Excerpts offered by Fr. Silviu Bunta from St. John Chrysostom’s 2nd Homily to Eutropius
The Church is called by many names. She is called a virgin, albeit formerly she was a harlot…for this is the miracle wrought by the Bridegroom, that He took her who was a harlot and has made her a virgin.
Oh, What a new and strange event! With us, marriage destroys virginity, but with God, marriage has restored it. With us, she who is a virgin, when married, is a virgin no longer. With Christ, she who is a harlot, when married, becomes a virgin!
Did God desire a harlot? Yes, He did…This might and Great One desired a harlot. Why? To become her bridegroom.
What did He do? He didn’t send one of His servants. He didn’t send an angel to the harlot, nor an archangel, nor the cherubim, or the seraphim. He Himself came, because He was in love with her.
God desired a harlot, so what did He do? Since she couldn’t ascend to the heights, He came down to the depths. He wasn’t ashamed to come to a harlot, not in His obvious divinity, but in the same condition that she was in. He came not in will but in nature, in case she was terrified at the sight of Him and wanted to escape.
He came to the harlot and became a human person…dispensation, not divinity; the form of a servant, not of the Master; my flesh, not His Essence. He found her sorely wounded, bestial, possessed by demons. She saw Him and wanted to flee. Then God said: “Don’t be afraid, I am a doctor, not a judge. I came into the world not to judge the world but to save it.” (John 12:47)
Immediately He called upon the Magi. What a new and strange wonder! The Magi immediately became the first fruits. He who holds the world in His hand lies in a manager. He who cares for all things is wrapped in swaddling clothes. There lies the temple of the human body and within it dwells God!
The Magi come and immediately worship Him! The tax-collector comes and becomes an Evangelist. The harlot comes and becomes a virgin. The Canaanite Woman comes and is shown mercy. This is typical of people in love…they don’t seek responsibility for sins, but rather they forgive mistakes and lapses.
And what did God do? He took the harlot and made her His wife. And what gift did He give her? A ring? What ring? The Holy Spirit! As St. Paul says: “But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts!” ( 2 Cor. 1:21-22).
He gave her the Spirit, then He said: “Didn’t I place you in paradise?
“Yes you did” She responds.
“And how did you fall from there?”
“The devil came and took me.”
“You were planted in Paradise and he had cast you out. Well, I’m planting you within Myself and will hold you. How? The devil will not dare come to Me. I will not simply take you to heaven, but even more than that, I Who am the Lord of heaven will hold you. The shepherd has you and the wolf won’t come again…I have planted you within me.”
“But I am sinful and filthy”
“Don’t let that bother you. I am a doctor. I know my own vessel and how it became distorted. It was clay before and was distorted. I’ll remake it in the water of renewal and fire it in the kiln.”
Pay careful attention here. Look what God does. He came to take the harlot, but she, and I emphasize this, was wallowing in filth. This is so that you can see the love of the bridegroom. Before, she had been a daughter of demons, a child of the Earth, unworthy of the Earth. Now she became a child of the King, because that’s what He Who loved her wanted.
Love doesn’t examine the means. Love doesn’t see ugliness. That’s why it’s called love, because often it loves what is ugly. This is what Christ did. He saw an ugly woman (fallen human nautre), fell in love with her, and renewed her without blemish or wrinkle.