believe Augustine to some extent grew out of in his later years. See Sermon 218B, note 9; and in
SERMON 223B 221 in which he slept for our sakes. He, as a matter of fact, announced his passion a long, long time before through the prophet, when he said, I myself slept, and I rose up, because the Lord upheld me (Ps 3:5). He called the Father Lord. Thus we keep awake on the night in which he slept, in order to live by the death which he suffered; we celebrate a vigil over his temporal slumber, so that as he watches for our sake, we may rise again to an eternal vigil and remain tirelessly awake forever.
However, he also rose again on this night, and it is in expectation of that resurrection that we are keeping watch. He was handed over for our sins, and he slept. He rose again for our justification (Rom 4:25). That's why we, on this one night in which he slept, all throng to this vigil of ours, so that safe in his watchful keeping we may some time or other be quit of that sort of sleep; and by keeping awake we await the hour of his awakening, in case at the very point of our justification, for which he rose again, carelessness should creep in, and our hearts, not our bodies, should fall asleep. So let us watch, my dearest friends, and pray, lest we enter into temptation.
NOTES
1. Preached, presumably, like Sermon 219 and others we have seen, at the beginning of the Easter vigil. That could be a reason, as was suggested there (see Sermon 19, note 1), for dating it to one of the years before he was ordained bishop, that is to 391-396. But for qualification of this admitttedly tenuous inference, see Sermon 222, note 1.
2. Another such reason, I would like to think, is this whiff of anti-Judaism, which I want to believe Augustine to some extent grew out of in his later years. See Sermon 218B, note 9; and in slight extenuation Sermon 218, note 13.
SERMON 223C
ON THE HOLY NIGHT
Date: uncertain1
Christ slept the sleep of death voluntarily, not out of necessity, for our redemption
As our Lord Jesus Christ approached his passion, in which for debts he paid out what he did not owe,2 in order to cancel with his blood the bond by which we were held liable,3 he said to his disciples, Watch and pray, lest you should enter into temptation (Mt 26:41). It was as a result of this recommendation of his that this solemnity was instituted,4 so that we should all keep watch, as the anniversary comes round of the day on which his resurrection was awaited. May he pay heed to us as we keep awake on his solemnity, seeing that he fell asleep for our salvation. As a matter of fact, it had been said in prophecy of his case, and in his name, I myself fell asleep and slumbered; and I rose up, since the Lord will uphold me (Ps 3:5); as though to say, "The Jews mustn't imagine they have prevailed; I myself went to sleep; it was a matter of will, not of necessity. " It was he, for sure, he who went to sleep, as consenting to it, not conquered by it; inasmuch, after all, as he had power to lay down his life and to take it up again.5
That, however, does not mean that th<? Jews were guiltless of crime, just because it was by his own power and authority that he fell asleep; to prove'their criminal responsibility, you see, he said in another psalm, Ifell asleep troubled (Ps 57:4). He referred this, I mean, to those who supposed he had been troubled by them, who mocked him as if he had been beaten by them; and yet while they had demanded his death with impious voices, they attempted to distance them¬ selves from responsibility for his execution, so that it would appear not to be their doing, but Pilate's, who handed him over to the soldiers to be crucified. That's why that very psalm continues, The sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharpened sword (Ps 57:4); as though to say,
Even if not with your own hands, all the same with your own mouth you have destroyed the one whose death you clamored for."6
But what does it say in another psalm? Shall he that sleeps not furthermore arise? (Ps 41:8). There you are, he has risen, the one who had fallen asleep; he