Sermon 361
SERMO 361
On the Resurrection of the Dead
The beginning of the discussion is taken from certain words of the Apostle.
We observe, when the Epistle of the Apostle was read, your commendable movement of faith and charity, as you have shuddered at men, who, thinking this life alone is common with beasts, and that after death everything of man ends, and there is no hope of another better life, corrupting the itching of evil ears, say: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Hence, let the beginning of our discussion be taken from this, and let this be, as it were, the hinge of our discourse, to which the other things that the Lord has deigned to suggest will be referred.
Questions for debate are proposed.
For our hope is the resurrection of the dead; our faith is the resurrection of the dead. Our love, too, is inflamed and kindled with desire by the preaching of things not yet seen, by the greatness of which our hearts are made capable of the blessedness that is promised to come, as long as we believe what is not yet seen: therefore our love itself also ought not to be occupied with these temporary and visible things, so that we hope to have something such in the resurrection, of the same kind, if we despise it now, we live better and are better, namely carnal pleasures and delights. Therefore, with the faith of the resurrection of the dead taken away, all Christian teaching falls away. However, with the faith of the resurrection of the dead established, there is not immediately security concerning the Christian soul, unless that life which is to come is distinguished from this life which passes. Therefore it must be proposed thus: If the dead are not raised, we have no hope of future life; but if the dead are raised, indeed there will be a future life; but the second question is, what kind it will be. Thus, the first discussion is whether there will be a resurrection of the dead; the second discussion is what kind of life the saints will have in the resurrection.
Those who say the dead do not rise are not Christians.
Therefore, those who say that the dead do not rise are not Christians: but those who think that the dead, when they have risen, will live carnally are carnal Christians. Therefore, whatever disputation exists against the opinion of those who deny the resurrection of the dead is against those who are outside, from whose number I do not think anyone is present here. Hence, our discourse might seem superfluous if it lingers too long, as we attempt to teach that the dead rise again. For a Christian who already believes in Christ should be led by the weight of authority, who by no means thinks the Apostle is lying. Therefore, it suffices that this person hears: If the dead do not rise, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain. He says, If the dead do not rise, neither did Christ rise. But if Christ has risen, in whom is the salvation of Christians, then it is certainly not impossible for the dead to rise: because he who raised his Son, and he who raised his own flesh, showed an example in the head for the rest of the body, which is the Church. Thus, a disputation about the resurrection of the dead could have been superfluous, so that we might already accept the one that Christians usually have among themselves, concerning what we will be like when we have risen, how we will live, what our affairs will be, whether there will be any or none; if there will be none, we will live idly doing nothing; or if we will do something, what will we do: then, whether we will eat and drink, whether there will be unions of men and women, or some simple and incorrupt life in common; and if so, what kind of life will that be, what kind of activity, what kind of figure of the bodies themselves. These are disputations of Christians, with the faith in the resurrection preserved.
Concern about overly carnal brothers forces one to dwell on the issue.
To this discussion, therefore, as much as can be either undertaken or put forward by men for men, such as either we are, or you are, I would already proceed if a certain concern about our very carnal brothers, and almost pagans, did not compel me to dwell somewhat longer on that question where it is asked whether the dead rise at all. For I believe no one here now is pagan, but all are Christians. However, pagans and ridiculers of the resurrection daily do not cease to murmur into the ears of Christians: "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." And what the Apostle said, underlying his concern and annexing it to this statement: "Evil communications corrupt good manners"; fearing these evils and bearing concern for the infirm, not only with a paternal, but also with a certain maternal love, we will say something even on this, as much as might suffice for Christians, because today all those who have gathered have been drawn by a greater devotion to the Scriptures. For no festival celebration of any particular day has called even theatrical crowds to the church of God today. For some are accustomed to gather not out of piety, but out of festivity. This consideration has made us speak first about the resurrection of the dead; and then, if the Lord gives the opportunity, about what the future life of the just will be like.
Against those who decide to live here as if nothing remains after death.
