Sermon 112

SERMO 112

Dressed in a Restored Basilica
On Those Invited to the Dinner

The Jews were invited to the supper, not led and compelled.

Holy readings were proposed, both those which we hear and about which we may speak something, with the Lord’s help. In the apostolic reading, thanks are given to God for the faith of the nations, surely because He Himself made it happen. In the psalm, we said: God of hosts, convert us, and show Your face, and we shall be saved. In the Gospel, we are called to the banquet. Indeed, others were called, we were not called but led; not only led but also compelled. For thus we have heard, because a certain Man made a great banquet. Who is this man, if not the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus? He sent that the invited might come; for now the hour had come that they might come. Who are the invited, if not those called by the preceding Prophets? How long it has been that the Prophets were sent and invited to the banquet of Christ! But they were sent to the people of Israel. Often they were sent, often they called that the hour of the banquet might come. But those invited received the invitation and rejected the banquet. What does it mean: They received the invitation and rejected the banquet? They read the Prophets, and killed Christ. But when they killed Christ, then unaware they prepared the banquet for us. The banquet being now prepared, Christ having been sacrificed, after the resurrection of Christ, as it is known to the faithful, the banquet of the Lord was confirmed by His hands and mouth, the Apostles were sent, to whom the Prophets had been sent before. Come to the banquet - for thus it had been ordained that Christ would be sacrificed - the Apostles said: Come to the banquet.

Three excuses for not wanting to come to the dinner.

They excused themselves, those who did not want to come. How did they excuse themselves, brothers? There were three excuses. One said: I have bought a farm, I am going to see it: consider me excused. Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, I want to try them: consider me excused. A third said: I have married a wife: consider me excused, I cannot come. Do we think these are not the excuses that hinder all people who refuse to come to that dinner? Let us seek them out, examine them, find them: but so that we may beware of them. In the purchased farm, dominion is noted. Therefore pride is reprimanded. For to have a farm, to hold, to possess it, to have men under oneself in it, to dominate, is delightful. A bad vice, the first vice; for the first man wanted to dominate, who did not want to have the Lord. What does "to dominate" mean, if not to rejoice in one's own power? There is a greater power: let us submit to it, so that we may be able to be safe. I have bought a farm: consider me excused. Invited pride did not want to come.

Five yokes of oxen: the curiosity of the five senses.

Another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen. Would it not suffice to say, "I have bought oxen"? There is something, without doubt, that beckons us to inquire and understand due to its obscurity and, since it is closed, encourages us to knock. "Five yoke of oxen"; the senses of this flesh. The five senses of this flesh are numbered, as is known to all; and those who perhaps have not noticed will undoubtedly recognize when informed. Truly, the five senses of this flesh are found; vision in the eyes, hearing in the ears, smell in the nostrils, taste in the mouth, touch in all the limbs. White and black and colored in any way, bright and dark, we perceive by seeing; hoarse and melodious, we perceive by hearing; sweet-smelling and foul-smelling, we perceive by smelling; sweet and bitter, we perceive by tasting; hard and soft, smooth and rough, hot and cold, heavy and light, we perceive by touching. There are five of them, and they are yokes. But because they are yokes, it is easily apparent in the first three senses; there are two eyes, two ears, twin nostrils: behold the three yokes. In the mouth, that is, the sense of taste, a certain duplicity is found; because nothing tastes by eating unless it is touched by the tongue and palate. The pleasure of the flesh, which pertains to touch, is more secretly doubled; it is external and internal: therefore, it too is twin. Why are yokes of oxen said? Because through these senses of the flesh, earthly things are sought; oxen turn the earth. But there are men distant from faith, devoted to earthly things, occupied with carnal matters; they do not wish to believe anything, except what they perceive with these fivefold senses of the body. In their senses, they set the rules of all truth for themselves. He says, I do not believe unless I see; behold what I know, behold what I understand. It is white, it is black, it is round, it is square, it is colored thus or so; I know, I understand, I hold; nature itself teaches me. I am not compelled to believe what cannot be shown to me. It is a sound: I feel it is a sound; it sings well, sings poorly, is pleasant, is hoarse; I know, I understand, it reaches me. It smells good, it smells bad: I feel it, I know it. This is sweet, this is bitter; this is salty, this is tasteless; what more are you to tell me, I do not know. By touching, I know what is hard, what is soft, what is smooth, what is rough, what is hot, what is cold; what more are you to show me?

