|
|
by Meister Eckhart
Gospel: John 6: 44
St John vi. 44.—“No one can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me
draw him.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ hath in the Gospel spoken with His own blessed lips these
words, which signify, “No man can come to Me unless My Father draw him.” In
another place He says, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me.” Therefore
whoever cometh to the Son cometh to the Father. Further, He saith, “I and the
Father are One. Therefore whomsoever the Father draweth, the Son draweth
likewise.” St Augustine also saith, “The works of the Holy Trinity are
inseparable from each other.” Therefore the Father draweth to the Son, and the
Son draweth to the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost draweth to the Father and the
Son; and each Person of the Trinity, when He draweth to the Two Others, draweth
to Himself, because the Three are One. The Father draweth with the might of His
power, the Son draweth with His unfathomable wisdom, the Holy Ghost draweth with
His love. Thus we are drawn by the Sacred Trinity with the cords of Power,
Wisdom and Love, when we are drawn from an evil thing to a good thing, and from
a good thing to a better, and from a better thing to the best of all. Now the
Father draws us from the evil of sin to the goodness of His grace with the might
of His measureless power, and He needs all the resources of His strength in
order to convert sinners, more than when He was about to make heaven and earth,
which He made with His own power without help from any creature. But when He is
about to convert a sinner, He always needs the sinner’s help. “He converts thee
not without thy help,” as St Augustine says.
Therefore deadly sin is a breach of nature, a death of the soul, a disquiet of
the heart, a weakening of power, a blindness of the sense, a sorrow of the
spirit, a death of grace, a death of virtue, a death of good works, an
aberration of the spirit, a fellowship with the devil, an expulsion of
Christianity, a dungeon of hell, a banquet of hell, an eternity of hell.
Therefore, if thou committest a deadly sin thou art guilty of all these and
incurrest their consequences. Regarding the first point: Deadly sin is a breach
of nature, for every man’s nature is an image and likeness and mirror of the
Trinity, of Godhead and of eternity. All these together are marred by a deadly
sin; therefore, it is a breach of nature. Such sin is also the death of the
soul, for death is to lose life. Now God is the life of the soul, and deadly sin
separates from God; therefore it is a death of the soul. Deadly sin is also a
disquiet of the heart, for everything rests nowhere except in its own proper
place; and the proper resting-place of the soul is nowhere except in God as St
Augustine saith, “Lord! Thou hast made us for Thyself, therefore we may not rest
anywhere save in Thee.” Deadly sin is also a weakening of the powers, for by his
own power no one can throw off the load of sin nor restrain himself from
committing sin. It is also a blindness of the sense, for it prevents a man
recognizing how brief is the space of time that can be spent in the pleasure of
voluptuousness, and how long are the pains of hell and the joys of heaven.
Deadly sin is also a death of all grace, for whenever such a sin is committed,
the soul is bereft of all grace. Similarly, it is the death of all virtue and
good works, and an aberration of the spirit.
It is also a fellowship with the Devil, for everything hath fellowship with its
like; and sin maketh the soul and Satan resemble each other. It is also an
expulsion of Christianity, for it depriveth the sinner of all the profit that
comes from Christianity. It is also a dungeon of hell, for if the soul remain in
the purity in which God created her, neither angel nor devil may rob her of her
freedom. But sin confines it in hell. Sin is also an eternity of hell, for
eternity is in the will, and were it not in the will, it would not be in the
consciousness.
Now, people say when they commit sin, that they do not intend to do so always;
they intend to turn away from sin. That is just as though a man were to kill
himself and suppose that he could make himself alive again by his own strength.
That is, however, impossible; but to turn from sin by one’s own power and come
to God is still much more impossible. Therefore, whosoever is to turn from sin
and come to God in His heavenly kingdom, must be drawn by the heavenly Father
with the might of His divine power. The Father also draws the Son who comes to
help us with His grace, by stimulating our free will to turn away from, and hate
sin, which has drawn us aside from God, and from the immutable goodness of the
Godhead. Then, if she is willing, He pours the gift of His grace into the soul,
which renounces all her misery and sin, and all her works become living. Now,
this grace springs from the centre of Godhead and the Father’s heart, and flows
perpetually, nor ever ceases, if the soul obeys His everlasting love. Therefore
He saith in the prophets: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” Out of the overflow of His universal
love He desires to draw all to Himself, and to His Only-begotten Son, and to the
Holy Ghost in the joy of the heavenly kingdom. Now, we should know that before
our Lord Jesus Christ was born, the Heavenly Father drew men with all His might
for five thousand, two hundred years; and yet, as far as we know, brought not
one into the heavenly kingdom. So, when the Son saw that the Father had thus
strongly drawn men and even wearied Himself, and yet not succeeded, He said to
the Father: “I will draw them with the cords of a man.” It was as though He
said, “I see well, Father, that Thou with all Thy might, canst not succeed,
therefore will I myself draw them with the cords of a man.”
