John Chrysostom, On "But in vain they are troubled"

to give me lighter rest, allow me also to be transferred into the hands of the poor.

But he says: I gather wealth for my children, so that they may not become heirs of poverty. Well says the imaginative rich man; he does not know the present, and he worries about the future; he is ignorant of his own affairs, and he worries about his children; whether he will be buried, he does not know, and yet he plans for his heirs. O fool, tell me your own end, and then make provision for your children; tell me about today, and then I will trust you also about tomorrow.

Why do you deceive yourself even after death? Why do you wish to be both dead and mocked? Why do you decree to God what must be done? Why do you legislate for God's providence to administer what has been given to you? What comes after you is no concern of yours. You cannot be both dead, and an administrator of the living, and a judge of the dead weighing each one's due. Why then do you labor in vain, O rich man, storing up for yourself what belongs to the poor, and you do not know for whom you gather it? Why do you hold what belongs to orphans, why when they ask of you are you indignant, as if spending from your own home? They seek their own, not yours; what was entrusted to you for them, not what was born with you. What you have received, give, and gain by its use, for you were commanded to give, not to receive. It is enough for you that through the poor man God extends his right hand to you. He who sends rain from heaven begs of you a drop of bronze; He who thunders and lightens, says to you, "Have mercy"; He who wraps the heaven in clouds asks a rag from you. It is enough for you that the poor entreat you as a God. Give, pity, have mercy, that you may receive mercy.

But you are not willing even to raise your eyebrows, and when entreated you are not moved. Give them what is theirs, before the accounting comes; give them what is theirs, which you are soon to receive back. They have a king for a father; give them what is theirs, and receive from their father freedom from care. What is this? "Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me." For he who has understanding for the poor and needy not only blots out the record of his sin, but also receives a promise, the voice that says, "He who gives to the poor, lends to God." Let us lend mercy to God, that we may receive from him a return of loving-kindness. But oh, the wisest of sayings! "He who has mercy on the poor, lends to God." Why then did it not say, "He who has mercy on the poor, gives to God," 55.562 but, "Lends"? Scripture knows our greed; it has observed that our insatiability, looking to greed, seeks increase, and for this reason it did not say simply, "He who has mercy on the poor, gives to God," so that you would not consider the gift and the reward to be simple; but, "He who has mercy on the poor, lends to God," so that the lover of gain, hearing the name of a loan, might give himself over to mercy. He who has mercy on the poor, lends to God. If God borrows from us, then he is our debtor.

Do you therefore wish to have him as a judge, or a debtor? The debtor respects the one who lent; but the judge is not shamed by the one being judged. 3. But it is necessary, brothers, to see also in another way, for what reason God said that "He who gives to the poor lends to me." Since he saw our greed tending towards increase, as I said before, and that no one with money is willing to lend without security (for the lender demands either a mortgage, or collateral, or a guarantor, and through these three securities he entrusts his money, either receiving guarantees, as I said before, or a mortgage of property); since therefore God knows that without these things no one lends, nor looks to philanthropy, but sees only profit; and the poor man is bereft of all these things, having no mortgage (for he possesses nothing), bringing no collateral (for he is naked), providing no guarantor (for he is distrusted because of his poverty), when he saw him endangered by his poverty, and the one with money because of

κουφότερον ἀναπαῦσαί με, ἐάσατέ με καὶ εἰς τὰς τῶν πενήτων δεξιὰς μεταπεμφθῆναι.

Ἀλλά φησι· Τέκνοις συνάγω τὸν πλοῦτον, ἵνα μὴ πενίας γένωνται κληρονόμοι. Καλῶς ὁ πολυφάνταστος πλούσιος· τὰ παρόντα οὐκ οἶδε, καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων φροντίζει· τὰ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀγνοεῖ, καὶ περὶ τῶν παίδων φροντίζει· εἰ θάπτεται, οὐκ ἐπίσταται, καὶ περὶ τῶν κληρονόμων βουλεύεται. Ὦ ἄφρων, εἰπέ μοι τὸ σὸν τέλος, καὶ τότε περὶ τῶν τέκνων ἀσφάλισαι· εἰπέ μοι τὰ τῆς σήμερον, καὶ τότε πιστεύω σοι καὶ τὰ τῆς αὔριον.

Τί σεαυτὸν καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἀπατᾷς; τί θέλεις εἶναι καὶ νεκρὸς καὶ χλευαζόμενος; τί διορίζῃ τῷ Θεῷ τὸ πρακτέον; τί νομοθετεῖς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόνοιαν διοικεῖσθαι τὰ σοὶ δεδομένα; Οὐδὲν πρὸς σὲ περὶ τῶν μετὰ σέ. Οὐ δύνασαι καὶ νεκρὸς εἶναι, καὶ διοικητὴς ζώντων, καὶ νεκρῶν κριτὴς ζυγοστατῶν ἑκάστου τὸ δίκαιον. Τί οὖν ματαιοπονεῖς, ὦ πλούσιε, τὰ τῶν πενήτων τοῖς σοῖς θησαυρίζων, καὶ οὐκ οἶδας τίνι συνάγεις αὐτά; τί τὰ τῶν ὀρφανῶν κατέχεις, τί αἰτούμενος παρ' αὐτῶν ἀγανακτεῖς, ὡς οἴκοθεν ἀναλίσκων; Τὰ ἴδια ζητοῦσιν, οὐ τὰ σά· τὰ ἐγχειρισθέντα σοι δι' αὐτοὺς, οὐ τὰ μετὰ σοῦ γεννηθέντα. Ἃ ἔλαβες δὸς, καὶ τὴν χρῆσιν κέρδανον, ὅτι δοῦναι, οὐ λαβεῖν, προσετάχθης. Ἀρκεῖ σοι, ὅτι διὰ τοῦ πτωχοῦ ὁ Θεὸς τὴν δεξιάν σοι προτείνει. Ὁ βρέχων ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, τὴν χαλκοῦ ψεκάδα σε προσαιτεῖ· ὁ βροντῶν καὶ ἀστράπτων, Ἐλέησον, σοὶ λέγει· ὁ περιβάλλων τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν νεφέλαις, ῥάκιον αἰτεῖ παρὰ σοῦ. Ἀρκεῖ σοι, ὅτι οἱ πένητες ὡς Θεόν σε λιτανεύουσι. ∆ὸς, οἴκτειρον, ἐλέησον, ἵνα ἐλεηθῇς.

Σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ τὰς ὀφρύας σου ἀνατεῖναι βούλῃ, καὶ λιτανευόμενος οὐκ ἐπικάμπτῃ. ∆ὸς αὐτοῖς τὰ αὐτῶν, πρὶν ἐπιστῇ τὸ λογοθέσιον· δὸς αὐτοῖς τὰ αὐτῶν, ἃ μέλλεις μετ' οὐ πολὺ ἀπολαμβάνειν. Πατέρα ἔχουσι βασιλέα· δὸς αὐτοῖς τὰ αὐτῶν, καὶ λάβε παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν τὴν ἀμεριμνίαν. Ποίαν ταύτην; Ἐφ' ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. Ὁ γὰρ συνιὼν ἐπὶ πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα, οὐ μόνον τὸ χειρόγραφον τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξαλείφει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁμολογίαν λαμβάνει, τὴν λέγουσαν φωνὴν, Ὁ διδοὺς πτωχῷ, Θεῷ δανείζει. Θεῷ δανείσωμεν τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην, ἵνα παρ' αὐτοῦ λάβωμεν φιλανθρωπίας ἀντίδοσιν. Ἀλλ' ὢ τοῦ σοφωτάτου ῥήματος! Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δανείζει Θεῷ. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν οὐκ εἶπεν, Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δίδωσι Θεῷ, 55.562 ἀλλὰ, ∆ανείζει; Οἶδεν ἡ Γραφὴ τὴν ἡμετέραν πλεονεξίαν· προσέσχεν ὅτι ἡ ἀπληστία ἡμῶν πρὸς πλεονεξίαν βλέπουσα τὸν πλεονασμὸν ζητεῖ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπεν ἁπλῶς, Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δίδωσι Θεῷ, ἵνα μὴ ἁπλῆν τὴν δόσιν καὶ τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν νομίσῃς· ἀλλ', Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δανείζει Θεῷ, ἵνα τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ δανείσματος ὁ φιλοκερδὴς ἀκούσας, ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδῷ πρὸς ἔλεον. Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν, δανείζει Θεῷ. Εἰ δανείζεται Θεὸς παρ' ἡμῶν, ἄρα χρεώστης ἡμῶν ἐστιν.

Τί οὖν θέλεις αὐτὸν κριτὴν ἔχειν, ἢ χρεώστην; Ὁ χρεώστης αἰδεῖται τὸν δανείσαντα· ὁ κριτὴς δὲ οὐ δυσωπεῖται τὸν δικαζόμενον. γʹ. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον ἰδεῖν, τίνος ἕνεκεν ὁ Θεὸς εἶπεν, ὅτι Ἐμοὶ δανείζει ὁ διδοὺς πτωχῷ. Ἐπειδὴ εἶδεν ἡμῶν τὴν πλεονεξίαν ῥέπουσαν εἰς τὸν πλεονασμὸν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, καὶ μηδαμοῦ τὸν χρήματα ἔχοντα δανείζειν θέλοντα ἄνευ ἀσφαλείας (ἀπαιτεῖ γὰρ ὁ δανείζων ἢ ὑποθήκην, ἢ ἐνέχυρα, ἢ τὸν ἀντιφωνοῦντα, καὶ διὰ τῶν τριῶν τούτων ἀσφαλειῶν ἐμπιστεύει τὰ ἑαυτοῦ χρήματα, ἢ ἐγγύας δεχόμενος, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπὼν, ἢ ὑποθήκην πραγμάτων)· ἐπεὶ οὖν οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι ἐκτὸς τούτων οὐδεὶς δανείζει, οὐδὲ εἰς φιλανθρωπίαν βλέπει, ἀλλ' εἰς μόνον τὸ κέρδος ὁρᾷ· πάντων δὲ τούτων ἔρημος ὁ πτωχὸς, οὐχ ὑποθήκην ἔχων (οὐ κέκτηται γὰρ οὐδὲν), οὐκ ἐνέχυρα φέρων (γεγύμνωται γὰρ), οὐ τὸν ἀντιφωνοῦντα παρέχων (ἀπιστεῖται γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἀπορίαν), ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὸν διακινδυνεύοντα τῇ ἀπορίᾳ, καὶ τὸν ἔχοντα χρήματα διὰ