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048 - Homily 29 Part 2 - Romans 1514 · Homilies on Romans

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  Speaker 1: Section forty eight of Homilies on Romans by John Chrysostom,
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  Speaker 1: translated by J. B. Morris. This Librivan's recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Homily twenty nine, Part two, Romans fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: verse fourteen. For beyond everything else, this is what the
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  Speaker 1: teacher ought to have. Wherefore, also to Peter christ saith,
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  Speaker 1: if thou lovest me feed my sheep? And Moses too
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  Speaker 1: did he then set over the people of the Jews
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  Speaker 1: when he had shown a kindly feeling towards them. And David,
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  Speaker 1: in this way came to be king, having been first
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  Speaker 1: seen to be affectionately minded towards them. So much indeed,
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  Speaker 1: though yet young, did he grieve for the people as
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  Speaker 1: to risk his life for them when he killed that barbarian.
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  Speaker 1: But if he said, what shall be done to the
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  Speaker 1: man that killeth this philistine? He said it not in
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  Speaker 1: order to demand a reward, but out of a wish
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  Speaker 1: to have confidence placed in himself and to have the
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  Speaker 1: battle with him delivered to his charge. And therefore when
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  Speaker 1: he came to the king after the victory, he said
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  Speaker 1: nothing of these things. And Samuel too was very affectionate
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  Speaker 1: whence it was that he said, But God forbid that
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  Speaker 1: I should sin in ceasing to pray unto the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: For you in like way, Paul also, or rather not
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  Speaker 1: in like way, but even in a far greater degree,
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  Speaker 1: boned towards all his subjects. Wherefore he made his disciples
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  Speaker 1: of such affection towards himself that he said, if it
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  Speaker 1: were possible, he would have pulled out your eyes and
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  Speaker 1: given them to me. On this ground too, it is
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  Speaker 1: that God charges the teachers of the Jews above all
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  Speaker 1: things with this, saying, Oh, shepherds of Israel. Do shepherds
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  Speaker 1: feed themselves? Do they not feed the flock? But they
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  Speaker 1: did the reverse. For he says, ye eat the milk
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  Speaker 1: and clothe you with the wool, and ye kill them
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  Speaker 1: that are fed, But ye feed not the flock. And
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  Speaker 1: Christ in bringing out the rule for the fittest Pastor, said,
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  Speaker 1: the good shepherd layeth down his life for his sheep.
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  Speaker 1: This David did also both on sundry other occasions, and
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  Speaker 1: also when the fearful wrath from above came down upon
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  Speaker 1: the whole people. For while all were being slain, he said,
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  Speaker 1: I the shepherd have sinned, I the shepherd have done amiss.
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  Speaker 1: And these the flock what have they done? And so
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  Speaker 1: in the choice of those punishments, also he chose not
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  Speaker 1: famine nor flight before enemies, but the pestilence sent by
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  Speaker 1: a guard, whereby he hoped to place all the others
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  Speaker 1: in safety, but that he should himself, in preference to
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  Speaker 1: all the rest, be carried off. But since this was
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  Speaker 1: not so, he bewails and says, on me be thy hand,
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  Speaker 1: or if this be not enough, on my father's house.
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  Speaker 1: Also for I, he says, the shepherd have sinned, as
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  Speaker 1: though he had said that if they also sinned, I
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  Speaker 1: was the person who should suffer the vengeance, as I
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  Speaker 1: corrected them. Not, but since the sin is mine, also
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  Speaker 1: it is I who deserved to suffer the vengeance. For
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  Speaker 1: wishing to increase their crime, he used the name of shepherd.
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  Speaker 1: Thus then he stayed the plague. Thus he got the
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  Speaker 1: sentence revoked. So great is the power of confession, for
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  Speaker 1: the righteous is his own accuser. First, this is the
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  Speaker 1: concern and sympathy of a good pastor. For his bowels
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  Speaker 1: were writhed at their falling, as when one's own children
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  Speaker 1: are killed. And on this ground he begged that the
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  Speaker 1: wrath might come upon himself. And in the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the slaughter. He would have done this unless he had
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  Speaker 1: seen it advancing, and hoped that it would come to himself.
