Sermon 229I

SERMON 229/I

TREATISE ON THE FOURTH DAY OF EASTER

Christ rising again showed the true flesh in which he had suffered.

The gospel readings about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ are solemnly recited in order. Today we heard that the Lord Christ showed His true flesh to His disciples, in which He had suffered and risen. They heard Him speaking, saw Him present, and even touched Him while He said to them: Touch, handle, and see that a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. For when they saw Him, they doubted and thought they were seeing a spirit, not a body. Therefore, whoever still thinks that the resurrection of the Lord was not bodily but only spiritual, may God forgive them, just as He forgave His Apostles; but if they do not hold onto error and change their thoughts, because they also heard and changed. And how great was His dignity, that even when showing Himself to them present in the body, He nevertheless strengthened them with the truth of the holy Scriptures! These are, He said, the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. Why? Was He not then with them and speaking to them? What then is: While I was still with you? Without a doubt, while I was still mortal with you, as you are. These are the words which I spoke to you, because it was necessary to fulfill all that is written about me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. Then He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. He is the one who up to this day opens the writings of life to us, the one who died for us.

The apostles, seeing the head, believed in the body; we, seeing the body, believe in the head.

But let us see what he said to them: "Thus it was necessary," he said, "for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Behold, the disciples both saw Christ after the resurrection, and heard with their own ears that this was foretold in the Holy Scriptures. We have not seen Christ present in the flesh; but we hear the Scriptures, by which they were also strengthened, read daily. And what did he say about the Scriptures? "That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." The disciples did not see this; they saw Christ speaking of the future Church. They believed what Christ said about what they did not see. They saw the Head; they did not yet see the Body; we see the Body, and believe about the Head. There are two, the bridegroom and the bride, the head and the body, Christ and the Church. He showed himself to the disciples, and promised the Church; he shows us the Church, and commanded us to believe about himself. The Apostles saw one thing, they did not see the other; and we see one thing, we do not see the other. Just as they believed about the Body from the present Head, so let us believe about the Head from the present Body. Shall we deny it? But the Truth itself, crying out, will not allow us to deny it. For we see the Church of Christ praising the name of the Lord from the rising of the sun to its setting. "Beginning," he said, "from Jerusalem." Thus it was done; for he said to them, "Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high, because I am sending you my promise from the Father."

The unity of the Church was marked by the gift of tongues.

So, as they were seated in the city, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, filled the disciples, they spoke in the tongues of all nations. One man spoke in the tongues of all nations, because the unity of the Church was to be among all nations. They were pierced in heart at this miracle by all. For the Jews who heard were amazed and believed; for they saw such a miracle done by Peter, in the name of Christ whom they had killed with their own hands, and pierced in heart they repented immediately. All their sins were forgiven to such an extent that even the very act by which Christ was killed was forgiven. The Jews themselves converted, I say; and those who once shook their unbelieving heads at the cross, were granted to hold that very head, Christ, in faith; so that thereafter their head would not be shaken, since He sits at the right hand of the Father and will not be moved forever. He will not return to miseries, He will not return to the cross, He will not return to death, but persists in that true blessedness. Therefore, those who killed Christ heard and were grieved; and the blood they shed in their rage and died, they drank in faith and lived. The faithful know what I have said, and these neophytes, because they have already drunk. Therefore, those who have not drunk, let them hasten and drink, so that their heart may be opened: for it is now closed. So, as it is written in the book, whose name is the Acts of the Apostles, which is read in these days: They were pierced to the heart, and many thousands of men were added to Christ.

Brothers, dispersed in persecution, preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Then, because of the necessity of the ministry, seven deacons were ordained, among whom Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, stood out. Having been ordained, the spirit of Saint Stephen could not be contained from the preaching of truth; he burned, sparkled, and ignited; until the Jews, filled with zeal due to the hardness of their hearts, cast a harsh stoning upon him, and made for us a martyr, the harvester of all martyrs. Therefore, with Stephen killed, the Church which was born in Jerusalem suffered persecution. According to the promise of the Lord, the foundations of the Church began to be lifted from Jerusalem: and persecution arose, and the brothers were scattered; for from one heap of fire, the burning logs scattered over the earth kindled wherever they went. Thus Judea was filled with the Gospel, Samaria was filled; and it went to the nations and reached the ends of the earth; not by migrating from the root, but by growing throughout the world we witness the Gospel being filled. Behold, we see, behold, we hold the faith diffused among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Let him deny who dares; it is not my words that hurt his ears, but the truth itself strikes the eyes of the deniers, closes their mouths; and what is written is fulfilled: "The mouth of those who speak iniquity is stopped."