Sermon 5

SERMO 5

On the Wrestling of Jacob with the Angel

The word of God ought always to be repeated to you.

This rule of discipline is most necessary for a Christian man, that he should listen to the word of God while he is in this world, so that he may attend to Him who came to save the world first by mercy and afterward by judgment with discernment. And therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ presented Himself to us as one to be imitated; so that, since we are Christians, we either imitate Him or others who imitated Him. For there are some who are called Christians and are not, whom the Church has partly expelled like dung, as are all heresies and all schisms, which are also compared to fruitless branches cut off from the vine and to chaff which the wind carries away from the threshing floor before winnowing. But there are others who are evil within and are contained by the Catholic communion itself, whom a good Christian must tolerate until the end, because the winnowing of this harvest and threshing floor will not occur until the day of judgment. We have always sung these things to you, and we believe in the name of Christ that they stick in your hearts. These lessons that are read to you, are they now read to you for the first time, and are they not the same ones repeated daily? Just as the lessons of God need to be repeated daily, so that worldly evils and thorns do not grow in your hearts and choke the seed that has been sown there, so must the word of God always be repeated to you, lest you forget and say you have not heard what we say we have said.

Love your enemy.

Many are coming, and now it is time to hasten in the name of God to receive the grace of baptism, believing that all sins they have previously committed are forgiven, absolutely all, departing henceforth owing nothing to the Lord; just as that servant who was accounting to his lord found that he owed ten thousand talents, yet departed owing nothing, not because he owed nothing, but because the merciful lord forgave all and absolved the debtor. And yet, brothers, how vehemently did that same servant terrify us! Because he refused to forgive his fellow servant or defer the payment of a hundred denarii, the lord imposed upon him again the ten thousand talents which he had forgiven. Thus, those who are coming out from baptism, owing nothing and absolved from all sins, must take care lest if anyone sins against them and they refuse to forgive him, not only will they not be forgiven thereafter, but also all things that had been forgiven will be reinstated. Let no one say: "Who does this or that?" By saying this, men bring death upon themselves. Love your enemy, says the Lord. And you say, "Who does this?" Because they do not do it themselves, they think that no one can do it. The matter is in the heart. How can you see who does this? Do you think that one who cries out does not forgive? Sometimes, indeed, someone may cry out and command a man to be beaten, and you think he has not forgiven. Why? When you beat your son, do you harbor hatred in your heart? So, the matter is in the heart. Only God sees if it is forgiven. Sometimes someone does not beat another, seeming to spare with their hand, but rages inwardly and wishes harm and death to him. They hold ill will against him, although they seem to give nothing back physically. Conversely, there are those who seem physically to return blows, but this physical correction is love. They want to bring him to a good life and so much the more wish to correct him as they love him. So too with God. Does He not love us? Does He not urge us to love our enemies, that we might be like Him as much as we can? For He said: Be you therefore perfect, as your Father who is in heaven; who makes his sun rise on the good and the evil, and rains on the just and the unjust. Therefore, how great is the love in the Lord, that He sent Christ to be crucified for sinners and the wicked and redeemed us by the price of His blood, we who were His enemies by loving things He made rather than Him who made them! While we were doing these things, God sent, as the Apostle says, His Son, and gave him over to be killed by the wicked for the wicked. And if such a gift is not yet given to the faithful, what then is reserved for the faithful? See how God loves humans. Brothers, let us consider, does He not also chasten them? Does He not also correct them? If He does not correct them, where do famine, sickness, plague, and disease come from? All these are corrections of God. Therefore, if He loves and yet corrects, so must you, if you have anyone in your power, though you preserve the affection of love, not deny the lash of correction. For if you deny it, you do not hold love; because he would die in his sins, who might perhaps leave them upon being corrected; and the true hatred is more imputed to you.

Imitate the humility and footsteps of your Lord.

