Homilies on the Gospel of John 54

These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the temple;

and no man laid hands on Him;

for His hour was not yet come.

Oh, the folly of the Jews!

Seeking Him before the Passover, then having Him in their midst, and often attempting to seize Him, both by themselves and by others, and being unable, not even so were they astonished at His power, but pressed on in their wickedness, and would not desist.

For to show that they were always attempting, he says:

These things He spake in the treasury, teaching in the temple, and no man laid hands on Him.

He was speaking in the temple, and in the manner of a teacher, which was the more capable of provoking them;

and He spake these things at which they were stung and made accusation, namely that He made Himself equal with the Father.

For that saying too, The witness of two men is true, this makes manifest.

But nevertheless, These things, he says, He spake in the temple, and in the manner of a teacher, and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come;

that is to say, that it was not yet the fitting season in which He willed to be crucified.

So that even then it was not the work of their power, but of His own dispensation.

For they had long wished it, but had not the strength;

neither then, therefore, would they have had the strength, had He not Himself permitted it.

Then said Jesus again unto them:

I go My way, and ye shall seek Me.

Why does He say this continually? To shake their souls and to strike them with fear.

For see how greatly this wrought fear in them.

For even while desiring to slay Him, that they might be rid of Him, they inquire whither He goes;

so great were the things they imagined from the matter.

And He wished also to teach them another thing: that the matter was not of their violence, but that He had prefigured it from above, and had already, through these words, foreshadowed the resurrection.

Will He kill Himself? What then said Christ? Removing their suspicion, and showing that the matter was a sin, He says:

And what He says is of this kind:

It is no marvel that you think such things, being carnal men, and reckoning nothing spiritual;

but I shall do no such thing.

Ye are of this world.

And here again He speaks of worldly and carnal thoughts;

whence it is plain that the saying also, I am not of this world, is not the not having taken flesh, but the being far from their wickedness.

For He says also that the disciples are not of the world;

yet those men had flesh nevertheless.

As therefore Paul, when he says, Ye are not in the flesh, does not say that they are bodiless;

so, when He says that the disciples are not of the world, He testifies to them nothing else than heavenly wisdom.

I said therefore unto you, that if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.

For if He came for this, that He might take away the sin of the world, and it is not possible to put it off otherwise than through the laver, of necessity he that believeth not must retain the old man.

For he who is not willing to put Him to death through faith and to bury Him, shall die in Him, and shall depart thither to render account of the sins formerly committed.

But he that believeth not is condemned already;

not by his not believing only, but because he also departs having his former sins. Then said they:

After so long a time, and signs, and teaching, they ask, Who art Thou? What then said Christ? Even that which I say unto you from the beginning.

And what He says is of this kind:

Ye are unworthy even to hear at all the words that come from Me, much less to learn who I am.

For you, testing all things, speak, and pay heed to nothing that comes from me.

And all these things I could now expose and refute.

For this is the meaning of, 'I have many things to say and to judge.'

Not only to expose, but also to punish.

But he who sent me, that is, the Father, does not will this.

'For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.'

'For God sent not his Son,' he says, 'that he might judge the world, but that he might save the world.'

If, then, he sent me for this purpose, and he is true, it is with good reason that I judge no one now.

But I speak these things which are for salvation, not those which are for condemnation.

He says these things so that they may not suppose that, though hearing so much, it is out of weakness that he does not proceed against them, or that he does not know their thoughts and their mockeries.

But they did not understand that he was speaking to them of the Father.

He did not cease discoursing to them concerning him, and yet they did not perceive it.

Then, since after working many signs and teaching he had not drawn them, he discourses thereafter concerning the cross, saying:

'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you shall know that I am he, and that of myself I speak nothing, and that he who sent me is with me, and the Father has not left me alone.'

He shows that he had rightly said, 'Even the very thing that I also speak to you from the beginning.'

So little did they attend to what was said.

'When you have lifted up the Son of Man.'

Do you not then most of all expect to be rid of me and to make away with me? But I say that then most of all shall you know that I am he — both because of the signs, and because of the resurrection and the capture of your city.

For all these things were sufficient to make plain his power.

And he did not say, 'Then you shall know who I am.'

'For when you see,' he says, 'that I suffer nothing from death, then you shall know that I am he';

that is, the Christ, the Son of God, and the one who bears and directs all things, and who is not opposed to him.

For this reason, at any rate, he added, 'And of myself I speak nothing.'

For you shall know both things: both my power, and my concord with the Father.

For the words, 'Of myself I speak nothing,' declare the unvarying sameness of essence, and that he utters nothing apart from the Father's thoughts.

For when you have fallen away from your worship, when it is no longer permitted you even to serve him as before, then you shall know that in avenging me he does these things, being provoked on behalf of those who did not hearken to me.

If indeed I were some adversary of God and a stranger, he would not have stirred up so great a wrath against you.

'He shall give the wicked in exchange for his burial';

and David says, 'Then shall he speak to them in his wrath';

and he himself says, 'Behold, your house is left to you desolate.'

And the parables declare the same thing, when he says:

'What will the lord of that vineyard do to those husbandmen? He will miserably destroy those wicked men.'

Do you see that everywhere, because they do not yet believe, he speaks in this way? For if he will destroy them — as indeed he will ('For those,' he says, 'who would not have me reign over them, bring them here and slay them') —

for what reason does he say the thing that comes to pass is not his own work, but the Father's? Because he is speaking to their weakness;

and at the same time also honouring the one who begat him.

For this reason he did not say, 'I leave your house desolate,' but 'It is left';

for this he has put impersonally.

But by saying, 'How often would I have gathered your children together, and you would not!' and then adding that 'It is left desolate,' he shows that it was he himself who wrought the desolation.

'For since,' he says, 'when you were being benefited and healed you would not know me, when you are being chastised you shall learn who I am.'

'And the Father is with me.'

For, that they might not suppose the words 'He who sent me'

to be a mark of inferiority, he says, 'He is with me.'

For the one belongs to the economy;

'And he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.'

Again he brought the discourse down to the humbler level, continually taking his stand against that which they were saying — that he is not from him, and that he does not keep the Sabbath — and against this he says:

'I always do the things that are pleasing to him';

showing that even the loosing of the Sabbath is pleasing to him.

Thus, at any rate, he says also concerning the cross:

'Do you think that I cannot beseech my Father?' And yet, having said only,

'Whom do you seek?' he cast them backwards to the ground.

'Do you think that I cannot destroy you?' — having demonstrated this by the deed. He comes down to their weakness.

For he took great pains to show that he does nothing contrary to the Father.

So indeed here too he speaks in a more human manner.

And just as the words, 'He has not left me alone,' were spoken,

so also the words, that 'I always do the things pleasing to him.'

'As he spoke these things, many believed on him.'

When he brought the discourse down to the lowly level, then many believed.

Do you still, then, ask for what reason he speaks in a lowly manner? Yet the Evangelist has clearly hinted at this, saying that 'As he spoke these things, many believed on him';

all but crying aloud through these very facts:

'Be not troubled, O hearer, if you hear something lowly.'

For those who, after so great teaching, were not yet persuaded that he is from the Father, with good reason heard the humbler things, that they might be persuaded.

And this, then, is a defence on behalf of the things that are to be spoken in a lowly way.

They believed, indeed, yet not as they ought, but simply and as it chanced, being pleased and finding rest in the lowliness of the words.

For that they had not a perfect faith, the Evangelist shows from the words that follow, in which they again insult him.

And that these very ones are those same men, he made plain by saying:

'Then said Jesus to those Jews who had believed on him:'

'If you continue in my word,'

showing that they had not yet received the teaching, but only attended to what was said.

Wherefore also he spoke more strikingly.

For there indeed he said simply, 'You shall seek me';

But now He has added something greater, that 'You shall die in your sins.'

And He shows the manner of it, namely, that once you have come there you can no longer entreat Me.

'These things which I speak unto the world.'

By these words He then made plain that He was going forth to the Gentiles.

But since they did not yet perceive that in speaking earlier He was referring to the Father, He speaks again concerning Him;

and the evangelist has set down the reason for the lowliness of the words.

If, then, we are willing thus to search the Scriptures with exactness and not carelessly, we shall be able to attain our salvation;

if we occupy ourselves with them continually, we shall come to know both soundness of doctrine and an exactly ordered life.

Even if a man be exceedingly hard, and harsh, and slack, though he gain nothing at other times, at least he shall reap the fruit of this time, and shall receive some benefit—if not so great as to be perceptible, yet nonetheless he shall receive it.

For if a man passing by a perfumer's shop, or sitting near such workshops, takes on the fragrance even against his will,

how much more when he goes into the church.

For just as idleness is born of idleness,

so too from activity zeal is begotten.

Even if you be laden with ten thousand evils, even if you be unclean, do not flee from the sojourn here.

'What then,' one says, 'seeing that I hear yet do not act?' It is no small gain to reckon oneself wretched;

this fear is not useless;

this dread is not out of season.

If you do but groan, saying, 'I hear yet do not act,' you shall assuredly come at some time to the doing as well.

For it is not possible for one who converses with God, and who hears God conversing, to gain nothing.

At any rate, we straightway compose ourselves and wash our hands whenever we wish to take up a book.

Do you see how much reverence there is even before the reading? If then we approach it also with exactness, we shall reap much benefit.

For we would not have washed our hands, had it not been that the soul was set in reverence;

and a woman, even if she be uncovered, straightway puts on her veil, displaying the token of her inward reverence;

and a man, if he be covered, uncovers his head.

Do you see how the outward form becomes a herald of the inward reverence? Then, having sat down also to the hearing, many a time he has groaned and condemned the present life.

Let us therefore give heed to the Scriptures, beloved;

and if nothing else, at least let the Gospels be an object of earnest care to us, and let us handle these.

For immediately, upon unrolling the book, you will see the name of Christ set therein, and straightway you will hear it saying:

'Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise.'

'For when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.'

And he who hears these things will straightway desire virginity, will marvel at the birth, and will be delivered from earthly things.

These too are no small things—when you see the Virgin counted worthy of the Spirit, and an angel conversing with her.

And these things indeed are on the surface;

but if you persist in going through it to the end, you will straightway spit out all worldly things, you will laugh at all things here below;

even if you be rich, you will count wealth as nothing, having heard that she, being of a carpenter and of a lowly household, became the mother of your Master;

and if you be poor, you will not be ashamed of your poverty, having learned that the Maker of the world was not ashamed of the meanest of dwellings.

Reflecting on these things, you will not plunder, you will not overreach, you will not take what belongs to others;

but rather you will be a lover of poverty, and will despise wealth.

And if this come to pass, you will banish all evils.

Again, when you see Him lying in a manger, you will not be eager to put golden ornaments about your child, nor to make a silver-inlaid couch for your wife.

And not being eager for these things, you will not work the acts of covetousness and rapine that spring from them.

There are many other things also to be gained, which it is not possible now to recount in detail;

but those who have had the experience will know them.

Wherefore I exhort you both to acquire books, and, together with the books, to hold fast their meanings, and to inscribe them upon your minds.

For the Jews, since they gave no heed, were commanded to hang their books from their hands;

but we place them neither in our hands, but in our house, when we ought to imprint them upon the heart.

For thus, cleansing the present life, we shall attain the good things to come;

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