I search for; do not turn your face away from me (Ps 27:8-9). And may he answer
SERMON 194 55
Let us celebrate the birthday of the form of a slave
4. So, let our hearts say to him, I have sought your face; your face, Lord, will I search for; do not turn your face away from me (Ps 27:8-9). And may he answer our hearts, Whoever loves me keeps my commandments; and whoever loves me, will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and show myself to him (Jn
14:21). Those he said this to could of course see him with their eyes, and hear the sound of his voice with their ears, and with their human minds they thought of him as a man; but what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the mind of man, all that is himself, the very self he was promising to show to those who love him.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Until this happens, until he shows us what can suffice us, until we drink him, the fountain of life, and are satisfied;11 for the time being as we walk by faith and are wandering in exile from him,12 while we are hungering and thirsting for justice (Mt 5:6), and longing with an ardor beyond words for the beauty of the form of God, let us express our allegiance by devoutly and loyally celebrating the birthday of the form of a slave. We cannot yet contemplate how he was begotten before the daystar by the Father,13 so let us crowd in to congratulate him on being bom of the virgin in the middle of the night.14 We cannot yet grasp how his name endures before the sun; let us at least acknowledge that he has pitched his tent in the sun.15 We cannot yet gaze upon the Only-begotten abiding in his Father;16 let us recall the bridegroom coming forth from his chamber (Ps
19:5). We are not yet fit and ready for our Father's banquet; let us honor the manger of our Lord Jesus Christ.
NOTES
1. For once I will not question the date suggested by Kunzelmann and Fischer; I would only say that I would put the sermon some ten to twelve years before 411. There is a very definite quality of excitement about it, especially in the opening form of address and the closing section, which could of course be accounted for by all sorts of things; but from which I infer that he had not yet preached many Christmas sermons. So perhaps we could even place it as his first Christmas sermon after he became bishop of Hippo Regius in 396.
2. See Jn 8:25, where, as Augustine read the text, Jesus answered the question "Who are you?" with the words "The beginning, who is also speaking to you."
3. John the Baptist on 24 June, at that time the summer solstice, and Christ, of course, on 25 December, the winter solstice—in the northern hemisphere.
4. See Ps 78:25. 5. See Col 2:5.
6. SeePs 31:19. 7. See 1 Cor 13:12.10.
8. See Phil 2:6-7. 9. Why "therefore" it is not very easy to see; except that this quotation is bringing back the term "glory" into the train of thought. There certainly is a train of thought, but it is not a single line; more of a multi-track, or like a very complex railway junction or shunting yard.