Homilies on John 78.1–78.4

“These things I did not tell you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” Great is the tyranny of dejection, and we need much courage to stand nobly against this passion, and, gathering what is useful from it, to let the excess go; for it does have something useful. For when we ourselves or others sin, then only is it good to grieve; but when we fall into human misfortunes, dejection is henceforth of no use. Since then it had overthrown the disciples too, who were not yet perfect, see how he sets them right by his rebuke. For those who before this had asked him countless questions (for Peter said, “Where are you going?” and Thomas, “We do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” and Philip, “Show us your Father”), these, now hearing, “They will put you out of the synagogue,” and, “They will hate you,” and, “Whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God,” were so cast down as to be seized with speechlessness and to say nothing more to him. Reproaching them for this, then, he said, “These things I did not tell you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” For the excess of this is terrible, terrible and productive of death. This is why Paul said, “Lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.” “These things I did not tell you from the beginning,” he says. And why did he not tell them from the beginning? So that no one might say that he spoke conjecturing from what often happens. And why does he take up a matter of such difficulty? I knew these things, he says, even from the beginning, and I did not speak of them, not because I did not know, but “because I was with you.” And this again is said in a human way; as if he were saying, Because you were in safety, and you could ask when you wished, and the whole war was stirred up against me, it was superfluous to say these things from the beginning. But did he not say this? Did he not call the twelve and say, “You will be brought before governors and kings,” and, “They will scourge you in their synagogues”? How then does he say, “I did not tell you from the beginning”? Because he had foretold scourgings and arrests, but not that their death would seem so much to be desired that the thing would even be thought to be service. For this, more than all, was able to strike them with dismay, that they were going to be judged as impious and as pests. Besides this, one may also say that there he spoke of what they would suffer from the Gentiles, but here he added the things from the Jews too, with greater emphasis, and taught that it was at the doors. “But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you says, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.” It was no small comfort to them to learn that he knew the excess of their dejection. For from anguish at being left by him, and at awaiting the terrible things to come (for they did not know whether they would be able to bear them bravely), they were beside themselves. Why then did he not tell them this afterward, when they had been counted worthy of the Spirit? That you may learn that they were very virtuous. For if, not yet counted worthy of the Spirit, they did not leap away, though buried in sorrow, consider what they were going to be once they had enjoyed the grace. For if they had heard it then and endured, we would have reckoned it all to the Spirit; but now the fruit is wholly that of their own mind, and a clear proof of their longing for Christ, [who tests] their mind while it is still bare. See how he comforts them again. For I do not say what is pleasing, he says, but even if you grieve ten thousand times, you must hear what is to your advantage. For it is to your liking that I should be present; but what is to your advantage is different. And it belongs to one who cares not to spare his friends in matters of their advantage, nor to lead them away from what profits them. “For if I do not go away,” he says, “the Paraclete will not come.” What do those say here who do not hold the fitting opinion about the Spirit? Is it to our advantage that the Master should go away and a servant should come? Do you see how great the dignity of the Spirit is? “But if I go away, I will send him to you.” And what is the gain? “When he comes, he will convict the world”; that is, they will not do these things unpunished if he comes. For what has already happened is enough to stop their mouths; but when these things happen through him too, and teachings more perfect and signs greater, they will be condemned much more, seeing such things done in my name; which makes the proof of the resurrection clearer. For now they can say, “This is the carpenter's son, whose father and mother we know”; but when they see death loosed, wickedness cast out, [the lame made straight, demons driven out, the Spirit's] unspeakable supply, and all these things done when I am called upon, what will they say? For the Father bore witness about me, and the Spirit too will bear witness. And yet he bore witness at the beginning too; but he will do so now as well.

