Homilies on John 19.1–20.2

[Homily 19.] “He first finds his own brother Simon, and says to him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’ which is translated, Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.” When God made man in the beginning, he did not let him be alone, but gave him the woman as a helper and made them live together, knowing that great gain would come from this companionship. For what if the woman did not use this benefit as she should? Still, if one examines the nature of the thing itself, one will see great benefit coming from this living together for people of sense. And not only with wife and husband; if brothers do this, they too will enjoy the benefit. That is why the prophet said, “What is good, or what is pleasant, but for brothers to dwell together?” And Paul urged us not to forsake our own assembling together. For this is what sets us apart from wild beasts. For this reason we built cities, and marketplaces, and houses, so as to be together with one another, not only in our dwelling but also in the bond of love. For since our nature was made by its maker in need and is not sufficient for itself, God arranged for our benefit that the need arising from this should then be set right by the help that comes from one another in coming together. For this reason marriage was ordained, so that what is lacking in one is filled by the other, and the needy nature becomes sufficient in this way, so that, though it has become mortal, it keeps immortality for a long time by succession. It would be possible to go further into this subject, showing how many gains come to those who meet from a genuine and sincere coming together with one another; but something else is pressing now, for whose sake we have said these things. For Andrew, having stayed with Jesus and learned what he learned, did not keep the treasure to himself, but hurries and runs quickly to his brother, to share with him the good things he had received. But why did John not say what it was that Christ discussed with them? And how is it clear that this is why they stayed with him? This was shown us the other day too; but one may also learn it from what was read today. For see what this man says to his brother: “We have found the Messiah, which is translated, Christ.” [A few words are garbled here.] Do you see how he showed from this all that he had learned in a short time? For he displays both the power of the teacher who persuaded them and their own eagerness, who had been concerned with these things long before and from the beginning. For this word belongs to a soul that was in travail for his presence and had long expected his arrival, that became overjoyed when what was expected appeared, and that hurries to share the good news with others. This is the mark of brotherly goodwill, of kinship’s friendship, of a sincere disposition: to be eager to stretch out a hand to one another in spiritual things. Hear him too speaking with the addition of the article. For he did not say “a Messiah,” but “the Messiah”; so they expected one Christ, having nothing in common with the others. And see, I beg you, from the very beginning the docile and tractable mind of Peter. For he ran at once without any delay: “He brought him,” it says, “to Jesus.” But let no one condemn him for credulity, if he accepted the word without much inquiry. For his brother probably told him these things more exactly and at length; but the evangelists everywhere cut many things short [out of concern for brevity. Besides, it does not say that he] simply believed, but that he brought him to Jesus, to hand him over to him from then on, so as to learn everything from him; for the other disciple too was with them and contributed to this. And if John the Baptist, after saying that he is the Lamb and that he baptizes in the Spirit, left it to them to learn the clearer teaching about this from Jesus himself, much more would Andrew have done so, not thinking himself sufficient for the whole explanation, but drawing his brother to the very fountain of light with such eagerness and joy that Simon did not delay or hesitate even a little. “And Jesus, looking at him,” it says, “says, ‘You are Simon the son of Jonah; you will be called Cephas,’ which is translated Peter.” Here he begins at last to reveal the things of his divinity and to open it up little by little through predictions. So he did with Nathanael too, and with the Samaritan woman.

For prophecies draw people no less than signs, and they are free from boasting. For miracles might be slandered among the foolish (“By Beelzebul,” they said, “he casts out the demons”), but nothing of the kind was ever said about prophecy. With Simon and Nathanael, then, he used this way of teaching; but with Andrew and Philip he did not. Why? Because the former had the testimony of John, no small preparation; and Philip, seeing those who were present, received a credible proof for faith. “You are Simon the son of Jonah; you will be called Cephas,” which is translated Peter. From the present he gives assurance of the future too. For he who named the father plainly foresaw the future as well; and the prediction comes with praise. Yet this was not the part of one who flatters, but of one foretelling the future; and this is clear from the following. Look, at any rate, at the Samaritan woman, how he makes the prediction with severe rebukes: “For you have had five husbands,” he says, “and the one you now have is not your husband.” So too his Father makes much of prophecy when he takes his stand against the repute of the idols: “Let them declare to you what is to come upon you”; and again, “I declared and I saved, and there was no foreign god among you”; and he brings this forward throughout prophecy. For this is above all the work of God, which the demons could not even imitate, however hard they strive. For in miracles there might also be illusion; but to foretell the future with exactness belongs to that pure nature alone. And if the demons have ever done this, it was by deceiving the more foolish; that is why their oracles are everywhere easily detected. Peter answers nothing to this; for he did not yet know anything clearly, but was still learning. And see that not even the prediction is set down in full. For he did not say, “I will rename you Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,” but, “You will be called Cephas.” For that would have been a matter of authority and greater power. Christ does not show all that belongs to his power at once or from the beginning, but for the time speaks more humbly. When, at any rate, he had given [the proof of his divinity, he puts it more authoritatively], saying, “Blessed are you, Simon, because my Father has revealed it to you”; and again, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” Him, then, he named so; and James and his brother, sons of thunder. Why then does he do this? To show that he is the one who gave the Old Covenant too, [and who changed names, calling Abram Abraham,] and Sarai Sarah, and Jacob Israel. To many he gave their names from birth, as to Isaac, as to Samson, as to those in Isaiah and Hosea; to others after the name given by their parents, as to those mentioned and to Joshua the son of Nun. This too was a custom among the ancients, to give names from events, as Leah also did. And this was not done without purpose, but so that they might have the name as a reminder of God’s benefit, so that an unceasing memory of the prophecy given through the names might sound in the ears of those who hear. So too he named John from the start. For those whose virtue was going to shine out from their earliest age received their names from then; but for those who were going to grow later, the name too was given later.

