Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 18
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] There are two visions of Jeremiah that have just been read, one following the other. The former of these contains what concerns the clay vessel in the potter's hand, which admits of restoration after being broken (for it is possible for it to be remolded); but the other vision contains what concerns the earthen jug, which, once shattered, admits of no cure. For when it was clay, if it was broken — even if it had already been given its shape — since it was clay, it was possible for it to become a second lump and to be fashioned a second time; but when, after being clay, it has already become earthenware and has been hardened by fire, then it was not possible, after the shattering of the earthenware, for any cure to come to it. What, then, these things intend, let us first consider by way of reflection, and then, if it be granted, let us examine them according to the letter. As long as we are in this life, we are being shaped — that I may so name it, on account of our clay vessel — in a potter's fashion, and we are shaped either according to vice or according to virtue. Yet we are shaped in such a way as to admit both that our vice may be shattered, so that a new and better creature may come to be, and that our progress may be dissolved after its shaping into a clay vessel. But when, after the present age, we arrive, having come to the end of life, and then, once fired — whether by the fire of the flaming darts of the evil one we become whatever we become, or by the divine fire (since indeed "our God is a consuming fire") — if, I say, we come to be under such or such a fire, whatever we become, if we are shattered, whether we were shattered and have perished from having become good vessels, or from having become wretched vessels, we are not created anew, nor does our structure admit of improvement. For this reason, as long as we are here, being as it were in the potter's hand, even if the vessel falls from his hands, it admits of cure and of being created anew. Let this much, then, be said somewhat more readily at hand, before we examine in argument what remains, concerning the two kinds of vessels: the clay one, not yet turned to potsherd, and the second, which has already become a potsherd.
[§2] But let us look, from the wording itself, at what is said about the clay vessel in the potter's hand, and how the very Word in the prophet, the Lord who prophesies in him, gives occasions — and others not slight — for the interpretation of the things concerning the molded thing in the potter's hand. "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Arise and go down to the house of the potter." Jeremiah is above; he has ascended beyond the clay vessels. The clay vessels are below, and the nature that governs the clay vessels, condescending together with the things governed, is below. For this reason the word spoken to Jeremiah from the Lord says to him: "Arise and go down to the house of the potter, and there you shall hear my words." To Moses it is said, "Go up onto the mountain and hear"; to Jeremiah it is said, "Go down to the house of the potter and hear." For each of those who hear a word is either taught about the things above or learns about the things below. If I am taught the lower things, I descend by the word, that I may see the lower things; but if I learn the higher things, I ascend by the word to the higher things, that I may behold the things there.
But that all of you, so far as you are able, may follow along for yourselves with what is being said, I shall use an example, and one from Scripture, and in addition to the example I shall set forth a clarity that brings light to the interpretation that has been given. "In the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things heavenly and things earthly and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is unto the glory of God the Father." And there is a certain wisdom concerning each of these: a wisdom concerning the heavenly things, how the heavenly things are ordered; a wisdom concerning the things under the earth, since there is a wisdom of God also concerning the ordering of the things under the earth, and likewise concerning the earthly things. If I am going to have room for the wisdom concerning the heavenly things, I ascend to the heavenly things, as Moses ascended to the summit of the mountain, that the voice from heaven might become audible to him, according to what is written. For he was about to be taught heavenly forms of worship; for there was a shadow and a representation of heavenly mysteries in the laws of worship that have been recorded, as the apostle taught, saying: "who serve a representation and shadow of the heavenly things." As, then, when I am about to be taught concerning the heavenly things I ascend, so, if there be need for me to learn about the things under the earth, even should I become a prophet, I descend. And perhaps for this reason Samuel, when he was taught the things under the earth, went down below and came to be in Hades — not being judged so as to be in Hades, but that he might become a spy and a beholder of the mysteries of the things under the earth. Such too can be the things said by the apostle concerning wisdom, distinguished by the knowing of "what is the breadth and length and depth and height." You are going to know the height: you ascend by the word to the height; you are going to know the things between the height and the depth: you know the breadth and the length. Everywhere, guided by the word that teaches concerning all things, the mind that is able to follow the Son of God reaches. And it follows by renouncing the world and taking up the cross; for he is able to follow Jesus who is able to say: "to me the world has been crucified, and I to the world."
