Sermon 23/B
On Psalm 81:
God has stood in the assembly of gods
God is a faithful promiser.
To what hope the Lord our God has called us, what we now bear, what we endure, and what we expect, I do not doubt is known to your charity. We bear mortality, we endure infirmity, we expect divinity. For God wants not only to make us alive but also to deify us. When would human frailty dare to hope for this, unless divine truth promised it? But it has been promised not only by divine truth, as we have said, and because we are to become gods, not only has this been promised - and because it has been promised, it is certainly true, for neither such a faithful promisor deceives, nor is such an omnipotent giver prevented from fulfilling what he promised. However, it was too little for our God merely to promise us divinity in himself unless he also took on our infirmity, as though saying: "Do you wish to know how much I love you, how certain you ought to be that I will give you my divinity? I have taken on your mortality." Let it not seem unbelievable to us, brothers, that men could become gods, that is, that those who were men could become gods. What has already been granted to us is more unbelievable, that he who was God became man. And indeed we believe that has already happened, we expect the other to come. The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that he might make the sons of men sons of God. Clearly hold this, which I believe we have already spoken to your charity about, that he was not mortal from his own nature, nor are we immortal from our own nature - not from his, not from his essence by which he himself is God; but in another way from his own, because from his creation, because from what he made, from what he created: for the maker of man made himself man, so that man might become a recipient of God. And now we have this in faith, and in hope it is reserved for us, it will appear at the right time; those who now believe, though he does not appear, will rejoice. But those who were unwilling to believe while he had not yet appeared, when he has appeared, will be confounded.
The true God; gods made through adoption.
Therefore, let not the Christian mind shudder and become as if terrified when it is told to mock the gods of the nations and to worship and know the one God to be worshiped; for when it hears in the psalm, which we have just sung: "For God has stood in the assembly of gods." What is a synagoga? Since it is a Greek word, I think most of you know, but some do not. Synagoga in Latin is called "congregation"; so we have sung: "For God has stood in the congregation of gods." Why this? To judge the gods in the midst. Our God, the true God, the one God has stood in the synagoga of gods, certainly of many, not by nature gods, but by adoption, by grace. There is a great difference between the existing God, the God who is always God, the true God, not only God but also the deifier God, that is, so to speak, the deifying God, the God who is not made but makes gods, and the gods who are made, but not by a craftsman.
He who makes false gods falls far from the true God.
And because everyone who creates is indeed better than what he creates, now see which gods the pagans worship, and which God you worship. You worship God, who makes you gods; but they worship gods, whom by creating and worshipping they destroy so that they might themselves become gods, creating false ones they fall from the true one. And to those they create, they do not grant that they should be gods, but that they should be called what they are not. They themselves lose what they could be, and they do not give to them what they cannot be. The one who makes a false god offends the true one, and by making what he cannot, he does not become what he can. For he himself, if he wishes, becomes a god, not such as he worships, but such as he makes whom he worships. So what do men want: to become gods, or to make gods? Indeed, it seems more powerful to them if they make gods, than if they become gods. But even if they could make [gods], will it be because he is called such? To whom you assign the divine name, he will be called a god; but he will either be wood or stone or gold, or whatever else it is. Indeed, you, oh impious man, wish to make a god whom you do not make, but you can shape an idol and assign it a name. It will not be what you call it, but it will be what he made whom you do not invoke. For God made wood, God made stone, gold, silver; you from that stone, which God made, wish to make a god. You do not grant it what you made, nor do you take away what he made.
"If it is wood, it is not God."
Therefore, what you did, you did not do: for if I ask you what you did, you will answer "a god"; he whom you made answers better than you. For in a certain way we can even question those things that do not have a soul and sense, so that they do not perceive being questioned, but nonetheless they present a form by which they report, so to speak, to our senses what they are. For example, you made a wooden god. Surely, if it is a god, it is not wood; if it is wood, it is not a god. And yet you respond that you made a god; but I, removing your wooden part, question the wood itself. But do not think me foolish, because I question the wood—what if I were to question it?—look: it is not the voice that questions the soul, but the eyes question form. The look of that wood and its material, my sight questions. And lest human sight be deceived, my touch also questions it. And if you think this too little, your god can be questioned by an axe, which was made wood by my God. In all these questions it answers me that it is wood, which you say is a god, without its voice, yet more faithfully than your voice.
Man is better than the image made by him.
You say God lies, but you are convicted by the very one you made. Nor because you are convicted by it, will it be better than you; even if you lie, it does not lie, you call it god, it calls itself wood, it will not be better than you. Not for you to have a reason to want to worship something better. You feel, it does not feel; you hear and it does not hear; you see and it does not see; you walk and it does not walk; you live and I cannot say: It is dead, because it never lived. You are better than the one you made; worship the one better than you, who made you. It is an insult to you to be like the one you made. What sort of thing should you worship? You get angry at someone cursing you if they say: "Be like this," and yet you worship what you detest being, and by worshiping you become somewhat similar, not that you become wood and cease to be human, but you make your inner man somewhat like the thing you made outwardly. For God made for you, as it were, eyes for the mind, and you do not want to see the truth. God made for you, as it were, understanding for hearing, and you do not want to understand justice. Furthermore, if our inner man did not have a sense of smell, there would be no reason for the apostle to say: We are the sweet aroma of Christ in every place. If that inner man did not have a mouth, the Lord would not say: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Therefore, the inner man has everything - God gave it -, but it does not want to use them, and wants to become like the image it formed, about which the prophet says: They have eyes and do not see, ears and do not hear, noses and do not smell, mouths and do not speak, hands and do not operate, and so on. And see how it concludes: Let those who make them become like them, and anyone who trusts in them. How can men become like dumb images? But according to this similarity that we commend: if the inner man becomes foolish in a way, he becomes somewhat similar to the image and, losing within himself the image of the one by whom he was made, he wants to take on the image of the one he made. For why did the Lord say: He who has ears to hear, let him hear, unless there are some who have ears and do not hear?
"Let the maker judge by his works."
Therefore, let not your heart be troubled, because God stood in the assembly of gods; in the midst, however, He discerns the gods. For discerning in the midst, He says certain commands; those who despise these commands do not wish to be what He said we should be. And some will charge themselves: <" Why distinguish, if all are gods? For why indeed distinguish, if all are gods? Except because there are those who listen, and those who scorn. For there are those who give thanks, and those who are ungrateful, and they are distinguished, but by Him who knows how to distinguish. Let no one wish to distinguish who is made, let Him distinguish who made; let the Creator judge His works, who cannot err when He judges. But by giving His Spirit He also makes men judge, not by themselves, not from themselves, not by their nature, not by their merit, but by His grace and by His gift. He says, "We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God." But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual man judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. And if we have the Spirit of God, not only do we discern ourselves, but also from idols.
He who worships an idol does an injury to God the Creator.
Truly, brothers, men are to be grieved who do not distinguish themselves in this way, not to be praised who do distinguish themselves, unless perhaps a man is to be praised who knows it is very important to distinguish between himself and a stone. How would he be, however, if he thought he was what a stone is! And would that he progressed thus far! He makes himself better than a stone, to which, if he were similar or if he made himself similar - for he will never be: however much he might follow his own work, he will not destroy the work of God in himself - if therefore he made himself similar, by thinking himself similar, I do not say: he would be doing himself an injury - for perhaps he thinks little of his injury, and rightly such a man thinks little of his injury -, this I say which should move him: he does an injury to God. By comparing himself poorly, he becomes sacrilegious towards Him by whom he was made: for man was made in the image of God. If therefore you would be sacrilegious or rather would be called so by public laws, by doing an injury to the image of the emperor, what will you be in doing an injury to the image of God? What is worse: to cast a stone at the image of a man, or to make the image of God a stone? Therefore let us dismiss these people as too dead, because, even if they can be aroused, they cannot be aroused by us. Yet we should not therefore despair about them, because we cannot arouse them: for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
About idols inhabited by deities.
But we must distinguish ourselves from the deities of their stones, woods, gold, and silver, because there are people who believe they can defend themselves with some reason, when they say: "We know the images are worthless, but we do not worship them themselves." And when you ask: "What then do you worship?" they reply: "The deities of the images. We indeed adore what we see, but we worship what we do not see." What are these deities? Let us hear our God speaking through the prophet: Because all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens, where demons are not worthy to dwell. The prophet mocked demons in one manner and mocked images in another manner. How did he mock the images? "The idols of the nations are silver and gold." He did not want to say stone and wood, but what they hold in high regard, what they consider precious, he presents for ridicule: indeed silver and gold, but still the work of human hands. What did man make there? Did he make them to be gold? Did he make them to be silver? God made this. So what did man make? That they have eyes and do not see. Therefore, man made in the god he made what in himself he would not wish to have been made by the one who made him. He made a blind god, and he would not wish to be made blind by God. So what then? Because he named gold and silver, precious metals, and he chose to ridicule what they hold in high regard, does that differ at all from what he mocked? Gold indeed differs from wood - gold is more precious than wood - but as for having eyes and not seeing, they are equal. The utility or brilliance may differ, but the blindness is equal.
"To be a companion of demons."
Thus, those idols are mocked in one way, being without soul, without sense, without life; but in another way, those which they worship as great, that is, demons, when it is said: "All the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens." And the apostle mocked the idol differently: "We know," he said, "that an idol is nothing;" but he commanded the demons to be avoided differently, saying: "What the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to become partners with demons." He did not say: "I do not want you to become partners with idols." You would fear perhaps being what you could never be, being a partner of a wooden idol, lest you be thrown into the fire together; fear being a partner of demons, lest you be thrown into the eternal fire together. Pay attention, brothers, to what I say. Being a partner of an idol, even if you wish, you cannot; but a partner of demons, if you wish, you will be, if you do not wish, you will not be. For to all the partners of the devil and his angels it will be said in the end: "Depart into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." It seems to me, brothers, that I am distinguishing somehow in the midst of gods, but not I: the Word of God, whether it is treated, sung, or read, has the power and potency of discerning.
Allies of demons are to be avoided.
Someone from the crowd may say to me, "Far be it from me to seek out demons, and not rather to detest them. I utterly detest and flee and curse them." Truly, that is a good voice, a good profession. But what if you have a headache and seek a sorcerer? What if you have a dangerous case and desire a soothsayer? These are vessels of demons. Why do you seek the vessels of those whom you detest? If you speak the truth, I will recognize it by your deeds. Your profession seems certain before the temptation is present. Recognize who is speaking to you: for Satan will never speak to you through an idol, but through a wicked man whose heart he possesses: For he operates, as the apostle says, in the children of disobedience. Therefore, when you start to hear, "Take care of yourself, consult yourself; there is someone who you could question: he will tell you all truths; there is someone who can commend your case, who can commend... arnum ...your own: <day> will choose for you to begin the business," then see the devil speaking in the form of a man, whom he has already lured into his company. And if you do not wish to be a companion of demons, avoid being a companion of demons. For you will be a companion of Christ, not to an equal majesty, but to one inheritance, as the apostle says: Heirs indeed of God, but joint-heirs with Christ.
Tolerance must never be lost in adverse circumstances.
But then why do men seek the companionship of demons? By losing patience: Woe indeed to those who have lost patience. Who does not know that you are in distress, pressed by affliction, tossed by weakness, consumed by decay, harassed by the snares of the enemy? So be it. These things are true, they are troublesome, they oppress, they crush, they wear down. What then? Were you called by Christ to pleasures? I think God would have rightly said to you if He had said: "Endure: for you are a man, made mortal by your will, by my law." Indeed, our very nature first sinned, and hence we carry what it is to be born. Let us bear our condition. The Creator says: "I will recreate you; those whom I made mortal, I will recreate immortal. Bear your condition, that you may receive your possession." God speaking to man, I think because it would rightly say these things: "Bear, endure; it is decay, it is diseased matter; endure the cutting physician: let all the rot penetrate, let all that was badly conceived burst forth." How much do men suffer under human physicians! They are bound, cut, burned, as long as it pleases him who promises uncertain health, as long as it pleases him who did not make you, as long as it pleases man in dealing with man, and endures all things. It is not enough that he endures the cutting one, he begs him to do it. Do you not think you are being purified, then, when you endure tribulation? Do you not believe Him who said: For gold and silver are tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation? Endure therefore what the physician applies to the sick, what the goldsmith does to purify gold.