Homilies of Maximus of Turin (Bruni's collection) 27.1–33.1

Isaiah, the chief of the prophets, says, dearest brothers: “Be enlightened, be enlightened, Jerusalem; for your light is here, and the majesty of the Lord has risen upon you.” It is plain that Jerusalem is the city of the faithful. Hence we, brothers, who have begun to enter the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, enlightened by the saving sacraments, must exult with new joy in the sight of our God, because today a new star revealed a new man to the world. On this very day Christ Jesus, coming from the Father, God and man born of a woman, dedicated the faith of the nations in the persons of the Chaldeans who worshipped him. Though he veiled his divinity under the covering of our body, yet heaven declared him God and earth recognized it. He came lowly but wonderful, so that the truth of the flesh he had taken and the nature of the ineffable Godhead might shine in him alike. And although an earthly cradle received him at his birth, a heavenly sign testified that he was not earthly. For he lay in a cradle, but shone in heaven; he wailed among the Jews, and reigned among the Gentiles; in Bethlehem he was suckled by his mother, and in Chaldea he was worshipped by the Magi. For the most blessed evangelist Matthew says: “Behold, Magi came from the East, saying: Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?” How well they are said to hasten from the East, who come to worship the everlasting Dayspring, of whom it is said: “And the Dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness.” Then the Chaldeans add: “We have seen his star and have come to worship him.” “His star,” they say, “we have seen.” Well said, “his”: for all the stars, created by him, are his; yet this one was properly Christ's, since it announced his coming in a special way. The other stars were made to mark the seasons and courses of this world; but this one was commanded to come forth to show that the Lord of the world himself and the time of the heavenly kingdom were present. So the Magi say: “We have seen his star and have come to worship him.” See, those who do not have Christ wish to have him and strive to find him. The Jew flees his God; the pagan seeks him. What the neighbor does not recognize, the stranger understands: the Gentile sees the star and comes; the Jew sees Christ and envies him, as we have read: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Truly most hard Judea, blinded by its unbelief, did not see what the star radiated, nor could it hear what the angels proclaimed. So, when the Magi inquired and said, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?”, “Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” The king is troubled, fearing, I believe, for his kingdom, not knowing that Christ came not to invade his kingdom but to save it, and that he who is the life of all would bring death to no one. And as the Magi traveled, the star, as we have read, which they had seen in the East went before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was. Did it not seem to say and cry out: This is the child whom I testified from heaven was born; this is that great King who comes to join the kingdom of the earth to the heavenly empire? Truly this star was the servant of the Lord's birth, which served the Chaldeans with such attendance that in seeking Christ it not only advised them from heaven but also led them on earth. So the Magi, having worshipped the Lord and offered their gifts, passing Herod by, returned to their own country by another way. Nor could they return by way of Herod, that is, by the road of death, who, having worshipped the Son of God, were carrying back to their homeland the gifts of heavenly life. Herod, then, mocked and scorned by the Magi, as the evangelist says, “was exceedingly angry, and sent and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem from two years old and under.” The age of those killed is written, so that the cruelty of the killer may be known: the perverse anger and reckless indignation of the raging man! He is angry with the Chaldeans, and he kills the innocent; and while he rushes to the death of the spotless infant, he destroys crowds of sucklings; so that the manifold guilt of the slaughtered multitude might entangle the most wicked king who sought blood not owed him; nor could his raging madness notice that he who came to give life to the dead could not be forced into death against his will. All this, dearest ones, the devil did through Herod, so that through the ministry of his will he might either destroy Christ or sadden Christ's most joyful entrance by the murder of the little ones. But let there be no sadness among the faithful over the death of the innocents; for Christ, the most just rewarder, made those who suffered for him sharers in his passion, and patiently allowed those to be killed for whom he was gladly preparing eternal life. Therefore, beloved, we who come from the