It was needful to explain the "Go down to the house of the potter, and there you shall hear my words." For it was needful to compare it with the "Go up and you shall hear my words." For of those who hear, some ascend that they may be taught — and they ascend not altogether bodily; while others descend and yet keep the soul above, in order to see the loftiest word concerning the lowest things. My Lord Jesus Christ himself both ascended and descended; "for he who ascended is himself also the one who descended above all the heavens." If, then, you too are going to understand the one who ascended most high as the word concerning the highest things, and the one who descended into the lowest things as him who teaches concerning the lowest things, "do not say: Who shall ascend into heaven? — that is, to bring Christ down; or, Who shall descend into the abyss? — that is, to bring Christ [up. Or, Who shall descend into the abyss? — that is, to bring Christ] up from the dead. But what does the Scripture say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart," through which you ascend into heaven. And concerning the ascent, "the word is near you," and concerning the lowest things, "the word is near you"; for what else than the word that is everywhere can the holy one have within himself? For "the kingdom of heaven is within you."
[§3] The prophet, then, goes down to the house of the potter and recounts what he beheld, saying: "And behold, he was doing a work upon his hands, and the vessel which he was making of the clay fell apart in his hands; and again he made it into another vessel, as it pleased him to make it." But I do not know what the prophet saw when he came to the potter. For he saw the potter working; the vessel that had been made was of clay; the vessel fell apart. Why did he not say precisely: he let the vessel go out of his hand — nor did he lay the cause upon the potter? But since the word is about ensouled vessels, which fall apart of themselves, for this reason it is said: "the vessel fell apart from his hands." Take heed, then, to yourself as well, lest, while being in the potter's hand and still being molded, you fall apart from his hands by your own doing. For "no one snatches out of his hands," according to what is said in the Gospel according to John. Yet it is not written that, as no one snatches, so no one falls apart out of his hands; for free will is free. And I say: no one shall snatch out of the shepherd's hand, no one is able to take us out of God's hand; but we ourselves, by being negligent, are able to fall apart from his hands.
[§4] "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Shall I not be able to do to you as the potter, O house of Israel? says the Lord." Each one understands the things written according to his ability, the one more superficially, as though drawing his understanding from them from a surface spring, the other more deeply, as one drawing up from a well. And both can be helped, since the same thing is for one a spring and for the other a well. The Gospel bears witness, when it recounts the things concerning the Samaritan woman; for there the same thing is named "spring" and "well," and in turn it is sometimes called a spring and sometimes a well. Let him who is able take note, that he may know that the same thing in its substance is for the superficial one a spring, but for the deeper one a well. This is for me a preface to the account that is coming, concerning the clay vessel that fell apart from the potter's hand and was again molded. Some have viewed these things more simply and have understood them. I shall set before you their account and interpretation; after this, if we have anything deeper, this too we shall recount. It is possible, they say, that here the things concerning the resurrection are indicated. For if the clay vessel fell apart from the potter's hands, and from the same material of the same clay he makes "it into another vessel as it pleased him before him," then the potter — God — of our bodies, the Craftsman of our structure, when this falls apart and is shattered
for whatever cause, is able to take it up and renew it and make it a more beautiful and better "other vessel, as it pleased him before him to make."
Let this account too have its charm.
