Homilies on John, Homily 23

“Jesus performed this beginning of miracles in Cana of Galilee.” [1.] The devil attacks frequently and fiercely, laying siege to our salvation on every side. We must therefore stay watchful and sober, and fortify ourselves everywhere against his assault. For if he gains even a slight foothold, he goes on to open a broad passage for himself and gradually brings in all his forces. So if we care at all about our salvation, let us not let him approach even in small matters, so that we may stop him beforehand in important ones. For it would be the height of foolishness if, while he shows such eagerness to destroy our souls, we did not show even as much eagerness to defend our own salvation. I do not say this without a reason, but because I fear that this wolf may even now be standing unseen among us in the fold, and that some sheep may become his prey, led away from the flock and from listening by its own carelessness and his cunning. If the wounds could be felt, or if the body received the blows, there would be no difficulty in detecting his plots. But since the soul is invisible, and it is the soul that receives the wounds, we need great watchfulness so that each of us may examine himself. For no one knows a person's thoughts as the person's own spirit within him does. ( 1 Cor. ii. 11.) The message is indeed spoken to everyone and offered as a general remedy to those who need it, but each individual listener must take what suits his own illness. I do not know who is sick; I do not know who is well. That is why I use every kind of argument and introduce remedies suited to every disease, at one time condemning greed, then addressing luxury, then impurity, then saying something in praise of love and urging you to practice it, and treating each of the other virtues in turn. For I fear that when my arguments focus on one subject, I may unknowingly be treating you for one disease while you are suffering from others. So if this congregation were just one person, I would not have thought it so absolutely necessary to vary my discourse. But since among so many people there are probably also many diseases, I have good reason to vary my teaching, because my discourse will be sure to achieve its purpose when it embraces you all. This is also why Scripture takes many forms and speaks about ten thousand matters: it addresses human nature as a whole, and among so many people all the passions of the soul must be present, though they are not all present in each person. Let us then cleanse ourselves of these passions, and so listen to the divine words, and with a contrite heart hear what has been read to us today. And what is that? “Jesus performed this beginning of miracles in Cana of Galilee.” I told you the other day that some people say this is not the beginning. “What difference does it make,” someone says, “if ‘Cana of Galilee’ is added? This shows that this was ‘the beginning’ He made ‘in Cana.’” But I would not venture to make any precise assertion on these points. I have already shown that He began His miracles after His Baptism and performed no miracle before it. But I see no need to state definitively whether this or some other miracle was the first He performed after His Baptism. “And revealed His glory.” “How?” someone asks, “and in what way? For only the servants, the master of the feast, and the bridegroom paid attention to what happened, not most of those present.” How, then, did He “reveal His glory”? He revealed it, at least for His part, and if everyone present did not hear of the miracle at the time, they would hear of it afterward. For it is celebrated to this day and has not gone unnoticed. That not everyone knew about it on the same day is clear from what follows, for after saying that He “revealed His glory,” the Evangelist adds, “And His disciples believed in Him.” His disciples, who even before this regarded Him with wonder. Do you see that it was especially necessary to perform the miracles when people with honest minds were present, people who would pay careful attention to what happened? For they would believe more readily and examine the circumstances more closely. “And how could He have become known without miracles?” Because His teaching and prophetic powers were enough to fill His listeners' souls with wonder, so that they paid attention to what He did with the right attitude, their minds already favorably disposed toward Him. And that is why in many other places the Evangelists say that He performed no miracle because of the perversity of the people who lived there. ( Matt. xii. 38; ch. xiii. 58 , &c.) Ver. 12. “After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.” Why does He come with “His mother to Capernaum”? For He has performed no miracle there, and the inhabitants of that city were not favorably disposed toward Him but were utterly corrupt. Christ declared this when He said, “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be thrust down to hell.” ( Luke x. 15.) Why, then, does He go? I think He went to Capernaum then because He intended to go up to Jerusalem a little later and wanted to avoid taking His mother and His brothers everywhere with Him. And so, after going there and staying a little while to honor His mother, He resumes His miracles, having brought home the woman who bore Him. That is why the Evangelist says, After “a few days,” Ver. 13. “He went up to Jerusalem.” So He received baptism a few days before the Passover. But when He went up to Jerusalem, what did He do? An act displaying great authority: He drove out of the Temple the traders and money changers, and those who sold doves, oxen, and sheep and spent their time there for that purpose. [2.] Another Evangelist writes that as He drove them out, He said, Do not make my Father's house “a den of thieves,” but this one says, Ver. 16. (“Do not make