The incarnation, birth, and infancy of Jesus Christ/Discourse 3
DISCOURSE III
The Eternal Word From Being Lord Became a Servant
Semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens.
"He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant."---Phil. 2:7, 8
On considering the immense mercy of our God in the work of the human redemption, St. Zachary had good reason to exclaim, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He hath visited and wrought the redemption of His people. Blessed forever be God, Who vouchsafed to come do upon earth and to be made Man in order to redeem mankind. That being delivered from the hands of our enemies we may serve Him without fear. [Luke 1:68-74] In order that, loose from the shackles of sin and of death, wherein our enemies held us fast bound and enthralled, we might fearlessly, and with the freedom of the children of God, love Him and serve Him during this life, and afterwards go and possess and enjoy Him face to face in the kingdom of the blessed,---in that kingdom closed against us indeed, heretofore, but now thrown open to us by our Divine Saviour.
We were, in fact, all heretofore the slaves of Hell; but what has the Eternal Word, our sovereign Lord, done to free us from that slavery? From being Lord He became a servant. Let us consider what a mercy and what an excessive love this has been; but first let us beg light of Jesus and Mary.
I.
Almighty God is Lord of all that is, or that can be in the world: In Thy power are all things; for Thou hast created all. [Esther 13:9] Who can ever deny God the sovereign dominion over all things, if He be the Creator and Preserver of all? And He hath on His garment and on His thigh written King of kings and Lord of lords. [Apoc. 19:16] Maldonatus explains the words "on his thigh," to mean here, "by His Own very nature;" and the drift of it is, that to the monarchs of earth outward majesty is annexed by gift and favor of the supreme King, that is God; but God Himself is King by His very nature; so that He cannot possibly be otherwise than King and Lord of all.
But this sovereign King, though He bore sway over the Angels in Heaven, and ruled all creatures, yet He did not rule over the hearts of mankind; mankind was groaning under the miserable tyranny of the devil. Yes, before the coming of Jesus Christ this tyrant was lord, and even made himself worshipped as God, with incense and sacrifices, not only of their animals, but even of their own children and of their own lives; and he, their enemy and tyrant, what return did he make them? How did he treat them? He tortured their bodies with the most barbarous cruelty, he blinded their minds, and by a path of pain and misery conducted them down to everlasting torments. It was this tyrant that the Divine Word came on purpose to overthrow, and to release mankind from his wretched thraldom, in order that the unfortunate creatures, freed from the darkness of death, rescued from the bondage of this savage monster, and enlightened to know what was the true way of salvation, might serve their real and lawful Master, Who loved them as Father, and from slaves of Satan wished to make them His Own beloved children: That being delivered from the hands of our enemies, we might serve Him without fear. The prophet Isaias had long ago foretold that our Redeemer should destroy the empire which Satan held over mankind: And the sceptre of their oppressor Thou hast overcome. [9:4] And why did the prophet call him oppressor? Because says St. Cyril, this heartless master exacts from the poor sinners who become his slaves heavy tribute, in the shape of passions, hatreds, disorderly affections; by means which he binds them in a still faster servitude, while at the same time he scourges them. Our Saviour came then, to release us from the slavery of this deadly foe; but how?---in what manner did He release us?---Let us learn from St. Paul what He did: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the like of men. [Phil. 2:6] He was already, says the Apostle, the Only-begotten Son of God, equal to His Father, eternal as His Father, almighty as His Father, immense, most wise, most happy, and sovereign Lord of Heaven and earth, of Angels and of men, no less than His Father; but for the love of man He stooped to take the lowly form of a servant, by clothing Himself in human flesh, and likening Himself to men; and since sin had made them vassals of the devil, He came in the form of man to redeem them, offering His sufferings and death in satisfaction to the Divine justice for the punishment due to them. Ah! who would have believed it, if holy faith did not assure us of it? Who could ever have hoped for it?---who could ever have connived it? But faith tells us and assures us that this supreme and sovereign Lord emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.
