AGAIN THE JEWS, the most miserable and
wretched of all men, are going to fast, and again we
must make secure the flock of Christ. As long as no
wild beast disturbs the flock, shepherds, as they stretch
out under an oak or pine tree and play their flutes, let their sheep go
off to graze with full freedom. But when the shepherds feel that the
wolves will raid, they are quick to throw down the flute and pick up
their slingshots; they cast aside the pipe of reeds and arm themselves
with clubs and stones. They take their stand in front of the flock,
raise a loud and piercing shout, and oftentimes the sound of their
shout drives the wolf away before he strikes.

(2) I, too, in the past, frolicked about in explicating the Scrip-
tures, as if I were sporting in some meadow; I took no part in
polemics because there was no one causing me concern. But today
the Jews, who are more dangerous than any wolves, are bent on
surrounding my sheep; so I must spar with them and fight with them
so that no sheep of mine may fall victim to those wolves.

(3) That fast will not be upon us for ten days or more. But do
not be surprised that from today on I am taking up my tools and
building a fence around your souls. This is what the hard-working
farmer does. When he has a rushing stream nearby which may wash
away the fields he has tilled, he does not wait for winter.
Long beforehand he fences in the banks, builds tip dikes, digs
ditches, and makes every preparation against the flood. While the
stream runs quietly and is low in its bed, it is a simpler matter to
restrain it; when it has become swollen and is swept along with a
violent rush of waters, it is no longer so simple to oppose the flood.
And so it is that long beforehand the farmer anticipates the surge of
the torrent and contrives by every means to keep his fields secure in
every way.

(4) As well as farmers, every soldier, sailor, and reaper makes it a
practice to prepare ahead. Before the hour of battle, the soldier
cleans off his breastplate, examines his shield, makes ready the bridle
and bit, feeds and cares for his horse, and sees to it that he is well
prepared in every way. Before the sailor launches his ship into the
harbor's waters, he prepares the keel, repairs the sides, hews and
shapes the oars, stitches together the sails, and makes ready all the
other equipment of his ship. Many days before the harvest, the
reaper sharpens his sickle. gets ready the threshing-floor, his oxen,
his wagon, and everything else which may help him in the harvest.
Indeed you can see men everywhere making preparations for their
business beforehand so that, when the time does come, it is an easy
matter for them to carry on their enterprise.

(5) I am following the example of these men. Many days before-
hand I am making your souls secure by exhorting  you to flee
from that accursed and unlawful fast. Do not tell me that the Jews
are fasting; prove to me that it is God's will that they fast. If it be
not God's will, then their fasting is more unlawful than any drunken-
ness? o For we must not only look at what they do but we must also
seek out the reason why they do it.
 
 
(6) What is done in accordance with God's will is the best of all
things even if it seems to be bad. What is done contrary to God's
will and decree is the worst and most unlawful of all things-even if
men judge that it is very good. Suppose someone slays another in
accordance with God's will. This slaying is better than any
loving-kindness. Let someone spare another and show him great love
and kindness against God's decree. To spare the other's life would be
more unholy than any slaying. For it is God's will and not the nature
of things that makes the same actions good or bad.

II

Listen to me so that you may learn that this is true. Ahab once
captured a king of Syria and, contrary to God's decree, saved his life.
He had the Syrian king enjoy a seat by his side and sent him off with
great honor. About that time a prophet came to his companion and
"said to him: 'In the word of the Lord, strike me.' But his compan-
ion was not willing to strike him. And the prophet said to him:
'Because you would not hearken to the word of the Lord, behold,
you will depart from me and a lion will strike you.' And he departed
from him, and the lion found him and struck him. Then the prophet
found another man and said: 'Strike me.' And the man did strike
him and wounded him, and the prophet bandaged up his face."

(2) What greater paradox than this could there be? The man who
struck the prophet was saved; the one who spared the prophet was
punished. Why? That you may learn that, when God commands, you
must not question too much the nature of the action; you have only
to obey. So that the first man might not spare him out of reverence,
the prophet did not simply say: "Strike me" but said: "Strike me
in the word of God. That is, God commands it; seek no further.
It is the King who ordains it; reverence the rank of him who com-
mands and with all eagerness heed his word. But the man lacked
the courage to strike him and, on this account, he paid the ultimate
penalty. But by the punishment he subsequently suffered, he en-
courages us to yield and obey God's every command.

