約翰福音註釋 第 1 章 第 23/94 段

And He also goes up into a mountain, in complete accord with what He had said: 'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself.' For He was lifted up from the earth, both in ascending the cross on our behalf,

and He was lifted up in yet another way, having ascended as it were into a mountain, unto the honour and glory befitting God.

For we do not dishonour Him as a mere man, after the manner of Israel, but we worship Him as God and Saviour and Lord.

For among those others He was reckoned to be someone lowly, and altogether nothing whatever.

And indeed, they did not shudder to call Him a Samaritan, and, dishonouring Him in a somewhat more respectable manner, they called Him the son of the carpenter.

But among those who believe in Him, He is marvelled at as a great worker of wonders and as God, as the doer of things beyond expectation.

For you hear how godly a purpose was present in those who followed Him.

For because they beheld the signs upon those who were sick, on this account they very ardently supposed that they ought to follow Him, being led, as it were, from the things performed proportionately to the knowledge of the One who performed them, and understanding, from the God-befitting authority, that He who was clothed with it was by nature the Son.

And the Saviour commanded that we ought to walk by this road unto faith in Himself.

'For the works,' He says, 'which I do, these very works bear witness concerning Me.' And again: 'If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not;

but if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe My works.' As therefore from the greatness and beauty of created things their Author is beheld to be God, so from the divine signs, by the same arrangement of concepts, the Perfecter of the signs is seen, and the faith of those who followed would rightly be marvelled at.

But I, for my part, think that a certain more intricate and not simple meaning has been hidden within what has been said.

For we see the Evangelist saying, not only that those who followed Christ were lovers of the spectacle of signs, but also of what kind of signs they were the most just admirers.

For he adds, 'which He did upon those who were sick,' in order that through these things he might display the mind of those who followed Him as being opposite to that of the Jews.

For the ones, because He healed the paralytic who was sick, are impiously incensed; but the others not only marvel at Him when He is present on account of these things, but also run out together with Him when He departs, as at a worker of wonders and God.

Therefore, let us who bear the name of Christ as Master, having shunned the ignorance befitting the Jews, wait upon Him through endurance—the very thing which the most wise disciples did in patient suffering,

by no means enduring to be separated or to desert their post, but henceforth crying aloud by their very deeds that which Paul valiantly says: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' Let us therefore follow Him, even when He is pursued and flees the perversities of those who fight against Him, that we too may go up into the mountain and there sit with Him—that is, that we may leap up into a conspicuous and most glorious grace, through reigning together with Him, even as He Himself said: 'Ye who have followed Me in My temptations, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' For I think that these are the contemplations which the statement introduces—that the disciples are said both to wait upon the Saviour and, having gone up into the mountain, to sit together with Him.

When therefore Jesus had lifted up His eyes and beheld that a great multitude was coming to Him, He said to Philip: 'Whence shall we buy loaves that these may eat?' This He said, testing him;

for He Himself knew what He was about to do.

Once more Christ devised for His own disciples a lesson most excellent and most fitting for men of the holiest sort, persuading them to conquer, even in places of utter difficulty, the timidity that stands in the way of the hospitable disposition, and to fling away far off all hesitation regarding it, and rather to advance unto virtue with more fervent impulses.

Than which what could be greater, at least among those who know and are willing to purchase for themselves, by such means as would be fitting, the friendship that comes from above? For when no small multitude was coming to Him, and a countless throng was pouring in like waters upon the places where He was lodging, He gave orders that provision be made to feed them straightway.

And indeed it was not unlikely that even the eagerness of a very rich man would grow numb, being terrified into fear by the multitude of those in view, at not being able to show hospitality;

but Christ shows nothing that is great, when the love of the brethren on our part is exercised only towards a few; rather He wills that we should be bold, in a manner of speaking, even in things beyond hope, being made firm through confidence in Him unto good courage in all good things.

