HOMILY VII. Delivered to the people in the basilica of Saint Peter the Apostle, on the Fourth Sunday of the Advent of the Lord.
READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN. At that time, the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to John, to ask him: Who are you? And he confessed, and did not deny. And he confessed: I am not the Christ. And they asked him: What then? Are you Elijah? And he said: I am not. Are you the Prophet? And he answered: No. Therefore they said to him: Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. And those who had been sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him: Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet? John answered them, saying: I baptize in water; but there has stood in your midst one whom you do not know. He it is who is to come after me, who was made before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
From the words of this reading, dearest brothers, the humility of John is commended to us, who, though he was of such great virtue that he could have been believed to be Christ, chose to stand firmly in himself, lest he be carried away vainly above himself by human opinion. For he confessed and did not deny, and he confessed: "I am not the Christ." But because he said "I am not," he plainly denied what he was not, but did not deny what he was, so that by speaking the truth he might become a member of Him whose name he would not falsely claim for himself. Therefore, because he did not wish to grasp at the name of Christ, he became a member of Christ, since by striving to acknowledge his weakness humbly, he merited to truly obtain His loftiness. But when the statement of our Redeemer from another reading is brought to mind, a very complex question arises for us from the words of this reading. For in another place, when asked by his disciples about the coming of Elijah, the Lord replied: "Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. And if you wish to know, John himself is Elijah." But when John was asked, he says: "I am not Elijah." What is this, dearest brothers, that what Truth affirms, the prophet of Truth denies? For "He is" and "I am not" are very different from each other. How then is he a prophet of Truth if he does not agree with the words of that same Truth? But if the truth itself is carefully examined, what sounded contradictory between them is found not to be contradictory. For the angel says to Zechariah concerning John: "He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah." He is said to be coming in the spirit and power of Elijah because just as Elijah will precede the second coming of the Lord, so John preceded the first. Just as the former will be the precursor of the Judge, so the latter was made the precursor of the Redeemer. John therefore was Elijah in spirit; he was not Elijah in person. What the Lord therefore declares concerning the spirit, John denies concerning the person, since it was also fitting that the Lord should speak to his disciples a spiritual statement about John, and that John should answer the carnal crowds not about his spirit but about his body. Therefore what John said seems to be contrary to truth, yet he did not depart from the path of truth.
When he also denies that he is a prophet, because evidently he was able not only to preach the Redeemer but also to demonstrate him, he immediately expresses who he is when he adds: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. You know, dearest brothers, that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father, as John testifies when he says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And from your own manner of speaking you recognize that the voice sounds first, so that the word may afterward be heard. Therefore John asserts that he is the voice, because he precedes the Word. And so, going before the coming of the Lord, he is called a voice, because through his ministry the Word of the Father is heard by men. He also cries out in the wilderness, because he announces the comfort of the Redeemer to abandoned and forsaken Judea. But what he cries out he indicates when he adds: Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said. The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when the word of truth is humbly heard. The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when one's life is prepared according to his commandment. Hence it is written: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Therefore whoever raises his mind in pride, whoever pants with the fevers of avarice, whoever defiles himself with the pollutions of lust, closes the door of his heart against the truth; and lest the Lord come to him, he condemns the gates of his soul with the bars of vices.
