Homilies on the Gospel of John 72

'And He took His garments, and having sat down again, said unto them,'

'Know ye what I have done to you?' and what follows.

A grievous thing it is, beloved, a grievous thing, to come into the depth of evils.

For thereafter the soul becomes hard to correct.

On this account one must do all things, so as not to be caught at the outset.

For it is easier not to fall in, than, having fallen, to recover oneself.

See, at any rate, how, after Judas had cast himself in, he enjoyed so much help, and yet not even so did he rouse himself.

He said to him that 'One of you is a devil;'

He said that 'Not all believe;'

He said that 'I speak not of you all;'

and that 'I know whom I have chosen;' and of none of these things was he sensible.

And when He had washed their feet, and taken again His garments, and reclined, He says:

'Know ye what I have done to you?' No longer to Peter only, but to all of them He discourses.

'Ye call me the Lord and the Master;'

He takes up their own judgment.

Then, lest the words should seem to be a matter of favour from them, He adds:

By bringing in the statement from themselves, He at once makes it inoffensive;

and by confirming from Himself what was introduced by them, He makes it beyond suspicion.

Dost thou see, when He discourses to the disciples, how in disclosing what concerns Himself He rather speaks out? For just as He says, 'Call no man master upon the earth;'

'for one is your Guide;'

so He says, 'And call no man father upon the earth.'

But the 'One' and 'One' is not said concerning the Father only, but also concerning Himself.

For if He were excluding Himself, how does He say, 'That ye may become sons of light'? And again, if He called the Father master only, how does He say, 'For I am'? and again, 'One is your Guide, the Christ'? 'If therefore I,' He says, 'the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.'

'For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so ye also should do.'

For He indeed is Master and Lord, but ye are fellow-servants of one another.

What then is the meaning of 'so'? With the same earnestness.

For on this account He takes His examples from the greater matters, that at least we may do the lesser.

For indeed teachers write the letters for children with much beauty, that they may come at least to the inferior degree of imitation.

Where now are they that spit upon their fellow-servants? where now are they that exact honours? Christ washed the feet of the traitor, of the sacrilegious and the thief, and that at the very time of the betrayal, and one who was past cure He made a partaker of His table;

and dost thou think great things of thyself and raise thy eyebrows? 'Let us then wash one another's feet,' He says;

And what great thing is it, even if it be the feet of household servants? For here indeed the slave and the free are a difference of names;

but there, it is the truth of realities.

For by nature He was Lord, and we servants, and yet He did not even refuse to do this now.

But now it is to be prized, if only we do not treat the free as slaves, as bought chattels.

And what shall we say then, when we have received such examples of long-suffering, yet imitate them not even a little, but stand on the contrary side, and are lifted up to the very opposite extreme, and do not pay back the debt? For God has made us debtors to one another, Himself having begun this, and debtors of a lesser portion;

but we do this toward our fellow-servants, if indeed we do it at all.

Which very thing He also hinted at by saying:

'If therefore I, the Lord and the Master;'

and again, 'So also ye.'

For the consistent thing would have been to say, 'How much more we, the servants;'

but He left this to the conscience of the hearers.

But why has He done this now? They were henceforth about to enjoy honour, some of them more, some less.

In order therefore that they might not be lifted up against one another, and say those very things which they had said before this, 'Who is greater?' nor be indignant

against one another, He casts down the high thoughts of them all, saying that 'Even if thou be exceedingly great, thou oughtest to think nothing great over thy brother.'

And He did not say the greater thing, that 'If I washed the feet of the traitor, what great matter is it if ye wash one another's?' but having shown it by His deeds, He left it thenceforth to the judgment of the beholders.

On this account He said, 'Whosoever shall do and teach, this man shall be called great.'

For this is to teach, to do the thing itself by one's deeds.

For whom would this not cast down from his pride? what arrogance and boastfulness would it not empty out? He that sitteth upon the Cherubim washed the feet of the traitor;

But you, O man, being earth and ashes and dust and cinders, do you exalt yourself and think great things? And of how great a hell would you not be worthy? If, then, you truly desire a great and lofty mind, come, I will show you the way.

For you do not even know what it truly is.

He, therefore, who cleaves to present things as though they were great, this man is of a paltry soul.

So that humility itself could not come to be, except together with greatness of soul;

nor pride, except from smallness of soul.

For just as little children are agog over paltry things, gaping after balls and hoops and knucklebones, yet cannot even form a conception of great matters;

so also here, the man who lives philosophically will esteem present things as nothing (and therefore he will neither choose to hold on to them himself, nor to receive them from another); while he who is not such a man will suffer the opposite, being agog over cobwebs and shadows and dreams and things even feebler than these.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither is the apostle greater than he that sent him.

If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.

I speak not of you all; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

What He said above, this also He says here, putting them to shame.

For if the servant is not greater than his lord, nor the apostle greater than he that sent him, and these things were done by me, much more ought these things to be done by you.

Then, lest anyone should say, Why on earth do you say these things? for we do not now know them,

It is not as to men ignorant of these things that I speak, but that you may demonstrate by your works the things that are said.

For to know belongs to all;

For on this account He said, Blessed are ye if ye do them.

And for this very reason I too continually and always say the same things, even though you know them, that I may bring you forward into the doing of them.

Since the Jews also know, but they are not blessed;

I speak not, He says, of you all.

He does not yet expose the traitor, but veils the matter, thereby giving him room for repentance.

He both convicts and does not convict, speaking thus:

He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

And it seems to me that the saying, The servant is not greater than his lord, was spoken also with a view to this: that if ever any should suffer evil at the hands of household servants, or of persons more lowly, they might not be scandalized, looking to the example set by Judas, who, having enjoyed countless benefits, requited his benefactor with the very opposite.

