Homilies on John, Homily 60

“I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and My own know Me. As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” [1.] It is a great responsibility, beloved, a great responsibility to lead a Church. It requires wisdom and courage as great as Christ describes: a man must lay down his life for the sheep, never leave them abandoned or naked, and stand bravely against the wolf. For this is how the shepherd differs from the hired hand: the one always looks to his own safety, without caring for the sheep; the other always seeks the sheep’s safety, without regard for his own. So, after describing the marks of a shepherd, Christ identifies two kinds of predators: one, the thief who kills and steals; the other, someone who does not do these things himself, but pays no attention and does nothing to stop them when they happen. By the first He points to Theudas and those like him; by the second He exposes the teachers of the Jews, who neither cared for nor gave any thought to the sheep entrusted to them. This is why Ezekiel rebuked them long ago, saying, “Woe to you, shepherds of Israel! Do the shepherds feed themselves? Don’t the shepherds feed the sheep?” ( Ezek. xxxiv. 2 , LXX.) But they did the opposite, which is the worst kind of wickedness and the cause of all the rest. That is why It says, “They have not brought back the straying, or looked for the lost, or bound up the injured, or healed the sick, because they fed themselves and not the sheep.” ( Ezek. xxxiv. 4.) Paul also declares this in another passage, saying, “For all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” ( Philip. ii. 21 ); and again, “Let no one seek his own interests, but everyone his neighbor’s.” ( 1 Cor. x. 24.) Christ distinguishes Himself from both: from those who came to plunder, by saying, “I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” ( ver. 10 ); and from those who did not care when wolves carried off the sheep, by never abandoning them, but even laying down His life for them so that the sheep might not perish. For when they wanted to kill Him, He neither changed His teaching nor betrayed those who believed in Him, but stood firm and chose to die. That is why He kept saying, “I am the good Shepherd.” Then, because His words seemed unsupported by testimony (for although “I lay down My life” was proved soon afterward, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” would be fulfilled after they died, in the life to come), what does He do? He proves one by the other: by giving His mortal life (He proves) that He gives immortal life. As Paul also says, “If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, we will be saved.” ( Rom. v. 10.) And again elsewhere, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also freely give us all things with Him?” ( Rom. viii. 32.) But why don’t they now bring the charge against Him that they did before, when they said, “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true”? ( c. viii. 13.) Because He had often shut their mouths, and because His miracles had given Him greater boldness toward them. Then, because He said above, “And the sheep hear his voice, and follow him,” listen to what He adds, so that no one can say, “Then what does this mean for those who do not believe?” “And I know My sheep, and My own know Me.” As Paul declared when he said, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” ( Rom. xi. 2 ); and Moses, “The Lord knew those who were His” ( 2 Tim. ii. 19; comp. Num. xvi. 5 ); “I mean,” He says, “those whom He foreknew.” Then, so that you will not think the degree of knowledge is equal, listen to how He sets the matter straight by adding, “I know My sheep, and My own know Me.” But the knowledge is not equal. “Where is it equal?” In the case of the Father and Me, for there, “As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father.” If He had not wanted to prove this, why would He have added that expression? Because He often placed Himself among the many, He added, “As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father,” so that no one would think He knew as a man knows. “I know Him as exactly as He knows Me.” That is why He said, “No one knows the Son except the Father, or the Father except the Son” ( Luke x. 22 ), speaking of a distinct kind of knowledge that no one else can possess. [2.] “I lay down My life.” He says this repeatedly to show that He is no deceiver. So too the Apostle, when he wanted to show that he was a true teacher and was arguing against the false apostles, established his authority by his dangers and encounters with death, saying, “In beatings beyond measure, often facing death.” ( 2 Cor. xi. 23.) For saying, “I am light,” and “I am life,” seemed like pride to the foolish; but saying, “I am willing to die,” left no room for malice or envy. That is why they do not say to Him, “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true,” for His words showed very tender care for them, if He was indeed willing to give Himself for those who would have stoned Him. This is also why He introduces the Gentiles at this fitting moment; Ver. 16. “For I also have other sheep,” He says, “which are not of this fold; I must bring them too.” Notice again that the word “must,” as used here, does not express compulsion, but declares something that will certainly happen. It is as though He had said, “Why are you amazed if these follow Me, and if My sheep hear My voice? When you see others too following Me and hearing My voice, you will be even more astonished.” And do not be