Sermons to the People 292.1–292.8

The solemnity of today calls, with so great expectation, for a solemn sermon. So, with the Lord’s help, we shall minister to you what he gives, recalling and keeping in mind the duty of our service: that we speak not as masters but as ministers; not to disciples but to fellow disciples, because not to servants but to fellow servants. For we have one master, whose school is on earth and whose chair is in heaven; whose forerunner John was born, whose birthday is handed down as today and is celebrated today. We received this by the tradition of our elders; we pass it on to those who come after us with devotion to be imitated. We celebrate today, then, the birthday of John, not the evangelist but the Baptist. With this first point set down, a question arises that must not be passed over: why do we celebrate the birthday on which John came forth from the womb rather than that of any apostle or martyr or prophet or patriarch? If we are asked, what shall we answer? As far as it seems to me, as far as it occurs to my modest powers, this is the reason. The Lord’s disciples were born, and, brought by growth in age to more capable years, were taken into discipleship; their faith afterward cleaved to the Lord, but the birth of none of them served the Lord. Let us remember the prophets too, let us recall the patriarchs: they were born men; filled with the Holy Spirit as they grew in age, they prophesied Christ; they were born so that afterward they might prophesy. But John’s very birth prophesied the Lord Christ, whom, conceived, he greeted from the womb.

With this question resolved as we could, let us take up another, according to the strength the Lord gives. For another question arises, somewhat more obscure, as it seems to me, and more laborious to examine, in which your attention will greatly help me, and your prayer to the Lord for my smallness. This John, of such excellent grace that, as was said, he greeted the Lord even from the womb, not yet by speaking but by leaping—whose grace toward God was already open when his flesh was still enclosed in flesh—this John, then, is not found among the Lord’s disciples, but rather is found to have had disciples alongside the Lord. What is this? Who is this man? A man so great—what man so great? how great is so great a man? Yet he did not follow the Lord among the disciples, and disciples followed him: far be it from me to say against the Lord, but yet as it were outside the Lord. Christ had disciples, John had disciples; Christ taught, John taught. What more shall I say? John baptized, Christ baptized. I say more here about baptism: Christ was baptized by John. Where are those who are puffed up with the arrogance of swollen animosity about the ministry of baptism? Where are the voices lacking humility, lifted up with pride: “I baptize, I baptize!” What would you have said if you had been worthy to baptize Christ? Now, as Your Holiness notices, a great reason has begun to appear and stand out why Christ had to be sent by the Father, and John sent ahead by Christ. John was sent first, but as the judge is preceded by his attendants. Christ was created a man later, but God, Christ, created John. John, then, was a perfect man indeed, and one whose grace was so commended that the Lord himself said of him, “Among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist.” This man so great, then, recognizes the Lord, great in littleness; a man recognizes the One who had come as God-man. For if among those born of women, that is, among men, none has arisen greater than John the Baptist, whoever is more than John is not only man but also God. So great a man, then, had to have his own disciples and, with his disciples, to recognize Christ the master of all. For what greater testimony to the truth is there than to recognize, by humbling oneself, the one whom he could have envied as a rival? He could have been thought to be the Christ, and would not; he could have been reckoned the Christ, and would not. People said, when they were deceived about him: “Is this perhaps the Christ?” He answered that he was not, so that he might remain what he was. For Adam by falling lost what he was because he usurped what he was not. This great man remembered this, but as least before the little Christ: he knew this, remembered it, and held to it, because he was thinking of recovering what Adam had lost. This man, then, as I said, great John, to whom the Lord bore such testimony, whom the Truth so commended as to say, “Among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist,” could have been believed to be the Christ—indeed he was already believed to be the Christ by those who were deceived by the grace of his greatness; and they would have died in that error, had they not been corrected by his own confession. So he answered those who thought so, and said: “I am not the Christ.” As if to say: Surely you are deceived out of honor for me; and surely by thinking this you add great praise to me: but I must know myself, so that he may forgive you in your error. For if he were falsely thought to be what he was not, he would be cut off by him who truly was.

John was sent ahead, then, so that he might baptize the humble Lord. For the Lord willed to be baptized because of humility, not because of iniquity. Why was the Lord Christ baptized? The Lord Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, why was he baptized? Find why he was born, and there you will find why he was baptized. For there you will find the way of humility, which you do not take with a proud foot; unless you tread it with a humble foot, you will not be able to reach the height to which it leads. He was baptized for your sake, he who came down for your sake. See how great became so small: “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God.” For it was not robbery, but the equality of the Son with the Father was by nature. If John had wanted to be thought the Christ, it would have been robbery for him. So “he did not think it robbery to be equal with God.” For he was, and he was without robbery; coeternal, he had been born from the eternal. “Yet he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant”; that is, taking the form of a man. Since he was in the form of God, he had not received the form of God; so, since he was in the form of God, “he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” He so took what he was not as not to lose what he was. Remaining God, he took on man. He took the form of a servant, and God was made man, he by whom, as God, man was made. See, then, what majesty, what power, what sublimity, what equality with the Father came for our sake to the clothing of the servant’s form; and understand that way of humility from so great a teacher: for it is more that he willed to become man than that he willed to be baptized by a man.

