Homilies on John 66.1–66.2

“So a great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised [from the dead].” As wealth tends to throw headlong those who do not take heed, so does rule. For the one leads to greed, the other to arrogance. See, at any rate, the multitude of the Jews who were ruled sound, and the rulers corrupt. For that these believed in him, the evangelists say continually: “Many of the crowd believed in him”; but of the rulers they disbelieved. And they themselves say, not the crowd, “Has any of the rulers believed in him?” [“But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Those who knew God they called accursed], those who believed; and themselves, who were killing him, they called wise. And here too, on seeing the miracle, the many believed; but the rulers were not content with their own evils, but also tried to kill Lazarus. Granted that you tried to kill Christ because he broke the Sabbath, because he made himself equal to the Father, and because of the Romans, as you say: what did you have to charge against Lazarus, that you tried to kill him? Is having been done good a crime? Do you see how murderous their purpose was? And yet he had worked many signs, but none so made them savage, not the paralytic, not the blind man. For this was more wonderful by its nature, and had happened after many others, and it was a strange thing to see a man four days dead walking and speaking. Fine achievements of the feast, indeed (are they not?), to mingle the festival with murders! Besides, there they seemed to charge the Sabbath, and in this way to lead the crowds away; but here, since they had nothing to blame, they make their attempt against the man who was healed. For here they could not even say that he opposed the Father; for the prayer had stopped their mouths. Since, then, what they always charged had been removed and the sign was brilliant, they rush to murder. So they would have done this in the case of the blind man too, if they had not been able to charge the Sabbath. Besides, he was obscure, and they cast him out of the temple; but this man was distinguished, as is clear from the many who came to console his sisters; and the miracle happened while all were watching, and with great wonder. For this reason all ran to see. This, then, stung them: that while the feast was on, all left it and went to Bethany. So they tried to kill him, and did not even think they were daring anything; so murderous were they. And for this reason the law, at its beginning, begins from this: “You shall not murder”; and the prophet charges them with this: “Their hands are full of blood.” How then, after not walking openly in Judea and withdrawing to the wilderness, does he enter again with boldness? Having quenched their anger by his withdrawal, he comes upon them when they had calmed down. Besides, the crowd going before and following was enough to throw them into anguish. For no sign drew them so much as that of Lazarus. And another evangelist says that “they spread their garments under his feet,” and that “the whole city was shaken”; with such honor did he enter. And he did this partly foreshadowing a prophecy, partly fulfilling one; and the same act was the beginning of the one and the end of the other. For “Rejoice, for your king is coming to you, meek,” belonged to one fulfilling a prophecy; but sitting on an ass belonged to one foreshadowing a future thing, that he was going to have the unclean race of the Gentiles in subjection. And how do the others say that he sent disciples and said, “Untie the ass and the colt,” while this evangelist says nothing of the kind, but that he found a young ass and sat on it? Because both are likely to have happened: after the ass was untied and the disciples were bringing it, he found it and sat on it. And they took the branches of the palms and the olives, and spread their garments, showing that they now had a greater opinion of him than that of a prophet: [“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes] in the name of the Lord.” Do you see that this especially choked them: that all were persuaded that he was not an enemy of God? And this especially divided the people: his saying that he had come from the Father. And what is “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion”? Since all their kings for the most part were unjust and greedy, and handed them over to their enemies, and perverted the multitude, and made them subject to their foes, “Take courage,” he says; “this one is not such, but meek and gentle”; and this is shown by the ass. For he did not enter dragging an army with him, but having only an ass. “His disciples did not understand this,” it says, “[at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered] that this had been written about him.” Do you see that they were ignorant of most things, since he did not reveal them to them? For when he said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” not even then did the disciples know. And another evangelist says that the saying was hidden from them, and they did not know that he must rise from the dead. But this was naturally hidden. That is why another evangelist says that each time they heard it they grieved and were downcast; and this was from not knowing the word about the resurrection. But this was naturally hidden, since it was too great for them; but why was the matter of the ass not revealed to them? Because this too was great.

