Homily 18 — Hebrews 10, verses 8 to 18

“Above, when he said, ‘Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin you did not want, nor did you take pleasure in them’ — which are offered according to the law — then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By that will we are made holy, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day after day ministering, and offering again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, from then on waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.” [a]

In what came before, he had shown that the sacrifices could not bring complete cleansing, that they were a type, and that they fell far short. Now there was this objection to his argument: “If they are types, why is it that, now the reality has come, they have not stopped or given way, but are still being performed?” So here he works hard at this very point. He shows that they are no longer performed, not even as a figure, since God does not accept them. And again he shows this not from the New Testament but from the prophets, bringing forward from ancient times the strongest testimony that the old system comes to an end and ceases, and that everything they do is in vain, “always resisting the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7, verse 51).

He shows besides that the sacrifices did not cease only now, but at the very coming of the Messiah — or rather, even before his coming. He shows how it was that Christ did not abolish them at the end; they were abolished first, and then he came. First they were made to cease, and then he appeared. So that they could not say, “Even without this sacrifice, by means of those others, we could have pleased God,” he waited for these sacrifices to be exposed as weak, and then he appeared. For he says, “Sacrifice and offering you did not want.” By this he took them all away. And having spoken generally, he also speaks in particular: “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you took no pleasure.” But “the offering” was everything other than the sacrifice. “Then I said, ‘Look, I have come.’” Of whom was this spoken? Of no one other than the Christ.

Here he does not blame those who offer them. He shows that it is not because of their wickedness that God does not accept them, as he says elsewhere, but because the thing itself has been shown up for the time to come, and proved to have no strength and no fitness for the times. What, then, does this have to do with the sacrifices being offered “again and again”? He means that it is plain they are weak and accomplished nothing, not only from their being offered again and again, but also from God’s refusing to accept them as unprofitable and useless. And in another place it says, “If you had wanted sacrifice, I would have given it” (Psalm 51, verse 16). So by this too he makes it plain that God does not want it. Sacrifices, then, are not God’s will; the ending of sacrifices is. That means they sacrifice against his will.

What is “to do your will”? To give myself up, he means: this is the will of God. “By that will we are made holy.” Or else he means something further still: that it is not the sacrifices that make people clean, but the will of God. So to offer sacrifice is not the will of God.

And why are you surprised that it is not God’s will now, when it was not his will even from the beginning? For he says, “Who has required this at your hands?” (Isaiah 1, verse 12). [d]

How, then, did he command it himself? By stooping down to meet them. It is just as with Paul, who says, “I wish that everyone were as I am myself” (First Corinthians 7, verse 7), speaking of self-control; and again he says, “I want the younger women to marry and have children” (First Timothy 5, verse 14). He lays down two wishes, and yet the two are not both his own, although he gives both as commands. The one is truly his own, and so he lays it down without giving reasons. The other is not his own, though he does wish it, and so a reason is added to it. For he first found fault with them because “they had grown wanton against Christ” (First Timothy 5, verse 11), and then he says, “I want the younger women to marry and have children” (First Timothy 5, verse 14).

So in this place too, it was not his leading will that the sacrifices should be offered. As he says, “I do not wish the death of the sinner so much as that he should turn to me and live” (Ezekiel 33, verse 11). And in another place he says that he not only wished this, but even desired it; and yet these are contrary to each other, for intense wishing is desire. How, then, do you “not wish”? How in another place do you “desire,” which is the sign of an intense wish? It is the same in this case also.

“By that will we are made holy,” he says. How made holy? “Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

“And every priest stands day after day ministering, and offering again and again the same sacrifice.” (So standing is a sign of ministering, and sitting, accordingly, a sign of being ministered to.) “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, from then on waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.” Verses 14 and 15: “For by one offering he has made perfect for all time those who are made holy. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us of this.” [g]

He had said that those sacrifices are no longer offered. He had argued from what is written and from what is not written, and he had also brought forward the prophetic word that says, “Sacrifice and offering you did not want.” He had said that God had forgiven their sins. This too, again, he proves from the testimony of what is written: “For the Holy Spirit,” he says, “bears witness to us; for after he had said” (verses 16 to 18), “‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws into their hearts, and I will write them on their minds, and I will remember their sins and their wrongdoings no more.’ Now where these are forgiven, there is no longer any offering for sin.” So he forgave their sins when he gave the covenant, and he gave the covenant by a sacrifice. If, then, he forgave the sins through the one sacrifice, there is no longer any need of a second.

“He sat down at the right hand of God, from then on waiting.” Why the delay? “Until his enemies are put under his feet. For by one offering he has made perfect for all time those who are made holy.” But perhaps someone might say: “Why did he not put them under at once?” For the sake of the faithful who would be brought forth and born later. How, then, is it clear that they will be put under? From the words “He sat down.” He has called to mind again that testimony which says, “until I put the enemies under his feet” (see above, Hebrews 1, verse 13). But his enemies are the Jews. Then, since he had said, “until his enemies are put under his feet,” and these enemies were pressing hard, he brings in all his discourse about faith after this. But who are the enemies? All unbelievers; the demons. And to show how complete their subjection would be, he did not say “are subjected,” but “are put under his feet.”

So let us not be among his enemies. For it is not only the unbelievers and the Jews who are enemies, but also those who are full of unclean living. “For the mind of the flesh is hostile to God; for it does not submit to the law of God, and indeed it cannot” (Romans 8, verse 7). “What of it? Then this is no ground for blame.” On the contrary, it is very much a ground for blame. As long as the wicked man is wicked, he cannot submit to God’s law; but he can change and become good. [h]

So let us cast out fleshly thinking. But what is fleshly? Whatever makes the body flourish and do well but harms the soul: wealth, for instance, luxury, glory — all these belong to the flesh — and fleshly love. So let us not love gain, but always pursue poverty, for it is a great good. “But it makes a person humble and of little account.” True — and we need that, for it does us much good. “Poverty humbles a man,” it says (Proverbs 10, verse 4, in the Greek Old Testament). And again Christ says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5, verse 3). Are you grieved, then, because you are on a road that leads to virtue? Do you not know that this gives us great confidence?

But someone says: “‘The wisdom of the poor man is despised’ (Ecclesiastes 9, verse 16). And again another says, ‘Give me neither riches nor poverty’ (Proverbs 30, verse 8), and ‘Rescue me from the furnace of poverty’ (see Isaiah 48, verse 10).” And again, if riches and poverty come from the Lord, how can either poverty or riches be an evil? Why, then, were these things said? They were said under the old covenant, where great account was made of wealth and great contempt was shown to poverty, where the one was a curse and the other a blessing. But now it is no longer so.

Do you want to hear poverty praised? Christ sought it out, and says, “But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8, verse 20). And again he said to his disciples, “Take neither gold nor silver nor two coats” (Matthew 10, verses 9 and 10). And Paul wrote, “As having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (Second Corinthians 6, verse 10). And Peter said to the man who had been lame from birth, “Silver and gold I do not have” (Acts 3, verse 6). Yes, and even under the old covenant itself, where wealth was admired, who were the people admired? Was it not Elijah, who had nothing but his sheepskin? Was it not Elisha? Was it not John?

So let no one feel humiliated because of his poverty. It is not poverty that humiliates, but wealth, which makes us need many people and forces us to be under obligation to many.

And tell me, what could be poorer than Jacob, who said, “If the Lord gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear” (Genesis 28, verse 20)? Were Elijah and John lacking in boldness, then? Did not the one rebuke Ahab, and the other Herod? John said, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife” (Mark 6, verse 18). And Elijah said to Ahab boldly, “It is not I who trouble Israel, but you and your father’s house” (First Kings 18, verse 18). You see that it is poverty above all that produces boldness. For the rich man is a slave: he is exposed to loss and in the power of anyone who wants to harm him. The man who has nothing fears neither confiscation nor fine. So if poverty had made people lacking in boldness, Christ would not have sent his disciples out in poverty to a work that called for great boldness.

