Homilies on John, Homily 70

“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” [1.] “Be imitators of me,” Paul said, “as I also am of Christ.” ( 1 Cor. xi. 1.) This is why He also took flesh of our substance: to teach us virtue through it. For (“God sending His own Son) in the likeness of sinful flesh,” it says, “and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.” ( Rom. viii. 3.) And Christ Himself says, “Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” ( Matt. xi. 29.) He taught this not only through words but also through actions. For they called Him a Samaritan, someone who had a demon, and a deceiver, and they threw stones at Him. At one time the Pharisees sent servants to arrest Him; at another they sent men to plot against Him. They also kept insulting Him themselves, even though they could find no fault with Him and were continually receiving benefits from Him. Still, after such treatment, He never stopped doing good to them in both words and deeds. And when a household servant struck Him in the face, He said, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to what was wrong; but if I have spoken well, why do you strike Me?” ( c. xviii. 23.) But this was how He treated those who hated Him and plotted against Him. Let us also see what He now does for the disciples, or rather, how He now treats the traitor. This was the man there was the most reason to hate: although he was a disciple, had shared His table and salt, had seen the miracles, and had been considered worthy of such great things, he acted more terribly than anyone—not by stoning Him or insulting Him, but by betraying Him and handing Him over. Notice how warmly He welcomes this man, washing his feet; even in this way He wanted to hold him back from that wickedness. Yet if He had wished, He had the power to wither him like the fig tree, to cut him in two as He split the rocks, to tear him apart like the veil. But He wanted to turn him from his plan through his own choice, rather than by force. That is why He washed his feet; and even this did not shame that wretched, miserable man. “Before the feast of the Passover,” it says, “Jesus knowing that His hour had come.” He did not come to “know” it then; it means that He did what He did having “known” it long before. “That He would depart.” The Evangelist gives His death the magnificent name “departure.” “Having loved His own, He loved them to the end.” Do you see how He shows greater love as He is about to leave them? For “having loved, He loved them to the end” shows that He left out nothing that someone who loved deeply would be expected to do. Why, then, did He not do this from the beginning? He does the greatest things last, to deepen their attachment and to store up plenty of comfort for them beforehand, in preparation for the terrible things about to happen to them. St. John calls them “His own” because of His personal attachment to them, since he also calls others “His own” because He created them, as when he says, “His own did not receive Him.” ( c. i. 11.) But what does “who were in the world” mean? It is because the dead were also “His own”—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and men like them—but they were not in the world. Do you see that He is the God of both the Old and New (Testament)? But what does “He loved them to the end” mean? It means “He kept loving them without ceasing,” and the Evangelist mentions this as sure proof of His great affection. Elsewhere He spoke of another (proof), laying down His life for His friends; but that had not yet happened. And why did He do this “now”? Because it was far more wonderful at a time when He appeared more glorious in everyone's eyes. Besides, He left them considerable consolation now that He was about to depart, for since they were going to be deeply grieved, He also used these actions to bring comfort to their grief. Ver. 2. “And supper having ended, the devil having already put it into Judas's heart to betray Him.” The Evangelist says this in amazement, showing that Jesus washed the man who had already chosen to betray Him. This also proves how great his wickedness was: not even sharing the salt held him back (something that is especially powerful in restraining wickedness), nor did the fact that his Master continued to bear with him even to the last day. Ver. 3. “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God.” Here the Evangelist speaks in wonder that One so great, so very great, who came from God and went to Him, who rules over all, did this and did not consider it beneath Him to undertake such an action. And by “handing over,” I think St. John means the salvation of the faithful. For when He says, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father” ( Matt. xi. 27 ), He is speaking of this kind of handing over, as He also says elsewhere, “They were Yours, and You gave them to Me” ( c. xvii. 6 ); and again, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him” ( c. vi. 44 ); and, “Unless it is given to him from heaven.” ( c. iii. 27 .) The Evangelist, then, either means this, or means that this action would in no way diminish Christ, since He came from God, went to God, and possessed all things. But when you hear of “handing over,” do not understand it in a human sense, for it shows how He honors the Father and is of one mind with Him. For just as the Father hands over to Him, so He hands over to the Father. Paul declares this when he says, “When He has handed over the kingdom to God, even the Father.” ( 1 Cor. xv. 24.) But here St. John has spoken in a more human sense, showing His great care for them and declaring His inexpressible love: He now cared for them as His own, teaching them the mother of all good things, humility, which He said was both the beginning and the end of virtue. And “He came from God and went to God” is added for a reason: so that we may learn that He acted in a way worthy of One who came from there and went there, trampling down all pride. Ver. 4. “And having risen from supper and laid aside His clothes.” [2.] Notice how He shows humility in another way as well as by washing. For He did not rise before they reclined at the table, but only after they had all taken their places. Next, He does not simply wash them, but does so after taking off His clothes. He did not even stop there, but wrapped a towel around Himself. Nor was He satisfied with this: He filled (the basin) Himself and did not tell someone else to fill it. He did all these things Himself, showing through them all that when we do good, we must do such things with wholehearted eagerness, rather than simply going through the motions. Now it seems to me that He washed the traitor's feet first, because it says, Ver. 5. “He began to wash the disciples’ feet,” and adds, Ver. 6. “Then He comes to Simon Peter, and Peter says to Him, Lord, are You washing my feet?” “With those