And “He will convict concerning sin” means: he will cut off all their defense and show that they have transgressed unpardonably. “And concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you no longer see me”; that is, because I have shown a blameless life. And this is the proof: going to the Father. For since they always charged him with this, that he was not from God, and for this reason called him a sinner and a transgressor, he says that the Spirit will do away with this pretext too. For if being thought not to be from God shows me a transgressor, when the Spirit shows that I have gone there, and not for a season, but remain there (for “you no longer see me” is the language of one showing this), what will they say then? See how by these two things the evil suspicion is removed. For neither does working signs belong to a sinner (for a sinner cannot work signs), nor does being with God always belong to a sinner. So you can no longer say, “This man is a sinner,” “He is not from God.” “And concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” Here again he stirs up the argument about righteousness: that he has overthrown the adversary. But he would not have overthrown him if he were a sinner; which not even any righteous man was able to do. For that he has been condemned because of me, those who trample on him afterward will know, and those who clearly know my resurrection, which is the work of one who condemns him. For he was not able to hold me. Since then they said that I have a demon and that I am a deceiver, these things too will afterward be shown to be stale. For I would not have overcome him if I were liable to sin; but now he has been condemned and [cast out. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot] bear them now.” So it is to your advantage that I go away, if you will bear them then, when I go away. And what has happened? Is the Spirit greater than you, that now we do not bear them, but he will make us able to bear them? Is his working greater and more perfect? Not so; for he too will speak what is mine. This is why he says, “He will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine.” For since he had said, “He will teach you and remind you,” and will comfort you in afflictions, which he himself had not done, and, “It is to your advantage that I go away and that he come,” and, “Now you cannot bear them,” but then you will be able, and, “He will guide you into all the truth,” so that on hearing these things they might not think the Spirit greater and fall into the utmost ground of impiety, therefore he says, “He will take from what is mine”; that is, whatever I have said, he too will say. And when he says, “He will speak nothing from himself,” he means nothing contrary, nothing of his own beside what is mine. As then, saying about himself, “I do not speak from myself,” he means nothing outside the things of the Father, nothing of his own beside him and foreign to him, so also concerning the Spirit. And “from what is mine” means: from what I know, from my knowledge. For my knowledge and the Spirit's are one. “And he will declare to you the things to come.” He lifted up their mind; for the human race is greedy for nothing so much as for learning the future. This, at any rate, they kept asking him: “Where are you going? What is the way?” Freeing them from this anxiety too, then, he says that he will foretell everything to you, so that you may not fall into things unguarded. “He will glorify me.” How? He will grant the workings in my name. For since they were going to do greater signs when the Spirit came, therefore, bringing in again the equality of honor, he says, “He will glorify me.” What does he call “all the truth”? For he also bears this witness to him, that he will guide us into all the truth. For he himself, because he was clothed in flesh, and so as not to seem to speak about himself, and because they did not yet know the resurrection clearly and were too imperfect, and because of the Jews, so that they might not seem to punish him as a transgressor, did not continually utter anything great, nor clearly draw them away from the law. But when the disciples had been cut off from them, and those were henceforth outside, and many were going to believe and be released from their sins, and there were others who spoke about him, he reasonably no longer spoke great things about himself. So it was not from my ignorance, he says, that I did not say what ought to have been said, but from the weakness of the hearers. Therefore, having said, “He will guide you into all the truth,” he added, “He will not speak from himself.” For that the Spirit does not need teaching, hear Paul saying, “So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.” As then the spirit of a human being knows without learning from another, so also the Holy Spirit “will take from what is mine”; that is, will speak in harmony with what is mine. “All that the Father has is mine.” Since then those things are mine, and he will speak from the things of the Father, he will speak from what is mine. And why did the Spirit not come before he went away? Because, while the curse had not yet been taken away nor sin loosed, but all were still liable to punishment, he would not have come. So the enmity must be loosed, he says, and you must be reconciled to God, and then receive that gift. And why does he say, “I will send him”? That is, I will prepare you beforehand to receive him. For how is that which is everywhere sent? Besides, he also shows the distinction of the hypostases. For two reasons he speaks so: both because they were hard to tear away from him, persuading them to hold fast to the Spirit, and so that they might cherish him. For he himself could have done these things; but he allows the Spirit to work wonders for this reason, that they may learn his dignity. For as the Father could have brought the things that exist into being, but the Son does it, so that we may learn his power, so too here. This is why he himself became flesh, keeping the working for the Spirit, and stopping the mouths of those who turn the occasion of his ineffable love for humankind into a pretext for impiety. For when they say that the Son became flesh because he was inferior to the Father, we will say to them: What then would you say about the Spirit? For he did not take flesh, and surely you will not for this reason call him greater than the Son, nor the Son inferior to him. This is why in baptism too the Trinity is included. For the Father can do the whole, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but since no one doubts about the Father, and the doubt was about the Son and the Holy Spirit, they are included in the initiation, so that in their sharing in the bestowal of those ineffable goods we may also learn their sharing of dignity. For hear clearly that the Son by himself can do what in baptism he can do with the Father, and so can the Holy Spirit. For he said to the Jews, “That you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”; and again, “That you may become sons of light”; and, “I give them eternal life.” Then after this, “That they may have life,” he says, “and have it abundantly.” [Let us see] the Spirit too doing this same thing. Where can one see it? “To each,” it says, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” He then who provides these things forgives sins much more. And again, “It is the Spirit that gives life”; and, “He will give life through his Spirit who dwells in you”; and, “The Spirit is life because of righteousness”; and again, “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” “For you did not [receive the spirit of slavery again to fear, but you] received the spirit of adoption.” And then all that they did, they did as wonders when the Spirit had come. And Paul too, writing to the Corinthians, said, “You were washed, but you were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Since then they had heard much about the Father, and had seen the Son doing much, but knew nothing clearly yet about the Spirit, the Spirit works wonders and brings in perfect knowledge. But so that he might not from this be suspected to be greater (as I said before), he says, “Whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare the things to come.” For if this is not so, how is it not absurd, if he was going to hear then, and for the sake of those being taught? For according to you he would not then have known, except for the sake of those who would hear. And what could be more lawless than this saying? Besides, what was he going to hear? Did he not say all these things through the prophets? For if he was going to teach about the abolition of the law, it had been said; if about Christ and his divinity and the dispensation, these too had been said. For what clearer thing was he going to say after these? “And he will declare the things to come.” Here above all he shows his dignity, since this above all is proper to God, to tell the future. But if he too learned it from others, he would have nothing more than the prophets; but here he shows a knowledge exactly at one with God, so that it is impossible for him to utter anything else. And “He will [take] from what is mine” means either from the grace that came into my flesh, or from the knowledge that I also have, not as needing it, nor as learning from another, but as it is one and the same. And why did he speak so, and not otherwise? Because they did not yet know the teaching about the Spirit. Therefore he establishes one thing only, that he be believed and received by them, and that they not be scandalized. For since he had said, “One is your teacher, the Christ,” so that they might not think they were disobeying him in obeying the Spirit, he says: My teaching and his are one; from the things I was going to teach, from the same he too will speak. Do not think that his are different; for those too are mine, and confirm my glory. For one is the will of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And so he wishes us to be, saying, “That they may be one, as I and you are one.”

