Not only therefore from his parents, but also from his forefathers, the nobility of holy John is propagated, sublime not by worldly power but venerable by the succession of religion. For such forefathers ought the herald of Christ to have had, that he might be seen to proclaim the faith of the Lord's coming not as one conceived suddenly, but as received from his forefathers and instilled into him by the very law of nature. 'They were both,' it says, 'righteous, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord without blame.' What do they bring to bear against this, who, seeking solaces for their own sins, suppose that a man cannot exist without frequent sins, and use the little verse that is written in Job: 'No one is clean from defilement, not even if his life be of one day; his months upon the earth are numbered by Him'?
To these it must first be answered that they should define what it is for a man to be without sin — whether never to have sinned at all, or to have ceased from sinning. For if they think this to be without sin, namely to have ceased from sinning, I myself agree — for all have sinned and lack the glory of God; but if they deny that one who has corrected his old error and transformed himself into that quality of life, so as to refrain from sin, abstains from offenses, I cannot concur in their opinion, since we read that 'the Lord so loved the Church, that He might present it to Himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it might be holy and unspotted.'
For since the Church is gathered out of the nations, that is, out of sinners, how can it be unspotted out of those who are spotted, unless first by the grace of God, in that it has been washed from offense, and then in that by the quality of not sinning it abstains from offenses? Thus it was not unspotted from the beginning — for this is impossible to human nature — but by the grace of God and by its own quality. Because it now no longer sins, it comes about that it is seen to be unspotted. Nor without purpose did he say they were righteous before God, walking in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, in which he comprehends both the Father Almighty and the Son. The holy evangelist also declares that it is the Son who gave the Law and prescribed the commandments. And well, 'righteous before God';
for not everyone who is righteous before man is righteous also before God. Men see one way, God another; men in the face, God in the heart. And therefore it can happen that someone, by an affected and popular goodness, may seem righteous to me, but is not righteous before God, if his righteousness is not formed from simplicity of mind but feigned by flattery; for man cannot detect what is hidden in it. The perfect praise, therefore, is to be righteous before God. Whence the apostle says, 'whose praise is not from men, but from God.' Truly blessed is he who is righteous in the sight of God; blessed is he of whom the Lord deigns to say: 'Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile';
for a true Israelite is one who sees God and knows that he is seen by God, and lays bare to Him the secrets of his heart. For only he is more perfect who is approved by Him who cannot be deceived; for the judgments of the Lord are true, but the judgments of men are often deceived, so that they frequently ascribe the grace of righteousness to the unrighteous, and either persecute the righteous out of hatred or discolor him with a lie. But the Lord knows the ways of the unspotted, and judges no one as a sinner in place of one praiseworthy, nor as praiseworthy in place of a sinner, but judges each one according to the reckoning of his fitting merits; for the same one is the arbiter of the mind and of the deed. The divine judgments measure the merit of the righteous from the disposition of the mind, not from any outcome of deeds;
for very often either a good mind is disfigured by the outcome of a reprehensible deed, or a wicked thought is veiled by the comeliness of some deed. But even what you have done well, if you have thought ill, cannot be approved by the divine judgment; for it is written: 'You shall justly pursue what is just.' For unless it were possible to do the just thing unjustly, it would never have been said: 'You shall justly pursue what is just.' And certainly the Savior Himself taught us that the just can be done unjustly, saying: 'When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you. And when you pray, do not be as the hypocrites.' For mercy is good, prayer is good, but it can be done unjustly, if for the sake of boasting someone gives bountifully to a poor man, that he may be seen by men.
Whence the holy evangelist says they were not only righteous before God and walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, but also walking 'without blame.' This wonderfully agrees with the prophetic saying which holy Solomon used in the Proverbs, saying: 'Provide good things always before God and before men.' There is therefore no blame where both the goodness of the mind and of the deed accord; and very often a righteousness too severe stirs up the blame of men. But mark diligently how fitting is the very distinction of words and how the order agrees. He says, 'walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.' For first is the commandment, second is the justification. And so, when we obey the heavenly commandments, we walk in the commandments of the Lord:
when we judge, and judge fittingly, we are seen to hold the justifications of the Lord. The commendation, therefore, is full, which comprehends lineage, character, office, deed, and judgment: lineage in his forefathers, character in equity, office in the priesthood, deed in the commandment, judgment in the justification. 'And it came to pass, while Zechariah was performing the priestly office in the order of his course before the Lord God, according to the custom of the priesthood, by lot he went out to place incense, having entered into the temple of the Lord. And all the multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.'
