Sermon 130

SERMO 130

On the words of the Gospel of John (5, 5-14):
Where it is narrated the miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes

The meaning of the miracle.

A great miracle has been done, beloved ones, that from five loaves and two fish five thousand men were fed, and the remaining fragments filled twelve baskets. A great miracle: but we will not marvel much at the deed if we consider the doer. He who multiplied five loaves in the hands of those breaking them, is the same who multiplies the seeds germinating in the earth, so that a few grains are sown and granaries are filled. But because he does this every year, no one marvels. It is not the commonness of the act that takes away the wonder, but its regularity. When the Lord did these things, he spoke to those understanding not only by words but also through the miracles themselves. The five loaves signify the five books of the Law of Moses. The old law is like barley compared to the wheat of the gospel. Great mysteries concerning Christ are contained in those books. Whence he himself said: If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But just as in barley the kernel is hidden under the husk; so in the veil of the mysteries of the law, Christ is hidden. When those mysteries are opened and expanded, they are like bread; so those loaves grew when they were broken. And what I have explained to you, I have broken bread for you. The five thousand men signify the people under the five books of the law. The twelve baskets are the twelve Apostles, who themselves are filled from the fragments of the law. The two fish are either the two commandments of the love of God and neighbor, or the two peoples from circumcision and uncircumcision, or those two sacred persons of king and priest. When these are explained, they are broken; when understood, they are eaten.

Christ became bread by incarnation. Christ the merchant. Our Redeemer, how.

Let us turn to him who made these things. He is the bread which came down from heaven; but the bread that refreshes and does not fail; bread that can be taken, but cannot be consumed. This bread was also signified by manna. Therefore it is said: He gave them bread from heaven; man ate the bread of angels. Who is the bread of heaven, except Christ? But that man might eat the bread of angels, the Lord of angels was made man. For if he had not been made this, we would not have his flesh; if we did not have his flesh, we would not eat the bread of the altar. Let us hasten to the inheritance, because we have received a great pledge from it. My brothers, let us desire the life of Christ, because we hold the pledge of Christ's death. How will he not give us his good things, who suffered our evils? In these lands, in this evil age, what abounds, except being born, laboring, and dying? Examine human affairs, convince me if I lie; observe all men, whether they are in this world for anything other than to be born, labor, and die. These are the wares of our region, these abound here. To such wares that Merchant descended. And since every merchant gives and receives; he gives what he has and receives what he does not have; when he buys something, he gives money and receives what he bought; Christ also in this trade gave and received. But what did he receive? What abounds here: being born, laboring, and dying. And what did he give? To be reborn, to rise again, and to reign forever. O good Merchant, buy us. What shall I say, buy us, since we should be giving thanks, because you have bought us? You dispense our price to us, we drink your blood; you dispense therefore our price to us. And we read the Gospel, our instrument. We are your servants, we are your creatures; you made us, you redeemed us. A master can buy his servant, he cannot create him; but the Lord both created and redeemed his servants; he created us so we might exist, he redeemed us so that we would not always be captives. For we fell into the power of the prince of this age, who seduced Adam and made him a servant, and began to possess us as his own household slaves. But the Redeemer came, and the deceiver was defeated. And what did our Redeemer do to our captor? He stretched out his snare for our price, his cross; he set there as bait his own blood. But the captor could shed this blood, he was not worthy to drink it. And by shedding the blood of one who was not his debtor, he was commanded to release the debtors; by shedding the blood of an innocent man, he was ordered to relinquish his hold on the guilty. For he shed his blood to obliterate our sins. Therefore, from what he held us, it was erased by the blood of our Redeemer. For he held us only by the chains of our sins. These were the chains of captives. He came, he bound the strong one with the chains of his passion; he entered his house, that is, into the hearts where he himself dwelt, and seized his vessels. We are the vessels. He had filled us with his bitterness. He even offered this bitterness to our Redeemer in gall. Therefore, he had filled us as his own vessels; but our Lord, seizing his vessels and making them his own, poured out the bitterness and filled them with sweetness.

Christ must be loved. From what God has done, it becomes believable what He has promised.

