This Church is signified in Rebecca, the wife of Isaac. This Church was also in the saints, even the Prophets, who understood the Old Testament because those carnal promises signified something spiritual. If spiritual, then spiritual to the younger son, because the carnal is first, and afterward the spiritual.
The Jewish people and the Christian people.
Yesterday, we already mentioned to your Holiness that Esau is called the elder son because no one becomes spiritual unless they first are carnal. But if one persists in the wisdom of the flesh, he will always be an Esau. However, if he becomes spiritual, he will be the younger son. Yet the younger will be greater: for he precedes in time, this one in virtue. For when Jacob had cooked pottage, Esau desired to take it before coming to this blessing. And he said to him: Give me your birthright and I will give you the pottage that I cooked. He sold his birthright to the younger. The one took away temporary pleasure, the other took away eternal dignity. Therefore, those who serve temporary pleasures in the Church are eating pottage. Indeed, Jacob cooked the pottage, but Jacob did not eat it. For idols had more power in Egypt. Pottage is the food of Egypt. By pottage, all the errors of the nations are signified. Because therefore the Church, more eminent and manifest, was signified as coming in the younger son from the nations, it is said that Jacob cooked the pottage and Esau ate it. Indeed the nations have abandoned the idols they once worshiped. But the Jews were serving idols. For being turned in heart to Egypt, they were led through the wilderness. And when their enemies were slayed in the sea, and their foes were drowned in the waves, they desired to make idols since they could not see Moses. And they did not understand that God was present with them, but having hope in a man's presence, when they did not see a man with their eyes, they began to think that God was not there, although He alone through Moses did so many great things. They sought a man with the eyes of the flesh because they did not have the eyes of the heart wherewith to see God in Moses. Therefore, they lost their primacy because, turned in heart to Egypt, they ate the pottage. Receive it. The Christian people are. But in the Christian people, those hold the primacy who belong to Jacob. But those who live carnally, believe carnally, hope carnally, love carnally, still belong to the Old Testament, not yet to the New. They are still in the lot of Esau, not yet in the blessing of Jacob.
The blessing reaches the lesser.
Let your Holiness attend. Therefore, the old Isaac, with dimmed eyes, wanted to bless the elder son because the Old Testament was directed to the Jews. But the Old Testament was not understood by them; hence it is said that his eyes were dim. As I said, brothers, he speaks to the elder one, but the blessing reaches the younger. Indeed, this mother, understood in all the saints, that is, the Church, which understood the prophecy, gives advice to the younger son and says to him: I myself heard your father saying to your brother: Go, and bring me venison, so that I may eat and bless you before I die. Now therefore, my son, listen to me. And she gave him advice to go and bring two kids from the nearby flock, and his mother would prepare them as his father liked, so that he could eat and bless his younger son while the elder one was absent. But he was afraid and said: My brother is hairy, and I am smooth; lest my father feel me and know that I am Jacob, and instead of a blessing, I draw upon myself a curse. But she said: Go, my son, and listen to me; let your curse be upon me. He went and brought two kids. They were prepared, and presented to his father. And as foretold, because he did not recognize him by his voice, he touched him, and found the hair, for his mother had covered his arms with the skins of the kids. He believed him to be the elder, and blessed him. In the blessing, he intended the elder, and the blessing reached the younger. What then is it that the younger is blessed under the guise of the elder, except that under the figures of the Old Testament promised to the Jewish people, the spiritual blessing reaches the Christian people? Attend, brothers. They hear of the Promised Land, and we also hear. Scripture seems to speak to the Jews about the Promised Land, and the understanding of the Promised Land reaches us, who say to God: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living. But so that we might say this, the mother taught us, that is, the Church itself teaches us through the saints and prophets how to understand the very carnal promises spiritually.
Two kinds of Christians are born in the womb of the Church.
But the blessing could not reach us unless, already cleansed from sins through the birth of regeneration, we bear the sins of others through tolerance. For the mother bore both sons. Pay attention, brothers. She bore one hairy, the other smooth. Hair signifies sins, while smoothness signifies meekness, that is, cleanliness from sins. The two sons are blessed because the Church blesses two kinds. Just as Rebecca bore two, two are generated in the womb of the Church: one hairy, the other smooth, whose differences we have explained. For there are people who, even after baptism, do not want to abandon their sins and wish to do the things they did before. For example: if they committed frauds, they want to defraud again; if they swore false oaths, they want to perjure again; if they deceived the innocent with tricks, they still want to deceive; if they contemplated homicides, they contemplate the same; if they fornicated, if they got drunk, they do these things no less. Behold, Esau was born hairy. What does Jacob do? He is told by his mother: "Go, your father will bless you." And he says: "I fear, I will not approach." For there are people in the Church who fear to mingle with sinners, lest by associating with sinners they be defiled in unity and perish through heresies and schisms.
Jacob came with deceit.
