Memra 24: On Repentance

Memra 24: On Repentance Concerning those who say that if a person sins after he has died, he has no place for repentance, as though the Apostle said: If a person is baptized and sins after he has received the knowledge of truth and tasted the sweetness of the world to come, he has no other sacrifice to offer for his sins, but he is destined for the destruction of the fire that consumes persons who were contrary to themselves and did not repent. And we know that not everyone who dies after receiving the knowledge of truth, but one of many, those who receive the knowledge of truth. Therefore the Apostle did not say that they have no repentance, but that they have no other sacrifice. As if someone said: There is no other God besides the one whom he sinned against, and no other knowledge besides the truth which they knew and did not abide by, and they have no place or location of remembrance from this God, that they might go and offer to him another sacrifice. But if they repent to this God in whom they believed at first and offered to him that same knowledge and confession which they used to offer from the beginning. He did not say that they do not live, but that they have no other worship except that truth which they knew and from which they strayed.

Otherwise they would have turned back and sacrificed as they had sacrificed before; it was destined for the fire to consume the fruit that they had offered in opposition to themselves. And they said: Henceforth, if you sin, God will not accept you. This is one and the same, and it is an evil teaching that instructs them to speak thus: that they should not repent and live, as it taught Iscariot, and he hanged himself. For if Iscariot had repented, the Lord would have accepted him, because He does not desire the death of a man, but that he repent and live. And there are men who say: If a sin is justified and its place is filled, it is known; and if a door is opened and a request is made, its place becomes known. And they break the heart of penitents, when all penitents have sinned, and all sins exist. But in the matter of discourse, He speaks with everyone: whoever stands, let him beware lest he fall; and whoever falls, let him show him repentance and raise him up. If sins, Lord, you do not guard, how can one rise? You have seen how the Holy Spirit said: If the Lord guards the first sins, they cannot rise in life before Him. Because all sin, and it is through repentance that they are accepted. For how much more is this one who has conquered sin from his mother’s womb? But they sin in life and repent, and thus they conquer sin, those who are faithful offer with Him every day both well and poorly.

Let not the penitent be compared to a woman or to a vessel; but let him be compared to something that enters the furnace. For in the baptismal fonts one stands in the Spirit, which is love and truth. If, therefore, they sin and err after they have been baptized, whenever they repent, the love in which they were baptized is found for them, and they are purified. And just as vessels of gold or of silver, or of copper or of brass or of iron, when they are broken and enter the furnace, the craftsman takes them into the working furnace and renews them and stamps their forms, and they are called new after they have worn out—how much more so God, whose craftsman is the craftsman, who renews them in the furnace of love, and whose Spirit is truth and whose waters are faith? If, then, you stand in the baptismal font, and these are not in you, you stand for judgment and condemnation. But you must be baptized and receive love and truth and faith. If, then, you are stripped after you have been baptized and have repented, there is the love of Jesus, which is the living furnace that cleanses your filth and your stain, and destroys and gives birth to you anew, and stamps you as before. Nor does the seal that the priests gave you pass from you until your departure. On the day of departure, however, as a man is found to be conducted. And if he has walked in sin until his departure, even the sign that the priests gave him, the Lord of the ages takes from him, and he remains uncircumcised.

He who has a portion, let it be given to him and added to him; and he who has no portion, the works of righteousness are not for him, but he is the seal alone. Also he who has a portion, let it be taken from him, like one who received money to trade with it, and went, wasted it, and lost it, and did not add to it. And he called him a wicked servant. For when I knew that you were seeking a father at my hands, the commandments that I entrusted to you, you took my covenant in your mouth, and cast my law behind you, and you were sealed with my name, and you transgressed all my commandments. And I sought from you a father and my apostles daily, and you did not repent. Instead of God, do not seek from me; be reconciled to God. Take from him that money, that is, that seal, and give it to him who keeps my words; and the wicked servant, cast him into darkness and the dung of worms. I have seen that the seal of baptism remains even upon the wicked until the end. For Jesus looked upon sinners who repented and received them, as he said: "There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents more than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of repentance." Therefore, distinguish clearly between the healthy who are not to be touched and the sick, that they may be healed and cured and rise and not fall. Thus also it is written for the spouse: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; and if he is thirsty, give him drink.

And when this is done, you are the one who gains before the Lord, and he who does not repent is hard for himself. For the perfect have no enemy, but only Satan alone, and nothing is cut off. Is it not known that this is said concerning the pair? That their cutting off is removed from them, and they have the patience to forgive those who cut them off? Again, if your enemy's donkey has sunk under his load, lift it up with him. And if his ox has strayed, or if you see something lost from his cutting, grieve for him. And when you do these things, you will be to me beloved and holy children. For thus righteousness benefits all who do evil to her. Just as she desires to benefit them, so also to those whom she has been removed from and has done evil to them. She also repents of the evil and benefits those whom she harms. And in these things again, one man gains from another. He who has mercy on his enemy and spares his cutting when he errs and is healed for him: and he who does not spare his cutting and does not hasten to heal him: that one who does not benefit him and does not harm him is better than the one who casts evil injuries upon him. And he who casts evil injuries upon him: his affliction is easier than the one who kills him by killing. But of all these, the one who benefits him and heals him is righteous. Also these: each one is rewarded according to his deeds, whether good or evil.

the one who is angry and provokes is more foolish than the one who strikes a blow that does not kill. And the one who strikes a blow against a human being is more at ease than the one who kills him. And the one who is angry with someone who has wronged him and is reconciled with him before sunset does not sin like the one who is angry with someone who has sinned against him and is not reconciled with him before sunset. If you become angry, repent quickly so that you do not sin. Now it is not permitted to the perfect to be angry, but rather to overcome his wrath and to bear with the one who does him harm and to be bested by him a little, and through your mercy to depart from him. And the one who is not reconciled from evening, and does not do harm to his enemy, is better than the one who is not reconciled with him and does him harm. And the one who does him harm and is not reconciled with him is more at ease than the one who is not reconciled with him and kills him. All of them, however, begin from anger. Now these two are guilty of death: the one who does him harm or strikes him or curses him, and the one who kills him. But the distress of the murderer is worse. If they repent, however, all of them live. And if they run after the great commandments, they also increase and are perfected. And the one who gives simply to everyone who is in need and does not ask what is fitting and what is not fitting, his debt is greater than that of the one who discriminates and gives to one person and not to another. For the one who gives to the needy both good and bad is like a master of blood.

just as the sun spreads its rays and casts its rain upon the afflicted and upon the unjust, upon the good and upon the evil, so too does his love spread over the good and over the evil, over the afflicted and over the unjust. As when the master sent again his servants and commanded them, "Gather all the people, both good and evil, and clothe them in the garments of repentance, and fill my house with them." Now the one who spreads his love over each individual person is better than the one who does not even have compassion on any person. And the one who has no compassion on any person and does no harm to any person is more excellent than the one who does harm, oppresses, and wrongs. And the one who does harm, oppresses, and wrongs is more at ease in his death than the one who kills. But the one who does no harm to any person and labors for all people is the afflicted one who follows after the perfect ones. And if he is hidden and sanctified, he is quickly perfected. But the one who has compassion on all people, on the good and on the evil, is the blessed one, who is better than the blessed one who has compassion only on the good. And the one who humbles himself before the good and the evil, and considers them as better than himself, is the man who is great in spirit, the Paraclete, better than the one who humbles himself before the good and the evil but does not consider them as better than himself. Blessed, then, are the compassionate ones who have compassion and forgive all those who sin against them, for upon them shall be compassion from God. For sinners sin; and if you forgive the one who sinned against you, the Lord forgives you for the sin you committed against him.

even death tastes the sins of sinners because of the follies and shortcomings that are in them; but they are healed on the day of the Lord. For death has known sins and follies and shortcomings. For that which casts off the body is another thing, and that which tastes death is another thing. On the day that you transgress my word, death will taste you. He said to Adam, his creator: "On the day that you sin, you will have an evil thought; and the more you transgress my word, the more you will multiply and die." For Adam cast off the body by that word after he tasted death. For God said to him: "Because you despised the word of his mouth, I have turned you to the earth from which you were taken," by which he said to him: "You are from dust, and to dust you will return. But if you repent, you will live and be healed by my word, like the Lord, and not according to your follies." Such are his mercies. For if it were according to your follies, he would have finished you off like a punishment. But he had mercy on you, and set for you these small commandments, so that here you might be perfected. On the day that Adam transgressed his word and fell from perfection, he was to be in them as a penitent, until the day when the one who will show us perfection in his person comes. For he said to those who cannot find strength: "If you do not compel yourselves to come to this perfection, keep these first penitential commandments, and you will live the eternal life.

He is able, by force, to endure and to enter the narrow gate, and he comes to this good and profitable place. And he does not leave behind anything that is his, while he is in something that is his own. He acts as is written for the afflicted from above. And each one is rewarded according to his deeds. But if he is an afflicted one while he is with his sons and his inheritance, that one is not judged on the day of the Lord; the rest, however, is rewarded each one according to his deeds. The end of the Memra on the twenty-four [topics] concerning repentance and concerning forgiveness and concerning that the hope of a person does not cease, and concerning mercy and how a person learns from a person through his mercy and his love.