Moralia in Job 1454

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him. And when Herod the king had heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet: And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth a leader that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, privately calling the wise men, learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them.

And sending them into Bethlehem, he said: Go and inquire diligently after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and worship him. Who, having heard the king, went their way. And behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. And seeing the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother; and falling down, they worshipped him. And opening their treasures, they offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their own country.

As you have heard in the Gospel reading, most dear brethren, when the King of heaven was born, the king of earth was troubled; for indeed earthly loftiness is confounded when the sublimity of heaven is disclosed. But it must be asked of us why it is that, when the Redeemer was born, an angel appeared to the shepherds in Judea, whereas it was not an angel but a star that led the wise men from the East to adore Him. Clearly because to the Jews, as beings using reason, a rational being, that is, an angel, ought to preach; but the Gentiles, because they knew not how to use reason, are led to the knowledge of the Lord not by a voice but by signs. Whence also it is said through Paul: Prophecies are given to the faithful, not to the unbelievers;

but signs are for the unbelievers, not for the believers (1 Cor. XIV, 22); because both prophecies were given to those as to believers, not to unbelievers; and to these signs were given as to unbelievers, not to believers. And it is to be noted that the apostles, who themselves speak, preach our Redeemer to these same Gentiles when He was already of perfect age; but a star announces Him to the nations while He was a little child and not yet speaking through the office of the human body, because indeed the order of reason demanded that preachers who speak should make known to us the Lord who already speaks, and that mute elements should proclaim Him who does not yet speak.

But in all the signs which were shown either at the birth or at the death of the Lord, we must consider how great was the hardness in the hearts of certain of the Jews, which acknowledged Him neither through the gift of prophecy nor through miracles. For all the elements bore witness that their Author had come. That I may speak of them somewhat after the manner of men: the heavens knew Him to be God, for at once they sent forth a star. The sea knew Him, for it offered itself to be trodden under His feet. The earth knew Him, for at His death it trembled. The sun knew Him, for it hid the rays of its light. The rocks and walls knew Him, for at the time of His death they were rent. Hell acknowledged Him, for it gave back the dead whom it held.

And yet Him, whom all the insensible elements perceived to be the Lord, the hearts of the unbelieving Jews still by no means acknowledge to be God; and, harder than the rocks, they will not be broken unto repentance, and they refuse to confess Him whom the elements, as we have said, proclaimed to be God by their signs or their rendings. These men, to the very heaping up of their own damnation, foreknew long before that He would be born, whom now that He is born they despise. And they knew not only that He would be born, but also where He would be born. For, being asked by Herod, they declare the place of His nativity, which they had learned by the authority of Scripture.

And they bring forth the testimony that Bethlehem is shown to be honoured by the nativity of the new leader, so that their very knowledge might become for them a testimony of damnation, and for us a help to belief. These Isaac assuredly well signified, when he blessed his son Jacob (Gen. XXVII, 28 ff.); who, both dim of eye and prophesying, in the present did not see the son to whom he foresaw so much for the future, because indeed the Jewish people, full of the spirit of prophecy yet blind, did not recognize as present Him concerning whom it foretold so much for the future. But when the nativity of our King was made known, Herod turned to cunning devices, lest he should be deprived of his earthly kingdom.

He asks that word be brought back to him where the child might be found; he pretends that he wishes to worship Him, that (as though he could find Him) he might destroy Him. But how great is human malice against the counsel of the Godhead! For it is written: There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord (Prov. XXI, 30). For the star which appeared leads the wise men; they find the King who was born, they offer gifts, and they are warned in sleep that they should not return to Herod; and thus it comes to pass that Herod cannot find Jesus, whom he seeks. By whose person who others are designated than hypocrites, who, while they seek feignedly, never deserve to find the Lord?

But among these things it must be known that the Priscillianist heretics suppose that each man is born under the constellations of the stars; and they take this in support of their error, that a new star came forth when the Lord appeared in the flesh, whose fate they suppose to have been that same star which appeared. But if we weigh the words of the Gospel, in which it is said of that same star: Until it came and stood over where the child was, since it was not the child that ran to the star, but the star to the child, then, if it may be said, the star was not the fate of the child, but the child who appeared was the fate of the star. But far be it from the hearts of the faithful that they should say fate is anything at all. For the life of men He alone administers who created it, the Maker.

For man was not made for the sake of the stars, but the stars for the sake of man. And if a star is said to be the fate of a man, then man is asserted to be subject to its very services. Surely, when Jacob, coming forth from the womb, held with his hand the sole of the elder brother's foot (Gen. XXV, 26), the elder could by no means come forth perfectly unless the one following had begun to do so; and yet, though the mother brought both forth at one time and at the same moment, there was not one and the same quality of life for both. But to this the astrologers are wont to reply that the power of the constellation is in the moment of a point of time. To whom, on the contrary, we say that great is the delay of birth. If therefore the constellation is changed in the moment of a point, it will now be necessary that they name as many fates as there are limbs of the newborn.

