Homily 36 — Matthew 11, verses 1 to 6

“And it happened, when Jesus had finished giving orders to his twelve disciples, that he went on from there to teach and to preach in their cities.” [a]

That is, after he had sent them out, he withdrew, to give them room and opportunity to do what he had commanded. For while he was there and healing, no one would have been willing to come to them.

“Now when John had heard in the prison about the works of Jesus, he sent two of his disciples and asked him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”

Luke, though, says that they also told John about the miracles, and then he sent them. But this raises no difficulty; it only deserves to be noticed. Among other things, it shows their jealousy toward him. What follows, however, is one of the most disputed questions of all. What is it? Their saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

In other words: he who knew him before his miracles, who had learned it from the Spirit, who had heard it from the Father, who had proclaimed him before everyone — does he now send to find out from him whether he is the one or not? John, if you still did not know for certain that it is he, how do you think you can be believed, when you make claims about things you do not know? The man who is to bear witness to others must first be worthy of belief himself. Did you not say, “I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal”? Did you not say, “I did not know him; but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit’”? Did you not see the Spirit in the form of a dove? Did you not hear the voice? Did you not try to stop him altogether, saying, “I need to be baptized by you”? Did you not say even to your own disciples, “He must increase, but I must decrease”? Did you not teach all the people that “he would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” and that he “is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”? Did you not proclaim all these things before his signs and miracles? How, then, now that he has been made known to everyone, and his fame has spread everywhere, and the dead have been raised, and demons driven out, and so many great miracles displayed — how can you send to find out from him after all this?

What, then, is the truth of it? Were all those sayings a kind of fraud, a stage play and made-up stories? Why, who with any understanding would say so? I do not mean John — who leaped in the womb, who proclaimed him before he was himself born, the citizen of the wilderness, who showed the world the angels’ way of life. I mean that even if he had been one of the common crowd, one of the very lowest outcasts, he would not have hesitated after so many testimonies, both his own and those of others.

It is clear from this that he did not send because he himself was in doubt, and he did not ask out of ignorance. Nor could anyone claim that, though he knew it fully, he had grown rather timid because of his prison. He was not expecting to be set free from it; and even if he had been, he would not have betrayed his duty to God, armed as he was against every kind of death. If he had not been ready for this, he would not have shown such great courage before a whole people practiced in shedding the blood of prophets. Nor would he have rebuked that savage tyrant so boldly in the middle of the city and the marketplace, scolding him sharply in everyone’s hearing as though he were a little child.

And even if he had grown more timid, how was he not ashamed in front of his own disciples, before whom he had so often borne witness to him? Why would he put his question through them, when he should have sent it by others? For he surely knew very well that they too were jealous of Christ and wanted to find some handle against him. And how could he not have been abashed before the Jewish people, in whose presence he had proclaimed such lofty things? Besides, what would he have gained by it toward being freed from his chains? He had not been thrown into prison for Christ’s sake, or for proclaiming his power, but for his own rebuke of that unlawful marriage. What child is so silly, what person so out of his mind, as to have taken such a part on himself?

What, then, is he trying to bring about? For it is plain from what we have said that doubt on this point does not belong to John, nor to any ordinary person, nor even to someone utterly foolish and out of his mind. Now we have only to add the solution. [e]

Why, then, did he send to ask? John’s disciples were holding back from Jesus, as anyone can see, and they always had a jealous feeling toward him. This is plain from what they said to their master: “The one who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness — look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” And again: “A dispute arose between John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.” And again they came to him and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

For they did not yet know who Christ was. They imagined Jesus to be a mere man, and John to be greater than any man, and they were upset to see the one held in high regard, while the other, as he himself had said, was now fading. This kept them from coming to him; their jealousy blocked the way completely. As long as John was with them, he kept urging and teaching them, and even so he did not persuade them. But now that he was on the point of dying, he takes all the more care. He was afraid he might leave behind him a foundation for bad teaching, and that they would remain cut off from Christ. From the first he had been eager to bring everyone who belonged to him to Christ; and since he had failed to persuade them, now, near his end, he only puts out more zeal.

Now if he had said, “Go to him; he is better than I am,” he would not have persuaded them, since they were not inclined to be easily parted from him. He would rather have been thought to be saying it out of modesty, and they would have been bound to him all the more tightly. And if he had kept silent, again nothing would have been gained. So what does he do? He waits to hear from them that Christ is working miracles. Even then he does not urge them, and he does not send them all, but only two — whom perhaps he knew to be more teachable than the rest — so that the question would be asked without raising suspicion, and they might learn from his deeds the difference between Jesus and himself. And he says, “Go and say, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’”

But Christ, knowing John’s purpose, did not say, “I am he.” That would again have offended the hearers, although it was the natural thing for him to say. Instead he leaves them to learn it from his deeds. For the text says that when they had come to him, “he cured many.” Yet how would it fit, when he was asked, “Are you the one?”, to say nothing to that and at once to cure the sick — unless he meant to establish what I have described? For of course they would count the testimony of his deeds more certain, and more free of suspicion, than that of his words.

