Homilia de semente

Of Our Father among the Saints Athanasius, Homily on the Seed. We have assembled on the Sabbath day, not suffering from Judaism; for we do not touch false Sabbaths; we have come together on the Sabbath, to worship the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus. For in ancient times the Sabbath was honored among the ancients; but the Lord transferred the day of the Sabbath to the Lord's Day; and it is not we who of ourselves have despised the Sabbath, but it is the prophet who rejected it and said: "My soul hates your new moons and your Sabbaths." For as long as the things of the legislation were being done worthily, or as long as the Teacher had not yet come, the work of the tutor was in effect; but when the Teacher came, the tutor was abolished, and when the sun rose, the lamp ceased. The reading has also come to us opportunely, in sequence, concerning the Sabbath. For we have just heard how Jesus was going through the sown fields, and how he healed the withered hand; and it seems good to me to say a few words on the Gospel reading. Our Saviour was going through the sown fields, and the disciples followed him, and plucking ears of grain, they ate; and the Jews rebuked them, saying: "It is not lawful to do this on the Sabbath." By what law, O Jews? By what legislation of Moses? By what utterance of a prophet? Where is it forbidden to feed the hungry? Where is it written not to fill an empty stomach? But those who reproach eating on the Sabbath, they themselves committed murders on the Sabbath against the master of the house.

For the Scripture says in the Gospel concerning the day on which God suffered: "That day was the great Sabbath." And they put the lawgiver to death on the Sabbath, yet they do not wish disciples to be fed on the Sabbath. For this reason the Savior, in the passages just read, asked them: What is it lawful to do on the Sabbath? To do good or to do evil? To save a soul or to destroy it? You reproach being fed, yet you commit murder? For the Jews always strain out the gnat but swallow the camel; they are always precise about tithing the pennyroyal and the vegetable, but they do not observe the weightier matters of the law. And when the disciples were passing through, they were indignant because they rubbed ears of grain with their hands and ate. They did not cut with iron, since they would accuse them of work; nor did they use other tools, lest they accuse them of not being fed but of working. But now, why do you blame what was given by God for salvation? For if God did not forbid being fed on the Sabbath, why do you reproach this, which God did not forbid? So the Savior was passing through the sown fields; the grain of wheat, through the sown fields, the intelligible grain of wheat, which fell into one place and rose up manifold into the inhabited world; for he said about himself, "Unless the grain of wheat, falling into the earth, dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Let us also say it in another way: So Jesus was passing through the sown fields; for he is sometimes called the grain of wheat because of its nourishing quality; at other times he is the sower, according to what is said in the Gospels.

Behold, the sower went out to sow." So Jesus sows abundantly; but the fruitfulness occurs according to the underlying soil. For where the ground is rocky, the seed easily dries up, not from weakness of the seed, but from the poor condition of the earth. For the seed is effective, but the ground is barren, not possessing depth. And when the earth does not hold moisture, the sun's rays, striking more intensely, dry up the seed. And the cause becomes not from the seed's lack of strength, but from the ground's rottenness. Again, the seed is sown in thorny ground; and the seed is effective, but it is choked by the thorns, and the energy stored within is not allowed to bear fruit because of the external disturbance. But if it enjoys good ground, it produces fruit again not uniformly, but thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. The seed is uniform, but the fruit is varied; and the dispositions of the learners are varied. So the sower went out to sow; and he acted partly in person, partly through the disciples. And you have it written in the Acts of the Apostles that after Stephen was stoned, the Scripture says thus: "So those who were scattered," not scattered because of weakness—for they were not divided in faith—but scattered. For by the energy of the sower, being made into wheat for heavenly bread, they passed through every life-bearing teaching, sowing energies. So Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God, who sows the thoughts, went through the sown fields, being not only the sower of seeds, but also of perceptible things.

