約翰福音講道集 第 16 章

For this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him:

A dreadful thing is envy, beloved, dreadful and destructive—to those who envy, not to those who are envied.

For it ravages and corrupts them first of all, like some deadly venom seated in their very souls.

And if perchance it should also injure those who are envied, the harm is slight and worth nothing, and it carries a gain greater than the loss.

And not in the case of envy alone, but in the case of all other things as well, it is not the one who has suffered ill, but the one who has done ill—this is the man who has received the harm.

For unless this were so, Paul would not have commanded his disciples to be wronged rather than to do wrong, saying, 'Why do you not rather suffer wrong?'

'Why do you not rather let yourselves be defrauded?' For he knew exactly that destruction follows everywhere, not the one who suffers ill, but the one who does ill.

All these things, then, have been spoken by me on account of the Jewish envy.

For those who had poured out from the cities to John, and had condemned their own sins, and had been baptized, these very ones after the baptism, as if out of some change of mind, send to question him:

'Who are you?' Truly a brood of vipers and serpents, and whatever is more grievous than these!

An evil and adulterous and perverse generation! After being baptized, do you then scrutinize and busy yourselves about the Baptist? And what could be more irrational than this irrationality? How did you go out to him? How did you confess your sins? How did you run to the one baptizing? How did you ask him about what you ought to do? For all these things were done by you irrationally, since you were ignorant of the beginning and the ground of the matter.

But the blessed John said none of these things, nor did he accuse them, nor reproach them, but with all gentleness he answers them.

why he did this is worth learning, namely, so that their malice might become plain and manifest to all.

Often had John borne witness of Christ before the Jews, and when he baptized them, he continually made mention of Him to those present, and said:

'I indeed baptize you with water;

but He who comes after me is mightier than I;

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.'

They therefore experienced toward him a certain human passion.

For being enthralled by the glory of the world, and looking at outward appearances, they thought it unworthy that he should be subject to Christ.

For in John there were many things that made him illustrious;

and first, his birth, distinguished and renowned;

then his manner of life and his austere discipline, his disdain of all things human;

for disdaining clothing, and table, and house, and food itself, he had spent the previous time in the wilderness.

But in the case of Christ it was all the opposite;

which very thing they often brought forward, saying:

'Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joses?' And what was supposed to be His native place was so contemptible that even Nathanael said:

'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' And His manner of life too was common, and His garments had nothing more than those of the many; for He did not gird Himself with a leather belt, nor did He have His clothing of hair, nor did He eat honey and locusts;

but He lived in like manner with all men, and was present at the banquets of wicked men and tax collectors, so as to draw them to Himself.

This the Jews did not understand, and for these very things they reproached Him, as He Himself says:

'The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say:

Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'

Since then John was continually referring them from himself to that One who seemed in their eyes to be the meaner, being ashamed and displeased, and wishing rather to have this man as their teacher, they did not dare to say this openly, but they send to him, expecting through flattery to draw him into confessing himself to be the Christ.

They do not, then, send some contemptible persons, as they did in the case of Christ;

for when they wished to seize Him, they sent officers, and again Herodians and such-like men;

but here they send priests and Levites;

and not simply priests, but those from Jerusalem, that is, the more honorable ones (for not without reason did the Evangelist note this).

And they send in order to ask, 'Who are you?' And yet his birth was all quite manifest, so that all even said:

'What then will this child be?' And this report went out into all the hill country.

And when he came again to the Jordan, all the cities were stirred up, and from Jerusalem and from all Judea they went out to be baptized by him.

These men, therefore, now ask, not as being ignorant (for how could they, concerning one who had become known in so many ways?), but wishing to lead him into that which I spoke of.

Hear, then, how this blessed man also answered to the intention with which they were asking, not to the question itself.

For when they said, 'Who are you?' he did not immediately say what it would have been direct to say:

'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.'

But what then? That very thing which those men suspected, this he did away with.

For being asked, it says, 'Who are you?' he confessed, and did not deny;

and he confessed that 'I am not the Christ.'

And behold the wisdom of the Evangelist.

A third time he says the same thing, both making plain the virtue of the Baptist, and the wickedness and folly of those men.

And Luke too says that, when the crowds suspected him to be the Christ, he again does away with the surmise.

This is the mark of a right-minded servant, not only not to snatch at his master's glory, but even to thrust it away when it is offered by the many.

But the crowds came to this suspicion out of simplicity and ignorance;

these men, however, out of a wicked intent, and with the purpose I have mentioned, kept questioning him, expecting, as I said, that by flattery they might draw him into what they were bent upon.

