Homilies on John 75.1–75.5

“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor [knows him].” We need works and deeds everywhere, not a display made by words. For to say and to promise is easy for anyone, but to do is no longer equally easy. Why then have I said these things? Because there are many now who say they fear and love God, but show the opposite by their works; but God seeks the love shown through works. This is why he said to the disciples too, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” For since he had said, “Whatever you ask, I will do,” so that they might not think that asking prevails without more, he added, “If you love me”; then, he says, I will do it. And since it was likely that on hearing, “I am going to the Father,” they would be troubled, he says: To be troubled now is not to love, but to obey what is said. I have given you a commandment, that you love one another, that you do to one another as I also have done to you. This is love: to obey these things and to yield to the one you love. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete.” Again the language is of condescension. For since it was likely that, not yet knowing him, they would greatly long for that companionship, his words, his presence in the flesh, and would accept no comfort in his absence, what does he say? “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete”; that is, another like me. Let those who are sick with the disease of Sabellius be ashamed, and those who do not hold the fitting opinion about the Spirit. For the wonder of this saying is that it has struck down with one blow heresies standing at opposite extremes. For by saying “another” [he shows the distinction of persons], and by saying “Paraclete,” the kinship of the essence. And why does he say, “I will ask the Father”? For if he had said, “I will send,” they would not have believed in the same way; but what he is anxious for is this, that he be believed. For later he himself says that he sends him; [here he says that he] asks the Father, making his word credible to them. Since John says about him, “From his fullness we have all received,” how does he receive from another what he had? And again, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” And what more than the apostles did he have, if he was going to ask the Father in order to give it to others, when they are often seen doing this even without prayer? And how, if the Spirit is sent by the Father upon request, does it fly down of itself? And how is that which is present everywhere sent by another, that which distributes to each individually as it wills, and says with authority, “Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas”? And yet those who ministered were ministering to God, but it called them with full authority to its own work; not that it called them to another work, but in order to show its authority. What then, someone says, is “I will ask the Father”? It shows the time of his coming. For when he had cleansed them through the sacrifice, then the Holy Spirit lighted upon them. And why did the Spirit not come while he was with them? Because the sacrifice had not yet been offered. But when thereafter sin had been loosed, and they were being sent out to dangers and were stripping for the contests, the one who anoints had to come. And why does the Spirit not come immediately after the resurrection? So that, coming into great longing for him, they might receive him with great gratitude. For as long as Christ was with them, they were not in affliction; but when he departed, stripped and in great fear, they were going to receive him with great eagerness. “He remains with you.” This shows that he does not depart even after death. But so that [on hearing] “Paraclete” [they might not imagine another incarnation and expect to see him with their eyes, he says, setting them] right, “whom the world cannot [receive], because it does not see him.” For he will not be with you as I am, but will dwell in your very souls; for this is “he will be in you.” And he calls him the Spirit of truth, showing by this the types in the Old. “That he may be with you.” What is “that he may be with you”? What he himself says: “I am with you.” Or again, he hints at something else: he will not suffer these things that I suffer, nor will he go away. “Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him.” For what, tell me, of the other [persons] is seen? Nothing. But here he means knowledge. At any rate he added, “nor knows him”; for he is wont to call exact knowledge sight. For since sight is the clearest of the senses, he always sets forth exact knowledge through it. And by the world he means here the wicked, in this way too comforting them, by giving them a choice gift. See by how many things he raised the account of him. He said, he is another like me; he said, he does not leave you; he said, he comes to you alone, as I also did; he said, he remains in you; but not even so did he cast out their dejection. For they still sought him and his familiar company. To heal this, then, he says, “I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.” Do not fear, he says; it is not for this that I said I would send another Paraclete, as if I were departing from you altogether; not for this did I say he remains with you, as if I were not going to see you any more. For I too am coming to you. “I will not leave you orphans.” For since at the beginning he had said, “Little children,” therefore here too he says, “[I will] not [leave you orphans].”

