Augustine, Sermones 289-292 (Classis III, de Sanctis)

Sermon 289. On the Nativity of John the Baptist, 3.

1. John, not without cause, was born so wonderfully and was so great. The cause of our solemn gathering today is the Nativity of John the Baptist, whose wonderful conception and birth we heard when the Gospel was read. A great mystery, my brethren: the mother of John was both barren and an old woman, the father an old man; in both, offspring was utterly despaired of. But because nothing is impossible to God, a son was promised to one who did not believe. His voice was taken from the father, who lacked faith: for it had already been written, I believed, on account of which I have spoken (Ps. 115:10). He did not believe, and he did not speak. Meanwhile a virgin also conceived, and this was a sublime miracle and far more excellent. The barren woman conceives the herald, the virgin the judge. John is from a male and a female, Christ from a female alone. Is John perhaps to be compared with Christ? Far from it. Yet not in vain did so great a man go before so great a One. For if, with the Lord our God Himself deigning and granting power to my endeavour, I am able to unfold what I perceive, neither will my lowliness be forsaken nor your expectation be cheated. But if I am less able to unfold what I perceive, the Lord our God will supply in your hearts what He may perhaps have withheld from me on account of my weakness. I have said this beforehand for this reason, because what I wish to say, I know, you do not know; and what difficulty there is in expounding it, I already feel. It had to be commended to you, however, so that in your very attentiveness you may be able to pray for us.

2. John a man only, Christ God and man. Elisabeth conceived a man, Mary a man: Elisabeth the mother of John, Mary the mother of Christ: but Elisabeth only a man, Mary God and man. It is a wonderful thing how a creature could conceive the Creator. What then is to be understood, my brethren, except that He made flesh for Himself from a mother alone, He Who made the first man without father and mother? That first fall of ours came about when the woman, through whom we died, conceived in her heart the poisons of the serpent. For the serpent urged sin, and the one counselling evil was admitted. If our first fall came about when a woman conceived in her heart the poisons of the serpent, it is not to be wondered at that our salvation was brought about when a woman conceived in her womb the flesh of the Almighty. Both sexes had fallen, both had to be restored. Through a woman we had been sent into destruction, through a woman salvation has been given back to us.

3. John so excellent a man that he was thought to be the Christ. John's testimony about himself and about Christ. What

then does John mean? Why was he set in between? Why was he sent ahead? I shall say, if I am able. Our Lord Jesus Christ said of John: Among those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptist (Matt. 11:11). If John is compared with men, that man surpasses all; no one surpasses him except the God-man. John was sent ahead before the Lord. So great was the excellence in him, so great the grace, that he himself was thought to be the Christ. For the Jews were expecting the Christ, since in the very Prophets, which they themselves also read, the Christ was foretold. They expected Him when absent, they killed Him when present: while they think that it is not He, they themselves fell away, and He remained. Yet not all fell away, and of the Jews many believed. So, because the Christ was being expected, see the glory of John: for when such great grace was noticed in him, when he was baptizing in penitence and preparing the way for the Lord like a harbinger sent ahead, the Jews sent to him and said, Who are you? Are you Elijah, or a prophet? or are you the Christ? I am not, he says, the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet. And who, they say, are you? I am, he says, the voice of one crying in the desert (John 1:21–23). John answered the Jews, who were asking who he was and were already beginning to think that he himself was the Christ: I am the voice of one crying in the desert. You heard, if you were attentive, the prophetic reading which was recited first. There it is written: 'The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way for the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough into level ways; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' Then the Lord said through the Prophet: Cry out; and I said, What shall I cry out? And the Lord there, in the Prophet: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass: the grass has withered, and the flower has fallen; but the Word of the Lord remains for ever (Isa. 40:3–8). John said, I am the voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord: that is to say, It was foretold of me by the Prophet that I was to be crying in the desert. To John therefore it belongs to say, All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass: the grass has withered, and the flower has fallen; but the Word of the Lord remains for ever. The Word is conceived in the womb of a virgin; the voice cries out the Word in the desert. A voice, if it is not a word, is perhaps a noise to the ears; indeed perhaps not even this could be said. Every word is a voice, not every voice is a word. If a man with open mouth shouts as much as he can, it is a voice, it is not a word. But what is the voice that is called a word? Where something is understood, a signifying voice is a word. But look, it does not yet sound; I want to say something, and already the word is in my heart. The word is in the heart, and not yet a voice in the mouth. So there can be a word without a voice, and there can be a voice without a word. Add a voice to the word, and the word comes forth into knowledge. What then is Christ with Mary? The hidden Word. The voice was sent ahead so that it might go before the Word. What is John? The voice of one crying in the desert. What is Christ? In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). What are you, voice? what are you, man? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass: the grass has withered, and the flower has fallen: but the Word of the Lord

abides for ever. Hold yourself to the Word; for it was for you that the Word took up grass. The Word incarnate is Christ. But all flesh is grass, and all the honour of the flesh as the flower of grass: let us despise things present, let us hope for things to come. Every valley shall be filled, every lowliness shall be exalted: and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, every pride shall be cast down. Put down the mountains, fill the valleys, and the evenness of a plain is made. Give me the rich and those honoured with the flower of grass; let them hear, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas. 4:6). Give me the poor in despair, conscious of their own weakness; let them not despair, let them believe in Him Who came for the sake of all. Let those be raised up, let these be pressed down. Let Him Who is to come find a plain, not a stone on which to strike His foot. For this is why John himself said, Prepare the way for the Lord; not for me, but for the Lord; by Whom I am sent, not what I am.

4. John guards against the proud usurpation of the name of Christ. But the Jews say, Are you the Christ? If this man were not a valley to be filled but a mountain to be brought low, he had found an occasion for deceiving. For they wanted to hear from him something they might believe. For they so admired his grace that whatever he said they would believe without doubt. See, he had found an occasion for deceiving the human race: if he were to say, I am the Christ, they would believe him. If he boasted himself by another's name, he would lose his own merit. If he boasted himself as though he were the Christ, would he not answer himself, Why do you exalt yourself? All flesh is grass, and its glory as the flower of grass: the grass has withered, the flower has fallen. Understand what abides for ever: But the Word of the Lord abides for ever. He knew himself: rightly did the Lord call him a lamp. The Lord says this of John: He was a lamp burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light (John 5:35). But what does John the evangelist say of him? There was a man sent from God, whose name was John: he came for a witness, to bear witness concerning the light; he was not the light. Who? John the Baptist. Who says this? John the Evangelist: He was not the light, but [came] to bear witness concerning the light. You say, He was not the light: [he] of whom the Light itself says, He was a lamp burning and shining. But I know, he says, what light I speak of; I know the light in comparison with which a lamp is not light. Hear what follows: That was the true light which enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:6–9). John does not enlighten every man; Christ [enlightens] every man. And John knew himself to be a lamp, lest he be put out by the wind of pride. A lamp can both be lit and be put out. The Word of God cannot be put out: a lamp always can.

5. John the forerunner is the greatest man, so that Christ may be recognized as more than man. So the highest man was sent, to bear witness to Him Who was more than man. For when he, than whom none greater has arisen among those born of women, says, I am not the Christ, and humbles himself before Christ, [Christ] is to be understood as something more than man. For if you seek the highest man, [it is] John; Christ is more than man: so understand the forerunner,

so that you may seek the judge; so hear the herald, so that you may fear the judge. He was sent; he foretold the One who was to come. And what kind of testimony does John bear to Christ? Of what kind? Hear: The strap of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose (John 1:27). Have you understood, O man, what you should do? Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). What then concerning Christ? We have all received of His fullness (John 1:16). What is "We all"? Therefore the patriarchs, and the prophets and the holy apostles, whether sent ahead before the incarnation or sent by the Incarnate, we have all received of His fullness. We are vessels; He is the fountain. Therefore, if we have understood the mystery, my brothers, John is a man, Christ is God: let man be humbled, and let God be exalted. That man might be humbled, John was born on that day on which the days begin to decrease. That God might be exalted, Christ was born on that day on which the days begin to increase. A great sacrament. Therefore we celebrate the Nativity of John, as of Christ, because that very nativity is full of mystery. Of what mystery? Of our loftiness. Let us decrease in man, let us increase in God. Let us be humbled in ourselves, so that we may be exalted in Him. The sacrament of so great a matter was fulfilled by the passions of both. That man might be diminished, John lost his head: that God might be exalted, Christ was hung upon the wood. For this John was sent, that we might imitate him and hold fast to the Word. However much human pride may boast of any excellence of holiness, who will be what John was? Whoever you are who think yourself great, you will not be what John was. He was not yet born, and already, leaping in the womb, he announced beforehand the Lord who was to be born. What is more excellent than that holiness? Imitate him: hear what he says of Christ. We have received of His fullness. The lamp in the night shows you the fountain, and from there it too drinks: For we, he says, have all received of His fullness. We all: He is the fountain, we the vessels: He is the day, we the lamps. Great is the weakness of men: the day is sought by means of a lamp.

6. Not John alone, but the apostles too are lamps. The lampstand of the lamp is the cross of Christ. But the apostles too, my brothers, are lamps of the day. Do not think that John alone is a lamp, and the apostles are not. The Lord says to them: You are the light of the world. And lest they should think that they were light of the same kind as He who was called light, of whom it was said, He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world, He at once taught them what the true light itself is. When He had said, You are the light of the world, He added, and said, No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel. In that I have called you light, I have called you a lamp: do not exult in your pride, lest the little flame be put out. I do not put you under a bushel: but, that you may shine, you will be on a lampstand. What is the lampstand of the lamp? Hear of the lampstand: be lamps, and you will have a lampstand. The cross of Christ is the great lampstand. Let him who wishes to shine not be ashamed of the wooden lampstand. Hear, so that you may understand that the lampstand is the cross of Christ. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but upon a lampstand, so that it may give light to all who are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify: not as you seek