Homilies on John 80.1–80.2

“Jesus spoke these things, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.’” “Whoever does and teaches,” he says, “he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”; and very reasonably. For to live wisely in words is easy; but the demonstration through deeds belongs to someone noble and great. Therefore Christ too, speaking about forbearance, sets himself forth in the midst, bidding us take our examples from there. This is why after this exhortation too he turns to prayer, teaching us in our trials to leave everything and flee to God. For since he had said, “In the world you will have affliction,” and had shaken their souls, he raises them up again through the prayer. For until then they still attended to him as to a man. And he does these things for their sake, as also in the case of Lazarus, where he gives the reason: “Because of the crowd standing around I said it, that they may believe that you sent me.” “Yes,” someone says, “but in the case of the Jews this reasonably happened; why in the case of the disciples?” In the case of the disciples too, reasonably. For those who, after so much, said, “Now we know that you know all things,” needed above all to be confirmed. [And note] that the evangelist does not even call the thing a prayer; but what does he say? “He lifted up his eyes to heaven”; and he says it was rather a conversation with the Father. And if elsewhere he speaks of prayer, and shows him at one time bending his knees, at another lifting his eyes to heaven, do not be troubled. For by these things we are taught earnestness in our supplications, so that, standing, we may look up, not with the eyes of the flesh only but also with those of the mind, and that we may bend the knee, crushing our own heart. For Christ came not only to show himself, but also to teach unspeakable virtue. And the one who teaches must teach not by words only but also by deeds. Let us hear, then, what he says here: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.” Again he shows us that he comes to the cross not unwillingly. For how, when he even prays for it to happen, and calls the thing glory, not of himself only, who is crucified, but also of the Father? And so it was; for not only the Son but also the Father was glorified. For before the cross not even the Jews knew him: “Israel,” it says, “has not known me”; but after the cross the whole world ran to him. Then he tells the manner of the glory, and how he will glorify him: “As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” For always doing good is glory to God. And what is “As you have given him authority over all flesh”? Meanwhile he shows that the preaching is not confined to the Jews alone, but extends to the whole world, and he lays down beforehand the beginnings of the call of the Gentiles. For since he had said, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles,” and was going to say afterward, “Go, make disciples of all the nations,” he shows that the Father too wills this. For this greatly scandalized the Jews, and the disciples too. For even afterward they did not readily endure to touch the Gentiles, until they received the teaching of the Spirit; for no small scandal arose from this to the Jews. At any rate, after so great a display of the Spirit, Peter, on coming [to Jerusalem], was barely able to escape the charges, by telling the matter of the sheet. And what is “You have given him authority over all flesh”? When did he receive this authority, I will ask the heretics: before forming them, or after forming them? For he himself says, after being crucified and rising. At any rate he then says, “All authority has been given to me. Go, make disciples of all the nations.” What then? Did he not have authority over his own works, but made them and after making them had no authority over them? And yet he plainly does everything himself, in former times too, punishing some as sinners and correcting others when they turned back (“For I will not hide,” it says, “from my servant Abraham what I am about to do”), and honoring others as doing right. Did he then have it then, and lose it now, and receive it again? What demon would say this? And if it is the same authority then and now (“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,” it says, “so also the Son gives life to whom he will”), what is the meaning of what is said? He was going to send them to the Gentiles; so that they might not think [it an innovation], because he had said, “I was sent only to [the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he shows that] this seems good to the Father too. And if he speaks it with great lowliness, it is nothing surprising; for so he built up both them at that time and those after them; and, as I have said, he always persuaded them by the excess of lowliness that what was said was of condescension.

And what is “all flesh”? For certainly not all believed. Yet, as far as his part went, all believed; and if they did not attend to what was said, the blame is not the teacher's, but that of those who did not receive it. “That he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him.” And if here too he speaks in a more human way, do not marvel. For he does this for the reasons already stated, and always guarding against saying anything great about himself, since this offended his hearers, because they did not yet imagine anything great about him. John, at any rate, when he speaks in his own person, does not do so, but leads the discourse up to what is loftier, saying, “All things came into being through him, and without him nothing came into being,” and that he was life, and that he was light, and that he came to his own; not that he did not have authority unless he received it, but that he even gave others “authority to become children of God.” And Paul likewise says that he is equal to God. But he himself asks in a more human way, saying, “That he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” He says “the only true God” in distinction from those who are not gods. For he was going to send them to the Gentiles. But if they will not accept this, but for this reason alone exclude the Son from being true God, going on so they will exclude him from being God at all. For he says, “You do not seek the glory that comes from the only God.” What then? Will the Son not be God? But if the Son is God although the Father alone is so called, it is clear that he is also true, although the Father alone is called true. And what? When Paul says, “Or is it only I and Barnabas?” does he exclude Barnabas? Not at all; for “only” is set in distinction from others. And if he is not true God, how is he the truth? For truth far surpasses what is true. What shall we say, tell me, of one who is not a true human being? Not even a human being, surely. So if the Son is not true God, how is he God? And how does he make us gods and sons, if he is not true? But these things have been discussed more exactly by us elsewhere; therefore let us keep to what follows. “I have glorified you on the earth.” He rightly said, “on the earth”; for in heaven he had been glorified, having the glory in his nature and being worshiped by the angels. So he does not speak of that glory, which is allotted to his essence (for that glory he has in its fullness even if no one glorifies him), but of this which comes from the worship of human beings. So “Glorify me” too is of this kind. And that you may learn that he means this manner of glory, hear what follows: “I have accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” And yet the thing still had only its beginning, or rather not even a beginning. How then does he say, “I have accomplished”? Either that I have done all my part; or he speaks of what will be as already done; or, what one may say above all, that the whole was already done because the root of the good things had been laid down, from which the fruits were necessarily to follow, and because he himself was present at and took part in what was to happen afterward. This is why again he says by condescension, “that you gave me.” For if he had waited to hear and learn, this would fall far short of his glory. For that he came to this of his own will is clear from many places. As when Paul says, “He so loved us as to give himself up for us,” and, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant”; and again, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” “Glorify me, Father, with yourself, with the glory that I had with you before the world was.” And where is that glory? Granted that among human beings he was reasonably without glory, because of the garment he had put on; how does he seek to be glorified with God too? What then does he say here? The discourse is about the dispensation; since the nature of the flesh had not yet been glorified, nor had it enjoyed incorruption, nor shared the royal throne. This is why he did not say, “on the earth,” but “with you.”