Therefore the Son came down from heaven, and was incarnate of a Virgin, and took
upon Him all our bodily weaknesses, except sin and folly, into which Adam had
cast us; and out of all His words and works and limbs and nerves, He made a
cord, and drew us so skillfully, and so heartily, that the bloody sweat poured
from His sacred Body. And when He had drawn men without ceasing for three and
thirty years, He saw the beginnings of a movement and the redemption of all
things that would follow. Therefore He said, “And I, if I be lifted up on the
Cross, will draw all men unto Me.” Therefore He was stretched upon the Cross,
and laid aside all His glory, and whatever might hinder His drawing men.
Now, there are three natural means of attraction with which Christ on the Cross
drew to Himself between the third and the ninth hour, more people than He had
drawn before during the three and thirty years of His life. The first means by
which He draws is affinity, that affinity which brings creatures of the same
species together, and like to its like. With this cord of affinity he drew men
to the Godhead, Whom He always resembles. In order that God may draw more to
Himself, and forget His wrath, the Son saith, “Beloved Father, seeing that Thou
wouldest not forgive sins because of all the former sacrifices offered, lo I,
Thine Only begotten Son, Who resemble Thy Godhead in all things, in Whom Thou
hast hidden all the riches of divine love, I come to the Cross, that I may be a
living sacrifice before Thine eyes; that out of Thy fatherly compassion Thou
mayest bend and look on Me, Thine only Son, and on My Blood flowing from My
wounds, and slake the fiery sword with which in the angel’s hands Thou hast
barred the way to Paradise, that all who have repented and bewailed their sins
through Me, may enter therein.”
The second means of attraction which He used is Emptiness, as we see when we
place one end of a hollow pipe in water, and draw up it by suction; the water
runs up the stem to the mouth, because the emptiness of the pipe, from which the
air has been drawn, draws the water to itself. So Our Lord Jesus Christ made
Himself empty that He might wisely draw all things to Himself. Therefore He let
all the blood that was in His Body flow out, and so attracted to Himself all the
compassion and grace that was in His Father’s heart, so completely and
profitably as to suffice for the whole world. Accordingly, the Father said, “My
compassion will I never forget,” and further, “Now, My Son, be bold and strong
that Thou mayest lead the people altogether into the land which I have promised,
the land of heavenly joys, the land which floweth with the honey of My Godhead,
and with the milk of Thy manhood.”
The third means of attraction is this—that as we see the sun draw up the mists
from the earth to heaven, so the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ waxed hot as a
fiery furnace upon the Cross, so fiercely burned the flame of love which He felt
towards the whole world. Thus, with the heat of His love, from which nothing
could be hidden, so intense was it—He drew the whole world to Himself. Never did
our Lord Jesus Christ display such great love as when He suffered the torture of
the Cross when He gave His life for us, and washed our sins with His precious
Blood. Therefore with the cords of Love, He drew us all to Himself upon the
Cross that those who feel the drawing of His death and martyrdom might live with
Him in everlasting felicity.
Now when the Holy Spirit saw that the Only Begotten Son of the Father had drawn
so wisely that He had won to Himself all things in heaven and earth, He also
felt impelled by His own love and kindness to draw. Therefore He said, “I will
also draw with My cords and My net.” So He made a net of the seven high
attributes of the Father, of the seven graces of the Son, of His own seven
gifts, and of the seven Christian virtues. Thus He assures us that we shall
never perish, for we are so caught by His goodness that He expels from us all
the evil works of the flesh, and produces in us His fruits, so that we gain the
reward of everlasting life. May the Father of His love, and the Son of His
grace, and the Holy Spirit with His fellowship, grant us to be worthy of the
same. Amen.
See Also:
Sermons and Bible Commentaries for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Sermons Home | General Sermons and Essays | Articles | eBooks | Our Faith | Prayers | Library - Home | Baselios Church Home
-------
Malankara World
A service of St. Basil's Syriac Orthodox
Church, Ohio
Copyright © 2009-2020 - ICBS Group. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer
Website designed, built, and hosted by
International Cyber Business Services, Inc., Hudson, Ohio
