Homilies on John, Homily 45

“Then they said to Him, What should we do to do the works of God? Jesus answered them, This is the work of God: that you believe in Him whom He has sent. So they said to Him, What sign do you show, then, so that we may see and believe you? What work do you do?” [1.] There is nothing worse, nothing more shameful, than gluttony. It makes the mind dull and the soul carnal; it blinds people and keeps them from seeing clearly. Notice, for instance, how this is true of the Jews. Because they were intent on gluttony, entirely occupied with worldly things, and without any spiritual thoughts, even though Christ leads them onward with countless statements, sharp yet patient, they still do not rise, but keep groveling below. Consider this: He said to them, “You seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the bread and were filled.” He made them feel His rebuke; He showed them what food they should seek, saying, “Do not work for the food that perishes.” He set the prize before them, saying, “but for that which lasts for everlasting life.” Then He answered a possible objection by declaring that He was sent from the Father. What did they do then? As though they had heard nothing, they said, “What should we do to do the works of God?” They said this, not so that they could learn and do them (as what follows shows), but to get Him to supply them with food again, wanting to persuade Him to satisfy them. What does Christ say then? “This is the work of God: that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” At this they asked, “What sign do you show, so that we may see and believe?” Ver. 31. “Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.” Nothing could be more senseless, nothing more unreasonable, than these men! While the miracle was still in their hands, they spoke as though none had happened: “What sign do you show?” And after saying this, they do not even let Him choose the sign, but think they can force Him to perform only the kind that was done in their fathers’ days. That is why they say, “Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness,” thinking this would provoke Him to work a miracle that would supply them with carnal nourishment. Otherwise, why did they mention none of the other ancient miracles, though many happened in those times, in Egypt, at the sea, and in the wilderness, but only the manna? Was it not because the tyranny of their bellies made them long so much for that one? You who called Him a Prophet when you saw His miracle and tried to make Him a king, how is it that now, as though no miracle had happened, you have become ungrateful and hostile, and ask for a sign, speaking like parasites or hungry dogs? Does the manna seem wonderful to you now? Your soul is not parched now. Notice their hypocrisy too. They did not say, “Moses performed this sign; what do you do?” because they thought it would annoy Him. Instead, for a while they address Him with great reverence because they expect food. So they did not say, “God did this; what do you do?” because they did not want to seem to make Him equal with God. Nor did they bring up Moses, because they did not want to seem to lower Him. They took a middle course: “Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.” He could indeed have replied, “I have just worked greater wonders than Moses did, requiring no rod and needing no prayer, but doing everything by Myself. And if you bring up the manna, look: I have given you bread.” But this was not the time for such words. His one earnest desire was to bring them to spiritual food. Notice His infinite wisdom and the way He answers. Ver. 32. “Moses did not give you that bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” Why did He not say, “It was not Moses who gave it to you, but I”? Why does He put God in Moses’ place, and Himself in place of the manna? Because His hearers were very weak, as what follows shows. For even when He had spoken this way, He did not win their attention, although He had said at first, “You seek Me, not because you saw the miracle, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” ( Ver. 26 .) Now because they sought these (carnal) things, He tried to correct them with His next words, yet even then they did not stop. When He promised the Samaritan woman that He would give her “the water,” He made no mention of the Father. What does He say? “If you knew who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” ( c. iv. 10 ); and again, “The water which I will give.” He does not refer her to The Father. But here He mentions The Father, so that you may understand how great the Samaritan woman’s faith was, and how great the Jews’ weakness was. Was the manna, then, not from heaven? How, then, is it said to be from heaven? In the same way that Scripture speaks of “birds of heaven” ( Ps. viii. 8 ); and again, “The Lord thundered from heaven.” ( Ps. xviii. 