Homilies on John 23.1–23.3

[Homily 23.] “Jesus did this, the beginning of his signs, [in Cana of Galilee].” Fierce and violent is the devil in his attacks, besieging our salvation on every side. We must therefore be awake and sober, and fortify ourselves on every side against his assault. For if he seizes even a small opening, he then makes himself a broad entrance and little by little brings in his whole force. If then we have any concern for our salvation, let us not allow him to approach us even in small things, so that from these we may check the great ones beforehand. For it would be the height of folly if he shows such eagerness to destroy our soul, while we do not bring even an equal measure to our own salvation. I do not say this without purpose, but because I fear that even now this wolf may be standing in the middle of the fold unseen by us, and that one may become his prey, having slipped away from the flock and from the hearing. For if the wounds were visible, or if the body received the blows, it would be no task to recognize his plots; but since the soul is invisible and it receives the sores, we need much watchfulness, so that each may examine himself. For “no one knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him.” The word, then, speaks to all and offers a common remedy to those in need; but it belongs to each of the hearers to take what fits his disease. I do not know who are sick; I do not know who are well. That is why I set every kind of discourse in motion and [apply a remedy] fit for all the passions: now accusing greed, now luxury, again touching on licentiousness, then composing praise of and exhortation to almsgiving, and to each of the other good deeds. For I fear that while we are busy with one subject, I may without knowing it be treating one disease while you are sick with others. If only one person were gathered here, I would not have thought it so necessary to make the discourse varied; but since in so great a crowd there are probably many diseases too, it is not unreasonable that we vary the teaching. For the word spread out over all will surely find its own [cure]. That is why Scripture too is manifold and speaks to us about countless matters, since it addresses the common nature of human beings. And in so great a crowd all the passions of the soul must be present, even if not all in everyone. Let us, then, cleanse ourselves of these and hear the divine words, and with [contrite] mind hear what was read to us today. What is it? “Jesus did this,” it says, “the beginning of his signs, in Cana of Galilee.” I said the other day too that some say this is not the beginning. For what, someone says, if “in Cana of Galilee” is added? For it says that he did this beginning in Cana. I would not argue minutely about this; but that he began the signs after the baptism and worked no miracle before the baptism, we have shown before. Whether this or another was the first sign of those done after the baptism does not seem to me necessary to insist on. “And he revealed his glory.” How, and in what way? For not many paid attention to what happened, but the servants, the master of the feast, and the bridegroom. How then did he reveal his glory? So far as it lay with him. And if not then, all were going to hear of the miracle later; for to this day it is sung and has not been forgotten. That not all knew it on that day is clear from what follows. For after saying, “He revealed his glory,” he added, “And his disciples believed in him,” who even before this had admired him. Do you see that it was necessary above all to do signs when those were present who were fair-minded and attentive to what happened? For these would both believe more easily and attend exactly to what happened. And how would he have become known without signs? Because both his teaching and his prophecy were enough to put wonder into the souls of the hearers, so that they would attend to what happened with good disposition, the soul being already won over. That is why in many other places the evangelists say that he did no sign, because of the perversity of the people living there. “After this he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples; and they stayed there not many days.” Why then does he go with his mother to Capernaum? For he worked no miracle there, and those who lived in that city were not among those soundly disposed toward him, but among the thoroughly corrupt. Christ showed this when he said, “And you, Capernaum, exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.” Why then does he go? It seems to me that since he was going to go up to Jerusalem a little later, he went away then so as not to drag his brothers and his mother everywhere. Having gone, at any rate, and stayed a short time out of honor for his mother, he then takes up the miracles again, having brought back the one who bore him. That is why he says that after not many days he went up to Jerusalem. So he was baptized a few days before the Passover. And having gone up to Jerusalem, what does he do? A thing of great authority: those selling doves and oxen and sheep, and spending their time there for this, [he drove out of the temple].