What then is said of hairy Esau, who did not behave well in the house? For this too is said of them. He was a rustic hunter, but Jacob lived without deceit in the house. And therefore his mother loved him, feeling his sweet conversation. He is Jacob, who was later called Israel, after wrestling with the angel: and this in a great mystery. Blessed, he was called Israel, and because he was without deceit. Listen carefully, my brothers, and see how he was without deceit. When the Lord saw Nathanael, because He knew what kind of man he was, He said, "Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit." If therefore this one is an Israelite because there is no deceit in him, certainly there was no deceit in Israel himself. Then what does it mean when it is said: "Your brother came with deceit; and took your blessing." Scripture commends him living without deceit in the house. The Lord also bears witness, because he was without deceit, when He speaks of Nathanael: "Behold, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit." Then what does it mean when it is said: "He approached with deceit, and took the blessing?"
The deceit of Jacob, what it is.
In the meantime, let us consider what "deceit" signifies, and let us see what Jacob must do. He carries the sins of others, and he carries them with patience even though they are not his own. For this is to have the skins of goats, that is, he patiently bears the sins of others, not adhering to his own. Thus, all who for the unity of the Church endure the sins of others imitate Jacob. For Jacob himself is in Christ, since Christ is in the seed of Abraham. For it has been said: In your seed all nations will be blessed. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did no sin, carried the sins of others. And does one disdain to carry the sins of others, to whom his own sins have been forgiven? If, therefore, Jacob transitions to Christ, he carries the sins of others, that is, the skins of goats. And what is deceit?
Those two men were two peoples.
For he comes late and brings what the father commanded, and he finds his brother blessed instead of him, and he is not blessed with another blessing. Because those two men represent two peoples. One blessing signifies the unity of the Church. However, those same two peoples are represented by Jacob. But in another way, two peoples are figured as belonging to Jacob. For indeed, our Lord Jesus Christ, who had come to the Jews and the Gentiles, was rejected by the Jews, who belonged to the elder son. Yet he chose some who belonged to the younger son, who had begun to desire and understand the promises of the Lord spiritually, not carnally desiring to receive another land, but spiritually desiring that city, where no one is born carnally; because there no one dies carnally, nor spiritually.
In many places of the Scriptures, two peoples are understood.
Therefore, when they began to desire this, they began to belong to Jacob, who believed in Christ, and the flock of the Lord was made in Judah itself. But what does the Lord say about this flock? I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I go to bring them, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. What other sheep does the Lord Jesus Christ have, if not from the gentiles? The sheep from the gentiles were joined to the Jewish sheep. For from the Jews were the Apostles. There were also five hundred brethren who saw the Lord after the resurrection. From there was Nathaniel himself, of whom the Lord testified that there was no deceit in him. There were one hundred and twenty who, when they were in the house, the Holy Spirit came to fill them, whom He had promised to the disciples. There were so many thousands of people we read about in the Acts of the Apostles baptized in the name of Christ, even those who crucified Christ. Therefore, there were sheep from there, and many sheep. But not only those. The Lord had others from the gentiles. These two peoples, coming as if from different paths, are also signified by the two walls. Indeed, the Church of the Jews came from circumcision. The Church of the gentiles came from the uncircumcision. Coming from different paths, they were united in the Lord. Therefore, the Lord was called the corner stone. For the psalm says: The stone which the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner. And the Apostle says: Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone. Where there is a corner, two walls are joined; two walls do not meet at the corner unless they come from different directions; for if they come from one direction, they do not form a corner. Therefore, the two kids, these are the two peoples, these are the two folds, these are the two walls, these are the two blind men who were sitting by the road, these are the two boats in which the fish were hauled up. In many places of the Scriptures, the two peoples are understood, but they are one in Jacob.
Kids and lambs.
Why kids, someone might say? You know that kids are sinners, for kids will be to the left, and lambs to the right. But those who persist as kids will be to the left. For if they were not first kids, the Lord would not say: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. For when the Lord was associating with sinners and eating with tax collectors, the Jews, as if they were lambs, that is, as if they were righteous, and more so, goats due to pride, reproached the Lord as if it were a crime, and indeed said to his disciples: Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners? The Lord, responding, how did he defend himself? It is not the healthy who need a physician, he said, but the sick: I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Therefore, he calls the kids, but so they do not persist as kids. For Jacob killed them and prepared a feast for his father from them, that is, for the spiritual understanding, which was to be understood in that blessing, although it was depicted in the elder son. The kids were killed for this, and they were eaten, and transferred into one body. Thus sins are killed in sinners, and transferred, slain, into the one body of the Church, the Church whose figure Peter bore when it was said to him: Kill and eat. Therefore, that one wild, this one tame in the home; that one older, this one younger; the blessings seemed to regard that one, but reached this one. They regarded that one, because carnal promises were being promised to the Jews; but they reached this one, because they were to be understood spiritually, and received by Christians. The blessing would not come to this one, unless he carried the sins, which he no longer committed.
Love the sinner not insofar as he is a sinner but insofar as he is a human being.
Therefore, let your Holiness understand how sins should be borne. For there are those who seem to bear sins for themselves and remain silent to sinners. Now, this hypocrisy is detestable. Bear the sinner, not so that you love the sin in him, but so that you may persecute the sin because of him. Love the sinner, not in so far as he is a sinner, but in so far as he is a human being. Just as if you love the sick person, you pursue the fever; for if you spare the fever, you do not love the sick person. Therefore, say what is true to your brother, do not remain silent. For what else do we do but tell you what is true? Do not lie: say what is true with open truth, but until he is corrected, he should be borne. Killing of goats and bearing of skins could be done at different times; yet they signify something that can happen at one time. For at the same time, the righteous both rebukes sinners, which is to kill goats, and mercifully tolerates their sins, which is to bear skins. As much as it was in him, he killed the goats, he killed the sinners. But he bore the sins of others and bore them with tolerance. He deserved to be blessed because charity bears all things. Charity itself was in the mother, and the mother carried the figure of charity itself. The figure of all saints was that she carried the figure of charity, because the saints are only those who have had charity. For what good will it do, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have charity? I have become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have charity, I am nothing. And if I know all mysteries and all prophecies and give my body to be burned, but do not have charity, it profits me nothing. What kind of charity, then, is it that alone profits greatly, without which the rest profit nothing! Therefore, charity itself gives advice, and the son of charity obeys.
Isaac was acting figuratively.
What counsel does he give? That he should take the goatskins and approach the father. The father seeks the elder and blesses the younger. The Old Testament regards the Jews through the letter and through its spiritual understanding the Christians are blessed in it. Let Your Holiness attend to the great mystery, a great sacrament. Isaac says, “Your brother has come with deceit,” about the man without deceit. Without a doubt, that Isaac, as he was in the prophetic spirit, knew what was happening, and he himself acted figuratively. He places everything in the great height of the mysteries. For if he did not know what he was doing, he would be angry at the son deceiving him. The elder comes and says, “Behold, father, eat; as you commanded me, I have done.” He says, “Who are you?” He responds, “I am your elder son Esau.” And he says, “Who then is he, from whom I have already eaten and blessed him, and he will be blessed?” He seemed to be angry. He expected some curse from the mouth of Esau upon his brother. While he expects a curse, he confirms the blessing. Oh, to be angry, oh, to be indignant! But he knew the mystery. And the darkness of his bodily eyes signified the darkness of the mind of the Jews. However, the eyes of his heart saw the height of the mysteries.
Some figures of Christ.
And he said, "Your brother came with deceit and took away your blessing." We were saying to see what it means with deceit. Deceit here is not deceit. How is deceit not deceit? How is a rock not a rock? Just as the sea is said and it is not the sea because it signifies something else. Thus, the land is said and it is not the land because it signifies something else. Thus, a rock is said and it is not a rock because it signifies something else. Thus, a mountain is said and it is not a mountain. Thus, the lion from the tribe of Judah is said to be the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ is not a lion. Thus, a lamb is said and it is not a lamb. Thus, cattle are said and it is not cattle. Thus, a calf is said and it is something else. Thus, deceit is said and it is not deceit. Why, then, is it called deceit, let us inquire. Why all those things are so called, let us inquire. Why was he called a lion? Because of strength. Why was he called a rock? Because of firmness. Why was he called a lamb? Because of innocence. Why was he called a calf? Because of the sacrifice. Why was it called a mountain? Because of greatness. Why was it called manna? Because of sweetness. Why, then, deceit? Now let us see what deceit is, and we will find why it was called deceit. For we know what a rock is; and yet it is said of a foolish and hard person that he is a rock, and of a strong and immovable person, it is said he is a rock. And you led firmness to praise, and hardness to blame. We know firmness in a rock, and we accepted Christ as the rock: But the rock was Christ. In a lion, we know strength, and yet the devil is also called a lion. What do we know in deceit, that we may accept deceit in a figure, just as we accept a mountain, just as we accept a lion, just as we accept a lamb, just as we accept a rock, and others?
There was not true deceit in Jacob.
What then is deceit? Deceit is when one thing is done and another feigned. Therefore, when something else is in intention, something else in deeds, it is called deceit. Deceit, then, in its own right, is reprehensible, just as a stone in its own right. Whoever says that the stone in its own right was Christ blasphemes, just as he blasphemes who says that the calf in its own right was Christ. The calf in its own right is cattle, in figure it is a victim. The stone in its own right is hardened earth, in figure it is firmness. Deceit in its own right is fraud, in figure it is the figure itself. For every figurative and allegorical reading or speech appears to sound one way carnally, another way spiritually. Therefore, he called this figure by the name of deceit. What then does it mean: He came with deceit and took away your blessing? Because what was done was figured, therefore it is said: He came with deceit. For he would not confirm the blessing to the deceitful man, to whom justly a curse was due. Therefore, that was not true deceit, especially since he did not lie by saying: I am your elder son Esau. For he had already agreed this with his brother and had sold his birthright. He said this to his father, having what he had bought from his brother; what the other had lost had passed to him. For the honor of the first-born was not excluded from the house of Isaac. The honor of the first-born was there. It was not in him who had sold it. Where was it, if not in the younger? Therefore, knowing this in mystery, Isaac confirmed the blessing and says to his son: What shall I do for you? And he said: Bless me also, father, for you have not only one blessing. Isaac, however, knew there was only one.