Augustine, Sermones 131-137 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

came to the house, and in the courtyard he was wearied; he was standing by the fire, and he was cold: he stood by the fire, he froze with a cold fear. Questioned by a maidservant, he denied Christ once: questioned again, he denied: questioned a third time, he denied (Matt. 26:69–74). Thanks be to God that the questioning ceased: had the questioning not ceased, the denial would have been repeated for a long time. So after He rose, then He strengthened them, then they became spiritual. So did they then no longer have sin? The spiritual Apostles wrote spiritual Epistles, they sent them to the Churches: they had no sin, you say. I do not believe you; I ask them themselves. Tell us, holy Apostles, after the Lord rose and strengthened you with the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, did you cease to have sin? Tell us, I beseech you. Let us listen, so that sinners may not despair, may not cease to ask God, since they are not without sin. Tell us. One of them speaks. And who? The one whom the Lord loved more, and who reclined upon the Lord's breast (John 13:23), and drank in the secret of the kingdom of heaven which he was to pour forth. Him I ask: Do you have sin, or not? He answers and says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Now that John is the one who said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (ibid. 1:1). See how much he had passed beyond in order to reach the Word. Such and so great a man, who flew like an eagle above the clouds, who with serenity of mind discerned In the beginning was the Word: he himself said, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity (1 John 1:8–9). Therefore pray.

Sermon 136. On the same reading of the Gospel of John, on the giving of sight to the man born blind. Chapter 9.

1. The giving of sight to the man born blind. We have heard the reading of the holy Gospel which we are accustomed to hear; but it is good to be reminded; it is good to renew the memory from the lethargy of forgetfulness. Indeed, a very old reading delighted us as though it were new. Christ gave sight to a man blind from birth: why do you marvel? Christ is the Saviour: by a kindness He gave back what He had left undone in the womb. But when He did not make eyes for him, He was certainly not making a mistake; rather, He was deferring it for a miracle. Perhaps you say: How do you know? I heard it from Him Himself: He said it just now; we heard it together. For when His disciples questioned Him and said, Lord, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? what He answered you heard with me: Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God may be shown in him. See why He deferred it when He did not make the eyes. He did not do what He might have done; He did not do what He knew He would do when it was fitting. And do not think,

brethren, that his parents had no sin, or that he himself did not, when he was born, contract original sin, the sin for whose remission infants are baptized unto the remission of sins. But that blindness was not on account of the sin of the parents, it was not on account of his own sin; but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. For all of us, when we were born, drew original sin; and yet we were not born blind. Inquire carefully: we too were born blind. For who was not born blind? But in the heart. The Lord Jesus, however, because He had created both, healed both.

2. The error of the blind man, who thought that sinners are not heard. You have seen this blind man with the eyes of faith, you have seen him also seeing after being blind: but you have heard him erring. In what this blind man erred, I tell you: first, that he thought Christ a prophet, and did not know the Son of God. Next we heard one answer of his that was altogether false: for he says, We know that God does not hear sinners. If God does not hear sinners, what hope have we? If God does not hear sinners, why do we pray, and declare the testimony of our sin by the beating of the breast? Where indeed is that Publican, who went up into the temple with the Pharisee, and while that Pharisee was boasting and parading his merits, he, standing afar off, with his eyes fixed on the ground and beating his breast, confessed his sins? And this man, who confessed his sins, went down from the temple justified rather than that Pharisee (Luke 18:10–14). Certainly God hears sinners. But he who said these things had not yet washed the face of his heart in Siloam. In his eyes the sacrament had gone before: but in his heart the benefit of grace had not yet been effected. When did this blind man wash the face of his heart? When the Lord, after he had been cast out by the Jews, took him in to Himself. For He found him, and said to him, as we have heard: Do you believe in the Son of God? And he: Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? Certainly he already saw with his eyes: did he already see with his heart? Not yet. Wait: presently he will see. Jesus answered him: I am He, Who speaks with you. Did he doubt? At once he washed his face. For Siloam was speaking with him, which is interpreted Sent. Who is the Sent, if not Christ? Who often testified, saying, I do the will of My Father, Who sent Me (John 4:34; 5:30, and 6:38). Therefore He Himself was Siloam. The blind man drew near with his heart, he heard, he believed, he worshipped: he washed his face, he saw.

3. The blindness of the Jews, who slanderously charged that the sabbath was broken by Christ. But those who cast him out remained blind, since they slandered the Lord because it was the sabbath when He made clay from spittle and anointed the eyes of the blind man. For when the Lord healed by a word, the Jews slandered openly. For He did not perform any work on the sabbath when He spoke, and it was done. It was open slander: they slandered Him for commanding, they slandered Him for speaking; as if they themselves did not speak on the sabbath. I can say that they speak not only on no sabbath, but on no day, since they have departed from the praises of the true God. Nevertheless, as I said, brethren, it was open slander. The Lord said to a man, Stretch out your

