ACC ~ Matthew 8 v18 - 22

OVERVIEW:

To his own disciples Jesus revealed God’s future mysteries more deeply than in the things that were spoken to the crowds only in parables (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). Jesus enabled his hearers to see better into their own weak, proud motivations (CHRYSOSTOM). By his quiet miracles, Jesus taught them freedom from ostentation (TERTULLIAN, CHRYSOSTOM). Pride is all too prone to make premature confession, while human frailty is slow to follow through thoroughly (MAXIMUS OF TURIN). Those who like foxes desire to hide their sins while stealing the fruits of others lack the grace of confession (MAXIMUS OF TURIN). He does not openly convict his interrogators who were up to mischief but rather replies to their secret thoughts, leaving it to themselves to realize they are convicted (CHRYSOSTOM). The worship of God requires putting God before all other things we think of as precious, even the ties of the family (CYRIL of ALEXANDRIA). Put to death what is earthly in you, as if you would cut off gangrenous flesh (ORIGEN). Jesus was not commanding sons and daughters to think lightly of the honor due to parents but rather signifying that nothing ought to be more urgent to us than the affairs of the kingdom of heaven. Do not let anything take first place over service to the coming reign of heaven (CHRYSOSTOM).

8:18 | Going to the Other Side

TRAINING IN SELF-CONSTRAINT

CHRYSOSTOM: Note once again his freedom from superficialities. He charged the devils not to disclose his identity. [1] He commanded the multitudes to depart. In doing so, he was training all his followers in self-constraint and teaching them to do nothing for display. At the same time he was silencing the envy of his detractors. He thereby showed that he was not a healer of bodies only but also of souls, and a teacher of forbearance. He demonstrated this by first healing their diseases and then by teaching them not to do anything merely for vanity’s sake. The crowds meanwhile were clinging to him, loving him, marveling at him, desiring to be with him. For who would want to depart from one who performed such miracles? Who would not long to linger there, even if it were only to glimpse his face and the mouth that was saying such things? THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 27.2. [2]

[1] As in Mk 1:34; Lk 4:41.

[2] PG 57:345-46; NPNF 1 10:185-86**.

CROSSING OVER TO DEEPER LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: But it is only to the disciples that Jesus “gave orders to cross over to the other side,” lest, from the crowds pressing about him, his disciples should be prevented from hearing those very teachings that were most appropriate for them. To the disciples he revealed God’s future mysteries more deeply than in the things that were spoken to the crowds only “in parables.” Only the disciples had left behind all present goods and followed him through love of learning. He commands them to cross over from temporary things to eternal things, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the carnal to the spiritual. FRAGMENT 97. [1]

[1] MKGK 183.

8:19 | A Scribe Promises to Follow Jesus

REVEALING THE HEART

CHRYSOSTOM: He does not openly convict those who were up to mischief. He replies to their secret thoughts, leaving it to themselves only to know they are convicted. … These were not the words of one who was turning his back on the scribe but rather of one who was making clear to the scribe his own proud disposition, even while yet permitting him, if he were willing to proceed, to follow him. After the scribe had heard Jesus’ convicting response and had been proven to be wholly unready for it, he did not then proceed to say, “I am ready to follow you.” Similarly there are many other places where Christ made this sort of subtle response. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 27.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:346-47; NPNF 1 10:186**.

THE PREMATURE CONFESSION

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: The scribe’s declaration is prompt indeed, but proud. The Lord was on his way toward his final suffering, descent into hell and ascent into heaven. Is human frailty really prepared to follow him “wherever he goes”? This is more a foolish presumption than a confession of faith. Later the Lord would say to the apostle Peter, when he thought that he would follow the Savior in every circumstance: “Where I am going you are not able to follow me now.” [1] And when Peter obstinately insisted and said that death would not separate him from [Jesus], he heard that he would deny the Lord three times. In this he was censured, as it were, for his pride. Thus the one who promised, while confessing Christ, that he would not be separated from him by death is cut off from fellowship with him by a little maidservant’s question. SERMONS 41.3. [2]

[1] Jn 13:36.

[2] CCL 23:165; ACW 50:102.

