Homily 49 — Acts 23, verses 6 to 30

“But when Paul saw that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; it is concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead that I am being called in question. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.” [a]

Again he speaks simply as a man; he does not enjoy the benefit of help from above on every occasion alike. “I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.” Both by this and by what comes after it, he wanted to divide the crowd, which was united against him in an evil unanimity. And he is not telling a falsehood here either, for he was a Pharisee by descent from his ancestors. “It is concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead that I am being called in question.” Since they would not say why they were accusing him, he is forced to declare it himself.

“But the Pharisees,” it says, “acknowledge both.” And yet there are three things; how, then, does he say “both”? “Spirit and angel” are counted as one. Once he is on their side, they plead for him. “And a great outcry arose, and the scribes who were of the Pharisees’ party stood up and contended, saying, We find nothing evil in this man; but what if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?” (verse 9). Why did they not plead for him before this? Do you see how, when the passions give way, the truth comes to light? “Where is the crime,” they say, “if an angel has spoken to him, or a spirit?” Paul gives them no handle against him.

“And when a great dissension arose, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the fortress” (verse 10). The tribune is afraid he will be torn to pieces, now that Paul has said he is a Roman; and the matter was not without danger. Do you see that Paul had the right to declare himself a Roman? Otherwise the tribune would not have been afraid now either. So it is left to the soldiers to carry him off by force.

But when the wretches saw that everything was coming to nothing, they take the whole business into their own hands, as they had wanted to do before but were prevented. Their wickedness stops nowhere, though it met with so many checks. And yet how many things were arranged by God’s providence for this very purpose, that they might calm down from their rage and learn the things by which they might perhaps have recovered themselves! Yet they set upon him all the same. This alone was enough to prove his innocence: that the man was saved when he was on the point of being torn to pieces, and that with such great dangers all around him, he escaped them all.

“The following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, Paul; for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome. And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who had made this conspiracy” (verses 11 to 13).

“They bound themselves under a curse,” it says. See how violent and vengeful they are in their malice! What does “bound under a curse” mean? Why, then those men are accursed forever, since they did not kill Paul. And forty of them together! For this is the nature of that nation: when there is need to act together for a good purpose, not even two agree with each other; but when it is for an evil purpose, the whole people does it. And they bring in the rulers as accomplices too.

“And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, together with the council, notify the tribune to bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you meant to inquire more thoroughly into his case; and we are ready to kill him before he comes near. But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, he went and entered the fortress and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to say to you. Then the tribune took him by the hand, went aside with him privately, and asked him, What is it that you have to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they meant to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. But do not give in to them, for more than forty of their men are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him; and they are ready now, waiting for a promise from you. So the tribune let the young man go, and ordered him, Tell no one that you have reported these things to me” (verses 14 to 22).

Again he is saved by human forethought. And notice: Paul lets no one learn of this, not even the centurion, so that the matter would not get out. The centurion came and reported to the tribune. And the tribune too does well to tell the young man to keep it secret, so that it would not become known. What is more, he gives his orders only to the centurions, and only at the moment the thing was to be done. And so Paul is sent to Caesarea, so that there too he might speak in a greater theater and before a more splendid audience, and so that the Jews could not say, “If we had seen Paul, if we had heard him teaching, we would have believed.” So this excuse too is cut off from them.

“And the Lord,” it said, “stood by him and said, Take courage; for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.” Yet even after he has appeared to him, he again allows him to be saved by human means. And one may well be amazed at Paul. He was not thrown off balance; he did not say, “Why, what is this? Has Christ deceived me, then?” No, he believed. Yet because he believed, he did not therefore go to sleep. What was in his own power to do by human wisdom, he did not neglect.

“Bound themselves under a curse”: it was a kind of necessity those men fastened on themselves by the curse. “That they would neither eat nor drink.” See fasting become the mother of murder! Just as Herod laid that necessity on himself by his oath, so these men do too. For such are the devil’s ways: under a pretense of piety, no less, he sets his traps.

“And they came to the chief priests,” and so on. And yet they ought to have gone to the tribune, laid a charge, and had a court assembled. These are not the doings of priests but of bandit chiefs; not the doings of rulers but of thugs. They try to corrupt the ruler as well. But this was arranged by God’s providence so that he too would learn of their plot. For they proved themselves worthless not only by having nothing to say, but also by their secret attempt. It is likely, too, that after Paul was gone the chief priests came to the tribune with their request and were put to shame; for of course he would not have wanted either to refuse it or to grant it. How did he come to believe the young man’s story? He believed because of what had already happened: it was likely they would do this too.

