Homilies on the Gospel of John 71

Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them unto the end.

'Be imitators of me,' says Paul, 'even as I also am of Christ.'

For it was for this reason that he took flesh from our lump, that through it he might instruct us in virtue.

For 'in the likeness of sinful flesh,' he says, 'and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;'

and Christ himself says, 'Learn of me, for I am meek

and lowly in heart.'

And these things he taught not by words only, but also by deeds.

For indeed they called him a Samaritan and one possessed by a demon, and a deceiver, and they cast stones at him;

and now the Pharisees sent officers to seize him, and now they set others on to plot against him;

and they themselves continually kept insulting him, and that too having nothing to charge against him, but rather being continually benefited by him;

and yet, after all this, he does not cease to do them good, both by words and by deeds.

And when a certain servant struck him, he says:

'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil;

but if well, why do you strike me?' But those were toward his enemies and those who plotted against him;

let us now see what he does toward his disciples;

or rather, even what he now displays toward the betrayer.

For him whom above all others it was fitting to hate—because though he was a disciple, and had shared his table and his salt, and had seen miracles, and had been deemed worthy of so much, yet he did what was more grievous than all, not indeed casting stones nor reviling, but betraying him and delivering him up—see how kindly he receives this man, washing his feet.

For by this too he wished to hold him back from that wickedness.

And indeed it was possible for him, had he so willed, both to have withered him up like the fig tree, and to have cleft him asunder as he rent the rocks, and to have split him as he did the veil;

but he did not wish to draw him back from his treachery by compulsion, but by free choice.

For this reason he also washes his feet.

And not even at this was that wretched and miserable man abashed.

'Now before the feast of the Passover,' he says, 'Jesus, knowing that his hour had come.'

but that he did what he did, knowing it long beforehand, he says.

The evangelist calls his death a 'departure.' 'Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.'

Do you see how, being about to leave them, he displays a more vehement love? For the phrase, 'Having loved them, he loved them unto the end,' declares this:

he left undone nothing of what it was likely for one who loved exceedingly to do.

But why then did he not do this from the beginning? He works the greater things later, so as to heighten their attachment to him, and to lay up beforehand for them much consolation against the terrors that were about to come upon them.

And he calls them 'his own' according to the principle of intimate relationship;

since he also calls others 'his own' according to the principle of creation, as when he says:

'His own received him not.'

And what is meant by 'those in the world'? Since even those who had died were his own—those with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the men of their generation;

but those were not in the world.

Do you see that he himself is the God both of the Old and of the New? And what is meant by 'he loved them unto the end'? It stands for, 'he continued loving them without ceasing,' and he says this as a proof of his great love;

although elsewhere he spoke of another thing, namely, laying down his life for his friends.

But that had not yet come to pass.

And for what reason did he now do this? Because it was far more wonderful, when he appeared more glorious in the sight of all;

and he left behind no small consolation, as he was about to depart.

For since they were about to grieve exceedingly, he brings in through these things a consolation to counterbalance it for them.

And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him.

The evangelist said this in amazement, showing that he washed the feet of this very man who had already chosen to betray him.

And he shows the greatness of his wickedness, that not even the fellowship of salt restrained him—that which above all is known to check wickedness—not even his master's continuing to bear with him and carry him along until the very last day.

Now Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going to God—

Here the Evangelist speaks as one marvelling: that He who was so great and so exalted, who had come from God and was departing to Him, who holds sway over all, should have done this thing—and did not even so account it beneath Him to condescend to so great a deed.

By 'delivering up' (paradosis), as it seems to me, He here means the salvation of the faithful.

For indeed, when He says, 'All things have been delivered to Me by My Father,' it is this delivering up that He speaks of.

He says, 'They were Thine, and Thou gavest them to Me.'

And again, 'No one can come to Me except the Father draw him.'

And that, 'Unless it be given him from heaven.'

Either, then, He means this, or that He was to suffer no diminishment thereby, having come forth from God and going to God and possessing all things.

But when you hear of 'delivering up,' suppose nothing human.

For it signifies His honour toward the Father, and Their concord.

For as the Father delivers up to Him, so also does He to the Father.

'When He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father.'

But He spoke it here in a more human manner, displaying His great care for them, and manifesting His unutterable love toward them; for henceforth He cared for them as His own, teaching them the mother of all good things—humility—which He declared to be both the beginning and the end of virtue.

Nor is it added without purpose that 'He came forth from God and is going to God.'

Rather, it is that we may learn how He did things worthy of One who had come thence and was departing thither, trampling underfoot all pride.

'And rising from supper, and laying aside His garments.'

Behold how He displays His lowliness not only by the washing, but also in another way.

For it was not before reclining, but after all had reclined, that He then rose.

Next, He does not simply wash, but does so after laying aside His garments.

And He did not stop even at this, but also girded Himself with a towel.

Nor was He content even with this, but He Himself filled the basin, and did not bid another fill it, but did all these things Himself, showing through all that we ought not to do such things as though merely discharging a duty when we do good, but with all eagerness.

It seems to me that He washed the traitor's feet first, from His saying, 'He began to wash the disciples' feet,' and from His adding, 'He comes to Simon Peter, and that one says to Him—'

'Dost Thou wash my feet?'—that is, 'With these hands,' he says, 'wherewith Thou didst open eyes, and cleanse lepers, and raise the dead?' For this too carries great weight.

