Augustine, Sermones 244-252 (Classis II, de Tempore)

Sermon 244. On the Days of Easter, 15. On the same reading of the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 1-18.

1. Neither the Magdalene nor the apostles believed in the resurrection of Christ. The faith of Peter swallowed up when the Lord suffered. The resurrection of the Lord according to the Gospel of John began to be read today. We have heard, and with the eyes of faith we have seen, the affection of a devout woman towards the Lord Jesus. She was seeking Jesus, but she was still looking for Him as the body of a dead man, and yet she loved Him as a good master. She did not understand that He had risen from the dead, she did not believe; and

because she saw the stone removed from the tomb, believing that the body she was seeking had been taken away from there, she announced to the disciples a thing to be grieved over. Two ran, of whom one was Peter, the other John. For he is the one whom Jesus loved, certainly beyond the rest: for He loved all as Lord. They ran to see whether the woman was speaking the truth, that the body had been taken away from the tomb. They came, they looked, they did not find the body, and they believed. But what did they believe? What they ought not to have believed. So when you heard, And they believed, perhaps you thought that they had believed what they ought to have believed, that is, that the Lord had risen from the dead. They did not believe this, but what the woman had announced. Finally, so that you may know that they believed this, the Evangelist immediately added, and says: For they did not yet know the Scriptures, that He had to rise from the dead. Where is faith? Where is the truth so often attested? Did not the Lord Jesus Himself tell them several times before the passion that He would be handed over, killed, and would rise again? He was still speaking to the deaf. Peter had already said to Him, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." He had already heard, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the underworld shall not overcome it" (Matt. 16:16–18). Such faith was swallowed up when the Lord was crucified. For Peter believed [Him to be] the Son of God just so long as until he saw Him hanging on the wood, until he saw Him fastened with nails, until he saw Him dead, until he saw Him buried. Then he lost what he held. Where is the rock? Where is the firmness of the rock? The rock was Christ Himself, but he was Peter from the rock. Therefore the rock had risen, to make Peter firm: for Peter would have perished, had the rock not lived.

2. Christ is recognized by the Magdalene. A difficulty in the words of the Lord to the Magdalene. Afterwards, however, when the Lord said to the woman, Mary, she turned and recognized Him, and called Him master, Rabboni. The resurrection of the Lord was made manifest to this woman. What then does it mean, Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father? A question astonishing in many ways. First, because He forbade Himself to be touched, as if He could be touched to His harm by one touching Him. Then, because, giving the reason why He did not wish and forbade Himself to be touched, He says, For I have not yet ascended to My Father: as if He were saying, Then you will touch Me, when I have ascended to My Father. She was forbidden to touch Him placed on earth, and when could she touch Him seated in heaven? For I had said, What is, Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father? I add more: When He rose again, as He Himself also says, and the other Evangelists, and as we have already heard when the holy readings were being read, He appeared to His disciples; and when they thought Him a spirit, He said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts rise up into your heart? See My hands and My feet. Handle, and see (Luke 24:37–39). Had He already ascended? He had not yet ascended to His Father, and He said to His disciples, Handle, and see. Where is, Do not touch Me? Here perhaps someone is going to say: He was willing to be touched by men, by

women He was unwilling. If He shrank from woman, He would not be born of a woman. Nevertheless, whatever this is that can raise some sort of question, so that it might be said that the Lord, before He ascended to the Father, was willing to be touched by men and unwilling by women, the evangelist Matthew speaks. For he himself related that women met the Lord as He rose again, among whom was Mary herself too, and that they held His feet (Matt. 28:9). The question has been pressed in many ways, what is meant by: Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father. All that I have said, I have said to this end, that the difficulty of the question might be increased: you see it is strong, and as if insoluble. May the Lord help me, that it may be solved. He who deigned to set it forth, may He deign to expound it. Pray with me for success: your ears to me, your heart to Him. What He deigns to suggest to me, I shall share with you. Let him who understands better teach me: I am a teacher in such a way as not to be unteachable. But let him who does not understand better hear from me what I understand.

