Homilies on John, Homily 35

“So when the Samaritans came to Him, they begged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own Word, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard Him ourselves and know that This is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Now after two days He left there and went into Galilee.” Nothing is worse than envy and malice, nothing more harmful than empty pride; it regularly ruins countless good things. This is why the Jews, who surpassed the Samaritans in knowledge and had always been familiar with the Prophets, proved inferior to them. For the Samaritans believed even on the woman's testimony and, without having seen any sign, came out begging Christ to stay with them. But the Jews, after seeing His wonders, not only failed to keep Him among them but even drove Him away and did everything they could to expel Him from their land, although His very Coming had been for their sake. The Jews expelled Him, but these people even begged Him to stay with them. Tell me, then, wasn't it more fitting for Him to welcome those who asked and begged Him than to attend to those who plotted against Him and rejected Him, while withholding Himself from those who loved Him and wanted to keep Him? Surely that would not have been worthy of His tender care. So He welcomed them and stayed with them two days. They wanted to keep Him among them continually (for the Evangelist shows this by saying that “they begged Him to stay with them”), but He did not agree to this and stayed with them only two days. During those days many more believed in Him. Yet these people seemed unlikely to believe, since they had seen no sign and were hostile toward the Jews. Still, because they judged His words sincerely, this did not stand in their way. Instead, they gained an understanding that overcame their obstacles, and they competed with one another to honor Him more. For, the Evangelist says, “they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard Him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” The students surpassed their teacher. Both their belief in Him and their welcome of Him gave them good reason to condemn the Jews. The Jews, for whose sake He had arranged the entire plan, constantly wanted to stone Him. But these people drew Him to themselves when He had not even intended to come to them. The Jews remain unchanged even with signs; these people showed great faith in Him without signs and take pride in the very fact that they believe without them, while the others never stopped asking for signs and testing Him. An honest soul is needed everywhere. If truth takes hold of such a soul, she easily wins it over; and if she does not win it over, this is due to no weakness in truth but to a lack of openness in the soul itself. The sun, too, easily lights up clear eyes when it meets them. If it does not light them up, their impairment is to blame, not any weakness in the sun. Listen, then, to what these people say: “We know that this is truly the Christ, the Savior of the world.” Do you see how they immediately understood that He would draw the world to Him, that He came to arrange for the salvation of us all, and that He intended to extend His care beyond the Jews and sow His Word everywhere? The Jews did not respond this way. Instead, seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. But these people confess that all deserve punishment, declaring with the Apostle that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace.” ( Rom. iii. 23, 24.) For by saying that He was “the Savior of the world,” they showed that the world He saved was lost, and that He was not merely a Savior but one of the very mightiest. For many had come to “save,” both Prophets and Angels; but this, someone says, is the True Savior, who provides true salvation, not salvation that lasts only for a time. This came from pure faith. And they are admirable in both respects: because they believed, and because they did so without signs (Christ also calls such people “blessed,” saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”) ( c. xx. 29 ,), and because they did so sincerely. Although they had heard the woman say uncertainly, “Isn't this the Christ?” they did not also say, “we too suspect,” or “we think,” but “we know.” And not merely “we know,” but “we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” They acknowledged Christ not as one among many, but as the true “Savior.” Yet whom had they seen saved? They had only heard His words, and yet they spoke as they would have spoken if they had seen many great wonders. And why don't the Evangelists tell us these words and describe how wonderfully He spoke? So that you may learn that they pass over many important matters, yet make the whole thing clear to us through the outcome. For He persuaded an entire people and a whole city by His words. When His hearers are not persuaded, then the writers have to mention what He said, so that no one will judge the speaker unfavorably because of His hearers' unresponsiveness. “Now after two days He left there and went into Galilee.” Ver. 44. “For Jesus Himself testified that a Prophet has no honor in his own country.” Why is this added? Because He did not leave for Capernaum, but for Galilee, and from there for Cana. So that you will not ask why He stayed with the Samaritans but did not stay with His own people, the Evangelist gives the reason: they paid no attention to Him. This is why He did not go there, so that their condemnation would not be greater. For I suppose that here He means Capernaum by “His country.” Now, to see that He received no honor there, listen to Him say, “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to hell.” ( Matt. xi. 23.) He calls it “His own country” because there He proclaimed the Word of the Dispensation and gave it particular emphasis. “What, then,” someone says, “don't we see many people admired among their relatives?” First, we must not form such judgments from rare examples. And again, if some have been honored in their own country, they would have been honored much more in a foreign country, for familiarity often makes people easy to despise. Ver. 45. “Then when He came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, having seen everything He did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too went to the feast.” Do you see that these people, who are spoken of so badly, turn out to be the most eager to come to Him? For one said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ( c. i. 46 ), and another, “Search and see, for no prophet arises out of Galilee.” ( c. vii. 52.) They said these things to insult Him, because most people thought He was from Nazareth. They also insulted Him by calling Him a Samaritan: “You are a Samaritan,” someone said, “and have a demon.” ( c. viii. 48.) Yet look: both Samaritans and Galileans believe, to the shame of the Jews, and the Samaritans prove better than the Galileans. The Samaritans welcomed Him because of the woman's words; the Galileans did so after seeing the miracles He performed. Ver. 46. “So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where He made the water wine.” The Evangelist reminds the hearer of the miracle to heighten his praise of the Samaritans. The people of Cana welcomed Him because of the miracles He had performed in Jerusalem and in their own town. But the Samaritans welcomed Him through His teaching alone. The Evangelist has said that He then came “to Cana,” but has not added why He came. He had come into Galilee because of the Jews' envy; but why to Cana? The first time He came because He had been invited to a wedding; but why now? I think He came to strengthen