Homilies on the Gospel of John 56

The Jews therefore answered and said unto Him,

'Do we not rightly say that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?' Jesus answered,

'I have not a demon, but I honor My Father.' I.

Malice is shameless and reckless, and when it ought to sink out of sight, then it rather grows the more savage;

which is just what happened in the case of the Jews.

For whereas they ought to have been pricked to the heart at what was said, marveling at His boldness and the consistency of His words,

they instead even insult Him, calling Him a Samaritan and saying that He is possessed by a demon, and they say:

'Did we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?' For whenever He says something lofty, this seems to be madness in the eyes of those who are utterly without perception.

And yet nowhere before did the Evangelist say that they called Him a Samaritan;

but it is likely, from this saying, that this was often said by them.

And yet, who is it that has a demon? He that honors God, or he that insults Him who honors? What then does Christ, who is meekness and gentleness, do? 'I have not a demon, but I honor My Father who sent Me.'

Where He had to teach them and pull down their great arrogance, and instruct them not to think highly of themselves because of Abraham, He was vehement;

but where He had to bear being insulted, He used much meekness.

For when they said that they had God as their Father, and Abraham also, He rebuked them severely;

but when they called Him one possessed by a demon, He used more restrained speech, teaching us to vindicate what concerns God, but to overlook what concerns ourselves.

'I do not seek my own glory.'

'I have said these things,' He says, 'to show that it was not fitting for you, being murderers, to call God your Father.'

'So then it was out of honour toward Him that I uttered these things, and it is on His account that I hear these reproaches, and it is because of Him that you dishonour me.'

'But this insolence is of no concern to me;'

'for it is to Him that you owe an account for what has been spoken, on whose account I now hear these things.'

'I do not seek my own glory.'

'For this reason, forgoing the punishing of you, I turn to exhortation, and I counsel you to do such things as will not only enable you to escape punishment, but also to attain eternal life.'

'Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death for ever.'

Here He speaks not of faith alone, but also of a pure manner of life.

And above He was saying, 'He shall have eternal life;'

but here He says, 'He shall never see death;'

and at the same time He also hints that they can do nothing against Him.

For if the one who keeps His word shall not die, much more shall He Himself not die.

Perceiving this themselves, they too say:

'Now we know that you have a demon.'

'Abraham died, and the prophets died;'

that is, those who heard the word of God died;

and shall those who hear yours not die? Are you greater than our father Abraham? O the vaingloriousness!

Again they take refuge in their kinship with him.

And yet it would have been consistent to say:

Are you greater than God? or than those who heard you, that is, than Abraham? But they do not say this, since they even reckoned Him to be less than Abraham.

First, then, He showed them to be murderers, and by this severed them from their kinship;

but as they persisted, He again handles the matter in another way, showing that they labour to no purpose; and concerning death He discoursed nothing to them, nor did He reveal it, nor say what kind of death He meant;

meanwhile He persuades them that He is greater than Abraham, that by this too He might put them to shame.

'For most certainly,' He says, 'even if I were an ordinary man, one ought not to die who had done no wrong;'

'but when I both speak the truth, and have no sin, and am sent from God, and am greater than Abraham, how are you not mad and labouring to no purpose, in undertaking to slay me?' What then did they say? 'Now we know that you have a demon.'

But the Samaritan woman was not like this;

rather she only said this much: 'Are you greater than our father Jacob?' For these men were insolent and accursed;

but she desired to learn.

Therefore she was also at a loss, and answered with fitting moderation, and calls Him Lord.

For one who promises far greater things, and is worthy of trust, ought not to be insulted, but even to be marvelled at;

but these men call Him one possessed by a demon.

For those words were the words of the Samaritan woman, who was at a loss;

but these are the words of men who disbelieve and are perverse.

'Are you greater than our father Abraham?' So then this makes Him out to be greater than Abraham.

'When therefore you see me lifted up, you shall confess that I am greater.'

For this reason He was saying, 'When you have lifted me up, then shall you know that I am.'

Having first severed them from their kinship, He shows Himself to be greater than that man, so that from His great superiority He might be seen to be greater than the prophets also.

For since they were always calling Him a prophet, on this account He was saying:

'My word has no place in you.'

There, then, He was saying that He raises the dead;

but here, 'He who believes shall never see death;'

which was far greater than not permitting oneself to be held fast by death;

What then did they say? 'Whom do you make yourself?' And this too was insolent;

To this, then, Christ replied:

'If I glorify myself,' He says, 'my glory is nothing.'

What do the heretics say here? He heard, 'Are you greater than our father Abraham?' and He did not dare to say to them plainly that yes, He was, but does so in a veiled manner.

What then? Is His glory nothing? In relation to those men it is nothing.

For just as He says, 'My witness is not true,' with regard to their supposition;

And why did He not say, 'The Father who sent me,' as He said above, but, 'Whom you say is your God, and you do not know Him'? For He wished to show that they not only did not know Him as Father, but did not even know Him as God.

So then to say, 'I know Him,' is not boasting;

but to say that one does not know is a lie;

and you, saying that you know Him, are lying.

Just as you, then, saying that you know, are lying;

so I, if I should say that I do not know Him.

Since they were saying, 'Whom do you make yourself?' He says:

'If I do this, my glory is nothing.'

Just as I, then, know Him exactly, so you are ignorant of Him.

