Augustine, Sermones 234-243 (Classis II, de Tempore)

punishment, to confidence a reward is rendered. For those shall go into everlasting burning, but the just into life everlasting (Matt. 25:46). Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 236. On the Days of Easter, 7. On the same reading of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, verses 13-31.

1. The death of Christ was for one thing, and the resurrection for another. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle says, died for our offences, and rose again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). As by His death we are sown, so by His resurrection we spring up. For by His death is signified the death of our life. On this matter hear the Apostle: We are buried together, he says, with Christ through Baptism into death, that just as Christ rose from the dead, so we also may walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). He had nothing to amend on the cross, because He went up onto the cross without sin. Let us be amended on His cross, and let us lay down there what we have wickedly contracted, so that we may be able to be justified by His resurrection. For you ought to distinguish thus: He was delivered up for our offences, and rose again for our justification. He did not say: He was delivered up for our justification, and rose again for our offences. In His being delivered up, offence sounds forth; in His resurrection, justice sounds forth. Therefore let offence die, and let justice rise again.

2. Hope taken from the disciples by the death of Christ. This hope, this gift, this promise, this so great grace, His disciples lost from their mind when Christ died, and in His death they fell away from hope. See, His resurrection was being announced to them, and the words of those announcing it seemed to them like raving. The truth had become like raving. If at any time in this present age the resurrection is preached, and it seems to someone to be raving, do not all say that he has a great torment? Do not all detest, shrink from, turn away, close their ears, refuse to hear? See what the disciples were when Christ had died: what we shudder at, that they were. The rams had this evil, which the lambs shudder at. Then those two to whom He appeared on the way, and whose eyes were held so that they should not recognize Him: where their heart was, their words show; and of what goes on in the mind the voice is a witness, but to us, for to Him even the heart lay open. They were speaking among themselves about His death. He Himself joined Himself to them as a third traveller; and, the Way on the way, He began to converse with them, He mingled in their talk. He asks what they were speaking of among themselves, though He knew all things; so that

He might draw them out to a confession, as though He did not know. And they say to Him: Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and do you not know what has been done in it in these days, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a great prophet? Now not Lord, but prophet. For this is what they thought He had been, since He had died. They still honoured Him as a prophet; they did not yet recognize Him as Lord, not only of the Prophets, but also of the Angels. How, they say, our elders and the chief priests handed Him over to the condemnation of death. And behold, it is now the third day since these things were done. But we were hoping that He was the one who would redeem Israel. Is that the whole of the trouble? You were hoping, and now you despair? You see that they had lost hope. So He began to expound the Scriptures to them, so that they might recognize Christ there above all where they had abandoned Christ. For this is why they had despaired of Christ, because they had seen Him dead. But He opened the Scriptures to them, so that they might recognize that if He had not died, He could not be the Christ. He taught from Moses, He taught from the Scriptures that follow, He taught from the Prophets, what He had told them, That the Christ had to die, and so enter into His glory. They listened, they rejoiced, they sighed; and, as they themselves confessed, they were burning: and they did not recognize the light that was present.

3. The merit of hospitality. But what a mystery is this, my brothers? He goes in to them, He becomes their guest; and He Who was not recognized along the whole way is recognized in the breaking of bread. Learn to receive guests, where Christ is recognized. Or do you not know that if you receive any Christian, you receive Him? Does He not Himself say, I was a stranger, and you received Me? And when it is said to Him, Lord, when did we see Thee a stranger? He replies, When you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it to Me (Matt. 25:35, 38, 40). So when a Christian receives a Christian, members serve members; and the Head rejoices, and counts as given to Himself whatever has been bestowed on His member. Here, then, let Christ be fed when hungry, receive drink when thirsty, be clothed when naked, be taken in when a stranger, be visited when sick. This is what the necessity of the journey requires. So must one live in this pilgrimage, where Christ is in need. He is in need in His own, He is full in Himself. But He Who is in need in His own, and is full in Himself, draws the needy to Himself. There, there will be no hunger, there will be no thirst, there will be no nakedness, there will be no sickness, there will be no pilgrimage, there will be no toil, there will be no pain. I know that these things will not be there, and I do not know what will be there. For the things that will not be there, I know: but that which we shall find there, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). We can love, we can desire, in this pilgrimage we can sigh for so great a good: to think of it worthily and to set it out in words, we cannot. Certainly I cannot. So, my brothers, seek who can. If you can find him; draw me too along with you as a disciple. This I know, that He Who is able, as the Apostle says, to do beyond what we ask or understand (Eph. 3:20), will bring us there, where what is written may come to pass, Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, unto ages of ages they will praise Thee (Ps. 83:5). Our whole business will be the praise of God. What shall we praise, if we do not love;

