Sermon 229L

Sermon 229

TREATISE ON THE FIFTH DAY OF HOLY EASTER

The faith to be praised is not that which mourns the dead in the tomb.

The reading of the Gospel today according to John recounted the Lord’s resurrection, and we heard that the Lord was sought by the disciples and not found in the tomb; this was announced by the women, who did not believe He had risen but thought He had been taken away from the tomb through theft. But two disciples came, John himself, the evangelist (for he is understood to be the one whom Jesus loved), and with him Peter, and they entered and saw the linen cloths alone, but no body; what is written about John himself? If you noticed: He entered, it says, and saw and believed. What you heard, he believed, is not praised faith; for both true and false things are believed. For if his faith was praised or commended in what was said: saw and believed, the Scripture would not follow saying: For they did not yet understand the Scriptures, that it was necessary for Jesus to rise from the dead. Therefore he saw and believed; what did he believe then? what did he believe if not what the woman had said, that the Lord had been taken away from the tomb? For she had said: They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and I do not know where they have laid him. They ran, entered, saw the linen cloths alone, no body; and they believed He had perished, not been raised. They saw He had been taken away from the tomb, believed the men had taken Him, and left. The woman stood and began to seek the body of Jesus with tears, began to weep at the tomb; they had less concern, stronger in sex, but lesser in affection. The woman searched for Jesus more because she first had lost Jesus in paradise; because through her death had entered, she sought life more intently. And yet, how did she search? As though for the body of the dead, not the incorruption of the living God; for she did not believe either that the body was not in the tomb because the Lord had risen. She entered and saw angels. Behold, the angels did not show themselves to Peter and John, and they showed themselves to the woman. Indeed, dearest ones, this is commendable, because the weaker sex sought more, what was first, as we said, lost. The angels see her and say: He is not here, He has risen. Still she stands and weeps, still she does not believe; she thought the Lord had perished from the tomb. She saw Jesus too: she doesn’t think it is Jesus, she thought it was the gardener, still seeking the body of the dead. If you, she said, have taken Him, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away. What need do you have for what you do not love? She said, let it be given to me. She was seeking the dead that she might believe in the living. Then the Lord called her by name. Mary recognized the voice, turned towards the Savior; and she responded to Him as herself: Rabboni, which is interpreted, Lord.

Faith, when praised, believes in Christ, the only-begotten of the Father, coeternal, equal.

What does it mean when it follows: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father? Go and tell my disciples: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. This indeed has no question. I ascend to my Father, because I am the Only Begotten; and to your Father, because you are adopted, and you all say together: Our Father who art in heaven. And my God and your God. Not mine in the same way as yours: mine indeed as God, because I became man; yours as God, because you are always men. According to this, God is the Father of Christ, because he became man; therefore he is his God, the God of the creature of the Only Begotten Word. Ask the Psalm: You are my God from my mother's womb. Before my mother's womb, my Father; from my mother's womb, my God. This, therefore, has no question. It somewhat disturbs due to less understanding what it means: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Did she not touch him on earth; could she touch him when he had ascended? What then is: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father? Recall, when he appeared to his disciples, and they thought he was a spirit, what did he say to them? It was read yesterday. Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet: touch and see. He said to the men: touch, before he ascended to the Father; and the woman could not touch until he had ascended to the Father? What is it then, so we may understand? Let it not be from us, so we may understand. Mary sought to see, looking for the body; we, so we may understand, desire his spirit. Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. What is: Do not touch me? Do not believe only this, do not fixate on the man; there is something greater, which you do not understand. You see me humble on earth: you touch me, and you remain on earth. Touch me higher, believe in me higher, believe in the Only Begotten equal to the Father; for when you understand me as equal, then I ascend to the Father for you. To touch with the heart is to believe; for the woman who touched the hem, touched with the heart because she believed. Indeed, he feels the one touching him and did not feel the pressing crowd. Someone touched me, said the Lord: Someone touched me, believed in me. And the disciples not understanding what it was, someone touched me, said: The crowd presses you, and you say: Who touched me? I do not know what to say: Someone touched me? The crowd presses, faith touches. Therefore, let Christ ascend to us, and let us touch him if we believe in him because he is the Son of God, eternal, coeternal, not from when he was born of the Virgin, but eternal. For he will make us eternal, not because we have always been, but because we will always be. He is coeternal, equal to the Father, without time, before all times, through whom times were made; before the day, day from day, who created the day. Believe thus, and you have touched. Touch thus, so you may adhere; so adhere, that you may never be separated, but with him remain in divinity, who for us died in weakness.