Sermons to the People 5.1–5.8

This rule of discipline is above all necessary for a Christian man: that he hear the word of God while he is in this world, that he attend to him who came first to save the world by mercy, and afterwards to examine it by judgment. And so our Lord Jesus Christ offered himself to us to be imitated; so that, since we are Christians, we may imitate either him or others who have imitated him. For there are some of those who are called Christians and are not, some of whom the Church has expelled like dung, such as all heresies and all schisms, which are also compared to fruitless branches cut off from the vine, and to chaff that the wind snatches from the threshing floor before the winnowing; but there are others who are wicked within and are held in the Catholic communion itself, whom the good Christian must bear with until the end, because the winnowing of this harvest's threshing floor will be only on the day of judgment. We have always sung this to you, and in the name of Christ we think it clings to your hearts. These readings that are read to you, are they read to you now for the first time, and are not the same ones repeated daily? And just as God's readings need to be repeated daily, lest the evils of the world and thorns spring up in your hearts and choke the seed that has been sown there, so the word of God must always be repeated to you, lest, having forgotten, you say you did not hear what we say we have said.

Many are coming forward, and now is the time when in God's name they hasten to receive the grace of baptism, believing that all the sins they committed before are forgiven them, absolutely all, and that they come out from it owing the Lord nothing: like that servant who was rendering account to his lord, and the lord found that he owed ten thousand talents; yet he went away owing nothing, not because he himself owed nothing, but because his lord was merciful, forgave everything, and released the debtor. And yet, brothers, how fiercely that same servant frightened us! Because he would not forgive his fellow servant, or put off the payment of a hundred denarii, his lord charged him again with the ten thousand talents he had forgiven him. So those who are to come out of baptism owing nothing, and released from all sins, must beware lest, if anyone sins against them and they will not forgive, not only will they not be forgiven thereafter, but even everything that had been forgiven is charged again. So let no one say, "Who does that, or who has done it?" By saying this to themselves people die. "Love your enemy," says the Lord; and you say, "Who does that?" Because he himself has not done it, he thinks no one could do it. The matter is in the heart: how do you see who does it? For do you think that the man who shouts has not forgiven? For sometimes someone shouts and orders a man to be beaten, and you think he has not forgiven. Why? When you beat your son, do you hold hatred in your heart? So the matter is in the heart: God alone sees whether it has been forgiven. For sometimes someone does not beat, seems to spare with his hand, and rages in his heart, and wishes the man ill within, and wants him killed: he holds an evil will against him, though he seems to repay him nothing bodily. On the other hand there are those who seem as it were to repay bodily; but that bodily correction is a kind of love: he wants him to come to a good life, and the more he loves him, the more he wants him corrected. So too God: does he not love us? Does he not urge us to love our enemies so that, as far as we can, we may be like him? For he said this: "Be perfect, then, as your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad, and rains on the just and the unjust." How great, then, is the love in the Lord, when for sinners and the ungodly he sent Christ to be crucified, and redeemed us at the price of his blood, we who were his enemies, loving what he hated? When we were doing these things, God sent, as the Apostle says, his Son, and handed him over for us ungodly to be killed by other ungodly men. And if so great a gift has been given to those not yet faithful, what then is kept for the faithful? See how God loves human beings. Let us pay attention, brothers: does he not scourge them? Does he not correct them? If he does not correct them, where do famines come from? Where do sicknesses, plagues and diseases come from? For all these are corrections. So just as he loves and yet corrects, so you too, if you have someone in your power, though you keep the affection of love, do not withhold the scourge of correction. For if you withhold it, you will not keep love: because he dies in his sins who perhaps, if corrected, would have left them; and rather true hatred is charged to you.

