43. Therefore, he who is close to God says: You are near, Lord, and all your commandments are true. The Jew cannot say this, for he does not accept the Lord Jesus; he has separated himself and believes not in truth but in shadow. How can he say: Your commandments are true, when grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and he does not recognize him who, in truth and fullness, redeemed the whole world through his circumcision?
Verse 44 (Line 152): The eighth verse is: In the beginning, I became aware of your testimonies; because you have established them forever. Concerning your testimonies, he said, I have taken knowledge and faith from the beginning, because they are founded forever; for testimony is faithful and it imparts wisdom to the little ones. If Adam and Eve had known that more cautious precepts had been given to them as if to little children, so that they would not arrogate to themselves the knowledge of good and evil, which they could not define with proper discernment, they could have claimed perpetual habitation in paradise. If people consider that the blood of a man cries out to God, they will abstain from taking the lives of men with their own hands. If they keep the commandments that the Lord gave in the presence of heaven and earth, saying: Hear, O heaven, and listen, O earth (Isaiah 1:2): knowing that whatever wrongdoing they have committed, they have done against the law of the Lord, they will be accused by the testimonies of the angels and Powers, and also by the testimonies of the holy men. Above these testimonies, they will establish a foundation for themselves, because they are eternal and everlasting. And so let us build our work upon the foundation of heavenly testimonies; that it may not burn like wood or straw - but may be tested like gold; that it may remain forever anchored to its foundation.
Sermon 20. Resch.
Letter twenty begins. It is called 'head' in the Latin interpretation, or 'first place'. The head is where we consider the form of the human race, which nourishes and directs all the limbs and fills them with senses. For the senses of a wise person are in their head. From there, the veins are led, and the pathways of the breath, and the strength of the blood are derived to all parts of the body. It illuminates and adorns everything. Without the head, the body is without a name, not recognized, and there remains no use for living. Therefore, those who are condemned for some crime are deprived of their heads, since it is the ornament of the whole body. And because they are discovered to have committed the pollution of beastly filth or the horror of bestial savagery, through a shameful or wicked offense, they are ordered to strip themselves of the form of human condition, as though they have fallen from the intended moderation of humanity. For with the head cut off, the remaining trunk of the body is compared to the body of beasts and is deprived of the fortress of wisdom, for it could not hold onto reason. Therefore, the body is buried without its adornment; for in the head lies the vigor of life, in the head lies the grace of beauty.
The snake is said to always hide its head when it is in danger, and it coils up into a circle, exposing only a small part of its body, in order to protect itself; it is able to regenerate any injured body parts, as long as its head remains unharmed. You too should morally protect your head, and by protecting it, you will also protect it mystically. The mystical head is Christ; because all things consist in Him, and He is the head of the body, the Church (Colossians 1:17-18). Whoever loses this head will not be able to have the use of life. We only differ from animals by being formed in the image of God and the likeness of virtues. Faith separates us from the comparison of irrational animals. Preserve this head, humans; even if all the limbs are cut off, the whole body is burned by fire, submerged in the deep, disemboweled by animals, with this head preserved, life is intact, safety is secure; for no one can perish to whom Christ has not been taken away.
3. And it is the head and highest point of our study and work, the highest business, the highest hope, the highest virtues. But the highest of all is the sum of our study; that we may be humble, follow the truth, which the proud do not see, being vainly puffed up by their own fleshly mind, and not holding the head (Colossians 2:18-19). He clearly expressed what this head is, saying: From which all the body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God (Ibid., 19). And in the book of Isaiah the Lord says through the Prophet: I will take away from Judah the head and the tail, the beginning and the end (Isaiah IX, 14). This head of Judah, which it held, it lost, because it did not receive the Lord Jesus. Where there is faith, we have both the beginning and the end. Where there is perfidy, there is neither beginning nor end. The Church has a beginning because it has Christ; for Christ is the beginning of the Church, the firstborn from the dead. He also has an end; for he is the first and the last. He is the end of the Law for righteousness to every believer. The Synagogue has neither beginning nor end; because it neither finds in the beginning what it should follow, nor in the end what it should hope for. Therefore, the proud head does not grasp, that is, the humility of Christ by which he descended even to the cross, descended even to the underworld. Therefore, the Jew did not believe; because he despised him who said: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart (Matthew 11:29) . This humility is the head of all virtues, which nourishes the whole body of our actions as if it were its own.
