Sermon 23B

Sermon 23/B

On Psalm 81:
God has stood in the assembly of gods

God is a faithful promiser.

To what hope the Lord our God has called us, what we now bear, what we endure, and what we expect, I do not doubt is known to your charity. We bear mortality, we endure infirmity, we expect divinity. For God wants not only to make us alive but also to deify us. When would human frailty dare to hope for this, unless divine truth promised it? But it has been promised not only by divine truth, as we have said, and because we are to become gods, not only has this been promised - and because it has been promised, it is certainly true, for neither such a faithful promisor deceives, nor is such an omnipotent giver prevented from fulfilling what he promised. However, it was too little for our God merely to promise us divinity in himself unless he also took on our infirmity, as though saying: "Do you wish to know how much I love you, how certain you ought to be that I will give you my divinity? I have taken on your mortality." Let it not seem unbelievable to us, brothers, that men could become gods, that is, that those who were men could become gods. What has already been granted to us is more unbelievable, that he who was God became man. And indeed we believe that has already happened, we expect the other to come. The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that he might make the sons of men sons of God. Clearly hold this, which I believe we have already spoken to your charity about, that he was not mortal from his own nature, nor are we immortal from our own nature - not from his, not from his essence by which he himself is God; but in another way from his own, because from his creation, because from what he made, from what he created: for the maker of man made himself man, so that man might become a recipient of God. And now we have this in faith, and in hope it is reserved for us, it will appear at the right time; those who now believe, though he does not appear, will rejoice. But those who were unwilling to believe while he had not yet appeared, when he has appeared, will be confounded.

The true God; gods made through adoption.

Therefore, let not the Christian mind shudder and become as if terrified when it is told to mock the gods of the nations and to worship and know the one God to be worshiped; for when it hears in the psalm, which we have just sung: "For God has stood in the assembly of gods." What is a synagoga? Since it is a Greek word, I think most of you know, but some do not. Synagoga in Latin is called "congregation"; so we have sung: "For God has stood in the congregation of gods." Why this? To judge the gods in the midst. Our God, the true God, the one God has stood in the synagoga of gods, certainly of many, not by nature gods, but by adoption, by grace. There is a great difference between the existing God, the God who is always God, the true God, not only God but also the deifier God, that is, so to speak, the deifying God, the God who is not made but makes gods, and the gods who are made, but not by a craftsman.

He who makes false gods falls far from the true God.

And because everyone who creates is indeed better than what he creates, now see which gods the pagans worship, and which God you worship. You worship God, who makes you gods; but they worship gods, whom by creating and worshipping they destroy so that they might themselves become gods, creating false ones they fall from the true one. And to those they create, they do not grant that they should be gods, but that they should be called what they are not. They themselves lose what they could be, and they do not give to them what they cannot be. The one who makes a false god offends the true one, and by making what he cannot, he does not become what he can. For he himself, if he wishes, becomes a god, not such as he worships, but such as he makes whom he worships. So what do men want: to become gods, or to make gods? Indeed, it seems more powerful to them if they make gods, than if they become gods. But even if they could make [gods], will it be because he is called such? To whom you assign the divine name, he will be called a god; but he will either be wood or stone or gold, or whatever else it is. Indeed, you, oh impious man, wish to make a god whom you do not make, but you can shape an idol and assign it a name. It will not be what you call it, but it will be what he made whom you do not invoke. For God made wood, God made stone, gold, silver; you from that stone, which God made, wish to make a god. You do not grant it what you made, nor do you take away what he made.

"If it is wood, it is not God."

Therefore, what you did, you did not do: for if I ask you what you did, you will answer "a god"; he whom you made answers better than you. For in a certain way we can even question those things that do not have a soul and sense, so that they do not perceive being questioned, but nonetheless they present a form by which they report, so to speak, to our senses what they are. For example, you made a wooden god. Surely, if it is a god, it is not wood; if it is wood, it is not a god. And yet you respond that you made a god; but I, removing your wooden part, question the wood itself. But do not think me foolish, because I question the wood—what if I were to question it?—look: it is not the voice that questions the soul, but the eyes question form. The look of that wood and its material, my sight questions. And lest human sight be deceived, my touch also questions it. And if you think this too little, your god can be questioned by an axe, which was made wood by my God. In all these questions it answers me that it is wood, which you say is a god, without its voice, yet more faithfully than your voice.

Man is better than the image made by him.