The Apostle says, "I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted from the chastity which is in Christ." But their minds are corrupted by such conversations: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Those who love these things, who pursue these things, who consider this life alone to be, who hope for nothing beyond, who either do not pray to God or pray to Him for these very things, for whom the discourse of diligence is burdensome, let them hear us say these things with great sadness. They want to eat and drink; for tomorrow they die. If only they truly thought that they would die tomorrow. For who is so mad and perverse, who is so much an enemy of his own soul, who, dying tomorrow, does not think that all things for which he labors will have ended? For it is written: "On that day all his thoughts will perish." Even if men take care in drawing up a will on the imminent day of their death for the sake of those they leave behind, how much more should they think of their own soul? Man considers whom he will leave behind, but he does not think of himself who leaves all these things behind. Behold, your children will have what you leave, you will have nothing, and all your thought is consumed in the legacy of those who will follow you, not where they will go after passing through. If only there were thought of death. But when the dead are carried out, death is thought about, and it is said: "Alas, poor man! He was such a person, he walked here yesterday;" or, "Seven days ago I saw him, he spoke with me about this and that; man is nothing." These things are murmured. But perhaps, when the dead are mourned, when the funeral is arranged, when the burial is prepared, when he is carried out, when the procession goes, when he is buried, these words thrive: but once the dead is buried, such thoughts are also buried. Those deadly cares return, he forgets whom he has buried, he thinks about the succession, he who is about to die; he returns to fraud, to plunder, to perjury, to drunkenness, to boundless pleasures of the body, I do not say when they will be exhausted, but as they are indulged, they perish; and, what is more pernicious, from the burial of the dead, the argument for the burial of the heart is assumed, and it is said: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
Against those who object that no one has returned from the dead.
They also mock the faith of those who assert that the dead will rise, saying to themselves: Behold, this one has been placed in the tomb; let his voice be heard. But it cannot be: I hear the voice of my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather. Who has risen from there? Who has indicated what happens in the underworld? Let us do good for ourselves while we live: but when we are dead, even if our parents, or loved ones, or relatives bring offerings to our tombs, they bring them for themselves, those who live, not for us, the dead. And this indeed Scripture also mocked, saying about some who do not feel the present goods: As if, it says, you set a feast before a dead man; and it is evident this does not pertain to the dead, and this custom belongs to the Pagans, not coming from the lineage and vein of the righteousness of our patriarchal fathers, for whom we read the rites were celebrated, but we do not read any offerings were made. This can also be observed in the customs of the Jews: for they did not retain the fruits of virtue from it, but they retained the antiquity of the custom in certain rites. And what some object from the Scriptures: Break your bread, and pour your wine over the tombs of the righteous, and do not give it to the unjust; it is indeed not to be discussed in this way, but I say that the faithful can understand what is being said. For it is known to the faithful how the faithful do these things religiously for the memories of their own; and because these things are not to be offered to the unjust, that is, the unfaithful, since: The righteous shall live by faith, this too is known to the faithful. Therefore let no one seek a remedy for the wound, and from the Scriptures attempt to twist a bond from which he ties a noose of death for his soul. It is clear how this is understood, and this celebration of the Christians is open and healthy.
Our faith must be aroused.
So then, as I began to say, let us consider this: because of people murmuring in the ears of the weak: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"; because they say: "No one has risen from there, I have not heard the voice of anyone, since my grandfather was placed there, or my ancestor, or my father; I have not heard the voice of anyone." Answer, Christians, if you are Christians: lest perhaps while you wish to be drunk among the people, you are reluctant to respond to corrupters. You have something to respond with; but you waver in the desire for pleasures and want to be engulfed and buried alive. The desire for drunkenness rises, and like a certain wave it rushes upon the soul, driven by the breath of one who persuades badly. Therefore, you suffer a great storm, you do not wish to respond to the corrupter, while you favor the one who offers the drink; but the wave of desire rises too high and it wants to overwhelm your heart like a ship. Christian, Christ is sleeping in your ship: wake Him up; He will command the storms to be still. For at that time, when the disciples were in the ship and Christ was sleeping, they signified that Christians fluctuate when the Christian faith is asleep. For you see what the Apostle says: "That Christ may dwell," he says, "in your hearts through faith." For according to the presence of His beauty and divinity, He is always with the Father; according to the presence of His body, He is now above the heavens at the right hand of the Father; according to the presence of faith, He is in all Christians. And therefore you fluctuate because Christ sleeps: that is, you do not overcome those desires, which are aroused by the breath of those who persuade badly, because faith sleeps. What does it mean that faith sleeps? It is dormant. What does it mean that it is dormant? You have forgotten it. Therefore, what does it mean to wake Christ? To wake faith, to remember what you have believed. Therefore, remember your faith, wake Christ: your faith itself will command the waves, by which you are troubled, and the winds of the perverse persuaders: they will immediately depart, everything will immediately be calm; because even if the bad persuader does not cease speaking, he no longer moves the ship, does not raise a wave, does not sink the vessel in which you are carried.
