Homily on the Saviour's coming to Jerusalem (Mambre, 4)

IV. AGAIN: ON THE COMING OF THE SAVIOUR TO JERUSALEM Leaving aside many of the wondrous works of Emmanuel, let us hasten to the clear revelations of the miracles at Jericho and at the palm tree, and to the twofold marvels of wonder-working, to display in the arena of historical praise the manifest pre-eminences. For the divinely pre-wrought and pre-working miracles: yesterday, the confessed twofold nature was accomplished in Bethany, and the foretold resurrection of Lazarus came to fulfillment; but today He enters Jerusalem, seated upon a foal, confirming the prophetic foretelling. Yesterday, He adorned Mary and Martha with faith through grace; He received the four-day dead man from the tomb alive; today, He sanctifies the disciples and the children in a godly manner, and for the salvation of all the children, the radiance of good repute shines forth, and what was seized from Him, together with the soul and body, He rescues and transforms into life; today, He frees the pagans and the Jews from the service of the adversary, and sits upon the seat of teaching, and directs the olive branch to peace, entering Jerusalem seated upon two living creatures.

Yesterday, Lazarus, bound with a bandage on his feet, was cast out, and the linen binding, unable to restrain the Lord’s command, loosed its own order, preserving himself whole for the Creator, obeying the command, and he served death, submitting to the creative command. Today, he releases the first man from the bonds of the curses, and the abundance of transgressions does not suffice to restrain the Lord’s command, and he draws out the transgression into himself as the transgressor, and instead of the guilty man, the innocent one is condemned; the blameless one would set the guilty one before the Father himself. The day of transgression vitalizes the deadness of the senses, and from the cloth it tears the knot, and looses the hands from the bound chains, and makes known the creative power, and having turned the earthly part to earth, not with hands as the first life-creator, but merely by calling out with a name-call and with terror, swiftly accomplishes the shoots.

And on the third day, speaking of the call of the universe among the Pharisees and the Sadducees, he said: "Let the children be silent, let the stones cry out the blessing," by which he signifies the faith of the barren pagans, made fruitful in piety. On the previous day, in Bethany, which is the house of torments and the house of obedience. The house of torments on account of the sleep of Lazarus, the friend, for which tears were shed from the eyes of the Creator, the whole of humanity having been brought to compassion for this nature in a friendly and kindred manner. And the house of obedience, because Lazarus was obedient to death on account of the first man having fallen under the dominion of death, and death was obedient to Jesus on account of the creative power; it served the Lord's command in a servile manner and executed the dead one under the divine command. And this day he comes to Jerusalem, to his house of torments, because there he was prepared with torments to free the human nature from torments, and to come to the house of obedience, which unites the disobedient human nature with the obedient Word; and obedient in place of the disobedience of the first man to his Father, because according to the flesh he was obedient in a servile manner to the common Father, but according to the divinity he received piety in a creative manner, co-honorably with the Father.

On the day of the visit, at the house of Mary and Martha, he partook of the evening meal, and in their presence Lazarus, risen from the tomb, was present. He held with him the tightly-wound shroud, a faithful witness, so that through the food and drink and the burial cloth, they might believe in the true and faithful resurrection of Lazarus. But on the day of the encounter, he caused all Jerusalem to tremble by entering it on the feast of the Passover, and among the newly arrived multitudes, Jesus tested and confirmed those from Nazareth of the Galileans, whose confession was in harmony with the angel appearing to the shepherds at Bethlehem. On the day of the visit, he received from Mary the pious offering of the precious oil, anointing, confessing her service to his death, her participation in the sufferings. The washing away of the impure tears of conduct, the hair—the mortality of the bodily conduct—

and his feet—with his feet he walked during the time of his life, and the seventh day of the week, by which months and years were advanced, on which the unholy one followed with his own deeds, he purified with his pure feet. But on the day of preparation, he performs the desire of the priests, openly comes to the multitude of disciples, purifies the tongues of the children with blessing, impresses upon the minds of the people and the spreading of the standards on the road, which are divine and royal service, because two miracles were accomplished on two days: on the practical and on the primordial. And according to the nature of the practical, the primordial Sabbath, which is rest, and the seventh day of the week, which is the beginning. For in the void, God works wondrously, from death to resurrection of the rational nature, so that first in the nature there would be cessation on the seventh day, and that all the works of creation are good, Moses confesses: Behold what God has made, it is good.