We too shall enjoy this glory according to our measure, if we are sober. This is why Paul too says, “If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” Worthy of countless tears, then, are those who, when such glory is set before them, plot against themselves through sloth and sleep; and if there were no hell, they would be the most wretched of all, who, when they could reign and be glorified with the Son of God, deprive themselves of such goods. For if we had to be cut in pieces, if we had to die countless deaths, if we had to give up countless lives and as many bodies every day, should we not undergo so much for such glory? But as it is, we do not even despise money, which later we shall give up even against our will; we do not despise money, which surrounds us with countless evils, which remains here, which is not ours. For we are stewards of what is not ours, even if we have it from our fathers. But when hell too is added, and the worm that does not end, and the unquenchable fire, and the gnashing of teeth, how shall we bear these, tell me? How long shall we not see clearly, but spend everything on daily battles and quarrels and useless words, feeding the earth, fattening the body, and neglecting the soul, taking no account of necessary things, but taking great thought for superfluous and useless ones? And we build splendid tombs, and buy costly houses, and drag about herds of servants of every kind, and devise stewards of various sorts, setting overseers of fields, houses, and money, and overseers over the overseers; but of our soul left desolate we take no account. And what will be the end of these things? Do we not fill one belly? Do we not clothe one body? What is the great tumult of affairs? Why and for what do we cut up and tear the soul that we have received, in the service of such things, devising a harsh slavery for ourselves? For the one who needs many things is the slave of many things, even if he seems to rule them. For the master is the slave of his household servants too, and brings in another, greater form of service; and he is a slave in another way also, not daring to go into the marketplace without them, nor to the bath, nor to the country; but they often go about everywhere without him. But the one who seems to be master, if the slaves are not present, does not dare to go out of the house; and if he even peeps out of the house alone, he thinks himself ridiculous. Perhaps some laugh at us for saying these things; but for this very reason they would be worthy of countless tears. For that this is slavery, I would gladly ask you: if you needed a slave to put the morsel to your mouth, or bring the cup to your lips, would you not think this service worthy of tears? And what if you constantly needed some to carry you in order to walk, would you not think yourself pitiable and more wretched than all for this? So now too we ought to be so disposed. For it makes no difference whether one undergoes these things from irrational creatures or from human beings. And tell me, do not the angels differ from us in this too, that they do not need as much as we? So the fewer things we need, the more we journey toward them; and the more, the more we fall down to this perishable life. And that you may learn that this is so, ask the old what kind of life they count blessed: that when they were vainly mastered, or that when they now master [their passions]? For this is why we called on them, since those drunk with youth do not even know the excess of the slavery. And what of those in fever, when, very thirsty, they drink much and need much, or when, having recovered, they are freed from the craving—when do they count themselves blessed? Do you see that everywhere needing many things is pitiable and far from wisdom, and an increase of slavery and desire? Why then do we willingly increase our wretchedness? For tell me, if it were possible to live without roof and walls and take no harm, would you not rather choose this? Why then do you multiply the tokens of weakness? Do we not count Adam blessed for this, that he needed nothing, neither houses nor clothing? “Yes,” someone says, “but now we are in need.” Why then do we increase the need? For if many cut off much even of what need requires (I mean slaves and houses and money), what defense could we have, overstepping need? The more you surround yourself with, the more slavish you have become. For the more things you need, the more you have cut off your freedom. For perfect freedom is to need nothing at all; and the next after it is to need few things, which the angels above all have, and their imitators. And to achieve this while remaining in a mortal body, consider how great praise it has. Paul too said this, writing to the Corinthians: “But I would spare you,” and, “Such will have affliction in the flesh.” This is why money (chrēmata) is so called, that we may use (chrēsthai) it as is needful, not that we may guard and bury it; for this is not to possess but to be possessed. For if we are going to look to this, how we may make it much, not how we may enjoy it as is needful, the order is overturned, and it possesses us, not we it. Let us then be freed from this harsh slavery, and become free at last. Why do we devise for ourselves countless bonds of every kind? Is the bond of nature not enough for you, and the necessity of life, and the crowd of countless affairs, but do you weave other nets for yourself and throw them around your feet? And when will you lay hold of heaven, and be able to stand on that height? For we may be content, content indeed, if, having cut through all these ropes, we can lay hold of the city above; so many other hindrances are there. That we may overcome them all, let us hold to simplicity. For so we shall lay hold also of eternal life, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.