But then each received a different name; now we all have one, the greatest of all, to be called Christians, and sons of God, and friends, and body. For this name is enough, more than all those, to rouse us and make us more eager for the practice of virtue. Let us not, then, do things unworthy of the honor of the name, considering the surpassing dignity of being called Christ’s. For so Paul named us. Let us consider and revere the greatness of the name. For if someone who is said to belong to some famous general, or to some otherwise illustrious man, is proud to be called So-and-so’s, and thinks the name a great dignity, and does everything so as not to bring blasphemy, through his own carelessness, on the one whose name he bears, shall not we, who are called by our name after no general, nor any ruler on earth, nor an angel, nor an archangel, nor the seraphim, but after the King of these himself, give up even our very life rather than insult the one who honored us? Do you not know how much honor the royal companies of shield-bearers and spear-bearers around the king enjoy? So we too, who have been counted worthy to come near him, and much nearer, nearer than those mentioned by as much as the body is closer to the head than they are, let us do everything by which we shall imitate Christ. What then does Christ say? “The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” If we demand this of you, it will perhaps seem burdensome and heavy to most; so I let this exactness go, because of your weakness. But I ask you not to be nailed to your money; but just as I step back from the height of virtue because of the weakness of the many, so I ask you to step back from the height of vice, and much more. I do not accuse those who have houses and fields and money and slaves; but I want them to possess these things safely and as is fitting. And what is “as is fitting”? In the rank of masters and not of slaves, so as to rule them and not be ruled by them, so as to use them and not misuse them. They are called “useful things” for this reason, that we may use them for necessary services, not so that we may guard them. For the one is the part of a servant, the other of a master; to keep is the slave’s part, but to spend is the part of a lord who has great authority. You did not receive them in order to bury them, but in order to distribute them. And if God had wanted them guarded, he would not have given them to men, but would have let them lie in the earth …

[Homily 20.] “The next day he decided to go out into Galilee, and he finds Philip, and says to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.” “For everyone who takes care there is some gain,” says the proverb. But Christ hinted at something more when he said, “He who seeks finds.” That is why it does not occur to me any longer to wonder how Philip followed Christ. For Andrew had heard from John, and Peter from Andrew; but this man, having learned nothing from anyone, except that Christ said only this to him, “Follow me,” was at once persuaded and did not draw back, but even becomes a herald to others. For running to Nathanael, he says, “Him of whom Moses wrote in the law [and the prophets, we have found.” Do you see what a studious] mind he had, how he constantly studied the writings of Moses and expected the coming? For “we have found” is always said by people who are somehow seeking. “The next day Jesus went out into Galilee.” For before someone attached himself to him, he calls no one. And he does this not without purpose, but in keeping with his wisdom and understanding. For if, when no one had come of his own accord, he himself had drawn them, they might perhaps have leapt away; but as it was, having chosen this for themselves, they then remained firm. He calls Philip, who was better known to him; for since he had been [born and brought up] in Galilee …

