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

born; both born, and ever born, and born without beginning. What do you say, Arian? "There was a time when the Son was not." Do you see that He has not yet ascended to the Father for you? Do not touch, do not believe thus. There is no time between the Father and the Son. The Father begot, the Son was born: He begot without time, He was born without time, He through Whom times were made. Touch thus, and He has ascended to the Father for you. The Word, but co-eternal with God; the Wisdom of God, but without which the Father never was. Your flesh is going to answer you, and will converse with you, and will say to you in the darkness: How was He born? It is darkness that speaks with you. "Let it be explained to me," you cry: I cry, "Let it be explained to me." What do you want explained? Was He born, or not born? For He would not be the Son unless He were born. If therefore He was born, there was a time when He was not. This is false: you speak earth, you speak from the earth. "Explain to me, then," he says, "how He was born, if He always was." I do not explain it, I do not explain it; I cannot. I do not explain it: but I set the prophet against you on my behalf: His generation who shall declare? (Isa. 53:8)

Sermon 245. On the Days of Easter, 16. On the same reading of the Gospel, John, chapter 20, verses 1-18.

Chapter I. — 1. The Apostles did not believe that Christ had risen. Today too the resurrection of the Lord has been read out from the holy Gospel. And the Gospel read was that according to John. We have heard things which we had not heard in the other books of the Gospel. To all of them indeed the preaching of the truth is common, and all have drunk from one spring: but in the preaching of the Gospel, as I have often reminded your Charity, some things all have set down, some things three, some things two, some things each one alone. Now then, what we heard according to John's Gospel, that Mary saw the Lord, and the Lord said to her, Do not touch Me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father, the evangelist John alone records. On this, then, I must speak to your Holiness. Even when they had seen the linen cloths in the tomb, they had believed, not that the Lord had risen, but that He had been taken away. John himself (for he speaks of himself as the one whom Jesus loved), when he had heard the women announcing and saying, They have taken my Lord from the tomb, ran with Peter, and looked into the tomb, saw only the linen cloths, and believed. What did he believe? Not that He had risen, but that He had disappeared from the tomb. The words that follow bear witness to this. For thus it is written, as we have just heard: He looked, he saw, and he believed: for he did not yet know the Scriptures, that He had to rise from the dead. It is plain, then, what he believed: what was not of faith, that he believed: he believed, but he believed something false. Afterwards the Lord appeared to him, put the falsehood to flight, implanted the truth.

Chapter II. — 2. The difficulty in Christ's words to the Magdalene. Yet that which tends to trouble a reader and hearer who is not incurious or negligent, how it was said, Do not touch Me; for I have not yet

ascended to the Father; here let us see, with the Lord Himself helping, what was said. For this troubles us: what is meant by, Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father. For when did He ascend to the Father? As the Acts of the Apostles indicate, on the fortieth day after His resurrection, a day which we are about to celebrate in His name: then He ascended to the Father; then the disciples who had touched Him with their hands escorted Him with their eyes. Then the angelic voice sounded: Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven (Acts 1:1–11). If, then, it was at that time that He ascended to the Father, what do we say, my brothers? Could Mary not touch Him standing on earth, and yet could she touch Him seated in heaven? If she could not here, how much less could she there? What then is meant by, Do not touch me; for I have not ascended to the Father? For the words sound as though He were saying: Touch me then, when I have ascended; before I ascend, do not touch me. O Lord, Thou art here, and I do not touch [Thee]; when Thou hast ascended, shall I touch [Thee]? Then again, if before He ascended to the Father He shrank from human touch, how did He offer Himself to the disciples not only to be seen but also to be handled, when He said: Why do you think in your hearts? See my hands and my feet: handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have (Luke 24:38–39)? Even that unbelieving disciple Thomas touched the pierced side, and cried out: My Lord and my God! When he touched, Jesus had not yet ascended to the Father. Or will some foolish person perhaps say: Before He ascended to the Father, men could touch Him, but women could not, except when He had ascended to the Father? Absurd is that thought, and perverse that opinion. Absolutely, what Mary heard, let the Church hear. Let all hear this, let all understand it, let all do it. What then is meant by, Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father? Because you see me, you think me a man only; that I am equal to the Father you do not yet know: do not touch me as such, do not believe in a man only, but understand the Word equal to the Begetter. What then is meant by, Do not touch me? Do not believe. Do not believe what? That I am only this which you see. I shall ascend to the Father, and then touch. I ascend for you when you have understood [me to be] equal. For when you think me lesser, I have not yet ascended for you.

