Homilies on John 74.1–74.3

“Philip says to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus says to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip? Whoever has seen me [has seen the Father].’” The prophet said to the Jews, “You had the face of a harlot; you became shameless toward all.” But, as it seems, it is right to say these things not to that city only, but also to those who shamelessly stare the truth down. For when Philip said to Christ, “Show us your Father,” he says, “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip?” And yet there are some who even after these words sever the Son from the one who begot him. And yet what closer nearness than this do you seek? For some, from this saying, have even fallen into the disease of Sabellius. But leaving both these and those, as transgressing from opposite extremes, let us see the exact sense of what was said. “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip?” he says. What then? Are you the Father whom I seek? No, he says. That is why he did not say, “You have not known him,” but “You have not known me,” showing nothing else than that the Son is nothing other than what the Father is, while remaining Son in his being. And from where did Philip come to this? He had said, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also”; and he had often said this to the Jews too. Since then Peter had often asked him, and the Jews, who the Father is, and Thomas too had asked him, and no one had learned anything clear, but what was said was still not understood, so that he might not seem importunate and annoy him by asking after the Jews, Philip too says, “Show us your Father,” and added, “and it is enough for us”; we seek nothing more. And yet Christ had said, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also,” and was making the Father known through himself; but Philip reversed the order and says, “Show us the Father,” as if he knew Christ exactly. But Christ does not bear with him, but sets him on the way, persuading him to learn the Father through himself; but Philip wished to see with these eyes of the body, perhaps hearing about the prophets that they saw God. But those things were condescension, Philip. That is why Christ said, “No one has ever seen God”; and again, “Everyone who has heard from God and learned comes to me”; “You have neither heard his voice nor seen his form.” And in the Old, “No one shall see my face and live.” What then does Christ say? Very reprovingly: “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip?” And he did not say, “You have not seen me,” but “You have not known me.” Do I wish to learn about you? Philip might say. I seek now to see your Father; and you say to me, “You have not known me”? What connection, then, has this? A great one. For since he is that which the Father is, while remaining Son, he fittingly shows the one who begot him in himself. Then, distinguishing the hypostases, he says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” so that no one may say that the same is Father and the same is Son. For if he were himself the Father, he would not have said, “Whoever has seen me has seen him.” And why did he not say to him, “You ask what is impossible and beyond what is human; for this is possible to me alone”? Since he had said, “It is enough for us,” as if he knew him, he shows that he had not seen even him. For he would have seen that one too, if he had been able to see this one. Therefore he said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”: [whoever] has seen me will see him too. What he says is something like this: it is not possible to see either me or him. For Philip was seeking knowledge through sight; and since he thought he had seen him, but wished to see the Father too in this way, he shows that he had not seen even him. And if anyone should say that seeing here means knowledge, I do not dispute this either. For the one who has known me, he says, has known the Father. But he did not say this; but wishing to set forth that he is of one essence he said: the one who knows my essence knows also that of the Father. “And what of this?” someone says. “For the one who knows creation also knows God.” And yet all know creation and have seen it, but not all know God. Besides, let us see what Philip seeks to see. Is it the wisdom of the Father? Is it his goodness? No; but what God himself is, his very essence. To this, then, Christ answers, [“Whoever has seen me”; but the one who has seen creation has not seen] the essence of God. “If anyone has seen me, he has seen my Father,” he says. If he were of another essence, he would not have said this. And to touch on a coarser illustration: no one who does not know gold can see the essence of gold in silver; for one nature is not seen through another. Therefore he rightly rebuked him, saying, “Have I been with you so long?” You have enjoyed so much teaching; you have seen signs done with authority, and all that was proper to divinity, and what the Father alone performs: sins loosed, secrets brought into the open, death retreating, a creation made from earth; “and you have not known me?”