For to him the Father said from the beginning: "Let the earth bring forth grass of the field, sow seed according to kind and likeness." The Father spoke, the Son accomplished; the one commanded, the other brought the commands to completion; and thus from the Father through the Son there was one perfect work, one world-creation being perfected through Father and Son. Therefore he who sows the intelligible seeds, and also wrought the sensible things by the Father's nod, this one passed through the sown fields. Great indeed is the wonder-working of the seeds. And let us observe in the seasons of sowing the matters concerning seeds; in winter seasons discoursing about the sprouting of the earth, not that we may physiologize the visible things, but that we may worship the wonder-worker. For men, working what is in their own power, yoking plowing oxen, cut open the earth and soften its surface, so that rains may not run off, but sinking deep may yield fruitfulness; and the seeds, cast into the simplicity of the earth, may have a twofold benefit: one from the depth and softness, the second from being hidden and not consumed by birds. But man does his part; fruitfulness is not from man. For sowing is man's; causing growth is God's. And by God's command, clouds, drawing up waters from the depths of the seas and changing them from saltiness to sweetness, pour them upon the face of the earth; and the rain, descending as one form, works many forms of seeds. And it produces wheat, and bean, and millet, and spelt. One is what descends, and many are what sprout.

and the uniform rain is scattered into abundant fruitfulness, so that it may be shown that the fruitfulness comes not from the ease of the sower, but from the energy of God. And first the seed rises up like some green shoot, and often tares are sown together with the wheat; but the similarity of the leaves does not allow it to be seen which is wheat and which is tares. But when the seed becomes straight and grows to a height, the ear distinguishes, and the fruitfulness reveals the underlying nature, which is wheat and which is tares. You have understood what is said; come now to the more spiritual meaning. Jesus sowed through the apostles the word of the kingdom of heaven throughout the whole world. Hearing, having received the proclamation, keeps it within itself; and for a time it produces a growth of foliage, zeal concerning the Church, and we gather together in the same place, both the wheat-givers and the tares, the faithful and the hypocrite, in order to speak more truly of what is proclaimed. But the farmers of the Church, applying the hoe of words to what has been sown, cultivate for fruitfulness; not yet

We know the underlying reality: for the likeness of the foliage often deceives those who are in charge. But when the teaching proceeds to action, and the fruit of the works grows thick, then it becomes clear who is faithful and who is a hypocrite. And how and in what manner does a man often come into a city who is able to teach in Greek, who, charmed by the hearing, hastens to the Church, not for the healing of the soul, but only to snatch the beauty of the words? The one who speaks eloquently has withdrawn; the tares of the Church have also withdrawn; for it does not have the wheat-like, the faithful. But the faithful man, even if he speaks the things said eloquently, is eager to listen, whether in Syriac, or in Latin, or in any different tongue. For he does not seek words, but works. "For our word and our proclamation is not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of Spirit and power." What benefit is it if we speak in Greek, but we barbarize in our intention? What benefit is it if the speech is well-composed, but the character is ill-composed? It is much better neither to know the language of the Greeks, and to possess the law of God in the heart. For if the Church were a sophist's school, it would be a time for eloquence; but since it is a contest of characters, and fruit-bearing is the object, and the expectation of the heavens is what is hoped for, let not the tongue be sought, but let the character be set right. Again, others suffer from the disease of pleasing men, and they feign the occasion; if a notable person, whether from the streets or from among men, comes, professing Christianity, they run to the Church in order to show their face to the man.

The notable man went out, the hypocrite went out with him, and he receives his wage. He came through men, he pleased a man, he received nothing from God; for he did not reveal his intention to Him. Such are the tares of the Church. But the husbandman, the Word of the Church, has something wonderful; for he even turns tares into wheat, if he wishes. For since the movement of men is voluntary and the judgment is self-determined, the matter lies with you: if you wish to be tares, you are food for irrational animals; if you wish, you may change and become wheat. Do you seek an image of the words? Take what you seek from trees. The wild olive, when grafted, becomes a cultivated olive, and the wild vine, receiving a shoot of the most cultivated vine, forgets the oldness of its root and takes up the newness of the old. Forget your former state too, and take up what is said; leave the tare, and take up the wheat-like, so that you too may be able to become within the threshing-floor of the Church, a spiritual one. All this has been said to you because of the Gospel reading, which discusses seeds, because of the one who sowed in the souls, the deliverer of souls, Jesus, who passed through the sown fields. So he passed through deliberately on the Sabbath, leading the disciples through the sown fields; and the disciples, passing through, plucked ears of grain, and rubbing them with their hands, they ate, making their hands a newer threshing-floor for the ears. But the Jews rebuked the disciples as they were being fed, and they were indignant toward the teacher.

