9. See Acts 2:41.
100 SAINT A UG UST1NE - SERMONS should we think there in that wall of this great number of Jews dispersed throughout different countries, as a testimonial to the divine scriptures, which they ignorantly carry with them everywhere. In these, you see, Jacob limps, after the hollow of his thigh has been struck and shriveled up,7 which stands for the multitude of his race limping away from his paths. But in the holy wall which has acceded from them to the peace of the cornerstone, we should think of those in whom Jacob was blessed.8 It's the same person, after all, who was both blessed and lamed; blessed in the descendants who were sanctified, lamed in those who were rejected.
The ones we should think of in this wall are the crowd of them who went ahead and followed behind the Savior's donkey, crying out Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Mk 11:9; Ps 118:26). We should think of those who were chosen from that crowd as disciples and made apostles. We should think of Stephen, called by a Greek name meaning "crown," the first after the Lord's resurrection to be crowned with martyrdom. We should think also of those persecutors who turned into so many thousands of believers when the Holy Spirit came.9 We should think of the Churches, about which the apostle says, But I was unknown by sight to the Churches of Judea which were in Christ; but they were only hearing that the one who once used to persecute us is now preaching as good news the faith he once tried to lay waste; and in me they magnified God (Gal 1:22-24). That is how the Israelite wall should be thought about, and joined to the wall coming from the Gentiles which is now so con¬ spicuous. And in this way Christ the Lord will be found not for nothing to have been foretold as the cornerstone, once upon a time laid in a manger, later lifted up to the summit of heaven.
NOTES
1. All I would be prepared to guess about this sermon is that it is earlier than Sermon 201, but later than Sermons 203; this on the presupposition, which I do not regard as in any way certain (see Sermon 203, note 1), that Augustine's attitude toward the Jews grew consistently more benign the older he got.
2. Commutaret\ a very literal, and indeed mistaken, translation in Augustine's version of the Greek apokatallaxei, which means "reconcile." He would, I am sure, interpret commutaret in that sense.
3.1 suspect his saying two differences etc. was just a slip of the tongue, because he was thinking about two walls. He doesn't appear to have had two particular differences or causes of hostility specifically in mind.
4. Quoting Is 28:16; see also Rom 9:33.
5. He means the nourishment of the gospel, primarily, of Christ himself as the Truth; only secondarily is he thinking of Christ in the eucharist.
6. See Ps 118:22. 7. See Gn 32:25.
8. See Gn 32:26-29. 9. See Acts 2:41.
SERMON 204A
ON THE LORD'S EPIPHANY
Date: unknown1
With the heavens declaring the glory of God, a star led the Magi2 to Christ, in order to worship him. These Magi were the firstfruits of the nations. They urge and encourage us to do what they did. Today Christ received gifts; put your hands into your packs,3 bring out from there something that will be acceptable to Christ; you see, he wished to feel the pinch in his poor, and there was no room at the inn for the one for whom the whole world is not space enough, and he was placed, as you know, in a manger.4 He was sought in order to be worshiped, he was pointed out and remained hidden. The Jews are asked where the Christ is bom, they say, In Bethlehem (Mt 2:2.6). They show the way to go, and don't go themselves. Milestones show the way, and stay fixed in one spot. A star appears, a kind of tongue for the heavens, it leads the Magi, shows them the place. Infancy is not ignored, and the little one is worshiped, because he is understood to be great.
The Word of God received gifts, the infant was still unable to speak, and yet was the subject of the angels' doctrine.5 He was still unable to speak, the one about whom the good news was to be fulfilled. The heavens, after all, were also going to declare his glory later on; the heavens are the apostles, flashing like lightning with miracles, thundering with precepts. It was about these, you see, that it said,
Their sound has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps 19:4). When the words which have come to the ends of the earth still escaped our notice, the apostles came to us, and found and changed us.
Christ's feebleness is our firmness, Christ's infant inability to talk is our eloquence, Christ's need is our abundance, because later on Christ's death also became our life. The bread of heaven was lying in a manger. You, the Lord's beasts, draw near if you are hungry; carry him in your hearts, and you are his beasts, while he is your rider and your fodder too.6 You know how he sat on a donkey, and rode that donkey into Jerusalem.7 Carry him, he knows where to ride you. Walk along without a worry in the world, you won't take any wrong turn under such a rider as that. There is a way which leads to the heavenly Jerusalem; it is faith. Walk along it in order to carry Christ and be able to attain to eternal bliss.