John Chrysostom, On "He who goes out to sow"

In illud: Exiit qui seminat

On the text, “A sower went out to sow his seed.”

61.771 The virgin soil, furrowed by experienced farmers with the cooperation of oxen and plows, receives the seeds, and having enveloped them with clods, first sprouts the blade, then lengthens the stalk, then puts forth the full grain of wheat in the ear. Then the farmers, seeing the bright field of ears, exalt the hopes of their own labors, and hasten to supplicate God sincerely, that He might preserve unharmed the fruits of the good things that have appeared. For often, when the height of summer approaches, and the hope is within reach, and the farmer is overjoyed, either a hot wind blows and winnows the ear, or a blight causes it to rot, or a locust devours it, or hail breaks it, and withers the hope to an untimely end; so that the farmer, seized by great despondency, puts his sickle to rest in the shed, and with the 61.772 untimely end of the harvest, withers away himself in grief.

But whenever the good temperature of the air makes the ear bright and ripe, and the field, whitening like an image of old men, is bent over, awaiting the summer's cut, then the rustics, and palms stretched out with sharp sickles, add labors to labors, and put their desire to rest, sating their hopes with the end itself. Then, while the other animals rest at home, the ox alone with cheerful step and stern gaze proceeds to the threshing floor. And the other animals, goats and swine and sheep, as many as have not submitted their own necks to the yoke of the plow, tormented by their own conscience, approaching the threshing floor with servile advances, steal a handful of the ears; but the ox alone, stretching out a free tongue, boldly draws up the fruits of its own labors.

You saw 61.773 there the reapers, you saw there the ear-bearing field, the threshing floor, the ox; pass over for me from there in word to the ecclesiastical good order, and you will see the agriculture of the aforementioned things in the mystery of the Church. “The sower,” it says, “went out to sow.” For we just heard this in the Gospel. Who went out? Christ, having come from heaven into the world. For the sower is Christ, the seed is the divine word, the field is humanity, the oxen are the apostles, the plow is the cross, the yoke is concord, the harness that binds the necks of the apostles is sweet love. The sower went out to sow. Christ went out, not to reap, but to sow; for the seeds of the resurrection had not yet been sown in the hearts of men. The sower went out to sow, not wheat, not barley, not millet, nor any other earthly thing, but faith in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, hope of resurrection, love for God and men, unhypocritical and without distinction. Christ the sower went out from the Father's loins, He who is in the bosom of the Father, and came to us, as He Himself says: “I came forth from the Father and am come.” But He came forth from His Father, not being separated from Him, yet being with us. The sower went out, in order to uproot the tares sown evilly by the devil in the souls of men. “For every plant,” He says, “which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up.”

The sun of righteousness went out, in order to sprinkle the shining rays of his divinity on the hearts of men who were in darkness. The shepherd of the sheep went out, in order that having sown the salt of piety, the savory grass of the legal

In illud: Exiit qui seminat

Εἰς τὸ, Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι τὸν σπόρον αὑτοῦ.

61.771 Ἡ παρθένος ἄρουρα ὑπὸ ἐμπείρων γεωργῶν τῇ τῶν βοῶν συνεργείᾳ τοῖς

ἀρότροις αὐλακισθεῖσα, δέχεται τὰ σπέρματα, καὶ ταῖς βώλοις περιπτύξασα, πρῶτον βλαστάνει τὴν πόαν, εἶτα μηκύνει τὸν στάχυν, εἶτα πλήρη ἐν τῷ στάχυϊ τοῦ σίτου τὸν κόκκον προβάλλεται. Τότε οἱ γεωργοὶ λαμπρὸν ὁρῶντες τῶν ἀσταχύων τὸ λήϊον, τῶν οἰκείων πόνων τὰς ἐλπίδας σεμνύνουσι, τὸν Θεὸν δὲ ἱκετεύειν εἰλικρινῶς σπεύδουσιν, ἵνα τῶν φαινομένων ἀγαθῶν τοὺς καρποὺς ἀβλαβεῖς διασώσῃ. Πολλάκις γὰρ ἐγγιζούσης τῆς τοῦ θέρους ἀκμῆς, καὶ εὐλήπτου τῆς ἐλπίδος τυγχανούσης, καὶ περιχαροῦς ὄντος τοῦ γεωργοῦ, ἢ θερμὸς ἐπιπνεύσας τὸν ἄσταχυν ἐλίκμησεν, ἢ ἐρυσίβη κατέσηψεν, ἢ βροῦχος κατέφαγεν, ἢ χάλαζα κατέξανε, καὶ ἄωρον τῆς ἐλπίδος τὸ τέλος ἐμάρανεν· ὡς τὸν γεωργὸν ὑπὸ πολλῆς ἀθυμίας πιασθέντα, τὴν δρεπάνην τῇ σκηνῇ ἐγκοιμίσαντα, τῷ 61.772 ἀώρῳ τέλει τοῦ θέρους ἑαυτὸν συμμαραίνειν τῇ λύπῃ.