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  Speaker 1: When therefore he saw that this did not happen, but
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  Speaker 1: that the calamity was raging among them, he no longer Forbore,
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  Speaker 1: but was touched more than for Amnon, his first born.
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  Speaker 1: For then he did not ask for death, but now
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  Speaker 1: he begged to fall in preference to the others. Such
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  Speaker 1: ought a ruler to be, and to grieve rather at
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  Speaker 1: the calamities of others than his own. Some such thing
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  Speaker 1: he suffered in his son's case, likewise, that he might
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  Speaker 1: see that he did not love his son more than
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  Speaker 1: his subjects. And yet the youth was unchaste and an
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  Speaker 1: ill user of his father. And still he said, would
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  Speaker 1: that I might have died for thee? What sayest thou
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  Speaker 1: thou blessed one, thou meekest of all men, thy son
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  Speaker 1: were set upon killing thee and compass thee about with
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  Speaker 1: ills unnumbered. And when he had been removed and the
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  Speaker 1: trophy was raised, dost thou then pray to be slain? Yea,
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  Speaker 1: he says, for it is not for me that the
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  Speaker 1: army has been victorious. But I am warred against more
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  Speaker 1: violently than before, and my bowels are now more torn
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  Speaker 1: than before. These, however, were all thoughtful for those committed
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  Speaker 1: to their charge by the blessed. Abraham concern himself much
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  Speaker 1: even for those who were not entrusted to him, and
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  Speaker 1: so much so as even to throw himself amongst alarming dangers,
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  Speaker 1: for in that it was not for his nephew only
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  Speaker 1: that he did what he did, but for the people
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  Speaker 1: of Sodom. Also he did not leave, driving those persons
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  Speaker 1: before him until he had set them all free. And
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  Speaker 1: yet he might have departed after he had taken him,
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  Speaker 1: yet he did not choose it, for he had the
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  Speaker 1: like concern for all, and this he showed likewise by
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  Speaker 1: his subsequent conduct. When then it was not a host
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  Speaker 1: of barbarians that was on the point of laying siege
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  Speaker 1: to them, but the wrath of God that was about
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  Speaker 1: to pluck their cities up from their foundations. And it
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  Speaker 1: was no longer the time for arms and battle and array,
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  Speaker 1: but for supplication. So great was the zeal he showed
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  Speaker 1: for them, as if he himself had been on the
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  Speaker 1: point of perishing. For this reason he comes once twice
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  Speaker 1: thrice ay and many times to God, and finds a
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  Speaker 1: refuge in his nature by saying, I am dust and ashes.
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  Speaker 1: And since he saw that there were traitors to themselves,
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  Speaker 1: he begs that they may be saved for others. Wherefore
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  Speaker 1: also God said, I will not hide from Abraham, my servant,
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  Speaker 1: that thing which I am about to do, that we
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  Speaker 1: might learn how loving to man the righteous is. And
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  Speaker 1: he would not have left off beseeching unless God had
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  Speaker 1: left off first. And he seems indeed to be praying
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  Speaker 1: for the just, but is doing the whole for them.
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  Speaker 1: For the souls of the saints are very gentle and
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  Speaker 1: loving unto man, both in regard to their own and
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  Speaker 1: to strangers, and even to the unreasoning creatures they extend
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  Speaker 1: their gentleness. Wherefore, also a certain wise man said, the
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  Speaker 1: Righteous pitieth the souls of his cattle. But if he
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  Speaker 1: doth those of cattle, even, how much more those of men.
