Homilies on John, Homily 46

“The Jews then grumbled at Him because He said, I am the Bread that came down from heaven; and they said, Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How, then, can He say, I came down from heaven?” [1.] “Their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame” ( Philip. iii. 19 ), Paul said of certain people when writing to the Philippians. That the Jews were like this is clear both from what came before and from what they came and said to Christ. When He gave them bread and filled their bellies, they said He was a Prophet and tried to make Him a King. But when He taught them about spiritual food and eternal life, when He led them away from things perceived by the senses and spoke to them about a resurrection, and lifted their thoughts to higher things, then, when they should have admired Him most, they grumbled and drew back. Yet if He was that Prophet, as they had previously asserted, declaring that He was the one of whom Moses had said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your brothers like me; you must listen to Him” ( Deut. xviii. 15 ), they should have listened to Him when He said, “I came down from heaven.” Yet they did not listen, but grumbled. They still revered Him because the miracle of the loaves was recent, so they did not openly contradict Him, but expressed their displeasure by grumbling because He did not give them the meal they wanted. And as they grumbled, they said, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” This makes it clear that they did not yet know about His extraordinary and marvelous Generation. So they still called Him the son of Joseph and were not rebuked. He did not say to them, “I am not the Son of Joseph,” not because He was his son, but because they were not yet able to hear about that marvelous Birth. And if they could not bear to hear plainly about His birth according to the flesh, much less could they hear about that indescribable Birth from above. If He did not reveal the less exalted birth to them, much less would He entrust them with the other. Although they were deeply offended that He was born to a lowly, ordinary father, He still did not reveal the truth to them, so that in removing one cause of offense He would not create another. What, then, did He say when they grumbled? Ver. 44. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” The Manichaeans seize on these words, saying “that nothing is within our own power.” Yet the expression shows that we control our own will. “For if someone comes to Him,” someone says, “what need is there for drawing?” But the words do not take away our free will; they show that we greatly need help. And He does not imply that someone comes unwillingly, but that someone receives abundant help. Then He also shows how He draws, for to keep people, again, from forming any material idea of God, He adds, Ver. 46. “Not that anyone has seen God, except He who is of God; He has seen the Father.” “How, then,” someone says, “does the Father draw?” The Prophet explained this long ago, when he announced it beforehand and said, Ver. 45. “They will all be taught by God.” ( Isa. liv. 13.) Do you see the dignity of faith, and that they will learn this neither from human beings nor through a human being, but from God Himself? To make this assertion credible, He referred them to their prophets. “If, then, ‘all will be taught by God,’ how is it that some will not believe?” Because the words refer to the greater number. Besides, the prophecy does not mean absolutely everyone, but everyone who is willing. For the teacher sits ready to share what he has with everyone, pouring out his instruction to everyone. Ver. 44. “And I will raise him up on the last day.” The Son’s authority here is no small thing, since the Father leads and He raises up. He does not separate His work from the Father’s (how could that be?), but shows that Their power is equal. So, just as elsewhere, after saying, “The Father who sent Me bears witness to Me,” He then referred them to the Scriptures to keep them from prying too deeply into that statement, here too, to keep them from entertaining similar suspicions, He refers them to the Prophets. He quotes them continually and everywhere to show that He is not opposed to the Father. “But what about those,” someone says, “who lived before His time? Weren’t they taught by God? Why, then, do these words apply especially here?” Because in the past they learned the things of God through human beings, but now through the Only-begotten Son of God and through the Holy Spirit. Then He adds, “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is of God,” using this expression here to refer to His manner of being, not to God as the cause of existence. For if He had meant the latter, we are all “of God.” Where, then, would the Son’s unique and distinct nature be? “But why,” someone says, “did He not state this more clearly?” Because of their weakness. For if they were so offended when He said, “I have come down from heaven,” how would they have felt if He had added this? He calls Himself ( ver. 48 ,) “the bread of life,” because He sustains our life both now and in the future, and says, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” By “bread” here He means either His saving teachings and faith in Him, or His own Body, for both strengthen the soul. Yet elsewhere He said, “If anyone hears My saying, he will never taste death.” ( c. viii. 51.) And they were offended. Here perhaps they did not feel that way because they still respected Him on account of the loaves He had made. [2.] And notice how He distinguishes His bread from the manna by telling them the result of each kind of food. For to show that the manna gave them no extraordinary benefit, He added, Ver. 