So let no one say, "Who can do that?" Strive to fulfil this in your hearts; hold fast, so that you may love. Wrestle, and you will conquer. For Christ conquers there. What do you wrestle against? You wrestle against sin, against the words of people who say mockingly, "So you don't avenge yourself? So you will stay undefended and not show him? Oh, if only he had me to deal with!" Wrestle, and conquer. For if Christ, when he suffered so much from the Jews, had wanted to command the earth to open and swallow his persecutors, could he not have done it? If, then, he who had the power bore with them until he was lifted onto the cross, and hanging on the cross said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," will you, a servant redeemed by the blood of your crucified Lord, not imitate your Saviour? What need was there for him to suffer so much, who was free not to suffer? For he said, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again: no one takes it from me, but I lay it down, and I will take it up again." And so he did. For what happened, brothers? He was hanging on the cross, as we read to the candidates for baptism: and when he saw that all the Scriptures had been fulfilled in him, so that they even gave him vinegar, "It is finished," he said; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit, as if he had remained there only for this, that it might be fulfilled. So he laid down his life when he willed. And that is why he was God, and they were men, who were crucified beside him. He dies more quickly, they more slowly. And when it was ordered that the bodies be taken down from the cross because of the sabbath, to be buried, they found those robbers alive and broke their legs; but the Lord was already dead, and yet one of them pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. See your price. For what flowed out of his side, if not the sacrament which the faithful receive? Spirit, blood, and water: the Spirit which he gave up, and the blood and water which flowed from his side. By that blood and water is signified the Church that was born. And when did the blood and water come out of his side? When Christ was already sleeping on the cross: because Adam received sleep in paradise, and so Eve was brought forth from his side. See, then, your price. Imitate the humility and the footsteps of your Lord, and do not say, "Who does that?" Perhaps there is someone near you who does not do it. But if you do it in that crowd, it will be counted to you as if you found one grain on the threshing floor and endless chaff. You hardly find two grains joined together; but chaff is mixed in among the grains. So among those who want to serve God there is a din and a multitude of wicked people surrounding them on all sides; for wherever they turn, they find only wicked advisers. Be, then, like the grain, and do not worry about the chaff. The time will come for it to be separated. That is why we sang, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation." The Church says this, groaning among sinners. Do you think, brothers, that the Church wants to be distinguished in order to be separated from the heresies as from branches cut off? She is already separated from them. Does the Church say, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause," in order to be separated from Donatus's party, or from the Arians or the Manichees? She asks to be distinguished only from those who are mixed with her, whom she must bear with until the end. But this is what she says, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause": that is, let me not be judged with them and perish on the day of judgment. For now it has been said, "Let the weeds grow": and the wicked are now borne with by the good, to be separated on the day of judgment.

And so that Jacob who has just been read signifies the Christian people: for he is the younger son, while the Jewish people is Esau. The Jewish nation was indeed born of Jacob, but in the figure the Jews are rather understood as Esau, because the elder people was rejected and the younger people received the primacy. When they were struggling even in the womb, and the mother was distressed because her insides were being pushed about, she said, "Why is it thus with me? Barrenness would have been better for me than to suffer this." The Lord told her that two peoples were clashing in her womb, and two nations, and that the elder would serve the younger. What was said when they were in the womb was said again in Isaac's blessing, when he blessed the younger, though he thought he was blessing the elder. Isaac bore the person of the Law. The Law seems to have been given to the Jews, and the kingdom itself has been given to the Christians. Notice that the Law seems to promise a kingdom. It is said to the Jews, "Therefore the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a nation that does justice." It will be taken from Esau and given to Jacob. Esau had been born shaggy and hairy, that is, full of sins; sins clung to him: but the other, in order to receive the primacy, took kids' skins on his arms; and so his father blessed him, feeling his arms and finding them shaggy. But those hairs and sins were carried by Jacob, they did not cling to Jacob. So too the Church of God carries others' sins, not her own, bearing with them until the end; just as the Lord Jesus Christ too carried others' sins. And the father blessed the younger. And how did he bless him? A holy mystery of what they were to be. For the Scriptures want sharp eyes. He blessed his younger son, and seems to have been deceived, as it were, into blessing one in place of the other. The one who had gone hunting comes, bringing what his father had ordered, and says, "Father, eat, as you wished." Isaac said, "Who are you?" And he: "I am Esau, your elder son." And he says, "So you are Esau? Then who is it that brought me food, and I ate, and blessed him, and he is blessed?" Be angry with the deceiver! Be angry with the cheat! Rather say: "Why did he deceive me? Why did he trick me? Let his brother take that blessing away, and let him be in misfortune." Does not this thing, done in mystery, cry out that the elder is to serve the younger? So he too receives such a blessing. But he added, "You shall be your brother's servant." When the other said, "Are the blessings exhausted? Bless me too," he said, "Since I have made him such, what have I to give you?" And he said, "Bless me too, father." And he wrung it out and received a nearly similar blessing, all abundance of the dew of heaven and the fertility of the earth. And he immediately added, "And you shall serve your brother. And it shall be so for you when you loose his yoke from your neck." What does it mean, "And it shall be so for you when you loose his yoke from your neck," except that it shows that those whom Esau prefigured are sinners in such a way that they have it in their power and in their free choice to be changed and joined to their brother?