By which testimonies faith is confirmed.
What then are you doing raising Christ? What had that evil conversationalist said to you? What had that corrupter, corrupting good morals through bad conversations, said? What had he said? Surely he had said this: No one has returned from there, I have not heard my father, nor my grandfather; let someone return from there, tell what is done there.
You, now with Christ awakened in your ship, recalling your faith, respond to him and say: Fool, if your father were to rise again, you would believe; the Lord of all has risen, and you do not believe? For what reason did he want to die and rise again, except that we all might believe in one, so that we might not be deceived by many? And what would your father do, if he were to rise and speak, only to die again? Consider with what great power he has risen, he who now dies no more, and death shall no longer have dominion over him. He showed himself to his disciples and faithful followers: the solidity of his body was touched, when it was not sufficient for some to see what they remembered unless they also touched what they saw. Faith was confirmed, not only in the hearts but also in the eyes of men. He, who demonstrated these things, ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples, and the Gospel was preached. If we lie about these things, ask the whole world. Many promises have been fulfilled; many hopes have been realized; the entire world flourishes in the Christian faith. Even those who do not yet believe in Christ do not dare to detract from Christ's resurrection. There is testimony in heaven, testimony on earth; testimony from angels, testimony from the dead. What remains that does not proclaim it? And you say: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die!
But you have become sad about your dearly beloved who was buried, because you did not immediately hear his voice. He lived, he died; he used to eat, now he does not eat; he used to feel, now he does not feel; he does not partake in the joys and happiness of the living.
An example of resurrection drawn from seed.
Would you mourn the seed when you plow? If, therefore, there were someone so ignorant of things, who, when the seed is brought out into the field and cast into the ground, and the clod broken, is buried; if, therefore, there were anyone ignorant even of future things, who would mourn the wheat because he remembered summer and thought to himself, saying: "This grain, which is now buried, with how much labor was it reaped, carried in, threshed, cleaned, reserved in the barn, we saw its beauty and rejoiced; now it is taken away from our eyes; I see the plowed land, but I do not see the grain either in the barn or here": he would lament the wheat as if dead and buried, weep bitterly, looking at the clods and the land, not seeing the harvest: how he would be laughed at by anyone unlearned, but not in that matter; unskilled indeed in other things, but skilled in that matter which he unlearned mourner would lament disgracefully? And what would those who knew say to him, if by chance he was mourning because he knew none of these things? "Do not be sad; this which we have buried indeed is no longer in the barn, it is not in our hands: we will come to this field, and it will delight you to see the appearance of the crop, where now you mourn the nakedness of the plowing." He who knew what would come from the grain, would even rejoice in the very plowing: but he, indeed faithless or rather foolish, and, to speak more truthfully, inexperienced, would perhaps first mourn, but believing when experienced, would depart consoled, and would hope for the coming harvest with the experienced.
Every creature bears witness to the resurrection.
