Homilies on Joshua — Homily 4
Latin source: Origen, In Iesu Nave homiliae (Rufinus's Latin translation), from the public-domain critical text of W. A. Baehrens, GCS 30 = Origenes Werke VII (Leipzig, 1921); cross-checked against Migne PG 12. This English translation is released into the public domain.Concerning the crossing of the Jordan.
[§1] To the sinner, indeed, every creature is an enemy, just as it is written concerning the Egyptians: the earth assailed them, the river assailed them, the very air assailed them, the heavens assailed them. But for the righteous, even things that seem impassable are made level and easy. The righteous man crosses the Red Sea as though "over dry land," but the Egyptian, if he wishes to cross, will be drowned, nor will the "water become a wall to him on the right hand and on the left." Even if the righteous man enters a horrible and vast wilderness, food is supplied to him from the heavens. So, then, in the Jordan too the ark of the Covenant was the leader for the people of God. The priestly and Levitical order takes its stand, and the waters, as if rendering a kind of reverence to the ministers of God, rein in their course and are heaped up into a mound, granting a passage harmless for the people of God. And do not be astonished when these things are reported to you as having been done for the former people; to you, Christian, who have passed through the streams of the Jordan by the sacrament of baptism, the divine word promises things far greater and loftier, and it pledges you a way and a passage through the very "air"; for hear Paul saying concerning the righteous: "we shall be caught up," he says, "in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord." There is nothing at all that the righteous man should fear; every creature serves him. Hear, finally, how God also promises to him through the prophet, saying: "if you pass through the fire, the flame shall not burn you, for I am the Lord your God." Every place, therefore, receives the righteous man, and every creature renders him the service that is due. And do not suppose that these things were done among the men of old, but that in you, who are now a hearer of these things, nothing of the kind is done: all things are fulfilled in you according to the mystical account. For you, who now desire, having lately abandoned the darkness of idolatry, to come to the hearing of the divine law, now for the first time abandon Egypt. When you were gathered into the number of the catechumens and began to obey the precepts of the Church, you passed out from the Red Sea, and, stationed at the halting-places of the desert, you devote yourself daily to hearing the law of God and to gazing upon the countenance of Moses revealed through the glory of the Lord. But if you also come to the mystical font of baptism and, with the priestly and Levitical order standing by, are initiated into those venerable and magnificent sacraments, which they know who are permitted to know them, then also, when the Jordan has been passed by the ministries of the priests, you will enter the land of promise, in which, after Moses, Jesus receives you and himself becomes for you the leader of a new journey. But you, mindful of the great and such-like powers of God — that the sea was divided for you and that the "water" of the river "stood still" — turning to these things will say: "what ails you, O sea, that you fled? and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back? O mountains, that you leaped like rams, and hills like the lambs of the flock?" But the divine word will answer you and say: "at the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool of water and the flint into fountains of waters."[§2] How great were the things done before! The Red Sea was crossed on foot, manna was given from heaven, fountains were broken open in the wilderness, the law was given through Moses, many signs and wonders were done in the wilderness, and nowhere is Jesus said to be "exalted." But where the Jordan is crossed, there it is said to Jesus: "on this day I begin to exalt you in the sight of the people." For Jesus is not "exalted" before the mystery of baptism, but his exaltation and "exaltation in the sight of the people" takes its beginning from there. For if "all who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into his death," and the death of Jesus is fulfilled in the exaltation of the cross, then rightly for each of the faithful Jesus is first "exalted" then, when one arrives at the mystery of baptism, because thus also it is written that "God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly and earthly and infernal." Yet the people is led on by the priests and makes its journey to the land of promise under the tutelage of the priests. And who today among the priests is so great and such a one that he would deserve to be enrolled in that order? For if there be any such, the streams of the Jordan will yield to him and the very elements will stand in awe of him; one part of the river's waters will spring back and be reined in behind, while another part will flee away with a swift gliding into the "salt sea." Yet even this I judge not to have been written apart from the meaning of a mystery — that "part of the waters of the Jordan is plunged into the sea" and flows off into bitterness, while another part continues in sweetness. For if all who are baptized were to guard the sweetness of the heavenly grace they had received, and none turned to the bitterness of sins, it would surely not have been written that a part of the river had been immersed in the whirlpools of the "salt sea." And therefore in these words there seems to me to be signified that variety among the baptized which we ourselves — a thing I recall with grief — often see come to pass: that those who obtain holy baptism, when they again give themselves over to the affairs of the age and the enticements of lusts, and when they drink the salt cup of avarice, are formed in that part of the waters