Sermon 380

SERMO 380

On the Birth of John the Baptist

The birth of John, not his passion, is celebrated in the Church.

A quiet and small voice suffices. But if you wish, brothers, to listen quietly, do not have a heart in your ears, but ears in your heart. The Church hands down and believes that today dawned the solemnity of blessed John the Baptist. It is necessary, however, to believe this about this very day, which the entire world recognizes without variation: but because no one doubts that it is the day of John, not of John who wrote the Gospel, but of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord, who appeared so great because he presented himself as humble, saying, when he was thought to be the Christ himself, that he was not worthy to untie the strap of the sandal of Him whom he recognized as the Lord, so that he might merit to be His friend. Some, however, think that today the day of his martyrdom is celebrated. Let Your Holiness first know that it is the day of his birth, not of his martyrdom. Indeed, it is found from the gospel reading that his birth preceded by six months the birth of the Lord. And since the day of the Lord's birth is given by the consensus of the Church on the eighth day before the calends of January, it remains that today is understood as the day of John's birth.

Two births of Christ, one eternal, the other temporal.

Therefore, John preceded the Lord, not as a teacher before a disciple, but as a precursor before a judge; not to assume authority, but to provide service. The testimony of John himself concerning this is as follows: "He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me." After John, the Lord came by being born of the Virgin Mary, not of the substance of the Father. For we acknowledge two births of the Lord: one divine, the other human; however, both are miraculous—one without a mother, the other without a father—one eternal, to create the temporal; the other temporal, to bestow the eternal. He of whom John speaks, not John the Baptist, but the Evangelist says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and that "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made." He so great in the form of God, equal to the Father, He creating time without being bound to time, He, antecedent to all ages, became so small as to be born of a woman, yet remained so great that He was never separated from the Father. Offering service and testimony to Him, as a lamp to the coming day, all the Prophets foretold Him, appeared before Him in their birth, and adhered to Him in their faith. It was fitting that He should be proclaimed as coming, to perform miracles: by which miracles, He would be recognized as God by the understanding, and appear as man to human sight; small to the small, but humble to the proud: teaching man in His smallness to recognize himself as small; that he might not, by failing to grow but by puffing up, believe himself to be great. For pride is not greatness but swelling. So, to heal this swelling of the human race, the physician himself, being both the medicine and administering the medicine, appeared among humans as a human, offering his humanity to those who saw and preserving His divinity for those who believed. For the sight of His humanity healed the sick; the contemplation of His divinity sought the strong. And men were not yet capable of seeing God in man, nor could they see except as man; yet they should not place their hope in man. What then could be done? Man could see a man; man should not follow another man. God was to be followed, who could not be seen; man should not be followed, who could be seen. Therefore, to present to man both someone who could be seen and whom man could follow, God became man. O man, for whom God became man, you must believe something great about yourself: but descend so that you may ascend; because even God, by descending, became man. Cling to your medicine, imitate your teacher, acknowledge your Lord, embrace your brother, understand your God. This He, so great and so little, a worm, not a man; but through whom man was made. This therefore is He; what about John, except what the Lord says about him, except what truth says about him? For if we ought to believe John about the truth, shall we not believe the truth about John?

Against the Arians, it is demonstrated that the Word was in the beginning, and therefore was not created.

Let the first witness to the truth be one who participates in the truth itself; and let the Creator of man bear witness to man. First, let us hear what John says about Christ, and then what Christ says about John; let us hear the former, but understand the latter: let him speak first who was born first, but let him be confirmed by him through whom he was made. After me, he says, he comes, and he was made before me. Here now, those who believe that he was made before all things through whom all things were made, attack us by these words or through these words, and they say: Behold, he was made: John says: He comes after me, and he was made before me. Explain to me what it means: he was made before me. I speak their words, and I propose them for discussion. They often say, when something of this kind is said about Christ, showing that he is lesser than the Father, that the statement should be referred to the human nature; so that what is in the form of God is equal to the Father, but what he emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, the Father is greater. So what will you say to what John says: he was made before me? Hear what we say: but first observe that the Apostle, distinguishing both, and yet commending the same one in both, did not say: Taking the form of God. But what did he say about the form of God? When he was in the form of God: looking back at the one who was called before him, in whose Gospel it is: In the beginning was the Word; indeed looking back at that light, whence also he spoke this. For John did not say: In the beginning God made the Word: he could have said so, as Moses said, because he was speaking of the creature made by the Lord God: In the beginning God made heaven and earth. Since then, if he felt what the Arians feel, he could have said: In the beginning God made the Word; he did not say this: but he said: In the beginning was the Word. What was in the beginning, was not made. For nothing preceded the made Word. For all things that God made, He made by the Word: He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. There is a great difference between the one saying let it be made, and what was made by saying; but if He is saying, He has the Word; if He has the Word, He made by the Word; if He made by the Word, He did not make the Word.

