Sermons to the People 250.1–251.7

The Lord Jesus, choosing the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong, and gathering his Church from the whole world, did not begin with emperors or senators but with fishermen. For whatever dignitaries had been chosen first would have dared to ascribe this to themselves, not to the grace of God. This secret plan of God, this plan of our Savior, the Apostle sets out where he says: “For consider your calling, brothers” (these are the Apostle’s words) “that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the weak things of the world to put to shame the strong; and God chose the ignoble and contemptible things of the world, and the things that are not, as though they were, so that the things that are might be brought to nothing, that no flesh might glory before him.” The prophet too said this: “Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and a level plain shall be made.” So today noble and ignoble, learned and unskilled, poor and rich come alike to the grace of the Lord. In receiving this grace pride does not put itself ahead of humility, of one who knows nothing, has nothing. But what did he say to them? “Come after me; I will make you fishers of men.” If those fishermen had not gone before, who would have caught us? Now anyone is a great orator if he can expound well what a fisherman wrote.

When, then, the Lord Jesus Christ had chosen fishers of fish and made them fishers of men, in their very fishings he wished to admonish us of something about the calling of the peoples. Pay attention to two fishings, set apart by a necessary distinction: one when the Lord chose them from among fishermen and made them his disciples; the other, which we heard just now when the holy Gospel was read, after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ: that one before the resurrection, this one after the resurrection. We ought to pay close attention to the difference between the two fishings. The boat of our instruction is the new preaching of the Gospel, in which he found them fishing, and said to them: “Let down the nets.” They said: “We have caught nothing all night, we have labored in vain; see, in your name we shall let down the nets.” They let them down, and caught so much that they filled two boats, which were so weighed down by the multitude of fish that they almost sank. Then the nets were torn by the very multitude of fish. Then he said to them: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then, leaving nets and boats, they followed Christ. Now, after the resurrection, the Lord Christ has shown us another fishing, differing from that earlier one. For then he said, “Let down the nets”: not “on the left,” nor “on the right side”; only “Let down the nets” was said. For if he said “on the left,” he would signify only the bad; if “on the right,” only the good. Because he said neither “on the right” nor “on the left,” good and bad are signified, of whom the Gospel speaks in another place: that the householder, when the supper was ready, sent his servants, and they brought in whom they could find, good and bad, and the wedding was filled with guests. Such is the Church now, full of good and bad. The Church is filled with a multitude; but this multitude sometimes weighs it down, and tries to bring it near shipwreck. The multitude of those who live badly so disturbs those who live well that one who lives well thinks himself a fool when he sees others living badly; especially because, as to the goods of this world, many guilty people are found happy and many innocent people unhappy. And how much it is to be feared that he be pressed down and sunk in shipwreck! How much it is to be feared, dearly beloved, that one who lives well should say: “What good is it to me that I live well? For see, he lives badly and is more honored than I. What good is it to me that I live well?” He is in danger: I fear he may sink. Let me speak to him, that he may be lifted out of the deep. You who live well, live well: do not grow tired, do not look back. True is the promise of your Lord who says: “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.” “I see,” you say, “that another lives badly and is happy.” You are mistaken: he is unhappy, and the more unhappy the happier he seems to himself. It is madness that he does not recognize his misery. If you saw a man in fever laughing, you would weep for the madman. What has been promised to you has not yet come. He who seems happier to you is fed on visible and temporal things and rejoices in them; he did not bring them and will not take them away. Naked he came in, naked he will go out. From false joys he will come to true pains. But what has been promised to you has not yet come. Hold out, that you may arrive; persevere, lest by failing you cheat yourself; for God cannot deceive you. See, I have said briefly what concerns the boats’ not sinking. Something more detestable was added to that fishing: the nets were torn. The nets were torn: heresies came about. For what else are schisms but tears? So the first fishing must be borne and tolerated, so that no one is worn out by weariness, although it is written: “Weariness took hold of me because of sinners who forsake your law.” The boat cries out that it is weighed down by the multitude, as if the ship itself had this voice: “Weariness took hold of me because of sinners who forsake your law.” Even if you are weighed down, always see that you do not sink. The bad must be tolerated now, not separated. “I sing of mercy and judgment to the Lord”: first mercy is extended, and afterward judgment is exercised. The separation will take place at the judgment. Now let the good man hear me, that he may be better; let the bad man hear too, that he may be good, while it is the time of repentance, not yet of sentence. Let us pass on from this fishing, which has joys mixed with tears: joys, because the good are gathered; mixed with tears, because the bad are hardly borne.