[The following passage, down to “Amen,” is the end of Homily 19, displaced in the scan:] … [remain]. But since he wants them spent, that is why he let us have them, so that we may share them with one another. And if we keep them to ourselves, we are no longer their masters. And if you want to make them more, and keep them for this reason, here too the best method of all is to scatter them and distribute them everywhere. For there can be no income without expense, nor wealth without outlays. One can see this happening in the affairs of life too. So it is with the merchant, so with the farmer: the one throws out seeds, the other money. For the one sails the sea to scatter his goods, and the other toils a whole year, sowing and tending the seeds. But here none of these is needed: no need to fit out a ship, to yoke oxen and plow land, to worry about the unevenness of the weather, to fear a fall of hail. There are no waves here, no reef. This voyage and this sowing need one thing only: to throw out what one has. All the rest that farmer will do, of whom Christ says, “My Father is the farmer.” How then is it not absurd, where one can receive everything without labor, to be careless and lazy, but where there is much sweat and much toil and worry, and after that the uncertainty of one’s hopes, to show every eagerness? Let us not, I beg you, let us not be so senseless about our own salvation; but leaving the more burdensome things, let us run to the easiest and more profitable, so that we may also obtain the good things to come, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.

[Homily 20 continues:] … and having been born and brought up there, he knew him better. Having taken his disciples, then, he goes on to the hunting of the rest, and draws Philip and Nathanael. With Nathanael this was not so wonderful, since the report of Jesus had gone out into all Syria; but the wonderful thing was the case of Peter and James and Philip, not only that they were persuaded before the signs, but also that they were from Galilee, from which no prophet arises and nothing good can come. For these were somehow more rustic, wilder, and duller in disposition. But Christ showed his power here too, choosing the pick of his disciples from a land that bore no fruit. It is likely that Philip followed because he had seen Peter and the others and had heard from John; and it is likely too that the voice of Christ worked something in him. For he knew those who would be fit. But the evangelist cuts all this short. That the Christ was to come, Philip knew; that this was the Christ, he did not know; and this I say he had heard either from Peter or from John. And John gives his village too, so that you may learn that God chose the weak things of the world. “Philip finds Nathanael and says to him, ‘Him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, we have found: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’” He says this making the preaching credible, since it comes from Moses and the prophets, and by this shaming his hearer. For since Nathanael was exact and had examined everything with truth, as Christ testified and the outcome showed, Philip naturally referred him to Moses and the prophets, so that he would receive the one preached in this way. And if he calls him the son of Joseph, do not be troubled; for he was still thought to be his child. And how is it clear, Philip, that this is he? What proof do you tell us? For merely to declare it is not enough. What sign have you seen? What miracle? It is not without danger to believe simply about such great matters. What proof then do you have? The same as Andrew, he says. For Andrew too, unable to display the wealth he had found or to show the treasure in words, brings his brother to the one he had found. So too this man did not say how this is the Christ and how the prophets proclaimed him beforehand, but draws him to Jesus, knowing that he would not leave afterwards if he tasted his words and his teaching. “And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip says to him, ‘Come and see.’ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, and says of him, ‘Look, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.’” Since he said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” he praises and admires the man. And yet he ought to have been rebuked? Not at all. For the words were not those of an unbeliever, nor deserving of accusation, but of praise. How, and in what way? Because this man had studied the prophetic writings more than Philip. For he had heard from the Scriptures that the Christ must come from Bethlehem and from the village where David was. This, at any rate, prevailed among the Jews, and the prophet had proclaimed it long before, saying, “And you, Bethlehem, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” So when he heard “from Nazareth,” he was troubled and perplexed, not finding Philip’s announcement in agreement with the prophetic prediction. But see his good sense and fairness even in his perplexity. For he did not at once say, “You are deceiving me, Philip, and lying; I am not persuaded, I am not coming. I learned from the prophets that the Christ must come from Bethlehem, and you say from Nazareth; so this is not that one.” He said none of this; but what? He too goes to him, showing by not accepting that he was from Nazareth his exactness about the Scriptures and a character not easily deceived, and by not spurning the one who brought the news, the great longing he had for the coming of the Christ. For he reasoned that Philip had probably been mistaken about the place.