For if they had not been expecting this, they would not at once

have proceeded to another question, but would have been indignant, as at one who answered off the point and not to the inquiry, and would have said:

'Did we then suspect this? Did we come to ask this?' But like men caught and taken in the act, they turn to another matter, and say:

'What then? Are you Elijah?' And he says,

For indeed they were expecting this one also to come, even as Christ says.

For when the disciples asked,

'How then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' he himself said:

'Elijah indeed comes, and shall restore all things.'

'Are you the prophet?' And he answered, 'No.'

Why then does he deny it? Again, looking to the intent of those who questioned him.

For they were expecting a certain special prophet to come, because of Moses' saying:

'The Lord your God shall raise up for you a prophet from among your brethren, like me.'

For this reason they do not say, 'Are you a prophet?' hinting at one of the many;

but with the article, 'Are you the prophet?' that one, he means, foreproclaimed by Moses.

For this very reason he too denied, not the being a prophet, but the being that prophet.

'Who are you? that we may give an answer to those who sent us.'

'What do you say concerning yourself?' You see those pressing on the more vehemently, urging and questioning again, and not desisting;

while he with gentleness first does away with the surmises that had no ground, and then sets forth the true one? For 'I am,' he says, 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness:'

'Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.'

For since he had uttered something great and lofty concerning Christ, as measured against their surmise, he straightway took refuge in the Prophet, thereby making his word the more worthy of belief.

'And they that were sent were of the Pharisees,' it says;

'and they asked him, and said to him,'

'Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?' You see how it was not in vain that I said they wished to lead him into this? And at first they did not say it outright, that they might not become detected by all.

Then, when he said, 'I am not the Christ,' those men again, wishing to cloak what they were brewing within, come to Elijah and the prophet.

But when he said that he was none of these either, then, being at a loss, they cast off the mask and with bared head display their treacherous purpose, saying:

'Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ?' Then again, wishing to cloak it, they add the others also, I mean Elijah and the prophet.

For since by flattery they had not been able to trip him up, they expected by accusation to be able to force him to say what was not so;

O the arrogance and the unseasonable meddling!

You were sent to learn from him who he was and whence, and will you also lay down laws for him? For this again was the mark of men forcing him to confess himself Christ.

Yet even now he is not indignant, nor does he say to them any such thing as would have been natural:

do you give orders to me and lay down laws? but again he displays great gentleness.

'For I,' he says, 'baptize with water;'

'but there stands one in the midst of you, whom you know not.'

'This is he that comes after me, who was before me, of whom I am not worthy to loose the strap of his sandal.'

What after this could the Jews have to say? For hence too the charge against them is inexcusable, their condemnation past pardon;

they themselves brought forth the verdict against themselves.

How and in what way? They deemed John to be worthy of belief, and so truthful that they trusted him not only when he witnessed to others, but also when he spoke concerning himself.

For had they not been so disposed, they would not have sent to learn from him the things concerning himself.

For you know that we most of all believe those alone, when they speak concerning themselves, whom we reckon to be more truthful than all others.

And it is not this alone that stops their mouths, but also the disposition with which they approached him.

For indeed they went out to him with much eagerness, even if afterwards they changed.

Both of which things Christ made plain when he said:

'and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.'

And his answer, too, again made him the more worthy of belief.

'For he that seeks not his own glory,' he says, 'is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.'

But this man sought it not, rather he sends them on to another.

And those who were sent were of the men held in repute among them and having the first rank, so that they should have nowhere to take refuge, nor any excuse for the unbelief with which they disbelieved Christ.

For why did you not receive the things spoken concerning him by John? You sent those who held the first rank;

you asked through them;

you heard what the Baptist answered.

Those men displayed all curiosity, they searched out everything, and named all those whom you suspected;

and nevertheless, with great boldness he confessed that he was neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet.

And he did not even stop there, but also taught who he was, and discoursed too concerning the nature of his own baptism, that it was small and mean and had nothing more than water, thereby showing the excellence of the baptism given by Christ.

And he brought forward also Isaiah the prophet, bearing witness from of old and long before;

and the one he calls Lord, while the other he names his deacon and servant.

What after this remained to be done? was it not to believe him who was thus witnessed to, and to worship, and to confess him God? For that the testimony was not of flattery but of truth, both the character and the high wisdom of him who testified made plain.

And this too is plain from thence, that no one prefers his neighbor to himself, nor, when it is in his power to bestow honor, would he willingly yield it to another, and that when it is so great.

So that not even John would have given up this testimony, had not Christ been God.

For even if he thrust it from himself as being greater than his own nature, yet he would not again have assigned it to another nature lowlier than his own.

'But there stands one in the midst of you, whom you know not.'

He said this, because it was likely that he had mingled with the people as one of the many, inasmuch as he everywhere taught what was free from pride and boasting.

By 'knowledge' here he means exact acquaintance:

namely, who He is, and whence.

And the phrase, 'He that cometh after me,' he sets down repeatedly, all but saying:

do not suppose that the whole matter rests in my baptism.

For had this been perfect, another would not have come after me to bestow yet another;

but this is a preparation for that One and a paving of the way before Him.

Our things are but a shadow and an image;

another must come who shall bring the truth itself.

So that this very fact, His coming after me, most of all shows His dignity.

For if this were perfect, no place would have been sought for a second.

that is, more honorable, more illustrious.

Then, lest they should think the preeminence to be one of comparison, wishing to set forth its incomparable nature, he added:

'Whose sandal-strap I am not worthy to loose;'

that is to say, He has not simply come to be before me, but in such a way that I am not worthy to be numbered even among the lowest of His servants;

for to loose the sandal is a task belonging to the very lowest of services.

But if John is not worthy to loose the strap—John, than whom none greater has arisen among them that are born of women—where shall we rank ourselves? If he who is the counterpoise of the whole world, or rather greater than it (for 'the world was not worthy of them,' Scripture says), declares that he is not worthy to be reckoned even among the lowest of those who serve Him,

what shall we say, we who are laden with ten thousand evils, who fall as far short of the virtue of John as earth falls short of heaven? (4)

This man, then, says that he is not worthy even to loose the strap of the sandal;

yet the enemies of the truth have raved with such madness as to say that they themselves are worthy even to know Him as He knows Himself.

What is worse than this derangement? What is more frenzied than this arrogance? Well did a certain wise man say that 'the beginning of pride is not to know the Lord.'

The devil would not have been cast down and become a devil—he who was not a devil before—had he not fallen sick of this disease.

This it was that cast him out of that boldness of speech; this sent him

into hell; this became to him the cause of all his evils.

For of itself it is able to destroy every virtue of the soul, though it find almsgiving, though prayer, though fasting, though anything whatsoever.

For 'that which is lofty among men,' He says, 'is unclean before the Lord.'

Not fornication only, then, nor adultery is wont to defile those who practice it, but pride also, and that far more than those.

Why so? Because fornication, though an unpardonable evil, yet one has desire to plead in its excuse;

but arrogance can find no cause, nor any pretext whatsoever, whereby it might obtain even the shadow of pardon;

rather it is nothing else than a perversion of the soul and a most grievous sickness, born from no other source than folly.

For nothing is more senseless than an arrogant man, though he be clothed with wealth, though he have acquired much worldly wisdom, though he be established in power, though he carry about with him all things that among men are deemed enviable.

For if he who boasts himself over things truly good is wretched and miserable, and loses the reward of all those things;

how shall not he who is puffed up over things that are nothing, and who swells himself over the shadow and the flower of the grass (for such is present glory), be the most ridiculous of all, doing the very same thing as a beggar and pauper might do—one wasting away with hunger all his time long, yet, if he should chance one night to see a pleasant dream, on that account exulting himself? O wretched and miserable man, while your soul is being destroyed by a most grievous disease, and you are impoverished with the uttermost poverty, do you think great things because you have so many and so many talents of gold? because you have a multitude of slaves? But these are not yours.

And if you are not persuaded by my words, learn from the experience of those who have gone before.

But if you are so drunken as not to be instructed even by the things that befall others, wait a little, and you shall learn through the things that befall yourself that these avail you nothing—yes, when you are gasping out your life, and, not being master of even one hour nor of one brief moment, you shall leave them unwillingly to those who are present, and often to those whom you do not wish.

For many have not even been permitted to give directions concerning them, but have departed suddenly, wishing indeed to enjoy them, yet not being permitted, but being dragged away, giving them up to others, and by constraint yielding them to those to whom they had no wish to yield.

That we may not suffer this, let us now, while yet strong and in health, send them beforehand to that city which is ours.

For thus only shall we be able to enjoy them, and in no other way;

thus shall we lay them up in an inviolable and secure place.

For there is not—there is not—anything there that can take them away;

there is no death, there are no lawsuits over wills, there are no heirs to estates, no slanders and no plots;

but he who has departed hence, having conveyed much thither, is able for ever to reap the fruit of them.

Who then is so wretched as not to be willing to revel continually in his own riches? Let us therefore remove our wealth, and transfer it thither.

We shall need no asses for this, nor camels, nor carriages, nor ships for such a transfer;

for from this difficulty too God has freed us;

but we need only the poor, the lame, the maimed, the sick.

These are the ones entrusted with such a transfer;

these convey the riches into heaven; these bring the possessors of such riches into the inheritance of the eternal good things;

which may it be granted us all to attain, 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, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.