Now according to the literal sense of the account, the force of what has been said is drawn out not amiss; but transferring these things again unto spiritual contemplation, and clipping away the coarse outward form contained in the figure, we now say more nakedly: that God, as it were from a mountain—that is, plainly from the lofty and God-befitting height of His foreknowledge—looks forth beforehand upon those who seek Him through good eagerness and faith, according to that which is said by Paul: 'For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, these He also called.' Christ therefore lifts up His eyes, showing, as it were, those who love Him to be worthy of the divine visitation;

even as, doubtless, it was said also to Israel by way of blessing: 'The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.' But the grace towards those who honour Him is not bounded by the visitation alone; rather the blessed Evangelist, adding yet something else, shows that the Lord is not unmindful of the multitudes, but is already making ready for their sustenance and a full feast;

so that through this again you may understand that which is borne along in the Proverbs: 'The Lord will not famish the righteous soul.' For He offers Himself, as it were bread from heaven, and will nourish the souls of those who fear Him;

and He prepares for them all things that sustain life, even as He says in the Psalms: 'Thou hast prepared their food, for so is Thy preparation.' And Christ Himself somewhere says: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that cometh unto Me shall never hunger.' For He will bestow, as we have already foretold, the food that is plainly from heaven, and will lavish the manifold grace of the Spirit.

to those who draw near, providing the food without even waiting for the request.

For 'we know not what we should pray for as we ought,' but He, anticipating, reaches out those very things which hold us together unto life eternal.

He says therefore to Philip: 'Whence shall we buy loaves?' It is necessary to see why to Philip, and that too when the other disciples were standing by together and waiting devotedly upon Him.

Philip, then, was inquisitive and fond of learning, but not overly quick at being able ardently to comprehend the things more befitting God.

And you might learn this by reckoning up for yourself that fact: that having followed the Saviour for long times, and gathering in various ways the teachings concerning His deity, and amassing from both deeds and words a most abundant apprehension of Him, yet as though he had as yet learned nothing, in the last seasons of the dispensation he says to Jesus: 'Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.' But as one who had spoken without ill intent, he was very thoroughly re-taught;

'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?' says Christ.

As therefore to one somewhat too dull in understanding, and going more slowly than was fitting towards the apprehension of the more divine things, He puts forth the question, exercising the disciple unto faith.

For this is what is signified by 'testing him' in these words, even though, as the blessed Evangelist strongly affirmed, 'He Himself knew what He was about to do.'

And in saying 'Whence shall we buy,' He displays the freedom from love of money of those who were with Him, and their voluntary poverty for God's sake, since they had not even so much as would suffice to buy the necessary food.

And along with this He accomplishes something else besides, and manages it by a kind of skill.

For the 'Whence' He says not in vain, as though of men who had practised bringing along nothing at all, but rather of men accustomed to be in the highest degree free from love of silver.

Having therefore most skilfully shut off and cut away the hope resting on silver, He all but persuades them henceforth to proceed to that conclusion: that it will be needful for the Lord, if nothing is present to them, should He will to nourish those coming to Him, to create food by ineffable power and God-befitting authority.

For this was still what remained, and He was henceforth calling them to look unto these hopes alone, according to the poets among the Greeks—'the iron wound of necessity.'

Feebly Philip rises up again, not to the notion that Jesus can do all things and that most easily, but having heard 'Whence shall we buy' by way of testing, he is at once carried away, and looks only to the road that goes by means of money, having conceived that the nature of the matter could not be accomplished otherwise than by the common law and that customary among all men;

and this was the liberality that comes from expenditure.

Therefore, so far as concerns the disciples' freedom from love of money and their possessing nothing, and so far as concerns Philip's own mind, not yet perfectly looking to the surpassing dignity of our Saviour, the liberality towards the multitudes henceforth turns into something impossible.

But this did not come to pass; rather the will of the Saviour is carried through to its end.

That which is impossible with men, then, is possible with God; and than the sequence inherent in the nature of the affairs that pertain to us, the divine power appears everywhere superior, being strong to accomplish all things beyond expectation, even such as leap beyond the mind that is in us.

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, says to Him: 'There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves and two small fishes;

but what are these among so many?' And Jesus said.

Andrew both thinks and reasons things akin to Philip, and, having within himself a notion concerning the Saviour that is somehow kindred to his, he too is proved wanting.

For not having taken thought of the power, nor being led by the greatness of the works that had gone before—very readily and most easily—unto the belief that Jesus can do all things, he indeed points out the things lying by the lad, yet is seen to be feeble concerning faith;

for 'what are these,' he says, 'among so many?' And yet—

seeing that He had put to flight the paralytic and so long-standing an infirmity by a single word, and had created food out of that which was not, and had multiplied divinely the very few that were found,

for how would not the authority in those cases have also the efficacy in these? Therefore the pair of disciples answered somewhat more feebly than was fitting.

Nevertheless, in this too, that other thing must again be observed.

