So that though thou be no friend, though thou be not demanding thy due, though thou hast devoured thy Father's substance, and have been a long time out of sight, though without honor, though last of all, though thou approach Him angry, though much displeased; be willing only to pray, and to return, and thou shalt receive all, and shall quickly extinguish the wrath and the condemnation.
But, "behold, I pray," saith one, "and there is no result." Why, thou prayest not like those; such I mean as the Syrophoenician woman, the friend that came late at night, and the widow that is continually troubling the judge, and the son that consumed his father's goods. For didst thou so pray, thou wouldest quickly obtain. For though despite have been done unto Him, yet is He a Father; and though He have been provoked to anger, yet is He fond of His children; and one thing only doth He seek, not to take vengeance for our affronts, but to see thee repenting and entreating Him. Would that we were warmed in like measure, as those bowels are moved to the love of us. But this fire seeks a beginning only, and if thou afford it a little spark, thou kindlest a full flame of beneficence. For not because He hath been insulted, is He sore vexed, but because it is thou who art insulting Him, and so becoming frenzied. For if we being evil, when our children molest [965] us, grieve on their account; much more is God, who can not so much as suffer insult, sore vexed on account of thee, who hast committed it. If we, who love by nature, much more He, who is kindly affectioned beyond nature. "For though," saith He, "a woman should forget the fruits of her womb, yet will I not forget thee." [966]
8. Let us therefore draw nigh unto Him, and say, "Truth, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." [967] Let us draw nigh "in season, out of season:" or rather, one can never draw nigh out of season, for it is unseasonable not to be continually approaching. For of Him who desires to give it is always seasonable to ask: yea, as breathing is never out of season, so neither is praying unseasonable, but rather not praying. Since as we need this breath, so do we also the help that comes from Him; and if we be willing, we shall easily draw Him to us. And the prophet, to manifest this, and to point out the constant readiness of His beneficence, said, "We shall find Him prepared as the morning." [968] For as often as we may draw nigh, we shall see Him awaiting our movements. And if we fail to draw from out of His ever-springing goodness, the blame is all ours. This, for example, was His complaint against certain Jews, when He said, "My mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away." [969] And His meaning is like this; "I indeed have supplied all my part, but ye, as a hot sun coming over scatters both the cloud and the dew, and makes them vanish, so have ye by your great wickedness restrained the unspeakable Beneficence."
Which also itself again is an instance of providential care: that even when He sees us unworthy to receive good, He withholds His benefits, lest He render us careless. But if we change a little, even but so much as to know that we have sinned, He gushes out beyond the fountains, He is poured forth beyond the ocean; and the more thou receivest, so much the more doth He rejoice; and in this way is stirred up again to give us more. For indeed He accounts it as His own wealth, that we should be saved, and that He should give largely to them that ask. And this, it may seem, Paul was declaring when He said, that He is "rich unto all and over all that call upon Him." [970] Because when we pray not, then He is wroth; when we pray not, then doth He turn away from us. For this cause "He became poor, that He might make us rich;" [971] for this cause He underwent all those sufferings, that He might incite us to ask.
Let us not therefore despair, but having so many motives and good hopes, though we sin every day, let us approach Him, entreating, beseeching, asking the forgiveness of our sins. For thus we shall be more backward to sin for the time to come; thus shall we drive away the devil, and shall call forth the lovingkindness of God, and attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen.
[935] hekatrothen dexai tn perboln.
[936] [etelea, "cheapness" first, then "meanness."--R.]
[937] Matt. vi. 30.
[938] Ps. xix. 1.
[939] Ps. cxlviii. 9.
[940] Matt. vi. 30.
[941] John i. 3.
[942] Matt. v. 35.
[943] Matt. v. 34.
[944] Matt. v. 45.
[945] [Or, "they," as in the next sentence.--R.]
[946] Matt. vi. 31, 32. [The text of Chrysostom is in doubt here: one ms. omits "of the world." The longer reading is probably due to a recollection of Luke xii. 30, where this form occurs.--R.]
[947] Matt. vi. 33. [The reading of this verse given by Chrysostom is peculiar. The best authorities support the form accepted in the R.V., "his kingdom and his righteousness." But the reading of the received text is ancient. Some other Fathers agree with Chrysostom. The phrase "kingdom of heaven" is peculiar to Matthew.--R.]
[948] proegomena .
[949] Matt. vi. 4.
[950] schmato.
[951] Matt. v. 34.
[952] suntribpleonexa; but one mss. reads dunastea, referring to oppressive oligarchies, Latin, principatus.--R.]
[953] Isa. xlv. 7.
[954] [kakan, the word rendered "evil" throughout this passage.--R.]
[955] 1 Sam. vi. 9.
[956] 1 Cor. vii. 32. [R.V., "to be free from care;" amermnou, a compound of the same origin as the word rendered "take no thought" in the A.V.--R.]
[957] Matt. x. 9, 10.
[958] Matt. viii. 20.
[959] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 1-20; 2 Kings xxi. 1-18.
[960] [ka chrin chei soi totou polln.]
[961] Luke xi. 5-8.
[962] Luke xviii. 1-8.
[963] Matt. xv. 21-28; Mark vii. 24-30.
[964] donai. See Hom. LII.
[965] [The Greek word is that rendered "insult" in this and the preceding sentence.--R.]
[966] Isa. xlix. 15.
[967] Matt. xv. 27.
[968] Hosea vi. 3, LXX. "His going forth is prepared as the morning," agreeing with the present Hebrew copies. The sentiment of both readings (as we so often find, apparently by a special Providence) is the same. [R.V., "His going forth is sure as the morning." This, too, conveys the same general sentiment, but is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew.--R.]
[969] Hosea vi. 4. A.V., "Your goodness is as the morning cloud;" and so also LXX. t leo mn. And with this the Hebrew copies agree, as did St. Jerome's (in loc. t. vi. 63, Venet. 1768). But St. Cyril (in loc. t. iii. 96), reads t leo mo And St. Jerome's Commentary shows that according to his interpretation the two readings came to the same meaning. "Your mercy, that wherewith I have always had mercy upon you, hath passed by...for now is the captivity near." [R.V., "For your goodness (or, kindness) is as a morning cloud." In the Homily d occurs, but is not translated.--R.]
[970] Rom. x. 12. ka p pnta is omitted in our present copies. Mr. Field refers to Rom. iii. 22; "unto all and upon all them that believe." [There is no authority for ka p panta in Rom. x. 12, and in iii. 22the weight of authority is against the phrase (see R.V. in loco); but Chrysostom undoubtedly accepted the longer reading in the latter passage, and seems to have combined the two in the present instance.--R.]
[971] 2 Cor. viii. 9. [The citation is not accurate, probably the variation is intentional.--R.]