let all remit to one another their mutual faults, and let him not be an exactor of vengeance who has need of pardon. For when we say, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12), we bind ourselves with the hardest chains unless we fulfill what we profess. Wherefore, if the most sacred pact of this prayer has not been kept under a safe condition of one's own, let each one now at least come to know his own conscience, and by forgiving the offenses of others obtain the abolition of his own sins. For since the Lord says, 'If ye forgive men their sins, your Father which is in heaven will also forgive you' (Matt. 6:14; Luke 6:37), what each man asks for is not far from him;
since the sentence of the Judge hangs upon the kindness of the suppliant. He, the merciful and just hearer of human prayers, prescribes to His own equity out of our own leniency, so that He would not hold the right of severity over those whom He had not found greedy for vengeance. But generosity too befits gentle and mild souls. For nothing is more worthy than that a man be the imitator of his own Author, and, according to the measure of his own means, be an executor of the divine work. For when the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick cherished, does not the hand of the minister fulfill the aid of the Lord, and is not the kindness of the servant a gift of the Lord?
He, though for the effect of His mercy He needs no helper, so tempered His omnipotence that He would succor the labors of men through men, and that thanks might deservedly be rendered to God for offices of piety, whose works are seen in His servants. For which reason the Lord Himself says to His disciples: 'So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven' (Matt. 5:16), through Christ our Lord. Amen. SERMON 149. On the Lord's Supper. On that which is written in the Gospel of John, chapter 13, verses 4 and 8: 'He riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments,' etc. 1. The washing of the feet is to be shown to pilgrims after the Lord's example.
Today, most dear brethren, we are about to hear the evangelist saying, 'That when the Lord had risen from supper, He laid aside His garments, and girded Himself with a towel, and began to wash the feet of His disciples.' What shall we say, most beloved, on this point? What excuse shall we be able to put forward, we who disdain to expend upon pilgrims that which He deigned to expend upon His servants? But perhaps there are certain powerful and noble men, there are certain delicate matrons, who disdain to bend themselves down to the footprints of the saints who are pilgriming in this world: not only do they themselves not deign to wash the feet of guests, but neither do they command any of their own household to do it in their stead.
Perhaps noble men or Christian women blush to handle with delicate hands the footprints of the saints in this world, because the prerogative of their birth does not allow it. An evil nobility, which through pride renders one ignoble before God! Nobles and the powerful, therefore, blush to wash the feet of the saints and pilgrims in this age; but if they do not correct themselves, they will have much more to blush at and to grieve over, when they shall have been separated from their fellowship in the world to come. Then, without any remedy of penance, they will be afflicted, when they shall see those whom they had despised receiving, on account of humility, the Kingdom, and themselves, on account of pride, having merited punishment. Let us fear, therefore,
brethren, that which the blessed apostle Peter feared, when he heard the Lord saying, 'If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me' — lest perchance we too, if we disdain to wash the feet of the saints, may not deserve to have part with them. Let us rather bow ourselves down to the footprints of the saints or pilgrims; for when we fulfill this holy office of humility, we indeed touch their feet with our hands, but we wash away the filth and stains of our own souls through faith and humility, and we purge not only small but also capital sins. The mysteries instituted on the day of the Supper. Rejoice, therefore, most beloved, and exult in the Lord, who on this day consecrated for us the mysteries of saving consolation.
But whence did the Lord commend His body and blood? Whence, if not from His humility? For unless He were humble, He would neither be eaten nor drunk. Consider His loftiness: 'In the beginning was the Word.' Behold what kind of everlasting food this is! But the angels eat it, the heavenly virtues eat it, the celestial spirits eat it — they eat and are filled; and that which satiates and gladdens them remains whole. But what man could ascend to that food? Because, therefore, man could not ascend to that bread, the bread itself deigned to descend to man; and this was done with ineffable tenderness, because it was fitting that that table of the angels should give milk, and reach even to the little ones.
