1 Corinthians 10:1 — SERMON 100.3
What took place, as the apostle says, was the mystery of baptism. Clearly this was a kind of baptism, where the cloud covered the people and water carried them. But the same Christ the Lord who did all these things now goes through baptism before the Christian people in the pillar of his body—he who at that time went through the sea before the children of Israel in the pillar of fire.… Through this faith—as was the case with the children of Israel—the one who walks calmly will not fear Egypt in pursuit.
1 Corinthians 10:31 — SERMON 73.1
He wishes, then, for all our actions to be accomplished with Christ as companion and witness, that we may do good things for him as the author and avoid what is evil for the sake of his fellowship. One who knows that Christ is his companion is ashamed to do evil. In good things, however, Christ is our helper, and in the face of evil things he is our defender.
1 Corinthians 12:27 — SERMON 54
In Christ's resurrection, all his members have necessarily risen with him. For while he passes from the depths to the heights, he has made us pass from death to life.
1 Corinthians 15:19 — SERMON 96.1
Therefore Christ is not to be hoped in for this life only, in which the bad can do more than the good, in which those who are more evil are happier, and those who lead a more criminal life live more prosperously.
1 Corinthians 15:48 — SERMON 50.2
Adam is formed from mire by the hands of God. Christ is formed in the womb by the Spirit of God.
1 John 2:1 — SERMONS 40.3
Christ is a judge when he sits and an advocate when he rises. It is clear that he was a judge to Jews but arises as an advocate for Christians. On the one hand, standing before the Father of the Christians, even though they are sinners, he pleads their cause, while on the other he sits with the Father of the Pharisees, who are persecutors, condemning their sins. Angry with the ones, he wreaks harsh vengeance on them, while he gently has mercy on the others, interceding on their behalf.
1 Kings 20:11 — Unknown work
For a hump is, as it were, to think or to do something base of soul, and it is a kind of twisted deformity of mind always to incline toward unclean things and to be withdrawn from the holy threshold of the church by worldly concerns. Hence it seems to me that the prophet, when he spoke spiritually of this bodily deformity, alluded instead to a moral hideousness when he said, "Let no one who is crooked boast as if he were upright." It is as if he were saying, "Let not the sinner boast who is distorted by the wickedness of his vices, as the righteous boasts who is made upright by the sincerity of a good conscience." For although, O sinner, you rejoice in your tall stature, although you are glad because of the straightness of your shoulders, nonetheless your soul is deformed by your evil way of life. Rightly, then, is a rich person compared with a camel, since bodily ungainliness prevents the one from passing through a needle, while concern for his property hinders the other from entering the church. And just as a small needle cannot receive the one that is burdened by the grossness of its body, so also the sacred portal cannot take in the other, who is encumbered by the weight of his offenses. Each has his own burden: the one is weighed down by his physiognomy, the other by his sins. And just as the one cannot pass through the needle's tiny eye, so the other is unfit for the most blessed kingdom of God, except that the camel's body is disordered by nature, while the rich person's will makes him evil. - "Sermon 32.1"
1 Kings 20:11 — SERMON 32.1
The hump alludes to thinking or doing something that is ugly for the soul, and it is always a certain twisted deformity of mind that reaches for impure things and is distracted from the sacred threshold of the church by worldly concerns. It seems to me that the prophet spoke in a spiritual sense of this physical deformity to describe instead a deformity of character, when he says: "Let not the crooked boast in the same way as the upright," as if he were saying: "Let not the sinner who is deformed by the perversion of his own vices boast as the just person boasts when he is made upright by the sincerity of a good conscience." For though, O sinner, you rejoice in the stature of your body and you find pleasure in the straightness of your shoulders, your soul is still deformed because of the crookedness of your character. It is only right that the rich person is compared to the camel since the density of its body hinders it from the passing through the needle, while concern for inheritance holds the rich person back from entering the church. For as a small opening does not let the camel in, weighed down by the mass of its members, so also this holy entrance does not accept the rich, weighed down by the mass of transgressions. Each has its own burden: the camel is burdened by his own flesh and the rich by his sins. As the camel is not able to inhabit the extremely confined hole of the needle, so also the rich person is not suitable for the most blessed kingdom of God. The only difference between the two is that the camel is not well suited due to the nature of his body, while his own will renders the rich person crooked.
1 Peter 1:18 — SERMONS 59.2
If the price of our life is the blood of the Lord, see to it that it is not an ephemeral earthly field which has been purchased but rather the eternal salvation of the whole world.
1 Samuel 14:43-44 — SERMON 69.4
It is no light sin, as I have said, to violate the appointed fast. In order to demonstrate this briefly by examples, we read in the book of Kings [Samuel] that when Saul the king of Israel was waging war against the foreigners he proclaimed a fast for his entire army, and when all were abstaining he began to fight against the opposing forces. This is obviously a good king, who overcame his enemies not so much by arms as by devotion and who fought more by piety than with spears. When, therefore, Saul had proclaimed a day's abstinence for all his men and his son Jonathan, unaware of the command, had tasted some honeycomb into which the tip of his staff had been dipped as the victorious army was proceeding into the midst of the enemy, suddenly such indignation was aroused that the victory was delayed and the Divinity offended. And neither was an end put to the war nor a prophetic response given to the king. From this we understand that Saul used to overcome his enemies not so much by the might of his soldiers as by the abstinence of his soldiers. And so by the sin of one person guilt is laid upon all, and by the crime of one person weakness is produced in all, for the army's strength failed when the observance of the fast failed. But since Saul recognized the sin from the fact that the Divinity had been offended, he immediately said that Jonathan should not be pardoned but that the sin which he admitted should be atoned for by the shedding of his blood. See how religious was the behavior of Saul the king, who desired to pacify the offended Lord even by the slaying of his kin! And see what guilt attaches to the broken fast, which is only punished by the shedding of blood! And if the unwitting Jonathan is delivered over to death because he broke the fast proclaimed by his father, what would a person deserve who knowingly broke the fast proclaimed by Christ? Therefore, brothers, let us most carefully observe the fast that has been decreed for us so that we may overcome our spiritual and fleshly enemies. For we have, as you know, fleshly enemies as well. Let us fast, then, so that our army, like Saul's, might overcome and seize them, and let us not having determined to abstain, turn away for a honeycomb. For a honeycomb is, so to speak, the pleasure and vices of the world, which, as it is written, are sweet in the throat for a time, to be sure, but in the end are more bitter than gall.
1 Samuel 17:49 — SERMON 85.3
Therefore, brothers, let us arm ourselves with heavenly weapons for the coming judgment of the world: let us gird on the breastplate of faith, protect ourselves with the helmet of salvation, and defend ourselves with the word of God as with a spiritual sword. For the one who is arrayed with these weapons does not fear present disturbance and is not afraid of future judgment, since holy David, protected with this devotion, killed the very strong and armed Goliath without weapons and struck down the warlike man, girt about with defenses on all sides, by the strength of his faith alone. For although holy David did not put on a helmet, strap on a shield, or use a lance, he killed Goliath. He killed him, however, not with an iron spear but with a spiritual sword, for although he appeared weaponless in the eyes of human beings, yet he was adequately armed with divine grace. But the spiritual sword itself was not a sword, since it was not by the sword but by a stone that Goliath died when he was struck down. We read in the Scriptures that Christ is figuratively designated by the word stone, as the prophet says: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner." Therefore, when Goliath is struck by a stone, he is struck down by the power of Christ. And in what part of the body is he struck? On the forehead, for when the sacrilegious man is struck, there Christ was absent, and where his end comes upon him, there the sign of salvation is not to be found. For although Goliath was protected by weapons on all sides, still his forehead was exposed to death because it did not carry the Savior's seal, and therefore he is slain in the spot where he is found to be bare of God's grace.But there is no one who does not realize that this took place figuratively. For David had also put on armor beforehand but, since he was so heavy and awkward in it that he could hardly walk, he removed it at once, signifying that the weapons of this world are vain and superfluous things and that the person who chooses to involve himself in them will have no unimpeded road to heaven, since he will be too heavy and encumbered to walk. At the same time this teaches us that victory is not to be hoped for from arms alone but is to be prayed for in the name of the Savior.
1 Timothy 2:8 — SERMONS 38.3
But the good farmer also, when he prepares to turn the soil in order to plant life-sustaining foods, undertakes to do this by nothing other than the sign of the cross. For when he sets the share beam on the plough, attaches the earthboard and puts on the plowhandle, he imitates the form of the cross, for its very construction is a kind of likeness of the Lord's suffering. Heaven, too, is itself arranged in the form of this sign, for since it is divided into four part—namely, east, west, south, and north—it consists in four quarters like the cross. Even a person's bearing, when he raises his hands, describes a cross; therefore we are ordered to pray with uplifted hands so that by the very stance of our body we might confess the Lord's suffering.
2 Corinthians 6:2 — SERMON 35
The holy apostle presents testimony from the prophets when he says: "At an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you." And this follows: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Hence I also testify to you that these are the days of redemption, that this is the time, as it were, of heavenly medicine, when we shall be able to heal every stain of our vices and all the wounds of our sins. We shall do so if we faithfully implore the physician of our souls and do not, as people scarcely worthy of the undertaking, despise his precepts. For a person wearied of his illness has found healing when he very carefully observes his doctor's orders; but if he does one thing when another is ordered, then the transgressor and not the physician is guilty if the sickness is aggravated.
2 Corinthians 9:7 — SERMON 71 ON FASTING AND ALMSGIVING
Blessed, then, is almsgiving, which both renews the recipient and rejoices the giver, "for God loves a cheerful giver," and for this reason it is better to give to him first. Joyful, therefore, and cheerful is the one who attends to the poor. Quite clearly he is joyful, because for a few small coins he acquires heavenly treasures for himself; on the contrary, the person who pays taxes is always sad and dejected. Rightly is he sad who is not drawn to payment by love but forced by fear. Christ's debtor, then, is joyful, and Caesar's sad, because love urges the one to payment, and punishment constrains the other; the one is invited by rewards, the other compelled by penalties.
2 Kings 2:10 — Unknown work
Angels bring Elijah to heaven, then, and angels watch over Elisha on earth. What is there to wonder at if angels, who carried away the master, protected the disciple? And what is noteworthy in the fact that the deference that they showed to the father they also manifested to the son? For he is the spiritual son of Elijah; he is the inheritor of his holiness. Justifiably is Elisha called the spiritual son of Elijah because when he went up to heaven Elijah left a double spirit of his grace to him. For when Elisha was given the right to ask for whatever he wanted before Elijah would be taken from him, he asked that a double portion of Elijah might be in him. Then Elijah said, "What you have asked is hard, but so it shall be for you." O precious inheritance in which the inheritor is left more than is possessed and the one who receives obtains more than the giver owned! Clearly this is a precious inheritance that is doubled by a kind of meritorious interest when it is transferred from father to son. Elijah, therefore, left a double portion to Elisha, although he himself had a single spirit of holiness. In a marvelous way, then, Elijah left more grace on earth than he carried with him to heaven. - "Sermon 84.2"
2 Kings 2:10 — SERMON 84.2
Angels carry Elijah to heaven while angels guard Elisha on earth. Why is it so amazing if the angels who carried the master were also guarding the disciple? And what is noteworthy if the allegiance which they displayed toward the father they also offer to the son? For Elisha is the spiritual son of Elijah and the heir of his holiness. Elisha is therefore rightly called the spiritual son of Elijah, for when Elijah was ascending to heaven he left behind for Elisha a double spirit of his grace. For when an opportunity was given to Elisha to ask for whatever he wanted before Elijah was taken from him, he asked that a double spirit of Elijah be in him. Then Elijah responded: "You have asked for something difficult, but it will be done for you." O precious inheritance in which more is left to the heir than was actually possessed, and the ones who receives the inheritance receives more than the giver owned! This is certainly a precious inheritance, which is doubled by some interest derived from merits when it is transferred from the father to the son! So Elijah, although he had a single spirit of holiness, left a double portion to Elisha. In an amazing way, he left more grace on earth for Elisha than he took with himself to heaven.