Let us therefore love Him, because He is sweet. Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. He is to be feared, but is to be loved even more. He is man and God: one Christ who is man and God; just as one man is soul and body; yet God and man are not two persons. In Christ, indeed, there are two substances: God and man; but one person, so that while the Trinity remains, a quaternity is not formed with the addition of man. How then can it be that God would not have mercy on us, for whom He was made man? It is a great thing that He has done: what He did is more marvelous than what He promised; and from what He did, we must believe what He promised. For what He did, we would hardly believe unless we also saw it. Where do we see it? In the people who believe, in the multitude brought to Him. Because what was promised to Abraham is fulfilled; and from what we see, we believe what we do not see. Abraham was one man, and it was said to him: In your seed all nations shall be blessed. If he looked at himself, when would he believe? He was one man, and he was already old, and he had a barren wife, and already so advanced in age that she could not conceive, even if she had not been barren. There was absolutely no reason for hope. But he looked to the Promiser, and believed what he did not see. Behold, what he believed, we see. Therefore, from what we see, we must believe what we do not see. He begot Isaac, we did not see this; and Isaac begot Jacob, and we did not see this; and Jacob begot twelve sons, and we did not see them either; and his twelve sons begot the people of Israel; we see a great people. Now I begin to speak of what we see. From the people of Israel a virgin Mary was born, and she gave birth to Christ; and behold, in Christ all nations are blessed. What is more true? What is more certain? What is more clear? Desire with me the future age, you who are gathered from the Gentiles. In this age, God fulfilled His promise concerning the seed of Abraham. How then will He not give us His eternal promises, whom He has made to be the seed of Abraham? For this the Apostle says: If you are Christ's — these are the words of the Apostle — then you are Abraham’s seed.

What Christ has accomplished is more miraculous than what he promises.

We have begun to be something great; let no one despise himself: we were nothing, but we are something. We told the Lord: Remember that we are dust; but He made man from dust, and gave life to dust, and in Christ our Lord, He has already led that very dust to the kingdoms of heaven. Because He took flesh from here, He took earth from here, and lifted the earth to heaven, who made earth and heaven. Therefore, if two new things yet not made were proposed to us, and it were asked of us: What is more marvelous, that He who is God should become man, or that He who is man should become a man of God? What is more marvelous, what is more difficult? What did Christ promise us? What we do not yet see: that is, to be His men, and to reign with Him, and not die forever. It is as if this is difficult to believe, that a man born should reach that life where he will never die. This is what we believe with a heart freed from dust, I say freed from the dust of the world, lest that very dust should close the eyes of our faith. This is what we are commanded to believe, that when we have died, even with our dead bodies we shall be in life, where we will never die. This is marvelous: but more marvelous is what Christ did. For what is more incredible, that man should live forever, or that God should die at some time? Is it more credible that men receive life from God? I think it is more incredible that God receives death from men. And this has already happened: let us believe also what is to come. If what is more incredible has happened, will He not give us what is more credible? For God is able to make angels from men, who made men from earthly and horrible seeds. What will we be? Angels. What were we? I am ashamed to recall; I am compelled to consider, and I blush to say. What were we? From what did God make men? What were we before we were anything at all? We were nothing. When we were in the wombs of our mothers, what were we? It is sufficient that you recall. Lift your minds from what you were made from, and consider what you are. You live: but plants and trees also live. You feel: animals also feel. You are humans: you have surpassed animals, you are superior to animals; because you understand how much He has bestowed upon us. You live, you feel, you understand, you are humans. But with this benefit, what could be compared? You are Christians. For if we had not received this, what good would it do us to be humans? Therefore, we are Christians, we belong to Christ. Let the world rage, it does not break us; because we belong to Christ. Let the world flatter, it does not seduce us; we belong to Christ.

Security of Christians under the patronage of Christ.

We have found a great protector, brothers. You know that people rely on their protectors. To someone threatening, a client of a greater man responds: "With the life of my lord safe, you do nothing to me." How much more strongly and surely can we say: "With our head safe, you do nothing to us?" For our protector is our head. Whoever relies on any human protector is a client of that person; we are members of our protector. May he hold us to him, and no one will tear us away from him. For whatever hardships we have suffered in this world, all that passes is nothing. Good things will come which will not pass away; we reach them through hardships. But once we have reached them, no one can tear us away from there. The gates of Jerusalem are closed, they even have bars, so that it may be said to that city: "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates, he has blessed your children within you. He has set your borders with peace." With the gates closed, bars in place, no friend leaves, no enemy enters. There we have true and certain security, if we have not abandoned the truth here.