As often as the forecautious skill of physicians tempers an antidote from wholesome juices against deadly diseases, if beyond the art, beyond the medicine, beyond the proper time, the sick man presumes to take it, that becomes a cause of peril which was provided for health; so the word of God, if a rash hearer presumes to know it beyond instruction, beyond doctrine, beyond the teachings of the faith, that which is the matter of life becomes an occasion of perdition. We must take heed, brethren, lest through unskillfulness in hearing, that which was divinely written for our profit turn to the detriment of our souls.
Do you suppose that the evangelist today taught that Chaldeans—scrutinizers of the stars, magi wandering among the constellations, who search out the affairs of heaven in the darkness of nights, ascribing the causes of birth and death to the courses of the stars, affirming that the good and evil of men depend on a planet's judgment—found the birth of Christ, hidden from the ages, by a star as their guide? God forbid! So the world thinks, so the Gentiles understand, so the surface of the reading makes it appear: but the evangelical discourse speaks not human things but divine; not customary things but new; not things deceiving by art but resting on truth; not things beguiling the eyes but fixed in hearts; not things wavering by conjectures but established by authority; things coming from God, not from fate; not things gathered by numbers, but acquired by virtues.
When Jesus was born, he says, in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him (Matt. ii). While Jesus is born, the origin of things arises, the bestower of the race is begotten, the author of nature is born, that He might repair nature, restore the race, re-create the origin. Adam, the first man, the father of the race, the origin of generation, the good of nature, thus lost the freedom of the race and the life of the seed, when he transgressed, so that a lamentable succession carried on the evil of nature, the servitude of the race, and the death of the seed. Hence it is that Christ by being born restored nature, by dying took away death, and calls life back again when He rises:
and He who had given man a soul from heaven, thence made man to consist also of flesh, lest an earthly stain should again plunge the heavenly sense down into the injury of the flesh, as the Apostle says: The first man was of the earth, earthly; the second man from heaven, heavenly: such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly (1 Cor. xv). And John the Evangelist: Everyone who is born of God does not sin, but the generation of God preserves him (1 John v). Hence therefore it is that Christ is born, that He might lift up to a heavenly nature those lying in the earthly seed. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. Bethlehem, brethren, in Hebrew is called 'the house of bread.'
By these names, then, the house of Judah is designated, the lineage is named, that the faith of the promise, that the truth of the prophecy might be fulfilled, as Jacob says: Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be upon the neck of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall adore thee (Gen. xlix, according to the LXX). And afterward: A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until He come for whom it is laid up, and He shall be the expectation of the nations. Whence also David: Judah is my king (Ps. lix). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. What is it, that in the time of a wicked king God descended to the earth? that divinity is mingled with flesh? that a heavenly commerce comes to be with an earthly body? What is it?
And when does the true King not come to expel the tyrant, to avenge His fatherland, to restore the world, to give back liberty? Herod, a renegade of the Jewish nation, had invaded the kingdom, had taken away liberty, had profaned holy things, had confounded order; whatever there was of discipline, whatever of worship, he had abolished; deservedly therefore, since human aids were wanting to the holy nation, divine aids came to its relief, and God is present to the very one to whom no man was present to aid. So again Christ will come, that He may overthrow Antichrist, the world be freed, the fatherland of paradise be restored, the liberty of the world be made perpetual, the servitude of the age be wholly taken away. Behold, magi came from the East. From the East the magi come to the East, that He Himself might receive those coming who had commanded that they come:
for when would a magus seek out God, except at God's command? When would an astrologer have found the King of heaven, except by God's revealing? When would a Chaldean adore one God on earth without God, who in heaven served as many gods as there are stars? A greater heavenly sign is from the magi than from the star, that a magus knows the King of Judea, knows the author of the Law, which the Jew knows not; Chaldea brings the news, Judea does not; Jerusalem is troubled and shrinks back; Syria follows and adores. Behold, magi came from the East, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen his star. And yet what is it that is seen? Truly, as the Apostle said: Though He was rich, He became poor (2 Cor. viii); though He was rich in His deity, He becomes poor in our flesh;
and He who made the whole creation and holds and contains it began to have one star. We have seen His star. Sometimes the magus sees Him who has the star, and is not held by the star; nor is he himself driven by the course of the star, but he himself drives the course of the star, whose course He so directs through the heaven, so governs its motion, so tempers its way, that it may serve the steps of the magi and be sent to their walking. For when the magus walks, the star walks; when the magus sits, the star stands still; when the magus sleeps, the star keeps watch: so the magus perceives, that for those to whom the condition of journeying is equal, the necessity of serving is equal too; and now he believes the star to be not God, but judges it to be a fellow-servant, which he sees thus made bond to his own attendance. Where is he that is born King of the Jews?
We have seen His star in the East, and are come to adore Him. In saying 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews?' they do not inquire, but reproach: when those who know question those who do not know, they are not themselves ignorant, but they convict the negligent, they rebuke the slothful, they betray the wicked, they lash the obstinate, they accuse the servants of not having met their Lord. For what do they seek from men, who through God had known what they sought? To what end for them the office of a human showing, to whom for this end the stars of heaven served? What use to them the lamp of the temple, to whom the wondrous star of heaven shone through? Where is he that is born King of the Jews? This is to say: Why does the King of the Jews lie in a manger, and not recline in the temple? Why does He not shine in purple, but lie squalid in swaddling-clothes?
Why does He lie hidden in a cave, and is not found manifest in the sanctuary? The beasts of burden received in the manger Him whom you disdained to receive in your own house. The ox knew, as it is written, its owner, and the ass its master's crib (Isa. i); but thou, O Israel, hast not sought thy Lord. We have seen His star. The star appeared not of its own will, but as commanded; not by the will of heaven, but by the impulse of the Divinity; not by the law of the constellations, but by the newness of the signs; not by the region of heaven, but by the power of Him being born; not from art, but from God; not from an astrologer's science, but from the foreknowledge of the Creator; not by arithmetical reasoning, but by divine ordinance; by a supernal disposition, not by Chaldean curiosity; not by magic art, but by Jewish prophecy.
Thus when the magus saw that human cares had perished, that his own arts had failed, that the labors of worldly wisdom had been emptied out, that the sweat of all the sects had grown cold, that the treasures of all philosophy had been emptied, that the pagan night had fled, that the mists of opinions had collapsed, that the very shadows of the demons had vanished, and that the star, not like a comet with dishevelled hair concealing what it announces and obscuring what it shines forth, thus he says: It is right that I should see thee, with a new ray, with a standard-bearing light, with a sure splendor, shine into Judea, and show there a King born beyond the world's law, beyond the order of the flesh, beyond human nature. Thus, laying aside his error, he follows, runs, arrives, finds, rejoices, falls down, adores;
because not through the star, not through art, but through God, he marvels as a man that he has found God in flesh. Therefore, brethren, by the present reading the magic error is not confirmed, but dissolved. But let these things suffice for today, so that through God the things that are in what follows may shine forth clearly.