See what your disciples are doing." Having alienated themselves from righteousness, they did not say, "The companions of our disciples," for they had exiled themselves from discipleship, but, "See what your disciples are doing." They point to the visible things. Do you show the visible to the knower of hearts? Have you not often experienced that he knows even the thoughts of hearts? Does not the one who says, "What evil thoughts are you pondering among yourselves?"—the one who knows thoughts—does he not know the blights of ears of grain? A newer corpse, free among the dead. The other dead, as if bound with chains, were being led away on the road as a prison; but Jesus became dead for us and descended into the underworld among the dead; and having come among the dead, he was not only free, but also a liberator of the dead. And so that you may learn that he became a liberator even of the dead, listen to the Gospels saying, "And he raised up many bodies of the sleeping saints." He was placed in a tomb, and many tombs were opened. Therefore he was the free one among the dead, whom even his acquaintances abandoned. And the Gospel says that all the disciples, leaving him, fled. While he was still alive they flee, and when he was crucified they die for him; but since nothing remained on the cross, after the cross he received life back. And do not attend only to me, but to the psalm just read by me. Pay attention to what is said: I read, you see the resurrection from the sequence. "I became like a helpless man, free among the dead. They placed me in the lowest pit," as we have said. And after this:

But in my prayer to you, Lord, and in the morning, may my prayer anticipate." The dead man prays: if he has not risen, does he pray? For after describing the burial and the deadness, then he described the prayer made to the Father. We, then, honor the Lord's Day because of the resurrection; but Jews even now cling to the Sabbath, even after Isaiah said, "And your Sabbaths my soul hates." I have nothing in common with the Sabbath, which God hated. I do not mean the cycles of days, but the so-called Judaism. For God does not hate the days, but those who work wickedly on the days. And now they cling to the Sabbath, and then they rebuked the Savior, saying, "See what your disciples are doing, which is not permitted to do on the Sabbath." The Savior said to them, "Have you not read this, what David did?" He who is from David remembers David: he who is from David by flesh, but before David by spirit; he who is by flesh the son of David, but by spirit the master of David; he who sprouted from the root of Jesse, the marvelous rod, which crushes the race of Jews and gathers the race of nations as a flock. For he is the one who said, "And I will lead you under my rod"; and there is much discourse about the rod of Jesus. So he said to the Jews, "Have you not read this, what David did, when he himself hungered, and those with him?

How did he enter the house of God, and take the loaves of the prothesis and eat them, which it is not permitted to do except only to the priests? Now the wise hearer, accustomed to the ecclesiastical doctrines and readings, knows the history and has no need of the narration. But since there is a large crowd recently flocked to us, who have a superficial hearing of the divine words but have not taken in the depth of the meaning, it seems good to me to run through and show the history, so that we may know for what reason the Savior mentioned this. There was a certain king among the ancients, David, a shepherd at first, and a king afterwards. He did not seize the kingdom by force, but, when Saul sinned and was rejected, David was anointed by Samuel. Anointed for the kingdom, he did not immediately seize the kingdom, but having served Saul for many years, later, when God willed, he took hold of the kingdom. He was plotted against by Saul, after having benefited him; he was also plotted against by Absalom, his own child. These things truly happened to David; but he also had certain images of the Savior's coming. For it was necessary that the forefather also have images of the descendant. "Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David." The likenesses of the events are not of equal value. For let the slave be likened to the master; he does not become equal in value, yet he has certain likenesses. David was a shepherd, and Christ was a shepherd: "I am the good shepherd," he said. But one is a shepherd of flocks, the other a shepherd of souls; a likeness of things, but a great difference in rank.