But still those who were sent inquire further: "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Because this was said not from a desire to learn the truth, but from the malice of pursuing rivalry, the Evangelist silently made known when he added, saying: "And those who had been sent were from the Pharisees." As if he openly said: Those men inquire of John about his actions who do not know how to seek teaching, but only how to envy. But every holy person, even when questioned with a perverse mind, is not changed from his pursuit of goodness. Hence John also responded to the words of envy with proclamations of life. For immediately he adds: "I baptize in water; but there has stood in your midst one whom you do not know." John baptizes not with the Spirit, but with water, because, not being able to forgive sins, he washes the bodies of the baptized through water, but nevertheless does not wash the mind through pardon. Why then does he baptize who does not remit sins through baptism, unless, preserving the order of his role as precursor, he who had preceded by being born the one who was to be born, might also precede by baptizing the Lord who was to baptize; and he who by preaching became the precursor of Christ, might also become his precursor in baptizing through imitation of the sacrament? Who, announcing the mystery amid these things, asserts that he both stood in the midst of men and was unknown, because the Lord appearing through flesh both existed visible in body and invisible in majesty. Of whom he also adds: "He who comes after me was made before me." For it is said thus: "Made before me," as if it were said, "Placed before me." Therefore he comes after me, because he was born afterward; but he was made before me, because he was preferred to me. But saying these things a little earlier, he also opened the reasons for his preference when he added: "Because he was before me." As if he openly said: Hence he surpasses me even though born after me, because the times of his birth do not confine him. For he who is born in time through a mother was begotten without time from the Father. He shows by adding with what great reverence of humility he is indebted to him: "Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." The custom among the ancients was that if someone did not wish to take as wife the one who was suited to him, he who came as bridegroom by right of kinship to her would untie his sandal. What then did Christ appear as among men, if not the bridegroom of holy Church? Of whom the same John also says: "He who has the bride is the bridegroom." But because men thought John was the Christ, which the same John denies, he rightly declares himself unworthy to untie the strap of his sandal. As if he openly said: I am unable to uncover the footsteps of our Redeemer, because I do not undeservedly usurp for myself the name of bridegroom. This however can also be understood in another way. For who does not know that sandals are made from dead animals? But the Lord coming incarnate appeared as if shod, because in his divinity he assumed the dead flesh of our corruption. Hence also through the Prophet he says: "Over Edom I will extend my sandal." For by Edom the Gentile world is signified, and by the sandal the assumed mortality is designated. Therefore the Lord asserts that he extends his sandal over Edom, because when he became known to the Gentiles through flesh, divinity came to us as if shod. But the human eye does not suffice to penetrate this mystery of the incarnation. For it can in no way be investigated how the Word becomes embodied, how the supreme and life-giving Spirit is animated within the womb of a mother, how he who has no beginning both exists and is conceived. The strap of the sandal therefore is the binding of the mystery. And so John is not able to untie the strap of his sandal, because he does not suffice to investigate even the mystery of his incarnation, he who recognized it through the spirit of prophecy. What therefore does it mean to say: "I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal," except openly and humbly to profess one's own ignorance? As if he plainly said: What wonder if he is preferred to me, whom I consider indeed born after me, but whose mystery of birth I do not comprehend? Behold John, filled with the spirit of prophecy, shines forth with wondrous knowledge, and yet he intimates concerning himself that which he does not know.
In this matter we must consider, dearest brothers, and reflect with all our attention how holy men, in order to preserve in themselves the virtue of humility, when they know certain things wonderfully, strive to recall before the eyes of their mind what they do not know, so that while they consider their weakness in one respect, their spirit may not be exalted in that respect in which it is perfect. For knowledge is a virtue, but humility is the guardian of virtue. It remains therefore that in all that it knows the mind should humble itself, lest the wind of pride carry away what the virtue of knowledge has gathered. When you do good things, brothers, always recall to memory the evil things you have done, so that while fault is carefully observed, the mind may never carelessly rejoice in good work. Consider as your superiors one another, especially those who are not committed to your charge, your neighbors, because even those whom you see doing certain wicked things—you do not know what good things may lie hidden in them. Therefore let each one strive to be great, but yet in some way not know that he is, lest while he arrogantly attributes greatness to himself, he lose it. For hence it is said through the prophet: "Woe to you who are wise in your own eyes, and prudent before yourselves." Hence Paul says: "Be not wise in your own eyes." Hence against the proud Saul it is said: "When you were little in your own eyes, you were made head among the tribes of Israel." As if it were openly said: When you saw yourself as little, I made you great above others. But because you now see yourself as great, you are esteemed little by me. On the contrary, when David despised the power of his kingdom by dancing before the ark of the Lord's covenant, he said: "I will play and become more vile than I have become, and I will be humble in my own eyes." For whom would it not exalt to break the jaws of lions, to tear apart the arms of bears, to be chosen while his elder brothers were passed over, to be anointed to the governance of the kingdom when the previous king was rejected, to strike down Goliath—fearsome to all—with a single stone, to bring back the numerous foreskins proposed by the king after slaying the foreigners, to receive the kingdom by promise, and afterward to possess the entire Israelite people without any opposition? And yet in all these things he despises himself, who confesses that he is humble in his own eyes. If therefore holy men, even when they do mighty deeds, think lowly of themselves, what will those say in their own excuse who swell with pride without any virtuous work? But even if any good works are present, they are nothing unless they are seasoned with humility. For a wondrous deed accompanied by pride does not elevate but weighs down. For he who gathers virtues without humility carries dust in the wind; and from the very source whence he seems to carry something, he is more grievously blinded. In all things that you do, therefore, my brothers, hold fast to humility as the root of good work; and look not to those to whom you are already superior, but to those to whom you are still inferior, so that while you set before yourselves the examples of better persons, you may always be able to ascend to greater things through humility.