The astrologers are also wont to confess that whoever is born under the sign of Aquarius receives in this life the office of a fisherman. But Getulia, as is reported, has no fishermen. Who then would say that no one there is born under the star of Aquarius, where there is by no means any fisherman? Again, those whom they assert to be born under the sign of Libra, they say will become money-changers; and many provinces of the nations know no money-changers. They must therefore of necessity confess either that this sign is lacking among them, or that it has no fatal effect at all. In the land of the Persians also, and of the Franks, kings come forth from a royal line; at whose birth who can estimate how many at the same moments of hours and times are born of servile condition?

And yet the sons of kings, born under one and the same star with slaves, advance to a kingdom, while the slaves who had been born together with them die in servitude. These things concerning the star we have said briefly, lest we should seem to pass over the folly of the astrologers undiscussed. But the wise men offered gold, frankincense, and myrrh. For gold befits a king; frankincense was set forth in sacrifice to God; and with myrrh the bodies of the dead are embalmed. Therefore the wise men, by their mystical gifts also, proclaim Him whom they adore: by the gold a king, by the frankincense God, by the myrrh a mortal. But there are some heretics who believe Him to be God, but by no means believe that He reigns everywhere. These indeed offer Him frankincense, but they are unwilling also to offer gold.

And there are some who deem Him a king, but deny that He is God. These clearly offer Him gold, but are unwilling to offer frankincense. And there are some who confess Him to be both God and king, but deny that He assumed mortal flesh. These indeed offer Him gold and frankincense, but are unwilling to offer the myrrh of the mortality He assumed. Let us therefore, now that the Lord is born, offer gold, that we may confess Him to reign everywhere; let us offer frankincense, that we may believe that He who appeared in time existed before all time as God; let us offer myrrh, that we may believe Him whom we believe to be impassible in His divinity to have been also mortal in our flesh. And yet in gold, frankincense, and myrrh something else too can be understood.

For by gold wisdom is signified, as Solomon attests, who says: A desirable treasure resteth in the mouth of the wise (Prov. XXI, 20, according to the LXX). By frankincense, which is burned to God, the power of prayer is expressed, as the Psalmist testifies, who says: Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight (Ps. CXL, 2). But by myrrh is figured the mortification of our flesh; whence holy Church says of her labourers who contend even unto death for God: My hands dropped with myrrh (Cant. V, 5). Therefore to the new-born King we offer gold, if in His sight we shine with the brightness of heavenly wisdom.

We offer frankincense, if we burn the thoughts of the flesh upon the altar of the heart through holy pursuits of prayer, that we may be able to give forth some sweet fragrance to God through heavenly desire. We offer myrrh, if we mortify the vices of the flesh through abstinence. For by myrrh, as we have said, it is brought about that dead flesh does not putrefy. But for dead flesh to putrefy is for this mortal body to serve the flux of luxury, as is said of certain men through the prophet: The beasts have rotted in their own dung (Joel I, 17). For beasts to rot in their own dung is for carnal men to end their life in the stench of luxury. Therefore we offer myrrh to God when we guard this mortal body from the putrefaction of luxury through the seasoning of continence.

But the wise men intimate something great to us, in that they return into their own country by another way. For in that which, being warned, they do, they assuredly suggest to us what we should do. For our country is paradise, to which, once Jesus is known, we are forbidden to return by the way by which we came. For from our country we departed by being proud, by disobeying, by following after visible things, by tasting the forbidden food; but it is necessary that we return to it by weeping, by obeying, by despising visible things, and by restraining the appetite of the flesh. Therefore by another way we return to our country, since we who departed from the joys of paradise through delights are recalled to them through lamentations.

Whence it is necessary, most dear brethren, that always fearful and always apprehensive we set before the eyes of the heart, on this side the faults of our deeds, on that the judgment of the final strictness. Let us weigh how strict a Judge is coming, who threatens judgment and yet is hidden; who holds out terrors to sinners, and yet still bears with them; and therefore He delays to come the sooner, that He may find the fewer whom He must condemn. Let us punish our faults with weeping, and let us come before His face with confession, in the words of the Psalmist (Ps. XCIV, 2). Let therefore no deceit of pleasures beguile us, let no vain gladness seduce us. For near at hand is the Judge who said: Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep (Luke VI, 25). For hence Solomon says:

Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold of the end of joy (Prov. XIV, 13). Hence again he says: Laughter I counted error, and to joy I said: Why art thou vainly deceived? (Eccles. II, 2.) Hence again he says: The heart of the wise is where there is sadness, and the heart of fools where there is gladness (Ibid., VII, 5). Let us therefore greatly fear the precepts of God, if we truly celebrate the solemnity of God. For a sacrifice acceptable to God is affliction against sin, as the Psalmist testifies, who says: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit (Ps. L, 19). Our past sins were loosed in the reception of baptism, and yet after baptism we have committed many things; but we cannot again be washed by the water of baptism.

Therefore, because after baptism also we have defiled our life, let us baptize our conscience with tears, so that, seeking our country again by another way, we who departed from it delighted with good things may return to it embittered by evil things, our Lord granting it, etc.