Matthew 11:18–19
It was fitting for John, as a household servant, to put the flesh’s passions to death through extreme austerity; but for Christ, as free, to put to death the flesh’s movements and its innate law by the power of divinity with authority — not to be helped into this by ascetic toils. Still, John, “preaching a baptism of repentance,” (Matthew 11:18–19) offered himself as a type to those who ought to mourn; the Lord, “preaching the kingdom of heaven,” reasonably showed ease and brightness in himself, through which he was sketching for the faithful inexpressible joy and toilless life. For the flute is the sweetness of the kingdom of heaven; the dirge is the pains of Gehenna.
Greek
Ἔπρεπεν Ἰωάννῃ ὡς οἰκέτῃ διὰ τῆς ἄγαν σκληραγωγίας κατα νεκρῶσαι τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς πάθη, τῷ δὲ Χριστῷ ὡς ἐλευθέρῳ δυνάμει τῆς θεότητος ἐξουσιαστικῶς τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς νεκροῦν κινήματα καὶ τὸν ἔμφυτον τῆς σαρκὸς νόμον, οὐ μὴν δι' ἀσκητικῶν πόνων εἰς τοῦτο βοη θεῖσθαι. ὅμως Ἰωάννης "βάπτισμα κηρύσσων μετανοίας" τύπον ἑαυτὸν πάρεσχε τοῖς ὀφείλουσι πενθεῖν, ὁ δὲ κύριος "βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν κηρύσ σων" εἰκότως τὸ ἀνειμένον καὶ φαιδρὸν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐπεδείκνυτο, δι' οὗ τοῖς πιστοῖς ὑπέγραφεν τὴν ἀνέκφραστον χαρὰν καὶ τὴν ἄπονον ζωήν. αὐλὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἡδύτης, θρῆνος δὲ τὰ γεέννης ἐπώδυνα.