Sermon 135

SERMO 135

On the Words of the Gospel of John
"I CAME TO DO THE WORKS OF HIM WHO SENT ME."
Against the Arians.
And about what he said, that one who was born blind was illuminated:
"We know that God does not listen to sinners."

Blindness of all men from birth.

The Lord Jesus, as we heard when the holy Gospel was read, opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. Brothers, if we consider our inherited punishment, the whole world is blind. Therefore, Christ came as the illuminator because the devil had been the blinder. He made everyone be born blind, who deceived the first man. Let them run to the illuminator, let them run, believe, receive clay made from saliva. Saliva is like the Word, the earth is flesh. Let them wash their face in the pool of Siloam. It was appropriate for the Evangelist to explain to us what Siloam means, and he said: Which is interpreted: sent. Who is the one sent, but he who said in that reading: I, he said, have come to do the works of him who sent me? Behold Siloam; wash your face, be baptized, that you may be enlightened, and see who before you did not see.

A place deceitfully claimed by the Arians.

Behold first, to what has been said, open your eyes: He says, I have come to do the works of him who sent me. Here already arises the Arian, and he says: Behold, you see that Christ did not do his own works, but those of the Father who sent him. He would never say this, if he saw, that is, if in him who was sent, as in Siloam, he would wash his face. What then do you say? Behold, he says, he himself said it. What did he say? I have come to do the works of him who sent me. Therefore not his own? No. And what is it that he himself, Siloam, the one sent, the Son, the Only Begotten whom you claim to be degenerate, says? What is it that he says: All that the Father has is mine? You say that he performed foreign works, because he said: I will do the works of him who sent me. I say that the Father possessed foreign things, I speak according to your heart. Why then do you want to dictate to me that Christ said: I have come to do the works of him, as if not mine, but his who sent me?

The works of the Father and the Son are the same.

I ask you, Lord Christ, resolve the question, end the contention. He says, "All things that the Father has are mine." Therefore, are they not the Father's, if they are yours? For he did not say, "All things that the Father has, he has given to me," although if he had said this, he would have shown equality. But it is troubling that he said, "All things that the Father has are mine." If you understand: all things that the Father has are the Son's; all things that the Son has are the Father's. Listen to him in another place: "All mine are yours, and yours are mine." The question about what the Father and the Son have is settled; they hold it in concord, you should not dispute. He calls the works of the Father his own works; because "yours are mine," because he speaks of the works of that Father, to whom he said, "All mine are yours, and yours are mine." Therefore, my works are yours, and your works are mine. For whatever the Father does: the Lord said, the Only Begotten said, the Son said, Truth said. What did he say? "Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise." Great expression, great truth, great equality. All that the Father does, the Son does. It would suffice to say: all that the Father does, the Son does. It is not enough; I add: likewise. Why do I add: likewise? Because those who do not understand, and walk with eyes not yet opened, are accustomed to say: the Father does by commanding, the Son by obeying; therefore, not likewise. But if likewise, as he does, so he does; so what he does, this one does.

The Son of God, consubstantial and coeternal with the Father.

But, says the Father, let the Son do this. You think carnally, but without prejudice to the truth, I yield to you. Behold, the Father commands, the Son obeys: does this mean that the Son is not of the same nature because one commands and the other obeys? Give me two men, a father and a son: they are both men; the one who commands is a man; the one who obeys is a man: the one who commands and the one who obeys have the same nature. Did the one who commands not beget the son from his own nature? Did the one who obeys lose his nature by obeying? Therefore, understand, just as you understand two men, the Father commands, the Son obeys, yet both are God and God. Though they are men together, together they are one God: this is the divine miracle. In the meantime, if you want me to acknowledge obedience with you, first acknowledge nature with me. The Father begot that which he himself is. If the Father begot something different from what he is, he did not truly beget a Son; the Father says to the Son: From the womb, before the morning star, I begat you. What is "before the morning star"? It signifies time before time. Thus, before time, before all things which are called before; before everything that is not, or before everything that is. For the Gospel does not say: In the beginning God made the Word; as it says: In the beginning God made heaven and earth; or: In the beginning the Word was born; or: In the beginning God begot the Word. But what does it say? It was, it was, it was. Hear: It was, believe. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. You hear repeatedly: It was, do not seek time, because it always was. Therefore, he who always was, and who was always with the Son, because God is able to beget without time; he said to the Son: From the womb, before the morning star, I begat you. What is "from the womb"? Did God have a womb? Should we think God is composed of bodily members? By no means. And why did he say: from the womb, if not to be understood as begotten from his own substance? Thus, from the womb proceeded that which was the same as the one who begot. For if the begetter was something different, and something different proceeded from the womb; it is a monstrosity, not a Son.

As the Son does the works of the Father, so the Father does the works of the Son.

Therefore, let the Son do the works of Him who sent Him, and let the Father do the works of the Son. Surely the Father willed it, and the Son accomplished it. Behold, I show that the Son wills it, and the Father does it. Where do you show it, you ask? I show it now. Father, I will. Now, if I wanted to make a false accusation, behold the Son commands and the Father does it. What do you want? That where I am, they also may be with me. We have escaped, we shall be where He is: we shall be there, we have escaped. Who erases the "I will" of the Almighty? You hear the will of power, hear also the power of the will. Just as the Father, he says, raises the dead and gives them life; so likewise the Son gives life to whom He will. To whom He will. Do not say: The Son gives life to those whom the Father commands Him to give life. He gives life to whom He wills. Therefore, to those whom the Father wills and whom He Himself wills; because where there is one power, there is one will. Let us have in our not-blind heart the one and same nature of the Father and the Son; because the Father is true, the Son is true. What He is, He begot; because the begotten did not degenerate.

