Homily 1 — Preface

People who watch the pagan games, when they learn that a famous athlete, a winner of crowns, has arrived from somewhere, all run together to watch him wrestle and to see all his skill and strength. You can see the whole theater, many tens of thousands strong, every one of them straining the eyes of body and mind alike, so that nothing that happens may escape them. Again, if some admirable musician comes among them, these same people leave everything they had in hand — often necessary and pressing business — climb the steps, and sit listening very closely to the words and the accompaniment, judging how well the two agree. That is what the many do. [a]

Again, those who are skilled in rhetoric do exactly the same with the sophists. They too have their theaters and their audiences, their clapping and their noise, and the sharpest criticism of what is said. Now if, with rhetoricians, musicians and athletes, people sit with such close attention — in the one case to look on, in the other to see and to listen at once — what zeal, what earnestness should you reasonably show, when it is no musician or debater who now comes forward to a contest of skill, but a man speaking from heaven, whose voice is plainer than thunder? For he has gone through the whole earth with that sound; he has taken hold of it and filled it, not by the loudness of his cry, but by moving his tongue with the grace of God.

And what is wonderful is that this sound, great as it is, is neither harsh nor unpleasant. It is sweeter and more delightful than all the harmony of music, and more skilled at soothing. Besides all this, it is most holy and most awe-inspiring, full of such great mysteries and bringing such great blessings with it that, if people received them and kept them carefully and with a ready mind, they could no longer be merely human or remain on the earth. They would take their stand above all the things of this life, and, having fitted themselves to the condition of angels, they would live on earth just as if it were heaven.

For the son of thunder, the one Christ loved, the pillar of the churches throughout the world, who holds the keys of heaven, who drank the cup of Christ and was baptized with his baptism, who lay on his Master’s breast with great confidence — this man now comes forward to us. He does not come as an actor in a play, hiding his head behind a mask, for he has another kind of words to speak. He does not mount a platform or strike the stage with his foot, or come dressed up in a costume of gold. He comes in wearing a robe of a beauty beyond imagining. For he will appear before us having “put on Christ” (Romans 13, verse 14; Galatians 3, verse 27), with his beautiful “feet shod with the preparation of the good news of peace” (Ephesians 6, verse 15). He wears a belt, not around his waist but around his loins, not made of scarlet leather or smeared with gold on the outside, but woven and made up of truth itself. [c]

Now he will appear before us, not playing a part, for with him there is nothing counterfeit, no fiction, no fable. With his face unmasked he proclaims to us the truth unmasked. He does not make the audience believe he is something other than he is by his bearing, his look or his voice. To deliver his message he needs no musical instruments, no harp or lyre or anything of the kind, for he does it all with his tongue, sending out a voice sweeter and more profitable than any harpist’s or any music.

All heaven is his stage; his theater is the inhabited world; his audience is all the angels, and as many people as are angels already or long to become so. For none but these can hear that harmony rightly and show it in what they do. All the rest are like little children, who hear but do not understand what they hear, because they are taken up with sweets and childish toys. In the same way these others, caught up in merriment and luxury and living only for wealth and power and sensual pleasure, do sometimes hear what is said, it is true, but show nothing great or noble in their actions, because they have fastened themselves for good to the clay of the brickmaking.

Beside this apostle stand the powers from above, marveling at the beauty of his soul, at his understanding, and at the bloom of that virtue by which he drew Christ himself to him and received the grace of the Spirit. For he has made his soul ready, like some well-made lyre set with jewels and strung with gold, and has given it over to the Spirit to sound out something great and sublime.

Since, then, it is no longer the fisherman, the son of Zebedee, but the one who knows “the deep things of God” (First Corinthians 2, verse 10) — the Holy Spirit, I mean — who strikes this lyre, let us listen accordingly. For he will say nothing to us as a man would. Whatever he says, he will say from the depths of the Spirit, from those secret things that even the angels did not know before they came to pass. For they too have learned the things we know through the voice of John, along with us and through us. Another apostle has declared this, saying, “So that the many-sided wisdom of God might be made known through the church to the principalities and powers” (Ephesians 3, verse 10). If, then, principalities and powers, cherubim and seraphim, learned these things through the church, it is very clear that they listened to this teaching with great eagerness. And even in this we have been honored not a little: that the angels learned alongside us things they did not know before. I say nothing for the present about their learning through us as well.