2 Kings 2:19-22 — SERMON 84.3-4
What should we say about the merits of Elisha? His first praiseworthy deed was his wish to surpass his father in grace, expressed when he asked that more grace be given to him than he knew was found in him who possessed such grace. To be sure, he was greedy to make such a request, but worthy to receive merit. Because Elisha demanded more from his father than he had, his father enabled him to excel in his merits more than he would have otherwise been able to do. When this Elisha came to Jericho after the ascension of his master and was asked by the citizens to remain with them in the city, they said to him: "The location of this city is good, but the water is bad, even causing sterility." Then Elisha ordered them to give him a clay vessel, and arriving at the source of the waters, he threw the salt kept in the vessel onto the waters and said: "This is what the Lord says: I have healed the waters. No longer will anyone die from them or become sterile. And the waters remain healed to this very day." Consider then how great the merits of Elisha are! His first stay in the children's city results in great fruitfulness, for when he removes the sterility of the waters, he enables the succession of heirs. By performing this one deed, he did not merely heal a single person or offer medicine to the house of one person, but restored the people of the entire city. If he had performed this act later, the sterility would have taken its course and the city would have remained without inhabitants once the entire population grew old. So when Elisha healed the waters he also healed the people. And when he blessed the source of the waters, he showed favor to the source of souls. For just as by his sanctifying act water issued forth from the hidden courses in the earth, so healthy offspring came forth from the hidden organs of the womb. Elisha not only blessed the streams that were still being held in the bowels of the springs, but also those that, though still saturated in the damp soil of the earth, would later flow forth little by little. So the Scripture says that Elisha gave his blessing at the source of the water in order that the prophet's blessing might catch the trickling water before the bosom of the spring encompassed it. Since the holy apostle Paul says that "these things were happening to them as a symbol," let us look into how this very symbol contains the truth. In other words, let us investigate what the city that suffers from sterility stands for, and what the clay vessel intends to communicate, and finally what it means that scattered salt brings the restoration of health. We read in the writings of the same apostle what is said about the church: "Rejoice, O barren one who does not give birth, break forth and shout you who do not beget children." Based on this passage, the church is that sterile city, which prior to the arrival of Christ, was not able to produce sons for God while suffering from sterility because of the corruption of the water, that is, the sacrilege of the pagan nations. But when Christ came, assuming a human body as if a fragile vessel, he healed the vices of the waters, that is, "he cut off the sacrileges of the peoples," and at once, the church, which had been sterile, began to be fruitful.
2 Kings 2:22 — Unknown work
What should we say of the merits of Elisha? This, first of all, is praiseworthy—that he wished to outdo his father in grace, asking that more be given him than he knew that the one who possessed it had. He is, to be sure, covetous in his request but deserving in his merits. For while he demands from his father more than he had, he made him stand out by his own merits more than he was able. For this same Elisha came to Jericho after the ascension of his master and was asked by the townspeople to remain in that city. And when they said to him, "The town is in a good location, but the waters are bad and sterile," he ordered a clay vessel to be given him and, going to the source of the waters, he threw the salt that was kept in it into the waters, saying, "Thus says the Lord: I have cleansed the waters; neither death nor sterility shall come from them. And the waters have been cleansed up until this day." See how great, then, are the merits of Elisha! His first stay in his children's city results in much fruitfulness, because in doing away with the sterility of the waters he makes many people the object of his benefaction. For in accomplishing this Elisha did not cleanse a single person or offer healing to a single household, but he restored the people of the whole city. For if he had done this later the city would have remained without an inhabitant; everyone would have grown old, afflicted with sterility. Therefore Elisha cleansed the people as well when he cleansed the waters, and in blessing the spring of waters he showed favor to the spring, as it were, of souls. For as, by his blessing, water came forth from the earth's hidden channels, so also healthy offspring came forth from the hidden organs of the womb. For Elisha blessed not only those streams alone that were contained in the bowels of the springs but also those that were eventually going to flow later and were still concentrated in the earth's damp soil. Hence Scripture says that Elisha gave a blessing at the source of the waters so that the prophet's sanctifying act might seize the water as it distilled, before the bosom of the spring concealed it. Therefore, since the holy apostle Paul says that "these things happened to them as a figure," let us see what the true meaning is of this figure—that is to say, what that city is that suffers sterility and what the vessel means and also why sprinkled salt should confer health. In the same apostle we read that this is said of the church: "Rejoice, you sterile ones who do not bear; break forth and shout, you who do not beget." The church, then, is that sterile city that, because of the bad condition of the waters before the coming of Christ (that is to say, because of the sacrilege of the Gentile peoples), was unable to conceive children for God in its sterility. But when Christ came, taking on a human body like a clay vessel, he cleansed the bad condition of the waters; that is to say, "He cut off the sacrileges of the peoples," and immediately the church, which used to be sterile, began to be fruitful. - "Sermon 84.3-4"
2 Kings 6:16 — SERMON 83.2-3
When the king of Syria wanted to capture the holy prophet Elisha and make him subject to his own authority and surrounded him with many divisions of armed men, Elisha was not terrified or distraught, but said to the servant who served as messenger: "Do not be afraid for there are more with us than there are with them." O the faith of the holy prophet! He does not fear the enemies whom he sees, since he knows that there are angels with him whom he trusts. He does not dread earthly ambushes, because he knows that heavenly auxiliary troops are there for him. "There are more with us," he says, "than there are with them." This is an amazing thing. Holiness merits more defenders from heaven than the foes that immorality leads onto the field. "There are more with us than there are with them." Behold the merit of blessedness! The prophet makes his announcement about the multitude while the servant is still uncertain of his own salvation. How much more do spiritual eyes perceive than those of the flesh! One sees the number of the armed men, while the other perceives the sign of their protection. How great is the divine mercy! A blessing is delivered to people, but it is not seen. They receive help while they are in danger, but they do not know it. For this is the mercy of the Savior, that he intervenes for salvation and in doing so he does not allow himself to be seen. He is sensed by the benefits that he bestows, but not with the eyes.
2 Kings 6:17 — SERMON 83.2-3
So they are in error who think that when a battle is waged successfully, they have overcome through their own strength. For they should know that adversaries are conquered by merits rather than by strength, and they are overcome not so much by power as by holiness, as holy Elisha was overcoming his enemies by prayer and not by arms. For when he was telling his servant to banish his fear, that those defending them were more than those opposing them, not even then was the servant's fear able to be dispelled. Then Elisha prayed to the Lord, saying: "Lord, open his eyes so that he can see!" And his eyes were opened and he saw, and there was a whole mountain filled with horsemen." So the prophet's prayer opened the servant's eyes. It is no surprise that a prayer opened his eyes to see an army, since prayer opened heaven so that an army came. It is no surprise, I say, if the God who was promising new auxiliaries implanted new eyes. Or why could he not bring forth an army of seers who furnished an army of angels for battle? Why, I say, could not he, who through his merits penetrated the darkness of the clouds, have wiped away the dullness from the servant's eyes? Certainly then holy Elisha granted safety by this act to the fearful servant to whom he had restored the brightness of sight.
2 Kings 6:23 — Unknown work
Thus, when the king of Syria wanted to capture holy Elisha the prophet and subject him to his power and had surrounded him with many warriors and troops, he was not terrified or disturbed but said to the servant who brought him the information: Do not fear, for there are more on our side than on theirs. O the faith of the holy prophet! He does not fear the adversaries whom he sees because he knows that angels are with Him in whom he believes; he is not afraid of earthly plots because he knows that heavenly auxiliaries are present to him. There are more on our side, he says, than on theirs. What a remarkable thing! There are more defenders from heaven merited by holiness than there are attackers on earth produced by wickedness. See the merit of blessedness! The prophet already speaks of a multitude while his servant is still uncertain of salvation. How much more do spiritual eyes discern than fleshly ones! The one perceives a throng of warriors, and the other catches sight of a sign of protection. How great is the divine mercy! A benefit is conferred upon human beings, and it is not seen; those in danger obtain help, and they do not know it. For this is the kindness of the Savior, that He should intervene for the sake of salvation and not let Himself be seen, that He should be sensed through His benefits and not be discerned through sight. Hence he errs who thinks that when he has waged a war successfully, he has overcome by his own power. For he ought to know that adversaries are conquered more by merits than by strength and are overcome not so much by power as by holiness, just as holy Elisha overcame his foes not by arms but by prayer. For when he said to his servant, in order to drive out his fear, that there were more defenders present, but his fear could not be removed, then he prayed to the Lord and said: Lord, open his eyes that he may see! And his eyes were opened and he saw, and behold, there was a whole mountain full of horsemen, and so forth. The prayer of the prophet, then, opened his servant's eyes. It is not to be wondered at if prayer, which opened heaven for an army to come, opened his eyes so that he could see the army. It is not to be wondered at, I say, if he who promises new auxiliaries inserts new eyes. Or why would not he who furnished an army of angels produce an army of seers? Why, I say, would not he who penetrated the darkness of the clouds by his merits cleanse dullness of vision by his prayer? Necessarily, then, with this deed holy Elisha offered safety to his frightened servant, to whom he had already given clearness of vision. - "Sermon 83.2-3"
2 Samuel 6:14 — SERMON 42.5
For our vows are celebrated when the church is united to Christ, as John says: "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom." Because of this marriage, therefore, it behooves us to dance, for David, at once king and prophet, is also said to have danced before the ark of the covenant with much singing. In high rejoicing he broke into dancing, for in the Spirit he foresaw Mary, born of his own line, brought into Christ's chamber, and so he says, "And he, like a bridegroom, will come forth from his chamber." Thus he sang more than the other prophetic authors because, gladder than the rest of them, by these joys he united those coming after him in marriage. And, by inviting us to his own vows in a more charming way than usual, having danced with such joy in front of the ark before his marriage, he taught us what we ought to do at those other vows. The prophet David danced, then. But what would we say that the ark was if not holy Mary, since the ark carried within it the tables of the covenant, while Mary bore the master of the same covenant? The one bore the law within itself and the other the gospel, but the ark gleamed within and without with the radiance of gold, while holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity; the one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 — SERMONS 20.4
Through the operation of these millstones—the new and the old covenants—the holy church, then, acts with unceasing care so as to draw out the fine flour of a clean heart from hidden thoughts, once the roughness of sins has been scattered, and to produce spiritual food from their kernels when they have been cleansed by the heavenly commandments. The apostle Paul says about this food, "I gave you milk to drink, not food," and again, "Solid food is for the perfect, who have their faculties trained by habit," and so forth. Purifying our hearts from all that is human, the faithful soul strives to offer God as it were the finest wheat, as holy David says, "A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God." The gospel rushes forward with such speed, however, that only the wise know of its movement. About this speed the blessed Paul says with understanding, "May the word of God speed on and be made glorious in us." But in the eyes of the foolish the gospel seems to stand still, I say, because they neglect its commands, for they do not believe that what has been written will come to pass.
2 Timothy 2:4 — SERMONS 26.4
Clerics do not seem to be on military service in the world, yet they are nonetheless soldiers for God and the Lord. As the apostle says, No one soldiering for God involves himself in secular affairs. We seem, I say, not to be soldiers in our loose and flowing tunics, but we have our military belt, by which we are bound to an interior purity.
Deuteronomy 9:9 — Sermon 35.4
Fasting these forty days and nights, holy Moses too merited to speak with God, to stand and stay with him and to receive the precepts of the law from his hand. For although this human condition prevented him from seeing God, yet the grace of his fasting drew him into close contact with the Divinity. For to fast frequently is a portion of God's virtues in ourselves, since God himself always fasts. He is more familiar, intimate and friendly with the person in whom he sees more of his works, as Scripture says, "And Moses spoke with God face to face like one speaking with his friend."
Deuteronomy 19:15 — SERMON 61B.3
At the birth of the Savior, then, there was fulfilled that divine sentence which says, "Every word shall stand with two or three witnesses." For see, the Word of God is born with the Trinity as witness. For indeed, in the womb of holy Mary—when the Holy Spirit comes upon her, when the Most High overshadows her, when Christ is begotten—there is implied a confession of faith in him.
