Tractates on the Gospel of John 28.1–28.12

In this chapter of the Gospel, brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ has commended himself to our faith very much according to his humanity. For he is always doing this by his words and deeds: that he may be believed to be God and man; God who made us, man who sought us; God always with the Father, man with us from a point in time. For he would not seek what he had made unless he himself became what he had made. But remember this, and do not let it go from your hearts: Christ was made man in such a way that he did not cease to be God. Remaining God, he who made man took up man. So when he hid as a man, he must not be thought to have lost his power, but to have offered an example to weakness. For when he willed, he was seized; when he willed, he was killed. But since there were to be his members, that is, his faithful, who would not have that power which he himself, our God, had, by hiding, by concealing himself as though so as not to be killed, he was indicating what his members would do; and in these members of his he himself was, of course. For Christ is not in the head and not in the body, but the whole Christ is in the head and in the body. What his members are, then, he is; but what he is, his members are not straightway. For if his members were not himself, he would not say, “Saul, why do you persecute me?” For Saul was not persecuting him, but his members, that is, his faithful, on earth. Yet he did not choose to say, “my saints,” “my servants,” or finally, more honorably, “my brothers,” but “me,” that is, my members, whose head I am.

With this said beforehand, I think we shall not have to labor over this chapter that has just been read; for often what was to be in the body was signified in the head. “After these things,” it says, “Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.” This is what I said: he was offering an example to our weakness. He had not lost his power, but he was consoling our frailty. For it was going to happen, as I said, that some faithful man of his would hide himself so as not to be found by persecutors; and lest his hiding place be charged against him as a crime, there went before in the head what would be confirmed in the member. For so it is said, “He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him,” as though Christ could not both walk among the Jews and not be killed by the Jews. For he showed this power when he willed: when they wanted to seize him as he was now about to suffer, he said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered, “Jesus.” And he: “I am he,” not hiding himself but showing himself. Yet they did not stand up to that showing, but going backward they fell. And nevertheless, because he had come to suffer, they rose, seized him, brought him to the judge, and killed him. But what did they do? What a certain Scripture says: “The earth has been given into the hands of the wicked”: the flesh was given into the power of the Jews. And this was for this purpose: that, as it were, a purse might be torn open, from which our price might flow out.

“Now the feast day of the Jews, the Scenopegia, was near.” What the Scenopegia is, those who have read the Scriptures know. On the feast day they made tabernacles, in the likeness of the tabernacles in which they had dwelt when, brought out of Egypt, they journeyed as sojourners in the wilderness. This was a feast day, a great solemnity. The Jews celebrated it as though recalling the benefits of the Lord, they who were going to kill the Lord. On this feast day, then (for there were several feast days; for among the Jews it was called a feast day although it was not one day but several), his brothers spoke to the Lord Christ. Take “his brothers” as you know; for what you hear is not new. The blood relations of the Virgin Mary were called the Lord's brothers. For it was the custom of the Scriptures to call any blood relations and near kin “brothers,” outside our usage, not in the way we speak. For who would call an uncle and a sister's son “brothers”? Yet Scripture calls even kinships of this kind “brothers.” For Abraham and Lot were called brothers, though Abraham was Lot's paternal uncle; and Laban and Jacob were called brothers, though Laban was Jacob's maternal uncle. So when you hear of the Lord's brothers, think of the kinship of Mary, who did not again give birth to any offspring. For just as in the tomb where the Lord's body was laid no dead man lay either before or after, so Mary's womb conceived nothing mortal either before or after.

