Homilies on the Gospel of John 24

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, at the feast, many believed in him.

Of the men of that time, some clung to error, while others held fast to the truth;

But even some of these, who for a little while laid hold of it, again fell away from it.

These also Christ hinted at when He likened them to seeds that were not laid deep, but had their roots above the surface of the earth, and He said that they too would quickly perish.

These the evangelist too has here made known to us, saying: When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, at the feast, many believed in His name, beholding the signs which He did.

But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them.

For those were the more accurate disciples, who came to Him not from signs alone, but also from the teaching.

For the signs drew the grosser sort, but the prophecies and the teachings drew the more rational.

Accordingly, as many as were held fast by the teaching were more steadfast than those who came from signs.

These also Christ pronounced blessed, saying: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

That these were not of the genuine ones, the sequel too shows;

For Jesus Himself, he says, did not entrust Himself to them.

Why? Because He knew all things, and because He had no need that anyone should bear witness concerning the man;

for He Himself knew what was in the man.

And what He means is this:

He did not attend to the outward words, but entered into their very hearts and penetrated to their understanding;

and knowing clearly the temporary nature of their fervour, He did not trust Himself to them as to fully perfected disciples, nor did He commit to them all the doctrines as though they had already become firmly faithful.

But to know the things in the hearts of men belongs to God, who alone formed the hearts.

For Thou, he says, alone knowest hearts.

He had no need, therefore, of witnesses in order to learn the mind of His own creatures;

wherefore neither did He trust Himself to them on the ground of their temporary faith.

For men, knowing neither the present things nor the things to come, often speak and commit everything without any reserve even to those who approach them deceitfully and to those who will shortly fall away;

for He knew all their secrets clearly.

Such are many even now, having indeed the name of faith, but easily swayed and easily led about.

For this reason even now Christ does not entrust Himself, but hides the greater part of things.

For just as we do not confide in those who are merely friends, but in the genuine ones;

Hear then what Christ says to His disciples:

No longer do I call you servants;

Whence, and why? Because all things that I have heard from the Father, I have revealed to you.

For this reason too He did not give the signs to the Jews when they asked, because they asked in order to tempt Him.

Is it then the case that to ask for signs belongs to those who tempt, both then and now?

For indeed even now there are those who seek and say:

Why are not signs done even now? For if you are faithful, as you ought to be, and

if you love Christ, as one ought to love, you have no need of signs;

for these are given to the unbelieving.

How then were they not given to the Jews, he asks? Assuredly they were given;

but if there is any place where even when they asked they did not receive, it was because they asked these things not in order to be delivered from unbelief, but rather in order the more to confirm their own wickedness.

And there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

this man came to Him by night.

This man also appears in the midst of the Gospel making the argument on Christ's behalf;

Does our law judge any man, unless it first hear him?

At this the Jews too are vexed, saying:

Search and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

And after the cross too he showed great care for the burial of the Lord's body.

For there came, he says, also Nicodemus, who came to the Lord by night, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

And even now he was indeed disposed toward Christ, but not as he ought, nor with the fitting understanding, but was still held fast by the Jewish weakness.

For this reason he came by night, fearing to do this in the daytime.

But the God who loves mankind did not on that account thrust him away, nor rebuke him, nor deprive him of His teaching, but even converses with him with much gentleness, and opens to him the doctrines that are exceedingly lofty—in an enigmatic manner indeed, yet He opens them nonetheless. For this man was far more worthy of pardon than those who do this out of wickedness.

For those are without any excuse whatsoever;

but this man, though he too was liable to censure, yet not to so great a degree.

How then did the evangelist say nothing of the sort concerning him? He did indeed say elsewhere, that even of the rulers many believed in Him;

but because of the Jews they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue;

and here he hinted at the whole matter by the coming during the night.

What then does this man say? Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher from God;

for no one can do these signs which Thou doest, unless God be with him.

Nicodemus is still turned toward things below, still has a human notion concerning Him, and discourses of Him as of a prophet, imagining nothing great from the signs.

We know, he says, that Thou art come a teacher from God.

Why then dost thou come by night and secretly to Him who speaks the things of God, to Him who has come from thence? Why dost thou not converse with boldness? But not even this did Jesus say, nor did He rebuke him;

For a bruised reed, He says, He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench.