So, knowing as God the purpose with which John had sent them, he immediately cured the blind, the lame, and many others. He did it not to teach John — how could he teach a man already convinced? — but to teach these men who were doubting. Having healed them, he says, “Go and tell John again what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news preached to them.” And he added, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me,” showing that he knew even their unspoken thoughts.

For if he had said, “I am he,” this would have offended them, as I have already said; and they would have thought, even if they did not say it, much what the Jews said to him: “You are bearing witness about yourself.” That is why he does not say it himself, but leaves them to learn everything from the miracles, freeing his teaching from suspicion and making it plainer. And that is also why he added his rebuke of them, but in a veiled way. Because they had taken offense at him, he set out their case and left it to their own conscience alone; he called no witness to this charge of his except themselves, who knew it all. In this way, too, he drew them all the more to himself, by saying, “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” For in saying this he was secretly speaking of them.

But to make the truth plainer to you by comparing the different explanations, we must set out not only what we say but also what others say, and so we must add some account of theirs. [h]

What, then, do some people claim? That the reason was not the one we have given, but that John was ignorant — not ignorant of everything. He knew that Jesus was the Christ, they say, but he did not know whether he was also to die for humankind. That is why he said, “Are you the one who is to come?” — that is, the one who is to go down into hell.

But this will not stand, for John was not ignorant of this either. This, in fact, he proclaimed before any of the others, and it was the first thing he bore witness to. “Look,” he says, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” In calling him a lamb he was proclaiming the cross; and again, in saying “who takes away the sin of the world,” he declared the same thing. For it was by no other means than the cross that he accomplished this, as Paul also said: “And the written record that stood against us he took out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” And John’s saying, “He will baptize you with the Spirit,” is the saying of a man foretelling what would happen after the resurrection.

“Well,” they say, “he knew that he would rise again, and that he would give the Holy Spirit; but that he would also be crucified, he did not know.” How, then, was he to rise again who had neither suffered nor been crucified? And how was this man greater than a prophet, if he did not know even what the prophets knew? That he was greater than a prophet, Christ himself bore witness; and that the prophets knew about the passion is surely plain to everyone.

For this is what Isaiah says: “He is led like a lamb to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearer.” And before this testimony he also says, “There will be a root of Jesse, and he who will rise to rule the nations; in him the nations will trust.” Then, speaking of his passion and the glory that followed, he added, “And his rest will be honor.” And this prophet foretold not only that he would be crucified, but also with whom: “For he was counted among the lawless,” he says. And not only this, but that he would not even plead his own case: “For this man does not open his mouth,” he says. And that he would be condemned unjustly: “For in his humiliation,” he says, “justice was taken away from him.”

And before this again, David both says this and describes the court of judgment. “Why,” he says, “do the nations rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed.” And elsewhere he mentions the very shape of the cross, speaking this way: “They pierced my hands and my feet.” And he adds, with complete precision, what the soldiers dared to do: “For they divided my garments among them,” he says, “and for my clothing they cast lots.” And elsewhere again he says that they also offered him vinegar: “For they gave me gall for my food,” he says, “and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

So the prophets, so many years before, speak of the court of judgment, and of the condemnation, and of those who were crucified with him, and of the dividing of the garments, and of the lot cast for them, and of many more things besides — it is unnecessary to bring them all forward now, so as not to make our talk too long. And was this man, greater than all of them, ignorant of all these things? How could that be reasonable?

And why did he not say, “Are you the one who is to come to hell?” but simply, “the one who is to come”? And yet what they say next is far more absurd than the rest: “He said these things,” they claim, “so that he might preach there too, after his departure.” To such people it would be fitting to say, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; be children in wickedness.” For this present life is the time for right living, but after death come judgment and punishment. “For in hell,” it says, “who will confess you?”

How, then, were “the gates of bronze shattered, and the bars of iron broken in pieces”? By his body. For then, for the first time, a body was displayed that was immortal and that destroyed the tyranny of death. Besides, this points to the destruction of death’s power, not to the forgiveness of the sins of those who had died before his coming. Otherwise — if he had delivered from hell everyone who lived before him — how can he say, “It will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah”? This saying assumes that they too are to be punished — more mildly, it is true, but punished all the same. And yet they suffered the most extreme punishment here as well; and still not even this will deliver them. And if it is so with them, how much more with those who have suffered nothing here!

“What, then? Were those who lived before his coming wronged?” Not at all. For people could be saved then even if they had not confessed Christ. This was not required of them. What was required was not to worship idols, and to know the true God: “For the Lord your God,” it says, “is one Lord.” That is why the Maccabees were admired: because of what they suffered for keeping the law. So too the three young men, and many others among the Jews, who showed a very virtuous life and kept to the measure of the knowledge they had; nothing more was required of them. For then, as I have already said, it was enough for salvation to know God only. But now it is so no longer; the knowledge of Christ is needed as well. That is why he said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.”

