Sermon 245

SERMO 245

On Easter Days

The Apostles did not believe that Christ had risen.

And today the resurrection of the Lord was recited from the holy Gospel. The Gospel according to John was read. We heard things that we had not heard in the other books of the Gospel. Indeed, the proclamation of truth is common to all, and all have drunk from one source: but in the proclamation of the Gospel, as I have often reminded your Charity, some have all, some three, some two, some alone have placed. Therefore, what we heard according to the Gospel of John, that Mary saw the Lord, and the Lord said to her: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father, only the evangelist John recounts. Hence it must be spoken to your Holiness. Seeing the linen cloths in the tomb, they had believed the Lord had not risen, but had been taken away. John himself (for he calls himself the one whom Jesus loved) when he heard the women announcing and saying: They have taken away my Lord from the tomb, he ran with Peter, and looked into the tomb, saw only the linen cloths, and believed. What did he believe? Not that he had risen, but that he had disappeared from the tomb. The following words attest to this. For it is thus written, as we just heard: He looked, saw, and believed: for they did not yet know the Scriptures, that he must rise from the dead. Therefore it appeared what he believed: what was not of faith, he believed: he believed, but he believed falsely. The Lord then appeared to him, drove away the false, instilled the true.

Let us believe Christ to be God and man.

However, that which usually moves the reader and the listener who is neither curious nor negligent is how it is said: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father." Here, let us see, with the Lord himself helping, what is said. For this moves us: what does it mean, "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father"? For when did he ascend to the Father? As the Acts of the Apostles indicate, on the fortieth day after his resurrection, which day we are going to celebrate in his name: then he ascended to the Father; then the disciples who touched him with their hands, were led by their eyes. Then the angelic voice sounded: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." If, therefore, he ascended to the Father then, what do we say, my brothers? Mary could not touch him while he was standing on earth, and she could touch him while he was sitting in heaven? If she could not touch him here, how much less could she touch him there? What then is: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father"? For the words sound as if he were saying, "Touch me then, when I have ascended; before I ascend, do not touch me." Oh Lord, you are here, and I do not touch you; when you ascend, I will touch you? Therefore, if before he ascended to the Father, he recoiled from human touch, how did he present himself to the disciples not only to be seen but also to be handled, when he said: "Why do you think these things in your hearts? See my hands and my feet: handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." Also, that unbelieving disciple, Thomas, touched the pierced side, and exclaimed: "My Lord and my God!" When he touched him, Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father. Or perhaps some foolish person might say: before he ascended to the Father, men could touch him; women, however, could only touch him when he had ascended to the Father? This thought is absurd and that judgment is perverse. Precisely what Mary heard, the Church hears. Let all hear this, all understand, all do this. What then is: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father"? Because you see me, you think I am only a man; you still do not know that I am equal to the Father. Do not touch me as such, do not believe only in a man, but understand the Word as equal to the Creator. What then is: "Do not touch me"? Do not believe. What should you not believe? That I am only what you see. I will ascend to the Father, and then touch me. I ascend for you, when you understand me as equal. For when you think of me as lesser, I have not yet ascended for you.

Of the Canaanite woman touching the Lord.

However, to touch, to believe to be, I think we can easily understand from that woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment, and was made whole. Remember the Gospel: the Lord Jesus Christ was going to visit the daughter of the synagogue ruler, who was first reported to be sick, later dead. While he was going, behold, a woman came from behind, who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, and in vain trying the physicians who could not heal her, had spent all her resources. And she said in her heart: If I touch the hem of his garment, I will be saved. To say this was already to touch. Ultimately, hear the judgment. When she was made whole according to her faith, the Lord Jesus Christ said: Someone touched me. And the disciples: The crowds press against you, and you say, Who touched me? And he: Someone touched me; for I know that power has gone out from me. Grace proceeded to heal her, not to diminish him. Therefore, the disciples say, The crowds press against you; and you felt one person? And he: Someone touched me; those press, this one touched. What is it, those press, this one touched? The Jews afflict, the Church believed.

Mary, figure of the believing Church.

According to this understanding, by which we see the woman touched, which is to have believed, thus it was said to Mary: Do not touch me; I will ascend, and touch. Then indeed touch, when you understand: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word indeed was made flesh, the Word remains uncontaminated, unblemished, immutable, and whole. But because you see only man, you do not see the Word; I do not want you to believe in the flesh and forsake the Word. The whole Christ should appear to you, because he is equal to the Father in the Word. Therefore, he says, do not touch now: because you do not yet see who I am. Therefore, the Church, whose figure Mary bore, should hear what Mary heard. Let us all touch, if we believe. He has now ascended to the Father, sits at the right hand of the Father. The entire Church confesses this today: He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father. This is heard by those who are baptized: this they believe before they are baptized. Therefore, when they believe, Mary touches Christ. The understanding is obscure, but sound: closed to unbelievers, it is open to the knocking of faith. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is both there and with us; both with the Father and in us; and he does not depart from him, nor abandon us: and he teaches us to pray, as a master; and he hears with the Father, as the Son.