Obstacle of faith.

Such an impediment held our apostle Thomas, who did not wish to believe in the Lord Christ, that is, in the resurrection of Christ, with only his eyes. Unless, he said, I place my fingers in the marks of the nails and the places of the wounds, in his side, I will not believe. And the Lord, who could rise again without any trace of a wound, preserved the scars, which could be touched by the doubter, and the wounds of the heart could be healed. Nevertheless, when calling to the supper, against the excuses of the five yoke of oxen: Blessed, he said, are those who do not see and believe. We, my brothers, called to the supper, are not impeded by these five yokes. For we have not longed to see the face of the Lord's flesh at this time, nor have we desired to admit into our ears the voice proceeding from the mouth of his flesh; we have sought no temporal fragrance in him; some woman poured over him very costly ointment, the house was filled with the fragrance; but we were not there; behold, we did not smell it, and we believed. He gave the supper consecrated by his hands to the disciples; but we did not recline at that meal, and yet we daily eat that same supper in faith. Nor should you think it a great thing to have been present at that supper, which he gave with his own hands, without faith. Faith after was better than at that time unfaithfulness. Paul, who believed, was not there; Judas, who betrayed, was there. How many even now at the very supper, though they have not seen that table then, nor have they seen with their eyes or tasted with their throats what the Lord carried in his hands, yet because it is the same that is now prepared, how many even now eat and drink judgment upon themselves at the very supper!

How one must approach the table of the Eucharist.

Where then did the occasion arise for the Lord to speak about this supper? One of those reclining at the table said—for He was at a banquet to which He had been invited: "Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God." As if yearning for something far away, and the bread itself was reclining before him. For who is the bread from the kingdom of God, except He who says: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven"? Prepare not your throats but your heart. Hence this supper is commended: behold we have believed in Christ, with faith we receive. In receiving, we know what to think. We take a little and are satiated in the heart. Therefore, it is not what is seen but what is believed that nourishes. Hence also not that utmost sense—we searched, we did not say: If those who saw the Lord Himself risen—if what is said is true—saw with their eyes, touched with their hands; we did not touch: why do we believe? If we thought such things, we would be hindered from the supper by those five yoke of oxen. And to let you know, brethren, it was not the delight of those five senses that charms and brings pleasure, but a certain curiosity that had to be noted. He did not say: "I have bought five yoke of oxen, I am going to feed them," but: "I am going to test them." He who wants to test them does not want to doubt through the yoke of oxen, just as Saint Thomas did not want to doubt through those very yokes. Let me see, let me touch, let me put my fingers in. Behold, He says, put your fingers into my side, and be not faithless. I was slain for you: through the place you wish to touch, I shed my blood to redeem you; and do you still doubt me, unless you touch me? Behold, I offer even this, behold, I exhibit this: touch and believe. Find the place of the wound: heal the wound of doubt.

Wife, pleasure of the flesh.

