Homilies on the Gospel of John 61

'I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and am known of Mine own.'

'Even as the Father knoweth Me, so also I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.'

A great thing it is, beloved, a great thing to preside over the Church; it requires much wisdom and such courage as Christ spoke of, that a man should lay down his life for the sheep, that he should never abandon them desolate and defenseless, that he should stand nobly against the wolf.

For in this the shepherd differs from the hireling.

For the one everywhere looks to his own safety, taking no thought for the sheep;

but the other everywhere seeks the safety of the sheep, passing over his own.

Having therefore set forth the marks of the shepherd, He names two kinds of destroyers:

one, the thief who slays and plunders;

and the other, who does none of these things himself, yet when they are done pays no heed and does not prevent them.

By the former He hints at the followers of Theudas, and by the latter He holds up to reproach the teachers of the Jews, who neither cared for nor took thought for the sheep entrusted to them.

This is just what Ezekiel of old declared when he brought his charge against them, saying:

Do the shepherds feed themselves? Do not the shepherds feed the sheep? But those men did the very opposite, which is the greatest form of wickedness and the cause of all the rest.

Neither did they turn back the one that had strayed, nor seek that which was lost, nor bind up that which was broken, nor heal that which was sick, since they fed themselves and not the sheep.

This is what Paul too again signified in other words, saying:

For all seek their own, not the things of Christ Jesus;

and again, Let no one seek his own, but each one that of his neighbor.

But Christ sets Himself apart from both:

from those who came for destruction, by saying, For this cause I came, that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly;

and from those who look on while the sheep are seized by the wolves, in that He did not forsake them, but even laid down His own life for them, that the sheep might not perish.

For when they were plotting to slay Him,

He neither altered His teaching nor betrayed those who believed, but stood firm and chose to die.

For this reason He said again and again:

I am the good shepherd.

Then, since His words seemed to be without proof (for the saying, I lay down my life, received its demonstration not long after;

but the saying, That they may have life, and may have it more abundantly, was to come to pass after the departure hence, in the age to come), what does He do? He confirms the one from the other,

confirming from the giving of His life that He also gives life.

This is just what Paul also said, that If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved.

He who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things? But for what reason do they not now bring against Him the charges they brought before, saying:

You bear witness of yourself; your witness is not true? Because He had often silenced them, and greater boldness toward them had arisen from the signs.

Then, since He had said above, And the sheep hear his voice, and follow him, lest anyone should say:

What then of those who did not believe? hear what He added:

And I know my own, and am known by my own.

This too is what Paul made plain, saying:

God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew;

and Moses, The Lord knew those who are His;

I mean, He says, those whom I foreknew.

Then, lest you should suppose the measure of the knowledge to be equal, hear how He corrects this by what He adds:

I know my own, He says, and am known by my own;

but where is it equal? In the case of the Father and Me.

For there He says, Even as the Father knows me, I also know the Father.

For if He had not meant to establish this, why did He add it? Since He often ranks Himself among the many, lest anyone should think that He knew as a man knows, He added:

Even as the Father knows me, I also know the Father.

I know Him as exactly as He knows Me.

No one knows the Son but the Father, nor the Father but the Son, speaking of a knowledge that is distinct, and such as no other can possess.

He says this continually, showing that He is no deceiver.

For the Apostle too, when he wished to show himself a genuine teacher and to set his word over against the false apostles, commended himself from his perils and deaths, saying:

In stripes above measure, in deaths oft.

For to say, I am light, and, I am life, seemed to the foolish to be arrogance;

but to say, I am willing to die, held no ground for envy or ill-will.

For this reason they do not say to Him:

You bear witness of yourself;

your witness is not true.

For the saying showed great tender care, seeing that He was willing to give Himself up on behalf of those who were stoning Him.

For this reason too He seasonably introduces the discourse concerning the Gentiles.

For, And other sheep I have, He says, which are not of this fold;

Behold again the word Must, here laid down, is not of necessity, but is indicative of that which will assuredly come to pass:

Why do you marvel if these are about to follow Me, and the sheep hear My voice? For when you see others also following Me, and hearing My voice, then you will be astonished the more.

But if He says, Which are not of this fold, be not troubled.

For the difference concerns the Law only, even as Paul also says:

Neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision.

He shows both scattered and mingled together and without shepherds, both these and those, while the good shepherd had not yet come.

