Sermons to the People 74.1–75.10

The Gospel reading prompts us to seek and to explain to your Charity, as far as the Lord grants, who is the scribe instructed in the kingdom of God, like a householder bringing out of his treasure things new and old. For the reading itself ended with this: what are the new and old things of the instructed scribe? Whom the ancients, according to the usage of our Scriptures, called scribes is well known: namely, those who professed knowledge of the law. For such were called scribes among that people, not such as are called scribes in the offices of judges or in the usage of cities. For we ought not to enter school in vain, but to know in what sense we take the words of the Scriptures, lest, when something sounds from the Scriptures that is usually understood in another, secular usage, the hearer go astray and, thinking of what he is used to, not understand what he has heard. Scribes, then, were those who professed knowledge of the law, to whom belonged the books of the law, to keep, to study, and also to copy and to understand.

Such men our Lord Jesus Christ rebukes because they have the keys of the kingdom of heaven and neither enter themselves nor allow others to enter; he is rebuking, that is, the Pharisees and scribes, the teachers of the law of the Jews. Of them he says in another place: “What they say, do; but what they do, do not do; for they say and do not do.” Why was it said to you, “For they say and do not do,” except that there are some in whom what the Apostle says is shown: “You who preach that one must not steal, do you steal? You who say one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by transgressing the law? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” It is certainly plain that the Lord says of these, “For they say and do not do.” They are scribes, then, but not instructed in the kingdom of God.

Perhaps one of you may say: And how can a bad man speak good things, since it is written, the Lord himself saying: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and a bad man out of the bad treasure of his heart brings forth bad things. Hypocrites, how can you speak good things, since you are bad?” Here he says, “How can you speak good things, since you are bad?”; there he says, “What they say, do; but what they do, do not do; for they say and do not do.” If they say and do not do, they are bad; if they are bad, they cannot speak good things: how, then, do we do what we hear from them, when we cannot hear good things from them? Let your Holiness notice how this is resolved. Whatever a bad man brings forth from himself is bad; whatever a bad man brings forth from his heart is bad, for there is the bad treasure. But whatever a good man brings forth from his heart is good, for there is the good treasure. How, then, did those bad men bring forth good things? Because they sat in the chair of Moses. Had he not said first, “They sit in the chair of Moses,” he would never have commanded that the bad be heard. For what they brought forth from the bad treasure of their heart was one thing; what they proclaimed from the chair of Moses, as heralds of the judge, was another. What a herald says will never be attributed to the herald if he says it before the judge. What the herald speaks in his own house is one thing; what the herald speaks having heard it from the judge is another. For, willing or not, the herald proclaims the sentence of punishment even on his friend; likewise, willing or not, he proclaims the sentence of acquittal even of his enemy. Give him a voice from his own heart: he acquits his friend and punishes his enemy. Give him a voice from the judge’s seat: he punishes his friend and acquits his enemy. Give the voice of the scribes from their heart: you will hear, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Give the voice from the chair of Moses: you will hear, “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and mother; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do this, which the chair sounds through the mouth of the scribes, not what sounds through the heart of the scribes. For in this way, embracing both sayings of the Lord, you will not be obedient in one and guilty in the other; but you understand that both agree, and you see that this is true, that a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and a bad man out of the bad brings forth bad things; and that this too is true, that those scribes did not speak good things out of the bad treasure of their heart, but could speak good things out of the treasure of Moses’ chair.

So those words of the Lord will not trouble you either: “Every tree is known by its fruit. Do they gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?” The scribes and Pharisees of the Jews, then, are thorns and thistles; and yet, “What they say, do; but what they do, do not do.” So a grape is gathered from thorns and a fig from thistles, as he has given you to understand according to the preceding discussion. For sometimes vines entangle themselves in the thorny hedge of a vineyard, and clusters hang from the bramble. Hearing the name of thorns, are you going to despise the grape? Seek the root of the thorns, and see where you find it. Follow the root of the hanging cluster, and see where you find it. So understand that one thing belongs to the heart of the Pharisee and another to the chair of Moses.