Exodus 12:8 — SERMON 25.2
Yet they were also completely ignorant of the commands of Moses himself, who ordered them specially to eat this bitterness when he established the paschal sacraments for them to observe and said, "You will eat it with bitterness, for it is the pasch of the Lord." For he did not order, as they think, the consuming of the very bitter juices of insignificant herbs with the roasted flesh of a lamb. Rather, he commanded the fruitful devouring of the bitter words of Christ's precepts with the sacrament of the Lord's passion. For do not the words of the Lord seem to be bitter when he says: "If you wish to be perfect, leave all that you have and come, follow me?" And when he says that one is not to possess two tunics or a wallet or sandals, that bitterness of such words is a medicine for souls.
Exodus 12:23 — SERMON 45.2
[The Son of God's] cross is our victory, and his gibbet is our triumph. With joy let us take this sign on our shoulders, let us bear the banners of victory. Let us bear such an imperial banner, indeed, on our foreheads! When the devil sees this sign on our doorposts, he trembles. Those who are not afraid of gilded temples are afraid of the cross, and those who disdain regal scepters and the purple and the banquets of the Caesars stand in fear of the loneliness and the fasts of the Christian.
Exodus 14:8 — SERMON 100.3
But the same Christ the Lord who did all these things now goes through baptism before the Christian people in the pillar of his body—he who at that time went through the sea before the children of Israel in the pillar of fire. This, I say, is the column which at that time offered light to the eyes of those who followed and now ministers light to the hearts of those who believe, which then made firm a watery path in the waves and now strengthens the traces of faith in the washing. Through this faith—as was the case with the children of Israel—the one who walks calmly will not fear Egypt in pursuit.
Exodus 15:25 — SERMON 67.4
In this mystical number, I say, the children of Israel, arriving at Marah and being unable to draw the water because of its bitterness (for the well had water but no sweetness, and it was pleasing to the eye but polluted to the taste), drank water that became sweet and mild as soon as wood was thrown into it by Moses. The sacrament of the wood removed the harshness that the noxious water bore. I believe that this happened as a sign, for I think that the bitter water of Marah is the Old Testament law, which was harsh before it was tempered by the Lord's cross.
Exodus 15:27 — SERMON 68.2
They arrived at a place called Elim, where there were twelve very pure springs of water and a multitude of seventy flourishing palm trees. See the mystery of God—how, after the bitterness of the law, the richness of gospel piety abounds. There the one spring is harsh to drink, but here the many are all sweet to imbibe. Once there was no refreshment after weariness, but now there is refreshment after labor. For springs are at the disposal of the thirsty, and palms are offered to victors. Palms are offered to victors, I say, because after the hardness of the law it is a victory to have arrived at the grace of the gospel. For part of the victor's reward is to moisten his mouth from a flowing spring and to take the triumphal palm in his hand. With the spring the confessor's tongue is purified, and with the palm the martyr's hand is honored—the former because it has praised the glory of Christ, the latter because it has refused the altar of sacrilege.
Exodus 16:35 — SERMON 50.3
Let us also see if we are able to find Quadragesima's mystical number somewhere else in the Scriptures. We read that holy Moses fed the children of Israel with heavenly manna in the desert for the space of forty years. Good is the number, then, which always opens heaven. Good is the number, I say, by which Noah's righteousness is preserved and the children of Israel are fed. For this reason let us also observe this number so that the heavens might be opened to us in order that the rain of spiritual grace might fall upon us and the manna of the spiritual sacraments refresh us. For, after the fashion of our fathers, by this observance of Quadragesima we are both made righteous and nourished: we are made righteous by the washing [of baptism] and nourished by the sacraments [of bread and wine].
Exodus 17:12 — SERMON 45.3
When Moses' hands were lifted up Amalek was conquered; when they came down a little he grew strong. The sailyards of ships and the ends of the sailyards move about in the form of our cross. The very birds, too, when they are borne to the heights and fly through the air, imitate the cross with their wings outstretched. Trophies themselves are crosses, and so are adorned victories of triumphs. These we ought to have not only on our foreheads but also on our souls so that, thus armed, we may trample upon the adder and the serpent, in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory forever.
Exodus 33:11 — SERMON 35.3
Fasting these forty days and nights holy Moses too merited to speak with God, to stand and stay with him and to receive the precepts of the law from his hand. For although this human condition prevented him from seeing God, yet the grace of his fasting drew him into close contact with the Divinity. For to fast frequently is a portion of God's virtues in ourselves, since God himself always fasts. He is more familiar, intimate and friendly with the person in whom he sees more of his works, as Scripture says: "And Moses spoke with God face to face like one speaking with his friend."
Ezekiel 3:17 — SERMON 92:1-2
Sometimes when we preach, our sermons seem rather harsh to many, and what we speak about as a rule is taken by some as if it were produced from a hard attitude. For they say, "how severely and bitterly the bishop has preached!" not knowing that for bishops speaking is more a matter of obligation than of desire. Speaking, I say, is more a matter of obligation—not because the desire to preach the truth is lacking but because the silence that comes from not speaking is driven away by the punishment of the law.… This, then, is the preacher's situation—that he should not be silent with respect to the sins of another if he wishes to avoid sinning himself, and that he should correct his brother by reproving him so that he may not destroy what is priestly in himself.… Consequently it is better to correct the sinner by rebuking him than to accept the sinner's misdeed by keeping quiet. This is the position in which we have been placed: if we told sinners that their crimes were not their own, the guilt of their crimes would also implicate us. For this is in fact what the Lord says through the prophet: "And you, son of man, I have given you as a watchman to the house of Israel, and you shall hear the word from my mouth. When I say to the sinner, 'You shall die the death, and you do not speak so that the impious may beware of his way, the wicked himself shall die in his own wickedness, but I will require his blood from your hand,' " and so forth. Clearly these words are plain and obvious. They soil the watchmen with criminal blood when he keeps silence, and they are not satisfied that the evildoers' own evil doing condemns him unless they also incriminate the one who was unwilling to rebuke the evil in question. So, then, how great the iniquity of the sinner is! The sinner sins, and the bishop is convicted; he kills himself by his own sins, and his blood is required from the hand of the bishop.… What is a watchman? A watchman is one who, while standing (as it were) on a lofty pinnacle, looks out on the people around him so that no enemy falls unexpectedly on them but so that, as he keeps careful watch, the populace live in harmony and peace.
Ezekiel 9:5 — SERMON 45:2
In Ezekiel the prophet, when the angel who had been sent had slain everyone and the slaughter had begun at the holy places, only those whom he had signed with the letter tau—that is, with the mark of the cross—remained unharmed.
Genesis 4:9-10 — SERMONS 88.1
The divine Scripture always cries out and speaks; hence God also says to Cain, "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me." Blood, to be sure, has no voice, but innocent blood that has been spilled is said to cry out not by words but by its very existence. [It makes] demands of the Lord not with eloquent discourse but with anger over the crime committed. It does not accuse the wrongdoer with words so much as bind him by the accusation of his own conscience. The evil deed may seem to be excused when it is explained away with words. But it cannot be excused if it is made present to the conscience. For in silence and without contradiction the wrongdoer's conscience always convicts and judges him.
Genesis 7:17 — SERMONS 50.2
But let us see where this most sacred number of forty days had its beginning. We read first in the Old Testament that in the time of Noah, when criminal wickedness had seized the whole human race, torrents of water poured forth from the opened floodgates of heaven for just as many days. In a kind of mysterious image of Quadragesima, this inundation of the earth refers not so much to a flood as to baptism. This was clearly a baptism in which the wickedness of sinners was removed and Noah's righteousness preserved. For this reason, then, the Lord has given us forty days now as well in imitation of that time, so that for this number of days, while the heavens are opened, a celestial rain of mercy might pour upon us and, with the flood, the water of the saving washing might enlighten us in baptism and—as was the case then—the wickedness of our sins might be quenched in us by the streams of water and the righteousness of our virtues preserved. For the very same thing is at issue with regard to Noah and in our own day: baptism is a flood to the sinner and a consecration to the faithful; by the Lord's washing, righteousness is preserved and unrighteousness is destroyed.
Genesis 8:8-11 — SERMONS 49.3
For as Noah's ark preserved alive everyone whom it had taken in when the world was going under, so also Peter's church will bring back unhurt everyone whom it embraces when the world goes up in flames. And as a dove brought the sign of peace to Noah's ark when the flood was over, so also Christ will bring the joy of peace to Peter's church when the judgment is over, since he himself is dove and peace, as he promised when he said, "I shall see you again and your heart will rejoice."
Genesis 8:8-11 — SERMONS 64.2
Christ is a dove because he commands his holy ones to be as doves when he says, "Be simple as doves." But the prophet speaks of what Christ the dove is when, in his person, he describes his return to heaven after his suffering: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I shall fly away and be at rest?" When Christ the Lord, therefore, initiated the sacraments of the church a dove came down from heaven. I understand the mystery, and I recognize the sacrament. For the very dove that once hastened to Noah's ark in the flood now comes to Christ's church in baptism.
Haggai 1:6 — SERMON 28:2
Thus the priestly ministry is a trade. Hence the prophet says to the children of Israel, "Your innkeepers mix water with their wine." For holy Isaiah is not speaking about the innkeepers who, in the course of their publican ministrations, deceptively mix pure wine with a measure of water. It could hardly be a matter of concern to the blessed man, as if he were a civil judge, that people would dilute tavern vessels to make a less inebriating drink. He is speaking rather about the innkeepers who reside not over taverns but churches. They offer thirsty people a goblet not of wanton desire but of virtue. They do not minister the cup of drunkenness but the Savior's cup. Those innkeepers he censures and rebukes, and he complains that they mix water with wine. This he blames in them—that although they are set over divine functions, they have become followers after human things, as the prophet himself says: "Each of you follows his own house." For if any priest has abandoned the priestly office and delights in worldly pleasures, he mixes water with wine; that is to say, he mingles vile and cold things with holy and warm things.
Isaiah 6:9-10 — SERMON 101:2
But he appeared not so much for the eyes of human beings as for their salvation, for even though he was first seen by fleshly eyes when he was born of the virgin, still he did not appear because the eye of faith did not as yet recognize his power. Hence it is said to the Jews by the prophet: "Seeing you will see and will not see"; that is, the Savior whom they discerned with their fleshly eyes they did not see in a spiritual light.
Isaiah 7:14 — SERMON 61B.2
The manner of his birth proves the truth about the Lord: a virgin conceived without knowing a man; her belly was filled, having been touched by no embrace; and her chaste womb received the Holy Spirit, whom her pure members preserved and her unsullied body carried. Behold the miracle of the mother of the Lord! She is a virgin when she conceives, a virgin when she brings forth, a virgin after birth. What glorious virginity! What splendid fruitfulness! The world's goodness is born, and there is no pain of childbirth. The womb is emptied, a child is brought forth, and still virginity is not violated. For it was fitting that when God was born, the value of chastity should increase, and that one who was untouched should not be violated by his coming—he who came to heal what was injured—and that bodily purity should not be harmed by him who bestows virginity on those who have been baptized and had formerly been unchaste. The child who has been born, then, is placed in a crib. This is God's first dwelling place, and the ruler of heaven does not disdain these straitened circumstances—he whose home was the virginal womb. Clearly Mary was a fit habitation for Christ not because of the nature of her body but because of the grace of her virginity.
Isaiah 9:6 — SERMON 54:2
For this reason the apostles are told, "unless you change and become like this child." He does not say "like these children" but "like this child." He chooses one; he proposes one. Let us see, then, who he might be, who is proposed to the disciples to be imitated. I do not think that he is from the people, nor from the ordinary crowd, nor from the vast multitude—this one who was given, through the apostles, as an example of holiness to the entire world. I do not think, I say, that he is from the ordinary crowd but from heaven. For he is the child from heaven about whom the prophet Isaiah says, "A child is born to us, a son is given to us." Clearly he is the child who, like an innocent, did not curse when he was cursed, did not strike back when he was struck, but rather in his very suffering prayed for his enemies, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Thus simplicity, which nature has given to infants, the Lord augmented with the virtue of mercy.
Isaiah 29:13 — SERMON 102:3
Suppose someone says, "We are Christians too; we believe in the Lord, the Savior." But it is necessary to believe in deed and not in word, not with the tongue but with the heart, lest it also be said to us, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."
Isaiah 54:1 — SERMON 84:4
The church, then, is that sterile city which, because of the bad condition of the waters before the coming of Christ (that is to say, because of the sacrilege of the Gentile peoples), was unable to conceive children for God in its sterility. But when Christ came, taking on a human body like a clay vessel, he cleansed the bad condition of the waters; that is to say, he cut off the sacrileges of the peoples, and immediately the church, which used to be sterile, began to be fruitful.
Isaiah 58:1 — SERMON 93:1
We are commanded then to cry out and to cry forcefully and not to spare our voice, lest we lose our salvation. "And do not be sparing," he says. That is, do not pass over the sinner's wickedness by keeping silent and by being considerate of his shame but inconsiderate of his well-being, for by keeping silent you have made worse the wounds that you ought to have healed by crying out.… We know that a trumpet is usually not so much heard as dreaded; it is not so much accustomed to bring pleasure as to inspire fear. A trumpet is necessary for sinners; it not only penetrates their ears but should strike their heart as well; it should not delight with its melody but chastise when it has been heard; it should encourage the bravehearted to righteousness, while it should turn the cowardly from their crimes.
Judges 6:37-38 — SERMON 97.3
Rightly, then, do we compare Mary with fleece—she who conceived the Lord in such a way that she absorbed him with her whole body; nor did she undergo a rending of that same body, but she was tender in submission and firm in chastity. Rightly, I say, is Mary compared with fleece—she from whose offspring saving garments are woven for the people. Clearly Mary is fleece since from her tender womb came forth the Lamb who himself, bearing his mother's wool (that is, flesh), covers the wounds of all peoples with a soft fleece. For every wound of sin is covered with the wool of Christ, tended by the blood of Christ, and, so that it may receive health, clothed in the garment of Christ.
Judges 15:4-5 — SERMON 41.5
Let us avoid, then, brothers, let us avoid the pestilential deceits of the insidious foxes [heretics]. Let us avoid the deadly frauds of wicked persons lest, like the foxes which that famous strong man Samson once sent into the Philistines' fields, bearing torches on their tails that burned up everything with their flames, the foxes of perverse teachings in like manner either get hold of the fruits of our fields by deceitful traps or consume them by burning flames. Let us, therefore, as we read, be simple and clever—that is to say, simple as doves and clever as serpents, so that the cleverness of the serpents might protect the simplicity of the doves.
Jeremiah 1:5 — SERMON 5:4
This, too, seems unworthy to pass over in silence in praise of John. Although he was not yet born, yet already he prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother's womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy since he could not do so with his voice.… In this regard I think that the prophetic phrase is appropriate that says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you." We ought not to marvel that after he was put in prison by Herod, from his confinement he continued to announce Christ to his disciples, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.
Jeremiah 7:25 — SERMON 62:2
When the whole world was oppressed by the darkness of the devil. When the gloom brought on by sin had laid hold of the world. At the last age, when night had already fallen, this sun deigned to bring forth the rising of his birth. Before the light, before the sun of justice shone, he sent the oracle of the prophets as a kind of dawning, as it is written: "I sent my prophets before the light."
John 2:2 — SERMON 23
The Son of God went to the wedding so that marriage, which had been instituted by his own authority, might be sanctified by his blessed presence. He went to a wedding of the old order when he was about to take a new bride for himself through the conversion of the Gentiles, a bride who would forever remain a virgin. He went to a wedding even though he himself was not born of human wedlock. He went to the wedding not, certainly, to enjoy a banquet but rather to make himself known by miracles. He went to the wedding not to drink wine but to give it.
John 2:4 — SERMON 23
The most blessed Mary said to him, "They have no wine." Jesus answered as though he were displeased. "Woman," he said, "is that my concern or yours?" It can hardly be doubted that these were words of displeasure. However, this I think was only because his mother mentioned to him so casually the lack of earthly wine, when he had come to offer the peoples of the whole world the new chalice of eternal salvation. By his reply, "My hour has not yet come," he was foretelling the most glorious hour of his passion and the wine of our redemption, which would obtain life for all. Mary was asking for a temporal favor, but Christ was preparing joys that would be eternal. Nevertheless, the Lord in his goodness did not refuse this small grace while greater graces awaited.
John 2:7 — SERMON 23
Addressing the expectant servants, he said, "Fill the jars with water." The servants promptly obeyed, and suddenly in a marvelous way the water began to acquire potency, take on color, emit fragrance and gain flavor—all at once it changed its nature completely! Now this transformation of the water from its own substance into another testified to the powerful presence of the Creator. Only he who had made it out of nothing could change water into something whose use was quite different. Dearly beloved, have no doubt that he who changed water into wine is the same as he who from the beginning has thickened it into snow and hardened it into ice. It is he who changed it into blood for the Egyptians and bade it flow from the dry rock for the thirsty Hebrews—the rock that, newly transformed into a spring, was like a mother's breast refreshing with its gentle flow a countless multitude of people.
John 2:11 — SERMON 23
It was not what they saw happening that the disciples believed but what could not be seen by bodily eyes. They did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of the Virgin—that was something they knew. Rather, they believed that he was the only Son of the Most High, as this miracle proved. And so let us too believe wholeheartedly that he whom we confess to be the Son of man is also the Son of God. Let us believe not only that he shared our nature but also that he was consubstantial with the Father; for as a man he was present at the wedding, and as God he changed the water into wine. If such is our faith, the Lord will give us also to drink of the sobering wine of his grace.
John 4:7 — SERMON 22.2
The Savior asks for water from the woman, then, and feigns thirst so that he might give eternal grace to the thirsty. For the source was not able to be thirsty, nor was he in whom there is living water able to draw water full of earthly sediment. Did Christ thirst, then? He thirsted, to be sure, but for salvation and not [merely] for human drink. He was thirsty not for the water of this world but for the redemption of the human race. In a wonderful way, therefore, the source sitting by the well produces streams of mercy in that very place, and with flowing, living water he purifies the woman who is fornicating with a sixth man, not her husband but an adulterer. And in a new kind of miracle the woman who had come to the well of Samaria as a prostitute returned chaste from the source of Christ. She who had come to look for water brought back chastity. As soon as the Lord points her sins out to her she acknowledges them, confesses Christ and announces the Savior. Abandoning her pitcher she brings not water but grace back to the city. She seems, indeed, to return without a burden, but she returns full of holiness. She returns full, I say, because she who had come as a sinner goes back as a proclaimer, and she who had left her pitcher behind brought back the fullness of Christ, without the slightest loss to her city. For even if she did not bring water to the townspeople, still she brought in the source of salvation. Sanctified, then, by faith in Christ, the woman goes back home.
John 4:14 — SERMON 22A.3
Frequently indeed we see that water poured out extinguishes a fire. But sometimes we see the opposite—that huge balls of fire consume streams of water and that the flames grow more vehement, drawing strength from the water as if from food, so that the water does not seem to put out the burning but to aggravate it. What, then, is that water that consumes flames but is not itself consumed? It is, I think, that which, flowing in the bath from the fountain of Christ is not consumed by sins but consumes the fires of Gehenna, and which, once poured out on people in baptism, itself both lives in them and puts out the fire of hell. It is clear that it lives in people from what the Lord says [here].… But in a wonderful way the water of Christ both vivifies and extinguishes by one and the same operation. For it vivifies souls and extinguishes sins. The souls are renewed by the refreshment of its bath; the sins are consumed by its surging stream. And as far as the higher grace of baptism is concerned, in the heavens a mystery is celebrated and in hell Gehenna is extinguished. In the one the waters flow; in the other the fire grows cold. In the one we are submerged in the bath; in the other we are set free from the underworld. Yet there is nothing astonishing if hell is opened by the sacrament of baptism since heaven is also unlocked. For these places are opened so that freedom and grace might come together in the bath of Christ—grace from heaven and freedom from hell.
Joel 2:30-31 — SERMON 62:2
The people, then, call this day "the new sun," and although they say that it is new, yet they also show that it is old. This world's sun—which undergoes eclipse, is shut out by walls and is hidden by clouds—I would call old. I would call old the sun that is subject to vanity, is fearful of corruption and dreads the judgment. For it is written, "The sun will be changed into darkness and the moon into blood." Old, indeed, would I call that which is implicated in human crimes, does not flee adulteries, does not turn aside from murder and, although it does not wish to be in the midst of the human race when some offense is perpetrated, stands here alone among all the evil deeds. Therefore, inasmuch as it has been shown to be old, we have discovered that nothing is new but Christ the Lord, of whom it is written, "The Sun of justice will rise upon you" and of whom the prophet also says in the person of sinners, "The sun has not risen upon us, and the light of justice has not shone upon us." For when the whole world was oppressed by the darkness of the devil and the gloom brought on by sin was laying hold of the world, at the last age—that is to say, when night had already fallen—this sun deigned to bring forth the rising of his birth. At first, before the light—that is, before the Sun of justice shone—he sent the oracle of the prophets as a kind of dawning, as it is written: "I sent my prophets before the light." But afterwards he himself burst forth with his rays—that is, with the brightness of his apostles—and shed upon the earth a light of truth such that no one would stumble into the devil's darkness.
Jonah 3:7 — COMMENTARY ON JONAH
The king conquered enemies with a display of valor. He conquered God, however, by humility. He is a wise king who, in order to save his people, owns himself a sinner rather than a king. He forgets that he is a king, fearing God the King of all. He does not bring to mind his own power but rather comes to possess the power of the Godhead. Marvelous! When he forgets that he is a king of men, he begins to be a king of righteousness. The prince, becoming religious, did not lose his empire but changed it. Before he held a princedom of military discipline. Now he obtained a princedom in heavenly disciplines.
Joshua 6:5 — SERMON 93.2
The walls of Jericho fell down on account of the priestly trumpets because they contained within themselves a sinful people. A battering ram did not strike it, nor did a machine of war storm it, but—what is remarkable—the terror of the priestly sound brought it down. The walls that had stood impervious to iron collapsed at the sacred voice of the trumpets. Who would not be amazed that when the sound had been made, stones were broken to pieces, foundations were shattered by the noise, and everything collapsed in such a way that, although the conquerors did not injure their own forces, nonetheless among the enemy nothing remained standing? But although no one touched those walls, still they were taken from without at the sound of the righteous while sinners dwelled within. For this reason, then, they gave way, lest they offer resistance to the ones or somehow protect the others. To the righteous they opened a path and to the faithless they denied protection. Therefore, brothers, if the sound of the priestly voice was so powerful at that time, such that its blast in the air announced a certain confusion, how much more do we believe that that priestly voice is living now, which shows forth something magnificent when it speaks Christ in words!… Or how could feeling creatures resist when even unfeeling ones were unable to endure the sacred dread? For we believe that hearts can more easily be softened than rocks at the words of the priests and that sins can be forgiven in a shorter time than those stones were split asunder. For the voice of the Spirit, when it comes, destroys the stain of sin more easily than it breaks apart a tangible fortification of rock.
Joshua 6:8 — SERMON 94.1
Last Sunday we said that the walls of Jericho were laid waste by the priestly trumpets and that, contrary to order and nature, an unfeeling thing gave way before the sacred sounds with a kind of dread of the threat, and everything so collapsed at the loud noise that the most solid fortifications fell to the ground and the sinful people remained without protection. The one occurred lest resistance be offered for any amount of time, the other so that they would be the more easily captured.But we have said that all these things were done then in symbol, for we believe that the priestly trumpets of that age were nothing other than the preaching of the priests of this age, by which we do not cease to announce, with a dreadful sound, something harsh to sinners, to speak of what is dismal, and to strike the ears of evildoers with, as it were, a threatening roar, since no one can resist the sacred sounds and no one can gainsay them. For how could feeling creatures not tremble at the word of God when at that time even unfeeling ones were shaken? And how could human hardheartedness resist what a stone fortification could not withstand? For just as, when the stone walls were destroyed, the clash of the trumpets reached the people within, so also now, when evil thoughts have been destroyed, the preaching of the priests penetrates to the bare parts of the soul, for the soul is found bare before the Word of God when its every evil deed is destroyed. And that the soul is bare before God the holy apostle says, "But all things are bare and uncovered to his eyes." In this regard, before the soul knows God and accepts the truth of the faith, it veils itself, so to speak, under superstitious works and surrounds itself with something like a wall of perversity, such that it might seem to be able to remain impregnable within the fortifications of its own evildoing. But when the sacred sound thunders, its rashness is overthrown, its thinking is destroyed, and all the defenses of its superstitions break asunder in such a way that, remaining unprotected, as it is written, the Word of God might penetrate even to the division of its spirit and its inmost parts. Just as the ring of the sacred sound destroyed, captured and took vengeance on a hardhearted people then, so also now the priestly preaching subjugates, captures and takes vengeance on a sinful people.
