Homilies on First Corinthians

“How say you? Have I been stripped of every thing,” says one, “and do you bid me keep silent? Have I been shamefully used, and do you exhort me to bear it meekly? And how shall I be able?” Nay, but it is most easy if you will look up unto heaven; if you will behold the beauty that is in sight; and whither God has promised to receive you, if you bear wrong nobly. Do this then; and looking up unto the heaven, think that you are made like Him that sits there upon the Cherubim. For He also was injured and He bore it; He was reproached and avenged not Himself; and was beaten, yet He asserted not His cause. Nay, He made return, in the contrary kind, to those who did such things, even in benefits without number; and He commanded us to be imitators of Him. Consider that you came naked out of your mother's womb, and that naked both you and he that has done you wrong shall depart; rather, he for his part, with innumerable wounds, breeding worms. Consider that things present are but for a season; count over the tombs of your ancestors; acquaint yourself accurately with past events; and you shall see that the wrong-doer has made you stronger. For his own passion he has aggravated, his covetousness I mean; but yours, he has alleviated, taking away the food of the wild beast. And besides all this, he has set you free from cares, agony, envy, informers, trouble, worry, perpetual fear; and the foul mass of evils he has heaped upon his own head.

“What then,” says one, “if I have to struggle with hunger?” You endure this with Paul, who says, “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked.” But he did it, you will say, “for God's sake:” do it also for God's sake. For when you abstain from avenging, you do so for God's sake.

“But he that wronged me, takes his pleasure with the wealthy.” Nay, rather with the devil. But be you crowned with Paul.

Therefore fear not hunger, for “the Lord will not kill with hunger the souls of the righteous.” And again, another says, “Cast upon the Lord your care, and He will nourish you.” For if the sparrows of the field are nourished by Him, how shall He not nourish you? Now let us not be of little faith nor of little soul, O my beloved! For He who has promised the kingdom of heaven and such great blessings, how shall He not give things present? Let us not covet superfluous things, but let us keep to a sufficiency, and we shall always be rich. Let shelter be what we seek and food, and we shall obtain all things; both these, and such as are far greater.

But if you are still grieving and bowing down, I should like to show you the soul of the wrongdoer after his victory, how it has become ashes. For truly sin is that kind of thing: while one commits it, it affords a certain pleasure; but when it is finished, then the trifling pleasure is gone, one knows not how, and in its place comes dejection. And this is our feeling when we do hurt to any: afterwards, at any rate, we condemn ourselves. So also when we over-reach we have pleasure; but afterwards we are stung by conscience. Do you see in any one's possession some poor man's home? Weep not for him that is spoiled, but for the spoiler: for he has not inflicted, but sustained an evil. For he robbed the other of things present; but himself he cast out of the blessings which cannot be uttered. For if he who gives not to the poor shall go away into hell; what shall he suffer who takes the goods of the poor?

“Yet,” says one, “where is the gain, if I suffer ill?” Indeed, the gain is great. For not of the punishment of him that has done you harm does God frame a compensation for you: since that would be no great thing. For what great good is it, if I suffer ill and he suffer ill? And yet I know of many, who consider this the greatest comfort, and who think they have got all back again, when they see those who had insulted them undergoing punishment. But God does not limit His recompense to this.

Would you then desire to know in earnest how great are the blessings which await you? He opens for you the whole heaven; He makes you a fellow-citizen with the Saints; He fits you to bear a part in their choir: from sins He absolves; with righteousness He crowns. For if such as forgive offenders shall obtain forgiveness, those who not only forgive but who also give largely to boot, what blessing shall they not inherit?

Therefore, bear it not with a poor spirit, but even pray for him that injured you. It is for yourself that you do this. Has he taken your money? Well: he took your sins too: which was the case with Naaman and Gehazi. How much wealth would you not give to have your iniquities forgiven you? This, believe me, is the case now. For if you endure nobly and curse not, you have bound on you a glorious crown. It is not my word, but you have heard Christ speaking, “Pray for those that despitefully use you.” And consider the reward how great! “That ye may be like your Father which is in the heavens.” So then you have been deprived of nothing, yea, you have been a gainer: you have received no wrongs, rather you have been crowned; in that you have become better disciplined in soul; are made like to God; are set free from the care of money; are made possessor of the kingdom of heaven.

All these things therefore taking into account, let us restrain ourselves in injuries, beloved, in order that we may both be freed from the tumult of this present life, and cast out all unprofitable sadness of spirit, and may obtain the joy to come; through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, power, honor, now, henceforth, and for ever and ever. Amen.