745 SPURIA.
ON THE WOMAN WHO WAS A SINNER, WHO ANOINTED THE LORD WITH OINTMENT, AND ON THE PHARISEE. ON HOLY AND GREAT WEDNESDAY.
A Christ recently refreshed us sufficiently while being entertained at Zacchaeus's house. For where Christ is entertained and reclines with men, and enjoys both our place and our table, everything is brought to the consideration of joy. For what tax-collector, or harlot, or one of those who have committed unspeakable evils, seeing the Creator of heaven and earth condescend to a toll-house, and taking into His hands the bread that is the gift of the stalks of grain, and blessing the wine-presses in the companionship of drinking for the Giver of the clusters of grapes, would not deem the event a feast and a public celebration? Truly this is a feast, this is truly the joy of an angelic banquet, for the Master to be seen enjoying a common table with servants, God with men, the Judge with those who are accountable. B For this reason He came upon the earth, not abandoning heaven as an empty place, and became man, not divesting Himself of being God, so that even while traversing the sea, He might pull up from the depths of sin those who were being tossed about in the ocean of life; and by going around villages and cities, and running through narrow alleys, and trackless places, and roads, He might lead back to His own flock those wandering at the crossroads like sheep without a shepherd. For He Himself is the one seeking the lost sheep, who left the ninety-nine, and arrived for the search of the one. For He was seeking the one, neither despising the many nor preferring the one to the multitude; but He left the ninety-nine; for He saw them safely housed in the fold; but He went around seeking the one, so that it might not become a meal for the devil. For a sheep without a shepherd is a meal ready for wild beasts; and a soul without a seal is easily vulnerable to demons. C Whence, recently, He snatched Zacchaeus, as a sheep from the mouth of a wolf, and joined him to the fold, and deemed him worthy of a seal. For just as a shepherd desiring to catch a sheep that has wandered off, being a tame animal, so that it might move around freely, drags the one that has jumped away gently; so too did the Word of God drop the flesh, which He took from the Virgin, like a sheep in a pasture, at the table of Zacchaeus, so that by the common law of the banquet, having drawn him toward communion, He might secretly join him to His own flock. But not understanding this, the Pharisees murmured, seeing Him eating with tax-collectors. But let those men, like an old wineskin, be rent; for they are not able to receive the new wine D of the teaching; but let us follow in the footsteps of the lover-of-mankind shepherd. For the same who joined Zacchaeus the tax-collector to the flock of the apostles, also snatched the harlot and sinner, the worker of myriad evils, as a ewe-lamb from the throat of the devil, and restored her to the undisturbed fold. In order that you may know both the philanthropy of Christ, and the irrationality of the Pharisees, and the recantation of the sinner, I will set before you the Gospel inquiries themselves; for if you attend to the flow of the reading, you will easily grasp the meaning of the interpretation. And it says: "And one of the Pharisees asked Jesus that He might eat with him. And having entered into the house of the Pharisee, He reclined" (Luke 7. 36). O unspeakable grace! O unspeakable philanthropy! He is entertained with a Pharisee, and He does not shake off tax-collectors, and He receives harlots, and He speaks with Samaritans, and He deems the Canaanite worthy of speech, and He grants the hem of His garment to the woman with the flow of blood. 801 Yes, for He is a physician, touching all the passions, so that He might benefit all, bad and good, the ungrateful and the grateful. Whence even now, being called by the Pharisee, He enters into a house until then full of evils. For where there is a Pharisee, there is a base of operations for wickedness, a lodging for sin, a reception for arrogance. But even with the house being disposed in this way, the Lord does not disdain to arrive; and reasonably so. For just as the sun is not harmed by casting its own rays upon the mire; but on the contrary, it even wipes away the foulness that is in it, while appropriating nothing of it to itself; so too Christ, as the Sun of righteousness, occupies every place, even the profane, and consumes the foul sin with His rays of goodness, enduring no insult, no diminution, no defilement, according to the principle of His divinity. Whence He easily consented to the Pharisee who was calling Him, remaining calm, silent, leaving his life unrebuked; first, to sanctify those who had been invited, and the one who had invited Him, the arrangement of the house, the foods of the luxury; then, showing that the incarnation was not a phantom, from the reclining, the eating, the drinking, the consumption of the dishes. But otherwise, because the harlot was about to approach, and to show that warm and burning manner of repentance, for this reason He consented quickly to the Pharisee who was calling; so that, having lamented her own evils before the scribes and Pharisees, she might teach them how it is necessary for sinners who are dejected over their sins to appease God. "For behold," he says, "a woman in the city, who was a sinner." A woman, the sinner, the first net of the devil, the introduction of error, the teacher of transgression, who had become a helper, but was revealed as an enemy, who was by nature beautiful, but by choice was revealed as evil, the agent of death, who showed the beauty of the tree, and destroyed the whole paradise. "And behold a woman," he says, "in the city, who was a sinner," bearing the burdens of Eve, and