We have said who the brothers were; let us hear what they said. “Pass on from here and go into Judea, so that your disciples too may see your works which you do.” The Lord's works were not hidden from the disciples, but they were hidden from these men. For these brothers, that is, blood relations, could have Christ as a relation, but because of that very nearness they disdained to believe in him. It is said in the Gospel; for we do not dare to suppose this ourselves: you have just heard it. They add, and admonish him: “For no one does anything in secret and seeks himself to be in the open; if you do these things, show yourself to the world.” And straightway: “For neither did his brothers believe in him.” Why did they not believe in him? Because they were seeking human glory. For even in what the brothers seem to advise him, they are looking after his glory: “You do wonders; make yourself known,” that is, appear to all, so that you may be praised by all. Flesh was speaking to flesh, but flesh without God to flesh with God. The prudence of the flesh was speaking to the Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us.

What does the Lord say to this? “Then Jesus says to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.” What is this? Had Christ's time not yet come? Why then had Christ come, if his time had not yet come? Have we not heard the apostle saying, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son”? If, then, he was sent in the fullness of time, he was sent when he should have been, he came when it was fitting: what is “My time has not yet come”? Understand, brothers, with what intent those men spoke who seemed to be advising him as their brother. They were giving him advice on gaining glory, admonishing him as it were in a worldly way and with earthly feeling not to be obscure and lie hidden. So when the Lord says, “My time has not yet come,” he answered those who were giving him advice about glory: the time of my glory has not yet come. See how deep it is: they were admonishing him about glory, but he willed that humility should go before loftiness, and to pave the way to loftiness itself through humility. For those disciples too were certainly seeking glory who wanted to sit, one at his right hand and the other at his left: they were looking at where, and did not see by what way. The Lord called them back to the way, so that they might come to the homeland in due order. For the homeland is lofty, the way is lowly. The homeland is the life of Christ, the way is the death of Christ; the homeland is the dwelling of Christ, the way is the passion of Christ. Why does one who refuses the way seek the homeland? Accordingly he gave this answer to them too when they sought loftiness: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” See the way by which one comes to the height you desire. For he was speaking of the cup of humility and suffering.

So here too: “My time has not yet come; but your time,” that is, the glory of the world, “is always ready.” This is the time of which Christ, that is, the body of Christ, speaks in prophecy: “When I receive the time, I will judge justly.” For now is not the time of judging but of bearing with the wicked. Let the body of Christ, then, bear now and endure the iniquity of those who live evilly. Yet let it have justice now, before it has judgment; for through justice it will come to judgment. For to the members who endure the iniquity of this world, what does holy Scripture say in the Psalm? “The Lord will not cast off his people.” For his people labor among the unworthy, among the wicked, among blasphemers, among murmurers, detractors, persecutors, and, if it were allowed, murderers. They labor indeed; but “the Lord will not cast off his people, and will not forsake his inheritance, until justice is turned into judgment.” Until the justice which is now in his saints is turned into judgment, when what was said to them will be fulfilled: “You will sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The apostle had justice, but not yet that judgment of which he says, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” So let now be the time of living justly; afterward will be the time of judging those who have lived evilly. “Until justice,” it says, “is turned into judgment.” This will be the time of judgment, of which the Lord has just said, “My time has not yet come.” For it will be the time of glory, so that he who came in humility will come in loftiness. He who came to be judged will come to judge; he who came to be killed by the dead will come to judge the living and the dead. “God,” says the Psalm, “will come openly, our God, and will not keep silence.” What is “will come openly”? Because he came hidden. Then he will not keep silence; for when he came hidden, “he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer he did not open his mouth.” He will come and will not keep silence. “I have been silent,” he says; “shall I be silent forever?”

