Augustine, Sermo 171 (De uerbis Apostoli)

SERMON CLXXI. On the words of the Apostle, Rejoice in the Lord always, etc. Phil. 4:4–6.

CHAPTER ONE. — 1. Let joy be in the Lord, not in the world. The Lord is near to us. The Apostle bids us rejoice, but in the Lord, not in the world. For whoever will be a friend of this world, as Scripture says, shall be reckoned an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4). And just as a man cannot serve two masters (Matt. 6:24); so no one can rejoice both in the world and in the Lord. These two joys differ greatly from each other, and are altogether contrary. When there is rejoicing in the world, there is no rejoicing in the Lord: when there is rejoicing in the Lord, there is no rejoicing in the world. Let joy in the Lord prevail, until joy in the world is ended. Let joy in the Lord ever be increased: let joy in the world ever be diminished, until it is ended. These things are not said on this account, that while we are in this world we ought not to rejoice; but that, even placed in this world, we may already rejoice in the Lord. But someone says: I am in the world; surely if I rejoice, I rejoice where I am. What then? because you are in the world, are you not in the Lord? Hear the same apostle speaking to the Athenians, and saying in the Acts of the apostles, concerning God and concerning the Lord our Creator, In Him we live, and move, and are (Acts 17:28). For He who is everywhere, where is He not? Was he not exhorting us to this? The Lord is near, be anxious about nothing. This is a great thing, that He ascended above all the heavens, and is near to those who dwell on earth. Who is this one, far off and near, except Him who by mercy has been made near to us?

CHAPTER II. — 2. The Samaritan who comes to the aid of the wounded man, Christ. For the whole human race is that man who lay in the road half-alive, left by robbers, whom the priest passing by and the Levite despised, and to whom the Samaritan passing by drew near to care for him and to help him. But whence did the occasion arise for Him to narrate this? He reminded a certain man, who was asking what are the best and highest precepts in the Law, that there are two: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. But he [said]: And who is my neighbour? And the Lord narrated, A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He shows him in a certain way to be an Israelite. And he fell among robbers. When they had stripped him, and inflicted grievous blows upon him, they left him in the road half-alive. The priest passed by, surely his neighbour by race, [and] went past him as he lay. There passed by

a Levite, he too a neighbour by race; he also despised him as he lay. There passed by a Samaritan, far off by race, a neighbour by mercy, and he did what you know (Luke 10:25–37). In this Samaritan the Lord Jesus Christ wished Himself to be understood. For Samaritan is interpreted Guardian. Therefore rising from the dead, He dies now no more, and death shall no longer have dominion over Him (Rom. 6:9): because He who guards Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers (Ps. 120:4). Finally, when the Jews were blaspheming with such great insults, they said to Him: Do we not say truly that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? Since, then, there were two insulting words thrown at the Lord, and it had been said to Him, Do we not say truly that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? He could have answered, I am neither a Samaritan, nor do I have a demon: but He answered, I do not have a demon (John 8:48, 49). What He answered, He refuted: what He passed over in silence, He confirmed. He denied that He had a demon, who knew Himself to be the expeller of demons: He did not deny Himself to be the guardian of the weak. Therefore the Lord is near; because the Lord has been made for us into [one who is] near.

