Sermon 10

SERMO 10

TRACTATE OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, BISHOP
On the Judgment of Solomon
BETWEEN TWO PROSTITUTE WOMEN

The miraculous judgment of Solomon.

The Scripture of the Kings proclaims the remarkable judgment of Solomon concerning two women disputing over a newborn child. For it is written: Then two harlots appeared before King Solomon, and they stood in his presence. And one woman said: Consider, my lord, I and this woman dwelled in one house, and I gave birth in the house. And it happened on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth to a son, and we were together, and there was no one with us in the house except the two of us. And the son of this woman died at night, for she lay on him. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, and laid him in her bosom, and her dead son in my bosom. And I arose in the morning to nurse my son, and behold, he was dead: but when I examined him in the morning, behold, he was not my son whom I had borne. And the other woman said: No, but my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one. And she said, No, but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one. And so they spoke before the king. And the king said to them: You say, This is my son who lives, and your son is dead; and you say, No, but my son lives, and your son is dead. And the king said: Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said: Divide the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other. And the woman whose son was the living one answered the king, for her womb yearned upon her son; and she said: Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way slay it. But the other said: Let it be neither mine nor yours, divide it. And the king answered and said: Give the living child to her, and in no way slay it, for she is the mother. The prudence indeed of the king granted by divine gift shines wondrously in this judgment. For it was fitting and proper that no other be judged the mother of the child, except she who in a certain way conceived it again when she knew it had been taken away, and bore it again while defending it from the false mother, and bore it once more by not allowing it to be killed. Nevertheless, as the old Divine Books are accustomed, not only affirming the truth of the deed but also indicating a mystery of what is to come, this Scripture must be considered, to understand whether in these two women something significant and figurative is shown to us.

Two women: Synagogue and Church.

And indeed, two women, the Synagogue and the Church, come to mind at first glance. For the Synagogue is convicted of having killed Christ, her son born of the Jews according to the flesh, while sleeping, that is, by following the light of this present life, and not understanding the manifestation of the truth in the words of the Lord; hence it is also written: "Awake, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Also, the fact that the two of them were living alone in one house not absurdly signifies that besides the circumcised and uncircumcised, no other kind of religion is found in this world, so that in the person of one woman, you might establish one kind of circumcised people under the worship and law of one God, while in the person of the other woman, you might understand the entire gentility of the uncircumcised devoted to the worship of idols. Both were, however, prostitutes. For the Apostle says that Jews and Greeks are all under sin. For every soul, which, forsaking the eternity of truth, delights in earthly filthiness, commits fornication against the Lord. And it is clear that the Church, coming from gentile fornication, has not killed Christ. But how is it that she herself is the mother of Christ? Consider the Gospel, and hear the Lord saying: "Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my mother, and brother, and sister." Where then did this one sleep, not to be suffocated by sleep, but yet that a dead man might be laid before her and a living one taken away? Is it perhaps that the very sacrament of circumcision, which remained dead among the Jews because they perceived it completely carnally, this sacrament of circumcision, which did not live among those Jews who killed Christ, who is the life of all sacraments - since it is understood vitally in Him who is celebrated visibly among the Jews - this sacrament of circumcision, then, as if a lifeless body, certain Jews wanted to persuade the gentiles to accept, who had believed in Christ, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, saying that they could not be saved unless they were circumcised. But they persuaded this to those ignorant of the law, as if in the darkness of night, laying a dead son before them. Nor could that persuasion have had any effect without some measure of the sleep of foolishness creeping over the Church of the gentiles. The Apostle seems to awaken her as it were sleeping, exclaiming: "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?" And a little later: "Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" As if he were to say: Are you so foolish, that having first had a living spiritual work, you later received it dead, having lost it as something alien to yourselves? For the Apostle himself says elsewhere: "The Spirit is life because of righteousness." And elsewhere: "To be carnally minded is death." By these and similar words, that mother awakens, and it becomes morning for her, as the Word of God, that is, Christ, who was arising, that is, speaking in Paul, illuminates the obscurity of the law. For He illuminated her when He said: "Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman, and one by the free woman: but he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise; which things are an allegory. For these are the two covenants, one indeed from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, for she is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free." It is not therefore surprising if, because of dead works, she pertains to the one below as dead; and because of spiritual works, she pertains to the Jerusalem above as living. For the infernal regions are below where the dead pertain; but the heavenly regions are above where the living pertain. By this illumination, as if the morning has come, the Church understands the spiritual grace, repelling from herself the carnal work of the law, as though a dead alien, and claiming for herself the living faith, because "the just shall live by faith," which she has attained in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and therefore knows the three-day-old son as her own, nor does she allow him to be taken away from her.

The grace of the Gospel does not pertain to the Jews.

