Sermon 27

SERMO 27

SERMON ON PSALM 95
And from the words of the Apostle:
"He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills,"
"You say to me" and so on.

The house of God is all the earth singing a new song.

Just as a door leads into a house, so does the title of a psalm lead into understanding. It is thus prefaced: When the house was being built after the captivity. You ask what house; the psalm already indicates to you: Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Behold what house this is. When the whole earth sings a new song, it is the house of God. It is built by singing, founded by believing, raised by hoping, perfected by loving. Therefore, it is now being built, but it will be dedicated at the end of the age. Let the living stones gather to the new song, gather and be fitted together into the structure of the temple of God. Let them recognize the Savior, let them receive the inhabitant.

Christ came to the captives, not captured.

It is said what house it is. It must be said after what captivity. And this the psalm indicates to you. Follow a little bit: Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim his salvation from day to day. Declare his wonders among the nations, his glory among all peoples. For all the gods of the nations are demons. Behold under whose captivity the house was hidden. For from the first transgression of the first man, the entire human race, born with the obligation of sin, was possessed by the victorious devil. For if we were not held under captivity, we would not need a Redeemer. He came to the captives not as a captive. He came to redeem the captives, having in himself nothing of captivity, that is, of iniquity, but carrying our price in mortal flesh. For if he did not have mortal flesh, from where would there be blood in the Word to be shed for the captives? But he who came to our captivity in the likeness of sinful flesh, did not come with the flesh of sin. For it was the likeness of sinful flesh; true flesh, but resembling sinful flesh; true flesh but not flesh of sin. Therefore, he who came in this way, who was he? Proclaim from day to day. Behold who he was. From day to day he was, he was God from God, light from light. But the Word was made flesh, to dwell among us: hidden majesty, apparent infirmity, so that infirmity might die and majesty might be held.

Let the collector be reproved if he demands what is not due.

If, therefore, the entire world was held under captivity, it is well said: I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will show compassion to whom I show compassion. For if the whole world is under captivity, the whole world is in sin, the whole world is most justly destined for punishment, but partially freed through mercy, who can say to God: "Why do you condemn the world?" How is God the judge accused when the guilty world is condemned? You are guilty. If you consider what you owe, it is called punishment, nor is the collector justly blamed when the debt is demanded from you. The collector is to be blamed if he demands what is not owed. But when he demands what is owed, who will blame the collector, even if he expects the benefactor? He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills. You then say to me: Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will? O man, who are you to answer back to God? Consider who He is. Consider who you are. He is God, you are man. But do you seem to speak of justice, and is the source of justice dried up? If you speak justly, whence comes it to you? Or do you speak unjustly, and should remain silent. Either you speak justly, and you have it only from the fountain of justice. And who is the fountain of justice but God? First, therefore, lay the foundation of faith: Is there iniquity with God? Justice may be hidden from you, but iniquity cannot be there.

You are perhaps expecting me to tell you why He shows mercy to whom He wills, and hardens whom He wills? Are you expecting this from me, a mere man? If you are a man and I am a man, we both have heard: O man, who are you to answer back to God? Therefore, faithful ignorance is better than rash knowledge. God speaks to me through the Apostle, Christ speaks: O man, who are you to answer back to God? And I should be indignant, because I do not know the justice of God? If I am a man, I should not be indignant. Let me surpass being a man, if I can, and reach the source. But even if I reach it, I will not tell a man. Let him surpass being a man, and reach it with me. "And who," you ask, "is the one who can surpass man?" Therefore, does not the Apostle reproach some people and say: For when you say: I follow Paul, and I follow Apollos, are you not merely human? What did he want them to do, when he reproached them for being human? You are a man, you belong to Adam. Belong to the Son of Man.

In hope we were saved.

