Homily 18

Pronounced before the people

in the basilica of St. Peter, apostle

1st of April 591 (fifth Sunday of Lent)

Jesus and Abraham

"He who is of God hears the words of God": this is the fundamental criterion of a true Christian life. To hear the words of God is to put them into practice. Do we do it? asks Gregory to his flock.

Thus, the Gospel of the day shows us the behavior of Jesus faced with the hatred of his Jewish adversaries: it is a model to be imitated by the disciples of Christ when they are, like their Master, confronted with affronts and vexations of unbelievers. The preacher finely analyzes the various attitudes adopted by Jesus, and puts them in touch with those we would spontaneously take on such an occasion. Everyone can thus feel for himself the path he has left to follow to imitate his Savior perfectly.

The pope then notes the incoherence of the Christians who reproach the Jews for having refused Christ, whereas they often refuse it themselves, not wanting to leave their sins. Insensibly, the speaker has brought back his listeners to the first criterion he seeks to highlight: "He who is of God hears the words of God." Without doubt, he concludes, the Lord is patient and waiting for our penance, but one day he will judge us ...

Here is a homily that gives a lot to think about.

John 8: 46-59

At that time, Jesus said to the crowds of Jews and princes of the priests, "Who of you will convict me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do not you believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; if you do not hear, it is because you are not of God. "Then the Jews answered him," Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and possessed of the devil? "Jesus answered "I am not possessed of the devil, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my glory: there is someone who seeks it and judges. Verily, verily, I say to you, if any man keep my word, he will never see death. "Then the Jews said to him," Now we know that you are possessed of the devil. Abraham is dead, the prophets too; and you say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Would you be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets too are dead. Who do you claim to be? "

Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, whom you say is your God. And you do not know him; but I know him; and if I said that I do not know him, I would be a liar to you. But I know him, and I keep his word. Abraham, your father, exulted at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it, and he rejoiced. "Then the Jews said to him," You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? "Jesus said to them," Truly, truly, I have you. say it, before Abraham was, I am. "Then they brought stones to throw at him, but Jesus escaped and went out of the temple.

Consider, dear brothers, the goodness of God. He had come to forgive sins, and he said, "Which of you convicts me of sin?" He does not disdain to prove that he is not a sinner, he who by his divine power could justify sinners. But what follows is really terrible: "He who is of God hears the words of God; if you do not hear, it is because you are not of God. "If he who is of God hears the words of God, and if he who is not of God can not hear them, everyone must to question whether he receives the words of God in the ear of his heart, and he will deduce from where he is. Truth commands to desire the heavenly homeland, to repress the desires of the flesh, to renounce the glory of the world, not to covet the goods of others, to give widely of his own. Let every one of you ask, besides yourself, whether this voice of God has been confirmed in the ear of his heart, and he will recognize by that if he is of God.

There are some who do not even deign to listen to the precepts of God. There are still some who listen well to the body, but their minds do not kiss them with love. Finally, there are those who willingly receive the words of God, even to the point of being touched with compunction to tears, but after the time of tears, they return to their iniquities. All of them obviously do not hear the words of God, since they neglect to put them into practice. Therefore pass your life, dear brothers, before the eyes of your soul, and a serious reflection fill you with apprehension about the word that the Truth proclaims through his mouth: "If you do not hear, it is that you are not of God. "But what the Truth says of the reprobate, the reprobates confirm it by their works. For the text continues, "Then the Jews answered him, 'Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and a demon possessed?'"

2. Let us listen to what the Lord responds to such an affront: "I am not possessed of the devil, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me." Samaritan means "guardian"; but the Lord is truly a guardian, since the psalmist declares about him, "If the Lord keep not the house, let him watch them who guard him" (Ps 127: 1), and let Isaiah speak to him. saying, "Guardian, where is the night? Guardian, where is the night? "(Is 21, 11). That is why the Lord did not want to answer, "I am not a Samaritan," but: "I am not possessed of the devil." Two charges were brought against him: he denied one, and by his silence, he admitted the other. For he had come as a guardian of the human race, and if he had said that he was not a Samaritan, he would have denied being a guardian. But he ignored what he admitted, and calmly rejected what he meant to say wrong: "I am not possessed of the devil." These words are they not the confusion of our pride who can not bear the slightest wound of self-love without answering it with more scathing insults than those he has received? He does all the harm he can, and also threatens to do the one he can not. See how under the insult the Lord does not get angry and does not respond with hurtful words. However, if to those who told him such things, he wanted to answer: "It is you who are possessed of the devil", he would certainly have said true, because his enemies could not speak of God of a way so nasty without being full of the demon. However, after receiving such an insult, Truth refrained from even saying what was true, for fear of appearing, not telling the truth, but responding to the provocation by an abusive word. Does this not show us that when we receive from our loved ones affronts inspired by slander, we must silence what is bad in them, even if it is true, to avoid turning into an instrument of our passion the service of a correct correction?