But why were they such? “Because a veil,” he says, “has been laid over their heart.” And they do not see that the old things have passed away and all things have become new. Hence they were such, and whoever are still such now. Why “old”? Because they have long been preached. Why “new”? Because they belong to the kingdom of God. How the veil is removed the Apostle himself says: “But when you pass over to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.” So the Jew who does not pass over to the Lord does not direct the gaze of his mind to the end. Just so at that time, in this figure, the sons of Israel did not direct the gaze of their eyes to the end, that is, to the face of Moses. For the shining face of Moses bore a figure of the truth; a veil was placed between, because the sons of Israel could not yet gaze on the brightness of his face. This figure is done away; for so the Apostle said: “which are done away.” Why are they done away? Because when the emperor comes, the images are removed from the scene. The image is looked at where the emperor is not present; but where he whose image it is is present, the image is removed. So images were carried before him, until our emperor the Lord Jesus Christ came. With the images taken away, the presence of the emperor shines. So when anyone passes over to the Lord, the veil will be taken away. For the voice of Moses sounded through the veil, and the face of Moses did not appear. So too now the voice of Christ sounds to the Jews through the voice of the old Scriptures: they hear their voice; they do not see the face of the speaker. Do they want the veil to be taken away, then? Let them pass over to the Lord. For then the old things are not taken away, but stored up in the treasure, so that one may now be a scribe instructed in the kingdom of God, bringing out of his treasure neither the new only nor the old only. For if he brings out only the new, or only the old, he is not a scribe instructed in the kingdom of God bringing out of his treasure things new and old. If he says them and does not do them, he brings them out of the chair, not out of the treasure of his heart. And we tell your Holiness the truth: what is brought out of the old is made clear through the new. That is why one passes over to the Lord: that the veil may be taken away.

The reading of the Gospel which we have just heard admonishes the humility of all of us to see and recognize where we are, and where we must strive and hasten. For that boat carrying the disciples, which was laboring in the waves against a contrary wind, is not without meaning. Nor was it without reason that the Lord, leaving the crowds, went up the mountain to pray alone; then, coming to his disciples, walking on the sea, he found them in danger, strengthened them by getting into the boat, and calmed the waves. And what wonder if he who founded all things can calm all things? Yet after he got into the boat, those who were being carried came, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” But before this clear proof they were troubled, seeing him on the sea. For they said, “It is a phantom.” But he, getting into the boat, took away the tossing of mind from their hearts, where they were now in greater danger from wavering doubt than they had been in body from the waves.

Yet in all that the Lord did, he admonishes us how we should live here. For no one in this world is not a pilgrim, though not all desire to return to the homeland. And on the journey itself we suffer waves and storms; but we must at least be in the boat. For if there are dangers in the boat, without the boat there is certain death. However great the strength of arm of one who swims in the open sea, in time he is overcome by the greatness of the sea, swallowed up, and sunk. We must, then, be in the boat, that is, be carried on wood, so that we can cross this sea. And this wood, by which our weakness is carried, is the cross of the Lord, with which we are signed and rescued from the drownings of this world. We suffer waves; but he who helps us is God.

That the Lord went up alone to the mountain to pray, leaving the crowds: the mountain signifies the heights of heaven. For, leaving the crowds, the Lord alone after the resurrection went up into heaven, and there he intercedes for us, as the Apostle says. This, then, is what it signifies that, leaving the crowds, he went up the mountain to pray alone. For he alone is as yet the firstborn from the dead after the resurrection of the body, at the right hand of the Father, high priest and advocate of our prayers. The head of the Church is above, so that the other members may follow at the end. If, then, he intercedes for us, he prays alone, as on the summit of the mountain, above the height of all creatures.

