62. Therefore Simeon prophetized, the Virgin had prophesied, the one united in marriage had prophesied, and so too should the widow; so that neither the profession nor the sex may be lacking. And for this reason Anna is introduced with both the wages of widowhood and the character of such; so that she may be truly believed to have been worthy to announce the redeemer of all. Since we have described her merits elsewhere, when we exhorted widows, in this place as we hasten to other matters, we do not think it necessary to repeat. However, she spent eighty-four years of widowhood not idly; because both seven decades and two forties seem to represent a sacred number.
(Vers. 42.)
(Verse 42.) And when those twelve years had passed.
63. In the twelfth year, as we read, the beginning of the Lord's discussion is taken; for here the number of evangelizers who were to preach the faith was owed. Nor is it unimportant that, mindful of his earthly parents, who were certainly filled with the wisdom and grace of God according to the flesh, he is found in the temple after three days; so that he might provide evidence that after three days of his triumphant passion on the heavenly throne, and with divine honor, he would offer himself as resurrected for our faith, who was believed to be dead.
(Vers. 49.)
(Verse 49.) What is it that you were seeking from me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's own house?
There are two generations in Christ: one is paternal, the other maternal. The paternal one is more divine, while the maternal one descends into our labor and use. And therefore, what is done above nature, above age, above custom, should not be attributed to human virtues, but should be referred to divine powers. Elsewhere, the mother impels him to a mystery; here the mother is accused because he still requires what is human. But when she is described here as twelve years old, there she is taught to have disciples; you see the mother having learned from the Son, in order to demand from the stronger one the mystery, which she marveled at in the younger one.
(Vers. 51.)
(Verse 51.) And he came to Nazareth, and he was subject to them.
65. For what teacher of virtue would not fulfill the duty of piety? And we wonder if he defers to the Father, who submits to the mother? This subjection is not one of weakness, but of piety; even if a serpent, released from its savage hiding places, raises its deceitful head and spews venom from its chest. When he says he was sent as the Son (John 8:29), he calls the Father greater; in order to say that the Son is imperfect, who is able to have someone greater; in order to assert that he is in need of others' help, does he also need human assistance; in order to serve under the authority of a mother? He showed deference to a man, he showed deference to a maidservant (for she herself says: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord'), he showed deference to a pretending father: and do you wonder if he showed deference to God? Is it devotion to show deference to a man, weakness to show deference to God? Consider from human things what is due to divine, and recognize what love is owed to a father. The Father honors the Son, do you not want the Son to honor the Father? The Father declares, in the voice of heaven, that he is pleased with the Son, do you not want the Son, clothed in the garment of human flesh, speaking with a human voice and human affection, to say that the Father is greater? For if the Lord is great and exceedingly praiseworthy, and His greatness has no end (Psalm 164:3), certainly a greatness that has no end does not have any increase. But why should I not receive with reverent ears the Son obedient to the Father in taking on a body, when I reverently receive the Father deferent to the Son?
66. Rather learn the teachings of your own benefit, and recognize the examples of piety. Learn what you owe to your parents, since you read that the Father and the Son do not differ in will, work, or time, although they are two in person and one in power. And certainly that heavenly Father has not experienced the labor of childbirth: you owe your mother the injury of modesty, the loss of virginity, the danger of childbirth, the long sufferings of a mother, the long trials of a mother, to whom in the very fruits of her desires there is even greater danger: and when she has brought forth what she wished, she is delivered from childbirth, not from fear. Why should I speak to anxious fathers about the progress of their sons and the multiplied resources for others, and the seeds of the farmer that will benefit future generations? Shouldn't at least some gratitude be repaid for these services? Why does the impious father's life seem longer and the community's inheritance seem narrower, when Christ does not reject coheirs?
(Chap. III. — Vers. 2.)
(Chapter 3, Verse 2) The word of the Lord came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
67. The Son of God, about to gather the Church, works beforehand in a servant. And for this reason, the holy Luke rightly said that the word of the Lord came upon John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert, so that the Church did not begin from man, but from the Word. For she herself is the desert, because she is more fruitful than the one who has a husband (Isaiah 54:1). Finally, she is called: Rejoice, O barren one (Ibid.), and Exult, O desert (Isaiah 52:9), because she was not yet cultivated by the labors of any gathered people, nor did those trees, which were unable to bear fruit, yet bear the pinnacle of their merits. He had not yet come who would say: 'But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord' (Psalm 51:10). The heavenly vine did not yet supply fruit from its branches, through the transmission of certain words. And so, the word came to pass, that which was previously barren produced fruit for us on the earth. The word came to pass, and the voice followed; for the word operates within first, and the function of the voice follows. Hence, David also says: 'I believed, therefore I spoke' (Psalm 116:10). He believed first, so that he could speak.
