Homilies on John 2.1–2.4

“In the beginning was the Word.” If John were going to converse with us and tell us things of his own, we would need to speak of his family, his homeland, and his upbringing. But since it is not he, but God through him, who speaks to the nature of men, it seems to me superfluous and beside the point to inquire into these things. Or rather, even so it is not superfluous, but actually very necessary. For when you learn who he was, and from where, and of what parents, and of what sort, and then hear his voice and all his philosophy, then you will know well that these things were not his, but belonged to the divine power that moved his soul.

What was his homeland, then? No city at all, but a mean village in a poor region that produced nothing good. For the scribes disparage Galilee, saying, “Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee”; and the true Israelite disparages it too, saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And though he was of this land, he was not even from a notable place in it. Nor was he even from a place known by name there, but the son of a poor fisherman, so poor that he brought his sons into the same occupation. You all know that no craftsman will choose to make his son heir of his craft unless poverty presses him hard, especially when the craft is a mean one. Yet nothing could be poorer than fishermen, nor meaner, nor more uneducated; and even among them some are greater and some lesser. This apostle of ours held the lesser rank even here. He did not fish on the sea but spent his time on a small lake; and it was as he busied himself about it with his father and his brother James, mending their torn nets (which itself was a mark of extreme poverty), that Christ called him. As for outside education, one can learn from this that he had no share in it whatever. And besides, Luke testifies, writing that he was not only a layman but unlettered. Naturally so. For a man so poor, who neither frequented the marketplaces nor met men of standing, but was nailed to his fishing, and if he ever met anyone, talked with fishmongers and cooks, how was he likely to be better disposed than wild beasts and irrational creatures? How could he fail to imitate the very voicelessness of the fish?

This fisherman, then, who busied himself about lakes and nets and fish, who came from Bethsaida of Galilee, the son of a poor fisherman, and poor with the extremest poverty, a layman with the extremest ignorance, who learned letters neither before nor after his time with Christ, let us see what he utters and on what subjects he converses with us. Is it about the fields? About rivers? About the fish trade? For perhaps this is what one would expect to hear from a fisherman. But do not be afraid: we shall hear nothing of the kind, but the things in heaven, and what no one ever learned before him. For he has come bringing us such lofty doctrines, the best way of life, and philosophy, as one would expect of a man speaking from the very treasuries of the Spirit [as though he had just arrived from heaven itself; or rather, it was not to be expected that even all who are there should know them, as I said before]. Are these the words of a fisherman, tell me? Of an orator at all? Of a sophist, or a philosopher, or of anyone trained in outside wisdom? By no means. For it is not for a merely human soul to philosophize in this way about that pure and blessed nature, about the powers that come after it, about immortality and endless life, about the nature of bodies that are mortal and will later be immortal, about punishment, about the coming judgment seat, about the accounts that will be required of words, deeds, thoughts, and intentions; and to know what man is, and what the world is; what the true man is, and what he is who seems to be one but is not; what vice is, and what virtue.

Some of these questions were indeed investigated by the followers of Plato and Pythagoras (the other philosophers we need not even mention, so excessively ridiculous have they all become as a result). But those who were admired above the rest among them and were believed to be the leaders of that science, these above all [have been made ridiculous]: they composed and wrote something about government and laws, yet in all of it they were laughed at more shamefully than children. For by making women common to all, overturning life itself, corrupting the dignity of marriage, and legislating other such ridiculous things, they spent their whole lives in this way. As for their doctrines about the soul, they left no extreme of shame untouched, saying that the souls of men become flies and gnats and shrubs, declaring God himself to be a soul, and committing other such indecencies. And this is not the only thing that deserves blame, but also the great Euripus of their arguments. For like men carried this way and that in a tidal strait, they never stood firm on the same things, because they uttered everything from obscure and slippery reasonings.

[3.] Not so this fisherman: he says everything with certainty, and like one standing on a rock, he is never turned about. For having been counted worthy to enter the very inner sanctuary, and having the Master of all speaking within him, he suffered nothing human. They, on the other hand, like men who were never thought worthy to set foot in the palace even in a dream, but spent their time outside in the marketplace with the rest of men, guessing at invisible things from their own minds, went far astray when they wished to discourse about things unspeakable; like blind and drunken men, in their very error they dashed against one another; and not only against one another but against themselves, often changing their opinions about the same things. But this unlettered man, this layman, the man from Bethsaida, the son of Zebedee (even if the Greeks laugh ten thousand times at the rustic sound of the names, I shall say them with all the more boldness; for the more barbarous the nation appears to them and the further from Greek education, the more brilliant our cause will appear). For when the barbarian and unlearned man utters things that no man on earth ever understood, and not only utters them but persuades (and if that were all, it would be a great marvel; but now, besides this, he provides another proof, greater than this one, that what he says is inspired by God, namely that he persuades all his hearers through all time), who will not marvel at the power that dwelt in him? This too, as I said, is the greatest proof that he lays down nothing of his own. This barbarian, then, has taken possession of the whole world by the writing of his Gospel; in body he occupied the middle of Asia, where of old all the philosophers of the Greeks philosophized, and from there he is terrible to the demons, shining out in the midst of his enemies, quenching their darkness, and destroying the citadel of the demons; and in soul he has departed to that place which befits one who has done such things.

