Sin against God and the Enemies of the Savior

Having served the Savior by his birth. It must be said thus: the world came into being in six days, and sixty is a perfect number, as it has been often demonstrated; for in tens, sixty-six is present. Therefore, he who surpassed the world and having gone above is able, being a 'man trained for war' (Ps 45:3), having a sword 'upon his thigh' (Ps 45:3). Concerning the bed of Solomon, these sixty are able, concerning the Lord's body, circling it, observing, by what cause the Savior was incarnated. 'Sixty' therefore are 'able around it, all holding a sword'. They are swords. And the swords which the wise hold are swords. 'The righteous shall rejoice in glory and shall exult in their throat' (Ps 97:11), 'and a two-edged sword in their hands' (Ps 45:3). They have two-edged swords in their hands. And they also have it 'upon the thigh'.

And since the drama concerning the marriage of the bride and bridegroom is a bridal chamber, he says the temperate ones concerning the bridegroom, to show, and he says that they have a sword upon the thigh, cutting away shameful desires. 'You turned his whole bed in his sickness' (Job 33:25). This says: he did not give a brief healing to the one greatly sickened, but 'turned his whole bed' (Job 33:25) away from the sickness, so that he might no longer be sick, but might be healthy, as I said concerning the paralytic. And you also say concerning Lazarus, the one being drawn out having a body, that, when he was taken up from thence by the angels, his whole bed was turned, his whole sickness. He was no longer laid down in sickness. Instead, he was being carried into the bosom of Abraham.

'I said, Lord, have mercy on me' (Ps 51:3). Instead, he says that: what was upon us was achieved, to be rescued from the bed of sickness and to be helped from the bed of pain; for I did this, 'I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you' (Ps 51:3). You see that, when he sinned, then he was in trouble and then he was laid upon a bed and a couch. When therefore anyone knows Him who is able to rescue, he will attain to the one who is striving, similarly to him: 'I want, be cleansed' (Mark 1:41), 'Rise, take up your bed and walk' (Mark 2:11). 'I' therefore 'said, Lord, have mercy' (Ps 51:3). By saying: 'Lord, have mercy on me', I showed that I was not able to be pitied by myself. I healed.

I have sinned against you, I have sinned against you. In this way, almost all of us sin toward God, knowing much about Him through ignorance and doing much contrary to His laws. 'I have sinned' is thus 'against you'; but having said, 'Lord, have mercy on me,' he possesses the petition.

My enemies said evil things to me: 'When will he die, and will his name be destroyed?' (Ps 54:1). I say that this psalm is to be spoken from the person of the Savior according to man. And since the Jews have become His enemies, like traitors to the truth, having not understood the one who came among them, and since Judas also became one of the disciples, regarding the enemies he speaks singularly of those having risen up against him—once in reference to Judas as the beginning of the betrayal, and once plurally because of those following him and having overthrown Jesus.

And it is not only here that this happens, but also in the 108th psalm it is said: 'They spoke against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they surrounded me. Instead of loving me, they attacked me, but I was praying; and they set evil against me instead of good, and hatred instead of my love. Set the sinner upon him, and let the devil stand at his right hand' (Ps 108:2-5)—this he says singularly concerning Judas—'in the judging of him, let him go out condemned, and let another take his oversight' (Ps 108:8). Once therefore concerning Judas, and once concerning those who agreed with him, he speaks; and for this reason in the same verses where there is singular, there is plural.

And thus he says: 'My enemies said.' This they said: the evil things which they think are evil, they said against me: 'When will he die, and will his name be destroyed?' (Ps 54:1). For they thought that after the death of Jesus his teaching and his fame would be extinguished, and they said: 'When will he die?' On the contrary, it went the opposite of what they thought. His name did not shine forth less when he lived and was alive than when he was crucified and taken up. And for the correction of those of heterodox opinion, this is to be taken: for as many as do not think rightly, but are being deceived and say impious things concerning the Savior, they are the ones who spoke evil against him. And since there is a leader of the heresies, the false speaker, or even his slandering devil, through...