約翰福音講道集 第 60 章

And Jesus heard that they had cast him out;

and having found him, He said to him:

«Dost thou believe on the Son of God?» That man answered and said:

«And who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him?» and the rest.

Those who for the sake of the truth and their confession of Christ suffer some grievous thing and are insulted—these above all are they who are honoured.

For just as he who loses his goods for His sake is the one who most of all finds them;

and he who hates his own soul is himself the one who most of all loves it;

so too he who is insulted is the very one who most of all is honoured;

which is precisely what came to pass in the case of the blind man.

The Jews, then, cast him out of the temple, and the Master of the temple found him.

He was rid of the pestilent council, and lighted upon the saving Fountain;

he was dishonoured by those who had dishonoured Christ, and was honoured by the Master of the angels.

Such are the prizes of the truth.

Thus we too, if here we leave our riches, we find there boldness of access;

if here we give to the afflicted, we shall rest in the heavens;

if we are insulted for God's sake, we are honoured both here and there.

«And when they had cast him out of the temple, Jesus found him.»

The evangelist shows that Jesus came for this very purpose, that He might meet with him.

And see with what things He requites him;

for He both made Himself known to him, who before knew Him not, and enrolled him in the choir of His own disciples.

But do you consider how carefully the evangelist relates the matter.

For when Jesus had said, «Dost thou believe on the Son of God?» he says:

«Lord, and who is He?» For he did not yet know Him, although he had been healed.

For he was blind before he came to his benefactor, and after his cure he was dragged about by those dogs.

Just as, then, some president of the games receives an athlete who has toiled much and been crowned,

so also—and what does He say? «Dost thou believe on the Son of God?» What means this? After so great a contradiction against the Jews, after so many words, does He ask, «Dost thou believe?» not from ignorance, but wishing to make Himself known, and showing that He sets a high value upon the man's faith.

«So great a crowd insulted me,» He says as it were, «but of them I take no account;

one thing alone concerns me—that thou shouldst believe.»

For better is one man who does the will of the Lord than ten thousand transgressors.

«Dost thou believe on the Son of God?» As though present and approving of what had been said, thus He questions him;

and first He brought him into a longing for Himself.

For He did not say, «Believe forthwith,» but in the form of a question.

What, then, does that man say? 'And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?' This is the utterance of a soul that longs and earnestly seeks.

The very One concerning whom so much had been spoken to him, this One he does not recognize—that you may learn his love of the truth.

For he had not yet seen him.

'You have both seen him, and it is he who is speaking with you.'

but he was still, as it were, in their midst and holding himself back;

and therefore he added the plainer word:

and immediately he worshipped him.

And he did not say, 'I am the one who healed you, who said to you, Go, wash in Siloam';

but, passing over all these things in silence, he says:

'Do you believe on the Son of God?' Then, displaying his great devotion, the man immediately worshipped;

which few of those who had been healed did—such as the lepers, and any other like them;

and by this he showed forth his divine power.

For lest anyone should think that what was said was a mere word, he added also the deed.

And when he had worshipped, Christ says:

'For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.'

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained to righteousness—even the righteousness that is by faith in Jesus;

but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain to a law of righteousness.

Now having said, 'For judgment I have come into this world,' he both wrought upon that man to a keener faith, and roused up those who were following him;

for indeed Pharisees also were following him.

But the phrase 'For judgment' he spoke with a view to a greater punishment;

showing that those who condemned him are themselves the ones condemned;

those who had condemned him as a sinner are themselves the ones under condemnation.

Here he speaks of two kinds of recovering sight and two kinds of blindness—the one of the senses, the other of the mind.

Some of those who were following him say to him:

'Are we also blind?' Just as elsewhere they were saying:

'We have never been in bondage to anyone';

'We were not born of fornication';

so now also they gape only at the things of sense, and are ashamed of this maiming.

Then, showing that it was better for them to be blind than to see, he says:

'If you were blind, you would have no sin.'

Since they thought the matter—the calamity—to be a thing of shame, he turned it back upon their own head, saying that this would bring them a more tolerable punishment; everywhere cutting down human conceits, and leading them to a great and marvelous consideration.

'But now you say, We see.'

Just as there he says, 'Whom you said was your God,' so likewise also here:

'But now you say that you see';

here what they supposed to be a great commendation, this he shows to be bringing them punishment.