which flows off into the sea and perishes in the salt waves; but that part which remains with steadfastness and keeps its sweetness signifies those who hold the received gift of God without swerving. And rightly there is one part of those who are saved, because there is also one "bread," "which came down from heaven and gives life to this world," and there is "one faith" and "one baptism" and "one spirit," of which all are given to drink in baptism, and "one God, the Father of all." Meanwhile there is a priestly and Levitical order which is to show the way to the people of God who have gone out from Egypt. For it is they who teach the people to go out from Egypt, that is, from the errors of the world, and to pass through the vast wilderness, that is, to traverse the various kinds of temptations and not to be harmed by the serpents, which are the bites of demons, and to avoid the poisons of evil suggestions. And "if" perhaps "someone has been struck" in the wilderness "by a serpent," that they may show him the "bronze serpent" hung upon the cross, "which whoever shall look upon," that is, whoever believes in him whose figure that serpent displayed, shall through this flee from the diabolical poisons. There is a priestly and Levitical order which stands by the ark of the Covenant of the Lord, in which the law of God is carried, doubtless so that they themselves may enlighten the people concerning the commandments of God, as the prophet says: "your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." This light is kindled through the priests and the Levites. But if perhaps someone of this order has "put a kindled lamp under a bushel" and not "upon a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house," let him consider what he must do, when he shall begin to render account to the Lord of light for those who, receiving no illumination from the priests, walk in darkness and are blinded by the obscurity of sins.
[§3] See, finally, what is said: "the people," it says, "so as to be far from the ark of the Covenant, two thousand cubits." But the priests and Levites are near, and quite near, so that upon their own shoulders the ark of the Lord and the divine legislation are carried. Blessed are they who deserve to be near to God. But remember what is written: "those who draw near to me draw near to fire." If you are gold or silver and "draw near to the fire," you will shine forth through the fire far more splendid and gleaming; but if, upon the foundation of faith "laid" in you, you are conscious to yourself that you have "built up wood, hay, stubble," then with such a building, if you "draw near to the fire," you will be consumed. Blessed, therefore, are they who are near, and who are so near that the fire illumines them and does not burn them. Israel too, however, will be saved, but placed far off it will be saved, and it makes its journey not by its own strength, but by the supports and providence of the priests.
[§4] But when do they come to the crossing of the Jordan? For I have noted that this too was marked not without cause, so that the time also might be distinguished. "On the tenth day," it says, "of the first month." This is the very day on which the mystery of the lamb was commanded in Egypt. "On the tenth day of the first month" these things were celebrated in Egypt; "on the tenth day of the first month" they enter the land of promise; which seems to me very blessed, that on the very same day on which one has escaped the errors of the age, he should also deserve to enter the land of promise — that is, on this day on which we live in this age. For the whole of our present life is signified in a single day. And therefore we are taught through this mystery not to defer our acts and works of righteousness to the morrow, but today, that is, so long as we live, so long as we remain in this world, to hasten to fulfill all things that pertain to perfection, and so at last we shall be able "on the tenth day" "of the first month" to enter "the land of promise," that is, the blessedness of perfection. But also very many other things, if you observe them diligently, you will find recapitulated onto this day by the record of the Scriptures. Concerning each of these, that our discourse may not now be extended more than we wish, this must be understood about the fact that this day is so often repeated: that, although there is for us one general perfection, nevertheless each individual species of the virtues which we undertake to unfold, if we are able to complete it wholly and perfectly, has its own perfection proper to that very virtue. For example, if one who is prone to anger desires to attain the virtue of gentleness, without doubt he first stumbles in many things, until by long practice he converts the habit of much time into nature. And when he has obtained what he set out to do, he indeed attains the perfection of gentleness, yet not on that account does he also possess the perfection of all the virtues. So, then, through the individual virtues many perfections are found. But that general perfection is the one which contains in itself the sum of all the perfections. For this reason, therefore, many things done are recapitulated onto this one day, that they may signify many perfections tending toward one end, just as the prophet also says: "my soul has journeyed much"; and again: "while they say to me day by day: where is your God? these things I remembered, and I poured out my soul within me; for I shall pass over into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God, in the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of them that feast." For after the labors and temptations which we shall have endured in the wilderness of this world, after the crossing of the Red Sea, after the streams of the Jordan, if we shall be worthy to enter "the land of promise," we shall arrive with gladness and exultation, following the priests of the Lord Christ and our Savior, to whom is "glory and power unto the ages of ages." Amen!