Homilies on John, Homily 49

“When He had said these words to them, He remained in Galilee. But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as if in secret.” [1.] The things Christ did in a human way were done not only to establish the Incarnation, but also to teach us virtue. For if He had done everything as God, how could we have known what to do when we encountered things we did not want? For example, when He was in this very place and the Jews wanted to kill Him, He came into their midst and so calmed the uproar. Now if He had done this continually, how would we, who cannot do this but still face the same situation, have known how to handle it: whether to die at once or to use some strategy so that the word could continue to spread? Since we, who lack this power, could not have understood what to do when we found ourselves among our enemies, He teaches us this very thing. For, the Evangelist says, Jesus, “when He had said these words, remained in Galilee; but when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as if in secret.” The expression “when His brothers had gone up” shows that He chose not to go up with them. That is why He stayed where He was and did not reveal Himself, although they were, in a way, urging Him to do so. But why did He, who always spoke openly, now act “as if in secret”? The writer does not say “secretly,” but “as if in secret.” For in this way, as I have said, He seemed to be teaching us how to handle such matters. Besides, coming among them when they were agitated and restless was not the same as coming afterward, when the feast had ended. Ver. 11. “Then the Jews looked for Him and said, Where is He?” What wonderful good deeds they do at their feasts! They are eager to murder and want to seize Him even during the feast. In another place, at any rate, they say, “Do you think He will not come to the feast?” ( John xi. 56 ); and here they said, “Where is He?” Their hatred and hostility were so intense that they would not even call Him by name. How deeply they revered the feast! How careful they were! They wanted to use the very feast as an opportunity to trap Him! Ver. 12. “And there was much whispering among the people about Him.” I think the place where the miracle had been performed provoked them, and they were furious and afraid, not so much from anger over what had happened before as from fear that He might do something similar again. But everything turned out contrary to their wishes, and against their will they drew attention to Him. “And some said, He is a good man; others said, No, He deceives the people.” I think the first opinion belonged to the people in general, and the other to the rulers and priests. For slandering Him suited their malice and wickedness. “He deceives,” they say, “the people.” How, tell me? By appearing to perform miracles without really doing so? But experience testifies to the opposite. Ver. 13. “Yet no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Jews.” Do you see how everywhere the rulers are corrupt, while those they rule judge correctly but lack the courage they need—a quality a crowd especially lacks? Ver. 14. “Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up and taught.” By delaying, He made them more attentive. Those who had looked for Him during the first days and said, “Where is He?” suddenly saw Him there. Notice how they approached and were ready to crowd around Him as He spoke, both those who said He was a good man and those who said He was not: the former to benefit from Him and admire Him, the latter to seize Him and hold Him. One group said, “He deceives the people,” because of His teaching and doctrines, whose meaning they did not understand; the other said, “He is a good man,” because of the miracles. So He came among them in this way after He had eased their anger, so that they could listen to His words calmly, when passion no longer closed their ears. The Evangelist has not told us what He taught. He says only that He taught wonderfully and won them over. Such was the power of His speech. And those who had said, “He deceives the people,” changed their opinion “and were amazed.” That is also why they said, Ver. 15. “How does this man have learning when he has never studied?” Do you notice how the Evangelist shows here too that their amazement was full of wickedness? For he does not say that they admired the teaching or accepted His words, but simply that they “were amazed.” That is, they were astonished and uncertain, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” Yet this very difficulty should have shown them that there was nothing merely human in Him. But because they would not acknowledge this and went no further than amazement, hear what He says. Ver. 16. “My doctrine is not Mine.” Again He answers their unspoken thoughts, directing them to the Father and so seeking to silence them. Ver. 17. “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know about the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own.” What He says is this: “Rid yourselves of the malice, anger, envy, and hatred you have developed against Me without cause, and then nothing will keep you from knowing that My words are indeed the words of God. At present these things cover you in darkness and destroy the light of sound judgment, but if you remove them, this will no longer be true of you.” Yet He did not speak (plainly) in this way (for that would have utterly put them to shame), but implied it all by saying, “Whoever does His will will know about the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own”; that is, “whether I say anything different, foreign, and contrary to God.” For “on My own” always has this meaning: “I say nothing except what seems good to Him, but everything the Father wills, I will also.” “If anyone does His will, he will know about the doctrine.” What does “If anyone does His will” mean? “If anyone loves a life of virtue, he will know the power