He heals the disease of the whole body in the very head of the Church, and in the very summit He restores the health of all the members, upon the very foundation-stone of the confession of Christ, upon the very foundation of immovable faith, namely in that Peter who had said, Even if I must die with thee, I will not deny thee. 3. The fall and penance of Peter. This is Peter, who by divine revelation, first of all, deserved to confess the truth, saying: Thou art the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 16:16). This great and such a man came to that night in which the Lord was being betrayed, and when he wished to warm himself at the coals, a maidservant came to him and said to him: And thou wast yesterday with this man. But he immediately answered: I know not this man.
What art thou doing, O Peter, future ruler of the Church? What sayest thou? Consider what thou wast asked, and what thou hast answered the questioner. Thy voice is suddenly changed; is this that which thou didst promise with a quick, but not cautious, speech? Is this the whole of that which thou didst swear, even when all others were denying, to persevere unto death? No one has yet tempted and examined thy faith, no adversary has yet dragged thee before the public for the denial of Christ, thou hast not yet been exhibited before kings and governors on account of His name: no scourges have been brought against thee, no torments have yet been applied. Who, moreover, is it that questions thee, that thou hast denied so quickly?
It is not a slave, not a freeman, not a Pharisee, not a scribe, not a priest, not a soldier, not a centurion, not an executioner; in short, no one of those who by their authority could strike terror into one confessing: a woman questions thee with a simple voice, and perhaps not even about to betray thy confession; and not merely a woman, but a girl; and not only a girl, but a doorkeeper, without doubt a cheap and abject slave. O astonishing matter! A girl, coming up, examined the faith of Peter, and it is a wonder that the solidity of Peter was pierced through not by a whirlwind, not by a downpour, but by the lightest drop of dew. Peter did not endure the lips of the girl; but as soon as she spoke, he was troubled. The girl's speech went forth, and the immovable column was shaken.
Nevertheless she persisted, questioning, and saying: And thou wast yesterday with this man? But Peter, the more overwhelmed by fear, denied that he knew the man. Christ, looking upon him, made him remember His words. And he, understanding the deed, turning to penance, wept most bitterly. For he recognized that, as to a man, the ruin of sin had crept upon him, all of which, as I recall, was hitherto divinely arranged. 4. Peter's fall permitted for our sake. See, therefore, dearest brethren, how so great an apostle is permitted to be subject to a slight fault, that, amended and corrected of the vice of elation, he might be clothed with the entire garment of moderation and clemency.
For now thou hast been instructed and taught in Peter, how the Lord permits him to be circumscribed by a fault for thy sake, how He permitted that standard-bearer of faith and piety, and column of the human race, to be shaken while fear held sway, that he might be an example to the teachers and masters of the peoples, that the grace of not sinning was by no means granted to him by God, as the apostle Paul says, Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Galatians 6:1). When perhaps someone in the Church has been overtaken by a fault, let him not at once cast him off or condemn him; but let us have compassion and mourn, let us console and call back, let us lend our affection to the one lying prostrate, let us stretch out our hand, let us raise up the fallen, promising him the hope of divine clemency, under which he proves that even so great masters were subject to the example.
But these things we have set forth, as we mentioned above, not by blaming the just, but by raising sinners to hope; and first indeed we have extolled his virtues, that we might show both to the just a pattern of caution, and to sinners an example of salvation. SERMON 80. On Matthew chapter 27:3-10: concerning Judas the betrayer, and concerning the field purchased for the burial of strangers out of the price of the sale of Christ. 1. Judas the most severe judge of himself. Your Holiness remembers, brethren, that we have already preached this to you on the last Lord's Day, that Judas Iscariot, condemned by his own sentence, brought back to the Pharisees the price of the Lord's blood, and, driven by penance, refunded the price of the sale; but did not loose the crime of his conscience.
Finally, after returning the price, he hanged himself, so that he who had fined himself with money might also fine himself with life. For understanding how great a crime he had committed, it did not suffice him to be without the reward of his sacrilege, unless he were also without salvation. For he judges himself worthy of death, because he had betrayed Christ, the life of all. Judas, therefore, the most severe judge of himself, even in taking vengeance confesses Him whom he had denied in betraying. He restored the money, then, to the Pharisees; but neither do the Pharisees willingly accept it: for they say that it is unlawful for them to have it in their treasuries. See, therefore, how great is the power of the Lord's money, which Judas thence casts away, and the Pharisees here do not enclose in their coffers.
