Homilies on John 12.1–12.2

“And we beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Perhaps the other day we seemed to you more burdensome and wearisome than we should have been, when we used sharper language and drew out at length our accusation against the sloth of the many. If we had done this choosing only to grieve you, each of you would rightly be vexed; but if we disregarded the charm of words because we were looking to your advantage, then, even if you will not commend us for our forethought, you would rightly forgive us for such great affection. For we greatly fear that, if we are earnest while you will not show the same diligence in hearing, the accounts to be rendered hereafter will become heavier. That is why we are continually forced to rouse you and wake you up, so that nothing of what is said may slip away. For in this way you will be able both to live now with great confidence and to stand on that day before the judgment seat of Christ. Since, then, we took hold of you sufficiently the other day, come, let us launch today straight into the sayings themselves from the start.

“And we beheld,” he says, “his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father.” Having said that we have become children of God, and shown that this came about in no other way than by the Word’s becoming flesh, he speaks again of another gain from this same thing. What is it? “We beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father”; which we would not have beheld if he had not appeared to us through a body like our own. For if the people of that time could not bear to look on the face of Moses, though he shared the same nature as we and was only glorified, and the righteous man needed a veil able to shade the undiluted glory and to show them the prophet’s face gentle and mild, how could we, who are of clay and born of earth, have borne naked Godhead, which is unapproachable even to the powers above? That is why he dwelt among us, so that we might be able to approach him, converse with him, and live with him in great freedom.

What does “glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father” mean? Since many of the prophets too were glorified, such as Moses himself, Elijah, and Elisha, the one surrounded by a chariot of fire, the other taken up in one; and after them Daniel and the three youths, and many others who worked miracles, were glorified; and angels too, appearing to men and disclosing to those who saw them the light that flashes from their own essence; and not angels only, but the Cherubim too appeared to the prophet with great glory, and the Seraphim likewise; the evangelist leads us away from all these, and raising our minds from creation and from the brightness of our fellow servants, sets us on the very summit of good things. “For it was not the glory of a prophet,” he says, “nor of an angel, nor of an archangel, nor of the higher powers, nor of any other created nature, if there is any other, but of the Master himself, of the King himself, of the genuine only-begotten Son himself, of the Lord of us all, that we beheld.” The “as” here is not a word of likeness or comparison, but of confirmation and of unquestionable definition; as if he said, “We beheld glory such as it befitted and was proper for the only-begotten and genuine Son of the King of all to have.” This is also the custom of ordinary people; for I shall not decline to confirm my argument from common usage. For our purpose now is not beauty of words nor harmony of composition, but your benefit alone; so nothing prevents [our confirming] it from the usage of the many. What is this usage of the many? Some, seeing a king splendidly adorned and flashing on every side with precious stones, when they describe to others that beauty, the ornaments, the bloom of the purple, the size of the stones, the whiteness of the mules, the gold about the yoke, the soft and gleaming couch, and when, having listed these and other things besides, they cannot present the whole splendor in words, at once add, “Why say much? Simply, as a king”; by “as” they do not wish to show that the man of whom they are speaking is like a king, but that he is a genuine king. So too the evangelist put “as,” wishing to present the exactness of the glory and its incomparable superiority. For all the others, angels, archangels, and prophets, did everything at command; but he did it with the authority befitting a king and a master; which is what the crowds too marveled at, that he taught them as one having authority.

Angels, then, as I said, appeared on earth with great glory too, as in the case of Daniel, of David, of Moses; but they did everything as servants who have a master; while he did everything as Master and ruler of all, and that although he appeared in a poor and lowly form. Yet even so, creation recognized its Master. How? A star from heaven called the Magi to worship him; a great multitude of angels everywhere hymned him; others suddenly sprang up as heralds, and all, meeting one another, announced this unspeakable mystery: the angels to the shepherds, the shepherds to those of the city, Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth, Anna with Simeon to those who came into the temple. And not only were men and women given wings by joy, but even the babe not yet come into the light, the citizen of the desert, the namesake of this evangelist, leapt while still in his mother’s womb; and all were in eager hope for what was to come. These things happened at the very time of the birth; but when he manifested himself more fully, again there were other wonders, greater than the former. For it was no longer a star and the heaven, nor [angels and shepherds], but the Father from heaven above proclaimed him, and with the Father the Paraclete, flying down upon him with the voice and remaining on him. That is why he said, “We beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father.”

And not only because of these things, but also because of what followed, he says this. For it is no longer shepherds only, nor widows, nor old men who bring us the good news, but the very nature of the events, crying out more clearly than any trumpet, and so loudly that its sound was at once heard even here. “His fame,” it says, “went out into Syria,” and made him known to all; and all things everywhere cried out that the King of heaven had come. For the demons, [bridled,] withdrew; death itself retreated for a time and afterwards was abolished entirely; every form of sickness was dissolved; the tombs gave up the dead, the demons the madmen, the diseases the sick. And one could see strange and wonderful things, which the prophets rightly desired to see and did not see. For one could see eyes being formed, and that desirable sight which all would have longed to see, how God formed Adam from the earth, displayed by him in brief to all, and in the better part of the body; limbs that had been paralyzed and torn apart being joined together and fitted to one another, dead hands [moving, crippled feet leaping,] stopped ears opening, and the tongue, once bound by dumbness, crying aloud. For like an excellent craftsman taking in hand a house decayed with age, he took up our common human nature, fitted together its broken parts, bound fast what had come apart and been loosened, and raised up what had fallen altogether.

