Held 1516.
Matth. 4, 18-22.
Now as Jesus went by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting their nets into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them: Follow me; I will make you fishers of men. Soon they left their nets and followed him. And as he passed away from thence, he saw two other brethren, Jacobum the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets: and he called unto them. Soon they left the ship and their father and followed him.
1. they have left not only the nets, but also the ships. Here someone would say (as St. Gregory does in the Homily) that they have left a little and a few things: but this is said only by those who have not yet tried whether they can leave even a florin. It was indeed little to leave ship and nets, if they had left this alone; but because such was their whole food and business, they have indeed also left the benefit of it. Who does not know that even the one who sells his ship, yes, even the fisherman leaves his ship at the end of his work, but he does not leave its use and inclination to the same.
But now let us proceed to the secret understanding, because in this gospel and in the epistle, but at the same time also in the legend, St. Andrew is praised because of his special inclination and drive to the cross. For although the legend is apocryphal, it nevertheless deals very well and properly with the cross; indeed, we hope that the conclusion is not bad, in explanation of all three pieces at the same time: The cross of Christ is nothing other than leaving everything and clinging to Christ alone through the faith of the heart; or also: To leave everything and believe is to bear Christ's cross. Thus the apostle Gal. 2, 19. 20. says: "I am crucified with Christ; I live, but now not I, but-
*) Löscher I, 757; Erl. A. opp. var. ar^. I, 142 sii.
D. Red.
For Christ lives in me"; hence it is to be noted that the nets signify all that by the use of which goods are sought; but the ship itself signifies the soul, the receptacle of all their goods, or the affection and the heart. Thus the nets are all things and arts by which are sought gain, wealth, pleasure, honor, majesty, and dignity. For these are the fruits of man's fishing, that is, of his occupations and actions: when these are obtained (as when the fish are put into the ship), he sails in the world as on the greatest sea, and enjoys it. To leave this, therefore, is to leave the nets, the efforts of those things which are sought; which, however, is seldom done.
(3) But to leave the ship is as much as to leave the impulse and the desire for it and the enjoyment of it. For even the lazy, as well as the profligate, do not respect these nets and leave them, but they do not leave the ship; indeed, they demand that others fish in their place, and that they be filled and filled with it. Therefore, as long as the heart lives in these physical and visible things, it cannot live in faith, since it is impossible to have the thing and faith at the same time. Therefore, the thing must be abandoned by the one who wants to believe with the heart. With the heart, I say, it must be abandoned, not with the body. For one does not believe with the body, but with the heart. So also the thing is not abandoned with the body,
but with the affect and with the heart. In this way the ship and the nets are left. For faith and possession are thus distinguished, that the former is the certain confidence of that which is hoped for and not seen; but the latter of that which is present and that which is seen. For as long as the heart has something in the presence of which it is calm and in the absence of which it is restless, it does not yet have faith, but the thing, because, after leaving all things, one must trust in the invisible.
4 Therefore, the cross is the abandonment of all things, and faith is the most supererogatory thing. For it is the cross that kills this emotion and desire for things, so that it abandons everything; but faith, having thus killed it, entertains it with other things, which it neither sees nor experiences. Therefore, faith increases and decreases as much as this affect and desire increases and decreases. For they are in the same balance, since the visible things are increased as much as the invisible things are diminished, until at last all is left; and this is perfect faith. Therefore, the righteousness that comes from faith is a marvelous righteousness, because it does not restore to all what is owed, but forsakes all and gives way to all goods. For if we were to restore everything to everyone, we could not do enough to God for the life of a single hour. Therefore, there is no better righteousness than this, that we give way and yield to all, then we remain debtors to no one. But as long as something remains in the affection, so long we are restless. For conscience calls upon us and reminds us; the judge passes sentence and puts us under ban; at last he threatens the outward punishment, and there we are especially afflicted, until we yield and give way, and say: Behold, there are the nets together with the ship; I have nothing more; all may be gone and have its parting. God then receives this poor person, for "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven". (Matth. 5, 3. 1 And again, the children of the poor he will help and make blessed. This rest is felt by those who taste other goods in faith, after the affect and the
The desire for things is abandoned. Therefore he says (Rom. 10, 10.): "With the heart one believes to righteousness", he does not say: through riches. So those who, with St. Andrew, say, O good cross, hail, thou most precious cross, which hast taken the ornament and beauty from the Lord's limbs, receive me, and give me to the Master, who hath redeemed me through thee: these it is who demand that this affection and lust for things should soon and most of all be crucified. For this means the crucifixion of the most unveiled Christ, who bore in himself the figure of the old man and his lust, and of the wicked ship to be left. For in leaving the mortal life of his body, he taught that the desire for perishable things must be left, which also, as I have said, indicates his exposure.
