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75. Now, surely, those who live in gross wickedness
and take no care to correct their lives and habits,
who yet, amid their crimes and misdeeds, continue to
multiply their alms, flatter themselves in vain with
the Lord's words, "Give alms; and, behold, all things
are clean to you." They do not understand how far
this saying reaches.
In order for them to understand, let them notice
to whom it was that he said it. For this is the
context of it in the Gospel: "As he was speaking, a
certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. And he
went in and reclined at the table. And the Pharisee
began to wonder and ask himself why He had not washed
himself before dinner. But the Lord said to him: 'Now
you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the
dish, but within you are still full of extortion and
wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the
outside make the inside too? Nevertheless, give for
alms what remains within; and, behold, all things are
clean to you.'"(162)
Should we interpret this to mean that to the
Pharisees, who had not the faith of Christ, all
things are clean if only they give alms, as they deem
it right to give them, even if they have not believed
in him, nor been reborn of water and the Spirit? But
all are unclean who are not made clean by the faith
of Christ, of whom it is written, "Cleansing their
hearts by faith."(163) And as the apostle said, "But
to them that are unclean and unbelieving nothing is
clean; both their minds and consciences are
unclean."(164) How, then, should all things be clean
to the Pharisees, even if they gave alms, but were
not believers? Or, how could they be believers, if
they were unwilling to believe in Christ and to be
born again in his grace? And yet, what they heard is
true: "Give alms; and behold, all things are clean to
you."
76. He who would give alms as a set plan of his
life should begin with himself and give them to
himself. For almsgiving is a work of mercy, and the
saying is most true: "Have mercy upon your own soul,
pleasing God."(165) The purpose of the new birth is
that we should become pleasing to God, who is justly
displeased with the sin we contracted in birth. This
is the first almsgiving, which we give to
ourselves--when through the mercy of a merciful God
we come to inquire about our wretchedness and come to
acknowledge the just verdict by which we were put in
need of that mercy, of which the apostle says,
"Judgment came by that one trespass to
condemnation."(166) And the same herald of grace then
adds (in a word of thanksgiving for God's great
love), "But God commendeth his love toward us in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us."(167) Thus, when we come to a valid estimate of
our wretchedness and begin to love God with the love
he himself giveth us, we then begin to live piously
and righteously.
But the Pharisees, while they gave as alms a
tithing of even the least of their fruits,
disregarded this "judgment and love of God."
Therefore, they did not begin their almsgiving with
themselves, nor did they, first of all, show mercy
toward themselves. In reference to this right order
of self-love, it was said, "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself."(168)
Therefore, when the Lord had reproved the
Pharisees for washing themselves on the outside while
inwardly they were still full of extortion and
wickedness, he then admonished them also to give
those alms which a man owes first to himself--to make
clean the inner man: "However," he said, "give what
remains as alms, and, behold, all things are clean to
you." Then, to make plain the import of his
admonition, which they had ignored, and to show them
that he was not ignorant of their kind of almsgiving,
he adds, "But woe to you, Pharisees"(169) --as if to
say, "I am advising you to give the kind of alms
which shall make all things clean to you." "But woe
to you, for you tithe mint and rue and every
herb"--"I know these alms of yours and you need not
think I am admonishing you to give them up"--"and
then neglect justice and the love of God." "This kind
of almsgiving would make you clean from all inward
defilement, just as the bodies which you wash are
made clean by you." For the word "all" here means
both "inward" and "outward"--as elsewhere we read,
"Make clean the inside, and the outside will become
clean."(170)
But, lest it appear that he was rejecting the kind
of alms we give of the earth's bounty, he adds,
"These things you should do"--that is, pay heed to
the judgment and love of God--and "not omit the
others"--that is, alms done with the earth's bounty.
77. Therefore, let them not deceive themselves who
suppose that by giving alms--however profusely, and
whether of their fruits or money or anything
else--they purchase impunity to continue in the
enormity of their crimes and the grossness of their
wickedness. For not only do they do such things, but
they also love them so much that they would always
choose to continue in them--if they could do so with
impunity. "But he who loves iniquity hates his own
soul."(171) And he who hates his own soul is not
merciful but cruel to it. For by loving it after the
world's way he hates it according to God's way of
judging. Therefore, if one really wished to give alms
to himself, that all things might become clean to
him, he would hate his soul after the world's way and
love it according to God's way. No one, however,
gives any alms at all unless he gives from the store
of Him who needs not anything. "Accordingly," it is
said, "His mercy shall go before me."(172) |