[§5] But let us hear the Lord himself recounting and saying: "Shall I not be able to do to you as the potter, O house of Israel? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay of the potter, so are you in my hands. At the end I will speak against a nation and a kingdom, to remove them and to destroy them; and that nation shall turn from their evils of which I spoke against it, and I will repent of the evils which I purposed to do to them. And at the end I will speak concerning a nation and a kingdom, to build it up and to plant it, and they shall do wicked things before me, so as not to hear my voice, and I will repent concerning the good things which I said I would do to them, says the Lord." This concerning the house of the potter we see to be referred not to any of the individuals, but to two nations; for, beginning, he says that he is going to speak about nations, that he may suggest something to those able to hear hidden mysteries: "At the end I will speak against a nation." Seek both the end and the former nation, against which he speaks the things of destruction on account of their sins; and having spoken the things of destruction on account of the sins, he nonetheless promises that if they repent, he will repent concerning the evils which he said he would do to them. And again he speaks concerning another, a second nation, that a whole nation be "built up and planted"; and since this nation that is built up and planted has a good promise, but is able to sin, he says, after speaking these things, if they should depart from the good works: "I will repent concerning the good things which I said I would do to them."
What, then, are the two nations — the one first named, to which the word threatens, and the second, to which it promises? Yet he threatens in such a way that, if it should repent, he does not carry out the things of the threat. He promises in such a way that, if the second nation should fall away and become unworthy of the promises, they should not obtain them. Concerning two nations especially is set forth the whole economy of God for the human beings in the world. That first nation, Israel, came to be first; second, from the sojourn of Christ, this present nation. To the former God threatened what he threatened, and we see the things of the threat against the former nation: it has come to be in captivity, their city was razed, the sanctuary was destroyed, the altar has been thrown down, nothing is any longer preserved of the things once held holy among them. For God said to that nation: Repent — and they did not repent. After these things were said to them, God speaks to this second nation the things concerning its being built up. But he sees that this nation too are human beings, able again to fall away. For this reason he threatens this one also and says: Even though I foretold the things concerning the building and the things concerning the planting and the husbandry, yet this nation too is going to sin, and to this one, having sinned, the same things will befall which were said to those others on account of the sins, and they will suffer them if they do not repent. Search the whole Scripture, and you will find most things spoken concerning these two nations. God chose the fathers, gave them a promise, led out a people from the race of the fathers out of Egypt, was long-suffering with them as they sinned, disciplined them as a father, brought them in, gave them a land of promise, sent them prophets at various times, disciplined them and turned them back from their sins. He was ever long-suffering, sending those who would heal, until the chief physician should come — the prophet surpassing prophets, the physician surpassing physicians. When he had come, they betrayed and killed him, saying, "Away, away with such a one from the earth; crucify, crucify him." Immediately a visitation came upon the nation; the place where my Jesus was crucified was made desolate; God chose another nation. See how great is the harvest, even if the laborers are few. And in another way too God orders that the dragnet always be cast upon the sea of this life, and fish of every kind are gathered; he sends "the many fishermen"; he sends "the many hunters," and they hunt from "every mountain," they hunt from "every hill." See how great is the economy concerning the salvation of the nations. "See, then, the kindness and severity of God: toward" the former nation, which also fell, "severity, but toward you," the second nation, promises and "kindness, if you continue in the kindness; since you too will be cut off." For the axe did not then lie against the root of the trees for that time only. The axe is ready to come again; and "the axe lies against the root of the trees," my Jesus was saying then, prophesying concerning Israel, against which the axe was. He himself was the axe of the unfruitful tree, and he said: "Already the axe lies against the root of the trees." As many trees as were there not producing fruit were cut down and cast into the fire and punished. But now another farmland has come to be, corresponding to the former, concerning which it is said: "Having brought them in, plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, in the prepared dwelling place of yours." God brought his nation into the mountain of his inheritance. The mountain I seek not as the Jews do, thus in inanimate materials. The mountain is Christ. In this we were planted, upon it we were kept. See, then, even if he be long-suffering, lest the master of the house, coming, should say: "For three years already I come to this fig tree and it has borne no fruit; cut it down; why does it even use up the ground?" For he uses up the good ground, Christ, the mystery of the Church, who comes to the assembly and does not bear fruit.
