Sermon 335M

Sermon 335/M

SERMON OF ONE JUST MAN

He who wishes to be in refreshment, let him be just.

We celebrate today the day of the just dead, and they are not here. But if you want to know where they are, ask the reading which you heard first: "The just one, if he is taken unexpectedly by death, will be in refreshment." For where is refreshment in this world, which, when not full of tribulations, is full of temptations? For this world, whether it threatens or flatters, is to be feared. But let God be feared, and the world rather be despised, so that it may be avoided the more. Therefore, if we want to be in refreshment when death overtakes us, let us be just.

Perhaps someone says: It is much for me. For let us consider what is written: The righteous, if he is taken away by death, will be at rest, and when we seek who is righteous, the Psalm terrifies us: Every man is a liar. Let us hear the book of Wisdom: The righteous, if he is taken away by death, will be at rest; let us hear the Psalm: I said in my excess of mind: every man is a liar. Was Saint Domitian not a man? If, therefore, he was a man, and every man is a liar, how was he righteous, if he was a liar? Or how is he at rest, if he was not righteous?

Such and so great, who died for us, and we fear death?

Let us attend, therefore, beloved, we have these thoughts filled with witnesses. There is not a little refreshment in hearing the Apostle saying: For to this end Christ died that he might be Lord both of the living and of the dead; and: Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. He is just, he does not lose his own: we are certain because Christ was not a liar. Christ is man, and not a liar. How then is every man a liar? Because Christ is so man, that he is not only man. Unless he were both God and man, he would be a liar. Such and so great died for us, and do we fear death? He went before and rose again: we are his members and we follow the head.

Whatever a man is and has discovered, he has received from God.

For the Psalm itself consoles us: What shall I return to the Lord for all that he has given to me? He who said: I said in my excess: every man is a liar, a lying man gives thanks to the Lord, and finds nothing to return to Him for such great benefits, which he has received from Him. What indeed have we received from Him, when we seek what to return and do not find? We were not, and He created us; and there were no cattle, and He created cattle; furthermore, He made us in His own image: we were lost, and He sought us; He gave the death of His Son as a pledge to us, and promised us the life of His Son; He cleansed us from all our sins in the saving baptism, and because we incurred something living hereafter that would be forgiven, so that we might say: And forgive us our sins, He taught us; He cleansed all in the baptized, He cleansed all in the born-again living; He does not leave to die; He does not allow to die; I speak in sin, which is a malignant and eternal death; He advises, instructs, helps, forgives, liberates the called one. What shall I return to the Lord for all that He has given to me? What do you say, man? What do you want to give back? Whatever you find, you received from Him.

The one who lives by faith will come to the reward.

We will come, therefore, we will come, if we live by faith, for then we will be just because the just lives by faith; we will come, therefore, to that reward which will be equal for all. Children believe, they came at the first hour; adolescents believe, they came at the third hour; youths believe, they came at the sixth hour; the older believe, they came at the ninth hour; the elderly believe, they came at the last hour. They came at different hours and received the same reward. Thus the last became the first, and the first the last. What does it mean, the last first and the first last? Because what the first received, the last also received. What is this denarius? Eternal life. Why is it equal for all? Because there, no one lives more, no one less. Let us strive for this, trust in the Lord, avoid the way of temptation, and have the life of happiness.