Sermon 244

SERMO 244

IN THE DAYS OF EASTER

The disciples believed the body had been taken from the tomb.

From the Gospel according to John, the resurrection of the Lord began to be recited today. We have heard, and with the eyes of faith, we have seen the affection of a pious woman towards the Lord Jesus. She was searching for Jesus, but still she was seeking Him as a dead man's body, and she loved Him as a good teacher. She did not understand that He had risen from the dead, she did not believe; and when she saw the stone removed from the tomb, she believed that the body she was seeking had been taken away, she reported the sorrowful news to the disciples. Two ran, one of whom was Peter, the other was John. For he is the one whom Jesus loved, certainly more than others: for He loved them all as the Lord. They ran to see if the woman was telling the truth, that the body had been taken from the tomb. They came, they looked, they did not find the body, and they believed. But what did they believe? What they should not have believed. Therefore, when you heard: And they believed, perhaps you thought they believed what they ought to have believed, that is, that the Lord had risen from the dead. This is not what they believed, but what the woman had reported. To know that they believed this, the Evangelist immediately added and said: For they did not yet understand the Scriptures, that He must rise from the dead. Where is faith? where is the truth so often attested? Did not the Lord Jesus Himself tell them several times before the passion that He was to be handed over, to be killed, and to rise again? He was still speaking to the deaf. Peter had already said to Him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He had already heard: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Such faith was absorbed in the crucified Lord. For so long Peter believed that He was the Son of God, until he saw Him hanging on the wood, until he saw Him affixed with nails, until he saw Him dead, until he saw Him buried. Then he lost what he held. Where is the rock? where is the firmness of the rock? The rock was Christ Himself, but Peter was from the rock. Therefore, the rock had risen, so that He might strengthen Peter: for Peter would have perished, unless the rock lived.

What that prohibition regarding touching the Lord means.

Afterwards, however, when the Lord said to the woman, "Mary," she turned and recognized Him, and called Him master: "Rabboni." The resurrection of the Lord was manifested to this woman. What then does it mean: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father"? A marvelous question in many ways. First, because He forbade Himself to be touched, as if it was harmful to be touched by the one touching. Then, giving the reason why He did not want and forbade Himself to be touched, He said: "For I have not yet ascended to my Father": as if He said: "Then you will touch me, when I have ascended to my Father." Was it forbidden to touch Him while He was placed on earth, and she could touch Him seated in heaven? For I said, What does it mean: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father"? I add more: When He rose, as He Himself says, and the other Evangelists, and we have already heard, when the holy readings were read, He appeared to His disciples; and when they thought it was a spirit, He said to them: "Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart? See my hands and my feet. Touch, and see." Had He already ascended? He had not yet ascended to His Father, and He said to His disciples: "Touch, and see." Where is "Do not touch me"? Here perhaps someone will say: He wanted to be touched by men, not by women. If He shunned a woman, He would not be born of a woman. Nevertheless, whatever this is that can raise any question, to say the Lord wanted to be touched by men before He ascended to the Father, and did not want to be touched by women; the evangelist Matthew says. For he tells that women met the Lord rising, among whom was also Mary herself, and held His feet. The question is confined in many ways, what it means: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father." All that I have said, I have spoken so that the difficulty of the question may be increased: you see it is strong, and almost insoluble. May the Lord help me to solve it. He who deigned to propose it, deigns to explain it. Pray with me for the result: ears to me, heart to Him. What He deigns to suggest to me, I will share with you. He who understands better, teach me: thus I am a teacher, that I may not be undocile. But whoever does not understand better, let him hear from me what I understand.

Touch signifies faith.