The prayers of sinners are also heard.

I do not know what may be stirring in the words of him who was blind, and perhaps makes many who do not understand well despair. For among his other words, the same one whose eyes were opened says: We know that God does not hear sinners. What do we do, if God does not hear sinners? Do we dare to ask God, if He does not hear sinners? Give me someone to pray, behold, there is one who hears. Give one to pray, examine human nature from the imperfect to the perfect. Rise from spring to summer; for this is what we sang: You have made summer and spring. That is, You have made both the spiritual and those still carnal; because even the Son Himself says: Your eyes have seen my imperfect state. Your eyes have seen the imperfection that is in my body. And then what? Do those who are imperfect have hope? Clearly, they have. Hear what follows: And in your book all will be written. But perhaps, brothers, the spiritual pray and are heard, because they are not sinners. What do the carnal do? What do they do? Will they perish? Will they not pray to God? God forbid. Give me that Publican. Come, Publican, stand in the midst, show your hope, lest the weak lose hope. For behold, the Publican went up to pray with the Pharisee, and with his face cast down to the ground, standing afar off, beating his breast, said: Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And he went down justified rather than that Pharisee. Who said: Be merciful to me, a sinner? Was he speaking the truth or falsehood? If he spoke the truth, he was a sinner; and he was heard, and he was justified. What then do you say, to whom the Lord opened his eyes: We know that God does not hear sinners? Behold, God hears sinners. But wash the interior face, let it be done in the heart, what was done to your face; and you will see that God hears sinners. The imagination of your heart deceived you. There is still more for you to do. Certainly, this one was cast out of the synagogue; he heard, he came to Him, and said to Him: Do you believe in the Son of God? And he answered: Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? He was seeing, and yet he was not seeing; he was seeing with his eyes, but yet not seeing with his heart. The Lord said to him: You have both seen Him, that is, with your eyes: and He who speaks with you, He is. Then he fell down and worshiped Him. Then he washed the face of his heart.

No one here is without sin.

Therefore, sinners, engage in prayers; confess your sins, pray that they may be erased, pray that they may be diminished, pray that with your improvements they may disappear; however, do not despair, and sinners pray. For who has not sinned? Begin with the priests. To the priests, He said: First offer sacrifices for your sins, and thus for the people. The sacrifices convicted the priests; so that if anyone claimed to be righteous and without sin, he could be answered: I do not regard what you say, but what you offer; your sacrifice convicts you. Why do you offer for your sins if you have no sins? Are you lying to God in the sacrifice? But perhaps the priests of the old people were sinners, the priests of the new people are not sinners. Certainly, brothers, because God willed it, I am his priest, I am a sinner, I beat my chest with you, I ask for pardon with you, I hope for a propitious God with you. But maybe the holy Apostles, the first, highest rams of the flock, the shepherds' limbs of the shepherd, maybe they had no sin. Truly they too had, they had: they do not get angry, because they confess. I would not dare. First, listen to the Lord Himself saying to the Apostles: Thus pray. Just as those priests were convicted by sacrifices, so these ones by prayer. Thus pray. And among the other things He commanded to pray, He included this: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What do the Apostles say? Every day they ask for their debts to be forgiven. Debtors they enter, absolved they leave, and to prayer as debtors they return. This life is not without sin, so that as often as it is prayed, so often sins are forgiven.

The apostles were also liable to sin after the resurrection of Christ.

But what shall I say? Perhaps when they learned to pray, they were still weak. Perhaps someone will say this: When the Lord Jesus taught them to pray, they were still little children, they were weak, they were carnal; they were not yet spiritual, who do not have sin. What then, brothers, did they cease to pray once they became spiritual? Therefore Christ ought to have said: Pray these things now, and give another prayer to the spiritual. There is one, the very same, He who gave it; therefore pray this in the Church. But let us remove the controversy: when you say the holy Apostles were spiritual, while the Lord suffered, they were carnal; this you are going to say. Consequently, as it is true, while He hung, they were frightened, and then the Apostles despaired when the thief believed. Peter dared to follow when the Lord was led to the passion, he dared to follow, who reached the house, and was weary in the courtyard, stood by the fire, and shivered: he stood by the fire, frozen with cold fear. When questioned by a maidservant, he denied Christ once; questioned again, he denied; questioned a third time, he denied. Thanks be to God, because the questioning ceased: if the questioning had not ceased, the denial would have been repeated often. Therefore, after He rose, then He confirmed them, then they became spiritual. Did they no longer have sin? The spiritual Apostles were writing spiritual Epistles, sending them to the Churches: they had no sin, you say. I do not believe you, I ask them themselves. Tell us, holy Apostles, after the Lord rose and confirmed you with the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, did you cease to have sin? Tell us, I ask. Let us hear, lest sinners despair, lest they cease to ask God, because they are not without sin. Tell us. One of them says. And who? Whom the Lord loved more, and who reclined on the Lord’s chest, and drank the secret of the kingdom of heaven which he belched forth. He when I ask: Do you have sin, or not? He responds and says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But that John is the one who said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. See how much he surpassed, to reach the Word. Such and so great a one, who flew like an eagle above the clouds, who saw with the serenity of mind: In the beginning was the Word; he himself said: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore, pray.