For iniquity dreads to possess the price of just blood. 2. The providence of God in the use of the price of Christ. The potter's field, the world. Yet the Pharisees take counsel, that from it the potter's field might be purchased, in which the bodies of strangers might be laid. Which indeed I think was done by the providence of God, that the price of the Savior, taken from sinners, might not provide for sinners, but supply rest for strangers; that it might not be for luxury for the sacrilegious, but for a tomb for the deceased: so that thenceforth Christ might both redeem the living by the passion of His blood, and receive the dead by a precious possession. By the price of the Lord's blood, then, the potter's field is purchased.
We read in the Scriptures that the salvation of the whole human race has been redeemed by the blood of the Savior, as the apostle Peter says: Knowing this, that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled, of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Therefore, if the blood of the Lord is the price of our life, see then that it is not so much the earthly frailty of a field that was redeemed, as the everlasting safety of the whole world. For the evangelist says, For Christ came not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:17).
See, I say, lest that money was not so much used to purchase a small portion of a field, as the abundant possession of the whole world, as David the prophet says, Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession (Psalm 2:8). This field, then, is this whole world, in which we, scattered and sown abroad, germinate for the Lord the fruit of good work. 3. The potter, the Lord of the world. But perhaps you may inquire of me, if the field is the world, who then is the potter, who could have dominion over the world? Unless I am mistaken, He Himself is the potter, who made the little vessels of our body from clay, of whom the Scripture says, And God made man of the clay of the earth (Genesis 2:7);
He Himself is the potter, who by the breath of His Spirit animated the miry mud of our flesh, and cooked the fluid and earthly matter with fiery heat: He Himself, I say, is the potter, who formed us by His hands unto life, and reformed us through His Christ unto glory, as the Apostle says, We are reformed unto the same image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18): namely, that we who by the former making fell through our own vices, might in a second birth be repaired by the mercy of this potter; that is, that we who through Adam's transgression fell into death, might through the grace of the Savior rise again anew. He plainly is the potter, of whom the Apostle says, Does the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
And again: 'Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?' (Rom. 9:20-21). For out of the same clay of our body God, according nonetheless to the merits of each, keeps some for the kingdom and reserves others for punishment. Christ is the burial of the pilgrims, the devout Christians. And so the field of this potter was bought with the blood of Christ for pilgrims: for pilgrims, I say, who were without home, without homeland, and were tossed as exiles throughout the whole world; rest is provided for them by the blood of Christ, so that those who have no possession in the world may have a burial in Christ.
And these pilgrims of whom we speak — who are they but the most devout Christians, who, renouncing the world and possessing nothing in it, find their rest in the blood of Christ? For the Christian who does not possess the world possesses the whole Saviour. Therefore the burial of Christ is promised to the pilgrims, that whoever keeps himself from fleshly vices as a pilgrim and a stranger may earn the rest of Christ. For what else is the burial of Christ but the rest of the Christian? We, then, are pilgrims in this world, and we dwell as guests in this light, even as the Apostle says: 'For while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord' (2 Cor. 5:6).
Pilgrims, I say, we are, and for us a burial has been purchased at the price of the Saviour's blood. For we are buried with Him, as the Apostle says, through Baptism into death (Rom. 6:4). Therefore the Baptism of Christ is for us a burial, in which we die to our sins, are buried away from our crimes, and, the conscience of the old man being dissolved, are renewed by a reviving infancy into another birth. The Baptism of the Saviour, I say, is our burial: for there we lose what we lived before, and there we again receive that we may live. Great, then, is the grace of this burial, in which a useful death is brought upon us and a still more useful life is bestowed.
Great, I say, is the grace of this burial, which both purifies the sinner and gives life to the dying; by the help of Him who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen. SERMON 81. On the words of the Gospel of Mark, chapter 8:1-9, 'When there was a great multitude with Jesus, and they had nothing to eat,' etc. 1. The divinity and humanity of Christ shine forth in many things. The error of Eutyches is refuted. Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown the height of His divinity and the mercy of His humanity in many and various ways in the Holy Scriptures, as He is wont to do in mysteries and sacraments, so that those who ask may receive, those who seek may find, and to those who knock it may be opened.