But now what is needful for those who have justice? What is read in that same Psalm: “Until justice is turned into judgment; and those who have it are all upright in heart.” Perhaps you ask who are the upright in heart. We find in Scripture that those are upright in heart who endure the evils of the world and do not accuse God. See, brothers: this bird I speak of is rare. For somehow, when something bad befalls a man, he runs to accuse God, when he ought to accuse himself. When you do something good, you praise yourself; when you suffer something bad, you accuse God. This, then, is a crooked heart, not an upright one. If you are corrected from this crookedness and perversity, what you used to do will be turned to its opposite. For what did you do before? You praised yourself in God's good things, you accused God in your own evils. With your heart turned and set straight, you will praise God in his good things and accuse yourself in your evils. These are the upright in heart. Finally, one who was not yet upright in heart, who was displeased by the happiness of the wicked and the toil of the good, says when corrected, “How good is the God of Israel to the upright in heart! But as for me, when I was not upright in heart, my feet were almost moved, my steps had well-nigh slipped.” Why? “Because I was jealous of sinners, seeing the peace of sinners.” I saw, he says, the wicked happy, and God displeased me; for I wanted God not to allow the wicked to be happy. Let man understand: God never allows this; but the wicked man is thought happy because what happiness is is not known. Let us, then, be upright in heart: the time of our glory has not yet come. Let it be said to the lovers of this world, such as the Lord's brothers were, “Your time is always ready; our time has not yet come.” For let us dare to say this too. And since we are the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, since we are his members, since we gladly acknowledge our head, let us say it outright; for it was for our sakes that he too deigned to say this. When the lovers of this world insult us, let us say to them, “Your time is always ready; our time has not yet come.” For the apostle said to us, “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” When will our time come? “When Christ,” he says, “your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”

What does he add next? “The world cannot hate you.” What is this, except: the world cannot hate its lovers, its false witnesses? For you call good what is evil, and evil what is good. “But it hates me, because I bear witness of it, that its works are evil. You go up to this feast day.” What is “this”? Where you seek human glory. What is “this”? Where you want to prolong carnal joys, not to think of eternal ones. “I am not going up to this feast day, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” On this feast day you seek human glory; but my time, that is, the time of my glory, has not yet come. That will be my feast day: not hurrying on and passing away in these days, but abiding forever; that will be festivity, joy without end, eternity without stain, serenity without cloud. “When he had said these things, he himself stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up, then he too went up to the feast day, not openly but as it were in secret.” He did not go up to “this feast day,” then, because he desired not to be glorified in time, but to teach something wholesome, to correct men, to admonish them about the eternal feast day, to turn love away from this world and turn it toward God. But what is it that he went up to the feast day as though secretly? This too of the Lord's is not without purpose. It seems to me, brothers, that even by going up as though secretly he wished to signify something; for what follows will show that he went up in the middle of the feast, that is, when those days were half over, so as even to teach openly. But he said “as it were secretly” so as not to show himself to men. It is not without purpose that Christ went up secretly to the feast day, because he himself lay hidden in that feast day. Even what I have said is still in hiding. Let it be made plain, then; let the veil be removed, and let what was secret appear.