And concerning the former maiming he had comforted the man blind from birth;

then he discourses concerning their blindness.

For lest they should say, 'It is not because of our maiming that we do not come, but we turn away shunning him as a deceiver,' concerning this he makes his whole discourse.

And not without purpose did the Evangelist record that those who were with him heard these things from the Pharisees, and said:

'Are we also blind?' but that he might remind you that these were the very ones who had earlier fallen away, and then had stoned him.

For there were some who followed superficially, and were easily turned to the contrary.

How then does he establish that he is not a deceiver, but a shepherd? By setting forth the marks of each—both of the shepherd, and of the deceiver and destroyer—and from these affording them the means to examine the truth of the matters.

And first he shows who is the deceiver and the thief, calling him so from the Scriptures, and saying:

'Verily, verily, I say to you, he who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, that man is a thief and a robber.'

Behold the tokens of the robber:

first, that he does not enter openly;

second, that he does not enter according to the Scriptures;

for this is what 'not through the door' means.

And here he hints both at those before him and at those who would come after him;

both the Antichrist and the false christs;

both Judas and Theudas, and any others of this sort who have arisen.

And fittingly he called the Scriptures a door.

For these bring us to God, and open up the knowledge of God;

these make us sheep, these guard us, and do not permit the wolves to enter in upon us.

For just as a secure door does, so it shuts out the entrance from the heretics, establishing us in security concerning all things we may will, and not allowing us to be led astray.

And unless we loosen it, we shall not be overcome.

Through it we shall know all, both the shepherds and those who are not shepherds.

And what is 'into the fold'? Toward the sheep and their care.

For he who does not use the Scriptures, but climbs up some other way;

that is, cutting for himself another and unlawful road;

Do you see from this also that he is in agreement with the Father, in that he brings forward the Scriptures into their midst? For this reason he also said to the Jews, 'Search the Scriptures';

and he brought Moses forward into their midst, and called him a witness, and all the prophets.

'For all,' he says, 'who have heard the prophets will come to me';

and, 'If you believed Moses, you would believe me.'

But here he set forth the same thing figuratively.

And having said, 'Climbing up some other way,' he also hinted at the scribes, that they taught commandments—the teachings of men—and transgressed the law, which very thing he himself also said reproachfully:

'None of you keeps the law.'

And well did he say 'climbing up,' not 'entering in,' which is the act of a thief who wishes to leap over the wall's coping, and does everything perilously.

Have you seen how he portrayed the robber? Consider also the mark of the shepherd.

What then is this? 'He who enters through the door, this is the shepherd of the sheep.'

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own by name, and when he has led them out, he goes before them.

He has here set forth the marks both of the shepherd and of the destroyer.

Let us see once more how He fitted to them what follows.

'To him,' He says, 'the doorkeeper opens.'

He continued in the metaphor, so as to make His discourse more vivid.

But if you should wish to examine the parable also according to the letter, nothing hinders us from understanding Moses here as the doorkeeper.

For it was he who was entrusted with the oracles of God.

'Whose voice the sheep also hear, and he calls his own by name.'

For since they were saying up and down that He was a deceiver, and confirmed this out of their own unbelief, saying,

'Which of the rulers has believed on Him?'—He shows that He must not be called a destroyer and deceiver on account of their unbelief;

rather, it is they who, by not giving heed to Him, are consequently cast out of the rank of the sheep.

For if it belongs to the shepherd to enter by the appointed door, and He entered by this door,

then all who followed could be sheep;

but those who broke away did not disparage the shepherd, but cast themselves out of kinship with the sheep.

But if, going on, He says that He Himself is the door, again one need not be troubled.

For indeed He calls Himself both shepherd and sheep, and in various ways proclaims His own dispensations.

For when He brings us to the Father, He calls Himself a door;

but when He takes care of us, a shepherd.

For that you might not think His only work to be the bringing us in, He calls Himself a shepherd as well.

'And the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep, and leads them out, and He Himself goes before them.'

And yet shepherds do the contrary, following behind them.

But He, showing that He will guide all men to the truth, does the opposite of those shepherds;

just as also, when He sent forth the sheep, He sent them not away from the wolves, but into the midst of the wolves. For this shepherding is far more marvelous than that among us.

And it seems to me that He hints also at the blind man.

For that man too He led forth, calling him out from the midst of the Jews; and he heard His voice, and recognized Him.