Then He foretells their future union, that They shall be one flock.

This very thing Paul again made plain, saying:

That He might create the two in Himself into one new man.

Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again.

And what could be more humble than this saying, if for our sakes our Lord is to be loved, because He dies for us?

What then, tell me? In the time before, was He not loved, but now the Father has begun His love, and we have become to Him the cause of His love? Do you see how He uses condescension? What then does He wish here to establish? Since they called Him a stranger to the Father and a deceiver, and said that He had come for destruction and ruin, He says:

Even if nothing else, this at least persuaded Me to love you, that you are so loved by the Father as I am;

and I am loved by Him for this reason, because I die on your behalf.

And along with this He wishes also to establish that: that He does not come to the deed unwillingly (for if unwillingly, how could what was done be productive of love?), and that this is to the Father also a matter of surpassing worth.

But if He speaks this as a man, do not marvel;

for we have often stated the reason for these things, and to say the same things again is superfluous and burdensome.

I lay down my life, that I may take it again;

and no one takes it from me.

I lay it down of myself.

I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again.

For since they were often plotting to slay him, he says: 'Unless I myself will it, your labour is in vain;'

and from the former he establishes the latter, from his death the resurrection.

For this is the marvellous and paradoxical thing.

For both came to pass in a new manner, and beyond the common course of nature.

But let us attend with exactness to what is said:

I have power, he says, to lay down my life.

And who has not power to lay down his own life? For anyone who wills is able to make away with himself.

But how then? In this way I have power to lay it down, that no one can do this against my will;

which is not possible in the case of men.

For we have no power to lay it down in any other way, save by making away with ourselves.

And if we fall among certain men who plot against us and are minded to slay us, we no longer have power to lay it down or not, but even against our will they take it away.

But in his case it was not so; rather, even when others plotted against him, he himself had authority not to lay it down.

Having said, then, that No one takes it from me, he then added:

I have power to lay down my life;

that is, I alone am master of laying it down;

for indeed many others also are masters of taking it from us.

But this he did not say at the beginning;

for the saying would not then have been worthy of credit;

but when he had received the testimony from the facts themselves, and though they often plotted they were not able to seize him (for he escaped out of their hands countless times),

then at last he says, No one takes it from me.

And if this is true, that also follows, namely, that he came to this willingly.

And this being true, that also is established, namely, that whenever he willed to take it again, he was able to do so.

For if dying was a thing greater than belongs to man, then doubt no longer about the other matter either.

For the fact that he alone is master of laying down his life shows also that he is master of taking it again, from that same authority.

Do you see how from the former he established the latter, and from his death showed the resurrection also to be beyond dispute? This commandment I received from my Father.

What commandment, then, is this? That of dying for the world.

Did he then wait to hear it first, and only then choose it, and did he need to learn it? And what man of sense would say this? But just as above, when he said, For this reason my Father loves me, he made plain his voluntary impulse and removed the suspicion of any contrariety;

so here too, in saying that he had received a commandment from the Father, he indicates nothing else than this: 'That which I do is what pleases him.'

so that when they slay him, they may not suppose that they have slain one forsaken and betrayed by the Father, nor reproach him with the very things they did reproach him with;

He saved others, himself he cannot save;

and, If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

And yet it was for this very reason that he did not come down, because he was the Son of God.

Then, lest, hearing that I received a commandment from the Father, you should think that the achievement was foreign to himself, he anticipates this and says:

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep;

showing thereby that the sheep were his own, and that the whole of what was done was his own achievement, and that he had no need of a commandment.

For if he needed a commandment, how could he say:

I lay it down of myself? For he who lays it down of himself has no need of a commandment.

And he sets down also the reason for which he does this.

And what is this reason? That he is a shepherd, and a good shepherd.

But the good shepherd has no need of another to rouse him to this.

And if this holds in the case of men, much more in the case of God.

For this reason Paul also said that He emptied himself.

The commandment here laid down, therefore, means nothing else than to show his concord with the Father.

And if it is spoken thus humbly and after the manner of men, the cause lies in the weakness of the hearers.

There arose, then, a division among the Jews.

And some said that he has a demon and is mad.

Why do you listen to him? But others said, These are not the words of one possessed by a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? For since the things he said were greater than belong to man, and not of the common course, they called him one demon-possessed—this being now the fourth time they had thus addressed him (for before too they had said:

You have a demon; who seeks to kill you? and again:

Did we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? and here:

He has a demon and is mad;

or rather not a fourth time, but that he had heard it even many times.