Chapter III. — 3. Do not touch, that is, do not believe [me] a man only. Now that to touch is to believe, I think we can easily understand from that woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment and was made whole. Recall the Gospel: the Lord Jesus Christ was going to visit the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, who was first reported sick, afterwards dead. As He was going on His way, behold, a woman came from the side who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years, and had spent all her substance on physicians who treated her in vain and did not heal her: and she said in her heart, If I touch the hem of His garment, I shall be made whole (Matt. 9:21). To say this very thing was already to touch. Lastly, hear the verdict. When she had been made whole according to her faith, says the Lord

Jesus Christ: Someone touched Me. And the disciples: The crowds press around you, and you say, Who touched Me? And He: Someone touched Me; for I know that power has gone out from Me (Luke 8:41–46). Grace went forth so that she might be healed, not so that He might be diminished. So the disciples say: The crowds press upon you, and have you felt one man or one woman? And He: Someone touched Me. They press, she touched. What does it mean, they press, she touched? The Jews afflict, the Church has believed.

Chapter IV. — 4. The sense of the Lord's words. According to this understanding, then, by which we see that the woman touched, that is, believed, according to this it was said to Mary, Do not touch Me; I shall ascend, and then touch. For touch then, when you have come to know, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The Word indeed was made flesh, yet the Word remains uncontaminated, immaculate, immutable and whole. But because you see only the man, you do not see the Word; I do not want you to believe in the flesh and to leave the Word behind. Let the whole Christ appear to you, for He is equal to the Father in the Word. Do not, then, He says, touch Me now: for you do not yet see Who I am. Let the Church, then, whose figure Mary bore, hear what Mary heard. Let us all touch, if we believe. He has already ascended to the Father, He sits at the right hand of the Father. The whole Church confesses this today: He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father. Those who are being baptized hear this; they believe this before they are baptized. When, therefore, they believe, Mary touches Christ. The understanding is obscure, but sound: closed to the unbelieving, it is open to faith that knocks. So the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is both there and with us; He is both with the Father and in us; He neither departs from Him nor forsakes us; He both teaches us to pray, as Master, and with the Father hears our prayer, as Son.

Sermon 246. On the days of Easter, 17. On the same reading of the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 1-18.

1. Variety among the Evangelists without falsehood. In many ways the Lord Jesus appeared to His faithful after the resurrection: all the Evangelists had matter to write from, as the spirit of remembrance supplied them with the things they were to write. One said one thing, another another. Someone could leave out something true; he could not say something false. Reckon that one person said all these things: for truly one said it, because one Spirit was in them all. What did we hear today? This: that the disciples did not believe that Jesus had risen. And they did not believe Him, though He had foretold this very thing beforehand. The matter is plain, and it was written for this reason, that we might give God great thanks because we have believed in Him Whom we have not seen on earth: their eyes and hands were scarcely persuaded of what we believe.

2. The disciples believe that the Lord's body has been taken away. You have heard that His disciple went into the tomb, and

saw the linen cloths lying there, and believed: for as yet he did not know the Scriptures, that He had to rise from the dead. So you have heard, so it has been read: He saw, and believed; for as yet he did not know the Scriptures. Then it ought to have said: He saw, and did not believe; for as yet he did not know the Scriptures. What then does it mean, He saw the linen cloths, and believed? What did he believe? What the woman had said, They have taken the Lord from the tomb. For if you heard, indeed since you heard, that woman had said this: They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and I do not know where they have laid Him. On hearing this they ran: and he went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths, and believed what the woman had said, that Christ had been taken away from the tomb. Why did he believe that Christ had been taken away and stolen from the tomb? Why? For as yet he did not know the Scriptures, that He had to rise from the dead. He had gone in, he had not found [Him]. He ought to have believed that He had risen, not that He had been stolen.

