Homilies on Isaiah — Homily 6 (Isaiah 6:8–10)
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Isaiah, surviving only in Jerome's Latin translation (c. 380/381), from the reading text of W. A. Baehrens (ed.), Origenes Werke VIII (GCS 33, Leipzig, 1925), pp. 242–289. This English translation is released into the public domain.Concerning what is written: "whom shall I send, and who will go?" up to the place where he says: "and let them turn back, and I will heal them".
1. Isaiah, "seeing the Lord of Sabaoth seated upon a lofty and lifted-up throne", and "seeing" also "the Seraphim standing about him", and receiving the remission of sins through that fire which, brought "from the altar", "cleansed" his "lips" by its touch, says that "he heard the voice of the Lord" — not commanding, but rousing and "saying": "whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?" Then he says that "he answered" the Lord: "behold, it is I, send me". But when I take my place here and search into what is written, I find that Moses did one thing and Isaiah another. For Moses, chosen for the leading-out of the people from the land of Egypt, says: "provide another whom you may send", and he seems to contradict God; but Isaiah, not chosen, but "hearing": "whom shall I send, and who will go?", says: "behold, it is I, send me". It is worthwhile, therefore, for one "comparing spiritual things with spiritual" to inquire which of the two did better: Moses, who, after he was chosen, refused, or Isaiah, who, without even being chosen, offered himself to be "sent to the people". For I do not know whether anyone, attending to that contrariety of the affairs which appears in each, can say that Moses did the very same thing as Isaiah. So then I boldly make a comparison of these two holy and blessed men, and I decide and declare that Moses acted more modestly than Isaiah. For Moses was considering the magnitude of presiding over the people so as to lead them out of the land of Egypt, of contending against the "incantations" and sorceries of the Egyptians; on this account he says: "provide another whom you may send". But this man, not waiting to hear what would be enjoined upon him to say — even if he had been chosen — says: "behold, it is I, send me". Hence, because, being ignorant of what would be enjoined upon him, he says: "behold, it is I, send me", he is commanded to say those very things which were unwished-for by the one who was to say them. Or was it not undesirable, having been immediately bidden to prophesy, to begin from curses, saying: "with the ear you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will perceive and not see; for the heart of this people has been thickened" and the rest? Perhaps, then — if indeed it is expedient to say it boldly — he received as the wage of his rashness and boldness that he was commanded to say the very things which he was unwilling to prophesy. But since we have compared Isaiah and Moses, let us set up also another comparison closely akin, Isaiah and Jonah. The latter is sent "to preach" the overthrow of the Ninevites after "three days", and it irks him, unwilling to set out, to be the cause of evils for the city. But this man, not waiting for what would be commanded him to say, says: "behold, it is I, send me". It is good not to leap forward toward those dignities and offices of rule and ministries of the Church which are from God; would that we imitated Moses and said with him: "provide another whom you may send". For he who wishes to be saved comes to the rule of the Church not to lordship — even though he presides — but to servitude, if one must speak also from the Gospel: "the princes of the nations indeed lord it over them, and those who have power over them are called magistrates; but it shall not be so among you". For neither do "the princes lord it over you", but "whoever of you wishes to be greater shall be least of all"; "whoever wishes to be first shall be last of all". He, therefore, who is called to the episcopate is called not to lordship, but to the servitude of the whole Church. If you wish to believe from the scriptures that in the Church he who presides is the servant of all, let the Savior and Lord himself persuade you: such and so great a one became "in the midst of the disciples not as one reclining, but as one serving". For "taking a towel", after "he had laid aside his garments, he girded himself and, pouring water into a basin, began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded". And teaching that rulers ought to be such as servants, he says: "you call me master and lord, and you say well; for so I am. If then I, the Lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet". The ruler of the Church, therefore, is called to servitude, so that from this servitude he may be able to go to the heavenly throne, as it is written: "you shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel". But hear also Paul, so illustrious a man, saying that he was the servant of all believers. "For I am the least of the Apostles, who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God". Further, if this seems to prove not his servitude but only his humility, hear him saying: "we became little ones in your midst, as if a nurse should cherish her own children, though we could be burdensome as Apostles of Christ". It is expedient, therefore, that we be imitators of the humble words and deeds of the Lord himself and of his "Apostles", and do what was done by Moses, so that, even if someone is called to rule, he may say: "provide another whom you may send". "He says to God": "I have not been worthy since yesterday and the day before; I am of feeble voice and slow of tongue". And because "he said to God" humbly: "I am of feeble voice and slow of tongue", he hears from God: "who gave a mouth to man, and who made the deaf and dumb, the seeing and the blind? Is it not I, the Lord God?" Believe God and consecrate yourself to him. Although you are "of thin voice" and "slow tongue", hand yourself over to the word of God; you will say afterward: "I opened my mouth and drew in the Spirit". These things, indeed, on account of what Isaiah says: "behold, it is I, send me".