He anointed David as king—Samuel the priest; and he baptized the Savior—John, who was also a priest. There is a likeness of the deeds, but a great difference in the subjects. David, anointed as king, did not at once seize the kingdom, but endured serving Saul for many years. And our Savior, born king before the ages, and not holding a temporary kingdom, but king before all ages, born from God the King, endured: "He did not consider it a seizure to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant," in order to accomplish the economy. Saul persecuted David; Herod persecuted Christ. But neither did Saul, persecuting David, harm him, nor did Herod, persecuting Christ, harm him. Absalom, being his son, rose up against David; Judas, being also a son—another one—rose up against the Savior; for the Savior knows to call the disciples sons, saying: "Behold, I and the children whom God gave me"; and again he said to the disciples, "Children." The place of Absalom's destruction is called "Hand of Absalom" to this day. And observe for me the precision of the image of the deeds. It is not written "Foot of Absalom," but "Hand of Absalom"; it is not written "Head of Absalom," although he perished by the hair of his head, but "Hand of Absalom." For the hand of the head was first, the one that betrayed against the image of the deeds; but as the hand came forth through the naming of the deeds, the Scripture obliquely indicated what would happen: "Hand of Absalom," and images of the deeds. How many likenesses does David have to the Savior!

This David, then, anointed as king by Samuel with perceptible oil; but our Savior was anointed differently. How and in what manner, listen to the forty-fourth Psalm saying: "Your throne, O God, is for eternity; the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness. You loved justice, and you hated lawlessness. Therefore God anointed you, your God, with oil of rejoicing beyond your partners." So that you may not think, from the similarity of the word "anointing," that there is equality of status in what is said. David was anointed, and Christ was anointed; but the one was anointed by a man, the other was anointed from the Father; and the anointing is ineffable, and the matters are incomprehensible. Therefore the Psalmist says: "Oil of rejoicing beyond your partners." They are partners in the likeness, but they do not have an equal anointing; for everywhere it both preserves the likeness and maintains the superiority of the matter. So David, anointed by Samuel, remained by himself. But Saul, having transgressed the commandments of God, was given over to an unclean spirit. David played the psaltery and had a shepherd's lyre, and dwelling in deserts, and having no one to converse with among men; and having constructed a lyre, and by striking the strings he accomplished two things: he was consoled by the sound for the desolation of the places, and he did not fall into licentious melodies, but sang psalms, so that the sweet sound might delight, and the piety might benefit. And he sang in the deserts, saying that "The heights of the mountains are his;" and he added again: "Between the mountains waters will pass through, and they will water all the beasts of the field.

He will dwell among these birds of the sky." He sang about the man, saying: "You have placed all beneath his feet, all sheep and cattle." And he also sang the wonders of God. When Saul was tormented by the unclean spirit, a certain man became known to Saul; and in this manner David is called. And whenever the evil spirit attacked him, David, taking the cithara, would strike it, singing and offering hymns to God. Do not recall the cithara for me, but rather what was sung; do not, seizing the words, fall into theatrical pleasures, but, remembering the psalms, remain in the Church. So David, taking the cithara in his hands and singing to God, drove away the suffocating demon. O the great power of the psalms! The unclean spirit, suffocating invisibly, was itself suffocated, and Saul revived. He envied David for the following reason. Once, foreigners attacked the race of the Hebrews; and a certain Goliath, immense in body, bold in spirit, and terrible to behold, insulted Israel for forty days and demanded a single combat, wearing an immense shield, wielding a spear, and with fearsome greaves; and those who saw him fled, and Saul was afraid. David came to visit his brothers and entered into battle, the unarmed against the armed, the inexperienced in war against the much-experienced, the youth against the man; and when all cowered and no one dared to go out, David undertook the war.