hand, and he was made sound, and they brought false charges because He was healing on the sabbath (Matt. 12:10–14). What did He do? What work did He perform? What burden did He carry? But now, to spit on the ground, to make mud, and to anoint the man's eyes is to work. Let no one doubt it: it was working. The Lord was breaking the sabbath, but He was not therefore guilty. What is it that I said, He was breaking the sabbath? The Light Himself had come; He was removing the shadows. For the sabbath was commanded by the Lord God, commanded by Christ Himself, Who was with the Father when that Law was being given: it was commanded by Him, but in the shadow of what was to come. Therefore let no one judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of the new moon, or of sabbaths, which is a shadow of things to come (Col. 2:16–17). He had come Whose coming these things were announcing. Why do shadows delight you? Jews, open your eyes: the sun is present. We know. What do you know, O you who are blind in heart? What do you know? That this man is not from God, Who thus breaks the sabbath. The sabbath, you wretched men, the sabbath itself proclaimed Christ, Whom you say is not from God. You observe the sabbath carnally; you do not have the spittle of Christ. Notice in the ground of the sabbath the spittle of Christ as well, and you will understand that Christ was prophesied through the sabbath. But you, because you do not have the spittle of Christ in the ground upon your eyes, have therefore not come to Siloam, and have not washed your face, and have remained blind; to the good of His blind man, nay rather no longer blind, neither in flesh nor in heart. He received mud in spittle, his eyes were anointed, he went to Siloam, he washed his face, he believed in Christ, he saw, he did not remain in that very terrible judgement: For judgement I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

4. How the blindness of the Jews was increased by the coming of Christ. A great terror! That those who do not see may see: good. It is the office of the Saviour, it is the profession of medicine, That those who do not see may see. What is it, Lord, that Thou hast added, That those who see may become blind? If we understand it, it is most true and most right. Yet what is meant by those who see? They are the Jews. So they see? According to their own words they see; according to the truth they do not see. What then does they see mean? They think they see, they believe they see. For they believed they saw when they were defending the Law against Christ. We know: so they see. What does We know mean, if not, we see? What does that this man is not from God, because He thus breaks the sabbath mean? They are seeing men: they used to read what the Law said. For it was commanded that whoever broke the sabbath should be stoned (Num. 15:36). Therefore they said that this man was not from God; but the seeing men were blind, because into judgement there came into the world that One Who is to be the Judge of the living and the dead. Why did He come? That those who do not see may see: that those who confess that they do not see may be enlightened. And that those who see may become blind: that is, that those who do not confess their blindness may be hardened more grievously. Finally it was fulfilled, Let those who see become blind: the defenders of the Law, the expounders of the Law, the teachers of the Law, the interpreters of the Law crucified the Author of the Law. O blindness! It is the very one that has befallen Israel in part. That Christ might be crucified, and the fullness of the Gentiles might enter, blindness befell Israel in part. What does That those who do not see may see mean? That the fullness of the Gentiles might enter, blindness befell Israel in part (Rom. 11:25). The whole world

was lying blind: but He came, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. He was not recognized by the Jews, He was crucified by the Jews: from His own blood He made eye-salve for the blind. Having become harder, having become blind, those who boasted that they saw the light crucified the Light. How great a blindness! They killed the Light: but the crucified Light enlightened the blind.

5. The testimony of Paul concerning the powerlessness of the Law and the blindness of the Jews. Hear one who sees, who was blind. Behold, against what a cross they wickedly stumbled, who were unwilling to confess their blindness to the physician. The Law had remained to them. What does the Law do without grace? O wretched men! what did the Law do without grace. What does earth do without the spittle of Christ? What does the Law do without grace, except make men more guilty? Why? Because they were hearers of the Law and not doers, and through this sinners, transgressors. The boy of the hostess of the man of God died, and the staff was sent by means of the servant, and it was placed upon his face, and he did not come back to life. What does the Law do without grace? The Apostle, already seeing, already enlightened from being blind, what does he say? For if a Law had been given which could give life, righteousness would wholly be from the Law. Attend: let us answer, and let us say: what is it that he said? If a Law had been given which could give life, righteousness would wholly be from the Law. If it could not give life, to what end was it given? Following on, he added: But Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise from the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:21–22). The promise of enlightenment, the promise of love from the faith of Jesus Christ, that it might be given to those who believe: that Scripture, that is, the Law, shut up all things under sin. What is 'shut up all things under sin'? I did not know concupiscence, unless the Law had said, You shall not covet (Rom. 7:7). What is 'Scripture shut up all things under sin'? It made the offender a transgressor as well. For it could not heal the sinner. It shut up all things under sin: but with what hope? With the hope of grace, with the hope of mercy. You received the Law; you wanted to do it, you could not: you fell from pride, you saw your sickness. Run to the physician, wash your face. Long for Christ, confess Christ, believe in Christ: the Spirit is added to the letter, and you will be saved. For if you take the Spirit away from the letter, the letter kills: if it kills, where is hope? But the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).

6. What Elisha foreshadows by sending his staff ahead and then coming himself to raise the dead. Let Gehazi, then, the servant of Elisha, receive the staff, as Moses the servant of God received the Law. Let him receive the staff, let him receive it, let him run, let him go before, let him arrive first, let him place the staff upon the face of the dead boy. And so it was done: he received it, he ran, he placed the staff upon the face of the dead boy. But to what purpose? for whom the staff? If a Law had been given which could give life, the boy would have been raised to life by the staff: but because Scripture shut up all things under sin, he still lies dead. But why did it shut up all things under sin? That the promise from the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Let Elisha come, then, who sent the staff by the servant to prove the dead [boy to be dead]: let him come himself, himself let him come, himself let him enter the woman's lodging, let him go up to the boy, let him find him dead,