of these sayings.” “If anyone is willing to pay attention to the prophecies, to see whether I speak in agreement with them or not.” [2.] But how is the doctrine His and not His? For He did not say, “This doctrine is not Mine”; instead, after first saying, “it is Mine,” and claiming it as His own, He added, “it is not Mine.” How, then, can the same thing be both “His” and not “His”? It is “His” because He did not speak it as someone who had been taught; and it is “not His” because it was the Father’s doctrine. How, then, does He say, “All that is the Father’s is Mine, and Mine His”? ( c. xvii. 10.) “For if the doctrine is not Yours because it is the Father’s, that other statement is false, since according to it the doctrine ought to be Yours.” But “is not Mine” strongly proves that His doctrine and the Father’s are one, as if He had said, “It contains nothing different, as though it belonged to someone else. For although My Person is different, I speak and act in such a way that I cannot be thought to say or do anything contrary to the Father, but instead the very same things the Father says and does.” Then He adds another argument that cannot be disputed, presenting something purely human and teaching them through things familiar to them. And what is that? Ver. 18. “Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory.” That is, “Anyone who wants to establish a doctrine of his own wants to do so only so that he himself may receive the glory. Now if I do not want to receive glory, why would I want to establish a doctrine of My own? Whoever speaks on his own—that is, whoever says something distinctive or different from what the Father wills—speaks for this reason: to establish his own glory. But if I seek the glory of Him who sent Me, why would I choose to teach other things?” Do you see that there was a reason why He also said there that He “did nothing on His own”? ( c. v. 19, and viii. 28.) What was it? So that they would believe He did not desire honor from the crowd. So when His words are humble, He says, “I seek the glory of the Father,” always wanting to convince them that He Himself does not love glory. Now there are many reasons why He uses humble words: so that He would not be thought unbegotten or opposed to God; because He is clothed with flesh; because of His hearers’ weakness; and so that He might teach people to be modest and make no grand claims about themselves. But one could find only one reason for His lofty words: the greatness of His Nature. And if they were offended when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” ( c. viii. 58 ), how would they have reacted if they had continually heard lofty expressions? Ver. 19. “Did not Moses give you the Law? And yet none of you keeps the Law? Why are you trying to kill Me?” “And what connection does this have,” someone says, “or what does this have to do with what was said before?” The Jews brought two accusations against Him: first, that He broke the Sabbath; second, that He called God His Father, making Himself equal with God. The following circumstance makes it clear that this was not their imagination but His own stated judgment, and that He spoke in a special and particular sense, rather than as people generally do. Many often called God their Father, as in, “Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us?” ( Mal. ii. 10 ), but that did not make the people equal to God, and so their hearers were not offended. Now when the Jews said, “This man is not from God,” He often corrected their error and defended His violation of the Sabbath. Likewise, if the meaning they assigned to His words had come from their imagination rather than His intention, He would have corrected them and said, “Why do you suppose I am equal to God? I am not equal.” Yet He said nothing of the kind. On the contrary, He declared by what followed that He is equal. For “As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son” ( c. v. 21 ); and “That all may honor the Son as they honor the Father”; and “The works He does, the Son also does in the same way”: all these establish His equality. Again, concerning the Law He says, “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets.” ( Matt. v. 17.) So He knows how to remove the false suspicions in their minds; but here He not only does not remove their suspicion of His equality, He even confirms it. That is also why, when they said elsewhere, “You make Yourself God,” He did not remove their suspicion but even confirmed it, saying, “So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, He says to the paralyzed man, Pick up your bed and walk.” ( Matt. ix. 6.) This, then, was His first aim: to make Himself equal with God, showing that He was not God’s adversary but said and taught the same things as He did. Afterward He addresses the charge of breaking the Sabbath, saying, “Did not Moses give you the Law, and none of you keeps the Law?” It is as though He had said, “The Law says, You shall not kill; but you kill, and yet accuse Me of breaking the Law.” But why does He say, “None of you”? Because they were all trying to kill Him. “And even if,” He says, “I have broken the Law, it was to save a man, but you break it to do evil. And even if My action was a violation, it was still intended to save, and I should not be judged by you, who violate the Law in the most serious matters. For your conduct overturns the whole Law.” Then He presses the point further. Although He had said many things to them before, at that earlier time He spoke in a loftier way, more suited to His own dignity, while now He speaks more humbly. Why? Because He did not want to keep provoking them. Their anger had now grown intense, and they were moving toward murder. So He continues to restrain them in these two ways: by rebuking their wicked boldness and saying, “Why are you trying to kill Me?” and by modestly calling Himself “A Man who has told you the truth” ( c. viii. 40 ), and showing