κατά ίουδαίων - γʹ

Stephen was right...

in calling them stiff-necked.

For they failed to take up the yoke of Christ, although it was sweet, and had nothing about it which was either burdensome or oppressive, for He said: "Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart", and "Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is sweet, and my burden light". Nonetheless they failed to take up the yoke, because of the stiffness of their necks.

Not only did they fail to take it up, but they broke it and destroyed it. For Jeremiah said: "Long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds". It was not Paul who said this, but the voice of the prophet speaking loud and clear.

When he spoke of the yoke and the bonds, he meant the symbols of rule. Because the Jews rejected the rule of Christ, when they said: "We have no king but Caesar". You Jews broke the yoke, you burst the bonds, you cast yourselves out of the kingdom of heaven, and you made yourselves subject to the rule of men.

Please consider with me how accurately the prophet hinted that their hearts were uncontrolled. He did not say: "You set aside the yoke", but "You bróke the yoke," and this is the crime of untamed beasts, who are uncontrolled and reject rule.

   

But what is the source of this hardness?

It comes from gluttony [gulzigheid] and drunkenness.

Who say so?

Moses himself.

"Israel ate and was filled
and the darling grew fat and frisky"...

When brute animals feed from a full manger, they grow plump and become more obstinate and hard to hold in check. They endure neither the yoke, the reins, nor the hand of the charioteer. Just so, the Jewish people were driven by their drunkenness and plumpness to the ultimate evil.

They kicked about and failed to accept the yoke of Christ.

Nor did they pull the plow of his teaching.

Another prophet hinted at this when he said:

"Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer".

And still another called the Jews "an untamed calf".

Although such beasts are unfit for work, they are fit for killing.

And this is what happened to the Jews: while they were making themselves unfit for work, they grew fit for slaughter... This is why Christ said: "But as for these my enemies, who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slay them".


~chrysostomus~
against the jews
homily 1