Forty Homilies on the Gospels
Forty Homilies on the Gospels
continued
Homily 25
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint John, which is called the Constantiniana, on Thursday of Easter.
Reading from the Holy Gospel According to John
At that time, Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. They said to her: Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them: Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her: Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him: Lord, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her: Mary. She turned and said to him: Rabboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and he said these things to me. Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner in the city, by loving the truth, washed away the stains of her sin with tears: and the voice of Truth is fulfilled, by which it is said:
Many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much. For she who had previously remained cold through sinning, afterward burned ardently through loving. For after she came to the tomb, and did not find the Lord's body there, she believed it had been taken away, and announced this to the disciples. They came and saw, and believed that it was as the woman had said. And of them it is immediately written: The disciples therefore went away to their own homes. And then it is added: But Mary stood at the tomb outside, weeping. In this matter it should be considered how great a force of love had kindled this woman's mind, who did not depart from the Lord's tomb even when the disciples departed. She was seeking the one she had not found, she wept while seeking, and inflamed by the fire of her love, she burned with desire for him whom she believed had been taken away. Hence it happened that she alone then saw him, she who remained to seek, because indeed the virtue of a good work is perseverance, and by the voice of Truth it is said: He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved. And by the precept of the law, the tail of the victim is commanded to be offered in sacrifice. In the tail, of course, is the end of the body; and he sacrifices well who brings the sacrifice of a good work to the end of the required action.
Hence Joseph is described as having had a full-length tunic among the rest of his brothers. A tunic reaching to the heel is a good work carried through to completion. But Mary, as she wept, stooped down and looked into the tomb. Certainly she had already seen the tomb empty, had already announced that the Lord had been taken away; why is it that she stoops down again, desires to see again? But for one who loves, to have looked once is not enough, because the force of love multiplies the intensity of searching. Therefore she sought first, and did not find; she persevered in seeking, whence it happened that she found, and it came about that desires delayed grew, and growing, grasped what they had found. Hence it is that the Church says of the same bridegroom in the Song of Songs: "In my bed through the nights I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, and did not find him. I will arise and go about the city; through the streets and squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. She also repeats the failure of finding, saying: "I sought him, and did not find him. But because discovery does not delay itself long if the search does not cease, she adds: "The watchmen who guard the city found me. Have you seen him whom my soul loves? When I had passed a little beyond them, I found him whom my soul loves.
For we seek the beloved in bed when in some little rest of the present life we sigh with longing for our Redeemer. We seek by night, because even if the mind is now awake in him, nevertheless the eye still grows dim. But whoever does not find his beloved, it remains that he arise and go about the city, that is, traverse the holy Church of the elect with mind and inquiry; let him seek him through streets and squares, that is, let him observe those walking through narrow and broad ways, so that if he can find any traces of him in them, he may search them out, because there are some, even of secular life, who have something to imitate in the practice of virtue. But as we seek, the watchmen who guard the city find us, because the holy fathers who guard the state of the Church meet our good endeavors, that they may teach us by their word or their writing. When we pass a little beyond them, we find him whom we love, because our Redeemer, though by humility a man among men, was nevertheless by divinity above men. Therefore when the watchmen are passed by, the beloved is found, because when we perceive that the prophets and apostles are beneath him, we consider that he who is God by nature is above men. First, therefore, he is sought without being found, so that afterward, when found, he may be held more tightly. For holy desires, as we have said, grow by delay.
But if they fail by delay, they were not desires. With this love burned whoever was able to reach the truth. Hence David says: "My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? Hence he admonishes us, saying: "Seek his face always. Hence the prophet says: "My soul has desired you in the night, but also with my spirit in my inmost heart I will watch for you from early morning. Hence again the Church says in the Song of Songs: "I am wounded with love. For it is just that she should reach health from the sight of the physician, who bears the wound of love in her breast through the heat of her desire for him. Hence again she says: "My soul melted when the beloved spoke. For the mind of a person not seeking the form of its Creator is badly hardened, because it remains cold in itself. But if it has now begun to burn with desire to follow him whom it loves, melted by the fire of love it runs. It becomes anxious with desire, all things in the world that pleased grow worthless, there is nothing that delights outside the Creator, and things that formerly delighted the soul afterward become grievously burdensome. Nothing consoles its sadness, as long as he who is desired is not yet seen. The mind grieves, the very light is wearisome;
and by such fire the rust of guilt is refined in the mind, and the kindled soul, as if in the manner of gold, because through use it lost its appearance, becomes bright through burning. And so she who loves thus, who bends down again to the tomb she had looked at, let us see by what fruit the force of love redoubles in her the work of seeking. It follows: She saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. What does it mean that two angels are seen in the place of the Lord's body, one sitting at the head, and the other at the feet, except that in the Latin language an angel is called a messenger, and he was to be announced through his passion, who is both God before all ages, and man at the end of the ages? It is as if the angel sits at the head, when through the apostle John it is proclaimed that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And it is as if the angel sits at the feet, when he says: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. We can also understand the two Testaments by the two angels, one earlier and the other following.
These angels are joined to one another through the place of the Lord's body, because indeed both Testaments, while they announce with equal meaning that the Lord became incarnate and died and rose again, sit as it were the earlier Testament at the head, and the later Testament at the feet. Hence also the two cherubim that cover the mercy seat look upon one another with their faces turned toward the mercy seat. For cherubim means fullness of knowledge. And what is signified by the two cherubim except both Testaments? And what is figured by the mercy seat except the incarnate Lord? Of whom John says: For he is the propitiation for our sins. And while the Old Testament proclaims that this was to be done which the New Testament declares was done concerning the Lord, it is as if both cherubim look upon one another, while they turn their faces toward the mercy seat, because while they see the incarnate Lord placed between them, they do not disagree in their view, for they narrate the mystery of his dispensation in harmony. The angels seek Mary, saying: "Woman, why do you weep? And she says to them: "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. For indeed the sacred words which stir up tears of love in us also console those same tears, since they promise us the sight of our Redeemer. But it should be noted according to the historical sense that the woman did not say:
"They have taken away the body of my Lord," but "They have taken away my Lord. For it is the usage of sacred Scripture sometimes to signify the whole from a part, and sometimes a part from the whole. For it signifies the whole from a part, as it is written concerning the sons of Jacob: "That Jacob went down into Egypt with seventy souls. For souls did not descend into Egypt without bodies; but through the soul alone the whole person is signified, because the whole is expressed from a part. And only the Lord's body had lain in the tomb, and Mary was not seeking the body of the Lord, but the Lord who had been taken away, evidently designating a part from the whole. When she had said these things, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and she did not know that it was Jesus. It should be noted that Mary, who still doubted about the Lord's resurrection, turned around to see Jesus, because evidently through that very doubt of hers she had, as it were, turned her back to the Lord's face, since she did not at all believe that he had risen. But because she both loved and doubted, she saw and did not recognize him, and love both showed him to her and doubt hid him. Her continued ignorance is expressed when it is added: "And she did not know that it was Jesus. He said to her: "Woman, why do you weep? Whom do you seek?
