The Distinction of Universals and the Meaning of the Head

The visionary one, possessing the mind of Christ and seeing God within, is not troubled. You are the praise of Israel; 'in you we shall be praised all day long' (Ps 145:1). Our fathers hoped in you (Ps 22:4). Our fathers, having hoped in you, were heard 'and were not put to shame' (Ps 22:5); for always receiving their prayers, you brought them to a state of favor, even if they should die through afflictions. For that which hears them when they cry out is not that which makes them be outside of the afflictions, but that which is outside of the harm brought by the afflictions; thus also it was interpreted: 'do not bring us into temptation' (Matt 6:13). Even if the holy ones praying seem not to be heard, all the more they are heard, because by remaining in afflictions they are proven as athletes. For what a failure it would be if one praying should turn away from the afflictions? Furthermore, 'our fathers' is in the presence of the Savior; you know that he counts himself in many ways according to the human manner. They hoped, and you saved them; they cried out to you and were saved. Not by leading them into nothingness, but by overcoming through afflictions. 'They cried out to you.' Having cried out, they were saved. And the cry we take to be the stretched-out prayer; for we do not cry out with a laughing voice, for thought is the word of the soul, and voice is the sound of the inner man.

They hoped in you and were not put to shame. I am a worm and not a man (Job 25:6). The fathers, having cried out to you, were not put to shame; for they have attained that of which they expected, that of which they hoped. Here he teaches blindness: 'I am a worm and not a man' (Job 25:6). The man does not deny being a man, but he teaches that the man is such, since he does not even perceptually call himself a worm. I am not therefore that man about whom it is said: 'for where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not men?' (Jas 3:16); but I have the same disposition toward them, drawing everything for their sake. And this too can be understood: since his body did not come from the casting of a man's seed, but from the mere matter taken from the womb, according to this he calls himself a worm; for the worm does not come from a union, but from simple matter. And here, from the simple matter subject to the female, the body arose for him. 'In it' indeed 'has been born' and 'has been born from it.' But the other bodies are said to be 'through women' by way of the washing...

To receive. Since therefore this one did not have her birth from the seed of a man, it did not happen through her, but from her. A reproach of men and a disgrace of a people. I am a reproach not simply of men, but of the 'men'. All those who, looking at me, mocked me.

Some wish to falsely make the universal many times; for the universal is sometimes cut and becomes universal in another way. If I say, 'All men are mortal,' I say this universally. But if I say that 'all the grammarians,' I speak of certain men, and the universal has come from the grammarian, not from the man. 'All the diligent are righteous.' I do not say this that 'all men are righteous.' So also here: not all those looking at him mocked him—for indeed the apostles, looking, did not mock him—but all those looking at him in this way as a disgrace of a people, as a reproach; for the others did not look at him in this way.

They spoke with lips, they moved the head. If they had spoken from the heart, they would not have moved the head. They spoke with lips to many. And it is not a wonder if they said these things concerning the one who suffered and was seen hanging. And God himself blames them, saying, 'This people honors me with their lips' (Ps 51:17). Therefore all the hypocrites, when they rejoice with the holy and the righteous, speak only with lips. And those who indeed boast grandly about the Savior were doing this: 'But he said the one destroying the temple and in three days building it up' (Mk 14:58).

Furthermore: to move the head? Perhaps even regarding history; they did this by cutting corners. And often the head signifies the mind. When anyone thus speaks against the Savior with lips without having seen him as he ought to be, he has a shaken mind, he has a wavering mind. Because the head signifies the mind: 'I have given their paths into their heads' (Ps 101:8), and this head did not possess anything of itself. 'And from thence he will come out, and your hands shall be upon your head; you will say, I have not sinned; for behold, I am judged against you' (Zech 10:5). And coming out of this life, you will have your deeds upon your head. And also: 'His pain shall return upon his head' (Job 34:31). But also praiseworthily: 'The eyes of the wise are in his head' (Prov 2:10). And he who, being not wise, has become wise, does not have them being carried around.