Thus, then, did the Wisdom of God do; thus, through the assumption of flesh, He fed us with heavenly bread: because 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us' (John 1:1, 14). See, then, the humility, that man ate the bread of angels — that is, that man ate that Word, whereby the angels are fed, everlasting, which is equal to the Father. 3. Nothing is to be presumed except from the help of God. The presumption of Peter. And therefore, most dear brethren, because our Lord taught us patience, freed us by His suffering, redeemed us by His death, let us always hope in the Lord, and let us presume nothing apart from His will and help. For you know what the blessed Peter rashly promised to Christ:
'Though all men,' he said, 'shall be offended in thee, yet will I never be offended.' The Lord, who knew human frailty, and knew that virtue lies not in the promise but in the consummation, said: 'Verily, I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.' The blessed Peter says to Him, 'Though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.' See, brethren, the answer of the disciple, and understand that what he said was of love. But because by the zeal of his own love alone, without adding also the help of the Lord, he willed his promise to be, that could not stand through man which hung upon divinity. It was indeed in the will, but it was not in the power;
as the Lord Himself says, 'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak' (Matt. 26:33–35, 41); and again, 'Without me ye can do nothing' (John 15:5). He promised even unto death, and denied in fear. He would have had a wonderful confession, if he had had virtue in the consummation. 4. The conscience is to be purged of sins. Wherefore, most beloved brethren, I ask and admonish you, that each one have recourse to a suitable witness, that is, to his own conscience; and if he shall find there any wounds of sins, let him flee to the remedy of tears; let him repent of having done what he did; let him begin with a most vigilant heart to heal the past, to avoid the present, to foresee the future, and, with God's help, to repel it:
because a man knows not how long he may be able to live in this world; nor is it granted to escape except with penance running before. Above all, most beloved brethren, that which pertains especially to the faithful, consider with devout faith and with the whole devotion of the mind, that you are about to approach the altar of the Lord our God. Inspect all the hiding-places of your heart, lest perchance there be there any sins which have not yet been healed by almsgiving and fasting; and fear that saying of the Apostle: 'He that shall eat the body of the Lord and drink His blood unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that body, and drink of the cup' (1 Cor. 11:27–28).
Let none of you reserve hatred in his heart against any man, that you may securely be able to say, 'Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors' (Matt. 6:12). Above all, guard chastity, bridle gluttony, flee drunkenness, and give alms to the poor according as your means suffice. 5. One must persevere in pious works. And this above all I ask, most dear brethren, that the joy which you have thus far given us by your devotion, you may complete on the morrow, that is, in the Passion of the Lord. For not he who begins, but he who perseveres unto the end, he shall be saved (Matt. 24:13).
And therefore you ought so to act, that through the negligence of a single day you do not lose what you have gained throughout the whole of Lent. For to abstain, to pray or to chant psalms throughout all of Lent, and then in the Passion of the Lord — that is, on Good Friday — to withdraw oneself from the church, is just as if someone should strive with great labor to till the ground, and then not merit to receive the harvest. And therefore I ask you, that no one withdraw himself from the church, unless perhaps someone whom either bodily infirmity or a great and public necessity has kept occupied. For he shall be able to celebrate the lawful joy at the Paschal solemnity, who has been unwilling to withdraw himself from the assembly of the church at the Passion of the Lord.
Whoever shall gladly have heard me in this exhortation, I am confident that God will repay him glorious rewards both in this age and in the age to come. Which may He Himself deign to grant, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen. SERMON 150. On the Passion of the Lord, I. 1. Judas did not see Jesus, though He was not changed. 'All of you,' says the Lord Jesus, 'shall suffer offense this night.' The disciples are terrified at such a hearing, and the thought of so great a crime does not terrify Judas. Consult, O Apostles, the Lord; question, O disciples, the Master. 'He that dippeth,' He says, 'his hand with me in the dish, he it is that shall betray me.' O hardened brow! He hears such things about himself, and still delights to recline at table;
he sees his own conscience published, and still stretches out his hand to the morsel. 'Is it I, Rabbi?' O Judas, to whom sayest thou, 'Is it I, Rabbi?' Now say, 'It is I.' It is not the forgetfulness of one who does not know, but the tenderness of one who has pity. Thou, Judas, whom covetousness has possessed — the Divinity knows all things in thee; but woe to thee, in whom once humanity has perished. 'All of you,' He says, 'shall suffer offense this night.' And Peter: 'Though all men shall be offended in thee, yet will I not be offended.' The physician and the sick man began to wrangle: the one thought himself to be without sickness, the other saw the coming attack. To whom the Lord says: 'Let us wait apart a little, until we prove the outcome of the matter.' And Judas: 'Whomsoever I shall kiss, the same is he, hold him fast' (Matt.