At the beginning, then, he said, “You will come where I am going,” and, “In my Father's house are many dwelling places”; but here, since that time was long, he gives the Spirit. But since, not knowing what was being said, they did not have sufficient comfort, he says, “I will not leave you orphans.” For this above all they sought. But since “I am coming to you” was the language of one indicating a presence, so that they might not again seek the same kind of presence as before, see how he did not say it clearly but hinted at it. For having said, “Yet a little while, and the world no longer sees me,” he added, “but you see me”; as if he were saying, I am coming to you, but not in the same way as before, being with you always every day. And so that they might not say, “How then did you say to the Jews, ‘From now on you will not see me’?” he resolves the objection by saying, to you alone; since the Spirit too is of this kind. “Because I live, you also will live.” For the cross does not separate us altogether, but only hides me for a brief moment. And by life he seems to me to mean not the present only but also the future. “In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.” In the case of the Father, what is said is of essence; in their case, of oneness of mind and of the help that comes from God. “And how does this make sense, tell me?” someone says. How then does the opposite make sense? For great, and wholly boundless, is the distance between Christ and the disciples. And if the same words are used, do not marvel. For Scripture is often wont to use the same words, applied to God and to human beings, not in the same way; since we too are called gods and sons of God, and the word does not have the same force when applied to us and to God. And the Son is called image and glory, and so are we; but the distance is great. And again, “You are Christ's, and Christ is God's”; but Christ is not God's in the same way as we are Christ's. And what is it he says? When I rise, he says, you will know that I am not severed from the Father, but have the same power, and that I am with you continually, when events proclaim the help that comes to you from me: your enemies subdued, you speaking boldly, the terrible things removed, the preaching flourishing every day, all yielding and giving way to the word of true religion. “As the Father has sent me, so I also have sent you.” Do you see that here too the expression does not have the same force? For if we take it so, the apostles will differ in nothing from Christ. And why does he say, “Then you will know”? Because then they saw him risen and living with them; then they learned the exact faith. For great was the power of the Spirit, which taught them all things. “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.” For it is not enough only to have them; we also need exact keeping. And why does he often say the same thing to them? For example, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”; and, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them”; and, “If anyone hears my word and keeps it, he it is who loves me”; “Whoever does not hear my words does not love me.” I think he is hinting at their dejection. For since he had said many wise things to them about death, saying, “Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life,” and, “Unless one takes up his cross and follows me, he is not worthy of me,” and was about to say still more, he says, reproaching them: Do you think you feel grief out of love? Not to grieve, rather, would be the mark of love. And because he wishes to establish this throughout, as he went on he summed up his discourse in this very point. “For if you loved me,” he says, “you would have rejoiced, because I am going to my Father.” For now you feel this from cowardice. But to be so disposed toward death is not the part of those who remember my commandments; for you ought to be crucified, if you truly loved me. For my word too exhorts you not to fear those who kill the body. Such as these the Father loves, and I. “And I will manifest myself to them.” Then Judas says, “And how is it that you are going to manifest [yourself] to us [and not to the world]?”

