Sermon 265B

Sermon 265B The words referred to all who had been exiled. For, as manifested by the same Spirit, the consolation given to Paul was given to all who were in similar circumstances. The world was exiled or, we can say, living abroad [was exiled]. We were exiled in Babylon, yet do not cease to exclaim with a profound voice of the heart: "Lord, save us, we perish!" They blame us as exiles, and we pray as though dwelling in this place. Here, we perish unless we receive assistance from heaven. Nonetheless, deceived by pride, we wished to change words rather than complain. Driven by the arrogance of the mind, not only to complain but also to contradict. To justify the behavior itself of those who exiled us. We, exiled, sojourn on earth, and thus it shall be necessary for us to understand ourselves as strangers and pilgrims. So, "when will I come and appear before the face of God?" O, where will I be able to sojourn as not to offend anyone? Those at home as enemies, to those abroad as exiles. Nonetheless, hope has soothed me with its promise. This exile, upon which we have relied for a time, will not last long. Delivered to our motherland, there will be no longer muttering or gnashing of teeth. Then we will see face to face because all arrogance and forgetfulness will have been eradicated.

On the Fortieth Day of the Ascension of the Lord

Why does Christ spend forty days with the disciples after the resurrection?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, after He rose from the dead, wanting to show with the most certain and faithful witness that He had risen in the same body in which He hung on the cross, was with His disciples for forty days, entering and leaving, eating and drinking. For thus it was necessary that the doubting be strengthened, and the truth of the Gospel be preached to posterity, and it be shown to believers that their flesh would have future incorruption and immortality in that eternal blessedness, and that it contradict those wicked men who feel and teach otherwise than truth about the Lord. For He ascended to heaven in that same body in which He, having died, visited the underworld. He placed that very dwelling of His now-immortal flesh in heaven, which He had fashioned for Himself in the womb of His virgin mother.

Ignorant people are not to be despised but taught.

Some indeed find it strange what the Lord says in the Gospel: No one has ascended to heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. They ask how it is said that the Son of Man descended from heaven when he was conceived in the Virgin's womb here. Those who say these things should not be scorned, but taught; for I believe they ask piously, but they are not yet able to understand what they seek. For they do not know that divinity itself so assumed that humanity that one person became God and man; and that humanity so adhered to that divinity that one Christ became the Word, soul, and flesh. And therefore it was said: No one has ascended to heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

The Son of God and the Son of Man, Christ.

For each substance imparts to the other its own special name, both the divine to the human and the human to the divine; so that the Son of God is called man, and the Son of Man is called God, and both of them are one and the same Christ. For our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to take up man, so that He did not disdain to call Himself the Son of Man, as we read in many places in the Gospel. For He Himself said to the blessed Peter: "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?" To which Peter, inspired by the same rock who is Christ, responded: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Behold, there stands that psalmist whom David signified: now he appeared, for He touched the hearts of His own, and elicited the sound which He wished to be known to all. And speaking to the Jews of His coming at the end during His passion: "From now on you shall see," He said, "the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven." And in another place: "You shall see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." When He says "ascending," He shows that He is in heaven; when He says "descending," He also demonstrates that He will never be absent from the earth, just as He promised His disciples when He was to ascend into heaven, saying: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age."

Christ is the life of the world.

Thus did God love the human race, that He gave His only begotten Son for the life of the world. For unless the Father had delivered life, we would not have life; and unless that life itself had died, death would not have been slain. Indeed, the Lord Christ Himself is life, of whom the evangelist John says: This is the true God, and eternal life. He also, by the Prophet, threatened death with death, saying: I will be your death, O death; I will be your sting, O hell! As if He were saying: By dying, I will slay you, I will consume you, I will take away all your power, I will rescue the captives you held. You wished to hold the innocent; it is just that you lose those you wished to hold.

We have been made heirs of eternal life.

Therefore, life died, and life remained, and life resurrected, and by killing death with his death, he conferred life upon us. Death was therefore swallowed up in the victory of Christ, who is eternal life; therefore he swallowed up death, as the Apostle says, so that we might be heirs of life. Through Christ, therefore, we have been made heirs of eternal life, through whom we have been freed from everlasting death, of whom we do not doubt we are also members. On the fortieth day, that is today, the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, with the disciples watching and marveling; for while they were standing and conversing, suddenly a cloud received him, and he was taken from them into heaven.