For the saying, Did we not rightly say that you have a demon? is a sign not of having said it a second and third time, but of having said it often.

These words are not those of one possessed by a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? For since they could not silence him from his words, they thereafter drew their demonstration from his works.

For, above all, not even his words are those of one demon-possessed;

and if you are not persuaded by his words, be put to shame by his works.

And if it is not the work of one demon-possessed, but rather greater than belongs to man, it is plain that these things are of some divine power.

Do you see the syllogism? For that these things were greater than belong to man is plain from their saying, He has a demon;

and that he did not have a demon he made plain from the things which he did.

What then does Christ do? He answers nothing to these things.

For before, indeed, he had answered, I do not have a demon;

but since he had furnished the demonstration through his deeds, he thereafter kept silence.

For those who called him demon-possessed were not worthy of an answer concerning those very things for which they ought to have marvelled and to have accounted him God.

And what further need was there of refutations from him, when they stood against one another and refuted one another? For this reason he kept silence and bore all things meekly.

And not for this reason only, but also to teach us all gentleness and long-suffering.

For He did not merely keep silent, but stood His ground once more, and when questioned He answers, and displays the tokens of His providential care.

And though He was called demon-possessed and mad by men who had received countless benefits from Him, and that not once or twice but many times over, He not only did not retaliate, but did not cease to bestow benefits upon them.

And why do I speak of bestowing benefits? For their sake He even laid down His own life, and while being crucified for them He conversed with the Father.

Let us then also imitate these things.

For this is what it means to be a disciple of Christ: to be gentle and forbearing.

But from where might this meekness come to us? If we reckon up our sins continually, if we mourn, if we shed tears.

For a soul that dwells with such great sorrow cannot bear to be provoked and to grow angry.

For where there is mourning, it is impossible for anger to exist;

where there is grief, all anger is put out of the way;

where there is contrition of mind, there is no exasperation.

For the mind that is scourged by mourning has not even leisure to be roused up;

but it groans bitterly, and will weep more bitterly still.

And I know indeed that many laugh when they hear these things;

but I shall not cease to lament for those who laugh.

For the present season is one of mourning and lamentation and wailing.

For we sin much both in word and in deed.

And those who transgress in such ways—hell awaits them, and

a river seething with the rushing torrent of fire, and the falling away from the kingdom, which is the most grievous of all.

Since then these things are threatened, tell me, do you laugh and revel? And while your Master is provoked and threatening, do you stand there sprawled at ease? And are you not afraid lest by this you kindle a bright furnace for yourself? Do you not hear what He cries out each day: 'You saw Me hungry, and you did not feed Me;

thirsty, and you did not give Me to drink.'

'Depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels';

and these things He threatens each day.

'But I did feed him,' someone says.

When, and for how many days? Ten or twenty? But He does not desire only so long a time, but for as long as you remain upon the earth.

Since the virgins too had oil, but not enough for their salvation.

For these also lit their lamps, but were shut out of the bridal chamber;

for they had already been extinguished before the coming of the bridegroom.

For this reason we have need of much oil, and of an abundant love toward mankind.

Hear then what the prophet says:

'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your great mercy.'

Therefore we too ought to have mercy on our neighbors in this way, according to the great mercy that is in us.

For such as we prove to be toward our fellow servants, such shall we find our Master to be.

And what is great mercy? When we give not out of our abundance, but out of our want.

But if not even out of our abundance, what hope shall we have? Whence shall come deliverance from those evils? Where shall we be able to flee and find salvation? For if the virgins, after so many and so great toils, obtained no consolation from any quarter;

who shall stand up for us, when we hear those fearful words of the very Judge, as He speaks and reproaches us, saying: 'You did not feed Me when I was hungry'? For 'inasmuch,' He says, 'as you did it not to one of the least of these, neither did you do it to Me.'

He says this not concerning the disciples alone, nor concerning those who have taken up the monastic life, but concerning every believing person.

For such a one, even if he be a slave, even if one of those who beg in the marketplace, provided he believes in God, it is right that he should enjoy all goodwill.