The cause of her grief is asked so that her desire might be increased, so that when she named the one she sought, she might burn more ardently in love for him. She, supposing that he was the gardener, said to him: "Lord, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Perhaps this woman did not err even in erring, who believed Jesus to be the gardener. For was he not spiritually a gardener to her, who was planting the flourishing seeds of virtues in her heart through his love? But what is it that, seeing him whom she believed to be the gardener, to whom she had not yet said whom she was seeking, she says: "Lord, if you have taken him away"? For as if she had already said from whose desire she was weeping, she speaks of him whom she had not mentioned. But the force of love is accustomed to do this in the soul: that it believes no one else is ignorant of him whom it always thinks about. Rightly this woman does not say whom she seeks, and yet says: "If you have taken him away," because she does not think him unknown to another, whom she thus continuously mourns with desire. Jesus says to her: "Mary. After he called her by the common word for her sex, and was not recognized, he calls her by name. As if he openly said to her: Recognize him by whom you are recognized.
To the perfect man also it is said: "I know you by name," because "man" is the common word for all of us, but "Moses" is proper, to whom it is rightly said that he is known by name, as if the Lord openly said to him: I do not know you generally as the rest, but specially. Therefore Mary, because she is called by name, recognizes her author, and immediately calls him rabbi, that is, teacher, because he himself was the one who was being sought outwardly, and he himself was the one who was teaching her inwardly to seek. Now indeed what the woman did is not added by the evangelist, but it is indicated by what she heard. To whom it is said: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father. For in these words it is shown that Mary wished to embrace the feet of him whom she recognized. But the teacher says to her: "Do not touch me. Not because the Lord after the resurrection refused the touch of women, since of the two coming to his tomb it is written: "They approached, and held his feet. But the reason why she should not touch him is also added when he continues: "For I have not yet ascended to my Father. For in our heart Jesus ascends to the Father when he is believed to be equal to the Father.
For whoever does not believe him equal to the Father, in his breast the Lord has not yet ascended to the Father. Therefore that person truly touches Jesus who believes the Son to be coeternal with the Father. For in the heart of Paul, Jesus had already ascended to the Father when the same Paul was saying: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. Hence John also touched our Redeemer with the hand of faith, who says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Therefore that person touches the Lord who believes him equal to the Father in eternity of substance. But perhaps someone is troubled by the silent question of how the Son can be equal to the Father. In this matter, what human nature cannot grasp by wondering, it remains that it should know this to be credible from another wonder. For it has something by which it may briefly answer itself on these matters. For it is established that he himself created the mother in whose virgin womb he was to be created from humanity. What wonder then if he is equal to the Father, who is prior to his mother? With Paul also attesting, we have learned that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Therefore whoever thinks the Son is lesser detracts particularly from the Father, whose wisdom he confesses to be unequal to him. For what powerful man would calmly bear it if someone said to him: "You are indeed great, but nevertheless your wisdom is less than you"? The Lord himself also says: "I and the Father are one. And again he says: "The Father is greater than I. Of whom it is also written that he was subject to his parents. What wonder then if from his humanity he asserts himself less than the Father in heaven, from which he was also subject to his parents on earth? From which humanity it is now said to Mary: "Go to my brothers and tell them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Since he says "my" and "your," why does he not say "our" in common? But speaking distinctly he indicates that he has the same Father and God differently than we do. "I ascend to my Father," namely by nature; "and your Father," by grace. "To my God," because I descended; "to your God," because you will ascend. For because I too am man, God is mine; because you are freed from error, God is yours. Therefore distinctly is he my Father and God, because he whom he begot as God before the ages, he created as man with me at the end of the ages. "Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples: I have seen the Lord, and he said these things to me.
Behold, the guilt of the human race is cut off from where it proceeded. For because in paradise a woman served death to man, from the tomb a woman announces life to men; and she narrates the words of her life-giver who had narrated the words of the death-bearing serpent. As if the Lord says to the human race not in words but in deeds: From the same hand by which the drink of death was brought to you, receive the cup of life. We have run through these matters concerning the exposition of the Gospel reading briefly; now, with the help of the same Lord of whom we speak, let us consider both the glory of His resurrection and the depths of His compassion. For He willed to rise from death more quickly, lest our soul remain long in the death of unbelief. Hence it is also well said through the Psalmist: "He shall drink of the torrent in the way, therefore shall He lift up His head. For indeed from the very beginning of the world a torrent of death had flowed forth in the human race: but the Lord drank of this torrent in the way, because He tasted death in passing. And therefore He lifted up His head, because what He laid in the tomb by dying, He raised above the angels by rising again; and from that point He struck down the ancient enemy forever, from the very place where He temporarily permitted the hands of persecutors to rage against Him.