weighed down by many evils. I will tell of the abundance of her former evils, so that you may know her luxury. God, having taken a bone from the side of Adam, and having made this flesh, fashioned Eve, and having called her woman, gave her as a helper to Adam. But after the sin and the transgression of the law, and the being cast out of paradise, and the receiving of death as the penalty, so that the race might not perish, being consumed by death, marriage is sent out against death, so that the one might sow, and the other reap, the one might cut, and the other sprout. And that after being subjected to death, the grace of marriage was given, is clear from Adam being joined to Eve after the exit from paradise. For it is written: "After the going out from paradise, then Adam knew his woman." Before the sin, therefore, there was virginity, keeping immaculate the robe of nature; but after the transgression, after the sentence of death, marriage was introduced, so that, drawing water, it might overcome death by sprouting, and might defeat it by blossoming. Since then the law of marriage was given for the succession of the race and the increase of nature, for man it sowed pleasure, and it made the petulant [appetite]; not so that they might be incited for harlot-like unions, but so that they might be lawfully joined for marriage. Whence the lawful union of marriage is honorable before God, but that which is performed for the sake of the pleasures is subjected to death. "For marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Therefore those who, for the sake of bearing children, lawfully mingle with their husbands are blameless, like Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel, and if any other from her; but those who, by reason of lust, excite the young to intemperance, as defiling the temple of God, are handed over to destruction. "For if anyone," he says, "defiles the temple of God, him will God destroy." And this sinner who was in their hands was one of these. For, having peddled her nature, and reddening her cheeks with dyes from above, and by artifice forcing herself to appear beautiful, she enticed the young to intemperance, shutting them up in the pit of fornication. I say these things not mocking her for what she did before, but praising her for what she has suddenly become. I say, therefore, what she was, so that I may show what she has now become; I blame her sins, so that I may show the achievements of her repentance. But this woman, who used her body blamelessly before, catching some with her braids, bewitching others with her tears, and enchanting others with perfume, but all of them from everywhere towards the—
A mire of lust, she transfers this shameful and foul desire into a divine and heavenly love. For as she saw Jesus conversing freely and openly with the Samaritan woman, or welcoming the Canaanite, or at another time commemorating the woman with the issue of blood because of her faith, or at one time feasting with publicans, and at another entering the homes of Pharisees, she reasoned within herself: "If he admits harlots, publicans, and sinners, how long shall I, burning intemperately with lust, drain the sea of sin? I shall not remain young, I shall not remain beautiful; for all things pass away, all things wither, flowers, lilies, the form of the face. What, then, shall I suffer for what I have done? For I already imagine the fire of Gehenna; already repentance invades my soul, because I took pains to appear beautiful by my art for the destruction of the young: I ran in the alleys of the city, in the forum, in the crossroads, using [my] feet as a net, employing my tongue as a fishing-seine." O how many young men I caught with my lures, rolling my impudent eyes! For adorned for the destruction of those who watched, at one time I erected my head into a tower with many plaits; at another I let the curled locks wander from the crown onto my forehead; at another I reddened my cheeks with tints and painted my eyes; at another I poured forth drops of tears, and destroyed my soul with blandishments. What remains now for me? What physician shall I find for [my] infinite diseases? If I proclaim my deeds to men, this confession will be useless to me. But shall I hide my evils? But I am unable to be hidden; for whom can I escape? Whither, then, shall I flee, when I encounter the Judge everywhere, who does not indeed appear, but everywhere convicts my evils? One hope of salvation is left for me; one provision for life is offered to me, that I should recognize Jesus, and run to him. For he who receives publicans will not repel B a harlot; he who feasts with the Pharisees will not reject a sinner’s tears. Since, therefore, I know he is staying at the house of a certain Simon the Pharisee, a famous and sinful man, I shall run to him. But what shall I ask of him? The health of [my] eyes? But the favor would be temporary. The cure of [my] disease? But this is not so great a matter: for eternal death is more grievous than present [death]. Letting go of all corporeal things, I shall seek the remedy of the soul. For I see one solution to the impending evils, if I look upon the Judge, if I anticipate the time of retribution. I shall imitate Rahab the harlot; I shall follow the woman's virtue. For God requires nothing from us except a change of will. Having considered these things piously, and having kindled her mind toward faith, she enters to Jesus, to the place where he was reclining, turning her former impudence into confidence. And she says nothing; for she did not dare: for she knew that the inspector of thoughts had no need of words. For what could she say to him who knew all things? That she had sinned, that she had wrought many evils, that she had cultivated a public pleasure for both lover and beloved? These