Sermon 293C
Sermon 293/C
On the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
John before Christ, the voice before the Word.
Throughout the Church of Christ, spread far and wide, today is celebrated the birth of John the Baptist, the friend of the bridegroom and the forerunner of the Lord: I owe a sermon to this solemnity, you owe attention, and we all owe devotion. For among those born of women, no one has risen greater than John the Baptist; he alone was surpassed by the one through whom he was created. A marvelous thing indeed happened, that he should precede Him by being born, without whose aid he could not have been born at all. Deservedly, this one is the voice, that one the word: for this one said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness"; about that one it was said, "In the beginning was the Word." A similar thing happens in our teachings, which are far diverse: a word is born in the mind, by which the voice of the speaker is formed; a voice is uttered from the mouth, by which the word becomes known to those who hear it. Thus Christ remained in the Father, through whom John, like all things, was created; John came forth from the mother, through whom Christ was to be known by all. The one was the Word in the beginning before the world; the other was the voice at the end before the Word. The Word is uttered after understanding, the voice after silence: so Mary believed by bearing Christ, Zacharias, destined to father John, was struck dumb. Accordingly, one was born from a youthful virgin, the other from an aged woman in decline; the word is multiplied in the heart of the thinker, the voice is consumed in the ear of the listener. Perhaps this also pertains to "He must increase, but I must decrease"; for every legal and prophetic announcement, emitted before Christ, like a voice before the word, extended up to John, in whom the final figures ceased; then, evangelical grace and the clear proclamation of the kingdom of heaven, whose end will not be, flourish and grow throughout the whole world.
As Christ grew, John diminished. Man without God can do nothing but sin.
The births of John and Christ, their sufferings indicated this. Indeed, John was born as the days began to decrease; Christ, as the days began to increase. The decrease of the former signified the beheading; the increase of the latter, the exaltation of the cross. There is, moreover, another somewhat more abstruse understanding, which the Lord reveals to those who knock, what should be understood by that which John said about Christ: "He must increase, but I must decrease." Whatever is human righteousness, as far as a man can advance, had been consummated in John; indeed, the truth said about him: "Among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist." Therefore, no man could be greater than this man; but he was only a man, whereas Christ was God-man. However, because in Christian grace this is particularly commended, this is learned, that no one should glory in man, but "he who glories, let him glory in the Lord," man in God, servant in the Lord, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Indeed, God in Himself is neither diminished nor increased: but in men, the more we advance in true piety, divine grace increases, human power decreases; until the temple of God, which is in all the members of Christ, is brought to that perfection, where, with every principality and power and virtue being nullified, God may be all in all. That John the Evangelist says: "He was the true light which lights everyone coming into this world"; this John the Baptist says: "We have all received from His fullness." Therefore, since the light, which is always complete in itself, is yet increased in the one who is illuminated, that one assuredly is diminished in himself, as that which was without God is abolished. For man without God can do nothing but sin: here, human power is diminished, as the divine grace that destroys sins prevails. The weakness of the creature yields to the strength of the Creator, and the pride of private love fails into public charity, with John proclaiming in our misery about the mercy of Christ: "He must increase, but I must decrease."