Homilies on the Gospel of John 34

Woman, believe Me, that the hour is coming, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.

You worship that which you do not know;

we worship that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews.

Everywhere, beloved, we have need of faith—faith, the mother of good things, the medicine of salvation;

and without this it is not possible to lay hold of any of the great doctrines.

But such men resemble those who attempt to cross the sea without a ship, who, so long as they swim a little way, hold out by using hands and feet together, but when they have gone farther, are quickly overwhelmed by the waves;

so also those who rely on their own reasonings, before learning anything, suffer shipwreck;

as Paul also says, Who concerning the faith have made shipwreck.

That we too may not suffer this, let us hold fast the sacred anchor, by which Christ now draws the Samaritan woman to Himself.

For when she had said, How do you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship? Christ said:

Believe Me, woman, that the hour is coming, when neither in Jerusalem, nor in this mountain, shall you worship the Father.

He revealed to her a very great doctrine, one which He had told neither to Nicodemus nor to Nathanael.

She indeed was eager to show that her own things were more venerable than the Jews', and this she argued cleverly from the fathers;

but Christ did not meet this question directly.

For it was for the time superfluous to say and to show why the fathers worshipped in the mountain, but the Jews in Jerusalem.

Wherefore He passed this over in silence;

but taking away the prerogatives of both the figures, He rouses up her soul, showing that neither the Jews nor they themselves have anything great in respect of what is to be bestowed hereafter;

and then He introduces the difference.

Nevertheless, even so He declared the Jews the more venerable, not preferring one place to another, but assigning the precedence on the ground of that understanding, as though He said:

As for place, there is no longer any need to contend.

The Jews, however, in their manner had the advantage over the Samaritans;

For you, He says, worship that which you do not know;

but we worship that which we know.

How then did the Samaritans not know that which they worshipped? Because they thought that God was local and partial;

so indeed did they even serve Him;

So too they sent word to the Persians, saying, 'The God of this place is angry with us,' imagining nothing more concerning Him in this respect than they did concerning their idols.

For this reason they continued serving both the demons and Him, mingling things that cannot be mingled.

But the Jews were free of this misconception, and knew Him to be the God of the whole world, even if not all of them did.

Therefore He says, 'You worship what you do not know;'

'but we worship what we know.'

Do not be astonished that He numbers Himself among the Jews;

for He speaks to the woman's supposition, as one who is a prophet of the Jews.

For this reason He also added the word, 'We worship.'

For that He is among those who are worshipped is surely evident to everyone.

For to worship belongs to the creation, but to be worshipped belongs to the Master of the creation.

But for the present He speaks as a Jew.

So the word 'We' here means, He says, 'We the Jews.'

Having therefore exalted the things of the Jews, He again makes Himself worthy of belief, and persuades her the more to give heed to what is said by Him, rendering His discourse free from suspicion, and showing that He is not exalting their affairs out of any kinship with His own race.

For He who declared these things concerning the place—in which the Jews chiefly boasted and thought themselves to surpass all others—and who cast down their venerable things, plainly did not, even in this, speak to gratify anyone, but with truth and with prophetic power.

Since therefore He had for the moment drawn her away from such reasonings, saying, 'Believe Me, woman,' and what follows, He adds, 'For salvation is of the Jews.'

And what He says is of this sort:

either that the good things came to the world from thence (for the knowing of God and the condemning of idols had their beginning from there;

and all the other doctrines, and even among you the very act of worship itself, though not rightly done, nevertheless took its beginning from the Jews);

so then He calls salvation either these things or His own coming;

or rather, one would not err in calling both of these the salvation which He said was of the Jews.

Which Paul also hinted at when he said:

'Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all.'

Do you see how He upholds the Old Testament, and shows it to be the root of good things, and how through all He is not contrary to the Law, seeing that He says the ground of all good things is from the Jews? 'But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father.'

'We surpass you, O woman,' He says, 'in the manner of worship;

yet even this shall henceforth have its end.

For not only shall the things of the places be changed, but also the things of the manner of worship, and these stand at the very doors;

'For the hour is coming, and now is.'

For since the prophets long beforehand said the things they said, He removes this notion by saying here, 'And now is.'

'Do not suppose,' He says, 'that this prophecy is of such a kind as to come to pass after a long time.'

'For the matters are already at hand, and are at the doors, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.'

By saying 'true,' He cast out the Jews along with the Samaritans.

For even if these are better than those, yet they are far inferior to those who are to come—by as much as the type is inferior to the truth.

He speaks concerning the Church, that this is the true worship, and the one befitting God.

For indeed the Father seeks such to worship Him.

If then He was seeking such long ago, it was not by His will that He allowed them that manner, but by condescension; and He did so for this reason too, that He might bring these also in.

Who then are the true worshippers? Those who neither confine their service to a place, and who serve God in spirit;

even as Paul also says:

'Whom I serve in my spirit, in the Gospel of His Son;'

and again, 'I beseech you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.'

'God is Spirit' signifies nothing else than that He is incorporeal.

The service of the incorporeal One must therefore be of this same kind, and must be offered through that which is incorporeal in us;

that is, through the soul and the purity of the mind.

'And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.'

For since both these Samaritans and the Jews neglected the soul, but made much effort about the body, cleansing it in all manner of ways;

He says that it is not by the purity of the body, but by that which is incorporeal in us—that is, by the mind—that the incorporeal One is served.

Therefore do not sacrifice sheep and calves, but dedicate your whole self to God and offer yourself as a whole burnt offering;

for this is to present a living sacrifice.

For one must worship in truth;

since the former things were a type—the circumcision, the whole burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the incense;

but now it is so no longer, but everything is truth.

For one must cut away, not the flesh, but evil reasonings, and crucify oneself, and slay and utterly destroy the irrational desires.

The woman was dizzied by what was spoken, and grew faint before the loftiness of the sayings, and being wearied, hear what she says:

'I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ;

when He comes, He will tell us all things.'

And from where came it to the Samaritans to expect the coming of Christ, seeing they received Moses only? From the very writings of Moses.

For indeed in the beginning He revealed the Son.

For the words, 'Let us make man according to our image and likeness,' were spoken to the Son;

and it is He who converses with Abraham in the tent;

and Jacob, prophesying concerning Him, said:

'The ruler shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until He comes to whom it is reserved; and He is the expectation of the nations.'

And Moses himself also says:

'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brethren, like me;'

And the things concerning the serpent, and the things concerning the rod of Moses, and the things concerning Isaac and the sheep, and many others besides, were available for those who wished to select them, proclaiming His coming.

And why then, someone asks, did Christ not lead the woman on by these things, but to Nicodemus He brought forward the serpent, and to Nathanael He recalled the prophecies, yet to her He said nothing of the kind? For what reason then, and why? Because those were men, and were versed in these matters;

but she was a poor woman, and unlearned, and inexperienced in the Scriptures.

For this reason He does not speak to her from these things, but draws her by means of the water and the prophecy, and through these leads her to the remembrance of Christ, and thereupon reveals Himself;

which, had He said it to the woman at the beginning when she was not seeking it, would have seemed to her mere trifling and idle speaking.

But now, leading her little by little to the remembrance, He revealed Himself at the fitting moment.

And to the Jews who continually said, 'How long do You keep our soul in suspense? Tell us if You are the Christ;'

to these He did not answer plainly, but to her He said openly that He Himself was He.

For the woman was more fair-minded than the Jews.

For those men sought not in order to learn, but ever to mock Him.

For if they had wished to learn, the teaching given through His words, through the Scriptures, and through the signs was sufficient.

But this woman, out of an unbiased judgment and a simple mind, spoke the things she spoke;

and this is plain from what was afterwards done by her.

For she both heard and believed, and drew others as with a net unto this same faith;

and everywhere one may see in the woman her exactness and her faith.

And upon this His disciples came.

They arrived very much in season, when the teaching had been completed.

And they marveled that He was talking with a woman.

Yet no one said, 'What seekest Thou?' or, 'Why talkest Thou with her?' (3)

And why did they marvel? At His freedom from pride, at His exceeding humility, that being so illustrious a Person He endured with so great lowliness of mind to converse with a woman who was poor and a Samaritan.

But nevertheless, though astonished, they asked not the reason;

so well were they instructed to keep the rank of disciples, so greatly did they fear and reverence Him.

For they had not yet the opinion concerning Him which was His due; yet nevertheless they gave heed to Him as to some marvelous One, and rendered Him much reverence.

And yet in many places they appear speaking with much freedom;

as, when John lay upon His breast;

when, coming to Him, they said, 'Who is the greater in the kingdom of heaven?' when the sons of Zebedee besought Him that one might sit on His right hand and one on His left.

Why then did they not ask here? Because all those matters, as pertaining to themselves, they had need to inquire into;

but here the thing that was happening concerned them nothing so much.

And John too did this after a long time, near his very end, when he enjoyed greater freedom, and took courage in the love of Christ;

'For this,' it says, 'was he whom Jesus loved.'

What could be equal to this blessedness? But let us not stop, beloved, merely at pronouncing the Apostle blessed, but that we too may become of the number of the blessed, let us do all things, and imitate the Evangelist, and see what were the things that wrought so great a love.

What then were these things? He left father, and boat, and net, and followed Jesus.

But this he had in common with his brother, and with Peter and Andrew, and with the rest of the apostles.

What then was the special thing which wrought this great love? For concerning himself he says nothing of the kind, but only that he was loved;

but his good deeds, on account of which he was loved, he passed over in silence, out of modesty.

For that He loved him with a certain special love was plain to everyone;

yet nevertheless he does not appear either conversing with Him, or questioning Him apart, as Peter often did, as Philip, as Judas and Thomas, but only then, when he wished to do a favor to a fellow-apostle and to obey him.

For when the chief of the apostles compelled him by a nod, then he asked;

for these two had great love toward one another.

Thus at least they appear going up together to the temple and preaching together in common.

And yet Peter in many places is both moved and speaks more warmly;

and near the end too he hears Christ saying,

'Peter, lovest thou Me more than these?' And he that loved more than these, it is very plain that he also was loved.

But this was made plain from his loving Jesus, and that from his being loved by Jesus.

What then is it that wrought this special love? To me it seems that the man displayed great forbearance and meekness;

wherefore also he does not in many places appear speaking with boldness.

And how great a thing this is, is plain also from the case of Moses.

For this same thing made him also so great and so mighty.

For nothing is equal to humility of mind.

Wherefore Christ began the Beatitudes from this point.

For as one about to lay a foundation and base for a most mighty building, so He set humility of mind first.

For it is not, it is not possible to be saved without this;

but though a man fast, though he pray, though he give alms, if it be with arrogance, all are abominable when this is not present;

just as, when it is present, all things become desirable and lovely, and are done with safety.

Let us then be moderate, beloved, let us be moderate.

For the good deed is very easy, if we are watchful.

For what is there at all that lifts thee up to arrogance, O man? Dost thou not see the meanness of thy nature? the slipperiness of thy will? Think upon thine own end;

think upon the multitude of thy sins.

But perhaps, achieving many good deeds, thou art high-minded? Then by this very thing thou wilt destroy all.

Wherefore not so much the sinner as the doer of good has need to be earnest to be moderate.

Why so? Because the one has the constraint of his conscience;

but the other, unless he be very watchful, is quickly lifted up and vanishes away, as though fanned by a blast of wind, like the Pharisee.

But thou givest to the poor? Yet not thine own things, but the Master's, the things common to thy fellow-servants.

And for this very reason thou oughtest most of all to be humbled, foreseeing in the calamities of thy kinsmen thine own case, and learning thine own nature in them.

Perhaps we too were sprung from such forefathers.

And if wealth has passed over to us, yet it is likely that it too will [depart].

And what after all is wealth? A feeble shadow, a smoke that is dissolved, the flower of the grass, or rather even meaner than a flower.

Why then art thou high-minded over grass? Does not wealth come also to robbers, and to the effeminate, and to harlots, and to grave-robbers? Does this then lift thee up, that thou hast such partners in thy possession? But dost thou desire honor? Yet nothing is more suited to obtaining honor than almsgiving.

For those honors which come of wealth and of power are constrained and mingled with hatred, but these come of the free choice and from the conscience of those who honor.

Wherefore those who give the honor can never cast it out.

But if men render so great reverence to almsgiving, and join in wishing all good things to those who practice it, consider how great a recompense they shall receive from the God who loves mankind, what a requital.

Let us then seek after this wealth, that which ever abides, and never runs away like a fugitive;

that being both here great and there glorious, we may attain unto the everlasting good things, by the grace and lovingkindness 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.