3. What the disciples' faith concerning Christ was like before the resurrection. What is to be believed about Christ. To touch Christ is to believe in Him. What kind of touch of faith Christ requires. The Lord Jesus, as we have heard, as is evident, the disciples thought to be a man, and they weighed their faith according to this: they did not raise it higher. They walked on earth with Christ. What He had been made for our sake, this they knew: that He made us, they did not know. Christ Himself is both the maker and the made. See the maker: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him." See the made: "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 2, 3, 14). We see Jesus therefore, but with the faith of the Apostles already preached to us. What we know, they did not yet know. I do them no wrong. I do not dare to call them ignorant: but yet I see them confessing ignorance. They did not know, afterwards they learned, what we now know. Christ both God and man, Christ both maker of things and made among things, Christ both creator of man and created man, we know; they not yet. God the Christ is equal to the Father: He is as great as that One: He is such as that One: He is what that One is; He is not who that One is. He is what that One is; because that One is God, and this One is God; that One almighty, and this One almighty; that One immutable, and this One immutable: He is what that One is. He is not who that One is; because that One is the Father, this One the Son. Whoever knows this, for him He has ascended to the Father: whoever does not know this, for him Christ has not yet ascended to the Father; He is a little one with him, He is on earth with him, He is not yet, for him, equal to the Almighty. For the one who makes progress He ascends; with him who makes progress He ascends. What then is: Do not touch Me? Touch signifies faith. For by touching one approaches him who is touched. Look at that woman who suffered from a flow of blood. She said in her heart: I shall be healed, if I touch the fringe of His garment (Matt. 9:21). She approached and touched, she was healed. What

is it, She approached and touched? She drew near and believed. That you may know that she touched by believing, the Lord said: Someone touched Me. What is, Someone touched Me, except, Someone believed in Me? And that you may know that this, Someone touched Me, is the same as, Someone believed in Me: The disciples answered and said to Him: The crowds press upon You, and You say, Who touched Me (Luke 8:45–46)? If You were walking alone, if the crowd had made room for You to walk, if no one were next to You, You would rightly say, Someone touched Me. The crowd presses upon You, and You mention one person touching. And He repeated, Someone touched Me. For first He had said, Who touched Me? and afterwards, Someone touched Me. You know, for you say, The crowds press upon You. Someone touched Me. That crowd knows how to press, it does not know how to touch. It is clear that He wished to signify this by saying, Who touched Me? Someone touched Me: so that we may believe that touch to be the faith of the one touching, or rather the approach of the one believing. What then does it mean, Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father? What you see Me to be, that you think Me to be: I have not yet ascended to the Father. You see Me as a man, you think Me a man: I am indeed a man, but let not your faith stop here. Do not touch Me in such a way that you believe Me to be only a man. For I have not yet ascended to My Father. I ascend to My Father, and touch Me: that is, make progress, understand Me to be equal to the Father, and then touch, and you will be saved. Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to My Father. That I descended you see; that I ascended you do not yet see. For I have not yet ascended to My Father. I emptied Myself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in appearance as a man. This was crucified, this was buried, this was raised again. But that other, Though He was in the form of God, He did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil. 2:7, 6), you do not yet see. That I ascended you do not yet see. Do not, by touching the earth, lose heaven: do not, by remaining in the man, fail to believe in God. Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

4. The Arians and the Photinians do not touch Christ with right faith. Let the Arian come forward: first let the Photinian come forward. We answer the Photinian: Do not touch. What is, Do not touch? Do not believe thus: for you Christ has not yet ascended to the Father. Let the Arian come forward. I, he says, believe Christ to be God, but lesser. For you too He has not yet ascended to the Father. When He has ascended to the Father, stretch yourself out, so that you may touch: stretch yourself out, touch God. I too, he says, profess Him God; but of another nature and of another substance; created, not He through Whom all things were created; made, not the Word in the beginning without time. You are therefore still below; for you He has not yet ascended to the Father. Do you wish that He ascend to the Father for you? Believe: Though He was in the form of God, He did not think it robbery to be equal to God. It was not robbery, because it was nature. Robbery is usurped, nature is recognized. In the form of God He did not think it robbery to be equal to God. So He was born, and ever