and we shall love that which we shall see? For we shall see the truth, and that very truth will be God, Whom we shall praise. There we shall find what we have sung today: Amen, It is true; Alleluia, Praise the Lord.

Sermon 237. On the Easter days, 8. On the last reading of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24:37-39; with a refutation of the Manichaeans.

Chapter I. — 1. The Manichaeans are like the disciples who thought they were seeing a spirit, not the flesh of Christ. By denying the flesh of Christ they empty out the whole mystery of our redemption. What followed in the Gospel according to Luke concerning the resurrection of the Lord has been completed today, where we heard that the Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples as they were disputing about His resurrection and not believing. So unexpected and incredible was it to them that even seeing they did not see. For they saw alive Him Whom they had mourned as dead; they saw standing in their midst Him Whom they had grieved over hanging on the cross. So they saw; and because they did not believe their own eyes, so as to see the truth, they thought they were being deceived. For they supposed, as you have heard, that they were seeing a spirit. What the worst heretics afterwards believed about Christ, the wavering Apostles believed first. For there are those today who do not believe that Christ had flesh: for they both do away with the virgin's childbearing and refuse to believe that He was born of a woman. The Word was made flesh (John 1:14) they utterly estrange from their faith, or rather from their unbelief. This whole dispensation of our salvation, that He Who as God had made man was made man for the finding of man; all this, that Christ shed true, not false, blood for the remission of our sins, and with His own true blood blotted out the bond of our sins: all this the damnable heretics try to empty out. All this, as the Manichaeans believe, which appeared to the eyes of men, was spirit, was not flesh.

Chapter II. — 2. Those who say that He was spirit without flesh think no better of Christ. See, the Gospel speaks. The Lord was standing among His disciples, who did not yet believe that He had risen. They saw Him, and thought they were seeing a spirit. If there is nothing evil in believing that Christ was spirit, not flesh; if there is nothing evil in it, let the disciples be left in that opinion. Pay attention, so that you may understand what I wish to say: and may God grant that I say it, that is, that I say it in the way that it is profitable for you to hear. See, I repeat this very thing. Sometimes these detestable people, who detest the flesh and live according to the flesh, sometimes they say this, and so they deceive:

Who believe better about Christ: those who say that He had flesh, or we who say, He was God, He was spirit, and to the eyes of men it was not a body but God that appeared? Which is better, flesh or spirit? What are we going to answer, except that spirit is better than flesh? If therefore, he says, you confess that spirit is better than flesh, I think better about Christ, since I say that He was spirit, not flesh. O unhappy error! Why? Do I say that Christ was flesh? You say spirit; I say spirit and flesh. You do not say better, but you say less. Hear therefore the whole of what I say: that is, what the catholic faith says, what the most firmly founded and most serene truth says. You who say that Christ was spirit only; what our spirit also is, that is, our soul, this you say Christ only was: hear what you are saying. I say what you say. He was Himself spirit of that nature and substance from which our spirit also is. Pay attention to how much less you say. The Word was there, flesh was there. You say: A human spirit alone. I say: Word, spirit, body; God and man. If I do not wish to say two, if I do not wish to say two things, I use this abridgement: God and man. Both true God and true man. Nothing false in the humanity, nothing false in the divinity. But if you ask me about the man himself, again I say two: a human soul and human flesh. You are a man by reason of soul and flesh; He [is] Christ by reason of God and man. Behold what I say.

