Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 15
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] Those who call the prophets blessed, and who by calling them blessed pray to have their portion with the prophets, gather from the prophetic words the choicest features of their prophecy. Seeking, then, they might be persuaded—if they should live according to these things (even if it should turn out hard for them in this life to imitate the prophetic life)—that they will attain rest and blessedness together with the prophets. Now it is possible from many sources to gather the choice qualities of the prophets: their freedom, their vigor, their wakefulness, their alertness—that they were not anxious when they found themselves in dire circumstances, because of their freedom, their only concern being to reprove, to convert, as prophets do, by speaking the word of God with boldness, rebuking the sinners, even though those being reproved seemed to have great power. But even if it is possible to do this from every source, let us look also at the passages read today.
The prophet reproved many, and the prophet spoke to many; for he indeed lived among people who had become sinners, as is clear from the fact that the captivity occurred in his days. Having reproved many, and being judged by many, he utters words of this kind.
[§2] For first let us look at it from the prophetic word, and then also according to the anagogical sense, if we first take up the vigor and freedom and power and boldness of a prophet. "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a man—one contending in judgment and disputed with in all the earth!" O mother, why have you borne me a man contending in judgment against all who are upon the earth, and being disputed with against all who are upon the earth? For it was set before this prophet, and before Isaiah, and before the rest, to fulfill the prophetic office: to teach, to reprove, and to convert. It was therefore set before this prophet also to distinguish, to reprove, being able to contend in judgment and to be contended with among the sinners, to reprove the sins of the people. And as for all that the members of the people did to them, what need is there even to speak of it? One they stoned, one they sawed asunder, one they killed "between the temple and the altar," and this one, when he reproved them, they threw into a pit of mire. And above all our Savior did this, and better indeed than they, inasmuch as he is Lord of the prophets. For indeed, though he himself was scourged and crucified and handed over by the Jews or by the teachers of the Jews and the ruler of the people, he said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites"; and he adds in each case "woe" and "because of this" such-and-such and such-and-such. Let us therefore also, if we are eager for the beatitudes of the prophets, do these same things, so that, because of speaking and because of being brought to judgment against many people, we too may say, "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a man—one contending in judgment and disputed with in all the earth!"
[§3] This prophetic saying can more properly be referred to the Savior. For grant that the prophet says this—but he will not say it truly, but perhaps hyperbolically; for he was not disputed with against all the earth. But if I come to my Savior and Lord, and especially because of "he shall come to judgment" and "so that you may be justified in your words, and may prevail when you are judged," I shall see that my Savior and Lord is going to stand before the Father, being judged together with all of us human beings. And he is judged together with all human beings. I say: he is judged, he too is examined, and he stood as one vindicating the truth, yet not as an accuser. "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a man—one contending in judgment and disputed with in all the earth!" A prophet cannot say "in all the earth."
But some who love our Lord grow indignant and say that it is not the Savior who speaks, that the voice is not fitting for the Son of God. But it must be shown that "Woe is me, mother" is not foreign to the Son of God. "My soul is sorrowful even unto death," and "My soul is troubled," and, like the things said in the prophets, so also here: "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a man—one contending in judgment and disputed with in all the earth"; or when the gleaning has perished so as to find no cluster: "Woe is me, soul, for the devout man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men." Who is it there that says, "Woe is me, for I have become as one gathering stubble at harvest"? For did the prophet gather, and does he wish to gather? Does the prophet indeed possess a field? But it belongs to no one to gather all things from the harvest and from what is sown, except to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since, then, there are many falls among the nations, but also among us, speaking of the sins he says, "Woe is me, for I have become as one gathering stubble." Let each of us examine himself: is he an ear of grain? Will the Son of God find in him anything to gather or to reap? We shall find that some of us are blasted by the wind; and even if we still have a little, two or three grains within ourselves, our sins upon us are many. Seeing, then, also the churches that bear the name, filled with sinners, he says, "Woe is me, for I have become as one gathering stubble at harvest and as a gleaning at vintage." He came seeking fruit on the vine; for each of us is planted . . . and as a vine "in a fertile place," and "he brought over a vine out of Egypt," "but I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly a true one." He comes, he seeks somehow to gather the vintage; he finds a certain gleaning and a few clusters, neither flourishing nor many. Which of us has clusters of virtue? Which of us has offspring of God? "O Lord our God, how wonderful is your name in all the earth."
