Homily 31 — Hebrews 12, verses 14 to 17

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” [a]

There are many things that mark out the Christian life, but more than all of them, and better than all of them, are love for one another, and peace. That is why Christ too says, “My peace I give to you” (John 14, verse 27). And again, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13, verse 35). That is why Paul too says, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness” — that is, purity — “without which no one will see the Lord.”

“Watching carefully that no one falls short of the grace of God.” It is as if they were traveling together on some long journey, in a large company, and he says: Take care that no one is left behind. I am not asking only this, that you arrive yourselves, but also that you watch carefully over the others.

“That no one,” he says, “falls short of the grace of God.” By this he means the good things to come, the faith of the good news, the best way of life; for all of these come from the grace of God. Do not tell me, “It is only one person who is lost.” Christ died even for one. Have you no care for him “for whom Christ died” (First Corinthians 8, verse 11)?

“Watching carefully,” he says — that is, searching carefully, considering, finding out for certain, as is done with sick people; examining in every way and finding out for certain. “That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble” (Deuteronomy 29, verse 18). This is found in Deuteronomy, and he took it from the image of plants. “That no root of bitterness,” he says — the same thing he said in another place when he writes, “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough” (First Corinthians 5, verse 6). He means: I do not want this for that one person’s sake alone, but also because of the harm that comes from it. That is, even if there is a root of this kind, do not let any shoot come up. Let it be cut off, so that it may not bear its own fruit, and so may not defile and pollute the others as well. For he says, “That no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many are defiled.”

And he was right to call sin “bitter.” Truly nothing is more bitter than sin. They know it who, after committing it, waste away under their conscience and endure great bitterness. Because it is so very bitter, it twists the reasoning mind itself. That is the nature of what is bitter: it does no good.

And he put it well: “root of bitterness.” He did not say “bitter,” but “of bitterness.” A bitter root might bear sweet fruit; but a root and spring and foundation of bitterness could never bear sweet fruit. All of it is bitter; it has nothing sweet. All of it is bitter, all unpleasant, all full of hatred and loathing.

“And by it,” he says, “many are defiled.” That is: cut off those who live in lewdness.

Verse 16: “That there be no sexually immoral person, or unholy person like Esau, who for a single meal sold his birthright.” [c]

And how was Esau sexually immoral? He does not say that Esau was sexually immoral. He says, “That there be no sexually immoral person,” and so, “pursue holiness”; and then, “that there be no one unholy, like Esau” — that is, gluttonous, without self-control, worldly, selling away spiritual things.

“Who for a single meal sold his birthright”: who through his own laziness sold the honor he had from God, and for a little pleasure lost the greatest honor and glory. This suited them. This was the conduct of a loathsome and unclean person. So not only is the sexually immoral person unclean, but the glutton too, the slave of his belly. For he too is a slave, of a different pleasure. He is driven to take more than his share, driven to rob, driven to behave disgracefully in countless ways, because he is the slave of that passion; and often he blasphemes. So Esau counted his “birthright” as worth nothing. That is, in providing for a moment’s refreshment, he went as far as giving up his “birthright.” So from now on “the birthright” belongs to us, not to the Jews. And at the same time this too is added to their misfortune: the first has become last, and the second first — the one first for his brave endurance, the other last for his laziness.

Verse 17: “For you know,” he says, “that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” [e]

What does this mean? Does he really shut out repentance? Far from it! But you say: “How, then, did he ‘find no place for repentance’? If he condemned himself, if he cried out with great wailing, why did he ‘find no place for repentance’?” Because it was not really repentance. Just as Cain’s grief was not repentance, and the murder proved it, so in this case too his words were not words of repentance, and the murder afterward proved it. For he too murdered Jacob, in intention. “The days of mourning for my father are near,” he said; “then I will kill my brother Jacob” (Genesis 27, verse 41). “Tears” had no power to give him “repentance.” And the apostle did not simply say that he found no place for repentance; he says that even “with tears” he found no place for repentance. Why? Because he did not repent as he ought. For this is what repentance is — and he did not repent as he should have.

Why, then, did the apostle say this? How was it that he urged them on again after they had become “sluggish” (Hebrews 6, verse 12)? When they had become “lame”? When they were “paralyzed” (Hebrews 12, verse 13)? When they had “gone slack” (Hebrews 12, verse 12)? For this is the beginning of a fall. It seems to me that he is hinting at some sexually immoral people among them, but does not want to correct them at this point; he pretends not to know, so that they may correct themselves. For it is right at first to pretend not to know; but afterward, when they go on in sin, to add a rebuke as well, so that they do not become shameless. Moses did this too, in the case of Zimri and Cozbi.