My Father's house) a house of trade.” They do not contradict each other here, but show that He did this a second time, and that the two expressions were not used on the same occasion. He acted this way once at the beginning of His ministry, and again when the time of His Passion had arrived. That is why, (on the latter occasion,) He used stronger expressions and spoke of it as (being made) “a den of thieves.” But here, at the beginning of His miracles, He does not do so, but gives a gentler rebuke. This makes it probable that this happened a second time. “And why,” someone asks, “did Christ do this very thing and treat these men with such severity, something He is never seen doing elsewhere, even when they insulted and abused Him, called Him a ‘Samaritan,’ and said He was ‘demon-possessed’? For He was not even satisfied with words alone, but took a whip and drove them out with it.” Yes, but it was when others were benefiting that the Jews accused Him and raged against Him. When His rebukes might have been expected to make them furious, they showed no such attitude toward Him, for they neither accused nor abused Him. What do they say? Ver. 18. “What sign do You show us, since You do these things?” Do you see their extreme malice, and how benefits given to others enraged them more (than rebukes)? At one time He said that they had made the Temple “a den of thieves,” showing that what they sold had been acquired through theft, plunder, and greed, and that they had grown rich through other people's misfortunes. At another time He called it “a house of trade,” pointing to their shameless dealings. “But why did He do this?” Since He was about to heal on the Sabbath and do many similar things that they considered violations of the Law, He uses this occasion to correct any suspicion that He did these things because He had come as some rival God and opponent of His Father. For One who had shown so much zeal for the House was unlikely to oppose Him who was Lord of the House and was worshiped in it. Certainly, even the earlier years when He lived according to the Law were enough to show His reverence for the Lawgiver and that He had not come to give laws contrary to His Father's. Yet those years were likely to have been forgotten with the passage of time, since they had not been known to everyone because He was brought up in a poor and humble home. So He later does this in everyone's presence, (for many were present because the feast was approaching,) and at great risk. For He did not merely “drive them out,” but also “overturned the tables” and “poured out the money,” making them understand by this that He who put Himself in danger for the good order of the House could never despise His Master. If He had acted as He did out of hypocrisy, He would only have advised them; but putting Himself in danger was very bold. For it was no small thing to expose Himself to the anger of so many traders and provoke an extremely brutal mob of petty traders against Himself with His rebukes and blows. This was the action of someone who chose to endure everything for the order of the House, not of a pretender. And so He shows His agreement with the Father through His words as well as His actions. For He does not say “the Holy House,” but “My Father's House.” Look, He even calls Him “Father,” and they are not angry; they thought He was speaking in a general sense. But when He went on to speak more plainly, putting before them the idea of His Equality, then they became angry. And what do they say? “What sign do You show us, since You do these things?” What utter madness! Did they need a sign before they could stop their evil deeds and free the house of God from such dishonor? And was it not the greatest sign of His Excellence that He had such zeal for that House? In fact, this very thing distinguished those who were receptive to Him, for it says that “They,” His disciples, Ver. 17. “Remembered that it is written, Zeal for your house has consumed me.” ( Ps. lxix. 9.) But the Jews did not remember the Prophecy and said, “What sign do You show us?” ( John ii. 18 ), both grieving that their shameful trade had been stopped and expecting to stop Him by these means. They also wanted to challenge Him to perform a miracle and find fault with what He was doing. That is why He will not give them a sign. And earlier, when they came and asked Him, He gave them the same answer: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign; and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” ( Matt. xvi. 4.) Only then the answer was clear; now it is more ambiguous. He does this because of their extreme insensitivity. For He who had anticipated their requests and given them signs without their asking would never have turned them away when they asked, if He had not seen that their minds were wicked and false, and their intention treacherous. Consider how full of wickedness the question itself was from the outset. When they should have applauded Him for His earnestness and zeal, when they should have been astonished that He cared so much for the House, they reproach Him, saying that trading was lawful and that no one had the right to stop their trade unless he showed them a sign. What does Christ say? Ver. 19. “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He makes many such statements that His immediate listeners could not understand, but that those who came later would understand. And why does He do this? So that when His prediction was fulfilled, He would be seen to have known from the beginning what was to follow. This is indeed what happened with this prophecy. For the Evangelist says, Ver. 22. “When He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” But when this was spoken, the Jews were puzzled about what it might mean and tried to work it out, saying, Ver. 20. “This Temple took forty-six years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?” “Forty-six years,” they said, referring to the later building, for the former was completed in twenty years. ( Ezra vi. 15.) [3.] Why, then, did He not clear up the difficulty and say, “I am not speaking of that Temple, but of My flesh”? Why does the Evangelist, writing the Gospel later, explain the saying, while Jesus keeps silent at the time? Why did He remain silent like this? Because they would not have accepted His word. For if even the disciples were unable to understand the saying, much less could the crowds. “When,” the Evangelist says, “He had risen from the dead, then they remembered and believed the Scripture and His word.” Two things prevented them from understanding at the time: one was the fact of the Resurrection; the other was the greater question of whether He who dwelt within was God. He spoke obscurely about both when He said, “Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” And St. Paul declares this to be no small proof of His Godhead when he writes, “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the Resurrection from the dead.” ( Rom. i. 4.) But why does He give this as a sign there, here, and everywhere, saying at one time, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am” ( c. viii. 28 ); at another, “No sign will be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah” ( Matt. xii. 39 ); and again here, “In three days I will raise it up”? Because what especially showed that He was more than a mere man was His ability to set up a trophy of victory over death, so quickly abolish its long-enduring tyranny, and bring that difficult war to an end. That is why He says, “Then you will know.” “Then.” When? When after My Resurrection I draw (all) the world to Me, then you will know that I did these things as God and the True Son of God, avenging the insult offered to My Father. “Why, then, instead of saying, ‘What need is there for “signs” to stop evil deeds?’ did He promise to give them a sign?” Because saying that would have enraged them even more, while this response astonished them instead. Still, they made no answer to it, for He seemed to them to be saying something incredible, so they did not even stay to question Him about it, but dismissed it as impossible. Yet if they had been wise, even though it seemed incredible to them at the time, when He performed His many miracles they would then have come and questioned Him, and begged Him to clear up the difficulty for them. But because they were foolish, they paid no attention at all to part of what He said and listened to the rest with a hostile attitude. That is why Christ spoke to them in riddles. The question still remains, “How was it that the disciples did not know He must rise from the dead?” It was because they had not been granted the gift of the Spirit. So, although they constantly heard Him speak about the Resurrection, they did not understand them, but discussed among themselves what this might mean. For the claim that someone could raise himself, and would raise himself in this way, was very strange and paradoxical. And so Peter was rebuked when, knowing nothing about the Resurrection, he said, “May this never happen to You.” ( Matt. xvi. 22.) And Christ did not reveal it clearly to them before the event, so that they would not stumble at the very outset and be led to distrust His words because the thing seemed so improbable and because they did not yet clearly know who He was. For no one could help believing what the facts proclaimed aloud, while some would probably disbelieve what they were told in words. So at first He allowed the meaning of His words to remain concealed. But when He had confirmed His sayings through their experience, He then gave them understanding of His words, and such gifts of the Spirit that they grasped them all at once. “He,” Jesus says, “will remind you of all things.” ( c. xiv. 26.) For those who in a single night cast aside all respect for Him, fled from Him, and denied even knowing Him would hardly have remembered what He had done and said throughout that whole time unless they had received abundant grace from the Spirit. “But,” someone says, “if they were to hear from the Spirit, why did they need to accompany Christ when they would not retain His words?” Because the Spirit did not teach them, but reminded them of what Christ had said before. And it adds greatly to Christ's glory that they were directed to remember the words He had spoken to them. At first, then, it was God's gift that the grace of the Spirit came upon them so fully and abundantly. But afterward, it was through their own virtue that they retained the Gift. For they lived radiant lives, showed great wisdom, and worked hard; they despised this present life and thought nothing of earthly things, but rose above them all. And like an eagle with light wings, soaring high through their works, they reached heaven itself, and through these works possessed the inexpressible grace of the Spirit. Let us then imitate them and keep our lamps from going out, keeping them bright by giving alms, for this is how the light of this fire is preserved. Let us gather oil into our vessels while we are here, for we cannot buy it when we have departed to that other place, nor can we obtain it anywhere except from the hands of the poor. Let us therefore gather it from them in great abundance, if indeed we want to enter with the Bridegroom. But if we do not do this, we must remain outside the bridal chamber, for it is impossible, it is impossible, even if we perform ten thousand other good deeds, to enter the gates of the Kingdom without giving alms. Let us then give in great abundance, so that we may enjoy those inexpressible blessings. May we all attain them, by the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, forever and ever. Amen.