Joshua 6:15-16 — SERMON 94.2
But what was done then to the city of Jericho, as we have said, was done in symbol, since now this very thing happens in reality. For we read that at that time the priests circled the aforementioned city continuously for seven days and that, although a band of armed men was unable to take it, it was overthrown by the sound of trumpets coming from all sides—of trumpets, I say, not played by a rough soldier but sounded by a consecrated priest. Who would not fear a person's trumpet if he did not fear his sword? After seven days, therefore, the walls that were circled fell at the priestly trumpets; we read that in seven days the works of this world were completed. You see, then, that with this number seven it is not so much one city that is destroyed by the priests as the wickedness of the whole world that is destroyed. For just as in the naming of a single city the condition of the whole world is symbolized, so also the course of seven days indicates the space of seven thousand years during which the trumpets of priestly preaching announce destruction to the world and threaten judgment, as it is written: "For the world will also perish and all the things that are in the world, but the one who does the will of the Lord endures forever."
Luke 1:5-7 — SERMON 5.1-2
I do not know what is the most important thing that we should preach—that he [John the Baptist] was wonderfully born or more wonderfully slain—for he was born as a prophecy and murdered for truth. By his birth he announced the coming of the Savior, and by his death he condemned the incest of Herod. This holy and righteous man, who was born in an uncommon way as the result of a promise, merited from God that he should depart this world by an uncommon death—that he should by confessing the Lord lay aside his body, which he had received as a gift from the Lord. Therefore John did everything by the will of God, since he was born and died for the sake of God's work.
Luke 1:18-20 — SERMON 5.3-4
Yet... we ought not to be so astonished that John merited such grace in his birth. For the precursor and forerunner of Christ ought to have had something similar to the birth of the Lord, the Savior. Indeed, the Lord was begotten of a virgin and John of a sterile woman, the one of an unstained girl and the other of an already exhausted old woman. John's birth, then, also has something of the glorious and the wondrous. Although it would seem to be less noble for a matron to give birth than for a virgin to give birth, yet as we look up to Mary for having given birth as a virgin we also wonder at Elizabeth for having done so as an old woman. Indeed, I think that this fact contains a certain mystery. John, who was a figure of the Old Testament, should have been born of the already cold blood of an old woman, while the Lord, who would preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, came forth from a woman in the flower of glowing youth. Mary, conscious of her virginity, marvels at the fruit hidden in her belly, while Elizabeth, conscious of her old age, blushes that her womb is heavy with the one she has conceived. Thus the Evangelist says, "She hid herself for five months." How wonderful it is, though, that the same archangel Gabriel performs an office with respect to each birth! He comforts the unbelieving Zechariah and encourages the believing Mary. He lost his voice because he doubted. But she, because she believed immediately, conceived the saving Word.
Luke 1:41 — SERMON 5.4
Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother's womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy—since he could not do so with his voice. As Elizabeth says to holy Mary, "As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy." John exults, then, before he is born. Before his eyes can see what the world looks like, he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard, I think that the prophetic phrase is appropriate: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you." Thus we ought not to marvel that after Herod put him in prison, he continued to announce Christ to his disciples from his confinement, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.
Luke 1:64 — SERMON 6.1
When John his son was born, among his neighbors there was concern about what name he should be given. Writing tablets were offered to his father so that he himself could put down the name that he had decided upon, so that he might express in writing what he could not in speech. Then, in a wonderful manner, when he had taken the tablets in order to begin writing, his tongue was loosened, the written word gave way to speech, and he did not write "John" but spoke it. Consider, then, the merit of the holy Baptist: he gave his father back his voice, he restored the faculty of speech to the priest. Consider, I say, his merit: John unloosed the mouth that the angel had bound. What Gabriel had closed the little child unlocked.… When John is born the father suddenly becomes a prophet or priest, speech attains its use, love receives an offspring, the office recognizes the priest.
Luke 2:12 — Catena Aurea by Aquinas (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)
(in Serm. Nativ. 4.) But if perhaps the swaddling clothes are mean in thy eyes, admire the Angels singing praises together. If thou despisest the manger, raise thy eyes a little, and behold the new star in heaven proclaiming to the world the Lord's nativity. If thou believest the mean things, believe also the mighty. If thou disputest about those which betoken His lowliness, look with reverence on what is high and heavenly.
Luke 3:21-22 — SERMON 13A
Today, then, is another kind of birth of the Savior. We see him born with the same sort of signs, the same sort of wonders, but with greater mystery. The Holy Spirit, who was present to him then in the womb, now pours out upon him in the torrent. He who then purified Mary for him now sanctifies the running waters for him. The Father who then overshadowed in power now cries out with his voice. He who then, as if choosing the more prudent course, manifested himself as a cloud at the nativity now bears witness to the truth. So God says, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him." Clearly the second birth is more excellent than the first. The one brought forth Christ in silence and without a witness. The other baptized the Lord gloriously with a profession of divinity. From the one, Joseph, thought to be the father, absents himself. At the other, God the Father, not believed in, manifests himself. In the one the mother labors under suspicion because in her condition she lacked a father. In the other she is honored because God attests to his Son.
Luke 3:21-22 — SERMON 13A.3
Today, then, he is baptized in the Jordan. What sort of baptism is this, when the one who is dipped is purer than the font, and where the water that soaks the one whom it has received is not dirtied but honored with blessings? What sort of baptism is this of the Savior, I ask, in which the streams are made pure more than they purify? For by a new kind of consecration the water does not so much wash Christ as submit to being washed. Since the Savior plunged into the waters, he sanctified the outpouring of every flood and the course of every stream by the mystery of his baptism. When someone wishes to be baptized in the name of the Lord, it is not so much the water of this world that covers him but the water of Christ that purifies him. Yet the Savior willed to be baptized for this reason—not that he might cleanse himself but that he might cleanse the waters for our sake.
Luke 5:4 — SERMON 49.1-3
He chooses Peter's boat and forsakes Moses'—that is to say, he spurns the faithless synagogue and takes the faithful church. For God appointed the two as boats, so to speak, which would fish for the salvation of humankind in this world as in a sea. As the Lord says to the apostles, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." …The church is called out into the deep, delving, as it were, into the profound mysteries of the heavens, into that depth concerning which the apostle says, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!" For this reason he says to Peter, "Put out into the deep,"—that is to say, into the depths of reflection upon the divine generation. For what is more profound than what Peter says to the Lord, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God?" … This boat sails upon the deeps of this world, so that, when the earth is destroyed, it will preserve unharmed all those it has taken in. Its foreshadowing can be seen already in the Old Testament. For as Noah's ark preserved alive everyone whom it had taken in when the world was going under, so also Peter's church will bring back unhurt everyone whom it embraces when the world goes up in flames. And as a dove brought the sign of peace to Noah's ark when the flood was over, so also Christ will bring the joy of peace to Peter's church when the judgment is over.
Luke 5:5 — SERMON 110.2
That you may understand that the Lord was speaking of spiritual fishing, however, Peter says, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." It is as if he were saying, "Through the whole night our fishing has brought us nothing, and we have been laboring in vain. Now I will not fish with fishing gear but with grace, not with diligence acquired by skill but with the perseverance acquired by devotion." When Peter lets down the nets at the word, therefore, he is in fact letting down the teachings in Christ. When he unfolds the tightly woven and well-ordered nets at the command of the Master, he is really laying out words in the name of the Savior in a fitting and clear fashion. By these words he is able to save not creatures but souls. "We toiled all night," he says, "and took nothing." Peter, who beforehand was unable to see in order to make a catch, enduring darkness without Christ, had indeed toiled through the whole night. But when the Savior's light shone upon him the darkness scattered, and by faith he began to discern in the deep what he could not see with his eyes.
Luke 5:10 — SERMON 110
Ordinarily people are not given life on a boat but transported. Nor are they comforted on a vessel but anxious about its journey. Notice also that this boat is not a boat that is given to Peter to be piloted—rather, it is the church, which is committed to the apostle to be governed. For this is the vessel that does not kill but gives life to those borne along by the storms of this world as if by waves. Just as a little boat holds the dying fish that have been brought up from the deep, so also the vessel of the church gives life to human beings who have been freed from turmoil. Within itself, I say, the church gives life to those who are half-dead, as it were.
Luke 7:4-5 — SERMON 87.1
In order to praise the centurion more, the Jews said to the Lord, "It is right that you should help him, for he is a lover of our nation, and he himself has built us a synagogue." If one who has constructed a place where Christ is always denied is visited with heavenly mercy, how much more to be visited is one who has built a tabernacle where Christ is daily preached! The Lord did not approve the work that the centurion had done but the spirit in which he accomplished it. If he eagerly built a synagogue at a time when there were as yet no Christians, it is understood that he would all the more eagerly have built a church had there been Christians. He still preaches Christ even though he builds a synagogue.
Luke 7:6 — SERMON 87
See how the devout centurion becomes worthier to receive health as he confesses that he is unworthy. In considering his dwelling unacceptable, he has made it the more honorable and acceptable.… The Lord does not go to his house, but the Lord's healing goes. The Savior does not visit the sick man, but the Savior's health visits him.
Luke 7:32 — SERMON 42.5
People are in the habit of dancing or singing as the custom is with vows, particularly at marriages, and so we have marriages to which a vow is attached and at which we are expected to dance or sing. Our vows are celebrated when the church is united to Christ. John says, "The one who has the bride is the bridegroom." It is good for us to dance because of this marriage, for David, both king and prophet, danced before the ark of the covenant "with much singing." He broke into dancing in high rejoicing, for in the Spirit he foresaw Mary, born of his own line, brought into Christ's chamber. He says, "And he, like a bridegroom, will come forth from his chamber." He sang more than the other prophetic authors did because he was gladder than the rest of them. By these joys, he united those coming after him in marriage. By inviting us to his own vows in a more charming way than usual, having danced with such joy in front of the ark before his marriage, he taught us what we ought to do at those other vows. The prophet David danced.
Luke 10:19 — SERMON 37.5
Since we possess the Lord Jesus who has freed us by his suffering, let us always look on him and hope for medicine for our wounds from his sign. That is to say, if perhaps the poison of greed spreads in us, we should look to him, and he will heal us. If the malicious desire of the scorpion stings us, we should beg him, and he will cure us. If bites of worldly thoughts tear us, we should ask him, and we will live. These are the spiritual serpents of our souls. The Lord was crucified in order to crush them. He says concerning them, "You will tread upon serpents and scorpions, and they will do no harm to you."
Luke 11:52 — SERMON 43.2
This key is Christ the Lord, by whom the hidden places of our hearts are unlocked to believing faith. The Pharisees lost this key, and the apostles found it. The Lord says to Peter, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The hand of the synagogue, abandoning Christ, withered up among the leaders of the Jews. The hand of the synagogue grew unhealthy, for whoever deserts the source, which is Christ, immediately gets sick and is found sicker than all the other members.
Luke 13:18-19 — SERMON 25.2
There is written in these words of the Lord, "Someone took and threw it into his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven roosted in its branches." Let us look more closely to find out to whom all these things pertain. We said before that the nature of mustard might resemble the holy martyrs because they are rubbed by different sufferings. Since Scripture says, "And it grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven roosted in its branches," I think that this is more properly compared to the Lord Christ himself. Born a man, he was humbled like a seed and in ascending to heaven was exalted like a tree. It is clear that Christ is a seed when he suffers and a tree when he rises. He is a seed when he endures hunger and a tree when he satisfies five thousand men with five loaves. In the one case, he endures barrenness in his human condition, in the other he bestows fullness by his divinity. I would say that the Lord is a seed when he is beaten, scorned and cursed, but a tree when he enlightens the blind, raises the dead and forgives sins. In the Gospel, he says that he is a seed: "Unless the grain of wheat, falling upon the earth, dies."