26:31, 23, 25, 33, 48). O sacrilegious sign, O detestable pact, where war begins from a kiss, and by a token of peace the sacrament of peace is broken! They came to the garden who had already lost Paradise, seeking the Lord Jesus Christ: they go out seeking, who before had come forestalling. Jesus stands, and they say, 'We seek Jesus.' The Savior Himself looks upon those whom Judas, the dark guide, went before. He furnished the guidance, and yet did not see the Master, not because Jesus was mutable — He was what He was. They sought the Light in darkness; but the darkness comprehended not the Light. But let us hear the voice of the Light, who says to the darkness coming with lanterns, 'Whom seek ye?' They said, 'Jesus.'
Jesus answered, 'I am he'; and hearing the voice they went backward, and fell prostrate on the face of their blindness (John 18:4, 5, 7, 6). But because the light shineth in darkness (John 1:5), He rouses the fallen from the dead. Again He says to them, 'Whom seek ye?' 'Jesus,' they say. And He says to them, 'I am he.' O senseless Jews! You asked, and you fell; you were lifted up, and you are ungrateful. By what threat or terror shall you be shaken, you who fell at a single simple voice? Say, O Israel, 'Thou hast come to seize me — I who defended thee from those persecuting thee?' Would that thou wouldst seize me, and not lose thyself. In the waters I built up walls, I raised the torch of the shining pillar, I struck the Egyptians with blindness, all night I fought for thee:
it became morning, and thou didst cross the sea unharmed. Evilly do you seek me; therefore you fell. Behold how they fall who evilly seek the Lord. 2. The lapse of Peter. His weeping. Meanwhile the Lord is held, to be led to the prince of the priests; and while the disciples slipped away, Peter, the illustrious promiser, began to walk further off, and reached the house of the prince. And because the cold pressed upon Peter, he stood by, anxious to be warmed. Behold, he who thought he had no weakness, little by little began to come to the words of the physician; the man frightened denies Christ, who had promised to lay down his life for Him. A decrepit old woman prostrated him, like a heavy little fever. A lethargic sleep pressed upon him, and the tireless herald of the morning took him.
The disciple hears the cock crowing, and sees that he has offended the Lord. Under a servant-girl he began to be weighed down and to sink; there was none to help, unless the Lord had looked back upon Peter from the inner parts of the praetorium. When midnight suddenly held the assault turned aside, the cock crowed, and the shipwrecked man breathed again in the night. He found the pole of faith generous, until it drove the ship, so that amid the rocks it might seek the harbor of tears. He saw the ship of his heart naked, without merchandise: he began to weep, because he began to love his Lord. Jesus terrified the seaman upon the deep; Peter hoped for security from the Helmsman. 'Lord,' says Peter, 'where hast thou left me? I see thy light, thee I do not yet see.'