Pay attention to the mystery. See, the Jew is the servant of the Christian. And this is plain, and Jacob has filled the world, as you see. And so that you may know that these things were said of the future, consider the history itself, and see that "The elder shall serve the younger" was not fulfilled in those two themselves. For we read that Esau became very rich and began to reign in all abundance. But Jacob went off to pasture another man's sheep. And when he had begun to return and to fear his brother, as was being read just now, he sends I know not how great gifts of cattle, and sends a servant too to say, "See, gifts from your brother." He would not see him before he had appeased him with gifts; and afterwards, when the gifts had been accepted, he saw him. And when Jacob had come to him, he bowed down to him from afar. How, then, "the elder shall serve the younger," when the younger is seen to bow down to the elder? But these things were not fulfilled in the history precisely so that they might be understood as said of the future. The younger son received the primacy, and the elder son lost the primacy. See, Jacob has filled the earth; he holds nations and kingdoms. A Roman emperor, already a Christian, ordered that the Jews should not approach Jerusalem itself. And scattered through the world, they have become as it were the keepers of our books. As slaves, when their masters go into the lecture hall, carry the books behind them and sit outside, so the elder son has become to the younger. For sometimes people raise questions about the Scriptures, and something certain is learned from the Jews' copies. So they have been scattered for this purpose, to keep the books for us. So the elder serves the younger. For see with what dignity the Christian people stands, and in what decline the Jewish people is. When they have perhaps dared to stir even a little against the Christians, you have heard what happened to them recently. So now it is true: "The elder shall serve the younger." How, then, that blessing, "You shall have of the dew of heaven and of the fertility of the earth"? He blessed the elder as he blessed the younger. But to the elder it was said, "And you shall be your brother's servant. And this shall be when you loose his yoke from your neck." How many there are who have loosed the yoke from their neck and become our brothers! Consider how many Jews have believed. And now, if you find a Jew and preach the Lord Jesus Christ to him, and he believes, does he not loose the yoke from his neck? And how many thousands did this in the first times of the faith? All who believed then, as we read, became from servants brothers and fellow heirs.