Luke 19:8 — SERMONS 95-96
Zacchaeus must be praised. His riches were unable to keep him from the royal threshold. He should be greatly praised because his riches brought him to the threshold of the kingdom. From this, we understand that wealth is not a hindrance but a help to attaining the glory of Christ. While we possess it, we should not squander it on wild living but give it away for the sake of salvation. There is no crime in possessions, but there is crime in those who do not know how to use possessions. For the foolish, wealth is a temptation to vice, but for the wise, it is a help to virtue. Some receive an opportunity for salvation, but others acquire an obstacle of condemnation.
Luke 21:9-11 — SERMON 85.1
Perhaps you are anxious, brothers and sisters, at the fact that we hear constantly of the tumult of wars and the onsets of battles. Perhaps your love is still more anxious since these are taking place in our times. The reason is the closer we are to the destruction of the world, the closer we are to the kingdom of the Savior. The Lord himself says, "In the last days nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. When you see wars, earthquakes and famines, know that the kingdom of God is at hand." This nearness of wars shows us that Christ is near.
Luke 23:41 — SERMON 74.3
Although he sees his gaping wounds and observes his blood pouring forth, he believes him to be God whom he does not recognize as guilty. He acknowledges him to be righteous whom he does not think of as a sinner. He says to that other complaining thief, "We certainly are receiving what is due our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." He understood that Christ received these blows because of others' sins. He sustained these wounds because of others' crimes. The thief knew that the wounds on the body of Christ were not Christ's wounds but the thief's; therefore, after he recognized his own wounds on Christ's body, he began to love all the more.
Luke 23:42 — Unknown work
Most fittingly does the world rejoice, with great gladness, upon this day; for with Christ returning from the dead the hope of resurrection has everywhere been awakened in the hearts of men. For it is but right that when the Lord of creation triumphs, the creatures He has made should also rejoice. This day the heavens rejoice, for now at length they see the earth, defiled by sin, made clean in the Blood of the Lord. The multitudes of the hosts of heaven rejoice, for their king has overthrown in battle the hosts of the prince of evil. The sun rejoices, and now with unceasing thankfulness holds back by its joyful beams that woeful darkness that overshadowed it as Christ was dying. And together with them we too above all others must rejoice, for whom the Only-Begotten Son of God, Who also is True God, clothed Himself in our flesh, that through that flesh He might come to the Cross, by the Cross suffer death, and through death despoil the kingdom of hades. Should we not rejoice: we whose sins the Mystery of this new Mystery has taken away, to whom heaven is given, paradise restored? And as He drew near His end, the Lord Himself says to the Thief then hanging on his cross: he whose faith, neither Christ's torment, nor his own, had weakened: Amen, I say to you, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. For the Thief had said to Him: Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom (Lk. xxiii). How admirable this faith, Brethren: that a thief who had been judged unworthy of this life, should amid his torments nourish the hope of life eternal, and believe, that this could be given to him by One Who also was being crucified? And how justly does the believing Thief receive the favour of such a promise: he who, in that hour when the Apostles scattered in fear, had confessed the Kingdom of God? And the merit of this one confession wipes away all his past sins; in that brief moment whatever crimes he had committed, throughout all the years of his life, were now forgiven. Nor did the blood he shed in his robberies condemn him before God for he believed that the Blood of Christ was shed for a Kingdom, not for a punishment. And that this death was a gain for all men, there can, Beloved Brethren, be no possible doubt. For who can despair of God's grace, when the Thief was forgiven; should he unite the faith of the Thief with his own humble prayer for pardon? We have yet another shining example of the Lord's most loving kindness, and because of it, let us, putting away all fear, and all deadly despair, place our trust in the unspeakable generosity of Our Redeemer. For when, condemned by the Godless, Christ hung upon the Cross, and the Jews in their evil rage mocked at Him they had crucified, in the midst of His agony, this kind Petitioner prayed to His Almighty Father for His executioners, and said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lk. 23:34). And though in His hands was the judgement of both the living and the dead, He implored pardon for those who were then perishing in sin; and this, I believe, that He might show us beyond any manner of doubt, that He forgave them their awful crime, and that His Father would also spare them, if they, putting away their unbelief, would come together in Christ's Name. For who can doubt the effect of that prayer, where He Who is Goodness asks help for those in misery? They know not, He says, what they do. The Jews knew well that they were shedding the blood of an innocent Man; but they did not know that the guilt of all men was being washed away in that Blood. They knew they were punishing Christ by this most bitter torment of the Cross; but they did not know that it was through this Cross the Son of God would triumph. They knew He would die; but they did not know He would rise again. So, well might the Lord declare: They know not what they do. For they knew not, the Jews, of what immense goodness their very wickedness was the instrument. But the Lord, in the knowledge of His own m…
Luke 23:42 — SERMONS 74.1-2
The suffering of the cross was a stumbling block to many, as the apostle says. "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles."The penitent thief considered the cross of Christ not to be a stumbling block but power rightly merits paradise. The same apostle says, "To those Jews who have been called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." The Lord also correctly gives paradise to him, because on the gibbet of the cross the thief confesses the one whom Judas Iscariot had sold in the garden. This is a remarkable thing. The thief confesses the one whom the disciple denied! This is a remarkable thing, I say. The thief honors the one who suffers, while Judas betrayed the one who kissed him! The one peddled flattering words of peace, and the other preached the wounds of the cross. He says, "Remember me, Lord, when you come in your kingdom."
Luke 23:50-53 — SERMON 39.1
Someone might say of last Sunday's sermon, in which we preached that there was no less glory in Joseph's grave receiving the Lord than in holy Mary's womb begetting him, "What comparison can there be between the womb and the grave, since the one brought forth a son from its innermost bowels while the other only gave him a place of burial?" But I say that Joseph's love was no less than Mary's, since she conceived the Lord in her womb and he did so in his heart. She offered the secret place of her inmost members to the Savior; he did not deny him the secret place for his own body. She wrapped the Lord in swaddling clothes when he was born; he wrapped him in linen cloths when he died. She anointed his blessed body with oil; he honored it with spices. Each one's service is similar and each one's love is similar; hence each one's reward must also be similar. But there is this difference: an angel called Mary to her service, but righteousness alone persuaded Joseph.
Luke 23:50-53 — SERMON 78.2
Let us see, then, what happens to the Lord's body after they take it down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, a righteous man, as the Evangelist says, took it and buried it in his new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Blessed is the body of the Lord Christ, which in birth comes forth from a virgin's womb and in death is placed in the grave of a righteous man! Clearly this body is blessed. Virginity brought it out, and righteousness held it! Joseph's grave held him incorrupt, just as Mary's womb preserved him inviolate. In the one, a man's impurity does not touch him; in the other, death's corruption does not hurt him. In every way, holiness and virginity are bestowed on that blessed body. A new womb conceived him, and a new grave enclosed him. The womb is the Lord's womb. It is virginal. The tomb is virginal. Should I not rather say that the tomb itself is a womb? There is, in fact, a great similarity. Just as the Lord came out from his mother's womb living, so also he rose living from Joseph's tomb. Just as he was born from the womb in order to preach, so also now he has been reborn from the tomb in order to evangelize. The last birth is more glorious than the first. The first conceived a mortal body, but the last brought out an immortal one. After the first birth, he descends to hell, but after the last birth, he returns to the heavens. The last birth is more religious than the first. The first kept the Lord of the whole world locked in the womb for nine months, but the last held him in the belly of the grave for only three days. The first offered hope to all rather slowly, but the last raised salvation for all quite quickly.
Luke 23:53 — SERMON 39.3
Let us see why they placed the Savior in someone else's grave instead of his own. They placed him in another person's grave because he died for the salvation of others. They did not impose death on him. He endured death for us. Death did not just happen to him, but it benefited us. Why should he, who did not have his own death in himself, have his own grave? Why should he, whose dwelling remained in heaven, have a burial place on earth? Why should he have a grave? For only three days, he did not so much lie as one dead in a tomb as rest as one sleeping in a bed. The brief period of time itself certainly indicates sleep rather than death. A tomb is the dwelling of death. Christ who is life did not need a dwelling for death, nor did he who is always living require a habitation of the deceased. We have correctly laid up this life in our own tomb so that as he gives life to our death, we may rise with him from the dead.
Malachi 1:6 — SERMON 73:1
Last Sunday I spoke at sufficient length for the correction of those who do not give thanks to the Creator for the divine gifts that they enjoy and who, while benefiting from heavenly kindness, like ungrateful and unworthy persons do not acknowledge the author of kindness. They are ungrateful, I say, who neither fear God as slaves do their master nor honor him as children do their father. God says through the prophets, "If I am a master, where is my fear? If I am a father, where is my love?" That is to say, if you are a slave, render the master service of fear; if you are a son, show your father a reverent love. But when you do not give thanks, you neither love nor fear God; hence you are an insolent slave or a proud son. The good Christian, therefore, ought always to praise his Father and Master and to do all good things with a view of his glory, as the blessed apostle says: "Whether you eat or drink or do anything, do all for the glory of God."
Matthew 3:1 — Catena Aurea by Aquinas (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)
(Hom. in Joan. Bap. nat. 1.) Where neither a noisy mob would interrupt his preaching, and whither no unbelieving hearer would retire; but those only would hear, who sought to his preaching from motives of divine worship.
Matthew 3:4 — SERMONS 88.3
Indeed, when Christ's forerunner wore a coarse camel-hair garment, what else does it signify but that the coming Christ would be vested in the garb of a human body, thick with the coarseness of sinners, and that, girded with the skins of a most unclean animal, the Gentile people, he bore their very own deformity?
Matthew 4:4 — SERMONS 51.2.32
The Savior put down the devil's stratagem with a clever response. He does not do what the devil says, lest he seem to declare the glory of his power at his adversary's will, nor does he answer that it cannot be done, since he could not deny what he had often already done. Therefore he neither gives in to the devil's petition nor rejects his inquiry. He reserves for himself the manifestation of his power and counters his adversary's stratagem with eloquence. He therefore says to him, "Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"—that is, not by earthly bread or by material food, whereby you deceived Adam the first man, but by the word of God, which contains the food of heavenly life. The Word of God is Christ the Lord, as the Evangelist says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." So, whoever feeds on the word of Christ does not require earthly food, nor can one who feeds on the bread of the Savior desire the food of the world. The Lord has his own bread; indeed, the bread is the Savior himself, as he taught when he said, "I am the bread who came down from heaven." About this bread the prophet says, "And bread strengthens the human heart."
Matthew 8:19 — SERMONS 41.3.6
The scribe's declaration is prompt indeed, but proud. The Lord was on his way toward his final suffering, descent into hell and ascent into heaven. Is human frailty really prepared to follow him "wherever he goes"? This is more a foolish presumption than a confession of faith. Later the Lord would say to the apostle Peter, when he thought that he would follow the Savior in every circumstance: "Where I am going you are not able to follow me now." And when Peter obstinately insisted and said that death would not separate him from [Jesus], he heard that he would deny the Lord three times. In this he was censured, as it were, for his pride. Thus the one who promised, while confessing Christ, that he would not be separated from him by death is cut off from fellowship with him by a little maidservant's question.
Matthew 8:20 — SERMONS 41.4
Every Christian who wishes to hide his sins is spiritually a fox. For just as the fox lives in a hidden place because of its deceit, so also the sinner conceals himself in dens, guarding silence because of his knowledge of his sins. Just as the fox does not dare to manifest the deceitfulness of its deeds in the midst of society, so also the sinner is ashamed to confess the wickedness of his life in the midst of the church. One is a fox who sets up a snare for his neighbor, who daily strives to nibble away at others' property, steal their fruits and devour their animals and—what is common in our day—seize swine like wolves and not only chickens, as the foxes do. Although he is strong enough to live by his own labor, he prefers to take pillage like the madness of a wild beast.