And again He Himself says, He shall not strive, nor cry;

and again, I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

No one can do these signs, unless God be with him.

That man, however, still speaks in the manner of the heretics, saying that He was moved by another power and needed the help of others to do the things which He did, saying:

What then does Christ do? Behold the exceeding greatness of His condescension;

He did not indeed say, I have no need of the help of others, but, I do all things with authority;

for I am the genuine Son of God, and of the same power as Him who begat me;

but He forbore for the time, because it was offensive to the hearer.

For what I always say, this I will say even now: that what was earnestly sought by Christ was not so much for the time to unveil His own dignity, as to persuade them that He did nothing contrary to the Father.

For this reason in His words He appears in many places to speak modestly, but in His deeds He does not act so.

For when He works a miracle, He does all things with authority, saying:

Take up thy bed, and go into thy house.

I say to thee, thou wicked demon, come out of him.

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of it.'

Today you shall be with me in Paradise.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder.'

But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment.

Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.

We see how great was the authority that was his.

For in the matter of deeds, no one could find fault with the things that were done.

For how could they? For if the things spoken had not come to pass, nor received such an end as he commanded, someone of those men might have said that his commands were the fruit of madness.

But since they did come to pass, the truth of the outcome of the things done stopped their mouths even against their will.

But in the matter of his words, they were often able, according to their own shamelessness, to charge him with madness.

This is what happens now also in the case of Nicodemus: openly he utters nothing lofty, but in a veiled manner he lifts him up out of his lowliness, teaching that he is sufficient in himself for the display of wonders.

For the Father begot him perfect, and self-sufficient, and having nothing incomplete.

But let us see how he establishes this very thing.

Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, and that no one is able to do the things that you do, unless God is with him.

He thought he had spoken something great, in saying these things concerning Christ.

What then does Christ say? Showing that he had not even set foot on the threshold of fitting knowledge, nor stood in its outer courts, but was still wandering somewhere outside the kingdom—both he, and whoever else may say such things, and who has not yet peered into the true knowledge—he who holds this opinion concerning the Only-Begotten;

what does he say? Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God;

that is, Unless you are born from above and receive the exactness of the doctrines, you are wandering somewhere outside, and are far from the kingdom of the heavens.

But he does not speak so plainly;

so that he might make his word less burdensome, he does not direct it plainly against him, but speaks indefinitely;

all but saying, Even you, and whoever else may hold such opinions concerning me, is somewhere outside the kingdom;

for if he were not saying these things because he wished to establish this, then the answer would have been ill-fitted to what had been said.

Now the Jews, if they had heard these things, would have laughed and departed;

but this man, even in this, shows his love of learning.

For this reason Christ in many places speaks obscurely, wishing to rouse his hearers to inquiry, and to make them more attentive.

For what is said plainly often even slips past the hearer;

but what is obscure makes him more inquisitive and earnest.

But what he says is of this sort:

Unless you are born from above, unless you partake of the Spirit through the washing of regeneration, you cannot receive the fitting opinion concerning me.

For this opinion of yours is not spiritual, but of the soul.

But he did not speak thus, sparing to wound him, since he had contributed what was his own and had spoken as much as was possible for him; rather he leads him up, without arousing suspicion, to the greater knowledge, saying:

Unless one is born from above.

The word 'from above' here, some say means 'from heaven,' others 'from the beginning.'

For the one not born in this way, he says, is unable to see the kingdom of God;

here pointing to himself, and making clear that it is not only this which is seen, but that we need other eyes in order to see Christ.

Hearing these things, Nicodemus says:

How can a man be born when he is old? You call him Rabbi, and say that he has come from God, and yet you do not receive what is said, but utter to the teacher a word that brings in much confusion? For that 'How' is the perplexed doubting of those who do not very much believe, of those who are still of the earth.

For Sarah too laughed for this very reason, when she said 'How';

and many others, seeking this, fell away from the faith.

So too the heretics remain in their heresy, seeking this word in many places;

some saying, How was he made flesh? others saying, How was he begotten? and subjecting that infinite Being to the weakness of their own reasonings.

Knowing these things, then, we ought to flee this untimely meddlesomeness.

