John of Bolnisi, Sermons

The one of the Pharisee and of that sinful woman, who anointed the Lord with ointment. Now we have come, beloved, and hear my words, for behold, the time of acceptance has come with fasting, prayer, and supplication. For now is the time for us to awaken from sleep, when this has taught us, that night has departed from us and light has drawn near to us. Let us now depart from the works of darkness and put on the armor of righteousness, and on this enlightened day let us walk fittingly, not with song and frivolity, nor with a bed of filth, but with vigilance and prayer, with psalms and hymns and spiritual chanting, and let us abandon all the turmoil of this world. But now, my brothers, I say to you: all of you who are gathered here, beloved and desired of Christ, do you not know that the Son of God is prepared to come for the sins of the whole world? Now, beloved, what is it fitting for us to do?

It is time for us to awaken from sleep; it is time for us to rise up diligently; it is time for us to proceed zealously; it is time for us to receive him with joy; it is time for us to worship him with purity; it is time for us to bow the knee to him with repentance; it is time for us to fall down before him with tears of repentance; it is time for us to praise him with faith, and let us ask of him and say: Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy and find us, these strayed sheep, who have no shepherd; have mercy, O Lord, have mercy and have compassion on us; good Shepherd, who have come to seek those lost sheep, find us, O Lord, these wanderers, who have no shepherd. And again let us say: Have mercy, O Lord, have mercy and save us, who have come so that you might find and receive those sheep which are not of your fold, that you might bring them into your holy fold—your holy Church—and no longer into that synagogue of the Jews, that they might be one flock and one shepherd. Now let us first purify ourselves, my brothers, with that royal dignity, for behold, the wealth of those good gifts of God is coming to us today.

This is because he came to suffer of his own will, so that he might reconcile us, all the sinners, to our Lord God and Father, through his passion and his precious blood, which he shed by his crucifixion on the wood, for he came to seek that which was lost. He cries out and says: “Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest; take my yoke upon yourselves and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and find repose for your souls, for my yoke is sweet and my burden is light.” Do you see the forbearance of the Son of God? Do you see his immeasurable love for mankind? Behold the vastness of his mercies, how he cries out in humility and says, he does not disdain nor despise sinners, but rather spreads forth his goodness, reveals to us his ineffable sweetness, and applies his balm to our wounds, like a skilled physician.

His face was cheerful, and he was not ashamed nor did he feel revulsion at our wounds, that is, our sins; he looked upon us without disgust, and he does not shrink from the foulness of our transgressions, but his tongue does not cease to address us, but he says: “Come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy-laden, and I will absolve you; come to me, all you who are guilty and sinful, and I will absolve you; come to me, all you who are weighed down by the heavy yoke of your various sins, and I will absolve you. Take my yoke upon yourselves, learn and understand, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Truly indeed, for no one is meeker than he who took all sins upon himself and for our lawlessnesses gave himself to death and endured crucifixion for the sake of our life. Who could be humbler than he?

For with humility he sits at the right hand of the Father; he descended from heaven to earth and dwelt in the womb of a virgin and was born in a cave, and, like a little child, he wrapped himself in swaddling clothes and was laid in the manger of dumb beasts, so that the ox might know its master and the ass the manger of its lord, and he put on the form of a servant and became like men, and by his form he was found, as a man, and moved among men, crying out and saying: "Come to me, all you tax collectors and those weighed down with burdens, and I will give you rest." Many tax collectors heard this and followed Jesus; sinners also heard this and followed him. And many tax collectors and sinners gathered before him and listened to his words. Once he entered the house of Zacchaeus the tax collector to eat bread and granted life to his house, and again, when Matthew the tax collector was sitting at the custom-house. What is that tax collector, or what is that custom-house? That tax collector is the toll-gatherer, and that custom-house is the place where toll is collected. There Matthew sat at the toll-house, and Jesus said to him: "Follow me!" He arose and followed him, who after this became an evangelist.

