Homilies on John 25.1–25.3

[Homily 25.] “Jesus answered, ‘Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” Little children go to their teachers every day, receive their lessons and recite them, and never stop this acquiring; sometimes they even add the nights to the days, and they are compelled by you to do this for perishable and passing things. But we do not demand of you who have come of age as much labor as you demand of your children. For we urge you to attend to what is said not every day, but only two days of the week, and for a short part of the day, so that the labor may be light for you. That is why we also card out for you little by little what lies in the Scriptures, so that you may take it in easily and store it in the storerooms of your mind, and be eager to keep everything in memory, so as to be able to repeat it exactly yourselves, unless someone is very sleepy and dull and lazier than a little child. But come, let us take up again the sequence of what was said before, and see how, when Nicodemus fell down and dragged the saying to the birth here below, saying that an old man cannot be born from above, Christ reveals the manner of the birth more clearly, which even so had difficulty for one who heard in a natural way, but was able nonetheless to lead the hearer up from his lowly thought. For what does he say? “Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” What he shows by this is: You say it is impossible; but I say it is so very possible as to be necessary, and that it is not even possible to be saved otherwise. For God has made necessary things very easy for us. For the earthly birth according to the flesh is from the dust; that is why the things in heaven are walled off from it; for what does earth have in common with heaven? But that birth, being from the Spirit, easily opens the arches above for us. Listen, all who are outside the illumination; shudder, for the threat is fearful, the sentence fearful. It is not possible, he says, for one not born of water and the Spirit to enter the kingdom of heaven. Because he wears the garment of death, of the curse, of corruption; he has not yet received the Master’s token; he is a stranger and an alien; he does not have the royal password. “Unless one,” he says, “is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” But Nicodemus did not understand even so. For nothing is worse than entrusting spiritual things to reasonings. This is what did not let him imagine anything lofty and great. That is why we are called believers, so that, leaving below the weakness of reasonings, we may go up to the height of faith and entrust most of our good things to this teaching. If Nicodemus had done so, the thing would not have been thought impossible by him. What then does Christ do? Leading him away from this notion that drags along the ground, and showing that he is not speaking of this birth, he says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” He said this wishing to draw him to faith by the fear of the threat, and to persuade him not to think the thing impossible, eager to remove him from the image of fleshly birth. “I speak of another birth, Nicodemus,” he says. “Why do you drag the saying down to the earth? Why do you subject the thing to the necessity of nature? This birth is higher than such pangs; it has nothing in common with yours. For this too is called a birth, but it shares the name and differs in reality. Remove yourself from common custom. I bring another kind of childbirth into the world; I wish human beings to be born in a different way; I have come bringing a new manner of creation. I formed man from earth and water; what was formed did not prove useful, but the vessel was twisted. I no longer wish to form from earth and water, but from water and the Spirit.” And if anyone asks, “How from water?”, I ask in turn, “How from earth?” For how was the clay divided into different parts? How was the underlying material of one kind (for it was earth only), while what came from it was various and of every sort? Where do bones come from, and sinews, and arteries, and veins? Where do membranes come from, and the vessels of the organs, and cartilages, and tissues, liver, and spleen, and heart? Where do skin and blood and phlegm and bile come from? Where do so many functions come from? Where do the various colors come from? For these do not belong to earth or clay. How does the earth, receiving seeds, make them sprout, while the flesh, receiving seeds, rots them? How does the earth nourish what is put into it, while the flesh is nourished by these things and does not nourish them? For example, the earth receiving water makes wine; the flesh often receiving wine has changed it into water. How then is it clear that these come from the earth, when the earth, as has been said, behaves in the opposite way to the body? I cannot find it out by reasoning; I accept it by faith alone. If then the things that happen daily and are handled need faith, much more do the things more ineffable and more spiritual than these. For just as the earth, lifeless and motionless, was empowered by the will of God, and so many wonders came from it, so too, when the Spirit is present to the water, these astonishing things that surpass reason all easily come about.