confused when you hear Him say, “which are not of this fold” ( Gal. v. 6 ), for the difference concerns only the Law, as Paul also says, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything.” “I must bring them too.” He shows that both groups were scattered and mixed together, without shepherds, because the good Shepherd had not yet come. Then He announces their future union in advance: “They will be one fold.” Paul also declared this same thing, saying, “For making the two into one new man in Himself.” ( Eph. ii. 15.) Ver. 17. “This is why My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I might take it again.” What saying could show more love for humanity than this, if our Lord is to be loved on our account because He dies for us? What then? Tell me, was He not loved before this? Did the Father only now begin to love Him, and were we the cause of His love? Do you see how He accommodated Himself to His hearers? But what does He want to prove here? Because they said He was estranged from the Father, a deceiver, and had come to ruin and destroy, He tells them, “This alone, if nothing else, would persuade Me to love you: you are so loved by the Father that I too am loved by Him because I die for you.” Besides this, He also wants to prove the other point: that He did not undertake this unwillingly (for if He did it unwillingly, how could the act inspire love?), and that the Father knew this especially well. And if He speaks as a man, do not be surprised, for we have often explained the reason, and repeating the same things is unnecessary and tiresome. “I lay down My life so that I might take it again.” Ver. 18. “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Because they often plotted to kill Him, He tells them, “Unless I am willing, your efforts are useless.” And He proves the second point by the first, the Resurrection by the Death. For this is what is strange and wonderful, since both happened in a new way, beyond the ordinary course of things. But let us pay close attention to what He says: “I have power to lay down My life.” And who does not have “power to lay down his life”? Anyone who wishes can kill himself. But that is not what He means. What does He mean? “I have the power to lay it down in such a way that no one can bring this about against My will.” And this is a power human beings do not possess, for we have no power to lay down our lives except by killing ourselves. And if we fall into the hands of people who plot against us and have the power to kill us, we are no longer free to lay down our lives or not; they take them from us even against our will. This was not the case with Christ. Even when others plotted against Him, He had the power not to lay down His life. So, after saying, “No one takes it from Me,” He adds, “I have power to lay down My life,” that is, “I alone can decide whether to lay it down.” This decision does not rest with us, for many others can also take our lives from us. He did not say this at first (since the claim would not have seemed credible), but only when the facts had testified to it, and when, despite their repeated plots against Him, they had been unable to seize Him (for He escaped from their hands ten thousand times). Then He says, “No one takes it from Me.” But if this is true, the other point follows: He went to His death voluntarily. And if this is true, the next point is also certain: He can “take it again” whenever He wills. For if His dying was beyond human power, have no further doubt about the other point. The fact that He alone was able to let go of His life shows that He was able to take it again by the same power. Do you see how He proved the second point from the first, and showed from His death that His Resurrection was beyond dispute? “I have received this commandment from My Father.” What commandment was this? To die for the world. Did He then first wait to hear it, and only then choose? Did He need to learn it? Who with any sense would claim this? But just as earlier, when He said, “This is why My Father loves Me,” He showed that the initial decision was voluntary and removed every suspicion of opposition to the Father, so here, when He says that He received a commandment from the Father, He declares only that “what I am doing pleases Him.” This was so that when they killed Him, they would not think they had killed someone abandoned and given up by the Father, or taunt Him as they did: “He saved others; he cannot save himself”; and, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” ( Matt. xxvii. 42, 40 ). Yet the very reason He did not come down was that He was the Son of God. [3.] Then, so that on hearing, “I have received a command from the Father,” you would not think the accomplishment was not His own, He had already said, “The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” By this He showed that the sheep were His, that everything that happened was His own accomplishment, and that He needed no command. For if He had needed a commandment, how could He have said, “I lay it down of My own accord”? Someone who lays it down of His own accord needs no commandment. He also gives the reason He does this. And what is it? That He is the Shepherd, and the good Shepherd. Now the good Shepherd needs no one to stir Him to His duty; and if this is true of a man, it is much more true of God. That is why Paul said that “He emptied Himself.” ( Philip. ii. 7.) So the “commandment” mentioned here serves only to show His complete agreement with the Father; and if He speaks in such a humble and human way, the reason is the