And all the things of the Greeks have been extinguished and have vanished, while his grow brighter every day. For from the time that he and the other fishermen appeared, the teachings of Pythagoras and Plato, which formerly seemed to prevail, have fallen silent, and most people do not even know their names. And yet Plato associated with tyrants, being summoned to them, as they say, and had many companions, and sailed to Sicily; and Pythagoras won over Magna Graecia and practiced countless kinds of sorcery. For conversing with oxen (they say he did this too) was nothing but sorcery. And this is especially clear from the following: the man who conversed in this way with irrational creatures did the human race no good at all, but the greatest harm. Yet human nature was better suited to philosophical discourse; but nevertheless he conversed with eagles and oxen, as they say, by sorcery. For he did not make irrational nature rational (that is not possible for a man), but deceived the foolish by trickery; and neglecting to teach men anything useful, he taught that eating beans was the same as eating the heads of one’s parents, and persuaded his followers that their teacher’s soul had been at one time a shrub, at another a girl, at another a fish. Was it not right that all that should be extinguished and vanish completely? Right and reasonable. But not so the teachings of the layman and the unlettered man: Syrians, Egyptians, Indians, Persians, Ethiopians, and countless other nations have translated into their own languages the doctrines he introduced, and so men have learned them, barbarians though they are. It was not in vain, then, that I said the whole world has become his theater. For he did not leave his own kind and labor in vain over the natures of irrational creatures (which was a mark of superfluous ambition and extreme folly); but being free of this passion as of the others, he was eager for one thing only: that the whole world should learn something useful, something able to move it from earth to heaven. For this reason he did not hide his teaching in gloom and darkness, as they did, who threw obscurity of speech like a curtain over the evils stored within; his doctrines are clearer than the rays of the sun, and so they have been spread out before all men throughout the world. For he did not teach by ordering those who came to him to be silent for five years, as that man did, nor to sit by like senseless stones, nor did he spin fables, laying down that everything consists in numbers; but casting away all this satanic nonsense and corruption, he mixed such ease into his words that all that is said is plain not only to men and the intelligent but also to women and the young. For he was confident that it was true and useful to all who would hear it; and all the time since bears witness. He has drawn the whole world to himself, and after the hearing of these words he has freed our life from all its outlandish tragedy. That is why we who hear these things would rather give up our lives than the doctrines he handed down to us.

From this, then, and from every side it is clear that nothing of his is human, but the teachings that have come to us through this divine soul are divine and heavenly. For we shall find here no clatter of words or pomp of diction, no superfluous and useless ornament and arrangement of nouns and verbs (these things are far from philosophy), but irresistible and divine strength, the indescribable power of right doctrines, and a supply of countless good things. For elaboration in delivery was so superfluous and worthy of sophists, or rather not even of sophists but of foolish youths, that even their own philosopher brings in his teacher as greatly ashamed of this art and telling the judges that they will hear from him words spoken simply and as they come, not finely phrased nor decked out with verbs and nouns. “For it would not be fitting,” he says, “gentlemen, at this age to come before you like a youth fashioning speeches.” And see the great absurdity: what he made his teacher shun as shameful, unworthy of philosophy, and the business of youths, he himself pursued above all things. So everywhere they cared only for reputation; and there is nothing in Plato to admire but this alone. And as with tombs whitewashed outside you will see them full of bones, so too with the philosopher’s doctrines: if you strip away the beauty of their diction, you will see them full of much abomination, especially when he philosophizes about the soul, honoring it beyond measure and blaspheming it. For this is the devil’s snare: never to keep due proportion, but by excess in either direction to lead those it catches into blasphemy. At one time he says that the soul is of the substance of God; at another, after exalting it so immoderately and impiously, he outrages it again with an excess of another kind, putting it into pigs and asses and animals still more dishonorable.