Ὁπόταν δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀέρων εὐκρασία λαμπρὸν καὶ πέπειρον τὸν στάχυν ἀπεργάσηται, καὶ οἷον ἐν εἰκόνι γερόντων τὸ λήϊον λευκανίζον κεκύρτωται, τὴν τοῦ θέρους τομὴν ἀπεκδεχόμενον, τότε ἄγροικοι, καὶ παλάμαι σὺν δρεπάνοις ὀξέσιν ἁπλωθεῖσαι, πόνοις πόνους προσάγουσι, καὶ τὸν πόθον προσκοιμίζουσιν, αὐτῷ τῷ τέλει τὰς ἐλπίδας χορτάζοντες. Τότε τῶν ἄλλων ζώων οἴκαδε ἡσυχαζόντων, μόνος ὁ βοῦς ἱλαρῷ τῷ βήματι, βλοσυρῷ τῷ βλέμματι ἐπὶ τὴν ἅλω πορεύεται. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ζῶα, αἶγες καὶ χοῖροι καὶ πρόβατα ὅσα τὸν ἑαυτῶν αὐχένα τῷ ζυγῷ τοῦ ἀρότρου οὐχ ὑπέταξαν, οἰκείᾳ συνειδήσει ἀγχόμενα, δουλικαῖς προσόδοις τῇ ἅλῳ προσεγγίζοντα, τῶν ἀσταχύων τὸ δράγμα λῃστεύουσι· μόνος δὲ ὁ βοῦς ἐλευθέραν τὴν γλῶσσαν ἁπλώσας, τῶν οἰκείων πόνων τοὺς καρποὺς θαρσαλέως ἀρύεται.

Εἶδες 61.773 ἐκεῖ τοὺς δρεπανιστὰς, εἶδες ἐκεῖ τὴν σταχυοφόρον ἄρουραν, τὴν ἅλω, τὸν βοῦν· μετάβα μοι ἐκεῖθεν τῷ λόγῳ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν εὐταξίαν, καὶ ὄψει τῶν προειρημένων τὴν γεωργίαν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Ἐξῆλθε, φησὶν, ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἀρτίως ἠκούσαμεν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. Ἐξῆλθε, τίς; Χριστὸς, ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ εἰς τὸν κόσμον παραγενόμενος. Σπορεὺς γὰρ ὁ Χριστὸς, σπέρμα ὁ θεῖος λόγος, ἄρουρα ἡ ἀνθρωπότης, βόες οἱ ἀπόστολοι, ἄροτρον ὁ σταυρὸς, ζυγὸς ἡ ὁμόνοια, ζεύγλη ἡ περισφίγγουσα τοὺς τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐχένας γλυκεῖα ἀγάπη. Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι. Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐχ ἵνα θερίσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα σπείρῃ· οὔπω γὰρ ἦν τὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως σπέρματα ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων καρδίαις κατεσπαρμένα. Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι, οὐ σῖτον, οὐ κριθὰς, οὐ κέγχρον, οὐδ' ἄλλο τι τῶν γηΐνων, ἀλλὰ πίστιν εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ἐλπίδα ἀναστάσεως, ἀγάπην εἰς Θεὸν καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀνυπόκριτον καὶ ἀδιάκριτον. Ἐξῆλθε σπείρων Χριστὸς ἐκ πατρικῶν λαγόνων, ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἧκε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καθὼς αὐτὸς φάσκων λέγει· Ἐγὼ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον καὶ ἥκω. Ἀλλ' ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μὲν μὴ χωριζόμενος, μεθ' ἡμῶν δὲ τυγχάνων. Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων, ἵνα τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐπισπαρέντα κακῶς ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχαῖς ζιζάνια ἐκριζώσῃ. Πᾶσα γὰρ φυτεία, φησὶν, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος, ἐκριζωθήσεται.

Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ ἥλιος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἵνα τὰς φεγγοβόλους αὐτοῦ ἀκτῖνας τῆς θεότητος ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἐσκοτισμένων ἀνθρώπων καρδίαις ἐῤῥάνῃ. Ἐξῆλθεν ὁ ποιμὴν τῶν προβάτων, ἵνα τὸ ἅλας τῆς εὐσεβείας σπείρας, νόστιμον τὸν χόρτον τοῦ νομικοῦ