Sermon 91
SERMO 91
ABOUT THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL MT 22, 42-46: WHERE THE LORD ASKED
The Jews, of whose son they said Christ to be
It is proven against the Jews that Christ is the Messiah.
Asked of the Jews, as we now heard from the Gospel when it was recited, how our Lord Jesus Christ was the son of David, whom David himself had called his Lord, they could not answer. For this is what they knew of the Lord, what they saw. For the Son of Man appeared to them; but the Son of God was hidden. Hence it is that they believed him to be overcome and mocked him hanging on the wood, saying: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him. They saw one thing, but did not recognize another. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet they knew that Christ was the son of David. For even now they hope for the same one to come. It is hidden from them that he has already come, but it is a willing blindness. For if they did not recognize him hanging, they should have recognized him reigning. For in whose name are all nations called and blessed, if not in the one they think was not Christ? For he himself, the son of David, surely of the seed of David according to the flesh, is the son of Abraham. But if it was said to Abraham: In your seed all nations will be blessed, and they now see all nations blessed in our Christ; what do they expect that has already come, and do they not fear what is to come? For our Lord Jesus Christ himself said he was a stone, using a prophetic testimony applied to himself. But such a stone, that if anyone falls on it, he will be broken; but on whomever that stone falls, it will crush him. For when one falls on him, he lies humble: lying humble, he breaks the one who falls upon him, coming exalted, he crushes the proud. Thus already the Jews have been broken by that stumbling; it remains that by his glorious advent they may also be crushed, unless perhaps recognizing while they live, so that they do not die. For God is patient, and he daily invites them to faith.
Jesus Christ, the Son and likewise Lord of David.
But when the Jews could not respond to the Lord who proposed a question and said, "Whose son do you say the Christ is?" and they answered, "The Son of David;" He added and posed, "How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying: 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet?' If then David, in the spirit, calls Him Lord, how is He his son?" He did not say, "He is not his son," but, "How is he his son?" When He says "how," it is the word of one asking, not denying: as if He were saying to them, "You rightly say that Christ is the son of David, but David himself calls Him Lord; whom he calls Lord, how is He his son?" The Jews would say, if they were instructed in the Christian faith which we hold; if they did not close their hearts against the Gospel, if they wanted to have spiritual life within them, they would respond, instructed by ecclesiastical faith, to this question and say, "Because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; behold how He is the Lord of David. But because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; behold how He is the son of David." But, not knowing, they remained silent, nor at least with closed mouths did they open their ears, so that what they could not answer when questioned, they might know when taught.
The mystery of the Incarnate Word.
But because it is a great thing to know the mystery, how he is the Lord of David and the son of David: how he is one person man and God: how in the form of a man he is less than the Father, in the form of God he is equal to the Father: how again he says, and: The Father is greater than I; and: I and the Father are one: because it is a great sacrament, in order for it to be understood, morals must be formed. For to the unworthy it is closed, to the deserving it is opened. Neither stones, nor bars, nor fists, nor heels are what we use to knock at the Lord's [door]. Life knocks, life is opened. It is sought with the heart, it is asked with the heart, it is knocked with the heart, it is opened to the heart. However, the heart that rightly asks, knocks and seeks rightly, must be pious. Firstly, to love God freely; for this is piety: nor to place outside Him any reward, which one may expect from Him. For nothing is better than Him. And what dear thing does he ask from God, to whom God Himself is vile? He gives earth, and you rejoice, lover of the earth, and made into earth. If you rejoice when he gives the earth; how much more should you rejoice, when he gives himself to you, who made heaven and earth? Therefore, God must be loved freely. For the devil, not knowing what was happening inwardly in the holy Job, brought a great accusation against him, saying: Does Job worship God for nothing?
The devil is a slanderous adversary.
Therefore, if the adversary has raised this objection, we must fear lest this is brought against us. For we are dealing with a great slanderer. If he seeks to fabricate what does not exist, how much more to charge what does exist? Yet let us rejoice, because we have such a judge, who cannot be deceived by our accuser. For if we had a human judge, the enemy would fabricate whatever he wanted against him. No one is more cunning than the devil in fabricating. For even now he invents all kinds of false accusations against the saints. Since his accusations cannot prevail with God, he spreads them among humans. And what advantage does this bring to him, when the Apostle says: "This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience"? Do you think, however, that he fabricates no false accusations with cunning? He knows what harm he causes with them, unless the vigilance of faith opposes him. Therefore, he also spreads evil about good people, so that the weak do not believe there are any good people and give themselves up to be carried away by lusts and scattered, saying to themselves: "For who keeps the commandment of God? Or who keeps chastity?" While he thinks no one does, he becomes no one. This, then, the devil does. But Job was such a man, against whom nothing could be fabricated: for his life was well-known and very clear. But because he had many riches, he accused him of this, which, even if it were, could be in the heart and not apparent in his actions. He worshiped God and gave alms; and with what heart he did this, no one knew, not even the devil: but God knew. God bears testimony to his servant: the devil slanders the servant of God. Job is permitted to be tempted, he is tested, and the devil is confounded. Job is found to worship God freely, to love freely: not because he gave something, but because he did not withhold himself. For he says: "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord." The fire of temptation approached; but it found gold, not stubble: it removed impurities, it did not turn him to ashes.
After the question about Christ, why are we dealing with morals?