So let us keep deep silence and good order — not today only, or on the day we come to listen, but all our lives, since it is good at all times to hear him. For if we long to know what is going on in the palace — what the king has said, for instance, what he has done, what plans he is making for his subjects — even though these things are for the most part nothing to us, how much more desirable it is to hear what God has said, especially when all of it concerns us! And this man will tell us all of it exactly, as a friend of the King himself — or rather, as one who has him speaking within him, and who hears from him everything that he hears from the Father. “I have called you friends,” he says, “for everything that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15, verse 15).

So, just as we would all run together if we saw someone from above bend down “suddenly” from the height of heaven, promising to describe everything there exactly, let us be of the same mind now. It is from there that this man speaks to us. He is not of this world, as Christ himself declares: “You are not of the world” (John 15, verse 19). And he has speaking within him the Comforter, who is present everywhere, who knows the things of God as exactly as a person’s soul knows what belongs to itself: the Spirit of holiness, the righteous Spirit, the guiding Spirit, who leads people by the hand to heaven, who gives them other eyes, fitting them to see things to come as though they were present, and letting them look into heavenly things even while they are in the flesh. To him, then, let us give ourselves up all our lives, in great quietness. [f]

Let no one who is dull, no one sleepy, no one sordid, come in here and stay. Let us move ourselves to heaven instead, for it is there that he speaks these things, to those who are citizens there. If we stay on earth, we will gain nothing great from there. For the words of John mean nothing to those who have no desire to be set free from this swinish life, just as the things of this world mean nothing to him.

Thunder stuns our souls with a sound that carries no meaning. But this man’s voice troubles none of the faithful; on the contrary, it frees them from trouble and confusion. It stuns only the demons and those who are their slaves. So, that we may know how it stuns them, let us keep deep silence, both outward and in the mind, but especially the second. For what good is it for the mouth to be hushed if the soul is in turmoil and tossed about? It is the calm of the mind, of the soul, that I am looking for, since it is the hearing of the soul that I ask of you. So let no desire for riches trouble us, no craving for glory, no tyranny of anger, nor the crowd of other passions besides these. For unless the ear is cleansed, it cannot perceive as it should the sublimity of the things spoken, or rightly understand the awe-inspiring and unspeakable nature of these mysteries, and all the other excellence that is in these divine sayings. If a person cannot learn a melody well on the pipe or the harp unless he strains his attention in every way, how will someone who sits listening to the sounds of the mysteries be able to hear them with a careless soul?

That is why Christ himself urged, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs” (Matthew 7, verse 6). He called these words “pearls,” though in truth they are far more precious than pearls, because we have no substance more precious than that. For the same reason he often compares their sweetness to honey — not because their sweetness goes only that far, but because there is nothing sweeter among us. Now, to show that they far surpass the nature of precious stones and the sweetness of any honey, listen to the prophet speaking of them and declaring how much greater they are: “More to be desired are they,” he says, “than gold and much precious stone; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19, verse 10). But they are sweet only to those who are in health, which is why he has added, “For your servant keeps them.” And again, in another place, calling them sweet, he has added, “to my throat.” For he says, “How sweet are your words to my throat!” (Psalm 119, verse 103). And again he presses their superiority, saying, “More than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth.” For he was in very sound health. So let us not come near them either while we are sick; let us heal our soul first, and then receive the food that is offered us. [g]

It is for this reason that, after so long an introduction, I have not yet tried to sound the depths of these words of John: so that everyone may lay aside every kind of weakness and come in here pure, as though entering heaven itself — free of anger, and of the cares and anxieties of this life, and of all other passions. For there is no other way a person can gain anything great from here, unless he has first cleansed his soul anew in this way. And let no one say that the time until the next service is short. It is possible to change the whole course of one’s life, not only in five days, but in a single moment.

