Sermon 90
SERMO 90
ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, MT 22: 1-14:
WHERE THE ROYAL SON'S WEDDING
AGAINST THE DONATISTS, ON CHARITY
The Lord's banquet is twofold: one here, for the faithful; another in heaven, for the blessed.
The marriage of the king’s son and his banquet are known to all the faithful, and the preparation for the Lord’s table is offered to everyone's will. However, it matters how one approaches, since approaching is not forbidden. Indeed, the holy Scriptures teach us that there are two banquets of the Lord; one where both the good and the bad come, and the other where the bad do not approach. Therefore, the banquet of the Lord, of which we have just now heard when the Gospel was read, certainly includes the good and the bad. All who excused themselves from this banquet are bad: but not all who entered are good. I address you, therefore, who are the good reclining at this banquet, anyone who is attentive to what has been said: "Whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment upon himself." I address all of you who are such, so that you do not seek the good outside, but endure the bad within.
All the just in this life are both evil and good.
I have no doubt that Your Charity wishes to hear who those are, about whom I spoke, so that they do not seek the good outside, but bear the evil within. If all inside are evil, whom did I address? But if all inside are good, whom did I advise to bear the evil? First, therefore, with the Lord's help, let us, as best we can, resolve this question. If you consider the good perfectly and plainly, no one is good except God alone. You have the Lord saying most plainly: Why do you ask me about what is good? No one is good except God alone. So how do those weddings have the good and the bad, if no one is good except God alone? First, you must know, according to a certain manner, that we all are evil. In a certain way, we are all entirely evil; however, in a certain way, not all of us are good. For can we compare ourselves to the Apostles? To whom the Lord himself said: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. If we consider the Scriptures, there was one evil among the twelve Apostles, because of whom the Lord said in one place: And you are clean, but not all. Nevertheless, he addressed them all in common: If you then, being evil. Peter heard this, John heard it, Andrew heard it, and the other eleven Apostles all heard it. What did they hear? You, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him? When they heard that they were evil, they despaired; when they heard that God in heaven was their father, they breathed again. He said: Being evil: what then is owed to the evil, except punishment? How much more so, he said: Your Father, who is in heaven: what is owed to the sons, except reward? In the name of the evil, fear of punishments; in the name of the sons, hope of heirs.
Who are to be understood as evildoers excluded from the banquet?
Therefore, in what sense were the same ones evil who were in some sense good? For to whom it was said, "Though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children; how much more will your Father in heaven?" Therefore, He is the Father of the evil, but not to be abandoned; because He is the physician of those to be healed. Therefore, in a certain sense, they were evil. And yet those guests of the householder at the royal wedding, I think, were not of that number of whom it was said: "they invited both good and evil"; so that in the number of the evil might be counted those whom we heard to have been excluded, specifically the one who was found not having a wedding garment. In what sense, I say, were they evil who were good; in what sense were they good who were evil? Hear John in what sense they were evil: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Behold, in what sense they were evil: because they had sin. In what sense were they good? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Therefore, if we say, according to this interpretation, which you have heard me present from the holy Scriptures, that the same men are both good in some sense and evil in some sense; if we wish to take in this sense what was said: "They invited both good and evil," that is, the same ones being both good and evil; if we wish to take it thus, we are not permitted because of the one who was found not having a wedding garment, and not merely cast out to be deprived of that banquet, but to be condemned to eternal punishment in the darkness.
One excluded signifies many excluded.