“For he found,” he says, “no place for repentance”: he did not find repentance; or, he had sinned beyond the reach of repentance. There are, then, sins beyond repentance. What he means is: Let us not fall with a fall that cannot be healed. As long as it is only a matter of lameness, it is easy to stand straight again; but if we turn out of the way altogether, what is left? For it is to those who have not yet fallen that he speaks this way, striking them with terror and saying that one who has fallen cannot obtain comfort. But to those who have fallen, so that they may not fall into despair, he says the opposite, speaking like this: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4, verse 19). And again: “You who are counted righteous by the law have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5, verse 4). See, he testifies that they had fallen away! For the one who is standing, hearing that pardon cannot be had after a fall, will be more eager and more careful about keeping his footing. But if you use the same severity with someone who has already fallen, he will never get up again. For with what hope will he show a change?

But you say: “He did not only weep; he also sought it earnestly.” He does not, then, shut out repentance; he is making them careful not to fall.

So let all who do not believe in hell call these things to mind; let all who expect to sin without being punished take these things into account. Why did Esau not obtain pardon? Because he did not repent as he ought. Would you like to see perfect repentance? Hear about the repentance of Peter after his denial. For the evangelist, telling us what happened to him, says, “And he went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26, verse 75). That is why even such a sin was forgiven him: because he repented as he ought. And this though the sacrificial victim had not yet been offered, the sacrifice had not yet been made, and sin had not yet been taken away, but still held rule and sovereignty. [i]

And learn that this denial came not so much from laziness as from God’s having left him to himself. God was teaching him to know the limits of a human being, not to contradict the Teacher’s sayings, not to think more highly of himself than the rest, but to know that nothing can be done without God, and that “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127, verse 1). That is why Christ said to him alone, “Satan has desired to sift you like wheat” — and I did not allow it — “so that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22, verses 31 and 32). For since he was likely to become proud, being aware that he loved Christ more than all of them, therefore “he wept bitterly.” And after his weeping he did other things of the same kind. What did he do? After this he exposed himself to countless dangers, and in many ways showed his manliness and courage.

Judas also repented, but in a wicked way, for he hanged himself. Esau too repented, as I said — or rather, he did not even repent, for his tears were not tears of repentance but of pride and anger. And what followed proved it. The blessed David repented, saying, “Every night I will wash my bed; I will drench my couch with my tears” (Psalm 6, verse 6). And the sin he had committed long before, after so many years, after so many generations, he mourned as if it had just happened.

For the one who repents must not be angry or fierce, but crushed in heart: as one condemned, as one with no boldness, as one on whom sentence has been passed, as one who can be saved by mercy alone, as one who has shown himself ungrateful toward his Benefactor, as unthankful, as worthless, as deserving countless punishments. If he thinks about these things, he will not be angry, he will not be indignant; he will mourn, he will weep, he will groan and lament night and day. [l]

The one who repents must never forget his sin. On the one hand he must beg God not to remember it; on the other, he himself must never forget it. If we remember it, God will forget it. Let us punish ourselves; let us accuse ourselves; in this way we will win over the Judge. For sin confessed becomes smaller, but sin not confessed becomes worse. If sin adds shamelessness and ingratitude to itself, how will the one who does not know that he has sinned before ever be able to guard himself from falling into the same evils again?

So let us not deny our sins, I beg you, or be shameless, so that we do not pay the penalty against our will. Cain heard God say, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4, verse 9). Do you see how this made his sin worse? But his father did not act this way. What did he do? When he heard, “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3, verse 9), he said, “I heard your voice, and I was afraid, because I am naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3, verse 10). It is a great good to acknowledge our sins and to keep them in mind continually. Nothing heals a fault so effectively as remembering it continually. Nothing makes a person so slow to do wrong.

I know that the conscience shrinks back and cannot bear to be whipped by the memory of its evil deeds. But hold your soul tight and put a muzzle on it. Like a badly broken horse, it chafes at what is put on it and is unwilling to admit to itself that it has sinned. But all this is the work of Satan. So let us persuade it that it has sinned — let us persuade it that it has sinned — so that it may also repent, and having repented, may escape torment. How do you expect to obtain pardon for your sins, tell me, when you have not yet confessed them? Certainly the one who has sinned deserves compassion and kindness. But you, who have not yet persuaded yourself that you have sinned — how do you expect to be pitied, when you are so shameless about some things? [m]

Let us persuade ourselves that we have sinned. Let us say it not with the tongue only, but with the mind too. Let us not merely call ourselves sinners, but count over our sins as well, going through them one by one. I do not tell you to make a show of yourself, or to accuse yourself in front of others. But be persuaded by the prophet when he says, “Reveal your way to the Lord” (Psalm 37, verse 5). Confess these things before God. Confess your sins before the Judge, with prayer — if not with the tongue, then at least in memory — and so be worthy of mercy.