For nothing equals oneness of mind and concord; for in this way the one is manifold. For if two or ten are of one soul, the one is no longer one, but each of them appears tenfold, and you will find the one in the ten and the ten in the one. And if they have an enemy, he who attacks the one is overcome as one who has attacked the ten. For he is struck not by one alone, but by ten mouths. Is the one in want? But he is not in want; for … by the greater part the lesser part [is supplied] through the greater part that is well off. Each of these has twenty hands and twenty eyes and as many feet. For he sees not with his own eyes only, but also with those of others; he walks not with his own feet only, but also with those of others; he works not with his own hands only, but also with theirs. He has ten souls; for not only does he take thought for himself, but those souls too take thought for him. And if they become a hundred, it will be the same again, and his power will extend. Do you see the excess of love, how it makes the one invincible and manifold? How the one can be in many places, the same in Persia and in Rome? And what nature cannot do, love can? For part of him will be here and part there; or rather, he will be whole here and whole there. If then he has a thousand or two thousand friends, consider again how far his power will reach. Do you see how love multiplies? For this is the wonderful thing, to make the one a thousandfold. Why then do we not acquire this power and set ourselves in safety? This is better than all power and wealth; this is more than health, than light itself; this is the ground of good cheer. How long shall we confine our love to one or two? Learn the matter also from the opposite. Suppose someone has no friend, which is the mark of the utmost folly (for “the fool will say, ‘I have no friend’”): what kind of life will such a one live? For even if he is ten thousand times rich, even if in abundance and luxury, even if possessed of countless goods, he is left desolate and bare of all. But with friends it is not so; but even if they are poor, they are better provided than the rich; and what one does not undertake to say for himself, his friend will say; and whatever he cannot grant himself, he will be able to obtain through another, and much more; and it will be for us the ground of all enjoyment and safety. For one guarded by so many spearmen cannot suffer harm. For the king's bodyguards are not so exact as these. For they show their watchfulness by compulsion and fear, but these by goodwill and love; and love is much [stronger] than fear. And the king fears his guards, but this man is more confident in these than in himself, and because of them [fears none of those who plot against him. Let us] then [pursue] this trade: the poor man, that he may have consolation for his poverty; the rich man, that he may possess his wealth in safety; the ruler, that he may rule in safety; the subject, that he may have kindly rulers. This is the source of gentleness, this the ground of meekness. For among the beasts too those are the fiercest and untamable which do not herd together. This is why we dwell in cities and have marketplaces, so that we may associate with one another. This Paul too commanded, saying, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” For nothing is so evil as solitude and being without fellowship and unapproachable. “What then of the monks,” someone says, “and those who have occupied the mountain tops?” Neither are they without friends; but they have fled the tumults of the marketplace, while they have many of one soul with them and closely bound to one another; and they withdrew in order to achieve this. For since the contention of business produces many quarrels, therefore, removing themselves from the midst, they cultivate love with great exactness. “What then,” someone says, “if a person is alone, does he too have countless friends?” I, for my part, wish, if possible, that people should know how to live with one another; but meanwhile let the bonds of friendship remain unmoved. For it is not place that makes friends. They, at any rate, have many who admire them; and these would not have admired them if they did not love them. And they in turn pray for the whole world, which is the greatest proof of friendship. This is why in the mysteries too we greet one another, so that the many may become one; and for the uninitiated we make our prayers in common, supplicating for the sick and for the fruits of the world, both land and sea. Do you see all the power of love? In the prayers? In the mysteries? In the exhortations? This is the cause of all good things. If we hold to it with exactness, we shall both manage present things well and obtain the kingdom; 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, for ever and ever. Amen.