things were known to God, not only the deeds, but even those things thought in the innermost soul. Knowing, therefore, that he knew all things, and that nothing could hide from him, she is silent indeed with her tongue, but speaks with her tears. "Standing," it says, "beside his feet, she began to wet his feet with her tears." But though her tongue spoke not, she vociferated with ineffable groanings, declaring the contrition of [her] heart, and triumphing over the multitude of [her] sins, C exposing absurd thoughts, depraved cupidities, unrighteous deeds, and wicked colloquies. For there was not one of the evils that she had committed that she did not lament with tears: for she knew she was receiving the remission of those things she confessed. For it says: "I said, I will confess mine unrighteousness against myself unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the impiety of my heart" (Ps. XXXI, 5). Nor did she speak only in silence, supplicating the Lord with the groanings of her heart, but she also depicted the beauty of repentance by her outward manner. She wept, as one who had laughed much, washing away the laughter with tears: washing away the defilements of [her] cheeks with the drops of her eyes, so that in those things in which she had sinned, in those she might be removed from evil; in those things in which she had acted unrighteously, in those she might pacify the Legislator. For as David, who had defiled his bed with illegitimate intercourse, so he washed it with tears: "I will wash," he says, "every night my bed; I will water my couch with my tears" (Ps. VI, 7): so also she, through those eyes by which she had enticed many young men to lasciviousness, sending forth fountains of tears, washed away the filth of sins difficult to cleanse: preparing for herself a laver of repentance, tears. Tears provided the water, as it were; she, however, invisibly received the remission of sins from Christ. Nay, rather, not only imitating Abraham, but also surpassing him, she washed the feet of Christ. For he bathed [them] with water in an adjacent basin, and wiped [them] with a towel; she, however, did not draw water, but sending forth fountains of tears, she washed the feet of Jesus. But lest she should bring reproach upon the holy feet with sinful tears, using her beautiful hair as a D towel, she wiped the feet: and it was possible to see the whole woman incumbent upon the service of Jesus. For her eyes, from above, like fountains, sent forth rivers of tears; her soul, as a basin placed beneath, received the drops flowing down from the feet; but her braids wiped [them], fulfilling the office of a towel: [her] hands holding the alabaster jar of ointment, she anointed the divine feet, honoring ointment with ointment: "For thy name," ointment poured forth (Cant. I, 2). See how the sinful woman, ignorant of divine laws, honored [him]. For they were attacking him with stones, but she was refreshing him with the odor of ointment. But the Jews indeed, as ungrateful, foolish, and wicked, were returning evil for good and saluting that corner-stone with stones; she, however, was anointing with ointment those feet which, for her sake, were to remain the whole day upon the sacred wood of the cross. Why do I say that she overcame the ungrateful people of the Jews, when she surpassed even the whole choir of saints? For she received a grace which neither kings nor dynasts have obtained: for "The kings of Tharsis and the isles shall offer gifts, and all the kings of the earth shall adore him" (Ps. LXXI, 10). And according to the prophet, they both gave gifts and adored from afar; but none of them kissed the feet of Jesus. For how did the magi come, having the star as a companion of their supplication? In truth, they stood away from him, acknowledging the measure of their order: "For heaven," he says, "is my throne, and the earth is my footstool" (Isai. LXVI, 1). Let the woman, therefore, be praised, who has obtained the honor of the whole world: she touched the immaculate feet, the dust of which the nations and families shall lick, the feet, I say, immaculate: she shared the body of Christ with John. For he re- reclined upon his breast; for it was fitting to draw divine doctrine from thence; but she received those feet which were walking for us. But Christ, who does not judge from sin, but praises repentance; who does not punish things past, but explores things future; not remembering her past evils, honors the woman, and praises repentance; justifies tears, and crowns her vow. The Pharisee, however, seeing the miracle, is struck in his mind, and excited by envy, does not admit the woman's repentance; but he attacks with abuse the woman who was thus honoring the Lord, and diminishes the dignity of him who was being honored, attributing ignorance to him. "But seeing," it says, "the Pharisee who had called him, said within himself: If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman she is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner." O foolish and senseless, and altogether Pharisee! By saying this you accuse not the character of the woman, but your own intent, saying that he is ignorant of who that woman is. Therefore did you not honor him by your invitation as God, who knows all things? Therefore, O notable accuser and sycophant! you call him indeed as God who can bless, but versus him you cry out as a man who knows nothing more than we? "This man," he says, "if he were a prophet." How much better than you, O Pharisee, is that woman in Sichem, who did not know him to be a prophet, and at first sight confessed the Savior, saying: "Lord, I see that thou art a prophet" (John IV, 19)! How much more wonderful is this sinner, whose sin you see, and whose repentance you do not discern, but you condemn her, whom the Judge—