Here holy Zechariah seems to be designated the high priest, because, as has been read, into the former tabernacle, into which the priests always entered to perform the ministries, they entered only at one time of the year; but into the second the high priest alone entered once a year, not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the offenses of the people. This is that high priest who is still sought by lot, because the true one is still unknown; for he who is chosen by lot is not grasped by human judgment. That one, therefore, was being sought, and another was being prefigured. That true and eternal priest was being sought, to whom it is said: 'You are a priest forever,' who would reconcile God the Father to the human race not by the gore of victims but by His own blood.
But then blood was poured out in figure, in figure a priest was ordained; now, because the truth has come, let us leave the figure and follow the truth. And then indeed there were courses, but now there is perpetuity. There was, then — and certainly there was — He whose courses were even being borne. By lot, therefore, the priest was chosen to enter the temple. If, then, in the type no witness could be admitted, what else was signified but that a priest was to come whose sacrifice would not be common with the rest, who would sacrifice for us not in temples made with hands, but in the temple of His own body would empty out our sins? By lot, therefore, the priest was sought.
Perhaps for this reason too the soldiers cast lots for the garments of the Lord, so that, since the Lord was preparing to offer the sacrifice for us in His own temple, the casting of lots also about Him might fulfill the precept of the Law. On account of which He says: 'I have not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it' — certainly that He Himself might be the one who would be seen both awaited by the Old Testament and chosen by the commandment of God. In short, the lot fell also upon the apostle Matthias, lest the election of the apostle should seem to differ from the commandment of the old Law. 'And there appeared to him an angel standing at the right of the altar of incense.' Not undeservedly is an angel seen in the temple, because the coming of the true priest was now being announced and the heavenly sacrifice was being prepared, in which angels would minister.
And well is He said to have 'appeared' to him who suddenly beheld Him; and this in particular divine Scripture is wont to maintain either of angels or of God, that what cannot be foreseen is said to 'appear'; for thus you have: 'God appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre.' For one who is not perceived beforehand, but is seen by a sudden sight, is recorded to 'appear.' For sensible things are not seen in the same way as He whose seeing lies in His own will, and whose nature it is not to be seen, but to be seen by His will. For if He does not will, He is not seen; if He wills, He is seen. For God appeared to Abraham because He willed; to others, because He did not will, He did not appear.
It was also seen by Stephen, when he was being stoned by the people, that heaven was opened; Jesus too was seen standing at the right hand of God, and was not seen by the people. Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts, but another could not see Him, because He appeared to whom He pleased. And why do we speak of men, when even of the heavenly virtues and powers themselves we have read that 'no one has ever seen God'? And he added what is beyond the heavenly powers: 'The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.'
Either, then, it must necessarily be conceded that, if no one has ever seen God the Father, the Son was seen in the Old Testament — and let the heretics cease to give Him a beginning from the Virgin, who was seen before He was born of the Virgin — or certainly it cannot be refuted that either the Father or the Son or indeed the Holy Spirit (if, however, there is a vision of the Holy Spirit) is seen in that form which the will has chosen, not which nature has fashioned, since we have received that the Spirit too was seen in a dove. And therefore 'no one has ever seen God,' because no one has beheld that fullness of divinity which dwells in God, no one has comprehended it with mind or eyes; for 'he saw' must be referred to both. Finally, when it is added:
'the only-begotten Son, He has declared Him,' the vision rather of the mind than of the eyes is declared; for the form is seen, but the power is narrated; the former is comprehended by the eyes, the latter by the mind. But what shall I say of the Trinity? The Seraphim appeared when it willed, and Isaiah alone heard its voice. The angel appeared and is now at hand, but is not seen; for it is not in our power to see, but in His power to appear. Yet, though there is no power of seeing, there is the grace of meriting, that we may be able to see. And therefore he who had the grace merited the abundance; we do not merit the abundance, because we do not have the grace of seeing God. And what wonder if in the present age He is not seen except when the Lord wills?
