Sermon 179
SERMO 179
OF THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE JAMES (1, 19. 22):
"Let each one of you be quick to hear,"
"Slow to speak."
And concerning those in the same place:
"Be doers of the word, and not hearers only," etc.
It must be spoken about the duty of both the hearers and the preachers of the word of God.
Blessed James the Apostle addresses those who are constant listeners of the Word of God, saying: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." For you deceive not Him whose word it is, nor by whom the word is spoken, but yourselves. From this saying, emanating from the source of truth through the very truthful mouth of the apostle, we also dare to exhort you; and when we exhort you, we reflect on ourselves. For the preacher of the Word of God is idle outwardly who is not an inward hearer. Nor are we so turned away from humanity and faithful consideration that we do not understand our own dangers, we who preach the Word of God to the people. However, it consoles us that where we face dangers in our ministries, we are helped by your prayers. For, brothers, so that you may know in what safer place you stand than us, I cite another saying of the apostle, who says: "Let every one of you be swift to hear, slow to speak." Therefore, I will first speak about our office because of this saying, which admonishes us to be quicker to hear and slower to speak; so that when I have excused our office, which involves frequent speaking, I will then come to that which I initially proposed.
To hear the word of God is safer than to preach it.
We must exhort you, that you should not be hearers of the word only, but also doers. Therefore, what we often speak to you, who does not, slightly noticing our necessity, judge us, when he reads: Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak? Behold, your zeal does not permit us to observe that sentiment. Therefore, you ought to pray, to support, the one you compel to be in danger. Nevertheless, my brothers, I will tell you what I want you to believe; for you do not see this in my heart. I who speak to you constantly, by the command of our lord and your bishop, my brother, and because of your demands, then I rejoice fully, when I hear. My joy, I say, is complete when I hear, not when I preach. For then I take delight securely. That pleasure does not involve inflation. There, the precipice of pride is not feared, where there is the rock of solid truth. And that you may know it is so, listen where it is said: You will give joy and gladness to my hearing. There I rejoice, where I hear. Then he followed and added: The humbled bones will rejoice. Therefore, when we listen, we are humble; but when we preach, even if we do not risk pride, we are certainly restrained. And if I am not exalted, I am at risk of being exalted. But when I hear, I enjoy without a deceiver, I delight without a witness. This joy was also known by that friend of the bridegroom, who said: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him. And therefore, he stands, because he hears him. For the first man also stood by hearing God, and he fell by hearing the serpent. Therefore, the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him; and rejoices, he says, greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Not because of his own voice, but because of the bridegroom's voice. However, the voice of the bridegroom which he heard inwardly, he did not close to the people outwardly.
Duties of Mary and Martha. The good part of Martha. The good of hospitality.
This part was also chosen by that Mary, who, with her sister busy in much ministry, sat at the feet of the Lord and leisurely listened to his word. John stood, she sat; but she stood in heart, and he sat in humility. For standing signifies permanence; sitting, humility. And to know that standing signifies permanence, it is said that the devil did not have this permanence; of whom it was said: He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in truth. Also, because sitting signifies humility, the Psalm shows, where it admonishes about penitence, and says: Rise up after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow. What does it mean: Rise up after you have sat? He who humbles himself will be exalted. What good does hearing have, the Lord himself is witness, speaking of Mary who sat at his feet, and heard his word. For when her sister, very busy around ministry, complained that she was being deserted by her sister, she heard from the Lord who was appealed to: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her. Was what Martha was doing bad? Which of us can explain satisfactorily in words, how good it is to minister hospitality to the saints? If to any saints, how much more to the head and principal members, Christ and the Apostles? Does not each of you who have this good of hospitality, when you hear what Martha was doing, say to yourself: O blessed, O happy, who deserved to receive the Lord; whose guests the Apostles became walking in the flesh! Nor should you lack, because you cannot what Martha could, to receive Christ into your home with his Apostles; he makes you secure: When you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me. Therefore, it is a great work, very great, which the Apostle commands saying: Contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing hospitality. Which praising in the Epistle to the Hebrews he says: Through this some have entertained angels unawares. Great therefore is the ministry, great the gift. And yet Mary chose the better part; because while her sister was anxious, laboring, caring for many things, she was unoccupied, sat, and listened.
The better part is Mary's, for it will not be taken away. The work of Martha is taken away, not the reward.