8:20 | Nowhere to Lay His Head

FOLLOW THE LORD’S PATTERN OF HUMILITY

TERTULLIAN: Joseph and Daniel served as slaves, but you are the slaves of no one, insofar as you share in those who serve Christ, who has freed you from the captivity of the world. You act after the Lord’s pattern. He walked in humility and obscurity. He had no definite home. “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” He is unadorned as to dress. He exercised no right of power even over his own followers. In short, though conscious of his own kingdom, he shrank back from being made a king. ON IDOLATRY 18.4-5. [1]

[1] CCL 2:1119; ANF 3:72-73*.

LIVING LIKE A FOX

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Every Christian who wishes to hide his sins is spiritually a fox. For just as the fox lives in a hidden place because of its deceit, so also the sinner conceals himself in dens, guarding silence because of his knowledge of his sins. Just as the fox does not dare to manifest the deceitfulness of its deeds in the midst of society, so also the sinner is ashamed to confess the wickedness of his life in the midst of the church. One is a fox who sets up a snare for his neighbor, who daily strives to nibble away at others’ property, steal their fruits and devour their animals and—what is common in our day—seize swine like wolves and not only chickens, as the foxes do. Although he is strong enough to live by his own labor, he prefers to take pillage like the madness of a wild beast. SERMONS 41.4. [1]

[1] CCL 23:166; ACW 50:103*.

8:21 | A Disciple Asks to Bury His Father

PUTTING GOD FIRST, EVEN BEFORE FAMILY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: In this place the question is raised as to whether the honor due God does not take precedence over the duty to honor one’s parents. When the two conflict, it is necessary to hold to the one and despise the other, [1] especially if honoring parents gets in the way of pleasing God. The worship of God requires putting God before all other things we think of as precious. In this way we will not, like Cain, be found relegating secondary things to God. In a similar way, the old law prohibited the priests from drawing near to dead bodies and commanded them to keep away even from services for their own family and not to succumb to excessive fleshly sympathy. [2] But while the law taught through shadows, Christ teaches in a way wholly transparent and undisguised. Whoever wishes to serve God must not let any ties of kinship become an excuse, on grounds of preoccupation, for not following Christ. Christ himself, for the benefit of those who were with him, even slighted his own mother and brothers, saying, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” and “Such a one is my mother.” [3] FRAGMENT 98. [4]

[1] See Mt 6:24.

[2] Lev 21:11.

[3] Mt 12:48, 50.

[4] MKGK 183-84.

8:22 | Let the Dead Bury the Dead

PUT TO DEATH WHAT IS EARTHLY IN YOU

ORIGEN: The statement “Let the dead bury their dead” implies spiritually: Waste no more time on dead things. You are to “put to death therefore what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.” [1] These things therefore are dead. Cast them away from you. Cut them off as you would cut off gangrenous flesh to prevent the contamination of the whole body, so that you may not hear it said, “Leave the dead [2] to bury their dead.” [3] But to some it seems abnormal and contradictory that the Savior does not allow the disciple to bury his father. It seems inhumane. But Jesus does not in fact forbid people from burying the dead, but rather he puts before this the preaching of the kingdom of heaven, which makes people alive. [4] As for burying the body, there were many people who could have done this. FRAGMENT 161. [5]

[1] Col 3:5.

[2] Or those who bear in themselves deadening sin.

[3] Mt 8:22.

[4] Lk 9:60.

[5] GCS 41.1:80.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

CHRYSOSTOM: Mark well the difference between the scribe who earlier had impudently blurted out, “I will follow you wherever you go” and the other one who was asking to do a sacred duty when he said, “Permit me first to go [bury my father].” Yet Jesus did not permit him, saying, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In both cases, Jesus was paying attention strictly to their inward intention. But one may ask, “Why was the latter not permitted?” Because on the one hand, there were plenty of others who could fulfill that duty. The dead person was not going to remain actually unburied. On the other hand, it appears that it was not fit for this particular person to be taken away from the more urgent matters required of him. … Was it not then, one may ask, extreme ingratitude to be absent from the burial of one’s own father? If indeed he did so out of negligence, it would have been ingratitude. But his departure would not have been considered fitting if it required interrupting a more urgent order of responsibility. So Jesus resisted him, not as if he were commanding him to think lightly of the honor due to parents, but signifying that nothing ought to be to us more urgent than the affairs of the kingdom of heaven. We ought with all diligence to cling to these and not to put them off in the slightest, though our engagements be exceedingly indispensable and pressing. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 27.3. [1]

[1] PG 57:347-48; NPNF 1 10:187**. Do not let anything take first place over service to the coming reign of heaven.