This the Lord openly indicates to blessed Job, saying: "Will you catch Leviathan with a hook? By Leviathan, which means "their addition," that whale who devours the human race is designated. For while he promised to add divinity to man, he took away immortality. And the guilt of transgression, which he gave the first man to drink, he multiplies to those who follow him through the worst persuasion, heaping punishments upon them without end. On a hook, however, the bait is shown while the barb is hidden. Therefore the almighty Father caught him with a hook, because he sent his incarnate only-begotten Son to that one's death, in whom both the passible flesh could be seen and the impassible divinity could not be seen. And when that serpent, through the hands of his persecutors, bit the bait of his body, the barb of divinity pierced him through. He had known him earlier as God through his miracles, but from his knowledge he fell into doubt when he saw him subject to suffering. The hook therefore held fast the jaws of the one swallowing, since in him the bait of flesh was visible, which the devourer might seize; and the divinity lay hidden during the time of the passion, which would slay him. He was caught on the hook of his incarnation, because while he seized the bait of the body in him, he was pierced by the barb of divinity. For there was present the humanity which would draw the devourer to itself;
there was the divinity which would pierce him through; there was the open weakness which would provoke him; there was the hidden power which would transfix the throat of the plunderer. He was caught, therefore, on the hook, because he perished from the very thing he bit. And he lost those mortals whom he rightfully held, because he presumed to attack with death the immortal one over whom he had no rightful claim. Hence it is also that this very Mary of whom we speak lives, because He who owed nothing to death lay down for the human race. Hence it is that we daily return to life after our sins, because our Creator descended without guilt to our punishment. Behold, the ancient enemy has now lost the spoils he had begun to take from the human race; he has lost the victory of his supplanting. Daily sinners return to life; daily they are snatched from his jaws by the hand of the Redeemer. Wherefore it is also well said again to blessed Job by the voice of the Lord: "Or will you pierce his jaw with a bracelet? Where a bracelet is placed, it constrains by encircling. What then is designated by the bracelet, if not the divine mercy embracing us? Which pierces the jaw of this Leviathan, when it still shows us the remedy of repentance after we have committed what it forbade.
The Lord pierces the jaw of Leviathan with a bracelet, because by the ineffable power of His mercy He so opposes the malice of the ancient enemy that sometimes he loses even those whom he had already seized. And they fall as if from his mouth, who return to innocence after committing sins. For who, once seized by his mouth, would escape his jaw, if it had not been pierced? Did he not hold Peter in his mouth when he denied? Did he not hold David in his mouth when he plunged himself into such a pit of lust? But when each returned to life through repentance, this Leviathan in a certain way lost them as if through the hole in his jaw. Therefore through the hole in his jaw those were withdrawn from his mouth who returned through repenting after committing such great wickedness. But what man escapes the mouth of this Leviathan so as to commit no unlawful thing? But from this we know how much we are debtors to the Redeemer of the human race, who not only forbade us to go into the mouth of Leviathan, but also granted us to return from his mouth. He did not take away hope from the sinner, because He pierced his jaw to provide a way of escape, so that he who incautiously refused beforehand to beware lest he be bitten might at least flee after the bite.
Therefore heavenly medicine meets us everywhere, because He both gave man precepts lest he sin, and yet gave remedies to the sinner lest he despair. Wherefore it must be most carefully guarded against that anyone be seized by the mouth of this Leviathan through delight in sin; and yet if he has been seized, let him not despair, because if he perfectly mourns his sin, he still finds a hole in his jaw through which he may escape. A witness of divine mercy is present: this very Mary of whom we speak, about whom the Pharisee, wishing to obstruct the fountain of piety, said: "If this man were a prophet, he would surely know who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner. But she washed the stains of her heart and body with tears, and touched the feet of her Redeemer, she who had abandoned her wicked ways. She sat at the feet of Jesus and heard the word from his mouth. She had clung to him while living; she sought him when dead. She found living the one whom she had sought as dead. And she found such a place of grace with him that she herself announced him even to the apostles themselves, that is, to his messengers. What therefore, brothers, what ought we to observe in this matter, except the immense mercy of our Creator, who has set before us as a sign for an example of repentance those whom he caused to live after their fall through repentance?
For I consider Peter, I reflect upon the thief, I look at Zacchaeus, I gaze upon Mary, and I see nothing else in these except examples of hope and repentance placed before our eyes. For perhaps someone has fallen in faith; let him look to Peter, who wept bitterly because he had denied out of fear. Another has burned against his neighbor in the malice of cruelty; let him look to the thief, who even at the very moment of death arrived at the rewards of life through repentance. Another, panting with the fevers of avarice, has seized the property of others; let him look to Zacchaeus, who if he had taken anything from anyone, restored it fourfold. Another, inflamed by the fire of lust, has lost the purity of the flesh; let him look to Mary, who burned out the love of the flesh in herself with the fire of divine love. Behold, almighty God everywhere sets before our eyes those whom we ought to imitate, everywhere he places examples of his mercy before us. Therefore let evils now displease us, even those already experienced. Almighty God willingly forgets that we were guilty; he is ready to reckon our repentance as innocence for us. Defiled after the waters of salvation, let us be reborn from tears. Therefore, according to the voice of the first Pastor, like newborn infants desire milk. Return, little children, to the bosom of your mother, eternal wisdom; suck the abundant breasts of God's mercy; lament what is past, avoid what is imminent.
Our Redeemer will console our momentary weeping with eternal joy, he who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 26
Delivered to the people in the basilica of blessed John, which is called the Constantiniana, on the octave of Easter.
Reading from the Holy Gospel According to John
At that time, when it was late on that day, the first of the week, and the doors were shut where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them: Peace be to you. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they saw the Lord. He said to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit: whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in their midst and said: Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas: Put your finger here, and see my hands; and bring your hand, and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but faithful.
Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Indeed Jesus performed many other signs in the sight of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. The first question of this Gospel reading strikes the mind: how was the Lord's body truly real after the resurrection, if it could enter to the disciples through closed doors? But we must understand that if divine operation is comprehended by reason, it is not wondrous; nor does faith have merit when human reason provides proof. But these very works of our Redeemer, which cannot at all be understood from themselves, must be weighed by another of his operations, so that more wondrous deeds may lend credence to wondrous things. For that body of the Lord entered to the disciples through closed doors—the same body which, at his birth, came forth to human eyes from the closed womb of the Virgin. What wonder is it then if, after his resurrection, he who will now live forever entered through closed doors, when he who came to die went forth from the Virgin's unopened womb? But because the faith of those looking on doubted that body which could be seen, he immediately showed them his hands and side;
he offered his flesh to be touched, the same flesh he had brought in through closed doors. In this matter he showed two wondrous things, quite contrary to one another according to human reason: after his resurrection he demonstrated his body to be both incorruptible and yet tangible. For what is touched must necessarily be subject to corruption, and what is not subject to corruption cannot be touched. But in a wondrous and inestimable way our Redeemer presented his body after the resurrection as both incorruptible and tangible, so that by showing it incorruptible he might invite us to the reward, and by offering it as tangible he might strengthen us in faith. He demonstrated himself therefore both incorruptible and tangible, so that he might clearly show that his body after the resurrection was of the same nature and yet of a different glory. He said to them: Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I also send you. That is, as God the Father sent me who am God, so I who am man send you who are men. The Father sent the Son, whom he appointed to become incarnate for the redemption of the human race. He willed him to come into the world unto suffering, yet nevertheless he loved the Son whom he sent unto suffering. The Lord sends his chosen apostles into the world not to worldly joys, but, just as he himself was sent, unto sufferings.
