Sermon 64A
SERMON 64/A
ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, MT 10:16
"Behold, I send you as sheep" and so forth.
On the Birthday of the Martyrs
The final day will not harm him who thinks of every day as his last.
The solemnity of the martyrs, most beloved, by which we celebrate the memory of their passion, is proposed to us for imitation, so that if any severe trial happens to occur, we may persevere until the end, so that we may be saved, just as we have heard read together from the Gospel: "He who perseveres until the end will be saved." And indeed, the end of this age is perhaps far away, perhaps near; however, the Lord wished that it should be hidden when it would happen, so that men might always be prepared to await what they do not know when it will come. But as I said, whether the end of the age is near or far, the end of each person, by which he is compelled to pass from this life into another according to his merit, due to the brevity of this mortality, cannot be far off. Each one of us, indeed, ought to prepare for his own end: for nothing will harm the last day for him who lives every day considering it as his last, so that he may die securely; while dying in this way, he may not die eternally. The holy martyrs, thinking of these things (hearing the voice of the Lord saying: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves!") were strengthened with such firmness, that they did not fear this! For it is evident from this how many wolves there were and how few sheep, because the wolves were not sent into the midst of the sheep, but the sheep into the midst of the wolves. Nor did the Lord say: "Behold, I send you as lions into the midst of cattle; but saying sheep into the midst of wolves, he sufficiently showed the small number of the sheep, the flocks of wolves. And while one wolf is accustomed to disturb any large flock, the sheep sent into the midst of innumerable wolves went and were not afraid; because the one who sent them did not abandon them. For why should they fear to go among wolves, when with them was the lamb who conquered the wolf?
The cunning of the serpent, how it is to be understood.
In that reading we heard: When they hand you over, do not worry about what you are to say; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Hence he says in another place: Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Were those who heard the voice of the Lord then going to be here until the end of the age? But the Lord was considering not only those who were to pass away, but also the others, including ourselves, and those who will come after us in this life, and he saw all in his one body. Therefore, this voice, which says: I am with you always, to the end of the age, was heard not only by them, but also by us; and if we did not hear it then in our knowledge, we heard it in his foreknowledge. Therefore, let us, like sheep among wolves, securely hold his commandments, admonishing us to be as simple as doves and as wise as serpents: as simple as doves, so as not to harm anyone; as wise as serpents, so as to beware from being harmed. But you cannot avoid being harmed unless you understand in what you are being harmed. For there are those who, resisting, fight for temporal affairs: and when you reproach them for resisting so greatly, when they should rather, as the Lord himself commanded, not resist evil, they reply that they are doing what is said: as wise as serpents. Therefore, let them see what the serpent does, how it sets the coils of its body against the blows of attackers to protect its head, in which it feels it has life; how it disregards the rest of its body, however long, so that its head is not struck by the pursuer. So if you want to imitate the serpent's wisdom, protect your head. But it is written: The head of the man is Christ. See then where you have Christ, for Christ dwells in you through faith: He says, That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Therefore, so that your faith may remain whole, oppose all else to the persecutor, so that that in which you live may remain unharmed. For Christ himself, the Savior, head of the whole Church, our Lord, sitting at the right hand of the Father, can no longer be struck by persecutors; yet, sharing in our suffering and demonstrating that he is in us, he cried out from heaven to Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And indeed no one was touching him; but for his trampled members on the earth, he cried out from above as the head. Therefore, if through faith Christ dwells in a Christian's heart, so that this faith may be safe, that is, so that Christ may remain in the believer, whatever can be beaten or taken away by the persecutor must be disregarded, so that faith may perish for nothing other than faith itself, and not perish for those other things.
How female martyrs imitated the cunning of the serpent.
The martyrs imitated this cunning of the serpent, because Christ is the head of the man, for Christ as for their head they opposed to the persecutors whatever they mortally possessed, so that they would not die there, where they lived. They held to this command of the Lord, who advised them to be as shrewd as serpents; lest, when they were ordered to be beheaded, they believed they were losing their head, but with the head of the flesh cut off, they retained the head of Christ intact. For no matter how much cruelty the tormentor may inflict on the members of the body, how much savagery he may reach with lacerated sides and torn intestines to penetrate all the interior parts of the flesh, he cannot reach our head, which he is not permitted even to see. He certainly can reach it, if he wishes, not by raging against us, but by believing as we do. But how could women, in order to deserve the crown of martyrdom, imitate this cunning of the serpent? For Christ is called the head of the man, and the man the head of the woman. Nor did they suffer for their husbands, as they overcame even the blandishments of their husbands who tried to recall them, when they were to suffer. For they also, through the same faith, are members of the Church; thus, Christ, who is the head of the whole Church, is the head of all his members. Therefore, the whole Church is called both female and male: for it is also called one virgin. The Apostle says: "I have betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." And it is understood as male when the same Apostle says: "Until we all come to the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Therefore, if it is a female, her husband is Christ: if it is a male, his head is Christ. Since the head of the woman is the man, and the head of the man is Christ, when even women suffered for Christ, they fought with the cunning of the serpent for their head. Therefore, let us guard our head against the persecutors, let us imitate the cunning of the serpent; and let us groan to God for our persecutors, that we may also hold on to the innocence of doves.
Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.