But enough of this; or rather, even this has gone beyond measure. If there were something useful to learn from them, we should dwell on it longer; but if it is only to observe their indecency and absurdity, even this has been said more than was needed. So let us leave their myths and take up our own doctrines, brought down to us from above through the tongue of this fisherman, doctrines that have nothing human about them. Come, then, let us bring the sayings themselves into the midst, reminding you again of what we urged at the beginning, to attend to what is said with exactness. What, then, does this evangelist say at once, as he begins? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” Do you see the boldness and great authority of his words? How he speaks without doubting or guessing, but declaring everything? For this is the mark of a teacher: not to be carried about in what he says. For if one who is to guide others needs someone else to establish him securely, he would rightly hold the rank not of teachers but of disciples. But if anyone says, “Why ever did he leave the first cause and speak to us at once about the second?”, we shall decline to speak of “first” and “second”; for the divine is above number and the succession of times. So we decline these terms; but we confess the Father as being from no one, and the Son as begotten from the Father.

“Yes,” someone says, “but why then did he leave the Father and speak about the Son?” Because the Father was known to all, if not as Father, at least as God; but the Only-begotten was unknown. So he naturally hastened to put knowledge of him into those who did not know him at once, in his very opening; and besides, in speaking of these things he did not pass over the Father in silence. And see the spiritual understanding. He knows that men honor above all what is oldest and before all things, and regard it as God. So he makes his beginning from there first, and as he goes on he also says that he is God; and not as Plato does, calling one Mind and the other Soul; for these are far from the divine and pure nature. For that nature has nothing in common with us, but stands apart from communion with creation: I mean communion in essence, not in relation. That is why he also called him “Word.” For since he is about to teach that this Word is the only-begotten Son of God, lest anyone should suppose the begetting to involve passion, he forestalls it with the name “Word” and removes every wicked suspicion, showing both that the Son is from him and that he is from him without passion. Do you see that, as I said, he did not keep silence about the Father while speaking of the Son? And if these examples are not enough to set out the whole, do not be surprised; for our discourse is about God, of whom it is impossible to speak or think worthily. That is why this evangelist nowhere gives a name to his essence, for it is impossible to say what God is in his essence; but everywhere he makes him known to us from his operations. This Word one may see called a little later “light,” and the light again named “life.” And it was not only for this reason that he named him so; this was the first reason, and the second was that he was going to announce to us the things of the Father: “For all that I heard from the Father,” he says, “I have announced to you.” He calls him life and light, because he has bestowed on us the light that comes from knowledge and the life that follows from it. In short, no single name is enough, nor two or three, nor more, to teach about God; we must be content if through many of them we can grasp, even dimly, what belongs to him. And he did not say simply “Word,” but added the article, in this way too distinguishing him from the rest.

Do you see that I was not saying in vain that this evangelist speaks to us from heaven? See at once, from the opening, to what height he has given wings to the soul and lifted up the mind of his hearers. Setting it above all things perceived by the senses, before earth, before sea, before heaven, he leads it by the hand above the angels, above the Cherubim and the Seraphim, above the thrones, above the principalities, above the powers, and persuades it to travel beyond all creation altogether. What then? Having led us up to such a height, was he able at least to make us stand there? Not at all. But as when someone takes a man standing on the shore, gazing at cities and beaches and harbors, and brings him into the middle of the open sea, he removes him from what he saw before but does not fix his gaze anywhere, and leads him instead into a boundless view; so too the evangelist, having led us above all creation and sent us on to the ages that are above it, leaves the eye suspended, not allowing it to find any end above, since there is none. For the mind, going up to “the beginning,” asks, “What beginning?” Then, finding the “was” always running ahead of its thought, it has nowhere to stop its reasoning; gazing intently and unable to come to rest anywhere, it grows weary and turns back again to things below. For “In the beginning was” signifies nothing else than being always and being without limit. Do you see true philosophy and divine doctrines, not like those of the Greeks, who assign times and say that some gods are older and others younger? There is nothing like that with us. For if God is, as indeed he is, there is nothing before him; if he is the creator of all, he is himself first; if he is Master and Lord of all, all things come after him, both creatures and ages.

I wished to enter on other contests as well; but perhaps your mind has grown weary. So, after urging what is useful to you both for hearing what has been said and for hearing what will be said, I shall again be silent. What, then, are these things? I know that many have grown dizzy at the length of what has been said. This [happens when the soul is weighed down by the many burdens of this life]. For as the eye, when it is clean and clear, is sharp-sighted and not easily wearied, even in examining the finest bodies, but when some harmful humor flows down from the head and a cloud forms before the pupil, does not let one see clearly even coarser things; so it naturally happens with the soul too. When it is cleansed and has no passion troubling it, it gazes intently at what it ought to gaze at; but when it is muddied by many passions and loses its own excellence, it cannot easily attain to anything lofty, but quickly grows weary and sinks back, and, inclining to sleep and sloth, lets pass the things that concern virtue and the life that comes from it, and does not receive them with great eagerness.