A certain sophism of the Arians is refuted.

Why, they say? Have you not heard also about the earth: The earth was invisible and unformed? If for this reason, they say, you assert the Word was not made, because it is said: The Word was; neither was the earth made, because it was said: The earth was. O blind and heretical madness! Pay attention, if there is where you should pay attention; listen, if there is where you should listen: let not the sound strike the ear in vain, whose heart is enlightened by the truth. I will state the words of the same Scripture, which you found there when you read, and overlooked when you argued. Indeed, for this reason you think something similar was said about the Word of God, when it was said: In the beginning was the Word; as it was said about the earth, because it was said: The earth was invisible and unformed. I will recite to you the earlier words in this book of Genesis, that before the servant of God’s writer said: The earth was; so that it appeared it was made, he first said: In the beginning, God made heaven and earth. Behold, I have first shown you the earth made; and undoubtedly made by God, with Scripture sounding and bursting into the ears of the one refusing: In the beginning, God made heaven and earth. These had been made; but not yet adorned, not yet declared: the earth not yet distinct, but nevertheless already made. However, lest you suppose the earth was made continuously in such a manner that there was nothing to be adorned on it, he next said: It was indeed made, because in the beginning God made heaven and earth; but the earth which God made was still invisible and unformed. He showed you what kind it was, which was made; not because it was, what was not made. Therefore John could say: In the beginning God made the Word, but the Word was; as: In the beginning God made heaven and earth; but the earth was: so that this would be the order of the words: In the beginning God made the Word, and the Word was with God; that we might understand that this Word was with God, what Word God had made. Now, however, you hear: In the beginning was the Word. Why do you seek what was made earlier, being later in your error? For you have become later in your error: you speak from the low, and look to the low. I wish, if you were to speak from the low, that you would lift your heart upward, and cry out from the depths to the Lord: He would break the clouds of the darkness of your flesh, the light which comes in humility would open your eyes; you would see: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; this was in the beginning with God. Let Paul also say: Who, being in the form of God. What does John say about human birth? And the Word was made flesh. Let Paul also say: He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. What then were you saying about the words of John the Baptist? Now repeat those same words to me, now speak them. What does John the Baptist say? After me comes. I recognize the birth. One from a barren woman, the other from a virgin. Sterility was turned into fruitfulness: virginity remained after fruitfulness.

Christ, made before John, preceded him in honor.

But John, he says, if he had said "made" in the sense that he was born of the Virgin, he would not have said "he was made before me"; for he was made from the Virgin after him. Therefore, "he was made before me" — what does it mean except that in the beginning the Word was made? For so he was before John; indeed, he was born from the Virgin after John. Understand, and if you do not quarrel, pay attention. For perhaps what you wish to understand is somewhat obscure, so that by quarreling you increase the smoke, which hinders you from understanding. Look at that Scripture first, which teaches you to be teachable. Be meek in hearing the word, so that you may understand. Endure, therefore, for a little while; perhaps we will find how it was said: "he was made before me"; yet let us not understand the Word to be made by which all things were made. How, he says? If I can, I will say: if I cannot say, yet it is not that there lacks someone who can say it. But I believe and hope that the majesty of the Only Begotten, who, although He was the Word, was made an infant, will open the infancy of my tongue, and will make in my mouth the birth, who made the conception in the heart. Behold, I will say as I can: understand as you can; and what you cannot understand, do not blame, as if you are already great; but defer, so that you may deserve to grow. Certainly, this moves you: how it was said, "He who comes after me has been made before me." Let it move you plainly as a seeker, not as a quarreller. Certainly, I too seek with you: we will find together if we seek together; we will both receive if we both ask; it will be opened to both of us if we both knock. He comes after me, he says: recognize the birth from the Virgin Mary. He was made before me: what is this, "He was made before me"? Understand, he was put before me. He who came after me was made before me. How is it if two walk on a path, and one is slower, the other faster, and the slower precedes somewhat, but after a little while the faster follows; the preceding slower one looks back at the faster follower, and says: He comes after me. And behold, as he quickens and approaches and adheres and passes, the former sees the one before him, whom he looked back upon behind him: certainly if he somehow dreads and marvels at his speed, could his words not be: Behold, the man who was after me was made before me? What is this: "He who was after me was made before me"? He who walked behind me, by his speed was made to be before me. For if you understand wherever you read "was made," except that it signifies "formed" who was not: will you also say that the Lord God was made, about whom it is said: "The Lord has been made my refuge." "The Lord has been made a helper"; and: "He has been made my salvation." How many times "made"? And He Himself made all things. Therefore, understand with me the words. For John did not fail to mention also that He was the Word; lest you think he indicated the Word when he said: "He was made before me": so that you may know that this pertains to "He was made before me," because He surpassed me, because He was glorified more than me, because when men considered me forerunner, they recognized the Lord, whom I preceded by birth, whom I announced by serving; and their hope, their gathering was made towards the Lord; he was glorified as the Son of God, made before me, according to that which the Apostle says: "Therefore God exalted him, and gave him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Therefore, His glory did not begin, but was made known. He was made before John because He surpassed John in honor.