5. There are also some other fishermen of vain honor and security, whose nets are wisdom, righteousness and good works, but the ship itself is the love of this vanity. To these it is far more difficult to believe in the heart, because it is more difficult for them to leave everything and be crucified. Therefore it is also harder for them to be justified, because no one is justified unless he believes in his heart. "For the righteous shall live by his faith." (Hab. 2, 4.) But he cannot believe unless he sees, feels or touches nothing from within and from without. But this is called being hanged on the cross, where he touches nowhere the earth on which he can trust: this is the way of the increasing. Therefore he does not say: By good works one comes to righteousness, if one knows many things and understands wisely; but if one believes from the heart. Here it is something great to say, O thou good cross. But this kind of people is so hidden, even from the rulers, that it is not without reason to fear that they will be condemned before they know what faith is and why they will be condemned; and they are commonly those who go along without feeling and certainty, without stirring of conscience and without fear of God, as a people, as Isaiah says, who do justice.
and has not forgotten the covenant of his God.
(6) There is also another kind of the same people, who say and speak that they do not wish to die, but to live, that they may be able to support themselves by a better life and merit. This word, though it may seem good, has the most dangerous meaning, and it is to be feared that those who say it will not understand it. For I fear that they understand it in such a way that they want to get to the point where they see and realize that they are good, do good and live well. If this were to happen, it would be better for them, and it would also have been better for them, that they had died a thousand times from such knowledge, because they cannot escape pride and hope. Therefore it would be better for them to accept death with patience than to come to spiritual goods undied. Just as it is better for children to die before they know what is good and evil in the flesh, so it would be better for them to die before they know what is spiritual. For if a man is not completely dead, his virtues and good works are more harmful to him than his sins.
(7) Therefore it is enough for them that, knowing their sins, they thirst for righteousness and have a desire for it, and so die willingly (a patient death is sufficient); for if they were to partake of righteousness, as they desire, they would immediately, being satisfied, spit it out again and give it up, and, being sure, would be disgusted by it.
8 If they understood this word correctly, their will and intention would be very good. For the true mind is this: that they want to be completely pious for the sake of it, so that God alone is glorified in it and the neighbor is helped, and that they are unconcerned about merits and rewards and about the fear of the punishment of hell. But to be so minded that one does not appropriate to oneself any of one's merits and rewards, and that one understands that these alone are God's works; as well as that one no longer appropriates them as if Saint Andrew himself had done them; and that one always remains in the knowledge of his nothingness, and
that without elevation and falsehood: is a work of the most perfect, which is not possible without the most perfect grace. St. Paul was such a one, who calls himself (1 Tim. 1, 15.) the most distinguished among sinners, and yet says in this very epistle (2 Tim. 4, 7.) that he had fought a good fight, and that the crown of righteousness was laid up for him. And Isaiah calls himself a servant of God Cap. 64. and yet he calls himself unclean Cap. 6. So also John in his epistle says: That we are children of God and do not sin (1 John 3, 9.), and yet he also says (Cap. 1, 8.): "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." St. Augustine was also such a one. Accordingly, these regard their works, not that they are done in them and by them, but through them and by God alone, that they recognize themselves as instruments. Therefore the apostle says: "They have proclaimed the works of the Lord and have taken notice of his deeds.
(9) But not every one may presume to claim this degree, for it is beyond measure. For he who is reformed, that he departs from the life of sin, and becomes righteous and good, must again, if he would live without danger, become wicked and a sinner. So high and excellent is this holiness that it makes even the righteous a sinner, because he lives completely apart from himself, in God, in God's will, righteousness and wisdom. Accordingly, he is no longer righteous through his own righteousness, which he has attained or which has been infused into him; but he is righteous himself in the divine righteousness, before and in which he has lost his own righteousness, and his own righteousness has become sin for him. He does not demand to live righteously any longer, but to live God alone. Those who do not strive for this degree would be better off if they had not reached the middle degree. For they stand and trust in the righteousness that has already been obtained, not in the righteousness that is yet to be obtained, as that which is to be found in God; and for this very reason they still stand in their ships. For what does it mean that man is standing in the ship, but that
In what he himself has done and worked, namely, in the righteousness and wisdom he has attained and acquired, where there is no faith to be found, but experience, until this being rises higher and stands in God; which is the work of men who are very perfect and practiced, but not of those who find themselves partakers of milk, for whom it is enough to walk simple in good works: even though they often sin, they still look to Christ.
10 Therefore righteousness is not to be sought apart from us, but inwardly in the heart through faith; as it is said in Rom. 10:8, "The word is near to you in your mouth and in your heart.
You must not go over the sea or seek it outwardly by other works, just as many want to attain righteousness by works, but righteousness creates and brings about works. Therefore Christ is sufficient for thee through faith, that thou mayest be justified; when this is done, thou livest, workest, and sufferest not for thyself, but for Christ; therefore through the same nothing is thine, but Christ's only. For whose instrument thou art, of him also thou hast that which is thine, even Christ by faith. Let him also have what is his, that is, you and the works in you, and so it will be a perfect marriage.