weakness of His hearers. Ver. 19. “So there was a division among the Jews. And some said, He has a demon (and is insane). Others said, These are not the words of someone who has a demon: can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Because His words went beyond human powers and were unlike ordinary speech, they said He had a demon, saying this of Him now for the fourth time. For earlier they had said, “You have a demon; who is trying to kill you?” ( c. vii. 20 ); and again, “Were we not right to say that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?” ( c. viii. 48 ); and here, “He has a demon and is insane; why do you listen to him?” Or rather, we should say that He heard this frequently, not just for the fourth time. For asking, “Were we not right to say that you have a demon?” shows that they had said it many times, not just two or three. “Others said, These are not the words of someone who has a demon: can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Since they could not silence their opponents with words, they now brought forward proof from His works. “Certainly these are not the words of someone who has a demon; yet if the words do not persuade you, let the works put you to shame. For if these are not the acts of someone who has a demon, and they go beyond human powers, it is quite clear that they come from some divine power.” Do you see the argument? That they went beyond human powers is plain from the Jews’ saying, “He has a demon”; that He did not have a demon, He showed by what He did. What, then, did Christ do? He gave no answer to these things. Before this He had replied, “I do not have a demon,” but now He did not. Since He had provided proof by His actions, He then remained silent. Those who said He was possessed by a demon because of the very actions for which they should have admired Him and recognized Him as God did not deserve an answer. And what further refutation from Him was needed when they contradicted and refuted one another? So He remained silent and bore everything gently. And He did this not only for this reason, but also to teach us all gentleness and patience. [4.] Let us now imitate Him. For He not only remained silent then, but even came among them again, and when questioned, answered and explained matters concerning His foreknowledge. Although people who had received ten thousand benefits from Him called Him “demon-possessed” and “insane,” not once or twice but many times, He not only refrained from taking revenge, but continued to benefit them. Benefit them, did I say? He laid down His life for them, and while being crucified spoke to His Father on their behalf. Let us imitate this too, for being a disciple of Christ means being gentle and kind. But how can we acquire this gentleness? By continually counting up our sins, by mourning, by weeping; for a soul that lives in the company of so much grief cannot bear to become provoked or angry. Wherever there is mourning, anger is impossible; where grief is, all anger is put aside; where there is brokenness of spirit, there is no irritation. For when sorrow lashes the mind, it has no time to become stirred up, but will groan bitterly and weep even more bitterly. I know that many laugh when they hear these things, but I will not stop mourning for those who laugh. For the present is a time for mourning, wailing, and lamentation, since we commit many sins in both word and deed, and hell awaits those who commit such transgressions, along with the river boiling with a roaring current of fire, and banishment from the Kingdom, the most terrible thing of all. When these things are threatened, tell me, do you laugh and act proudly? When your Lord is angry and threatening, do you stand there unconcerned, without fearing that by this you are setting your furnace ablaze? Don’t you hear what He cries out every day? “You saw Me hungry, and gave Me no food; thirsty, and gave Me no drink; depart into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” ( Matt. xxv.) And He threatened these things every day. “But,” someone says, “I did give Him food.” When, and for how many days? Ten or twenty? But He wants this for as long as you live on earth, not merely for that short time. For the virgins also had oil, but not enough for their salvation; they too lit their lamps, yet they were shut out of the bridal chamber. And rightly so, since their lamps had gone out before the Bridegroom came. This is why we need much oil and abundant lovingkindness. At least listen to what the Prophet says: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.” ( Ps. li. 1.) We therefore must show pity to our neighbor in keeping with His great mercy toward us. For as we treat our fellow servants, so we will find our Lord treating us. And what kind of “mercy” is “great”? When we give even though we do not have enough ourselves, rather than out of our abundance. But if we do not give even out of our abundance, what hope will there be for us? How will we escape those woes? Where will we be able to flee and find salvation? For if the virgins, after so many great efforts, found no comfort anywhere, who will stand up for us when we hear those fearful words of the Judge Himself, addressing and reproaching us because “I was hungry, and you gave Me no food; for insofar,” It says, “as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me”? He says this not merely of His disciples or of those who have taken up the ascetic life, but of every believer. For even if such a person is a slave, or one of those who beg in the marketplace, if he believes