nations, on whom the saving light shone from heaven in the Lord's star, among whom the Virgin's childbirth is believed, for whom Christ is God even in the cradle, bringing the gifts of our devotion and faith, let us turn away from Herod's unbelief, and with body and spirit sanctified, loving mercy, let us always honor the most sacred coming of the Lord; so that, as we rejoice over his enlightenment, we may be glad over our reward, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is saving and fitting for us, brothers, gathering for the Lord's feasts and the mysteries of our Saviour, at whose birth we have rejoiced, to be glad also over his manifestation; for as the Son of God is glorious in being born, so he is wonderful in appearing. It is wonderful that Christ came forth from a virgin; no less magnificent that he was shown from heaven. It is very wonderful that the earth received a new man; no less astonishing that a new star from heaven made this new man known. In Judea Christ wailed in a manger before the shepherds, and in Chaldea he flashed among the stars before the eyes of the Magi. Among the Jews he was shabby in swaddling cloths; among the nations he shone in glory. And indeed it was necessary that heavenly testimony should go before the Lord of the heavens, and that a sign of light should reveal the author of light. This is a great and awesome mystery, brothers, when one and the same is proclaimed God from the Father and man from a mother; one and the same the son of a woman and the son of majesty; one and the same a sharer with men and Lord of the angels. Who could reckon of how great a sacrament and how great a glory it is that he sucks at the breast who feeds all things, and that he who supplies from heaven the substance of life to all living creatures is nourished with earthly milk for the salvation of earthly beings? Let no one, then, doubt or hesitate that Christ, while living on earth, shone in heaven; for he so came to earth as not to leave heaven. And that is why angels praise this virgin-born child, shepherds marvel, heaven testifies, and Magi venerate, because his mystical birth has gladdened both earth and heaven with everlasting joy. This King of heavenly beings and ruler of men, then, coming under the mystery of the flesh, envious Herod dreads and unbelieving Judea disowns. Herod dreads the infant of royal dignity because he does not know the goodness of the newborn; Judea disowns the Christ whom it proclaims, because, fearing for its impieties, it shuns the equity of the just judge; and blinded by the darkness of its crimes, it alone cannot see what shines for all from heaven; and though the teaching of all the patriarchs and the prophetic words of holy men did not bend Jewish hearts to the knowledge of the Son of God, the ray of one star roused the faith of the nations. What great reversal, brothers, what change is this? Among the Jews the prophet speaks and is not heard; among the Gentiles the star is silent and persuades. Truly, as it is written: “Those to whom nothing was announced about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” For see, the Chaldeans, to whom nothing had ever been preached about such mysteries, understood the birth of Christ; and seeking Christ himself carefully, under the guidance of the star shown in heaven, they were found worthy to find him. Nor were these things understood or seen by just any mean, obscure, and outcast men, but by Chaldeans, that is, by those among whom the error of superstitions reigned. In them Christ, entering the world, found the firstfruits of saving faith; and there arose between Jews and Gentiles a kind of contest of unbelief and faith. For when Christ was born Chaldea exulted, and all Jerusalem with its leaders was tormented. The Jew persecuted, the magus worshipped; Herod sharpened his sword, the Chaldean prepared gifts. But what wonder if that Jewish crowd did not accept Christ's infancy, when it stubbornly abused and despised him even as he raised the dead? What wonder if the Jews scorned Christ lying in a cradle, whom, when he gave new eyes to the blind or restored lost ones and cured various sicknesses with a saving word, they accused with the slanders of a lying tongue, ungrateful for all the benefits of the redeeming Lord? What wonder if at his birth they ignored the signs of a shining star, who rejoiced at his passion even while the sun mourned? What wonder if, when the Chaldeans came, these refused to believe, whom the gathering of angels could not lead to the faith of truth? Let us, then, brothers, rejoice and exult in the Lord, celebrating with all joy the festival of an everlasting mystery; we who do not deny the Lord's birth with carnal guesses but confess it with simple faith; who learned of the Saviour's coming not from the Magi's announcement but by the Father's testimony from above; who seek Christ the Lord no longer wailing among the cradles but venerate him reigning in heaven, Jesus Christ the Lord.

The festival of the present day multiplies for us, brothers, many and various sacraments of saving mysteries. For, as faithful antiquity has handed down to its posterity, today the Saviour of the human race, shown by heavenly signs, was worshipped by the Chaldeans. Today Christ, by the ministry of blessed John, consecrated the streams of the Jordan with the blessing of his own baptism. Today also, invited to a wedding, showing the power of his divinity, he turned water into wine; water, I say, he turned into wine: that is, the water he sanctified in baptism he ennobled at the wedding. We recount, brothers, these three mysteries of one day, but they are what the condescension of the Trinity accomplished through one Lord. For unity can never be absent from itself in the working of mighty deeds, nor can what is undivided in deity ever be separated from one another. Indeed, when the Saviour was baptized, the Father showed in a voice, and the Spirit in a dove, that they were not absent from the only-begotten. Let us not marvel, then, brothers, we who have the Trinity in our faith, if three mysteries have hallowed one day for us. Today, then, as we have said, the magus found through a star what the Jew would not believe through the prophets. Today the Gentile world, taught from heaven, seeks the Redeemer of the world as a king, presents him gifts as a mighty one, worships him as God. And how rightly, dearest ones, a new star shone on earth in testimony of a new birth, whose ray the unbelieving nation of the Jews could neither hide nor conceal its truth! Nor could any obscurity of malicious interpretation have place through them any longer, when heaven itself shone with starry light before the eyes of all with what was to be believed. And how wonderful this is: that a tiny ray of a star moved the astonished hearts of foreigners, when not even the fiery pillar itself, gleaming from heaven, could convert that Jewish people for whom the sea was divided and manna supplied from the clouds. But now let us hasten to Christ's baptism. “Jesus came,” it says, “to the Jordan to be baptized by John; and John said to him: I ought to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” I ought indeed to be baptized by you, because I have corruption from our forefather's transgression, and you have communion in the Father's majesty. I was poured out into this world from a fleshly parent; but you came here as the only-begotten from the unbegotten Father. The natural union of a man and a woman produced me; but you were given by a virginity venerable to us, as the power of the Most High overshadowed her. I am an earthly creature, you the Lamb of God; I am mortal by the law of sin, but you, coming against sins, do not know how to be subject to sin. And after all, I was made to be redeemed by you, but you were born to redeem. Jesus deigned to answer him: “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” That is: all you mention is true; but this is the reason for my coming: since I was made under the law, the lawful order must be fulfilled. For I came not to live for myself, who have eternal life with the Father, but to take away the condition of your death. And this is most just: since I have taken on the whole man, I should pass through all the sacraments of man. And indeed, brothers, how should Christ not come to baptism for our sake, for whose sake he did not even avoid the indignity of bodily circumcision? So John too, recognizing the saving mystery, does not sanctify the Son of God as a baptizer but obeys heavenly commands as a devoted minister; for the servant could not but obey his master, the herald the judge, the soldier his king, the forerunner his Maker. And so that the prophet might recognize more fully and perfectly that all this was done by the Godhead, the Holy Spirit allowed himself to be seen in the form of a dove, and the Father to be heard in a voice of speech; for he says: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” See and attend, brothers, how much grace mortality obtains from the divine condescension: for, in order that the most sacred mysteries of our redemption might be confirmed and the eternal Trinity revealed to us more plainly, the Son is baptized in the Jordan, the Spirit sanctifies the sacrament, the Father discloses the truth. It remains now to make clear to your charity the third cause of this devotion. Today also, as the fathers relate, the Lord Jesus made wine from water at Cana of Galilee. You must not hesitate at all, brothers, about the Creator in wonders of this kind; for he who at the beginning of the world gave the waters their being also made what he willed from the waters at the end of the world; it surely belongs to greater majesty to create what did not exist than to change what has been created. And what wonder if at its Lord's command water passed into wine, by whose nod the healthful nourishment of the rains and the grape itself, the mother of wine, are nourished? What wonder if the Lord of all turned water into wine for man's sake, who, to make man, transformed earth into flesh? What wonder if at his command water passed into a better taste, by whose working, when it was bitter at Marah, it was sweetened for the people who were to drink by a healing wood; by whose command also, lest the thirsting in the desert should lack it, it leapt forth roused from the rock? And there the water came out of a rock, where there was still the figure of a spiritual drink; but here wine is made by Christ, where there is now the true salvation of those who drink. What, then, brothers, is more joyful than this day, what more sacred than this feast, on which a brighter star flashed to the nations the Virgin's childbirth, which lay hidden in a cradle; on which the wave of the Jordan received the only-begotten of God for its own sanctification, man saw the Holy Spirit, the world heard the Father; on which also Christ showed by that sober cup of wonderful wine that he had visited the mortal race drunk with sins? And so, dearest ones, laying aside the pleasure of slippery flesh, let us rejoice spiritually in spiritual gifts, so that the light of the heavenly star may shine on the darkness of our heart, the blessing of the Father's voice may enlighten it, and the saving wine may gladden us as Christ pledges us.