See the wisdom of the evangelist, how he is not ashamed to parade their former ignorance. That it was written they knew; but that it was written about him they did not know. For it would have offended them if, being a king, he was going to suffer such things and be so betrayed. And besides, they would not at once have grasped the knowledge of the kingdom of which he spoke; for another evangelist says that they thought it was said about this kingdom. “The crowd testified that he had raised Lazarus.” For so many would not have changed suddenly, he says, unless they had believed the sign. “The Pharisees then said to one another, ‘You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after him.’” This seems to me to belong to those who were sound but did not dare to speak openly; then from the outcome they restrain the others as attempting something useless. And here again they call the whole people “the world.” For Scripture is accustomed to call both the creation and those who live in wickedness “the world.” The one it says when it says, “He who brings out his world by number”; the other when it says, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me.” And we must know these things exactly, so that we may not give a handle to the heretics through the meaning of the words. [“Now among those who went up] to worship at the feast [were some Greeks].” Being near to becoming proselytes now, they were [present] at the feast. When, then, the report had spread, they say, “We wish to see Jesus.” And Philip yields to Andrew, as being before him, and shares the matter with him. But not even he acts on his own authority; for [he had heard] that “Do not go on the road of the Gentiles.” That is why, having consulted with the disciple, he refers it to the teacher; for both told him. And what does he say? “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.” What is “The hour has come”? He had said, “Do not go on the road of the Gentiles,” cutting off a pretext for ingratitude from the Jews, and he held the disciples back. Since, then, these persisted in disobeying, and those wished to come, “It is time now,” he says, “to come to the passion, everything having been fulfilled. For if we were to keep waiting on these, who disobey, and not receive those, who wish to come, this would be unworthy of our care.” Since, then, he was going to send the disciples to the Gentiles, to go there after the cross, and he sees them hastening to come, he says, “It is time to come to the cross.” For he did not let them go before, so that it might be a testimony against the Jews. For until they had rejected him by their deeds, until they had crucified him, he did not say, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” but “Do not go on the road of the Gentiles,” and, “I was sent only to [the lost sheep of the house of Israel],” and, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.” But when they hated him, and hated him so as to kill him, it was superfluous [to keep waiting on those who had] renounced him, saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then at last he left them, since they had left him. That is why he says, “How often I wished to gather your children, and you would not!” What is “Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies”? He speaks of the cross. For so that they might not be troubled, considering that he was killed when the Greeks too had come to him, he says, “This very thing above all makes them come, and will increase my preaching.” Then, since he did not so persuade them by words, he works it out from the experience of things, saying, “For this happens with wheat too: it bears more fruit when it dies. And if this is so with seeds, much more with me.” But the disciples did not understand what was said. That is why the evangelist sets it down continually, making a defense for their later flight. Paul too, speaking of the resurrection, set this argument in motion. What defense, then, will those have who disbelieve in the resurrection, when the thing is practised every day in seeds and in plants and in our own birth? For first the seed must perish, and then birth takes place. And in general, when God does something, there is no need of reasonings. For how did he make us from nothing? I say these things to Christians, who say they believe the Scriptures. But I will say something else too, from human reasonings. Of men, some live in wickedness, others in virtue. But of those who spend their time in wickedness, many have come to extreme old age in prosperity; and of those in virtue, many have endured the opposite. When then will each receive what he deserves? At what time? “Yes,” someone says, “but there is no resurrection of bodies.” Do they not hear Paul saying, “This perishable must put on imperishability”? He does not speak of the soul (for the soul does not perish); and resurrection is said of what has fallen; and it is the body that fell. And why do you not wish there to be a resurrection of the body? Is it not possible for God? But to say this is the utmost folly. But is it not fitting? Why is it not fitting that the perishable, which shared in toil and death, should share in the crowns too? For if it were not fitting, it would not have come into being at the beginning, nor would he himself have taken flesh. And that he took it, and raised it, hear what he says: “Put your fingers here, and see that a spirit does not have bones and sinews.” And why did he raise Lazarus, if it was better to rise without a body? Why does he do it as a sign and a benefit? And why did he give him food at all? So do not be deceived by the heretics, beloved. For there is a resurrection, and there is a judgment. And those who do away with these are those who do not wish to give an account of what they have done. For the resurrection must be such as Christ’s was. For he is the first fruits, and the firstborn from the dead. But if resurrection is this, a cleansing of the soul and a release from sins, and Christ did not sin, how did he rise? How were we freed from the curse, if he too sinned? And how does he say, “The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me”? For these words show his sinlessness. So according to them, either he did not rise, or, in order to rise, he sinned before the resurrection. But he both rose and did no sin. Therefore he rose in the body; and these wicked doctrines are nothing but the offspring of vainglory. Let us flee this disease, then. “For bad company,” it says, “corrupts good morals.” These are not the teachings of the apostles; it is Marcion and Valentinus who innovated these things. Let us flee, then, beloved. For there is no profit in a pure life when doctrines are corrupt; as neither, on the other hand, in sound doctrines if the life is corrupt. The Greeks gave birth to these things; those men increased them, taking them from the outside philosophers, saying that matter is unbegotten, and many such things. As they said that there could not be a Creator unless unbegotten matter lay ready, so they set aside the resurrection too. But let us not heed them, knowing the all-sovereign power of God; let us not heed them. I say these things to you. For we will not decline the battle against them. But one who is unarmed and naked, even if he falls among the weak, even if he is stronger, will easily be taken. For if you attended to the Scriptures and sharpened yourselves every day, I would not have advised you to avoid the battle with them, but would even have counselled you to engage. For the truth is strong. But since you do not know how to use them, I fear the engagement, [lest you be found unarmed; for] nothing is weaker than those deprived of the help of the Spirit. And if they use the outside wisdom, one should not admire them but laugh at them, because they use foolish teachers. For those men could find nothing sound either about God or about creation; but what the widow among us knows, this Pythagoras did not yet know; but they said that the soul becomes a bush and a fish and a dog. Should we heed these men, tell me? And how would it make sense? They are great in the village, those men, [growing] fine [curls and wrapped in cloaks]; this is the extent of their philosophy. But if you see what is inside, it is ash and dust, and nothing sound, but “their throat is an open grave,” full of all uncleanness and filth, and all their doctrines are full of worms. The first of them, at any rate, said that water is god, the one after him fire, another air, and all were brought down to bodies. Should we admire these men, tell me, who did not even form a conception of a bodiless God, if indeed they formed one later, after associating with our people in Egypt? But so as not to bring much tumult on you, let us end the discourse here. For if we begin to set out their doctrines, what they said about God, about matter, about the soul, about bodies, much laughter will follow. And they will not even need our accusation; for they cast down one another. The one, at any rate, who wrote against us the treatise on matter destroyed himself. So, so that we may not [delay you] in vain, leaving these things aside, we will say this: hold fast to the hearing of the divine Scriptures, and do not dispute about words to no purpose; which Paul too urges on Timothy, though he was filled with much wisdom and had the power of signs. Let us obey him, then, and, leaving aside idle talk, hold fast to works, I mean brotherly love and hospitality; and let us make much account of almsgiving, so that we may attain the promised good things, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory to the ages of ages. Amen.