it not robbery to be equal with God.” Lo, where he saw Him who was “fair in beauty above
the children of men;” do thou tell us, where thou sawest that “He had no grace nor beauty.
But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men,
and found in fashion as a man.”3148 Of His deformity he still further says; “He humbled
Himself, having become obedient unto death even the death of the cross.” Lo, where I saw
Him. Therefore are they both in peaceful concord, both are at peace together. What is more
“fair” than God? What more “deformed” than the Crucified?
5. So then this Bridegroom, “fair in beauty above the children of men,” became deformed
that He might make His Spouse fair to whom it is said, “O thou beauteous among wo-
men,”3149 of whom it is said, “Who is this that cometh up, whitened”3150 with the brightness
of light, not the colouring of falsehood! He then who called them to the wedding, found a
man who had not a wedding garment, and He said unto him, “Friend, how camest thou in
hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.” For he found not what to
answer. And the Master of the house Who had invited him said, “Bind him hands and feet,
and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 3151 For
so small a fault, so great a punishment? For great it is. It is called a small fault not to have
“the wedding garment;” small, but only by those who do not understand. How would He
have been so incensed, how would He have so judged, to cast him, on account of the wedding
garment which he had not, “bound hands and feet into outer darkness, where was weeping
and gnashing of teeth,” unless it had been a very grievous fault, not to have “the wedding
garment”? I say this; seeing ye have been invited through me; for though He invited you,
He invited you by my ministry. Ye are all at the feast, have the wedding garment. I will explain
what it is, that ye may all have it, and if any one now hears me who has it not, let him, before
the Master of the house comes and inspects His guests, be changed for the better, let him
receive “the wedding garment,” and so sit down in all assurance.
6. For in truth, dearly Beloved, he who was cast forth from the feast, does not signify
one man; far from it. They are many. And the Lord Himself who put forth this parable, the
Bridegroom Himself, who calleth together to the feast, and quickeneth whom He calleth,
He hath Himself explained to us, that that man does not denote one man, but many, there,
in that very place, in the same parable. I do not go far for this, I find the explanation there,
3148 Phil. ii. 7, 8.
3149 Cant. i. 8.
3150 Cant. viii. 5, Sept. Dealbata, “not as women whiten themselves, who would appear what they are not;
not as a whitened wall,—not thus whitened, but enlightened, because not of itself white.—Grace came illumining
and whitening; first thou wert black, but hast been made white by His grace. For ye were darkness, but now are
ye light in the Lord.” St. Aug. In Ps. 103, s. 1, § 6.
3151 Matt. xxii. 12, etc.
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On the words of the Gospel, Mark viii. 5, etc., where the miracle of the…