But he knew what he was singing, that the war was of God, and that "A false horse for salvation, but in the multitude of his power he will not be saved." He knew what he sang; he had the greatest weapon, faith, and he put on the helmet of salvation, and taking up a staff and a sling, he wrapped the stone, struck the adversary, and quickly brought him down. For we pass over the words, since this is not now the subject at hand. Goliath the great fell by the small, and the experienced by the inexperienced and simpler. And taking his sword, he cut off his head. And the head was brought to Jerusalem; but his sword was kept by Abimelech the priest. The people were delivered from the adversary. Women came out dancing to meet them; for joy was the occasion; fear was dissolved, the enemy fell, the people flourished; dances, and timbrels, and harmony, and gladness were the occasion. And the dancing women sang, not looking to worth, but to effect; for they said: "David struck among his tens of thousands, and Saul among his thousands." And to the victor they gave the thousands, and they did not say how many thousands, nor how many tens of thousands. But tens of thousands can be resolved into thousands, and thousands multiplied into tens of thousands. Saul, hearing, was struck in his mind. O great folly! Should he not at least have respected the present? Why do you envy a victorious man, praised in one hour, you who hid for forty days? You were delivered from your enemies, why do you envy a man praised, who has done deeds worthy of praise? But he said to himself:

They gave to David the tens of thousands, and to me the thousands. And he was looking askance at David. See if they were not his descendants, those whose right hand, the withered one, the Savior healed today. And those men went out, not to glorify God, they were plotting, but how to conspire against their benefactor. For the Gospel says that they themselves were filled with folly, and going out, they deliberated, "What shall we do to Jesus?" Descendants of the persecutor, and descendants of the madman, and descendants of the one who plots against benefactors. So Saul looked askance at David, and no longer looked at him with straight eyes. For such are the envious, and such are the hypocrites. Therefore Scripture says to you, "Let your eyes look straight," holding nothing crooked, nothing envious, or of desire or madness, or anything of that sort. Look at your friend straight, with nothing hidden, nothing venomous. But Saul looked askance at David. And see the contrivance: seeing him honored, he wishes to give him his daughter in marriage. O temptation of envy! He plots, and takes him as a son-in-law; and he does not spare his daughter, in order to plot against the honored one. And he demands as a prize a hundred foreskins of foreigners. For he suspected that, if he sent him into war, the hundred, grappling with the one, would kill the one; and thus he would be rid of him. And it happened; but the enemy as enemy, and God as God. David goes, and alone conquers a hundred. And Saul, seeing God as an ally of his enemy, was not even then shamed; rather, not of the enemy, but of the benefactor.

He persisted in his plan. And he was angry with his son Jonathan, because of his friendship with David, and he attempted to kill his own son, blinded by the malice of his mind. Seeing himself plotted against, David hid until the third hour; and David knows the third hour, and he makes an agreement with Jonathan, and thus the victor flees; not because he was too weak to defend himself against the enemy, but because he did not wish to bring a sword against the one who had benefited him; and having once entrusted the judgment to God, and fleeing, he comes with his servants to Abimelech the priest. Now we say all this for the sake of the Gospel narrative, because of the saying of the Savior: "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, how he came to the house of God and ate the loaves of proposition?" So David comes to Abimelech the priest, traveling with few companions. Abimelech was astonished; and he says, "What has happened, that the general travels alone, and the illustrious one makes his journey more modest?" But David does not tell of the plot, but keeps silent about the matter and says that orders have been given to the servants in the place called "Trust in God." Note this also: with David, faith; because of the one to be born from him, who says, "According to your faith, so shall it be done to you." Images and likenesses of things are here as well. David asks for loaves from Abimelech. He says to him, "There are no loaves except those consecrated from the face of the Lord." Again we must recall another law.

The law of Moses wrote in the rites of worship performed on the Sabbath day that twelve warm loaves, baked, should be placed on the table. Where there is warmth, there is fire. Let the Jews now tell us how they keep the Sabbath, and abstain from kindling fire, when the priests kindle fire and, having baked warm loaves, set them forth? Am I the only one who transgresses the Sabbath? Behold, the priests bake the warm loaves on the Sabbath, and they perform circumcision on the Sabbath. Where there is circumcision, there is also iron, and sponges, and the like. Where there is bread-making, there are also ovens, there is also the gathering of firewood, and altogether the work of bread-making is their task. Now, the people of the Jews were forbidden to work on the Sabbath; but for the priests it was not forbidden. For this reason, it is permitted to us and to all to work on the Sabbath; for we too are all a royal priesthood. In olden times, then, it was permitted to the priests; since we have become a royal priesthood and a holy nation. The law having written: On the Sabbath day the twelve loaves are to be placed on the table; for of those consecrated loaves, David asked for food from the table. And Abimelech said: "If the young men are kept safe, yet from a woman." Here then, in a digression of the discourse, secure what is said, O faithful one, and understand what is spoken; and take up purity of flesh. For if Abimelech then gave these instructions, how is it not also to be guarded? And thus David took and ate the loaves, and perhaps he took them on the Sabbath.