Do you see their soul pressed hard by fear? For he was confounded and troubled, and thought that, as we see the dead in a dream, so he too would be seen. So that they might not suspect this, then, hear what he says: “I and the Father will come to him and make our dwelling with him”; all but saying, As the Father manifests himself, so do I too. And not by this only, but also by saying, “We will make our dwelling with him,” he did away with the suspicion; which is not the way of dreams. But consider, I pray you, the disciple, troubled and not daring to say clearly what he wished to say. For he did not say, “Woe to us, because you are dying, and like the dead you are going to appear to us”; he did not say this, but “[and] not to the world?” He says, then: I accept you, because you keep my commandment. For so that afterward, seeing him, they might not think him an apparition, therefore he foretells these things. And so that they might not think he would appear to them in the way I said, he also tells the reason: because you keep my commandments; and he says that the Spirit too will appear in this way. And if, having been with him so long, they cannot yet bear that essence, or rather cannot even conceive it, what would they have suffered if he had appeared to them so at the beginning? This is why he also eats with them, so that the thing might not be thought an apparition. For if, seeing him on the waters, they thought this, although the same form was seen and he had not been away long, what would they have suspected if they had seen him risen at once, whom they had seen seized and wrapped in grave clothes? This is why he continually tells them that he will appear, and why he will appear, and how, so that they may not think him an apparition. “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me.” So the one who does not listen to these words loves not only not me, but not the Father either. For if listening to the commandments is the proof of love, and these are the Father's, the one who listens has loved not the Son only but also the Father. And how is it yours and not yours? That is: I utter nothing apart from the Father, nor anything of my own beyond what seems good to him. “These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you.” Since these things were unclear, and some they did not even understand, and about most they were in doubt, so that they might not be troubled again or say, “What commandments?”, he freed them from all anguish, saying, “But the Paraclete, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you.” Perhaps what is said is unclear to you now, but he is a clear teacher of these things. And “remaining with you” is the language of one hinting that he himself is going away. Then, so that they might not grieve, he says that as long as he remains with them and the Spirit does not come, they will be able to understand nothing great or lofty. And he says these things preparing them to bear his departure nobly, as something that would be the cause of great goods for them. And he continually calls him Paraclete because of the afflictions that then gripped them. Since then even on hearing these things they were troubled, thinking of the hostilities, the wars, his departure, see how he calms them again, saying, “Peace I leave with you”; all but saying, What harm do you take from the turmoil of the world, as long as you are at peace with me? For this peace is not like that. For the one is outward, and often comes about for evil and is unprofitable, and has done its possessors no good; but I give such a peace that you are at peace with one another, which makes you stronger. But since again he said, “I leave,” which was the word of one departing and enough to confound them, therefore he says again, “Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” Do you see that they suffered some things from affection and others from fear? “You have heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.” And what joy was this going to bring them? What comfort?

What then is the meaning of what was said? They did not yet know about the resurrection, nor did they have the right opinion about him (for how could they, who did not even know that he would rise?); but they thought the Father great. He says, then: Even if you are afraid for me, as not able to protect myself, and are not confident that after the cross I will see you again, yet on hearing that I am going away to the Father, you ought then to rejoice, because I am going away to the one who is greater and able to undo all the terrible things. “You have heard that I said to you.” Why has he set this down? Because I am so confident, he says, about what is happening as even to foretell it; so far am I from fearing. This, at any rate, is also the meaning of what follows: “I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I am he”; as if he were saying, Would you have known, if I had not told you? And I would not have told you, if I were not confident. Do you see that the language is of condescension? For also when he says, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to the Father, and he will furnish me with twelve legions of angels?” he speaks to the suspicion of his hearers. For no one, however mad, would say that he could not help himself, but needed angels; but since they held an opinion of him as of a man, therefore he says, “twelve legions of angels.” And yet he merely asked them a question and threw them backward. And if anyone should say that the Father is greater inasmuch as he is the cause of the Son, we will not contradict this either. But this certainly does not make the Son of another essence. What he says is something like this: as long as I am here, it is natural for you to think that we are in danger; but if I go away there, be confident that we are in safety; for no one will be able to overcome him. All these things were said with a view to the weakness of the disciples. For I myself am confident, and care nothing for death. For this is why he said, “I have told you these things before they happen.” But since, he says, you are not yet able to receive the word about these things, I bring in comfort also from the Father, whom you name great. Having comforted them, then, he again says the sad things: “I will no longer speak with you.” Why? “For the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.” By ruler of the world he means the devil, calling wicked people so too. For he does not rule heaven and earth, since then he would have overturned and cast down everything; but he rules those who give themselves up to him. This is why he also calls him the ruler of the darkness of this age, calling evil deeds darkness here again. What then? Does the devil kill you? Not at all; for he has nothing in me. How then do they kill you? Because I will it, and “that the world may know that I love the Father.” For not being liable to death, he says, nor owing it anything, I endure it because of my love for the Father. And he says this so as again to raise up their soul, and that they may learn that he comes to this not unwillingly but willingly, and despising the devil. For it was not enough to say, “A little while I am with you,” but he continually turns this sad thing over, and reasonably, until he should make it acceptable to them, weaving the good things into it. This is why at one time he says, “I am going away and coming”; and, “that where I am you also may be”; and, “You cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward”; and, “I am going to the Father”; and, “The Father is greater than I”; and, “I have told you before it happens”; and that I suffer these things not from necessity but from love of the Father; so that they might consider that the thing was not destructive nor harmful, if indeed the one who loved him greatly, and was loved by him, so wills. For this very reason, mingling these good things, he continually spoke the sad things too, exercising their minds. For “He remains with you” and “My departure is to your advantage” were the language of one comforting. For this reason he said beforehand countless things about the Spirit: “He is in you,” and, “whom the world cannot receive,” and, “He will remind you of all things,” and, “Spirit of truth,” and, “Holy Spirit,” and, “Paraclete,” and, “It is to your advantage”; so that they might not lose heart as though there were no one to stand by them and help them. And he says “it is to your advantage,” showing that he will make them spiritual.

This, at any rate, we see has happened. For those who were trembling and afraid, after receiving the Spirit, leapt into the midst of dangers and stripped for the contest against steel and fire and wild beasts and seas and every punishment; and the unlettered and untrained spoke with such boldness as to astound their hearers. For the Spirit made them iron instead of clay, and made them winged, and let them fall before nothing human. For such is that grace: if it finds dejection, it dissolves it; if evil desire, it consumes it; if cowardice, it casts it out; and it does not let the one who has shared in it be a mere human being any more, but, as if he had moved to heaven itself, makes him picture all that is there. This is why no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but they continued steadfastly in prayer, in gladness and simplicity of heart. For this above all the Holy Spirit requires: “For the fruit of the Spirit is joy, peace, faith, gentleness.” “And yet spiritual people often grieve,” someone says. But that grief is sweeter than joy. For Cain too grieved, but with the grief of the world; and Paul grieved, but with the grief according to God. For everything that is spiritual brings the greatest gain, as everything worldly brings the utmost loss. Let us, then, draw to ourselves the invincible help of the Spirit by keeping the commandments, and we shall be in no way less than the angels. For neither are they such because they are bodiless (for if this were so, none of the bodiless beings would have become wicked); but choice is everywhere the cause of all. This is why among the bodiless some have been found worse than human beings and irrational creatures, and among those who have bodies some better than the bodiless. All the righteous, at any rate, achieved what they achieved while dwelling on the earth and having bodies. For they dwelt on the earth as sojourners and strangers, but in heaven as citizens. Do not then say, “I am clothed in flesh; I cannot overcome, nor take up the sweat of toil for virtue.” Do not accuse the Creator. For if wearing flesh makes virtue impossible, the blame is not ours; but that it does not make it impossible, the company of the saints has shown. The nature of the flesh, at any rate, did not prevent Paul from becoming such as he became, nor Peter from receiving the keys of heaven. And Enoch too, wearing flesh, was translated and was not found. So too Elijah was caught up with the flesh; and Abraham with Isaac and his grandson shone while having flesh; and Joseph in it wrestled against that licentious woman. And why do I speak of flesh? Even if you put a chain on the flesh, it does no harm. “For though I am bound,” says Paul, “the word of God is not bound.” And why do I speak of bonds and chains? Add a prison and bars, and not even so do these become a hindrance to virtue. So, at any rate, Paul taught. For the bond of the soul is not iron, but cowardice and the desire of money and the countless passions. These bind, even if the body is free. “But these are born from the body,” someone says. This is a pretext and a false excuse. For if they were born from the body, all would suffer them. For as it is not possible to escape weariness and sleep and hunger and thirst, since they belong to nature, so these too, if they were such, would leave no one outside their tyranny. But if many escape them, it is clear that such defects belong to a lazy soul. Let us then cut this short, and not accuse the body, but subject it to the soul, that, having it obedient to the rein, we may obtain the eternal good things, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.