Sermon 100

SERMO 100

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke 9:57-62
WHERE IT IS DEALT WITH THREE, OF WHOM ONE SAID:
"Lord, I will follow you wherever you go," and he was rejected.
Another did not dare, and he was aroused; a third delayed, and he was blamed.

Why is he condemned who professes to follow Christ?

From the chapter of the Gospel, which the Lord has given, listen. For it has been read that the Lord Jesus acted differently when one offered himself to follow Him and was rejected; another did not dare, and was encouraged; a third delayed, and was blamed. For He said: "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go"; what could be so eager, what so quick, what so ready, and what so fit for such a great good, as to follow the Lord wherever He goes? Are you surprised by this, saying: "What is this, that to the good Teacher, of the Lord Jesus Christ inviting disciples to whom He would give the kingdom of heaven, such readiness was displeasing?" But because He was such a Teacher, who foresaw the future, we understand, brothers, that this man, if he followed Christ, would have sought his own, not what is of Jesus Christ. For He Himself said: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven." And this man was of those, nor did he know himself as the physician inspected. For if he had already observed himself to be false, if he already knew himself to be deceitful and treacherous, he did not know to whom he spoke. For he is of whom the evangelist said: "He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man." So what did He answer? "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." But where does He not have? In your faith. For the foxes have holes in your heart, you are deceitful; the birds of the air have nests in your heart, you are arrogant. Deceitful and arrogant, you do not follow Me. How does a deceitful person follow simplicity?

Called by another from Christ.

And to another who was immediately silent and said nothing, who promised nothing, he said: Follow me. As much evil as he saw in that one, he saw as much good in this one. You say: Follow me, to one who is unwilling. Behold, you have a man ready. I will follow you wherever you go: and you say to the unwilling: Follow me? He, says, I avoid; for I see pits there, I see nests. Why then are you troubling this one, whom you are calling and who excuses himself? Behold, you even compel, and he does not come; you exhort, and he does not follow. For what does he say? I will first go to bury my father. The faith of his heart was showing itself to the Lord: but piety was delaying. However, when the Lord Christ prepares men for the Gospel, he wants no excuse to be interposed of this carnal and temporal piety. Indeed, this is what the law of God holds, and the Lord himself reproaches the Jews, for they were destroying the very commandment of God. And the Apostle Paul placed and said in his Epistle: This is the first commandment with a promise. What? Honor your father and your mother. Surely God said it. Therefore, this young man wanted to obey God and bury his father: but there is a place, and time, and matter which serves this matter, this time, this place. The father is to be honored, but God is to be obeyed. The begetter is to be loved, but the Creator is to be preferred. I, he says, call you to the Gospel, to another work you are necessary for me: this is greater than what you wish to do. Let the dead bury their dead. Your father is dead: there are others dead who may bury the dead. Who are the dead burying the dead? Can the dead be buried by the dead? How do they wrap, if they are dead? How do they carry, if they are dead? How do they mourn, if they are dead? And they wrap, and they carry, and they mourn, and they are dead: because they are unbelievers.

Charity must be ordered.

He taught us what is written in the Song of Songs, with the Church saying: "Draw me in love." What is "Draw me in love"? Make steps, and give to each what is due. Do not put the last things before the first. Love your parents, but put God before your parents. Consider the mother of the Maccabees: "Children," she said, "I do not know how you appeared in my womb. I was able to conceive you, I was able to give birth to you; I was not able to form you: therefore, listen to Him, put Him before me; do not pay attention, lest I be left without you." She commanded, and they followed. What the mother taught her children, the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching the one to whom He said: "Follow Me."

The third is reproached for looking back at his own.

The third one looking back at his people is blamed. Election according to grace. For now another disciple placed himself in the midst, to whom no one said anything: I will follow you, Lord, he said, but I go first to announce this to those who are at home. I believe this is the meaning: I will tell my people, lest, as often happens, they ask about me. And the Lord: No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven. The Orient calls you, and you heed the Occident. In this chapter, we learn this because the Lord chose whom he willed. And he chose, as the Apostle says, according to his grace and according to their righteousness. For such are the words of the Apostle: Consider, he says, what Elijah says: Lord, they have killed your Prophets, they have overthrown your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. You think you are the only servant laboring well: there are others fearing me, and not few. For I have seven thousand there. And he added: So also in this time. For some Jews believed, and many were rejected: like the one who bore in mind the dens of foxes. So, then, he says, also in this time, the remnants by grace’s election were saved; that is, the same Christ as then and now, who also then said to Elijah: I left for myself. What does it mean: I left for myself? I chose them because I saw their minds trusting in me, not in themselves, nor in Baal. They have not changed, they are as I made them. And you who speak, if you did not trust in me, where would you be? If you were not filled with my grace, would you not also bend your knee before Baal? But you are filled with my grace; for you presumed nothing of your own virtue, but all from my grace. Therefore, do not boast in this, that you think you have no fellow servants in your service: there are those whom I have chosen, just as I have chosen you, trusting in me: as the Apostle says: And now the remnants by grace’s election were saved.

The elect owe everything to the grace of God.

Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For even if you are an imitator of the saints, always attribute everything to grace: because if any remnant exists, God's grace in you, not your merit, has caused it. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah said about these remnants when he recalled: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, and made like unto Gomorrah. So then, he says, even at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if by grace, he says, then it is no more of works; that is, do not boast of your merit: otherwise grace is no more grace. For if you presume upon your work; a reward is given to you, not grace conferred. But if it is of grace, it is given freely. I ask now: Do you believe, O sinner, in Christ? You say: I believe. What do you believe? That all sins can be forgiven to you freely through him? You have what you believed. O grace freely given! What about you, righteous one, do you believe that without God you cannot preserve justice? Then attribute everything to his mercy, that you are righteous: but attribute to your iniquity the fact that you are a sinner. Be your own accuser, and he will be your pardoner. For every crime, felony, or sin, is due to our negligence: and all virtue and holiness, to God's indulgence. Turned to the Lord.