Homilies on John, Homily 51

“On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly.” [1.] Those who come to hear divine preaching and pay attention to the faith must show the desire that thirsty people have for water and kindle a similar longing in themselves. Then they will also be able to hold on very carefully to what is said. For just as thirsty people eagerly drain a bowl once they take it and only then stop, so those who hear the divine words, if they receive them with that thirst, will never grow weary until they have drunk them up. For to show that people should always thirst and hunger, It says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” ( Matt. v. 6 ); and here Christ says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.” What He means is this: “I draw no one to Me by force or compulsion. But if anyone has great zeal, if anyone is on fire with desire, that is the person I call.” But why has the Evangelist noted that it was “on the last day, that great day”? Both the first day and the last were “great,” while they spent the days in between mostly enjoying themselves. Why, then, does he say, “on the last day”? Because on that day they were all gathered together. For He did not come on the first day, and He told His brothers why. Nor does He say anything of this kind on the second and third days, so that His words would not come to nothing when His hearers were about to rush into self-indulgence. But on the last day, when they were returning home, He gives them provisions for their salvation and cries out loudly, partly to show us His boldness and partly because the crowd was so large. And to show that He was not speaking about physical drink, He adds, “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow out of his belly.” By “belly” he means the heart here, just as It also says elsewhere, “And Your Law in the middle of my belly.” ( Ps. xl. 10 ; Theodotion.) But where has the Scripture said that “rivers of living water will flow from his belly”? Nowhere. What, then, does “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says” mean? We must put a period here, so that “rivers will flow from his belly” is a statement by Christ. For because many said, “This is the Christ,” and, “When the Christ comes, will He do more miracles?” He shows that they need to understand correctly and be convinced by the Scriptures more than by the miracles. In fact, many who even saw Him working wonders did not accept Him as Christ, and were ready to say, “Do not the Scriptures say that Christ comes from the offspring of David?” And they kept dwelling on this. So He, wanting to show that He did not avoid proof from the Scriptures, refers them to the Scriptures again. He had said before, “Search the Scriptures” ( c. v. 39 ); and again, “It is written in the Prophets, And they will be taught by God” ( c. vi. 45 ); and, “Moses accuses you” ( c. v. 45 ); and here, “As the Scripture has said, rivers will flow from his belly,” pointing to the vastness and abundance of grace. Elsewhere He says, “A well of water springing up to eternal life” ( c. iv. 14 ), that is, “he will possess abundant grace.” Elsewhere He calls it “eternal life,” but here, “living water.” He calls what is always at work “living”; for the grace of the Spirit, once it has entered the mind and become established there, springs up more abundantly than any fountain, never fails, never runs dry, never stops. So, to express both its unfailing supply and its unlimited activity, He has called it “a well” and “rivers,” not one river but countless rivers; and in the former passage He has conveyed its abundance through the expression “springing up.” Anyone can clearly understand what this means by considering Stephen’s wisdom, Peter’s tongue, Paul’s intensity: how nothing held them back, nothing withstood them—not the anger of crowds, not the uprisings of tyrants, not the plots of devils, not daily deaths. Like rivers sweeping along with a mighty roar, they went on their way, carrying everything along with them. Ver. 39. “But He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believe in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit had not yet been given.” [2.] How, then, did the Prophets prophesy and work those countless wonders? For the Apostles did not cast out devils by the Spirit, but by power received from Him, as He Himself says, “If I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out?” ( Matt. xii. 27.) He said this to indicate that before the Crucifixion not everyone cast out devils by the Spirit, but some did so by the power received from Him. So when He was about to send them, He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” ( c. xx. 22 ); and again, “The Holy Spirit came upon them” ( Acts xix. 6 ), and then they worked miracles. But when He was sending them, the Scripture did not say that “He gave them the Holy Spirit,” but that He gave them “power,” saying, “Cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, raise the dead; freely you have received, freely give.” ( Matt. x. 1, 8.) But in the case of the Prophets, everyone agrees that the Gift was that of the Holy Spirit. Yet this Grace dwindled, departed, and disappeared from the earth from the day when it was said, “Your house is left to you desolate” ( Matt. xxiii. 38 ). Even before that day, its scarcity had begun, for there was no longer any prophet among them, nor did Grace visit their holy things. The Holy Spirit, then, had been withheld but was to be poured out abundantly in the future, and this giving began after the Crucifixion, both in its abundance and in the greater gifts it brought. (For the Gift was more marvelous, as when It says, “You do not know what Spirit you belong to” ( Luke ix. 55 ); and again, “For you have not received the Spirit of slavery, but the Spirit of adoption” ( Rom. viii. 15 ). And the people of old possessed the Spirit themselves but did not impart It to others, while the Apostles filled tens of thousands with It.) Since, then, as I said, they were to receive this Gift, but It had not yet been given, he adds, “The Holy Spirit was not yet.” So, because the Lord was speaking about this grace, the Evangelist said, “For the Holy Spirit was not yet,” that is, “had not yet been given,” “Because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” He calls the Cross “glory.” For we were enemies, had sinned and fallen short of the gift of God, and hated God. And since grace was proof of our reconciliation, and a gift is given to friends and those who have pleased the giver, rather than to those who are hated, the Sacrifice first had to be offered for us, so that the hostility (against God) in our flesh might be removed, so that we might become friends of God and then receive the Gift. For if this was done in the case of the promise made to Abraham, how much more necessary was it in the case of grace! Paul has declared this, saying, “If those who are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void—because the Law produces anger.” ( Rom. iv. 14, 15.) What he means is this: God “promised to give the earth to Abraham and his offspring, but his descendants were unworthy of the promise, and their own deeds could not make them pleasing to God. This is why faith came in, an easy act, so