We heard recently from the Gospel, brothers, that our Lord Jesus Christ came to the sacred streams of the Jordan for the sake of baptism and willed to be consecrated in that river by heavenly mysteries; and we should not wonder why he did so. For he willed to be the first to carry out what he commanded others to do, so that, like a good teacher, he might not so much commend his teaching by words as practice it himself in deeds. That all these things were done on this day is plain, and we can gather it from reason itself. For reason requires that after the day of the Lord's birth, though years intervened, this festival should follow at the same season; and I think it too should be called a birthday. For then he was born for men; today he was reborn in sacraments. Then he was brought forth through the Virgin; today he was regenerated through a mystery. For the Lord in his infinite wisdom so arranged it that men's festivals should not be far apart from each other, and that at one and the same season he whom men congratulated as born on earth might be rejoiced over as sanctified in heaven; so that those who, at the angels' announcement, already possessed the Virgin's childbirth might, with the heavens testifying, hold him as the Son of God, and be certain that he whom the Virgin had borne was the true Son of God; for the Godhead itself recognized him as God. New births deserve new honors. There, when he is born as man, his mother Mary warms him in her bosom; here, when he is begotten by a mystery, God the Father embraces him with his voice. For he says: “This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.” So the mother at the birth caresses him in her soft lap; the Father at the baptism speaks of him in loving testimony. The mother presents him to the Magi to be worshipped; the Father shows him to the nations to be adored. Today, then, the Lord came to baptism and willed his body to be washed with water. Perhaps someone will say: If he is holy, why did he will to be baptized? Hear, then: Christ is baptized not to be sanctified by the waters but to sanctify the waters himself, and by his own purification to purify the streams he touches. For the consecration of Christ is the greater consecration of the element. For when our Saviour is washed, then already all water is cleansed for our baptism and the font is purified, so that the grace of the washing may be ministered to the peoples who were to follow afterward. He goes before, then, through baptism, so that the Christian peoples may follow after him with confidence. So too the pillar of fire went before through the Red Sea, so that the sons of Israel might follow without fear the road it showed; and it first went through the waters, to prepare a path of travel for those coming after it. This, as the Apostle says, was a mystery of baptism. And it was plainly a kind of baptism where the cloud covered the people and the wave carried them. All this was done by Christ the Lord, the same who does it now: as he then went before the sons of Israel through the Red Sea in the pillar of fire, so now he goes before the Christian peoples through baptism in the pillar of his body. He himself, I say, is that pillar which then gave light to the eyes of those who followed and now supplies light to the eyes of believers; then he made firm a path in the streams of the waves, now he strengthens the footsteps of our faith in the washing of baptism. Whoever walks fearlessly by this faith will not fear the Egyptian persecutor, and will come to the heavenly realms of the kingdom, if he confirms the faith he holds by good works. [Here it ends.]

Some days ago, brothers, we set out that our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized not for his own sake but for ours, since he himself committed no sins. Yet he came to the streams of the Jordan, and mingled with that crowd of sinners who had come to John's baptism, both to sanctify the waters of the Jordan and to invite us to the washing of baptism, and you especially, catechumens, who cannot attain the joys of paradise without baptism. And that most blessed Baptist of Christ, John, also believed this. For when he saw Christ coming to him, behold, turning to that crowd of sinners who had come to him to be baptized, he said: “Behold the Lamb of God; behold him who takes away the sin of the world.” Behold, that is, him who never committed sin. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold, he takes away the sins of the world. Run to him, then. Receive baptism from him. For he is able to cleanse your sins. I too long to be baptized by him. And John truly wished this, which is why he said to Christ: “I ought to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” That is: you who are God, do you come down to your creature? You who are King and Lord of lords, do you come to your servant? You who are holy, do you come down to a sinner to be baptized by him? And he would have refused the ministry of so great an office to Christ had Christ not commanded him to perform it. “Let it be so now,” says the divine word which was read before, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” “I ought to be baptized by you.” So Jesus is baptized by John, not for himself but for us. God is baptized by a creature, the Lord by a servant, so that he might fulfill all righteousness. If, then, he who committed no sin was baptized, why should not we who are sinners be baptized? If Christ, who was chastity, sobriety, and innocence itself, willed to be dipped in the baptism of his servant, why shall not we too, on whom the burden of sins lies heavy, be cleansed for salvation? Let us do, then, what the venerable Baptist of Christ himself wished to have done for him and did not obtain. He longed for Christ's baptism, he wished to be baptized by him, and yet he was not granted to obtain it. To us baptism is freely offered; let us, then, be baptized. For our Saviour himself willed to be baptized in order to fulfill all the commandments of the law which he himself had given, as he also said elsewhere: “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” [Here it ends.]