And notice their wickedness: they all but laid a necessity on the chief priests as well. For if they themselves took on so great a thing and bound themselves to bear the whole risk, all the more ought the chief priests to do this much. Do you see how Paul is held innocent by those outside, as Christ also was by Pilate? See their malice brought to nothing. They handed him over to be killed and condemned, but the result is just the opposite: he is both saved and held innocent. If it had not been so, he would have been torn to pieces; if it had not been so, he would have perished, he would have been condemned. And the tribune rescues him not only from the rush made on him but from much other violence besides. See how he becomes Paul’s servant, so that Paul is carried off safely, without risk, with so large a force.

“And he called two of the centurions and said, Get two hundred soldiers ready to go to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night; and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter to this effect: Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, when I came on them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. And wanting to know the reason they were accusing him, I brought him before their council. I found that he was accused over questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or chains. And when I was told that the Jews were lying in wait for the man, I sent him to you at once, and I have ordered his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. Farewell” (verses 23 to 30).

See how the letter speaks for him as a defense — for it says, “I found nothing deserving death” — and is an accusation against them rather than against him. “About to be killed by them”: so set on his death were they. First, “I came with the troops and rescued him”; then also, “I brought him down to them”; and not even so did they find anything to charge him with. And when they ought to have been struck with fear and shame at what they had done before, they try again to kill him, so that once again his cause became all the clearer. “And his accusers,” he says, “I have sent to you,” so that at the court where these things are examined more strictly, he may be proved guiltless.

Let us look, then, at what was said above. “I am a Pharisee,” he says. Then, so that he may not seem to be currying favor, he adds, “It is concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead that I am being called in question” (verse 6). Out of this very charge and slander he recommends himself. [e]

“For the Sadducees indeed,” and so on. The Sadducees know nothing of anything bodiless — perhaps not even of God — so crude are they. That is why they refuse to believe that there is a resurrection either.

“And the scribes,” and so on. Look: the tribune also hears that the Pharisees have cleared him of the charges and given their verdict in his favor, and with greater confidence he carries him off by force. Besides, everything Paul had said was full of right-mindedness.

“And the following night the Lord stood by him,” and so on. See what strong comfort! First he praises him: “As you have testified to my cause in Jerusalem.” Then he does not leave him afraid about the uncertain outcome of his journey to Rome. “There too,” he says, “you will not go alone; you will also have all this boldness of speech.” By this it was made plain not only that he would be saved, but that he would be saved for great crowns in the great city.

But why did he not appear to him before he fell into the danger? Because it is always in our afflictions that God comforts us. For then he is more longed for, while even in the dangers he exercises and trains us. Besides, Paul was at ease then, when he was free of chains; but now great perils were awaiting him.

“We have bound ourselves under a curse,” they say, “that we will neither eat nor drink” (verse 14). What is all this zeal? “That he may bring him down to you,” it says, “as though you meant to inquire more thoroughly into his case” (verse 15). Has he not twice made a speech to you? Has he not said that he is a Pharisee? What more would you have beyond this? So reckless were they, afraid of nothing — not courts, not laws. Such was their brazenness, which shrank from nothing. They both declare their purpose and announce how they will carry it out.

“The son of Paul’s sister heard of it” (verse 16). This was God’s providence: that they did not realize it would be overheard. What, then, did Paul do? He was not alarmed, but saw that this was God’s doing; and casting everything on him, he freed himself of further concern: “having called one of the centurions,” and so on (verse 17). He told of the plot; he was believed; he is saved.

If he had been cleared of the charge, why did the tribune send the accusers? So that the inquiry would be stricter, and the man cleared all the more completely. Such are God’s ways of arranging things: the very things by which we are hurt are the things by which we are helped.

So it was with Joseph. His master’s wife sought to ruin him. She seemed indeed to be plotting his ruin, but by her plotting she put him in a place of safety. For the house where that wild beast of a woman lived was a lair, and next to it the prison was gentle (Genesis 39, verses 1 to 20). While he was there, although he was looked up to and courted, he lived in constant fear that his master’s wife would set upon him, and worse than any prison was the fear that weighed on him. But after the accusation he was in security and peace, well rid of that wild beast, of her lewdness, and of her schemes to destroy him. For it was better for him to keep company with human beings in a wretched state than with a master’s wife gone mad. In the prison he comforted himself that it was for chastity’s sake he had fallen into it; in that house he had lived in dread of receiving a deathblow to his soul. For nothing in the world is more troublesome to a young man who will not give in to her than a woman in love; nothing more hateful, nothing more savage. All the chains in the world are light compared with this. So the truth is not that he went into prison, but that he got out of prison.

She made his master his enemy, but she made God his friend; she brought him into closer relation with the one who is truly Master. She threw him out of his stewardship over the household, but made him an intimate friend of that Master.

Again, his brothers sold him (Genesis 37, verse 18). But they freed him from having enemies living in the same house with him, from envy and much ill will, and from daily plots to ruin him; they put him far away from those who hated him. For what can be worse than this: to be forced to live in the same house with brothers who envy you, to be an object of suspicion, a target for evil designs? So while they and she were each pursuing their own ends, far different were the mighty results that God’s providence was working out for that righteous man. When he was in honor, then he was in danger; when he was in dishonor, then he was safe.