But concerning the beneficent work, God was silent, because from the first until the sixth [day] God adorned the heaven and the earth, but on the sixth [day] he made man living by his own hand, and he entrusted laws to the guardian. When man was silent concerning the keeping of the commandment, God also was silent concerning the beneficent work, for on the sixth [day] man ceased from the keeping of the law, and on the seventh [day] God forbade the beneficent work, and this not in vain, but with the truth of the creator, because heaven and earth are for the sake of man, and man for the sake of the commandment. The keeping of the commandment made manifest the divine beneficence; when the keeping of the commandment was silent, the divinely-wrought miracle also was silent, for man was stripped of the glory given by the creator on account of his transgression, and Lazarus died with an earthly and temporal death. There, on account of the transgression of the commandment of the forefather, God was silent concerning the forgiveness of transgressions; here, on account of Lazarus, the faithful steward, he was slow to perform the act of making alive from the tomb.

Similarly, the first and second weeks. In the first, God was silent from beneficence, because of the silence of the first parent concerning the keeping of the commandment; in the second, concerning the Christ-loving nature of Lazarus, he renews him from the lifelessness of the tomb and releases him from the swathing of deathly wrappings. Now the first day of the week is the day of praise, and as the multitude of disciples praises the entry into Jerusalem, sitting upon unclean animals, with garments and plants spread under the feet, the entry into Jerusalem is terrifying; the trembling of Jerusalem with the gathered people, the priests being afflicted with envy, crying out, "What is this clamor?" saying to the Lord. The Lord gave answer: "If your children are silent, your stones will cry out." The first day of the week is the beginning of creation, for from that beginning the creation of heaven and earth was commenced. Now, because the first divine work was corrupted by the transgression of the first parent, he takes the form of the transgressor, and as the transgressors...

Similarly, the first and second weeks. In the first, God was silent from beneficence, because of the silence of the first parent concerning the keeping of the commandment; in the second, concerning the Christ-loving nature, he delivers himself to condemnation, and as he permits the judges to condemn him, so that he may pledge the condemnation of the first man, and the incarnate God accepts obligation, and in exchange for the pledge, the Father in the deified flesh takes upon the sins, and willingly and culpably receives the sins, and with the incarnate Divinity he dissolves all the transgression of the first man, and places him before the Father. And the multitude of the disciples signifies the future universal calling of the faithful, while the Mount of Olives is a co-worker with the ray of the sun. The mountain speaks of the height of divine teaching, the ray of the luminous and lordly mouth, which outwardly guides the divine discourse. And the spreading of plants under the feet, the earth turning from the thorn-bearing curses of the first to blossoming, and the plants manifesting a height of stem with good-fruited and well-leaved regeneration, which the people, having taken, offered to the remover of curses and the renewer of the earth, to the first divine creation.

And the spreading of the curtain signified those who were spiritually and physically sick, who, drawing near to Jesus with faith, were healed; and the sickness of the priests along with the blessings of the children signified the hindering of the confession of the newly faithful and the opponents of the apostolic preaching by force. And the Lord's saying, "If these stones are silent, let the stones cry out," means the stones are the immovable hardness and foundational preaching of the apostles. If you hinder the children, Paul and Nicodemus and Gamaliel and Caiaphas, who are still barren and stone-like in faith and utterly barren in Judaism, these shall confess my incarnate divinity, and the two comings, crying out loudly the first and the second. And further, "Let the stones cry out" is understood as the stones being the prophets, who appeared in the buildings in their time, and their prophetic confessions, which left the entire economy of the house as a treasure, recorded with prophetic letters, an unbreakable memorial of things that have happened, with two faithful witnesses: the prophetic and evangelical divine-speaking writings.

For He shall also make the gatherers of the feast worthy of the new kingdom, for to Him belong glory and power for eternity. Amen.