For neither will those who seek this learn the 'How,' and they will fall away from the right faith.

For this reason this man too, being at a loss, seeks the manner (for indeed he understood that what was said was said also to himself), and is troubled, and grows dizzy, and

he is in perplexity, having come as to a man, but hearing things greater than from a man, and such as no one had ever heard;

and for the time being he rouses himself to the height of what is said, but is darkened, and does not stand firm, being carried about in every direction and continually falling away from the faith.

Therefore he persists in establishing the impossibility, in order to call forth from him a clearer teaching.

For can a man, he says, enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? See how, when one entrusts spiritual things to his own reasonings, he utters things worthy of ridicule, and seems to be raving and drunken, whenever he meddles with what has been said contrary to what seems good to God, and does not receive the assent of faith. He heard of a spiritual birth, and did not conceive of it as spiritual, but dragged down what was said to the lowliness of the flesh, and thus made so great and lofty a doctrine dependent on the sequence of nature.

For this reason he then fabricates nonsense and ridiculous perplexities.

Wherefore Paul also said, that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit.

Yet even in this he preserves the reverence that is in Christ.

For he did not mock what was said, but, thinking it impossible, he kept silent.

For there were two things that perplexed him: such a birth, and the kingdom.

For neither had the name of the kingdom ever been heard among the Jews, nor of such a birth.

But for the time being he dwells on the former, which especially shook his understanding.

Knowing these things, then, let us not seek out the things concerning God by reasoning, nor bring the things from that realm under the sequence that is with us, nor subject them to the necessity of nature;

but let us understand all things reverently, believing as the Scriptures have said.

For the meddlesome and inquisitive man gains nothing, but besides not finding what he seeks, he will also pay the uttermost penalty.

nor on this account do away with the birth.

For these things belong to the uttermost ingratitude.

For if this man, having heard of a birth—not that ineffable one, but this one according to grace—since he suspected nothing great concerning it, but only human and earthly things, was for this reason darkened and perplexed;

those who meddle with and pry into that most awesome birth which surpasses all speech and mind—of how great a punishment would they be worthy? For nothing so produces dizzy darkness as human reasoning, which utters everything from the earth, and does not endure to be enlightened from above.

For the earthly quality of reasonings has much mire.

For this reason we need streams from above, so that, when the mire settles, whatever is pure in it may be borne upward and mingled with the teachings from there.

And this comes about, when we display both a grateful soul and an upright life.

For it is possible—indeed it is possible—for the understanding to be darkened even by corrupt ways, not only by untimely meddlesomeness.

Wherefore Paul also said to the Corinthians:

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.

For you were not yet able, but neither indeed are you able even now;

For where there is jealousy and strife and divisions among you, are you not fleshly? And in the Epistle to the Hebrews too, and in many places, one may see Paul saying that this is the cause of wicked doctrines:

For the soul that is enslaved to passion cannot behold anything great and noble, but, as though clouded by some discharge of the eye, it endures the most grievous dimness of sight.

Let us therefore cleanse ourselves, let us kindle the light of knowledge, let us not sow among thorns.

And what the multitude of thorns is, you know, even though we do not say it.

For you have often heard Christ calling the care of this present life and the deceitfulness of riches by the name of thorns.

For just as those thorns are unfruitful, so also are these things;

and just as those thorns tear those who touch them, so also do these passions;

and just as thorns are easily consumed by fire and are hateful to the farmer, so also are the affairs of the world;

and just as wild beasts hide among the thorns—vipers and scorpions—so also they lurk in the deceitfulness of riches.

But let us apply the fire of the Spirit, that we may consume the thorns as well,

and drive away the beasts, that we may present to the Husbandman a cleared field, and after we have cleansed it, water it with the spiritual streams.

Let us plant the fruitful olive, that most cultivated of plants, the ever-flourishing, the light-giving, the nourishing, the health-producing.

All these things almsgiving possesses, being as it were a seal upon those who possess it.

This plant not even the coming of death withers, but it stands ever illuminating the mind, nourishing the sinews of the soul, and rendering its strength more mighty.

If we hold this continually, we shall be able with boldness both to behold the Bridegroom and to enter into the bridal chamber;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.