Sermon 25

SERMO 25

SERMON ON THE VERSE OF PSALM 93:
"Blessed is the man whom you instruct, Lord,"
"And from Your law, You will teach him"

The Testament of God promised there, fulfilled here.

When we sang to God, we said to Him: Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach him from Your law. Therefore, God's Gospel sounded, Zacchaeus gave alms. Learn. For what law of God is better than the Holy Gospel? For the Law of the New Covenant, which when the Prophet was read, you heard: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will complete a New Covenant upon the house of Jacob, not according to the Covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them out of the land of Egypt. The Covenant was promised there, here it was delivered; promised by the Prophet, delivered by the Lord of the Prophets. That Covenant which is called old, read and see. The Law of God was given then also, read, or hear when it is read, and see what was promised there. There, the land of the earth was promised, a land flowing with milk and honey, but still the earth. Nevertheless, if we understand spiritually, when that land did not flow with milk and honey, it is another land that flows with milk and honey, the land of which it is said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living. For this indeed is the land of the dying. Are you seeking milk and honey? Taste and see how sweet the Lord is. His grace is signified by the name of milk and honey. It is sweet and nourishing. But this grace, which was figured in the Old Testament, is revealed in the New.

If you hope for a new inheritance, cross the land.

Finally, that law, for those who think carnally, and seek such rewards from God, and wish to worship God for the things promised there, deserved to hear from the apostle Paul that it begets into servitude. Why? Because it is understood carnally by the Jews. For spiritually understood, it is the Gospel. Therefore it begets into servitude. Whom? Those who serve God for earthly goods. When they have them, they give thanks; when they lack them, they blaspheme. For those who serve God for these things cannot serve with a true heart. For they observe those who do not serve our God. For they see them having what they serve God for, and say in their heart: "What profit is it to me that I serve God? Do I have as much as he who blasphemes daily? He prays and is hungry; he blasphemes and belches." He who attends to these things is a man, a man of the Old Testament. Therefore, he who worships God in the New Testament should hope for a new inheritance, not the old one. If you hope for a new inheritance, pass over the earth, tread on the heights of the mountains, that is, despise the pride of the arrogant. But when you have despised and trampled them, be humble, lest you fall from your height. Listen: Lift up your heart; but to the Lord, not against the Lord. All the proud lift up their hearts, but against the Lord. But if you wish truly to lift up your heart, lift it to the Lord. For if you lift up your heart to the Lord, He holds your heart, lest it falls to the earth.

Cast out of paradise, we lead bad days.

Blessed, therefore, is the man: Blessed is the man whom you instruct, O Lord. Behold, I speak, behold, I cry out, behold, I explain. Who listens to me? I know who listens to me: Blessed is the man whom you instruct, O Lord, to whom God speaks in the heart. And when I am silent, he is blessed whom you instruct, O Lord, and whom you teach from your law. What follows? We have sung thus far: And whom you teach from your law. That you may give him peace in the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked. He is the man who is instructed by the Lord, he is the man who learns from the law of God, who is given peace in the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked. Listen to what it means. These are the evil days. Are we not here, from the time we were expelled from Paradise, living in the evil days? And our ancestors mourned their days, and their ancestors mourned their days. No people have ever pleased themselves with the days they lived. Yet the days of the ancestors please the descendants: and again those days pleased the ancients, which they themselves did not experience, and therefore pleased them. For what is present has a sharp sense. I do not say, it is brought closer, but it touches the heart daily. Each year we often say when we feel cold: "It has never been this cold. It has never been this hot." Always "it is" by the one who makes it. But blessed is the man whom you instruct, O Lord, to give him peace from the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

A man carries his own war with him wherever he goes.

Evil days. Are these days evil, which the circuit of the sun causes? Evil men make evil days, and so it is almost the entire world. Among the crowds of evil ones, the small number of good ones groan. Let us turn back to the just ones. They are evil, and make evil days. What of the just themselves? Are they not in evil days? And within themselves - besides what they suffer from evil men among whom they groan - even within themselves, when they are, they should observe themselves, descend into themselves, and consider themselves well. They find evil days within themselves. They do not want war, they want peace. And who doesn’t? And although everyone does not want war and everyone wants peace, even the one who lives justly turns his eyes upon himself, and he finds war within himself. Ask me which war. Blessed is the man whom you instruct, Lord, and teach him from your law. Behold, a man asks me which war the just suffer within themselves. Teach him from your law. Let the Apostle speak: The flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And where do I cast away the flesh, if war resounds, if, which God forbid, the enemy rushes in? The man flees and brings his war with him wherever he goes. I do not say, if he is evil. Indeed, if he is good, if he lives justly, he finds in himself what the Apostle says: The flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. In this war, how are there good days?