by His presence the faith His miracle had planted, and to draw them closer to Him by coming on His own initiative, leaving His own country, and giving them preference. “And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.” Ver. 47. “When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son.” This person was certainly of royal descent or held some distinguished office that carried the title “noble.” Some think he is the man mentioned by Matthew ( Matt. viii. 5 ), but both his rank and his faith show that he is a different person. The other man, even when Christ is willing to go to him, begs Him to stay where He is. This man, when He has made no such offer, tries to bring Him to his house. The one says, “I am not worthy for You to come under my roof,” but this other man even presses Him, saying, “Come down before my son dies.” In that case He came down from the mountain and entered Capernaum. Here, however, this person met Him as He came from Samaria and went to Cana instead of Capernaum. The other man's servant had paralysis; this man's son had a fever. “And he came and begged Him to heal his son, for he was at the point of death.” What does Christ say? Ver. 48. “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Yet coming to Him and begging Him was itself a sign of faith. Besides, the Evangelist later testifies on his behalf, declaring that when Jesus said, “Go, your son lives,” he believed His word and went. What, then, does He mean by what He says here? Either He uses these words to praise the Samaritans because they believed without signs, or to rebuke Capernaum, which was considered His own city and was this person's home. Moreover, another man in Mark, who says, “Lord, I believe,” also said, “Help my unbelief.” So even if this ruler believed, his belief was not complete or sound, as is clear from his asking “at what hour the fever left him.” He wanted to know whether it had gone away on its own or at Christ's command. So when he learned that it was “yesterday at the seventh hour,” then “he himself believed, and his whole household.” Do you see that he believed when his servants spoke, not when Christ spoke? That is why He rebukes the state of mind in which the man had come to Him and spoken as he did (and in this way He drew him further toward belief), because before the miracle he had not believed firmly. His coming and begging were nothing remarkable, for parents, in their great affection, often turn not only to doctors they trust but also speak with those they do not trust, wanting to leave nothing untried. Indeed, his lack of firm resolve in coming is clear from this: he saw Christ only when Christ had come into Galilee. If he had firmly believed in Him, he would not have hesitated to go into Judea when his child was at the point of death. Or if he was afraid, that is no excuse either. Notice how his very words show his weakness. After Christ had rebuked his state of mind, he should have formed some great idea of Him, even if he had not done so before. Yet listen to how he still drags along the ground. Ver. 49. “Sir,” he says, “come down before my child dies.” As though He could not raise him after death, as though He did not know the child's condition. This is why Christ rebukes him and touches his conscience: to show that His miracles were performed primarily for the sake of the soul. For here He heals the father, who is sick in mind, no less than the son, to persuade us to pay attention to Him because of His teaching, not because of His miracles. For miracles are for unbelievers and people with coarser minds, not for the faithful. [3.] At that moment, then, because of his emotional distress, the nobleman paid little attention to the words, or paid attention only to those about his son. Yet afterward he would remember what had been said and gain the greatest benefit from it. And that is exactly what happened. But why did He freely offer to come in the centurion's case, while here He does not go even when invited? Because in the former case the man's faith was complete, and so He offered to go so that we might learn how sound the man's understanding was. But here the nobleman's faith was incomplete. So when he kept pressing Him, saying, “Come down,” and still did not clearly understand that He could heal even from a distance, He showed that this too was within His power. In this way, through Jesus' not going, the man could gain the knowledge the centurion already had on his own. So when He says, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe,” He means, “You do not yet have the right faith, but still regard Me as a Prophet.” Therefore, to reveal Himself and show that the man should have believed even without miracles, He said what He also said to Philip: “Do you believe that the Father is in Me and I in the Father? If not, believe Me because of the works themselves.” ( c. xiv. 10, 11.) Ver. 51–53. “And as he was going down, his servants met him and told him, Your son lives. Then he asked them the hour when he began to get better. And they said to him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour when Jesus said to him, Your son lives; and he himself believed, and his whole household.” Do you see how clear the miracle was? The child was freed from danger all at once, not by a simple, ordinary recovery, so that what happened was clearly the result of Christ's work, not nature. For when he had reached the very gates of death, as his father showed by saying, “Come down before my child dies,” he was suddenly freed from the disease. This also stirred the servants to act. Perhaps they came to meet their master not only to bring him the good news but also because they thought Jesus no longer needed to come (for they knew their master had gone there). So they met him while he was still on the road. The man, released from his fear, now found refuge in faith, wanting to show that what had happened was the result of his journey. He was now eager to show that his efforts had not been pointless. So he established every detail precisely, and “he himself believed, and his whole household.” For after this the evidence was beyond question. Those who had not been present, had not heard Christ speak, and had not known the time received undeniable proof of His power when they heard from their master that this was the very time. That is why they also believed. What, then, do these things teach us? To avoid waiting for miracles or seeking guarantees of God's Power. I see many people even now become more devout when they receive some relief during a child's suffering or a wife's illness. Yet even if they receive none, they should continue just the same to give thanks and glorify God. For servants with sound understanding, who feel the affection and love they should for their Master, run to Him not only when they are pardoned but also when they are whipped. For these things too come from God's tender care: “The Lord disciplines those He loves,” it says, “and whips every son He receives.” ( Heb. xii. 6.) So when someone serves Him only in times of ease, he shows no great love and does not love Christ purely. And why do I speak of health, abundant wealth, poverty, or disease? Even if you hear of the fiery pit or any other dreadful thing, you must still keep speaking well of your Master, and endure and do everything out of love for Him. For this is what servants with sound understanding and an unwavering soul do. Anyone with this disposition will easily endure present troubles, obtain the good things to come, and enjoy great confidence in God's presence. May we all obtain this through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and always, forever and ever. Amen.