Lord Jesus, as we have heard and as it appears, the disciples thought he was a man, and according to this they measured their faith: they did not elevate it higher. They walked on earth with Christ. They knew what He had become for us; they did not know what He made us. He is Christ both maker and made. See the maker: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. See Him made: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We therefore see Jesus, but through the faith preached to us by the Apostles. What we now know, they did not yet know. I do not do them an injustice. I do not dare to call them ignorant: but yet I see them confessing their ignorance. They did not know, later they learned, what we now know. Christ as God and man, Christ as the creator of things and made within things, Christ as the creator of man and made into man, we know; they did not yet. Christ, as God, is equal to the Father: He is as great as He is: He is of such a nature as He is: He is the same as He is; He is not the one who is. He is the same as He is; because He is God; and He is God both omnipotent, and He is omnipotent; He is unchangeable, and He is unchangeable: He is the same as He is. He is not the one who is; because He is the Father, He is the Son. Whoever knows this ascends to the Father: he who does not know this, Christ has not yet ascended for him to the Father; he is still a child with Him, he is still on earth with Him, he is not yet equal to the omnipotent for him. He ascends for the one advancing, with the one advancing He ascends. What then does it mean: Do not touch me? Touch signifies faith. For touching, one approaches him who is touched. See that woman who suffered a flow of blood. She said in her heart: I will be healed if I touch the hem of His garment. She approached and touched, she was healed. What does it mean, She approached and touched? She came near and believed. So that you may know she touched by believing, the Lord said: Someone touched me. What does it mean: Someone touched me; except, Believed in me? And to let you know that touching me means believing in me; the disciples answered and said to Him: The crowds press upon You, and You say, Who touched me? If you walked alone, if the crowd had made space for you to walk, if no one was near you, you would rightly say: Someone touched me. The crowd presses upon you, you mention one touching. And He repeated: Someone touched me. For He had first said: Who touched me? and then: Someone touched me. You know, because you say: The crowds press upon You. Someone touched me. This crowd knows how to press, it does not know how to touch. It is evident that He wanted to signify this by saying: Who touched me? Someone touched me. To believe that this touch means the faith of the one touching, or rather the approach of the one believing. What then does it mean: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father? What you see me, that is what you think: I have not yet ascended to the Father. You see me as a man, you think I am a man: I indeed am a man, but your faith should not rest here. Do not touch Me in such a way as to believe only I am a man. For I have not yet ascended to My Father. I am ascending to My Father, and touch Me: that is, progress, understand that I am equal to the Father, and then touch, and you will be saved. Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father. What you see descending, what you have not yet seen ascending. For I have not yet ascended to My Father. I emptied myself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and being found in human form. This was crucified, this was buried, this was resurrected. That: Though He was in the form of God, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, you have not yet seen. What I have ascended to you have not yet seen. Do not, by touching the earth, lose heaven; by remaining in man, do not fail to believe in God. Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.

Arians and Photinians are refuted.

Let the Arian proceed: first let the Photinian proceed. We respond to Photinian: Do not touch. What does it mean, Do not touch? Do not believe in this way: Christ has not yet ascended to the Father for you. Let the Arian proceed. I, he says, believe Christ is God, but lesser. Nor has he yet ascended to the Father for you. When he has ascended to the Father, extend yourself, that you may touch: extend yourself, touch God. And I, he says, profess Christ as God; but of another nature, and of another substance; created, not through whom all things were created; made, not in the beginning the Word without time. Therefore you are still below; he has not yet ascended to the Father for you. Do you want him to ascend to the Father for you? Believe: When he was in the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. It was not robbery because it was by nature. Robbery is seized, nature is known. In the form of God, he did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. Thus he is born, and always born; and born, and always born, and born without beginning. What do you say, Arian? There was a time when the Son was not. Do you see that he has not yet ascended to the Father for you? Do not touch, do not believe in this way. There is no time between the Father and the Son. The Father begat, the Son was born: without time he begat, without time he was born, through whom times were made. Thus touch, and he ascends to the Father for you. The Word, but co-eternal with God: the Wisdom of God, but without which the Father never was. Your flesh must respond to you, and converse with you, speaking to you in the darkness: How was he born? The darkness speaks to you. Explain to me, you cry out: I cry out, explain to me. What do you want explained to you? Was he born, or not born? For he would not be the Son, unless he was born. So if he was born, there was a time when he was not. This is false: you speak of the earth, you speak from the earth. Then explain to me, he says, how he was born, if he always was. I do not explain, I do not explain; I cannot. I do not explain: but I set the prophet against you for me: Who shall declare his generation?