But someone says: What about one man? What wonder? What great thing, if one without a wedding garment slipped in among the servants of the father of the family in a crowd? By no means could it be said on account of him: They invited both good and bad. Listen carefully, therefore, and understand, my brothers. That one was a kind of many; indeed there were many. Let the diligent listener answer me here and say: I do not want you to narrate your suspicions to me; I want it to be proven to me that that one was many. The Lord will assist, I will plainly prove, nor will I seek longer to prove it. In His own words God will help me, and what is clear to you will be ministered through me. Behold, the father of the family came in to inspect those reclining. See, my brothers, for it was not pertinent to the servants, except to invite and bring in both good and bad: see that it is not said, The servants considered those reclining and there they found a man not having a wedding garment, and they said to him. This is not written. The father of the family inspected, the father of the family found, the father of the family distinguished, the father of the family separated. This indeed should not be passed over. But we took up to prove something else, how he could be many. The father of the family indeed came to inspect those reclining, and found a man not having a wedding garment: and he said to him; Friend, how did you come in here not having a wedding garment? But he was speechless. For he was asked by one to whom he could feign nothing. That garment indeed was inspected in the heart, not in the flesh: which if it had been put on from above, it would not have been hidden even from the servants. Take heed where the wedding garment is to be put on, where it says: Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. About that garment the Apostle says: If indeed being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Therefore, he was found by the Lord who was hidden from the servants. Being asked he was speechless: he is bound, cast out, condemned—one out of many. Lord, I said, because you admonish all to admonish. Recall with me the words you heard, and you will find that many were that one, now you will judge. Certainly the Lord asked one, said to one: Friend, how did you come in here? One was speechless, and concerning that one it was said: Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why this? For many are called, but few chosen. What could contradict this manifestation of truth? Cast him, he says, into outer darkness. Certainly that one, of whom the Lord says: For many are called, but few chosen. Therefore, a few are not cast out. Certainly, that one who did not have a wedding garment. Cast him out. Why is he cast out? For many are called, but few chosen. Dismiss the few, cast out the many. Certainly, he was one. That one totally, not only many but surpassing the multitude of the good in number. Indeed many and good: but in comparison to the evil few are good. Many good grains were born: compare with the chaff, and there are few grains. The same ones in themselves many, in the comparison of the evil few. How do we prove that in themselves they are many? Many shall come from the east and west. To what will they come? To that banquet, into which both good and bad enter. Speaking of another banquet, He added: And they shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. That is the banquet to which the evil shall not approach. This, which now is, be received worthily, so that one may come to that. Therefore, the same many, who are few: many in themselves, few in comparison to the evil. Therefore, what does the Lord say? He found one, and says: Let many be cast out, let few remain. To say indeed: Many are called, but few chosen, is nothing else than to openly show who in this banquet are considered such as to be brought to another banquet, into which none of the evil shall come.
What is the wedding garment?
What then is it? All who approach the Lord's table, which is here, I do not want to be separated with many, but preserved with few. How will you be able to achieve this? Take the wedding garment. You ask, explain to us the wedding garment. Without a doubt, that garment is what the good have, who are to be preserved for the banquet to which no evil one comes, to be led by the Lord’s grace: they have the wedding garment. Let us then seek, my brothers, among the faithful who have something that the evil do not have, and that will be the wedding garment. If we say the Sacraments, you see how they are common to both the evil and the good. Is it Baptism? Indeed, no one reaches God without Baptism: but not everyone who has Baptism reaches God. Thus I cannot understand Baptism itself to be the wedding garment, that is, the sacrament itself; for I see that garment among the good and among the evil. Perhaps it is the altar, or what is taken from the altar. We see that many eat and drink judgment upon themselves. What then is it? Fasting? The evil also fast. Concurrence to the church? The evil also concur. Finally, are miracles performed? Not only do the good perform them, but also the evil, and sometimes the good do not perform them. Behold, in the old people, the magicians of Pharaoh performed miracles, the Israelites did not: in the Israelites only Moses and Aaron performed them; the rest did not, but they saw, feared, and believed. Are the magicians of Pharaoh who performed miracles better than the people of Israel who could not perform miracles, and yet the people belonged to God? In the same Church, listen to the Apostle: Are all prophets? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?
The wedding garment is charity.
What, then, is that wedding garment? This is the wedding garment: The end of the commandment is, the Apostle says, charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. This is the wedding garment. Not just any charity: for often those who share in an evil conscience appear to love one another. Those who commit crimes together, who do evil deeds together, who love the theater together, who shout together for charioteers and hunters, often love one another; but they do not have charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Such charity is the wedding garment. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am become, he says, as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. They have arrived with nothing but tongues, and it is said to them, Why have you come in here without a wedding garment? If I have, he says, prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. Behold, these are the miracles of men often not having the wedding garment. If, he says, I have all these things, and have not Christ, I am nothing. I am nothing, he says. Is prophecy, then, nothing? is the knowledge of mysteries nothing? Those things are not nothing: but I, if I have those things, and have not charity, I am nothing. How many good things are useless without one good thing? If I have not charity, if I give all my goods to feed the poor, if I give my body to be burned, these things can be done even out of love for glory, they are empty. Since, therefore, they can be done even out of love for glory, empty, not out of the richest charity of piety, he also mentions them, and hear him: If I distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. This is the wedding garment. Examine yourselves; if you have it, you are secure at the Lord’s feast. There are two things in one man, charity and lust. Let charity be born in you, if it is not yet born; and if it is born, let it be nurtured, fed, and grow. But lust, if it cannot be entirely extinguished in this life (for if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us): in as much as we have lust, in so much as we are without sin, let charity grow, let lust diminish; so that someday charity can be perfected, and lust consumed. Clothe yourselves with the wedding garment: I speak to you who do not yet have it. You are already inside, you are already approaching the feast, and still you do not wear the garment in honor of the bridegroom: you still seek your own, not those of Jesus Christ. For the wedding garment is received in honor of the union, that is, of the bridegroom and the bride. You know the bridegroom: he is Christ. You know the bride: she is the Church. Honor the one marrying, honor the one leading. If you honor well those who are marrying, you will be children. Therefore, make progress in this. Love the Lord, and from there learn to love yourselves: so that when, by loving the Lord, you have loved yourselves, you may safely love your neighbors as yourselves. When, indeed, do I find someone who loves himself, so that I may permit him a neighbor to love as himself? And who is it, he says, who does not love himself? See who it is: He who loves iniquity hates his own soul. Does he love himself, who loves his flesh, and hates his soul, to his own harm, to the harm of his soul and his flesh? But who loves his soul? He who loves God with all his heart, and with all his mind. Now to such a person I entrust a neighbor. Love your neighbors, as yourselves.