3. The error of the Manichaeans condemned in the reproof of the disciples. The disciples, thinking that they saw a spirit, are reproved. But you think that you speak better, because you say: It was a spirit, a spirit appeared, a spirit was seen, a spirit went about in a man. This you say: as I have said, this the disciples too thought. If you say nothing evil, if what you say is good, then what the disciples thought was good too. If the Lord left them thus, so that they should think this, you too are to be let go. For they believed what you also believe: if what you believe is good, what they believed was good. But it was not good.

Chapter III. — The Lord said to them, Why are you troubled? Perturbation believed what you believe. What? They thought that they saw a spirit. And the Lord to this: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts rise up into your heart? These thoughts are earthly. For if they were heavenly, they would come down into the heart, not rise up. For why is it said to us, Heart upward, unless so that our heart, which we have set upward, may not find earthly thoughts before it? Therefore, Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts rise up into your heart? See My hands and My feet, handle and see (Luke 24:38–39). If it is too little for you to look, put out your hands. If it is too little to look, and touching is not enough, handle. Nor did He say only, Touch; but Handle and feel. Let your hands prove to themselves whether your eyes are lying: Handle and see, have eyes in your hands. What are you to handle, and what to see? For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have (Luke 24:39). You were erring with the disciples; be corrected with the disciples. It is human, I grant. You think Christ a spirit: so did Peter, so did the others who thought that they saw a spirit; but they did not remain in that error, so that

you may know for certain that this was in their hearts. The Physician did not leave them so: He came near, He applied medicine: He saw wounds in their hearts; and to have the means of curing the wounds of hearts, He bore scars in His body.

Chapter IV. — 4. What is to be believed concerning Christ. The Word of God. In the Incarnation He took up the whole man. Let us therefore believe thus. I know that you do believe thus; but lest perhaps there be some bad weed in this field of the Lord, I address also those whom I do not see. Let no one believe anything concerning Christ except what Christ willed to be believed of Himself: before Whom it is expedient for us that we believe what He willed to be believed of Himself, Who redeemed us, Who sought our salvation, Who shed His blood for us; Who for us bore what was not owed to Him, Who brought to us what was not owed to us: this let us believe. What is Christ? The Son of God, the Word of God. What is the Word of God? That which cannot be told by the word of man, that is the Word of God. You ask me what the Word of God is. If I wished to tell you what the word of man is, I do not explain it, I grow weary, I hesitate, I give way; I cannot explain the power of the human word. See, before I say to you what I wish to say, the word is already in my heart; it has not yet been spoken by me, and yet it is with me: it is spoken by me, and it reaches you, and it does not depart from me. You are attending, so as to hear a word from me; I feed your minds when I speak. You would divide the food among you, if I brought it to your bellies, and it would not reach each one whole; but the more of you there are, the more pieces you would divide what I set before you into, and the less each one would receive, the greater the multitude of those receiving. Now, however, I have brought food to minds; I say, Take, receive, eat: you have taken, you have eaten, and you have not divided it. Whatever I speak is both whole for all and whole for each. See how it cannot be sufficiently explained how much power the word of man has: and you say to me, What is the Word of God? The Word of God feeds so many thousands of Angels. For with the mind they are fed, with the mind they are filled. He fills the Angels, fills the world, fills a virgin's womb: neither is He spread out there, nor is He narrowed here. What is the Word of God? Let Him say it Himself: He speaks briefly of Himself; but what He says is great: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). I do not want you to count, weigh the words. What then? Many words do not suffice for explaining one Word. The Word, therefore, which cannot be explained, was made flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:14). He took up the whole, as it were the full, man, the soul and body of a man. And if you wish to hear something more precisely; since even a beast has a soul and flesh: when I say a human soul and human flesh, [I mean] He took up a whole human soul. For there were those who made a heresy out of this, and said that the soul of Christ did not have a mind, did not have an intellect, did not have reason; but the Word of God was for Him in place of mind, in place of intellect, in place of reason. I do not want you to believe thus. He Who created the whole redeemed the whole: the Word took up the whole, set free the whole. There was the mind of a man and intellect, there the soul giving life to the flesh; there the flesh true and entire: sin alone not there.