The third said: I have taken a wife. That is the pleasure of the flesh; how many it hinders! If only it were outside and not inside. There are people who say: It is not well for a man unless he has carnal delights. They are the ones whom the Apostle notes, saying: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Such things the arrogant rich man said at his feast: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Who rose from here and there? Who told us what happens there? We take with us what is good for us in this time. He who says this has taken a wife: he embraces the flesh, rejoices in the pleasures of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let him beware, lest he die of inner hunger. Consider John, the holy apostle, the evangelist: Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. O you who come to the Lord’s supper: do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. He did not say: Do not have them, but: Do not love them. You have had, possessed, loved: you have clung. The love of earthly things is birdlime to spiritual wings. Behold you have desired: you have clung. Who will give you wings like a dove? When will you fly to where you may truly rest, when here, where you have clung badly, you want to rest perversely? Do not love the world; it is a divine trumpet. The exhortation of this trumpet is to the whole world. It is said to the entire world: Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. Whoever loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He began from the bottom: where the Gospel ended, from there he began; and from where the Gospel began, there he placed his end. Lust of the flesh: I have taken a wife. Lust of the eyes: I have bought five yoke of oxen. Pride of life: I have bought a field.

The preeminence of the eyes among the five senses.

Therefore, those senses are particularly commended to us through the eyes because the eyes hold the primacy among the five senses. Consequently, although sight is specifically related to the eyes, we often use the term "to see" for all five senses. How? Firstly, concerning the eyes themselves, you say: See how white it is, pay attention and see how white it is; this pertains to the eyes. Hear and see how melodious it is; but can you say in reverse: Hear and see how white it is? The term "see" extends to the functions of all senses, while the specific properties of the other senses do not extend to themselves. Pay attention and see how white it is; hear and see how melodious it is; smell and see how pleasant it is; taste and see how sweet it is; touch and see how soft it is. Undoubtedly, considering there are five senses, it would be more proper to say: Hear and sense how melodious it is, or: Smell and sense how pleasant it is; taste and sense how sweet it is; touch and sense how warm it is; feel and sense how smooth it is; feel and sense how soft it is. None of these expressions are commonly used. Even the Lord Himself, when He appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, and they, seeing Him, were still uncertain in faith, thinking they saw a spirit, said: Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet. And it was not enough to just "see": He said, Touch and handle and see. Pay attention and see: handle and see. With the eyes alone, see; with all the senses, see. Because He was seeking the inner sense of faith, He also made use of the external senses. We perceived nothing from these external senses from the Lord; we heard through hearing, and we believed with the heart; and this hearing did not come from His mouth, but from the mouths of His preachers, those who were already dining and invited us through their proclamation.

Let no one hesitate to come to the dinner.

Let us therefore remove vain and evil excuses from our midst: let us come to the supper, where we may be inwardly filled. Let not the exaltation of pride hinder us, nor let illicit curiosity raise us up or distract us from God; let not the pleasure of the flesh impede us from the will of the heart. Let us come, and be filled. And who came, if not the beggars, the lame, the blind? But the rich, the healthy, who seemingly walk well and see keenly, that is, those who presume much of themselves, did not come and are therefore more desperate the more they are proud. Let the beggars come: because He who invites became poor for our sake, though He was rich, so that by His poverty we might be enriched. Let the weak come: because the physician is not needed by the healthy, but by the sick. Let the lame come, who say to Him: Direct my steps according to Your word. Let the blind come, who say to Him: Illuminate my eyes, lest I sleep unto death. Such came at the hour, as those previously invited were rejected by their own excuse. They came at the hour, they entered from the streets and lanes of the city. And the servant who was sent replied: Lord, what you commanded has been done, and yet there is room. Go out, He said, into the highways and hedges; and compel those you find to come in. Those you find, do not wait for them to deem themselves worthy: compel them to come in. I have prepared a great supper, a great house; I will not allow any place to be vacant. They came from the streets and lanes, let the gentiles come from the highways and the hedges - the heretics and schismatics. Compel them to come in. Here they find peace, for those who build hedges seek divisions. Draw them from the hedges, detach them from the thorns. They are caught in hedges, and do not want to be compelled: Let us enter by our own will, they say. The Lord did not command this: Compel them, He said, to come in. Necessity is found outside, inwardly will is born.

[Explicit discourse concerning those who are called to the feast].