hands,” he says, “with which You have opened eyes, cleansed lepers, and raised the dead?” For this (question) is very emphatic; he needed to say no more than “You,” since that alone would have been enough to express it all. Someone might reasonably ask why none of the others tried to stop Him, but only Peter, which showed considerable love and reverence. What, then, is the reason? It seems to me that He washed the traitor first, then came to Peter, and that the others afterward learned from his case. That He washed someone else before him is clear from the words, “But when He came to Peter.” Yet the Evangelist does not accuse him forcefully, for “began” is the expression of someone hinting at this. And even if Peter was first, it is still likely that the traitor, being pushy, had reclined even before the leader. His pushiness is shown by another circumstance as well: he dips into the dish with his Master and feels no remorse when exposed. Peter, by contrast, had been rebuked only once before, for words he spoke out of love, and was so ashamed that, distressed and trembling, he asked someone else to put a question to Him. But Judas felt nothing, though he was continually exposed. ( Ver. 24.) So when He came to Peter, Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” Ver. 7. “He says to him, You do not know now what I am doing, but you will know later.” That is, “You will know how much is gained from this, how beneficial the lesson is, and how it can guide us into complete humility.” What, then, does Peter do? He still tries to stop Him and says, Ver. 8. “You will never wash my feet.” “What are you doing, Peter? Do you not remember those earlier words? Did you not say, ‘Have mercy on Yourself,’ and hear in reply, ‘Get behind Me, Satan’? ( Matt. xvi. 22.) Has even that not brought you to your senses? Are you still so insistent?” “Yes,” he says, “for what is happening is something great and utterly astonishing.” Since he did this out of overwhelming love, Christ in turn brings him into submission through that same love. Just as He did so then by sharply rebuking him and saying, “You are a stumbling block to Me,” so He does here by saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” What, then, does that fiery, passionate man say? Ver. 9. “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” He is forceful in his refusal and becomes even more forceful in his acceptance; but both come from love. For why did He not explain why He was doing this, instead of adding a threat? Because Peter would not have been persuaded. If He had said, “Allow it, for through this I am persuading you to be humble,” Peter would have promised to be humble ten thousand times to keep his Master from doing this. But what does He say now? He speaks of what Peter feared and dreaded most: being separated from Him. For Peter is the one who keeps asking, “Where are You going?” ( Ver. 36.) That is also why he said, “I will give even my life for You.” ( Ver. 37.) And if he still persisted after hearing, “You do not know now what I am doing, but you will know later,” he would have persisted much more if he had learned (the meaning of the action). That is why He said, “but you will know later”: He knew that if Peter learned it immediately, he would still resist. And Peter did not say, “Tell me, so that I can let You do it,” but (an even stronger reaction) he could not even bear to learn and resisted Him, saying, “You will never wash my feet.” But as soon as He threatened him, he immediately softened his tone. But what does “You will know after this” mean? “After this?” When? “When you have cast out demons in My Name; when you have seen Me taken up into Heaven; when you have learned from the Spirit that I sit at His right hand, then you will understand what is happening now.” What, then, does Christ say? When Peter said, “not only my feet, but also my hands and my head,” He replies, Ver. 10, 11. “Someone who has been washed needs only to wash his feet, but is entirely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you. For He knew who would betray Him.” “And if they are clean, why does He wash their feet?” So that we may learn to be modest. That is why He did not approach any other part of the body, but the part considered more dishonorable than the rest. But what does “Someone who has been washed” mean? It means “someone who is clean.” Were they clean, then, when they had not yet been freed from their sins or considered worthy of the Spirit, since sin still ruled, the written record of the curse still remained, and the sacrificial victim had not yet been offered? How, then, does He call them “clean”? So that you will not think they are clean in the sense of having been freed from their sins, He adds, Look: “you are clean through the word that I have spoken to you.” That is, “At this point you are clean in this sense: you have received the light; you have been freed from Jewish error. For the Prophet also says, ‘Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the wickedness from your souls’ ( Isa. i. 16 , LXX.); so such a person has been washed and is clean.” Since these men, then, had cast all wickedness out of their souls and had kept company with Him with pure minds, He says, in keeping with the Prophet's words, “someone who has been washed is already clean.” For in that passage too, It does not mean the “washing” with water practiced by the Jews, but the cleansing of the conscience. [3.] Let us also be clean, then; let us learn to do good. But what is “good”? “Secure justice for the fatherless, plead the widow's case; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord.” ( Isa. i. 17–18.) Widows and orphans are mentioned frequently in the Scriptures, but we pay no attention to this. Yet consider how great the reward is. “Though,” it says, “your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow; though they are red like crimson, I will make them white as wool.” For a widow is someone without protection, and that is why He takes such care of her. For even when they have the option of marrying again, they endure the hardships of widowhood out of fear of God. Let us all, then, both men and women, reach out our hands to them, so that we may never experience the sorrows of widowhood; or if we must experience them, let us store up a great supply of kindness for ourselves. A widow's tears have great power: they can open heaven itself. Let us not trample on widows or make their misfortune worse, but help them in every way. If we do this, we will surround ourselves with great protection, both in the present life and in the life to come. For they will be our defenders not only here but also there, removing most of our sins because of our generosity toward them and enabling us to stand boldly before the judgment seat of Christ. May we all obtain this through the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.