Since the Jews were reproaching the Savior because on the Sabbath the disciples plucked ears of grain and ate, for this reason he most opportunely recalled the history that took place on the Sabbath, in order to show them that if it was permitted to David and those with him to partake of the loaves from the table for the sake of saving nourishment, it was not forbidden for the disciples to take ears of grain and, rubbing them, to eat. "Have you not read this, what David did when he and those with him were hungry, how he entered the house of God and ate the loaves of the presentation?" You have next also the account concerning the withered hand, how our Savior entered the synagogue (for we must pass over the account due to the length of the discourse, so that the hearing may not become tedious), and seeing someone having a withered hand, and knowing that the Jews were ready to accuse, he says to the one with the withered hand: "Stand up in the middle." The standing up commanded him to rise: "Stand up, and stand in the middle." He did not work the healing boastfully, for he knows how to say opportunely, "See that you tell no one," but when it is opportune, he conceals the miracle; but when it is necessary to work a miracle on the Sabbath, then he works most openly. Search what is written in the Gospels, and you will find the truth of the words. He reserved the more notable miracles for the Sabbath: how and in what manner? "From eternity it was not heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind." This miracle he did not perform on another day, but on the Sabbath.

Having made clay by spitting on the ground, he anointed the eyes and sent him to Siloam; and the blind man came seeing. But those who saw the blind man seeing did not themselves see. That man’s pupils were opened, but the Jews’ eyes were not opened; rather, having their eyes open, they did not see, and they condemned the Lord, saying, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” O great folly! For what work was done? Spittle from the lips, clay only from the fingers, a simple anointing, not with medical instruments but wrought by a divinely made hand. Why do you blame what was done? You have a miracle on the Sabbath. The blind man went away, and the blind man went away seeing. And he did it on the Sabbath to become credible, teaching on the Sabbath. I have another miracle. In Jerusalem there was a certain sheep pool, and it is still there; it had five porticoes—now the surrounding buildings have been removed. A paralytic lay there, ill for thirty-eight years. For the duration of the illness is long, so that, even seeing this, the Jews might be shamed. For if the illness were short-lived, the miracle would escape notice; but now many years bore witness to the illness, so that, even seeing thus, they might see. The Savior, coming and passing by, says to him, “Do you want to become healthy?” and the rest. And that man, having been roused, takes up his bed and walks. And it was the Sabbath. But the Jews did not see the miracle that occurred on the Sabbath, but saw the bed being carried, when they ought to have reasoned:

Such physicians were present, yet no one healed; the wretched man lay there in poverty, not even having someone to throw him into the pool. Such was the wonder-worker, performing ever newer deeds, who gave such strength to the paralytic that he not only rose but also carried his bed. Blindness is wickedness. And they judge the one who was saved, and say to him: "It is not lawful for you to carry the bed on the Sabbath." That man replied: "The one who made me healthy, that one told me." The work commanded is God's work. It is also unusual for a paralytic to be healed after thirty-eight years. From the same mouth I heard: "Carry the bed." If the body obeyed and became healthy, shall I be ungrateful, by not carrying the bed? Again, the Jews did not seek him in order to learn how he healed and to worship the one who gave such things, but to plot against him. And that third thing has now happened, which was read. He entered the synagogue, a synagogue of those acting wickedly. For what is more wicked than those who are benefited and yet plot? In the synagogue of the Jews there was a man with a withered hand. Someone had a withered hand, and those present were withered in mind, and they did not see the one then present; nor did they suspect the wonder-working of the one performing the deed. But the Savior, before doing the work, cultivated their mind through words. For knowing the wickedness of their mind and the bitter depth, he first consoled them with words, and the