Let no one therefore say, "Who can do that?". Strive to fulfill these things in your hearts. Hold onto love. Fight and you will conquer. For there Christ conquers. Against what do you fight? You fight against sin, against the words of people speaking ill: "So you do not avenge yourself? So you will remain undefended and not show them? Oh, if you had it with me!". Fight and conquer. For if Christ wished to command the earth, when he suffered so much from the Jews, so that it would swallow His persecutors, could He not? If therefore He who had the power, endured them this way until He was lifted on the cross, and hanging on the cross said: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," you, a servant redeemed by the blood of your crucified Lord, will you not imitate your Savior? For what need did He have to suffer so greatly when it was possible for Him not to? For He said thus: "I have the power to lay down my life and the power to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down and take it up again." And so He did. What happened, Brothers? He hung on the cross, as we read in agreement. But when He saw all the Scriptures fulfilled in Himself, even that they gave Him vinegar: He said, "It is finished," and bowing His head, He gave up the ghost, as if He stood to fulfill this. When He wanted, therefore, He laid down His life. And thus He was God, while those men crucified next to Him were human. He dies sooner, they later. And when it was sent to take the bodies down from the cross because of the Sabbath, to bury them, they found those thieves alive and broke their legs; however, the Lord was already dead. And yet, one of them struck His side with a spear and blood and water flowed out. Behold your price. For what flowed from His side but the sacrament that the faithful receive? The Spirit, the blood of the Passover. The Spirit He emitted, and the blood and water which flowed from His side. It is signified by that blood and water that the Church was born. And when did blood and water flow from His side? When Christ was already sleeping on the cross, for even Adam in Paradise took sleep, and so Eve was produced from his side. Behold therefore your price. Imitate the humility and footsteps of your Lord, and do not say: "Who does that?". There may be around you those who do not do it. But in that crowd, if you do it, it will count for you as if you found one grain and countless chaff on the threshing floor. It's hard to find two grains joined together, but among the grains, chaff is mixed. Thus, among those who want to serve God, there is the noise and multitude of wicked people surrounding them everywhere, for wherever they turn, they find nothing but evil counselors. Be therefore like the grain, and do not care about the chaff. The time will come when they will be separated. Therefore, we sang: "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from an unholy nation." The Church says this mourning among sinners. Do you think, Brothers, that the Church wants to be discerned for this, to be separated from heresies as if from pruned branches? It is already separated from them. Does the Church say this: "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause," to be segregated from the party of Donatus, or from Arians, or Manicheans? It does not ask to be discerned except from those who are mixed with it, whom it must tolerate until the end. But it says this: "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause," that is, do not let me be judged and perish with them on the day of judgment. For now it is said: "Let the weeds grow," and the wicked are tolerated with the good, to be separated on the day of judgment.

Jacob represents the Christian people, Esau the Jewish.

And thus Jacob, who has just been read, signifies the Christian people. For he is the younger son; because the Jewish people are Esau. Indeed, the Jewish nation was born from Jacob, but in figure, the Jews are understood more as Esau, because the greater people were rejected, while the lesser people received the primacy. Even when they were struggling in the womb, and their mother was suffering distress because of the commotion of her insides, she said: Why is this happening to me? It would have been better for me to be barren than to endure this. She was told by the Lord that two nations were in her womb and two peoples were fighting, and because the greater would serve the lesser. What was said when they were in the womb was said again in the blessing of Isaac, when he blessed the younger, though he thought he was blessing the elder. Isaac bore the persona of the Law. The Law seems to have been given to the Jews, and the kingdom itself given to Christians. Note that the Law seems to promise the kingdom. It says to the Jews: Therefore, the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people producing its fruits. It will be taken from Esau and given to Jacob. Esau was born rough and hairy, that is full of sins; sins were clinging to him. In order to receive the primacy, Jacob took the skins of the goats on his arms, and thus his father blessed him, touching his arms and finding them hairy. But those hairs and sins were carried by Jacob, not clinging to Jacob. Thus also the Church of God bears alien sins, not her own, enduring till the end, just as the Lord Jesus Christ bore alien sins. And the father blesses the younger. And how did he bless? A holy mystery, in what kind of men they were. Indeed, the scripture wants keen eyes. He blessed his younger son, and he seems deceived as though he blessed one instead of the other. The one who had gone hunting came, bringing what his father had ordered, and said: Father, eat, as you desired. He says to Isaac: Who are you? And he replies: I am Esau, your elder son. And he says: So you are Esau? Who then brought me food and I ate, and I blessed him, and he is blessed? Oh, to be angry with the deceiver! Oh, to be angry with the imposter! Rather, say: Why did he deceive me? Why did he trick me? Let his brother take that blessing, and let it be in vain. Does not this act cry out in mystery, that the greater will serve the lesser? He then also receives a similar blessing. But he added: You will be a servant to your brother. When he said: Are the blessings finished? Bless me also, he said: Since I have made him such, what do I have to give you? And he said: Bless me too, father. And he extorted and received a blessing almost similar from the dew of heaven and the fertility of the earth, all abundance. And he immediately added: And you will serve your brother. And it will be thus for you, when you free his yoke from your neck. What does it mean: And it will be thus for you, when you free his yoke from your neck, except that it shows those whom Esau prefigured to be sinners such that they have it in their power and free will to change themselves and join their brother?