Let us humble ourselves and exalt God: the glory of God is our glory.

But see whether justly. Ask John himself: He who comes after you, why was he made before you? He who followed you, why was he preferred to you? He answers: Because he was before me. This is: In the beginning was the Word. Therefore, he was justly made before me, because he was before me. Before John, before Abraham, before Adam, before heaven and earth, before angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. Why before? Because all things were made through him. Let the servant acknowledge his humility: let the Lord show His majesty. Let John say: I am not worthy to undo the strap of His sandal. He would humble himself greatly if he said: I am worthy. For what if he said worthy? Should he sit in judgment at the right hand of the Father? Should he come to judge the living and the dead? What if he said worthy to undo the strap of His sandal? Great humility, if he is worthy as a friend of the bridegroom. For he was to say that he was a friend of the bridegroom: and lest equality in that friendship be by chance understood by some imprudent person; he says he is a friend because of love, lowers himself to the feet because of reverence. And it is little that he lays himself down at the feet; he does not even say he is worthy to undo the strap of the sandal. Truly humble, if he were worthy to undo; but because he does not even say he is worthy to undo, he is worthy to be exalted from humility. Let him also say more openly, let him say more distinctly, what it is: After me comes, who was made before me. For he also gave the reason: because he was before me. Because: In the beginning was the Word; and: Being in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He must increase, but I must decrease. It was necessary for him who came later to grow, and for him who came earlier to decrease. If he who came later increased, he was made before him by growing. He must increase, but I must decrease. This is, he was made before me. And how did Christ grow, and John decrease? John preceded the Lord in human birth; they both grew in age, in bodily stature, and reached a certain measure as men. But John was a man, Christ God and man. If we understand that Christ grew in divinity, we are absurd, and greatly mistaken. For something grows so that it may advance. God has no where to grow: if He has where to grow, He was less before He grew. Let us return to the form of the flesh. It grew along with John, not because John diminished. Therefore, let us perhaps refer to glory; and understand: He must increase, but I must decrease, according to what is said, that he comes after me, and he was made before me. For John bore the person of man, and was speaking from the type of the human race, to which Christ came to save. But, brothers, we had said that a humble God came to a proud man. Let man acknowledge himself a man, let God appear to man. Even if Christ came for this reason, that man might be humbled, and from humility man might grow; it was necessary for the glory of man to now cease, and for the glory of God to be commended: that the hope of man be in the glory of God, not in his own glory, as the Apostle says: Let him who glories, glory in the Lord. Rightly, therefore, it is said to man: What do you have that you did not receive? But if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not? John, showing this type of human humility, because as much as the opinion and fame of Christ grew, not the stature of Christ, not the majesty of Christ, not the wisdom, not the Word of God; but that fame, which began from the least, and now holds the whole world: the glory of Christ, not the glory of man, so that man may acknowledge his humility, may God impart His divinity. For indeed, brothers, the glory of God is our glory. As much as God is more sweetly glorified, so much it benefits us. For God will not be higher because we honor Him: let us humble ourselves, and exalt Him. For it is written: I will exalt You, O Lord. What is it: I will exalt You? Was He on earth, and you placed Him in heaven? And does man exalt God? What is it: I will exalt You? I will confess You as lofty. Therefore, let man confess himself a man; let him first decrease, so that he may grow. Let John, by decreasing to humility, say that he is not worthy to loosen the strap of His sandal, and understand that he is enlightened by participating.