And see, I beg you, his way of declining, how gently he made it, and in the form of a question. For he did not say, “Galilee bears nothing good”; but how? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And Philip too was very sensible. For he is not indignant or annoyed as one at a loss, but persists, wishing to bring the man, and showing us from the very start the vigor that befits an apostle. That is why Christ too says, “Look, truly an Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.” So there is such a thing as a false Israelite too. But this man is not such; for his judgment, he says, is impartial; he speaks nothing to please and nothing from hatred. And yet the Jews, when asked where the Christ is born, said, “In Bethlehem,” and brought forward the testimony, saying, “And you, [Bethlehem,] are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.” But they bore this witness before they saw him; when they saw him, they hid the testimony out of envy, saying, “But as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” Nathanael was not like that, but kept the opinion about him that he had from the beginning, that he was not from Nazareth. How then do the prophets call him a Nazarene? From his upbringing and his life there. He passes over saying, “I am not from Nazareth, as Philip told you, but from Bethlehem,” so as not to make the account disputable at once; and besides, because even if he had persuaded him, this would not have given sufficient proof that he was the Christ. For what prevented one who was not the Christ from being from Bethlehem, like the others born there? This, then, he passes over; but what was most able to bring him, that he does: he shows that he had been present when they were talking. So when Nathanael said, “How do you know me?” he says, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” See a steady and settled man. For when [Christ] said [“Look, truly an Israelite,” he was not puffed up by the praise], but persists, inquiring still more exactly, and wants to learn something clear. He, then, was still questioning as one would a man; but Jesus answered as God. For he said, “I know you from long ago,” and he knew the fairness of his character, not as a man who had followed him closely, but as God from long ago; and, “Just now I saw you at the fig tree,” when no one was present there, but only Philip and Nathanael, and they said all this in private. That is why it is said that, seeing him from a distance, he said, “Look, truly an Israelite,” so that one may learn that Christ spoke these words before Philip came near, so that the testimony would not be suspected. That is why he named the time, and the place, and the tree. For if he had said only, “Before Philip came to you, I saw you,” he might have been suspected of having sent him himself and of saying nothing great; but as it was, by naming the place where he was staying when Philip called him, and the name of the tree, and the time of the conversation, he showed that the prediction was beyond dispute. And he not only made the prediction plain, but taught him in another way as well. For he brought him to recall what was said then, namely, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” For this above all he received him the more warmly: because when he had said these things, he did not condemn him but praised and admired him. So from this he perceived that he is truly the Christ, both from the prediction and from his having examined his opinion exactly, which was the act of one showing that he knew even what was in his mind; and besides, from his not blaming him for seeming to speak against him, but even praising him. That Philip called him, he said; but what he said to him, and what Nathanael said to Philip, he passed over, leaving it to his conscience and not wishing to reprove him further. What then? Did he see him only before Philip called him, and did he not see him before that too with his sleepless eye? He saw him, and no one could deny it; but for the time this was what it was pressing to say. What then did Nathanael do? When he had received an indisputable proof of his foreknowledge, he came to confession, showing his exactness by his earlier hesitation, and his fairness by his assent afterwards. For “he answered,” it says, “and says to him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.’” Do you see a soul suddenly overjoyed and embracing Jesus with words? “You are,” he says, “the one expected, that one who was sought.” Do you see him astonished, marveling, skipping, leaping for joy? So we too must rejoice, counted worthy to learn the Son of God; and rejoice not only in thought, but show it in our very deeds. And what is the mark of those who rejoice? To obey the one made known. And the mark of those who obey is to do whatever he wishes. For if we are going to do the things that provoke him, how shall we show that we rejoice? Do you not see in houses too, when someone receives one of those he longs for, how he does everything with joy, running around everywhere, and if need be laying out all he has, sparing nothing, so as to please the one who has come? But if someone, when called, does not answer, and does not do what gives the guest rest, even if he says ten thousand times that he rejoices at his coming, he would never be believed by the one he is entertaining; and rightly. For one must show this in deeds. Since then Christ too has come to us, let us show that we rejoice, and do nothing that provokes him. Let us adorn the house he has come to, for this is the mark of those who rejoice; let us set before him the meal he wishes to eat, for this is the mark of those who exult. And what is this meal? He himself says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me.” Let us feed him when he is hungry; let us give him drink when he is thirsty. Even if you give a cup of cold water, he accepts it; for he loves you, and to one who longs, the gifts of those he loves seem great even if they are small. Only do not hold back. Even if you put in two obols, he does not turn away, but receives them as great wealth. For since he is without need and does not take these things because he needs them, naturally the whole is measured not by the size of what is given but by the intention of the giver. Only show that you love him who has come, that you are eager to do everything for him, that you rejoice at his coming. See how he is disposed toward you. He came for your sake; he laid down his life for you; and after all this he does not even refuse to plead with you: “For we are ambassadors for Christ,” it says, “as though God were urging you through us.” And who is so mad, someone says, as not to love his own master? I say this too, and I know that none of us would deny it in word and in mind. But the one who is loved wants this shown not by words only but by deeds as well. For if we say this but do not do what lovers do, it is a laughingstock, not only before God but also before men. Since, then, to confess with words only and oppose with deeds is not only useless but harmful to us, let us, I beg you, add the confession through deeds, so that we may also obtain his confession on that day, when before the Father he confesses those who are worthy, in Christ Jesus our Lord, 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.