Neighbor, every man.
Who, he says, is my neighbor? Every man is your neighbor. Did we not all have two parents? Every kind of animal has those close to it: a dove to a dove, a leopard to a leopard, an asp to an asp, cattle to cattle, and is not a man a neighbor to man? Recall the institution of creation. God said, the waters brought forth; swimming creatures, great whales, fish, birds, and things like that were brought forth. Were all birds from one bird? Were all vultures from one vulture? Were all doves from one dove? Were all snakes from one snake? Were all golden fish from one golden fish? Were all sheep from one sheep? Truly, the earth simultaneously brought forth all kinds. It came to man, and the earth did not bring forth man. One father was made for us: not even two, father and mother: I say, one father was made for us, not even two, father and mother: but from one father, one mother; one from none, but made by God, and one from him. Consider our race: we have flowed from one source; and because that one turned into bitterness, we have all become wild olives from the olive tree. Grace has come, too. One generated for sin and for death, yet one race, yet all close to each other; yet not only similar, but also related by blood. One came against one: against the one who scattered, one who gathers. Thus, against the one who kills, one who gives life. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But just as from him everyone who is born, dies: so in Christ everyone who believes, is made alive. But if he has the wedding garment, if he is invited to be saved, he is not to be separated.
What faith should be praised.
Therefore, have charity, my brothers. I have explained to you the wedding garment, I have explained to you the garment. Faith is praised, it is constant, it is praised: but what kind of faith, the Apostle distinguishes. For the apostle James rebukes some who boast of faith and do not have good morals, and says: You believe that there is one God, and you do well. Even the demons believe, and shudder. Whence Peter was praised, whence he was called blessed, recall with me. Because he said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God? He did not consider the sound of the words, but the affection of the heart, who pronounced him blessed. Do you want to know that the blessedness of Peter was not in those words? The demons also said this. We know who you are; you are the Son of God. Peter confessed the Son of God; the demons confessed the Son of God. Distinguish, Lord, distinguish. I clearly distinguish. Peter spoke in love, the demons from fear. Finally, he says: I am with you until death. They say: What have we to do with you? Therefore, you who have come to the banquet, do not boast of faith alone. Distinguish even that faith, and then the wedding garment is recognized in you. Let the Apostle distinguish, let him teach us: Neither circumcision, he says, is of value, nor uncircumcision, but faith. Say which: do not even the demons believe and shudder? I say, he says, listen, I distinguish, I now distinguish: But faith which works through love. Which faith then? what kind of faith? Which works through love. If I have all knowledge, he says, and all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. Have faith with love: for you cannot have love without faith. This I advise, this I exhort, this I teach in the name of the Lord Your Love, that you may have faith with love: because you can have faith without love. For I do not exhort you to have faith, but charity. For you cannot have charity without faith; for I speak of charity towards God and neighbor: how can this exist without faith? How does a fool who says in his heart: There is no God, love God? It is possible that you believe that Christ has come, and not love Christ. But it is not possible that you love Christ, and not say that Christ has come.
Charity must be extended to enemies.