Let us turn our mind to that last fishing: there let us be refreshed, there let us be consoled. And it took place after the Lord’s resurrection because it signified the Church as it will be after the resurrection. See, it is said to the disciples as they fish; the Lord says it, who also spoke before; but before he said what to let down, now he says where to let it down, that is, on the right side of the boat. So now those are caught who will stand on the right; those are caught to whom it was said: “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” They let down and they catch. There, in the first fishing, the number was not told; only the multitude was told, the number was not fixed. For many are now beyond the number, that is, they come, they enter, they fill the churches. The same people fill the theaters who fill the church. They fill it beyond the number; they do not belong to that number which will be in eternal life, unless they are changed while they live. And are all changed? Just as not all those good ones persevere either. That is why it was said to them: “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.” And to those who are still bad it is said: “I do not want the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live.” So there the number was not told, because many have become beyond the number. The Psalm said: “I announced and I spoke; they were multiplied beyond number.” Now on the right, not beyond number: they are a hundred and fifty-three, but large. For this was said: “And although they were so large, the net was not torn.” For then there will be the congregation of the saints; there will be no divisions and tears of heretics; there will be peace, and there will be perfect unity. No one will be less, no one more; the number will be whole. “But they are very few, if they are only a hundred and fifty-three.” Far be it from us to think there are only so many in this congregation; how much more in the whole Church of God? The Apocalypse of John the evangelist himself shows that a multitude of saints, happy in that eternity, was seen so great that no one could number it. So it stands written there. And yet all belong to this number, the hundred and fifty-three. I want to reduce this number to a fuller fewness. They are a hundred and fifty-three; let us make them fewer. These hundred and fifty-three are seventeen. Why ten? Why seven? Ten because of the law; seven because of the Spirit. For the form is sevenfold because of the perfection proclaimed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “There shall rest upon him,” says the prophet Isaiah, “the Holy Spirit.” And when he had said “the Holy Spirit,” he counted seven powers: “The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength”: you have four. “The Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.” He began from wisdom and ended at fear: as if descending, he spoke from the highest to the lowest, from wisdom to fear. From the lowest to the highest, from fear to wisdom: for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This is the gift of grace: by this sevenfold power the Holy Spirit works in those beloved of God, so that the law may be worth something there. For if you take away the Spirit, what is the law worth? It makes a transgressor. That is why it was said: “The letter kills.” It commands and does not do. It did not kill before you were commanded; and if providence held you a sinner, it still did not hold you a transgressor. You are commanded, and you do not do it; you are forbidden, and you do it: see, the letter kills. Now the law has ten commandments. The first commandment of the law is that one God is to be worshiped, no other, no idol to be made. The second commandment is: “You shall not take the name of your God in vain.” The third commandment is: “Keep the sabbath day,” but spiritually, not carnally as the Jews do. These three commandments concern the love of God. But since he says, “On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets,” that is, on the love of God and the love of neighbor: when you have heard what concerns the love of God, unity, truth, rest, attend to what concerns the love of neighbor. “Honor your father and your mother”: you have the fourth commandment. “You shall not commit adultery”: you have the fifth. “You shall not commit murder”: you have the sixth. “You shall not steal”: you have the seventh. “You shall not bear false witness”: you have the eighth. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s property”: you have the ninth. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife”: you have the tenth. He who says “You shall not covet” knocks on the inner man, strikes the inward parts. Concupiscence does the business. See, this Law is in ten: what good is it when you have learned it and not done it? You will be a transgressor. But for you to do it, help is needed. Help from where? From the Spirit. So “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Let seven be added to ten: they make seventeen. In this number is the whole multitude of the perfect; but how they come to a hundred and fifty-three I am accustomed to tell you, and many get ahead of me; still, the sermon must be given as the feast requires. Many have forgotten, some have not even heard; but let those who have not forgotten and have heard bear it patiently, so that others may be reminded and instructed. When two walk on a road, one faster and the other slower, it is in the faster one’s power that his companion not be left behind. He loses nothing who hears what he knew; and in losing nothing he ought even to rejoice, because one who did not know is being instructed. Count seventeen, from one up to seventeen, adding them all, and you will come to a hundred and fifty-three. What are you waiting for from me? Count for yourselves.

