Sermon 129

SERMO 129

OF THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (5:39-47):
"Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life."
AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Exposition of the Gospel reading.

Let your Charity attend to the gospel reading, which has recently sounded in our ears, while we speak a few things which the Lord grants. The Lord Jesus was speaking to the Jews, and was saying to them: "Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life; they bear witness about me." Then after a little while: "I," he says, "have come in my Father's name, and you did not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him." Then after a little while: "How can you believe, who accept glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" At the end he says: "It is not I who accuse you before the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you hope. For if you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me as well; for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his words, how can you believe mine?" To these things set before us by divine providence, from the mouth of the reader, but through the ministry of the Savior, hear a few things, not to be counted, but to be weighed.

The words of Christ to the disciples also pertain to us.

For all these things are easy to understand concerning the Jews. But we must take care not to remove our eyes from ourselves while attending too much to them. For the Lord was speaking to his disciples; and surely what He spoke to them, He spoke also to us, their descendants. For it does not pertain solely to them when He said, "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age," but to all Christians who are to come afterward, even to the end of the age. So, while speaking to them, He said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees." Then they thought that the Lord said this because they had not brought any bread; they did not understand that "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees" was said to mean "Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees." What was the doctrine of the Pharisees, if not what you have just heard? Seeking glory from one another, expecting glory from one another, and not seeking the glory which is from God alone. Concerning these, the apostle Paul says thus: "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." He says, "They have a zeal for God; I know, I understand, I was among them, I was like them. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." What is this, Apostle, not according to knowledge? Explain to us what knowledge you commend, what you grieve is lacking in them, and what you desire to be in us. Following this, he added and revealed what he had closed off. What is "They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge"? For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. Therefore, to be ignorant of the righteousness of God and to seek to establish one's own is to expect glory from one another and not to seek the glory which is from God alone; this is the leaven of the Pharisees. The Lord commands us to beware of this. If He commands His servants, and the Lord commands it, let us beware; lest we hear, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"

The unbelief of the Jews.

Let us therefore leave aside for a while the Jews, to whom the Lord was then speaking. They are outside, they do not wish to listen to us. They hate the Gospel itself, they procured false testimonies against the Lord to condemn the living one; they bought other testimonies with money against the dead one. When we say to them: Believe in Jesus, they reply to us: Shall we believe in a dead man? But when we add: But he has risen, they respond: Far be it; his disciples stole him from the sepulcher. The Jews, buyers of falsehood, love falsehood and scorn the truth of the Lord Redeemer. What you say, Jew, your parents bought with money; and that has remained in you, which they bought. Attend rather to him who bought you, not to him who bought a lie for you.

The words of Christ against the Jews apply to the Donatists in the Church.

But let us leave those, as we said, let us attend to these brothers of ours with whom we are engaged. For Christ is both the head and the body. The head is in heaven, the body is on earth; the head is the Lord, the body is his Church. But you remember the saying: They shall be two in one flesh. This is a great mystery, says the Apostle, but I speak in Christ and in the Church. If therefore they are two in one flesh, they are two in one voice. Our head, the Lord Christ, spoke to the Jews the things we have heard, when the Gospel was read, the head to its enemies; let also the body, that is, the Church, speak to its enemies. You know to whom it speaks. What does it have to say? I did not speak of my own, so that there may be one voice; because one flesh, one voice. Therefore let us say this to them: I speak with the voice of the Church. O brothers, dispersed children, wandering sheep, cut-off branches, why do you calumniate me? Why do you not recognize me? Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life; these bear witness about me; Our head says to the Jews, what the body says to you: You will seek me, and you will not find me. Why? Because you do not search the Scriptures, which bear witness about me.

Testimonies of the Old Testament concerning Christ and the Church.

Testimony for the head: The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say: And to seeds, as of many; but as of one: And to your seed, which is Christ. Testimony for the body to Abraham, which the Apostle mentioned. The promises were spoken to Abraham. As I live, says the Lord; by myself I swear, because you listened to my voice, and did not spare your beloved son because of me, unless blessing I will bless you, and filling I will fill your seed like the stars of the sky, and like the sand of the sea; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. You have testimony for the head, you have for the body. Listen to another brief one, and almost encompassing one sentence for the head and for the body. About the resurrection of Christ the Psalm was speaking: Be exalted above the heavens, O God. Immediately for the body: And your glory above all the earth. Listen to the testimony for the head: They have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones; they themselves looked and gazed upon me, they divided my garments among them, and cast lots for my vesture. Listen immediately for the body, after a few words: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations will worship in his presence; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules over the nations. Listen for the head: And he himself as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. And in that same Psalm listen for the body: Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