However, the Lord shows whence that better part was. For immediately after He had said, "Mary has chosen the better part"; as if we asked, wanting to know why it was better, He added and said, "which shall not be taken away from her." What do we understand, my brothers? If she chose the better part because it will not be taken away from her, without a doubt, Martha had chosen that part which will be taken away from her. Clearly, it will be taken away from every person who ministers to the saints those things necessary for the body, it will be taken away from what he does. For he will not always minister to the saints. To whom does he minister, if not to infirmity? To whom does he minister, if not to mortality? To whom does he minister, if not to the hungry and thirsty? All these things will not be, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality. When the necessity itself has passed, there will be no ministry of necessity. Labor will be taken away, but its reward will be rendered. To whom, then, will food be ministered when no one hungers? To whom drink, when no one thirsts? To whom hospitality, when no one is a stranger? The Lord, therefore, with His disciples, so that He might render the reward of this work, deigned to be in need. He Himself hungered and thirsted; not because He was compelled, but because He deigned. It was good, therefore, that through Him by whom all things were made, He hungered; for thus happy would be he who fed Him. And when anyone fed the Lord, what did he give? Who did he give to? From what did he give? To whom did he give? What did he give? He gave food to the Bread. Who gave? He who indeed gave, who wished to receive more. From what did he give? Could it be from his own? What did he have that he had not received? To whom did he give? Was it not to Him who had created both what He received and from whom He received? This is a great ministry, a great work, a great gift. And yet Mary chose the better part, which shall not be taken away from her. Therefore, the part of Martha passes away; but, as I said, the reward given for it does not pass away.
The part of Mary does not pass away.
The part of Mary, however, does not pass away. See how it does not pass away. What was Mary delighted with when she was listening? What was she eating? What was she drinking? Do you know what she was eating, what she was drinking? Let us ask the Lord Himself, who prepares such a table for His own, let us ask Him. Blessed, He says, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. From this source, from this granary of righteousness, holy Mary sitting at the feet of the Lord, was receiving certain crumbs while she was hungering. For the Lord gave only as much then as she could grasp. However, neither the disciples nor the Apostles themselves could grasp everything He was going to give at that future table of His, when He said to them: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Therefore, from where, as I said, was Mary delighted? What was she eating, what was she drinking with the avid jaws of her heart? Righteousness, truth. She was delighted with truth, she was hearing truth; she was yearning for truth, she was sighing for truth. Hungering for truth she was eating, thirsting she was drinking; and she was being refreshed, and what she was being fed with was not diminished. From where was Mary delighted? What was she eating? I linger because I am delighted. I dare to say, she was eating Him whom she was hearing. For if she was eating truth, did He not say: I am the truth? And what more shall I say? He was being eaten, because He was bread: I am, He says, the bread that came down from heaven. This bread is that which refreshes and does not diminish.
I feed on truth, the part of Mary that does not perish. Delight from the light of truth.
Therefore, let your Love be attentive. Behold, we say minister to the saints, prepare food, serve drink, set the table, wash feet, make the bed, receive under the roof; will not all this pass away? But who dares to say that we are now fed by truth, but will not be fed when we come to immortality? If we are now fed with crumbs, shall we not then have a full table? For the Lord spoke of this spiritual food when He praised the Centurion's faith and said: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And therefore I say to you, that many will come from the East and the West, and will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Let it be far from our thoughts to imagine those foods in the table of that kingdom, of which the Apostle says: Food for the belly, and the belly for food; but God will destroy both it and them. Why will He destroy them? Because there will be no hunger there. That which will be eaten will not perish. For in promising this reward to His saints in that kingdom, He says: Amen I say to you, He will make them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. What does it mean: He will make them sit down, but He will make them rest, He will make them free? What does it mean: He will come, or: He will pass, and serve them? After this passing, He will serve them. For here Christ made the passing; we will come to Him where He has passed, there He no longer passes. For also Passover in Hebrew language is interpreted as Passage. This the Lord showed, nay, the Evangelist, when he said of the Lord: When the hour had come that He should pass from this world to the Father. If therefore He feeds us here, and thus feeds; how will He feed there? What Mary chose, was growing, was not passing away. For the delight of the human heart from the light of truth, from the overflow of wisdom, the delight of the human heart, of a faithful heart, of a holy heart, no pleasure is found to which it can be compared in any part, that it may even be called lesser. For what you say: It is less, as if growing it will be equal. I do not want to say: Lesser; I do not compare, it is of another kind, it is far different. For what is it now that you all attend to, all hear, all are excited, and when something true is said, you are delighted? What have you seen? What have you held? What color appeared to your eyes? What form, what figure, what stature, what lineaments of members, what beauty of body? None of these. And yet you love. For when would you praise so, if you did not love? When would you love, if you saw nothing? Therefore with me not showing the form of the body, the lineaments, the color, the beautiful movements, with me not showing, yet you see, love, praise. If this delight of truth is sweet now, much sweeter will it be then. Mary chose the better part, which shall not be taken from her.