What could one say of the refashioning of the soul, which is far more wonderful than that of the body? Great is the health of bodies, but much greater that of souls, and greater by as much as the soul is better than the body; and not only for this reason, but because the nature of bodies follows wherever the Maker wishes to lead it, and nothing resists; whereas the soul, being its own master and having authority over its own actions, does not obey God in everything unless it wills to. For [he does not make] it virtuous against its will and by force, since that would not be virtue; it must be persuaded to become so willingly and freely. So this healing is harder than the other. Nevertheless this too was accomplished, and every form of wickedness was driven out. And as he restored the bodies he healed not only to health but to the highest vigor, so he not only freed souls from the extremes of wickedness but brought them to the very summit of virtue. The tax collector became an apostle; the persecutor, the blasphemer, the insolent man was declared herald of the world; Magi became teachers of the Jews; a robber was shown to be a citizen of paradise; a prostitute shone with great faith; the Canaanite woman and the Samaritan woman, the latter another prostitute, the one took up the preaching to her countrymen and, having netted a whole city, so brought it to Christ, the other by her faith and perseverance had a wicked demon driven out of her little daughter’s soul. And others far worse than these were at once enrolled in the rank of disciples. And all at once everything was transformed: the sufferings of bodies, the diseases of souls, were refashioned into health and the most exact virtue; and not two or three men, nor five or ten or twenty or a hundred only, but whole cities and nations were reformed with great ease. What could one say of the wisdom of his commands, the excellence of his heavenly laws, the good order of the angelic way of life? For he brought in such a life for us, laid down such laws, and established such a way of living, that those who follow them at once become angels, and like God as far as is in our power, even if they had been the worst of all men.

[3.] Gathering together all these wonders, then, those in bodies, those in souls, those in the elements, the commands, those unspeakable gifts higher than the heavens, the laws, the way of life, the persuasion, the promises of what is to come, his sufferings, the evangelist uttered this wonderful saying, full of lofty doctrines: “We beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” For we admire him not only for his miracles but also for his sufferings: that he was nailed to the cross and scourged, that he was struck, that he was spat upon, that he received blows on the cheek from those whom he had benefited. For even of these very things that seem shameful one may rightly utter the same word again, since he himself called the thing glory. For what happened belonged not only to care and love but also to unspeakable power. For then death was abolished, the curse was loosed, [the demons were led in triumph,] and the handwriting of our sins was nailed to the cross. Then, since these things were wrought invisibly, some visible things happened too, showing that he was truly the only-begotten Son of God and Master of all creation. For while the blessed body was still hanging, the sun turned away its rays, the earth shook and was all darkened, the tombs burst open, the ground was shaken, a boundless multitude of the dead leapt out and entered the city; and while the stones of his tomb were still fitted to the vault and the seals still lay on them, the dead man rose, he who had been crucified, who had been nailed; and having filled the eleven disciples with great power, he sent them to men throughout the world, to be the common physicians of all nature, to set life right, to spread the knowledge of the heavenly doctrines over all the earth, to destroy the tyranny of the demons, and [to proclaim to us those] great [good things]: the immortality of the soul, the eternal life of the body, prizes that surpass even the mind and will never have an end. Considering these things and more than these, which he knew but did not undertake to write, because the world could not contain them (“for if they were written one by one, I suppose that not even the world itself could contain the books that would be written”), reckoning up all these things, he cried out, “We beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Those, then, who have been counted worthy of such sights and such doctrines must show a life worthy of the doctrines, so as to enjoy the good things there too. For this is why our Lord Jesus Christ came: that we might see not only his glory here but also that which is to come. That is why he said, “I wish that where I am, these too may be, so that they may behold my glory.” If this glory was so brilliant and splendid, what could one say of that? For it will appear not on a corruptible earth, nor while we are in perishable bodies, but in a creation incorruptible and ageless, and with such brightness as cannot even be presented in words. O blessed, thrice blessed, many times blessed are those who are counted worthy to become beholders of that glory! Of it the prophet says, “Let the impious be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord.” But may none of us be taken away, or ever be shut out from the sight of it. For if we are not going to enjoy it, it is fitting for us too to say, “It would have been good for us if we had not been born.” For why do we live? Why do we breathe? What are we, if we fail of that sight, if no one allows us to see our Master then? For if those who do not see the light of the sun endure a life more bitter than any death, what are those likely to suffer who are deprived of that light? For here the loss consists in this alone; but there it does not stop at this. And yet even if this were the only evil, even so the punishment would not be equal, but harsher by as much as that sun is incomparably better than this one. As it is, one must expect another punishment as well. For whoever does not see that light must not only be carried off into the darkness, but also burn forever, and waste away, and gnash his teeth, and suffer countless other terrible things. Let us not, then, look on while we fall into eternal punishment through this brief negligence and ease; let us be watchful, let us do and arrange everything so as to obtain that enjoyment and to be far from the river of fire that is drawn along with a great roar before that awesome tribunal. For whoever falls in there once must remain there forever, and no one [rescues him] from the punishment, not father, not mother, not brother. The prophets themselves cry this out: one saying, [“A brother does not redeem; shall a man redeem?”], while Ezekiel showed even more, saying, “Even if Noah and Job and Daniel stand there, they shall not deliver their sons and daughters.” For there is only one protection there, that which comes through works; and whoever is deprived of it cannot be saved from any other quarter. [With these things in mind,] then, let us cleanse our life and make it bright, so as to see the Lord with confidence and obtain the promised good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.