Therefore, just as in the case of Abraham He did not take away everything, but says, 'I know that you are Abraham's seed,' so as to make the accusation greater;

so here He did not take away everything, but what? 'Whom you say.'

By granting them the boast made through their words, He made the charge greater.

That you insult the one who both says and does all things on His behalf, that He might be glorified, and this though he was sent by Him.

But what follows is confirmatory.

But here, if indeed they had anything, they could have refuted Him;

for it was a very great proof to have been sent by Him.

'Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad.'

Again He shows them to be alien to that man, seeing that at the very things over which he rejoiced, these men are grieved.

And by 'the day' here He seems to me to mean the day of the Cross, which He prefigured in the offering of the ram and of Isaac.

What, then, did they say? 'You are not yet forty years old, and have You seen Abraham?' — implying that Christ was by now near forty years of age.

'Before Abraham was, I am.'

'And they took up stones to cast at Him.'

Do you see how He established that He is greater than Abraham? For he who rejoiced to see His day, and set great store by it, plainly regarded it as a day that came for a benefit, and as belonging to one greater than himself.

'The son of the carpenter' — and they imagined nothing more of Him; yet little by little He leads them up to a lofty conception.

So when they heard, 'You do not know God,' they were not grieved;

but when they heard, 'Before Abraham was, I am,' as though their nobility were being brought low, they raged and cast stones.

'He saw My day, and was glad.'

He shows that He does not come to His Passion unwillingly, seeing that He praises the one who [rejoiced in it].

For this was the salvation of the whole world.

So ready were they for murder.

And they did these things on their own authority, examining nothing.

But why did He not say, 'Before Abraham was, I was,'

but rather, 'I am'? Just as His Father makes use of this same expression, 'I AM';

for this word is indicative of perpetual being, freed from all time;

and for this reason the saying seemed to them to be blasphemous.

But if they could not bear even the comparison with Abraham, small though it was;

if He had continually made Himself equal to the Father, would they have ceased casting stones at Him? Then again He departs in a human manner, and hides Himself, having set before them sufficient instruction;

and having fulfilled His part, He went out of the temple, and withdrew to the healing of the blind man, confirming through His works that He is before Abraham.

For what reason did He not paralyse their power? For thus they would have believed.

He healed the paralytic, and they did not believe;

He wrought countless other miracles, and even in this very Passion He cast them backward on the ground, and darkened their sight, and yet they did not believe;

and how would they have believed, had He paralysed their power? For there is nothing worse than a soul that has despaired;

even should it see signs, even wonders, it remains possessed of the same shamelessness.

For indeed Pharaoh, receiving countless plagues, was brought to his senses only while he was being chastised, and to the very last day remained such as he was, pursuing those whom he had let go.

Therefore Paul says over and over again:

'Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.'

For just as the pillars of the body become deadened at last, and have no sensation;

so too the soul, when it is held fast by many passions, is deadened towards virtue.

And whatever you may apply to it, it takes no perception of the matter;

but even if you threaten it with punishment, even with anything whatever, it remains insensible.

Wherefore I beseech you, while we still have hopes of salvation, while we are still able to turn about, to do everything.

For those who have grown callous, like helmsmen who have given up and surrender the vessel to the wind, contribute nothing of their own;

so too do such men henceforth behave.

For the envious man looks to one thing only, to satisfy his own desire;

even if he is about to be punished, even if to be destroyed, he becomes wholly a creature of his passion;

and so also is the licentious man and the lover of money.

But if the tyranny of the passions is so great, much more is that of virtue.

If for the sake of those things we despise death, much more should we for the sake of virtue.

If those men despise their own souls, much more ought we to do this for the sake of our own salvation.

For what plea shall we have, when those who are perishing show such zeal for their own destruction, while we display not even so much zeal for our own salvation, but continue ever consumed with envy? For there is nothing worse than malice;

in order to destroy another, he destroys himself along with him.

The eye of the envious man is consumed with grief; he lives in perpetual death; he reckons all men his enemies, even those who have done him no wrong.

He grieves that God is honoured; he rejoices in those things wherein the devil rejoices.

Has such a one been honoured among men? But this is no honour — do not be envious.

But has he been honoured in God's sight? Then emulate him and become like him.

But you are not willing? Why then do you destroy yourself along with him? Why do you cast away even what you have? You cannot become equal to him, nor obtain any good thing; why then do you take on evil besides? Whereas you ought to rejoice with him, so that even if you could not share in his labours, you might yet gain something from rejoicing with him.

For in many cases even the intention suffices to accomplish a great good.

At any rate, Ezekiel says that the Moabites were punished for this very reason, because they rejoiced over the Israelites;

and that certain others were saved, because they groaned over the calamities of others.

But if there is some reward for those who groan over the calamities of others, much more is there for those who rejoice over the honours of others.

He brought a charge against the Moabites, because they rejoiced over the Israelites;

and yet it was God who was punishing them;

but not even when He Himself punishes does He wish us to gloat over those who are punished;

for not even He Himself desires to punish them.

But if we must suffer together with those who are punished, much more must we not envy those who are honoured.

Dathan and his company perished, having made those whom they envied more illustrious, and delivered themselves over to punishment.

For envy is a venomous beast, an unclean beast, and a malice of the will, having no excuse, a wickedness deprived of all defence, the cause and mother of all evils.

Therefore let us root it out utterly, that we may both be delivered from present evils, and attain the good things to come, by the grace and love toward mankind 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 ages of ages. Amen.