Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
And his father and mother were marveling at the things that were said about him — the things that were spoken and written concerning that birth of Jesus — and then we will be able to know that each particular thing is worthy of wonder. For this reason his father marveled too — for he too was called that, namely Joseph, because he was the one who reared him — and his mother marveled too, at all the things that were said about him.
What, then, were the things that report had spread abroad about the infant Jesus? There were shepherds in that region, keeping watch and observing the watches of the night over their flock. An angel came at the very hour of Jesus' birth and said to them: I announce to you great joy: go and you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The angel had not yet finished his words, and
behold, a multitude of the heavenly army began to praise and bless God. When the shepherds had seen this in fear and the angel had withdrawn from them, they said to one another: Let us go to Bethlehem and see the thing that has happened, which the Lord has shown us. They came and found the infant. Both they and the parents marveled at the things that had happened. And of Simeon it is written
that he increased the report and was a great part of the wonder, so to speak. For he took the child in his arms and said: Now, Lord, you release your servant in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation. The high point, and, so to say, the summit of all that was being spread abroad about Jesus, at which both his father and mother marveled, was the speech of Simeon.
For it was not enough for him to hold the infant and to speak aloud the things that were written about himself, but he also blessed his father and his mother, and, speaking of the infant himself, said: Behold, this one is appointed for the falling and the rising up of many within Israel, and to be a sign spoken against on every side. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
What does this mean, this saying: behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel? I have found something similar to this written in the Gospel according to John: I have come into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. How then did he come for judgment, so that those not
seeing — that is, those of the nations — might see, and those who previously saw — that is, those of Israel — might become blind? In this way he came for the fall and rising of many. For at the coming of the Lord and Savior, those who had previously stood fell, and those who had fallen rose. This is one interpretation of what is said: behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many
in Israel. But there is also something deeper to be understood, especially against those who bark against the Creator, and who, gathering testimonies from the Old Testament on this side and that, testimonies which they do not understand, deceive the hearts of the simple. For they say: behold, see what sort of God this lawgiver and prophets' deity is. I, he says, will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal; and
there is no one who can snatch them from his hands. They hear, "I will kill," and do not hear, "I will bring to life"; they hear, "I will strike," and scorn to hear, "I will heal." By occasions of this sort they slander the Creator. Therefore, before I interpret what sense it bears—"I will kill and bring to life, I will strike and heal"—I will set against them the testimony of the gospel, and I will speak against the heretics—for there are countless heresies which accept the gospel
according to Luke— : If the Maker is bloody and a mere judge and cruel for this reason, because he says, "I will kill and bring to life, I will strike and heal," then it is perfectly clear that Jesus too is his son; for the very same things are written of him: "behold, this one is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel"—not for "rising" only, but also for
"the fall." If it is evil to kill, let it also be evil to come for a fall. What will they answer? Will they withdraw from his worship, or will they seek some interpretation and take refuge in figurative readings, so that what has come "for a fall" may sound more like kindness than severity? And how will it be just, when something of this sort is found in the gospel, to take refuge in allegories and new understandings, while when
it is found in the old instrument, they immediately bring an accusation and accept no explanation, however plausible it may be? But even this passage that follows—"I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind"—though they seek to expound it, they will not be able to explain it. But I, who wish to be a churchman, and to be named and to bear my name not from some heresiarch, but from the name of Christ,
and to hold the name that is blessed upon the earth, and who desire, both in deed and in understanding, to be and to be called a Christian, seek a consistent reasoning in the old law and in the new alike. God says, "I will kill"; I gladly accept that God should kill. For when the old man is in me and I still live as it were a mere man, I desire that God slay in me
the old man, and bring me to life from the dead. For "the first man," he says, "is from the earth, earthly; the second man is from heaven, heavenly. Just as we bore the likeness of the earthly one, so let us also bear the likeness of the heavenly." In this sense that saying too is understood: "I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." We all have within us,
as human beings, both sight and blindness. Adam both saw and did not see. Eve too, before her eyes were opened, is described as having seen: "the woman saw," it says, "that the tree was fit for eating and pleasing to look upon; and taking from the fruit of the tree she ate, and gave it to her husband, and they ate." So they were not blind, but could see. Then it follows: "and their eyes were opened,"
their eyes, that is. So those whose eyes were afterward opened had been blind and could not see; but those who had seen well before, after they transgressed the Lord's command, began to see wrongly, and afterward lost the sight of obedience as sin crept in upon them. I understand in this same way that saying of God: "Who made the mute and the deaf, the seeing and the blind? Is it not I, the Lord God?"
There is an eye of the body, by which we see these earthly things, and there is an eye that follows the sense of the flesh, of which scripture says: walking in vain, puffed up by the sense of his flesh, in contrast to a better and divine wisdom. Because this eye was blind in us, Jesus came to make it see, so that those who did not see might see, and those who did see might become blind. According to this sense, then, we should also understand this which we now hold
in our hands: behold, this one is set for the fall and the rising of many in Israel. I have something in me that stands badly, and the pride of sin raises itself up: let this fall, let this be overthrown, for if it falls, that which had before collapsed will rise up and stand. My inner man once lay cast down, while the outer man stood upright. Before I believed in
Jesus, what was good in me lay prostrate, and what was evil stood upright. After he came, then what was evil in me collapsed, and that word was fulfilled: always carrying about the mortification of Jesus in the body — put to death your members that are upon the earth: luxury, idolatry, sorceries — a useful ruin came about. And wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather; it took its name from falling. Good is this ruin, to which
Jesus comes first, for he cannot bring about a resurrection unless a ruin has gone before it. Let him come first to destroy what was evil in me, so that once that has been destroyed and put to death, what is good in me may rise up and be brought to life, so that it may attain in him the kingdom of heaven: to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.