Theological Orations 27-30 3-1 part 2/2

He hungered — yet He fed thousands; nay, He is the living and heavenly Bread.

"If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink";

nay, He also promised that those who believe should become springs of water.

He grew weary — yet He is the rest of those who are weary and heavy laden.

He was weighed down with sleep — yet He is borne up lightly upon the sea, yet He rebukes the winds, yet He lifts up Peter as he sinks.

He pays the tribute — yet out of a fish; nay, He is king over those who exact it.

He is called a Samaritan and one possessed by a demon — yet He saves the man who came down from Jerusalem and fell among robbers; yet He is recognized by demons, and drives out demons, and sinks a legion of spirits in the deep, and beholds the prince of the demons falling like lightning.

He is stoned, yet not caught.

He prays, yet He hears prayer.

He weeps, yet He puts an end to weeping.

He asks where Lazarus is laid, for He was man; yet He raises Lazarus, for He was God.

yet He raises Lazarus, for He was God.

He is sold, and very cheaply too, for thirty pieces of silver; yet He redeems the world, and at a great price, for it cost His own blood.

As a sheep He is led to the slaughter; yet He is the Shepherd of Israel, and now of the whole world as well.

As a lamb He is dumb; yet He is the Word, proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

He is bruised and wounded; yet He heals every disease and every sickness.

He is lifted up and nailed to the tree; yet by the tree of life He restores us; indeed He saves even the robber crucified with Him; indeed He darkens all that is seen.

He is given vinegar to drink, and fed with gall.

Who? He who turned the water into wine, the destroyer of bitter taste, who is all sweetness and altogether desirable.

He gives up His soul; yet He has power to take it again; indeed the veil is torn, for the things above are disclosed; indeed the rocks are split; indeed the dead are raised.

He dies, yet He gives life, and by death destroys death.

He goes down into Hades; yet He brings up souls; indeed He ascends into heaven; indeed He will come to judge the living and the dead, and to put to the test such arguments as these.

If the one set of facts gives you occasion for your error, the other dissolves your error.

This is our answer to the riddle-mongers — not willingly, indeed;

for idle chatter and contention of words are not pleasant to the faithful, since even one adversary is enough;

but it is necessary for the sake of those who fall into such things — even as medicines are needed because of diseases — that they may know they are not altogether wise, nor invincible, in those superfluous things that empty the Gospel of its power.

For when we put forward the power of reason, abandoning faith, and overthrow the trustworthiness of the Spirit by our inquiries, and then reason is overcome by the greatness of the matters — and overcome it certainly will be, proceeding as it does from the feeble instrument of our understanding — what happens? The weakness of the argument appears to be the weakness of the mystery;

and thus, as Paul also holds, the eloquence of speech is shown to be a making void of the cross.

For faith is the fulfilment of our reasoning.

But may He who proclaims bonds and looses what is bound — He who has put it into our mind to undo the knots of forced doctrines — above all transform these men too, and make them faithful instead of word-spinners, and Christians instead of what they are now called.

This indeed is our exhortation:

Be reconciled to God, and quench not the Spirit;

or rather, may Christ be reconciled to you, and may the Spirit shine forth in you, even though late.

abiding sincere and without offence, until the more perfect revelation of the things we long for, in Christ Himself our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages.