Homilies on John 71.1–71.2

“So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and reclined again, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you?’” and what follows. It is a hard thing, beloved, a hard thing to come into a depth of evils. For then the soul becomes hard to correct. For this reason we must do everything so as not to be caught in the first place. For it is easier not to fall in than, having fallen, to [recover] oneself. [See how much help] Judas [enjoys], and even so he does not rouse himself. He said of him, “One of you is a devil”; he said, “Not all believe”; he said, “I am not speaking of all of you”; and, “I know whom I have chosen”; and he perceives none of these. But when he had washed their feet and taken his garments and reclined, he says, “Do you know what I have done to you?” He no longer speaks to Peter alone, but to them all. “You call me the Teacher and the Lord, and you say well, for so I am.” “You call me”: he takes up their own judgment. Then, so that the words may not seem to be a courtesy on their part, he adds, “For so I am.” By introducing the statement from them, he makes it inoffensive at once; by confirming from himself what was introduced from them, he makes it free from suspicion. “For so I am,” he says. Do you see how, when he speaks to the disciples, he speaks more by way of uncovering what concerns himself? As he says, “Call no one teacher on earth, for one is your leader,” so he says, “And call no one father on earth.” But “one” and “one” is said not of the Father only, but also of himself. For if he said it excluding himself, how does he say, “that you may become sons of light”? And again, if he called the Father alone teacher, how does he say, “For so I am,” and again, “One is your leader, the Christ”? “If I then,” he says, “the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do.” And yet it is not the same. For he is Teacher and Lord, but you are fellow servants of one another. What then does “so” mean? With the same zeal. For this reason he takes his examples from the greater things, so that we may do at least the lesser. For teachers too write the letters for children with great beauty, so that they may come at least to a lower degree of imitation. Where now are those who spit upon their fellow servants? Where now are those who demand honors? Christ washed the feet of the traitor, the sacrilegious man and thief, and that at the very time of the betrayal, and him incurably disposed [he] made a sharer of his table; and are you proud, and do you raise your eyebrows? “Let us then wash one another's feet,” he says; then also those of our household servants. And what great thing is it, if those of our household servants too? For here “slave” and “free” is a difference of names; but there it was the reality of things. For by nature he was Lord and we were servants, and yet he did not decline to do even this now. But now we may be content if we do not treat free people as slaves, as chattels bought with money. And what shall we say then, having received examples of such forbearance, and not imitating them even a little, but standing on the opposite side and exalting ourselves to the opposite extreme, and not paying our debt? For God has made us debtors to one another, having himself begun it, and debtors for a smaller share. For he was Lord, but we do this, if we do it, to our fellow servants. And this is what he himself hinted at by saying, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher,” and again, “so you also.” For the natural thing would have been to say, “How much more we the servants”; but he left this to the conscience of the hearers. Why then did he do it now? They were henceforth about to enjoy honor, some more, some less.

So that they might not exalt themselves over one another and say what they had said before this, “Who is greater?” nor be indignant with one another, he pulls down the pride of them all, saying, “Even if you are very great, you ought to think nothing great of yourself over your brother.” And he did not say the greater thing, “If I washed the feet of the traitor, what great thing is it if you wash one another's?” but, having shown it by deeds, he then left it to the judgment of the onlookers. This is why he said, “Whoever does and teaches, he shall be called great.” For this is what it is to teach: to do the thing by deeds. For what pride would this not pull down? What madness and arrogance would it not empty out? He who sits upon the cherubim washed the feet of the traitor; and you, man, being earth and ashes, cinders and dust, exalt yourself and think great things of yourself? Of what hell would you not be worthy? If then you truly desire greatness of mind, come, I will show you the way; for you do not even know what it is. The one who attends to present things as great is of a mean soul. So there can be no humility except with greatness of soul, nor conceit except from smallness of soul. For as little children are excited by trifling things, gaping at balls and hoops and knucklebones, and cannot even form a notion of great things, so here too the one who lives wisely will count present things as nothing (so he will choose neither to keep them himself nor to take them from another); but the one who is not such will feel the opposite, excited over spiders' webs and shadows and dreams and things more feeble than these.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is an apostle greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’” What he said above he says here too, to shame them. For if a servant is not greater than his master nor an apostle greater than the one who sent him, and these things have been done by me, much more ought they to be done by you. Then, so that no one might say, “Why do you say these things? For do we not know them now?” he added this very thing: I do not say these things as to people who do not know them, but that you may show by your deeds what is said. For to know belongs to all, but to do does not belong to all. This is why he said, “Blessed are you if you do them.” For this very reason I too say it continually, although you know it, that I may lead you into the deed. For the Jews too know, but they are not blessed, for they do not do them. “I am not speaking of all of you,” he says. Oh, the forbearance! He does not yet expose the traitor, but veils the matter, giving him from this room for repentance. He both exposes and does not expose, saying, “He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.” And it seems to me that “A servant is not greater than his master” was said with this in view too: that if ever some should suffer wrong from household servants or from some humbler persons, they might not be scandalized, looking to the example of Judas, who, having enjoyed countless good things, repaid his benefactor with the opposite. Therefore he also added, “He who eats bread with me”; and passing over everything else he set down this, which was most able to restrain and shame him: he who is fed by me, he says, who shares my table. And he said these things teaching them to do good to those who do evil, even if they remain incurable. Having said, “I am not speaking of all of you,” so that he might not spread the fear over many, he then separates him off, saying, “He who eats bread with me.” For “not of all” did not altogether narrow the saying to one; therefore he added, “He who eats bread with me,” showing that wretched man that he is not being caught unawares, but with full knowledge; and this very thing was the most able of all to restrain him. And he did not say, “He betrays me,” but “He has lifted up his heel against me,” wishing to set forth the craftiness, the hidden malice, and the secrecy of the plot.

These things are written that we may not bear grudges against those who wrong us, but reprove them and weep over them. For it is not those who suffer evil who are worthy of lamentation, but those who do it. For the covetous man, the slanderer, and the one who does any other evil wrong themselves most of all; but they benefit us most of all, if we do not avenge ourselves. I mean something like this: so-and-so has robbed you? Have you given thanks for the wrong and glorified God? Through your thanksgiving you have gathered countless [rewards for yourself, and he] fire for himself. And if someone should say, “What then, if I could not defend myself against the wrongdoer, being weaker?” I would say this: you could have done this: been vexed, been indignant (for these things are in our power), prayed against the one who grieved you, cursed him countless times, slandered him to everyone. The one then who has not done these things will receive a reward also for not avenging himself. For it is clear that, even if he had had power for that too, he would not have done it. For the wronged man avenges himself on the wrongdoer by curses, insults, and plots. You, then, not only do not do these things, but also pray for him; for if you not only do not do them but also pray for him, you have become like God. For “pray,” it says, “for those who abuse you, that you may become like your Father who is in heaven.” Do you see how we gain most of all from the abuse of others? Nothing so gladdens God as not returning evil for evil. And why do I say, not returning evil for evil? We have been commanded to return the opposite: kindnesses, prayers. This is why Christ too repaid the one who was about to betray him with everything opposite: he washed his feet, reproved him in secret, struck him sparingly, tended him, gave him a share of his table and his kiss; and by these he did not become better, and yet he himself continued doing what was his own. But come, let us instruct you also from the example of servants, and abundantly, from those in the Old [Testament], that you may know that we have no ground for excuse when we bear grudges. Would you have me speak of Moses, or shall we take the account still higher? For the more ancient the examples shown, the more are we defeated. Why so? Because then virtue was more difficult. For they had no written precepts then, no examples of lives, but nature contended naked and by itself. This is why, praising Noah, it did not simply call him perfect, but added, “in his generation,” showing that he was so in that time, when the hindrances were many; since after him others shone, and yet he will have nothing less than they. For in his times he was perfect. Who, then, before Moses was long-suffering? The blessed and noble Joseph, who, having shone in chastity, shone no less in long-suffering. For he was sold having done no wrong, but serving, ministering, showing every service of household servants. They brought an evil report about him, and he did not avenge himself, though he had his father with him; but he even went off bringing them food in the desert; and not finding them, he did not lose heart nor turn back (though he had a pretext, had he wished), but remained among the wild beasts and those cruel men, keeping the disposition of a true brother. Again, when he dwelt in the prison and was asked the cause, he said nothing evil of them, but only, “I have done nothing,” and, “I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews.” And after this, having again become master, he both fed them and delivered them from countless evils. For if we are sober, the wickedness of our neighbor has no power to cast us out of our own virtue. But they were not such: they stripped him and tried to kill him, and taunted him with his dream, although they had received food from him, and they tried to cast him out of life and freedom. And they ate, while they disregarded their brother thrown naked into a pit. What could be worse than this savagery? Than how many murderers were they not worse? And after this, having drawn him up, they handed him over to countless deaths, selling him to barbarous and savage men who were going off to barbarians. But he, having become king, not only remitted their punishment, but also freed them from the sin, as far as concerned himself, calling what had happened a dispensation of God, not their wickedness. And what he did to them he did not from a grudge, but he played all these parts for his brother's sake. At any rate, afterward, when he saw them holding fast to him, at once he threw off the mask and wailed aloud and embraced them, as one who had received the greatest benefits, he who had long ago been made away with by them; and he brought them all down to Egypt and repaid them with countless kindnesses. What defense, then, shall we have, after the law and grace and such an increase of wisdom, if we do not even emulate the one who lived before grace and the law? Who will deliver us from punishment? For there is nothing, there is nothing worse than bearing grudges. And this the one who owed ten thousand talents showed: first not required to pay, and then required again; not required because of God's love for humankind, required because of his own wickedness and his grudge against his fellow servant. Having learned all this, let us forgive our neighbors their sins and repay them with the opposite, that we too may obtain God's love for humankind, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.