2. But let us in part take his side as well. For he willed, once he had received grace from God, not to receive it in vain, but to use it for what was needful. "Seeing the Seraphim", "seeing the Lord of Sabaoth seated upon a lofty and lifted-up throne, he said": "O wretched me, for I am pricked to the heart, because, being a man and having unclean lips, and dwelling also in the midst of a people having unclean lips, I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of Sabaoth". Saying this and making himself "wretched", he merits help, God taking up his humility. What is this help? "There was sent", he says, "to me one of the Seraphim, and he had in the tongs a coal which he had brought from the altar, and he touched my lips and said: behold, I have taken away your iniquities and have purged round about your sins". He obtained the benefit, being made clean and receiving the remission of sins. When he had heard: "whom shall I send to this people, and who will go for us?", it was not on account of his former conscience that he dared to say: "behold, it is I, send me", but because he had heard: "behold, I have taken away your iniquities". Therefore, since the saints are pricked to the heart and the inquiry is made between Moses and Isaiah, let us make satisfaction on behalf of Moses and also on behalf of Isaiah, giving to each of them from the scriptures his own portion. Moses did not receive the remission of sins, so as to say, as if already conscious of having been cleansed: "send me". On which account he says: "provide another whom you may send", for he had in his conscience the slaying of the Egyptian; and perhaps, being a man, he knew that he had also certain other sins, and therefore he refuses. But this man asks for the ministry not as one just by nature, but as one who has obtained grace. If Moses too had received a like grace and had heard: "behold, I have taken away your iniquities" and this: "I have cleansed round about your sins", perhaps he would never have said: "provide another whom you may send". There is, therefore, some reason both in Moses refusing and in Isaiah saying: "behold, it is I, send me".
3. But let us look also at those things which the Lord commanded to be "said to the people": "go, and say to the people: with the ear you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will perceive and not see. For the heart of this people has been thickened, and with their ears they have heard heavily and have closed their eyes, lest at any time they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn back, and I heal them". Knowing that the hearing of words is twofold and recognizing a double constitution — that is, one of them bodily, the other spiritual — he says to "the people", prophesying about those things which were to be at the coming of Christ, that there would be a time when "they would hear and not understand" them, seeing that, when "they heard" my Lord Jesus Christ, they "heard" only the voice of the sayings, not the sense. And this is manifest from the fact that "he spoke in parables" "outside" to "the people", but "to the disciples in secret he unfolded" them. And he prophesies what came to pass: "with the ear you will hear and not understand". Further, that this was "prophesied" "to the people" about the coming of the Lord, the Savior himself says: "well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: "with the ear you will hear and not understand"". Let us grant, then, that "the people", listening to the words of the Lord, could not know what was said. But let us see what this is, which follows: "and seeing you will see and not know". Not everyone who "saw" those things which the Savior did was straightway, by "seeing", able to "understand" why they were done. Let us take, for example, "he washed the feet of the disciples", and they indeed "saw" well how the master "washed the feet" of "the disciples"; but others too who were present "saw" — yet only what was being done, not also why it was being done. For there was a likeness in the washing of "the feet" with which the Word of God "washed the feet of the disciples"; therefore the Savior says to Peter, who refused and said: "you shall not wash my feet", what does he say? "What I do you do not know now, but you shall know afterward". What, then, do "you do" now? says Peter; I see you "washing" our "feet", and the "basin" set, you "girded with a towel" and serving us and "wiping" our "feet". But because this was not the whole business — for indeed the Savior, stripped, "pours" spiritual "water into a basin" according to the scriptures and "washes the feet of the disciples", so that, when they have been made "clean", they may ascend to him who says: "I am the way", and not be full of the "dust" which he willed to be "shaken off" upon the unworthy and upon those who did not receive peace nor were worthy of the things which were spoken — and because this was what was signified, therefore he says: "what I do you do not know now, but you shall know afterward". And this was what was said in the rest: "you call me master and Lord, and you say well; for so I am. If then I, the Lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet". Does he then say this, that the bishop, "pouring water into a basin and having laid aside his garments and being girded with a towel", should "wash" my "feet" as I stretch them out, seeing that "you", he says, "ought to wash one another's feet"? If this is what is meant, none of us will keep the commandment; for no deacon or presbyter or bishop, "taking a towel", has "washed the feet" of any and all who come. But if you understand what is written, those who are truly blessed bishops, serving the Church, "pour water" from the scriptures into the "basin" of the soul, which is according to the scriptures, and attempt to "wash" and cleanse away and cast off the filth of "the feet of the disciples". And thus the bishops keep the commandment, imitating Jesus, and thus also the presbyters. Would that I too might now receive "water" which could "wash the feet" of your soul, so that each one of you, when he has been "washed", may say: "I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?". For the bride says this in the Song of Songs, showing not bodily "feet washed", but "feet that do not stumble", of which Solomon says: "let your foot not stumble", and of which it is also written in the Psalms: "but my feet were almost moved". And moreover, those women who are appointed "widows" in the churches — "if", he says, "she has washed the feet of the saints". But if you wish to hear more plainly how the "widow washes the feet of the saints", hear Paul in another place appointing rules for "widows" and saying: "teaching well, that they may make the young women chaste", "washing the filth of "the feet" of the young women". And these "widows" are worthy of ecclesiastical honor, whoever they be that "wash the feet of the saints" with the word of spiritual teaching — "the saints", however, not males, but women; for I do not permit a woman to teach nor to rule over a man. He wishes women to be "teaching well, that" they may urge to chastity not young men, but "young women" — for it is unseemly that a woman become the teacher of a man — but that they urge "young women" to chastity and to "love their husbands and their children". Let us learn, therefore, to "wash the feet of the disciples". These things have been said on account of this: "seeing you will see and not know". For if anything was done by the Savior, by those indeed who "did not understand" it "was seen" with respect to the body, it was not "seen" with respect to knowledge; but by those who "understood" it "was seen" indeed with respect to the eyes, and it "was seen" also with respect to the understanding — so that this which was said, "seeing you will see and not know", was fulfilled not upon those who blessedly "see", but upon sinners. And we pray that, "seeing" all the things of the Gospels, we may "see" in a double manner how they were done with respect to the body, when our Savior descended to the earth; for indeed each thing that was done in the body was a likeness and a type of things to come. As, for instance, some man "blind from birth" recovered his sight; but truly this "man blind from birth" was the people of the Gentiles, to whom the Savior restored sight, "anointing" his "eyes" with his own "saliva", and sending him "to Siloam, which is interpreted sent". For he was sending those whom he "anointed" with the Spirit, that they might believe, "to Siloam", that is, to the Apostles and teachers, on which account it is written of "Siloam" that "it is interpreted sent". And as often as we begin to be visited by Jesus, so that we may receive the eyes of the soul, we are sent "to Siloam", that is, "sent". And so let each one of us, when he reads those things which were done in the Gospels, pray that this too be not fulfilled in himself: "seeing you will see and not know".
4. But if, as the simpler suppose, those things which were done were done not "on account of us", but merely done, and were not examples of another reality, let them explain how this which was said, "seeing you will see and not know", has any sense. For if those things which "were seen" did not have some sacred meaning, such that with the carnal eyes they were also spiritually beheld, he would never have said: "seeing you will see and not know". And for the proof of these things let us bring forward the testimony of another passage from the Gospel, which, according to those who follow the letter only, is a falsehood. Our Savior and Lord says to the disciples in the Gospel according to John: "if you believe, not only will you do the things which I do, but you will do even greater than these". Let us see, then, whether the disciples "did" any "greater" things. What is "greater" than to "raise the dead"? Who — I do not say of us, but of the Apostles — "raised the dead"? The history relates that Paul "raised Eutychus from the dead", and Peter "Tabitha, which is interpreted Dorcas". But these things, and others of this kind, you can find; yet where are the "greater" things? But the Savior also made "the blind" see again, and, what is "greater", those who had been born so: let them show whom they have beheld "blind" from the womb cured by the hands of the Apostles. And countless other things one can find from the Gospels, who seeks them, since neither did the Apostles "do greater things than these" nor did their successors. But the word of Scripture spoke some such thing as this: "than these things which I have done", the bodily ones, "you will do greater". "I made men rise from the dead" bodily, you "will make them rise from the dead" spiritually. I poured this perceptible light upon "the blind", you will give spiritual light to those who do not see. And down to this present day I see these signs, "greater" than the bodily ones which Jesus "did", being done through the most faithful disciples of Jesus. Do not "the blind" now "see" and "the lame walk" and "the lepers are cleansed" and the rest come to pass, if he who yesterday was "blinded", approaching an idol as though to God, today calls upon the living God, abandoning his former ways? Does not he who yesterday was "lame" on account of sin, now, through the teaching of the disciples, taught the true way, walk with steady foot; and he who yesterday "had a withered hand", idle for doing good, today, receiving back his "hand", has it living? If you see someone polluted and having leprosy in his soul suddenly repent, pricked to the heart by the word of teaching, let it not irk you to say that it is "greater" that this man be spiritually "a leper" cleansed than that some other be carnally purged. And these things indeed the discourse has poured forth abundantly, desiring to show what this is which was said: "and seeing you will see and not know".
5. But what is the cause that the one hearing "does not understand and the one seeing does not see"? "The heart of this people", he says, "has been thickened". Since indeed this too must be understood, whence it comes, bodily and spiritual fatness are not the same, nor are bodily and spiritual thinness the same. For that which is bodily thick comes to be in the flesh, and a "fleshly heart" does me no harm if "it be thickened", nor does it profit if by illness or by whatever cause it be made thin. And I suppose that the fleshly "heart" of those who are held by fear becomes such. For as they waste away entirely from sickness, so they say that the thickness too, and whatever is fat about their "heart", is thinned out. What harm, then, does it do me if my bodily "heart" "be thickened"? And suppose too my "heart" be made thin — what profit do I have from that? But by a shared term with the bodily "heart", the ruling part of our soul is named, as is manifest from what is said in the Gospel: "blessed are the clean of heart"; for those are not "clean of heart" who have not within them blood or any bodily matter. But it was said: "blessed are the clean of heart" in the sense of "blessed" are those who have "a clean heart", the ruling part of the soul being named instead of "heart". Since, therefore, the ruling part of our soul, which is said to be in the bodily "heart", is either "clean" or unclean — and our "heart" is unclean indeed when "the worst thoughts go forth from" it, "murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, blasphemies", but "clean" when there are holy thoughts and divine understandings and a pure mind — on this account it must be judged that it is said to be made thin by the "thin" and holy Spirit of him who is saved, but "thickened" by malice and choked in him who sins. For it is said of the "Holy Spirit", who is according to "wisdom", that he is "only-begotten, manifold, thin, mobile", and that the just man receives this "subtle spirit"; for this "spirit" differs from "all intellectual, clean, subtle spirits". The ruling part of the heart, therefore, is "thin" indeed insofar as it is spiritual, but fat insofar as it is concreted from the vice of bodily matter, full of bodily thoughts, which are under reproach. Thus it is said: "the heart of this people has been thickened". Understand: from this "the heart has been thickened", that there is nothing in it besides human and fleshly cares; for just as the matter of the body is fat, in the same way also are bodily understandings and thoughts. Wherefore, since two things are set before us — that the "heart is thickened" from worldly cares and made thin from spiritual solicitude, when one thinks of the things which are the Lord's, casting off the fatness from the "heart" and knowing that, if his "heart be thickened", he will neither receive the words of God nor see the sacrament of salvation — let us lay aside the thickness and take up that thinness which has been spoken of, so that we too may say, as the prophet: "my soul has thirsted for you; how manifoldly does my flesh thirst for you, in a land desert and pathless and waterless, so in the holy place have I appeared to you" — not as though I were "holy" by nature, but if the prudence "of the flesh" wastes away, and if the prudence "of the flesh" has been wasted, then "in the holy place I shall appear to you". These things in explanation of that which was said: "for the heart of this people has been thickened".