'Thou hast washed my feet, thou hast wiped them with thy towel; with thy light open mine eyes: when can I see thee, unless thou look back upon me?' Thus he remained in the bitterness of tears, until the Lord should burst forth from the gates of the lower regions. Peter poured forth tears of confession, and Judas offers a kiss of falsehood. 3. The price of the sale of Christ. 'Pray,' He says to the disciples, 'that ye enter not into temptation' (Matt. 26:41). The restless night drove the fishermen into flight. The Shepherd is held, and Peter is troubled. The Shepherd Himself was sorrowful, His soul is troubled, His divinity, unshaken, rejoices. He prays once, He prays again, and a third time He entreats. Like an eagle He covered His nest with the covering of His wings;
and anxious, when He had prayed, He returned to His young, for whom He was suffering sorrow. The Jews offered thirty pieces of silver. He is to be bought at such a price, for whom nothing can be reckoned worthy. Well, O Synagogue, didst thou weigh out thirty pieces of silver, when thou didst hang up the Son of God! Judas therefore went away, and hanged himself with a noose. See, Judas, the sentence of the divine majesty, which willed thee not to be punished by the hands of others. Thou hangest on the noose, and the silver lies in the temple. No one rejoices over such a transaction, because it pronounces the price sacrilegious. It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, since it is the price of blood. Behold, the wickedness of the Jews condemns the deed committed, and does not condemn the sacrilege.
If it is not lawful to take the price, why do you hasten to fulfill the murder? Or, if it was not lawful to put the price of innocent blood into the treasury, was it lawful to kill that same innocent one? 'They bought,' it says, 'a field for the burial of pilgrims.' The blind mind at last found a remedy. To the rest of pilgrims they assign the price of the Savior. Though they do not acknowledge it, yet the sacrament of the mystery is fulfilled. 4. Signs appear at the death of Jesus. Pilate questioned Jesus: 'Art thou the King of the Jews?' And Jesus: 'Thou hast said it.' He who says to the crowd, 'Whom will ye that I release unto you, Barabbas, or Jesus?' The crowd cries, 'Let him be crucified!' O disordered wickedness of the judge! He pronounces Him innocent, and grants the faculty of choosing.
'For I have suffered many things this day for the sake of that just man,' his wife sends word. At the birth of the world the wife leads the husband to death; in the Passion of Christ the wife summons to salvation: there the subtlety of the serpent casts down; here the angelic terror calls back — that pardon might begin from that very source whence sins seemed to have burst forth. He washes his hands with water, saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just man' (Matt. 27). Through the mystery of the water the judge's understanding is enlightened, and he pronounces Christ just, so as to make the people guilty. Thou claimest for thyself a great primacy in the offense. Behold, the judge excuses himself from love of the Savior; and the traitor condemns himself together with the Jews by his own voice. All the elements are stirred up.
The heaven is not quiet, when the Lord's head is beaten with blows. The heavenly court did not remain content with heaven, because they were in commotion. The luminaries of heaven are troubled, and from their stations the sulphurous stars fall in their downfall. Golgotha is broken by the point of the wood, the hammers and the cleaving axes resound, the rocks of the sacred mountain are split; that Peter alone, who had been upon the rock, was as it were being dissolved from the rock into soft and thin sand. The thief asked for pardon, and by the granting of the Deity received it. He asked to be remembered; the Savior promised that he would come with Him into Paradise. SERMON 151. On the Passion of the Lord, II. 1. Why Christ was sorrowful. The Lord took upon Himself our sorrow, that He might bestow upon us His gladness.
And He descended in our footsteps, even to the affliction of death, that He might call us back to life by His own footsteps. 'I will smite,' He says, 'the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered' (Matt. 26:31). He was sorrowful, because He was leaving us, His little ones. His soul was sorrowful, not for His own suffering, but for our dispersion. He willingly received the betrayer with a kiss; not because God, the Son of God, feared death, but because He willed not even the wicked to perish for His sake. 'Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?' (Luke 22:48) Wast thou performing the discipline of virtue, and hast thou become a disciple of the counsel of iniquity? By an office of duty dost thou shed blood? For a pledge of love dost thou inflict a wound? By an argument of peace dost thou send in death? A servant, dost thou betray the Master; a disciple, dost thou give up the Teacher?
'More profitable are the wounds of a friend than the willing kisses of an enemy' (Prov. 27:6). When the sign was given, He is seized by those who had come with clubs. The crowd lays on hands, chains are fastened, justice is mocked, and is betrayed by injustice. 2. Why Peter strikes off the ear. Why he is cold. Whom he denies. Peter therefore struck off the ear of the servant of the prince. Why, Peter? Because he himself received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and himself obtained the power of loosing and binding. The little ear of the servant was cut off, the servant who heard amiss, understanding Christ amiss with his inner ear, who did not allow Christ to be reckoned a prophet, but taught that the Son of God should be marked out by a faithful confession. The clay acknowledges its own maker, and the flesh follows its own fashioner.
