Sermon 341A

SERMON 341/A

The Beginning of the Humility of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christ is humble because God became man.

We commend the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ to you, beloved brothers, indeed He Himself commends it to all of us. Consider how great a humility. The prophet Isaiah cries out: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass; the grass withers, the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. How he despised and rejected the flesh! How he preferred and praised the Word of God! Again I say, again consider, behold the rejection of the flesh: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass. What is grass? What is the flower of grass? It follows and says. Do you wish to hear what grass is? The grass withers, the flower falls. What of the Word of God? It endures forever. Let us recognize the Word, which endures forever; let us listen to the Evangelist praising the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; it was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. What was made in Him was life; and that life was the light of men. Great is the praise as of the eternal Word; high praise as of the Word of God abiding forever. And what thereafter does the Evangelist say? And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. If only this the Word of God did, that it became flesh, it would be incredible humility; and blessed are those who believe this incredible thing: for our faith consists of incredible things. The Word of God became grass, died, and rose again, God was crucified, these are incredible things; because your great sickness had become such that it could be healed by incredible things. For indeed did the humble physician come, found the sick man lying, shared His infirmity with him, calling him to His divinity; He became suffering in passions, and dying was hanged on a tree, so that He might kill death. He made for us food, which we might receive and be healed. Whence is this food, and whom does it nourish? Those who have imitated the humility of the Lord. You will not even imitate that humility: how much more the divinity? Imitate the humility, if you can. When? Whence? He, God, was made man; you, man, recognize that you are man. Would that you would recognize what He became for your sake! Recognize yourself for His sake; see that you are human, and yet you are so valued that God became man for your sake. Do not attribute this to your pride, but to His mercy; for our Lord God redeemed us with His blood, and willed that the price of our souls should be His blood, innocent blood.

Comparison between man and beast, and between God and man.

And what I had begun to say, brothers, if God were to humble Himself so much as to become man, who would demand more from Him? For you are not humbled to this extent, to be changed from human into beast; and yet what comparison is there? If you were humbled to this extent, to be changed from man into beast, you would not be humbled by as much distance as God was humbled. Indeed, a man made beast is something rational made irrational, yet mortal and mortal; for man is mortal, and beast is mortal; man is born, as beast is born; man is conceived, as beast is conceived; man is nourished and grows with bodily food as does the beast. How many things does he have in common with a beast! He has one single reason of the mind different, where the image of the Creator is placed. But truly God who became man, the eternal became mortal, He assumed flesh from the mass of our offspring without sin, was made man, was born, taking on what He might suffer for us. But behold, He has not yet suffered: now consider what He has made Himself for you, before He suffers. Is this humility small? God became man. O man, see that you are man. For your sake, God is man: and will you not acknowledge that you are man? Who do not wish to acknowledge that they are men, brothers, let us consider. Who do not wish to acknowledge that they are men? Those who justify themselves and blame God. Let a man suffer something hard or harsh in this life; he has nothing so much in his language as to reproach God and praise himself; and exclaiming in indignation of his tribulation, he does not confess his sins, but boasts of his merits, and says: God, what have I done to You? Why do I suffer this? God, what have I done to You? says man to God. Let God respond to him: You speak rightly: What have you done to Me? because you did nothing for Me, but all for yourself. For if you did anything for God, you would do what delights God: that is, to act for Him. But now, whatever you have done, you have done for yourself, because following your own will, you have despised His command. Clearly, if you understand thus, you speak rightly. For what can you do for God, to cry out: What have I done to you? He who throws a stone into the sky, does he throw it to the sky, or to himself? What you sent, and there it did not stick, and it returned to you; so if you throw all blasphemies at God, so all injuries, so whatever moves your sacrilegious and impious and proud mind, as you throw upward, so by the heavy weight they fall back on you.

It is necessary to examine the conscience. Flee to God.

What then were you going to do to God? However, you would be doing something to Him if you acted on His word; if you did what He commanded, you might rightly cry out: "What have I done to you?" And yet, examine your righteousness, scrutinize your conscience, enter your heart, do not cry out externally, look within, return to the innermost parts of your heart. See if you have truly done nothing wrong; see if you are suffering anything worthy for what you have done, in any situation of tribulation; for indeed nothing is owed to a sinner except the scourge of burning and eternal fire. You have forsaken your God, you have followed your own desires. What do you suffer when you are scourged? It is correction, not condemnation. If God scourges you in this life, He is not angry with you. Do not offend Him who scourges, do not provoke Him to spare you. You provoke Him by murmuring, and He lets you go. Flee under the scourge of the one who corrects; do not flee from the scourge, but under the scourge; where He strikes, run there. He indeed knows where to strike and where to find you; and it is in vain to try to hide yourself from His eyes, who is everywhere. Do you wish to flee from an angry God? Flee to a placated God; from Him nowhere but to Him. You thought you were fleeing from Him when you lifted your proud neck; humble it, and flee to Him. He scourges every son whom He receives. But do you disdain being scourged? Then disdain being an heir. A good Father educates you for the inheritance: good both when He spares and when He strikes, truly merciful in all things.