Now it came to pass, as the word went out, that John the Baptist was preaching repentance. And for this reason, many consider John the Baptist to be a foreshadowing of the Law; for while the Law could denounce sin, it could not grant forgiveness. For the Law turns those who follow the ways of the Gentiles away from error and restrains them from crime; it exhorts them to repentance, that they may obtain grace. But the Law and the Prophets were until John (Luke 16:16): John, however, was the precursor of Christ. So the Law is a foreshadowing of both the Church and of grace in the Sacrament of Penance. Thus, Saint Luke makes use of brevity in order to declare John as a prophet, saying that the word of the Lord had come upon him: he would not add anything else; for he who abounds in the word of God has no need of his own testimony. He said one thing, and declared everything.
69. However, Saint Matthew and Mark wished to declare the Prophet by clothing, belt, and food; because he had clothing made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey (Matth. III, 4; Marc. I, 6). For the precursor of Christ would not allow the impure remnants of beasts to perish: also indicating by the very sign of clothing that Christ would come, who, receiving the sins of unclean gentility, adorned with bestiality and filth for the deformity of our merits, would strip oneself of the garment of our flesh in that trophy of the cross.
But what does the wearing of a leather belt signify, except that the flesh which used to weigh down the mind before the coming of the Lord, now, after his coming, has become not an obstacle but a belt? Just as it is written of David: 'On the willows . . . we hung up our harps' (Psalm 136:2); and as it is written of the Apostle: 'We have no confidence in the flesh, but we have confidence in the Spirit' (Philippians 3:3). We have no confidence in pleasures, but we have confidence in passions; that is, let fervent love burn in our spirit, and let us be prepared for the performance of every heavenly command, with the devotion of our mind and the readiness of our body.
71. Food is also the prophetic indicator of duty and the messenger of mystery. For what could be more idle as a human duty than to seek locusts, and what could be more full as a prophet's mystery? For the more useless they are for fruit, the more inactive for use, the more fleeting to touch, the more erratic in their movements, the more shrill in their sound, locusts are all the more fittingly applied to the people's Gentile figure, who without any fruit of their labor, without any benefit from their work, without seriousness, without a voice, would emit the sound of complaint and be ignorant of the word of life. Therefore, this people is the food of the prophets; for the larger the number of the people gathered, the more abundant is the use of the prophetic mouth. The grace of the Church is also prefigured in wild honey, not found in the hive of the Jewish people's law, but diffused in the fields and leaves of the forest of the Gentiles, as it is written: We found it in the fields of the forest (Psalm 131, 6).
72. And indeed here the wild honey was eaten, announcing that the people were to be saturated with honey from the rock, as it is written: And he filled them with honey out of the rock (Psalm 80:17). Likewise, the ravens fed the prophet Elijah with food brought from afar and with profitable drink in the wilderness, in order to show that the nations, once disgusting and squalid in the color of their sins, who used to seek their food beforehand from foul corpses, would now provide imported nourishment to the prophets. For the food of the prophets is the effect of divine will, as the Lord himself declared, saying: My food is to do the will of him who sent me (John 4:34).
(Vers. 4.)
A voice crying out in the wilderness.
73. The voice of John the Baptist is well spoken of. For when John himself was asked, 'What do you say about yourself?' he replied, 'I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness' (John 1:22-23). And therefore he said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, because he was before me' (Ibid., 30); for the voice precedes the inferior, but the Word follows, which excels. Therefore he also wanted to be baptized by John, because in men the Word is consecrated by the voice of the teacher. Therefore perhaps Zacharias received the voice, because he spoke with a voice.'
(Vers. 7, 8.)
(Vers. 7, 8.) Generation of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, produce fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say, 'Our father is Abraham.' But I tell you, that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
Indeed, the malice of the Jews seems to be blamed because, with the various poisonous venom of their harmful minds, they engage in serpentine deceptions and earthly dwellings, rather than seeking any divine mystery of knowledge. But when it is said, 'Who has shown you to flee from the coming wrath?', it is shown that they have been infused with the mercy of God's wisdom, so that they may bear the repentance of their sins, fearing the future terror of judgment with providential devotion. Therefore, the comparison of vipers is to be referred to generation, not succession. But perhaps they show natural prudence, who see what is profitable and ask for it willingly, but still do not leave what is harmful.