And if we overlook such a one when he is naked or hungry, we too shall hear these words:

For what heavy or burdensome thing did He ask of us? What that is not of the very easiest and most effortless? For He did not even say:

'I was sick, and you did not raise Me up';

'I was in prison, and you did not bring Me out';

By how much, then, the commands are light, by so much the greater is the punishment for those who disregard them.

For what, tell me, is lighter than to walk and enter into a prison? And what more pleasant? For when you see some bound, some squalid, some with unkempt hair and clad in rags, some wasted by hunger and running to your feet like dogs;

others with their sides torn open, others just now returning bound from the marketplace, and by day begging yet not gathering even the necessary food, while in the evening being required by those set over them to render that wicked and cruel service;

even if you were some stone, you would surely become more compassionate;

even if you led a soft and dissolute life, you would surely become more given to true wisdom, contemplating human affairs in the light of the misfortunes of others.

For you will surely gain a thought of that fearful day, and of its manifold punishments.

And by turning these things over and pondering them, you will surely cast out both wrath and pleasure and the love of the affairs of this life, and you will make your soul calmer than the calmest harbor;

and you will grow wise concerning that tribunal, reflecting that if among men there is such great forethought and order and fear and threats, how much more with God.

'For there is no authority except from God.'

He, then, who has given to rulers to ordain these things, will Himself much more bring them to pass.

For indeed, were it not for this fear, all things would have perished;

seeing that, even with so many punishments hanging over them, there are many who desert to wickedness.

By meditating on these things you will become both more ready for almsgiving,

more eager, and you will reap much pleasure, far greater than that of those who come down from the theater.

For those who rise up from that place are inflamed, being set on fire by desire.

For when they see those excited women upon the stage, and receive from thence countless wounds, they will be in no better state than a surging sea, since the form of those faces, the postures, the words, the gait, and all the rest stand before their eyes and lay siege to their soul.

But those who go out from here will undergo nothing of the sort, but will reap much calm and tranquility.

For the compunction that arises from the sight of those in bonds quenches all that fire.

And even if a woman practicing harlotry and unchaste should meet him as he comes out from the prisoners, she will work in him nothing grievous.

For having now become as it were single-minded, he will not thus be taken in the nets of that sight, since instead of that unchaste vision, the fear of the judgment then lies before his eyes.

For this reason he too who had gone through every form of luxury said:

'It is better to go into the house of mourning than to go into the house of laughter.'

And here you will display so great wisdom, while there you will hear those words worthy of ten thousand blessings.

Let us not then be negligent of such a practice and such a work.

For even if we are not able to bring food, nor to help by giving money, yet we shall be able to comfort with a word and to raise up the prostrate soul, and to render many other aids—both by conversing with those who have thrown them in, and by making the keepers more gentle—and we shall by all means work some gain, whether small or great.

But if you say that the men there are not fortunate, nor useful, nor decent, but murderers and grave-robbers and cutpurses and adulterers and licentious men and laden with many evils, again you thereby show me all the more the necessary occasion for spending time there.

For we were not commanded to have mercy on the good but to punish the wicked;

rather, to show this love toward mankind upon all.

'For be,' He says, 'like your Father who is in the heavens, in that He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.'

Do not, therefore, bitterly accuse the faults of others, nor be a harsh judge, but gentle and kindly.

For we too, even if we have not become adulterers, nor grave-robbers, nor cutpurses, yet we have other transgressions worthy of a thousand punishments.

For often we have called our brother a fool, which earns us hell;

and we have looked upon women with unchaste eyes, which constitutes complete adultery;

and, most grievous of all, we do not partake of the Mysteries worthily, which makes us guilty of the body and blood of Christ.

Let us not, then, become bitter examiners of others, but let us consider our own affairs, and so shall we cease from this inhumanity and cruelty.

Apart from these considerations, this too may be said: that we shall find there many upright men, often worth a whole city.

For even that prison in which Joseph was held contained many wicked men;

yet nevertheless that righteous man cared for them all, and he himself was among the others, concealing who he was.

For he was worth the whole of Egypt, and yet he dwelt in the prison, and none of those within knew it.

So now too it is likely that there are many good and upright men, even if they are not manifest to all;

and the care shown toward such gives you the reward of your diligence toward all.

But even if there be none such, here also is a great recompense.

For your own Master did not converse with the righteous only, while shunning the unclean;

but He received the Canaanite woman with much goodwill, and the Samaritan woman who was defiled and unclean, and again another woman, a harlot, on whose account the Jews even reproached Him, and He received her and healed her, and endured His feet being wetted by the tears of that defiled woman, teaching us to condescend to those who are in sins.

What do you say? Do robbers and grave-robbers dwell in the prison? But tell me, are all who inhabit the city righteous? Are there not many even worse than these, who plunder with greater shamelessness? For the former, if nothing else, at least plead the desert and the darkness as their cover, and that they do these things secretly;

but the latter, having cast off the mask, pursue their evils with bared head, being violent and rapacious and covetous.

For it is difficult to find a man pure from injustice.

And if we do not seize gold, nor acres of land, so much and so much;

yet nevertheless by some deceit and theft we accomplish the same thing on a smaller scale, and by whatever means we can.

For when, in our contracts, and whenever we must buy or sell something, we contend and use force to pay less than the worth, and do everything to that end—is not the deed robbery? Is it not theft and covetousness? Do not tell me that you did not carry off a house or slaves.

For injustice is judged not by the measure of what is taken away, but by the intention of those who steal.

For the unjust and the just have the same force in great things and in small;

and I equally call them cutpurses, whether one cuts a purse and takes the gold, or, in buying from one of the market-people, filches something of the just price;

and a housebreaker is not only he who digs through a wall and steals something from within, but also he who corrupts a lawsuit and takes away something belonging to his neighbor.

Let us not, then, running past our own affairs, become judges of what belongs to others;

nor, where there is occasion for kindness, examine wickedness;

but, considering how we ourselves were disposed of old, let us at last become gentle and kindly.

How, then, were we disposed? Hear Paul saying: 'For we ourselves also were once disobedient, foolish, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, hateful, hating one another';

and again: 'For we were by nature children of wrath.'

But God, seeing us held as in a prison and bound with grievous chains, far more grievous than those of iron, was not ashamed, but came and stood by the prison, and led out from thence those who were worthy of a thousand punishments, and brought them into a kingdom, and made them brighter than heaven, that we too might do the same according to our power.

For when He says to the disciples—

'If I then, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet;

for I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also should do'—

He lays down this law not with respect to the washing of feet only, but also in all the other things which He displayed toward us.

Is he who dwells in the prison a murderer? Yet let us, in doing the good, not grow weary.

Is he a grave-robber and an adulterer? Yet let us pity, not his wickedness, but his calamity.

And often, as I said, there will be found there even one man worth ten thousand.

And if you go continually to those who are bound, you will not fail of such a catch.

For as Abraham, entertaining even chance strangers, once chanced also upon angels;

so we too shall light upon great men, if we make the matter our business.

But if one must say something remarkable: he who receives a great man is not so worthy of praise as he who receives the pitiable and wretched.

For the former has no small occasion in his own manner of life for being well treated;

but he who is cast off and betrayed by all has one harbor only—the mercy of him who does him good;

so that this most of all is pure kindness.

And he who serves the admirable and illustrious man has often done it even for a display before men;

but he who serves the outcast and the desperate does this solely for the commandment of God.

Wherefore, even if we make a feast, we are commanded to receive the lame and the maimed;

and if we do alms, we are enjoined to have mercy on the least and meanest.

'For inasmuch as you did it,' He says, 'to one of the least of these, you did it unto Me.'

Knowing, then, the treasure that lies there, let us go in continually and do business, and let us turn thither our zeal for the theaters.

And even if you have nothing to bring in, bring in the consolation that comes from words.

For God rewards not only him who feeds, but also him who enters in.

For when, having entered, you raise up a trembling and fearful soul, comforting, helping, promising to defend it, disposing it to a mind of wisdom, you will receive no small reward even from this.

For outside, while you discourse of such things, many will even laugh, being dissolved by their great luxury;

but those who are in calamities, having their mind subdued, will with much fairness give heed to what is said, and will praise, and will become better.

For when Paul too was speaking publicly, the Jews often laughed him to scorn;

but the prisoners listened with much quietness.

For nothing so prepares the soul apt for wisdom as calamity, and temptation, and pressing affliction.

Considering, then, all these things—how many good things we shall work for those within, and how many for our own selves—let us continually mingle with them, and let us spend there the times we waste in the marketplace and in untimely occupations, that we may both gain those men and gladden our own selves, and, having caused God to be glorified, may attain the eternal good things, 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, unto the ages of ages. Amen.