In the resurrection itself, too, it is not easy to see God, except for those who are pure in heart. And therefore, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' How many had He already counted as blessed, and yet to these He had not promised the power of seeing God! If, then, those who are pure in heart shall see God, surely others shall not see Him; for neither shall the unworthy see God, nor can he who has refused to see God see God. Nor is God seen in a place, but with a pure heart; nor is God sought with the eyes of the body, nor is He encompassed by sight, nor held by touch, nor heard by speech, nor perceived by His walking. And when He is thought to be absent, He is seen; and when He is present, He is not seen. Lastly, not even all the apostles saw Christ. And therefore He says:
'Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known me!' For he who has known what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, has seen also Christ, has seen also the Father. For we now no longer know Christ according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit; for the Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord, who in His mercy may deign to fill us unto all the fullness of God, that He may be seen by us. Therefore the angel appeared to Zacharias at the right side of the altar of incense, because He appeared when He willed, and did not appear so long as He willed not. And He appeared at the right side of the altar of incense, because He bore the token of the divine mercy; for 'the Lord is at my right hand, lest I be moved,' and elsewhere:
'The Lord is thy protection upon the hand of thy right hand.' And would that to us also, when we kindle the altars and offer the sacrifice, an angel might stand by, nay rather might present himself to be seen; for do not doubt that an angel stands by. When Christ stands by, Christ is sacrificed; for 'Christ our passover has been sacrificed.' Nor fear lest thy heart be troubled at the vision of the angel — for we are disturbed and become estranged from our own composure, when we are dazzled by the encounter of some higher power —; for the same angel who shall meet us will be able to strengthen us, just as he strengthened in spirit Zacharias when troubled before him, saying: 'Fear not, Zacharias, for behold thy prayer is heard. And thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John;'
'and thou shalt have joy, and many shall rejoice at his birth.' The divine benefits are ever full and overflowing, not confined within a scant number, but heaped up with a rich accumulation of good things — so that here first is the fruit of prayer, then the offspring of a barren wife, then the gladness of many, and the greatness of his virtue. He is also promised to be a prophet of the Most High; nay more, lest there should be any doubt, the very name of the one to come is appointed. With such gifts therefore flowing beyond what was prayed for, it is not undeservedly that silence is the penalty of his distrust, which we shall explain in what follows. But there is solemn rejoicing at the rising and birth of the saints; for a saint is not only the grace of his parents, but also the salvation of many.
Whence we are admonished in this place to rejoice at the birth of the saints. Parents too are admonished to give thanks no less for the birth than for the merits of their children; for it is no slight gift of God to give offspring as propagators of the race and heirs of succession. Read of Jacob rejoicing in the birth of twelve sons; to Abraham a son is given; Zacharias is heard. Fruitfulness, therefore, is a divine gift to the parent. Let fathers therefore give thanks because they have begotten, sons because they were begotten; mothers because they are honored with the rewards of wedlock; for sons are the wages of their warfare. Let the earth flourish unto the praise of God, because it is tilled; the world, because it is known; the Church, because it is increased by the number of a devout people.
Nor is it idly that at the very beginning of Genesis, by the command of God, wedlock is joined together, save that heresy might be destroyed. For thus God approved wedlock, that He joined it together; thus He rewarded it, that to those to whom barrenness had denied children the divine mercy granted them. 'And he shall be great before the Lord.' Here He declared not the greatness of the body, but of the soul. There is before the Lord a greatness of soul, a greatness of virtue; there is also a smallness of soul and a childhood of virtue.
For we reckon the ages of soul and body not according to the measure of time, but according to the quality of virtue, so that he is called a perfect man who is free from the error of childhood and who, by maturity of mind, does not feel the slipperiness of youth; but he is called little who as yet seems to have made no advance in virtue. Whence that passage in Jeremiah, when the Lord had compassion on Ephraim weeping and entreating for his own sins: 'From my youth,' He says, 'Ephraim my son has been beloved to me, a child in delights.' For if he had not been a child in delights, he would never have sinned. And well did He say both — both 'in delights' and 'a child'; for the child is one who does not sin. 'Behold my child, whom I have chosen.'
Through delights therefore he sinned, who had been so formed by the Lord as to be ignorant of error. Therefore both if he had not been a child in delights, and if he had advanced in age into a man perfect in virtue, he would never have fallen, so that it should be necessary for him to seek pardon for his transgressions, when rather he ought to have hoped for the rewards of his merits. This too our Lord seems to express in the Gospel, when He says: 'Do not despise one of these little ones.' But let more be reserved for its own place. Therefore the little one is opposed to the great. And if, according to the apostle, the little child is under the elements — 'for when we were little children, we were under the elements of this world' — then the great man is above the elements of the world.
