Sermon 229F

Sermon 229/F When did peace arrive on earth? When the angels rejoiced and sang: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." This peace was proclaimed by the voice of angelic praise. This peace was given by the Holy Spirit in the disciples when the Lord appeared in their midst after His resurrection. He breathed on them and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit." This is the peace, which she who truly believed and who had all her hope in Christ appears to have lacked, when the angel said to her: "Hail, full of grace." The Lord was already with her, but she had not yet recognized Him.

TREATISE CONCERNING THE SECOND DAY OF EASTER

Not all believed in the resurrection of Christ.

Some saw the resurrection of the Lord, others did not believe the report; and they are reproached by the Lord Himself now present, because they did not believe those who saw and reported it. How great is the dignity of the nations, and of those born long afterward! What did God grant to them, by whom the churches of Christ are now filled? The holy apostles walked with the Lord, heard the word of truth from His mouth, saw Him raising the dead; and did not believe that the Lord had risen. But we, who were born long after, never saw His bodily presence, heard no word from His mouth of flesh, saw no miracle performed by Him with these eyes; and yet we believed, hearing the letters of those who then refused to believe. They did not believe the most recent report announced to them: they wrote so that we might read; we heard, and we believe. And since the Lord Jesus did not want to appear to the Jews, He did not judge them worthy to see the Lord Christ after the resurrection; He showed Himself to His own, not to strangers. And while His own preached, strangers believed; and those who were strangers became His own. For many of them, as it is read in the Acts of the Apostles, many of them who crucified the Lord, who were polluted by His spilled blood; many of them who said: “His blood be on us and on our children,” later believed the apostles' announcement. His blood was indeed upon them, but to cleanse them, not to destroy them; upon some to be destroyed, upon others to be cleansed; for the destroyed justly, for the cleansed mercifully. And now, is faith for everyone? Just as at that time some of the Jews believed, and others did not believe, so it is now among the nations; some believed, others do not believe. Faith is not for everyone. Those who have faith believe by grace; let them not boast, it is a gift from God. Did the Lord choose us because we were good? He did not choose the good, but those He willed to make good. We were all in the shadow of death, we were all held bound in the mass of sin coming from Adam. What kind of fruit could have been born from the tree of the human race, if the root was tainted? But He who would heal the faults came without fault; and He who came to cleanse sins came without sin.

In the patriarch Jacob are prefigured either the faithful or the unfaithful Jews.

Do not heed the Jews who are now the chaff, that is, of that threshing floor which was then threshed. For if we consider, my brothers, the Prophets from the Jews, the Patriarchs from the Jews, the Apostles from the Jews, the Virgin Mary from the Jews, who bore Christ; later Paul believing from the Jews, and so many thousands baptized in one day; the innumerable churches of Christians from the Jews. But those grains have already been stored in the granary: the devil will play with the chaff. Faithful Jews, and unfaithful Jews. Where were they first condemned? At first, in Jacob himself, the father of all who was also called Israel. Jacob means "Supplanter"; Israel means "Seeing God". When he returned from Mesopotamia with his sons, an angel struggled with him, bearing the person of Christ; and while they wrestled, though excelling greatly in strength, he appeared to succumb to him, and Jacob prevailed. So also did the Lord Christ succumb to the Jews: they prevailed when they killed him. He was conquered with great strength: where he was conquered, there he conquered for us. What does it mean: where he was conquered, there he conquered for us? Because from the place where he suffered, he shed blood, by which he redeemed us. Therefore it is written, Jacob prevailed over him. And yet Jacob himself, who wrestled, acknowledged the mystery. A man struggling prevailed against the angel; and when he had said to him: Let me go, the one who had prevailed said: I will not let you go unless you bless me. O great mystery! He blesses the one defeated, who liberates by suffering; that was then the entire blessing. What is your name? he said to him. He responded: Jacob. You will no longer be called Jacob, he said, but you will be called Israel. The imposition of such a great name is a great blessing. Israel is interpreted, as I said, "Seeing God"; the name of one, the reward of all. Of all: but the faithful and blessed, both Jews and Greeks. For the Apostle calls all nations Greeks, because among the nations the Greek language prevailed. Glory, he says, and honor—the words of the Apostle—glory and honor and peace to everyone who works good, to the Jew first and to the Greek; wrath and indignation, tribulation and distress, upon every soul doing evil, to the Jews first and Greeks. Good to the good Jews, evil to the evil; good to the good Gentiles, evil to the evil.

The lameness in Jacob prefigures the Jews not believing in Christ.

Let not the Jews exalt themselves, and say: Behold nevertheless Jacob is our father; he prevailed over the angel, and was blessed by the angel. We say: People of Israel, heed therein; you are not Israel; you are called, but you are not; the name errs within you, the crime remains in you. But he says to me: Behold Jacob my father, behold Israel my father; behold the name, where is the crime? Read there, find yourself there. For it is written there: And he touched Jacob's hip socket and it was withered, and he limped. Jacob, a single man, both blessed and lame. In what was he blessed, and in what was he lame? If you believed in Christ, recognize yourself as blessed; if you denied Christ, recognize yourself as lame; for you are of those of whom the Prophet says: And they limped from their paths. Whence were the holy women, to whom the Lord first revealed Himself rising again? Were they not from the Jews? Whence were the Apostles, who, even if they did not first believe the women announcing, nevertheless later heard Him, recognized Him rebuking, and clung to their master? Were they not from the Jews? Behold blessed Israel. But lame in many, blessed in a few; for this is the breadth of the hip, the multitude of the race. It does not just say: He touched the hip; but: The breadth of the hip. Where the breadth of the hip is, without a doubt, the multitude of the race. And what do I perceive? I recognize few grains, I marvel at the heap of chaff; but I see what is owed to the granary, what to the flame. And now let them listen, they still live; let them correct their limping, come to the blessing.