All, says the Apostle, who wish to live godly in Christ suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12), and are assailed by enemies. And therefore everyone who journeys along the road of this life ought, with Christ's help, to be unceasingly armed and always to stand in the camp. If therefore you too wish always to be vigilant, so that you may know yourself to be serving as a soldier in the Lord's camp, observe what the same Apostle says: No one serving as God's soldier entangles himself in worldly affairs, that he may please Him to whom he has proved himself (2 Tim. 2:4). If you thus serve as a soldier, be free from worldly matters, and always keep watch in the camp of God; and it will be said of you that which we heard a little above, that through the word of the Lord you go out from the desert of Sin and come into Rephidim.
For Sin is interpreted 'Temptation'; but Rephidim, 'Soundness of judgement.' He who comes well out of temptation, and renders the trial approved, himself comes to soundness of judgement. For in the day of judgement he shall be saved, and soundness shall be with him, who in the temptation of the present life, never murmuring against God, has in no way been wounded: as we read in the Apocalypse, To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in paradise (Rev. 2:7). He therefore comes to soundness of judgement who, hearing well another's cause, orders his words in judgement, and does not accept gifts against the innocent. 2. The manifold kinds of thirst. What then does Scripture recount in what follows?
The people, it says, thirsted there for water, and murmured against Moses (Exod. 17:3). It seems perhaps to have been said superfluously, that it said the people thirsted for water. For when it had said, 'The people thirsted,' what need was there to add 'for water'? For thus the ancient translation has it. Why did it add this, except because he who ought to have thirsted for righteousness thirsted for water? For blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6). And again, My soul has thirsted for the living God (Ps. 41:3). For many are the kinds of thirst. The righteous thirst, sinners too thirst; the former for righteousness, the latter for luxury: the righteous thirst for God, sinners thirst for gold. The people therefore thirsted for water, who ought to have thirsted for righteousness.
Christ is the smitten rock that brought forth fountains; who declares war on the devil. The Lord therefore said to Moses: Take the rod, and strike the rock, that it may bring forth water for the people. Behold, there is the rock, and it has water. But this rock, unless it is smitten, has no water at all; but when smitten it produces fountains and rivers, as we read in the Gospel: He who believes in Me, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly (John 7:38). For Christ, when smitten and put upon the cross, brought forth the fountains of the New Testament. It was necessary therefore that He should be smitten. For unless He had been smitten, and from His sacred side blood and water had flowed, the whole world, suffering the thirst of the word of God, would have perished. Moses therefore struck the flint twice with the rod.
What is this, brethren? Nor do I think this is without a mystery. What is this, that the rock was struck by the rod not once, but twice? The rock is struck a second time for this reason, because two pieces of wood are raised up on the gibbet of the cross: because on one piece of wood He spread out His sacred hands, but on the other He stretched out His spotless body from head to foot. The people therefore drank from the rock, and immediately entered into war against Amalek. See, brethren, that after each one has drunk water from the rock, that is, has received the sacraments of Christ, it is necessary for him to advance to battle. For no one will feel the devil fighting against him so long as he is willing to practise his works; but whoever forsakes him, and—
who, drinking from the rock, has chosen to follow Christ, must needs endure as hostile the one before whom, by a just judgement, he chose to prefer Christ. Whoever therefore we are that are joined to Christ, let us prepare ourselves not for delights, not for pleasures, but for battle: for All who wish to live godly in Christ suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12); and again, Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). 4. The first mention of the sacred name of Jesus in the Scriptures. When war therefore threatened the children of Israel, Moses called Joshua, and said to him: Choose for yourself men, and fight against Amalek. Up to this place mention of this blessed name, that is, Jesus, has nowhere been made.
Here for the first time the splendour of this appellation shone forth. Moses calls Jesus; the Law invokes Christ. Choose, he says, for yourself mighty men. Moses was not able to choose mighty men: Jesus alone is He who can choose mighty men; He assuredly who said to His Apostles: You did not choose Me, but I chose you (John 15:16). He it is who entered the house of the strong man, and plundered his goods (Matt. 12:29). 5. Moses raised his hands, he did not stretch them out; what it is to raise the hands; by prayer one fights for victory. Now Moses went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass that when Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed. Take note, brethren: Moses indeed raises his hands, yet does not stretch them out.
