Sermon 299C

SERMON 299/C

TREATISE ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL

Peter was the first of the apostles, Paul the last. Peter alone followed the Lord out of love even to danger.

The blessed apostles Peter and Paul were called at different times, and crowned on the same day. The Lord called Peter before everyone else, Paul after everyone else. Peter was first among the apostles, Paul was last: He brought them to one day, the first and the last. The most beautiful integrity is preserved when the last harmonize with the first. The apostle Peter wavered on the sea: Peter alone wavered, but he alone walked on the sea. He alone denied the Lord out of fear, but he alone followed the Lord out of love unto danger. The blessed John was there too, but he relied upon the friendship of the high priest; for John was a friend of the high priest, to whose house the Lord was taken. Peter followed out of love: weakness quivered, but love wept, and the weakness received pardon. Paul, however, first Saul, was even an enemy of Christ; he persecuted Christians very vehemently. When the first martyr Stephen the saint suffered, he was there; when he was being stoned, he guarded the garments of all those stoning him. It seemed too little to him if he were to stone with his own hands only; he was in the hands of all whose garments he kept. After this, when the most blessed Stephen was killed and first crowned – for his name in Greek indicates a crown – this very vehement enemy received letters from the chief priests to lead anyone he found following this path in chains to punishment. Therefore, he went to Damascus, raging, gasping for slaughter, thirsting for blood. He who dwelled in the heavens, according to the psalm, laughed at him, and the Lord mocked him. Why do you rage violently, about to soon endure suffering yourself? How little to the Lord Christ was it to save an enemy, to cast down a persecutor with a single voice from above, to raise up a preacher! Saul, he said, Saul, still Saul, why do you persecute me?

The song was Psalm 18.

How great the dignity, my brothers! Let us recognize the voice of the Lord. Who could still persecute Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven? But there the head reigns, here the members still labor. The blessed apostle Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, taught us what we are to Christ: “You, however,” he says, “are the body of Christ and members of it.” So then, the whole Christ is the head and members. Look at our body, take the likeness. If perhaps you are afflicted in a crowd, and someone treads on your foot, the head cries out on behalf of the foot. And what is it that it cries out? “You are treading on me.” “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” For when Saul was persecuting the evangelists, through whom the Lord was being carried to the whole world, the feet of Christ were being trodden upon by him; for in them Christ was going to the Gentiles, in them Christ was running everywhere. The future foot was treading on the feet of Christ: He who was to carry the Gospel of the Lord to the world was treading on what he was to become. How beautiful are the feet, says the Prophet, and the teacher himself recalls, of those who proclaim peace, who bring good news! This we also sang in the psalm: Their sound has gone out into all the earth. Do you want to see where Christ has reached through these feet? And their words to the ends of the earth.

Ananias is interpreted as a sheep. What it means: to divide food. Paul suffered more than he did, but with Christ providing strength.

Finally, the Lord speaking to Ananias, when He sends him to baptize Saul, heard from Ananias himself: Lord, I have heard about this man, how everywhere he persecutes your servants. As if he were saying: Why do you send the sheep to the wolf? For Ananias is a Hebrew word, which in Latin is interpreted as sheep. But concerning Saul, who was to become Paul, from persecutor to future preacher, the Prophet had foretold: Benjamin, a ravenous wolf. Where from Benjamin? Hear Paul himself: For I also am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. A ravenous wolf: In the morning consuming, in the evening dividing spoils; first consuming, then feeding. For already that preacher divided spoils, he knew what to give to whom: what nourishment to provide to the sick and weak, with what food to feed the strong. For dividing spoils, dividing, not casting indiscriminately, he was dividing the spoils and said: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal; as to babes in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not yet able, nor can you now. I divide, I do not cast indiscriminately. Therefore, Ananias had heard the name of this wolf, and he trembled in the hands of the Shepherd; but he was terrified by the wolf, yet consoled, strengthened, and preserved by the Shepherd. He heard incredible things about this wolf, but true and faithful from the Truth speaking. For what did the Lord reply to the trembling Ananias about the fame of Paul, what did He reply? Let it be now, this man is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. I will show him: it is the voice of one threatening, but preparing the crown. Hence, from persecutor to preacher, what did he endure? Perils in the sea, perils in rivers, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils among false brethren; in labor and hardship, in many vigils, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in deaths often, besides those things which come upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I do not burn? Behold the persecutor. Endure, suffer: you suffer more than you did; but do not be angry, you have received interest. But what did he regard when he endured such things? Hear elsewhere: For indeed, he says, our light affliction. Now all this is light, why? It works for us an exceedingly eternal weight of glory, not looking at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things that are seen are temporary; but the things that are not seen are eternal. Therefore he burned with love for eternal things, when bravely enduring evils, although bitter and terrible, yet temporary. Every punishment with an end is light, where an endless reward is promised.

The most solemn day of Paul's suffering. God found in Paul something to punish, He made something to crown. Saul from Saul. Paul, little one.

And yet when he was enduring, was it he who endured in himself and with himself, who did not fail? Indeed, I dare to say, he was not enduring by himself. And he did endure, because he wanted faithfully; he did not endure by himself, because the power of Christ dwelled in him. Christ was reigning, Christ was supplying strength, Christ was not deserting, Christ was running in the runner, Christ was leading to the prize. Therefore, I do no injustice when I say, he did not endure by himself. I say indeed, I say with confidence, and I confirm my words with the testimony of himself; I do not allow the holy Apostle to be offended at me when I recite his own words to him. Say, Paul, say, saint, say, Apostle; let my brothers hear you, because I have done you no wrong. What then does he say, comparing himself in labors to his fellow apostles? He did not fear to say: "I have labored more abundantly than they all." Here already I am answered: Certainly not by himself. Therefore, say what follows, lest this delay of mine be an inflation. "I have labored more abundantly than they all." Now you began to be angry with me: but he intercedes for me and in a certain way speaks to you. Do not be angry: "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," so then also speaking of his impending passion, of which today’s day is the most solemn, what did he say? "For I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day." He will award it: for there is one to whom he should award it. "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." What is awarded is due: but it would not be due if it were not given what was not due. Certainly, you hear now of the debt of God presuming, you hear now of Christ returning: hear through Paul himself giving what was not due. "I am not worthy," he says, "to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." Now consider what was due to him, whom you see now being prepared for a crown; first consider him, and see if you find him worthy of punishment for his deeds. "I persecuted the Church of God; which cross is he not worthy of? Which torments would be enough to punish him? "I am not worthy," he says, "to be called an Apostle. I know what was due to me: apostleship to me, who persecuted the Church of God!” From where then, Apostle? "But by the grace of God, I am what I am." O grace given freely! It found what to punish, but made what to crown. See what follows. "By the grace," he says, "of God, I am what I am." For I am not indeed worthy to be an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God; I expected punishments, I find rewards. From where is this to me? "Because by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all." Again, did you begin to lift yourself up? “Not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Well said, excellent, not Saul anymore, but Paul, not proud anymore, but little. Saul was the name for pride, because that tall king, and so much more enviable the higher he was, was called Saul, who persecuted holy David. From there this one had taken his name from Saul, Saul, a fitting name for a persecutor. What afterwards? Paul. What is Paul? Small, very small. Recall the word, you who know letters; recall also the habit, you who are not called liberals of books. Paul is small. After a little while I will see you, shortly I will see you: shortly, after a little while.

There was a hem in the garment of the Lord. He shares a day of suffering with Peter. The merits of Paul are gifts of God.

Therefore, behold Paul, once Saul, thirsty for blood and breathing out murders, but now Paul. I am the least of the Apostles; utterly the least, but most beneficial. Perhaps in the Lord's garment, this least one was the hem: this the woman touched, and she was freed from the flow of blood, in which there was a figure of the Church of the nations. For Paul, though small, was sent to the nations with salvation. Finally, know this, the woman herself, who touched the hem of the Lord, was unknown to the Lord, but the Lord's unknowing was a figure. What did He not know? And yet, because that woman signified the Church of the nations, where the Lord was not present in bodily presence, but was there through the disciples, where His hem might be touched, He said: Who touched me? And the Apostles: The crowds press upon you, and you say, who touched me? And He: someone touched me. The crowds press, faith touches. Brethren, be of those who touch, not of those who press. Who touched me? And someone touched me. Christ, similar to one unknowing, signifying: not lying, but signifying, what signifying? The people whom I have not known have served me. Therefore, say, Apostle, with impending passion, spender of effort, now claimant of the crown, say: For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. What would the fight avail without a following victory? You say you have fought, say whence you have won. Ask elsewhere. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I have finished my course. Have you finished your course? Recognize this: It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. Say another, I have kept the faith. You have kept and preserved it; but: Unless the Lord keeps the city, those who guard it watch in vain. Thus, to keep faith, He aided, He kept it in you, who said to your fellow apostle, with whom you share the same day of suffering, which you read in the Gospel: I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail. Therefore, make the claim, the reward is prepared. Say: I have fought the good fight, it is true; I have finished the course, it is true; I have kept the faith, it is true. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day. Claim what is due: your crown is ready, utterly ready: but remember that your merits are God's gifts.