Sermons 153

The depths of the supernal will and disposition, most dear brethren, unless we follow them by faith, throw human understanding into confusion; and in the greatness of the divine works, unless we stood in awe of the judgment of Almighty God, the reasoning of mortal wit would sink down as though feeble. And therefore the things that God does are not to be probed by words, but to be believed with devotion. For in Christ our Lord the sacred mysteries of God and man so run together that, under a certain twofold office of action, both humility shines in his majesty and majesty reigns in his humility. For Christ himself was, under the unity of a substance that was diverse, through the mysteries of our redemption, a powerful man and a humble God;

but according to the purpose of his glory, the humility is God the man, and the power of the man is God. God is indeed called humble, when, bowing down the prerogative of his own divinity, he permitted his body to be nailed to the cross while the very world mourned; and the man is powerful in his God, when at the command of his word infirmities depart, health returns to the ailing, unclean spirits flee, and angels give obedience. And so, since the power of this new man is so great, we ought to observe that all that humility of God is the piety of condescension, not the destruction of power.

Through this most sacred mystery of the incarnation, indeed, flesh and Word so came together into one Lord and one person, that God was thought to have been born of a woman, and man is believed to have come from heaven, according to what the Savior says: 'No one has ascended into heaven, except him who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven' (John 3). I ask now, how did Christ, before his passion, when he had not yet hastened glorified to the Father, say that he was in heaven, that he had also ascended, or descended from heaven? How, brethren, except that he who was the Son of God was the Son of man? Nor can we confess separately either man without God, or God without man.

Does it not seem that man transcended heaven, when in the womb of the Virgin he was united to the Word of God? And that he then descended from heaven, when, claiming for himself nothing of his native majesty, he handed over his manhood to a penal passion? And therefore Christ was in heaven, when he did wondrous things by heavenly power; he was nonetheless also on earth, when, meek and humble, an earthly man, he suffered injuries at the hands of the impious. Hence also it was that, while among the contending Jews concerning the Lord himself a divided opinion raged among the people, one despised him as man, another marveled at him as God. Hence it was that some crucified him, others adored him;

just as those robbers likewise crucified with him: the one, as a faithless man, reviled him as a companion in punishment; the other, perceiving him as God, prayed to him. And therefore, brethren, there was then in Christ at once both the dominion of one reigning and the ministry of one serving. For when he was in the form of God, as the apostle Paul teaches, he put on the form of a servant. Christ was truly in the form of God, when, by turning water into wine, he revealed himself to be the Lord of created things. He was in the form of God, when at his command the demons crying out from possessed bodies were driven from their ancient seats. He was in the form of God, when, amid the waves, the water made solid—and yet not without fear—served his venerable footsteps.

But he was in the form of a servant, when, wearied by the toil of the journey, he sat as though resting upon the mouth of a well. He bore the form of a servant, when the impious, insulting him, cast upon him the spittle of their most filthy mouths. He had taken up the form of a servant, when he did not turn away his face—which to believers was a cause of awe to gaze upon—from the palms and blows of those who mocked him; and, what for those who are truly servants would be most shameful to endure, he even bent his shoulders, with which he had come to bear our sins, to the hands of those who scourged him. He was as it were a servant, when a crown of thorns, woven by the hands of enemies, defiled his saving head.

And so, brethren, since one and the same Son of God wrought marvels and endured things worthy of tears, one and the same was both servant and lord. For he could do all things as lord, and he suffered all things as servant. But let us now see by what powers especially and by what steps he who was a servant confirmed to his disciples that he was God. First of all, when the necessary servant of a most faithful centurion was pressed by a deadly affliction, being asked by his master, he—absent, the other being absent—as truly God, healed him by sending health, and visited with the eye of his divinity that sick man whom he did not bodily see lying a little way off.

Then, when the only son of a pitiable widow was already being carried on the bier to the tomb to be buried, he, raised by the command of the life-giving authority, restored him—amid the throngs, and with death itself as witness—both to life and to his mother. After this, when the ruler of the priests entreated for the health of his daughter, he himself, who had given life to the one being born, brought back the soul of the dead girl into her own body.

And lest any suspicion of collusion should remain among the impious concerning the miracles of a more recent death, and lest those raised so swiftly should be thought not to have been dead, he goes to the tomb of the blessed Lazarus, who, four days dead and stinking, bound moreover with the wrappings, as is the custom, leaping forth at the command of the calling Christ, was made at once a partaker in conversation with his Lord and a fellow guest at the fellowship of the table. All these things were done for this reason, dearly beloved: that no one at all might dispute about his own return from the underworld, who was proven to have raised the dead with such great glory. And therefore let us believe in the Lord our God, who works such astounding wonders. Let us love him who bestows upon us such great benefits, who raises the dead.

Let us venerate him rising from the underworld; let us worship, let us adore him also as he sits at the right hand of the Father; and with all the devotion of the living and the dead let us serve the one who is to come as judge, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc.