SERMO 62
On the Words of the Gospel of Matthew 8:8
"I AM NOT WORTHY THAT YOU SHOULD ENTER UNDER MY ROOF," AND SO FORTH
NOT ALSO FROM THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLE, 1 COR 8, 10:
"For if anyone sees him who has knowledge,"
"Reclining at a pagan feast," and so forth.
The humility of the Centurion.
We heard, when the Gospel was being read, that our faith is commended in humility. For when the Lord Jesus promised that He would go to the house of the centurion to heal his servant, the centurion replied: I am not worthy that You should come under my roof: but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. By declaring himself unworthy, he showed himself worthy; not into whose walls, but into whose heart Christ would enter. Nor would he have said this with such faith and humility, unless he carried Him in his heart whom he feared to have enter his house. For it was not a great happiness if the Lord Jesus entered his walls, but was not in his heart. For the Master of humility both by word and example, dined in the house of a certain proud Pharisee named Simon. And when He reclined in his house, He was not in his heart where the Son of Man could lay His head.
The proud one was rejected from the discipleship of Christ.
For thus he called back from following him a certain proud man who, as can be understood from the Lord's words, wished to follow him of his own accord. "I will follow you, Lord," he said, "wherever you go." And the Lord, seeing the invisible things in his heart, said: "The foxes have their dens, and the birds of the sky have their nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." This is to say, "There dwell in you traps like foxes, there dwells pride like the birds of the sky; but the Son of Man, simple against traps, humble against pride, has nowhere to lay his head." And the very laying down of the head, not the rising, is a teacher of humility. Therefore he recalls this one wishing to go, and draws another who is refusing. For in the same place he says to a certain man: "Follow me." And he replied: "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and bury my father." Indeed, he excused himself piously: and for this reason, he was more worthy for his excuse to be removed and his calling to be confirmed. What he wished to do was pious: but the teacher taught what he should prioritize. For the master wanted him to be a preacher of the living word, to bring life to others. There were others through whom that necessity could be fulfilled. "Let," he said, "the dead bury their dead." When the unbelievers bury a corpse, the dead bury the dead. That man's body lost its soul; the souls of those others lose God. For just as the life of a body is the soul, so the life of the soul is God. Just as the body expires when it loses the soul, so the soul expires when it loses God. God lost is the death of the soul; the soul gone is the death of the body. The death of the body is necessary; the death of the soul is voluntary.
The faith of the centurion in humility.
The Lord was therefore reclining in the house of a certain proud Pharisee. He was in his house, as I said; and he was not in his heart. But He did not enter the house of this Centurion, and He possessed his heart. Zacchaeus, however, received the Lord both in his house and in his heart. Nonetheless, this one's faith is praised in humility. For he said: I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. And the Lord said: Truly, I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel: according to the flesh. For this one was already an Israelite according to the spirit. The Lord had come to carnal Israel, that is, to the Jews, to seek first the lost sheep in that people, and from that people he had also taken his body: There I did not find such great faith, he says. We can measure the faith of men, as men: He who sees the interior, he whom no one deceives, bore witness to the heart of man, hearing the words of humility, proclaiming the sentence of healing.
In the centurion, the gentiles are represented.
But from where did he presume this? He says, "I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." I have authority over those placed under me, while I myself am placed under a certain authority above me. Therefore, he says, if I, a man under authority, have the power to command; what can you do, to whom all authorities are subject? However, this man was from the Gentiles: for he was a centurion. The Jewish nation already had a soldier of the Roman empire. There he performed the duties of a soldier as far as a centurion could do; both under authority and having authority; obedient as a subordinate, ruling over subordinates.
But the Lord (as your dear Charity should especially note), although he was among the Jewish people, was already proclaiming the Church that would be throughout the whole world, into which he was about to send the Apostles: he himself, unseen and believed by the Gentiles, seen and killed by the Jews. For just as the Lord did not physically enter this man's house, yet healed his faith and the house itself while absent in body but present in majesty; in the same way, the Lord was bodily among the Jewish people alone; among other nations, he was neither born of the Virgin, nor suffered, nor walked with feet, nor endured human things, nor performed divine miracles. None of these things among the other nations: and yet it was fulfilled concerning him what had been said: "A people whom I did not know served me." How, if they did not know him? "By the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." The Jewish nation knew, and crucified; the world heard, and believed.
"A woman touching the hem of Christ."
This absence of his body and presence of his power in all nations, and in that woman who touched the hem of his garment, he signified when he asked, saying: Who touched me? As if absent, he asks: as if present, he heals. The disciples say to him, The crowds press upon you, and you say: Who touched me? As if he walked in such a way that he was touched by no body's touch at all, he said: Who touched me? And they: The crowds press upon you. And as if the Lord said, I seek the one touching, not the one pressing. Thus also now is his body, that is, his Church. The faith of few touches her, the crowd of many presses upon her. For you have heard that the Church is the body of Christ, as his children; and if you wish, you are they yourselves. The Apostle says this in many places: For his body, he says, which is the Church. And again: You are the body of Christ and members of it. Therefore if we are his body, what the body of his then suffered among the crowd, this his Church suffers. It is pressed by crowds, it is touched by few. The flesh presses upon her, faith touches her. Lift up therefore your eyes, I beseech you, who have the means to see. For you have what to see. Lift up the eyes of faith, touch the hem of the garment, it will suffice for salvation.
It is now fulfilled what was foretold in the Gospel.
See what you heard from the Gospel: what was to be then, is now present. Therefore, He says, I tell you: on account of the praised Centurion's faith, as one alien in the flesh, but domestic in heart. Therefore, He says, many will come from the east and the west. Not all, but many; nevertheless, they will come from the east and the west: the whole world is marked by these two directions. Many will come from the east and the west, and will sit with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but the children of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness. The children of the kingdom, namely the Jews. Why the children of the kingdom? Because they received the Law, to whom the Prophets were sent, among whom was the temple and the priesthood, who celebrated the figures of all things to come. For the things whose figures they celebrated, they did not recognize the presence. Therefore, He says, the children of the kingdom will go into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the Jews rejected, we see Christians called from the east and the west to a certain heavenly banquet, to sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; where the bread is righteousness, where the drink is wisdom.
They are censured for dining with pagans in the idol's temple.
Therefore, pay attention, brothers: for you are this – you are from this people, already foretold, now presented. You are indeed from those who were called from the east and the west to recline in the kingdom of heaven, not in the temple of idols. Therefore, be the body of Christ, not a burden on the body of Christ. You have the fringe of the garment, which you may touch, so that you may be healed from the flux of blood, that is, from the flow of carnal pleasures. You have, I say, the fringe of the garment, which you may touch. Think of the garment as the Apostles, clinging to the sides of Christ by the texture of unity. Among these Apostles was, as it were, the fringe, the least and last Paul: as he himself said, "I am the least of the Apostles." The fringe is the latest and least on the garment. The fringe is looked upon with contempt but touched with salvation. Even to this hour, we hunger and thirst, and we are naked, and we are buffeted. What is so marginal, what is so contemptible? Touch, if you suffer the flow of blood: power will come out from Him whose garment it is, and will heal you. The fringe now proposed to be touched was when it was read from the same Apostle: "For if anyone sees him who has knowledge, reclining in an idol's temple; will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat things sacrificed to idols? And through your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" How do you think men can be deceived by idols, which they think are honored by Christians? "God knows my heart," he says. But your brother does not know your heart. If you are weak, beware of greater sickness; if you are strong, take care of your brother's weakness. Those who see this are emboldened to other things, so that they do not only desire to eat there, but also to sacrifice. Behold, the weak brother perishes through your knowledge. Listen, brother: if you despise the weak, do you also despise the brother? Wake up. What if you sin against Christ Himself? For take heed that you cannot in any way despise Him. "But thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ." Now let those who despise these things go and recline in an idol's temple: will they not be oppressive, not touching? And when they have reclined in the idol's temple, let them come and fill the church, not to receive salvation, but to impose a burden.