For since he was clothed in flesh, therefore he said, “You have not known me.” Have you seen the Father? Do not seek to see more; for in him you have seen me. If you have seen me, do not inquire further; for in me you have known him. “Do you not believe that I am in the Father?” That is, I am manifest in that essence. “The words that I speak, I do not speak from myself.” Do you see an example of nearness and of one essence? “But the Father who dwells in me, he does the works.” How, having begun from words, did he come to works? For the natural thing was to say, “He speaks the words”; but he sets down two things here, about teaching and about signs; or else because the words too were works. How then does the Father do them? And yet elsewhere he says, “If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me”; how then does he say here that the Father does them? Showing this very thing, that there is nothing between Father and Son. What he says is this: the Father would not act in one way and I in another; and indeed elsewhere both he and the Father work, as he says, “My Father is working until now, and I am working”; showing there the exact likeness of the works, here their identity. And if the obvious impression of the words displays lowliness, do not marvel. For having first said, “Do you not believe?”, he then uttered this, showing that he shaped the words this way in order to lead him to faith. For he penetrated into their hearts. “Do you believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?” You ought, on hearing “Father” and “Son,” to seek nothing else to establish the kinship of essence. But if this is not enough for you to show the equal honor and the sameness of essence, learn it at least from the works. And as for “Whoever has seen me has seen my Father,” if it had been said of works, he would not have said afterward, “But if not, believe me because of the works.” Then, showing that he can do not only these things but also others much greater than these, he sets them down with emphasis. For he does not say, “I can do greater things than these,” but, what was much more wonderful, “I can give to others,” he says, “to do greater things than these.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and will do greater than these, because I am going to the Father.” That is, it is yours henceforth to work wonders; for I am departing. Then, when he had accomplished what his discourse intended, he says, “Whatever you ask in my name you will receive, and I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in me.” Do you see how again he himself does this? For “I will do it,” he says. And he did not say, “I will ask the Father,” but “that the Father may be glorified in me.” And yet elsewhere he said, “God will glorify him in himself”; but here, he himself will glorify the Father. For when the Son is seen to be able to do great things, the one who begot him will be glorified. And what is “in my name”? What the apostles said: “In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk.” For all the signs they did, he himself worked. “And the hand of the Lord was with them.” “I will do it,” he says. Do you see authority? What is done through others he himself does; and is he unable to do what is done through himself, except as worked in by the Father? Who would say this? And why does he set it down a second time? Confirming his own word, and showing that what came before was condescension. And “I am going to the Father” means this: I shall not perish, but remain in my own dignity, and am in heaven. All these things he said to comfort them. For since it was likely that they, not yet knowing the sayings about the resurrection, would imagine something gloomy, in other words he promises that he will give them such things, everywhere tending them and showing that he remains forever, and not only remains, but will also show greater power.

Let us then follow him and take up the cross. For even if persecution is not present, the occasion for another death is present. “For put to death,” it says, “your members that are on the earth.” Let us then quench desire, kill anger, do away with envy. This is a living sacrifice. This sacrifice does not end in ashes, nor is it dispersed into smoke, nor does it need wood and fire and a knife. For it has fire and a knife: the Holy Spirit. Using this knife, circumcise what is superfluous and foreign in the heart; open what is closed in the hearing. For diseases and evil desires are wont to block the entrance of the word. For the desire of money, once it is set before one, does not let one hear the word about almsgiving; and envy, when present, walls off the teaching about love; and another disease, falling upon the soul, makes it in turn more sluggish toward everything. Let us then do away with evil desires. For it is enough to will it, and all are quenched. For let us not look at this, that the love of money is tyrannical, but that the tyranny is that of our own laziness. At any rate, many say they do not even know what silver is. For this desire is not natural. For the natural ones were implanted from above and from the beginning; but gold and silver were not even known, for a long time, for what they are. From where, then, did this desire grow? From vainglory and the utmost laziness. For of desires some are necessary, some natural, and some neither of these. I mean something like this: those which, if not satisfied, destroy the living creature are natural and necessary, as the desire for food and drink and for sleep; but bodily love is natural, but not necessary. For many have overcome it and have not perished. But the desire of money is neither natural nor necessary, but superfluous; and if we will, we do not admit even its beginning. [At any rate] Christ too, speaking about virginity, says, “Let the one who is able to receive it receive it”; but about money not so, but what? “Unless one renounces all his possessions, he is not worthy of me.” For what was easy he commanded; but what surpasses most people he leaves to their choice. Why then do we deprive ourselves of every defense? The one caught by a more tyrannical passion will not pay a heavy penalty; but the one overpowered by a weak one is deprived of all defense. For what shall we say when he says, “You saw me hungry and did not feed me”? What defense shall we have? Shall we by all means plead poverty? But we are not poorer than that widow who, by putting in two obols, outdid them all. For God requires not the quantity of the contribution but the measure of the intention; and this too belongs to his care. Admiring, then, his love for humankind, let us contribute what we can, so that, obtaining much of God's love for humankind both in the present life and in the life to come, we may be able to enjoy the good things promised us, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.