Homilies on John 30.1–30.3

[Homily 30.] “He who comes from above is above all; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks from the earth.” A terrible thing is the love of glory, terrible and full of many evils. It is a thorn hard to pull out, and a wild beast untamable and many-headed, arming itself against those who feed it. For as the worm eats through the wood from which it is born, and rust consumes the iron from which it comes, and moths the wool, so vainglory destroys the soul that feeds it. That is why we need much earnestness to get rid of the passion. See, at any rate, here too how many charms John sings over his disciples suffering from it, and scarcely calms them. For besides what was said before, he pours other words on them too. What are they? “He who comes from above,” he says, “is above all; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks from the earth.” Since, he says, you turn my testimony up and down and say that I am more trustworthy by it, you must know this, that it is not possible for one coming from heaven to become trustworthy through one who lives on earth. And “above all”: what does it mean, and what does it wish to show? This. For by this he shows that he needs no one, but is sufficient for himself, and greater than all beyond comparison. He says that he himself is from the earth and speaks from the earth, not because he spoke from his own mind, but just as Christ said, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe,” calling baptism so, not because it was earthly, but because he was comparing what he said with his own ineffable birth, so here too John said that he speaks from the earth, comparing his own teaching with Christ’s. For “to speak from the earth” shows nothing else than that “my things, compared with his, are small and lowly and cheap, and such as an earthly nature would be expected to receive. For in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom.” That he is not speaking of human reasonings is clear from this: “He who is from the earth,” he says, “belongs to the earth.” And yet not everything in him was from the earth, but the more important parts were heavenly; for he had a soul, and shared in a spirit not from the earth. How then does he say that he himself is from the earth? [He hints at] nothing …

[The following passage, down to “Amen,” is the end of Homily 29, displaced in the scan:] … [For the one glory is empty and] vain, having the name but bare of the reality; but that one is true, the one from heaven, having as its praisers not men but angels and archangels and the Master of the archangels, or rather, together with him, men too. If you look to that theater, if you learn the crowns there, if you transport yourself to the applause from there, never will [the things here be able to hold] you, [nor will you think them great when present, nor seek them] when absent. For in these royal palaces too none of the spear-bearers standing by the king, neglecting to please the one who wears the diadem and sits on the throne, busies himself with the cries of jackdaws, or the [buzzing] of flies [and gnats]; for human praises are in no better case than these. Knowing, then, the cheapness of human things, let us [gather] everything into the inviolable treasuries, and seek the glory that abides and cannot be moved; which may we all obtain, by the grace and love for humankind 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 endless ages of ages. Amen.

[Homily 30 continues:] … [Nothing] else does he hint at here than that “I am small and worth no account, going on the ground and born on the earth; but Christ has come to us from above.” Having first quenched their passion by all these things, he then speaks about Christ with more freedom. For before this it was useless to put forth words that could never find room in the minds of the hearers; but when he had pulled up the thorns, he begins at last to sow the seeds without fear, saying, “He who comes from heaven is above all; and what he has seen and heard, to this he testifies, and no one receives his testimony.” Having said something great and lofty about him, he again brings the discourse down to something lowlier. For “what he has heard and seen” is said in a more human way. For he did not know what he knew from taking it in by sight or from hearing; he had it all in his nature, having come forth perfect from the Father’s bosom and needing no one to teach him: “For as the Father knows me,” he says, “so I know the Father.” What then does “what he heard he speaks, and what he has seen he testifies” mean? Since it is through these senses that we learn everything exactly, and we seem trustworthy teachers about what we have taken in by sight or received by hearing, as not inventing or speaking falsehood, John, wishing to establish this here too, said, “what he heard and saw”; that is, nothing of what comes from him is false, but all is true. So we too, when we inquire into something, often ask, “Did you hear it? Did you see it?” And if this is shown, the testimony is beyond doubt. And he himself too, when he says, “As I hear, I judge,” and, “What I heard from the Father,” and, “What we have seen we speak,” and whatever else he says of the kind, says it not so that we may learn that he says what he says by being taught (for to think this is the height of folly), but so that nothing of what is said may be suspected by the shameless Jews. For since they did not yet have the proper opinion about him, he constantly takes refuge in the Father, making what is said credible from there.