For whom then was it reserved to stretch out his hands, save for our Lord Jesus Christ, who, stretched out on the cross to embrace the whole world, spread wide the arms of His mercy? Moses therefore raised his hands: and although he did not stretch them out, yet by that very raising he showed forth the mystery of the cross. See, brethren, that already then, through the sacrament of the cross, the adversary nations were overcome. And we too, most beloved brethren, if, with the Lord helping, we lift up our hands, we overcome the devil. In our hands we ought to receive works. If therefore your works are such that you can lift them up on high in the sight of the Lord, you too are able to destroy your adversaries within yourself. Who lifts up his hands well, save he who continually lays up treasure in heaven through alms?
Who therefore lifts up his hands well, save he who assiduously supplies food and clothing to the poor? Who lifts up his hands well? He assuredly who fulfils that word of the Apostle: Lifting up, he says, pure hands without wrath and disputing (1 Tim. 2:8). Since therefore battle threatens us and you daily against the adverse powers, if we wish to conquer, let our hands, that is, our deeds and our manner of life, not be upon the earth: but, as the Apostle says, Walking upon the earth, let us have our conversation in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Yet it is written that just as a calf licks up the green herb in the fields, so the people of Israel shall lick up the people of Amalek upon the earth (Num. 22:4).
By which it seems to be indicated that the people of God fought not so much with hand and arms as with voice and tongue, that is, they poured out prayer to God; and therefore they overcame their adversaries. So you too, if you wish to conquer, hear the Apostle saying: Continuing in prayer, and watching in it (Col. 4:2). This is the most glorious battle of the Christian: not to presume upon his own strength, but always to implore God's help; to whom be honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 27. On the children of Israel. 1. Thus says the Lord to Moses: Let Me alone, that I may make of you a great nation (Exod. 32:10). It is grievous to deal with a person who falls into unbelief, when he loses the greater thing that he has received.
Who does not know the insoluble knots of the Jews? Who does not lay aside their treachery and audacity? They read their own records, that in the transgression of their forefathers vengeance was not lacking. Angry severity is put forth, and their contumacy is not amended: clemency is more gently angered, because it more quickly shows mercy. His shall be the judgement, both to approve what is worthy, and to have pardoned the sin of those who go astray. What do I say? Did God abhor them, or love them? Far be it. If He abhorred sinners, He despised them; but He loved them; therefore He frequently pardoned. Return to Me, He says, and I will return to you (Mal. 3:7). Theirs indeed are the crimes, whether a guilty tongue or a criminal conscience. You, He says, are of your father the devil (John 8:44).
Vengeance cannot be deferred, retribution will not be postponed. For so great are the crimes conceived by usurpation, that they do not spare the race, since they seem to condemn the very author of the deed. They cried out, it says, to the Lord when they were afflicted (Ps. 106:6): a leader is sent who should render the people of Israel free. Worthy and innumerable plagues of ignominy are prepared for the Egyptians; for vengeance the gnats came forth; the locust took over the vineyards, the grasshopper laid waste the fruit-bearing trees: terror and hail, sores, tumults, cries, flames, cattle stricken, herds laid low, waters turned into blood, frogs cast down, fishes killed:
the elements are hardened by no frost, the streams are dried up, bent back in the miracle of the event, and the wave is suspended in a wall: the billows marvel at the unwonted path, and the people marvel too. 2. Why, unbelieving people, do you despair in the night? A sign shall be for you the pillar which Christ illumines. Go secure on the road that you set out upon; Christ will go before you. And because Christ leads on, there ought to be confidence, not terror: secure you will come to the promised things; and would that you were not rebellious. The Egyptians enter the open sea, whom the billows, rushing round in haste, destroy as they fall. The sand of the mid-sea felt the hoof, the sea sustained the course of the horsemen. But this vengeance was owed, that he should perish the sooner who denied to follow after salvation. Why do you doubt concerning the enemy?