The Jew is a servant of the Christian.

Attend to the mystery. Behold, a Jew is a servant of a Christian. And this is evident and has filled the whole world, as you see, Jacob. And so that you may know that these things were spoken of the future, consider the history itself and see that they are not fulfilled in these two: "The elder will serve the younger." For Esau is read to have been greatly enriched and began to reign in all abundance, but Jacob, however, to feed others' sheep. And when he began to return and fear his brother—as has now been read—he sends gifts of some unknown number of livestock, and he sends a servant to say: "Behold the gifts of your brother." He did not want to see him before he was appeased with gifts, and after accepting the gifts, he saw him. And when Jacob had come to him, he worshipped him from afar. How therefore: "The elder will serve the younger," when the younger seems to worship the elder? But therefore these things were not fulfilled in the history, so that the sayings of Jacob may be understood about the future. The younger son received the preeminence, and the elder son, the people of the Jews, lost the preeminence. Behold, Jacob has filled the earth, held both nations and kingdoms. The Roman Emperor, already a Christian, ordered that the Jews not approach Jerusalem itself. And scattered throughout the world, they have become as if custodians of our books. Just as servants, when they go into the master's hall, carry books behind them and sit outside, so the elder son has become to the younger son. For sometimes they move certain things in the Scriptures, and something certain is known from the books of the Jews. Therefore they are scattered to preserve the books for us. Therefore the elder serves the younger. See indeed with how much dignity the Christian people are, and in how much defection the Jewish people are. When they perhaps dared to move even a little against Christians, what happened to them, you heard in recent times. Therefore now it is true that the elder will serve the younger. How therefore that blessing: "There will be for you from the dew of heaven and from the fertility of the earth"? Just as he blessed the younger, so also the elder. But it was said to the elder: "And you will be a servant to your brother. And this will be, when you shake his yoke from your neck." How many are there who have shaken the yoke from their neck and have become our brothers? How many Jews have believed, pay attention. And now, if you find a Jew and proclaim to him the Lord Jesus Christ, and he believes, will he not shake the yoke from his neck? And how many did this in the early times of faith? Thousands. Certainly those who believed then, as we read, and became from servants brothers and co-heirs.

Struggle like Jacob to hold onto Christ.

Therefore, the Church which says, "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from an unholy nation," does not wish to be distinguished from Esau, from whom it is already separated, but from bad Christians. For this Jacob, in whom the Christian people are figured, you heard how he wrestled with the Lord. The Lord appeared to him, that is, an angel bearing the person of God, and wrestled with him and wanted to hold and seize him. He wrestled, prevailed, and held him. When he held him, he did not let him go unless he was blessed. May the Lord grant, brothers, to explain such a great mystery. He wrestles, prevails, and wants to be blessed by him whom he has prevailed over. What is it then that he wrestles and wants to hold? The Lord says in the Gospel: "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." This is what we were saying a while ago: Wrestle, that you may hold Christ, that you may love the enemy. For you hold Christ here, if you love the enemy. And what does the Lord himself say, that is, the angel in the person of the Lord, when he prevailed and held him? He touched the hollow of his thigh, and it dried up, and hence Jacob limped. It is said: "Let me go, for it is now day." And he replied: "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." And he blessed him. How? By changing his name: "You shall not be called Jacob, but Israel: for you have prevailed with God, and you shall prevail with men." This is the blessing. See one man: he is touched on one part and it withers, and on another part he is blessed. This one man on one part had withered and limped, and on another part he is blessed to thrive.

To understand the Word equal to the Father.

But what is it - as much as the Lord suggests we say, without prejudice to a better understanding -, what is: Behold, the morning has now come, let me go? This is what the Lord says after the passion to the woman who wanted to hold his feet: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. What does this mean? For when that reading was being read, I discussed it at some point, on how it might be said: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Why? Did no one touch him corporeally, unless he ascended to the Father? He was still here, the disciple who did not believe touched the scars. So why did he refuse to be touched, unless because this was said figuratively? That woman was the Church. And this is: Do not touch me, do not touch me carnally, but as I am equal to the Father. For as long as you do not understand me as equal to the Father, do not touch me, because you do not touch me, but my flesh. For Paul says in the progression of his elevation: And if we knew Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him no longer. And: The old things have passed away, behold they have become new; but all things are from God. What does: And if we knew Christ according to the flesh, but now we know him no longer mean? Because when we knew him carnally, we thought he was only a man. But truly after his grace shone upon us, we understood the Word equal to the Father. Therefore he held and wrestled, as if Jacob wanting to embrace him in a carnal manner. But he was saying: Let me go, carnally, because behold it is now morning, that you may be illumined spiritually: that is, Do not think me a man. Let me go, because the morning is now here. In the light of truth and wisdom, through which all things were made, we understand the morning. You will enjoy it, when this night has passed, that is, the iniquity of this age. For then it becomes morning, when the Lord comes, so that he may be seen by us as he is seen by the angels. For now we see through a mirror in a dark manner, but then face to face. Therefore, brothers, let us hold to what has been said: Let me go. Behold, the morning is now here. But what did he say? I will not let you go unless you bless me. Because the Lord blesses us first through the flesh. The faithful know what they receive, that they are blessed through the flesh. And they know that they would not be blessed unless that flesh crucified was given for the life of the world. How then is he blessed? Because he prevailed against God, because he held firmly and persevered and did not let go of what Adam had lost. Therefore, let the faithful hold onto what we receive, so that we may deserve to be blessed.

The dry part of Jacob signifies bad Christians.

The dry part of Jacob signifies the bad Christians, so that in Jacob himself there is both blessing and lameness. He is blessed on the part of those living well, he limps on the part of those living poorly. But still both are in one man. There will, however, be separation and distinction afterwards. This is what the Church wishes in the psalm, saying: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation. Certainly because the Gospel says: If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one foot than to have two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. Therefore, the wicked are to be cut off at the end. Now the Church limps. It sets one foot strongly, the other it has weak. Consider the pagans, brothers. Sometimes they find good Christians serving God and they marvel and they are led and believe. Sometimes they see those living poorly, and say: “Behold the Christians.” But these who live poorly belong to the breadth of the touched thigh of Jacob, who have withered. The touch of the Lord is the hand of the Lord correcting and giving life. Therefore, he is blessed on one part and withers on the other. And the Lord shows those living poorly in the Church, for that is what is written in the Gospel, for when the grass grew, the weeds appeared; for when men begin to profit then they begin to feel the wicked. These things are known to you, it is by the gift of God that they are recognized. But now the weeds must be tolerated until the end of the harvest, lest perchance by uprooting the weeds, the wheat be uprooted at the same time. But the time will come when the Church will be heard saying: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation, when the Lord comes in his glory with his holy angels, and all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and the righteous will be placed on the right, and the goats on the left. And it will be said to them: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom; but to the others: Go into eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.