Now, let that one claim that the Gospel is theirs, as if it is owed to them and generated by themselves. For this is what they used to say to the Gentiles in the very contention, those who, thinking carnally, dared to call themselves Christians, though they were from the Jews. For they would say that the Gospel had come as a debt to their own righteousness. But it was not theirs, which they did not know how to hold spiritually. Therefore, although they were called Christians, boasting in a name that was alien to them, as if it were about a son whom they had not begotten, they even dared to contend, since they themselves had ejected the spirit of understanding from the works of the law, as if casting out the soul from their body of works. And by extinguishing the living spirit of prophecy, they remained with carnal works devoid of life, that is, devoid of spiritual understanding. They also wished to impose these upon the Gentiles, and to take away from them the name of Christian as if it were a living son. The Apostle refuted them in such a way that he said that the Christian grace pertained to them so much the less the more they claimed it for themselves as if it were owed to them and gloried in it as if it were theirs by the right of works. For to the one who works, he says, the reward is not counted according to grace but according to debt. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, faith is accounted for righteousness. And therefore, he also excludes them from the number of those who rightly believed from among the Jews and retained the living spiritual grace. He speaks of the remnants of the Jewish people being saved, while the multitude went into destruction. So therefore, even at this time, he says, the remnants are saved by the election of grace. But if by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace, so that those who claim the reward of the Gospel for their works, as if it were owed and given, are excluded from grace, like the Synagogue shouting: My son is mine. But she was lying. For she had received him, but sleeping on him, that is, being arrogant, she had killed him. However, this mother was now awake and understood that it was not by her merits, for she was a harlot, but by the grace of God that the son had been granted to her, namely the work of evangelical faith which she desired to nurture in the bosom of her heart. Therefore, that one sought human glory in an alien son; this one preserved the affection of love in her own.

Let the unity of Christian grace not be divided.

That royal judgment between the two women reminds us of nothing else except that we must contend for the truth and expel hypocrisy as a false mother from the spiritual gift of the Church, just as from a living son that does not belong to her, and not allow her to dominate the grace granted to others which she could not keep for herself. But let us do this defending and contending, not to the point of the danger of division. For that sentence of the judge, when he ordered the child to be divided, was not a separation of unity, but a proving of love. For the name of Solomon, as the Latins interpret it, is peaceful. Therefore, the peaceful king does not tear apart the members that contain the vital spirit in unity and concord. But by threatening, he finds the true mother and by judging, he separates the false one. If therefore it comes to such a temptation, lest the unity of Christian grace be divided, we are taught to say, "Give her the child, only let him live." For the true mother does not seek the honor of being a mother, but the safety of the child. Wherever he may be, the sincere affection of the mother will possess him more than the usurpation of the false one.

The son of a harlot by the grace of God.

Similarly, I see these two women in one house as signifying two types of people in one Church: one of those in whom deceit rules, the other in whom true charity reigns. So we should consider these two women as representations of love and deceit. For deceit falsely imitates love. Hence the Apostle warns against it, saying: "Love without deceit." Although they inhabit one house as long as that net of the Gospel is in the sea, enclosing together both good and bad fish until brought to shore, each performs their own works. Both were prostitutes, because all are turned from worldliness to the grace of God, and none can truly boast of previous merits of justice. The prostitute's fornication is her own, but having a son of God is another matter. For all men are formed by one God the Creator. It is not surprising that even in human sins, God works well. For from the crime of Judas the traitor, our Lord brought about the salvation of the human race. But the difference is that when God makes something good from someone's sin, often the sinner himself would not have wanted it. Not only because when he sins, he does not sin with the intention by which God in His providence brings about justice through his sin—Judas did not betray Christ with the same intention with which Christ allowed himself to be betrayed—but also because when he realizes the outcome of his sin leads to something better, which he did not want, he grieves rather than rejoices. It is as if someone trying to give poison to a sick enemy, being mistaken in the nature of the medicine, offers something beneficial instead, and the sick man becomes healthy by God’s favor, who willed to convert his enemy's crime into salvation. When the wicked one realizes this, he is tormented by the health brought about through his hands. However, if the prostitute gladly accepts the son she has conceived and does not expel from her womb what she has conceived due to the vile motivation of lust or greed for sordid profit, then the desire that once extended to many is now turned towards the gift of God, and it will no longer be called desire but love. So, the son of a prostitute is rightly understood as the grace of a sinner. From the old disgrace, a new man is born through the forgiveness of sins.

First love, afterwards pretense.