(3) But after the second man had struck and wounded him, the
prophet bound his own head with a bandage, covered his eyes, and
disguised himself. Wily did he do this? He was going to accuse the
king and condemn him for saving the life of the king of the
Syrians.Is Now Ahab was an impious man and always a foe to the
prophets. The prophet did not wish Ahab to recognize him and then
drive him from his sight; if the king drove him away, he would not
hear the prophet's words of correction. So the prophet concealed his
face and any statement of his business in the hope that this would
give him the advantage when he did speak and that he might get the
king to agree to the terms he wanted.

(4) "When the king was passing by, the prophet called aloud
to him and said: 'Your servant went forth to the campaign of
war. Behold, a man brought another man to me and said to me:
"Guard this man for me. If he shall leap away and bound off, it will
be your life for his life, or you will pay a talent of silver." And it
happened that as your servant turned his eyes this way and that, the
man was not there.' And the king of Israel said to him: 'This is your
judgment before me: You slew the man.' And the prophet hurried
to take the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized
that he was one of the sons of the prophets. And he said to the king:
'So says the Lord: "Because you let go from your hand a man
worthy of death, it will be your life for his life, and your people for
his people.' ....

(5) Do you see how not only God but men make this kind of
judgment because both God and men heed the end and the causes
rather than the nature of what is done? Certainly even the king said
to him: "This is your judgment before me: you slew the man." You
are a murderer, he said, because you let an enemy go. The prophet
put on the bandage and presented the case as if it were not the king
but somebody else on trial, so that the king might pass the proper
sentence. And, in fact, this did happen. For after the king con-
demned him, the prophet tore off the bandage and said: "Because
you let go from your hand a man worthy of death, it will be your
life for his life, and your people for his people."

(6) Did you see what a penalty the king paid for his act of
kindness? And what punishment he endured in return for his un-
timely sparing of his foe? The one who spared a life is punished;
another, who slew a man, was held in esteem. Phinehas certainly
slew two people in a single moment of time-a man and his wife; and
after he slew them, he was given the honor of the priesthood. His
act of bloodshed did not defile his hands; it even made them cleaner.

(7) So you see that he who struck the prophet goes free, while he
who refused to strike him perishes; you see that he who spared a
man's life is punished, while he who refused to spare a life is held in
esteem. Therefore, always look into the decrees of God before you
consider the nature of your own actions. Whenever you find some-
thing which accords with His decree, approve that-and only that.

III

Let us examine the matter of fasting and apply this rule to it.
Suppose we should not apply this rule but merely take the act of
fasting and consider it with no reference to anything else. The result
will be great tumult and confusion. It is true that highwaymen,
grave-robbers, and sorcerers have their sides torn to pieces; it is also
true that the martyrs undergo this same suffering. What is done is
the same, but the purpose and reason why it is done is different.
And so it is that there is a great difference between the criminals and
martyrs.

(2) In these cases we not only consider the torture but we first
look for the intention and the reasons why the torture is inflicted.
And this is why we love the martyrs-not because they are tortured
but because they are tortured for the sake of Christ. But we turn our
backs on the robbers-not because they are being punished but be-
cause they are being punished for their wickedness.

(3) So, too, in the matter of fasting, you must pass a judgment. If
you see people fasting for the sake of God, approve what they do; if
you see that they do this against God's will, turn your back on them
and hate them more than you do those who drink, revel, and ca-
rouse. And in the case of this fasting we must inquire not
only into the reason for fasting but we must consider also the place
and the time.

(4) But before I draw up my battle line against the Jews, I will be
glad to talk to those who are members of our own body, those who
seem to belong to our ranks although they observe the Jewish rites
and make every effort to defend them. Because they do this, as I
see it, they deserve a stronger condemnation than any Jew. Not only
the wise and intelligent but even those with little reason and under-
standing would agree with me in this. I need no clever arguments, no
rhetorical devices, no prolix periodic sentences to prove this. It is
enough to ask them a few simple questions and then trap them by
their answers.

(5) What, then, are the questions? I will ask each one who is sick
with this disease: Are you a Christian? Why, then, this zeal for
Jewish practices? Are you a Jew? Why then, are you making trouble
for the Church? Does not a Persian side with the Persians? Is not a
barbarian eager for what concerns the barbarians? Will a man who
lives in the Roman empire not follow our laws and way of life? Tell
me this. If ever anyone living among us is caught in collusion siding
with the barbarians, is he not immediately punished? He is given
neither hearing nor examination, even if he has ten thousand argu-
ments in his own defense. If ever anyone living among the barbarians
is clearly following Roman custom and law, again, will he not suffer
the same punishment? How, then, do you expect to be saved by
defecting to that unlawful way of life?

(6) The difference between the Jews and us in not a small one, is
it? Is the dispute between us over ordinary, everyday matters, so
that you think the two religions are really one and the same? Why
are you mixing what cannot be mixed? They crucified the Christ
whom you adore as God. Do you see how great the difference is?
How is it, then, that you keep running to those who slew Christ
when you say that you worship him whom they crucified? You do
not think, do you, that I am the one who brings up the law on which
these charges are based, nor that I make up the form which the
accusation takes? Does not the Scripture treat the Jews in this way?

(7) Hear what Jeremiah says against those same Jews: "Go off to
Kedar and see; send off to the islands of the Kittim and find out if
such things have happened. What things? "If the gentiles will
change their gods, and indeed they are not gods, but you have
changed your glory and from it you will derive no profit." He did
not say: "You have changed your God," but, "your glory." What
he means is this. Those who worship idols and serve demons are so
unshaken in their errors that they choose not to abandon them nor
desert them for the truth. But you, who worship the true God, have
cast aside the religion of your fathers and have gone over to strange
ways of worship. You did not show the same firmness in regard to
the truth that they did in regard to their error. That is why Jeremiah
says: "Find out if such things have happened, if the gentiles will
change their gods, and indeed they are not gods; but you have
changed your glory and from it you will derive no profit." He did
not say: "You have changed your God," for God does not change.
But he did say: "You have changed your glory." You did no harm to
me, God says, because no harm has come to me. But you did dis-
honor yourselves. You did not make my glory less, but you did
diminish your own.

(8) Let me also say this to those who are our own-if I must call
our own those who side with the Jews. Go to the synagogues and see
if the Jews have changed their fast; see if they kept the
pre-Paschal fast with us; see if they have taken food on that day.
But theirs is not a fast; it is a transgression of the law, it is a sin, it is
trespassing. Yet they did not change. But you did change your
glory and from it you will derive no profit; you did go over to their
rites.

(9) Did the Jews ever observe our pre-Paschal fast? Did they ever
join us in keeping the feast of the martyrs? Did they ever share with
us the day of the Epiphanies? They do not run to the truth, but
you rush to transgression. I call it a transgression because their ob-
servances do not occur at the proper time. Once there was a proper
time when they had to follow those observances, but now there is
not. That is why what was once according to the Law is now op-
posed to it.

IV

Let me say what Elijah said against the Jews. He saw the unholy
life the Jews were living: at one time they paid heed to God, at
another they worshipped idols. So he spoke some such words as
these: "How long will you limp on both legs? If the Lord our God
is with you, come, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him." Let
me, too, now say this against these Judaizing Christians. If you judge
that Judaism is the true religion, why are you causing trouble to the
Church? But if Christianity is the true faith, as it really is, stay in it
and follow it. Tell me this. Do you share with us in the mysteries, do
you worship Christ as a Christian, do you ask him for blessings, and
do you then celebrate the festival with his foes? With what purpose,
then, do you come to the church?

(2) I have said enough against those who say they are on our side
but are eager to follow the Jewish rites. Since it is against the Jews
that I wish to draw up my battle line, let me extend my instruction
further. Let me show that, by fasting now, the Jews dishonor the
law and trample underfoot God's commands because they are always
doing everything contrary to his decress. When God wished them to
fast, they got fat and flabby? When God does not wish them to
fast, they get obstinate and do fast; when he wished them to offer
sacrifices. they rushed off to idols; when he does not wish them to
celebrate the feast days, they are all eager to observe them.

(3) This is why Stephen said to them: "You always oppose the
Holy Spirit." This is the one thing, he says, in which you show
your zeal: in doing the opposite to what God has commanded. And
they are still doing that today. What makes this clear? The Law
itself. In the case of the Jewish festivals the Law demanded ob-
servance not only of the tune but also the place. In speaking about
this feast of the Passover, the Law says to them something such as
this: "You will not be able to keep the Passover in any of the cities
which the Lord your God gives to you."The Law bids them keep
the feast on the fourteenth day of the first month and in the city of
Jerusalem. The Law also narrowed down the time and place for the
observance of Pentecost, when it commanded them to celebrate
the feast after seven weeks, and again, when it stated: "In the place
which the Lord your God chooses." So also the Law fixed the
feast of Tabernacles.

(4) Now let us see which of the two, time or place, is more
necessary, even though neither the one nor the other has the power
to save. Must we scorn the place but observe the time? Or
should we scorn the time and keep the place? What I mean is some-
thing such as this. The Law commanded that the Passover be held in
the first month and in Jerusalem, at a prescribed time and in a
prescribed place. Let us suppose that there are two men keeping the
Passover. Suppose one of them neglects the place but observes the
time; suppose the other observes the place but neglects the time. Let
the one who observes the time but neglects the place celebrate the
Passover in the first month, but far away from Jerusalem; and let the
one who observes the place but neglects the time celebrate the feast
in Jerusalem but in the second month instead of the first.

(5) Next, let us see which of these two is charged and accused,
and which receives approval and esteem. Will it be the one who
transgressed in the matter of time but observed the place, or the one
who neglected the place but observed the time? If the man who
transgressed about the time so as to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem
clearly deserves esteem, but the one who observed the time while
neglecting the place deserves to be charged and accused for his
impious action it is quite obvious that those who do not keep
the Passover in the proper place are transgressing the Law, even
if they maintain a thousand times over that they are observing the
proper time.

(6) Who will make this clear to us? Moses himself. As he tells it,
even after some men had observed the Passover outside Jerusalem,
"they came up to Moses and said: 'We are unclean through touch-
ing the body of a dead man. We should not fail to offer the Lord's
offering at its proper time among the sons of Israel, should we'?.' And
Moses said to them: 'Stay here and I shall listen to what the Lord
will command in your regard.' And the Lord spoke to Moses and
said: 'Speak to the sons of Israel and say: "If any man be unclean
through the body of a dead man, or if he be afar off oil a journey,
whether he be one of you or of your descendants, he shall keep the
Pasch in the second month.' ....

(7) He means something such as this. If anyone be away from
home in the first month. let him not keep the Passover outside the
city: but let him return to Jerusalem and keep it in the second
month. Let him disregard the time so as not to fail in the matter
of the city. In this way he shows that observance of the place is
more necessary than observance of the time.

(8) But what could the Jews say if they observe the Passover
outside the city of Jerusalem? Since they transgress in the more
necessary matter of place, their observance in the less important
matter of time cannot be urged in their defense. The result is that
they are guilty of the worst transgression of the Law, even if it is
obvious a thousand times over that they are not neglecting the mat-
ter of time.

(9) This is certain not only from what I have said but also from
the prophets. What excuse would the Jews of today have when it is
clear that the Jews of old never offered sacrifice, nor sang hymns in
an alien land, nor did they observe any such fasts as they do
today? To be sure, the Jews of old were expecting to recover the
way of life in which they could observe these rituals. Therefore, they
remained obedient to the Law and did what it commanded, for the
Law told them to expect this. But the Jews of today have no hope
of recovering their forefathers' way of life. In what prophet can they
find proof that they will? They have no hope, but they cannot
bear to give up these practices. And yet, even if they were expecting
to recover the old way of life, even so they ought to be imitating
those holy men of old by neither fasting nor observing any other
such ritual.

V

To prove to you that the Jews in exile observed none of these
rituals, hear what they said to those who asked them to do so.
For their barbarian captors were urging them by force and demand
to play their musical instruments. "Sing to us a hymn of the
Lord," they said. But the Jews clearly understood that the Law
commanded them not to do so. Therefore, they said: "How shall we
sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?" And, again, the three
boys who were captives in Babylon said; "At this time we have no
prince or prophet nor place to offer sacrifice in your sight and find
mercy." Certainly there was much room for a place of sacrifice
in the country, but since the temple was not there, they steadfastly
refrained from offering sacrifice.

(2) And again God spoke to his people through the lips of
Zechariah: "For these seventy years you have not kept a fast for me,
have you? He was speaking of the captivity. Tell me. By what
right, then, do you Jews fast today, when your ancestors neither
offered sacrifices, nor fasted, nor kept the feasts? And this makes it
especially clear that they did not observe the Passover. Where there
was no sacrifice, there no festival was held, because all the feasts had
to be celebrated with a sacrifice.

(9) Even if a man he completely lacking ill understanding, should
it not be clear and obvious to him why Jerusalem was destroyed?
Suppose a builder lays the foundation for a house, then raises up the
walls, arches over the roof, and binds together the vault of the roof
with a single keystone to support it. If the builder removes the
keystone, he destroys the bond which holds the entire structure
together. This is what God did. He made Jerusalem what we might
call the keystone which held together the structure of worship.
When he overthrew the city, he destroyed the rest of the entire
structure of that way of life.

VII

Let then my battle with the Jews wait awhile. I did fight a skir-
mish of words with them today, but I said only what was enough to
save our brothers from danger. Perhaps I said much more than that.
But I must now exhort those of you who are here in church to show
great concern for the fellow members of our body. I do not want
to hear you say: "What concern is this of mine? Why interfere and
meddle in other people's affairs?"