Matthew 27:9-10 — SERMONS 59.3-4
This field then is this entire world, in which we who have been dispersed and scattered bear the fruit of good work for the Lord.Yet perhaps you would inquire of me, if the field is the world, who the potter might be who could have the ownership of the world. Unless I am mistaken, the potter is the one who made the vessels of our body from clay. Scripture says of him, "Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust from the earth." The potter is the one who, with the warmth of his own breath, made alive the slimy clay of our flesh and with fiery heat put together the fluid and earthly matter of our bodies. The potter, I say, is the one who fashioned us unto life with his own hands and who is refashioning us unto glory through his Christ. The apostle says, "We are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another." That is to say, we who from our previous condition have broken to pieces because of our own misdeeds are restored in a second birth through the loving kindness of this same potter. We who have been struck by death because of Adam's transgression rise anew through the grace of the Savior. Clearly this potter is the one of whom the blessed apostle says, "Will what is molded say to its molder?" And again, "Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use?" For from the same clay of our body God preserves some persons for the kingdom on account of their individual merits and keeps others for punishment. The field of this potter, then, was bought with Christ's blood for travelers. For travelers, I say, who were without home or country and were cast about as exiles throughout the earth, rest is provided by the blood of Christ, so that those who have no possession in the world might have a burial place in Christ. Who do we say that these travelers are if not very devout Christians who, renouncing the world and possessing nothing in the world, rest in the blood of Christ? For the Christian who does not possess the world utterly possesses the Savior. Christ's burial place then is promised to travelers so that the one who preserves himself from fleshly vices like a traveler and stranger may merit Christ's rest. For what is Christ's burial place if not the Christian's rest? We therefore are travelers, in this world, and we sojourn in this life as passersby, as the apostle says: "While we are in this body we are away from the Lord." We are travelers, I say, and a burial place has been bought for us at the price of the Savior's blood. "We have been buried with him," the apostle says, "through baptism in his death." Baptism therefore is Christ's burial place for us, in which we die to sins, are buried to evil deeds and are restored to a renewed infancy, the conscience of the old person having been dissolved in us for the sake of another birth.
Matthew 27:13-14 — SERMONS 57.1.19
It might seem remarkable to you, brothers, that the Lord should be accused by the chief priests before the procurator Pilate and should be silent and that he should not refute their wickedness by his response, since indeed a defense which follows quickly is the only way to refute a persistent accusation. It might seem remarkable, I say, brothers, that the Savior should be accused and should remain silent. Silence is occasionally understood as avowal, for when a person does not wish to respond to what is asked of him he appears to confirm what is raised against him. Does the Lord then confirm his accusation by not speaking? Clearly he does not confirm his accusation by not speaking; rather he despises it by not refuting it. For one who needs no defense does well to keep silent, but let one who fears to be overcome defend himself and one who is afraid of being vanquished hasten to speak. When Christ is condemned, however, he also overcomes, and when he is judged he also vanquishes, as the prophet says: "that you should be justified in your words and should vanquish when you are judged." Why was it necessary for him therefore to speak before being judged, when for him judgment was a complete victory?
Matthew 27:24 — SERMONS 57.1
For Christ conquers when he is judged, because in this way he is proven innocent. Hence Pilate says, "I am innocent of the blood of this just man." It is a better case which is not defended and still is proved. It is a fuller righteousness that is not supplemented by words but is still supported by the truth. It must be that the tongue should keep silent when justice itself is present to itself. Let the human tongue keep silent in a good affair, inasmuch as it has also been accustomed to speak out in favor of bad causes. I do not want righteousness to be defended in the same manner that wickedness is usually excused. It is not by reason of speech but because of virtue that Christ vanquishes, for the Savior, who is wisdom, knows how to vanquish by keeping silent and how to overcome by not responding. Therefore he prefers to establish the truth of his case rather than to speak about it. What in fact would compel him to speak when silence is enough to conquer? But perhaps fear would compel him, lest he lose his life. Yet this was precisely the reason for his victory. He lost his own life in order to gain life for all; he preferred to be conquered in himself in order to be the victor in everyone.
Mark 1:3 — SERMON 6
Voice and crying go together: the voice preaches faith; the cry calls for repentance; the voice, comfort; the cry, danger; the voice sings mercy; the cry announces judgment.
Proverbs 27:6 — SERMON 80:1
When one who is loved is chastised, a pious act is exercised in his regard, for love has its wounds as well, which are all the sweeter for the harshness of their infliction. For a religious chastisement is sweeter than easy forgiveness, which is why the prophet says, "Sweeter are the wounds of a friend than the freely offered kisses of an enemy."
Proverbs 30:20 — SERMON 22:3
"Such is the way of a prostitute: when she has washed herself she says that she has done something wrong." Clearly this is said of her who, after having washed herself at the source, does not remember the vices of her sins, assumes the virtue of preaching, and, wiping away her stains with living water, has no more awareness of her sin but is urged on by the ardor of faith. For in a certain way she says that she has done nothing wicked now that she has become a messenger of the truth, and by forgetfulness she renounces her impurity now that she preaches chastity in her devotion. For this is the power of Christ the Lord, that even a sinner who washes himself in his water returns afresh to virginity and forgets what he had done before. And in his new birth he manifests the innocence of infancy, he does not know the sins of youth, and although he had been an adulterer because of the corruption of sin, he becomes a virgin because of faith in Christ.
Psalms 16:11 — SERMON 14:1
This is certainly said in the person of the Savior at the time of the resurrection. When after his death he returned to the heavenly heights from the lower regions, he began to make known the path of life, which was previously unknown. The path of life was unknown before Christ, since it was still untouched by the foot of anyone who rose from the dead. But when the Lord rose, once the path become known, it become well worn by the soles of many, about whom the Evangelist says: "The bodies of many holy people arose along with him and entered into the holy city." So too, since the Lord said at his own resurrection: "You have made known to me the paths of life," we are also now able to say to the Lord, "You have made known to us the paths of life." For he who showed us the way to life has himself made known to us the paths of life. He made known to me the paths of life when he taught me faith, mercy, righteousness and chastity. By journeying along these, one arrives at salvation. Even though the shadow of death encompasses us at the destruction of our body, still life does not forsake its steps; we walk quickly through the very midst of the decrees of hell by the power of Christ. For this reason, the holy prophet says: "Even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils, for you are with me." The Lord says this same thing about the believer even more clearly: "He who believes in me will not die, and although he dies, he will live."
Psalms 22:18 — SERMON 29:4
These garments are the prophecies and readings of the heavenly Scriptures by which the mystery of Christ the Lord was announced.… The Savior's opponents, namely, the wicked heretics who daily lay their unholy hands upon him as the soldiers did, … divide these Scriptures for their own purpose and scatter the garments of the one body throughout the various members, and while they strip the Lord, they clothe him with their own teachings.
Psalms 28:7 — Sermon 55:2
Take note of the expression he used. He does not say "flourished," but "flourished again," for nothing flourishes again unless it had flourished previously. The Lord's flesh flourished when he first came forth from the Virgin Mary's undefiled womb, just as Isaiah says: "A shoot will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will come up from his root." It flourished again, when, after the flower of his body was cut down by the Jews, it sprouted forth from the tomb with the renewed glory of the resurrection. In the manner of a flower, it breathed forth at the same time a scent and the gleam of immortality on all people, circulating the scent of good works with its sweetness and demonstrating the incorruptibility of the eternal divinity with its gleam.
Psalms 34:7 — SERMON 83:1
Christ is more capable of protecting his servants than the devil is capable of stirring up our enemies. For although the same devil gathers for himself hoards and arms them with cruel rage, they are still easily destroyed, because the Savior surrounds his people with his auxiliaries, for the prophet says: "The Angel of the Lord places himself in the midst of those who fear him, and he will rescue them." If the Angel of the Lord rescues those who fear him from dangers, one who fears the Savior is not able to fear the barbarian, nor is someone who has kept the commandments of Christ able to fear the attack of an enemy. The commandments of Christ are the armor of the Christian, and the fear of God drives the fear of the enemy from us. These are our weapons, with which the Savior has equipped us: prayer, mercy and fasting. For fasting guards us more effectively than a wall, mercy liberates us more easily than pillaging, and prayer can wound from a greater distance than an arrow. For an arrow hits the enemy only when he is close at hand, but prayer wounds the enemy even when he is positioned far away.
Psalms 41:3 — SERMON 19:3
We can call the members of our own bodies our beds, in which our souls repose so delightfully as if in a bed. I think that is what the holy prophet had in mind when he says: "You have turned his whole bed in his sickness." Blessed is he whose bed the Lord turns in his sickness in order that he who not long ago was prone to anger, an adulterer, wanton and full of every sin due to his weaknesses, becomes chaste, humble and modest when the Lord turns a body which was accustomed to evil.
Psalms 63:1-2 — SERMON 50A.4
Therefore God gave us a pattern of fasting in this deed, so that having a desert, as it were, at the time of fasting we may abstain from feasts, pleasure and women, and so that Eve may not be joined with us so as to subvert us from chaste observance by her alluring persuasion. For he who fasts and is chaste at the time of the 40-day fast seems somehow to dwell in the desert. Clearly, that certain desert is the body of a Christian when it is not filled with food or watered with drinks, but is neglected by the squalor of thirsty starvation. The desert, I say, is our body when the flesh begins to grow weaker by abstinence, when pallor is overcome by thirst, and the unadorned appearance of the whole human being becomes dirty by the contempt of material things. Then Christ the Lord dwells in the desert of our body, when he has discovered our land squalid in hunger and dry by thirst, just as that adage which the prophet David says, "Just like in a deserted land where there are neither roads nor water, so I appeared in your sanctuary." For we are not able to appear to him in the sanctuary in any other way, unless the land of our body has been made desert from worldly delights and without the roads made by devilish desires and without the water from libidinous allurements. Then the Savior, dwelling in this desert of our body, conquers all the factions of the devil and makes our body his own dwelling, safe and secure from the thoughts of this age, so that we may be constituted in solitude within our very selves, as it were, and see nothing but heaven and earth. That is to say, we think about nothing other than the Lord of the heavenly kingdom and the author of the earthly resurrection.
Psalms 68:18 — SERMON 56:2
But what are we to make of the fact that an eagle often snatches away its prey and often takes the prey belonging to another? But not even in this respect is the Savior unlike the eagle. In a manner of speaking, he indeed took away the prey when he carried mankind to heaven, whom he bore after snatching them away from the jaws of hell; he brought to the heights the captive slave out of his captivity, whom he rescued from the lordship of another, that is, from the devil's power, as it is written in the prophet, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to mankind." At any rate, this sentence is understood in this way, namely, that the Lord by rescuing mankind took captive for himself the captivity of mankind, whom the devil had taken captive for his benefit, and thus, just as he says, he took captivity itself captive and brought it to the heights of the heavens. Therefore, both captivities are designated by the one word, but they are not equal. For the captivity of the devil subjects one to slavery, but the captivity of Christ restores one to freedom.
Psalms 68:26 — SERMON 68:4
Then the people of Israel came to the twelve springs after Marah. We read in the prophet, "Bless the Lord from the springs of Israel." It is the Christ, who is blessed in no other way than the mouths of the apostles and the teaching of the disciples. The apostles ought to be called "springs," since they abound in the grace of preaching like purest springs and sprinkle the sweet cup of the sacrament from the abundant wisdom of their veins after the bitterness of the law. Nor is it astonishing if the drink of the springs is sweet, in whose midst the food of the palms is also sweeter. But as for the seventy palm trees planted next to the apostolic springs, I would say that they are those seventy disciples who for the sake of mankind's salvation are directed by the Lord in a degree second only to the apostles. The evangelist Luke in his description of them asserts that they were appointed two by two. Like palm trees, they returned with exultation after healing people and boasted before the Lord that even the demons were subjected to them. Therefore, they are rightly compared to palms since they emerge as victors over the devil, adorned with the prize of the palms.