For all the miracles which He performed in this world under our frailty profit us. Not without cause did the Lord do them, nor as though in vain and to no purpose. Christ is the Word of God, who speaks to men not only by words but also by deeds. For this very passage which today was read from the holy Gospel seeks one who understands it; and when it has been understood, it brings forth spiritual joy. And in this lesson there is to be considered at once, in one and the same Redeemer of ours, the distinct operation of divinity and of humanity, and in every way is the error of Eutyches to be detested, who presumes to dogmatize that there is in Christ only one operation.
For on either side: whoever shall say that He was only man will deny the glory of the Creator; and whoever shall say He was only God will deny the mercy of the Redeemer. Truly, in that the Lord has compassion upon the crowd, lest it faint either from hunger or from the labour of a longer journey, we recognize the affection and compassion of human frailty; but in that He satisfied four thousand men from seven loaves and a few fish, we believe it to be the work of divine power. 2. The crowds, the Gentiles. The food they lacked, the Law of Moses.
Let your Holiness therefore attend, for this is what we have proposed, that we may treat with your Charity what this so great mystery of the matter means, that the holy Scripture testifies that He showed Himself to be God to the disciples in that manner in which the Gospel narrates. For the Evangelist says in today's lesson: 'When there was a great multitude with Jesus, and they had nothing to eat, He called His disciples and said unto them: I have compassion on the multitude.' But let us inquire what He said above: 'In those days when there was a great multitude.' For above, the Jews came to the Saviour, accusing His disciples because they ate with unwashed hands. These the Lord refuted, since the things which proceed from an evil heart rather defile a man.
And leaving them, He came into the borders of the Gentiles, where a Canaanite woman, who is the mother of the Gentiles, entreated the Lord for her daughter, that is, for the Church: and she petitioned so long, until she received what she asked. After these things He again healed a man deaf and dumb (Mark 7). Therefore in those days, when a multitude of people had come together, and they had nothing to eat — for by these crowds we understand all the creatures of the nations to be signified, for whom the Lord Himself is moved with compassion, because they had nothing to eat — here we ought to understand spiritually; for they had nothing to eat for this reason: because the Gentiles had not the Law, that is, the five books of Moses, not the Prophets, not the preaching of holy John;
because the Gentiles came to the Redeemer not through the Law but through faith. Therefore they persevere for three days, that is, in the nativity, in the passion, in the resurrection of the Lord; or in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. For to persevere is to remain in confession, as the Lord Himself says: 'But he that shall persevere unto the end, the same shall be saved' (Matt. 10:22). The Lord therefore says: 'They have nothing to eat,' because they have not the Law; 'and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way'; that those who have believed through faith in Christ might be saved through faith in Christ. And some of them came from afar. For the Gentiles were far from God, wandering among idols. And now everyone who sins is far from God.
3. The Apostles are unbelieving, until the mysteries are revealed. — His disciples say: 'Whence can anyone satisfy these with bread in the wilderness?' Still unbelief held the Apostles fast, until the mysteries should be revealed; nor did they remember what He had done with the five loaves and two fishes. And Jesus asked them how many loaves they had. They said, Seven. And He commanded the multitude to sit down upon the ground. And taking the loaves, He gave thanks, and gave to His disciples to set before them. And the fishes He likewise blessed, and set them before them. And they did eat, and were filled; and they took up seven baskets full. And they that had eaten were about four thousand, besides women and children.
And indeed we believe most plainly that the mighty works of the Lord were done in the present; but let us inquire, by the gift of His grace, what lies hidden in the mystery. 4. A comparison of the twofold multiplication of the loaves. The first presents the Jews, the other the Gentiles. For in the earlier lesson He satisfied five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes; here with seven loaves He fed four thousand men. There the disciples suggested to the Lord, saying, 'The place is desert, and the hour is now past; send away the crowds, that going into the villages they may buy themselves food' (Mark 6:31-44): here the disciples are entirely silent; but the Lord Himself is concerned for them. Let us see why they are silent.