Therefore, the Lord, and in that number of disciples, although He chose them all from among sinners, nonetheless chose the former ones to persevere in love, rather than Judas the pretender. It is indeed not written in what order he was chosen, but it is evident that the good ones were chosen before him, and not without reason is he numbered last. And after the Lord's ascension, the Holy Spirit, as promised by the Lord, was sent from above to all who were in one place and was infused in them. Those from whom the Church began were good and loved without pretense. Later, therefore, pretense began to operate in the Church, and thus prior love bore fruit. The fruit of love is greater by a third day, so that continence, justice, and the expectation of future things can now be recognized. Pretense indeed, even if it gives birth, that is, even if it is gladdened for a brief time by the remission of sins, oppressed as if by the secular sleep of desire, when it is cast down from the hope of heavenly rewards, falls back into earthly rest with a heavy heart, suffocates the forgiveness it had earned by faith, as if while sleeping. Such men prefer to rejoice in the name of justice rather than in its truth, and attempt to transfer good works of others to themselves through obscure deceptions, as if by night they tried to transfer a living son to themselves by lying. Moreover, they not only usurp the good deeds of others, but also cast their own crimes upon others, as if substituting a dead son.

Two times of the Church

But when will hypocrisy be allowed so much that it boasts with the false name of justice, with no one prohibiting it, and extinguishes the spiritual, living work, which it did not generate, and which it once generated in itself with the weight of cruelest slumber, applying to itself the deceptive boast of the maternal name, and imputes its crimes to the good and innocent? When, therefore, will hypocrisy reign so, unless when iniquity abounds, that is, the darkness of sins will prevail as in a blind night, and the charity of many will grow cold, that is, the mother of the spiritual work will sleep like a living child? However, because charity will cool so as to fervor less negligently - for it was not said it will be completely extinguished so that it no longer exists at all - so this mother slept not to kill her son, but nevertheless gave place to the frauds of hypocrisy. But having been awakened, when she sees the impiety which she herself did not commit being imputed to her by those who commit it, and sees hypocrisy dare to boast of the spiritual work of grace which she guarded, herself being called the worker of iniquity, and hypocrisy the mother of good work, she implores the help of the peaceful Judge. For Solomonic means peaceful. Whom we see having given two judgments, the first as if ignorant, the final indeed with manifest knowledge of judgment. The first proposes a test of piety, the second gives a reward to the victor. In the first, the mother is tested, in the last, she is suckled. In the first, she weeps and sows her seed, in the second, with exultation, she brings back her sheaves. This pertains to the two eras of the Church which the Lord Christ, the peaceful judge, moderates; one which is now, the other which is to come. In this one we are tested, in that one we are crowned.

In the Church of Christ, even honor is scorned for the sake of unity.

But there is no greater proof of love in the Church of Christ than when even the honor which appears to be esteemed among men is despised, so that the members of the little one are not divided and the Christian weakness is not torn by the schism of unity. For the Apostle says that he had shown himself as a mother to the little ones in whom he had done the good work of the Gospel, not by himself but by the grace of God with him. For that harlot could not say anything except sins, but the gift of fecundity was from God. However, the grace of the giver is loved so much more as punishment was due. And the Lord rightly says about the harlot: To whom much is forgiven, much is loved. Therefore, the apostle Paul says: I became a little one in the midst of you, as a nurse cherishes her children. But when it comes to the danger where the little one might be divided, when false imitation claims honor for itself and is ready to tear apart unity, let the mother despise her own honor, while she sees the child whole and alive, lest she persistently claims the honor due to her heart, she gives place to imitation to divide the weak members by the sword of schism. Therefore, let the mother of love say: Give her the child. Whether by occasion or by truth Christ is proclaimed. In Moses, love cries out: Lord, either forgive them, or blot me out of your book. But in the Pharisees, imitation speaks: If we let him go, the Romans will come and take away our nation and place. For they did not want the truth, but wanted to have the name of justice and to hold the honor due to the just through deceit. Nevertheless, imitation reigning in them was allowed to sit on the chair of Moses, so that it could be said by the Lord: Do what they say, but do not do what they do; so having false honor, yet they nurture the weak and little ones with the truth of Scriptures. For imitation has its own crime, by which it extinguished the new man whom it had received through the grace of the giver by the weight of its own lethargy, but the milk of faith it has, is not its own. Because even if the little one is killed, which signifies the reborn life, now set in evil habits, imitation retains in memory, as in breasts, the words of faith and Christian doctrine which is handed over to all who come to the Church. From this milk, even the false mother could infuse the little one, who was suckling the juice of true faith. From this, the true mother is secure, when even by those who pretend, in the Church the little one is nourished with the milk of divine Scriptures of the Catholic faith, when division is prohibited and unity is preserved, and by the final judgment of the judge, which figures the last judgment of Christ, love is proven, which for the sake of the child’s salvation and the foundation of unity even ceded honor to imitation, so that holding the love and embrace of life-giving grace, enjoys the eternal reward of a pious mother.