The almighty power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is plainly gathered from the reading we have just heard. For although his omnipotence, by which in the beginning of things, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he created heaven and earth from nothing, seemed to lie hidden in the man he had taken for our redemption, it was plainly made known to his disciples. For when he had come to a wedding of the old institution at Cana of Galilee, and the guests suddenly ran out of wine, he who had not disdained to be present at that wedding willed also to approve that wedding by a miracle, and turned water into wine. [The edition notes: two leaves are missing in the original; then it concludes thus:] … so that, freed from all the defilement of this world, we may come to the heavenly kingdom, with the help of him who reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

I believe, brothers, that you understood my preaching on the holy day of Epiphany, and you catechumens especially. I said then that some assert that our Lord Jesus Christ was worshipped on it by the Magi coming from the East under the leading of a star; others say that he then changed water into wine; and still others maintain that on that day he was baptized in the Jordan by John; but that in all of them the Son of God is believed, and in all of them is our true festival. And though some believe that one or another of these things was done, I believe that they all happened on that day, and that one is contained in the other. For Christ our Lord, when he had come into this world to restore human nature, certainly called first to life the Jews, of whose seed he was born according to the flesh. Yet, as we have often told your holiness, he did not abandon the people of the nations in their blind unbelief. For he who willed to free all from eternal death, and from the death that was due, by his wonderful incarnation, also called all to the venerable light of his faith. So the angels make known the newborn Redeemer to the shepherds, but a new star invites the nations to venerate his sacred cradle. The shepherds come to Bethlehem, and the Magi run to his cradle with gifts. The shepherds venerate him; the Magi also worship him. At his birth mad Herod trembles and the proud synagogue is afraid; but the Gentile world exults and rejoices that its Saviour has come at last. And indeed, the Jews being left in their unbelief, the Church grew from the nations. On this day the Church of the nations was born, because through that most brilliant star the Gentile world was called in those three Magi to the knowledge of the true light. And it grew, because on this day too the sacrament of the saving washing was instituted by Christ the Lord. For today, as the venerable tradition of the ancients teaches us, our Saviour came to the streams of the Jordan. Today he who was without sin came to the Jordan among crowds of sinners to be baptized. Today, finally, our Redeemer willed to be baptized in the Jordan and in turn to sanctify his Baptist. So Christ is baptized in the Jordan, and by his baptism on this day he sanctified the waters of the Jordan. But why do I say of the Jordan? By his baptism he sanctified the whole substance of waters everywhere. See, then, how on this most holy day the Church was gathered from the nations in the calling of the Magi, and how it was also spiritually reborn in Christ's baptism and is reborn daily. For the Church passes daily to the life of regeneration whenever it receives catechumens to baptism. For before the washing the catechumen is weak; but having received baptism he both gains knowledge of the Trinity and becomes steadfast and faithful, and is no longer pale and without taste, like the water which Christ the Lord, invited to the wedding, changed into wine today; for having received baptism he comes out one of the faithful and is changed into wine. For by wine the grace of the Holy Spirit is signified, as our Saviour himself declared when he said that new wine must be put into new wineskins. See, then, how on this most sacred day the Gentile world was converted to faith through the flashing of the new star; our Redeemer instituted for all the saving washing of regeneration; and why on this same day he turned the substance of water into wine. Such grace did Christ our Lord confer on his baptism that not only did he sanctify his Baptist, but the river Jordan itself was turned back. [Here it ends.]