He that eateth bread with me;

and passing over all the rest, He set down this, which most of all was able to restrain him and put him to shame.

He that is nourished by me, He says, he that shares my table,

And He said these things, teaching them to do good to those who treat them ill, even though such persons remain in an incurable condition.

And having said, I speak not of you all, so that He might not spread the dread over many, He thereupon severs him off, speaking thus:

He that eateth bread with me.

For the phrase, Not of all, did not altogether confine the saying to one person;

He that eateth bread with me, showing to that wretched man that not in ignorance does He take him, but even knowing full well;

which of all things was itself most able to restrain him.

And He did not say, He betrays me, but, He hath lifted up his heel against me in a supplanting way;

wishing to set forth the crafty and treacherous and hidden nature of the plot.

And these things are written that we may not bear a grudge against those who wrong us, but may reprove them and lament for them;

for it is not those who suffer wrong, but those who do wrong, [who are to be pitied].

For the covetous man, and the false accuser, and whoever works any other evil, does the greatest wrong to himself;

but they profit us in the greatest degree, provided we do not avenge ourselves.

Has such a one plundered you? Did you give thanks over the wrong, and glorify God? By that thanksgiving you have reaped countless rewards;

just as that other man, on the contrary, gathered for himself unspeakable fire.

For what then, if I was not able to avenge myself on him that wronged me, being weaker than he? This would I say, that you were able to do the thing of being vexed, of being indignant;

for these things are in our power: to imprecate against him that grieved us, to heap countless curses upon him, to slander him before all men.

He, therefore, who has not done these things, shall receive a reward even for not avenging himself.

For it is plain that, being master even of that power, he would not have used it.

For the man who has been wronged uses whatever weapon is at hand, whenever, being of a petty soul, he avenges himself on the one who wronged him with curses, revilings, and plots.

These things, therefore, do you also not merely refrain from doing, but even pray on his behalf;

for if you not only refrain from doing these things, but even pray on his behalf, you have become like unto God.

For, Pray, He says, for them that despitefully use you, that ye may become like unto your Father which is in heaven.

Do you see how greatly we profit from the despiteful usage of others? Nothing so gladdens God as not to render evil for evil.

And why do I say, not to render evil for evil? Nay rather, we have been commanded to render the very opposite—benefactions and prayers.

For this reason Christ also requited with every kind of good the man who was about to betray Him;

for instance, He washed his feet, reproved him secretly, smote him sparingly, tended him, shared with him His table and His kiss;

and not even by these things did he become better, yet He Himself persevered, doing His own part.

But come, let us instruct you also from the servants, and abundantly from those in the Old Testament, that you may know we have no ground of excuse whatsoever, whenever we bear a grudge.

Do you wish, then, that I should name Moses, or shall we carry the discourse still further back? For the more ancient the examples that are shown, by so much the more are we ourselves put to shame.

And why so? Because in those days virtue was more difficult.

For those men then had neither written precepts, nor examples of lives;

but nature, naked and by herself, strove and, without ballast, was compelled to swim everywhere.

For this reason, in praising Noah too, He did not simply call him perfect, but added, In his generation, showing that in that time, when the hindrances were many;

since after him others shone forth, yet he shall have nothing less than they.

For in his own times he was perfect.

Who, then, before Moses was long-suffering? The blessed and noble Joseph, who, having shone in chastity, shone no less in long-suffering.

For he was sold, having done no wrong at all, but rather ministering, serving, displaying all the duties of a household servant.

They brought against him a wicked slander, and he did not avenge himself, though he had his father with him;

but he even went, bringing them food into the wilderness;

and not finding them, he was not disheartened, nor did he turn back (although he had a pretext, had he so wished), but went on toward the wild beasts and those cruel men, keeping the disposition of a true brother.

Again, when he dwelt in the prison, and was asked the cause, he said nothing wicked concerning them, but only that, I have done nothing, and, I was stolen away by theft out of the land of the Hebrews.

And after these things, having again become lord, he both nourished them and delivered them from countless woes.

For if we are sober, the wickedness of our neighbor has not the strength to cast us out of our own virtue.

But those men were not of such a sort.

But they even stripped him, and set about to kill him, and they mocked his dream; and this though they had received food at his hand, yet they endeavored to cast him out of both life and freedom.

And they were eating, while they left their own brother cast naked in the pit.

What could be worse than such savagery? Than how many murderers were they not worse? And after this, when they had drawn him up, they delivered him over to countless deaths, selling him to barbarous and savage men, to foreigners.

But he, when he had become ruler, not only remitted them their punishment, but also, so far as it lay with him, freed them from the sin itself, calling what had been done a dispensation of God, and not the wickedness of those men.

And even what he did toward them he did, not out of resentment, but for his brother's sake he feigned all these things.

So afterward, when he saw them clinging to him, he at once threw off the mask and wept aloud and embraced them, as one who had been most greatly benefited—he who long before had been all but slain by them.

And he brought them all down into Egypt, and requited them with countless benefits.

What excuse, then, shall we have, if after the Law and grace and so great an advance in true wisdom, we have not emulated even one who lived before grace and the Law? Who shall deliver us from punishment? For there is nothing, nothing more grievous than the bearing of grudges.

And this was shown by the one who owed the ten thousand talents:

who then was not required to pay, and again was required to pay:

not required, on account of God's love for mankind;

but required, on account of his own wickedness, and his bearing a grudge against his fellow servant.

Having learned all these things, let us forgive our neighbors their sins, and requite them with the opposite, that we too may obtain God's love for mankind, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might unto the ages of ages.