返回Sermon 14A

Sermon 14A

SERMON 14/A

"The end is either of consumption or of completion."

Brothers, let us pay attention to what we have sung. From where the psalm is spoken, from there the psalm is presented. With the help of the Lord, let us speak something from what is written and what is fresh in voices and ears: Your discipline has directed me to the end, and Your discipline itself will teach me. For we seek to where we are directed, and what discipline it is that directs us, and what kind of doctrine this is. We want to be directed, and perhaps we inquire where we are directed. We have heard: to the end. However, when the end is spoken of, it is either of consumption or of perfection. Consumption causes to not be, perfection causes to be perfect. Food is ended by consuming, clothing is ended by weaving. Food is ended by consuming, so that it is not; clothing is ended by weaving, so that it is perfect. Therefore, without a doubt, we seek to be directed to such an end where we are perfected, not where we are consumed.

The end of the law is Christ.

Who then is this end, and what is the teaching? The end is Christ, the teaching is the law. Listen to the apostle: The end of the law is Christ, for righteousness to everyone who believes. This is therefore - to say it more plainly now and explain what we sang - this is your teaching directed me to the end, which is your law directed me to the end, your law directed me to Christ. The Jews have the law, but it did not direct them to the end. Indeed, they came to the end because they saw Christ, but by stumbling on the final stone, they transgressed, by stumbling on Christ they fell and fell outside the end. For they rejected him whom they ought to have come to. Hence that very end was made a stone of stumbling for non-believers, a cornerstone for believers. To you, [says] the apostle Peter, who believed, the stone rejected by the builders has become the head of the corner, but for non-believers a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Faith of demons and faith of Christians.

We know what the end is; we have already spoken last Sunday about what it means to be directed toward the end. For to be directed toward the end is to come to Christ, that is, to believe in Christ. Must the same things repeatedly be said? You need to be reminded, not burdened. Although saying the same things to you is indeed not tiresome for us, it is safe for you. We have discussed this for the sake of those who think it is enough to believe and love to live wickedly, thinking that by believing they will be saved and by living wickedly they will not perish. Therefore, we have discussed that there must be a difference between the faith of Christians and the faith of demons, because they also believe - they said to Christ: "We know who you are." They believed Christ, but they did not believe in Christ. So, how then is one who believes Christ distinguished from one who believes in Christ? Because everyone who believes in Christ without a doubt immediately believes Christ, but not everyone who believes Christ immediately believes in Christ. The Son of God summed up all the work of God in this, by saying: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." For what end, if not Himself? Do not seek an end beyond Him, lest by seeking an end beyond Him you become consumed, not perfected. For what is the end if not that to which we want to come, to stand and seek nothing further? For if you arrive but still seek, you have not yet reached the end. Therefore, to reach the end is to arrive at the point where you say, "It is enough."

"God is the end."

When Philip thought that the Father alone was God and said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us," the Lord showed him that the end is God, but God is a Trinity. Therefore, when you say, "The end is Christ," you do not separate God the Father from it, nor when you say, "The end is God the Father," do you separate Christ from it. He who wanted to separate, thinking that Christ alone was what he knew by sight, said joyfully: "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us." What does "It is enough for us" mean? There is the end of desire: we will seek nothing further; there will be our satisfaction, there we shall say, "It is enough, I want nothing more." Why is this? Because we know you already, show us the Father. For when we see you and do not see Him, it is not enough for us. We rejoice because we see you, but show Him to us, and it is enough for us: we will seek nothing more. And the Lord to him, because He Himself is the end, because He Himself satisfies, to take away from him what he thought - for he thought he did not see the Son of God when he saw the form of a servant - said to Philip: "So long a time I have been with you, and you have not known me? When you seek the end and do not see what you see - therefore indeed you seek the end, because you do not see that the end stands before you -, Do you not believe, He said, that I am in the Father and the Father in me?"

He who believes in the Son has eternal life.

To this we are also encouraged by the reading that follows, which was read today from the Gospel: This is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. You were seeking an end: do you seek more than eternal life? This is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. What do we say, my brothers? For this vision, what eyes do we seek? For see another definition demonstrated today, similar indeed to the previous one, of which we have already spoken: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. And what does He say here? This is the will of the Father, as if to say: This is the work of God. For he who does the work of God does the will of God. This is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. He said two things. [Everyone who sees] This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. But here He added: who sees and believes. The Jews saw, but did not believe; they had one, the other was lacking. How could they reach eternal life without the other? If therefore those who saw did not reach because they did not believe, we who believe but have not seen - if those two things merit eternal life: to see and to believe, and those who lack one do not reach the reward of eternal life -, what shall we do? One thing was lacking to the Jews, another to us. They had seeing, but lacked believing. We have believing, but lack seeing. For according to this that belief is present and seeing is absent, we were blessed in prophecy by the Lord Himself, for when Thomas, one of the twelve, touched the scars by feeling them...