that it might draw grace to itself and the promise might not fail.” And It says, “Therefore it is by faith, so that it might be by grace, so that the promise might be secure.” ( Rom. iv. 16.) So it is by grace, since they did not succeed through their own efforts. But why, after saying “according to the Scriptures,” did He not add the supporting passage? Because their minds were corrupt; for, Ver. 40–42. “Some said, This is the Prophet. Others said, He deceives the people; others said, Christ does not come from Galilee, but from the village of Bethlehem.” Others said, “When Christ comes, no one knows where He is from” ( ver. 27 ). There was a difference of opinion, as one might expect in a confused crowd, for they did not listen carefully to His words or listen in order to learn. So He gives them no answer, although they said, “Does Christ come from Galilee?” Yet He had praised Nathanael as “truly an Israelite,” though Nathanael had said, more forcefully and strikingly, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” ( c. i. 46.) But these men, and those who said to Nicodemus, “Search and see, for no prophet arises from Galilee” ( ver. 52 ), did not say this in order to learn, but simply to overturn the belief about Christ. Nathanael said it because he loved the truth and knew all the ancient histories accurately. But they had only one aim: to destroy the belief that He was the Christ. That is why He revealed nothing to them. For those who even contradicted themselves, saying at one time, “No one knows where He comes from,” and at another, “From Bethlehem,” would clearly have opposed Him even if they had been told. Suppose they did not know His birthplace, that He was from Bethlehem, because He lived in Nazareth (though even this cannot be accepted, for He was not born there). Were they also ignorant of His ancestry, that He was “of the house and lineage of David”? Why, then, did they say, “Does not Christ come from the offspring of David?” ( Ver. 42.) Because they wanted to conceal even this fact by their question, saying everything they said with malicious intent. Why did they not come to Him and say, “Since we admire You in other respects, and You tell us to believe You according to the Scriptures, tell us how it is that the Scriptures say Christ must come from Bethlehem, when You have come from Galilee?” But they said nothing like this; everything they said was malicious. And to show that they were not asking questions or seeking to learn, the Evangelist immediately adds that, Ver. 44. “Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.” This alone could have been enough to stir their consciences, but they felt nothing, as the Prophet says, “They were torn apart, and their hearts were not pierced.” ( Ps. xxxv. 15 , LXX.) [3.] That is what malice is like! It gives way to nothing. It has only one aim: to destroy the person it plots against. But what does the Scripture say? “Whoever digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it himself.” ( Prov. xxvi. 27.) That is what happened then. For they wanted to kill Him to stop His preaching, as they thought; the result was the opposite. For the preaching flourishes by the grace of Christ, while everything that belonged to them has been extinguished and has perished. They have lost their country, their freedom, their security, their worship; they have been stripped of all their prosperity and have become slaves and captives. Knowing this, then, let us never plot against others, recognizing that by doing so we sharpen the sword against ourselves and inflict the deeper wound on ourselves. Has someone hurt you, and do you want to take revenge on him? Do not take revenge; then you will be able to be avenged. But if you take revenge, you are not avenged. Do not think this is a riddle; it is a true statement. “How? In what way?” Because if you do not take revenge on him, you make God his enemy; but if you take revenge, that is no longer the case. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” ( Rom. xii. 19.) For if we have servants who quarrel with each other and take judgment and punishment into their own hands instead of leaving them to us, even if they come to us ten thousand times, we will not avenge them. We will even be angry with them and say, “You runaway, you whipping post, you should have left everything to us. But since you acted before we could and took revenge yourself, do not trouble us any further.” How much more will God say this, since He has commanded us to entrust everything to Him! For how can it be anything but absurd to demand so much wisdom and obedience from our servants, while refusing to yield to our Master in the very matters in which we want our household servants to yield to us? I say this because you are so ready to punish one another. A truly wise person should not even do this, but should pardon and forgive offenses, even if that great reward—forgiveness in return—had not been offered. For tell me: if you condemn someone who has sinned, why do you sin yourself and fall into the same fault? Has he insulted you? Do not insult him in return, or you have insulted yourself. Has he struck you? Do not strike him in return, for then there is no difference between you. Has he upset you? Do not upset him in return, for you gain nothing and will put yourself on the same level as those who have wronged you. But if you bear it with meekness and gentleness, you will be able to rebuke your enemy, shame him, and make him tired of being angry. No one cures evil with evil, but evil with good. Even some of the pagans give these rules of wisdom. Now, if there is such wisdom among the foolish pagans, let us be ashamed to show ourselves inferior to them. Many of them have been injured and borne it; many have been maliciously accused and have not defended themselves; they have been plotted against and have repaid it with kindness. And there is serious reason to fear that some of them may be found to have lived better lives than we have, and so make our punishment more severe. For we have shared in the Spirit, we look forward to the Kingdom, we pursue wisdom for the sake of heavenly things, we fear (not) hell, we are commanded to become angels, and we enjoy the Mysteries. When we fail to reach the virtue they have attained, what pardon will we have? If we must surpass the Jews (for, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven”— Matt. v. 20 ,), how much more must we surpass the pagans; if the Pharisees, how much more the unbelievers. For if the Kingdom is closed to us when we do not surpass the righteousness of the Jews, how will we be able to reach it when we prove ourselves worse than the pagans? Let us, then, cast out all bitterness, rage, and anger. Repeating “the same things is no trouble to me, but it keeps you safe.” ( Philip. iii. 1.) For doctors, too, often use the same remedy, and we will not stop repeating the same things in your ears, reminding, teaching, urging you on. For worldly affairs create a great uproar that makes us forget, and we need continual teaching. So, to keep our gatherings here from being useless and in vain, let us give proof through our actions, so that we may obtain the good things to come, through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.