Meanwhile the boat carrying the disciples, that is, the Church, tosses and is shaken by the storms of temptations; and the contrary wind does not rest, that is, the devil who opposes her, striving to keep her from reaching rest. But greater is he who intercedes for us. For in this tossing of ours, in which we labor, he gives us confidence, coming to us and strengthening us: only let us not, troubled in the boat, throw ourselves out and cast ourselves into the sea. For even if the boat is troubled, it is still the boat. It alone carries the disciples and receives Christ. It is in danger, indeed, on the sea; but without it one perishes at once. So keep yourself in the boat, and pray to God. For when all counsel fails, when the rudder is not enough, and the very spreading of the sails is more dangerous than useful, when all human help and strength have been given up, there remains for sailors only the effort of praying and pouring out cries to God. He, then, who grants sailors to reach port, will he abandon his Church and not bring her to rest?

Yet, brothers, the greatest disturbance in this boat comes only in the Lord’s absence. Does one established in the Church have the Lord absent? When does he have the Lord absent? When he is overcome by some desire. For it is said in a certain place, and is taken in a mystical sense: “Let the sun not go down on your anger; and do not give place to the devil.” It is understood not of this sun, which has a certain eminence among the visible heavenly bodies and can be seen alike by us and by beasts, but of that light which only the pure hearts of the faithful see, as it is said: “It was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world.” For this light of the visible sun lights even the tiniest and most short-lived animals. The true light, then, is righteousness and wisdom, which the mind ceases to see when it has been overcome by the disturbance of anger as by a cloud; and then the sun, as it were, goes down on a man’s anger. So too in this boat, when Christ is absent, each is shaken by his own storms, his own iniquities and desires. For the law says to you, for example, “You shall not bear false witness.” If you understand the truth of testimony, you have light in your mind; but if, overcome by desire for shameful gain, you resolve in your mind to bear false witness, you will begin, with Christ absent, to be troubled by the storm; you will toss on the waves of your avarice, you will be endangered by the storm of your lusts, and, as if Christ were absent, you will almost be sunk.

How much it is to be feared that the boat may be turned around and look back! This happens when someone, abandoning the hope of heavenly rewards, is turned, as desire twists him, toward the things that are seen and pass away. For one who is troubled by the temptations of lust and yet looks toward the things within is not so far gone in despair: he begs pardon for his offenses and strives to overcome and cross the fury of the raging sea. But one who is so twisted away from himself that he says in his heart, “God does not see; for he does not think about me or care whether I sin,” turns the prow, is carried off by the gale, and is driven back to where he came from. For there are many thoughts in the hearts of men; and with Christ absent, the boat is troubled by the waves of this world and by many storms.

The fourth watch of the night is the end of the night, for one watch consists of three hours. It signifies, then, that the Lord comes to help now at the end of the age, and is seen walking on the waters. For although this boat is troubled by the storms of temptations, it sees God glorified walking over all the swellings of the sea, that is, over all the principalities of this world. For earlier it was said, in words spoken from his passion, when according to the flesh he gave an example of humility, that the waves of the sea rose against him to no avail, waves to which he willingly yielded for us, so that that prophecy might be fulfilled: “I came into the depth of the sea, and the storm sank me.” For he did not drive back the false witnesses, nor the savage clamor of those saying, “Let him be crucified.” He did not check the rabid hearts and mouths of the furious by power, but endured them with patience. They did to him all they wished, because he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. But after he rose from the dead to pray alone for the disciples, who are set in the Church as in a boat, carried by faith in his cross as by wood, and endangered by the temptations of this world as by the waves of the sea, his name began to be honored even in this world in which he was despised, accused, and killed: so that he who, according to the passion of the flesh, had come into the depth of the sea, and the storm had sunk him, now trampled on the necks of the proud like the foam of the waves by the honor of his name. So now we see the Lord as it were walking on the sea, and we see all the fury of this world subjected under his feet.

