Sermon 229N

Sermon 229/N

TREATISE ON THE SABBATH OF THE OCTAVE OF HOLY EASTER

Peter is asked three times about his love for Christ and the sheep.

Behold, the Lord, appearing again to the disciples after the resurrection, asks the apostle Peter and compels him to confess his love three times, who had denied him three times out of fear. Christ was raised in the flesh, and Peter in spirit; for when Christ died by suffering, Peter was dead by denying. The Lord Christ is raised from the dead; He revived Peter with his love. He asked for the love of the confessor and entrusted his sheep to him. For what could Peter offer Christ in that he loved Christ? If Christ loves you, it benefits you, not Christ; and if you love Christ, it benefits you, not Christ. However, wanting to show where men ought to demonstrate their love for Christ, the Lord Christ clearly revealed it by entrusting his sheep. Do you love me? I love. Feed my sheep. This once, this a second time, this a third time. He responded with nothing else but that he loved Him; the Lord asked nothing else, whether he loved Him; He entrusted nothing else to the respondent but his sheep. Let us love, and we love Christ. For Christ is always God, a man born in time. As a man from man, He appeared as a man to men; He performed many miracles as God in man. He suffered many evils as man from men; He rose after death as God in man. He lived on earth for forty days as a man with men; He ascended into heaven before their eyes as God in man and sits at the right hand of the Father. We believe all this, we do not see; and we are commanded to love the Lord Christ, whom we do not see; and we all cry out and say: I love Christ. If you do not love your brother whom you see, how can you love God whom you do not see? By loving the sheep, show you have the love of the Shepherd; for the sheep themselves are also members of the Shepherd. That the sheep might be His members, He deigned to be a sheep; that the sheep might be His members, as a sheep He was led to be sacrificed; that the sheep might be His members, it was said of Him: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. But great is the strength in this Lamb. Do you wish to know how great the strength appeared in this Lamb? The Lamb was crucified, and the Lion was conquered. See and consider by what virtue the Lord Christ rules the world, who by His death conquered the devil.

When the Lord was questioning Peter, He was questioning the Church.

Let us love Him, then, let nothing be dearer to us than Him. Do you think, then, that the Lord does not question us? Did Peter alone deserve to be questioned, and not us? Whenever that passage is read, every Christian is questioned in his heart. Therefore, when you hear the Lord saying: Peter, do you love me? consider it as a mirror, and regard yourself there. For what other thing did Peter symbolically represent but the Church? Therefore, when the Lord was questioning Peter, He was questioning us, questioning the Church. For to know that Peter bore the figure of the Church, recall that passage of the Gospel: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. One man receives. As to what the keys of the kingdom of heaven are, He Himself explained: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. If it was said to Peter alone, did Peter alone do this? He passed away, and he is gone; who, then, binds, who looses? I dare to say that we also have these keys. And what can I say? That we bind, we loose? You also bind, you also loose. For the one who is bound is separated from your fellowship; and when he is separated from your fellowship, he is bound by you; and when he is reconciled, he is loosed by you, because by you also God is petitioned for him.

When Christ entrusts the sheep to the shepherds, the entire number of shepherds is reduced to the body of one shepherd.

For we all love Christ, we are members of Him; and when He entrusts the sheep to the shepherds, the entire number of shepherds is reduced to the body of one shepherd. For that you may know the entire number of shepherds is reduced to the body of one shepherd, certainly Peter is a shepherd, surely a shepherd; Paul is a shepherd, indeed surely a shepherd; John is a shepherd, James is a shepherd, Andrew is a shepherd, and the other Apostles are shepherds. All the holy bishops are certainly shepherds, indeed surely so. And how is it true: And there shall be one flock and one shepherd? Furthermore, if it is true: There shall be one flock and one shepherd, the whole innumerable number of shepherds is reduced to the body of one shepherd. But there you are also, you are members of Him. Saul, once a persecutor, later a preacher, was trampling those members, when the head was shouting for His members, breathing slaughter, deferring faith. His whole onslaught was laid low with a single voice. With which voice? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Could Saul even throw a stone to heaven, where Jesus sits? Suppose Saul had been in the crowd when Jesus was hanging on the wood. Suppose Saul had said with the crowd: Crucify, crucify; and he had been among those who shook their heads in insult, and said: If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross. What could he do to the one sitting in heaven? What harm could a word do? What harm could a shout do? What harm could wood do? What harm could a lance do? Nothing could be done to Him anymore, and yet He shouted: You persecute me. When He shouted: You persecute me, He was indicating that we are His members. Therefore, the love of Christ, whom we love in you; the love of Christ, which you also love in us, through temptations, through labors, through sweats, through anxieties, through miseries, through groans, will lead us where there is no labor, no misery, no groan, no sigh, no annoyance, no one is born, no one dies, no one fears the wrath of the powerful, by clinging to the face of the Almighty.