For the poor man is very strong; he has nothing by which he can be wronged or ill-treated. But the rich man can be attacked from every side. It is just as one would easily catch a man who was dragging many long ropes behind him, while one could not readily get hold of a naked man. So it turns out with the rich man too: slaves, gold, lands, countless affairs, countless cares, difficult situations, pressing needs, make him an easy prey for everyone.

So from now on let no one think poverty a cause of disgrace. For if virtue is there, all the wealth in the world is not even clay, not even a speck, compared with it. Let us pursue this, then, if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. For he says, “Sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19, verse 21). And again, “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19, verse 23). Do you see that even if we do not have it, we ought to draw it to ourselves? So great a good is poverty. It leads us by the hand, as it were, along the road that goes to heaven. It is the oil that anoints us for the contest, a great and admirable training, a calm harbor.

“But I need many things, and I do not want to accept a favor from anyone.” Yet even in this respect the rich man is worse off than you. You perhaps ask a favor for your keep, but he shamelessly asks for ten thousand things for the sake of greed. So it is the rich who need many people, and often people unworthy of them. For example, they often need those who rank as soldiers, or as slaves. But the poor man does not need even the emperor himself; and if he should need him, he is admired, because he has brought himself down to this when he could have been rich.

So let no one accuse poverty of being the cause of countless evils, and let no one contradict Christ, who declared it to be the perfection of virtue when he said, “If you want to be perfect” (Matthew 19, verse 21). He said this in his words, showed it by his actions, and taught it through his disciples. So let us pursue poverty. It is the greatest good to those who are self-controlled.

Perhaps some of those listening to me shrink from it as a thing of bad omen. I do not doubt it. This disease is widespread among most people, and the tyranny of wealth is such that they cannot bear to give it up even in words, but shrink from it as a bad omen. Far be this from a Christian’s soul! For no one is richer than the man who chooses poverty of his own accord and with a willing mind.

How so? I will tell you; and if you like, I will prove that the man who chooses poverty of his own accord is richer even than the king himself. The king needs many things, is full of anxiety, and fears that the supplies for his army may fail him. But the other has enough of everything and fears nothing; or if he does fear, it is not about such great matters. Tell me, then, who is the rich man? The one who asks every day, toils hard to gather much together, and fears he may at some point fall short? Or the one who gathers nothing together, yet lives in great abundance and needs no one? For it is virtue and the fear of God that give confidence, not possessions. Possessions even enslave. For it says, “Gifts and presents blind the eyes of the wise, and like a muzzle on the mouth they turn away rebukes” (Sirach 20, verse 29). [k]

Consider how the poor man Peter rebuked the rich Ananias. Was not the one rich and the other poor? Yet look: the one speaks with authority and says, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much” (Acts 5, verse 8), and the other answers submissively, “Yes, for so much.” “And who will grant me to be like Peter?” You can be like Peter if you want. Throw away what you have. “Scatter, give to the poor” (Psalm 112, verse 9); follow Christ, and you will be such as he was. “How? He worked miracles.” Tell me, was it this that made Peter admired, or the boldness that came from his way of life? Do you not hear Christ saying, “Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you; if you want to be perfect,” and so on (Luke 10, verse 20)? Listen to what Peter says:

“Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have I give you” (Acts 3, verse 6). If anyone has silver and gold, he does not have those other gifts.

“Then why is it that many have neither the one nor the other?” Because they are not poor by choice. Those who are poor by choice have every good thing. Even if they do not raise the dead or the lame, they have what is greater than all of that: confidence toward God. On that day they will hear that blessed voice: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father” — what could be better than this? — “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and in prison and you visited me. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25, verses 34 to 36).

So let us flee from greed, so that we may attain the kingdom of heaven. Let us feed the poor, so that we may feed Christ, and become heirs together with him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom, to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, and honor, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.