Since therefore the Son is loved by the Father and yet is sent unto suffering, so also the disciples are loved by the Lord, who nevertheless are sent into the world unto suffering. And so it is said: As the Father has sent me, so I also send you, that is, I love you with that same love when I send you among the offenses of persecutors, with which love the Father loves me, whom he caused to come to endure sufferings. Although "sent" can also be understood according to his divine nature. For the Son is said to be sent by the Father by the very fact that he is begotten by the Father. For the Son declares that he himself sends the Holy Spirit also, who, though coequal with the Father and the Son, nevertheless was not incarnate, saying: When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father. For if "to be sent" ought to be understood only as "to become incarnate," the Holy Spirit would without doubt in no way be said to be sent, since he was in no way incarnate. But his being sent is that very procession by which he proceeds from the Father and the Son. Just as therefore the Spirit is said to be sent because he proceeds, so also the Son is not unfittingly said to be sent because he is begotten. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.
We must ask why it is that our Lord gave the Holy Spirit once while standing on earth, and once while presiding from heaven? For in no other place is the giving of the Holy Spirit openly shown, except now when it is received through breathing, and afterward when, coming from heaven, it is demonstrated in various tongues. Why then is it first given to the disciples on earth, and afterward sent from heaven, unless because there are two precepts of charity, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor? The Spirit is given on earth so that the neighbor may be loved; the Spirit is given from heaven so that God may be loved. Therefore, just as there is one charity and two precepts, so there is one Spirit and two givings. First from the Lord standing on earth, afterward from heaven, because in the love of neighbor one learns how to arrive at the love of God. Hence the same John says: He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see? And indeed the same Holy Spirit was previously in the minds of the disciples for faith, but nevertheless he was not given by manifest giving except after the resurrection. Hence it is also written: The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Hence also it is said through Moses: They sucked honey from the rock, and oil from the solid rock.
For nothing of this kind is read according to history, if the whole sequence of the Old Testament is reviewed. Nowhere did that people suck honey from the rock, nowhere oil. But because according to Paul's words: The rock was Christ, they sucked honey from the rock who saw the deeds and miracles of our same Redeemer. But they sucked oil from the solid rock, because by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit after his resurrection they deserved to be anointed. Therefore, as it were, the weak rock gave honey, when the Lord, still mortal, showed to his disciples the sweetness of his miracles. But the solid rock poured forth oil, because, after his resurrection now made impassible, through the breathing of the Spirit he sent forth the gift of holy anointing. Of this oil it is said through the prophet: "The yoke shall decay because of the oil. For we were held under the yoke of demonic dominion, but we have been anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. And because the grace of liberty has anointed us, the yoke of demonic dominion has rotted away, as Paul attests when he says: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But it should be known that those who first received the Holy Spirit, so that they themselves might live innocently and benefit some through preaching, received Him openly after the Lord's resurrection so that they might benefit not a few but many. Hence in this very giving of the Spirit it is said:
"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. It is pleasing to observe to what height of glory those disciples were led, who were called to such great burdens of humility. Behold, not only do they become secure concerning themselves, but they also receive the power of releasing another's bond; and they obtain the principality of the heavenly judgment, so that in place of God they retain sins for some and release them for others. Thus, thus it was fitting that they be raised up by God, who had consented to be humbled so greatly for God's sake. Behold, those who fear the strict judgment of God become judges of souls; and they condemn or free others, who feared that they themselves would be condemned. Of these, certainly, the bishops now hold the place in the Church. Those who obtain the rank of governance receive the authority of binding and loosing. Great is the honor, but heavy is the burden of this honor. For it is hard that one who does not know how to maintain the governance of his own life should become a judge of another's life. And it very often happens that one holds the place of judgment whose life does not at all accord with the place. And it often occurs that he either condemns the innocent, or, being himself bound, looses others. Often in loosing and binding his subjects he follows the impulse of his own will rather than the merits of the cases.
Whence it happens that he deprives himself of this very power of binding and loosing who exercises it according to his own wishes rather than according to the conduct of his subjects. It often happens that a Pastor is moved by hatred or favor toward any neighbor; but those who follow their own hatreds or favor in the cases of their subjects cannot judge worthily concerning their subjects. Whence it is rightly said through the prophet: They were putting to death souls that do not die, and giving life to souls that do not live. For he puts to death one who is not dying who condemns the just. And he strives to give life to one who will not live who attempts to absolve the guilty from punishment. Therefore the causes must be weighed, and then the power of binding and loosing must be exercised. It must be seen what fault preceded, or what repentance followed after the fault, so that those whom almighty God visits through the grace of compunction, the sentence of the pastor may absolve. For then the absolution of the one presiding is true, when it follows the judgment of the internal Judge. This is well signified by that resurrection of the man dead four days, which demonstrates that the Lord first called and gave life to the dead man, saying: "Lazarus, come forth"; and afterward he who had come forth alive was loosed by the disciples, as it is written:
"And when he who had been bound with wrappings had come forth, then he said to the disciples: Loose him, and let him go. Behold, the disciples loose him now living, whom the Master had raised from the dead. For if the disciples had loosed Lazarus while dead, they would have shown forth a stench rather than power. From this consideration it must be observed that we ought to loose through pastoral authority those whom we recognize our Author vivifies through resurrecting grace. This vivification, indeed, before the work of righteousness is already recognized in the very confession of sin. Hence to this same dead Lazarus it is by no means said "Come back to life," but "Come forth. For every sinner, while he hides his fault within his conscience, lies hidden within, is concealed in his own inner chambers. But the dead man comes forth when the sinner voluntarily confesses his iniquities. Therefore it is said to Lazarus, "Come forth. As if it were openly said to anyone dead in fault: Why do you hide your guilt within your conscience? Come forth now through confession, you who lie hidden within yourself through denial. Let the dead man therefore come forth, that is, let the sinner confess his fault. And let the disciples loose him as he comes forth, so that the pastors of the Church may remove the punishment from him who deserved it, since he was not ashamed to confess what he did.
