Sermon 363

SERMO 363

FROM THE SONG OF EXODUS 15, 1-21 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. 4. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 5. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. 6. Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 7. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. 8. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12. Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. 14. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. 17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. 18. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

In examining the Scriptures, the authority of the Scriptures must be followed by us.

Our sense, dearest brothers, in considering and handling the holy Scriptures ought to be governed by the most manifest authority of those same Scriptures; so that from those things which are plainly said to nourish us, those things which are said more obscurely may be faithfully discussed to exercise us. For who would dare to explain the divine sacraments otherwise than as proclaimed and prescribed by the apostolic heart and mouth? But the apostle Paul says, "I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well-pleased. For they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved." And a little later he says, "Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

The crossing of the Red Sea is a figure of Baptism.

Hence, dearest ones, let none of the faithful doubt that the passage of that people through the Red Sea was a figure of our Baptism: so that, being led by our Lord Jesus Christ, whose figure Moses then bore, we may be liberated through Baptism from the devil and his angels, who, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, oppressed us as slaves of the flesh with their works like bricks. Let us sing to the Lord: for He has gloriously triumphed; horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. For they are dead to us who can no longer dominate us: because our very sins, which had made us subject to them, being liberated by the washing of holy grace, have been submerged and obliterated as if in the sea. Therefore, let us sing to the Lord: for He has gloriously triumphed; horse and rider He has thrown into the sea, He has destroyed pride and the proud in Baptism. For already the humble, submissive to God, sing this song. For to the proud seeking their own glory and magnifying themselves, the Lord is not gloriously magnified. But the ungodly justified, believing in Him who justifies the ungodly, so that their faith may be credited to them as righteousness, so that the righteous may live by faith, not ignorant of God's righteousness and not wishing to establish their own, not subject to the righteousness of God, truly sing that the Lord is their helper and protector unto salvation, their God, whom they glorify. For they are not among those haughty ones who, knowing God, did not honor Him as God. Thus it is said: God of my father. For He is the God of the father Abraham, who believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. And therefore, as little ones, not presuming on our righteousness, but on His grace, we magnify the Lord, for He vanquishes battles, who is our peace. And therefore, His name is the Lord: He whom we call upon through Isaiah: Possess us. His name is the Lord. We were nothing, and He made us: we were lost, and He found us: we sold ourselves, and He redeemed us. His name is the Lord. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has thrown into the sea. He has obliterated worldly exaltations and the countless legions of sins that warred against us on behalf of the devil in Baptism. He had placed three drivers in the chariots who terrified us with the fear of pain, the fear of humiliation, and the fear of death, pursuing us. All these were submerged in the Red Sea, for we were buried with Him through Baptism into death, who for us was scourged, dishonored, and killed. Thus, the Red Sea covered all enemies, who consecrated Baptism with a bloody death in which our sins were consumed. But if our enemies, as a stone, have descended into the depths, hardness belongs to them and with them the devil, of whom it is written: The sinner, having reached the depths of evil, despises. For they do not believe that what they have done can be forgiven: and in that despair, they sink even deeper. But: Your right hand, O Lord, is glorified in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has shattered enemies; and with the greatness of Your majesty, O Lord, You have destroyed adversaries. You sent Your wrath, and it consumed them like stubble. For we feared You being born, and believed in You, and all our sins were consumed. For why, by the spirit of the Lord's wrath, was the water divided, and the waters congealed as a wall, the waves congealed in the midst of the sea; when in this division of water, with the waves congealed, a way opened for the liberated people? Therefore, why was not the water rather divided by the spirit of mercy of the Lord; unless because the fear of God's wrath, which the sinner despises, having reached the depths of evil, compels to Baptism, so that through the water not suffocating, but passing through the way, we are liberated? The enemy said: I will pursue, and overtake them; I will divide the spoils, and my soul shall be filled; I will draw my sword, my hand shall dominate. Nor does the enemy understand the power of the Lord's Sacrament, which is in the saving Baptism, to those who believe and hope in Him: and still thinks that sins can dominate the baptized, since they are tempted by the frailty of the flesh, not knowing where, when, and how the complete renewal of the whole man is perfected, which is inaugurated and signified in Baptism, and is already held by certain hope. For then this mortal will put on immortality, and every rule and authority will entirely be void, and God will be all in all. But now, as long as the body which decays burdens the soul, the enemy says: I will pursue, and overtake. But You sent Your spirit, and the sea covered them. Now the spirit of God's wrath is not mentioned when the sea covered the enemies: and a little earlier it was said: By the spirit of Your wrath, the water was divided; when rather by this the passing people of God was liberated. But indeed God seems not to be angry, whose sins are forgiven, and rather it increases. Thus compared to lead he descends into the depths, the more so, the more he sees those justified by faith, bearing present evils for the hope of future life, live in labors in which they are strengthened by the Spirit of God to endure. Therefore, God sent His Spirit to console and exercise the righteous in labors; and the sea covered the ungodly, not only thinking there is no difference between them and those; but rather considering God to be angry with those who are afflicted with such tribulations, and favorable to themselves who rejoice in such prosperity. Thus they descend like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? who is like You? glorious in holiness, who do not glory in themselves: wondrous in majesty, who do wonders. For these things that were done then, foretold something future, for they were figures of us. You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. Certainly, none of the Egyptians at that time was swallowed by the earth; they were covered by water, perished in the sea. What then does it mean: You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them? Should we not rightly understand the right hand of God to be Him of whom Isaiah says: And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He is indeed the only Son, whom the Father did not spare, but delivered Him up for us all. And thus He stretched out His right hand on the cross, and the earth swallowed the impious, while they considered themselves victors and Him contemptible. For the earth was given into the hand of the wicked, and the face of His judgment covered it, that is, His divinity. Thus the Lord guided His people, as if carried by that wood, where the earth, that is, the flesh of the Lord, extended, swallowed the impious. For the people did not cross the sea by a ship, to be said specifically that He guided it. But You guided Your people with Your righteousness, not presuming on their righteousness, but living by faith under Your grace: this people, whom You have redeemed. For the Lord knows who are His.