[§4] Let these things be said by me as it were in a digression upon "Woe is me, mother." That it is not foreign to the divinity of our Savior, who beholds the sins of men, now to say "woe"—the Savior speaking not insofar as he is God but insofar as he is man, not insofar as he is Wisdom but insofar as he is soul—I adduced that prophetic saying: "Woe is me, soul, for the devout man has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men." The blessed soul came into human life, took up a body on behalf of men. If it sees the sins, it says to the Father, "What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to corruption? Shall the dust confess to you?" But let him not say "woe" over us; let the angels of heaven not say "woe" over us. When our Savior says "woe," they too will say "woe"; for they are not better than our Savior, and they too see our faults. But blessed are those over whom the angels will not say "woe," but are called blessed; for "there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who have no need of repentance." Let these things be said by way of consolation. "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a one!" What mother does he mean? Among women, can he not mean both the soul and Mary? But if anyone accepts the saying, "Just now my mother the Holy Spirit took me, and carried me up to the great mountain, Tabor," and what follows, he can see his mother. "Woe is me, mother, that you have borne me such a man—one contending in judgment and disputed with in all the earth!" He is contended with in all the earth and disputed with, and he is going to say to each one: I did such-and-such, and my dispensation performed such-and-such, and for your salvation I endured. When the Savior says these things, what shall we do? For he is going to be disputed with in all the earth.
[§5] I wish to look at what follows. It can be referred, according to one interpretation, both to the prophet and to the Savior. Let us look also at what follows: "I have not been in debt, nor has anyone been in debt to me." "The ruler of this world comes, but he has nothing in me." And truly he was not in debt. But each of us is a debtor by his sins, and is a debtor holding a bond of indebtedness. After his bond was wiped out, † how many bonds have they made? "He who committed no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," made no bond. But what of "no one has been in debt to me"? How shall we interpret, in the case of the Savior, "no one has been in debt to me"? Even if we read it thus, yet one must also know that the majority of the copies of the edition of the Seventy do not have it thus, and later, examining also the remaining editions, we recognized that it is a scribal error. And yet to me "not even one"; so that "not even one" was in debt to him—he forgave all men their debts. "There were two debtors to a certain creditor: one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty. When they had nothing to repay, he freely forgave them both." Do you wish to see the two debtors, the one owing the five hundred and the one owing the fifty? From two peoples they have believed in God: the people from the Jews, disbelieving in Christ, owes the fifty; and perhaps we from the nations, who had become the most impious of all, owe the five hundred—concerning whom is also said what is said about that harlot who repented. And yet someone might say, how are the five hundred referred to her? From the words "and what sort of woman it is who is touching him," to which he said to Simon, "There were two debtors to a certain creditor. One owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty," and what follows. These things because of "I have not been in debt, nor has anyone been in debt to me," which it was necessary to set before you. "I have not been in debt, nor has anyone been in debt to me; my strength has failed among those who curse me." For even if "he died from weakness, yet he lives from the power of God."
[§6] Then, since many words have been gone through, there was indeed something to say about each of the things spoken, but time does not allow, as it presses upon us. Let us therefore speak on the passage read next: "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." From this †, against those who suppose that the Son of God, the Savior, was but a man of God (for they dared, along with many of the evils of men, to say this also, that "the only-begotten," "the firstborn of all creation," is not God); for "cursed is he who has his hope on man." It is clear that they are cursed who have their hope on man. I would say that I do not have my hope on man, since, hoping on Christ Jesus, I do not know a man. Not only do I not know a man, but I know Wisdom, righteousness-itself, a man through whom "all things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, whether visible or invisible, whether principalities or authorities." "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." Even if the Savior bears witness that the one he wore was a man—yet even if he was a man, still now he is by no means a man. For "even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer," says the apostle. I, through him, am no longer a man, if I follow his words; but he says, "I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." Therefore, just as he is "the firstborn from the dead," so he has become the firstborn of all men, having been transformed into God. "Cursed," then, "is the man who has his hope on man, and will make the flesh of his arm his support"—whoever ratifies the things of the flesh, whoever acquires bodily strength and wages war according to the flesh. But the holy man is not so; for "he does not make the flesh of his arm his support," since he "always" bears "the dying of Jesus in his body," and he mortifies "the members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness." Having mortified these, he "does not make the flesh of his arm his support." "Cursed is he who has his hope on man." And at the same time this is against those who hope in dignities of rank. So-and-so is my friend, a centurion; he is a procurator; so-and-so is my friend and is rich and provides for me. Then to such a one also this is said: "Cursed is the man who has his hope on man." On no man do we hope, even if they seem to be our friends; for we hope not on them but on our Lord, who is Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.