These things I have said briefly concerning the order of loosing, so that the pastors of the Church may strive to loose or bind with great moderation. But whether the pastor binds justly or unjustly, nevertheless the sentence of the pastor is to be feared by the flock, lest he who is subject, even when he is perhaps bound unjustly, may deserve the very sentence of his binding from another fault. Therefore let the pastor fear to absolve or to bind indiscreetly. But let him who is under the hand of the pastor fear to be bound even unjustly; nor let him rashly criticize the judgment of his pastor, lest even if he was bound unjustly, through the very pride of arrogant criticism a fault that did not exist may come to be. But since we have said these things briefly by way of digression, let us return to the order of the exposition. But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. This one disciple was absent; when he returned he heard what had happened; having heard, he refused to believe. The Lord came again, and offered his side to the unbelieving disciple to touch, showed his hands, and by displaying the scar of his wounds, healed the wound of that man's unbelief. What, dearest brothers, what do you observe in these things? Do you think it happened by chance that this chosen disciple was absent then, but coming later heard, hearing doubted, doubting touched, touching believed?
This did not happen by chance, but by divine dispensation. For heavenly mercy acted in a wondrous way so that the doubting disciple, while he touched the wounds of flesh in his master, might heal in us the wounds of unbelief. For the unbelief of Thomas profited us more for faith than the faith of the believing disciples, because while he is brought back to faith by touching, our mind, all doubt set aside, is strengthened in faith. For thus the Lord permitted his disciple to doubt after his resurrection, yet did not abandon him in his doubt, just as before his birth he willed Mary to have a spouse, who nevertheless did not attain to marriage with her. For thus the doubting and touching disciple became a witness of the true resurrection, just as the spouse had been the guardian of the mother's perfect virginity. But he touched, and exclaimed: My Lord, and my God. Jesus says to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed. Since the apostle Paul says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not appearing, it is certainly clear that faith is the evidence of those things which cannot appear. For those things which appear no longer have faith, but recognition. Therefore when Thomas saw, when he touched, why is it said to him: Because you have seen me, you have believed? But he saw one thing, he believed another. For divinity could not be seen by a mortal man.
Therefore he saw the man, and confessed God, saying: My Lord, and my God. Therefore by seeing he believed, who considering the true man, exclaimed that this was God, whom he could not see. What greatly gladdens is what follows: "Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed. In this saying, we are indeed specially marked out, we who retain in our minds Him whom we have not seen in the flesh. We are marked out—but only if we follow our faith with works. For he truly believes who practices by his deeds what he believes. In contrast to these, concerning those who hold faith in name only, Paul says: "They profess that they know God, but in their deeds they deny Him. Hence James says: "Faith without works is dead. Hence the Lord says to blessed Job concerning the ancient enemy of the human race: "He will swallow up a river and not wonder, and he has confidence that the Jordan will flow into his mouth. For who is signified by the river except the flow of the human race? For this race flows from origin to end, and, as if in the manner of water, runs its course from the flux of the flesh until its appointed end. What is signified by the Jordan except the pattern of the baptized? For since the very Author of our redemption deigned to be baptized in the river Jordan, the multitude of those who are held within the sacrament of baptism is rightly expressed by the name Jordan.
Therefore the ancient enemy of the human race swallowed up the river, because from the beginning of the world until the coming of the Redeemer, with scarcely a few elect escaping, he drew the human race into the belly of his malice. Of him it is rightly said: "He will swallow up a river and not wonder," because he does not consider it a great thing when he seizes unbelievers. But what is added is very grave: "And he has confidence that the Jordan will flow into his mouth," because after he seized all the unbelievers from the beginning of the world, he still presumes that he can receive even the faithful. For by the mouth of pestilent persuasion he daily devours those in whose case a wicked life is at variance with the confession of faith. Therefore, most beloved brethren, fear this with your whole attention, ponder this in your minds with anxious care. Behold, we celebrate the Paschal solemnities; but we must so live that we may deserve to attain to the eternal feasts. All things that are celebrated as temporal festivals pass away. Take care, you who are present at these solemnities, that you be not separated from the eternal solemnity. What does it profit to be present at the feasts of men, if it happens that one is absent from the feasts of angels? The present solemnity is a shadow of the solemnity to come. Therefore we celebrate this one yearly, that we may be led to that one which is not yearly, but continuous.
When this is observed at its appointed time, our memory is refreshed unto the desire of that one. Therefore, by the frequenting of temporal joy, let the mind grow warm and fervent for eternal joys, so that it may enjoy in truth in the homeland what it meditates upon as a shadow of joy on the way. Therefore, brethren, order your life and conduct. He who rose meek from death, foresee how strict He will come in judgment. Certainly on the day of the dreadful examination He will appear to His own, with angels, with archangels, with thrones, with dominations, with principalities and powers, while the heavens and earth burn, that is, with all the elements shaken in the terror of His service. Therefore set before your eyes this Judge of such great dread; fear Him who is to come, so that when He comes you may see Him not fearful, but secure. He is to be feared, then, lest He be feared. Let the terror of Him exercise us in the practice of good works, let fear of Him restrain our life from wickedness. Believe me, brethren, for we shall then be as secure in His presence as we now strive to be anxious about our guilt.
Certainly, if any of you were to be brought before my judgment tomorrow to plead a case against your adversary, you would perhaps spend the whole night sleepless, turning over in your anxious and troubled mind what might be said to you, how you would respond to objections, greatly fearing lest you find me harsh, dreading lest you appear guilty before me. And who am I? Or what am I? Surely one who will not long after become a worm after being a man, and after being a worm, dust. If, therefore, the judgment of dust is feared with such great concern, with what attention must the judgment of such great majesty be considered, with what dread must it be foreseen? But because there are some who are uncertain about the resurrection of the flesh, and we teach this more rightly when we also address the hidden questions of your hearts: a few things must be said by us about this faith in the resurrection. For many doubt the resurrection, just as we ourselves once did, who when they see flesh reduced to decay and bones to dust in tombs, lose confidence that flesh and bones can be restored from dust, and thus say to themselves as if reasoning: When is man brought back from dust? When is it accomplished that ashes are given life? To these we briefly respond that it is far less for God to restore what was than to have created what was not.