On the pilgrimage after Baptism by which one reaches the homeland.

You have been exhorted in your strength, that is, in your Christ. For what is weak of God is stronger than men. And although He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. You have been exhorted in your strength and in your holy refreshment. Indeed, in that the mortality of the flesh was refreshed in Him through the resurrection, and in Him this corruptible has put on incorruption, we are exhorted, hoping for the future and bearing all present things on account of these. For after Baptism, the passage through the desert remains, through the life lived in hope, until we come to the promised land, the land of the living where the Lord is our portion, in the eternal Jerusalem; until we come there, this whole life is a desert for us and a total trial. But in Him who overcame the world, the people of God overcome everything. For just as in Baptism, as if enemies pursuing from behind, past sins are erased: so after Baptism, on the journey of this life, while we eat spiritual food and drink spiritual drink, we overcome all things adverse to us. The name of our Emperor has indeed terrified the enemies of our way. For at first the wrath of the nations arose to destroy the Christian name; but when wrath could do nothing, it turned into sorrow, and as faith grew more and more and occupied everything, sorrow turned into fear; so that even the proud of this world, like the birds of the sky, seek refuge and protection under the shadow of that plant, which from the tiniest mustard seed has greatly grown. Likewise, in this song, where those things which then happened in figure in those people are commemorated, the order of the wrath, sorrow, and fear of the nations is preserved. He said, "The nations heard and were angry; pains seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the leaders of Edom were hurried, that is, disturbed, and the princes of Moab: trembling seized them; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. Let trembling and fear fall upon them, by the greatness of Your arm. Let them be as still as stones, until Your people pass over, O Lord, until this people whom You have acquired pass over." Thus it was done, thus it is done. The enemies of the Church, astonished with wonder, become as stones until we pass over to the homeland. And those who might try to resist, as then Amalek resisted with the hands of Moses extended, so now they are overcome by the sign of the Lord's cross. And thus we are introduced and planted on the mountain of the inheritance of the Lord, which from the small stone that Daniel saw grew and filled the entire earth. This is the habitation prepared for the Lord. For the temple of God is holy, and the sanctification of His house is from Himself. For the temple of God is holy, says the Apostle, which temple you are. And lest anyone should look to the earthly Jerusalem, where that temple temporarily bore a certain figure, as it had to, he signified that he was speaking about the eternal kingdom, which is the eternal inheritance of God, the eternal Jerusalem. For he continued by saying: "The place You have prepared, O Lord, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever, and beyond." Is there anything beyond forever? Who would say this? Why, then, did he add: and beyond? Perhaps because "forever" is often understood as a very long time, so "and beyond" was added to comprehend true eternity, which is without end. Or because God reigns forever in the heavens, which He established forever; He set a decree, and it shall not pass; and forever in those whom, after they turned from the transgression of the decree, He forgave their sins and acquired them from time, and gave them endless happiness. He still reigns over those whom He has ordered in the most just punishments under the feet of His people. For no one escapes His kingdom, in whose eternal law in the distribution of giving and repaying, and the merits of rewards and punishments, and the most just order of creation, all creatures are restrained. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Because Pharaoh's cavalry entered with chariots and riders into the sea; and the Lord brought over them the waters of the sea. But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea.

Those who sang the Song then and who can sing it today.

This sang Moses and the sons of Israel, this Mary the prophetess and the daughters of Israel with her, this also we now, whether men and women, or our spirit and flesh. For those who belong to Jesus Christ, says the Apostle, have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. This is aptly understood to signify the tambourine that Mary took up, so that she might accompany this song. For on wood the flesh is stretched, so that it might become a tambourine: and from the cross they learn to confess the sweet sound of grace. Humble, therefore, made through Baptism by the piety of grace, and our pride extinguished there, through which the proud enemy ruled over us, so that now he who glories, glories in the Lord. Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified; he threw the horse and its rider into the sea.