For the things which seem in the saints to have somewhat stumbled are often not devoid of usefulness, but have something interwoven with them which is profitable to the nature of the matter—concerning which the reproaches of their seeming weakness might arise.

For by the very means through which they confessed that the measure of so much money would not suffice the crowds even for a brief enjoyment, by these very means they crown the ineffable power of the One who feasts them, since indeed nothing at all was on hand.

For what were the provisions at the boy's disposal, according to Andrew's word, in the face of so great a multitude? Yet the fruit of His love toward the crowds turned out exceedingly abundant.

Something of this same kind we shall find in the wilderness, even in the little faith of the all-wise Moses.

For the sons of Israel wept, being provoked to a loathsome craving for the tables of Egypt; they imagined for themselves unclean cauldrons of flesh, and, swerving aside to a most extravagant pleasure for onions and garlic and the vulgar coarseness of such-like foods, and disregarding the divine good things, they somehow set upon Moses too, who was their mediator and instructor.

But God was not ignorant of the things over which the multitude was hastening to lament, and indeed He promised to give them flesh.

But since the promise of this bounty was made in the wilderness, and the matter seemed, as far as human understanding could reach, somehow difficult to accomplish, Moses came forward crying out: 'The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand footmen, and Thou hast said, I will give them flesh, and they shall eat a whole month;'

'Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, and will it suffice them?' And what does God say to this? 'Shall the hand of the Lord not suffice?' For concerning what could God be powerless? Therefore one might reasonably say, even with regard to the words of Philip and Andrew: 'Shall the hand of the Lord not suffice?' And we too, receiving the nature of the matter by way of example, let us reckon little faith the last of maladies and beyond every evil; and whenever God works, or promises that He will act, let it be received altogether by a faith that does not meddle, and let the Divine not be accused of weakness in certain things merely because we are unable to conceive how the things above us shall come to pass.

It would befit the good and prudent man, who thinks rightly and stands firm in his reasoning, to take this also into mind: that the eye of the body too will by no means behold as much as one might wish, but only as much as is possible and as the measure of our nature allows;

but things set at a very great height, even if they appear at all, it cannot distinguish, grasping of them only the faintest and scarcely attainable perception.

So conceive also, I bid you, of the human mind:

for it reaches and extends only as far as the limits given to it by its Maker, even if it be wholly purified;

for it will see nothing of the things that lie above, but will yield—and not willingly—to the things above nature, having no means anywhere to lay hold of them;

the things that are above us, therefore, are received by faith and not by inquiry; and he who thus believes is admired, whereas he who falls into the opposite is by no means without reproof.

Come then, taking up again something from the sacred writings concerning disbelieving God, let us set it forth in the midst, and let us make brilliantly plain the punishment for acts of unbelief, for the profit of those who will read.

For I go again to Moses himself, the hierophant.

He was once commanded in the wilderness, when the people were weighed down by unbearable thirst, to make Aaron his partner, and to strike the rock with his rod, that it might pour forth springs of water.

But not being fully persuaded by the words of Him who commanded, and having somehow become faint-hearted through his humanity, he said: 'Hear me, ye disobedient ones;'

'must we bring you forth water out of this rock?' And Moses lifted up his hand and smote the rock with his rod once and twice, and much water came out;

and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 'Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify Me before the sons of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.' Would it not therefore from this be plain to everyone how grievous are the wages of unbelief? And if Moses, being so great, was thus rebuked, whom will God yet spare, and upon whom will He not bring His wrath for whatever things one disbelieves—He who is so no respecter of persons that He was not willing even to be moved to shame before Moses himself, to whom it had been said by Him: 'I know thee above all, and thou hast found favour with Me.' 'Make the men recline.'

Now there was much grass in the place;

so the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

The Saviour honoured His accustomed gentleness, and set aside the sharpness of rebukes;

for He does not rebuke bitingly, even though the disciples were very drowsy, as far as concerned their faint-heartedness and little faith toward Him;

rather He instructs them by the very deeds toward the grasping of the things they do not yet believe.

For the words 'Make the men recline' carry no ordinary force, but all but present Jesus as saying something like this: 'O slow of heart to understand My power, and to perceive who it is that speaks: Make the men recline, that seeing them satisfied out of nothing that lies among you, ye may marvel.'

For this is what is lacking in them;

for [Christ says]: My power, which calls all things into being and is the fashioner of the things that were not, will not merely be capable of securing for the crowds the two hundred denarii's worth of sustenance—while I possess less than the least of the money among men that has power to preserve life;

nor did Elijah the prophet make the widow's oil-jar undiminished, and render the water-pot a mother of unfailing food, while He who gave even to Elijah that power should not be able to multiply the nothing many-fold, and to work the chance thing simply into a fountain of ineffable bounty, and into the beginning and root of unlooked-for grace? Such things, then, it is perhaps not improbable that Christ was as it were saying by means of the intimation;

and the blessed Evangelist usefully notes that there was also much grass in the place, showing that the spot was suitably disposed for the men to recline as well.

But observe how, though the multitude of those being fed was mingled together within itself, and women too were evidently present with children, he numbered the men alone, following, as I think, the customs according to the Law.

For when God ordained and said to Moses the hierophant: 'Take the sum of all the congregation of the sons of Israel by their families, by the houses of their fathers, according to the number of names, according to their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward'—the command was carried out, and the prophet compiled a long catalogue of names, but is seen to have wholly disregarded females and those of childish age, and he records the throng that had come of age.

For in the book of God everything manly and vigorous is honoured, and that which is not childish in its understanding of good things.

Therefore by this He has honoured a legal custom, and again fashions a certain spiritual contemplation;

justly does Christ leave some behind, but receives very gladly those who come to Him, and fattens them with heavenly food, holding out the spiritual bread, which strengthens the heart of man; and He nourishes them not laboriously, but cheerfully and freely, and with much delight in reverence.

For this is what the reclining of the crowds upon the grass signifies to us: that it now befits each one who has been counted worthy of such grace to say that word in the Psalms: 'The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall lack nothing;'

'He hath made me to dwell there in a place of green pasture.' For in much delight and luxuriance is the mind of the saints nourished by the supplies of the Spirit, according to what is said in the Song of Songs: 'Eat and drink, and be inebriated, O ye neighbours.' But though there were many, and mingled together, as we have already said before, of the men who reclined he made mention of them alone, passing over in silence the women and children, usefully for the contemplation.

For he teaches us as through an enigma that to those who acquit themselves manfully—evidently toward the good—the food supplied by the Saviour will be somehow more fitting and more proper, and not to those whose nature it is to be made effeminate into an ill disposition, nor indeed to those who are childish in their minds, so as on this account to be able to understand nothing of the things necessary for knowledge.

So Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks distributed to those who reclined;

and likewise also of the fishes as much as they wished.

He gives thanks as a pattern for us, and as an example of the reverence that ought to be in us.

But again He refers, as man, to the divine nature the power over the marvel.

For this manner has somehow become habitual to Him, when, as we have said, He is a profitable introducer of the noblest things toward a pattern of reverence for those to whom He is revealed, and when, by way of dispensation, He somehow still conceals His God-befitting dignity, before the time of His suffering came upon Him;

for it was indeed a matter of His care to hasten to escape the notice of the ruler of this age.

On this account also in other passages He shapes the utterances befitting men, as man;

but again He heals the mind of His hearers, sometimes making a most wise addition, as in the words 'Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.' You see how the saying is man-befitting, and able to disturb the understanding of the more simple? But when He says this, as man, then again He forthwith explains the manner of the dispensation, and the aim in His willing to remain hidden, most excellently ordering the matter and building up again the mind of the simpler that had been paralysed.

It should be noted that in place of 'having given thanks,' Matthew said 'having blessed,' and yet the exposition of the saints will by no means be at variance.

For Paul will demonstrate that the two are one when he said: 'That every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected, for it is sanctified by the word of God and by intercession'; and that which is sanctified is altogether blessed through the prayer in intercession, which we are accustomed always to make at the tables.

But since it is fitting that none of the profitable things be left uninvestigated;

come then, let us say something brief also concerning the five loaves, which were with the boy, and concerning the two fishes;

for both their very kind and indeed also their number are pregnant with a mystical meaning concerning the things that were found.

But the fact that the blessed Evangelist expounds even these things with such great diligence altogether gives us something to conceive, which it is also necessary to seek out.

Therefore he says that the loaves were five, and these of barley, and the fishes two, and through these Christ nourishes those who love Him.

And let the lover of learning consider the deeper meaning;

namely, that through the five barley loaves is signified the fivefold book of the all-wise Moses—that is, the whole Law—bringing in, as it were, a coarser nourishment by means of the letter and the history;

for this is what 'of barley' hints at.

But through the fishes is signified the food that comes from the fishermen—that is, the most delicate writings of the Saviour's disciples;

and these, he says, are two, because the apostolic and the evangelic proclamation shines forth among us.

And both of these are the findings of fishermen and spiritual writings.

Therefore the Saviour, having mingled the new with the old, through the Law and through the teachings of the new covenant nourishes unto life the souls of those who believe in Him—evidently the eternal life.

For that the disciples were from among fishermen is surely evident beforehand and plain;

for even if perhaps not all, yet since there are such men among them, thus the argument concerning the truth of the things said will not depart from us.

And when they were filled, He says to His disciples: 'Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.'

They gathered them up therefore, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which remained over and above to those who had eaten.

But, I think, anyone might fittingly consider that He would not have consented to descend to such pettiness;

and why do I say Christ? Nay, not even any single one of us.

For what was there to be expected to remain over from five barley loaves? But the account has much dispensation in it, and works the miracle so as to be conspicuous to the hearers.

For so great is the working of a God-befitting authority about the matter, that not only was so vast a people thus satisfied out of five loaves in number, of barley, and two fishes, but in addition to this there were also gathered up twelve baskets of the remnants.

And besides, the miracle in all likelihood repelled a certain other suspicion, being confirmed by the finding of the remnants unto faith that there had come to pass an increase of food altogether and in truth, and not rather a display of a phantasm deceiving both the eye of those being feasted and that of those who ministered to them.

But what is greater and more worthy of mention, and greatly profiting us, is this:

'There is none in death that remembers Thee.'

But in Hades who shall confess to You? For what fruit is there any longer among the dead, or how shall anyone still be mindful of God through the fulfilling of a commandment, once he has gone down among those in Hades? For God has shut up all against him, according to that which is written.

For this reason also the most wise Paul instructed us, writing to certain ones: 'While we have time, let us work that which is good.'

And these things have been said by us for the profit that comes from the literal narrative.

But since, taking the things said in a spiritual sense —

for so it was fitting, and not otherwise —

we said that by the five barley loaves is signified the book of Moses, and by the two fishes the wise writings of the holy apostles;

I think it right again, in the matter of the gathering of the fragments, to contrive a mystical and spiritual contemplation, one that runs together with the sequence of what has been said.

So then, the Saviour commanded the crowds to recline, and having blessed the loaves and the fishes He set them before them, that is, through the ministry of the disciples;

and when those who had eaten had been marvellously filled to satisfaction, He commanded them to gather the fragments, and twelve baskets were filled, one for each of the disciples, as is reasonable;

for they too were that many in number.

What then shall we suppose from this, save altogether that one thing, and not falsely, namely that Christ is the master of the festal assembly of those who believe in Him, and that He nourishes those who come to Him with the divine and heavenly teachings — that is to say, with those of the Law and the Prophets, of the Gospels and the Apostles;

but He Himself is not altogether seen as the direct worker of these things, rather it is the disciples who minister to us the grace from above;

for they are not the ones who speak, according to that which is said, but it is the Spirit of the Father that speaks in them;

yet the labour that comes to this end will not be without reward for the holy apostles.

For having set before us the spiritual nourishment — that is clear — and having ministered the good things from our Saviour, they shall carry off a most abundant recompense, and shall find from God the most full grace for their zealous devotion.

For I think this, and nothing else, is signified by the fact that, after the labours and the ministry expended upon the guests, a basket full was gathered together for each one by the command of Christ;

and that after those apostles the things of the type will pass on also to the holy leaders of the churches, is beyond dispute.

'When therefore the men saw the sign which Jesus did, they said, This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.'

Those marvel at the sign who know how to approve the things that befit God, and who are governed rather by human reasoning than sickened with a brutish thoughtlessness — such as were the impious Jews, who, when they ought to have been benefited by the manifest splendour of the things accomplished, were rather damaged in their very ability to judge rightly.

For they judged that Jesus ought even to be stoned to death, because forsooth He was often seen to be the maker of marvellous works.

Better therefore, and not by any small measure, than the folly of those men, are these who here marvel, and who by this one great sign are now soberly persuaded that He is altogether that very one who had been foretold as coming into the world in the rank of a prophet;

and observe again how great a difference is here seen — I mean between the race of Israel and those lying outside Judea;