The prophet sings a sorrowful song to the people of Israel, a song that he composed about the one of whom it is written in the Gospel: When he saw her, referring beyond doubt to Jerusalem, he wept over her and said, ‘Would that you knew what will bring you peace, because the days are coming when your enemies will surround you and prevail over you and flatten both you and your children.’^[1] And again: How often have I desired to gather your children like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not? Behold, your deserted house is abandoned,^[2] which is similar to what was said in the current song: I will abandon the vineyard. But that Christ is called beloved and most dear, which Aquila understood to mean patradelphon, kindred through a father, the forty-fourth psalm teaches us in its inscription, A song for the beloved,^[3] as does the voice of God the Father in the Gospel: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am pleased.^[4] We also read in the sixty-seventh psalm: The Lord will send the word with great power to preachers, the King of hosts to the beloved.^[5] This beloved, therefore, composed a mournful song for his vineyard, one that I will sing to my beloved and pathetic people. Or at least it can be understood to mean I will sing to almighty God the Father the song of Christ who is my kindred, that is, begotten of my race.

Let the vine give thanks to our Lord, the true vineyard.

Souls were like young plants;

He cultivated [his] vineyard, but he destroyed the vineyard

That gave sour grapes.

Blessed be the one who uproots! . . .

Let the vine eaten by the boar of the forest give thanks

To the true vinedresser, who himself worked and guarded

His fruit and offers fruit to the Lord of the vineyard.

Blessed be its vinedresser. HYMNS

And in Isaiah it says, I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching my vineyard. My beloved has a vineyard. Who is the Beloved other than the only-begotten Son?

He fenced it [the church] in with a rampart, as it were of heavenly precepts and with the angels standing guard, for the angel of the lord shall encamp round about them that fear him.^[1] He placed in the church a tower, so to speak, of apostles, prophets and teachers, ready to defend the peace of the church. He dug around it, when he had freed it from the burden of earthly anxieties. For nothing burdens the mind more than exaggerated solicitude for the world and desire either for wealth or for power.

[God] calls us to produce much fruit so that we will not be cast into the fire because we do not. He constantly compares human souls with vines. He says, My beloved has a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place. And, I planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it. Obviously he called human souls the vineyard, around which he puts the security of his commandments and his angels as a hedge. . . . He desires that we also hold fast to our neighbors with love like vines, and to rest on them, with the highest desires, in order that we may reach the greatest heights of lofty teachings, like climbing vines. . . . Our soul is dug around when we lay aside the cares of the world that burden our hearts. Therefore, the one who has laid aside carnal love and the desire of possessions and has deemed desire for small glory of greatest contempt has been dug around and liberated from the vain burden of the spirit of the world.

So let me warn you, holy seedlings, let me warn you, fresh plants in the field of the Lord, not to have it said of you what was said of the vineyard of the house of Israel: I expected it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns. Let the Lord find good bunches of grapes on you, seeing that he was himself a bunch of grapes trodden in the winepress for you. Produce grapes, live good lives.

See then how very bad sinning is, that they may be delivered to Satan, who holds captive the souls of those forsaken by God—though God does not forsake without cause or judgment those whom he has abandoned. For when he sends the rain for the vineyard and the vineyard bears thorns instead of grapes, what else will God do except order the clouds not to sprinkle rain on the vineyard?

It is obvious enough that the prophet is referring to the apostles and to the saints; that they are not to rain his rain upon the Jews but upon the Gentiles.

The clouds are the prophets; the Lord commanded them to rain no rain upon Israel. The word of prophecy has turned to us.

The noise of the waters is great when sweet psalmody is offered, when guilt is removed by groans and tears, when thanks are rendered for a gift received. The different prayers of people resound in sacred churches like the crashing of the sea. He beautifully appends why the noise of the waters is great: it was because the clouds sent forth a sound. We have often said that clouds signify preachers, of whom Scripture says, I will command my clouds not to pour rain on that land. They uttered that great sound when they made known the precepts of the Lord throughout the whole world.

Just as clouds when they rumble and clash (so the physicists tell us) send forth darts of lightning, so the words of the prophets shone out as signs of truth. In fact you often find the prophets in the divine Scriptures compared with clouds; for example, And I will command the clouds not to rain upon it.

Because your soul is a priceless thing, poor man, be on your guard. The soul is everlasting, although the flesh is mortal. Although you may lack money, you are not therefore devoid of grace. Although your house is not commodious, your possessions are not scattered. The sky is open, and the expanse of the world is free. The elements have been granted to all for their common use. Rich and poor alike enjoy the splendid ornaments of the universe.

