Commentary on the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount with Seventeen Related Sermons

5 (Denis). LIFE FROM DEATH

SERMON 5 (Den.) 1 Life from Death (John 3.16; Rom. 8.32) (1) Paying attention to the Gospel lesson which has been read, we have heard the account of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ rose from the dead; therefore Christ had died, for a resurrection is a proof of death. The death of Christ is the destruction of fear. Hence, let us not be afraid to die, for Christ has died for us. Let us die with the hope of eternal life, for Christ has risen in order that we also may rise. In His Death and Resurrection we have our appointed task and our promised reward. Suffering is our appointed task; resurrection is our promised reward. The martyrs fulfilled that task. Let us fulfill it through piety if we cannot fulfill it through suffering. Death comes to all men, but not to all men is it given to suffer and to die for the sake of Christ. Happy are those who have done for the sake of Christ that· which had to be done anyway; they could not have escaped death, but they could have refused to die for Christ. Death will come to all men, but not in every case will it be a death for Christ. As regards those whose good fortune it was to die for the sake of Christ, it may be said that in a certain manner they made repayment for the benefit that had been conferred upon them. The Lord had conferred on them the benefit of dying for them; in return, they made repayment by dying for Him. But, how could a 1 See p. '!HI. 11. 1. 311 312 SAINT AUGUSTINE miserable needy man repay, unless a generous master had given him wherewith to do so? So, Christ gave to the martyrs the means of making repayment to Christ for what Christ had given them. The song of the martyrs is this: 'If it had not been that the Lord was with us, perhaps they [our persecutors] had swallowed us up alive.'2 Alive? What does that mean? Here, it means cognizant, not unaware. The martyrs' meaning is this: Although we would know that we would be committing a sin if we were to deny Christ, we would nevertheless have committed that sin. Hence, our persecutors would have swallowed us up while we were alive-not because we were dead, that is, while we were cognizant of the sin, not because we were unaware of it. But by what power did they resist their persecutors' efforts to force them to commit that sin? Let us put that question to the martyrs themselves; let them give us the answer. Here it is: 'If it had not been that the Lord was with us.' Hence, the Lord Himself had given them the wherewithal to make repayment to Him. Let Him be thanked. He is rich, but it is written that He became poor in order to make us rich.3 We are enriched through His poverty; we are healed by His wounds; we are exhalted by His lowliness; we receive life through His death. (2) 'What shall I render to the Lord, for all the things that he has rendered to me?'· So spoke the martyr. Hear what he says next. He reflected, and sought for some fitting repayment to make to the Lord. After reflection, what did he say? He said: 'I will take the chalice of salvation.' 'This,' says he, 'is what I will render to the Lord: the chalice of salvation, the chalice of martyrdom, the chalice of suffer2 Ps. 123.1-3. 32 Cor. 8_9. 4 Ps. 115.12-13. SELECTED SERMONS 313 ing, the chalice of Christ.' He means: 'I will take the chalice of salvation, for Christ is our salvation.' Hence, the martyr says: 'I will take up this chalice, and I will make recompense to Him.' It was with reference to this chalice that. on the eve of His passion, Christ said to the Father: 'Father, if it be .possible, let this chalice pass from me.'& For this purpose had He come, namely, to suffer and to die. He had power over death. (If I am wrong on this point, then hearken to His own words when He says: 'I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again. No one takes my life...