Go forward now safely, you shall see him dead, you shall prove him deceased, whose slave you had been before. 3. They go out into the wilderness, nor is the affront delayed. They murmur, they demand onions and melons, deservedly tasteless, and those whom the salt of grace does not season crave a cheap food. He said 'onions,' that tears gathered from their sin might be wrung from them. The nature of the waters in the rivers had not failed; bitterness had saddened the common liquid; wood is cast in, sweetness is restored. The rock, when struck, offered drink by the rod to those who thirsted: nor were their garments worn out and torn upon them: in the sterile field manna was not lacking. A relish is demanded, and by their desires all things are conferred. Each one tasted in his mouth the savour that he wished, while he ate. 4. They ask for themselves something to worship:
and would that they had asked simply. But the people, who by the law of the husband had received the marriage tablets as dowry, plans corruption and contemplates adultery. Why, unfaithful one, do you wish to join yourself to a worthy consort? Your mother has displeased, repudiated by a bill of divorce, as Isaiah declares (Isa. 50:1); nor are you worthy of the highest gift, since by execrable deeds you show yourself ungrateful. You shall not serve, He says, a strange god (Deut. 7:16). Gold is put to the fire, and the ungrateful seek out an ill-omened crime, they adore an image which the kindled fire had cast out. Where is that which was commanded, Hear, O Israel; the Lord your God is one God (Deut. 6:4)? Where was your calf, when Christ was preparing paths for you in the sea:
He opened the sea, He offered drink to the thirsty, He refreshed those wearied by fasting? Luxurious heathendom, after being filled, seeks its sport. The people sat down, it says, to eat and drink, and rose up to play (Exod. 32:6). And would that these had been merely words spoken, and not deeds admitted. Behold, now father Abraham is transferred into a great nation. Behold what crime the firstborn commits, what grace the second merits. You sold me your birthright, becoming by your fault a little slave to your brother. The root indeed bears me, though I am alien, but a new grace fattens my head. As a leader, therefore, the Lord showed Himself to the ungrateful people; through inaccessible places and the trackless deserts of the earth He did not confound Christ's army on the unknown way.
Therefore, with the devil assailing, a profane temptation arises; suddenly the people become ungrateful for the divine benefits, their mind falls away from the truth, forsakes the Giver of life, and follows the author of death. Whence comes the blind folly of those who worship idols—nay, an intolerable madness—to think a calf fashioned by mortal hand to be divine? An even bitterer indignity of things it is, that the figure of a beast should be an object of dread, and that, though God has subjected all animals to man, man should of his own accord cast himself down into servitude to a beast. To such a degree is a calf fashioned, gilded by the contributions of fools: and one which no natural motion moved in any direction whatever, this the madness of the faithless, with subjugated neck, carried about:
and one whose ears no hearing penetrated, nor any sensible movement stirred, the foolish prayer of the demented people knocked upon in vain: and one to which neither the fantasy of the craftsman had given sight with living motion in fluttering eyelids, nor mother nature had conferred it, this the ungrateful, seeing it, adored as suppliants of a god. Ahead of the people in the wilderness went a figured calf devoid of spirit, so that the demented people might use such a leader as it had itself become through its transgressions. 5. And lest so great an evil, without vengeance, should drain away as an example to posterity, straightway vengeance is executed upon the guilty. For when a limit is set to evils, the licence of sinners is broken. For frequently discipline is corrected by scourges, if the exhortations of the righteous profit nothing:
vengeance restrains from damnable deeds those men whom the benefits of God cannot hold fast in good works. For if the divine judgement did not take counsel at the very first lapses of the sinning, but should suspend the onset of retribution for the future, without doubt the audacity of all the wicked would advance more widely. In short, if you wish to advance the discipline of your own people, exercise censure. Where solicitude for God's future vengeance is at work, there either one does not sin, or one goes astray more slowly. For censure sometimes causes certain ones to undergo punishment, so that many may be corrected in the few; lest afterwards, wrath being aroused, it begin to rage among many. Frequent laughter corrupts morals, and also loosens the sinews tightened by strictness:
but a stern countenance is the guardian of discipline. For if you frequently indulge those who offend, the sinner does not advance toward salvation. SERMON 28. On the spies and on the cluster of grapes. 1. Two men carrying the grape-cluster: the two Testaments and the two commandments; Christ in the midst of the two Testaments. Just now, when the divine reading was being read, we heard that at that time when the twelve spies were sent to survey the land of promise, two of them brought a grape-cluster of marvellous size upon a pole to the children of Israel (Num. 13:23). These two, most beloved brethren, can be understood in many ways. For they are believed not incongruously to have signified both the two Testaments, and the two commandments by which God and neighbour are loved.