So do not disbelieve because you do not see these things. For you do not see the soul either, and yet you believe that you have a soul, and that the soul is something other than the body. But Christ did not lead him on by this example, but by another. For he did not bring this one forward, the soul I mean, even though it is incorporeal, because Nicodemus was still too dull in disposition. He sets down another example, which neither shares in the density of bodies nor rises to the nature of incorporeal things: the movement of the wind. And first he begins with water, which is lighter than earth but denser than wind. For as in the beginning earth was the underlying element but the whole was the work of the one who fashioned, so now too water is the underlying element, but the whole belongs to the grace of the Spirit. And then man became a living soul, but now a life-giving spirit. And the difference between the two is great. For the soul does not give life to another, but the Spirit not only lives itself but also gives life to others. So, at any rate, the apostles even raised the dead. And then, when creation had been made, man was formed afterwards; but now the opposite: the new man is created before the new creation. For he is born first, and then the world is transformed. And as he formed him whole from the beginning, so now too he creates him whole. And then he says, “Let us make a helper for him”; here nothing of the kind. For one who has received the grace of the Spirit, what other helper will he need? One who belongs to the body of Christ, what need of assistance does he have any longer? Then he made man in the image of God; now he has united him to God himself. Then he commanded him to rule fish and wild beasts; now he has brought our firstfruits up above the heavens. Then he gave paradise as his dwelling; now he has opened heaven to us. Then man was formed on the sixth day, since the age was about to be completed; now on the first day and at the outset, when the light also was made. From all this it is clear that what is accomplished belongs to another, better life and to a state that has no end. The first fashioning, then, was from earth, that of Adam; the one after it from a rib, that of the woman; and the one after that from seed, that of Abel; yet we cannot reach any of these or set out in words what took place, though they are very gross matters. How then shall we be able to give an account of the spiritual birth through baptism, much loftier than these, and demand reasons for this wonderful and astonishing childbirth? For angels too stand by this birth as it takes place. But no one could tell the manner of that wonderful birth through baptism. And they stand by doing nothing, only seeing what is done. Father and Son and Holy Spirit do everything. Let us, then, obey God’s declaration; for it is more trustworthy than sight. For sight often errs; but it is impossible for that to fail. Let us obey it, then. For the word that brought into being things that were not would be trustworthy when it speaks about their nature. What then does it say? That what is accomplished is a birth. If someone asks you, “How?”, stop his mouth with Christ’s declaration, which is the greatest and clearest proof. And if someone asks why water has been taken up, let us ask in return: Why was earth brought in at the beginning for the forming of man? For that it was possible for him to make man even without earth is plain to everyone. So let us not meddle. And if it is impossible to answer these questions, how much [more impossible] will it be to speak about the spiritual and much loftier birth; or rather, how is it not superfluous to demand an account? For that the need of water is necessary and indispensable you may learn in this way. When once the Spirit had flown down before the water, the apostle did not stop there, but, as if water too were necessary and not superfluous, see what he says: “Can anyone forbid water, so that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” What then is the need of the water? This too I will now tell you, revealing to you the hidden mystery. There are also some other ineffable reasons for the thing, but for the time I will tell you one of many. What is it? Divine symbols are performed in it: burial and death, resurrection and life; and these all happen together. For as when we sink our heads in water, as in a tomb, the old man is buried, and having sunk below is hidden wholly once and for all; then, when we lift our heads, the new man comes up again. For as it is easy for us to be dipped and to come up, so it is easy for God to bury the old man and to show forth the new. And this is done three times, so that you may learn that the power of Father and Son and Holy Spirit accomplishes all this. And that what is said is not conjecture, hear Paul saying, “We were buried with him through baptism into death”; and again, “Our old man was crucified with him”; and again, “We have been united with him in the likeness of his death.” And not only is baptism called a cross, but the cross is called baptism: “The baptism with which I am baptized,” he says, “you will be baptized with”; and again, “I have a baptism to be baptized with, which you do not know.” For as we are easily baptized and come up, so he too easily died and rose when he wished; or rather much more easily, even if he waited the three days for the dispensation of some mystery.

Having been counted worthy of such great mysteries, then, let us show a life worthy of the gift, the best conduct. And you who have not yet been counted worthy of them, do everything so as to be counted worthy, so that we may become one body, so that we may be brothers. For as long as we are divided in this respect, even if one is a father, or a brother, or anyone at all, he is not yet a true kinsman, being torn away from the kinship from above. For what use is it to be joined by the race of clay when we are not joined by the spiritual? What gain is there in nearness of kin on earth when we are strangers in heaven? For the catechumen is a stranger to the believer. For he does not have the same head, he does not have the same Father, he does not have the same city, nor food, nor garment, nor table, nor house, but everything is different. For to the one everything is on earth; to the other everything is in heaven. The one has Christ as king, the other sin and the devil; the one’s food is Christ, the other’s the food that rots and perishes. And again the garment: the one’s is the work of moths, the other’s the Master of the angels; the one’s city is heaven, the other’s the earth. Since then we have nothing in common, in what shall we have fellowship, tell me? But did we loose the same birth pangs and come out of one womb? But this does nothing toward the most exact kinship. Let us then be eager to become citizens of the city above. How long do we stay over the border, when we ought to recover our ancient homeland? For the danger is about no ordinary things. But if it should happen, which God forbid, that death comes unexpectedly and we depart from here uninitiated, even if we have countless good deeds, nothing else will await us but Gehenna and the venomous worm and unquenchable fire and unbreakable chains. But may none of those who hear these things experience that punishment! And this will be so if, having been counted worthy of the holy mysteries, we build gold and silver and precious stones on the foundation. For so, when we go there, we shall be able to appear rich, when we do not leave money here but carry it over to the inviolable treasuries through the hands of the poor, when we lend to Christ. We owe much there, not money but sins. Let us then lend him money, so as to receive forgiveness of sins; for he is the one who judges. Let us not overlook him here when he is hungry, so that he too may feed us there. Here let us clothe him, so that he does not leave us naked of the security that comes from him. If we give him drink here, we shall not say like the rich man, “Send Lazarus, so that [he may dip] the tip [of his finger in water and cool my tongue].” If we receive him into our houses here, there he will prepare many dwellings for us. If we go to him when he is in prison, he too will free us from our chains. If we take him in when he is a stranger, he will not overlook us as strangers to the kingdom of heaven, but will give us a share in the city above. If we visit him when he is sick, he too will quickly free us from our sicknesses. Since then we receive great things and give small ones, let us give at least the small, so that we may trade for the great. While there is still time, let us sow, so that we may reap. When winter overtakes us, when the sea can no longer be sailed, we are no longer masters of the trade. And when will winter be? When that great and manifest day is at hand. For then we shall no longer sail this great and broad sea; for the present life resembles it. Now is the time to sow; then the time to reap and to gain. If someone does not put in seed at seedtime but sows at harvest, besides accomplishing nothing he will be ridiculous. And if the present is the time of sowing, it would be the time not for gathering but for scattering. Let us scatter, then, so that we may gather; let us not wish to gather now, so as not to lose the harvest. For this season, as I said, calls us to sow, to spend, and to lay out, not to collect and store away. Let us not, then, betray the opportunity, but let us put in the seed abundantly and spare nothing of what is in the house, so that we may receive it back with great recompense, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, to the ages of ages. Amen.