13.) And He calls the other bread the “true bread,” not because the miracle of the manna was false, but because it was a type, and not the truth itself. But when He mentions Moses, He does not compare Himself with him, for the Jews did not yet rank Him above Moses, of whom they still had a higher opinion. So after saying, “Moses did not give,” He does not add, “I give,” but says that The Father, and not Moses, gives. When they heard this, they replied, “Give us this bread to eat.” For they still thought it was something material; they still expected to satisfy their appetites, and so they hurried to Him. What does Christ do? Leading them onward little by little, He says, Ver. 33. “The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Not to the Jews alone, He says, but to the whole “world”; not mere food, but “life,” a different and transformed “life.” He calls it “life” because they were all dead in sins. Yet they still kept their thoughts bent downward, saying, Ver. 34. “Give us this bread.” Then, to rebuke them because they hurried to Him while they thought the food was material, but did not when they learned it was spiritual, He said, Ver. 35, 36. “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. But I told you that you have also seen Me, and do not believe Me.” [2.] John also cries out in this way, saying beforehand, “He speaks what He knows and testifies to what He has seen, and no one accepts His testimony” ( c. iii. 32 ); and again Christ Himself says, “We speak what We know and testify to what We have seen” ( c. iii. 11 ), “and you do not believe.” He does this to anticipate them and to show them that the matter does not trouble Him, that He does not desire honor, and that He knows the secrets of their minds, present things, and things to come. “I am the bread of life.” Now He begins to entrust mysteries to them. First He speaks about His Godhead, saying, “I am the bread of life.” For this is not said of His Body (about that He says toward the end, “And the bread which I will give is My flesh”), but here it refers to His Godhead. For That is Bread through God the Word, just as this bread too, through the Spirit descending on it, becomes Heavenly Bread. Here He does not use witnesses as He did in His earlier address, for He had the miracle of the loaves to testify to Him, and the Jews themselves were pretending for a while to believe Him; on the earlier occasion they opposed and accused Him. This is why He speaks about Himself here. But because they expected to enjoy a carnal feast, they were not disturbed until they gave up that hope. Yet Christ did not keep silent because of this, but spoke many words of rebuke. For those who called Him a Prophet while they were eating took offense here and called Him the carpenter’s son. They did not do that while they ate the loaves; then they said, “He is The Prophet,” and wanted to make Him a king. Now they seemed indignant at His claim that He “came down from heaven,” but in truth this was not what made them indignant. It was the thought that they would not enjoy a material table. Had they really been indignant about His words, they should have asked and investigated how He was the “bread of life,” and how He had “come down from heaven.” But instead of doing this, they grumble. Another circumstance makes it clear that this was not what offended them. When He said, “My Father gives you the bread,” they did not cry out, “Ask Him to give it.” What did they say? “Give us that bread.” Yet He had not said, “I give,” but, “My Father gives.” Nevertheless, their desire for food made them think He could be trusted to supply it. Now how could those who thought Him trustworthy enough to give it be offended afterward when they also heard that “the Father gives”? What is the reason? When they heard that they were not going to eat, they disbelieved again, and used the claim that “it was a lofty statement” as a cover for their disbelief. That is why He says, “You have seen Me and do not believe” ( c. vi. 36 ), referring partly to His miracles and partly to the testimony of the Scriptures. “For they,” He says, “are the ones that testify about Me” ( c. v. 39 ); and, “I have come in My Father’s Name, and you do not receive Me”; and, “How can you believe when you receive honor from people?” ( c. v. 43, 44.) Ver. 37. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will certainly never cast out.” Notice how He does everything for the sake of those who are saved. He therefore added this so that He would not seem to be speaking frivolously and saying these things for no purpose. But what does He mean when He says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” ( ver. 37 ), and “I will raise it up on the last day”? ( Ver. 40.) Why does He speak of the common resurrection, in which even the ungodly share, as though it were a special gift to those who believe in Him? Because He is not speaking simply of resurrection, but of a particular kind of resurrection. For after first saying, “I will not cast him out, I will lose none of it,” He then speaks of the resurrection. For at the resurrection some are cast out (“Take him and cast him into outer darkness,” Matt. xxii. 13 ), and some are destroyed. (“Instead, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”) ( Matt. x. 28.) The expression “I give eternal life” ( c. x. 28 ) also makes this clear. For those “who have done evil will come out to the resurrection of condemnation, and those who have done good to the resurrection of life.” ( c. v. 29.) This, then, the resurrection to good things, is what He meant here. But what does He mean by saying, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me”? He touches on their unbelief, showing that whoever does not believe in Him goes against the Father’s will. He does not say this openly, but