[§6] "At the end I will speak against a nation or also against a kingdom." It will seem that "the end" is said simply. But it is said in this way. In the "I will speak against a nation or a kingdom," the "end" is of this sort: "I will raze" is said to the former nation as the "end"; to the second nation, "I will build you up." And again, "I will uproot" is said to the former ones, and "I will plant" to the second. Is it, then, that because the "end" has been spoken, the end must come to pass? God, though he does not repent, is said in Scripture to repent. And let us attend to the wording, that if we are able to give a defense of how these things are said, we may accept the account. "At the end I will speak," he says, "against a nation or against a kingdom, to remove them and to destroy them; and if that nation should turn from their evils of which I spoke against it, then I will repent concerning the evils which I purposed to do to them. And at the end I will speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to be built up and to be planted, and they shall do wicked things before me, so as not to hear my voice, and I will repent concerning the good things which I said I would do to them." Concerning the repentance of God we are required to give a defense; for it seems to be a thing to be censured and unworthy — not only of God but even of the wise man — to repent. For I do not conceive of a wise man repenting; but the one who repents, so far as the customary use of the word goes, repents over not having deliberated well. But God, being foreknower of the things to come, cannot deliberate ill and, on account of this, repent. How, then, has the Scripture introduced him saying "I will repent" — not yet do I speak of what is said in the Books of Kingdoms in the "I repent that I anointed Saul as king," and what is said of him generally: "and repenting over the evils."
But see what we are taught concerning God generally. In one place, "God is not as a man, to be torn apart, nor as a son of man, to be threatened," and we learn through this wording that God is not as a man; but through another, which says that God is as a man: "that the Lord your God disciplined you, as if a man should discipline his son," and again, "he bore with the ways of his son as a man does." So then, when the Scriptures speak of God theologically in himself and do not interweave his economy with human affairs, they say that he is not as a man. For "of his greatness there shall be no end," and "he is fearful above all gods," and "praise him, all you angels of God; praise him, all his hosts; praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you stars and light." And gathering countless other passages from the sacred writings you would find those to which you will fit the "God is not as a man." But when the divine economy is interwoven with human affairs, it bears the human mind and manner and expression. And just as we, if we converse with a two-year-old child, lisp on account of the child — for it is not possible for us, keeping the dignity of the mature man's age and speaking to children, without condescending to their speech, to understand the children — understand something of this sort for me concerning God also, when he orders the affairs of the human race, and especially of those who are still infants. See how we mature men also alter our words toward babies, and we name bread to them in a peculiar way, and we name the act of drinking by another expression, not using the mature speech which we use toward our grown-up peers, but some other childish and infantile expression. And if we name garments to the children, we assign to them other names, as it were fashioning a childish name. Are we, then, at that time imperfect? And if someone should hear us conversing with children, will he say that this old man has become foolish, that this man has forgotten his beard, the age of a man? Or is it granted, by way of accommodation, that one conversing with a child should not speak with the speech of an old man, nor with a complete one, but with a childish one?
And God indeed speaks to children; "behold," says the Savior also, "I and the children whom God has given me." It might be said to the old man who speaks to the child childishly — or, that I may say it more emphatically, infantilely — that you bore with the ways of your son and put on the manner of the infant and took up his condition. So, then, understand for me also the Scripture saying: "The Lord your God bore with your ways, as if a man should bear with the ways of his son." And it seems that those who translated from the Hebrew, not finding the word established among the Greeks, coined this one too, as in the case of many others, and made the "the Lord your God bore with your ways" (that is, he put on your ways), "as if a man should bear with the ways" (according to this example which I have given) "of his son." Since, therefore, we repent, when he converses with us who repent God says: I repent; and in threatening us he does not make a show of being a foreknower, but as speaking to infants he threatens. He does not make a show that he foreknew "all things before their coming to be," but as, that I may so name it, playing the part of the infant, he pretends not even to know the things to come. And so he threatens a nation on account of its sins and says: "If the nation repents, I too will repent." O God! When you threatened, did you not know whether the nation would repent or would not repent? And what? When you promised, did you not know whether the man — or the nation to which the word is addressed — would remain worthy of the promises, or would not remain? But he makes no show of it.