So John baptizes Christ, I say: the servant the Lord, the voice the Word. For remember, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness”; and remember that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” So John baptizes Christ, I say: the servant the Lord, the voice the Word, the creature the Creator, the lamp the sun; but the sun who made this sun; the sun of whom it was said, “The sun of justice has risen for me, and healing in his wings.” Of whom the impious, repenting too late at the end in God’s judgment, will say: “What has pride profited us? Or what has the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow”—and with the shadows those who followed shadows. “So,” they say, “we have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice has not shone for us, and the sun has not risen for us.” Christ has not risen for those by whom Christ has not been recognized. That sun of justice, without cloud, without night, does not rise for the wicked, does not rise for the impious, does not rise for unbelievers. For this bodily sun from the sky he makes to rise every day on the good and the bad. So, as I said, the creature baptized the Creator, the lamp the sun; and the baptizer did not exalt himself, but submitted himself in baptizing. For to him who came to him he said, “Do you come to me to be baptized? I ought to be baptized by you.” A great confession, and a safe profession of the lamp in humility. If it were lifted up against the sun, it would quickly be put out by the wind of pride. This, then, is what the Lord foresaw, what the Lord taught by his baptism. So great a one willed to be baptized by so small a one; to explain briefly, the Savior by one to be saved. For John, great as he was, perhaps remembered some sickness of his own. For why, “I ought to be baptized by you”? Surely the Lord’s baptism is salvation, because salvation is the Lord’s. “For vain is the salvation of man.” Why then, “I ought to be baptized by you,” if he had no need to be cured? But wonderful is the medicine in the very humility of the Lord: the one baptized, and the other healed. For if Christ is “the Savior of all men, especially of believers”—an apostolic and true statement, that Christ is the Savior of all men—let no one say, “I have no need of a Savior.” Whoever says this does not humble himself before the physician but perishes in his disease. If he is the Savior of all men, then also of John; for John was not other than a man. A great man indeed, but still a man. He is the Savior of all men: so John recognizes his Savior. For Christ was not other than John’s Savior. He himself does not say so, who humbly confesses, saying, “I ought to be baptized by you.” And the Lord: “Let it be so now; let all justice be fulfilled.” What is “all justice”? He commended justice by humility: the heavenly teacher and true Lord commended justice to us above all by humility. For his being baptized belonged to humility; and so, being about to do what belonged to humility, he said, “Let all justice be fulfilled.”

He foresaw that many would be puffed up about the ministry of baptism and would say, “I baptize,” and, “As I am who baptize, so I make the one I baptize.” How do you prove this? “I prove it,” he says. By what testimonies? “By the Gospels,” he says. Let us hear some new evangelist or other against the ancient Baptist. By what Gospel testimonies, then, do you prove that as you are, so you make the one you baptize? “Because it is written,” he says, “a good tree bears good fruit. I recite what is written, I bring the Gospel: a good tree bears good fruit, a bad tree bears bad fruit.” I recognize the Gospel; but you, as far as I judge, do not recognize yourself. And so that I may bear with you patiently for a while, explain what you are saying; consider me for the time being not to have understood. Tell me what these testimonies refer to, how they help to settle this kind of question about baptism. “The good tree,” he says, “is the good baptizer.” “The good tree,” he says, as they say; “the good tree,” he says, “is the good baptizer; its good fruit is the one baptized by him: for the fruit will be good if he is a good tree.” What do you say about Christ and John? Wake up, rouse yourself: the splendor of clear truth dazzles your eyes. See what has been set before us; read the Gospel: John baptized Christ. Are you going to say, John the tree, Christ the fruit? Will you call the creature the tree and the Creator the fruit? The Lord Christ willed to be baptized by John, not in order to be free of iniquity through baptism, but in order to shut the mouth of iniquity. See, the one who baptizes is lower; shall I say that the one baptized is better? This perhaps is a great thing for me to understand. Go back to men; consider both as men. Ananias baptized Paul. Paul was better than Ananias. Never was fruit better than the tree. For the tree bears the fruit; it is not borne by the fruit.

Do you not see what you claim for yourself? The Lord himself says: “Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ.” Many who stray and lead astray have come in the name of Christ; we have heard none saying, “I am the Christ.” Countless heretics have all come in the name of Christ, that is, they have come cloaked in the name of Christ; they have come whitewashing a mud wall with a splendid name, and we have heard no one saying, “I am the Christ.” What then? Did the Lord not know what he foretold? Or did he rather rouse us from sleep to understand those very secrets, to the opening of the secret, so that we might search and knock, so that what is covered might be opened to us, and, the roof opened, we might be let down to the Lord, so that, like that paralytic, we might be worthy to be healed by the Lord? Indeed we find these men saying, “I am the Christ”: not with these words, but, what is worse, with deeds. Not with the audacity of these words. For who would listen to them? Who, deceived, would admit such foolish men to his ears or to his heart? If someone were to say to the one he is about to baptize, “I am the Christ,” he would turn his face away from him, leave the man’s manifest arrogance, and seek the grace of God. So he does not say it in this way, “I am the Christ.” But since he says “I am the Christ” in another way, see how. Christ heals, Christ cleanses, Christ justifies; man does not justify. What is to justify? To make just. As to mortify is to make dead, to vivify is to make alive, so to justify is to make just. See, a certain baptizer from the side, not entering by the door but climbing down over the wall; not a shepherd and keeper but a thief and robber; from the side he says, “I baptize.” If as a minister, I dare say: do not add anything; whatever is more is from evil. And yet he adds; he does not hesitate. What does he add? “I justify, I make just.” For this is, “I am a good tree; let whoever wants to be good fruit be born from me.” Listen a little, if you admit it wisely; the words are few and, unless I am mistaken, clear. So you justify, you make just? Then, I say, let the one you justify believe in you. Say it, dare to say it: “Believe in me,” you who do not hesitate to say, “You are justified by me.” He is troubled, he wavers, he excuses himself. “For what need is there,” he says, “for me to say to him, Believe in me? I say, Believe in Christ.” You have hesitated, you have doubted: you have deigned to come down to us a little. You have confessed something by which you may be healed. You have said something right, by which the rest of your crooked things may be corrected. Now listen, not to me, but to yourself. Surely you do not dare to say, “Believe in me.” “Far from it,” he says. And yet you dare to say, “I justify you.” Listen and learn that for the same reason that you do not dare to say, “Believe in me,” you ought not to dare to say, “I justify you.” The apostle speaks, to whom you will yield, to whom, willing or not, you will submit. Not to the apostle as to a man, but to him of whom the apostle says, “Do you want proof of him who speaks in me, Christ?” Listen, then, not to the apostle, but to Christ through the apostle. What does the apostle say? “To him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as justice.” Attend, I beg you; see how plain it is, how open: “To him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as justice.” Whoever believes in him who justifies the ungodly, who makes the ungodly godly—whoever, then, believes in him who justifies the ungodly, who makes just him who was ungodly, his faith is reckoned as justice. Now say, if you dare, “I justify you.” See how I have answered you from the apostle: if you justify me, I will believe in you; because to him who believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as justice. Do you justify me? I will believe in you. For if you justify me, I shall be one who believes in him who justifies me, that is, who justifies the ungodly: I believe securely, because my faith is reckoned as justice. If, then, you do not dare to say, “I justify you”—or rather, if you do not dare to say, “Believe in me”—beware now of saying, “I justify you.” Lost man, find yourself, lest you lose both me and yourself.

As for what you put forward about the tree and the fruit, I put to you something from examples, so that you may learn to understand what was said: “A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit.” For I understand it as the Lord himself explains it. What is “A good tree bears good fruit”? “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things; and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things.” He set men as trees, he set deeds as treasures. As the man is, such are his deeds. If he is a good man, he has good deeds; if he is a bad man, he has bad deeds: a good man cannot have bad deeds, nor a bad man good deeds. What is more evident? What clearer? What more open? But now you make yourself, who baptize, the good tree, and the one you baptize the fruit, so that as you are, so he may be. Far be that from him; and see how perversely you understand. There is someone among you who was once, perhaps, even a hidden adulterer. “But what I do not know,” he says, “does not contaminate me.” I am not dealing with that; that is another question. I want to say something about baptism; for this is what we have undertaken. He is a hidden adulterer: so he is feigned; not a feigned adulterer, but a true adulterer, feignedly chaste. This adulterer, then, a feigned man, and the more feigned because he is hidden—for if he were an open adulterer, he would no longer be feigned—this adulterer the Holy Spirit will surely flee. For the statement made is evident: “For the holy Spirit of discipline will flee the feigned.” Since, then, this man is a hidden adulterer, he certainly baptizes. See, I see a man baptized by a hidden adulterer: the fruit is born; where is the good tree? He has been baptized, he is innocent, the remission of sins has taken place in him; so the ungodly has been justified, good fruit has been born: I ask, from what tree? Tell me, answer me: that tree is a hidden adulterer, it is a bad tree; if this fruit is from this tree, it is bad fruit. The Lord’s statement is, “A bad tree bears bad fruit.” You will answer, in order to commend this fruit as good, that it was not born from that tree. For it is not because you do not know that tree is bad that it is not bad: it is the worse, the more it is unknown. For it is the more unknown, the more it hides its deed by lost cunning. For if he were an open adulterer, he would at least be curable by confession. A very bad tree, and yet see, good fruit. From where was it born? Or perhaps it was not born? “It was born,” you say. I ask, from where: what are you going to say? From where was this man born? He has nothing to say but “From God”: I do not know whether he will say anything other than “From God.” If he said this of all, and did not, while being a bad tree, show himself good by feigning and so make himself worse, he would say of all that they are born from God; he has the clear statement of the Gospel: “He gave them power to become children of God, who were born not of flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.” So return to this one: was he born from God? “From God.” Why is this one from God? “Because good fruit could not be born from a bad tree.” A chaste baptizer is a good tree, he is not feigned; truly chaste, he baptized: good fruit from a good tree. See, this one too is good fruit: from what tree was he born? Say “from a bad one,” if you dare. “I do not dare,” he says. So he too is from a good one? “From a good one.” From what good one? “From God.” And the other? “From a chaste man.” Attend a little: let us understand what we are saying. This one, baptized by a chaste man, from a good tree, that is, from a good man, is born good fruit. That one, baptized by a hidden adulterer, from a bad tree, is born fruit—what kind? Good. It cannot be. If the fruit is good, then change the tree. You confess that this fruit is good, that man bad, because he is a hidden adulterer: change the tree for this fruit. “I have changed it,” you say; “that is why I said, From God.” Now compare these two born ones: the one an openly chaste man baptized; this one a hidden adulterer baptized: the one is born from a man, this one from God. So he is born more happily from a hidden adulterer than the other from an openly chaste man.

You would do better, then, to listen to John, O heretic; better to listen to the forerunner, you who run back; better to listen to the humble one, O proud man; better to listen to the burning lamp, O lamp put out. Listen to John, when people came to him: “I indeed baptize you in water.” And you, if you knew yourself, are a minister of water. “I,” he says, “baptize you in water; but he who will come is greater than I.” How much greater than you? “The strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to loosen.” How much would he humble himself if he said he was worthy? He did not even say that he was worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal. “He is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” Why do you put yourself in Christ’s place? He baptizes in the Holy Spirit. So he justifies. What do you say? “I baptize in the Holy Spirit, I justify.” Surely you do not say, “I am the Christ”? Surely you are not one of those of whom it was said, “Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ”? You are caught: and would that you might at least be found caught, you who, not caught, had perished. It is good to be caught in the nets of truth to become food for the great king. Do not say, then, any longer, “I justify, I sanctify,” lest you be convicted of saying, “I am the Christ.” Say rather what the friend of the bridegroom says, you who would boast yourself in place of the bridegroom: “Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the growth.” Listen also to him of whom we are speaking, the friend of the bridegroom. Certainly he had disciples as it were alongside Christ, and he was not a disciple of Christ: hear him confessing himself a disciple of Christ. See him among the disciples of Christ, and so much the surer as the humbler, so much the humbler as the greater. See him doing what is written: “The greater you are, the more humble yourself in all things, and you will find grace before God.” He has already said, “I am not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandal”; but in this he did not show himself a disciple. “He who comes from heaven,” he says, “is above all; but we have all received from his fullness.” So he too was among the disciples, he who gathered disciples alongside Christ. Hear him confessing more openly that he is a disciple: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him.” And he stands because he hears him. He stands and hears; because if he does not hear, he falls. Rightly does that one say, “To my hearing you will give exultation and gladness.” What is “to my hearing”? To hear him, not to wish to be heard instead of him. And so that we might know that in hearing him he commends humility, when he had said, “To my hearing you will give exultation and gladness,” he at once added, “and the bones that have been humbled will exult.” So he stands and hears him. The humbled bones will exult, because the lifted-up ones are broken. Let no servant, then, take to himself the power of the Lord. Let him rejoice to be in the household, and if he is set over it, let him give his fellow servants their food in due season; but let him himself live from it, not let them live from him. For what is it to give food in due season, if not to bring forth Christ, praise Christ, commend Christ, preach Christ? This is to give food in due season. For so that Christ himself might be the food of his beasts of burden, he was born and placed in a manger.