49. “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” He then establishes a point especially likely to persuade them: that they had been considered worthy of greater things than their fathers (meaning those marvelous men who lived in Moses’ time). So, after saying that those who ate the manna were dead, He adds, Ver. 51. “Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” And He did not include “in the wilderness” without a reason, but to point out that the supply of manna did not continue for a long time or go with them into the promised land. But this “bread” was not of the same kind. “And the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Here someone might reasonably ask how this was a suitable time for these words, which neither built people up nor benefited them, but instead harmed those who had been built up. For “from that time,” the Evangelist says, “many of His disciples turned back,” saying, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ( ver. 60 ). These things could have been entrusted to the disciples alone, as Matthew tells us that He spoke with them privately. ( Mark iv. 34: see Matt. xiii. 36.) What, then, should we say? What benefit do the words offer? They are very beneficial and necessary. Because they kept pressing Him for bodily food, reminding Him of the food provided in their ancestors’ days and speaking of the manna as something great, He mentions spiritual food to show them that all those things were only type and shadow, while the reality itself was now present with them. “But,” someone says, “He should have said, Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, but I have given you bread.” But the gap between the two miracles was great, and the latter would have seemed inferior to the former, because the manna came down from heaven, while this miracle of the loaves was performed on earth. So when they asked for food “coming down from heaven,” He kept telling them, “I came down from heaven.” And if anyone asks why He introduced the discussion of the Mysteries, we will answer that this was a very suitable time for such discussions, for a statement’s lack of clarity always stirs the listener and makes him more attentive. So they should not have been offended, but should instead have asked questions and investigated. Instead, they turned back. If they believed Him to be a Prophet, they should have believed His words, so they took offense because of their own foolishness, not because of any difficulty in the words. And notice how He gradually led them up to Himself. Here He says that He Himself gives, not the Father: “The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” “But,” someone says, “this teaching was strange and unfamiliar to them.” Yet John had referred to it earlier by calling Him “Lamb.” ( c. i. 29.) “Even so, they did not understand it.” I know they did not; indeed, neither did the disciples understand. For if they did not yet have a clear knowledge of the Resurrection, and so did not know what “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up” ( John ii. 19 ) could mean, much less would they understand what is said here. For these words were less clear than those. They knew that prophets had raised people from the dead, even if the Scriptures have not spoken so clearly on the subject, but none of them had ever asserted that anyone had eaten flesh. Still, they obeyed, followed Him, and confessed that He had the words of eternal life. For this is a disciple’s role: to listen to his teacher and obey him without prying too deeply into his statements, and to wait for the proper time for any difficulties to be resolved. “How, then,” someone says, “did the opposite happen, so that these men ‘turned back’?” It was because of their foolishness. For when questioning about the “how” comes in, unbelief comes in with it. In this way Nicodemus was puzzled, saying, “How can a man enter his mother’s womb?” In the same way these people are bewildered, saying, Ver. 52. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” If you want to know the “how,” why didn’t you ask this about the loaves—how He multiplied five to such a great number? Because at that time they thought only of satisfying their hunger, not of seeing the miracle. “But,” someone says, “their experience taught them then.” Then that experience should have made them readily accept these words. For this was why He performed that extraordinary miracle beforehand: so that, taught by it, they would no longer disbelieve what He would say afterward. [3.] Those men, then, gained nothing from what was said at that time, but we have enjoyed the benefit in the realities themselves. So we need to understand the marvel of the Mysteries: what it is, why it was given, and what benefit the act brings. We become one Body, and “members of His flesh and of His bones.” ( Eph. v. 30.) Let the initiated follow what I am saying. So, in order to become this not only through love but in reality, let us be blended into that flesh. This is accomplished through the food He has freely given us, wishing to show His love for us. For this reason He has mixed Himself with us; He has kneaded His body together with ours, so that we might be a single One Thing, like a body joined to a head. For this is characteristic of those who love deeply. Job, for example, implied this when speaking of his servants, who loved him so much that they wanted to cling to his flesh. For to show the strength of their love, they said, “Who would let us satisfy ourselves with his flesh?” ( Job xxxi. 31.) Christ has done this too, to draw us into a closer friendship and show His love for us. He has allowed those who desire Him not only to see Him, but even to touch Him, eat Him, sink their teeth into His flesh, embrace Him, and fully satisfy their love. Let us, then, return