Therefore, have faith with love. This is the wedding garment. Love one another, you who love Christ: love friends, love enemies. Do not let it be hard for you. What then do you lose, when you gain a lot? Why do you ask God for something great, that your enemy may die? This is not the wedding garment. Consider the bridegroom himself hanging on the cross for you, and praying to the Father for his enemies: Father, he says, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You saw the bridegroom saying this, see also the friend of the bridegroom invited with the wedding garment. Consider blessed Stephen, how he reproaches the Jews, as if severe, as if angry: Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill? You heard how the tongue raged. Are you still ready to speak against anyone, and would that you speak against him who offends God, not who offends you. He offends God and you do not rebuke; he offends you, you cry out: where is that wedding garment? You have heard then how Stephen raged: hear how he loved. He offended those whom he rebuked, he was stoned by them. And when he was being pressed and struck on all sides by the hands of the furious and by the blows of the stones, he first said: Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. Then after he prayed standing for himself, for those who were stoning him, he knelt and said: Lord, do not hold this sin against them, I will die in the flesh, not they in their hearts. And having said this, he fell asleep. After these words he added nothing: he spoke, and departed; his last prayer was for his enemies. Learn to have the wedding garment. So you too kneel, and strike your forehead on the ground, and about to approach the table of the Lord, the banquet of the holy Scriptures, do not say, If my enemy dies: Lord, if I have deserved anything from you, kill my enemy. But if you do say this, are you not afraid that he might answer you: If I wanted to kill your enemy, I would kill you first? Or do you boast, because now you have come invited? Consider, a little while before what you were. Did you not blaspheme me? Did you not mock me? Did you not want to erase my name from the earth? But you applaud yourself, because you have come invited. If I had killed you as an enemy, whom would I make a friend? You teach me badly by praying, what I did not do to you? Rather I, God says to you, will teach you to imitate me. Hanging on the cross I said: Forgive them, for they know not what they do. I taught this to my soldier. Be my recruit against the devil. Otherwise, you will not fight victoriously in any way, unless you pray for your enemies. Say plainly, say also this, say that you pursue your enemy: but knowingly say; distinguish what you say. Here is a man your enemy: answer me, what in him is hostile to you; is it that he is a man, hostile to you? No. But what? That he is evil. That he is a man, that I made, is not hostile to you. He says to you: I made the man not evil: he became evil through disobedience, who rather obeyed the devil, than God. What he did, that is hostile to you: from where he is evil, he is your enemy; not from where he is a man. For I hear man, and evil: one name is of nature, the other of guilt: I heal the guilt, and preserve the nature. Thus your God says to you: And behold I avenge you, I kill your enemy; from him I take away what is evil, I preserve what is man: if I make that man good, did I not kill your enemy, and made your friend? Thus pray what you pray, so that men do not perish, but the enmities themselves perish. But if you pray this, that the man die; you pray evil against evil: and when you say, Kill the evil one; he answers you, Which one of you?
Love must be extended so that it draws all to God.
Therefore, extend your love, not just to your spouses and children. This kind of love is also found among animals and birds. You know how these sparrows and swallows love their mates, incubate their eggs together, and nurture their chicks together with a certain natural kindness, expecting no reward. A sparrow does not say, "I will nurture my offspring so that when I am old, they will feed me." It thinks none of this: it loves freely, feeds freely; it exhibits the affection of a parent without requiring recompense. And you, I know, love your children in the same way. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. Herein, many of you excuse your avarice, claiming that you are acquiring and saving for your children. But extend your love, let this love grow: to love children and spouses is not yet the wedding garment. Have faith in God. First, love God. Extend towards God; and whomever you can, bring them to God. If they are an enemy: bring them to God. If they are a son, a wife, a servant: bring them to God. If they are a stranger: bring them to God. If they are an enemy: bring them to God. Bring, bring the enemy: by bringing them, they will not be an enemy. Thus, progress will be made, thus love will be nurtured, so that being nurtured, it may be completed: thus the wedding garment will be put on: thus the image of God, in whose likeness we were created, will be reshaped by progress. For by sinning, it had become worn out, it had become abraded. From what was it worn out? From what was it abraded? When it is rubbed against the earth. What does it mean to be rubbed against the earth? It is worn down by earthly desires. For even though man walks in the image, he is yet disturbed by vanity. Truth is sought in the image of God, not vanity. For by loving the truth, the image to which we were created is reshaped, and the proper coin is paid back to our Caesar. For from the Lord's response, which you heard, the Lord said to the testing Jews: "Why do you test me, hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax," that is, the expression of the image and inscription. Show me what you pay, what you prepare, what is demanded from you; show me. They showed him a denarius: and he asked whose image and inscription it bore. They replied: "Caesar’s." This Caesar also seeks his image. Caesar does not want what he ordered to perish, and God does not want what he made to perish. Caesar, my brothers, did not make the coin: mint workers make it; artisans are commanded, he gave orders to his ministers. The image was expressed in the coin: in the coin is the image of Caesar. And yet what others impressed, he seeks: he treasures it, he does not want it denied to him. The coin of Christ is man. There is the image of Christ, there is the name of Christ, the gift of Christ, and the duties of Christ.