Since anyone who has the zeal of God is dishonored by depraved men, the Lord has offered us an example of patience himself, saying, "But I honor my Father, and you, you dishonor me." And what we must do in such a case, he shows us again by his example when he declares: "I do not seek my glory: there is someone who seeks it and judges." It is written, we We know very well that the Father has given the Son every judgment, and yet see, as under the insults, this same Son does not care for his glory. The insults he receives, he reserves for the judgment of the Father, to make us feel, certainly, how we must be patient, since he, the Judge, does not want to take revenge. And when the perversity of the wicked increases, far from stopping preaching, it must be intensified. This is what the Lord shows us by his example, because after being called demon possessed, he spreads the benefits of his preaching more widely, with these words: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if someone will keep my word, he will never see death. "But if the good ones become infallibly better by the very fact of insults, the benefits received only make worse the reprobate. In fact, having heard the preaching, they say again, "Now we know that you are possessed of the devil." Because they had submitted to eternal death, and they did not see this death to which they had subjugated themselves, they considered only the death of the flesh, and therefore understood nothing of the words of Truth; therefore they said, "Abraham is dead, so are the prophets; and you say, If any man keep my word, he will never taste death. "Thus, in the truth in person, they prefer Abraham and the prophets, whom they seem to worship. But a clear reasoning shows us that those who do not know God can only venerate the servants of God falsely.

3. Notice that the Lord, who saw the Jews openly against him, did not give up teaching them again; He declares to them: "Abraham, your father, exulted at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it, and he rejoiced. "Abraham saw the day of the Lord when he received at his home the three angels of the Most Holy Trinity: three guests whom he assuredly addressed as one, for even though the persons of the Trinity are three in number, the nature of the deity is one.

But the carnal minds of the Lord's hearers do not raise their eyes above the flesh, and considering in him only the age of his body of flesh, they say to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you saw Abraham? "Then, gently, our Redeemer turns their gaze away from his body of flesh to raise them to the contemplation of his divinity, declaring," Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham be, I am. "" Before "indicates the past, and" I am "the present. Because his divinity has neither past nor future, but still exists, the Lord does not say, "Before Abraham I was," but, "Before Abraham, I am." That is why God told Moses: "I am he who is", and, "You shall say to the children of Israel, 'He who is' has sent me to you" (Ex 3: 14). Abraham therefore had a before and after, he who could come [in this world] by showing his presence as well as leaving [this world], carried away by the race of his life. On the contrary, it belongs to Christ, who is the Truth, to always exist, for nothing, for him, begins in a time that would be before him, nor end in a time that would follow.

But the unbelievers, whose minds could not endure these words of eternity, ran for stones, and they tried to stone the one they could not understand.

4. What the Lord did to escape the fury of those who wanted to stone him is immediately indicated: "Jesus escaped and went out of the temple." Surprisingly, dear brothers, the Lord has avoided his persecutors stealing away, whereas if he had wished to exercise the power of his divinity, he could, by a silent order of his will, paralyze them under his blows or strike them with a sudden death. But since he had come to suffer, he did not want to exercise his power as a judge. At the moment of his Passion, did he not show what was in his power, while still supporting to the end what he had come for? For as soon as he had said to the persecutors who were seeking him, "It is I" (Jn 18: 6), their pride was overthrown by these words alone, and they all fell to the ground.

He who could also have escaped the hands of those who wanted to stone him without stealing, why did he steal away? Because having become man among men, our Redeemer tells us certain things by his word, and others by his example. And what does he tell us by this example, if not to flee with humility the anger of the proud, even when we can resist it? It is in this sense that Paul declares: "Let the anger act" (Rom 12:19). Let every man consider with what humility he must flee the anger of his neighbor, since God himself has avoided, by hiding himself, the fury of those who were angry with him. Let no one, therefore, rear against the outrages he has received, nor make an insult for insult. For it is more glorious to want to imitate God by the silent flight of an affront than to gain the upper hand by responding to it.

5. On the contrary, pride says in our hearts: "What a shame! We insult you, and you shut up! All those who see you shut up when you are outraged, far from thinking that you are patient, imagine that you are guilty. "Whence comes from our heart the voice opposed to patience, if not Do we pay attention only to things below, and seek our glory on earth, we do not care to please Him who sees us from heaven? When we receive insults, let us therefore practice this word of God: "I do not seek my glory: there is someone who seeks it and judges."

What is written about the Lord, "He hid himself", can also be understood differently. He had preached many things to the Jews, but these jeered at the words of his preaching. Moreover, this preaching had made them worse, to the point that they wanted to throw stones at him. In hiding, the Lord makes it clear that he, the Truth in person, escapes from those who disdain to observe his words. He flees the soul that he does not find humble. And how much nowadays the hardness of the Jews who do not listen to the preaching of the Lord is reprobated, and yet they commit to the works what they reproach the Jews for the faith! They hear the commandments of the Lord, they know his miracles, but they refuse to leave their disturbances. Here is the Lord calling, and we do not want to come back. Here he supports us, and we pretend to ignore his patience. While there is still time, my brethren, let each one renounce his unruly life, and may he fear the patience of God, lest one day be unable to escape the anger of the one whose sweetness he now disdains.

________________________________

1 On the word "compunction", cf. the introduction to homily 15.

2 Saint Gregory plays on the resemblance between the Greek words eleos (mercy) and elaion (olive oil).

3 The bowels are, according to the Bible, the seat of compassion and tenderness.