He could have commanded, but He preferred to work with His own hands — He who formed the members of the body from mire, who did not allow His enemies to be wounded. They were inflicting death upon that just One; He was healing the wounds of His persecutors. Peter followed at a distance: for he could not have denied Him, if he had cleaved to Christ the Lord. 'Thrice,' He says, 'thou shalt deny me.' In the house of the prince of the priests a fire was burning, where Peter sat hidden. It was cold, where Christ was not. Peter, betrayed by a servant-girl, denies. I would rather Peter had denied the Lord than that Judas had sold the Lord. Peter, when questioned: 'And thou also,' he said, 'art of those who were with the Galilean.' For he was not who was in the beginning. He denied the Man, he refused the fellowship of men:
for he was not the apostle of a man, who had been the disciple of Christ. 3. Peter's weeping. The potter's field. Therefore he wept bitterly (Luke 22:50, 54, 34, 56, 62): he preferred to accuse his own sin, that he might be justified by confessing, rather than be weighed down by denying. I read of tears, I read not of satisfaction. Peter denied in the night, but he confesses in the day. Peter had tears, which he poured forth with pious affection: the betrayer had no weeping by which he might wash away his fault; so that, while the guilty man is condemned by his own judgment, the willful crime might be expiated. 'I have sinned,' he says, 'in that I have betrayed just blood.' And the Jews: 'What is that to us? see thou to it' (Matt. 27:4).
With obstinate zeal they claim for themselves the deadly sale of the blood, when the seller was refunding the wages of his sacrilege. While the price of blood is set apart from the treasury of the Jews, and the potter's field is bought with Christ's money — a place for burying the remains of pilgrims — the testimony of prophecy is fulfilled, and the mystery of the rising Church is revealed (Zech. 11:12). Therefore the world is bought with the price of blood: for He came that the world might be saved. For the world knew Him not, who, though He had been in the world, was clean. 4. Christ on the cross a worm and a beetle. He is accused, and is silent. Well is he silent who has no need of defense: let those be eager to be defended who fear to be conquered. Not as a guilty man does He excuse Himself by keeping silence, but He despises the false speakers by not refuting them.
Pilate indeed washed his hands, but he did not wash away his deeds. The wife is beaten in the night, she admonishes the husband in the day. Truth is wearied, and the Lord is judged by a servant. Weaving a crown of thorns and pricking Him with it, they crown His head, and mocking Him they adore Him. As a thing He is saluted, as a victor He is crowned; and as though God and Lord He is adored. Beautifully He ascends the cross, as victor He stands at the judgment. Such a one, then, ascends, who is prepared to conquer the world. They set up a title written: 'This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.' A worm on the cross, a beetle on the cross. A good worm, who clung to the wood; a good beetle, who cried out from the wood. What did He cry? 'Lay not this sin to their charge.' To them assuredly He held out pardon, from whom He received injury.
'Today,' He says, 'thou shalt be with me in Paradise.' Nor is it a wonder, if He pardoned the fault of the converted, He who relaxed pardon to those who insulted Him. They gave Him vinegar to drink (Matt. 27:48). Well, for the consummating of all things, the corruption of sincerity is drained. And so vinegar is drunk, wine mingled with gall is not drunk. Bitterness ought not to be mingled with sincerity; because for us it taught the Lord, without sin, to be crucified. 'Father,' He says, 'into thy hands I commend my spirit' (Luke 23:38, 34, 43, 46). Well did He commit it, who did not lose it. The Spirit is commended to the Father, that the chains of sins might be loosed. The sun set for the sacrilegious, that it might overshadow the spectacle for the death-dealers; the rocks are split, and the hearts of the Jews are hardened. The elements flee, the earth is shaken;
the judge convicts, the soldier keeps guard, the tombs are unsealed, and the perfidy of the Jews is laid bare. 5. Why Joseph asks secretly for the body of Jesus. The disciples keep watch, and envious sleep seizes their eyes sorrowful with weeping. O Jews, why are you curious where the crucified flesh remained? He appeared in the flames with the three youths, who afterward deigned to be born a little child. Yet the women stood beholding these things (ibid., 49), and the mother of the Lord stood, bearing witness to her own Son (John 19:25). Joseph and Nicodemus bury Christ (ibid., 39): the one a just man, the other one in whom there was no guile. For if the Apostles were to bury Him, they would say that He was not buried whom the Jews reported to have been carried off. Nicodemus came by night for fear of the Jews.
