Sermon 141
SERMO 141
On the Words of the Gospel of John (14:6):
"I am the way, and the truth, and the life."
Truth found by the philosophers of this age, not the way.
Among other things, when the holy Gospel was read, you heard what the Lord Jesus said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Every man desires truth and life; but not every man finds the way. That God is a certain eternal, unchangeable, intelligible life, understanding, wise, making wise, even some philosophers of this age have seen. They indeed saw fixed, stable, unchangeable truth, where all the reasons for all created things are, but they saw it from a distance; they saw, but in error; and therefore, they did not find the way to that great and ineffable and beatifying possession. For because they also saw (as much as a man can see) the creator through the creation, the maker through the made, the fabricator of the world through the world, the Apostle Paul is a witness, to whom Christians certainly ought to believe. For he says, when speaking of such people: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. These, as you recognize, are the words of the Apostle Paul. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Did he say they did not hold the truth? But they hold the truth in unrighteousness. It is good that they hold the truth; but it is evil where they hold it. They hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Whence the truth was found by them.
It would happen, however, that it was said to him: Whence do those impious detain the truth? Did God speak to any of them? Did they receive the law, as the people of Israel through Moses? Wherefore then do they detain the truth, or in that very iniquity? Hear what follows, and he shows it. Because what is known about God, he says, is manifest in them; for God has shown it to them. Did he show it to those to whom he did not give the law? Hear how he showed it. For his invisible attributes, understood by the things that have been made, are clearly seen. Question the world, the adornment of the sky, the brightness and arrangement of the stars, the sun sufficient for the day, the moon the solace of the night; question the earth yielding plants and trees, full of animals, adorned with men; question the sea, full of how many and what kinds of creatures; question the air, how it teems with so many flying creatures; question everything, and see if not by their sense they respond to you: God made us. These things even noble philosophers have sought, and by the art they understood the artisan. What then? why is the wrath of God revealed upon that impiety itself? Because they detain the truth in iniquity? Let him come, show how. For he has already said, how they knew. His invisible attributes, that is, of God, understood by the things that have been made, are clearly seen; also his eternal power and divinity; so that they are without excuse. Because when they knew God, they did not honor him as God, nor give thanks; but they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. These are the words of the Apostle, not mine: And their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. What they found through curiosity, they lost through pride. Professing themselves to be wise, that is, attributing God's gift to themselves, they became fools. The words, I say, are those of the Apostle: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
The foolishness of those worshiping idols.
Show, prove their folly. Show, Apostle, and just as you have shown us whence they could have reached the knowledge of God, because His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; so now show how, professing to be wise, they became fools. Listen: Because, he says, they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. For the Pagans made images of these animals their gods. You have found God, and you worship an idol. You have found the truth, and you hold the truth in unrighteousness. And what you have known through the works of God, you lose through the works of man. You have considered the whole; you have collected the order of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the elements; you do not want to consider this, that the world is the work of God, the idol is the work of the craftsman. If the craftsman, just as he gave the idol its shape, also gave it a heart; the craftsman himself would be worshiped by the idol. For, how is it, O man, that the craftsman is your god, so the man is the craftsman of the idol. Who is your God? He who made you. Who is the god of the craftsman? He who made him. Who is the god of the idol? He who made it. Therefore, if the idol had a heart, would it not worship the craftsman who made it? Behold in what iniquity they held the truth, and they did not find the way leading to that possession which they saw.
Christ made the way.
Christ, however, because He is Himself with the Father, the truth and the life, the Word of God, of whom it is said: Life was the light of men; therefore, because He is Himself with the Father, the truth and the life, and we did not have any way to go to the truth; the Son of God, who is always the truth and the life in the Father, by assuming man became the way. Walk through the man and you will reach God. Through Him you go, to Him you go. Do not seek how to come to Him, beyond Him. For if He had not wanted to be the way, we would always wander. Therefore, He became the way by which you come. I do not tell you: Seek the way. The way itself comes to you: Rise and walk. Walk by morals, not by feet. For many indeed walk well by feet, and walk badly by morals. For at times, those who walk well by feet, run past the way. Truly, you will find men living well, and not Christians. They run well; but they do not run in the way. The more they run, the more they wander; because they depart from the way. But if such men were to reach the way, and hold the way, oh how great the safety is, because they walk well and do not wander! But if they do not hold the way, however well they walk, alas how pitiable it is! For it is better to limp on the way, than to walk strongly beyond the way. Let these things suffice for your Charity. Turned to the Lord...