Are the paneled ceilings decked with gold in the homes of the very wealthy more beautiful than the face of the heavens decorated with glistening stars? Are the estates of the rich more extensive than the surface of the world? Hence it was said of those who join house to house and estate to estate: Shall you alone dwell in the midst of the earth? You have actually a larger house, you man of low estate—a house wherein your call is heard and heeded. . . . The house of God is common to rich and poor.

You see, even if many people do not admit this in so many words but claim to believe in the doctrine of the resurrection and future retribution, nevertheless I take notice not of their words but of what they do day to day. That is to say, if you are looking forward to resurrection and retribution, why go chasing the values of this life to such an extent? Why, tell me, do you put yourself to such trouble day in and day out amassing more possessions than there is sand on the seashore, not to mention property and dwellings, as well as buying baths, often acquiring these things through robbery and greed and thus fulfilling that saying from the inspired author Woe to those who add house to house, and join field to field so as to steal from their neighbor? Cannot this sort of thing be seen happening day after day? One person says, That house casts a terrible shadow on mine, and he invents countless pretexts to get hold of it, while another lays hold of a poor person’s property and makes it his own. And what in fact is worse, remarkable and unheard of and quite beyond excuse, is for a person comfortably situated in one locality being able to move elsewhere without any good reason for wanting to, either on account of a change of circumstances or because constrained by physical disability; all over the place, in city after city, he is bent on procuring monuments to his own avarice and having timeless effigies of his own evil for all to see. He heaps all sins of this kind on his own head without feeling his heavy and troublesome burden, whereas enjoyment of them he leaves for others, not only after his departure from this life but even here before his demise. You see, no matter what he wishes, he is stripped of his possessions, they are all squandered, so to say, by his friends and left in tatters without the smallest part of them falling to him to enjoy. Yet why do I say enjoy? Even if he wanted, how could he with one stomach manage to dispose of such an abundance of good things?

There are many instances in which the land suffers because of people’s sins. Why are you surprised if the people’s sin makes the land infertile and unfruitful when we caused it to be corrupt in the first place (and will again make it incorruptible)? . . . See Noah, for example. When humanity had become utterly perverse, turmoil ensued everywhere. Everything—the seed, the plants, all types of animals, the land, the sea, the air, the mountains, the valleys, the hills, the cities, the ramparts, the houses and the towers—everything was covered by the flood. When the time came for humanity to be replenished, the land was restored to the order and beauty it had before. It is clear that the land was restored in part as an honor to humanity.

What do servants think of themselves when they dare to despise the Lord’s precepts, not even condescending to reread the letters of invitation whereby he asks them to the blessedness of his kingdom? If any one of us sends a letter to his administrator and he in turn not only fails to do what is commanded but even refuses to read over the orders, that person deserves to receive punishment, not pardon; imprisonment, not freedom. Similarly, one who refuses to read the sacred writings that have been transmitted from the eternal country should fear that he perhaps will not receive eternal rewards and even not escape endless punishment. So dangerous is it for us not to read the divine precepts that the prophet mournfully exclaims, Therefore is my people led away captive, because they had not knowledge. . . . Doubtless, if a person fails to seek God in this world through the sacred lessons, God will refuse to recognize him in eternal bliss.

For each and every person braids a rope for himself in his sins. . . . Who makes the rope long? Who adds sin to sin? How are sins added to sins? When the sins that have been committed are combined with other sins. He committed a theft; that no one may find out that he committed it, he seeks out an astrologer. It would be enough to have committed the theft; why do you want to join a sin to a sin? Look, two sins. When you are prevented from approaching the astrologer, you blaspheme the bishop. Look, three sins. When you hear, Send him outside the church, you say, I’m taking myself to Donatus’s group.^[1] Look, you add a fourth sin.

Our Lord shows what reward awaits hypocritical workers when he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple.^[1] They are cast out as sharers of the inheritance of the saints^[2] if, after they are chosen to be among the saints, they either perform good acts deceitfully or evil acts openly. He also drives out the sheep and oxen when he shows the life and teaching of such persons deserve condemnation. The cords with which he expelled the wicked persons from the temple by scourging them are the progressive development of [their] evil actions, which provide material to the strict Judge for condemning those who are to be rejected. . . . The person who heaps sins upon sins, for which he will be condemned more severely, is like one lengthening the cords with which he can be bound and scourged, adding to them little by little.

For, in like manner, they also who oppose martyrdoms, representing salvation to be destruction, transmute sweet into bitter, as well as light into darkness. Thus, by preferring this very wretched life to that most blessed one, they put bitter for sweet, as well as darkness for light.

Woe unto them that call evil good. For this text is to be understood to refer not to humans but to those things that make humans evil, and the prophet’s accusation is rightly applied to one who calls adultery good. But if someone should call another good whom he believes chaste, not knowing that he is an adulterer, he is deceived not in his understanding of good and evil but through the secrets of human conduct. He is calling a person good whom he believes to possess that which indubitably is good. The adulterer he would call evil, the chaste person good, and he calls the person in question good simply through not knowing that he is an adulterer and not chaste.