And another evangelist says that as he drove them out he said, “Do not make my Father’s house a den of robbers,” but this one says, “a house of trade.” They do not contradict one another, but show that he did this a second time, and that both did not take place at the same time; but he does this once at the beginning, and again when he had come to the passion itself. That is why there he used stronger words and called it a den, but here, at the beginning of the signs, not so; so he probably did this a second time. And why, someone says, did Christ do this very thing and use such severity against them, which he is nowhere seen doing, even when insulted, reviled, and called by them a Samaritan and possessed? For he was not content with words alone, but took a whip and so drove them out. And the Jews, when others are being benefited, accuse him and grow savage; but when they might have been expected to become furious, they do not treat him in that way. For they did not rebuke or insult him; but what do they say? “What sign do you show us, since you do these things?” Do you see the excess of envy, and how the benefits done to others provoked them more? At one time, then, he said that the temple had been made a den of robbers by them, showing that what was sold came from theft and robbery and greed, and that they grew rich on other people’s misfortunes; at another, a house of trade, pointing to their shameless huckstering. But why did he do this? Since he was going to heal on the Sabbath and do many such things that seemed to them a transgression of the law, so that he would not seem to do these things as a rival god coming in opposition to the Father, he here corrects such a suspicion of theirs. For one who had shown such zeal for the house was not going to oppose the Master of the house, who was worshiped in it. Now the earlier years, in which he lived according to the law, were enough to show his reverence for the lawgiver and that he did not come to make laws against him; but since those were likely to have been forgotten with time, not being known to all because he was brought up in a poor and humble house, he does this now with everyone present (for many were there, since the feast was near), and at great risk. For he did not simply drive them out, but also overturned the tables and poured out the money, giving them reason to conclude from this that one who threw himself into dangers for the good order of the house would not have despised the Master of the house. For if he did these things in pretense, he need only have exhorted them; but to put himself in danger was very bold. For it was no small thing to expose himself to the anger of so many market people, and to provoke against himself a crowd full of the great unreason of hucksters; it was not the act of one pretending, but of one choosing to suffer anything for the good order of the house. That is why he shows his agreement with him not only by what he does but also by what he says. For he did not say, “the holy house,” but, “my Father’s house.” See, he even calls him Father, and they are not angry; for they thought he was speaking in a general way. But when he went on and spoke more plainly, so as to present that thought of equality, then they grow savage. What then do they say? “What sign do you show us,” it says, “since you do these things?” What utter madness! Was there need of a sign to stop wrongdoing and free the house from such disgrace? And was not to have such zeal for the house of God the greatest sign of virtue? The fair-minded, at any rate, showed themselves from this too. For “his disciples then remembered,” it says, “that it is written, ‘Zeal for your house has consumed me.’” But those men did not remember the prophecy, but said, “What sign do you show us?”, both grieving that their shameful gain was cut off and expecting to stop him by this, and wanting to challenge him to a miracle and to find fault with what was happening. That is why he does not give them a sign. For before too, when they came and asked, he gave the same answer: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” But then more clearly, and now more enigmatically. He does this because of their utter insensibility. For he who anticipated people who did not ask and gave signs would not have turned away from them when they asked, unless he had seen that their mind was wicked and deceitful and their intention treacherous. For consider how full of wickedness the question was from the start. When they should have welcomed his earnestness and zeal, when they should have been astonished that he took such care for the house, they accuse him, saying that it is permitted to trade, but that it is not permitted to put a stop to the trade unless he shows some sign. What then does Christ say? “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He says many such things that were not clear to those who heard them then, but would be to those afterwards. Why does he do this? So that he might be shown to have foreknown from the beginning what came afterwards, when the fulfillment of the prediction came; which is what happened with this prophecy. For “when he was raised from the dead,” it says, “then his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” But when it was said, some were at a loss what it might mean, and others disputed, saying, “This temple was built in forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” They said forty-six years, meaning the later building; for the first was completed in a period of twenty years.