Reclining in the idol out of fear of some greater thing.
But you say, "I fear lest I offend someone greater." Indeed, fear lest you offend someone greater; and you do not offend God. For he who fears lest he offend someone greater, see whether he is indeed greater than the one whom you fear to offend. Certainly, do not offend someone greater. This rule is proposed to you. Is it not manifest that he should not be offended who is the greatest among all? Now examine your superiors. First to you are your father and mother: if they educate you rightly, if they nurture you in Christ; they should be listened to in all things, obeyed in every command; they command nothing against the greater one, and they are to be served. Who, you ask, is greater than the one who begot me? He who created you yourself. For man generates, but God creates. From where man generates, he does not know: what he is going to generate, he does not know. He who saw you to make you, before there was one whom he made, is certainly greater than your father. The country is greater than your parents themselves; so that whatever the parents command against the country, they shall not be heard. And whatever the country commands against God, it shall not be heard. For if you wish to be healed, if after the flow of blood, if after twelve years in that disease, if after consuming all things on doctors, and not having received health at any time, you wish to become healthy, O woman, whom I address as a type of the Church, your father commands this, and your people command that. But your Lord says to you: "Forget your people and your father's house." To what good? To what fruit? With what reward? "For the king has desired your beauty." He desired what he made: for that he might make you beautiful, he loved you ugly. For the unfaithful and ugly, he shed his blood; he rendered you faithful and beautiful; he loved his gifts in you. For what did you confer upon your spouse? What dowry did you receive from your former father and former people? Were they not the luxuries and rags of sins? He cast away your rags, tore off your sackcloth: he had mercy to adorn; he adorned to love.
A stumbling block to the brother is a sin against Christ.
What more, brothers? You Christians have heard that by sinning against your brothers, and striking their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Do not disdain, if you do not want to be erased from the book of life. How long shall we strive to speak clearly and pleasantly to you, while our grief forces us to speak in any way, and does not allow us to remain silent? Whoever wishes to despise these matters, sins against Christ; let them see what they are doing. We wish to gather the rest of the pagans; you are stones in the way; those wishing to come stumble and turn back. For they say in their hearts: Why should we abandon the gods, whom even the Christians themselves worship with us? Far be it from me, they say, that I should worship the gods of the Gentiles. I know, I understand, I believe. What are you doing to the weak conscience, which you strike? What are you doing to the price, if you disdain what is bought? See at what great cost it was bought: The weak brother perishes in your knowledge: which you claim to have, to know that an idol is nothing, and you think of God in your mind, and so you sit down at the idol’s table. In this knowledge the weak perishes. And so that you do not disdain the weak, he added, for whom Christ died. Consider who you wish to disdain, his price, and weigh the whole world with the death of Christ. And lest you think that you only sin against the weak, and consider the sin to be light and of little account: You sin, he says, against Christ. For people are wont to say: I sin against a man, surely not against God? Deny that Christ is God. Do you dare to deny that Christ is God? Have you learned anything else, when you were sitting at the idol’s table? The Christian doctrine does not admit this teaching. I ask where you have learned that Christ is not God. Pagans are wont to say this. Do you see what evil tables do? Do you see that bad conversations corrupt good morals? There you cannot speak about the Gospel, and you listen to those speaking about idols. There you lose what Christ is God: and what you drink there, you vomit up in the Church. Perhaps here you dare to speak, perhaps among the crowds you dare to murmur: Was not Christ a man? Was he not crucified? You have learned this from the pagans, you have lost salvation, you have not touched the fringe. Touch and receive salvation. Just as we have taught you to touch it in what is written: Whoever sees his brother sitting at an idol’s table: touch it also concerning the divinity of Christ. He was speaking of the same fringe concerning the Jews: Whose fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is above all, God blessed forever. Behold the true God against whom you sin, while you recline at the tables of false gods.