But the harvests are seen every year; however, there will be one final harvest of the human race at the end of the age. This cannot be shown to the eyes now; but an example was given of the one principal grain. The Lord himself says: "If the grain remains as it is, and is not put to death, it will remain alone," speaking of his own death, because the resurrection of those believing in him will be manifold. An example was given of one grain, but such an example as all might believe who would wish to be grains. Though indeed every creature speaks of the resurrection, if we are not deaf: from which we should infer what God will do with the human race at the end, since we see so many similar things daily. The resurrection of Christians will happen once, the sleep and awakening of animals is daily. To sleep is similar to death; to awaken is similar to resurrection. From what happens daily, believe what will happen once. The moon is born, grows, is perfected, wanes, is consumed, is renewed every month. What happens monthly with the moon, that is what will happen once in totality in the resurrection. Just as what happens daily with the sleeping, so with the moon monthly. From whence do the leaves go, from whence do they return to the trees? Into what secrets do they depart, from what secrets do they come? It is winter, certainly now trees appear similar to those dried-up, but in springtime they become green. Is this happening for the first time now, or was it the same last year? Indeed, it was the same last year. It is interrupted by autumn in winter, returns through spring in summer. Therefore, the year returns in its time, and men, made in the image of God, when they die will they perish?
Other certain examples.
But someone who looks less carefully at the changes and restorations of things might say to me: Those leaves have decayed, new ones are born. However, the one who considers well sees that even those which decay, contribute to the strength of the earth. For whence does the earth become enriched, if not from the decay of earthly things? Those who cultivate the field observe this; and those who do not, because they always live in the city, certainly know from the gardens near the city how even the most contemptible refuse of the city is saved with what care, by whom they are even bought at a price, where they are carried. Certainly, things already deemed contemptible, exhausted of all utility, might be thought so by the inexperienced. And who deigns to look at dung? What man shudders to look at, yet takes care to preserve. Therefore, that which seemed consumed and discarded returns to the richness of the soil, the richness into sap, sap into the root; and what passes from the earth into the root moves invisibly into strength, is distributed through branches, from the branches into buds, from the bud into fruit and leaves. Behold, that which you shuddered at in the decay of dung, you marvel at in the fruitfulness and greenness of the tree.
Objection that the body turns into ashes.
I do not want you to oppose me with the objection you are accustomed to: The body of the buried dead does not remain whole; for if it did remain, I would believe in resurrection. Therefore, do only the Egyptians believe in resurrection, because they diligently take care of the corpses of the dead? For they have the custom of drying out bodies and rendering them almost like bronze: they call them Gabbaras. Therefore, according to these people, who are ignorant of the secret depths of nature, where everything remains safe for the Creator, even when they are removed from mortal senses, only the Egyptians rightly believe in the resurrection of their dead, while the hope of other Christians is limited? For often, when tombs have been opened or exposed either by age or by some non-sacrilegious necessity, bodies have been found to have decayed, and people who love corporeal appearances have sighed deeply and groaned, saying in their hearts: Will this ash ever regain that form of beauty, be restored to life, be restored to light? When will this happen? When will I hope for something living from this ash? You who say this see only ash in the tomb: consider your own age, if you are, for instance, thirty, fifty, or more years old: in the tomb there is ash of the dead, where were you fifty years ago? Where were you? The bodies of all of us, who now speak or hear, will be ash in a few years, and a few years ago they were not even ash. Therefore, He who was able to create what did not exist, will He fail to repair what did exist?
The Lord Himself is a witness to us.
Therefore, let the murmuring of those who speak ill and corrupt good morals with evil conversations cease. Set your feet firmly on the path, firmly: so that you do not forsake the path, not to remain on the path, but as it is said: Run so that you may obtain. Let Christ always flourish in the heart, who willed to show in the head what the rest of the body hopes for. Indeed, on earth we toil, our head is already in heaven and neither dies, nor fails, nor suffers anything: yet it suffered for us. Because he was delivered up for our offenses and was raised for our justification. We know this by faith: and those to whom he appeared learned through their eyes. Yet we are not disqualified because he rose, and we could not see him with carnal eyes. We have the testimony of the Lord himself, who spoke to the doubting disciple and searched for belief by touch. For when he exclaimed, convinced by the touch of the scars, and said: My Lord and my God; he responded: Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. Therefore, awaken to your blessedness, let no one with ill persuasion shake from your hearts what Christ has fixed in them.