Wherefore he had no need to say anything more than 'Thou.'

For of itself it was enough to express the whole.

One might reasonably inquire why none of the others hindered Him, but Peter alone—which was a mark of no small love and reverence.

What then is the reason? It seems to me that He first washed the traitor, then came to Peter, and that thereafter the others were instructed by his example.

That He washed some other before him is plain from His saying so.

But the Evangelist is no vehement accuser.

For the word 'began' is that of one hinting at it.

But even if Peter were first, still it is likely that the traitor, being brazen, reclined even before the chief of the apostles.

For his brazenness is shown from another source as well: when he dips with the Master, and when, being reproved, he is not pricked in conscience.

But Peter, having been once rebuked in the foregoing—and that for words spoken out of affection—was so abashed that, in anxiety and trembling, he needed another to put the question for him;

whereas this man, though continually reproved, was insensible to it.

So then, when He came to Peter, that one says to Him:

'Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?' He says to him:

'What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter'—

that is, how great is the gain that comes of this, the profit of the teaching, and how it is able to lead us to all humility.

What then does Peter do? He still hinders Him, and says:

'Thou shalt never wash my feet, unto the age.'

What art thou doing, O Peter? Dost thou not remember the former words? Didst thou not say, 'Be it far from Thee,' and hear, 'Get thee behind Me, Satan'?

And art thou not even so brought to soberness, but art still vehement? 'Yes,' says he;

for great was the thing being done, and full of astonishment.

Since, then, that man did this out of much love, out of that same love Christ again masters him—just as there too, having sharply rebuked him and said, 'Thou art a stumbling-block to Me,'

so also here He says, 'If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.'

What then does the fervent and ardent one do? 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'

In refusal he is vehement, and in yielding he becomes yet more vehement;

but why did He add a threat? Because that man would not otherwise have been persuaded.

For had He said, 'Suffer it, for by this I would persuade you to be humble,' Peter would have promised it ten thousand times over, that the Master might not do this.

But now what does He say? The very thing Peter most dreaded and trembled at—to be severed from Him.

For he it is who continually asks, 'Whither goest Thou?' Wherefore he also said, 'I will lay down even my life for Thee.'

For if, on hearing 'What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter,' he did not even so desist, much more would he not have desisted had he learned it.

For this reason He said, 'Thou shalt know hereafter,' knowing that if Peter learned it now, he would still resist.

And he did not say, 'Teach me then, that I may let Thee';

but—what was far more vehement—he would not even endure to learn, but again stood his ground, saying:

'Thou shalt never wash my feet.'

But when He threatened, straightway Peter slackened his intensity.

But what is 'thou shalt know hereafter'? Hereafter—when? 'When in My name thou castest out demons,' He says;

'when thou seest Me taken up into the heavens;'

'when thou learnest from the Spirit that I sit at the right hand—then shalt thou know what is now being done.'

What then does Christ say? Since Peter had said, 'Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head,' He says, 'He that has been bathed has no need save to wash his feet only, but is wholly clean.'

'And ye are clean, but not all.'

For He knew him that should betray Him.

And if they are clean, for what reason dost Thou wash their feet? That we may learn to be moderate.

For this cause He came not to any other part, but to that which seems more dishonourable than the rest.

And what is 'he that has been bathed'? It stands for 'he that is clean.'

Were they then indeed clean—they who had not yet been delivered from their sins, nor deemed worthy of the Spirit, seeing that sin still held sway, the curse of the handwriting yet remained, and the sacrifice had not yet been offered? How then does He call them clean? But lest on this account you should think them clean as though delivered from their sins, He added:

'Ye are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.'

That is, 'In this respect, for the present, ye are clean.'

'Already ye have received the light; already ye have been delivered from the Jewish error.'

Wash yourselves, be clean; put away wickedness from your souls.

So then, such a one has been washed and is clean.

Since, therefore, those men had cast away every wickedness from the soul and were with Him in sincerity of mind, on this account He says, according to the prophetic word, 'He that is washed is already clean.'

For there too by 'washing' he does not mean the Jewish washing that is by water, but the cleansing of the conscience.

Let us therefore, we also, become clean.

And what is that which is good? 'Judge for the orphan, and do justice to the widow;'

and 'Come, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.'

Much is this discourse in the Scriptures concerning widows and orphans;

but for us there is no account of this at all.

And yet consider how great is the prize.

'Though your sins be as scarlet,' He says, 'I will make them white as snow;'

'and though they be red like crimson, I will make them white as wool.'

For indeed the widow is without a protector;

on this account He shows much earnestness on her behalf.

For indeed, though it is possible to enter into a second marriage, yet for the fear of God they endure the hardships that come from widowhood.

Let us therefore all, both men and women, stretch out a hand to them, that we may never ourselves undergo the hardships of widowhood.

And even if we should undergo them, let us lay up for ourselves a great occasion of loving-kindness.

Not small is the power of the widow's tears, but it is able even to open heaven itself.

Let us therefore not trample upon them, nor make their calamity worse, but by every means help them.

If we do thus, we shall throw around ourselves much security, both in the present and in the age to come.

For not only here, but there also they will stand forth in our behalf, cutting away the greater part of our sins through the kindness shown to them, and causing us to stand with boldness at the judgment-seat of Christ;

which may it be granted to us all to attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.