John Chrysostom Preaching on Matthew 23:28 – Early Father’s of the Church and Their Preaching Series

Matthew 23:28 CSB
In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Chrysostom: John Chrysostom (349– ca. 407 C.E.) was the archbishop of Constantinople known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death he was given the Greek surname chrysostomos, “golden mouthed,” rendered in English as Chrysostom.

He wrote the following commentary on the verse above. And I just say that he didn’t hold back. I wonder how we would receive both the Preacher and the preaching in our churches nowadays. How do you think people would react to the following if he was a preacher in your church?

“You have been counted worthy to become temples of God. But you have instead suddenly become more like sepulchers, having the same sort of smell. This is dreadful. It is extreme wretchedness that one in whom Christ dwells and in whom the Holy Spirit has worked such great works should turn out to be a sepulcher, a place for death. What wretchedness is this? What mourning and lamentation does this call for! The members of the body of Christ have become a tomb of uncleanness? Remember your sonship and how you were born. Consider of what things you have been counted worthy. Recall what sort of garment you received in baptism. You were intended to be a temple without fault, beautiful, not adorned with gold or pearls but with the spirit that is more precious than these. You are hardly ready to appear in the city above if you remain a sepulcher below. For if here this is forbidden, much more there. Even here you are an object of scorn. You carry around a dead soul. You are shunned. Be honest. If anyone were to go around carrying about a dead body, wouldn’t everyone else rush for cover! Wouldn’t they all flee? But this is what you are like. You go about carrying a corpse far more grievous than this. It is a soul deadened by sins, a soul paralyzed. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 73.3.”