3. The appearance of Christ to the Magdalene. What then does it mean? We are accustomed to speak to you on this every year. But just as the reading itself is read solemnly, so let the sermon itself be solemnly delivered. Why the Lord Christ spoke to the woman when she already recognized Him. For first He had said, Whom are you seeking? Why are you weeping? She, however, thought that He was the gardener. And in truth, if you consider how we are His vegetables, Christ is a gardener. Is He not a gardener, Who sowed a grain of mustard seed in His garden? That is, a seed very small and fiery: and it grew and rose up, and became so great a tree that even the birds of the sky rested in its branches. If you have, He Himself says, faith like a grain of mustard seed (Matt. 17:19). A grain of mustard seed seems a small thing, nothing more contemptible to look at; nothing stronger to the taste. What else is this but the very great ardour and inmost strength of faith in the Church? Therefore she rightly thought Him the gardener; and she said to Him, Lord, for the sake of honour: because she was asking a favour, for that reason she called Him Lord. If you have taken Him away, she says, show me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away. As if she were saying: He is necessary to me, not to you. O woman, you think the dead Christ necessary to you: recognize Him living. You seek a dead man: but He Himself, living, is speaking with you. Yet dead He would profit us nothing, had He not risen from the dead. And He Who was being sought as dead showed Himself living. How living? He called her by her own name: Mary. And at once, hearing her own name, she answered, Rabboni. For a gardener could have said, Whom are you seeking? Why are you weeping? Mary, none but the Lord could say. He Who called her to the kingdom of heaven called her by name. He spoke this name, which He Himself had written in His book, Mary. And she, Rabboni: which is, master. She had recognized Him by Whom she was being enlightened so that He might be recognized: now He Who before was thought the gardener was seen as Christ. And the Lord to her, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.

4. How the words of Christ to the Magdalene are to be understood. To touch by faith. What does this mean, Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father? If she could not touch Him standing on earth, could she touch Him sitting in heaven? As if He were saying: Do not touch me now, you will touch me then when I have ascended to the Father.

Let Your Charity recall yesterday's reading, when the Lord appeared to the disciples, and they thought that they were seeing a spirit: but He, wishing to take this error away from them, offered Himself to be touched. What did He say? It was read yesterday: on it there was a sermon. Why are you troubled, He says, 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 to the Father, when He was saying, Handle and see? He offers Himself to His disciples to be touched, not just touched but handled, so that there may be faith in true flesh, in a true body, so that the solidity of the truth may be shown even to human touch: He therefore offers Himself to be handled by the hands of the disciples; and to the woman He says, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. What does it mean? Could men not touch Him except on earth, while women were to touch Him in heaven? What then is touching, if not believing? For by faith we touch Christ: and it is better not to touch with the hand and to touch by faith, than to handle with the hand and not to touch by faith. It was no great thing to touch Christ with the hand. The Jews touched Him when they seized Him, they touched Him when they bound Him, they touched Him when they hung Him up: they touched Him, and by touching badly they lost what they touched. By touching through faith, O Catholic Church, faith makes you whole. Only touch by faith, that is, approach faithfully and believe firmly. If you think Christ only a man, you have touched Him on earth. If you believe Christ to be God, equal to the Father, then you have touched Him when He has ascended to the Father. So He ascends for us when we understand Him rightly. Once, at that time, He ascended; but now He ascends daily. O for how many has He not yet ascended, and for how many does He still lie on the earth? How many say: He was a great man? How many say: He was a prophet? How many antichrists have arisen, who would say, like Photinus: He was a man, He had nothing more; but He surpassed all pious and holy men in excellence of wisdom and justice: for He was not God. O Photinus, you touched on earth, you hastened to touch, you threw yourself headlong: and therefore you did not reach the homeland, because you went astray on the way.

5. Why Christ says distinctly, My Father and your father, etc. Next let us hear His own words. I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God. Why not, To our Father and our God; but with a distinction, My Father and your Father? My Father, because I am the only one: your Father, by grace, not by nature. My Father, because I have always been this: your Father, because I have chosen you. My God and your God. How is God the Father of Christ? He is His Father, because He begot Him. How is He His God? Because He also created Him. He begot Him as the only-begotten Word; He created Him of the seed of David according to the flesh. Therefore He is both the Father of Christ and the God of Christ: the Father of Christ according to the divinity; the God of Christ according to the weakness. Hear how He is the God of Christ, let us question the Psalm: From my mother's womb, it says, Thou art my God (Ps. 21:11). Before