Although someone may be weak, poor, and of low birth, if they do not boast and exalt themselves, they commend themselves through their humility. Suppose someone is very wealthy and noble, but if they flaunt their noble lineage and wealth, their arrogance makes them despicable. Suppose someone is eloquent and strong, and they become excessively proud of their eloquence and virtue: is it not often the case that due to their lack of modesty, they are surpassed by someone foolish and weak? Finally, the Pharisee in the Gospel, although he was abstemious and frugal with the belongings of others, was generous with his own and not averse to fasting, as he claimed. However, because of his boasting, even the things he could have had, he lost (Luke 18:10-14). None of the many virtues he possessed could benefit him because of one vice. On the other hand, the tax collector, who couldn't list anything that could be approved, was justified because of his humility and descended from the temple more justified than that Pharisee, as it is written in the Prophet: 'He will save those of humble spirit' (Psalm 34:19).
5. However, that this is the head which this letter signifies, we are also taught clearly in the Lamentations of Jeremiah. For the Prophet says, having mentioned this letter first: Christ the Lord is the spirit before our face... Under his shadow we shall live among the nations (Lam. 4:20). Therefore, this is truly the head, which is the head of all.
6. We have spoken about the head, let us also speak about the primacy, which may differ in language and letter but converges in the same understanding. For we read about primacy in the Old Testament (Gen. 25:33), which Esau, the brother, surrendered to his brother Jacob; and that is why his name was called Edom, which means earthly and cunning. These are the brothers whom the Lord asked of Isaac their father, in order to give him heirs of his posterity from his wife Rebecca, who had not borne any emblem of offspring for twenty years. He heard him, and Rebecca conceived, and she asked the Lord, when the children seemed to struggle in her womb, and she received this answer: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your womb, and one people will surpass the other, and the older will serve the younger (Ibid., 23). Is not the mystery revealed, that two peoples are signified, namely, the older people of the Jews, and the younger Christian people, who, because of the privilege of the firstborn, received the birthright of the elder? From this evidence it is clearly expressed that the earthly people, due to intemperance of gluttony, lost the primacy they had: but the people of the Church, through sobriety and self-restraint, snatched the primacy that they did not have in terms of age, by brotherly concession, and by the pious theft of paternal blessing. Therefore, what did the Christian people snatch if not the Lord Jesus? For since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven is forced, and those who force it plunder it, as the Lord himself declared (Matthew 11:12). Good is the deception that steals eternal life. But since we consider enough to have been said about the interpretations of this letter, let us consider what the Prophet added to this letter.
7. (Verse 153.) Therefore, the first verse is: See my humility and deliver me; for I have not forgotten your law. Perhaps someone may say: The Prophet boasts about himself. And if he boasts, he boasts about his weaknesses, in which even the Apostle boasts, saying: I will boast about my weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:5). Another boasts in wealth, another in titles of nobility and his lineage, another in positions of authority and honors; the righteous boasts in humility; for true glory is to be subject to Christ. So that you may know, however, that he does not desire to boast, but to provoke the grace of the Lord in himself, the same Prophet elsewhere says: See my humility and my labor. Therefore, just as he who humbles his heart, just as he who labors greatly, desires his sins to be forgiven, here he who prays for himself.
8. Appoint someone, concerned for the salvation of the minister, whom he knows to be approved by God; appoint someone as a father for the son, when he is seriously ill; appoint a woman either for the son or for the mourning husband, fervently praying, shedding abundant tears day and night, humbling herself and prostrating on the ground, multiplying fasts, and, what is even heavier than these, speaking to the Lord a mind and soul exhausted by grief and torpid from the delay of illness and danger; 'See my humility and rescue me.'
