And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Read Chapter 6
John Chrysostom
AD 407
But if Solomon was surpassed by their beauty, and that not once nor twice, but throughout all his reign:— for neither can one say, that at one time He was clothed with such apparel, but after that He was so no more; rather not so much as on one day did He array Himself so beautifully: for this Christ declared by saying, in all his reign: and if it was not that He was surpassed by this flower, but vied with that, but He gave place to all alike (wherefore He also said, as one of these: for such as between the truth and the counterfeit, so great is the interval between those robes and these flowers):— if then he acknowledged his inferiority, who was more glorious than all kings that ever were: when will you be able to surpass, or rather to approach even faintly to such perfection of form?
After this He instructs us, not to aim at all at such ornament. See at least the end thereof; after its triumph it is cast into the oven: and if of things mean, and worthless, and of no great use, God...
He shames us not only by the birds, which lack reason, but also by the lilies, that wither. For if God adorned the lilies in such a manner, without any necessity to do so, how much more will He fulfill our own need for clothing? He shows that though you go to great lengths, you are not able to be adorned as beautifully as the lilies. Even Solomon the most wise and splendid, with all his kingdom at his disposal, could not array himself in such a manner.