in God, he rightly deserves all our goodwill. And if we neglect such a person when he is naked or hungry, we will hear those words. And rightly so. For what difficult or burdensome thing has He demanded of us? What has He asked that is not among the lightest and easiest things? He does not say, “I was sick, and you did not heal Me,” but, “and you did not visit Me.” He does not say, “I was in prison, and you did not free Me,” but, “and you did not come to Me.” So the easier the commands, the greater the punishment for those who disobey them. For what is easier, tell me, than to go out and enter a prison? And what is more pleasant? For when you see some people bound, others covered in filth, others with uncut hair and dressed in rags, others dying of hunger and running like dogs to your feet, others with deep furrows plowed into their sides, others returning in chains from the marketplace, who beg all day and do not collect even enough to live on, yet in the evening are required by their keepers to hand over that wicked and savage payment—even if you are as hard as any stone, you will certainly become kinder. Even if you live a soft and self-indulgent life, you will certainly become wiser when you see the nature of human affairs in other people’s misfortunes. For you will surely gain some idea of that fearful day and its varied punishments. Turning these things over and considering them, you will certainly drive out anger, pleasure, and the love of worldly things, and make your soul calmer than the calmest harbor. You will reflect on that Judgment seat, considering that if among human beings there is so much planning, order, terror, and threatening, there will be much more with God. “For there is no authority except from God.” ( Rom. xiii. 1.) So He who allows rulers to arrange these things in this way will much more do the same Himself. [5.] Certainly, without this fear, everything would be lost, since even with such punishments hanging over them, many turn to wickedness. If you consider these things wisely, you will be more eager to give alms and will gain much pleasure, far greater than those who leave the theater. For when they leave, they are inflamed and burn with desire. Having seen those women flitting about the stage and received ten thousand wounds from them, they will be no better off than a storm-tossed sea, as the images of their faces, gestures, words, walk, and everything else stand before their eyes and besiege their souls. But those who leave a prison will experience nothing like this; they will enjoy great calm and tranquility. For the remorse stirred by the sight of the prisoners quenches all that fire. And if a prostitute, a sexually shameless woman, meets a man coming away from the prisoners, she will do him no harm. For, having become from then on, as it were, incapable of being molded, he will not be caught in the nets of her face, because instead of that shameless face, the fear of Judgment will stand before his eyes. This is why the man who had experienced every kind of luxury said, “It is better to go into the house of mourning than into the house of merriment.” ( Eccl. vii. 2.) And so “here” you will show great wisdom, and “there” you will hear those words that are worth ten thousand blessings. Let us then not neglect this practice and occupation. For although we may not be able to bring them food or help them with money, we will still be able to comfort them with our words, lift their dejected spirits, and help them in many other ways by talking with those who put them in prison and making their keepers kinder. We will certainly do some good, whether small or great. But if you say that the people there are neither of high standing, nor good, nor gentle, but murderers, grave robbers, pickpockets, adulterers, lacking self-control, and full of many kinds of wickedness, you are giving me another urgent reason to spend time there. For we are not commanded to pity the good and punish the evil, but to show this lovingkindness to everyone. “Be,” It says, “like My Father who is in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” ( Matt. v. 45.) So do not bitterly accuse others of their faults or judge harshly, but be gentle and merciful. For even if we have not been adulterers, grave robbers, or pickpockets, we have other transgressions that deserve infinite punishment. Perhaps we have called our brother “fool,” which prepares the pit for us; we have looked at women with lustful eyes, which is outright adultery; and, more serious than all the rest, we partake unworthily of the Mysteries, which makes us guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. So let us not harshly scrutinize other people’s conduct, but consider our own condition; then we will stop this inhumanity and cruelty. Besides, we may find many good men there, often men worth as much as the whole city. For even the prison where Joseph was held contained many evil men, yet that righteous man had charge of them all, and his true character was hidden among the rest. He was worth as much as the whole land of Egypt, yet he still lived in prison, and none of those inside knew who he was. So too, even now, there are likely many good and virtuous men, although not everyone can recognize them, and the care you give to such people repays your efforts on behalf of them all. Or if there are none like this, even then your reward is great. For your Lord did not speak only with the righteous while avoiding the unclean, but kindly received both the Canaanite woman and the woman of Samaria, abominable and impure. He