Some accept little gifts and presents and endeavor to corrupt just cases, as the prophet says: Putting darkness for light, and light for darkness: saying what is sweet is bitter, and what is bitter, sweet. Therefore, they hear cases and decide them unjustly. They accept earthly gifts and lose eternal rewards; gaining money, they lose eternity. O miserable fellow, if you have done this or do it or attempt it, you pay attention to what you are acquiring but do not notice what you lose. By acquiring gold, you offend God, for while your money coffer is filled your conscience is weakened. In a few days or years your soul will leave your body; then the gold will remain in the coffer, but your unfortunate soul will descend into hell. However, if you had judged justly, refusing happily to serve avarice or dissipation, your soul would be lifted up to the kingdom full of God and your moneybox would stay in the world without gold. Therefore I beseech you, brothers, and I adjure you by him who redeemed you with his precious blood, observe justice in every case with all your strength, and think more carefully of the salvation of your soul.

Must we be servile to the whim of those who are wicked? If they wish valueless praise conferred upon them, is it becoming that we, too, heap valueless and laughable praise on them? And this especially since they who wish to be ridiculous should not be laughed at by those who are honorable, just as they who desire to be decorated even with the label of false praise should not be praised in a lying manner. Our prime consideration should be not so much what they wish to hear as what it is fitting for us to say, especially since the prophet says, Woe to them who speak sweet for bitter things and bitter for sweet things.

It is of the same crime to call goodness, light and sweetness by contrary names as it is to apply the names of the virtues to evil, darkness and bitterness. This is directed against those who do not think it a sin to curse the good, nor consider it an offense to praise evil. The Jews called good evil, and light darkness, and sweetness bitterness, when they received Barabbas, thief and traitor,^[1] while crucifying Jesus, who came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to save those who were dying.^[2] In Barabbas we can understand the devil, who though he was night and darkness, changed to appear as an angel of light.^[3] Hence the apostle said, What participation does righteousness have with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial?^[4] For a lamp must not be taken and placed under a basket or a bed but should be set on a stand that it might illuminate everyone.^[5] Nor should a tree that bears evil fruit be called a good tree. Hence it is told with mystical language in Genesis that God separated the light from the darkness, both of which were born above the waters in the beginning.^[6] But the Savior himself testifies in the Gospel that he shall be called good: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.^[7] He also calls himself light: I am the light of the world.^[8] And we say that he is the daily heavenly bread with which we are filled: Taste and see how sweet is the Lord.^[9]

We should flee all vanity. We should utterly despise the works of the evil way. Do not live separately from one another, as though you have already become perfect, but come together and seek what is the common good.

Who is the greatest subverter of the people of God—he who, relying on the power of free choice, despises the help of the Creator and is satisfied with following his own will, or he who dreads to be judged by the details of the Lord’s commandments?

Those of you who are over others, pay special attention to your neighbors, particularly to those who have not been entrusted to your care. You do not know what good may lie hidden even in those you see doing something wrong. Let each of you, then, strive to be great in virtue, but nonetheless let him know that he is not so in some degree. Otherwise he may proudly attribute his greatness to himself and lose whatever good he has; he might even be rejected because of his sin of pride.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people. He wanted them to be a people of his own and to be called as such, but this is not what they wanted. Because of this he gives a sign of approaching war and of a multitude of the slain that would fill the mountains with dead corpses. The whole country would become full of their dead. All this would happen to them at the hands of the enemy invaders. The enemies did not do this on their own; rather, God himself brought them about, drawing and leading their enemies to the siege of the accused Israelites.

I give glory to Jesus Christ, the God who has imbued you with such wisdom. I am well aware that you have been made perfect in unwavering faith, like men nailed in body and spirit to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and confirmed in love by the blood of Christ. In regard to our Lord, you are thoroughly convinced that he was of the race of David according to the flesh, and the Son of God by his will and power; that he was truly born of the Virgin and baptized by John in order that all due observance might be fulfilled by him;^[1] that in his body he was truly nailed to the cross for our sake under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch (we are the most blessed fruit of his passion) so that, through his resurrection, he might raise for all ages in the one body of his church a standard for the saints and the faithful, whether among Jews or Gentiles.

He [God] says the following about the Gentiles, those he was about to call together from the ends of the earth: Behold, they shall come swiftly with speed. He says swiftly because of the hastening toward end times. He says with speed because they will not be weighed down by the weights of the ancient law. He says they shall be filled because it is a promise made only to those who hunger and thirst.^[1]