At that time, when the Jews beheld all this, they were greatly amazed, and the chief priests and scribes, the Pharisees and the elders together with the Sadducees began to murmur, and they said to the disciples of Jesus: "Why does your teacher receive and eat and drink with publicans and sinners?" When Jesus heard this word, he said to them: "The physician is not for the healthy, but for the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners, that they might repent." At that time, one of the Pharisees besought our Lord Jesus to eat bread in his house, and Jesus went to his house and stood in the doorway, and many other guests were sitting before him. Now there was a certain woman in that same city, a great sinner. There was a certain woman in that same city, exceedingly sinful because of her countless transgressions.

When he perceived this, that Jesus had entered that city and was sitting at table in the house of that Pharisee, he pondered in his own heart and recalled all his own transgressions and lawless deeds. He looked within himself as if with a balance at his own deeds, he saw the impurity of his own self, he experienced the bitterness of his own sins, he comprehended all his own improprieties which had been committed by him, and he said within his own heart: "What shall I do, or what should I do? How shall I go to that immortal King, wretched as I am? Or how shall I look with my own eyes upon that Judge of the living and the dead? Or how shall I touch the Savior of the world, I who am filled with bitterness and impurity? Or how shall I worship Christ, the Son of God, I, this unworthy one?

Or how shall I call upon his holy name and dishonor him, to whom I have never at all the understanding of the word, but I have perceived his love for mankind, I have perceived his goodness, I have known his forbearance, I have known his abundant mercy; I have comprehended his many [virtues], I know his great sweetness and his countless humility, I have perceived how he cries out and says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest," among whom I am this one, weary with sin and heavy-laden with disobedience; I have also perceived from the books, how it is said concerning him, that: a crushed reed shall not be broken, and a withered branch shall not be dried up, of which I am this one, crushed and broken by my own impurity. I have also perceived from the books of Isaiah concerning him: as a shepherd tends his own flock and with his own hand gathers together those lambs and with his own staff carries them, and becomes a comforter to those who are weighed down.

as a shepherd tends his flock, so with his humility he taught that people, and with his hand he gathered the lambs, and with his voice he called them together. These are the blameless, the pure, and the righteous, his holy apostles, concerning whom he says: "The pure and the righteous followed me." And they became comforters to the burdened, among whom I am one, full and weighed down by all my deeds and impurities. And as that woman reflected, she said in her heart: "Let me arise and go to that immortal king, and let me cleave to that most merciful one. Let me arise and go and worship that lover of mankind. Let me bring something to that judge of all, for he does not seek payment, nor does he look for a bribe, but he seeks repentance and tears.

Now I would rise and enter, for even if a word has not been offered before him because of my impurity, yet I would enter and stand at his feet, and cast down my hair, and like a sick man I would weep and shed tears before him greatly, and like one in pain I would sigh from the depth of my heart and beseech him without ceasing, as the knower of hearts, God, and may he understand what my soul desires, for he is the knower of hearts, God, and he knows the hidden things of all men, and he is come to receive sinners. And as she spoke, that woman found in her house a vessel full of precious ointment, took it in her hands and said: 'If only I become worthy to approach and with tears to wash his feet and with the hair of my head to wipe them, I know and believe that all my disobediences will be wiped away.

And if this ointment is poured upon his head and his feet, I know and believe that he will have mercy on me and accept and receive my soul as well." And as she said this, the woman arose and took the vessel full of that precious ointment, and zealously set forth, and went fervently, and approached the house of the Pharisee; the woman humbled herself, and with great faith she entered before the Lord and stood at his feet, and wept and shed tears grievously and without restraint, streams of water flowing down from her eyes. Then, when she became bold and began to wash his feet with tears, yet she could not at all utter a word, but sighed in her soul; she washed them with those tears and wiped his feet with her own hair, and zealously embraced his feet. Then the Judge of the living and the dead, when he perceived those tears of the woman, the woman became even bolder, and brought the vessel full of that precious ointment and poured it upon the Lord's head and his feet. And the house was filled with the fragrance of that ointment.

When the Pharisee, the one who had invited our Lord Jesus, saw this, he said in his own mind: "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman this is who is touching him." Then Jesus perceived what the Pharisee was thinking and said to him: "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he said to him: "Speak, teacher!" Jesus answered and said to him: "There were two debtors of a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred drachmas, and the other owed him thirty. Who is that moneylender, or who are those who borrow from him? The moneylender and the one who gives freely is the Lord God, and those who borrow and waste are the sons of men, to whom the Lord freely gave his grace, but they squandered it in folly. When their Lord came and demanded his due from them, then they found nothing to give him.

They said to one another: "We have ruined him by our folly, but now let us weep wisely and shed tears, let us diligently seek forgiveness for our sins from the good and merciful God." Then when the Creator God saw their diligent repentance, let us go back to where we were and say: There were two debtors of a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred drachmas, and the other thirty. And since he had nothing, he forgave them both and pardoned them. Which of these two would love the moneylender more? Simon answered him: "Lord, I think that the one to whom he forgave more would love him more." Jesus said to him: "You have rightly chosen that one." Then Jesus turned to the woman: "What has this man done to me?

I came into this house of yours, and I had no water for my feet, but this woman (31) poured a stream of tears from her eyes and washed my feet, and with her own hair she wiped them. You gave me no anointing (33), but this woman, from the moment she entered, did not cease from anointing (35) my feet. You anointed no oil on my head and my feet, but this woman anointed my head and my feet with fragrant and precious ointment, and filled my entire body with great and abundant fragrance, concerning which I tell you (38): "Let her many sins be forgiven, for she has greatly loved me." I say to you only: but let the woman's many transgressions be forgiven, for she has greatly loved me. You only think: but let this woman's many transgressions be forgiven, for she has greatly loved me. For he who is greatly loved, greatly loves in return, and he who is little loved, little loves in return." And when he had said this, he answered that woman and said: "Let all your sins be forgiven!" (9) And when that woman heard this, she began even more and yet more to bow down and prostrate herself at his feet.

When all her household servants saw this and heard with their ears what Jesus was saying to that woman, they pondered in their hearts and said: “Who is this, that forgives sins?” Then Jesus again turned to that woman and said: “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace!” At that hour the woman arose with joy and went out from there, justified by the word of the Lord, and she glorified God, who had granted her such acceptance and forgiveness of her sins. But now I say to you, beloved, that we should put on such faith and diligence, so that together with her we too may all attain forgiveness of our sins. And now, behold, the cry of this day is heard concerning the great and awesome passion of the Lord. But now let us prepare ourselves, and tomorrow, on Monday, let us begin to fast with purity and worthiness and blamelessness, and let us fulfill these holy forty days with fasting and prayer, and let us together glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and let us praise now and always and unto the ages of ages, amen. Rom. 13:11-13; Isa. 53:6; Mt. 9:36; Mk. 6:34; Isa. 53:6; Mt. 15:24; Mt. 9:36; Mk. 6:34; Jn. 10:16; Jn. 10:16.

said to her: “Do not be afraid, woman, for I am the Lord who has come to save sinners. Your sins are many, but my mercy is greater.” And when the woman heard this, she fell at his feet and wept, saying: “Lord, I am not worthy, but you have called me worthy.” Then Jesus said to her: “Rise, and go in peace; your sins are forgiven.” And the woman rose and went away, rejoicing and praising God.

worthy of your mercy, for I have sinned greatly.” Then the Lord said to her: “Rise, woman, and go in peace; your sins are forgiven.” And the woman rose and went away rejoicing. Now, beloved, let us consider this: if the Lord showed such mercy to a sinful woman, how much more will he show mercy to us who repent of our sins? For the Lord is merciful and does not despise sinners, but receives them with love. Therefore, let us not despair, but let us hasten to repentance, for the Lord’s mercy is greater than our sins. And let us remember that the Lord said: “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he should turn from his sin and live.” So let us turn from our sins and live in the grace of the Lord.