indirectly, as He does everywhere, wanting to show that unbelievers are at odds with the Father, and not with Him alone. For if this is His will, and if He came for this purpose, to save humanity, those who do not believe go against His will. “So when,” He says, “the Father guides anyone, nothing prevents him from coming to Me”; and elsewhere, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him.” ( Ver. 44.) And Paul says that He hands them over to the Father: “When He has handed over the kingdom to God, the Father.” ( 1 Cor. xv. 24 .) Now just as the Father gives without first depriving Himself, so the Son hands over without excluding Himself. He is said to hand us over because through Him we have access (to the Father). [3.] And “by whom” is also applied to the Father, as when the Apostle says, “By whom you were called into fellowship with His Son” ( 1 Cor. i. 9 ); and, “By the will of the Father.” And again, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you.” ( Matt. xvi. 17.) What He suggests here is something like this: “Faith in Me is no ordinary thing, but needs an impulse from above.” He establishes this throughout His discourse, showing that this faith requires a noble soul, one drawn onward by God. But perhaps someone will say, “If all that the Father gives, and everyone He draws, comes to You, if no one can come to You unless it is granted to him from above, then those to whom the Father does not grant it are free from all blame or accusation.” These are mere words and excuses. For our own deliberate choice is also required, because whether we are willing to be taught is a matter of choice, as is whether we are willing to believe. And here, by “which the Father gives Me,” He means only that “believing in Me is no ordinary thing, nor something that comes from human reasoning, but needs a revelation from above, and a well-ordered soul to receive that revelation.” And “Whoever comes to Me will be saved” means that he will receive great care. “For their sake,” He says, “I came and took on the flesh and entered into the form of a servant.” Then He adds: Ver. 38. “I came down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” What are You saying? Is Your will one thing and His another? So that no one may suspect this, He explains it in what follows, saying: Ver. 40. “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.” Is this not Your will, then? And how can You say, “I have come to send fire on the earth, and what have I desired to see, if it is already kindled”? ( Luke xii. 49.) For if You also desire this, it is perfectly clear that Your will and the Father’s are one. Elsewhere He also says, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever He wills.” ( c. v. 21.) But what is the Father’s will? Is it not that not even one of them should perish? You also want this. ( Matt. xviii. 14.) So the will of the One does not differ from the will of the Other. Elsewhere, too, we see Him establishing His equality with the Father even more firmly, saying, “I and My Father ‘will come and make Our home with him.’” ( c. xiv. 23.) What He means, then, is this: “I did not come to do anything other than what the Father wills. I have no will of My own different from the Father’s, for all that is the Father’s is Mine, and all that is Mine is the Father’s.” Now if the things of the Father and the Son are shared, He has good reason to say, “Not to do My own will.” But here He does not put it that way; He saves this for the end. For, as I have said, He conceals and veils these lofty matters for a while, and wants to show that even if He had said, “This is My will,” they would have despised Him. He therefore says, “I work together with that Will,” wanting to startle them all the more, as though He had said, “What do you think? Do you anger Me by your disbelief? No, you provoke My Father.” “For this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me.” ( Ver. 39.) Here He shows that He does not need their service, that He came for their salvation, not for His own advantage or to gain honor from them. He had already declared this in an earlier address, saying, “I do not receive honor from people” ( c. v. 41 ); and again, “I say these things so that you may be saved.” ( c. v. 34.) For He works everywhere to persuade them that He came for their salvation. And He says that He gains honor for the Father so that they will not suspect Him. He has made it clearer in what follows that this is why He speaks this way. For He says, “Whoever seeks his own will seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of Him who sent Him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” ( c. vii. 18.) “And this is the will of the Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.” ( Ver. 40.) “And I will raise him up on the last day.” Why does He keep dwelling on the Resurrection? It is so that people will not judge God’s providence by present things alone; so that, if they do not enjoy its benefits here, they will not become discouraged because of that, but wait for the things to come; and so that they will not despise Him because their sins go unpunished for the present, but look ahead to another life. Now those men gained nothing, but let us make every effort to benefit from hearing the Resurrection continually proclaimed in our ears. If we want to be greedy, to steal, or to