If you keep your sins continually in mind, you will never bear a grudge for the wrongs your neighbor has done you. I do not mean simply being persuaded that you are a sinner; that does not humble the soul nearly as much as the sins themselves, taken one at a time and examined one by one. You will hold no grudge for wrongs done to you if you keep these things continually in mind. You will feel no anger, you will not abuse anyone, you will not think highly of yourself, you will not fall into the same sins again, and you will be more eager for what is good.

Do you see how many good effects come from remembering our sins? So let us write them on our minds. I know the soul cannot bear a memory so bitter; but let us compel it and force it. It is better for it to be gnawed by the memory now than by punishment then. [n]

Now if you remember them, and continually set them before God, and pray about them, you will quickly wipe them out. But if you forget them now, you will be reminded of them then, even against your will, when they are brought out publicly before the whole world and displayed before everyone — friends and enemies, and angels. For surely he did not say to David alone, “What you did in secret, I will make known” (Second Samuel 12, verse 12) to all, but to all of us as well. “You were afraid of people,” he said, “and respected them more than God. God was watching you, and you did not care; but you were ashamed before people.” For it says, “The eyes of men — that is what they fear.” “So you will be punished in that very point: I will rebuke you by setting your sins before the eyes of all.”

That this is true, and that on that day the sins of all of us are to be displayed publicly unless we wipe them out now by continual remembrance, listen to how cruelty and inhumanity are publicly exposed: “I was hungry,” he says, “and you gave me no food” (Matthew 25, verse 42). When are these words spoken? In a corner? In a secret place? Not at all. When, then? “When the Son of Man comes in his glory” (Matthew 25, verses 31 and 32), and “all the nations” are gathered together; when he has separated the one from the other, then he will speak in the hearing of all, and will “set” them “on his right hand” and “on his left” (Matthew 25, verse 33): “I was hungry, and you gave me no food.”

See again the five virgins too, hearing before everyone, “I do not know you” (Matthew 25, verse 12). For the five and the five do not stand for the number five alone, but for virgins who are wicked and cruel and inhuman, and those who are not. So too the man who buried his one talent heard, in front of everyone — even those who had brought the five and the two — “You wicked and lazy servant” (Matthew 25, verse 26). And he convicts them then not by words alone, but by deeds as well, just as the evangelist says, “They will look on him whom they pierced” (John 19, verse 37). For the resurrection will be of all at the same time, sinners and righteous alike. At the same time he will be present to all at the judgment.

Think, then, who will be in dismay on that day, who in grief, who dragged away to the fire, while the others are crowned. “Come,” he says, “you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25, verse 34). And again, “Depart from me into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25, verse 41). [p]

Let us not merely hear these words, but write them before our eyes as well. Let us imagine him present now, saying these things, and ourselves being led away to that fire. What heart will we have then? What comfort? And what, when we are cut in pieces? And what, when we are accused of robbery? What excuse will we have to offer? What plausible argument? None. Of necessity, bound and bent double, we must be dragged to the mouths of the furnace, to the river of fire, to the darkness, to the punishments that never die, with no one to appeal to. For it is not — it is not possible, he says, to cross over from this side to that: for “between us and you there is a great chasm” (Luke 16, verse 26), and it is not possible even for those who want to, to cross over and hold out a helping hand. We must burn on and on, with no one to help us — not even father or mother, or anyone at all, even one who has great boldness before God. For it says, “A brother does not redeem; will a man redeem?” (Psalm 49, verse 8).

Since, then, we cannot rest our hopes of salvation on someone else, but must rest them on ourselves, after God’s love for humankind, let us do everything, I beg you, so that our conduct may be pure and our way of life the best, and that it may take no stain even from the beginning. But if not, then at least let us not sleep after the stain, but keep washing the pollution away by repentance, by tears, by prayers, by acts of mercy.

But you say: “What if I cannot do acts of mercy?” But you have “a cup of cold water” (Matthew 10, verse 42), however poor you are. You have “two small coins” (Mark 12, verse 42), whatever poverty you are in. You have feet, to visit the sick and to go into a prison. You have a roof, to take in strangers. For there is no pardon — none at all — for the one who does not do acts of mercy.

We tell you these things continually, so that by constant repetition we may accomplish at least a little. We say them, caring not so much for those who receive the benefits as for you yourselves. For you give them things here, but in return you receive heavenly things. May we all obtain them, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.