And many such human things you would find in the Scripture, as also the "Speak to the sons of Israel; perhaps they will hear and repent." This God did not say as one doubting, the "perhaps they will hear"; for God does not doubt, so as to say the "perhaps they will hear and repent," but that he may to a great degree make manifest your free will, and that you may not say: If he foreknew me as one perishing, I must perish; if he foreknew me as one to be saved, I must altogether be saved. He makes no show, then, of knowing about what is going to be concerning you, that he may preserve your free will by not having anticipated nor foreknown whether you will repent or not. And he says to the prophet: "Speak, perhaps they will repent." For countless other such things you will find said concerning God bearing with the ways of man. If you hear of the wrath of God and his anger, do not think the anger and the wrath to be passions of God. They are economies in the use of expressions, for the turning back and bettering of the infant; since we too make toward the children a face that is fearful not from disposition but by way of economy. If we keep the graciousness of the soul toward the infant in our face, and make manifest the tender affection which we have toward it, not distorting ourselves nor, as it were, changing toward its correction, we destroy it and make it worse. So, then, God also is said both to be angry and to be wrathful, that you may turn back and be bettered. And in truth he is neither angry nor wrathful; but you shall suffer the things of wrath and the things of anger, coming to be in pains hard to endure on account of your vice, when he disciplines you by what is called the wrath of God.
[§7] Next, after the discourse concerning the two nations — the former, to which the threat is given, and the second, to which the promise is given — he says (he said, that is, to the former ones): "And now I have spoken to the men of Judah and to those who dwell in Jerusalem; thus says the Lord: Behold, I am molding evils against you." Because these things which I am molding against you are in my hand, they can fall apart. Make these things fall apart from my hand, so that the evils which I am molding against you I may change and make into good things. You would not find, "Behold, I am molding good things against you," and the things said correspondingly after them, so that after this he might make manifest that the good things which he molds he releases from his hands, that he may make them evil. But he molds evils according to the example that has been mentioned, and, molding evils, he orders them wisely (apart from the interpretation that has been given for the "it fell from my hands"), so that, if it should fall, even the end of the evils being molded may come to be of a kind I do not know.
[§8] "Let each one turn back, then, from his evil way, and make your practices better." Sometimes the more simple-minded say: blessed were the men of old, because they heard the Lord through the prophet saying, "and the Lord spoke to them." And to us now the Lord speaks through the things that are written: "Let each one turn back from his evil way"; the Lord himself converses with you, declaring, "and make your practices better." But those to whom the hortatory words concerning repentance were spoken made an answer, and let us see what they answered, so that we too may not answer in such a way. What, then, do they say in reply? "We will play the man, for we will go after our own backslidings, and each of us will do the pleasing things of his evil heart." And even if you do not say it in words, but your life is such that you sin, you too in effect say, through your evil deeds after the hortatory words, "We will play the man, for we will go after our own backslidings, and each of us will do the pleasing things of his evil heart." And what is "we will go after our own backslidings"? Those who have begun to put "their hand to the plow" and "who stretch forward to the things that are before" in their plowing, while "forgetting the things behind," have turned away from base things. Whenever, then, someone who has put "his hand to the plow" turns to the things behind, he will go "after his own backslidings"; for he will go after those things from which he turned away, and he runs back again to those sins which he had left behind. And so, of those who hear these things — whether catechumens who have left behind the gentile life, or believers who have already advanced in "stretching forward to the things that are before" — if the life has become depraved, they say nothing else than this very thing: "we will go after our own backslidings, and each of us will do the pleasing things of his heart" — not simply, but "of his evil heart, we will do." For there is an evil heart, and there is a good heart. Let no one, then, go "after his own backslidings," nor let him do "the pleasing things of his evil heart."
"Therefore," to those who answer thus, "the Lord says: Ask now among the nations: who has heard such dreadful things as the virgin Israel has done exceedingly?" And these things too will seem to have been said simply. But if the Church from among the nations turns to God in the manner it ought, it will be said: "Ask now among the nations: hear the dreadful things which the virgin Israel has done exceedingly." For let us compare the life of those who sinned with the life of those who turned back and believed, and we shall know that the former did dreadful things in killing "the Lord of glory," while the latter, when those had done dreadful things, turned to him who was taken away and put to death by them for the sins of the world. "Ask," then, "among the nations: who has heard such dreadful things as the virgin Israel has done exceedingly?"