do anything wrong, let us immediately think of that Day; let us picture the Judgment-seat, for such thoughts will restrain the evil impulse more firmly than any bridle’s bit. Let us continually say to others and to ourselves, “There is a resurrection, and a terrifying tribunal awaits us.” If we see anyone arrogant and puffed up by the good things of this world, let us say the same thing to him and show him that all those things stay here. If we see someone else grieving and impatient, let us say the same thing to him and point out that his sorrows will end. If we see someone careless and self-indulgent, let us repeat the same charm over him and show him that he must give an account of his carelessness. This saying can heal our souls better than any other remedy. For there is a Resurrection, and that Resurrection is at our doors, not far away or at a distance. “For in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.” ( Heb. x. 37.) And again, “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ” ( 2 Cor. v. 10 ): both bad and good, the one to be shamed before everyone, the other to be made more glorious before everyone. For just as judges here punish the wicked and honor the good publicly, so it will be there, so that the shame of the one group may be greater and the glory of the other more conspicuous. Let us picture these things every day. If we keep turning them over in our minds, no anxiety about present things will be able to sting us. “For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.” ( 2 Cor. iv. 18.) Let us continually say to ourselves and to others, “There is a Resurrection, and a Judgment, and an examination of our actions.” Let everyone who thinks there is such a thing as fate repeat this, and they will immediately be freed from the corruption of their disease. For if there is a Resurrection and a Judgment, there is no fate, even if they bring countless arguments and choke themselves trying to prove it. But I am ashamed to be teaching Christians about the Resurrection. For someone who needs to learn that there is a Resurrection, and who has not firmly convinced himself that the affairs of this world do not proceed by fate, without purpose, and as chance would have them, cannot be a Christian. So I urge and beg you: let us cleanse ourselves of all wickedness and do everything in our power to obtain pardon and be excused on that Day. Perhaps someone will say, “When will the end come? When will the Resurrection be? Look how much time has passed, and nothing of the kind has happened!” Yet it will happen; be sure of that. For those before the flood spoke this way and mocked Noah, but the flood came and swept away all those unbelievers, while preserving the one who believed. And the people of Lot’s time did not expect that blow from God until those flashes of lightning and thunderbolts came down and utterly destroyed them all. Neither these people nor those who lived in Noah’s time had any warning of what was about to happen. While they were all living in luxury, drinking, and crazed with wine, these unbearable calamities came upon them. So it will be with the Resurrection: without any warning, while we are enjoying good times. That is why Paul says, “For when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” ( 1 Thess. v. 3.) God has arranged this so that we will always keep struggling and will not feel secure even in a time of safety. What are you saying? Do you not expect a Resurrection and a Judgment? The demons acknowledge these, and do you have no shame? “Have You come,” they say, “to torment us before the time?” ( Matt. viii. 29 ); now those who say there will be “torment” know about the Judgment, the reckoning, and the punishment. So let us not, in addition to daring to do evil, anger God by disbelieving the message of the Resurrection. For just as Christ has been our beginning in other things, so He has been in this too. That is why He is called “the firstborn from the dead.” ( Col. i. 18.) Now if there were no Resurrection, how could He be “the firstborn,” when none of “the dead” would follow Him? If there were no Resurrection, how would God’s justice be upheld, when so many evil people prosper and so many good people suffer and die in their suffering? Where will each receive what he deserves, if there is no Resurrection? No one who has lived rightly disbelieves the Resurrection; instead, every day they pray and repeat those holy words, “Your Kingdom come.” Who, then, disbelieves the Resurrection? Those whose ways are unholy and whose lives are unclean, as the Prophet says, “His ways are always polluted. Your judgments are far above, out of his sight.” ( Ps. x. 5.) For a person cannot possibly live a pure life without believing in the Resurrection. Those who are conscious of no wrongdoing speak of it, long for it, and believe in it, so that they may receive their reward. So let us not anger Him, but listen when He says, “Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell” ( Matt. x. 28 ), so that through that fear we may become better and, delivered from that destruction, be considered worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. May we all attain it through the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom glory belongs to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and through the endless ages of eternity. Amen.