CHAPTER III. — 3. By the incarnation God has been made near to man. What is so far off, what so remote, as God from men, the immortal from mortals, the just from sinners? Not far by place, but by unlikeness. For we are accustomed to speak so too, when we say of two men, whenever their characters are different: This one is far from that one. Even if they should stand side by side, even if they should live as close neighbours, even if they should be bound with one chain; the pious man is far from the impious, the innocent is far from the guilty, the just is far from the unjust. If this is said of two men, what of God and men? When therefore, immortal and just, He was far from us, as from mortals and sinners, He came down to us, that He who was far off might be made near to us. And what did He do? Since He Himself had two goods, and we two evils; He two goods, justice and immortality; we two evils, iniquity and mortality: had He taken up both our evils, He would have been made our equal, and would have had need of a liberator together with us. What, then, did He do, that He might be near us? Near, not being this which we are, but close to us. Attend to two [things]: He is just, He is immortal. In your two evils, one is guilt, the other is punishment: the guilt is that you are unjust, the punishment is that you are mortal. He, that He might be near, took up your punishment, He did not take up your guilt: and if He took it up, He took it up to be blotted out, not to be committed. Just and immortal, He was far from the unjust and mortal. A mortal sinner, you were far from the just immortal. He was not made a sinner, which you are: but He was made mortal, which you are. Remaining just, He was made mortal. By taking up the punishment and not taking up the guilt, He blotted out both the guilt and the punishment. The Lord therefore is near, be anxious about nothing. Although He ascended in the body above all the heavens, He has not withdrawn in majesty. He is present everywhere, who made all things.

CHAPTER IV. — 4. Joy in the world. Rejoice in the Lord always. What is joy in the world? To rejoice in iniquity, to rejoice in baseness, to rejoice in disgrace, in deformity. The world rejoices in all these things. And none of these would exist, had men not willed them.

Some things men do, others they suffer — even unwillingly, they bear them. What, then, is this world, and what is the joy of the world? I say, brethren, briefly, as much as I can, as much as God helps; hastily, I say it briefly. The gladness of the world is wickedness unpunished. Let men live in luxury, let them fornicate, let them trifle at the shows, let them be swallowed up in drunkenness, be defiled with baseness, let them suffer no evil: and see there the joy of the world. Let these evils that I have recalled be chastised neither by hunger, nor by fear of war, nor by any fear, nor by any disease, nor by any adversities; but let all things be in abundance of goods, in peace of the flesh, in the security of an evil mind: see, there, the joy of the world. But God does not think as man does: God's thought is one thing, man's another. It belongs to great mercy not to leave wickedness unpunished: and, lest He be forced to condemn to Gehenna at the last, He deigns for now to chastise with the scourge.

CHAPTER V. — 5. Impunity, the greatest vengeance of God. Severity. For do you wish to know how great a punishment no punishment is, not indeed for the just, but for the sinner, for whom there is temporal punishment, lest eternal [punishment] follow? Do you wish then to know how great a punishment no punishment is? Question the Psalm: The sinner has provoked the Lord. He cried out vehemently, he attended, he considered, he cried out: The sinner has provoked the Lord. Why, I beseech you? what did you see? He who cried this out saw the sinner living in luxury with impunity, doing evil, abounding in goods, and he cried out: The sinner has provoked the Lord. Why did you say this? For what did you see? In the greatness of His wrath He does not seek it out (Ps. 9:25). Understand, Christian brethren, the mercy of God. When He chastises the world, He does not wish to condemn the world. In the greatness of His wrath He does not search it out. He does not search it out for this reason, that He is greatly angry. Great is His wrath. By sparing He is fierce, but justly is He fierce. For severity is, as it were, fierce truth. If therefore He is sometimes fierce by sparing, it is good for us that He should come to our aid by chastising. And yet, if we consider the deeds of the human race, what do we suffer? He has not done to us according to our sins (Ps. 102:10). For we are sons. Whence do we prove this? The Only One died for us, lest He should remain one [alone]. He who died alone did not wish to be alone. For the only Son of God has made many sons of God. He bought Himself brothers with His own blood, being rejected He approved them, being sold He redeemed them, being insulted He honoured them, being slain He gave them life. Do you doubt that He will give you His goods, who did not disdain to take up your evils? Therefore, brethren, rejoice in the Lord, not in the world: that is, rejoice in truth, not in iniquity; rejoice in the hope of eternity, not in the flower of vanity. So rejoice: and wherever, and for however long you are here, the Lord is near, be anxious about nothing.