The fishing done by our Liberator is our liberation. Now we notice in the holy Gospel two fishings of the Lord, that is, when the nets were let down at his word: one earlier, when he chose his disciples; and this other, when he had risen from the dead. That fishing signified the Church as it is now; but this one after the Lord’s resurrection signified the Church as it will be at the end of the world. Finally, in that earlier fishing he commanded the nets to be let down and did not say on which side, but only ordered that they be let down. The disciples let them down: it was not said “on the right,” it was not said “on the left.” For the fish signified men: if, then, it were said “on the right,” there would be only the good; if it were said “on the left,” only the bad. But because good and bad were going to be mixed in the Church, the nets were let down without distinction, so that fish were caught signifying the mixture of good and bad. Then this too is written there: that they caught so many fish that the two boats were filled and were sinking, that is, were weighed down toward sinking. For those two boats were not sunk, but endangered. Endangered by what? By the multitude of fish. This signified that through the multitude the Church would gather, discipline would be endangered. And this is added in that fishing and told: that the nets too were torn for the multitude of fish. What did the torn nets signify but schisms to come? So these three things were signified in that fishing: the mixture of good and bad, the pressure of crowds, the separations of heretics. The mixture of good and bad, because the nets were let down neither on the right nor on the left; the pressure of crowds, because so much was caught that the boats were weighed down; the separations of heretics, because the multitude was so great that the nets broke.

Look now at this fishing which was recited today. For it took place after the Lord’s resurrection, to signify that the Church will be such after our resurrection. “Let down the net,” he says, “on the right side.” So the number of those who will stand on the right has been marked off. For you remember that the Lord said he would come with his angels, and that all nations would be gathered before him, and he would divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats: he will put the sheep on the right, the goats on the left. To the sheep he will say, “Come, receive the kingdom”; to the goats he will say, “Go into the eternal fire.” “Let down on the right.” As if he were saying: “Now I have risen; I wish to signify the Church that will be in the resurrection of the dead.” “Let down on the right.” The nets were let down on the right, and they could not lift them for the multitude of fish. There too a multitude is told; but here a fixed number, and multitude, and size; there, however, the number was not told. For now, before the resurrection comes and the good are separated from the bad, what the prophet says is being fulfilled: “I announced and I spoke.” What is “I announced and I spoke”? I let down the nets. And what? “They were multiplied beyond number.” There is a number, and there are those beyond the number. The number belongs to the saints, who will reign with Christ. Those beyond the number can now enter the Church; they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That is why I admonish you to rescue yourselves from this present evil age. That is why I admonish you who want to live not to imitate bad Christians. Do not say: “Why? Isn’t he one of the faithful, and he gets drunk? Why? Isn’t he one of the faithful, and he has concubines? Why? Isn’t he one of the faithful, and he commits frauds every day? Why? Isn’t he one of the faithful, and he consults astrologers?” For now, those of you who wish to be grain will then be found in the heap; but those of you who wish to be chaff will be found in a great pile, but one to be burned in a great fire.

What then? “They brought the nets,” it says, “to the shore.” Peter drew the nets to the shore; you heard it just now when the Gospel was read. When you hear “shore,” understand the end of the sea; when you hear the end of the sea, understand the end of the world. In that fishing the nets were not drawn to the shore; but the fish that were caught were poured into the boats. Here, though, they drew them to the shore. Hope for the end of the world. The end will come, a good one for those on the right, a bad one for those on the left. And how many fish? “They drew,” it says, “the nets with a hundred and fifty-three fish.” And the evangelist added a necessary thing: “And although they were so many,” that is, so large, “the net was not torn.” They will be large, but there will be no heresies; and there will be no heresies all the more because they will be large. Who are the large? Read the words of the Lord himself in the Gospel, and you will find the large. For he says in one place: “I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, whoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches”: breaks and teaches so; breaks by living badly and teaches by teaching good things; “will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” But in which kingdom of heaven? In the Church which is now, since it too is called the kingdom of heaven. For if this Church, which gathers good and bad, were not also called the kingdom of heaven, the Lord himself would not say, speaking in a parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, which gathers fish of every kind.” But see what follows: “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea.” Dragnets are nets: it gathers fish of every kind. But what? They draw them to the shore. The Lord says this in the parable. “And when they have drawn it to the shore, they sit down and gather the good into vessels, but throw the bad away.” And he explained what he had set forth. For what does he say? “So it will be at the close of the age.” Have you understood the shore? “The angels will come,” he says, “and gather the bad from among the righteous and throw them into the furnace of burning fire; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Yet the Church has been called the kingdom of heaven. And since the sea has fish swimming together, both good and bad, in this kingdom of heaven, that is, in the Church of this time, he is called least who teaches good things and does bad ones; for he too is there. For it is not that he is not there: he is there in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the Church as it is at this time. He teaches good things, he does bad things: he is necessary; he is a hireling. “Truly I tell you,” he says, “they have received their reward.” He is of some use. For if those who teach good things and live badly were of no use, the Lord himself would not say to his people: “The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat: do what they say, but do not do what they do.” Why? “For they say, and do not do.”