They can also be understood in history and in allegory. But that they bore the type of the two Testaments, we recognize hence evidently; because just as the grape is read to have been displayed in the midst of those two, so in the midst of the two Testaments Christ the Lord is evidently recognized; according to that which is written, In the midst of two living creatures You shall be known (Hab. 3:2, according to the Septuagint), that is, in the midst of the New or the Old Testament. But as to what it says, In the midst, it is not to be understood that Christ was midway between the New and the Old Testament in such a way that He was contained neither in the New nor in the Old. It is not so, most dear brethren. But as to what it says, In the midst of two living creatures You shall be known:
this is to be understood, that He is in the midst of the Old Testament, and in the midst of the New, that is, within, in the inner and spiritual understanding; not in the letter, which is wont to slay not only the Jews, but also all heretics, but in the Spirit, which quickens all Christians who understand spiritually. This then is the meaning of, In the midst of two living creatures You shall be known: in the inner sense of the New or the Old Testament. 2. Mary is the land of promise. The grape then was displayed by two. And these two who merited to bring the grape from the land of promise, as we have already said, can also be understood as the two commandments of love, that is, You shall love God; and You shall love your neighbour.
Consider then, brethren, that just as those two carried the hanging grape; so also of these two, that is, the love of God and of neighbour, it is said, On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:40). For just as that grape figured Christ our God, so also the land of promise, in which He was born, seems to have borne beforehand the image of holy Mary. For in her was fulfilled that which is written, Truth is sprung from the earth (Ps. 84:12). But how was blessed Mary not the land of promise, who was promised by the prophet long before? For through blessed Isaiah the Lord promised her many years before: for thus he says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a son (Isa. 7:14).
The grape then was displayed from the land of promise. She it is of whom we read, They sucked honey from the rock, and oil from the hard rock (Deut. 32:13). And of that rock it is written, But the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4); and that other, With the fat of the kidneys and the blood of the grape; and again, He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape (Gen. 49:11). This grape, I say, hung upon the wood, is borne by the service of two, which certainly, as has already been said, is represented to us by the oracles of the two Testaments—the grape which hung upon the wood of the cross, whose wine flowed forth as our price by the pressing of the passion. 3. The two carrying the grape: the Jewish people and the Christian.
Christ is salvation to the believer, a burden to the unbeliever. But it is worth the effort that the secrets of the sacraments be opened by the effects of things. This grape the two carry, hanging with a bar thrust through. These two can also figure the Christian or the Jewish people. These therefore are the two, that is, the peoples of the Synagogue or of the Church. And because the Jewish people was first, the Jew goes before, the Christian follows: the latter bears his salvation here before his own gaze, the former behind his back; the latter offers homage, the former contempt. Therefore the Prophet also testifies concerning the Jews, Let their eyes be darkened that they see not, and bow down their back always (Ps. 68:24). The two advance under the sacred load in their own order: the one always sees, the other always leaves behind.
But the Jew reckons himself the neighbour; yet he keeps his distance. The Christian therefore enjoys the present gift; the Jew is weighed down only by the burden; because Christ, just as He is salvation to the believer, so is He a burden to the unbeliever. For He was specially announced to the Jews; of whom it was said, He came to His own, and His own received Him not (John 1:11); made to them a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (Rom. 9:32-33): and whom Israel did not know, the faith of the Gentiles received. And therefore this one follows after; but, having his hope before his eyes, he goes ahead and makes progress: that one steps first; but he deserts, and draws back. The Jew indeed carries Christ in the Law; but from the grace which he carries in the mysteries, he is turned away:
because the one whom the elect received in preaching, the unbelieving loses in heart; and the one whom the one scorns in the Law, the other admires in the body. Whence our Lord and Redeemer of both is carried by this one who adores Him, and by that one who turns away from Him is hung up. And so it was fulfilled in the Jews, They have turned to Me their backs, and not their faces (Jer. 18:17). 4. Christ's burden lifts, it does not press down; each one is under either Christ's yoke or the world's. And because Christ the Lord, whom the former people of the Jews both left behind their back and crucified, we who came afterward have merited to adore and to carry, according to that which the Apostle says: Glorify and carry God in your body (1 Cor. 6:20);
let us labour, as much as we can, with His help, lest by evil works we lay down from our necks so wounded a burden. For Christ's burden is wont to lighten, not to press down. So He Himself also said in the Gospel: My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matt. 11:30). For if we take up the yoke of Christ upon a submissive and humble neck, it bears us up rather than being borne by us. For just as the yoke of the world always presses down; so the yoke of Christ is wont to lift up. And because every man is either raised up by carrying Christ, or, by sustaining the yoke of the world, is pressed down to lower things; let each one attend to his own conscience;
and if he recognizes that by holy thoughts and good works he bears the yoke of Christ, let him rejoice and give thanks to God, and with great solicitude and fear strive to persevere: but he who recognizes that by luxurious thoughts and evil works he is too heavily burdened by the most hard yoke of this world, let him by prayers, fastings, or alms cast off the yoke of the devil, that he may deserve to receive the yoke of Christ; and concerning all his evil deeds let him faithfully say with the prophet: Let us burst their bonds, and cast from us their yoke (Ps. 2:3).
For then we shall be able to drink with a secure conscience of that spiritual grape, from which the press of the cross squeezed out for us the wine of gladness, if neither luxury has defiled us, nor wrath has burned us up, nor pride has puffed us up, nor avarice has darkened us, nor envy has struck us with its viperous venom. For everyone ought to expel all these things from his heart, who desires or wishes to draw near to the altar. And because the spiritual vintage, that is, the Paschal solemnity, is at hand, in which festivity that cluster, of which we spoke above, was pressed out by injury and the weight of the cross;
since we are about to receive the cup of salvation from so great and such a grape, and to drink the wine of gladness, let us cleanse the vessels of our heart or breast with great brightness and diligence, by fastings, vigils, prayers, alms, and especially by the brightness of chastity: keeping hatred in our heart against no man, and loving not only friends, but also enemies and adversaries, that with a secure conscience we may say in the Lord's Prayer, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt. 6:12); our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 29.
On the fact that the older people died in the wilderness, and the younger entered into the land of promise. 1. The older people of the Israelites figures the Jews, the younger the Gentiles. God's justice and mercy toward the Israelites. We ought to know and understand, most beloved brethren, that the older people of the Jews, who because of unbelief died in the wilderness, signified the former people of the Jews: but their little ones, that is, the younger people, figured the people of the Gentiles. For just as, the older people having died, the younger received the land of promise; so, the people of the Jews having been rejected, the younger people of the Christians obtained the grace of the divine blessing.
Yet, most beloved brethren, it must be pondered not in passing or carelessly, but with tremendous awe, that out of six hundred thousand only two entered the land of promise. Let those, then, give heed to this who so wish the Lord to be merciful that they do not believe Him to be just. For if we consider diligently, brethren, both toward those six hundred thousand who died in the wilderness our God was merciful, and toward those two who entered the land of promise He appeared just. How was He not merciful, who reserved them for forty years and awaited them unto repentance? And not only did they refuse to be converted,
but even, murmuring in frequent rebellion against the Lord, they always added a heavier burden to the mounting heap of their sins. How is He not merciful, who awaits us for so long a time that we may be corrected? Can such long-suffering mercy take away justice from God? For the longer He waits, the more grievously He punishes. For when we sin over long periods and suffer no evil from the Lord, it is patience, not negligence: He has not lost His power, but has reserved us for repentance. Therefore both toward those who died in the wilderness He was merciful, whom He bore with such great long-suffering; and in those two He fulfilled His promises, whom by their faith He led into the land of promise.
God's sentence upon sinners is not unchangeable. Conversion must not be delayed. But someone will say that even if they had done penance, they could not have entered the land of promise, because God had given them a fixed sentence, saying: You shall not enter the land concerning which I swore to your fathers, but in the wilderness shall your carcasses lie (Num. 14:23,29). It is not so, most beloved brethren; and would that a sinful man might rise to repentance as quickly as God is willing to change even a fixed sentence. Hear the Lord Himself, through the prophet, promising the greatest hope to the human race: Suddenly, He says, I will speak against a nation, to bring evil upon them for their sins;
and if that nation does penance for its iniquities, I also will repent of the evil that I purposed to do to them, and will not do it (Jer. 26:3-5). See, brethren, how great is the loving-kindness of our God toward us; and recognize whether He wishes to deny mercy, who had said that He would change His sentence upon our conversion. Let us therefore be converted, most beloved brethren, and let us not wish to defer our amendment to the last moment of our life; but let us hear the prophet saying, Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and put it not off from day to day (Ecclus. 5:8); for you know not what the coming day may bring forth (Prov. 27:1). O man, why do you put it off from day to day, when perhaps today you may have your last day?