In illud Pater meus usque modo operatur

Homily 9. By the same author, on the necessity of not going to horse races or theaters. And having grieved them, then having allowed the bishop who had arrived from Galatia to speak at the assembly after that Sunday, and having kept silent, and having grieved them in this as well, he delivered this homily in the Great Church on the text, "My Father works until now, and I work." 1. I reproached you severely the other day when I discoursed about theaters and horse races; therefore I rejoice and am glad, according to the apostolic saying: "And who is it that gladdens me, if not the one who is grieved by me?" For I see much fruit sprouting from this grief. Just as the remedies that heal wounds first bite the sores and then remove the corruption, so also a word that reaches a hearer's conscience begins the work of correction. For just as in our bodies, flesh that has once died feels neither cutting, nor drugs, nor cautery; therefore, even if countless things are done, it cannot return to health, having lost the very beginning and foundation of treatment; but flesh that feels both the knife and fire and drugs would quickly return to health. So too with souls: those that are disposed without feeling cannot easily be changed, but those that know how to feel shame and blush and suffer and be pained at reproofs give us the greatest proof that they will quickly abandon vice.

Therefore the blessed Paul, knowing these things, accepted those who were greatly grieved and rejoiced over them, but despaired of those not so disposed, saying: "Who, having become callous, have given themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every impurity in greed." For how could one who does not know how to grieve ever be corrected, unless he first learns this very thing? Since this has been accomplished in you, we have great confidence concerning your love; for if one discourse so stung and reduced you to such anguish that you were disheartened, disturbed, and agitated, it is evident that a second and third added will free you from all infirmity. And that you may know I am not flattering you when I say this, by what you displayed the previous day you bore witness to the truth of what was said by us. For those who were so stung, so pained, so grieved and disheartened, when the following Lord's Day came, made the assembly more brilliant for us, and the gathering larger and the zeal greater, and you were all suspended, like nestlings of swallows hanging from the nest, gaping for our tongue. Then, when we yielded the discourse to a brother who had arrived from Galatia, honoring him both because of the church's law that commands receiving strangers in this way and because of his splendid gray hair, you withdrew crying out, lamenting as if you had endured a long famine and longing for our tongue that had cut, that had rebuked, that had reached, that had pained.

doing the same thing, as if a child, being beaten and rebuked, would not even then leave its mother, but, whimpering, would cling to the sides of its mother's garments and be dragged along with her amid its lamentations. For this reason I leap and fly with pleasure, and I declare myself blessed to be contending among so many lovers, having you so hanging upon my tongue. This is sweeter to me than this ray of light, this more pleasant than light, this is life—to meet with such well-disposed hearers, not simply to applaud, but to wish to be corrected, to be rebuked, and not to leap away, but to flee to the one who rebukes. For this reason I myself also, with greater eagerness, take up my discourse with you, and I wish today to pay back the remnants of what was previously said to you, now setting aside the rebuke, lest, by again reproaching the indifferent, we should harm the zealous, consuming the entire discourse in their refutation.

Even if nothing had been said by us, what happened yesterday would be enough to deter even those who are utterly mad and raving about horse racing from this untimely desire. For the murder that occurred yesterday in the hippodrome filled the city with tragedy, surrounded it with choruses of women, filled the marketplace with many lamentations, as the man cut off by the chariots was carried so piteously through the midst of the populace. This man, as I learned, was about to light wedding torches on the following day, with the bridal chambers woven and everything prepared for the marriage, while serving in the rank of the prefect, running below in the stadium; when the charioteers came on and contended with one another, he was caught in the middle and suffered this violent and pitiable death, his head and limbs cut off. 2. Do you see the fruit of horse racing? And what is that to us who sit above, someone says? It is to you above all; for if you did not make haste to run together, the things accomplished below would not happen. But lest I make the discourse more burdensome again and reopen the wound, leaving these things to your conscience, I will try to give the remainder of what was said to you earlier. What then was said earlier? I said that Christ is called the foundation as bearing all things and holding them together and supporting them; this I now wish to demonstrate from another apostolic saying. For the one who said those things, interpreting that word, says:

Who is the radiance of the glory and the character of his hypostasis, bearing all things by the word of his power, having made purification through himself, sat at the right hand of majesty in the heights. What is "bearing"? Charioteering, steering, managing, holding together, sustaining, carrying through. For he did not only bring all things from non-being into being, but also, once they had come to be, he provides for them just as the Father who begot him does. Therefore, indicating this, he said, "My Father works until now, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, not only because he was breaking the Sabbath, but also because he was calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God. Where now are the children of the heretics, who rage against their own salvation and separate him from equality with the Father? Let them hear the voice of the evangelist (and when I say "evangelist," I mean Christ, who moves his soul); let them hear, and be ashamed, and cease from such madness. For the Jews persecuted him for this reason, because he declared himself equal; and these are strangled for this reason, because we attribute to him this praise, having been taught it by him. But, they say, this was not the judgment of him, nor of the evangelist, but of the Jews.