9. Also consider that the divine Scripture anoints and trains us daily with a certain spiritual oil of heavenly teachings, and our Lord, desiring to provoke many to engage in battles, has placed various rewards of crowns. Consider, I say, Christ's athlete, wearied by countless struggles, almost overcome with fatigue, and troubled by the weight of danger; when he sees that he not only has a struggle against flesh and blood, but also against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, he says: 'See my humility and deliver me; for I have not forgotten your law; he who has fought according to his precepts has not been able to forget.'
10. Also contemplate someone appointed to martyrdom, afflicted with frequent tortures, cast into darkness, broken by heavy chains, his legs stretched with ropes, his intestines torn out on the rack, his flesh torn by nails, burnt with glowing plates, a man persevering in faith but now weary of his soul being delayed any longer from the sacred crown of death, saying: See my humility, and free me; for I have not forgotten your law. For we are taught by the testimonies of the Scriptures that not only in studies and pursuits, but also in temptations, humility can be spoken of. For it is written: "Acceptable men in the furnace of humility" (Ecclus. 2:5); for the Greek says ταπεινώσεως, which is humility. I have included this because many Latin speakers have affliction in mind. Latin distinguishes, Greek does not separate; ταπείνωσις and humilitas are said to be virtues of humility, and humilitas of affliction. There is nothing preventing if a Latin separates; for the Greek did not translate from Latin, but the Latin from Greek.
11. Finally, even the Hebrews, as long as they were in Egypt, were in an iron furnace, that is, in the furnace of temptation, in the furnace of affliction, as they were afflicted with harsh commands. Hence it is also written: 'For God brought them out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt' (Jeremiah 11:4). The furnace was iron because no works of virtuousness shone with full light in Egypt, no gold had been tested there, no lead of wickedness had been consumed. The harsh furnace, the furnace of perpetual death: a furnace from which no one could escape, that would consume all, in which only pain and mourning existed. But truly, it was a furnace in which Ananias, Azarias, and Misael sang a hymn to the Lord (Dan. III, 51); that golden furnace, not iron: through which wisdom and devotion shone throughout the whole world. Indeed, this furnace was also in Babylon, where gold was not spiritual, unless perhaps captive; For the Lord has taken captivity captive (Ephes. IV, 8). This was gold in the holy ones of God, who were captive in body among the Babylonians; but in spirit free before God, released from the chains of human captivity, bound instead by the yoke of spiritual grace. And perhaps the same iron furnace is fragile to those who do not persevere, but golden to those who do.
12. All who desire to return to paradise must be tested by fire; for it is not written in vain that after Adam and Eve were expelled from the seat of paradise, God placed a fiery revolving sword at the exit of paradise (Gen. III, 24). All must pass through the flames, whether John the Evangelist, whom the Lord loved so much that he said of him to Peter: Thus I wish him to remain... what is it to you? You follow me (John XXI, 22). Some have doubted about his death, but we cannot doubt about his passing through fire; because he is in paradise and is not separated from Christ. Whether he is Peter, who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who walked on the sea, he must say: We have passed through fire and water, and you have brought us into refreshment (Psalm 65:12). But to John, the fiery sword will quickly turn; because there is no iniquity found in him whom righteousness loves. If there was any fault of human weakness in him, divine love purified it; for his wings are like wings of fire. (Song of Solomon 8:6).
13. The one who has the fire of charity here will not be able to fear the fire of the sword there. To Peter himself, who offered his own death for Christ so many times, He will say: Pass through, recline (Luke 17:7). But he will say: He has tested us with fire, just as silver is tested with fire; indeed, in whatever situation, He could not exclude charity, so how will fire exclude it? But he will be tested like silver, I will be tested like lead: until the lead melts away, I will burn. If no silver is found in me, oh my! I will be cast down to the depths of hell, or I will be burned up like straw. If any gold or silver is found in me, not through my actions, but through the mercy and grace of Christ, through the ministry of the priesthood, I will perhaps say: Indeed, those who hope in you will not be put to shame (Psalm 25:3).