It is the same with the rule of conduct. Then, murder brought ruin on the one who committed it; but now even anger does. Then, to commit adultery and sleep with another man’s wife brought punishment; but now even to look with unchaste eyes does. For as knowledge has been made stricter, so has the rule of life. So there was no need of a forerunner down there.

Besides, if unbelievers are to be saved after death by believing then, no one will ever be lost. For everyone will repent then and worship. To prove that this is true, listen to Paul saying, “Every tongue will confess, and every knee will bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” And: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” But that submission does them no good. It will not come from a will rightly disposed, but, so to speak, from the force of what will then be taking place.

So let us no longer bring in such old wives’ teachings and Jewish fables. Listen, at least, to what Paul says about these things: “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law” — there he is speaking of those who lived in the time before the law — and “All who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law,” speaking of all who came after Moses. And: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people.” And: “Indignation and wrath, trouble and distress for every human soul that does evil, the Jew first and also the Gentile.”

And yet the Gentiles suffered countless evils in this world. Both the histories of the pagans and the Scriptures we have in our hands make this plain. Who could recount the tragedies of the Babylonians, or those of the Egyptians? But to prove that those who did not know Christ before his coming in the flesh, yet kept away from idolatry, worshiped God alone, and showed an excellent life, will enjoy all the good things, listen to what is said: “But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Gentile.” Do you see that there are many rewards for their good deeds, and punishments and penalties, again, for those who have done the opposite?

Where now, tell me, are those who refuse to believe in hell at all? Why, if those who lived before Christ’s coming — who had never so much as heard the name of hell, or of a resurrection, and who were punished here — are to suffer punishment there as well, how much more will we, who have been brought up on so many lessons in strict goodness? [p]

“But how is it reasonable,” someone asks, “that people who never heard of hell should fall into hell? For they will say, ‘If you had threatened us with hell, we would have been more afraid and come to our senses.’” Oh, certainly — the way we live now, is that it? We hear the sayings about hell every day, and pay no attention to them at all.

Besides, there is this to be said as well: a man who is not held back by the punishments he can see will be held back far less by those others. For the less reasoning kind of people, those of a coarser nature, are usually sobered by what is close at hand and about to happen right away, rather than by what will come to pass a long time afterward.

“But a greater fear hangs over us, and in this they were wronged.” Not at all. First of all, the same standards are not set for us as for them; much higher ones are set for us. Those who have taken on greater labors ought to have greater help, and it is no small help that our fear has been increased. And if we have the advantage over them in knowing what is to come, they have the advantage over us in that severe punishments were laid on them immediately.

But there is something else the crowd says about this too:

“Where is God’s justice, when someone who sins here is punished both here and there?”

Would you like me, then, to remind you of what you yourselves say, so that you trouble us no longer but supply the answer from your own lips? I have heard many of our people, when they were told of some murderer put to death by a court, becoming indignant and talking like this:

“This unholy, cursed wretch has committed thirty murders, or even many more, and has himself suffered only one death. Where is the justice in that?”

So you yourselves admit that one death is not enough punishment. How, then, can you give the opposite verdict now? Because it is not others but yourselves you are judging. That is how great a hindrance self-love is to our seeing what is just. Because of it, when we judge others we examine everything strictly, but when we sit in judgment on ourselves we are blind. If we examined these things in our own case as we do in other people’s, we would give an honest verdict. For we too have sins that deserve not two or three deaths, but ten thousand.

And to pass over all the rest, let us who share in the mysteries unworthily think about ourselves; such people are guilty of the body and blood of Christ. So when you talk about the murderer, take account of yourself as well. He killed a man; but you are guilty of slaying the Lord. He did it without sharing in the mysteries; we do it while we enjoy the benefit of the sacred table.

And what of those who bite and devour their brothers, and pour out so much venom? What of the man who robs the poor of their food? For if the man who does not share what is his own is what I have said he is, how much more the man who takes what belongs to others! How many robbers the greedy outdo in wickedness! How many murderers and grave-robbers the grasping outdo! And how many, after stripping people bare, want their blood as well!

“No — God forbid!” Now you say, “God forbid.” Say “God forbid” when you have an enemy. Remember what has been said, and show a life of great strictness, so that the fate of Sodom may not await us too, so that we may not suffer the lot of Gomorrah, so that we may not undergo the evils of the people of Tyre and Sidon — or rather, so that we may not offend Christ, which would be more grievous and more to be feared than all of these.

For though hell seems a fearful thing to many, I for my part will never stop saying that this is more grievous and more fearful than any hell; and I beg you to be of the same mind. For in this way we will both be delivered from hell and enjoy the glory that Christ gives. May we all attain it, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.