Sermon 162B

Sermon 162/B

TREATISE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE ON THE BENT WOMAN
[FRAGMENT]

The bent woman is a symbol of the human race.

We have heard the Apostle saying to us: "We act as ambassadors for Christ, exhorting you to be reconciled to God." He would not exhort us to be reconciled unless we had been enemies. Therefore, the whole world was an enemy of the Savior, a friend of the captor; that is, an enemy of God and a friend of the devil. And the whole human race, like that woman, was bent down to the earth. Now, understanding these enemies, someone cries out against them and says to God: "They have bent down my soul." The devil and his angels have bent the souls of men down to the earth, meaning that they are inclined to what is temporal and earthly, not seeking the things above. For indeed this is what the Lord says about that woman, whom Satan had bound for eighteen years; and now it was necessary for her to be freed from her bond on the Sabbath day. However, they accused the one who raised her up. Who, if not the "bent ones"? Since they did not understand the very things God had commanded, they looked upon them with earthly hearts. For they celebrated the sacrament of Baptism carnally, not seeing it spiritually.