And perhaps he says to you: I will no longer call you servants, but friends; for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. But he said this to the disciples, to those Apostles, to them he said this. We should not be saddened because we are not yet such as they are. And yet how did he say this even to them: All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you? I think that he said this in hope, not as a reality yet. I think it was what he was going to do, not what he had already done. And how is it proven, as he says: I have made known to you, not: I will make known to you? Because some things in the Scriptures are said in the past tense which should be understood for the future. How are they said in the past tense when they should be understood for the future? They pierced, he says, my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones. It was not yet done, and what was going to be done was announced as if it had been done. He saved us through the washing of regeneration. But in another place, he himself says: We were saved in hope. Hope that is seen is not hope. We were saved in hope, we only say this of the past. And because we were saved in hope, not yet in reality, what we hope for is still to come. For now, we see and hold. But not yet reality, but hope. For who hopes for what he sees, he says? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. And yet we were saved, and yet we still hope and expect salvation, we do not yet hold it. So also the Lord to the disciples: All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. If this had already been done, why does he say in another place to them: I have much more to say to you, but you cannot bear it now? Surely, all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. But when he says: You cannot bear it now, and says: I have to tell you, he defers it, not takes it away. Hence, because of certain hope, as he knew without doubt that he was going to do it, with him it was counted as if done. And so he said: I have made known to you.

What cannot be seen in the time of faith will be seen in the time of sight.

As long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims from the Lord. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. As far as it is given to us, let us hold to faith, let us not doubt the justice of God. Let us not believe there is any iniquity within Him, lest we fall into a great abyss of impiety. And when we have held with perfect faith that there is no iniquity in Him, and if we do not see it now, that is, the equity which is with Him, let the journey end and we come to the homeland. It cannot be seen during the time of faith; it will be seen during the time of sight. For now we walk by faith, then by sight. What is it, by sight? Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He who loves me, He says, keeps my commandments, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him. And what will you give him? And I will show myself to him. This will be the sight, when He does what He said: And I will show myself to him. There you will see the equity of God, there without a code in the Word of law. Therefore, when we see Him as He is, our pilgrimage will already be over. Afterwards, we will rejoice with the joy of angels. This is on the way. What is the way? Faith is. Because of your faith, Christ was made deformed, but Christ remains beautiful. Beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, He will be seen after the pilgrimage. But now by faith how does He appear? And we saw Him, and He had no form or beauty, but His face was despised, and His position deformed, that is, His strength, His despised and deformed position, a man set in affliction, and knowing how to bear infirmities. The deformity of Christ forms you. For if He had not wished to be deformed, you would not have regained the form you had lost. Therefore, He hung on the cross deformed, but His deformity was our beauty. Therefore, in this life let us hold the deformed Christ. What is the deformed Christ? Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. This is the deformity of Christ. Did I say I know anything among you except the way? This is the way, to believe in the crucified. We bear the sign of this deformity on our foreheads. Let us not be ashamed of this deformity of Christ. Let us hold this way, and we will reach the sight. When we reach the sight, we will see the equity of God. And there will be no more saying: "Why does He come to the aid of this one, and not that one? Why was this one led by the governance of God to be baptized, but the other who lived as a good catechumen died suddenly, and did not reach baptism? And why did this one, who lived wickedly, as an adulterer, as a fornicator, as a player, as a hunter, fall ill, be baptized, and pass away, having his sin convicted, and his sin erased?" Seek merits, you will find none but punishment. Seek grace: O the depth of riches! Peter denies, the thief believes. O the depth of riches!

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God

Do you think we can examine what the blessed Apostle was afraid of? And when he observed such great depth and height, he trembled and exclaimed: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" For what had he said before, that led to this exclamation? He had said a matter where if one does not believe God, because there is no injustice with God, it will be judged unjustly. He was speaking to the Gentiles, he was speaking to the faithful about the Jews: "As you," he said, "did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy through their unbelief, so these also have now not believed in your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. For God has concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." This is what Paul said later. And what is this reasoning of the equity and justice of God, to conclude all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all? You seek the reason, I tremble at the height. "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" You reason, I marvel. You dispute, I will believe. I see the height, I do not reach the depth. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Will they indeed be explained? For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be glory forever. He rested, because he found, because he found admiration. Let no one ask me the reason for hidden things. He says: "His judgments are unsearchable," and you have come to search? He says, "His ways are past finding out," and you have come to investigate? If you have come to search the unsearchable, and investigate the past finding out, believe, for you have perished. To wish to search the unsearchable and to investigate the past finding out is like wishing to see the invisible and to speak the ineffable. Therefore let the house be built. When it comes to dedication, then perhaps the most open reason for these hidden things will be found.