From his tenderest childhood, the Redeemer, by becoming a servant, was eager to begin and wrench from e devil that dominion which he had over man, according to the prophecy of Isaias: Call His name, hasten to take lay the spoils: Make haste to take away the prey. [8:3] "That is," as St. Jerome explains it, "suffer the devil to reign no longer." Behold Jesus; scarcely born, says the Venerable Bede, before He assumes the form and office of a servant, in order to gain us freedom from the slavery of sin, He causes Himself to be enrolled as a subject of Caesar, and pays him the tribute: "Scarcely born, He is registered in the census of Caesar, and for our liberation Himself is inscribed in the list of servitude." Observe how, in token of His servitude, He begins to payoff our debts by His sufferings; how He allows Himself to be wrapped in swaddling-clothes (a type of the cords which should bind him at a later day, to be led to death by cruel executioners). "God suffers Himself," says a certain author, "to be bound up in swaddling-bands, because He had come to unbind the world from its debts." "Behold Him during the whole course of His after-life obeying with ready submission a simple Virgin and man: He was subject to them." [Luke 2:51] Look at Him as a servant in the poor cottage at Nazareth, employed by Mary and Joseph at one time in smoothing the wood to be worked upon by Joseph in his trade; at another time in collecting the scattered shavings for fuel; then in sweeping the house, in fetching water from the well, in opening or closing the shop; in fine, says St. Basil, as Mary and Joseph were poor, and obliged to earn a livelihood by the work of their hands, Jesus Christ, in order to practise obedience, and to show towards them that reverence which as to Superiors He owed them, endeavored to render them all the services which lay in His power as man. "In His early age Jesus was subject to His parents, and obediently underwent every kind of bodily fatigue; for, as they were poor, they necessarily were obliged to labor. But Jesus showed His obedience by His submission to them by undergoing every kind of labor." What! a God to serve! a God to sweep the house! a God to work! Ah how the mere thought of this should inflame us all, and make us burn with love!
Subsequently, when our Saviour went forth to preach, He made Himself the servant of all, declaring that He had come not to be served, but to serve all others: The Son of Man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister. [Matt. 20;28] much as to say, according to the commentary of Cornelius à Lapide, "I have conducted Myself, and still conduct Myself, so as to show how I would willingly listen to all as the servant of all."
Hence Jesus Christ, says St. Bernard, at the close of life, was not content to take the form of a simple servant, in order to be at the command of others, but even of a wicked servant, in order to be punished as such, and so to pay off that punishment which was due us as the servants of Hell in chastisement of our sins. "Taking not only the form of a servant, that He might obey, but of a wicked servant that He might be chastised, and so pay the penalty of the servant's sin."
Behold, finally, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, how the Lord of all submits as an obedient subject to the unjust sentence of Pilate, and to the hands of His executioners, who barbarously torture and crucify Him. "The Lord all is obedient to the sentence of the judge, the king of all does not disdain to feel the hand of the executioners." St. Peter had said as much before: He delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly. [1 Peter 2:23] And, like a servant, He is resigned to punishment, as if He had well deserved it: When He was reviled, He did not revile; and when He suffered, He threatened not. [Ibid.] Thus did our God love us to such a pass, that for our love He chose to obey as a servant even unto death, and a death of such extreme bitterness and ignominy as the death of the Cross: Becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross. [Phil. 2:8] He obeyed, indeed, not as God, but as Man, and as a servant, as He had made Himself: Taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men. [Phil. 2:7]
The world stood in admiration of that grand act of charity, which St. Paulinus performed in consenting to become a slave for the ransom of the son of a poor widow. But what comparison does this bear with the charity of our Redeemer, Who being God, and in order to rescue us from the slavery of the devil and from death, our just due, chose to become a servant, to be fast bound with cords, to be nailed to the Cross, and there in the end to lay down His life in a sea of sorrow and ignominy? In order, says St. Augustine, that the servant might become lord, God chose to become a servant.
"O amazing condescension of Thy bounty towards us! O inestimable tenderness of Thy charity!" exclaims the Holy Church. "That Thou mightest redeem the servant, Thou hast delivered up the Son." Thou, then, O God of boundless majesty, hast been so fascinated with love for men, that to redeem these Thy rebellious servants Thou hast consented to condemn Thy Only Son to death. But, O Lord, replies the holy man Job: What is a man, that Thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him? [7:17] What is man, who is so vile, and has proved so ungrateful to Thee, that Thou shouldst make him so great, by honoring and loving him to such an excess? Tell me (he goes on to say), why are the salvation and happiness of man of so much importance to Thee? Tell me why Thou lovest him so much, that it would seem as if Thy heart was set on nothing else but to love and to make man happy?