that those who are murderers at heart are not worthy to judge others. And notice both the humility of Christ’s question and the insolence of their answer. Ver. 20. “You have a demon; who is trying to kill you?” [3.] This expression comes from fury and anger, from a soul made shameless by an unexpected rebuke and thrown into confusion before their time, as they thought. For just as certain robbers sing over their plots, then achieve their purpose by keeping silent when they want to put the man they are plotting against off his guard, so these people do as well. But He passes over this without rebuking them, so as not to make them more shameless, and again takes up His defense concerning the Sabbath, reasoning with them from the Law. And notice how wisely. “It is no wonder,” He says, “that you disobey Me when you disobey the Law you think you obey and believe Moses gave you. So it is nothing new if you pay no attention to My words.” For because they said, “God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we do not know where he comes from” ( c. ix. 29 ), He shows that they were insulting Moses as well as Himself, since Moses gave them the Law and they did not obey it. Ver. 21. “I have done one work, and you are all amazed.” Notice how He argues when He needs to defend Himself and turn His defense into an accusation against them. For in speaking of what had been done, He introduces His own Person rather than the Father’s: “I have done one work.” He wanted to show that failing to do it would have broken the Law, that many things take precedence over the Law, and that “Moses” accepted a command contrary to the Law and taking precedence over it. For “circumcision” takes precedence over the Sabbath, yet circumcision does not come from the Law but from “the fathers.” “But I,” He says, “have done something that takes precedence over circumcision and is better than it.” Then He does not mention the command of the Law—for instance, that the priests profane the Sabbath, as He had already said—but speaks more broadly. The meaning of “You are amazed” ( Matt. xii. 5 ) is “You are confused,” “You are troubled.” For if the Law were to remain in force permanently, circumcision would not have taken precedence over it. And He did not say, “I have done something greater than circumcision,” but thoroughly refutes them by saying, Ver. 23. “If a man receives circumcision.” “Do you see that the Law is most firmly upheld when a man breaks it? Do you see that breaking the Sabbath is keeping the Law? That if the Sabbath were not broken, the Law would necessarily have been broken? So I too have upheld the Law.” He did not say, “You are angry with Me because I have done something greater than circumcision.” Instead, He simply mentioned what had been done and left them to judge whether complete health was more necessary than circumcision. “The Law,” He says, “is broken so that a man may receive a sign that contributes nothing to health. Are you upset and indignant that it is broken so that someone may be freed from so terrible a disease?” Ver. 24. “Do not judge by appearances.” What does “by appearances” mean? “Since Moses is held in the highest honor among you, do not make your decision based on your opinion of the people involved, but on the facts themselves, for this is how to judge rightly. Why has none of you rebuked Moses? Why has no one disobeyed him when he orders the Sabbath to be broken through a commandment brought into the Law from outside it? He allows a commandment to take precedence over his own Law—a commandment introduced from outside rather than by the Law, which is especially remarkable—while you, who are not lawgivers, are zealous for the Law beyond all measure and defend it. Yet Moses, who orders the Law to be broken through a commandment that does not belong to the Law, deserves more trust than you.” So by saying, (I have made) “a whole man (healthy),” He shows that circumcision too was “partial” health. And what was the health circumcision secured? “Every soul,” It says, “that is not circumcised will be utterly destroyed.” ( Gen. xvii. 14.) “But I have raised up a man who was not partly afflicted but wholly ruined.” Therefore, “Do not judge by appearances.” Let us be convinced that this is said not merely to the people of that time but to us as well, so that we never pervert justice but do everything to support it; so that whether someone is poor or rich, we show no partiality but examine the facts. “You shall not pity,” It says, “the poor in judgment.” ( Ex. xxiii. 3.) What does this mean? “Do not give in or bend under pressure,” It says, “if the wrongdoer is poor.” Now if you must not favor a poor man, much less a rich one. And I say this not only to you who are judges but to everyone, so that they never pervert justice but keep it pure everywhere. “The Lord,” It says, “loves righteousness”; and “whoever loves wrongdoing hates his own soul.” ( Ps. xi. 7; xi. 5, LXX x. 5.) I beg you, let us not hate our own souls or love unrighteousness. For its profit in this world is certainly little or nothing, and in the world to come it brings great harm. Or rather, I should say that we cannot enjoy it even here. For when we live in luxury but with a guilty conscience, is that not vengeance and punishment? Let us therefore love righteousness and never turn away from that law. For what fruit will we gain from this present life if we leave it without having attained virtue? What will help us there? Friendship, relatives, or this or that person’s favor? What am I saying—this or that person’s favor? Even if we have Noah, Job, or Daniel as a father, it will do us no good if our own works betray us. We need only one thing: excellence of soul. This can carry you safely through and deliver you from everlasting fire; this will escort you to 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 be to the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, for all eternity. Amen.