You say God lies, but you are convicted by the very one you made. Nor because you are convicted by it, will it be better than you; even if you lie, it does not lie, you call it god, it calls itself wood, it will not be better than you. Not for you to have a reason to want to worship something better. You feel, it does not feel; you hear and it does not hear; you see and it does not see; you walk and it does not walk; you live and I cannot say: It is dead, because it never lived. You are better than the one you made; worship the one better than you, who made you. It is an insult to you to be like the one you made. What sort of thing should you worship? You get angry at someone cursing you if they say: "Be like this," and yet you worship what you detest being, and by worshiping you become somewhat similar, not that you become wood and cease to be human, but you make your inner man somewhat like the thing you made outwardly. For God made for you, as it were, eyes for the mind, and you do not want to see the truth. God made for you, as it were, understanding for hearing, and you do not want to understand justice. Furthermore, if our inner man did not have a sense of smell, there would be no reason for the apostle to say: We are the sweet aroma of Christ in every place. If that inner man did not have a mouth, the Lord would not say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Therefore, the inner man has everything - God gave it -, but it does not want to use them, and wants to become like the image it formed, about which the prophet says: They have eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear, noses and do not smell, mouths and do not speak, hands and do not operate, and so on. And see how it concludes: Let those who make them become like them, and anyone who trusts in them. How can men become like dumb images? But according to this similarity that we commend: if the inner man becomes foolish in a way, he becomes somewhat similar to the image and, losing within himself the image of the one by whom he was made, he wants to take on the image of the one he made. For why did the Lord say: He who has ears to hear, let him hear, unless there are some who have ears and do not hear?

"Let the maker judge by his works."

Therefore, let not your heart be troubled, because God stood in the assembly of gods; in the midst, however, He discerns the gods. For discerning in the midst, He says certain commands; those who despise these commands do not wish to be what He said we should be. And some will charge themselves: <" Why distinguish, if all are gods? For why indeed distinguish, if all are gods? Except because there are those who listen, and those who scorn. For there are those who give thanks, and those who are ungrateful, and they are distinguished, but by Him who knows how to distinguish. Let no one wish to distinguish who is made, let Him distinguish who made; let the Creator judge His works, who cannot err when He judges. But by giving His Spirit He also makes men judge, not by themselves, not from themselves, not by their nature, not by their merit, but by His grace and by His gift. He says, "We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. And if we have the Spirit of God, not only do we discern ourselves, but also from idols.

He who worships an idol does an injury to God the Creator.

Truly, brothers, men are to be grieved who do not distinguish themselves in this way, not to be praised who do distinguish themselves, unless perhaps a man is to be praised who knows it is very important to distinguish between himself and a stone. How would he be, however, if he thought he was what a stone is! And would that he progressed thus far! He makes himself better than a stone, to which, if he were similar or if he made himself similar - for he will never be: however much he might follow his own work, he will not destroy the work of God in himself - if therefore he made himself similar, by thinking himself similar, I do not say: he would be doing himself an injury - for perhaps he thinks little of his injury, and rightly such a man thinks little of his injury -, this I say which should move him: he does an injury to God. By comparing himself poorly, he becomes sacrilegious towards Him by whom he was made: for man was made in the image of God. If therefore you would be sacrilegious or rather would be called so by public laws, by doing an injury to the image of the emperor, what will you be in doing an injury to the image of God? What is worse: to cast a stone at the image of a man, or to make the image of God a stone? Therefore let us dismiss these people as too dead, because, even if they can be aroused, they cannot be aroused by us. Yet we should not therefore despair about them, because we cannot arouse them: for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

About idols inhabited by deities.

But we must distinguish ourselves from the deities of their stones, woods, gold, and silver, because there are people who believe they can defend themselves with some reason, when they say: "We know the images are worthless, but we do not worship them themselves." And when you ask: "What then do you worship?" they reply: "The deities of the images. We indeed adore what we see, but we worship what we do not see." What are these deities? Let us hear our God speaking through the prophet: Because all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens, where demons are not worthy to dwell. The prophet mocked demons in one manner and mocked images in another manner. How did he mock the images? "The idols of the nations are silver and gold." He did not want to say stone and wood, but what they hold in high regard, what they consider precious, he presents for ridicule: indeed silver and gold, but still the work of human hands. What did man make there? Did he make them to be gold? Did he make them to be silver? God made this. So what did man make? That they have eyes and do not see. Therefore, man made in the god he made what in himself he would not wish to have been made by the one who made him. He made a blind god, and he would not wish to be made blind by God. So what then? Because he named gold and silver, precious metals, and he chose to ridicule what they hold in high regard, does that differ at all from what he mocked? Gold indeed differs from wood - gold is more precious than wood - but as for having eyes and not seeing, they are equal. The utility or brilliance may differ, but the blindness is equal.