also received and healed another woman, a prostitute on whose account the Jews reproached Him, and allowed His feet to be washed with the tears of that defiled woman, teaching us to come down to the level of those in sin, for this above all is kindness. What are you saying? Do robbers and grave robbers live in prison? And tell me, are all those who live in the city righteous? No, aren’t many even worse than these, robbing with greater shamelessness? For the one group, even if they have no other excuse, at least put up the veil of solitude and darkness, doing these things secretly; but the others throw away the mask and pursue their wickedness with their heads uncovered, violent, grasping, and greedy. It is hard to find anyone free from injustice. [6.] Even if we do not violently seize gold or a certain number of acres of land, we still achieve the same result through deceit and robbery in smaller matters, wherever we can. For when we make contracts, or have to buy or sell something, and we argue and struggle to pay less than its value, doing everything we can to make that happen, isn’t that robbery? Isn’t it theft and greed? Do not tell me that you have not seized houses or slaves, for injustice is judged by the intention of those who commit the robbery, not by the amount taken. For “just” and “unjust” mean the same thing in great matters and small. I call both men pickpockets: the man who cuts open a purse and takes the gold, and the man who buys from someone in the marketplace and takes something off the proper price. Nor is the only burglar the man who breaks through a wall and steals something inside; the man who corrupts justice and takes something from his neighbor is a burglar too. So let us not overlook our own faults and become judges of other people’s. Nor, when it is time for lovingkindness, let us investigate their wickedness. Instead, remembering what our own condition once was, let us now be gentle and kind. What, then, was our condition? Listen to Paul: “For we ourselves too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, hateful, and hating one another” ( Tit. iii. 3 ); and again, “We were by nature children of anger.” ( Eph. ii. 3.) But God, seeing us confined, as it were, in a prison and bound with terrible chains, far worse than iron ones, was not ashamed of us. He came and entered the prison, and although we deserved ten thousand punishments, He both brought us out of it and brought us into a kingdom, and made us more glorious than heaven, so that we too might do the same as far as we can. For when He says to His disciples, “If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example, so that you should do as I have done to you” ( c. xiii. 14 ), He lays down this law not only for washing feet, but also for all the other ways He acted toward us. Is the person in prison a murderer? Even so, let us not grow tired of doing Him good. Is he a grave robber or an adulterer? Let us pity his misfortune, not his wickedness. But often, as I said before, someone will be found there worth ten thousand; and if you visit the prisoners continually, you will not miss such a great prize. For just as Abraham, by welcoming even ordinary guests, once encountered Angels, so we too will encounter great men if we make this our regular work. And if I may make a surprising claim, the person who welcomes a great man is not as worthy of praise as the person who receives the wretched and miserable. For the former’s own way of life gives people considerable reason to treat him well, but the latter, rejected and abandoned by everyone, has only one harbor: the pity of his benefactor. So this above all is pure kindness. Moreover, someone who gives attention to an admired and distinguished man often does it to make a show before others, but someone who cares for the lowly and despairing does it only because of God’s command. That is why, if we give a feast, we are told to welcome the lame and those who have difficulty walking, and if we do works of mercy, we are told to do them for the least and lowliest. “For,” It says, “insofar as you have done it for one of the least of these, you have done it for Me.” ( Matt. xxv. 45.) Knowing, then, the treasure stored up in that place, let us enter continually, make it our regular work, and direct there the enthusiasm we have for theaters. If you have nothing to contribute, contribute the comfort of your words. For God rewards not only the person who feeds them, but also the person who visits. When you enter and lift up a trembling, fearful soul, encouraging, helping, promising assistance, and teaching it true wisdom, you will gain a substantial reward from this. For if you spoke this way outside the prison, many would even laugh, their minds scattered by excessive luxury; but those in adversity, with their minds humbled, will listen meekly to your words, praise them, and become better people. Even when Paul preached, the Jews often mocked him, but the prisoners listened very quietly. For nothing makes the soul so ready for heavenly wisdom as misfortune, trial, and the pressure of affliction. Considering all these things, and how much good we will do both for those in prison and for ourselves by continually spending time with them, let us spend there the time we used to spend in the marketplace and in ill-timed activities. Then we may both win them over and gladden ourselves, and, by causing God to be glorified, obtain everlasting blessings, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom, to the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen.