Discourse on the Pharisee

When a child-loving father feels a strong desire to talk with his dear children, and yet, due to their infancy, they are not able to hear and understand perfect speeches, then the father, changing his voice and abandoning the purity of correct speech, begins to babble with them, in this way of conversation preparing his favorites for a more reasonable use of words. In exactly the same way, our Lord, out of His great love for His creation, being God the Word, took upon Himself the human word and came to us in order to teach us through His conversation and presence among us and, having given us heavenly revelation, to lead us up the heavenly ladder, i.e. on the ladder of hope. Behold, the Pharisee invites Him to his supper, as we just heard in the gospel we read, and He does not shy away from this invitation, because He came not to show the dignity of His deity, but to deliver fallen humanity from the underworld. He is invited to supper with the Pharisee and does not refuse, in order to teach the rich not to despise the meal of the poor, and to admonish the righteous not to disdain the meal of sinners. After all, many, considering themselves righteous, abhor the meals of sinners, just as the rich, in turn, neglect treating the poor. And so the Lord, wanting everyone to be friendly, brotherly, loving and humble, is the first to set an example in order to teach everyone by His act. That is why He says: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). So you, zealot of piety, do not refuse if some sinner invites you to his place. And if someone begins to reproach you why you eat and drink with sinners, then answer: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12); I am righteous - not in order to save the righteous, but in order to convert sinners. The Lord is invited to the supper and does not refuse - He, who fed five thousand in the desert with five loaves of bread to satiety, dried up the impassable sea and led Israel through it as if through a green meadow, and from heaven rained down for them manna, which shone with a snow-white sheen all day long. The Lord is invited to the supper and does not refuse, at the evening teaching His best instructions to those who treated Him; Of course, He came to the supper not in order to be satisfied with the Pharisee’s treat, but in order to nourish the Pharisee himself with divine teaching. He is invited to a supper - and goes to the house of the Pharisee, covering the deity with humanity, so that, having suddenly seen the ray of deity flashing, the one who invited Him would not run away from the house. He enters the house of the Pharisee - the heavenly King to the slave - and covers His royal dignity with a bodily shell, like armor, so that the slave does not shudder when he sees the heavenly King and buries himself in the ground. The Sun of Truth enters the house of the Pharisee, covering the golden brilliance of His rays with a cloud of his body, so as not to blind the person who has fixed his eyes on Him. The heavenly Shepherd enters the house of the Pharisee: leaving ninety-nine sheep in the mountains, He comes for the lost one; enters His courtyard, hiding the Shepherd in the body of a lamb. He does not carry with Him a staff, not a rod, threatening for a previous error, so that the already timid and frightened sheep will not be forced to flee again from its Shepherd. In a word, He enters the Pharisee's house not as God, not as a King, not as the Sun of righteousness, but as man to man, as sheep to sheep. He is under the same roof with him, grazes with him, sits together, enters, lies down with the fallen already because of sin, in order to resurrect the fallen by reclining together. And He entered without the washing required by the customs of the Pharisees. He did this for two reasons: firstly, to give the sheep a reason to speak against the Shepherd, and secondly, to show the inconsistency of the Jewish teaching and to establish the spiritual. The Pharisee saw this, says the evangelist, i.e., that the Lord began the evening without washing, and was surprised, not approving of the Teacher, but doubting what had happened, not approving, not condemning. And it was necessary to see, beloved, the Creator condemned by His creation, the potter taught by clay. The Pharisee experienced this, not seeing with the secret eyes of his heart the Supreme Lord of the Angels in his guest. And if he had seen Him, then he would have fallen at His knees, washed His feet with tears and said: “Be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Of course, he would then say: You called everything from non-existence to being; By Thy word the heavens were established, and by the spirit of Thy mouth was all their power built. Thou hast gathered up, as it were, the waters of the sea in a bag, shutting them up in the treasuries of the deep; The whole universe trembles at you (Ps. 33:8). But without thinking or saying anything like that, he condemned the Lord. The Lord himself gave him a reason for such condemnation, just as the Samaritan woman, by asking her for water, gave him a reason to ask Him for heavenly water (John 4:9). So, gradually the Lord begins to convert the sheep and lead it from error to the truth. “Now you Pharisees,” He says, “cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). That is: now you cleanse the body, the vessel, if inside it is filled with deadly drink? Are these not the kind of harlots who paint their faces with colors and plunge their souls into darkness? But by painting their faces purple, are they not preparing with their own fingers images of the fire that awaits them? They should have sprinkled their hearts with the blood of Jesus, or better yet, dyed them pink, and whitened their hearts with the spirit, so that the color of their soul would be distinguished by its brilliance like a rose among the lilies. Instead, they set their faces on fire to inflame the hearts of the young men to madness. “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and deceit.” As if He were saying this: why do you wash the body with water, but do not correct the shortcomings of the soul? I also dare to say, beloved, that there will be no benefit to a person from bodily washing if the purity of the body is not matched by the purity of his soul, if it is not accompanied by alms. Indeed, just as a vessel, washed both inside and out, but not filled with drink, cannot quench the thirst of a thirsty person, just like a dish, so a person, even if he were completely clean both inside and out, will not be acceptable to the Lord if he does not feed someone like himself. Therefore, the Lord added: “Better to give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you” (Luke 11:41). “What do you have”, because rich offerings are not as pleasing to Him as an unfeigned and sincere sacrifice. Do not be sad, poor man, that you have neither gold nor piles of silver; throw into the treasury what you have: and two mites justify. Remember the sacrifice of that widow who was justified more than the rich donors. After all, God, of course, does not monitor the weight of money, but tests his conscience. Alms cleanses the impurities of the soul and prepares blessings as a reward; almsgiving is an urgent need for the soul, almsgiving whitens souls, almsgiving is encouragement for the soul, the best weapon for it. Throw in gold and you get the Lord; give silver and receive sanctification; squander the honey - and with it you will lose the poison of sin; turn the fire into dew and distribute garments, so that you may put on Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and classified in the Minya edition as Spuria.