Tell me, what is worse than a robber and a murderer? Is that not the utmost wickedness? Yet such a man went straight to the summit of excellence and passed into Paradise itself — needing no days, not even half a day, but one brief moment. So a person can change suddenly and become gold instead of clay. For since virtue and vice are not a matter of nature, the change is easy, because it is free of any compulsion. “If you are willing and obedient,” he says, “you will eat the good things of the land” (Isaiah 1, verse 19). Do you see that only the will is needed? The will, I say — not the ordinary wishing of the crowd, but an earnest will. For I know that everyone wishes to fly up to heaven even now; but the wish has to be shown by works.

The merchant too wants to get rich, but he does not let his wish stop at the thought of it. No, he fits out a ship, gathers sailors, hires a helmsman, stocks the vessel with all other supplies, borrows money, crosses the sea, goes away to a foreign land, and endures many dangers and all the rest that those who sail the sea know about. That is how we too must show our will, for we too are sailing a voyage — not from land to land, but from earth to heaven. So let us set our reason in order, so that it is fit to steer our course upward, and our sailors so that they obey it; and let our vessel be sturdy, so that it is not swamped by the reverses and discouragements of this life, nor lifted up by the gusts of empty glory, but is a swift and easy-running vessel. If we set our ship in order this way, and our helmsman and our crew likewise, we will sail with a fair wind, and we will draw down to ourselves the Son of God, the true Helmsman, who will not leave our boat to be swallowed up. Though ten thousand winds may blow, he will rebuke the winds and the sea, and instead of raging waves he will make a great calm.

So, having set yourselves in order in this way, come to our next gathering — if it is at all your desire to hear something for your good and to store up what is said in your souls. But let none of you be the “wayside,” none the “stony ground,” none the ground “full of thorns” (Matthew 13, verses 4, 5, and 7). Let us make ourselves plowed land. For then we preachers will put in the seed gladly, when we see the land clean; but if it is stony or rough, forgive us if we do not care to labor for nothing. For if we should stop sowing and begin cutting out thorns — well, to throw seed into unworked ground would surely be the height of folly. [j]

It is not fitting that someone who enjoys the privilege of such hearing should share in the table of demons. “For what fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness?” (Second Corinthians 6, verse 14). You stand listening to John and learning the things of the Spirit through him; and after this do you go off to listen to prostitutes saying vile things and doing viler ones, and to effeminate men slapping one another? How will you ever be properly cleansed if you wallow in such mud? Why should I list in detail all the indecency that goes on there? Everything there is laughter, everything shame, everything disgrace, insults and mockery, utter abandon, utter ruin.

See, I warn you in advance and I charge you all: let none of those who enjoy the blessings of this table destroy his own soul with those deadly spectacles. Everything that is said and done there is a parade put on by Satan. But you who have been initiated know what kind of agreements you made with us — or rather, made with Christ, when he led you into his mysteries: what you said to him, what words you had with him about Satan’s parade; how you renounced this too, along with Satan and his angels, and promised that you would not so much as cast a glance that way. So there is no small reason for fear that a person, by growing careless of such promises, may make himself unworthy of these mysteries.

Do you not see how in kings’ palaces it is not those who have given offense, but those who have been honorably distinguished, who are called to share special favor and are counted among the king’s friends? A messenger has come to us from heaven, sent by God himself, to speak with us about certain necessary matters; and you leave off hearing his will and the message he sends you, and sit listening to actors! What thunderings, what bolts from heaven does such conduct not deserve! For just as it is not fitting to share in the table of demons, neither is it fitting to listen to demons, nor to come in filthy clothes to that glorious table, loaded with so many good things, which God himself has provided. [l]

Such is its power that it can raise us at once to heaven, if only we come to it with a sober mind. For it is impossible that someone who is constantly under the influence of the words of God should stay in this present low condition. He must soon take wing and fly away to the land above, and come upon the countless treasures of good things. May we all attain them, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.