But to the dangers of storms are added also the errors of heretics; and there are those who so tempt the minds of those in the boat as to say that Christ was not born of a virgin, nor had a true body, but that what was not there was seen by the eyes. And these opinions of heretics arose now, when the name of Christ is already glorified throughout all nations, as if Christ were already walking on the sea. The tempted disciples said, “It is a phantom.” But he strengthens us against these plagues with his voice, saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” For it was out of vain fear that men thought these things about Christ: considering his honor and majesty, they do not think that one who deserved to be so glorified could have been born in such a way, as if they were terrified at him walking on the sea. By this act the excellence of his honor is figured; and so they think he was a phantom. But when he says, “It is I,” what else does he say than that there is nothing in him that is not real? So if he showed flesh, it was flesh; if bones, they were bones; if scars, they were scars. For in him there was not “Yes and No,” but “Yes” was in him, as the Apostle says. Hence that voice: “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” That is: do not be so terrified at my dignity that you want to take away my reality. Though I walk on the sea, though I have the pride and arrogance of the world under my feet like raging waves, yet I appeared a true man; yet my Gospel preaches the truth about me: that I was born of a virgin, that I the Word was made flesh; that I spoke the truth when I said, “Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have bones, as you see that I have”; that the hands of the doubter touched the true marks of my wounds. So, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

But this event, that the disciples thought he was a phantom, does not signify only those, does not designate only those who deny that the Lord had human flesh, and who sometimes trouble even those in the boat with blind perversity; but also those who think the Lord lied in some respect, and do not believe that what he threatened against the ungodly will come to pass: as if he were partly truthful and partly lying, appearing like a phantom in his words, as if he were and were not. But those who rightly understand the voice of him who says, “It is I; do not be afraid,” now believe all the Lord’s words, so that as they hope for the rewards he promises, so they fear the punishments he threatens. For as it is true what he will say to those placed at the right, “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” so it is true what those placed on the left will hear: “Go into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” For this opinion too, by which people think that Christ did not truly threaten the wicked and the lost, arose from this: they see many peoples and countless crowds subject to his name, so that Christ seems to them a phantom because he walked on the sea; that is, he seems to lie in his threat of punishments, because, as it were, he cannot destroy such countless peoples who are subject to his name and honor. But let them hear him saying, “It is I.” Let those, then, not be afraid who, believing Christ truthful in all things, not only seek what he promised but also flee what he threatened; because even though he walks on the sea, that is, though all kinds of men in this world are subject to him, yet he is not a phantom, and so he does not lie when he says, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

What, then, does it also signify that Peter dared to come to him on the waters? For Peter often bears the person of the Church. What else, then, do we think was said by “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the waters,” but: “Lord, if you are truthful and lie in nothing, let your Church too be glorified in this world, because prophecy foretold this of you”? Let her walk on the waters, then, and so come to you, she to whom it was said, “The rich of the people will entreat your face.” But since human praise does not tempt the Lord, while men in the Church are often troubled by human praises and honors and almost sink, therefore Peter trembled on the sea, dreading the great force of the storm. For who does not fear that saying: “Those who call you happy lead you into error and disturb the paths of your feet”? And since the mind struggles against the desire for human praise, it is good in such danger to turn to prayer and supplication, lest perhaps one who is soothed by praise be undermined and sunk by blame. Let Peter, tottering in the wave, cry out and say, “Lord, save me.” For the Lord stretches out his hand; and though he rebukes him, saying, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”—why did you not look straight at him toward whom you were heading, and glory only in the Lord?—yet he snatches him from the waves and does not let him perish, since he confesses his weakness and asks for his help. And when the Lord has been received into the boat, faith strengthened, all doubt removed, and the storms of the sea calmed, so that they come at last to the stability and security of land, all worship, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” For this is everlasting joy, in which the clear truth, and the Word of God, and the Wisdom through which all things were made, and the surpassing greatness of his mercy are both known and loved.