"To be a companion of demons."

Thus, those idols are mocked in one way, being without soul, without sense, without life; but in another way, those which they worship as great, that is, demons, when it is said: "All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens." And the apostle mocked the idol differently: "We know," he said, "that an idol is nothing;" but he commanded the demons to be avoided differently, saying: "What the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to become partners with demons." He did not say: "I do not want you to become partners with idols." You would fear perhaps being what you could never be, being a partner of a wooden idol, lest you be thrown into the fire together; fear being a partner of demons, lest you be thrown into the eternal fire together. Pay attention, brothers, to what I say. Being a partner of an idol, even if you wish, you cannot; but a partner of demons, if you wish, you will be, if you do not wish, you will not be. For to all the partners of the devil and his angels it will be said in the end: "Depart into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." It seems to me, brothers, that I am distinguishing somehow in the midst of gods, but not I: the Word of God, whether it is treated, sung, or read, has the power and potency of discerning.

Allies of demons are to be avoided.

Someone from the crowd may say to me, "Far be it from me to seek out demons, and not rather to detest them. I utterly detest and flee and curse them." Truly, that is a good voice, a good profession. But what if you have a headache and seek a sorcerer? What if you have a dangerous case and desire a soothsayer? These are vessels of demons. Why do you seek the vessels of those whom you detest? If you speak the truth, I will recognize it by your deeds. Your profession seems certain before the temptation is present. Recognize who is speaking to you: for Satan will never speak to you through an idol, but through a wicked man whose heart he possesses: For he operates, as the apostle says, in the children of disobedience. Therefore, when you start to hear, "Take care of yourself, consult yourself; there is someone who you could question: he will tell you all truths; there is someone who can commend your case, who can commend... †arnum ...your own: <day> will choose for you to begin the business," then see the devil speaking in the form of a man, whom he has already lured into his company. And if you do not wish to be a companion of demons, avoid being a companion of demons. For you will be a companion of Christ, not to an equal majesty, but to one inheritance, as the apostle says: Heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ.

Tolerance must never be lost in adverse circumstances.

But then why do men seek the companionship of demons? By losing patience: Woe indeed to those who have lost patience. Who does not know that you are in distress, pressed by affliction, tossed by weakness, consumed by decay, harassed by the snares of the enemy? So be it. These things are true, they are troublesome, they oppress, they crush, they wear down. What then? Were you called by Christ to pleasures? I think God would have rightly said to you if He had said: "Endure: for you are a man, made mortal by your will, by my law." Indeed, our very nature first sinned, and hence we carry what it is to be born. Let us bear our condition. The Creator says: "I will recreate you; those whom I made mortal, I will recreate immortal. Bear your condition, that you may receive your possession." God speaking to man, I think because it would rightly say these things: "Bear, endure; it is decay, it is diseased matter; endure the cutting physician: let all the rot penetrate, let all that was badly conceived burst forth." How much do men suffer under human physicians! They are bound, cut, burned, as long as it pleases him who promises uncertain health, as long as it pleases him who did not make you, as long as it pleases man in dealing with man, and endures all things. It is not enough that he endures the cutting one, he begs him to do it. Do you not think you are being purified, then, when you endure tribulation? Do you not believe Him who said: For gold and silver are tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation? Endure therefore what the physician applies to the sick, what the goldsmith does to purify gold.

"Do not be surprised that you see the world condemning Christian times."

For this world is like a craftsman's furnace. In the goldsmith's furnace, there is both straw and gold and fire; so in this world, there is both the unbeliever and the believer and temptation. The unbeliever is straw, the believer is gold, the fire is temptation. These three are in a narrow place; yet the place is so narrow that all three keep their properties: the fire to burn, the straw to be consumed, the gold to be purified. Do not marvel, therefore, that you see the world full of scandals, inequities, corruptions, oppressions, blaspheming men, criticizing Christian times, because these things rush violently. Do not be frightened by these blasphemies and this criticism: the straw burns; indeed, they say these things with articulate and seemingly fiery words. Do not marvel at the shining straw when it burns: shortly after, it will be ash. It blazes, crackles, emits smoke. O gold, be silent and be purified. The straw burns in its blasphemies, you be purified from your impurities.