Therefore, with that fiery sword, may the injustice be burned, which sits upon a leaden talent. Therefore, the one who is the justice of God, Christ, could not feel that fire, for he did not commit sin; for he found nothing in himself that could be burned up by fire. Finally, the everlasting gates alone were lifted up, so that the king of glory might enter, not as a guilty party. And indeed, his flesh tasted death here; for otherwise, he could not have risen again. What I have read, I presume; what I have not read, I leave to the venerable scholars. I confess one thing, that whatever that flesh underwent, it did so in order to show the way for others, either for triumph by the martyr's passion, or for passage into paradise by its footsteps. Therefore, let no one assume for themselves, let no one boast of merits, let no one boast of power; but let us all hope to find mercy through the Lord Jesus, for we shall all stand before His judgment seat. I will seek forgiveness for that, I will ask for indulgence for that; for what other hope is there for sinners?
15. And he who thinks he has gold here, has lead; and he who thinks he has a grain of wheat, has straw that can be burned up. But many here seem to themselves to have gold. I do not envy them, but still the gold will be tested, it will be burned up in order to be proven. For it is written: I will test them like gold in the furnace (Zach. XIII, 9). Therefore, let them take heed, for all will be tested. So, many who think they have gold, let them also pursue humility; so that their vices may be cooked out. But here is empty boasting; therefore, the mass of gold that many think is a treasure, wiser than the mass of gold says: The furnace will test us all. Therefore, since we are to be examined, let us act in such a way that we may deserve to be approved by divine judgment. Let us hold onto the humility placed here, so that when each of us comes to the judgment of God, to those fires through which we are going to pass, he may say: See my humility, and rescue me; for if he is proud, if he is arrogant, if he is insolent, he will not be able to say this. But no one will say, 'See my pride,' but see my humility, so that by his grace I may be delivered from that fire and deserve it.
Therefore, humility is the labor and fatigue: it is also the humility of virtue and purpose, which the just maintain in both favorable and prosperous times, and in a state of leisure. Inflicted with no weariness from labor, uncertain of the outcome of no contest, he exhibits humbleness to all, and does not strive to exalt himself. Instead, he seeks to diminish the value of his own work and the merit of his own grace. Hear the just person humbling himself: 'I am,' he says, 'the least of the apostles' (I Cor. XV, 9). He claims to be the least worthy of the divine election, the least deserving of the title of teacher of the nations, because he preferred his own works. And he does not claim anything for himself, but attributes everything to the grace of God. This is certainly fitting for a righteous person.
17. By this humility Abraham was called the father of faith, who, when he participated in divine conversation, said that he was dust and ashes (Gen. XVIII, 27). The Lord himself also said: But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people (Psal. XXI, 7), when he spoke of the suffering of his own body: who did not seek his own things, but the things of others. The Apostle wants us to become imitators of him and encourages us, saying: For this is the mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave (Philip. II, 5-7). Therefore, let us not seek nobility of birth or wealth if we desire to follow Christ. He emptied himself, being in the form of God; though he was rich, he became poor. Do not despise the commoner because you are noble; do not look down on the servant because you are powerful; do not scorn the poor because you are wealthy. Are you nobler, more powerful, or richer than Christ? He took upon himself those things which you despise. He humbled himself even to death, and death on a cross, in order to abolish your fallen pride; so that through the obedience of one Lord Jesus, we may regain what we lost through the disobedience of one Adam. For this reason, God exalted him and gave him a name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. Since the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father (Philip. 2:9-11).
