Sermon 293A

SERMON 293/A

On the Birthday of Saint John

The speech was delivered spontaneously and on the journey.

Since the Lord wished on this day to restore to your Charity our voice and presence, and He did this not according to our arrangement, but according to His will, we give Him thanks with you, and we render to you the service of speech, which is our ministry, in which it is both fitting and proper for us to serve you. It is yours, dearest ones, to accept with charity whatever dispensation of the servants of God, and to give thanks to Him with us, who granted us this day to be with you together.

John surpasses the other Prophets in many excellences.

So then, about whom shall we speak today, but about the one whose birth is today? Therefore John the holy, born of a barren woman, the precursor of the Lord born of a Virgin, was made the saluter of his Lord from the womb, the announcer after the womb. The barren woman who could not give birth, the Virgin who had no means to give birth; the barren woman begot the herald, the Virgin the judge. But the Lord Jesus Christ himself, coming to men from the womb of the Virgin, had sent many heralds ahead. All the Prophets were sent ahead by him, but he himself spoke in them, who came after them. When therefore the Lord had sent many heralds before himself, what so great merit did this one have, what did he possess more of such great excellence, whose birth is commended to us today? For neither is this without the sign of some greatness, that the day of his birth should not be hidden, just as the day of his Lord's birth is not hidden. We are ignorant of the days when other Prophets were born; it was not permitted not to know of John's. This too showed his great merit, because the others foretold the Lord, and desired to see him but did not see; and if they saw in the spirit, they saw him as future, but they were not here to see him as present. The Lord himself says this about them to his disciples, because many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear. Was it not he who sent them? But in all there was a desire, if it could be, to see Christ here in the flesh. But since they preceded him in dying, just as they preceded him in being born, Christ did not find them here, but nonetheless redeemed them into eternal life. And to know what kind of desire there was to see Christ here, remember that old man Simeon, to whom the Spirit of God had announced no small good news, that he would not depart from this world until he had seen Christ. Christ was born: he recognized him as an infant in the hands of his mother, took him, held him in his hands, whose divinity bore him up; and holding in his hands the infant Word, he blessed God, saying: Now you dismiss your servant, O Lord, in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.

John, who was preferred before, was not greater than Christ. Christ, younger in age than John, was greater in majesty.

So then, other prophets did not see; Simeon saw the infant: John recognized and greeted him in the womb, proclaimed and saw him as a youth. Therefore, he is more excellent than all the others. Hear the testimony of the Lord about him: he preferred him to himself, no one else. He was very great, for there was no one greater than he except Christ. Therefore, the Lord himself says: among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. And to place himself before him, he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. He referred to himself as lesser and greater: lesser in being born, greater in dominion; lesser in age, greater in majesty. For the Lord was born after him, but in the flesh, but from a Virgin; however, in the beginning, the Word was before him. It is a great matter: after John, Christ, and yet, John through Christ. For all things were made by him, and without him, nothing was made. Why then did John come? To show the way of humility, so that the presumption of man might be diminished, the glory of God might be increased. Therefore, John came, great, commending one greater; John came as the measure of a man. What is the measure of a man? No man could be more than John: whatever was more than John was already more than man. For if the measure of human greatness had been terminated in John, you would not have found a greater man; and yet, you found a greater one. Confess God, whom indeed you could discover greater than man. John was a man, and Christ was a man: but John was only a man, Christ God and man. According to what he is God, he made John; according to what he is man, he was born after John.

John, the teacher of humility.

But still, see how greatly that forerunner of his Lord, both God and man, humbles himself. Although no one greater has arisen among those born of women, he is asked whether he himself is the Christ. He was so great that people could be deceived. There was doubt about him, whether he himself was the Christ; and it was doubted to the extent that he was questioned. Now, if he were a son of pride, not a teacher of humility, he would present himself to the erring people, and not only act so that they would think it, but he would already accept what they thought. Would it have been too much for him, to wish to persuade people that he was the Christ? If he tried to persuade and was not believed, he would have remained abject and dejected, and held in contempt among people, and condemned before God. But he did not need to persuade people; he already saw they thought this: he would accept their error and increase his own honor. But let this be far from the faithful friend of the Bridegroom, that he should wish to be loved by the bride instead of Him. He confessed that he was not what he was not, lest he lose what he was. John was not the bridegroom; for, when questioned, he said this: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Indeed, I baptize you with water for repentance: but he who comes after me is mightier than I. How much mightier? Whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. See how much lesser he would be, if he were deserving; how greatly he humbles himself if he says this: He is mightier than I, whose shoe’s latchet I am worthy to unloose; for he had said that he was worthy to bend at his feet. But now how high he commends Him, when he says he is unworthy even of His feet, or rather of His shoes! He comes therefore to teach the proud humility, to announce the way of repentance.

The voice before the Word.

A voice came before the Word. How does a voice come before the Word? What is said about Christ? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. But to come to us, the Word was made flesh, to dwell among us. Therefore, since we have heard the Word of Christ, let us hear the voice of John. When it was said to him: Who are you? he replied: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. So if Christ is the Word, John is the voice, so that the Word might be spoken to us, John was taken as the voice; and before the Word came to us, the voice preceded it. And so Christ was before John in eternity; and yet he should not be born before, unless John and the voice preceded the Word to us. There will be a time, therefore, when we shall see the Word as it is seen by the angels; now, however, let us advance in the Word, so that we may abide with him forever.

He must increase, but I must decrease. This was shown even through the births themselves of the Word and the voice. The Word was born on the eighth day before the kalends of January, from which the day begins to increase; the voice was born before the Word of God, when the day begins to decrease. He, he says, must increase, but I must decrease. And their very sufferings showed this: John was diminished, struck in the head; Christ increased, was raised up on the cross. Therefore, brethren, let us celebrate the birth of the voice in honor of the Word: not in drunkenness and carousing, as the Apostle says, but whatever you do, do all in the name of God, and the God of peace will be with you.