II.
Speed on, then, with gladness, O ye souls that love God and hope in God, speed on your way with gladness! What if Adam's sin, and still more our own sins, have wrought sad ruin on us? Let us understand that Jesus Christ, by the Redemption, has infinitely more than repaired our ruin: Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. [Rom. 5:20] Greater (says St. Leo) has been the acquisition which we have made by the grace of our Redeemer, than was the loss which we had suffered by the malice of the devil. Isaias had long ago prophesied that by means of Jesus Christ man should receive graces from God far surpassing the chastisement merited by his sins: He hath received of the hand of the Lord double for all his sins. [Isaiah 40:2] It is in this sense that Adam the commentator explains this text, as we find in Cornelius à Lapide: "God hath so given remission of sins to the Church through Christ, that she hath received double (that is manifold blessings) instead of the punishments of sin which she deserved." The Lord said: I am come that thy may have life, and may have it more abundantly. [John 10:10] I am come to give life to man, and a more abundant measure of life than what they had lost by sin. Not as the offence, so also the gift. [Rom. 5:15] Great had been the sin of man; but greater, says the Apostle, has been the gift of redemption, which has not only just sufficed for a remedy, but superabundantly: and with Him plentiful redemption. [Ps. 129:7] St. Anselm says, that the sacrifice of the life of Jesus Christ surpassed all the debts of sinners: "The life of that Man surpasses every debt which sinners owe." For this reason the Church styles the fault of Adam a happy one: "O happy fault, which deserved to have so great a Redeemer." It is true that sin has clouded the mind to the knowledge of eternal truths, and has introduced into the soul the concupiscence of sensible goods, forbidden by the Divine command; yes, but what helps and means has not Jesus Christ obtained for us by His merits, in order to procure us light and strength to vanquish all our enemies, and to advance in virtue? The holy Sacraments, the Sacrifice of Mass, prayer to God through the merits of Jesus Christ,---ah! these are indeed arms and means sufficient, not only to gain the victory over all temptation and concupiscence, but even to run forward and fly in the way of perfection. It is certain that by these very means given to us, all the Saints of the new law have become Saints. Ours, then, is the fault, if we do not avail ourselves of them.
Oh, how much more are we bound to thank Almighty God for having brought us into life after the coming of the Messias! How much greater blessings have we received after the accomplishment of redemption by Jesus Christ! How did Abraham desire; how did the prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament long to see the Redeemer born! But they saw Him not. They deafened the heavens, so to speak, with their groans of desire and with their ardent prayers: Drop down dew, ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain the Just, [Isaiah 45:8] was their incessant exclamation. Rain down, O heavens, and send us the Just One, to appease the wrath of that God Whom we ourselves cannot appease, because we are all sinners: Send forth, O Lord, the Lamb, the Ruler of the earth. [Ibid. 16:1] Send, O Lord, the Lamb, Who by sacrificing Himself shall satisfy Thy justice for us, and so shall reign in the hearts of men, who are living on this earth the unhappy slaves of the devil: Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, and grant us Thy salvation. [Ps. 84:8] Hasten and show us, O God of mercies, that greatest mercy which Thou hast already promised us, namely, our Saviour. Such were the aspirations and longing exclamations of the Saints. But for all that, during the space of four thousand years, they had not the happy lot to see the Messias born: we, however, have had this happiness. But what are we doing? What knowledge have we, to take advantage of it? Do we know how to love this amiable Redeemer Who is come at last, Who has already ransomed us from the hands of our foes, has freed us by His Own death from the eternal death which we had deserved, has thrown open Paradise for us, has provided us with so many Sacraments, and with so many aids to serve Him and to love Him in peace during this life, that we might go and enjoy Him forever in the life to come? "He was," say St. Ambrose, "wrapped up in swaddling-clothes, that you might be loosed from snares; His poverty is my patrimony; the feebleness of the Lord is my strength His tears have washed away my guilt." Very great would be your ingratitude to your God, O Christian soul, if you were not to love Him, after He has bee pleased to be bound in swaddling-clothes, that you might be released from the chains of Hell; after He had become poor, that you might be made partaker of His riches; after He has made Himself weak, to give you power over your enemies; after He has chosen to suffer and to weep, that by His tears your sins might be washed away.
But, O God! how few there are who show themselves grateful for so immense a love by faithfully loving this their Redeemer! Alas! the greater part of men, after so incomparable a benefit, after so many great mercies and so much love, still say to God: Lord, we will not serve Thee; we would rather be slaves of the devil and condemned to Hell than be Thy servants. Listen how God upbraids such thankless wretches: Thou hast burst My bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve. [Jer. 2:20] What say you, my brother? have you too been one of these? But tell me, whilst living far from God and the slave of the devil, tell me, have you felt happy? Have you been at peace? Ah, no, the Divine words can never fail: Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness of heart, thou shalt serve thy enemy in hunger and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things. [Deut. 28:47] Since thou hast preferred to serve thy enemy rather than to serve thy God, behold how that tyrant has treated thee. He has made thee groan as a slave in chains, poor, afflicted, and deprived of every interior consolation. But come, rise; God speaks to thee whilst thou mayest still be freed from the fetters of death which bind thee: Loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. [Isaiah 52:2] Make haste while time is left, unbind thyself, poor soul, who hast become the voluntary slave of Hell, strike off these cursed chains that hold thee fast as a prey for Hell, and bind thyself instead with My chains of gold, chains of love, chains of peace, chains of salvation: her bands are a healthful binding. [Ecclus. 6:31] But in what manner are souls bound God? By love: Have charity, which is the bond of perfection. [Col. 3:14] A soul that always walks by the single way of the fear of punishment, and from this single motive avoids sin, is always in great danger of making a relapse before long into sin; but he that attaches himself to God by love is sure not to lose Him as long as he loves Him. And for this reason we must continually beg God to grant us the gift of His holy love, always praying and saying: O Lord, keep me united with Thee, never suffer me to be separated from Thee and from Thy love. The fear which we ought rather to desire and beg of God is filial fear, the fear of ever displeasing this our good Lord and Father. Let us also always have recourse to most holy Mary, our Mother, that she may obtain for us the grace to love nothing else but God, and that she would so closely unite us by love to her Blessed Son, that we may never more see ourselves separated from Him by sin.
Affections and Prayers
O my Jesus! Thou hast been pleased to become a servant for love of me, and in order to release me from the chains of hell; and not only the servant of Thy Father, but of men and of executioners, even to the laying down of Thy life; and I, for the love of some wretched and poisonous pleasure, have so often forsaken Thy service, and have become the slave of the devil.
A thousand times over I curse those moments in which, by a wicked abuse of my free-will, I despised Thy grace, O infinite Majesty! In pity pardon me, and bind me to Thyself with those delightful chains of love with which Thou keepest Thy chosen souls in closest union with Thee. I love Thee, O Incarnate Word; I love Thee, O my sovereign Good! I have now no other desire but to love Thee; and I have only one fear, that of seeing myself deprived of Thy love. O never suffer me to be separated from Thee again. I beseech Thee, O my Jesus! by all the sufferings of Thy life and of Thy death, do not suffer me ever more to leave Thee: "Suffer me not to be separated from Thee, suffer me not to be separated from Thee." Ah, my God, after all the favors Thou hast shown me, after pardoning me so repeatedly, and when now Thou dost enlighten me with so clear a knowledge, and invitest me to love Thee with so tender an affection, if I should ever be so wretched as again to turn my back upon Thee, how could I presume ever to receive pardon afresh? and not rather be afraid that in that same instant Thou would cast me headlong into Hell? Ah, never permit it; let me say again: "Suffer me not to be separated from Thee."
O Mary, my refuge, thou hast hitherto been my sweet advocate; for it was thou that didst prevail on God still to wait for me and to pardon me with so much mercy; help me at present obtain for me the grace to die, and to die a thousand times, sooner than ever sin to lose the grace of my God.