John was not the true light, but a lamp illuminated.

For John the Evangelist said about him: "He was not the light." Perhaps he wronged John, because he said: "He was not the light"; whereas it was said by the Lord to the Apostles: "You are the light of the world." Did the Apostles put themselves above John? They do not, lest they judge the Lord himself as a liar, who said: "Among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Baptist." Not certainly greater in bodily stature, but in the grace of partaken wisdom, in the grace of partaken salvation. Therefore, what does he mean by: "He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light"? Why did he say this? I know, he says, what to say: to bear witness to the light. For the true light was distinct from John, yet John was not entirely without light, but it should be understood that in comparison to this light it is said: "He was not the light"; as it was said because he was the true light. How do you distinguish this true [light]? "That enlightens every man coming into this world." If it enlightens every man, then also John. But lest it seem that we infer from the words what is not said, though it is consequently to be understood, let John himself say: "We all have received from his fullness." Therefore, the true light was indeed. John, illuminated light; Christ, illuminating light. For that you may know that John was light, let the Lord himself bear witness. He himself bore witness to his Lord, the witness of truth about his Lord, which he received from his Lord. For he had received from his Lord to speak about his Lord: but for him to speak about his servant, he had not received from his servant: and in himself, Christ about John, and in John, Christ about himself. Therefore, let the truth itself bear witness, let us hear that John is light. It is said to the Jews about John: "He was a burning and shining lamp." And certainly a lamp is light, not like the day, but still, it is light. Therefore, a lamp is lit to shine, and John was illuminated to speak. If John was illuminated to speak, let him recognize himself as a lamp, lest he be extinguished by the wind of pride. But perhaps the light of the disciples and John the lamp? For the Lord said of John: "He was a burning and shining lamp"; but of the disciples: "You are the light of the world." Did he prefer his disciples to John? And are those faithful ones to whom Paul speaks to be preferred to John, to whom he says: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord"? Therefore, the Apostles are light, and the faithful justified from sinners, made faithful from unbelievers: yet the disciples were not called lamps. Pay attention, perhaps they were called so, and not in another place, but there: to show how he called them light; because not the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world; follow the words of the Gospel: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." But did he speak of the city, not of the light? Follow further: "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel." You are such light as John: an illuminated lamp. As whose voice, or whose voice preceded: "You will light my lamp, O Lord; my God, illuminate my darkness." What darkness in the Apostles? "We were also once," etc., as of those reproachful and blasphemous: "Who was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. Behold, darkness, let the lamp be lit: But I obtained mercy." And to know it was said of them: "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that it gives light to all who are in the house; immediately follows: So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works," but in humility, for a man must decrease. But how does God increase? "And glorify your Father who is in heaven." The Father is glorified, the Son is glorified: for the Father glorifies the Son, and the Son glorifies the Father. Therefore, let man recognize himself as humble, let him recognize the exalted God humbled for him, so that man, who was humbled in the confession of sin, may be exalted in the attainment of righteousness. These two: the Lord and John, humility and clarity: God humble in clarity, man humble in infirmity; God humble for man, man humble for man. For God is humble to benefit man, man humble not to harm himself.

John's martyrdom for the truth. Christ increases, John diminishes.

Let us, therefore, recognize these two and the very difference in their sufferings. We read that John suffered martyrdom for the truth: but was it for Christ? Not for Christ, if Christ is not the truth. Not entirely for the name itself, but still for the truth itself. For John was not beheaded because he confessed Christ. But he was admonishing temperance, he was admonishing justice: he said, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." For the law that had commanded this, had commanded concerning those who would die without children, that the brothers should take the wives of their brothers and raise up seed for their brothers. Where this cause was not, there was nothing but lust. John was reproving this lust, a chaste man reproving incest: because what it prefigured was also such: "He must increase, but I must decrease." It had already been commanded that if anyone died without seed, the one who was closer should take his wife and raise up seed for his brother. For what else had God commanded this, except that in this way the seed to be raised for the brother's name would be signified? For this command was that whoever was born from this, would bear the name of the deceased. Christ died, and the Apostles took his wife, the Church. Those whom they begot from her, they did not name Paulinians or Petryans, but Christians. Therefore, let these two sufferings speak: "He must increase, but I must decrease." He grew on the wood, he was diminished by iron. The passions also spoke this mystery; let the days also speak. Christ is born, and they increase; John is born, and they decrease. Therefore let the honor of man decrease, let the honor of God increase; that the honor of man may be found in the honor of God.