Therefore, because in order to understand the sacrament of God, how Christ is both man and God, the heart must be purified; it is purified by morals, life, chastity, holiness, love, and faith which works through love (what I speak of is like a tree, which has its root in the heart: for deeds do not proceed except from the root of the heart; where if you plant desire, thorns proceed; if you plant charity, fruits proceed): immediately after proposing this question to the Jews, they being unable to respond, the Lord added a discourse on morals, to show why they were unworthy of understanding what He asked. The miserable proud ones, since they could not answer, should have said: We do not know; Master, tell us. They remained silent at the proposition, and did not open their mouth to inquire. And immediately the Lord spoke of their pride: "Beware," He said, "of the scribes, who love to sit in the synagogues, and love the first places at banquets." Not because they receive, but because they love. For here He accused their heart, but the accuser of the heart could not be, unless He is the inspector of the heart. It is necessary that honor should be given to a servant of God holding some post in the Church: because if it is not given, it is bad for the one who does not give it: yet it is not good for the one to whom it is given. Therefore it is necessary that the rulers of the people in the Christian congregation should sit more eminently, so that they may be distinguished by their seat, and their office may be clearly seen: yet not that they should be puffed up by the seat; but that they should consider the burden from which they will have to render an account. But who knows whether they love this or not? This matter is of the heart, and can have no judge except God. But the Lord Himself was warning His own, lest they fall into such leaven: which He says in another place: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." And when they thought He said this because they had brought no bread; He answered them: "Do you not remember how many thousands were fed with five loaves?" Then they understood, He says, that by leaven He meant their teaching. For they loved these temporal things: but they neither feared eternal evils, nor loved eternal goods. With a closed heart they could not understand what the Lord asked.
Whence the mind becomes capable of understanding mysteries.
What then does the Church of God do so that it can understand what it first deserved to believe? It makes the mind capable of receiving what will be given. For this to happen, that is, for the mind to be capable, our Lord God has delayed the promises, not taken them away. He has delayed them, therefore, so that we may stretch ourselves: we stretch ourselves so that we may grow: we grow so that we may reach. See the apostle Paul stretched towards what is delayed. Not that I have already received it or am already perfect. Brothers, I do not consider myself to have apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He was running on earth: the prize was hanging from heaven. Therefore, he was running on earth: but in the Spirit, he was ascending. See then how he is stretched, see him hanging towards what is delayed. I press on, he says, toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
No one ascends into heaven except him who clings to Christ.
Therefore, it is necessary to walk, and there is no need to rub feet with oil, nor to seek beasts of burden, nor to provide a ship. Run with affection, walk with love, ascend with charity. Why do you seek the way? Cling to Christ, who by descending and ascending made Himself the way. Do you want to ascend? Hold on to the One ascending. Indeed, you cannot be lifted up by yourself. For no one ascends into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. If no one ascends except He who descended, and He Himself is the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus; do you also want to ascend? Be a member of Him who alone ascended. For indeed, He is one man with the other members, the head. And since no one can ascend unless he becomes a member of His body; it is fulfilled, because no one ascends except He who descended. For you cannot say: Behold, for example, Peter ascended, why did Paul ascend, why did the Apostles ascend, if no one ascends except He who descended? You are answered: Peter, Paul, and the other Apostles, and all the faithful, what do they hear from the Apostle? You are the body of Christ, and members in part. Therefore, if they are the body of Christ and members of one, do not make two. For He left the Father and Mother and clung to His wife, so that they would be two in one flesh. He left the Father because He did not show Himself equal to the Father here: but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. He also left the Mother, the Synagogue, from which He was born carnally. He clung to His wife, that is, His Church. When He also recalled that testimony and showed that marriage could not be separated: Have you not read, He said, that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female? They shall be two in one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. And what is: Two in one flesh? It follows and says: Therefore, they are no longer two, but one flesh. No one ascends except He who descended.
Christ and the Church are one person.
For you to know, since the bridegroom and the bride are one man, according to the flesh of Christ, not according to divinity: for according to divinity, we cannot be what he is; because he is the creator, we the creature; he the maker, we made; he the founder, we founded: but so that we might be one with him in him, he willed to be our head, taking flesh from us, in which he would die for us. Therefore, for you to know that this whole is one Christ, he said through Isaiah: He bound a turban on me as a bridegroom and adorned me like a bride. The bridegroom himself, the bride herself. Clearly, he is the bridegroom in the head, the bride in the body. For, he says, the two will be one flesh: and no longer two, but one flesh.
By faith and good works, we attain the vision of God.
Therefore, as we pertain to His members, to understand this sacrament, as I said, brothers, let us live piously, let us love God freely. He who showed the form of a servant to the pilgrims, preserves the form of God for those arriving. From the form of a servant, He paved the way; from the form of God, He established the homeland. Since it is much for us to grasp this, but it is not much to believe this: For unless you believe, says Isaiah, you will not understand: let us walk by faith as long as we are away from the Lord, until we arrive at the sight, where we will see face to face. Walking by faith, let us do good works. In good works, let the love of God be free, let the love of neighbor be beneficial. For we do not have anything to offer to God: but because we have something to offer to our neighbor, by offering to the needy, we will gain abundantly. Hence, let each one offer what he has to another: whatever he has more of, let him give to the needy. One person has money: let him feed the poor, clothe the naked, build the church, do as much good as he can with money. Another has counsel: let him guide his neighbor, dispel the darkness of doubt with the light of piety. Another has learning: let him distribute from the Lord’s storehouse, provide food to fellow servants, strengthen the faithful, bring back the erring, seek the lost, do as much as he can. Even the poor have something to distribute: one may lend his feet to the lame, another may lend his eyes to guide the blind; one may visit the sick, another may bury the dead. These are present in everyone, so that it is difficult to find anyone who does not have something to offer to another. And the ultimate and great thing that the Apostle says: Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.