for the reward of having called me, and you dishonored me, as you expected. Two debtors were owing a certain lender; and you also, I see, are liable for double the debt, having received both the loan and the principle of the Law, and you have neglected both as a benefactor. The one owed five hundred denarii—this is the Pharisee, who holds more and greater sins of the soul: "For the publicans and harlots go before you into the kingdom of heaven." The other fifty; by this are noted the grievous ways of the harlot. But since they had nothing to repay through good works, having accepted faith, He forgave both, and tearing up the bond, He said: "Tell me, who will love Him more?" Then the Pharisee, "I suppose he to whom He forgave more." And he who was guilty of the fault became his own judge, and found the Master praising him, saying: "You have judged rightly." Hear now. "Do you see this woman, who owed less than you, and brought more gifts and offerings? Do you see this woman, who was to many a destruction; an ensouled sepulcher; a death carried about everywhere? I entered into your house: you did not offer water, common to all and accessible to everyone, for my feet; but she poured forth fountains of tears from her eyes upon my feet. You gave me no kiss; but she has applied her lips to my feet. You did not anoint my head—so that, having obtained mercy from me, you might not be soiled—but she anointed my feet with ointment; she anointed the divinity with faith. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven," so that what was said in the Psalms might be fulfilled: "You have forgiven the iniquities of your people," and that which was preached by John: "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." To Him be glory forever. Amen.
On the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ
The artifice of sin has been turned against sin. For the art of sin is the cross, so that the sinless body might be delivered to death; but the cross was a device fixed to the flesh for ascent into heaven: and that which was said concerning sin has been changed. For formerly, as Paul preached, "Sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me"; but now a statement of this kind befits the artifice of justice: for justice, taking opportunity through sin, deceived it and killed it. Stupefied by this, Paul burst forth into that utterance: "Great is the mystery of godliness." For the resurrection is hidden in the cross, and the generation unto immortal life; the King, emerging from the underworld, bestowed immortality upon men. Truly a great mystery. How, therefore, was this mystery known? "It was manifested," he says, "in the flesh." And what was the manifestation? "It was justified in the spirit." What argument of justice? "It appeared to angels." The angels, he says, knew the dignity of Him who appeared; they approached and ministered to Him. Paul, the heralds of justice are indeed worthy of faith, and they celebrate the power of Christ; but show to men also the sign of that fortitude. "It was preached to the Gentiles." The Word traveled about, by which His divinity was preached, even though it was hindered by all; the preaching, though restrained, was spread abroad. What then, if it reached only to the ears, and was held for trifles by the Gentiles who heard the Word? "It was preached," he says, "and believed in the world." Then, after it was believed, every obstacle being overcome, "It was taken up," he says, "in glory." The fortitude of the Church was preached: or rather, the persistence of the whole world. For the humanity taken up today is a help common to human nature: for afterwards the punishments were more moderate. And I would have you consider those punishments formerly inflicted by God upon men, and you will discover the utility of the assumption. Fallen from one sin, Adam was cast out; Cain was condemned to long-lasting trembling of the body; heaven sent down a shower of fire to burn Sodom, the rot of the earth; the woman who had violated the law regarding fleeing was turned into a pillar. But what of the difference among the peoples? Hear Scripture narrating these things as if lamenting: "They tempted," it says, "God, and perished by serpents." "They murmured," it says, "and perished by the exterminator in one day, twenty-three thousand." The Lord, it says, gave death in Israel from morning until the hour of mid-day, and there died seventy thousand men. For what reason? "Thus says the Lord," he says: "Choose for yourself three years of famine upon the earth, or three months during which your enemies will pursue you, or three days of death in your land." Writers of the Greeks also lament the calamities of ancient times, the exuberance of floods, the magnitude of conflagrations, the years of much famine, the broad destruction of earthquakes, the spilling of blood in civil wars, the tempests of frequent wars. There was then no cessation of wars and evils, sent down from heaven and from the earth, no peace either for Greeks, or barbarians, or Jews. For the earth was awaiting a mediator, who might bring peace to heavenly and earthly things. Concerning whom Paul says: "He is our peace, who obstructed enmity in His flesh." How many now are more lascivious than the Sodomites? Yet fire is not poured out upon them as of old. For the earth has received the mediator of peace, who has become more benign toward the human race. How many now are more wicked than those who lived in the age of Noah? Yet heaven does not submerge them with floods. How many more ferocious than Cain? Yet God does not punish them with the punishment of Cain. For when He is irritated by us, looking to the first-fruits of the sharers of His throne, He is reconciled: when He is indignant as men act wickedly, seeing the extended humanity at His right hand, He is appeased: when the flagitious race rouses Him to wrath, our fellow-kindred one sitting with Him mitigates the wrath from above. Explaining this to you, Paul says: "Christ is at the right hand of God, and intercedes for us"; not that He needs the voices of suppliants: for Christ ascended into a kingdom; not that supplication is proper for Him: but Paul fashioned the very assumption of the first-fruits into a supplication that might reconcile us. O spectacle today horrendous to demons! Horrendous it surely was to them to see the nature of man, as it appeared, pervading the air, ascending higher than they, made superior to the heavens. But they indeed were groaning: the angels, however, standing joyfully by the men, were crying out: "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in the way you saw Him going into heaven." The mystery of the assumption becomes more certain. For the disciples were standing with gaping mouths looking into heaven and intently gazing: but when the flesh gradually permeated higher than their eyes could reach, they were turning toward a thought of doubting: "Nowhere," they say, "does the body appear: was the assumption perhaps only a phantom and a fantasy? Perhaps we were mistaken in our eyes; or if we were not mistaken, perhaps the body was dissolved into the air, and now no longer has a nature visible to earthly beings." When they were thus looking into heaven, doubting, they immediately heard the angels: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?" What does that curious gaze mean, they say? Why are your eyes intent on heaven? In the heavens do you seek Him? A cloud carries off Jesus. Will anyone now see Him in the body? Trust in either matter as certain. Although He has now been taken up into heaven, He will come again, "In the way you saw Him going into heaven." But that the tongue may not be stretched longer, let us put down the wearying lyres, and give place to other lyres. Let the mouths of many applaud the assumption; let the whole human race today sing with a common voice. "Great is the mystery of godliness; He was seen by angels, believed in the world, taken up in glory." To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.