11, verse 20). Do not shrink your virtue by boasting.

Would you do something truly great? Never let the thought that your achievements are great enter your mind. But you are a virgin? So were those virgins in the Gospel, but they gained nothing from their virginity, because of their cruelty and their lack of kindness to others (Matthew 25, verse 12). Nothing is like humility. It is the mother, the root, the nurse, the foundation and the bond of all good things. Without it we are loathsome, accursed and defiled. For tell me — suppose there is a man raising the dead, healing the lame and cleansing lepers, but with proud self-satisfaction: nothing could be more accursed than this, nothing more ungodly, nothing more detestable.

Count nothing as coming from yourself. Do you have the gift of speech and the grace of teaching? Do not on that account think you have anything more than other people. For this reason above all you ought to be humble, because you have been granted more abundant gifts. For the one who has been forgiven more will love more (Luke 7, verse 47). If so, then you ought to be humble too, because God passed by others and took notice of you. Be afraid because of this; for this often becomes a cause of destruction for you, if you are not watchful.

Why do you think great things of yourself? Because you teach with words? But that is easy — to be a philosopher in words. Teach me by your life; that is the best teaching. Do you say that one ought to think modestly of oneself, and do you make a long speech about it, playing the orator and pouring out your eloquence without restraint? But someone will say to you: “Better than you is the man who teaches me this by his deeds.” For lessons that consist of words do not usually fix themselves in the mind so much as those that teach by actions. If you do not have the deed, you have not only failed to help him by your words; you have even hurt him more. “You would have done better to keep silent.” Why? “Because what you set before me is impossible. For I reckon that if you, who have so much to say about it, do not succeed in it, I am all the more excusable.”

That is why the prophet says, “But to the sinner God said, ‘Why do you declare my statutes?’” (Psalm 50, verse 16). For this does worse harm, when one who teaches well with his words undermines the teaching by his deeds. This has been the cause of many evils in the churches.

So forgive me, I beg you, if my sermon dwells long on this unhealthy passion. Many people take a great deal of trouble to be able to stand up in public and make a long speech. If they get applause from the crowd, it is to them as if they had won the kingdom of heaven itself. But if silence follows the end of their speech, the dejection that falls on their spirits from the silence is worse than hell itself! [p]

This is what has turned the churches upside down. You do not want to hear a sermon that will pierce your hearts with sorrow, but one that will delight you with the sound and arrangement of its words, as though you were listening to singers and lyre players. And we too play an absurd and pitiable part in being led by your cravings, when we ought to root them out.

It is just as if a father had a sickly child of a cold constitution, already more delicate than it ought to be, and although the child is so weak, he gave it cake and cold drinks and whatever merely pleases it, and took no account of what would do it good; and then, when the physicians rebuked him, excused himself by saying: “What can I do? I cannot bear to see the child cry.” You poor, wretched creature, you betrayer! For I cannot call such a man a father. How much better it would be for you to give him a little pain for a short time and restore him to health for good, than to make this short-lived pleasure the foundation of a lasting sorrow!

That is exactly our situation when we busy ourselves idly over beautiful expressions and the arrangement and harmony of our sentences, so as to please, not to profit; when we aim to be admired, not to instruct; to delight, not to pierce the heart; to be applauded and leave with praise, not to correct people’s ways of living.

Believe me, I am not saying anything other than what I feel. When I hear myself applauded as I preach, at that moment I feel it as any man would — why should I not admit the truth? I am delighted, and I give way to the pleasure. But when I get home and reflect that those who applauded gained nothing from my sermon, and that whatever benefit they should have gotten they lost while they were applauding and praising, I am in pain, I groan and weep, and I feel as if I had said everything in vain. I say to myself, “What profit comes to me from my labors, when the hearers do not choose to benefit from what they hear from us?”

Indeed, I have often thought of making a rule that would forbid all applause, and of persuading you to listen in silence and with fitting good order. But bear with me, I beg you, and be persuaded by me. If it seems good to you, let us establish this rule even now: that no hearer be allowed to applaud in the middle of anyone’s sermon. If he must admire, let him admire in silence; no one prevents him. Let all his study and eager desire be set on taking in the things that are said.

— What is that noise again? I am laying down a rule against this very thing, and you do not have the patience even to hear me out! —

Many good results will come from this rule: it will be a training in philosophy. Take even the pagan philosophers. We hear of their lectures, and nowhere do we find that noisy applause went along with their words. We hear of the apostles making public speeches, and yet nowhere do the accounts add that in the middle of their speeches the hearers interrupted them with loud shouts of approval. This will be a great gain to us.

So let us establish this rule: let us all listen in quiet, and let the one who speaks say the whole of what he has to say. Even if we went away holding on to what we had heard, my point would be that even so the praise does no good — but I will not go too far into the details; let no one accuse me of rudeness. But since nothing is gained by it, and it is even harmful, let us remove the obstacle, let us put a stop to the leaping about, let us curb the prancing of the soul. Christ spoke publicly on the mountain, yet no one said a word until he had finished his sermon.

I am not robbing those who want to be applauded; on the contrary, I make them more admired. It is far better that a hearer, having listened in silence, should applaud by remembering it for the rest of his life, at home and abroad, than that he should lose everything and go home empty, without the very thing he applauded. For how can such a hearer not be ridiculous? He will even be thought a flatterer, and his praise no better than mockery, when he declares that the teacher spoke beautifully but cannot tell what he said. This has every appearance of flattery.

When someone has been listening to lyre singers and players, it is no wonder if this happens to him, since he does not know how to sing the tune the same way. But where the matter is not a display of song or voice, but the drift and meaning of thoughts and wise reflection, and it is easy for everyone to tell and repeat what was said, how can the man who cannot say what he praised the speaker for escape blame? [r]

Nothing suits a church so well as silence and good order. Noise belongs to theaters and baths, to public processions and marketplaces. But where teachings — and such teachings! — are the subject of instruction, there should be stillness and quiet, calm reflection and a harbor of deep rest. These things I beg and entreat of you; for I go about looking for ways to help your souls, and I think this is no small way. It will help not you only but us as well. So we will not be carried away by pride, not be tempted to love praise and honor, not be led to say what delights but what profits. So we will put the whole weight of our time and care not on the arts of composition and beauties of expression, but on the substance and meaning of the thoughts.

Go into a painter’s studio, and you will see how silent everything is there. So it ought to be here as well; for here too we are painting portraits — royal portraits, every one of them, not one of any private person — with the colors of virtue.

— What now? Applauding again? This is not an easy reform to carry out, and only because the habit is so long-standing. —

The brush is the tongue, and the artist is the Holy Spirit. Tell me, during the celebration of the mysteries, is there any noise, any disturbance? When we are baptizing, when we are doing all the other rites? Is not all nature adorned, as it were, with stillness and silence? This charm of repose is spread over the whole face of heaven. It is for this reason that we are spoken ill of even among the pagans, as though we did everything for display and show.

But if this is stopped, the love of the first seats will die out as well. If anyone is in love with praise, it is enough that he should receive it after he has been heard, when everything has been gathered in. Yes, I beg you, let us establish this rule, so that, doing everything according to God’s will, we may be found worthy of the mercy that comes from him, through the grace and compassion of his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.