"We are all spiritually Semites."
SERMON 218 187
Burial
15. That Joseph and Nicodemus buried him: as some people have explained their names, Joseph means "Increased"; while Nicodemus, being a Greek name, many will know that it is a compound of "victory" and "people"; because nikos means victory and demos means people. So, who was increased by dying, if not the one who said, If the grain of wheat does not die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it is multiplied (Jn 12:24)? And who by his very dying won a victory over the people which was persecuting him, if not the one who by his rising will sit in judgment upon them?
NOTES
1. This hardly reads like a sermon, except for the first section. It looks more like notes for a sermon. Perhaps he was unable to preach at the last moment, and dictated some rapid notes for the unfortunate cleric who had to stand in for him. Or perhaps there was a breakdown in the usually very efficient stenographic service, and one of the congregation, or a substitute stenographer, just took notes of the sermon, without recording it completely. La Bonnardiere is undecided on whether it was preached on the Wednesday or Friday of Holy Week; this may be because there is some evidence that the passion according to John, which is here being commented on, was at least some¬ times read on the Wednesday; or just possibly this was no more than a brief advance lecture or
"briefing" to a group of the more devout faithful, in preparation for Good Friday.
2. Typically, he wants to go beyond the literal sense even of Christ's passion; or perhaps it would be fairer to say that he wants to see more deeply into its meaning by examining the figurative significance of its details.
3. See Jn 19:17. 4. Mortality, signified by the cross, instrument of death; and experienced by us in the passions that are part and parcel of our mortal nature.
5. See Jn 19:17-18.
6. And all the hairs have been removed from a skull!
7. See Jn 19:18.
8. See Jn 19:21.
9. See Rom 11:17.
10. See Rom 11:18.
11. See Lk 19:14.
12. See Jn 19:22.
13. See the titles of Psalms 57 and 58 in the Septuagint version.
14. Augustine is anticipating the famous words of Pius XI, repudiating fascist anti-semitism: "We are all spiritually Semites."
15. See Jn 19:23. The sacraments, baptism and eucharist above all, are represented by his clothes, because they unite the faithful to the body of Christ.
16. See Jn 19:26-27. 17. He is clearly right, and truly discerns the evangelist's intentions, in linking the two episodes, in both of which Jesus addresses his mother as "Woman." But the use he makes here of the link is really pretty feeble. There is a third text that lies behind these two together, and that is Gn 2:23: She
'all be calledwoman. Mary is the new Eve. But in Cana Jesus addresses her precisely as his mother,