Let us not seek good days on earth.

Therefore the days are evil. But let us be softened. What does it mean: "Let us be softened"? Let us not be angry with divine judgment. Let us say to Him: It is good for me that you have humbled me, so that I may learn your righteousnesses. You cast me out of paradise, you threw me out of blessedness. I am in hardship, I am in groaning. My groaning is not hidden from you. But it is good for me that you have humbled me, so that I may learn your righteousnesses. In evil days, I learn to seek good days. What are good days? Do not seek them now. Believe me, better yet believe with me, you will not find them. Evil days will pass, and good ones will come. But good ones will come to the good, worse ones to the wicked.

Indeed, I also ask you: Who is the man who desires life? I know, all your hearts respond to me: "For who is the man who does not desire life?". I add: And loves to see good days? You all respond: "Who is it that does not love to see good days?". You have responded well. You desire life, you desire good days. Surely when I was saying: Who is the man who desires life, every man responds to me: "I do". Who is the man who desires to see good days? Does not each of you silently say: "I do"? Hear what follows: Keep your tongue from evil. Now say: "I do". You seek forgiveness; now I find you. The past has passed. Has your tongue been malicious, have you been a whisperer, have you been an accuser, have you been a slanderer, have you been a reviler: all these things you have been, let these things pass with the evil days; do not pass away with the evil days. There is indeed something to hold onto so that you do not pass away. The affairs of men run like a river; evil days run like a river. Hold onto the wood, lest you be swept away. Behold the river runs: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of the flesh is as the flower of grass. It is cast down, it passes away, the grass withers, the flower falls down. To what do I hold? The word of the Lord remains forever.

Lift up your heart.

Therefore, refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no deceit. You who desired life or desire life and good days, turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace, which we all desire in this mortal life of flesh, and in this fragility of flesh, and in this most deceitful vanity. Seek peace, all of you. Seek peace and pursue it. Where is it? Where do I follow? Where did it pass? Where did it pass, that I might follow? It passed through you, but it did not remain in you. To whom am I speaking? To the human race, not to each of you individually, but to the human race. Peace itself passed through the human race. As it was passing, the blind man cried out in yesterday’s reading. And where did it go? First, see what peace is, and see where it went, and follow it. What is peace? Listen to the Apostle. He was speaking of Christ: He himself is our peace, who made both one. Therefore, Christ is peace. Where did he go? He was crucified, and buried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven. Behold where peace has gone. How do I follow it? Lift up your heart. Hear how you may follow. Indeed, you hear briefly every day when you are told: Lift up your heart. Think more deeply about this, and you will follow. However, listen more broadly, that you may follow true peace, your peace, the peace that bore war for you; peace, which when bearing war for you, prayed for the enemies of peace, and said while hanging: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. There was war, and peace was pouring forth from the wood. It was pouring forth, but then what? It ascended into heaven. Seek peace. And how do you follow it? Listen to the Apostle: If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Behold good days; let us desire them, let us live for this, let us pray for this, let us give alms for this.

It is necessary to think of the poor.

Now behold, by God's favor, it is winter. Consider the poor, how Christ is clothed when naked. When the Gospel was read, did we not all bless Zacchaeus, when Christ looked upon him intently in the tree to see Him passing by? For when would he have hoped to see Him dwelling in his house? When He said to him: "Come down, Zacchaeus, today I must stay in your house," I heard your groans of gratitude. It was as if you were all in Zacchaeus and welcomed Christ. Thus said all your hearts: "O blessed Zacchaeus! The Lord has entered his house. O blessed one! Could this happen to us?". Now Christ is in heaven. Recite to me, O Christ, the New Testament. Make blessed by Your law. Recite so that you know you are not deprived of Christ's presence. Hear Him who will judge: "When you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me." Each one of you expects to receive Christ sitting in heaven. Look upon Him lying under the porch, look upon Him hungry, look upon Him suffering cold, look upon Him in need, look upon Him as a stranger. Do so, you who are accustomed; do so, you who are not accustomed. Let doctrine grow; let good works increase. You praise the seed; bring forth the harvest. Amen.