John therefore shall be great, not by strength of body, but by greatness of soul. In short, he did not enlarge the boundaries of any empire, nor did he prefer any triumphs of warlike contest with their laurels, but what is greater, preaching in the desert he by great strength of soul suppressed the delights of men and the wantonness of the body. He was therefore little in the world, great in spirit. In short, like one truly great, neither captivated by the allurements of life did he change the constancy of his resolve out of a desire for living. 'And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit,' He says, 'even from his mother's womb.' There is no doubt that this promise of the angel is true, since holy John, before he was born, while yet placed in his mother's womb, manifested the grace of the Spirit received.
For although neither his father nor his mother had done any miracles before, leaping in his parent's womb he proclaimed the coming of the Lord. For thus you have it: when the mother of the Lord had come to Elizabeth, she said: 'Behold, when the voice of thy salutation was in my ears, the infant leaped in my womb'; for not yet was there in him the spirit of life, but the spirit of grace. In short, elsewhere too we have been able to observe the grace of sanctifying running ahead of the substance of living, when the Lord says: 'Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth from the belly, I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet among the nations.' For the spirit of this life is one thing, the spirit of grace another.
The former takes its beginning in being born, and its end in dying; the latter is not confined by times nor by ages, is not extinguished by death, nor shut out by the mother's womb. In short, holy Mary too, full of the Holy Spirit, prophesied; and Elisha, though dead, by the touch of his body raised up the lifeless corpse of a man; and Samuel after death, according to the testimony of Scripture, did not keep silent about things to come. 'And he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit,' He says; for to him who has the spirit of grace nothing is lacking, and in him into whom the Holy Spirit is poured there is a fullness of great virtues. 'And many,' He says, 'of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.' We need no testimony that holy John turned the hearts of many.
In this the prophetic and the evangelical Scriptures support us — for 'the voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths' — and the baptisms thronged by the peoples declare that no slight advances of a converted people were made, because while John is believed, Christ is believed. For he preached not concerning himself, but concerning the Lord, as the forerunner of Christ. And therefore 'he shall go before in the sight of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.' Well are these things joined together; for never is power without spirit, nor spirit without power.
And therefore perhaps 'in the spirit and power of Elijah,' because holy Elijah had both great power and grace — power, to turn back the minds of the peoples from faithlessness to faith; the power of abstinence and patience, and the spirit of prophesying. In the desert was Elijah, in the desert John; the one was fed by ravens, the other on brambles, and trampling underfoot every allurement of pleasure he preferred frugality and despised luxury. The one did not seek the favor of king Ahab, the other spurned that of Herod; the one divided the Jordan, the other turned it to a saving washing; the one consorts with the Lord on earth, the other appears with the Lord in glory; the one is the forerunner of the Lord's former coming, the other of His latter.
The one, after three years, watered with rains the earth that was parching; and this one, after three years, drenched the soil of our body with the rain of faith. Do you ask what these three years are? 'Behold,' He says, 'these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none'; for a mystical number was owed, that salvation might be restored to the peoples: one year in the patriarchs — in short, there was then such a harvest of men as there was not afterward upon the earth — another in Moses and the rest of the prophets, a third in the coming of the saving Lord. 'Behold,' He says, 'the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense.' And that householder, who planted a vineyard, sent the collectors for the fruit not once, but more often.
First he sent servants, secondly other servants he sent, but thirdly he sent his own son. John therefore came in the spirit and power of Elijah; for the one cannot be without the other, as is also found in what follows, when it is said: 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee.' But perhaps this example may seem above us and above the apostles; for that one too, under Elijah, by the dividing of the stream — the flowing back of the river's waters to the source of the river, as the Scripture said: 'The Jordan was turned backward' — signifies the future mysteries of the saving washing, through which those who shall have been baptized are reformed, as little ones, back into the first beginnings of their nature, away from malice.
What of the fact that to His apostles too the Lord Himself promised that the power of the Spirit should be granted, saying: 'You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you'? Then in what follows: 'There came suddenly,' he says, 'a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing of the Spirit being borne along.' Well 'with mighty rushing,' for 'by the breath of His mouth is all their power.' And that is the power which the apostles obtained from the Holy Spirit. Well also shall holy John go before the face of the Lord, he who was born a forerunner and died a forerunner. And perhaps this mystery is celebrated in this life of ours even today.
For a certain virtue of John runs ahead of our soul, when we make ready to believe in Christ, that he may prepare the ways of our soul for faith, and from the crooked path of this life may make our journeys' paths straight, lest we slip by the winding of error; whereby every valley of our soul may be filled with the fruits of virtue, and every height of worldly thoughts may rather prostrate itself before the Lord in humble fear, knowing that nothing can be lofty which is frail. 'And Zacharias said to the angel: Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her days. And the angel answering said to him: I am Gabriel, the angel who stands before the Lord, and I am sent to announce these things to thee.'
'And thou shalt be silent and unable to speak until the day on which these things shall come to pass, because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.' The priest's unbelief is condemned with silence, and the faith of the prophets is proved by the oracle. 'Cry out,' He says. 'And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass.' You see the command of Him who bids, the compliance of him who obeys, the affection of him who questions, the oracle of him who complies. For he believed who demands what he is to cry, and because he believed, he prophesied. But Zacharias, because he did not believe, could not speak, but was beckoning to them and remained mute. It is not the mystery of one, nor the silence of one. The priest is silent, the prophet is silent.
Unless I am mistaken, in one man the voice of the whole people became dumb, because in one man the whole people spoke to the Lord through Moses. The ceasing of the sacred rites and the silence of the prophets — the silence of the prophet is also the silence of the priest. 'I will take away,' He says, 'the strong power, the prophet and the counselor.' And truly He took away the prophets, from whom He took away the word which He was wont to speak in the prophets. And truly He took away the power from those from whom the power of God withdrew; He took away the counselor from those whom the angel of great counsel turned away from; He took away the voice, because the voice is the voice of the word, but the word is not of the voice; for unless that word works in us, there is no sound of the voice. John is the voice — for he is 'the voice of one crying in the desert' — Christ is the Word;
this Word works, and therefore, where it ceased to work, suddenly the tongue — as it were a certain tongue of the soul, lacking the spirit — fell mute. For the Word of God passed over to us and is not silent in us. In short, the Jew can now no longer say what the Christian can say: 'since you seek a proof of Him who speaks in me, namely Christ.' 'And he himself was beckoning to them.' Zacharias therefore remained mute and was beckoning to them. What is a nod but a certain bodily act without a word, striving to indicate yet not expressing the will — a certain mute speech of the dying, when at the last by death the voice is suppressed?
Does not the people of the Jews seem to you to be like this man, so irrational that it cannot render the account of its own deeds — which, placed in the last passing of its vital hope, has lost the voice it had, a voice that by the wavering act of the body desires to set forth the sign of a word, but not the word itself? Mute therefore is the people, without reason, without the word. For why should he rather seem to you to be mute who knows not the sound, than he who knows not the mystery? Assuredly there is a voice of works and a cry of faith, as it is read: 'The blood of thy brother cries to me.' And he cries who cries in his heart throughout the day. He therefore who has lost the cry of the heart has lost that of the tongue; for he who does not hold the distinction of faith, how can he hold that of words?
And indeed Moses too had said before that he could not speak, but after he spoke, he received the word and brought forth the brightness of good works. Therefore, just as Moses was a type of the people and a type of the law, so also Zacharias was silent. We must therefore consider how the several things concur: the Word in the womb, the law in silence; John is named and Zacharias speaks; the Word is brought forth, the law is loosed — but the loosing of the law is the unfolding of the Word, and therefore he who has spoken the Word speaks, even if he had not spoken before. By the angel Zacharias is bidden to be silent; by the angel the voice of the Jews is suppressed; for this is the command not of human, but of divine power, that he should not speak to God who has not believed in Christ.
And therefore let us believe, that we may speak; let the Jew believe, that he may be able to speak. Let us speak in the Spirit the mysteries; let us understand the meaning of the ancient sacrifices, the riddles of the prophets. Mute is he who does not understand the law; mute is he who does not understand the sequence of the divine Scriptures; for our voice is faith. And therefore 'I would rather speak in the Church five words with my mind, that I may instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue'; for 'tongues are for a sign not to believers, but to unbelievers, but prophecy not to unbelievers, but to believers.' 'After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and hid herself five months, saying: Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked upon me to take away my reproach among men.'