So the Church, which says, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation," does not want to be distinguished from Esau, from whom she is already distinguished, but from wicked Christians. For you have heard how this Jacob, in whom the Christian people is figured, wrestled with the Lord. For the Lord appeared to him, that is, an angel bearing the person of God: he wrestled with him, and wanted to hold him and seize him. He wrestled; he prevailed and held him; when he held him, he did not let him go unless he was blessed. The Lord grant, brothers, that I may unfold so great a mystery. He wrestles, he prevails; and he wants to be blessed by the one he has prevailed over. What does it mean, then, that he wrestles and wants to hold? The Lord says in the Gospel, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seize it." This is what we were saying a little while ago: Wrestle, so that you may hold Christ, so that you may love your enemy. For you hold Christ here if you love your enemy. And what does the Lord himself say, that is, the angel in the person of the Lord, when Jacob prevailed and held him? He touched the broad part of his thigh, and it withered, and so Jacob limped. He says to him, "Let me go, for it is already morning." And he: "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he blessed him: how? By changing his name. "You shall not be called Jacob, but Israel; for since you have prevailed with God, you shall prevail with men also." This is the blessing. See one man: in part he is touched and withers; and in part he is blessed. The one same man has withered in part and limps, and in part is blessed. But what does it mean (we say it as far as the Lord suggests, without prejudice to a better understanding), what does it mean, "See, morning has come, let me go"? It is what the Lord says after his passion to the woman who wanted to hold his feet: "Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father." What does this mean? For when that very reading was read, I once discussed how it was said, "Do not touch me; I have not yet ascended to the Father." Why? Did no one touch him bodily except when he had ascended to the Father? He was still here; the disciple who did not believe felt his scars. How then did he not want to be touched, unless this was said figuratively? That woman was the Church: and this is, "Do not touch me": do not touch me carnally, but as I am, equal to the Father. "Do not touch me": because you are touching not me but my flesh. For Paul says, in the advance of his progress, "Even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer"; and, "The old things have passed away; see, new things have come; and all things are from God." What does "Even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer" mean? That when we knew him carnally, we thought him only a man; but after his grace shone on us, we understood the Word equal to the Father. So he was holding him and wrestling, Jacob wishing as it were to embrace him in a carnal way. But he said, "Let me go": that is, let go of the carnal way, because see, it is already morning, so that you may be enlightened spiritually: that is, do not think me a man. "Let me go, for it is already morning." Morning we understand as the light of truth and of wisdom, through which all things were made. You will enjoy it when this night has passed, that is, the iniquity of this world. For it will be morning then, when the Lord comes, so that he may be seen by us as he is seen by the angels. For now we see through a mirror in a riddle, but then face to face. Let us hold fast, then, brothers, to what was said, "Let me go, for it is already morning." But what did Jacob say? "I will not let you go unless you bless me." Because the Lord first blesses us through the flesh. The faithful know what they receive, because they are blessed through the flesh; and they know that they would not be blessed unless that flesh had been crucified and given for the life of the world. And how is he blessed? Because he prevailed with God, because he held on strongly, and persevered, and did not let go from his hands what Adam lost. Let us hold, then, believers, what we have received, so that we may be found worthy to be blessed.

The withered part of Jacob signifies wicked Christians; so that in the one Jacob there is both blessing and limping. He is blessed in the part of those who live well; he limps in the part of those who live badly. But as yet both are in one man: afterwards there will be a separation and a sorting out; which the Church longs for in the Psalm, saying, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation." So it is indeed, for the Gospel says, "If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one foot than to go with two feet into the eternal fire." These wicked people, then, are to be cut off at the end. Now the Church is lame: she puts one foot down firmly and has the other weak. Consider the pagans, brothers. Sometimes they find good Christians serving God, and they admire them, and are drawn, and believe. Sometimes they notice those who live badly, and say, "Look at the Christians!" But those who live badly belong to the broad part of Jacob's thigh that was touched and withered. And the touch of the Lord is the hand of the Lord, correcting and giving life. So in part he is blessed and in part he withers. And the Lord has shown these people who live badly in the Church; for this is why it is written in the Gospel that when the blade had grown, the weeds appeared: because when people begin to make progress, then they begin to notice the wicked. These things are known to you; it is by God's gift that they are recognized. But for now the weeds must be borne with until the end of the harvest, lest perhaps in rooting up the weeds the wheat be rooted up with them. But the time will come when the Church will be heard as she says, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation": when the Lord comes in his glory with the holy angels, and all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and the righteous will be put on the right, and the goats on the left; and to the one it will be said, "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom"; but to the others, "Go into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels."