Sermon V
Sermon V
PAUL WAS MORTAL, POOR,
AND OF LOWLY RIRTH,
RUT RECAME GREAT AND
SHOWED US THE WAY TO GREATNESS
Sin is the one cause for sadness—Strength of will allied to grace makes a man virtuous—Paul's will was completely united to God's will—He became all things to all men for the spread of the Gospel—Like a good doctor he varies his treatment for different spiritual maladies—Paul's modesty even in apparent boasting about himself—His rebukes were equally tactful and timely.
Paul — the Way to Greatness 75 Where are those now who are in the habit of finding fault with death, saying that this suffer ing and corruptible body hinders them from at taining to virtue? Let them listen to the achieve ments of Paul and cease their wretched slanders.
What injury has death inflicted on our race?
Wha.t obstacle does a corruptible body offer to virtue? Consider Paul and you will see that mortality is in fact our greatest blessing.
For if Paul were not mortal he could not say, or rather, he could not show what he said through his deeds, that I die daily, I affirm it, by the very pride that I take in you in Christ Jesus (1 Cor.
15:31). We have only to be always keen-spirited and zealous and nothing can stop us from being in the foremost ranks. Was not Paul mortal? Was he not a man of lowly birth? Was he not poor? Had he not to earn his daily bread? Had he not a body subject to every natural need? What prevented him from becoming as great as he did? Absolutely nothing.
Let no one, then, lose heart because of poverty or lowly birth. Let no one be pained be cause he belongs to the lower classes. The only cause for sorrow is an emasculated soul and an enervated mind. The one obstacle to virtue is spiritual weakness and mental debility, nothing else. This is plain from this blessed man who
76 Sermon V brought us together on the present occasion. For just as none of those qualities was an obstacle to virtue in his case, so the opposite qualities were of no benefit to outsiders, things like skill in speech, abundance of wealth, nobility of birth, great reputation, or political standing.
But why speak of men? Or rather, how long will I confine my speech to the earth when I could speak of heavenly beings, principalities, powers, the cosmic governors of the darkness of this age? 1 Have not all these powers come to be judged by Paul and those like him? Do you not know, he says, that we shall judge angels? (1 Cor.
6:3).
Let sin, then be the one cause for grief and virtue, the one cause for gladness and joy. If we seek virtue there is nothing to prevent us from be ing like Paul. For grace was not the only cause of his greatness. There was also the strength of his own will. Or rather, grace was added to his strength of will. He had both kinds of qualities to perfection, what God infused into him and what he acquired by his own will. Would you like to hear his divine qualities? The devils feared contact with his garments. I don't wonder at this because Peter's shadow put diseases to flight.
What I do marvel at is his activity before he got grace, from the very starting point and commence-
Paul — the Way to Greatness 77 ment of his career. Without this divine power, and before receiving ordination, he was so con sumed with zeal for Christ that he stirred up a whole people against himself. When he saw himself in such dangers, with the city under siege, he was lowered down the wall in a basket.2
This escape did not cause him dejection, or cow ardice, or fear; instead it was a source of greater zeal and he submitted to dangers for the Gospel; he yielded to none in his zeal for preaching but took up his cross and followed.
With the recent example of Stephen staring him in the face, and his enemies mustered against him breathing murder, and anxious to consume him body and bones, Paul did not recklessly run into dangers, or relapse into timidity and flee. Life was very dear to him because of the opportunities for good which it afforded him. It was also very cheap to him, because of his trans cendent philosophy and of his extreme desire to join Christ in Heaven. As I have always said about him, and always will say, no one was so ambiva lent in his attitude, ever ready to take the side that offered most advantage. Thus, no one was so in love with life here below or with those who loved life most. At the other extreme, no one evei thought so little of life, even the ones who quit it with the greatest abandon.
78 Sermon V He had so completely rid himself of every human desire that there was no attachment left to anything here below. His whole will was united to the will of God. So at one time he thought life on earth was more necessary than the com pany and conversation of Christ, at another time it seemed so burdensome and tiresome that it made him groan and long for the deliverance of death. His only wish was for what would prove profitable to him with Christ, even if the result was the opposite of what preceded.
He was a man of many parts and many facets. I do not mean that he was acting. God for bid! But he became all things to all men, whatever was demanded by the needs of the Gospel and the salvation of mankind. In this he imitated his
Master.
For God Himself appeared as man when it was necessary to do so. In olden times He also manifested Himself in fire when it was necessary to do so. More recently, in the uniform of an armed soldier, or in the likeness of an old man, or in a breath of wind, or as a traveler, or as true man and as such He did not refuse to die.
I find it necessary to repeat, in saying 'when it was necessary to do so' that no one should think
God had to do what I have mentioned, but merely that He did those things through His love for man.
Paul — the Way to Greatness 79 At another time He sat on a throne, again on the Cherubim. He acted as He did in accordance with the particular requirements of the moment. Ac cordingly He said through the prophet: I have multiplied visions and I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets (Os. 12:10).
And so Paul, in imitation of his Master, should not be blamed, if at one time he acted as a Jew, at another as an outsider; at one time stand ing up for the Law, at another despising it; at one time embracing the present life, at another hold ing it in slight esteem; at one time demanding contributions, at another rejecting offerings; at one time offering sacrifices and shaving his head, at another pronouncing anathema on those who did so; at one time championing circumcision, at another repudiating it. What he did appeared to be contradictory but the intention and determina tion behind the deeds were logical and consistent.
His one and only object was the salvation of those that heard and saw him; accordingly at one time he praised the Law, at another he down graded it. In his deeds and his words he may have been ambivalent and complex, but his mind and personality remained unchanged; he preserved his identity and adapted his words to the occasion.
For this, he should be proclaimed and applauded.
80 Sermon V A doctors treatment varies: he cauterizes, prescribes diet, operates, administers drugs, for bids foods and drinks, leaves some wounds un covered, covers others, prescribes a phial full of cool waters for fevers. He is not censured for not employing uniformity of treatment, or for con stant change. Rather, you praise his art when you see the confidence with which he administers apparently conflicting and injurious remedies, and guarantees that they are safe. This is a man proficient in his craft.
If we accept a doctor who varies his treatment, we should be even more ready to proclaim Paul's psychology as he ministers to those who are ill. For the sick in soul need variety of treatment no less than the sick in body. To treat them in a uniform and stereotyped manner would jeopardize their salvation.
We can hardly wonder at men acting thus since the omnipotent God uses the same methods of treatment and does not rely on a single direct approach. He wishes us to be good of our own free will, not under constraint or duress, so He needs some variety of approach, not because of any lack of ability on His part—far from it—but because of our weakness. A mere nod from Him, or rather a mere act of will, can accomplish all
His wishes. But we, once we have become masters
Paul — the Way to Greatness 81 of ourselves, no longer submit to God in every thing. If He then forced us against our will, He would be taking away what He had given us. I mean free will. To avoid doing so He needs a variety of approaches.
These observations of mine are not made at random, but to explain the complexity and wis dom of the blessed Paul. Consequently, when you see him avoiding dangers you should admire him just as much as when he meets them head on. The one bespeaks wisdom, the other bravery. Boast fulness of speech should command the same respect as moderation. The one bespeaks magna nimity, the other modesty. Praise him as much for magnifying as for minimizing his deeds: the one is the mark of a. soul without guile, the other of a soul full of love and kindness. The object of his actions is to achieve the salvation of the multitude.
Consequently he said: For if we were out of our mind, it was for God; if we are sane, it is for you
(2 Cor. 5:13).
No one else had such reason to be boastful, yet no one was so free of arrogance. Consider these words of his: Knowledge puffs up (1 Cor.
8:1), words that we all should make our own.
Yet he certainly was as knowledgeable as any man ever born. Nonetheless this did not make him arrogant but modest: We know in part and we
6. Praise of St. Paul
82 Sermon V prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:9), and Brethren, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it already
(Phil. 3:13), and If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he has not yet known anything (1 Cor.
8:2).
Fasting, too, puffs up with pride, as the Pharisee showed when he said 1 fast twice a week
(Lk. 18:12). But Paul, not only when enduring fasts, but even when starving, called himself one born out of due time (1 Cor. 15:8).
Why do I speak of wisdom and fasting? For though he was closer to God in his constant prayer than any of the prophets or apostles, he was on that account all the more humble.
Do not quote for me what you find in his letters, for he kept more to himself than he ex pressed. He did not tell everything, for that might make him look boastful. Neither did he keep silent about everything, for that would set the tongues of the pseudo apostles wagging against him. Nothing he did was haphazard: everything was ordered and well-planned. Mani fold as his actions appear, they all merit the same universal praise. Let me expand on this.
It is a very good thing not to boast about oneself. Paul, however, did it so becomingly that he merits more praise for speaking than if he had kept silent. If he had kept silent he would be more
Paul — the Way to Greatness 83 deserving of censure than those who shamelessly sing their own praises. If he had not sung his own praises, everything would have been lost, and his enemies' stock would have soared. He knew how to avail of a favorable opportunity and with just the right tact to do what was apparently wrong, thereby gaining as much glory as for obey ing the commandments.
Paul gained more glory by his boasting than another would gain for keeping silent about his good deeds, for no one gained as much by silence as Paul did by boasting.
The great wonder is, not that he spoke about himself, but that he spoke just the right amount.
He did not just seize on the favorable moment and use it for over-indulging in self-praise; he knew when it was time to stop. This was not to please himself, and he called himself a fool so as to deter others from indulging in destructive self-praise just for the sake of praise, while he confined this practice to when the occasion demanded.
It was likely that others, looking to him, would follow his example thoughtlessly and with out reason. This happens in the case of doctors.
Often what one man prescribes with care is used carelessly by another and the effect of the pres cription is blunted and thwarted. To avoid similar complications notice how Paul surrounds his
84 Sermon V practice with great circumspection, delaying self-praise not just once, or twice, but many times and saying: Would to God that you could bear with a little of my foolishness (2 Cor. 11:1-2) and again: What I am saying, I am not speaking according to the Lord, but as it were in foolishness
(2 Cor. 11:17, 21). In which (i.e. in foolishness) if anyone dares, I dare too. And he did not regard this saying as adequate but in his reluctance to sound boastful he conceals his identity, saying: I know a man, and again: of such a man I will boast; but of myself I will not boast. After all this he adds: 1 have become foolish! You have forced me
(2 Cor. 12:2, 5, 11).
When one sees this holy man's reluctance and hesitancy to boast about himself even when abso lute necessity demanded it, constantly bridling his speech as if it were a horse rushing downhill de spite his economy of words, who in the face of that would be so foolish and so utterly insensitive as to indulge in excessive self-adulation instead of confining such activity to the barest minimum dictated by necessity?
Would you like me to tell you of another trait of his? We should marvel at the fact that, not satisfied with the testimony of conscience, he also taught us how we should act in each of these cir cumstances. He excuses his self-praise on the
Paul — the Way to Greatness 85 grounds that necessity demanded it, but also takes the opportunity to teach others not to flee the oc casion if it presents itself and not to seize it un seasonably.
The thread of his remarks is something like this: It is a great evil to indulge in big talk about oneself. Dearly beloved, it is a mark of extreme folly to deck out one s own praises, without any necessity or compelling reason. Such speech can not be in accordance with the Lord, but is rather a mark of insanity, depriving us of all that we have gained by our sweat and toil. Such a warn ing he seemed to address to all, and especially when he displayed reluctance to speak even when necessity called for it.
There was also the remarkable fact that he did not pour out everything when the need pre sented itself, but managed to conceal the greater part of his achievements. I will come, he says, to visions and revelations of the Lord. I forbear, lest any man should reckon me beyond what he sees in me or hears from me (2 Cor. 12:1, 6). These words are a lesson to all of us not to reveal every thing about ourselves, even when we have to speak, but only such things as will benefit our audience.
So too with Samuel. There is nothing unto ward in mentioning this holy man, for praises of
86 Sermon V him are for our benefit. He too indulged in selfpraise on occasion, and spoke of his own good works. But in what way? He only spoke such things as would benefit his audience. He did not dilate on temperance, or humility, or forgiveness of injuries, but on what? On that which a king of that time most needed to know—on justice, and on remaining immune to bribery.
David, too, indulges in self-praise only to the extent that it can benefit his audience. He did not specify any virtue, but merely led a bear and a lion3 into view, nothing more. To speak more than is necessary is a mark of ambition and boastful ness: to stick to what the present demands as necessary and useful is the work of a friend keep ing the needs of his friends in view.
That is what Paul did. He was slandered and charged with not being an approved apostle, and having genuine power. Necessity demanded that he should produce evidence that would clearly show his worth. Notice how it was not praise for the sake of praise, but to enlighten his audience:
Firstly, he showed that he acted out of necessity; Secondly, he called himself a fool, and used many terms of self-reproach; Thirdly, he did not tell everything, but con cealed the greater part;
Paul — the Way to Greatness 87 Fourthly, he concealed his identity and said, "I know a man.. .
Fifthly, he did not produce all his virtues as evidence, but only those which the oc casion called for.
He preserved this balance both in praise of himself and in apparent dispraise of others. To rebuke a brother is among the things forbidden.
Yet Paul's rebukes were so timely that they were more laudable than praises. For instance, once or twice he called the Galatians foolish (Gal. 3:1), and the Cretans lazy gluttons and evil beasts
(Tit. 1:12), and makes this a text for his preaching.
By his example he established definitions and a norm that in handling those hostile to God we should not use gentleness but should resort to words that hit home. Indeed he laid down norms for everything: his every word and deed is ac ceptable, whether rebuking or praising, hard words or soft, self-praising or self-effacing, boast ing or deprecating. Why wonder if rebuke and abuse are praiseworthy, seeing that slaughter, deceit, and guile found favor in the Old Testa ment and the New? Carefully examining all these things, let us marvel at Paul and give glory to God and so imitate him that we may obtain ever lasting blessings by the grace and goodness of our
Lord, Jesus Christ to Whom be glory and power, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.