We must be doers of the word both inside and outside.
I have shown, as much as I could, as the Lord has deemed it fitting to assist me, to your sweetest Charity, how much safer a place it is to stand by hearing than for us by preaching. For in this way you are doing what we will all do then. For then, there will be no teacher of the word, but the Word will be the teacher. Therefore, it follows that what pertains to you to do, pertains to us to advise. For you are the hearers of the word, we the preachers. But within, where no one sees, we are all hearers; within the heart, within the mind, where He teaches you, who encourages you to praise. For I speak outwardly, He stirs within. Therefore, we are all hearers within; and we all should be doers, both outwardly and inwardly, in the sight of God. Wherefrom are we doers within? Because whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And one can be an adulterer, with no man seeing, but with God punishing. Who then is a doer within? He who does not look to lust. Who is a doer outwardly? "Break your bread for the hungry." For when this is done, your neighbor sees; but with what mind it is done, only God sees. Be therefore, my brothers, doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves; not God, nor him who preaches. For I, or whoever preaches the word to you, does not see your heart; what you do within in your thoughts, he cannot judge. Because man cannot, God beholds, to whom the human heart cannot be hidden. He sees with what eagerness you listen, what you think, what you hold, how much you profit from His supplies, how earnestly you pray, how you beseech God for what you do not have, how you give thanks for what you have; He knows who will demand an account. We can distribute the Lord's coin; the exactor will come who said: "Wicked servant, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and I would have demanded it with interest upon my coming."
Hearers of the word, building some upon the rock, others upon the sand.
Therefore do not deceive yourselves, my brothers, because you came eagerly to hear the word, if you do not do what you hear by failing. Consider if it is beautiful to hear, how much more to do. If you do not hear, you neglect hearing, you build nothing. If you hear and do not do, you build a ruin. The Lord Christ has given a most fitting comparison on this matter: He says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it did not fall. Why did it not fall? It was founded upon the rock." Therefore, to hear and to do is to build upon the rock. For to hear itself is to build. But He says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them, I will liken him to a foolish man who builds." And he also builds. What does he build? Behold, he builds his house; but because he does not do what he hears, and by hearing builds upon the sand. Therefore, upon the sand builds he who hears and does not do; upon the rock, he who hears and does; neither upon the sand nor upon the rock builds he who hears nothing. But see what follows: The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell; and great was its fall." A miserable spectacle!
Not to listen, as if not to build, is wrong.
Someone therefore says: What I am not going to do, why do I need to hear? For by hearing and not doing, I will build a ruin. Is it not safer to hear nothing at all? The Lord indeed did not wish to touch upon that very part in His example provided, but He gave it to be understood. For in this world, rain, winds, and rivers do not cease. Do you not build upon the rock, so that they may come and not overthrow you? Do you not build upon the sand, lest when they come, they overthrow the house? Therefore, without any roof, because you hear nothing, will you remain thus. The rain comes, the rivers come; are you safe so, because you are carried away naked? Consider then, what kind of part you have chosen for yourself. You will not be secure, as you think, by not hearing; it is necessary that you, naked and without any roof, be overwhelmed, taken up, submerged. Therefore, if it is bad to build upon the sand, it is bad to build nothing at all; it remains that it is good only to build upon the rock. Therefore, it is bad not to hear; it is bad to hear and not to do; it remains to hear and to do. Therefore, be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
A negligent listener should not blame the preacher's faults.
After this exhortation, I fear that I will not uplift with words, but will break with despair. Perhaps someone, or one, or two, or certainly more, in this frequent assembly of yours judges me and says, "I would like to know if he who speaks to me does all that he himself hears or tells others." To this, I respond: "For me, it is a very small thing to be judged by you or by a human court. For I too, in some part, can know what I am now; what I will be tomorrow, I do not know. But your Lord has given you security concerning me. For if I do what I say or what I hear, be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. But if I speak and do not do, listen to the Lord: What they say, do; but do not do what they do. Therefore, if you think well of me, you praise me; if you think ill of me, you accuse me, but you do not excuse yourself. For how will you excuse yourself if you turn the accusation against a preacher of truth speaking the word of God to you and doing his own evil deeds, when your Lord, your redeemer, the pourer of the ransom, who assembles you into his army and makes of his servant his brother, does not cease to remind you and says: What they say, do; but do not do what they do? For they say, he says, and do not do. They say good things, they do bad things; you listen to the good things and do not do the bad things." Here you will respond: "How do I hear good from a bad man? Do men gather grapes from thorns?"