Or what is remarkable if He who created all things at once from nothing refashions man from dust? For it is more marvelous to have founded heaven and earth from things that did not exist than to restore man himself from earth. But the ash is considered, and it is despaired that it can return to flesh, and the power of divine operation is sought to be comprehended as if by reason. They say these things in their thoughts precisely because God's daily miracles have become worthless to them through their constancy. For behold, in one grain of the tiniest seed lies hidden the entire mass of the tree that will be born. For let us place before our eyes the wondrous size of any tree; let us think about where it began by arising, which arrived at such great mass by growing. We find without doubt its origin, a very small seed. Let us now consider where in that small grain of seed lies hidden the strength of the wood, the roughness of the bark, the magnitude of flavor and fragrance, the abundance of fruits, the greenness of leaves. For the grain of seed when handled is not hard; from where then did the hardness of wood proceed? It is not rough; from where did the roughness of bark burst forth? It has no flavor; from where came the flavor in the fruits? When smelled it gives off no scent; from where does fragrance emanate in the fruits? It shows nothing green in itself;
from where did the greenness of leaves come forth? All things therefore lie hidden in the seed at once, which nevertheless do not come forth from the seed at once. For from the seed the root is produced, from the root the shoot comes forth, from the shoot the fruit arises, and in the fruit the seed is also produced. Let us add therefore that the seed also lies hidden in the seed. What then is remarkable if He who daily restores wood, fruits, and leaves in the great mass of a tree from a small seed brings back bones, sinews, flesh, and hair from dust? Therefore when a doubting mind seeks reason about the power of the resurrection, questions about those things should be brought before it which both happen unceasingly and yet can in no way be comprehended by reason, so that while one is unable from the sight of the thing to penetrate what one sees, one may believe from the promise of divine power what one hears. Therefore, dearest brothers, think upon those promised things with you which remain; but those things which pass away with time, despise as already dismissed. Hasten with your whole intention to this glory of resurrection which the Truth showed in Himself. Flee earthly desires which separate from the Creator, because you reach the sight of Almighty God the more highly as you love the Mediator of God and men the more singularly.
Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 27
Delivered to the people in the basilica of the holy martyr Pancras, on the day of his birth
Reading from the Holy Gospel According to John
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love than this no one has, than that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I will no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and I have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you. While all of sacred Scripture is full of the Lord's commandments, why does the Lord speak of love as if it were a singular commandment, saying: "This is my commandment, that you love one another," unless it is because every commandment concerns love alone, and all commandments are one, since whatever is commanded is grounded in charity alone? For just as many branches of a tree proceed from one root, so many virtues are generated from one charity. Nor does the branch of a good work have any greenness if it does not remain in the root of charity. Therefore the Lord's commandments are both many and one: many through the diversity of works, one in the root of love.
Moreover, how this love should be maintained, he himself indicates, who in many passages of his Scripture commands both that friends be loved in him, and that enemies be loved for his sake. For he truly has charity who both loves a friend in God and loves an enemy for the sake of God. For there are some who love their neighbors, but through the affection of kinship and flesh, whom nevertheless sacred Scripture does not contradict in this love. But it is one thing that is freely given to nature, another that is owed to obedience from charity through the Lord's commandments. These indeed love their neighbor, and yet they do not attain those sublime rewards of love, because they bestow their love not spiritually but carnally. Therefore when the Lord said: "This is my commandment, that you love one another," he immediately added: "As I have loved you. As if he were saying openly: Love for the same purpose for which I loved you. In this matter, dearest brothers, we must carefully observe that the ancient enemy, when he draws our mind toward delight in temporal things, stirs up a weaker neighbor against us, one who strives to take away those very things we love. Nor does the ancient enemy, in doing this, care about removing earthly things, but about striking charity within us. For we suddenly blaze up in hatred; and while we desire to be unconquered outwardly, we are gravely wounded within;
while we defend small things outwardly, we lose the greatest things within, because while we love temporal things, we lose true love. Indeed, everyone who takes what is ours is an enemy. But if we begin to hate our enemy, what we lose is within. Therefore, when we suffer something externally from a neighbor, let us be vigilant inwardly against the hidden thief, who is never better conquered than when the external robber is loved. For there is one supreme proof of charity: if even he who opposes us is loved. Hence it is that Truth itself both endures the gallows of the cross, and yet extends the affection of love to its very persecutors, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. What wonder is it, then, if disciples love their enemies while they live, when the Master loves his enemies even while he is being killed? He expresses the height of this love when he adds: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. The Lord had come to die even for his enemies, and yet he said he would lay down his life for friends, to show us plainly that since by loving we can make a gain from our enemies, even those who persecute us are friends. But behold, no one persecutes us even unto death. How then can we prove whether we love our enemies?
Yet there is something that ought to be done in the peace of holy Church, by which it may become clear whether we would be able to die for love in a time of persecution. Certainly the same John says: "He who has the substance of this world, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God remain in him? Hence also John the Baptist says: "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none. Therefore, he who in a time of tranquility does not give his tunic for God, when will he give his life in persecution? Therefore, let the virtue of charity, that it may be unconquered in disturbance, be nourished through mercy in tranquility, so that one may first learn to spend one's possessions for almighty God, and afterward oneself. There follows: "You are my friends. O how great is the mercy of our Creator! We are not worthy to be servants, and we are called friends. How great is the dignity of men to be friends of God! But you have heard the glory of this dignity; hear also the labor of the struggle: "If you do what I command you. "You are my friends, if you do what I command you. As if He were saying openly: You rejoice at the height; consider by what labors one arrives at the height.
Surely when the sons of Zebedee, through the intervention of their mother, sought that one should sit at the right hand of God and the other at the left, they heard: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink? They were already seeking the place of exaltation; the Truth calls them back to the way by which they might come to exaltation. As if it were said: The place of exaltation already delights you, but first let the way of labor exercise you. Through the cup one reaches majesty. If your mind desires what pleases, first drink what causes pain. Thus, thus through the bitter cup of affliction one arrives at the joy of salvation. "I will no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. What are all these things which He heard from His Father, which He wished to make known to His servants, that He might make them His friends, except the joys of interior charity, except those festivals of the heavenly homeland, which He daily imprints on our minds through the inspiration of His love? For when we love the heavenly things we have heard, we already know what we love, because love itself is knowledge. Therefore He had made all things known to those who, changed from earthly desires, were burning with the torches of supreme love.
