The Sunday Sermons of St. Bonaventure

Sermon 14: First Sunday before Lent

pre-LenT and LenT 185 sermon 14: firsT sunday before lenT 1. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and after they have scourged him, they will put him to death. Luke 18:32. [Protheme] Hear me for I will speak of great things. Proverbs 8:6. In this second verse selected from the Book of Proverbs, divine wisdom expresses three things, which are necessary to preach the passion of the Lord. And the first is humble reverence in listening on the part of the one hearing, which is noted when it says: Hear me; second , the depth of the matter in understanding on the part of the one preparing, and this is noted when it adds: of great things; third, forceful eloquence on the part of the one announcing, which is noted when it adds: I will speak. Therefore, dearly beloved, let us ask the Lord at the beginning of our sermon on the Lord’s passion, in accordance with his grace and piety, that he deign to grant reverence in listening to whomsoever hears and eloquence in expression to me, who announces, so that we may attentively understand something, both concerning the infinite benefit of our redemption and the celestial mystery of the Lord’s passion, for the consolation of our souls. And so we may more easily obtain this, let us say, if it pleases, that verse: “Hail, O cross, O only hope.”227 [Sermon] 2. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; and af227 This is taken from the hymn for Vespers on Passion Sunday. The Sunday SermonS of ST. BonavenTure 186 ter they have scourged him, they will put him to death. Since a flock of sheep usually disperses when the pastor is struck down,228 Our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing in advance that his disciples, like sheep, would be dispersed by the deviation of error after he was struck down in body by his death, wanted to direct them here in the way of faith and through them, others, lest they believe what came to pass was by accident or ignorance. He deigned to predict, therefore, in the proposed passage that infinite benefit of his passion and celestial mystery of our redemption, whereby the eternal God himself humbly bent over and, moved by desire, accepted death on the cross for the salvation of the human race. In these words then the passion of Christ is explained according to its beginning, middle, and end, in which consists the perfect understanding of a matter.The beginning of his passion in fact was the malignity of his own disciple, which was due to the suggestion of the devil; the middle truly was the contemptibleness of the final opprobrium of scourging and facial spittle; and indeed the end was the bitterness of painful suffering in the body and in the separation of the soul. First, the malevolence of his own disciple is noted when it says: For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles, that is, the Son of God by Judas, at the suggestion of the devil.Whence John 13:2 says: When the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, to betray him, etc. Second, the contemptibleness of the final opprobrium is noted when it adds: and he will be mocked and scourged and spit upon; mockery, spittle, and whipping are signs of extreme vilification. Third, the bitterness of painful suffering is noted when it adds: after they have scourged him, they will put him to death; that torment of Christ was certainly bitter, because it killed him so quickly: he even passed away before the others who had been crucified with him. 228 See Matt 26:31. pre-LenT and LenT 187 3. It says, therefore: he will be delivered, etc. where it noted the malevolence of the particular disciple.That malevolence of the traitor Judas indeed appears more fully if we attentively consider the threefold condition of the traitor’s oppressive malignity, namely, confident security and friendship, the excellence of apostolic dignity, and the concupiscence of covetousness and avarice. Given these three conditions, one can see that there [was] no greater malevolence under the sun than in that Judas, who as a false friend betrayed a true friend with the gift of a kiss, who as ungrateful disciple...