Those things which men have built with great pomp now fall.

"For indeed many evils exist and many increase, since the time when the Christian era began." This indeed is not readily conceded to the unlearned. Let them read the evils of earlier centuries in their own writings; let them read of the greater wars of their ancestors; let them read of the devastations of regions; let them read of the captivities of nations, with alternating success now from here, now from there, eagerly seizing the kingdom. There were also famines and plagues among the ancients: let them read if they have the time; but if they do not have time to read, why do they have so much time to talk? Nevertheless, we confess that certain things happen more frequently, through the failure of matters and the worse condition of the state, those things which were once built with great pomp now fall into ruins and decay. The pagan marvels at the fall of things made by human hand, and he himself wishes to fall, being made by the hand of God. Consider, my brothers - I will speak more freely from this place, where the Lord gives you confidence to preach His truth: for no one's persona is to be received, not of any man, but of this very age, especially since now the psalm rebukes thus: How long will you judge unjustly and show respect to the wicked? , distinguishing between gods and gods; therefore we, who are terrified, terrify and speak as commanded - think, recollect who in times of luxury constructed theaters and amphitheaters. Were the times better because of more licentious entertainments, because of the looser reins of indecency, because it was easier for anyone to do what wickedness they liked? Indeed, those dens of iniquity are... Consider what is done there, and see when the times were better: when those things were being built, or when they are falling?

Many philosophers condemned wicked behaviors.

We ask them that, if they are angry with us, they read their own authors. Let them see whether their own philosophers have approved these disgraceful actions for them, or have laughed at them, or have forbidden them, or have accused them. Let them choose the best among their own, and first recognize their own vices in them before they come to the grace of our Christ. How many things have been said by their own authors against the luxurious, how many things against the prodigal, how many things against those who squander their resources to deserve statues, and who, so that they may be made of stone, want to be covered in rags! Let them read these things among their own: there is no need for them to desire to learn their writings from us, because we, if they love them, teach them indecently and perhaps more decently forget them. Nevertheless, as much as we can remember, they have criticized many such things which these people diligently practice. And because they lack the means, wealth, liberty, and prosperity for these trifles, they accuse Christ, ungrateful to the teacher who comes in as if to children playing badly, and with the severity of his strength, as it were, takes away their clay balls. †cellas He shook the glass objects, with which they even tormented themselves while playing, out of the hands of the weeping children, but, if they were willing, they could be healed. Let these things go as they go, let them go as it has been foretold: thus the promise of God is fulfilled.

The good and the wicked, now mingled together, will be separated in the end.

Flee from evil, grasp the good: the time of the winepress is coming. Just as olives were shaken by various winds on freer branches, in the beginning times luxuriating in the freedom of trifles: in the hanging olive, oil and lees are mixed. These two must be separated by a proper distinction, and pressing is needed. A psalm is inscribed for the winepresses, and its text speaks nothing of the vat, nothing of the press, nothing of the baskets; whatever it speaks pertains to the human race. You hear the name winepress: pay attention to what kind of winepress. The human race must be led from a certain freer mixture to certain tribulations, to certain pressings; one must lean towards the threshing, must place weights. Among the threshings and pressings, you see more abundant luxuries, you see more grasping greed, you see more unbridled lusts: lees run through the streets. You reproach these and say: "Behold, even in Christian times, greater plundering occurs, and graver insolences are exerted upon men." The lees are black, foul, useless, running through the public. Oh, if you could have eyes, from where you might see even the oil flowing into twins! You notice the multitude of adulterers: why do you not notice the multitude of sacred virgins? You notice people fornicating: why do you not notice those who abstain in mutual consent with their wives? You notice people with great greed, receiving others' property without any shame: why do you not notice those who, with great mercy, give their own without any insanity? Many evil rich people displease you: let so many good poor people please you, because both those rich people were made by dire iniquity and these poor people by pious will. Why do you focus your eye only on the lees, to accuse the pressings and refuse to be in the press? Be the oil that is separated inwardly from the lees, not what is emitted outwardly from them. Say with certain oil: I found tribulation and pain, and I called upon the name of the Lord; say with certain oil: It is good for me that You have humbled me, that I may learn Your statutes. Why is it that you see some blaspheming in the pressings, others giving thanks in the pressings, some dark, some bright? Why this, except that what is sung for the winepresses is being fulfilled? Therefore, do not blame Him who comes to press, because He comes to discern; rather recognize the time of discernment, and you will not have a tongue of deception.