[§9] "Shall the breasts fail from the rock, or the snow from Lebanon? Or shall water be turned aside that is borne violently by the wind? For my people have forgotten me; they have burned incense in vain, and they shall grow weak in their ways, the everlasting paths, so as to walk in tracks that have no way for journeying, so as to make their land a desolation and a perpetual hissing." He has here spoken of differences of waters: first in "shall the breasts fail from the rock?"; second in "or the snow from Lebanon?"; third in "or shall water be turned aside that is borne violently by the wind?" These three kinds of waters are the springs of the waters which the soul of the righteous, likened to the deer, longs for, so that each one may say: "As the deer longs for the springs of the waters, so my soul longs for you, O God." Who, then, has become a deer, an enemy to the race of serpents, suffering nothing from their venom, as is recounted concerning the deer? Who has so thirsted for God as to say, "My soul thirsted for the living God"? Who has so thirsted for the breasts of the rock? "And the rock was Christ." Who has so thirsted for the Holy Spirit as to say, "As the deer longs for the springs of the waters, so my soul longs for you, O God"? If we do not thirst for the three springs of the waters, we shall find not even one spring of the waters. The Jews seemed to have thirsted for one spring of the waters, God; but since they did not thirst for Christ and the Holy Spirit, they cannot drink even from God. Those from the heresies seemed to have thirsted for Christ Jesus; but since they did not thirst for the Father, who is the God of the Law and the Prophets, therefore they do not drink even from Jesus Christ. And those who keep one God, but set at naught the prophecies and did not thirst for the Holy Spirit that is in the prophets, therefore do not drink even from the paternal spring, nor from him who cried out in the temple and said, "If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink."
Therefore "the breasts from the rock" do not fail. But those men "forsook the spring of the water of life"; it was not the spring of the water of life that forsook them; for God removes himself far from no one, but "those who remove themselves far from him shall perish"; rather God draws near to some and meets the one who comes to him. When, at any rate, the son who had devoured the substance returned, the father met him. And he promises through the prophets, saying, "I will be nearer to them than the tunic to their skin." For "I am a God who draws near," he says, "and not a God from afar off, says the Lord." Therefore "the breasts shall not fail from the rock," the waters of Jesus, "nor the snow from Lebanon," the paternal waters. For frankincense (libanos) too is a sacred incense according to the Law of God, and it is offered upon the altar, "clear frankincense, equal part to equal part." And the mountain is called by the same name as this frankincense, and there is snow coming down from Lebanon, just as the water of the Holy Spirit, concerning which it is said, "Shall water be turned aside that is borne violently by the wind?" For indeed it is borne by the wind. The water of the Holy Spirit is not "turned aside," it does not flee, but each of us, by sinning, himself becomes a fugitive from drinking of the Holy Spirit.
[§10] "For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense in vain." Everyone who sins has forgotten God, but the righteous one says, "All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you, nor have we done wrong" — and he burned incense in vain. But what "they have burned incense in vain" means must be considered. If we take up again the things said earlier upon the hundred and fortieth Psalm, we shall understand what "they have burned incense in vain" is. Now there was in the Psalm something of this sort said: "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you." Therefore my prayer, being composed . . . of a fine heart — when our heart is not made gross — being sent up, becomes as incense before God. If, then, the prayer of the righteous is incense before God, the prayer of the unrighteous is indeed incense, but such incense that it may be said concerning it and concerning the unrighteous who prays, "they have burned incense in vain"; as is written concerning Judas, "Let his prayer become sin." That man, in his praying, burned incense in vain. And who it is that burns incense in vain, let us consider still further in this way. "Three times in the year," it says, "shall every male of yours appear before the Lord your God," to which is immediately added, "You shall not appear before me empty." Therefore, of those who come, appear […]