All the things that were spoken to the ancient people Israel in the manifold writing of the holy Law, which they were to do whether in sacrifices or in priesthoods or on feast days, and in general in whatever things by which they worshiped God, whatever was spoken and commanded to them, were shadows of things to come. Of what things to come? Those that are fulfilled in Christ. Hence the apostle says, “For all the promises of God are in him”; that is, in him they are fulfilled. Then he says in another place, “All things happened to them in figure; but they were written for our sake, upon whom the end of the ages has come.” He said elsewhere too, “For Christ is the end of the Law.” Again in another place: “Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or a new moon, or sabbaths, which is a shadow of things to come.” If, then, all those things were a shadow of things to come, the Scenopegia too was a shadow of things to come. Let us therefore seek of what future thing this feast day was a shadow. I have explained what the Scenopegia was: it was the celebration of tabernacles, because the people, freed from Egypt and making its way through the desert to the land of promise, dwelt in tabernacles. Let us notice what it is, and we shall be it; we, I say, who are members of Christ, if we are; and we are by his condescension, not by our deserving. Let us consider ourselves, then, brothers: we have been brought out of Egypt, where we served the devil as Pharaoh; where we did works of clay in earthly desires and labored much in them. For Christ cried out to us as to men making bricks, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened.” Brought out from there through baptism as through the Red Sea (red because consecrated by the blood of Christ), with all our enemies who pursued us dead, that is, with all our sins blotted out, we have been carried across. Now, therefore, before we come to the homeland of promise, that is, the eternal kingdom, we are in tabernacles in the desert. Those who recognize this are in tabernacles; for it was to come about that some would recognize it. For he is in tabernacles who understands that he is a sojourner in the world. He understands that he is a sojourner who sees himself sighing for the homeland. And when the body of Christ is in tabernacles, Christ is in tabernacles. But then not evidently, but hiddenly. For the shadow still obscured the light; when the light came, the shadow was taken away. Christ was in secret; in the Scenopegia was Christ, but Christ hidden. Now, when these things have been made plain, we recognize that we are making our journey in the wilderness; for if we recognize it, we are in the wilderness. What is “in the wilderness”? In the desert. Why in the desert? Because in this world, where there is thirst in a waterless way. But let us thirst, so that we may be filled. “For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled.” And our thirst is satisfied from the rock in the wilderness: “For the rock was Christ,” and it was struck with a rod so that water might flow. But that it might flow, it was struck twice, because there are two beams of the cross. All these things, then, which were done in figure are made plain in us. And it is not without purpose that it is said of the Lord, “He went up to the feast day, not openly but as it were in secret.” For it was a figure that he himself was in secret, because on that very feast day Christ lay hidden; for that very feast day signified the members of Christ as sojourners.

“The Jews therefore were seeking him on the feast day,” before he went up. For his brothers went up first, and he did not go up then, when they thought and wished; so that this too might be fulfilled which he said: “Not to this one,” that is, to the one you want, the first or second day. But he went up afterward, as the Gospel says, “in the middle of the feast,” that is, when as many days of that feast had already passed as remained. For they celebrated that festival, as far as one may understand, over several days.

“So they said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring about him among the crowd.” Why the murmuring? From contention. What was the contention? “For some said, He is good; but others, No, but he leads the crowds astray.” This must be understood of all his servants: it is said now. For whoever stands out in some spiritual grace, some surely say, “He is good”; others, “No, but he leads the crowds astray.” Why is this? Because “our life is hidden with Christ in God.” So it is possible to say to people in winter, “This tree is dead”: for example a fig tree, a pear tree, and fruit trees of that kind; it is like a dry tree; and as long as it is winter, it does not show. Summer proves it; judgment proves it. Our summer is the revelation of Christ: “God will come openly, our God, and will not keep silence; fire will go before him.” That fire will burn up his enemies; the fire will seize the dry trees. For then they will appear dry, when it is said to them, “I was hungry and you did not give me to eat”; but on the other side, that is, on the right, will appear abundance of fruit and the glory of leaves; their greenness will be eternity. To those, then, as dry trees it will be said, “Go into the eternal fire.” “For behold,” it says, “the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, then, that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Let them say of you, then, if you make progress in Christ, let men say, “He leads the crowds astray.” This is said of him, of the whole body of Christ. Think of the body of Christ still in the world; think of the body of Christ still on the threshing floor; see how it is blasphemed by the chaff. They are threshed together indeed; but the chaff is crushed, the grain is cleansed. What was said of the Lord, then, serves as consolation to whatever Christian it may be said of.

“Yet no one spoke openly of him, for fear of the Jews.” But who did not speak of him for fear of the Jews? Surely those who said, “He is good”; not those who said, “He leads the crowds astray.” The noise of those who said, “He leads the crowds astray,” was heard like the rustling of dry leaves. “He leads the crowds astray,” they sounded out more clearly; “He is good,” they whispered more quietly. But now, brothers, although that glory of Christ which will make us eternal has not yet come, still his Church is now so growing, he has deigned so to spread it through all lands, that now “He leads the crowds astray” is whispered, and “He is good” sounds out more clearly.