Homilies on Luke — Homily 35 (Luke 12:57–59)
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Luke, surviving only in Jerome's Latin translation (c. 391), from the reading text of M. Rauer (ed.), Origenes Werke IX (GCS 35, Leipzig, 1930). This English translation is released into the public domain.Concerning what is written: "When you go with your adversary", up to the place where he says: "and you will pay back the very last mite".
Unless the power of judging what is just were implanted in us by nature, the Savior would never say: "But why do you not also judge of yourselves what is just?" But lest we wander too far afield in proving this statement — especially since much more difficult matters are appended to this chapter — let it suffice to have merely touched upon this, or rather let us spread the sails of our souls toward God and beg for the coming of his word, that it may interpret the parable of which it is written: "When you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort to be freed from him, lest perhaps he hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Amen I say to you: you will not come out from there until you pay back the very last mite". I see four persons set down: the adversary, the ruler, the judge, the officer. And because the evangelist Matthew seems to have said something similar in that he says: "Be well-disposed toward your adversary while you are on the way with him", I ask whether the meaning is the same or whether there is some kinship, since with Matthew one person is omitted and another is changed. Omitted is the "ruler", and in place of "officer" a "servant" is inserted, while "adversary" and "judge" are alike set down by both. So then we go "with our adversary to the ruler", and it is necessary for us, while we are still "on the way", to labor mightily so that we may be freed from him. From whom? For the word is ambiguous and can be referred both to the ruler and to the adversary: "lest perhaps he hand you over" — whether the adversary or the ruler — "to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer"; and: "you will not come out from there until you pay back the very last mite", for which Matthew says: "until you pay back the last farthing". The word "last" both retained, but they seemed to differ in that the one set down "farthing", the other "mite". There are certain more hidden matters I must touch upon, so that we may understand that the adversary is one thing, and the other three persons — that is, the ruler, the judge, the officer — are another. We read — if indeed anyone is pleased to accept a writing of this kind — of the angels of justice and of iniquity contending over the salvation and destruction of Abraham, while each band wishes to claim him for its own company. But if this displeases anyone, let him pass over to the volume that is inscribed with the title of the Shepherd, and he will find that two angels attend all men: an evil one, who exhorts to perverse things, and a good one, who persuades to whatever is best. It is written elsewhere too that a double set of angels stand by a man, whether toward the good side or toward the bad. Of the good ones also the Savior makes mention, saying: "Their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven". At the same time inquire whether the angels of the little ones in the Church "always see the face of the Father", and whether the angels of others do not have the liberty to gaze upon the face of the Father. For it is not to be hoped that the angels of all men always see "the face of the Father who is in heaven". If I belong to the Church, however least I may be, my angel has the liberty and the confidence always to see "the face of the Father who is in heaven". But if I am on the outside and not of that Church "which has no spot or wrinkle or any such thing", and by the very fact am proved to be a stranger to such a congregation, my angel does not have the confidence to look upon "the face of the Father who is in heaven". For which reason the angels are anxious on behalf of the good, knowing that, if they govern us well and lead us through to salvation, they themselves also have the confidence to see "the face of the Father". For just as, if by their care and diligence salvation is procured for men, they gaze always upon "the face of the Father", so, if through their negligence a man has fallen, they are not unaware that it is a matter of their own peril as well. And just as a good bishop and an excellent steward of the Church knows that it is to his own merit and virtue if the sheep of the flock entrusted to him have been kept safe, so understand it also of the angels. It is a disgrace to an angel if the man entrusted to him has sinned, just as, on the contrary, it is a glory to an angel if the one entrusted to him — even the least in the Church — has made progress. For they will see, not sometimes, but "always the face of the Father who is in heaven", while others do not always see it. For according to the merit of those whose angels they are, the angels will contemplate the face of God either always or never, or little or more. The clear knowledge of this matter God knows, and also if anyone — though rarely — has been found whom Christ has instructed. Let us see, then, first, who the "adversary" is with whom we make our journey. The "adversary" is always with us: unhappy and wretched are we! As often as