Sermon 265A
Sermon 265/A
On the fortieth of the Ascension of the Lord
Christ must be the author of our speech.
The holy and solemn day of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ has dawned today: Let us exult and rejoice in it. Christ descended, the underworld was opened; Christ ascended, the heavens were illuminated. Christ on the wood, let the furious mock; Christ in the tomb, let the guards lie. Christ in the underworld, let the resting be visited; Christ in heaven, let all nations believe. Therefore, He Himself should be the author of our discourse, who is the giver of our salvation. We speak to you of no other than Him who was speaking to all of us just now from the Gospel, and about to ascend to the Father, was saying to His disciples: These things I have spoken to you, while being present with you. However, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have said. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go to My Father; for My Father is greater than I.
Christ God above us and likewise man among us.
You know, brothers, that our Lord Jesus Christ was made what we are for us, but nonetheless remained in that form in which He is equal to the Father. For we believe that the Son of God became a participant in our weakness, but was not, however, deprived of His majesty. Therefore, our very faith is: God above us, and the same man among us. But because for our sake in the form of assumed humility He performed many things here, so that He might hide the substance of divinity, which was concealed in Him, and reveal only the human, which appeared in Him; those who could not discern and understand this have founded heresies. Among these, besides others, are the Arians, who contend that God the Father is greater than God the Son. Let the Catholic truth briefly and clearly respond to them.
God is great not by mass but by virtue.
For we ask them, on what grounds do they declare the Father greater than the Son. If they say it is by size, that is, by some bodily bulk, just as we might say, for example: That mountain is greater than this one, or: that city is greater than this one; we respond to them from the Gospel, because God is Spirit, and bodily things cannot be compared to spiritual things. For then it might be said that something is greater or lesser, when the form of the body is defined in both. But God is neither extended by bulk, nor distinguished by the features of a body, nor confined to places, nor restricted by narrowness, nor bounded by any limits: for God is great not by bulk, but by power. Therefore let the unworthy phantasms of thoughts, which impregnate the minds of the faithful with their imaginations, cease and rest; let also the familiarity of the flesh completely depart: when we think of God, no form of flesh should appear before our eyes.
The Father is not greater than the Son by age.
But again they say that the Father is greater in time, that is, in age; for they assert that in no way can it happen that he who begets and he who is begotten are coeval. For they say it is necessary that he who generates must first exist, from whom he who is born can later exist. And where does this come from, except from carnal thoughts? For they have learned this from the custom of human generation; nor do they consider that among men, where the son is weaker in age, there also the father is weaker in old age: and indeed, the son, who is younger by birth, whatever he grows and strengthens, the father grows old and weakens. Therefore, if they consistently insist that the Father is older, they must confess that the Son is stronger. Surely, if it is absurd to think this of God, let them finally desist from commending divine secrets with human understanding.
Example of light.
But it is not enough to refute them in this way unless we can demonstrate something in visible creation where the one who is born is coeval with his generator. Therefore, to dispel these shadows of error, let us bring forth one lamp for comparison, which emits a tremulous light with the wick of burning linen. Surely, the flame burns: the flame is in substance, the radiance is in form; yet the radiance is born not of the radiance but of the flame: and still, the flame was never without its radiance, even though the radiance is born of the flame; but from the moment that first small flame began, it surely arose with its coeval radiance. Therefore, the radiance is coeval with the flame from which it is born, and the radiance would indeed be coeternal if the flame were eternal.
In what manner Christ said he is inferior to the Father.
But far be it from us that by this very lowly comparison we seem to have done injury to our Lord Jesus Christ. We must therefore show in the Gospel where the Son Himself or in what form He stated that He is inferior to the Father, having become obedient unto death, or where He showed Himself equal to the Father: "I and the Father are one." For they themselves say to us in opposition: "Behold, the Son Himself said: The Father is greater than I," nor do they understand that He said this while placed in the flesh, when He was not only made lesser by God the Father, but, as the divine Psalm speaks: "He was made a little lower than the angels." If they are willing to hear only this, why do they not pay attention to what He Himself again said: "I and the Father are one"? Next, let them consider from what context it is said: "The Father is greater than I." For when He was about to ascend to the Father, the disciples were saddened because He was leaving them in bodily form; and He said to them: "Because I said to you: I go to the Father, your heart is filled with sorrow. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I." This is to say: for this reason, I withdraw from your eyes this form of a servant, in which the Father is greater than I, so that, with the form of the servant removed from the eyes of the flesh, you may be able to see the Lord spiritually.
Other words of Scripture.
Therefore, because of the true form of a servant which he had taken, he rightly said: "The Father is greater than I," because God is certainly greater than man; and because of the true form of God, in which he remained with the Father, he rightly said: "I and the Father are one." He ascended to the Father because he was a man, but he remained with the Father because he was God, for he came forth to us in the flesh, and did not depart from the Father. The Word, which was made flesh so that it might dwell among us, ascended, I say, to the Father; and he promised his presence, saying: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." According to the form of God, the apostle John says of him: "He is the true God, and eternal life." According to the form of a servant, the apostle Paul says of him: "Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." According to the form of God he speaks of himself: "I and the Father are one"; according to the form of a servant he says: "My soul is sorrowful unto death." Whence comes that confidence? Whence comes that fear? The former voice indeed from the property of the substance, the latter from the participation in the assumed infirmity.
Short conclusion.
Therefore, dearest ones, prudently understanding these things from the holy Scriptures, while we read, let us discern; but, while we discern, lest perchance we err, let us seek understanding from the Lord Himself.