N. T. testimony for Christ and the Church.

These words are for the Jews, and for those of ours. Why? Because both the Jews and our own accept the Scriptures of the Old Testament. But Christ Himself, whom they do not accept, let us see if those of ours accept Him. Let Him speak, let Him speak both for Himself, who is the head, and for His body, which is the Church, because the head speaks for the body, which is in us. Hear Him for the head: He rose from the dead, found the disciples hesitant, doubting, not believing out of joy; He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said to them: Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. You have Him for the head; let Him also speak for the body: That repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Therefore, let the Church speak to its enemies, let it speak. It speaks plainly, it is not silent: but let them listen. Brothers, you have heard the testimonies, now recognize me. Search the Scriptures, in which you hope to have eternal life; these testify about me. What I have said is not from me, but from my Lord, and yet you still turn away, you still evade. How can you believe me, seeking glory from one another, and not seeking the glory that comes from the only God? Because, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, you have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wanting to establish your own, you have not submitted to the righteousness of God. What does it mean to be ignorant of the righteousness of God and to want to establish your own, if not to say: I sanctify, I justify; what I give is holy? Leave to God what belongs to God: recognize, O man, what belongs to man. You are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and you want to establish your own. You want to justify me; it is enough for you to be justified with me.

The Donatists imitate the crime of the Antichrist.

It has been said about the Antichrist, and everyone understands thus what the Lord said: I have come in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. But let us also hear John: You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many antichrists have arisen. But why do we fear the Antichrist, except because he is going to honor his own name and despise the name of the Lord? What else does someone who says: I justify, do? He is answered: I came to Christ, not with feet but with heart; where I heard the Gospel, there I believed, there I was baptized; because I believed in Christ, I believed in God. And he (the antichrist) says: You are not clean. Why? Because I was not there. Say why I am not cleansed, man who was baptized in Jerusalem, man who was baptized, for instance, among the Ephesians, to whom you read the given Epistle, and whose peace you despise? Behold, the Apostle wrote to the Ephesians: the Church was founded, it endures until now; it endures more abundantly, it endures more multiple, it holds what it received from the Apostle: If anyone announces to you other than what you have received, let him be accursed. So what then? What do you say to me? I am not clean? Baptized there, I am not clean? Indeed you are not. Why? Because I was not there. But he who is everywhere was there. He who is everywhere was there, in whose name I believed. You came from I know not where, or rather you did not come, but you want me to come to you, here placed you say to me: You are not rightly baptized, because I was not there. See who was there. What was said to John? Upon whom you see the Spirit descending like a dove, this is he who baptizes. You have him seeking you; rather, because you envied me having been baptized by him, you lost him.

What is the doctrine of the Catholics, what is the doctrine of the Donatists.

Therefore, understand, my brothers, our voice and theirs, and see what you choose. We say this: Let us be holy — God knows; let us be wicked, and He knows even more; do not place your hope in us, no matter what we are. If we are good, do what is written: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." But if we are bad, even then you are not deserted, nor left without counsel; listen to the one who says: "Do what they say, but do not do what they do." However, they say: "Unless we are good, you will perish." Behold, another comes in his own name. Therefore, does my life depend on you, and is my salvation bound to you? Have I indeed forgotten my foundation? Was not Christ the rock? Was not the one who builds upon the rock not cast down by the wind, rain, or floods? Therefore, come with me if you will, upon the rock, and do not desire to be as a rock for me.

The Donatists believe neither in Moses nor in the rising Christ. The Donatists are injurious to Christ.

So let the Church also say the most recent statement: If you believed Moses, you would believe me as well; for he wrote about me; because I am his body, about whom he wrote. And Moses wrote about the Church. For I said the words of Moses: In your seed all nations will be blessed. Moses wrote this in the first book. If you believed Moses, you would believe Christ also. Because you disdain the words of Moses, it is necessary that you disdain the words of Christ. There they have, he says, Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. No, father Abraham; but if someone comes from the dead, they will listen to him. And he said: If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe if someone rises from the dead. This was said about the Jews; was it not also said about the heretics?

He had risen from the dead who said: It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day. I believe this. I believe, he said. Do you believe? Why do you not believe what follows? Because you believe: It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day; this was said of the head; believe also what follows about the Church: That repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations. Why do you believe about the head, and do not believe about the body? What has the Church done to you, that you would wish in some way to behead it? You wish to take away the head of the Church, and believe in the head, leaving the body, as if the body were lifeless. In vain do you flatter the head, as if a devoted servant. Whoever wishes to behead, tries to kill both the head and the body. They are ashamed to deny Christ, and are not ashamed to deny the words of Christ. Neither we have seen Christ with our eyes, nor did you. The Jews saw, and killed. We have not seen, and believe; his words are with us. Compare yourselves to the Jews; they despised him hanging on the wood, you despise him sitting in heaven; with their urging, the title of Christ stood, with you standing, the Baptism of Christ is erased. But what remains, brothers, except that we pray for the proud, let us pray for the arrogant, who so exalt themselves? Let us say to God for them: Let them know that your name is the Lord; and not men, but you alone are the most high over all the earth. Turned towards the Lord...