Friday, August 31, 2018

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost


Wondrous are Your testimonies;
For this reason my soul searches them out.
The revelation of Your words gives light,
And it causes children to understand.
I opened my mouth and drew in my breath,
For I longed for Your commandments.
Look upon me and have mercy on me,
According to the Your name.
Direct my steps according to Your teaching
And let no lawlessness rule over me.
Ransom me from the slander of men,
And I will keep Your commandments.
Make Your face shine upon Your servant
And teach me Your ordinances.
My eyes poured down streams of tears
Because they did not keep Your law. (Ps 119:129–136)


[David] showed that it was not without reason that he loved them: they are estimable, capable of enchanting and prompting love in those able to discern them. And from where did you come to learn their virtue? The explanation of your words sheds light and imparts understanding to infants. He is saying: Illuminated by Your light, I received this knowledge; Your law imparts understanding to all held in the grip of ignorance, resembling babies.

By mouth here he refers to the mind’s enthusiasm: it draws in the grace of the Spirit. He says elsewhere, “Open wide your mouth, and I shall fill it”; and the divine Apostle prayed that a word be given in the opening of the mouth; and the inspired author himself said in another psalm, “The Lord will give a word to those bringing the good news with great power.” He said this here, too, I opened my mouth, and sucked in breath, because I panted after your commandments: since You saw me longing for Your commandments, You accorded Your grace.… He asks to attain the divine benevolence, not simply but, he says, as You are in the habit of providing mercy to those who love You; this is the meaning of in the judgment of those loving Your name, that is, I beg to enjoy the same verdict as they do. With our prior movement of enthusiasm, and God’s provision of help and guidance in the journey, there is no room for the influence of sin.… Christ the Lord declared enviable and blessed those who are mocked and defamed, but also bade them pray not to enter into temptation. So the prayer of the inspired author accords with the evangelical laws.

The divine is incorporeal, simple, and without composition. Sacred Scripture, however, speaks about it in a rather corporeal and concrete fashion, adjusting its language to human nature. So the shining of the divine face is to be taken as the end to sorrows and the provision of good things. My eyes shed streams of water since I did not keep your Law. This is also the apostolic law, “If one member suffers,” it says, “all members suffer with it.” So the inspired author aims at the evangelical perfection, lamenting the others’ transgressions. By streams of water he referred to the abundance of tears, meaning: I shed tears like a spring on perceiving people’s transgressions.

You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgments upright. The testimonies you enjoined are righteousness and truth pure and simple: You manage all things justly, O Lord, out of care for people and in Your wish to make them doers of righteousness. You gave a Law, You leave transgressors in no doubt what penalties they will pay, You promise good rewards to the observant, and You confirm your promises by actions.… The inspired author laments those living a life of lawlessness, and on seeing the lawgiver despised he is rightly angered. This zeal made Phinehas celebrated; this rendered the great Elijah famous; burning with this the triumphant Stephen accused the Jews of unbelief; exemplifying this in himself, the divinely inspired Paul cried aloud, “Who is weak and I am not weak? who is scandalized and I am not on fire?” And blessed Luke says of him that in Athens his spirit was afflicted within him seeing the city given over to idolatry.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 119

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