[5.] So that you may not suffer this too (for I shall never stop urging these things), strengthen your minds, so that you may not hear what the believing Hebrews heard from Paul. For he told them that the discourse was long and hard to explain, not because it was so by nature, but because, he says, “you have become dull of hearing.” For the weak and sickly person is naturally troubled by brevity as much as by length, and thinks even clear and easily solved things hard to grasp. But let no one here be such; let each drive away all the cares of this life and so listen to these doctrines. For when desire for money holds the hearer, desire for hearing cannot hold him equally, since the soul, being one, is not sufficient for many desires; one ruins the other, and the soul, being divided, grows weaker, the one prevailing and consuming everything for itself. This tends to happen with children too. When a man has only one child, he loves that one beyond measure; but when he becomes the father of many children, his affection is divided and grows weaker. If this happens where nature’s tyranny and power are at work and the objects of love are one’s own kin, what shall we say of desire and affection that depend on our choice, especially when these loves pull in opposite directions? For love of money is opposed to love of such hearing.

We enter heaven when we enter here: not in place, I mean, but in disposition; for one may be on earth and yet stand in heaven, picture the things there, and hear what comes from there. Let no one, then, bring the things of earth into heaven; let no one stand here worrying about the affairs of his household. For the house and the marketplace ought to carry about and keep the gains from here, not this place be weighed down with the cargo of the house and the marketplace. This is why we come here, to the throne of teaching: to wash off here the dirt from outside. If even in this short time of leisure we are going to be defiled by what is said or done outside, it is better not to come in at all. Let no one, therefore, ponder household matters in church; rather, at home let him stir up the matters of the church. Let these things be more precious to us than all else. For these belong to the soul, those to the body; or rather, what is said here concerns both body and soul. Therefore let these be our principal work, and everything else a side matter. For these concern both the future and the present life, but those concern neither, unless they are managed according to the law laid down for them. For it is not only what we shall be hereafter and how we shall live then that we can learn here, but also how we shall order the present life. This house stands as a spiritual hospital, so that whatever wounds we receive outside we may heal here; not so that we may collect other wounds here too and go away with them. For if we do not attend when the Holy Spirit converses with us, not only shall we not wash away our former stains, but we shall take on others besides.

Let us attend, then, with great eagerness to the book as it is unrolled before us. We shall not need much labor later if we learn the beginnings and foundations accurately; having toiled a little at the opening, we shall be able afterward, as Paul says, to admonish others too. For this apostle is very lofty and full of many doctrines, and dwells on them more than on other things. Let us not listen carelessly. That is why we expound little by little, so that everything may be easy for you to grasp and may not escape your memory. Let us fear, then, lest we become liable to that voice which says, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin.” For what advantage shall we have over those who have not heard, if even after hearing we go home with nothing, only admiring what has been said? Allow us, then, allow us to sow in good ground, so that you may draw us on all the more. If anyone has thorns, let him set the fire of the Spirit to them; if anyone has a hard and stubborn heart, let him make it rich and soft by using the same fire; if anyone is trodden on by every thought like a road, let him withdraw further in and not lie open to those who wish to come and plunder, so that we may see your crops luxuriant. For if we care for ourselves in this way and cling diligently to this spiritual hearing, we shall be freed from all the cares of this life, if not all at once, then little by little. So let us attend, that it may not be said of us too, “Their ears are those of a deaf asp.” Tell me, how does such a hearer differ from a wild beast? How would he not be more irrational than any irrational creature, if he does not attend when God is speaking? For if being a man consists in pleasing God, the man who will not even hear how he may achieve it is nothing else than a beast. Consider, then, how great an evil it would be, when Christ wishes to make us equal to the angels instead of men, that we should change ourselves from men into beasts. For to be a slave to the belly, to be held by the desire for money, to be angry, to bite and to kick, belongs not to men but to beasts. And yet each beast has, so to speak, a single passion, and that by nature; but a man who has thrown off the rule of reason and broken away from the godly way of life gives himself up to all the passions, and becomes not merely a beast but a monster of many shapes and colors, and has not even nature as an excuse. For all vice belongs to free choice and intention. But God forbid that we should ever suspect this of the church of Christ; “for we are persuaded of better things concerning you, things that belong to salvation.” Yet the more we are persuaded of it, the less shall we refrain from words of warning, so that we may climb to the very summit of the virtues and obtain the promised good things; may we all attain them, 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, to the ages of ages. Amen.