Homilies on the Gospel of John 51

Then said some of them of Jerusalem,

'Is not this He whom they seek to kill? And lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him.

Do the rulers indeed know truly that this is truly the Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence He is.'

Nothing is set down at random in the divine Scriptures;

for they have been uttered by the Holy Spirit.

Wherefore let us examine all things with exactness.

For it is possible from a single expression to find out an entire meaning, as is indeed the case now set before us.

For many of them of Jerusalem said,

'Is not this He whom they seek to kill? And lo, He speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto Him.'

Why ever is it added, 'of them of Jerusalem'? The Evangelist shows that those who had especially enjoyed the great signs were of all men the most pitiable, seeing that, having beheld the greatest sign of His Godhead, they entrusted the whole matter to the judgment of the corrupt rulers.

For was it not a great sign, that men frenzied and murderous, going about and seeking to slay Him, and holding Him in their hands, should suddenly be stilled? For who could have done this? who thus quenched a full-blown madness? Yet nevertheless, after so many signs, behold their folly and their frenzy.

'Is not this He whom they seek to kill?' See how they accuse themselves.

'Whom they seek,' it says, 'to kill, and they say nothing unto Him.'

And not merely 'they say nothing unto Him,' but even to one speaking boldly;

for one who spoke boldly, and with all freedom, would the more have provoked them;

'Do they perhaps truly know that this is the Christ? But what think ye? what verdict do ye bring concerning Him?' 'The contrary one,' says he.

'Howbeit we know this man whence He is.'

Neither do they follow the verdicts of the rulers, but bring forth another, a corrupt one, and worthy of their own folly.

'We know Him,' it says, 'whence He is;

but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence He is.'

And yet your rulers, when they were asked, said that He should be born in Bethlehem.

And again certain others said, 'We know that God spoke unto Moses;

but as for this man, we know not whence He is.'

'Doth the Christ come out of Galilee? cometh He not from Bethlehem, the village?' Sawest thou the verdict of madmen? 'We know, and we know not;

the Christ cometh from Bethlehem;

but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence He is.'

What is plainer than this contradiction? For they looked to one thing only, not to be persuaded.

What then said the Christ to these things? 'Ye both know Me, and know whence I am;

and I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not.'

'If ye had known Me, ye would have known My Father also.'

How then does He say both that they know Him, and whence He is;

and again, that they neither know Him nor the Father? He is not contradicting Himself;

far be it, but rather is exceedingly consistent with Himself.

He speaks of another kind of knowledge, when He says, 'Ye know not,' just as when He says:

'The sons of Eli, sons of pestilence, and knowing not the Lord;'

and again, 'But Israel hath not known Me.'

As also Paul says, 'They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.'

It is possible, then, for one who knows not to know.

'If ye know Me, ye know that I am the Son of God.'

For by 'whence I am,' He here means not the place;

and this is plain from what follows;

'And I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true, whom ye know not;'

here speaking of the ignorance that is shown through works;

'They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him.'

For their sin was not one of ignorance, but of malice and an evil mind.

And though they know this, they are willing to be ignorant of it.

Yet what is the sequence of thought here? For how is it that in reproving them, He utters their very own words? For when they had said, 'But this man, we know whence He is,' He added, 'And Me you know.'

For what did they say? That 'We know not'? Nay, they themselves were saying this, that 'We know.'

But when those men said, 'We know whence He is,' they were signifying nothing else than that He is of the earth, and that He is the carpenter's son;

whereas He was leading them up to heaven, saying:

that is to say, not from the place you suppose, but from Him who sent Me.

'I am not come of Myself'—this He hints at, namely that they knew He had been sent from the Father, even though they would not disclose it.

Thus He convicts them in two ways.

And first, the things they were speaking privately, these He brought out into the open with a loud voice, so as to put them to shame;

then He also laid bare the things in their minds:

'I am not of those who are cast off, nor of those who have come at random.'

'But He that sent Me is true, whom you know not.'

What is the meaning of 'He that sent Me is true'? If He is true, He sent Me in truth;

if He is true, it is likely also that the one sent is true.

And in yet another way He establishes this, taking them captive by their own words.

For since they were saying, 'When the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is,' He shows from this very point that He Himself is the Christ.

For those men, by saying 'No one knows,' meant it in contradistinction to some determination of place;

and from this very thing He shows that He is the Christ, in that He came from the Father;

and everywhere He testifies that the knowledge of the Father belongs to Himself alone, saying:

'Not that any man has seen the Father, save He who is from the Father.'

And His words provoked them.

For to say that 'You know Him not,' and to convict them of pretending ignorance when they knew, was enough to sting and to lay hold of them.

'They sought therefore to take Him, and no one laid a hand upon Him, because His hour was not yet come.'

Do you see how they were invisibly restrained, and their fury bridled? But why did he not say that He restrained them invisibly, but rather, 'Because His hour was not yet come'? The Evangelist wished to speak in a more human and lowly manner, so that He might even be suspected to be a mere man.

For since everywhere he speaks lofty things, on this account he interweaves these lowlier sayings.

But when He says, 'I am from Him,'

He speaks not as a prophet learning it, but as one seeing Him and being with Him.

'For I know Him,' He says, 'because I am from Him.'

Do you see how, up and down, He establishes the words 'I am not come of Myself' and 'He that sent Me is true,' contending against this, that He should not be thought alien to God? And consider how great is the gain from the lowliness of the expressions.

For 'after these things,' he says, 'many said:'

'When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this man has done?' How many signs? And indeed there were three signs: that of the wine, that of the paralytic, and that of the nobleman's son;

and the Evangelist has recounted nothing beyond these.

From which it is plain, as I have often said, that they pass over many things, and discourse to us concerning those matters over which the rulers dealt maliciously.

'They sought therefore to take Him and to kill Him.'

Who were these? Not the multitude, which did not aim at rule, nor could be taken with envy;

for those of the multitude were saying:

'When the Christ comes, will He do more signs?' Yet not even this was a sound faith, but such as belongs to a common crowd.

For to say, 'When He comes,' was the mark of those not fully persuaded that this was the Christ.

Either, then, this may be said, or that it was spoken by the crowds by way of concession;

for as the rulers were striving up and down to show that He was not the Christ, let us grant even that He were not the Christ;

will that other one be better than this? This is what I always say, that the grosser sort are led on, not by teaching, nor by public discourse, but by signs.

'The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things, and they sent officers to take Him.'

Do you see that the breaking of the Sabbath was but a pretext? What especially stung them was this.

For here, having nothing to lay to His charge, neither in what He had said nor in what He had done, they wished to take Him because of the multitude.

And they themselves did not dare, fearing the danger, but sent their servants as expendable.

Oh, the tyranny and the madness!

Having themselves often attempted it and not prevailed, they committed the deed to the officers, merely giving vent to their rage;

and yet He had discoursed much also at the pool, and they did nothing of the kind, but though they sought, they made no attempt.

But here they no longer bear it, since the multitude was about to run to Him.

What then does Christ say? 'Yet a little while am I with you.'

Though able both to bend and to terrify

His hearers, He utters words full of humility, as though He said:

'Why are you so eager to kill Me and to persecute Me? Wait but a little while, and I will not, even if you strive to hold Me, endure to stay.'

Then, lest anyone should suppose 'Yet a little while am I with you' to mean an ordinary death (for indeed they thought this),

so that no one might suppose this, and that He would do nothing after His decease, He added:

'And where I am, you cannot come.'

But if He were to remain in death, they would have been able to go there.

Now the simpler multitude, His words inclined;

the more insolent, they frightened;

and the more eager to learn, they made to hasten to the hearing, as though but little time remained, and it were not possible to enjoy this teaching forever.

And He said not simply, 'I am here,' but, 'I am with you;'

that is, 'Even if you persecute, even if you drive Me away, for a little while I will not cease dispensing the things that are for your good, speaking and exhorting you unto salvation.'

'And I go to Him that sent Me.'

This was enough to frighten them, and to cast them into distress.

For it declares also that they will come to be in need of Him.

'For you shall seek Me,' He says; not only shall you not forget Me, but you shall even 'seek Me, and shall not find Me.'

And where did the Jews seek Him? Luke says that the women bewailed Him.

And it is likely that many others too, both immediately and when the city was being taken, remembered Christ and His wonders, and sought His coming.

All these things, then, He added, wishing to draw them to Himself.

For that the time remaining was short, and that after His departure He would be longed for, and that they would no longer be able to find Him—all these were sufficient to persuade them to draw near.

For if His presence were not going to be longed for, He would have seemed to say nothing great to them.

And again, if it were going to be longed for, but it were possible to find Him, not even so would He have thrown them into confusion.

Again, if He were going to be present for a long time, in that case too they would have grown careless. But as it is, He drives them together on every side and strikes fear into them.

The words, 'I go to Him that sent Me,' show that no harm will come to Him from their plotting, and that His suffering is voluntary.

Two predictions, then, He foretold: that after a little while He would depart, and that they would not come to Him;

which was not a thing belonging to human understanding, to foretell one's own end.

Observe, then, how David also says: 'Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, what it is, that I may know what I lack.'

And in general there is no one who has learned this.

And from the one the other also is confirmed.

But I think that He was hinting this to the officers as well, and was directing His word to them—by which above all He drew them to Himself—showing Himself to know the cause of His departure, as though He were saying:

'Wait a little while, and I will depart.'

The Jews therefore said among themselves:

'Whither is this man about to go?' And yet those who longed to be rid of Him, who did everything so as not to look upon Him, ought not to have inquired this, but to have said, 'We are glad; and when will this come to pass?' But they were affected by what was said, and inquire among themselves, foolishly suspecting whither He is about to go.

'Will He go to the Dispersion of the Greeks?' What does 'to the Dispersion of the Greeks' mean? Thus did the Jews call the Gentiles, because they were scattered everywhere and mingled freely with one another.

But this very reproach they themselves afterward underwent;

for they too became a dispersion.

For of old the whole nation was gathered into one, and it was not possible to find a Jew anywhere but in Palestine alone.

In contrast to this they called the Greeks a 'dispersion,' reproaching them and boasting of themselves.

What then does it mean, 'Where I go, ye cannot come'? For with those all men then mingled, and there were Jews everywhere throughout the inhabited world.

He would not, therefore, if He meant the Greeks, have said, 'Where ye cannot come.'

And in saying, 'Will He go to the Dispersion of the Greeks?' they did not say, 'and do them harm,' but 'to teach.'

Thus had they already abated of their wrath, and put faith in what was spoken.

For had they not believed, they would not have inquired among themselves who He is.

But these things were said to those men;

yet I fear lest what is said may have force against us also, that 'Where He is, we cannot go,' on account of our life laden with sins.

For concerning the disciples He says, 'I will that where I am, they also may be with Me';

but concerning us I fear lest the contrary be said, that 'Where I am, ye cannot come.'

For when we do things contrary to the commandments, how shall we be able to depart thither? Indeed, even in the present life, if any of those who serve as soldiers should do things unworthy of the king, he will not be able to see the king, but, being stripped of his rank, will undergo the utmost punishment.

When therefore we seize by force, we take more than our due;

when we do wrong, we strike a blow;

when we work no almsgiving, we shall not be able to depart thither, but shall also suffer what befell the virgins.

For where He was, they could not enter in, but departed, their lamps having been quenched;

that is, the grace having forsaken them.

For that flame which we straightway received by the grace of the Spirit, if we will, we shall make more vehement;

but if we will not, we shall speedily lose it.

And when that is quenched, there will be nothing else but darkness in our souls.

For just as when the lamp is burning the light is abundant;

so when it is extinguished there will be nothing else but gloom.

Wherefore he says, 'Quench not the Spirit.'

And it is quenched when it has no oil, when there comes some more violent onset of wind, when it is confined and cramped (for thus too is fire quenched);

and it is confined by the cares of this life, and quenched by evil desire.

But nothing, in addition to what has been said, so quenches it as inhumanity, and cruelty, and rapacity.

For when, besides its having no oil, we also pour cold water upon it—

for this is what covetousness is, chilling the souls of those who are wronged through their despondency—

whence then shall it be able to be kindled any more? We shall depart, then, bearing ashes and dust, and having much smoke to accuse us, that though we had lamps we quenched them.

For wherever there is smoke, there must needs have been a fire that was quenched.

But God forbid that any should hear that voice which says, 'I know you not.'

And whence is it possible to hear this voice, save when, seeing a poor man, we treat him as though we saw him not? When we ignore the hungering Christ, He also will ignore us when we stand in need of mercy;

for he that overlooks the afflicted, and gives not of his own, how shall he seek to receive of what is not his own? Wherefore, I beseech you, let us do all things, and take every measure, that our oil fail us not, but that we may adorn our lamps, and enter in together with the Bridegroom into the bridal chamber;

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