De pharisaeo

Homily on the Pharisee. Just as a loving father, drawn by his own affection, converses with his dearest ones, and when they are infants unable to hear mature words due to the childishness of their condition, the father alters his voice, sets aside the fluency of eloquence, and begins to babble with them, leading his dearest ones from speaking and hearing to a greater comprehension of words; in the same way, our Lord, being God the Word, out of great love for his own creation, having taken up human speech, has come to us, so that by his conversing and spending time with us, having shown a heavenly revelation, he might lead us to the heavenly ladder, that is, of hope. He is invited, then, to a meal by a Pharisee, as we have just heard the Gospel proclaiming, and he does not reject the one who invites him; for he did not come to display the dignity of his divinity, but to rescue fallen humanity from the depths. He is invited to a meal by a Pharisee, and he does not refuse, so that he might teach the rich not to despise the tables of the poor, and instruct the righteous not to spurn the tables of sinners. For many who consider themselves righteous in their own eyes spit upon the tables of sinners, and the rich upon those of the poor. For the Lord, wishing all to be loving, brotherly, affectionate, and humble-minded, first begins the work himself, so that by doing he might teach. Hence he says: Learn from me, that I am gentle and humble in heart. Therefore, you who practice piety, whenever you are invited by some sinner, do not refuse.

And if someone reproaches you, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with sinners?" answer by saying, "The healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are ill do. For I am righteous, not to save the righteous, but to convert sinners." The Lord is invited to a meal, and he does not refuse, he who fed five thousand to satiety in the desert with five loaves, he who dried up the impassable sea and led Israel through the sea as through a grassy plain, he who rained down manna for them from heaven, and for the whole day from the brilliance of the manna, snows. The Lord is invited to a meal, and he does not refuse, teaching those who invite him the best of lessons in the midst of meals; for he goes to a meal, not to fill himself with the Pharisee's foods, but so that the Pharisee may be filled with the Lord's teachings. He is invited to a meal, and he comes to the house of the Pharisee, concealing his divinity with humanity, lest the one who invited the Master, suddenly beholding the dazzling radiance of the divinity, flee from the house.

He enters the house of the Pharisee—the heavenly king goes to the captive, and conceals his royal dignity under the leathern covering of the flesh, so that the captive, beholding the heavenly king, might not tremble and sink into the earth. He enters the house of the Pharisee—the Sun of righteousness, veiling the golden radiance of his rays with the cloud of the body, so that the man, beholding him, might not lose his sight. He enters the house of the Pharisee—the heavenly shepherd; leaving the ninety-nine sheep upon the mountains, he comes for the lost one; he enters his fold, concealing the shepherd in the lamb of the body. He carries no staff, no rod threatening the former straying, so that the sheep, taking fright and being alarmed, might not again flee from its own flock. But he enters the house of the Pharisee, not as God, not as king, not as Sun of righteousness, but as man to man, as lamb to lamb. He lives with him, grazes with him, sits with him, enters, reclines with him who has already fallen beyond sin, so that by reclining with him he might raise up the one already fallen. And upon entering, he did not baptize himself according to the custom of the Pharisees. This he did in two ways: to give the sheep an occasion to speak to the shepherd, and also to abolish a Jewish ordinance and establish a spiritual one. For the Pharisee saw, it is said, and marveled, that he did not first baptize himself—not praising the teacher, but being perplexed at what was happening, not praising, but judging.

And one could see, beloved, the life-creator being judged by his creation, and the potter being corrected by the clay. This the Pharisee suffered because he did not behold with the hidden eyes of his heart the commander of the angelic hosts within. Had he beheld him, he would have fallen at his knees, and with tears washed his feet, and said, "Be gracious to me, the sinner." For he would have said: "You who brought all things from non-existence into being; by your word the heavens were made firm, and by your spirit their powers were established. You gather the waters of the sea as into a wineskin, placing abysses in treasuries; the whole inhabited world fears you." But none of this did he consider or say; instead, he judged the Master. The Lord, having given a pretext, as with that Samaritan woman, by asking her for water, gave an opportunity to ask him for the heavenly water. So the Lord begins gently to turn the sheep back, and to lead him from error to truth. "For now you Pharisees wash the outside of the cup and the plate, but the inside is full of plunder and deceit." That is, "Now you adorn the body, but you corrupt the souls. For how can it please, if the cup is golden, when it contains a deadly drink within? Are not prostitutes like this, who color their faces with paints while they ruin their souls? Or do they not, reddening their faces with vermilion, work with their own fingers an image of the flame that will receive them?

it is necessary to sprinkle their hearts with the blood of Jesus, or rather to make them rosy, and to whiten their hearts with the spirit, so that the flower of the soul, flashing like a rose mixed with a lily, may exist. But now they inflame their eyes, so as to kindle the hearts of the young to madness. Now you, Pharisees, wash the outside of the cup and the plate, but the inside of you is full of plunder and wickedness; as if he said, Why do you wash the body with water, but do not wash the offenses in the spirit? For I dare to say, beloved, a man will gain nothing, even if he washes the body, unless he has the spirit as a helper, and almsgiving as a companion. For just as a cup, washed both outside and inside, but having no drink, would not cure the thirst of the one who is thirsty, and likewise a plate; so also a man, even if he is washed inside and outside, will not please the Lord, unless he feeds his fellow servant. Therefore the Lord adds and says: But from what you have, give alms; and behold, everything will be clean for you. But from what you have, he says; for he is not pleased by the offering of the wealthy as much as by the guileless, unfeigned offering. Do not seek, you poor man, because you have no gold and so many talents of silver; cast into the treasury what you have; and even two small coins are sufficient. Remember that widow, that she was justified above the wealthy. For God does not know how to weigh money, but he tests conscience. Almsgiving wipes away stains of souls and stores up rewards of good things.

Almsgiving is the vital sustenance of the soul; almsgiving whitens the souls; almsgiving is the soul’s boldness, a noble strategy. Cast away gold, and take the Lord; give silver, and take the holy; scatter bronze, and the rust of sin will go out with it; bedew the furnace, and give garments that you may receive healings, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom are the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.