Sermon 109

SERMO 109

From the words of the Gospel of Luke 12:56-59: "56 Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 57 And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny."
"You know how to discern the face of the sky and earth," and so forth.
AND CONCERNING THESE:
"If you go with your adversary to the prince, make an effort"
"On the way to be freed from it" and so forth

The time of mercy is to be used for repentance.

We have heard the Gospel, and in it the Lord rebuking those who know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but do not know how to discern the time of the faith of the approaching kingdom of heaven. He said this to the Jews, but the message has also reached us. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself began the preaching of His Gospel in this way: Do penance; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Similarly, John the Baptist, His precursor, also began in this way: Do penance; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And now the Lord reproves those who do not wish to do penance, with the kingdom of heaven approaching. The kingdom of heaven, as He Himself said, will not come with observation. And again He said: The kingdom of heaven is within you. Therefore, let each one prudently receive the admonitions of the teacher, so as not to waste the time of the Savior’s mercy, which is now being extended, as long as humanity is spared. It is for this reason that man is spared, so that he may repent, and there may be none who will be condemned. God sees when the end of the world will come: nevertheless now is the time of faith. Whether the end of the world will find any of us here, I do not know, and perhaps it will not find us. Each of our times is near, because we are mortal. We walk amidst dangers. If we were made of glass, we would fear danger less. What is more fragile than a glass vessel? Yet it is preserved and lasts for ages. For though dangers are feared for a glass vessel, old age and fever are not feared for it. Therefore, we are more fragile and weaker: because we dread every danger that does not cease in human affairs due to our frailty daily; and if these dangers do not approach, time marches on: does a man avoid a blow, does he avoid the end? Does he avoid what comes from outside, does he expel what arises within? Indeed, now our insides generate worms, now any disease suddenly seizes us: finally, however much man is spared, when old age comes, there is no way to defer it.

Who is that adversary whom we are commanded to agree with?

Therefore let us listen to the Lord, let us do in ourselves what He has commanded. Let us see who is that adversary, of whom He warned us, saying: "When you go with your adversary to the prince, give diligence on the way to be delivered from him; lest he deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison, from which you shall not go out until you have paid the very last farthing." Who is this adversary? If it is the devil, we have already been freed from him. What price was given for us, that we might be redeemed from him? The Apostle speaks of this redemption of ours, saying: "Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." We have been redeemed, we have renounced the devil: how will we give diligence to be delivered from him, lest he again make us captive sinners? But he is not the adversary about whom the Lord warns us. For in another place another evangelist has expressed it in such a way that if we join both words, and compare the words of the two Gospels, we quickly understand this adversary. Behold, what did he say here? "When you go with your adversary to the prince, give diligence on the way to be delivered from him." However, another evangelist placed it thus: "Be agreeable with your adversary quickly while you are with him on the way." The rest is similar: "Lest the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison." Both evangelists have explained this similarly. One said: "Give diligence on the way to be delivered from him"; the other said: "Be agreeable with him." For you cannot be delivered from him, unless you agree with him. Do you wish to be delivered from him? Agree with him. Is it then the devil, to whom a Christian ought to agree?

Our adversary, the word of God.

Let us therefore seek this adversary, to whom we should consent, so that he will not hand us over to the judge, and the judge to the officer: let us seek him and agree with him. If you sin, your adversary is the word of God. For example, perhaps you enjoy getting drunk: it says to you, Do not. You enjoy watching and idling: it says to you, Do not. You enjoy committing adultery: the word of God says to you, Do not. In whatever sins you wish to do your own will, it says to you, Do not. He is an adversary to your will until he becomes the author of your salvation. Oh, how good an adversary, how useful an adversary! He does not seek our will, but our benefit. He is our adversary as long as we are also enemies to ourselves. As long as you are an enemy to yourself, the word of God is your enemy: be a friend to yourself, and you will agree with it. You shall not commit murder: listen, and you have agreed. You shall not steal: listen, and you have agreed. You shall not commit adultery: listen, and you have agreed. You shall not bear false witness: listen, and you have agreed. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife: listen, and you have agreed. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods: listen, and you have agreed. In all these things you have agreed with this adversary of yours: and what have you lost for yourself? Not only have you lost nothing, but you have also found yourself, who was lost. This way is life: if we agree with it, if we consent to it; when the way is finished, we will not fear the judge, the officer, the prison.

The years depart from man more than they approach.

When does the way end? It does not end at the same hour for everyone. Each one has an hour when he finishes the way. The way, this life is called: you finished this life, you finished the way. We walk; and living itself is advancing. Do you perhaps think that time advances and we stand still? It cannot be so. Just as time advances, we too advance: and the years do not add to us, but rather decrease. People are very mistaken when they say: This child is still less wise, years will add to him, and he will be wise. Pay attention to what you say. You said add: I show that they subtract when you say add. And listen how easily I prove it. Let us think we know his years from when he was born: for example, to wish him well, he is to live eighty years, reaching old age. Write eighty years. He lived one year: how many do you have in total? how many did you have? Eighty. Subtract one. He lived ten: seventy remain. He lived twenty: sixty remain. Surely they were adding: what is this? Our years come to go: they come, I say, to go. For they do not come to stand with us: but as they pass through us, they wear us down, and make us less and less strong. Such is the way in which we have come. What shall we do with that adversary, that is, with the word of God? Make peace with him. For you do not know when the way will end. When the way is finished, the judge remains, and a minister, and prison. But if you keep good will towards your adversary, and agree with him; you will find a father in place of a judge, an angel carrying you to the bosom of Abraham in place of a cruel minister, and paradise in place of prison. How quickly you change everything on the way, because you agreed with your adversary!