Because they had not yet been sent to preach to the Gentiles, but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Therefore that former parable pertains to the Jews; but this one to the Gentiles. There were five loaves, that is, the five books of Moses; but here seven loaves, which are the gifts of the sevenfold Spirit, as the holy prophet Isaiah says: 'The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety; and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him' (Isa. 11:2-3). There twelve baskets full of the Holy Spirit: here the seven churches, or the seven golden candlesticks. There two fishes, which are the two Testaments, or the one book of all the Prophets, or the preaching of holy John:
here an indefinite number is set down, which are the gifts of graces, as the Apostle says: 'To one by the Spirit is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another prophecy, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of speeches: but all these worketh one and the same Spirit' (1 Cor. 12:8-11). There they recline upon the grass; and here upon the ground. On both sides there is one manner of life, one grace, one power, one Godhead. There they recline upon the grass, that is, the works of the flesh are mortified; for 'All flesh is grass,' says the prophet (Isa. 40:6): here they recline upon the ground, that is, they tread underfoot earthly works. There five thousand were refreshed, which number pertains to the Jews;
for after the ascension of the Lord, when holy Peter spoke, five thousand were baptized (Acts 4:4): but here four thousand, that is, that from the whole earth all the Gentiles, from the four quarters of heaven, were filled unto eternal life by the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit. 5. Exhortation. And therefore, most beloved, we who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ not through the Law but through faith; we who are redeemed not by works but by grace itself; we who are filled not from five loaves, that is, from the five books of Moses, but from the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, as blessed Isaiah had prophesied, saying: 'The spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety;
and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him': in this sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, therefore, let us remain, in which we have been called, filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns God in the unity of the same Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. SERMON 82. On the words of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 3:12-14, 'And the publicans also came to John,' etc. 1. No condition excuses the sinner. Wages. The first warfare of the Christian. Some of the brethren, who are either held by the belt of military service, or are appointed to a public office, when they sin gravely, are wont to excuse themselves from their sins with this first plea, that they are soldiers;
and lest they should ever do good, they complain that they are occupied with evil deeds: as though the military service of men, and not the will, were at fault; and thus they ascribe what they themselves do to their offices. For to be a soldier is not a sin; but to be a soldier for the sake of plunder is a sin. Nor is it criminal to administer public affairs; but to administer public affairs in order rather to increase one's private estate seems damnable. For this reason, indeed, by a certain providence, wages have been appointed for those in service; lest, while pay is sought, the plunderer should run riot.
But what sort of thing is this: that when they are reproved by their elders for some fault, and it is imputed to one of them why he was drunk, why he seized another's goods, why in his turbulence he shed blood, he at once replies, 'What was I to do, a secular man and a soldier? Have I made profession of a monk or a cleric?' As if everyone who is not a cleric or a monk might lawfully do what is not lawful. To all offices, therefore, in the sacred Scriptures, a rule of living is prescribed; every age and every rank is summoned to live well. Therefore let no one excuse himself by public duties, let no one complain of the occupation of military service. In every Christian the first honour ought to be his warfare. 2. Just taxes. Public plunderers.
For that we may confirm what we say by evangelical authority, let us look at the lesson which was read through a little while ago: for the Gospel says, 'And the publicans also came to John, to be baptized by him; and they said to him: Master, what shall we do? And he said: Exact no more than that which is appointed you.' A plainly honest question of the publicans, and a just answer of the holy Prophet. For they anxiously inquire, lest either by ignorance, in exacting too much, they fall into sin, or by desisting they cheat the public revenue: while he moderately commands, that iniquity should have no place, and yet the appointed tax should have its effect. For he did not say, 'Exact nothing'; but, 'Exact no more.'
