Tuesday 30 October 2012

Saint John Chrysostom: Homilies on Saint Matthew's Gospel, no.46, 2

Our Lord next puts forward the parable of the yeast. “Just as yeast communicates its invisible force to the whole lump of dough, so will the force of the Gospel transform the whole world by means of the apostles' ministry... Don't ask me: 'What can we twelve, miserable sinners do in face of the whole world?' This is precisely the vast difference between cause and effect, between a handful of men before a crowd, which will demonstrate the stunning effect of your strength. Isn't it by mixing the yeast into the dough, by 'hiding' it as the Gospel says, that it transforms the whole lump? In the same way, apostles of mine, it is by being mixed into the great mass of peoples that you will impregnate them with your spirit and win victory over your adversaries. Even as it disappears into the mass, yeast does not lose its strength. To the contrary, it changes the whole dough's nature. In the same way, your preaching will change all peoples. Therefore, be full of confidence”...

It is Christ who grants such great strength to this yeast... So don't blame him for the small number of his disciples: it is the strength of the message that is great... A spark is enough to change a few sticks of dry wood into a blaze that will afterwards set even all the green wood at the edge on fire.
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