Indeed the Prophet had beheld these friends of God when he said: "But to me Your friends, O God, are exceedingly honored. For a friend is called, as it were, a guardian of the soul. Because therefore the Psalmist foresaw that the elect of God, separated from the love of this world, would guard the will of God in heavenly commandments, he marveled at the friends of God, saying: "But to me Your friends, O God, are exceedingly honored. And as if we were immediately asking him to reveal to us the reasons for such great honor, he at once added: "Their sovereignty is exceedingly strengthened. Behold, the elect of God subdue the flesh, strengthen the spirit, command demons, shine with virtues, despise present things, preach the eternal homeland by their conduct as well as by their voice; they love it even unto death, and reach it through torments. They can be killed, but they cannot be bent. Therefore their sovereignty is exceedingly strengthened. In that very passion by which they fell in the death of the flesh, see how great was the height of their minds. Whence this, except because their sovereignty was strengthened? But perhaps those who are so great are few? He added: "I will count them, and they will be multiplied beyond the sand. Behold the whole world, brothers: it is full of martyrs. Now we are scarcely as many as we can see compared to how many witnesses of the truth we have.
Therefore those who are countable to God are multiplied beyond the sand for us, because how many they are cannot be comprehended by us. But whoever arrives at this dignity of being called a friend of God, let him look upon himself in himself, but upon the gifts he receives as above himself. Let him attribute nothing to his own merits, lest he break forth into enmity. Hence it is added: "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and have appointed you, that you should go and bring forth fruit. I have appointed you unto grace, I have planted you that you should go by willing, and bring forth fruit by working. For I said "go" by willing, because to will to do something is already to go in the mind. But what kind of fruit they ought to bring forth is added: "And your fruit should remain. Everything for which we labor according to the present age barely suffices until death. For death intervening cuts off the fruit of our labor. But what is done for eternal life is preserved even after death; and it begins to appear when the fruit of carnal labors has begun to disappear. Therefore, that reward begins where this one ends. Whoever therefore has already come to know eternal things, let temporal fruits become worthless in his soul. Let us work such fruits as remain; let us work such fruits as, when death destroys all things, themselves take their beginning from death.
For the Prophet testifies that the fruit of God begins from death, when he says: "When he shall give sleep to his beloved ones, this is the inheritance of the Lord. Everyone who sleeps in death loses his inheritance; but "when he shall give sleep to his beloved ones, this is the inheritance of the Lord," because after the elect of God have arrived at death, then they will find their inheritance. It follows: "That whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he may give it you. Behold, here he says: "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Again, elsewhere through the same Evangelist he says: "If you shall ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. If the Father gives us everything we ask in the name of the Son, what then does it mean that Paul asked the Lord three times and did not deserve to be heard, but it was said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness"? Did not that most excellent preacher ask in the name of the Son? Why then did he not receive what he asked?
How then is it true that whatever we ask the Father in the name of the Son, the Father gives us, if the Apostle asked in the name of the Son that the angel of Satan be removed from him, and yet did not receive what he asked? But since the name of the Son is Jesus, and Jesus means savior, or is also called salvation, therefore he asks in the name of the Savior who asks for that which pertains to true salvation. For if something that is not expedient is asked for, the Father is not being asked in the name of Jesus. Hence the Lord says to those same apostles while they were still weak: "Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. As if it were openly said: You have not asked in the name of the Savior because you do not know how to seek eternal salvation. Hence it is that Paul also is not heard, because if he were freed from the temptation, it would not profit him unto salvation. Behold, we see, dearest brothers, how many of you have gathered for the feast of the martyr: you bend your knees, you beat your breasts, you utter words of prayer and confession, you wet your faces with tears. But consider, I ask, your petitions; see whether you are asking in the name of Jesus, that is, whether you are seeking the joys of eternal salvation.
For in the house of Jesus you do not seek Jesus, if in the temple of eternity you pray inappropriately for temporal things. Behold, one person in prayer seeks a wife, another asks for an estate, another requests clothing, another begs that food be given to him. And indeed when these things are lacking, they should be sought from almighty God. But we ought to remember continually what we have received from the command of our same Redeemer: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And so to ask these things from Jesus is not to err, provided they are not sought excessively. But still, what is more serious, another asks for the death of an enemy, and the one whom he cannot pursue with a sword, he pursues with prayer. And the one who is cursed still lives, yet the one who curses is already held guilty of his death. But God commands that an enemy be loved, and yet God is asked to kill an enemy. Whoever therefore prays in this way fights against the Creator in his very prayers. Hence it is said under the figure of Judas: "Let his prayer become sin. For it is prayer becoming sin to ask for those things which the very one who is petitioned forbids. Hence the Truth says: "When you stand to pray, forgive if you have anything in your hearts.
We show the virtue of forgiveness more clearly if we bring forward one testimony from the Old Testament. Certainly when Judea had offended the justice of its Creator through its demanding sins, the Lord, forbidding His prophet from prayer, says: "Do not take up praise and prayer for them. If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not be toward this people. What is it that, with so many fathers passed over and left aside, Moses and Samuel alone are brought forward, whose wondrous power of obtaining is shown, while even they are said to be unable to intercede? As if the Lord were saying openly: I do not even hear those whom I by no means despise on account of the great merit of their petition. What then is it that Moses and Samuel are preferred to the other fathers in petition, except that these two alone in the entire sequence of the Old Testament are read to have prayed even for their enemies? One is assailed with stones by the people, and yet he entreats the Lord for the one who stoned him; the other is cast down from leadership, and yet when asked to pray, he confesses saying: "Far be this sin from me against the Lord, that I should cease to pray for you. "If Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not be toward this people. As if He were saying openly:
I do not even now hear those on behalf of friends, whom I know by the merit of their great virtue to pray even for enemies. Therefore the power of true prayer is the loftiness of charity. And then each person obtains what he rightly asks, when his mind in petition is not darkened by hatred of an enemy. But often we overcome a reluctant mind if we also pray for enemies. The mouth pours forth prayer for adversaries, but would that the heart hold love. For often we also offer prayer for our enemies, but we pour it forth more from precept than from charity. For we ask for the life of our enemies, and yet we fear lest we be heard. But because the internal Judge considers the mind rather than words, he asks nothing for an enemy who does not pray for him out of charity. But behold, our enemy has grievously sinned against us, inflicted losses, harmed those who helped, persecuted those who loved. These things would need to be retained if our own sins were not to be forgiven. For our Advocate has composed a prayer for us in our case; and he who is the Advocate is himself the Judge of that same case. Moreover, he inserted a condition into the prayer he composed, saying: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Therefore, since he who stood forth as Advocate comes as Judge, he who made the prayer hears it.