Whence we understand that with God not so much the exaction, as the unjust exaction, is condemned: for the Lord Himself says, 'Render to God the things that are God's; and to Caesar the things that are Caesar's' (Matt. 22:21). Therefore what Caesar commands must be borne; what the Emperor decrees must be endured: but it becomes intolerable when it heaps up that plunder of exaction. But what sort of thing is this, that those very men who administer necessities of this kind double their sins with their sins: that is, that they call their frauds and robberies a benefit, when by that very plunder harm is inflicted? And this they add to their crimes, that whomever they see undefended, those they rather persecute;
and they think they have cheated the public exigencies, unless they have cheated the houses of orphans: so that those whose father perhaps two days before was a friend, a colleague, or a brother, once death has intervened, his own children are regarded as unknown, worthless, and wretched. And if there be any widow, either she is so harassed by injuries that she marries; or, if she wishes to remain in her purpose of chastity, by giving bribes she scarcely remains in possession of her property. When therefore with these frauds they have filled their purses, you may see them hastening joyful and dressed up to church, and giving thanks to God, as if this money were conferred on them by Him; sinning also in this, that they wish God to be a partaker of their robberies. 3. The name of soldiers is extended to many.
For the holy Gospel says: 'And the soldiers also asked him, saying: And what shall we do? And John said to them: Do violence to no man, neither accuse anyone falsely; but be content with your wages.' Here now every man who serves ought to recognize himself. For Scripture speaks not only of those soldiers who are held by armed service; but whoever uses the belt of his own service is enrolled as a soldier of his own rank: and therefore this saying may be applied, for example, to soldiers, to protectors, and to all rulers. Whoever obtains wages publicly decreed for him, if he seeks more, is condemned by John's sentence as a slanderer and an extortioner.
But this evil has grown to such a degree, that now, as if by custom, laws are sold, rights are corrupted, the very verdict is for sale, and now no cause can be without a cause. 4. Clerics are soldiers. Their belt. Their wages. The cleric who is not a cleric. But this divine sentence, which speaks to soldiers, can also be turned back upon clerics: for although we seem not to serve as soldiers in the world, yet we serve as soldiers for God and the Lord, as the Apostle says: 'No man being a soldier to God entangleth himself with secular affairs' (2 Tim. 2:4): we seem, I say, not to be soldiers, with our loose and flowing tunics: but we have the belt of our warfare, with which we bind fast the inner things of chastity;
concerning which belt the Lord says to His Apostles: 'Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands' (Luke 12:35). Soldiers of Christ, therefore, we are, and from Him we have received both pay and bounty, as the blessed Apostle says: 'Who hath given us the pledge of the Spirit': that is, who has enriched us with the reward of the Holy Spirit. If therefore any of the Christians perchance be not content with this bounty, and seeks more, by this very thing he begins to lack what he had merited. This happens especially to the Arian heretics: for while they seek I know not what more, finding the spirit of error, they have lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. For the Catholic cleric also is held by this sentence.
For if he is not content with the wages which, at the Lord's command, he receives from the altar; but engages in trade, sells his intercessions, and readily embraces the gifts of widows: he may seem more a trafficker than a cleric. Nor can we say, 'No one accuses us of being usurpers, no one charges us with violence': as though flatteries do not sometimes extort a greater plunder from widows than tortures. Nor does it matter with God whether one seizes another's goods by force or by circumvention, provided that by whatever means he holds what is another's. SERMON 83. On the words of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 7:36-50, 'A woman came who was a sinner in the city.' 1. Penance is to be done by all. From what things especially one must fast.
Now the day of fasting, most dear brethren, the day of supplication, and, to speak more plainly, the time of penance has come to us. We all ought to do penance; for we all have erred. For if by the testimony of Scripture not even a one-day-old infant is clean (Job 14:5, according to the LXX), who will dare to profess himself immune, to reject the remedies of penance, which he understands to have profited even the saints? The days of fasting are days of reconciliation. For by food in Adam we fell into sin; and by fasting we are reconciled to God in Christ, as the Apostle says: 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself' (2 Cor. 5:19). God requires fasting of us, that the noose of gluttony, by which Adam had been strangled, may be loosed:
and He wills that we abstain not only from foods, but also from vices and malices. Finally, through the prophet the Lord cries, saying: 'Cease from your evils, learn to do good' (Isa. 1:16-17). For what does it profit to abstain from flesh, and not to lay aside fleshly works, when the Lord Jesus says: 'Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth' (Matt. 15:11)? Hence God rejected the fasts of the Jews; because they said that one must abstain from foods, not from sins. Whence also He rebukes them, saying: 'For in the days of your fasts your own wills are found, and you exact of all your debtors' (Isa. 58:3).