from that table like lions breathing fire, having become terrifying to the devil, thinking of our Head and the love He has shown us. Parents often entrust their children to others to feed. “But I,” He says, “do not do that. I feed you with My own flesh, wishing you all to be nobly born and offering you good hopes for the future. For He who gives Himself to you here will do so all the more in the life to come. I have chosen to become your Brother; for your sake I shared in flesh and blood, and in turn I give you the flesh and blood through which I became your relative.” This blood keeps the image of our King fresh within us, produces indescribable beauty, and does not allow the nobility of our souls to waste away, continually watering and nourishing it. The blood derived from our food does not become blood at once, but first becomes something else. This blood does not do that, but immediately waters our souls and produces a mighty power in them. This blood, if received rightly, drives demons away and keeps them far from us, while calling Angels and the Lord of Angels to us. For wherever they see the Lord’s blood, demons flee and Angels come running together. This blood, poured out, washed the whole world clean. The blessed Paul said many wise things about it in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This blood cleansed the inner sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. And if its type had such great power in the temple of the Hebrews and in the midst of Egypt, when smeared on the doorposts, how much more does the reality have! This blood sanctified the golden altar; without it the high priest did not dare enter the inner sanctuary. This blood consecrated priests; this blood, in types, cleansed sins. But if it had such power in the types, if death shuddered so much at the shadow, tell me, how could it not have dreaded the reality itself? This blood is the salvation of our souls. Through it the soul is washed, through it the soul becomes beautiful, through it the soul is set ablaze. It makes our understanding brighter than fire and our soul more radiant than gold. This blood was poured out and opened heaven to us. [4.] The Mysteries of the Church truly inspire awe; the Altar truly inspires awe. A fountain rose out of Paradise, sending out material rivers; from this table springs a fountain that sends out spiritual rivers. Beside this fountain are planted not fruitless willows, but trees reaching to heaven itself, bearing fruit always in season and never decaying. If anyone is scorched by heat, let him come to this fountain and cool his burning pain. For it quenches drought and comforts everything burned up, not by the sun, but by the fiery darts. For it begins above, and its source is there, where its water also flows from. This fountain has many streams, which the Comforter sends out, and the Son is the Mediator, clearing the way by opening our minds, without wielding a mattock. This fountain is a fountain of light, spouting rays of truth. Beside it stand the Powers on high, gazing at the beauty of its streams, because they perceive more clearly the power of the Things set out and their unapproachable flashes of light. For just as someone who dipped his hand or tongue into molten gold (if that were possible) would immediately turn them to gold, so what is set out here acts on the soul, but to a much greater degree. The river boils up more fiercely than fire, yet does not burn, but only baptizes what it takes hold of. This blood was continually prefigured long ago in the altars and sacrifices of righteous men. This is the price of the world; with This Christ purchased the Church for Himself; with This He has adorned Her entirely. For just as a man buying servants gives gold for them, and then uses gold again when he wants to adorn them, so Christ has purchased us with His blood and adorned us with His blood. Those who share in this blood stand with Angels and Archangels and the Powers above, clothed in Christ’s own royal robe and wearing the armor of the Spirit. Indeed, I have not yet said anything great: they are clothed with the King Himself. Now, just as this is a great and wonderful thing, if you approach it in purity, you approach it for salvation; but if you approach it with an evil conscience, you do so for punishment and vengeance. “For,” It says, “whoever eats and drinks unworthily” of the Lord “eats and drinks judgment on himself” ( 1 Cor. xi. 29 ). For if those who stain the royal purple are punished just as those who tear it are, it is reasonable that those who receive the Body with unclean thoughts should suffer the same punishment as those who tore it with the nails. Notice, at least, how dreadful a punishment Paul declares when he says, “Anyone who rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse a punishment, do you suppose, will someone deserve who has trampled the Son of God underfoot and treated the blood of the covenant, by which he was sanctified, as an unholy thing?” ( Heb. x. 28–29.) So let us watch ourselves, beloved, we who enjoy such blessings. If we want to say anything shameful, or notice that anger or any similar passion is sweeping us away, let us consider the things we have been judged worthy of and the greatness of the Spirit we have shared in. This thought will sober our irrational passions. For how long will we remain nailed to present things? How long before we wake ourselves up? How long will we neglect our own salvation? Let us remember the things Christ has judged us worthy of; let us give thanks; let us glorify Him, not only by our faith but also by our actual deeds, so that we may obtain the good things to come through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom, may glory be to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.