6. There follows: "and with their ears they have heard heavily". It does me no harm if I "hear heavily" bodily, nor does this become for me a cause that I should not hear the words of God. For just as bodily blindness does me no harm, if my soul has not been blinded, so neither does lightness nor heaviness of bodily hearing hinder me. But there is a certain heaviness of hearing which harms the soul of man. What is this heaviness which is in the hearing of the soul? Sin, according to the scriptures, is "heavy". On which account someone, perceiving his sins, says: "like a heavy burden they have been made heavy upon me". And because "iniquity" is heavy, on this account "it sits upon a talent of lead", as is written in Zechariah. But the Egyptians "were sunk like lead in the mighty water" not because they had "heavy" bodies, but because their souls "had been made heavy" by the "talent of lead upon which iniquity was sitting" — on this account "they were sunk like lead in the mighty water". The heaviness of "the ears", therefore, comes from sin, and the lightness from righteousness. What is it that makes the hearing "hear" not "heavily", but lightly? The "wings" of the Word, the "wings" of virtue; for indeed the "wings" of the Word bestow much lightness. "Who will give me wings like a dove's, and I shall find rest?" This the prophet says, praying not that he may receive the bodily "wings of a dove", but the "wings of the dove" of the Holy Spirit. And again Solomon says of the rich man: "but he equips for himself wings like an eagle, and he turns back into the house of him who presides over him". If, therefore, we take "wings", we shall hear lightly; but if we sin and are negligent about our wings and our "wings" fall away, we shall be "made heavy" and "shall hear heavily". "With their ears", therefore, the sinners "have heard heavily". All the Jews indeed who then "heard" the Savior "heard" him "heavily", and therefore did not believe. And down to this day, as many as, "hearing" the scriptures, have not "heard" the spiritual word, which is light, but the "letter", which is "heavy" and "kills", "hear heavily". And thus Scripture is heard in a twofold manner: by him who does not understand what is said, it is "heard heavily"; but by him who understands it, it is not only not "heard heavily", but rather keenly, whence one becomes an understanding hearer.
7. And yet another thing is prophesied about the people of the Jews and about all of us, if we sin. "And they have closed their eyes, lest at any time they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart". Of those who do not "see", some are "blind" and on account of blindness do not "see"; some are "in darkness" and therefore do not "see"; but others are neither "in darkness" nor blind, but because they "close their eyes" they do not "see". And the divine Scripture knows these differences, which belong to the ruling part of our heart; for the Savior says "to those who are in bonds: come forth, and to those in darkness, that it may be revealed to them", and "to those sitting in the region and shadow of death: a light has arisen for them". These did not "see" for the reason that they were "in darkness", until "a light should arise for them". "Deaf ones, hear, and blind ones, look". These formerly did not "see" for the reason that they were "blind" by nature. But those who are outside these, and who, in comparison with "the blind" and those who are "in darkness", are much worse, are those who do not "see" for the reason that they have willingly "closed their eyes". And that this is so, as we have asserted, the Savior will be a witness to me, saying: "if you were blind, you would not have sin; but now you say that you see; your sin remains". And he says well: "you say that you see"; for truly "they say that they see" and have the possibility of "seeing", but, "closing their eyes", they do not "see". And if ever you see a soul ingenious for understanding, and swift and eager, that does not meditate on the words of God, know that it is not on account of blindness that it does not "see" those things which are contained in the scriptures, not because it is "in darkness", but because it "closes its eyes". If, therefore, you have heard Scripture saying to those who "close their eyes": "open your eyes and see rightly", "open your eyes from that which you had closed", then you will be able to "see rightly" and to consider the light of truth. And it accuses indeed those about whom the inquiry is made, why they "close their eyes, lest they see"; yet it does not also say this, that it is never expedient to "close" the "eyes" of the soul. For it is expedient, as Isaiah makes plain, saying in what follows: "who will announce to you the eternal place? He who walks in righteousness and speaks the true and right way, stopping his ears, that he may not hear the judgment of blood, closing his eyes, that he may not see iniquity". If it is going to happen that, opening the "eyes" of my soul, I "hear" and perceive base speech, it is better to "close" the entrances than to "hear" and understand things that harm. When, then, do I "close"? When evil things are spoken, so that I may not even understand them. When the words of God are to be seen, then "we turn back and" God "heals" us, sending the word which "heals" those who wish to be cured in Christ Jesus, "to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen!"