18. Consider, O human, what you read. The Apostle did not labor to prove the power of Christ, but to preach obedience; to demonstrate the greatness of his humility, his progress. If you receive with simple ears, he exalted Christ. But Christ sought not his own, but what was yours, with that humility. Therefore, receive with sharp ears: morally, it profited you; mystically, it redeemed your salvation. However you wish to understand: salvation is yours. If you think that his humility has benefited Christ; to whom, then, will it not be beneficial? If he exalted him; whom will he not increase? The Lord has become the servant of all, and the creator of all has been beaten, washed feet, crucified, died. But in all these things, I see no harm to his divinity, but I recognize the advancement of his work. He who had nothing to add to his power, had something to add to the worship of his majesty. I dare to say: he had lost the function of his operation, unless humility received it. So indeed he redeemed us, but he also acquired for himself. Therefore, humility brings no loss. He who emptied himself is full. He who did not consider equality with God to be robbery, taking on the form of a servant, is in the glory of God the Father. I have received whom I did not know, I have recognized whom I did not acknowledge, I confess whom I denied. I bow the knee of my body to him, I bend the knee of my mind to him, I adore him whom I used to flee from.
19. We give thanks to you, Lord Jesus, that you created us, but you appointed us over the created wild beasts, creatures, and dumb animals. The gifts of your visitation are greater. You honored those visited by your majesty with the companionship of your glory, saying: 'I will declare your name to my brethren' (Psalm 21:23); for by taking on a body, you became a brother, and you did not cease to be the Lord. The grace of your redemption is greater: you redeemed those in danger of death with your own death, as it is written: 'It is expedient for one man to die for the people' (John 18:14). You raised the dead, saying: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up' (John 2:19); for in that temple the right of resurrection belongs to the body of the Lord. You equated those who rise from the dead with angels, as you said: 'For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven' (Matthew 22:30). Finally, you placed the Son of Man at the right hand of God on that throne, as you yourself deigned to say: 'But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God' (Luke 22:69).
20. Therefore, the Apostle, marveling at the divine gifts of piety and at the same time showing the generosity of the Father and the Son to be one, says: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us (Ephesians 2:4). You hear in what you should be rich, O man: virtues that you should possess, loving in God, testing within yourself; to enter into the benefits of heavenly mercy and charity. And he added: And when we were dead in sins, he made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved;) And he has raised us up, and has made us sit in heavenly places together in Christ Jesus (Ibid., 5 and 6). Indeed, Christ is honored in the flesh. Therefore, he who sits at the right hand of God has been humbled for our sake. And so he says to us: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matthew 11:29). He did not say: Learn from me, for I am powerful, but because I am humble in heart; so that you may imitate him, so that you may say to him: Lord, I have heard your voice, I have fulfilled your commandment. You have said that we should learn humility from you: we have learned not only from your words, but also from your actions, I have done what you commanded: See my humility.
21. The athlete shows his good limbs in order to demonstrate the discipline of his training. He also shows his limbs when, after some more serious contests, he is compelled to compete again, so that the judge, seeing his tired body, does not compel him to compete. And you, show the humility of your heart, so that you may display the virtues. Show also the contests of your body, so that you may say: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race (2 Timothy 4:7), and seeing the spiritual judge of the contest, he may award the crown of righteousness, because you have fulfilled the law of the contest.
22. (Verse 154.) The second verse follows: Judge my judgment and deliver me: for the sake of your word, give me life. The innocent hasten to judgment, desiring to be quickly vindicated by the judge of their innocence. This has a practical application even in this world, which is shared with the saints. However, the one who is just before God has another reason not to fear judgment; because for him, the merciful judge is his cause, and before his redeemer he desires and hopes to be quickly absolved. For the absolution of the saints is timely. Hence the Lord says through Ezekiel to the angels who are ministers of vengeance: 'Begin from my holy ones' (Ezekiel 9:6). The Lord does not want to have a common judgement with the saints and the companions of the devil; for the devil and his ministers will not be scourged along with men. Punishment is separate, where guilt also differs. Therefore, Scripture says elsewhere: 'It is time for judgement to begin from the house of God' (1 Peter 4:17). For He who shows mercy, quickly corrects; so that they may not be afflicted for a long time with the expectation of judgment, nor excessively worn down by the wretchedness of their guilt; so that each person may also give back twice as much for their sins, in order to finally be absolved. For the punishment of the guilty is a kind of absolution of offenses.