Sermon IV
Sermon IV
ST. PAUL-A LIGHT TO THE WORLD-
His blindness coincided with God's call, which he answered freely. Many refused God's call in the Old and New Testament and in the recent past—Christianity has surmounted all obstacles because of the divine power of the Crucified.
Paul helped its spread in spite of his own limitations and the poverty of his hearers—the unique power of the Gospel—
Paul's part in diffusing its light.
A Light to the World 53 The blessed Paul, in whose honor we are assembled today, was a light to the entire world.
Yet at the time of his call by God he lost the light of his eyes. 1 This blindness gave light to the world. God in His mercy deprived him of sight because of his previous shortsightedness, in order to improve his subsequent vision.
In doing so He gave him at one and the same time a proof of His power and a foretaste of the sufferings that awaited him. He prefigured for him his life of preaching, indicating that he should turn his back on his former ways and fol low Him blindly. Teaching him this He exclaimed:
If any one of you thinks himself wise let him be come a fool that he may come to be wise (1 Cor.
3:18). His sight could not improve unless he was first blinded. This made him turn his back on his former ways of thought which were a source of disturbance to him, and converted him completely to the Faith.
Let no one think, however, on hearing this, that the call he received brought pressure to bear upon him. He was free to go back again to where he came from. Many people, after witnessing other and greater wonders, went back again, both in the New and the Old Testaments, for instance Ju das, Nabuchodonozor, Elymas the soothsayer,
Simon, Ananias and Sapphira, and the entire Jew-
54 Sermon IV ish people. But not Paul. Illuminated by the pure light he pursued his course and made his way to the heavens.
If you inquire after the cause of his blind ness, listen to his words: For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how beyond all measure I persecuted the Church, and ravaged it. And I advanced in Judaism above many of my contemporaries in my nation, showing much more zeal for the traditions of my fathers (Gal. 1:13-14).
Because of his restive zeal and fervor he needed an even greater restraint lest he should be carried forward by the force of his zeal and forget what had been said to him. Accordingly God first checked his frenzied zeal and used blindness as a means of restoring calm to the headlong words of his anger. Then he spoke to him and showed him the extent of His wisdom and the excess of His knowledge and that he might understand whom he was warring on, whom he could not en dure when chiding or even when conferring bene fits. For it was not darkness that blinded him, but excess of light that overshadowed him.
And why, you ask, did this not happen sooner? Do not inquire into this, or betray your curiosity but submit to the incomprehensible Prov idence of God which acts at the opportune mo ment. Paul acknowledges this, saying: But when
A Light to the World 55 it pleased Him who from my mother s womb set me apart and, called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me (Gal. 1:15, 16). Do not, then, be tray excessive curiosity when Paul says this. Curi osity only proves rewarding when scandals are removed. Let us learn, then, from him that no one before his time, or he either, left to himself, dis covered Christ, which is why He said: You have not chosen me but I have chosen you (Jn. 15:16).
But why, you ask did he not believe when he saw the dead raised in His name? Did it profit him nothing to see the lame walk, the devils put to flight, the paralytics restored to health? For his curiosity about the apostles did not allow these marvels to escape his attention. He was standing by when Stephen was being stoned and saw his face radiant as an angel's but it did not do him any good. Why? Because he had not yet received the call.
Do not conclude from hearing this that the call was mandatory. God does not compel. He leaves men masters of their own will even after He calls them. He revealed Himself to the Chosen
People when the occasion demanded but they re jected His call because of the honor they received from men.
If any infidel interrupts at this point to ask how we know Paul received a call from Heaven
56 Sermon IV which he answered, and 'why was I not called also', we will answer him as follows. Tell me, my good man, do you believe he was called? If you do, that should be sign enough for you. If you do not believe that he received a heavenly call why say: 'Why was I not called also?' If you believe, however, that he was called, that is sufficient sign for you. Believe, then, for God calls you also from Heaven if your soul is well disposed. If you are hostile and prejudiced, however, not even a call from Heaven will suffice for your salvation.
How often did the Chosen People hear a voice from Heaven and did not believe? How many signs did they witness in the Old Testament and the New and they became no better? In the Old dis pensation they worshipped a calf 2 after witnessing countless wonders. But the harlot of Jericho 3 with out seeing any such wonders showed wonderful faith in the spies. In the land of Promise the Cho sen People saw signs and remained as obdurate as stones, but the Ninivites believed as soon as they saw Jonah,4 and were converted and averted the Divine anger. In the New Testament the mere presence of Christ crucified turned the thief to adoration, but the Chosen People saw Him raising the dead to life yet they bound and crucified Him.
What of our own times? Did not the flame leaping from the foundations of the temple at
A Light to the World 57 Jerusalem bum up those who were attempting to restore it and cause the survivors to cease from impious enterprise without converting them, how ever, or making them abandon their blind ways?
How great, too, were subsequent wonders and yet they were of no avail. The temple of Apollo, for instance, was struck by lightning and fell. The mling Emperor was compelled to move the martyr's 5 body lying close by the oracle of Apollo, saying that he could not utter prophecy whilst the casket of Babylas lay in the vicinity.
Later, the Emperor's uncle committed sacrilege on the sacred vessels and his body was eaten to death by worms. The steward of the imperial treasure, because of some offense he committed against the Church, was eviscerated and died.
Again, the local fountains which normally over flowed dried up and rivers receded. This was unprecedented, except when the Emperor dese crated the place with his sacrifices and libations.
Why speak of the famine that swept the earth in the reign of the impious Emperor,6 of his death in Persia, of his wandering before his death, his abandonment of his army in the midst of the enemy and their unexpected and miraculous re turn in spite of being trapped? When the impious emperor met with this wretched end a more god fearing man 7 succeeded and immediately all trou-
58 Sermon IV bles ended. The army which had been ensnared by the enemy and abandoned for lost, now re turned to safety at the divine behest. Are not such events calculated to draw us to sanctity?
Isn't the present even more full of wonders?
Isn't the Cross preached and doesn't the whole world rally to accept it? Isn't death proclaimed unimportant, and all men are converted? Are not countless men crucified: two thieves hung on crosses on either side of Christ. Don't we have many wise men? Many powerful men? Whose name ever enjoyed such prestige? And why do I speak just of the wise and powerful? There were many great kings in the past. Which of them ever won the allegiance of the whole world in such a short span?
Do not make an issue of the various heretics of different hue and color. They all proclaim
Christ even if they lack something in orthodoxy.
They all reverence the One who was crucified under Pontius Pilate in Palestine.
Have not all these manifestations more pro bative force than any voice borne from Above?
Why has no king enjoyed as much sway as this King in the face of so much opposition? For kings have warred on Christianity, tyrants have opposed it, whole peoples have risen against it, but, far
A Light to the World 59 from being vanquished, we have persevered in ever-increasing splendor.
What, tell me, was the source of such power?
Christ was a magician perhaps? Was He, then, the only magician to enjoy such power? Doubtless you have heard of the numerous magicians that still flourished in Persia and India. The name of none of them ever attained any prominence. That fraudulent soothsayer from Tyana8 admittedly gained some notoriety. But where and when? In a remote area and for a short time, and then he was quickly snuffed out and disappeared, leaving behind no church, no following, nothing of that sort.
Why speak of departed magicians and sooth sayers? Why have all the temples of the pagan gods ceased to function, those of Dodona and Claros, and all those workshops of profanity which are silent and shut down? Why do the devils trem ble not only at the crucified but even at the bones of the martyrs? Why do they turn and disappear at the mere mention of the cross, which should rather make them laugh? Was it that the cross was noble and distinguished? On the contrary, it was an object of shame and reproach. Death on the cross was a criminal punishment, the most shameful of deaths, accursed by the Jews and abominated by the gentiles. How, then, could it
60 Sermon IV inspire fear in the devils? Was it not because of the power of the One crucified? For if crucifixion itself inspired terror it would be completely un worthy of the gods. Many others were crucified before Christ and after Him, two were crucified with Him. Would the devil take to flight if some one were to invoke the name of the crucified thief or of some other crucified individual? Of course not. He would only laugh. They would fly, how ever, as from fire, if the name of Jesus of Nazareth is invoked.
What, then, do you say? What is the source of His power? He was subversive perhaps? His precepts were not those of a subversive, and there were many such. He was a magician, perhaps?
That is not the import of His doctrines. Besides, there has never been any scarcity of magicians.
He was a wise man, perhaps? Wise men have al ways been plentiful.
What, then, was the source of His power?
For no one even remotely approximated it. Ob viously it was not because He was a magician, or a subversive, but because He was a reformer and possessed divine and invincible power. That was the cause of His superiority and the reason why He could inspire this tent-maker with the power that his deeds attest.
A Light to the World 61 For Paul was an ordinary man in the street, a tent-maker by trade, yet he was powerful enough to convert the Romans, Persians, Indians, Scyth ians, Ethiopians, Sauromati, Parthians, Medes,
Saracens, I might say the whole world, in less than thirty years.
Tell me, how could a rustic, a tradesman in his workshop, scalpel in hand, acquire such philoso phy, and teach it to others—peoples, cities, places
—without possessing any gift of eloquence, with out schooling or any professional training? Listen to his own unblushing words: Even though I he rude in speech yet I am not so in knowledge (2 Cor.
11:6). He also tells us that he had no money:
To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted (1 Cor. 4:11). And why do I mention money when he often had not enough food to eat or clothes to wear? His disciple shows that he had not even any special distinction in trade, saying: And, as he was of the same trade he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla, for they were tent-makers by trade (Acts 18:3). His family was not distinguished. How could it be with such a means of livelihood? Neither was his country or his race. Yet when he came forward his mere appear ance threw them into confusion and, like fire in straw or grass, exhausted the devil's resources and converted everything to his own way of thinking.
62 Sermon IV The fact that he attained such eminence in spite of his limitations is not the only remarkable feature. Most of his disciples were also poor, un skilled, without formal education, living in hunger, undistinguished sons of undistinguished parents.
He testifies to this himself and is not ashamed to mention their poverty, or rather to plead for their necessities of life: I will set out, he says, for Jeru salem to minister to the saints (Rom. 15:25). And again: On the first day of the week let each one of you put aside and lay up at home so that col lections may not have to be made after I have come (1 Cor. 16:2). Because most of his disciples were from the ranks of the unsophisticated, he said in his letter to the Corinthians: Consider your own call, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
(1 Cor. 1:26), and in fact they were not merely not of noble birth but actually of very poor origin:
The weak things of this world has God chosen and the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are (1 Cor. 1:27, 28).
Perhaps they were unsophisticated and un lettered, you suggest, but were skilled in persua sive speech? No, not even this, as Paul shows also:
And 1 came to you not with pretentious speech or wisdom, announcing unto you the witness of Christ. For 1 determined not to know anything
A Light to the World 63 among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And my speech and my preaching were not in the persuasive words of wisdom (1 Cor. 2: 1, 2, 4).
The Gospel he had to preach was sufficient to attract an audience. Listen to his words on this score: For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks look for "wisdombut we, for our pai-t, preach a crucified Christ—to the Jews indeed a stumblingblock and to the Gentiles foolishness (1 Cor.
1:22, 23).
But he enjoyed freedom from care, you say?
On the contrary, he was in a constant atmosphere of danger: And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling (1 Cor. 2:3). His disciples were exposed to the same troubles as himself: But call to mind the days gone by, in which, after you had been enlightened, you en dured a great conflict of sufferings; partly by be ing made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by working common cause with those who fared thus, for you have joyfully accepted the plundering of your own goods (Heb. 10:32-34). And again, writing to the people of Thessalonica, he says: You also have suffered the same things from your own country men as they have .. . They are displeasing to God, and are hostile to all men (1 Thess. 2:14-15). And in his letter to the Corinthians he says: For as the
64 Sermon IV sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also as you are partakers of the sufferings, so will you also be of the comfort (cf. 2 Cor. 1:5, 7). And to the Gala tians: Have you suffered so much in vain, if in deed it be vain (Gal. 3:4). The preacher, then, was poor and undistinguished. His preaching had nothing to recommend it, but was, in fact, a stumbling-block. His hearers were poor, weak, and of no importance. Dangers were constantly press ing and hovering over both teachers and taught.
The preaching was centered on One crucified.
How could it succeed? Is it not obvious that there was some divine, ineffable power? Perfectly ob vious, especially in the light of a contrast: When you see the opposite qualities concurring in one person—I mean wealth, nobility of birth, greatness of country, rhetorical skill, security, and much at tention to detail—what is the explanation if these fresh faggots are spent and the opposite prevails?
It is the same as if an Emperor with armies, anus, and a strong line-up, failed to conquer a bar baric hoard, while an ill-clad beggerman with no weapon in his hand or coat on his back should en ter the lists single-handed and accomplish what those armed and equipped for the job failed to do.
Do not, then, remain prejudiced but make a daily decision to hold the cross in veneration.
A Light to the World 65 If you see on the one hand an Emperor mark ing out cities for conquest, throwing a siege line around them, bringing up his battering rams to the walls, forging weapons, enlisting soldiers, display ing endless resources, yet failing to take a single city, and on the other hand another man without uniform and bareheaded, succeeding in winning not one or two or twenty cities, but countless cities throughout the world, and winning over the in habitants besides, you would hardly describe that as a work of mere human power.
The present situation is obviously similar.
God consented to be crucified with thieves and allowed imposters to appear before the Incarna tion for two reasons: that the startling contrast would proclaim the superiority of the truth even to the most uncomprehending, and that you might learn that He is not just one of them but differs from them totally. For nothing can shadow His glory, neither the fact that the thieves shared in His sufferings nor suffered at the same time. The pair of thieves reduced to silence those who would say that the devils feared the cross merely and not the power of the One crucified. If the temper of the times are invoked to explain everything He did, Theodas and Judas 9 can be produced as at tempting to bolster false claims with many other signs and coming to a bad end. As I said God's
5. Praise of St. Paul
66 Sermon IV purpose in allowing them was to set forth the truth in ever clearer light. That too is why He al lowed pseudo prophets to appear in the time of the prophets, and pseudo apostles in the time of the apostles, that you might learn that nothing can overshadow His deeds.
Let me give you another instance of the mar velous and remarkable power of the Gospel. I will show you that it increases and prospers even while it is under attack. Some proclaimed this Gospel at Rome while Paul was being persecuted. Wishing to increase Nero's hostility to Paul, they under took to preach the Gospel so that with its spread and an increase in its following, the tyrant's anger might be stimulated and his ferocity increased.
Paul tells the Philippians of this: I wish you to know, brethren, that my experiences have turned out rather for the advancement of the gospel, so that the greater number of the brethren gaining courage from my chains, have dared to speak the word of God more freely and without fear. Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and con tentiousness, but some also out of good will. Some out of contentiousness, not sincerely, thinking to stir up affliction for me in my chains; some out of love, knowing that 1 am appointed for the defense of the gospel. But what of itP Provided only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth,
A Light to the World 67 Christ is being proclaimed (Phil. 1:12-18). You see how many preached through contention but nonetheless truth triumphed through its very enemies.
Together with such enmity there were other hostile factors. For the old laws were no help.
Instead they were hostile and inimical, as were the malice and ignorance of slanderers. They failed to recognize a heavenly King, terrible and glorious, but thought of Christians introducing tyranny to earth, and wrestled with it individually and collectively, combining malice and ignorance in their slanderous charges.
They acted collectively as if Christians were a threat to the constitution and the rule of the law, and individually as if every single home were in danger of being undermined and destroyed.
Father was at war with son and son turned against father, wives against husbands and husbands against wives, daughters against mothers, relations against relations, friends against friends.
It was a war of many facets and phases, creep ing into homes, dividing relations, disrupting law and order, and disturbing the public peace. An cestral customs were terminated, sacred festivities and the cult of the gods were brought low, all of which had been given priority by time-honored legislation.
68 Sermon IV Besides, the suspicion of tyranny caused them to be driven out everywhere. One could not say that all this was done by the Gentiles, and that the Chosen People held their peace, for they too in tensified the opposition inasmuch as Christianity constituted a threat to their way of life. "This man never ceases," they said, "speaking words of blas phemy against the Holy Place and the Law"
(Acts 6:13).
Nonetheless, while the fire raged in every quarter—the home, the city, the country, the des ert, the Gentiles, the leaders, rulers and ruled, relatives, earth, sea, the imperial family, with everyone arousing everybody else to ferocity and becoming more savage than wild beasts,— this blessed man leapt into the smouldering em bers, stood in the midst of the wolves and, though pelted from every side, refused to capitulate but converted them all to the side of truth.
I could recall other battles of even greater ferocity, the battle waged by pseudo apostles which annoyed Paul more than any other, the weakness within his own ranks, for many believed them and perished. But eventually he was also a match for them. How and with what assistance?
For our weapons he said, are not carnal, but pow erful before God to the demolishing of strong holds, the destroying of reasoning—yes, of every
A Light to the World 69 lofty thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5).
Accordingly, everything was changed and rapidly transformed. Just as in a forest fire thorns are quickly consumed and yield to the force of the flames clearing the brushwood, so too every thing yielded to the burning words of Paul—the cult of demons, festivals, panegyrics, ancestral customs, destructive laws, people's anger, the threats of tyrants, the plottings of domestics, the subversive activities of pseudo apostles.
Or rather, just as the rays of the rising sun put darkness to flight, and make the wild beasts seek shelter and rest, 10 causing thieves to take to their heels, murderers to seek refuge in caves, pi rates to disappear, body snatchers to depart, and adulterers, thieves, and subversives to leave and seek a lengthy seclusion lest they be detected by the light of day, and everything becomes bright and luminous on earth and sea as the rays beam down from above on waters, mountains, villages and cities; so, too, in the clear light of the Gospel as it was disseminated by Paul,, error was banished, truth introduced in its place, there was an end to the ashes and the smoke of sacrifices, cym bals and tympana clanged no more, the drunken revels, adulteries, and shameful practices associ ated with pagan rites in temples came to a
70 Sermon IV complete standstill. It was like the disappearance of wax in a fire, or chaff eaten by the flames.
The flame of truth rose in splendor over the ashes and towered to the heavens. Those who tried to impede it contributed most to its rise and spread. Exposure to danger could not cramp its progress or growth. The tyranny of inveterate habit and the deep-rootedness of ancestral law and custom were equally ineffective; neither the diffi culties inherent in its doctrine nor anything else could impede its diffusion.
To learn its real strength, present a challenge to the Gentiles. I do not mean dangers, death, and famine, but even a small loss of goods, and you will see them quickly falter. Christ, on the other hand, thrives on opposition, slaughter, and every kind of hostility. And why speak of those worthless and despicable Gentiles? Let us review those of them that were celebrated and gained a reputation for philosophy—Plato, Diagoras, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, and many others of that ilk, and you will see the superiority of the Gospel. For after Socrates took the poison, some departed to Megara for fear of suffering the same fate. Others quit fatherland and freedom and won only one female convert to philosophy. The philosopher from Citium11 died and left us his ideal stale depicted in his writings. And yet there was nothing to im-
A Light to the World 71 pede them—no danger, or lack of training, for they were skilled in speech, and wealthy, and belonged to a country held in high repute, yet they failed to achieve success.
Error is such that it is dissipated even with out opposition, but truth prevails in the midst of hostile forces. Truth proclaims itself and is in no need of words, since the whole world lends it its voice—cities, fields, the earth, the sea, the inhabit ed and uninhabited world, the tops of the moun tains. It has left no place bereft of its goodness, but has filled everywhere with the blessings that come from the heavens through the tongue of Paul, and the grace infused into him. Because he corresponded with the grace, the grace shone all the more luminously in him, and more than what we have spoken of was accomplished through his tongue.
Since God so honored our nature as to make one man the source of so many blessings, let us strive to resemble him, and refuse to think that this is impossible. I have often said, and I will continue to say, that he had the same body as we have, the same nourishment, the same soul, but he had great will-power and remarkable zeal. This made him what he was. Let no one be incredu lous, or turn a, deaf ear. If you prepare your mind, nothing can stop you from receiving the same
72 Sermon IV grace. For God is not a respector of persons.12
He made Paul, and He made you; He is your Lord as much as Paul's, and a,s He proclaimed Paul He wishes to crown you. Let us, therefore, consecrate and dedicate ourselves to God, that receiving the same abundant grace we may obtain the same blessings by the grace and mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.