Above all, if it were even from the Jews, this would be your greatest charge and most extreme accusation, that you, willingly deaf, do not see what the ungrateful Jews perceived as being constructed from the words. For they were not introducing these things from their own thought, but from what Christ said, reasoning with them. And that you may learn that this expression is not from the Jews, but from the evangelist—both his vote and his utterance (and when I say "of the evangelist," I mean of Christ who moves his mind)—examine the very words themselves. "My Father." Is it not clear to everyone, even to the utterly foolish, that he said "My Father" in order to declare him as his own? And then to add again, "He works, and I work"—is this not constructing equality? For he did not say, "He works, and I serve," or "He works, and I am ministered to," but "He works, and I work." Do you see how the statement was not a declaration of the Jews, but a construction from his words? For if it were some erroneous suspicion and vote of the Jews that made him equal to God, and he himself did not wish this to be suspected, while the Jews suspected it against his will, understanding something other than what he intended to construct, the evangelist would not have left it so uncorrected, but would have indicated it and said so clearly. For it is their custom to do this, both theirs and Jesus's; and I will try to make this clear to you through one or two examples, that when Christ says something, and he himself says it in one way, but the Jews suspect it in another, the evangelist corrects it.

And that you may learn this clearly, hear John himself making this very thing plain. For when he entered the temple of God and drove out the money-changers, having made a whip, and said, "Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise," the Scribes and Pharisees came and said, "What sign do you show us that you do these things?" What then did he say? "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days," speaking of his own body. But they did not perceive this, but what do they say? "This temple was built in forty-six years, and you will raise it in three days?" speaking of the Jewish temple constructed of stones; for that one was built in forty-six years after the return from Babylon, the builders being hindered by barbarian hostility, and much time being consumed, this temple was completed. Since Jesus was speaking of his own body, indicating the cross and the resurrection—for this is what "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days" means—but they suspected he meant the Jewish temple; hence they said, "This temple was built in forty-six years, and you will raise it in three days?" See how the evangelist did not pass over this, but added the correction, saying, "But he was speaking of the temple of his body." For he did not say, "Destroy this body," but "the temple," to show the God dwelling within. "Destroy the temple," the one far better than the Jewish temple. For that one had the law, but this one the lawgiver.

one the letter that kills, the other the spirit that gives life; one the rod of Aaron, the other the rod of Jesse. 3. Again, elsewhere, when he had performed the miracle of the loaves, he departed with them, crossed to the other side, and said to the disciples: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees." And they, hearing "leaven," suspected it was about bread; but he was not speaking about bread, but about the teaching of the Pharisees. For since he spoke one way, and they suspected another, see how he corrects this, saying: "Are you still so senseless? Do you not remember the five loaves and how many baskets you took, and the seven loaves and how many hampers you took? How do you not understand that I did not speak to you about bread, but about the teaching of the Pharisees, so that you should beware?" Do you see how both in the case of the temple the evangelist, and here he himself, corrects the misunderstanding of those who were in error? So then also in the case of making himself equal to God, if he himself did not make himself equal to God, but the Jews

If they suspected from what had been said, the evangelist would have corrected this suspicion and said that the Jews thought he was making himself equal to God, but he himself did not do this nor establish it. But that you may learn from the very words that he especially wished to fix this in the minds of men, let us go back to the earlier passage and learn what he was accused of and how he defended himself. What then was the accusation? That he worked on the Sabbath. For this reason, he says, the Jews persecuted him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. And what were these things? That he healed the paralytic and ordered him to take his bed and go home. Therefore, they asked him, who it was who commanded him to do these things on the Sabbath. And he said, "The one who made me well told me, 'Take your bed and go to your home.'" Displeased at this, they persecuted him because he had commanded this on the Sabbath, which seemed a transgression and violation of the law. What then does Christ say in his defense? "My Father works until now, and I work." Yet many other things could have been said, if he had only wished to defend himself, but not to show equality. For the Sabbath was often broken, first in the city of the Jerichoites.

