Homily on the Withered Fig Tree and on the Parable of the Vineyard
Second Discourse
By St. John of Damascus
Second Discourse
By St. John of Damascus
I am moved to speak by the personal Word of God the Father — He who did not depart from the bosom of the Father and was ineffably conceived in the womb of the Virgin; He who became for my sake what I am, He who is impassible in His divinity yet clothed Himself with a passible body like mine; He who rides upon the cherubic chariots and upon the earth mounts a colt (cf. Matt. 21:7–9).
The King of glory — He who together with the Father and the Spirit is praised by the Seraphim as holy and receives the lisping praises of children from their innocent tongues; He who is God and has the form of a servant and took the form of a servant; He who is immaterial and invisible God and yet accepted to assume a visible and tangible body; He who willingly went to the Passion, in order to grant me dispassion.
For when He saw man, the work of His hands, deceived by the guile of the serpent — man whom He had formed according to His image and likeness, yet who had fallen into the transgression of His commandment and had become subject to corruption and liable to death — He who is full of compassion could not endure the loss of the one whom He loved. Rather, He called him back in many ways to return and repentance, chastening him as an ungrateful servant, as a child of immature mind, in many and various ways, and devising every means to shake off the tyranny of the despot and return to his Creator.
Yet his return was impossible, since he had once and for all become enslaved to sin and had willingly bound himself to earthly desires. Therefore the all-good Lord takes upon Himself our nature, seeing that it had become weakened.
Seeing that man did not obey the word, the commandments, and the ordinances of salvation, what does He say? “I must instruct through deeds the one who is ignorant. I must guide him into the virtues, so that he may become accustomed to them and accomplish them himself. I must be seen, and thus heal the sick. I must bring back to Myself the wandering sheep and lead it to its original dwelling in paradise. But how shall I bring it back if it does not see Me? How shall I guide one who does not see My footprints?”
For this reason He became man, so that through what He did and suffered He might teach by deeds the one who did not know how to practice virtue; and so that, seeing Him descend in divine condescension from the bosom of the Father to the earth for our sake, we too might ascend willingly toward Him from the earth that bore us; and so that He might reveal the unsurpassable richness of His love for us. For no one can show greater love than to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). And how can one who has no soul show love?
Therefore He assumes flesh, that we might see Him upon the earth and that He might dwell among men (Baruch 3:38). He assumes a soul, that He might lay down His soul (life) for His friends. And by “friends” I do not mean those who love Him, but those whom He Himself loves. For we hated Him, turned our backs on Him, and became slaves to another, while He remained steadfast in His unchanging love toward us.
For this reason He ran after us. He came to us who hated Him; He hastened to overtake us who were fleeing; and when He caught us, He did not rebuke us harshly, nor did He drive us back with a whip, but like an excellent physician — though insulted, spat upon, and struck by a madman — He offered His healing service. As a sign of the greatness of His healing, He offered to human nature His very divinity as medicine — a most powerful remedy, an all-effective medicine. This proved our weak flesh stronger than the invisible powers.
For just as iron, when united with fire, cannot be touched, so too the grass of our nature, when united with the fire of divinity, became inaccessible to the devil. And since a passion is healed by its opposite, as even the students of physicians say, He overcomes the passions by their opposites: pleasure by labors, pride by humility. He did not humble Himself only by becoming man while being rich in divinity, but He humbled Himself even among men (Phil. 2:6–8).
Indeed, who among men has been so humble? “He has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20). He had no beast of burden, no second garment, no other clothing. “When reviled, He did not revile in return; when suffering, He did not threaten” (1 Pet. 2:23). He was led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter, without protest, without a cry (Isa. 53:7); He was struck and willingly offered His cheek to the one who struck Him; He did not turn His face away from shameful spittings. Though they called Him a Samaritan and demon-possessed (John 8:48), and though they persecuted Him, He endured patiently, so that we might follow in His footsteps. He did all this to please His Father. Being His only-begotten and consubstantial Son, He revealed to us the Father’s love toward us.
For God the Father so loved us that He gave His only-begotten Son as a ransom for us. O love beyond measure! He gave His only-begotten Son, His co-reigning One, for the sake of disobedient servants, for enemies who blasphemed Him, worshiped the enemy, and proclaimed him as god. O the depth of the riches of God’s goodness! Yet the only-begotten Son did not resist, nor did He reject the will of the Father — for He Himself is the will and counsel of the Father. Therefore, being a participant and sharer of the same nature (for the nature of the Father and the Son is one), He accomplishes His own will: He becomes man and obedient to the Father unto death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8), thus healing my disobedience.
He hastens, then, toward the Passion and eagerly desires to drink the cup of death — the saving cup for the whole world. He comes hungering for the salvation of humanity, and finds no fruit in it — for it is this that is symbolically indicated by the fig tree. For who eats early in the morning? A king, a lord, a master. Being hungry in the morning, He does not restrain His desire for food. He does not hold back His nature, but as if intemperate and gluttonous, He rushes foolishly to eat at an improper hour. How then does He teach His disciples not to be overcome by the passion of desire?