Why then did he not solve the riddle and say, “I am not speaking of this temple, but of my flesh”? Why does the evangelist, writing the Gospel later, interpret the saying, while he kept silent then? Why did he keep silent? Because they would not have received the word. For if not even the disciples were able to understand what was said, much less the crowds. “For when Jesus rose from the dead,” it says, “then they remembered and believed the word and the Scripture.” For two things stood in their way for the time: one, the resurrection; the other, greater than this, whether the one dwelling within was God. He hinted at both when he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Paul too says that this is no small sign of divinity, speaking thus: “declared Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ.” But why does he give this sign both there and here and everywhere, now saying, “When I am lifted up,” and, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am,” and now, “No sign will be given you except the sign of Jonah,” and here again, “In three days I will raise it up”? Because this above all showed that he was not a mere man: to be able to set up a trophy over death, and to dissolve its long tyranny and the grievous war so quickly. That is why he says, “Then you will know.” When? When, having risen, I draw the world to myself, then you will know that I did these things too as God and true Son of God, avenging the insult to the Father. Why then did he not say, “What need is there of signs to stop what is wrongly done?” but promised to give a sign? Because by that he would have provoked them more, but by this he rather astonished them. Yet they said nothing to this; for he seemed to them to be saying something incredible, and they did not even bear to ask, but passed it by as impossible. But if they had had sense, even if it seemed incredible to them then, when he did his many signs they would have come and asked, they would have asked that the difficulty be solved for them. But being senseless, they paid no attention at all to some of what was said, and heard the rest with a wicked mind. That is why Christ spoke to them in riddles. But the question is this: how did the disciples not know that he must rise from the dead? Because they had not yet been counted worthy of the grace of the Spirit. That is why, though they constantly heard words about the resurrection, they understood nothing, but debated among themselves what this might be. For what was said was very strange and astonishing: that someone could raise himself, and raise himself in such a way. That is why Peter too was rebuked, since, knowing nothing about the resurrection, he said, “Mercy on you!” And Christ did not reveal this clearly to them before the event, so that they would not stumble at the start, disbelieving what was said because it was so astonishing and because they did not yet know clearly who he was. For [no one could disbelieve what was proclaimed by] the facts, [but some were likely to disbelieve what was said in] words. That is why he left the saying veiled at first. But when by experience he had brought what was said to truth, then he gave them both the understanding of the words and so great a grace of the Spirit that they received everything all at once. For “he,” it says, “will remind you of everything.” For men who in one evening cast off their respect for him, and fled, and said they had not even seen him, would hardly have remembered what was done and said in all that time, had they not enjoyed much grace of the Spirit. And if they were going to hear from [the Spirit], someone says, what need was there for them to be with Christ, if they were not going to retain what was said? Because the Spirit did not teach, but reminded them of what Christ had said before. And it contributes not a little to the glory of Christ that they were sent back to the memory of what had been said to them. At the beginning, then, it was of God’s grace that the grace of the Spirit came upon them so richly and abundantly; but afterwards it was of their own virtue that they kept the gift. For they displayed a shining life, and great wisdom, and great labors; they laughed at the present life and counted human things nothing, but rose above them all, and like light eagles flying high they drew themselves up to heaven itself by their works, and through these they had the unspeakable grace of the Spirit. Let us too, then, imitate them, and not [quench our lamps, but keep them bright by] almsgiving. For so the light of this fire is maintained. Let us gather oil into our vessels while we are here. For it is not possible to buy it when we have gone there, nor to get it from anywhere else but through the hand of the poor. Let us gather it, then, from here with great abundance, if we want to enter with the bridegroom; if not, we must remain outside the bridal chamber. For it is impossible, impossible, even if we achieve countless good deeds, to set foot on the threshold of the kingdom without almsgiving. So let us show it with great abundance, so as to enjoy the unspeakable good things, which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might always, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.