Nor let that be said to me. For this is said by all who, even unwillingly, have yielded to the authority of Christ. For almost all Pagans, even those who are reluctant or delay in embracing Christ devoutly, do not dare to reproach him: although they dare to reproach Christians, they do not dare to reproach Christ; they yield to the head, and yet insult the body. But the body, hearing their insults, who now yield to the head, should not think itself cut off from the head, but supported by it. For if we were cut off, we ought to fear the voices of those insulting: but that we are not cut off, he himself testifies, who said to Paul, then Saul, persecuting the Church: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He had already passed through the hands of the impiety of the Jews, he had already penetrated the infernal, he had already risen from the tomb, he had already ascended into heaven, he had already enriched and strengthened the hearts of the believers with the gift of the Holy Spirit, seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us: he was not to be handed over to death again, but was to deliver us from death, what could he suffer from the raging Saul? How could Saul's hand touch him, even though, as it is written, he was breathing murder? He could attack the Christians laboring on earth: but when and how could he attack Christ? Yet he cries out for the other members, and does not say: Why do you persecute mine? For if he had said: Why do you persecute mine? we would believe him to speak of his servants. But not as much are the servants joined to the master as Christians to Christ. This is a different structure: a different order of members, a different unity of love. The head speaks for the members, neither does he say this at least: Why do you persecute my members? But he says: Why do you persecute me? He was not touching the head, but he was touching that which is joined to the head.
Against those who say that only Christ was allowed to rise again.
We have often said this, but because the analogy is apt and well illustrates the matter, it must be repeated. He who treads on you in a crowd presses your foot, but does nothing to your tongue. What then does it mean that your tongue shouts, "You are treading on me"? The pressure is on the foot, there is no injury to the tongue, but there is one body. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; and if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Therefore, if your tongue speaks for your foot, does Christ not speak for Christians in heaven? Your tongue does not speak for your foot by saying, "You are treading on my foot," but rather, "You are treading on me," though it itself has not been touched. Recognize Him as your head, as He speaks for you from heaven and says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Therefore, brothers, why have we said this? Lest perhaps those of whom the Apostle speaks subtly creep in among you: Bad company corrupts good morals, because they say, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"; so that they say to you (for they do not dare to reproach Christ, they tremble at His majesty, established throughout the whole world; but as it is written: The sinner will see and be angry, he will gnash his teeth and melt away: he can gnash and melt away; but he does not dare to blaspheme Christ); lest perhaps they speak thus and say, "Only Christ was permitted to do this." Sometimes they speak from the heart, but sometimes out of fear: you however notice what they dare to say, and what they do not dare to.
How one should respond to those who exaggerate the majesty of Christ with perverse praise.
They will therefore say: You tell me that Christ has risen, and from there you hope for the resurrection of the dead; but it was permissible for Christ to rise from the dead. And now he begins to praise Christ, not to give honor to Him, but to make you despair. The cunning destructiveness of the serpent, to turn you away from Christ with the praise of Christ, deceitfully proclaims what he does not dare to blame. He magnifies His majesty to make it singular, lest you hope for something similar, as was shown in His rising. And he appears more reverent towards Christ when he says: Behold, he who dares to compare himself with Christ, as if because Christ rose, he thinks he will rise too. Do not be disturbed by the perverse praise of your Emperor; hostile schemes disturb you, but the humility and humanity of Christ comfort you. He proclaims how exalted Christ is from you: but Christ tells how much He descended to you. So answer him: awaken that faith; it is a storm, there are waves, the ship is struggling, Christ is asleep; awaken that faith, do not forget what you believed. You will respond immediately, when the evangelical faith begins to awaken in you. You will not lack in responding: for it will not be you who speaks; Christ dwelling in you will seize His instrument, your tongue, like His sword, using your heart and voice as dwelling possessor, He will resist the adversary, He will make you secure: you only awaken the sleeper, that is, remember the forgotten faith.
On the mortality of Christ by which he became a mediator for us.
Only just now, what shall I say, how shall you respond to such things? I will not say something new, but what you have believed. Therefore, arouse faith, and respond to the one saying: Christ alone could do it, we cannot: respond and say: Therefore Christ could, because he is God; he certainly, because he is God. If because he is God, because he is omnipotent; if because he is omnipotent, why should I despair that he could achieve in me what he demonstrated in himself for me? Then I inquire from where Christ rose. He will respond: From the dead. I inquire why he died. For can God die? That divinity, the Word equal to the Father, the art of the omnipotent creator, through whom all things were made, immutable wisdom, remaining in itself, renewing all things, reaching from end to end mightily and disposing all things sweetly, could it die? No, he says. And yet Christ died. From whence did he die? Clearly, because he did not consider being equal to God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. Before this, what does he say? Who, though he was in the form of God. Had he taken the form of God, or was he naturally in it? The Apostle makes a distinction. When he said the form of God, he said was: when he mentioned the form of a servant, he said taking. Therefore, Christ was something, he took something, so that what he took would be one with him. In the form of God he was equal to God, as that fisherman evangelist says: The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; that is: Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal to God something to be grasped. For what is not naturally inherent, but is illicitly seized, is a robbery. The angel usurped equality with God, and fell, and became the devil: man usurped equality with God, and fell, and became mortal. He however, who was born equal, because he was not born in time, but the eternal Son to the eternal Father, always born, through whom all things were made, was in the form of God. But to be a mediator between God and men, between the just and the unjust, between the immortal and mortals, he took something from the unjust and mortals, preserving something with the just and immortal. For with the just and immortal retaining justice, assuming mortality from the unjust and mortals, he became the reconciler in the middle, tearing down the wall of our sins; from whom it is sung by his people: And in my God I will leap over a wall; returning to God what sins had alienated, redeeming with his blood what the devil had possessed; he died for us, and rose for us. He bore our sins, not clinging to them, but sustaining them: just as Jacob bore the skins of the goats, so that he would appear hairy to his blessing father. The evil Esau had his own hair, but the good Jacob carried others'. For sinful men carry sins inherently. But they did not adhere to him who said: I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again.
Death, therefore, in our Lord was a sign of others' sins, not the punishment of His own. But in all men, mortality is the punishment of sin: for it is drawn from the origin of sin, whence we all come; from the fall of that man, not from His descent. For it is one thing to fall, another to descend. One fell wickedly, another descended mercifully. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. Bearing, therefore, others' sins: "What I did not steal, I then had to restore"; that is, having no sin, I was dying. "Behold," He says, "the prince of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me." What does it mean: "he has nothing in me"? He shall find no cause of death in me. For the cause of death is sin. Why, then, will you die? He proceeds and says, "But that all may know that I do the will of my Father, arise, let us go hence." And He rises, proceeding towards the passion. Why? Because He was doing the will of His Father, not because He owed anything to the prince of sins, in whom there was no sin. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ brought His divinity with Him, but He assumed mortality from us. He received this in the womb of the Virgin Mary, uniting Himself, the Word of God, to human nature, as a bridegroom to the bride in the virginal chamber, that He might come forth as a bridegroom from His chamber.
Moved by mercy, Christ became mortal.
Return, therefore, to what I was saying. Mortality came from sin to all men: however, in the Lord, it was from mercy, and yet it was true; because such flesh was true, and truly mortal, having the likeness of sinful flesh; not the likeness of flesh, but the likeness of sinful flesh: for it was true flesh, but not flesh of sin. For He did not receive that mortality, as I said, on account of the merit of sin, He who emptied Himself taking the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death. What therefore was He, and what did He have? He was divinity, having mortality. However, from what He died, from that He rose again.
Consider now those who say: Only Christ could rise again, not you. But respond and say: Christ rose again in what he had taken from us. Take away the form of a servant, there would not be one in which he could rise again; because there would not be one in which he could die. Why, then, do you wish to destroy in me the faith of the praise of my Lord, which my Lord has built in me? For in that he took the form of a servant, he died. According to this, however, he rose again, according to what he died. In no way, therefore, should I despair of the servant's resurrection, since the Lord rose in the form of a servant. Or if they attribute to the power of man that Christ rose from the dead; for they also often say this, that he was so just a man that he could also rise from the dead: in the meantime, speaking according to them, and not mentioning the divinity of our Lord; that just one, to the point that he could even rise from the dead, could in no way deceive us when he also promised us resurrection.
How the future resurrection is proven.
Therefore, all that has been said, brothers, is meant for this end, that you may be instructed if any say that the dead do not rise. What has been said, if you remember, as far as God has deemed necessary to suggest, and testimonies from the nature of things and daily examples have been given; and about the omnipotence of God Himself, to whom nothing is difficult, who, if He could create what was not, can much more easily restore what was; and about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself, whom it is certain has risen, and His resurrection did not occur except in the form of a servant, because death could not have come, from which it would be necessary to rise, except through the form of a servant. Hence, because we are servants, we ought to hope for that in our form, which He deemed to prefigure in the form of a servant. Thus let the tongues of those who say: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, fall silent. Indeed, you also respond, and say: Let us fast and pray, for tomorrow we die.
On the expectation of the last day. An example is taken from Noah.
It remains for us to speak of what the life of the righteous will be like in the resurrection. But because you already see the time taken today is moderate, ponder what we have delivered; and pray that we may sometimes deliver what we owe. Especially remember that which we have spoken, particularly for these festive days, my brothers, which the pagans celebrate. Be attentive: this world is passing away, remember the Gospel where the Lord predicts the last day will come like in the days of Noah. They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, marrying and being given in marriage, until Noah entered the ark; the flood came and destroyed them all. You have the Lord clearly warning you, and in another place saying: Do not let your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness. Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning; and be like the servants waiting for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding. Let us wait for Him to come, let Him not find us slothful. It is shameful for a married woman not to desire her husband: how much more shameful is it for the Church not to desire Christ? The husband comes to physical embraces and is received with great vows by his chaste wife: the Bridegroom of the Church will come to grant eternal embraces, to make us his coheirs forever, and we live in such a way that we not only do not desire His coming, but we even fear it! How true is it that that day will come like in the days of Noah? How many will He find to be so, even those who call themselves Christians? Therefore the ark was being built through many years, so that those who do not believe may awaken. For a hundred years it was being built, and they did not awaken to say: The man of God is not building the ark without reason, but because destruction threatens the human race; and they would have appeased God's wrath, turning to the ways which please God, as the Ninevites did.
For they produced the fruit of repentance, and appeased the wrath of God.
And Nineveh is an example.
Jonah announced, not mercy, but future wrath: for he did not say, "In three days, Nineveh will be overthrown; but if you repent in these three days, God will spare you." He did not say this. He only threatened destruction and foretold it. And yet, they, not despairing of God's mercy, turned to repentance; and God spared them. But what shall we say? That the prophet lied? If you understand it carnally, it seems he spoke falsely; if you understand it spiritually, what the prophet said came to pass. For Nineveh was overthrown. Consider what Nineveh was and see that it was overthrown. What was Nineveh? They were eating and drinking, buying, selling, planting, building, giving themselves to perjuries, lies, drunkenness, crimes, corruption: this was Nineveh. Consider Nineveh now: they are mourning, grieving, feeling contrite, in sackcloth and ashes, in fasting and prayers. Where is that Nineveh? Clearly, it is overthrown, for it is no longer engaged in those former activities.
Who are the men who enter into the ark of the Church which Christ builds?
Therefore, brothers, even now the ark is being built, and those hundred years are these times: this entire span of time is signified by that number of years. If then they rightly perished, who disregarded Noah building the ark; what do they deserve, who disregard salvation while Christ is building the Church? There is as much difference between Noah and Christ, as there is between a servant and a master; even more, as between God and man. For a servant and a master can also both be called men. And yet, because men did not believe when a man was building the ark, an example is given from them for posterity to beware. Christ God, becoming man for our sake, builds the Church; He laid the foundation of that ark with Himself: daily, uncorrupted wood, faithful men renouncing this world, enter into the structure of the ark; and it is still said: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die. Therefore you, as I said, brothers, say against them: Let us fast and pray; for tomorrow we die. For they say: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die, who do not hope for the resurrection: but we, who now believe and proclaim the resurrection both in the words of the Prophets, and with Christ and the Apostles preaching, who hope to live after this death, let us not falter, nor burden our hearts with gluttony and drunkenness; but eagerly expecting, girded with loins and with lamps burning, the coming of our Lord, let us fast and pray, not because we will die tomorrow, but so that we may die in security. What remains then, brothers, demand it from us at another time in the name of the Lord. Turned to the Lord, etc.