For simplicity is sought, ambition is not desired. How would a just man fear the hiding-places of peril, who did not fear to bury the body? Therefore he asked secretly, that he might conceal the body, not that he might guard against peril. The women stood afar off, who diligently kept watch over the place. The sex wavers, devotion is warm. And though the disciples were wearied, yet the women alone are admonished by the angel not to fear. 'Touch me not,' He says, 'for I am not yet ascended to my Father.' 'I have not yet ascended for thee, thou who seekest the living among the dead.' Why first to a woman? Through a woman death was formerly announced, through a woman life is restored to men. 'Woman, why weepest thou?' (John 20:17, 15)
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MulierChristumvidebat, sedhortulanumputabatDeusestquiadoratur, homoestquitenebatur. Non (b) renuittangiafemina; quianonomnespossuntChristumtangereresurgentem, quemtetigerantillcorporecommorantem. SERMOCLII (c). DePassioneDominim; etdesusanna (d). i. CurChristusaccusatussilet. Forsitanmirumvideturvobis, fratres, curDominusapudpræsidemPilatumaprincipibussacerdotumaccusetur, necaliquemjameorumresponsioneconvincat; cumutiqueingratamaccusationemnonnisirepelleresoletsubsecutadefensio. Mirum, inquam, sit, fratres, quodarguaturSalvator, ettaceat. Taciturnitasenimproconsensuhabetur;
The woman saw Christ, but thought him to be a gardener. It is God who is adored; it is a man who was being held. He did not refuse to be touched by a woman; for not all can touch Christ risen, who had touched him dwelling in that body. SERMON 152. On the Passion of the Lord; and on Susanna. 1. Why Christ, though accused, keeps silent. Perhaps it seems strange to you, brethren, why the Lord is accused before the governor Pilate by the chief priests, and yet convicts none of them by any reply; whereas an ensuing defence is wont only to repel an unwelcome accusation. It may seem strange, I say, brethren, that the Saviour is charged, and holds his peace. For silence is taken for consent;
for it seems to confirm what is objected, when one is unwilling to answer what is asked. The Lord therefore, by keeping silence, does not confirm the accusation against him, but by not repelling it he despises it. For he keeps silence well who has no need of defence. Let him seek to be defended who fears to be overcome. Let him hasten to speak who fears to be defeated. But Christ, when he is condemned, prevails; when he is judged, he conquers, as the Prophet says: 'That thou mightest be justified in thy words, and mightest overcome when thou art judged' (Ps. 51:4). What need then was there for him to speak before the judgement, for whom the very judgement was a full victory? Christ therefore conquers when he is judged; for thus he is proved innocent: whence Pilate says, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just man' (Matt. 27:24).
Better therefore is the cause which is not defended, and yet is proved; fuller the justice which is not built up by words, but upheld by truth. The tongue must needs be silent where truth itself is present to itself: let the tongue be silent in a good cause, which is wont to prevail in evil causes. I do not wish justice to be defended in the way iniquity is wont to be excused. That Christ conquers is not a matter of speech, but of power. For the Saviour, who is Wisdom, knew how to conquer by keeping silence, how to overcome by not replying: and therefore he chose rather to prove his cause than to plead it. For what thing could compel him to speak, when silence was fully sufficient for conquering?