we sin, our adversary exults, knowing that he has the opportunity, before the ruler of this age who had sent him, of exulting and glorying, because the adversary — for example, of this or that man — has made him subject to the ruler of this age through such and so many sins, through this or that offense. But it sometimes happens that, if someone has been equipped with the armor of God and has covered himself on every side, the "adversary" indeed tries to inflict a wound, but does not have the opportunity to strike. The "adversary" always walks with us, never deserts us, seeks an occasion for his snares, whether he can in some way subvert us and cast an evil thought into the governing part of our heart. "When you go to the ruler". Who then is this ruler? "When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord's portion became his people Jacob, the cord of his inheritance Israel". Therefore from the beginning the earth was divided among the rulers, that is, the angels. For Daniel more plainly testifies that those whom Moses had named "angels" are "rulers", saying: "the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians" and "the ruler of the kingdom of the Greeks" and "Michael your ruler"; and so there are rulers of the nations. And each one of us has an adversary clinging to him, whose work it is to lead us to the ruler and to say: O ruler — for example, of the kingdom of the Persians — this man, who was under you, I have kept for you as he was; none of the remaining rulers was able to lead him over to himself, not even that one who boasted that he had come for this purpose, to snatch men from all the inheritances of the Persians or the Greeks and of all the nations and make them subject to the inheritance of God. Christ our Lord conquered all the rulers and, passing beyond their boundaries, carried over the captive peoples to himself for salvation. And you were of the portion of some ruler: Jesus came and snatched you from the perverse power and offered you to God the Father. Our "adversary", then, walks along, leading us "to" his "ruler". Hence I, believing that all the words of the Scriptures have their reason, do not think it was in vain that "judge" among the Greeks is set down with the article, which is a marker of singularity, while "ruler" is written simply, without the article. "When", he says, "you go with your adversary". He says pointedly: "your". For not all are the adversaries of all, but individuals have their own individual adversaries, who everywhere follow them and are their companions. "When you go with your adversary to a ruler". He did not set down "ruler" with the article, lest it should seem to point to a definite one, but without the article, to show that it is one out of many, which is better understood among the Greeks. For each one of us does not have his own proper ruler; but if someone is an Egyptian, he has the ruler of Egypt; he who is a Syrian is under the ruler of the Syrians; and each one is under the ruler of his own nation — if indeed it is enough for me to have advanced this far and not to pass from this discussion to another and greater one, so as to make mention that the other nations too exist. Whence it is said: "behold Israel according to the flesh". It belongs to a prudent man to have begun to speak; though this very thing is rash, to have begun a discourse on such a matter among the people. He who wishes, he says, to lead you to his ruler and to carry you over from another ruler — "when you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort to be freed from him". Unless you "labor with all zeal to be freed" while you are still traveling the road, before you enter in to the ruler, before the ruler hands you over — prepared by the adversary — to the judge, afterward you will strive in vain. "Make" therefore "an effort to be freed" from your adversary, or from the ruler to whom the adversary drags you. "Make an effort" to have wisdom, justice, fortitude, temperance, and then it will be fulfilled: "behold, the man and his works before his own face". Unless you "make an effort", you will not be able to break the compact of the adversary, whose "friendship is enmity against God". "When you go with your adversary to the ruler on the way, make an effort". Something lies hidden in this place, and it is secret: "on the way make an effort". The Savior says: "I am the way and the truth and the life". If you "make an effort" to be freed from the adversary, be on the way; and when you have stood in him who says: "I am the way", it is not enough to have stood, but "make an effort to be freed" from the adversary. For unless you "make an effort" to "be freed" from the adversary, hear what things follow you. "He drags you to the judge" — the adversary or the ruler, when he has received you from the adversary, "drags you to the judge". How elegant is the word "drags", that it may show them, as it were, drawing back and unwilling, dragged to condemnation and compelled to go! For what murderer proceeds to the judge with a quickened step? Who, rejoicing, hastens to go to his own condemnation, and is not dragged unwilling and resisting? For he knows that he is going for this, to receive the sentence of death. "Lest perhaps he drag you to the judge". Who, do you suppose, is this "judge"? I know no other judge than our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is also said elsewhere: "he will set the sheep on the right, but the goats on the left", and again: "whoever confesses me, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before my Father who is in heaven". "He drags you to the judge, and the judge hands you over to the officer". Each one of us, through each single sin, sustains a loss, and according to the quality and account of the offense the magnitude of the loss is reckoned. I ought to bring forward some testimony from the Scriptures concerning loss and a fine of money. One man sustains a loss of five hundred denarii and owes them; another is condemned in fifty denarii; which sum is remitted to both by the creditor. Further, another, as the Scripture says: "one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents", is condemned in a debt of ten thousand talents. And what need is there for me to pursue more? Each one, according to the quality and quantity of his sin, receives a different sentence of fine. If it is little that you sin, you will be struck with the loss of a "mite", as Luke writes, or, as Matthew, of a "farthing". Nevertheless, it is also necessary to pay this very thing in which you have become a debtor; for you will not come out of the prison unless you have paid off even the very least things. But he who is faithful is struck by no loss, but is daily enriched; for the whole world of riches is his; the unbeliever, however, has not even an obol. One is condemned in a denarius, another in a mina, another in a talent. There is an examiner of this business, who knows the measures of all sins and says: This offense is condemned in a talent, that sin merits a fine of this kind. For it is written: "but when he had begun to make a reckoning". A "reckoning" must be computed for all of us. There is no other time for making the reckoning than the time of judgment, when it will be clearly known what has been entrusted to us and what gain or what loss we have made, which of us received a mina, which one talent, which two, which five. What need is there to repeat more, when it is enough to have said this in general, that we shall render an account and, if we are found to be debtors, be dragged to the judge and handed over by the judge to the officer? As individuals we have our own officers, but the whole multitude is handed over to several, according to that which is written in Isaiah: "my people, your officers plunder you, and those who are powerful lord it over you" — the officers lord it over us, if we owe anything. But if we have confidence and with free brow say: I have kept the precept that commands: "render to all their debts, to whom tribute, tribute, to whom fear, fear, to whom custom, custom, to whom honor, honor" — if I have rendered all things to all, I come to the officer and with untroubled mind answer: I owe you nothing. The officer comes to demand back — I resist him; for I know that, if I owe nothing, he has no power over me. But if I am a debtor, my "officer will cast" me "into prison", in that order which was foretold. For the "adversary" leads me to the ruler, the ruler to the judge, the judge will hand me over to the officer, the officer "will cast me into prison". What is the law of that prison? I do not go out from it, nor does the officer allow me to go out, unless I have paid off the whole debt. The officer does not have the power to be able to remit to me even a "farthing" and the smallest portion; there is one who can remit to debtors who have nothing wherewith to pay. "There approached him", he says, "one who owed five hundred denarii, and another fifty; and since they had nothing wherewith to pay, he forgave them both". He who forgave was the master; but this one, who is the officer, is not the master, but is appointed by the master to exact the debts. You were not worthy that five hundred or fifty denarii should be forgiven you, nor did you deserve to hear: "your offenses are forgiven you": you are cast into prison, and there you are exacted through labor and works, or through penalties and torments, and you will not come out from there unless you have paid back the "farthing" or the "very last mite", which in Greek can be called "the fine thing". Our sins are either gross — for it is written: "the heart of this people has grown fat" — or, in comparison with greater ones, fine and subtle. Blessed, therefore, is he first who does not sin; secondly, that in comparison one should have at least a fine sin. And even among these fine and subtle sins there is a diversity of sins. For unless among a fine and subtle sin there were another still subtler, it would never be said: "you will not come out from there until you pay back the last farthing". Just as, if he were speaking of money, the "very last mite" — the mite, which is a denarius or a coin or an obol or a stater —; but what if we owe a great sum of money, like that man who is written to have owed ten thousand talents; for how long a time we shall be shut up in prison until we pay back the debt — I cannot openly declare. For if he who owes little does not come out unless he pays off the "least farthing", surely he who has become liable for so great a debt will have countless ages numbered to him for paying back the debt. Wherefore "let us make an effort to be freed from the adversary" while we are on the way, and let us be joined to the Lord Jesus: to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.