Sermon 187
SERMO 187
ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE LORD
The great Word and the small infant Christ.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord: of that Lord, through whom all things were made, and who was made among all things: who is the revealer of the Father, the creator of the mother: the Son of God from the Father without a mother, the son of man from a mother without a father: great in the day of the angels, small in the day of men: the Word God before all times, the Word flesh at the appointed time: the creator of the sun, made under the sun: ordaining all ages from the bosom of the Father, consecrating this day from the womb of the mother: remaining there, coming forth here: maker of heaven and earth, born under heaven on earth: ineffably wise, wisely an infant: filling the world, lying in a manger: ruling the stars, sucking at breasts: so great in the form of God, brief in the form of a servant; so that neither was that greatness diminished by this brevity, nor was this brevity oppressed by that greatness. For nor did he abandon divine works when he took on human limbs: nor did he cease to reach from end to end mightily, and to dispose all things sweetly; when clothed in the infirmity of the flesh, he was received in the virginal womb, not enclosed; so that neither was the food of wisdom withdrawn from the angels, and we might taste how sweet the Lord is.
The word of man and the Word of God.
Why do we marvel at this about the Word of God, when this discourse we produce flows so freely into the senses, such that the listener both receives it and does not contain it? For if it were not received, it would instruct no one; if it were contained, it would not reach others. And indeed, this discourse is divided into words and syllables: yet you do not take individual parts from it as if it were food for the stomach, but you all hear the whole, and each individual captures the whole. Nor do we fear while speaking, lest one person hearing the whole should consume it all, and another should not have what to take: but we want you to be attentive in such a way that we defraud neither the ear nor the mind of any person, so that each individual hears the whole and leaves the whole for others to hear. Nor does this happen in successive times, so that when the discourse first enters you, it departs from you to enter another: but it comes to all simultaneously, and reaches each one in its entirety. And if the whole could be retained in memory, just as you all came to hear the whole, so too each one would return with the whole. How much more the Word of God, through which all things were made, and which, remaining in itself, renews all things; which is neither confined by places, nor extended by times, nor varied by short and long pauses, nor woven by voices, nor terminated by silence; how much more could this great and such Word, having assumed a body, make fruitful the womb of the mother, and not depart from the bosom of the Father? From here reach the eyes of humans, from there illuminate the minds of angels? From here proceed to the earth, from there extend to the heavens? From here become man, from there create men?
The word and the voice in man.
Therefore, let no one believe that the Son of God was converted and changed into the son of man; rather, let us believe that, without the divine nature being consumed and the human nature being perfectly assumed, the Son of God, remaining as He was, became the son of man. For when it was said, "The Word was God," and "The Word was made flesh," it does not imply that the Word ceased to be God when it became flesh; rather, in the very flesh by which the Word was made flesh, Emmanuel was born, which means God with us. Just as the word we hold in our hearts becomes a voice when we express it orally, yet it is not changed into that voice, but the former is retained whole while the latter is taken up as its expression, so that what is understood internally remains, and what is heard externally sounds forth: the same thing that was before internal is now external in sound; so when the word becomes a voice, it is not changed into the voice. Instead, remaining in the light of the mind and assuming the voice of the flesh, it proceeds to the listener without leaving the thinker. It is not the voice itself that is thought of in silence, whether it be Greek, Latin, or any other language; but when, before any diversity of tongues exists, the very thing that is to be said is still, in some way, naked in the heart’s contemplation, it is clothed with the speaker’s voice to emerge from there. Nevertheless, both that which is understood by thinking and that which sounds by speaking are mutable and dissimilar: neither will the former remain when you forget it, nor the latter when you are silent. But the Word of the Lord remains forever, and remains unchangeably.
Christ is God and man.
And when he assumed flesh from time, so that he might proceed to our temporal life, he did not lose eternity in the flesh, but also granted immortality to the flesh. Thus he, as a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, rejoiced like a giant to run his course. Who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but that he might become that which he was not for our sake, emptied himself; not losing the form of God, but taking the form of a servant: and through this, being made in the likeness of men; not in his own substance; but found in appearance as a man. For all that we are, either in soul or in body, is our nature, his appearance: if we were not this, we would not exist; if he were not this, he would surely be God. And when he began to be what he was not, he was made man while remaining God: so that not only one of these, but both could be truly said; both because he was made man: Because the Father is greater than I; and because he remained God: I and the Father are one. For if the Word had been changed into flesh, that is, if God had been changed into man, it would not have been true, unless: The Father is greater than I; because God is greater than man: but the other would be false: I and the Father are one; because God and man are not one. But perhaps he could say: I and the Father are not one, but were one. For what was and ceased to be is surely not, but was. Now, however, both because of the true form of a servant which he had taken up, he truly said: The Father is greater than I; and because of the true form of God in which he remained, he truly said: I and the Father are one. Therefore, he emptied himself among men, not becoming something he was not, so that he would not be what he was: but hiding what he was, and showing what he had become. Accordingly, because the Virgin conceived and bore a son, because of the manifest form of a servant: A child is born to us. But because the Word of God, which remains forever, was made flesh, so that it might dwell among us, because of the hidden but enduring form of God, as Gabriel announced, we call his name Emmanuel. For he was made man, remaining God, so that the son of man might rightly be called God with us: not another God, another man. Therefore let the world rejoice in believers, for whom he came to be saved by whom the world was made. The creator of Mary, born of Mary: the son of David, the Lord of David: the seed of Abraham, who is before Abraham: the maker of the earth, made on the earth: the creator of heaven, created under heaven. He is the day which the Lord has made, and he is the Lord of our hearts. Let us walk in his light, let us rejoice and be glad in him.