Let Your Love pay attention, then; for I want to explain who the large fish are. “Whoever breaks,” he says, “one of these least commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” He will be there, but least. “But whoever does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” See, these are those large fish, caught on the right: whoever does and teaches so; does good, teaches good, does not contradict himself as he speaks by living badly, having a good tongue as witness against a bad life. “Whoever does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” And it follows: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now how do you understand the kingdom of heaven? As that of which it is said to those on the right: “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” “Unless your righteousness exceeds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees.” What is “more than that of the scribes and Pharisees”? Look at those scribes and Pharisees who sit on Moses’ seat, of whom it is said: “Do what they say; do not do what they do; for they say and do not do.” So the righteousness of the Pharisees is to say and not to do. Let your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, so that you both say good things and live well.

Now then, about the number of a hundred and fifty-three fish, what need is there to go over the same things again? You know them. The number arises by growing from seventeen. Start from one, come up to seventeen, adding them all: that is, add one to two, and they make three; add three, and they make six; add four, and they make ten. So add them all up to seventeen, and you come to a hundred and fifty-three. So our whole attention ought to be only on what seventeen means; for there is the foundation of the hundred and fifty-three. What does seventeen mean? In it recognize ten. Ten commandments were given first; it is called the Decalogue, written on tablets by the finger of God. In ten recognize the Law; in seven recognize the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is commended by the number seven. That is why sanctification is not named in the Law except on the seventh day. God made light: it was not said, “He sanctified it.” He made the firmament: it was not said, “He sanctified the firmament.” He separated the sea from the land, he commanded the earth to sprout: it was not said, “He sanctified.” He made the moon and stars: it was not said, “He sanctified.” He commanded living things to come forth from the waters, swimming and flying: it was not said, “He sanctified.” He commanded four-footed animals and all creeping things to come out of the earth: it was not said, “He sanctified.” He made man himself: it was not said, “He sanctified.” He came to the seventh day, on which he rested; and he sanctified it. By his rest God sanctified our rest. So our sanctification will be full there, where we shall rest with him without end. For why should God rest? He was not tired by working. If you make by a word, you are not tired; if you command and it is done at once, you stand, you remain unwearied. He spoke a few words by which he made everything: and was he suddenly exhausted?

So recognize the Law in ten; recognize the Holy Spirit in seven. Let the Spirit be joined to the Law. For if you receive the Law and the help of the Spirit is lacking to you, you do not fulfill what you read, you do not fulfill what you are commanded; rather, a man under the Law is held a transgressor besides. Let the Spirit come and help, and what is commanded is done. If the Spirit is lacking, the letter kills you. Why does the letter kill you? Because it will make you a transgressor. Nor can you excuse yourself by ignorance, because you have received the law. You have now learned what you should do; ignorance does not excuse you, the Spirit does not help you: so you have perished. But what does the apostle Paul say: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”? How does the Spirit give life? Because he makes the letter fulfilled, so that it does not kill. These are the saints, who do God’s law by God’s gift. The law can command; it cannot help. The Spirit comes as helper, and God’s command is done with joy, with delight. For many do it out of fear. But those who do the law fearing punishment would prefer that what they fear did not exist. But those who do the Law loving righteousness rejoice in it, because they do not have it as an enemy.

That is why the Lord says: “Make friends quickly with your adversary while you are with him on the way.” Who is your adversary? The word of the Law. What is the way? This life. How is he an adversary? He says, “You shall not commit adultery,” and you want to commit adultery. He says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s property,” and you want to seize what belongs to others. He says, “Honor father and mother,” and you are insulting to your parents. The Law says, “Do not bear false witness”: you do not give up lying. When you see that that word commands one thing and you do another, he is your adversary. You have a bad adversary: let him not go into the court with you; settle while you are with him on the way. God is here to reconcile you. How does God reconcile you? By forgiving sins and by inspiring righteousness, so that good works may be done. When, then, you have been reconciled with the adversary, that is, with the Decalogue of the Law, through the Holy Spirit, you will belong to the seventeen. When you belong to the seventeen, from there the number will grow to a hundred and fifty-three. You will be on the right, to be crowned; do not remain on the left, to be condemned.