But this is not so. Rather, just as He spoke in parables when teaching, so He also enacts the parables through deeds. He approached the fig tree while hungry (cf. Matt. 21:19). The fig tree symbolized the nature of humanity. Its fruit is sweet, but its leaves are rough and useless, fit only for fire. Likewise, human nature had once borne the sweetest fruit of virtue, having received from God the command to bear fruit; but because of its barrenness in virtue, it produced rough leaves.
Indeed, what is harsher than the cares of this life (cf. Gen. 2:25)? Once Adam and Eve were naked and felt no shame, naked in simplicity and in a life free from care. They had no arts, no worldly concerns; they devised no means to cover the nakedness of their bodies; they were not ashamed of their poverty nor of the simplicity of their life. Though naked in body, they were clothed with divine grace. They had no bodily garment, but were clothed with the garment of incorruption.
But when they disobeyed, they found themselves far from the grace that had covered them. They were stripped of their ecstatic orientation toward God and of the vision [theoria] of Him; they saw the nakedness of their bodies (Gen. 3:7), desired the pleasures of life, found themselves in a poor and deprived existence, sewed garments from fig leaves and made coverings, formed many thoughts, and discovered a life harsh, full of cares and pains. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread. The earth shall be cursed because of your deeds; it shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you shall return to the earth” (Gen. 3:17).
You acquired earthly-mindedness; therefore your turning will be toward the earth. You lived alongside irrational animals, because you did not understand that you held a place of honor (Ps. 48). You were in the bosom of God and did not recognize the fruit-bearing virtue; you preferred the enjoyment of earthly things and loved the life of irrational animals. You are earth, and to earth you shall return. You shall inherit death like the irrational animals. This is why he also wears the garments of skin (Gen. 3:21). Being with his body between life and death, whereas formerly he lived in the paradise of delight and dwelt in royal chambers, afterward he acquired a mortal and heavy body, capable of enduring labors.
Truly harsh are the leaves of the fig tree of our nature — the disobedient wickedness of our nature. To this fig tree — that is, the nature of humanity — the Savior came hungering and seeking from it the sweetest fruit, namely the virtue most sweet to God, through which our salvation is accomplished. And He found no fruit, but only leaves — the harsh and bitter sin and the evils that spring from it.
And for this reason He says against it: “May you never bear fruit” (cf. Matt. 21:19). For salvation does not come from men; virtue does not arise from human power. I accomplish salvation, granting you the resurrection through My Passion; I also grant you deliverance from the exceedingly harsh life — which indeed He did.
Then, having fulfilled the parable in deed, He enters the temple to visit His Father’s house, and finds the wicked husbandmen, the chief priests, who sat on the seat of Moses (Matt. 23:2), like wolves clothed in sheep’s skins, resembling the barren fig tree, having not the all-sweet fruit but only rough leaves. Consider, then, the harshness of their words: “By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority?” (Matt. 21:23).
Do you see the barrenness of soul and unbelief? Instead of saying, “Well done, good Teacher, who raised Lazarus, four days dead” (John 11:44), who taught the lame to walk rightly, who gave sight to the blind, who healed the paralytics and cast out every disease and every infirmity (Matt. 4:23), who drove out demons, who teaches the way of salvation — they say, “By what authority do you do these things?”
O ungrateful ones! And if He tells you, will you believe? If you did not believe John — though you ran to him like a river and, after confessing your sins, were baptized as you supposed — will you believe if I tell you?
O evil and faithless generation! You are the wicked husbandmen who devour the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. Which of the prophets did you not kill? (Acts 7:52). My Father sent you My servants, the prophets, to receive the fruit of the vineyard. I transplanted the vineyard from Egypt through Moses and planted it in a fertile land (Ps. 79:9), driving out other nations and giving it to you as your inheritance. I planted its roots with the Law and the word of the prophets, and it filled the earth; its branches reached to the sea and its shoots spread and filled the rivers of the nations.
But you cast down its hedge — the protection of the Law — and the demons plunder it, and those who pass along the road trample it, finding it unguarded. “The wild boar of the forest” (Ps. 79:13), the robber, “laid it waste, and the solitary wild beast devoured it” (Ps. 79:14).
From this good vineyard that I planted — fruitful and true — My servants the prophets sought the harvest from you, and you beat one, cast another into a pit of mire, and stoned another. And behold, I Myself, the Son and heir, come — respect the dignity of the Son, be ashamed before My authority, for I am of the same nature as the Father. “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me” (John 10:38), and yet I come to you. I will show compassion to My vineyard; though I have descended to the earth, I remain in My Father’s bosom.
Render to Me the fruit of My vineyard. But indeed, as wicked husbandmen, you will complete the work of your fathers. They became killers of the prophets; you will become even killers of God. You are rich in wickedness. I am the heir, the cornerstone, whom you rejected (Ps. 117:22), yet you shall be broken, while I shall unite the two peoples, reconcile what is divided — the earthly with the heavenly. Through Me there shall be one Church of angels and men. Through Me, though you are enemies of My Father, you shall be reconciled to Him; I will establish peace, and My blood, shed for the salvation of the world, will be the covenant of peace.
Though He indicated these things in parables, they were not persuaded. For they closed their eyes lest they see, and their ears were dulled; therefore the light of the Gospel did not shine upon them (cf. Matt. 13:15). O intolerable hardness of impious priests! They condemned themselves without knowing what they were saying. Truly, they themselves passed judgment upon themselves.
For when the question was put to them, “What will he do to those husbandmen?” — without intending it, they spoke the truth: “He will destroy those wicked men miserably” (Matt. 21:41). It is truly just for one to suffer who has become wicked by his own choice. He will lease the vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render to him the fruits in their season. As priests, though they did not understand, they nevertheless prophesied the truth.
Indeed, the vineyard — the people of the Lord — was given to husbandmen who rendered to the Lord abundant and rich fruit. For “their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps. 18:5; Rom. 10:18). Truly beautiful is the coming of those who proclaim peace, those who proclaim good things (Isa. 52:7). They went forth as sheep among wolves and transformed wolves into sheep; they made the Gentiles who persecuted them into sheep of Christ and created for the Lord His own chosen people, zealous for good works (Tit. 2:14).
Come then, my brethren, all of us who have received the name of the faith, who have been deemed worthy to be called the people of Christ — let us not betray our calling, let us not defile our faith with unworthy deeds. It is not enough for one to be called a believer; let us show our faith through our works.
“A man had two sons,” it is said, and he said to one, “Go, work in my vineyard” (Matt. 21:28). He promised, but did not fulfill his promise. Then he turned to the second. This one refused in words, but fulfilled the command in deed. Thus the first is condemned, while the second is praised.
Let us also remember what we renounced and what we accepted at baptism. We renounced the devil and his angels and all his worship. Let us keep this renunciation; let us not return like a dog to our vomit. The works of the devil are adulteries, fornications, impurities, envies, strife, quarrels, hypocrisy, slander, mockery, anger, resentment, condemnation, blasphemy, incantations, malicious talk. Signs of unbelief are acts of heartlessness, attachment to passions, hatreds, love of pleasure, stinginess, entertainments, and drunkenness. And the following of the devil consists in pride, vainglory, conceit, arrogance, haughtiness, display, and bodily adornment.
Having renounced all these, according to our promise to be with Christ, let us pursue the virtues opposed to them: chastity, self-control, poverty, patience, peace, love, compassion, mercy, generosity toward those in need, modest appearance, proper clothing and conduct, truthful speech, humility — and above all, the willingness to be reproached for Christ’s sake — so that, becoming partakers of His sufferings, we may also become partakers of His glory, offering ourselves to God the Father as a living and blameless sacrifice (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 9:14), in the Church of the firstborn, where is the dwelling of those who rejoice (Ps. 86:7).
To you I will now direct my word, long-desired bride of Christ: desire worthily Him who has desired you. Open wide to Him the treasury of your heart, that Christ, with the Father and the Spirit, may dwell wholly within you. Remove from it all the dust of earthly things, so that He may enter. For a house cannot at the same time contain both dust and the breath of air: as much dust as you bring in, so much of the air you drive out; and as much as you fill your heart with earthly things, so much you expel the Holy Spirit.
From where come fornications? From where adulteries? From where strife, quarrels, envy, murders, and the whole multitude of evils? Remove all vainglory, the mother of unbelief. For Christ says, “You cannot believe in Me, since you receive glory from men” (John 5:44). Cast out from your heart all conceit, pride, and arrogance. For “every proud man is unclean before the Lord.” “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3:34; James 4:6).
Renounce insolence and self-satisfaction, so that you may be subject only to the law of God, and it will guide you to the harbor of His will. Do not admit another bridegroom into the chamber of your heart. For your Bridegroom, Christ — the most sweet, the only desirable One — is jealous, wholly sweetness, wholly desire. To Him alone unfold your heart and cry out: “My heart is wounded” (Song of Songs 3:5); Your longing has driven me out of myself; Your love, O Lord, has transformed me. I am captive to Your love. Enter into Your chamber; I will kiss the footprints of Your children. For I am not worthy to say, “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth” (Song of Songs 1:1).
Dwell in me and walk within me, according to Your unfailing promise (Lev. 26:12), and make me a temple of Your all-holy Spirit. Take possession of my heart, O Master, and inherit it; make Your dwelling in me together with Your Father and the Spirit. Enlarge Your portion within me — the energies of Your all-holy Spirit. You are my God, and I will glorify You, together with Your beginningless Father and Your good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.