Either, then, we say without doing it, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, and by saying this we bind ourselves all the more; or perhaps we omit this condition in our prayer, and our Advocate does not recognize the prayer he composed, and immediately says to himself: I know what I instructed; this is not the prayer I made. What then must we do, brothers, except extend the affection of true charity to our brothers? Let no malice remain in our heart. Let almighty God consider our charity toward our neighbor, so that he may extend his mercy to our iniquities. Remember what we are admonished: Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Behold, something is owed to us, and we owe. Let us therefore forgive what is owed to us, so that what is owed by us may be forgiven. But the mind resists these things, and wants to fulfill what it hears, yet still struggles against it. We stand at the martyr's tomb, knowing by what death he reached the heavenly kingdom. If we do not lay down our body for Christ, let us at least conquer our spirit. God is appeased by this sacrifice; he approves in the judgment of his mercy the victory of our peace. For he beholds the struggle of our heart; and he who rewards the victorious afterward now helps those who are fighting, through our Lord Jesus Christ his Son, who lives and reigns with him in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through all ages of ages.
Amen.
Homily 28
Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saints Nereus and Achilleus, on the day of their feast.
Reading from the Holy Gospel According to John
At that time, there was a certain royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was coming from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son. For he was about to die. Jesus therefore said to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe. The royal official said to him: Lord, come down before my son dies. Jesus said to him: Go, your son lives. The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and brought word, saying that his son was alive. He therefore inquired of them the hour in which he had improved. And they said to him that yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. The father therefore knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus had said to him: Your son lives. And he himself believed, and his whole household. The reading of the holy Gospel which you have just heard, brothers, does not require explanation. But lest we seem to have passed over it in silence, let us say something about it by way of exhortation rather than exposition. Yet this one point from the exposition seems to me to require inquiry: why the man who had come seeking health for his son heard the words: "Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe"?
For he who was seeking health for his son undoubtedly believed. For he would not have sought health from one whom he did not believe to be the Savior. Why then is it said, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you do not believe," to one who believed before he saw a sign? But remember what he asked for, and you will clearly recognize that he wavered in faith. For he asked that the Lord would come down and heal his son. Therefore he was seeking the bodily presence of the Lord, who through the Spirit was absent nowhere. Thus he believed less in him whom he did not think able to give health unless he were present in body. For if he had believed perfectly, he would undoubtedly have known that there is no place where God is not. Therefore to a great extent he was lacking in faith, because he gave honor not to the divine majesty but to bodily presence. Thus he sought health for his son, and yet wavered in faith, because he believed that the one to whom he came was powerful enough to heal, and yet thought him absent from his dying son. But the Lord, who is asked to come, indicates that he is not absent from where he is invited, and restored health by his command alone, he who created all things by his will. In this matter we must carefully observe that, as we have learned from another evangelist's testimony, a centurion came to the Lord saying:
"Lord, my servant lies paralyzed in my house and is grievously tormented. To whom Jesus immediately responds: "I will come and heal him. What does it mean that the royal official asks him to come to his son, and yet he refuses to go bodily; but to the centurion's servant he is not invited, and yet he promises to go bodily? He does not deign to be present to the royal official's son through bodily presence, yet he does not disdain to go to meet the centurion's servant. What is this, except that our pride is rebuked, we who in men venerate not the nature by which they were made in the image of God, but honors and riches? And when we consider what surrounds them, we certainly fail to perceive their inner worth, while we consider what is despised in bodies, we neglect to weigh what they truly are. But our Redeemer, to show that what is lofty among men should be despised, and what is despised among men should not be despised by the saints, was unwilling to go to the royal official's son, but was ready to go to the centurion's servant. Therefore our pride is rebuked, which does not know how to value men for the sake of men themselves. It considers only, as we said, what surrounds men; it does not look at their nature; it does not recognize the honor of God in men.
Behold, the Son of God is unwilling to go to the royal official's son, and yet he is ready to come for the health of a servant. Certainly if anyone's servant asked us to go to him, immediately our pride would answer us in silent thought, saying: "Do not go, because you degrade yourself, your honor is despised, your position is cheapened. Behold, he comes from heaven who does not disdain to meet a servant on earth; and yet we, who are from the earth, scorn to be humbled on earth. But what can be more worthless, what more contemptible before God, than to preserve honor among men and not to fear the eyes of the inner witness? Hence also in the holy Gospel the Lord says to the Pharisees: "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, because what is lofty among men is abominable before God. Note, brothers, note what is said. For if what is lofty among men is abominable before God, the thought of our heart is as low before God as it is high among men, and the humility of our heart is as high before God as it is low among men. Let us therefore despise whatever good we do; let no work of ours puff us up, let neither abundance of possessions nor glory exalt us. If we swell inwardly from any good things that abound to us, we are despised by God. On the contrary, the Psalmist says of the humble: "The Lord preserves the little ones.
Because he calls the humble "little ones," after he brought forth this statement, he adds counsel; for as if we were asking what he himself would do about these things, he added: "I was humbled, and he delivered me. Think on these things, therefore, brothers; weigh them with your whole attention. Do not venerate the goods of this world in your neighbors. Honor in people—to whom, however, you have not been entrusted—that which was made in the image of God, for the sake of God. This you will truly preserve toward your neighbors if you first do not swell up in your own heart. For whoever still exalts himself on account of transitory things does not know how to venerate in his neighbor what endures. Therefore, do not consider in yourselves what you have, but what you are. Behold, the world that is loved flees away. These saints, at whose tomb we stand, trampled the flourishing world with contempt of mind. There was long life, continual health, abundance in possessions, fruitfulness in offspring, tranquility in lasting peace; and yet while it flourished in itself, the world had already withered in their hearts. Behold, now the world has withered in itself, and still it flourishes in our hearts. Everywhere death, everywhere grief, everywhere desolation; from every side we are struck, from every side we are filled with bitterness; and yet with blind mind we love the very bitterness of carnal desire, we follow what flees, we cling to what is falling.
And because we cannot hold back what is falling, we fall with it, which we grasp as it collapses. Once the world held us by its delight; now it is so full of wounds that the world itself sends us to God. Consider, therefore, that the things that pass temporally are nothing. The end of temporal things shows how worthless is that which was able to pass away. The fall of things indicates that a passing thing was nearly nothing even when it seemed to stand. Therefore, dearest brothers, weigh these things with careful consideration; fix your heart on the love of eternity, so that while you despise the attainment of earthly heights, you may arrive at glory with him whom you hold through faith, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns as God with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through all ages of ages. Amen.