'But a stranger they will not follow, because they know not the voice of strangers.'

Either He means here those about Theudas and Judas (for all, as many as believed on them, were scattered, He says),

or the false Christs who were afterward to deceive.

For that they might not say that He was one of those, in many ways He distinguishes Himself from them.

And first He lays down as a difference the teaching drawn from the Scriptures;

for He drew them by means of these, whereas those men did not draw them from this source.

As a second, the obedience of the sheep;

for on Him not only while living, but even after His death, did all believe;

And a third besides these it is possible to name, no small one.

For those men acted in all things as tyrants and with a view to revolt;

but He set Himself so far from any such suspicion, that when they wished to make Him a king He fled, and when they asked whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar He bade them pay it, and Himself paid the didrachma.

In addition to these things, He came for the salvation of the sheep, that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly, He says;

but those men deprived them even of their present life.

And they betrayed those who were entrusted to them, and fled;

but He stood so nobly, as even to lay down His life.

And they, unwilling and under compulsion and fleeing, suffered what they suffered;

but this One, willingly and of His own choice, endured all things.

This proverb Jesus spoke to them;

but they knew not what the things were which He was speaking to them.

And why did He speak to them obscurely? Because He wished to make them more attentive.

So then, when He had brought this about, He thereupon resolves the obscurity, speaking thus:

'If anyone enters in by Me, he shall enter in and shall go out, and shall find pasture;'

that is, he shall be in safety and in freedom from fear (by 'pasture' He here means the food and feeding of the sheep, and authority and lordship); that is to say, He shall abide within, and no one shall thrust him out;

which very thing came to pass in the case of the apostles, who went in and out with all boldness, as having become lords of the whole world, and no one was able to cast them out.

'All who came are thieves and robbers;

but the sheep did not hear them.'

He is not speaking here of the prophets, as the heretics say (for the sheep did hear them, and through them believed, as many as also believed on Christ), but He speaks of Theudas and Judas and the other rebels.

And in another sense also He said the words, 'The sheep did not hear,' by way of praise;

but nowhere does He appear praising those who disobeyed the prophets, but on the contrary rebuking and reproaching them vehemently.

Whence it is plain that the words 'They did not hear' are now spoken concerning those rebels.

'The thief comes not, except to steal and to kill and to destroy;'

which is just what happened at that time, when all were slaughtered and perished.

'But I came that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly.'

And what is more than life, tell me? The kingdom of heaven.

But He does not yet say this; rather He turns about the name of life, which was familiar to them.

'I am the good shepherd.'

Here now He discourses concerning the Passion, showing that it takes place for the salvation of the world, and that not unwillingly does He come to it.

Then He tells again the mark of the shepherd and of the hireling.

For the shepherd lays down his own life;

but the hireling, who is not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees; and the wolf comes and snatches them.

Here He shows Himself to have power over them even as the Father does, seeing that He Himself is the shepherd, and the sheep are His own.

Do you see how in the parables He speaks more loftily, where the discourse is veiled, and gives no plain handle to His hearers? What then does this hireling do? He sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and the wolf comes and snatches them.

This is what those men did;

for indeed, when He was seized, He said,

'Let these go their way,' that the word might be fulfilled, that of those whom He had given Him He lost none.

And here too it is possible to suspect a wolf understood in a spiritual sense.

For neither did He allow that one, once he had gone off, to seize the sheep.

And this one is not only a wolf, but also a lion.

For 'our adversary the devil,' he says, 'goeth about as a roaring lion.'

This same one is also a serpent and a dragon.

For 'ye shall tread upon serpents and scorpions.'

Therefore, I beseech you, let us remain feeding under the Shepherd.

And we shall remain, if we hear His voice, if we obey Him, if we do not follow after a stranger.

And what is His voice? 'Blessed are the poor in spirit;'

'blessed are the pure in heart.'

If we do these things, we shall remain under the Shepherd, and the wolf shall not be able to get within;

but even should he come upon us, it shall be to his own hurt.

For we have a Shepherd who loves us so greatly that He even laid down His life for us.

Since therefore He is both powerful and loving, what is there to hinder us from being saved? Nothing, unless we ourselves should fall away.

And how might we fall away? Hear Him as He speaks:

'Ye cannot serve two masters, God and mammon.'

If then we serve this One, we shall not submit to the tyranny of that other.

For indeed the desire of money is bitterer than every tyranny.

For it holds no pleasure at all;

but rather cares and envyings, and plots, and hatred, and false accusations, and ten thousand hindrances to virtue: sloth, licentiousness, greed, drunkenness;

things which make even free men into slaves, and worse than bought slaves; slaves not of men, but of the most grievous of the passions and diseases of the soul.

Such a man dares many things that please neither God nor men, dreading lest someone should take away from him this his dominion.

O bitter slavery and diabolical dominion!

For this most of all is the most grievous thing, that being held fast by so many evils we take pleasure in them, and embrace the chain, and dwelling in a prison full of darkness we are unwilling to come forth into the light, but bind our evils more tightly upon ourselves and delight in the disease.

Whence neither are we able to be delivered, but are in a more grievous state than those who labour in the mines, enduring the toils and the misery, yet not enjoying the fruits.

And worst of all is this, that even should someone wish to deliver us from this bitter captivity, we will not endure it, but are vexed and indignant, being disposed in this no better than madmen; nay, far more wretched than all of them, and to such a degree that we are not even willing to be freed from the madness.

Wast thou then brought into this world for this, O man? Wast thou then made a man for this, that thou shouldest labour at these mines and gather gold? Not for these things did He fashion thee after His image;

but that thou shouldest please Him, that thou shouldest attain the things to come, that thou shouldest join the choir with the angels.

Why then dost thou cast thyself out from such kinship, and thrust thyself down to the utmost dishonour and baseness? He who was delivered of the same birth-pangs as thou—and I mean the spiritual birth-pangs—is perishing of hunger;

while thou art bursting from surfeit.

Thy brother goes about naked in body, while thou providest garments even for thy garments, storing up such a covering for the moths.

And how much better it were to clothe the bodies of the poor!

For thus they would have remained unconsumed, and would have freed thee from all anxiety, and would have procured for thee the life to come.

For if thou dost not wish these things to become moth-eaten, give them to the poor;

for those are the ones who know how to shake out these garments well.

For indeed the body of Christ is more precious and more secure than any coffer.

For it not only preserves the garments, nor merely keeps them unconsumed, but also makes them more resplendent.

The coffer, often seized together with the garments, has enveloped thee in the uttermost loss;

but this safekeeping not even death can harm.

For here we have no need of doors and bolts;

no need of servants keeping watch, nor of any other such security.

For it is delivered from every plot, and the things are laid up and kept safe;

as is fitting for the things that are laid up in the heavens.

For that place is inaccessible to all wickedness.

These things neither do we ever cease from speaking, nor are ye persuaded by hearing them.

And the cause is this: that we are of a paltry soul, gaping toward the earth, and dragged along the ground.

Yet rather, God forbid that we should condemn you all of wickedness, as though all were incurably diseased.

For even if those drunken with wealth stop their ears against the things spoken, yet those who live with poverty will be able to look clearly toward the things spoken.

And what have these things to do with the poor? one says; for they have no gold, nor so many garments, he says.

But there is bread for them, and cold water;

but there are two mites, and feet, so as to visit the sick;

but there is a tongue and speech, so as to comfort the afflicted;

but there is a house and a roof, so as to make the stranger a sharer of one's dwelling.

So much and so much do we require of the poor;

but those other things are from the wealthy.

But if anyone should be poor and even come to the doors of others, our Master is not ashamed to receive even a single mite;

nay, He will declare that He has received from him more than from those who have cast in much.

How many of those now standing here have prayed to have lived in that season in which Christ went about the earth in the flesh, so as to become sharers of His table and fellow-guests with Him? Behold, now it is possible for this to come to pass, and rather to invite Him to a meal and to feast with Him, and that with greater gain.

For of those who then feasted with Him, many even perished, such as Judas was, and others of like sort;

but of those who now invite Him each into his own house, and share with Him table and roof, each shall enjoy a great blessing.

'For come,' He says, 'ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'

'For I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat;'

'I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to drink;'

'I was a stranger, and ye took Me in;'

'I was sick, and ye visited Me;'

'I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.'

In order therefore that we may hear these words, let us clothe the naked, take in the stranger, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, look upon him who is in prison, that we may enjoy boldness, and receive forgiveness of sins, and partake of those good things which surpass both speech and mind;

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