He wished to tame the wildness of their mind, and he says to them: "Is it permitted to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? To save a soul, or to destroy it?" For if he had said to them, "Is it permitted to work?" they would immediately have said, "You speak contrary to the law." But now he said to them what the law also intended; for the one who legislated concerning the Sabbath added, "Except for this, which will be done for the sake of a soul." For instance, if a man falls into a pit on the Sabbath, it is permitted for Jews to pull him out—not only a man, but also an ox and a donkey. Thus the law allowed such things to be done for the sake of salvation, and Jews were fed on the Sabbath. Now he asked them not what was disputed, but what was agreed upon: "Is it permitted to do good?" But they do not even say, "Yes"; for they were not of good disposition. "For the good man brings forth good from the good treasure." But being wicked, the Jews do not agree concerning good things, and they neither admitted to doing good nor could they say doing evil; for the word was shameless; but they are silent. When it comes to nonsense, they babble much; when it comes to accusation, they shout loudly: "Away, away, crucify him. This man did such and such." That one must do good or evil, save a soul or destroy it—they are silent; but he, grieving in his heart at the hardening of their hearts, said to the man: "Let those who see see; let those who are disobedient act as they wish; let the hard-hearted be turned to stone; but let your right hand be softened. Rise, no longer beg." For "rise" indicated the act of sitting.

But the one with the withered hand—why was he sitting there, unless entirely for begging? I do not give you silver, lest you spend it; I give you health, never to be consumed. Do not beg because your hand is withered, but having received it sound, and having worked it whole thereafter, stretch out your hand to a pauper. Rise, and stand in the midst; become a spectacle to those who see. In you the contest concerning the Sabbath is now being contested. Stand in the midst, so that even those who are lame in the knees may stand, if indeed they hear, if indeed they see. Stand in the midst, and having spoken to the Jews the things that have been said—that it is permitted to do this or not? Then he says to him: Stretch out your hand. I do not touch, lest the Jews accuse me; lest they think that the touching is a work, I speak with a word. God did not say, Do not speak on the Sabbath. But if the word becomes a work, let the speaker be marveled at. Stretch out your hand. Observe for me the difference in the matter: Peter, at the Beautiful Gate, saving the paralytic, seized him by the right hand and raised him. The servant, grasping, stretches out; the master, commanding, stretches out. Stretch out your hand. I give you the power and the energy of the healing. Having commanded through words, I instill it: Stretch out your hand. One spoke, the other acted. And the withered hand was restored, but the witheredness of the mind of the Jews was not healed; but having gone out, according to the recent reading, they deliberated what they might do to Jesus. You deliberate: what will you do? Worship him as God, worship the wonder-worker, worship a man who has done things beyond man.

He did not apply plasters, he did not soften with any poultices, he did not bring countless medical drugs. The man stood in the midst; all saw what happened, for the deed was not hidden, so that no one might say, "He brought a herb, he applied a plaster." "Rise, stand in the midst," so that they might not at all slander the truth, so that the matter might be free from false accusation. And those men went out and deliberated what they should do to Jesus. So also here at this very hour, someone stands with a withered hand, one who does not extend alms to a beggar. Even if his body is healthy, he is withered in mind. Listen also you at this very hour to the saving words saying, "Extend your hand, and from today begin to do alms to a beggar." And let us take it in another way. There are many who are negligent in prayers, and occupy themselves all day with human labors, but despise the divine work of prayers. And to such a one let the Savior say, "Extend your hand," as the Apostle says: "I desire that men pray, raising holy hands in every place." Since our words have proceeded sufficiently, let us also rise and extend our hands, not only by day but also by night: "By night raise your hands to the holy things, and bless the Lord." And let us spread out holy hands, having washed them in innocence, so that, invoking the God of all, we may enjoy his help, that which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom glory is to God together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages.

Ἀμήν.