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  Speaker 1: But since I have mentioned cattle, let us just consider
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  Speaker 1: the shepherds of the sheep who are in the Cappadocian land,
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  Speaker 1: and what they suffer in kind and degree in their
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  Speaker 1: guardianship of unreasoning creatures. They often stay for three days
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  Speaker 1: together buried down under the snows, and those in Libya
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  Speaker 1: are said to undergo no less hardships than these, ranging
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  Speaker 1: about for whole months through the wilderness, dreary as it is,
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  Speaker 1: and filled with the direst wild beasts. Now, if for
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  Speaker 1: unreasonable things there be so much zeal, what defense are
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  Speaker 1: we to set up, who are entrusted with reasonable souls,
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  Speaker 1: and yet slumber on in this deep sleep? For it
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  Speaker 1: is right to be at rest and inquiet, and not
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  Speaker 1: to be running about everywhere and giving one's self up
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  Speaker 1: to endless deaths in behalf of these sheep? Or know
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  Speaker 1: you not the dignity of this flock? Was it not
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  Speaker 1: for this that thy master took endless pain and afterwards
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  Speaker 1: poured forth his blood. And dost thou seek for rest? Now?
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  Speaker 1: What can be worse than these shepherds? Dost thou not
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  Speaker 1: perceive that they stand round about these sheep wolves much
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  Speaker 1: more fierce and savage than those of this world. Dost
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  Speaker 1: thou not think with thyself what a soul he ought
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  Speaker 1: to have? Who is to take in hand this office? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Men that lead the populace, if they have but common
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  Speaker 1: matters to deliberate on add days to nights, in watching
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  Speaker 1: and we that are struggling in Heaven's behalf sleep even
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  Speaker 1: in the daytime. And who is now to deliver us
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  Speaker 1: from the punishment for these things? For if the body
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  Speaker 1: were to be cut in pieces, if to undergo ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand deaths ought one not to run to it as
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  Speaker 1: to a feast. And let not the shepherds only but
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  Speaker 1: the sheep also hear this, that they may make the
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  Speaker 1: shepherds the more active minded, that they may the more
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  Speaker 1: encourage their good will, if by nothing else, at least
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  Speaker 1: by yielding all compliance and obedience. Thus Paul also bade them, saying,
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  Speaker 1: obey them which have the rule over you, and submit yourselves,
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  Speaker 1: for they watch for your souls, as they that must
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  Speaker 1: give account. And when he says watch, he means thousands
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  Speaker 1: of labors, cares, and dangers. For the good shepherd, who
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  Speaker 1: is such as Christ wisheth, for is contending before countless witnesses.
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  Speaker 1: For he died once for him, But this man ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand times for the flock, if that is, he can
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  Speaker 1: be such a shepherd as he ought to be, for
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  Speaker 1: such an one can die every day. And therefore do ye,
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  Speaker 1: as being acquainted with what the labor is, co operate
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  Speaker 1: with them, with prayers, with zeal, with readiness, with affection,
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  Speaker 1: that both we may have to boast of you and
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  Speaker 1: you of us. For on this ground he intrusted this
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  Speaker 1: to the chief of the Apostles, who also loved him
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  Speaker 1: more than the rest, after first asking him if he
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  Speaker 1: was loved by him, that thou mayst learn that this,
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  Speaker 1: before other things, is held as a proof of love
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  Speaker 1: to him, For this requireth a vigorous soul. This I
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  Speaker 1: have said of the best shepherds, not of myself and
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  Speaker 1: those of our days, but of any one that may be,
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  Speaker 1: such as Paul was, such as Peter, such as more these.
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  Speaker 1: Then let us imitate both the rulers of us and
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  Speaker 1: the ruled, For the ruled may in turn be a
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  Speaker 1: shepherd of his family, of his friends, of his servant,
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  Speaker 1: of his wife, of his children. And if we so
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  Speaker 1: order our affairs, we shall attain to all manner of
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  Speaker 1: good things, which guard grant that we may all attain
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  Speaker 1: unto by the grace and love towards man et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: End of Section forty eight