And why do you marvel if he takes refuge in the Father, when he often goes to the prophets and to the Scriptures too, as when he says, “They are the ones that testify about me”? Shall we then say that he is inferior even to the prophets, because he draws testimonies from there? Far from it! It is because of the weakness of the hearers that he manages his discourse so, and says that he speaks what he spoke having heard it from the Father, not as needing a teacher, but so that they may believe that nothing of what is said is false. What John says is this: I need to hear what is from him. For he comes from above, announcing the things from there, which he alone knows clearly; for “he has seen and heard” is the language of one showing this. “And no one receives his testimony.” And yet he had disciples, and many paid attention to what he said. How then does he say “no one”? “No one” is said here instead of “few”; since if he meant no one, how did he add, “Whoever has received his testimony has set his seal that God is true”? Here he also touches his own disciples, as men who were not going to believe in him very much for the time. For that they did not believe his words even after this is clear from what was said later. For that is why, even while living in prison, he sent them from there to him, so as to bind them to him more. And even then they scarcely believed; which Christ too hinted at when he said, “And blessed is he who does not stumble because of me.” For no other reason, then, did he say, “And no one receives his testimony,” than to secure his own disciples, all but saying: Do not, because few are going to believe in him for the time, think on that account that what is said is false; for “what he has seen, he testifies.” And he says these things at the same time touching on the insensibility of the Jews too; which the evangelist too, at the beginning, rebuked in them, saying, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” This is not a charge against him, but an accusation of those who did not receive him. “Whoever has received his testimony has set his seal that God is true.” Here he frightens them too, [showing] that the one who does not believe him disbelieves not him only, but also the Father. That is why he adds, “For he whom God sent speaks the words of God.” Since, then, he utters the Father’s words, both the one who believes and the one who disbelieves believes and disbelieves the Father. “Has set his seal” means “has shown.” Having said this, and further increasing the fear, he adds, “that God is true,” showing that one could not disbelieve him otherwise than by charging the God who sent him with falsehood. Since, then, he says nothing outside the Father’s words, but everything is his, the one who does not listen to him has not listened to the one who sent him. Do you see how by these words too he strikes them? For until then they thought it no great thing not to listen to Christ. That is why he hung so great a danger over the unbelievers, so that they might learn that those who do not listen to Christ do not listen to God himself. Then he goes on with this discourse, coming down to the lowliness of their understanding and saying, “For God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Again, as I said, he brings the discourse down to something lowlier, varying it and making it acceptable to those who heard then. For it was not possible otherwise to raise them and increase their fear. For if he had said something great and lofty about Jesus himself, they would not have believed, but would even have despised him. That is why he refers everything to the Father, speaking for the time about Christ as about a man. And what is it that he says, “God does not give the Spirit by measure”? He wants to show that all of us have received the working of the Spirit by measure (for by “Spirit” he means here the working; for it is this that is divided), but that he has the whole working unmeasured and entire. If his working is unmeasured, much more his essence. Do you see that the Spirit too is infinite? The one, then, who has received all the working of the Spirit, who knows the things of God, who says, “What we have heard we speak, and what we have seen we testify,” how could he rightly be suspected? For he says nothing that is not of God, nor that is not of the Spirit. And for the time he says nothing about God the Word, but makes the teaching credible from the Father and the Spirit. For that there is a God they knew, and that there is a Spirit they understood, even if they did not have the proper opinion about him; but that there is a Son they did not know. That is why he always takes refuge in the Father and in the Spirit, confirming what is said from there. Since if someone, setting aside this reason, examines the saying by itself, it falls far short of the dignity of Christ. For he is not trustworthy because he has the working of the Spirit; for he needs no help from there, but is sufficient for himself. But for the time he speaks to the understanding of the less mature, wishing to lead them up little by little from the lowly things. I say these things so that we may not simply run past what lies in the Scriptures, but may also observe the aim of the speaker, and the weakness of the hearers, and many other things in them. For teachers do not say everything as they wish, but mostly as the condition of the weak requires. That is why Paul too says, “I could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to fleshly ones. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.” “For I wanted,” he says, “to speak as to spiritual people, but I could not.” How? Not because he himself was unable, but because they were not able to hear in that way. So John too wanted to teach his disciples great things, but they could not yet bear to receive them.

We must therefore search out everything with exactness. For the things from the Scriptures are spiritual weapons. But if we do not know how to fit the weapons and arm the disciples well, they keep their own strength, but cannot benefit those who receive them. For let us suppose there is a strong breastplate, and helmet, and shield, and spear; then let someone take these weapons and put the breastplate on his feet, and the helmet on his face instead of his head, and let him not hold the shield before his chest but hang it from his feet: will he be able to get any benefit from these weapons, and will he not rather be harmed? It is plain to everyone. Yet not because of the weakness of the weapons, but because of the inexperience of the one who does not know how to use them well. So too with the Scriptures: if we confuse their order, they will keep their own power even so, but they will be of no use to us. Saying these things always, both privately and publicly, I accomplish nothing more. For I see you nailed all the time to the affairs of life, not sharing in spiritual things even in a dream. That is why our life too is neglected, and we who contend for the truth [have little strength] but become a laughingstock among Greeks and Jews and heretics. And if, careless in other matters, you showed the same sluggishness here too, even so what happens would not deserve a defense. But as it is, in the affairs of life each of you is sharper than a sword, both those who practice the crafts and those who conduct public affairs; but in necessary and spiritual matters we are the most sluggish of all, treating side matters as business, while what ought to be set down as more necessary than all business we do not even think a side matter. Or do you not know that what was written was written not only for the first people, but also for us? Do you not hear Paul saying, “These things were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come,” “so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope”? And I know that I am speaking in vain; but I will not stop speaking. For by doing this I shall make my defense to God, even if there is no one who listens. For one who speaks to those who pay attention has the persuasion of the hearers as an encouragement to speak; but one who speaks continually and is not listened to, and still does not stop speaking, would be worthy of greater honor, because, for God’s good pleasure, even with no one paying attention, he fulfills all his own part. But even if our reward is greater because of your disobedience, still we desire it to be less, and your salvation to be increased, thinking your good standing a great reward. And we say these things now not to make our discourse burdensome and heavy, but to show you the pain we have because of your sluggishness. May we all be freed from it, cling to spiritual earnestness, and obtain the heavenly goods, 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.