Selected Sermons, Volume 3

177 On the Anger of Brothers

SERMON 177 On the Anger of Brothers1 ou have heard today how the severity of the Law has been amplified by the authority of grace, and how the words of the Lord have been fulfilled when he said: I have come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. You have heard, he says, that it was said to the ones of old: “You shall not kill”; but what I say to you is that everyone who grows angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Mt 5.17, 21, 22). Anger is compared to murder, that fault is compared to a wicked deed, so that in the Church of the Lord, not being innocent is a serious sin.2 He has removed, he has truly removed any place for sin since by eliminating the fault he has eliminated everything that had to do with sin. He is the Guardian of innocence who has cut away the fault lest a sin follow. For that physician is worthy of praise if he lances a tumor before it spreads. Very much on guard against disaster is that king who keeps sleep from overtaking his soldier , lest the enemy tyrannize the citizens. Thus did Christ repel a fault, so that sin would be permitted no inroad among Christians; so he punished anger, lest murder arise; he cut off the passions, lest consequences follow; he amputated the thought in order to prevent the result. 2. You have heard, he says, that it was said to the ones of old: “You shall not kill; for whoever kills will be liable to judgment” (v.21). And what does a murderer have to do with judgment, since he has 344 1. This sermon and Sermons 178 and 179 are not included in the Felician collection of Chrysologus’s sermons. A. Olivar, Los sermones, 344–46, argues persuasively and largely on the basis of the stylistic devices employed in this Sermon 177 that it is an authentic work of Chrysologus. 2. The Latin word is crimen, which literally means a “crime” and hence some sort of evil, external action, as contrasted with culpa, an internal “fault” or inner guilt. already been thoroughly condemned to punishment? So there is no need for an investigation when someone has blood on his hands. The flesh has been killed, but the soul of the one killed is alive; the body lies in the earth, but the spirit has flown off to heaven; the slain person lies here, but he cries out there;3 in such a case he is asleep as far as human beings are concerned, but before God he is his own unsleeping advocate. It is unnecessary for anyone to bring an accusation, no witness can add anything, a postponement is prevented, when the slain person himself stands before the Judge to testify to the murder. It is characteristic of human judgment to discuss what is heard, to examine the charges, to investigate what is hidden, to inquire about where, when, why, and with whom the deed was committed, to press for punishment, to compel the one who has not confessed to make a confession, and to deliver a sentence . But the heavenly Judge, who sees what is hidden, who hears what is unspoken, and who gets to the bottom of divergent testimony, considers it all from his divine perspective, evaluates it all in depth, and effortlessly determines what has been committed, but either bestows pardon on the one who confesses , or renders his sentence on the one who denies. 3. Therefore in his divine judgment he said: The one who grows angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (v.22). That is to say: those things must be judged which are ambiguous, which conceal the motives for their actions, which unless they come to light do not permit us to know why they have been conceived; whether they are good or bad is revealed upon examination . Anger, brothers, is an ambiguous matter; it is made bad by the way it is used, and not by its nature; it is very bad when it is conceived out of hatred, it is wicked when it is produced out of rage, it is very good when it comes from love, and when disciplining another demands it. For even a father grows angry with his son, a master with his servant, a teacher with his student, for the purpose of rebuking, but not of having a...