For when they attacked the walls, they were ordered for seven days to go around the walls carrying trumpets, and thus the city was taken. And that within the seven days, from whatever point we begin, the Sabbath must necessarily fall, is clear to everyone. Hence it is clear that the Sabbath was broken. Again, he commanded that a man be circumcised on the eighth day; here too the Sabbath must necessarily be broken again; for one born on the Sabbath must necessarily be circumcised on the next Sabbath. And the priests, with even greater license, broke it, being commanded to offer sacrifice on the Sabbath; and where there is sacrifice, it was necessary to flay and burn, and place on the altar, and carry water, and split wood, and remove ashes, and do many other things, and through this the Sabbath was broken. Along with these, creation itself broke the Sabbath; for the sun works on the Sabbath, and the moon runs, and the variegated chorus of stars shines, and winds blow, and springs gush, and rivers flow, and the sea is stirred, and seeds and plants are produced, and the earth gives birth, and all irrational beings, and even the human race. For never, when a woman is pregnant on the Sabbath, does nature wait for the law and expect the Sabbath to pass and then the pains to be released, but it performs its own work even when it is the Sabbath. And the powers above also minister on the Sabbath, and do not cease fulfilling their own service.

Why then, tell me, having so many grounds for defense, does he use none of them, nor say, "Why do you accuse me for breaking the Sabbath? For the priests in Jericho broke it, and those in the temple break it. Why do you accuse me for breaking the Sabbath? For the sun breaks it, and the moon, and the stars, and all creation, both above and below"? But leaving all these aside, he came to the Father, saying, "My Father works, and I work." For he wished not only to defend himself, but also to show equality of honor. Therefore he did not say, "I work, for creation works," for he was not of creation; but, "I work, for the Father works." For he was of that substance and authority. Therefore he does not defend himself as being of creation, but as a genuine offspring of that one. And that you may know that what has been said is not conjecture, the disciples also once broke the Sabbath by plucking ears of grain and eating them, and when the Jews accused them, saying, "Do you not see what these are doing on the Sabbath?" he did not mention the Father there at all, but what does he say? "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? How he entered and ate the loaves of presentation, which it was not lawful for him to eat, and for those with him? Have you not read that the priests in the

profane the Sabbath in the temple, and are blameless? Do you see how, when he speaks on behalf of the servants, he brings forward the servants, David and the priests; but when on behalf of himself, the Father? And if he also uses other defenses, as when he says, "If a man receives circumcision, you are angry with me because I made a whole man healthy on the Sabbath?" and again, "Which of you does not loose his sheep and his ox?" that is nothing remarkable; for he does not speak everything as God, but there are times when he also speaks as a man, since he was both God and man. Here, however, he speaks according to his own dignity, saying, "My Father works until now, and I work." For this reason the evangelist says, "The Jews persecuted him," not only because he broke the Sabbath, but also because he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. And I would gladly ask the heretic this: Did he call God his own Father, or did he not? Was this from Jewish suspicion, or from Christ's declaration? For even if he is shameless a thousand times, he is refuted by the truth. He said, "My Father works until now, and I work." Did he break the Sabbath or not? It is evident that he broke it; for he says, "I work, and he works." Therefore neither of these things was from Jewish suspicion, but from Christ's construction and declaration: both the breaking of the Sabbath and the calling of God his own Father.

How then, when you say these things are the declaration of Christ, do you claim that the other passage, which is placed consecutively and connected to this one, and similarly reported by the evangelist, belongs to the suspicion of the Jews? For all these things are a report of the evangelist, interpreting what was said by Christ. Therefore, when the Jews accused him, he said that they persecuted him, not only because he broke the Sabbath, but also because he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. But the refutation against the heretics has a sufficient conclusion. If, however, you wish also to learn what the work is that the Father works and that the Son works, I would say it is the providence of beings, the maintenance, the care. For all visible things were made in six days: "And God rested on the seventh day." But their providence did not cease. This providence, then, Christ calls work, saying: "My Father works, and I work," meaning, he says, providing, caring, maintaining, holding together, letting nothing slip away. Therefore, having received the demonstration of the correct doctrines also from what has been said, let us add an exact conduct consistent with the doctrines, since for our salvation the mere knowledge of correct doctrines is not sufficient, but we also need the best conduct, so that, having sent up glory to God through all things, we may obtain the promised goods. To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.