The eunuchs did not remember him, and it was very good that they did not. So the occasion of his release would be more glorious, and the whole thing would be credited not to human favor but to God’s providence (Genesis 40, verse 23). So at the right moment Pharaoh, driven by need, would bring him out, and the king would release him from prison not as one granting a favor but as one receiving it (Genesis 41, verse 40). It had to be no favor handed to a slave; the king had to be driven by necessity to do it, and it had to be made plain what wisdom was in him. That is why the eunuch forgets him: so that Egypt might not forget him, so that the king might not be ignorant of him.

If he had been released at that time, he would probably have wanted to go back to his own country. That is why he is held back by countless constraints: first by being subject to a master, second by being in prison, third by being set over the kingdom — so that all this might be brought about by God’s providence. Like a spirited horse eager to bolt off to its companions, he was held back there by God, for reasons full of glory. For that he longed to see his father and free him from his distress is plain from his sending for him to come there (Genesis 45, verse 9).

Shall we look at other cases of evil plotting, and see how they turn out for our good, not only in the reward that follows them, but because at the very time they work precisely what is for our good? Joseph’s uncle Esau had evil designs against his father Jacob and drove him out of his native land (Genesis 27, verse 41). What then? He too, by this, put him out of danger’s way; for Jacob too came to be in safety this way. He made him a wiser and a better man; he was the means of his having that dream (Genesis 28, verse 12). “But he was a slave in a foreign land,” you will say. Yes, but he comes among his own kindred, receives a bride, and is found worthy by his father-in-law (Genesis 29, verse 23). “But his father-in-law cheated him too.” Yes, but this also turned out for his good, so that he might become the father of many children. “But it was in his mind to plot evil against him.” True, but even this was for his good, so that he would then return to his own country. For if he had been doing well there, he would not have longed so much for home. “But he cheated him of his wages.” Yes, but he gained more by it (Genesis 31, verse 7). So at every point in these men’s history, the more people plotted their harm, the more their affairs flourished.

If Jacob had not been given the elder daughter, he would not so soon have become the father of so many children. He would have dragged through a long stretch of childlessness, and would have grieved as his wife did. She indeed had reason to grieve, since she had not become a mother (Genesis 30, verses 1 and 2); but he had his consolation, which is also why he rebuffs her. Again, if Laban had not cheated him of his wages, he would not have longed to see his own country; the nobler side of the man’s character would not have come to light, and his wives would not have become more closely attached to him. For see what they say: “He has utterly devoured us, and our money too” (Genesis 31, verse 15). So this became the means of fastening their love to him. After this he had in them not merely wives but devoted slaves; he was loved by them — a thing no possession can equal. For nothing, nothing whatever, is more precious than to be loved like this by a wife, and to love her.

“And a wife,” Scripture says, “who agrees with her husband” (Sirach 25, verse 1). As the Wise Man puts it, this is one of the things for which a man is to be counted happy. For where this is, all wealth and all prosperity abound; just as, where it is not, everything else is of no use, but everything goes wrong, and all is mere unpleasantness and confusion.

Then let us seek this before all things. The man who seeks money is not seeking this. Let us seek the things that can stand firm. Let us not look for a wife among the rich, in case the excess of wealth on her side breeds arrogance, and that arrogance ruins everything. Do you not see what God did — how he put the woman in subjection (Genesis 3, verse 16)? Why are you ungrateful, why so without understanding? The very benefit God has given you by nature, do not ruin the help it was meant to be.

So it is not for her wealth that we should seek a wife, but so that we may receive a partner for our life, for the bearing of children in the order God appointed. God did not give the woman so that she would bring money, but so that she would be a helper suited to her husband. But the woman who brings money becomes, instead of a wife, one who sets up her own will and lords it over the house — perhaps even a wild beast instead of a wife — since she thinks she has the right to give herself airs because of her wealth. Nothing is more shameful than a man who sets out to get rich in this way.

If wealth itself is full of temptations, what shall we say of wealth gotten like this? You must not look at the fact that someone here or there, as a rare and unusual case and against the nature of the thing, has done well. In other matters too we should not fix our eyes on the good that people may happen to enjoy, or on their lucky successes outside the common course. Let us look at the nature of the thing as it is in itself, and see whether it is not loaded with endless trouble. You not only put yourself in a disreputable position; you also disgrace your children by leaving them poor, if it happens that you depart this life before your wife. And you give her incomparably more reasons to attach herself to a second husband. Or do you not see that many women make this their excuse for marrying again: that they may not be looked down on, that they want some man to manage their property?

Then let us not bring about such great evils for the sake of money. Let us put away all such aims and seek a beautiful soul, so that we may also succeed in winning love. This is the surpassing wealth, this the great treasure, these the good things without end. May we all attain them, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit together, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.