Psalms 72:6 — SERMON 97:3
Therefore, today the Lord was born according to the flesh in such secret silence that his generation was thoroughly ignorant of his birth. For the world did not know that he was born outside the knowledge of his father and that he was conceived outside the order of nature. For Joseph took as his son him whom he did not beget, and Mary gave birth to him whom she did not create in the ordinary manner of sexual intercourse. Thus the Lord was born in such a way that nobody would suspect or believe or perceive what his origin would be. How would they believe that this would happen when they scarcely believe what happened afterwards? As to the fact that the Savior would descend hiddenly and secretly into the virgin, the prophet David had already previously attested to that when he said, "He came down like rain on the fleece." For what takes place so silently, without a sound, as when rain is poured onto a fleece of wool? It doesn't strike anybody's ears with its sound; it doesn't splash anyone's body with the wetness of the dew bouncing off the flece, but without disturbing anyone, the fleece draws into itself in its entire body all the rain being poured through its many parts because it does not know any division into one channel, but rather offers many channels owing to its dense softness. It seems to be closed owing to its density, but is in truth absorbent owing to its fineness.
Psalms 103:5 — SERMON 55:1
Brothers, let your holiness keep in mind that I recently preached this, namely that a person should be remolded into a younger age through righteousness, and though wearied by the weakness of old age he should be born again into childhood by the character of innocence in such a way that we may see old people become infants again by the mystery that intervenes, for there is a certain renewal in ceasing to be what you were and to take up what you had previously been. I say, there is renewal, which is also why neophytes receive their name, because in some newness they cast off the spots of oldness and have received the grace of innocence, as the apostle says, "Put off the old person with his deeds and put on the new person, who was created in the image of God." Thus also holy David says, "Your youth will be renewed like that of an eagle." He understands that the perishable things of our life can be revived through the grace of baptism and that that which had fallen by the oldness of sins can be renewed by a certain youthfulness. But that you may understand that the prophet is speaking about the grace of baptism, he compared the renewal itself to an eagle, a bird which is said to lead a long life by constantly changing its appearance and to grow young with a new set of wings when the old feathers are dying off, in such a way that it clothes itself with a revived newness of clothing as it puts off its old plumage. Thus we understand that it is not the limbs but rather the feathers of the eagle that feel old age. Therefore, it clothes itself anew, and as feathers sprout up anew, the old mother is turned back into a chick. Then she must be compared to chicks, since she with shining feathers must plan inexperienced flights and restrain her once experienced beatings of her wings as if she were a newborn, idle bird in the nest. For although she knows how to fly from her past practice, she nonetheless has little confidence because of the thinness of her feathers. Therefore, the holy psalmist prophesied this concerning the grace of baptism. Our neophytes, recently baptized, have (like eagles) put off the old skin and taken on the new clothing of holiness and are adorned with the revived grace of immortality as with light feathers, while their old blemishes die off, so that in them the dead sins of old age grow old, but life des not grow old, for like an eagle turned back into a chick, they have been called back to infancy. They know about how to live in this age, but they have the carefree state that comes from the healing of righteousness.
Psalms 110:1 — SERMON 40:2
But Christ the Lord does all these things in us. Before he returned to heaven, he promised his disciples and said, "But when I ascend, I will ask my Father and he will send you another Paraclete, who will be with you forever, the Spirit of truth." Thus, we must believe that Christ went to the Father when we see that the Paraclete came down upon the apostles. We must believe, I say, (as David said about the Savior) that he sat down at the right hand of God, because we discern that the Holy Spirit moves freely among the disciples, just as the Lord promised. Therefore the prophetic psalm says, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand.' " In our custom a person is offered a seat when he has accomplished some task and comes as a victor and the favor of a seat of honor is offered to him. Thus, in the same way the man Jesus Christ also conquered the devil by his suffering, harrowed hell by his resurrection, came to heaven as a victor once his work was done, and heard from God the Father, "Sit at my right hand." Nor is it astonishing if the Father offers the Son the right to sit on one seat with him, since he is by nature of one substance with the Father. But someone may be prompted to ask why the Son is said to sit at his right hand. Although there is no degree of worthiness wherever there is a fullness of divinity, nonetheless, the Son sits at the right hand not so that he may be held higher than the Father, but so that he may not be believed to be inferior. And so the Son sits at the right hand because in the gospel the sheep are stationed at the right hand while the goats are on the left.
Psalms 114:3 — SERMON 13B.2
The water was cleansed, which was enriched with the warmth of the Lord's blessing, although it was common and cold. Consequently, what previously had scarcely washed away worldly stains on objects now purifies the spiritual stains on souls. And do not marvel at the fact that we say that water, that is, a bodily substance comes to have the power to purify a soul. It clearly comes to have that power; it penetrates all the recesses of the conscience. For although water itself is delicate and fine, nonetheless by Christ's blessing it was made even more delicate and entered through the hidden conditions of life into the secret places of the soul with its spiritual dew. For the course of blessings is more delicate than the pathways of water. Thus we also say that the blessing in our Savior's baptism, which flowed down like a spiritual river, dyed the courses of all eddies and the water-courses of all fonts. When Christ entered the Jordan, the rivers of waters streamed in a marvelous manner, but the floods of blessings also ran. From the one side the eddy of the riverbed was carried along more boisterously; from the other side the most pure font of the Savior was trickling down; and in some bewildering manner the consecration of baptism was going upstream to the source of the Jordan, and the river of blessings was being borne contrary to the direction the waters were flowing. This is why (or so I think) holy David said, "The Jordan turned back." For in the baptism of Christ the Jordan did not turn back in its own waters but in the sacraments, and it traced its source in the blessing of its nature rather than in its substance. For while the grace of consecration is spread abroad on all fonts through him, it seems that its own course has gone back to the origin of its channels.
Psalms 119:103 — SERMON 67:4
I say that in this mystical number the children of Israel came to Marah, where they were not able to draw water because of its bitterness—for the spring had water but no sweetness; it was delightful in appearance, but not sound for tasting—but when Moses threw in a piece of wood they drank the water made sweet in its smoothness, for the mystery of the cross took away the harshness which the noxious water carried. I think that this occurred to provide a type. I think that the bitter water of Marah is the law of the Old Testament, which was a harsh law until it was moderated by the cross of the Lord. It ordered, "An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth," and offered no consolation of mercy with these harsh commands. But indeed where it was tempered with the wood of the gospel's suffering, at once it changed its bitterness into sweetness and offered its sweetened self for all to drink, just as the prophet says, "how sweet are your eloquent sayings to my throat, more than honey and honeycomb to my mouth." Sweet indeed are those eloquent things which they command: "If someone strikes you on the jaw, offer him also the other; if someone takes your tunic, give him also your cloak." Therefore, this is that bitterness which was changed into sweetness, that is, the austerity of the law was tempered by the grace of the gospel. The letter of the law is bitter apart from the mystery of the cross. The apostle speaks of this: "The letter kills." But where the sacraments of the passion are joined to it, every bitterness is spiritually suppressed. And the apostle says concerning it, "But the Spirit makes alive."
Psalms 135:15-16 — SERMON 73:5
Therefore, who would not blush, if they had any humanity, to close the day without a number of psalms, when the birds themselves prance about in the sweetness of a psalter as their way of giving thanks? Who would not blush to fail to make his glory resound with the sweetness of verses, when the birds proclaim his praise with the song they sing? Therefore, brother, imitate the tiny birds by rendering thanks to the Maker morning and evening. And if you are more pious, imitate the nightingale; because the day alone does not suffice for speaking praises—it passes through the watches of the night in its all-night song! Therefore, you too overcome the day with your praises and add to your work the courses of the night, and comfort with a series of psalms the sleepless industry of the work you have undertaken! And because I have mentioned these birds which keep watch at night, I do not want you to imitate the owl; although it keeps watch at night, it is nonetheless lazy or blind during the day; with its big eyes it is content with the dark shadows and abhors the splendor of the sun. In a marvelous manner, it finds light in the darkness, but is blinded by the light. That animal is an example of the heretics and heathen. They embrace the shadows of the devil, abhor the light of the Savior, and with the big eyes of their arguments they discern empty matters but do not look towards eternal things. The Lord says about them: "They have eyes and yet do not see; they walk in darkness." Their eyes are keen when it comes to superstition, but are dim when it comes to divine matters; although they think that they fly away by their subtle discourses, nonetheless like true owls they are thrown into confusion by the splendor of the light.
Titus 3:11 — SERMONS 58.3
For the heretic damns himself when he casts himself out of the Catholic church and under no compulsion leaves the gathering of the saints. He who separates himself from everyone by his own judgment shows what is merited from everyone. The heretic himself, I say, damns himself because, although all the wicked are cast out from the Christian assembly by the sentence of the bishop, the heretic departs himself, by the judgment of his own will, before anyone's subsequent wishes are expressed.
TOB 2:4 — SERMONS 41:2
We understand how devoted he was who, as he himself maintained, left his dead father so as to lay hold of the Lord of life. For he says, "First permit me to go and bury my father." The one whom he had left behind as dead he begs that he might return and bury. Sorrow did not hold him nor death detain him, because he was hastening to life. He had not yet closed the eyes of the dead man, not yet buried the stiff limbs, but as soon as he learned that the Lord had come he forgot the feeling of paternal piety, believing that there was a greater piety in loving Christ more than one's parents. Perhaps he had read the prophetic passage that says, "Forget your people and your father's house." So he forgot his father and remembered his Savior. Perhaps he had also heard the Lord's Gospel words: "The one who loves his father or mother more is not worthy of me." Thus, as Tobit is justified because he abandons his meal for the sake of a burial, this man is approved because he abandons the burial of his father for the sake of Christ. For the one is not afraid to pass over his meal because of some earthly work intervenes, while the other fears lest some delay cause him to omit the eating of heavenly bread. Thus, although in consideration of Christ we owe burial to everyone, this man forsook his father's burial out of love for Christ.
WIS 5:6 — SERMONS 62:2
I would call the old sun of this world the one that at times disappears, at times is blocked by walls, at times is hidden by clouds. I would call the old sun that which is subject to vanity, fears corruption, is afraid of judgment. Indeed, it is written, "The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood." I would call old, one who partakes in human crimes, who does not flee adultery, who does not refrain from homicide and, while no person wants to be mixed up in it when a crime comes to light, he alone is always involved. Since it is obvious that this is old, we do not find a new one other than Christ the Lord, of whom it is written, "The Sun of righteousness will rise for us." The prophet also speaks of him, impersonating sinners, "The light of righteousness did not shine for us, nor did the sun ever rise for us." In fact, when the entire world was oppressed by the darkness of the devil and a haze, full of crimes, covered the world, this Sun deigned in the last days, when the night was almost here, to bring about the dawn of his birth. Beforehand—before the light, before the Sun of righteousness would shine—he sent an oracle of the prophets, like an announcement of the morning, as it is written, "I sent my prophets before the light." Then he himself shone with his rays, through the brightness of his apostles, bathing the world with a light of truth so great that no one would fall in the darkness of the devil. This is the new sun that penetrates closed places, reveals what is most intimate, searches hearts. This is the new sun that by its spirit gives life to the dead, restores the corrupt and raises what is already lost. By its warmth, it cleans what is filthy, strengthens what is weak, burns what is vicious.
Zechariah 13:7 — SERMON 75:2
There was, therefore, a great and excellent faith in that thief. Clearly it is great and admirable faith which believed that the crucified Christ was being glorified more than punished. For this is the shape that all salvation takes—that the Savior should be recognized as the Lord of majesty when he is seen to be crucified and subject to humiliation. Hence the apostle says, "If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty." This, I say, is an excellent faith, to believe that Christ on the cross is God and not a wrongdoer. Therefore that thief was justified while the Jews insulted the Savior on the gibbet and said to him as if he were a criminal, "Free yourself if you are able." But [the thief], certain of Christ's divinity and sure of his good will, asks instead to be freed himself. There was a great faith in that thief, I say, and one which was comparable to that of the holy apostles; indeed, it preceded theirs. For he who preceded with respect to devotion preceded with respect to the prize, for the thief came to paradise before the apostles did. Peter follows the Lord, and this man accompanies him. But the Lord gives him a reward according to faith and merit, for, as we read, all the disciples were afraid during the Savior's suffering, and all left him just when he was betrayed. It happened as it was written: "I shall strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered."