Homily 12 — John 1, verse 14

“And we saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” [a]

Perhaps the other day we seemed to you needlessly hard on you and burdensome, using language that was too sharp and pressing our reproaches too far against the sluggishness of most people. Now if we had done this merely out of a wish to hurt you, each of you would have had good reason to be angry. But if we were looking to your good, and for that reason passed over in our speech whatever might have pleased you, then even if you will not give us credit for our forethought, you should at least forgive us for the sake of so tender a love. For the truth is, we are very much afraid that if we take pains and you are not willing to show the same diligence in listening, your reckoning to come may be all the more severe. That is why we are forced to rouse you again and again and keep you awake, so that nothing of what is said may escape you. In this way you will be able to live with great confidence now, and to show that confidence on that Day before the judgment seat of Christ. Since, then, we stung you enough the other day, let us today go straight to the words themselves.

“We saw his glory,” he says, “the glory as of the only Son of the Father.”

He has declared that we were made “sons of God,” and he has shown how — namely, by the “Word” being “made flesh.” Now he mentions another advantage that we gain from this same fact. What is it? “We saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father.” We could not have seen it if it had not been shown to us by means of a body like our own. The people of old could not even bear to look at the glorified face of Moses, who shared the same nature as we do. That righteous man needed a veil to shade the purity of his glory and to show them the face of their prophet mild and gentle. If that was so, how could we, creatures of clay and earth, have endured the divine nature unveiled, which cannot be approached even by the powers above? That is why he pitched his tent among us: so that we might come to him with great freedom from fear, and speak to him, and talk with him.

But what does “the glory as of the only Son of the Father” mean? Many of the prophets were glorified too: this same Moses, and Elijah, and Elisha — the one surrounded by the chariot of fire (Second Kings 6, verse 17), the other taken up by it — and after them Daniel and the three young men, and the many others who worked wonders. Angels too have appeared among people and partly revealed to those who saw them the flashing light of their own nature. And not angels only: the prophet saw even the cherubim in great glory, and the seraphim as well. So the evangelist leads us away from all these. He lifts our thoughts away from created things and from the brightness of our fellow servants, and sets us at the very summit of good. For he says: “It was not the glory of a prophet, nor of an angel, nor of an archangel, nor of the higher powers, nor of any other created nature, if there is any other. It was the glory of the Master himself, the King himself, the true only Son himself, the very Lord of all, that we saw.”

For the word “as” does not express likeness or comparison here. It expresses confirmation and a definition beyond question, as though he said: “We saw glory such as was fitting, such as it was natural for him to have who is the only and true Son of God, the King of all.”

This way of speaking is common. I will not refuse to strengthen my argument even from ordinary usage, since my aim now is not to speak with any eye to fine words or elegant composition, but only for your good; so nothing prevents me from establishing my point by an everyday example. What, then, is the way most people talk? Often, when people have seen a king richly dressed and glittering all over with precious stones, and afterward describe to others his beauty, his ornaments, and his splendor, they list as much as they can: the glowing color of the purple robe, the size of the jewels, the whiteness of the mules, the gold on the yoke, the soft and shining couch. But when, after listing these things and others besides, they still cannot, whatever they say, give a full idea of the splendor, they at once add: “But why say so much about it? In a word, he was like a king.” By the word “like” they do not mean to show that the man they are speaking of resembles a king, but that he is a real king. In just the same way the evangelist has put in the word “as,” wanting to set before us the surpassing nature and the incomparable excellence of his glory.

For all the others — angels and archangels and prophets — did everything under orders; but he did everything with the authority that befits a King and Master. That is why even the crowds were amazed that he taught as “one having authority” (Matthew 7, verse 29). Angels too, as I said, have appeared on earth in great glory, as in the case of Daniel, of David, and of Moses; but they did everything as servants who have a Master. He acted as Lord and Ruler of all — and that when he appeared in a poor and humble form. Yet even so, creation recognized her Lord.

The star from heaven called the wise men to worship him. A vast throng of angels, pouring in from everywhere, attended the Lord and sang his praise. Besides them, many other heralds sprang up suddenly, and all of them, as they met, announced to one another the good news of this mystery beyond words: the angels to the shepherds, the shepherds to the people of the town, Gabriel to Mary and Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon to those who came to the temple. And it was not only men and women who were lifted up with joy. The very infant who had not yet come out into the light — I mean the citizen of the wilderness, the namesake of this evangelist — leaped while still in his mother’s womb, and all were soaring with hopes for what was to come. And all this was immediately after the birth.

But when he had shown himself still further, other wonders were seen, greater than the first. Now it was no longer a star or the sky, no longer angels or archangels, not Gabriel or Michael, but the Father himself from heaven above who proclaimed him; and with the Father, the Comforter, flying down as the voice was spoken and resting on him. Truly, then, did he say, “We saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father.”

Yet he says it not only because of these things, but also because of what followed them. For it is no longer only shepherds and widows and old men who announce the good news to us, but the very voice of the events themselves, sounding clearer than any trumpet, and so loud that the sound was heard at once even in this land of ours. For, as one says, “His fame went throughout all Syria” (Matthew 4, verse 24). He revealed himself to all, and everything everywhere cried out that the King of heaven had come. Evil spirits everywhere fled and sprang away from him. Satan covered his face and withdrew. Death retreated before him then, and afterward disappeared altogether. Every kind of illness was loosed: the graves let the dead go free, the demons let go of those they had driven mad, and diseases let go of the sick. [h]

And one could see strange and wonderful things, things the prophets rightly longed to see and did not see. One could see eyes being formed (John 9, verses 6 and 7). One could see him showing everyone, in a short space and on the noblest part of the body, that marvelous thing all would have longed to see: how God formed Adam from the earth. One could see paralyzed and twisted limbs set firm and fitted to one another again, dead hands moving, paralyzed feet leaping with all their strength, ears that had been stopped opened again, and the tongue that speechlessness had tied sounding out aloud. For he had taken in hand the common nature of mankind, as a fine workman might take a house decayed with age: he filled in what had broken off, bound together its cracks and shaken parts, and raised up again what had fallen down entirely.

And what should one say of the reshaping of the soul, which is so much more wonderful than that of the body? The health of our bodies is a great thing; but the health of our souls is as much greater as the soul is better than the body. And not for this reason only. Our bodily nature follows wherever the Creator wants to lead it, and there is nothing in it to resist. But the soul is its own mistress and has power over its own acts, and it does not obey God in everything unless it chooses to. For God will not make it beautiful and excellent if it is unwilling and, so to speak, forced by violence; that is not virtue at all. He must persuade it to become so of its own will and choice. And so this cure is harder than the other. Yet even this succeeded, and every kind of wickedness was driven out. And just as he restored the bodies he healed not merely to health but to the highest vigor, so he did not merely rescue souls from the depths of wickedness, but brought them to the very summit of excellence.

A tax collector became an apostle. A persecutor, a blasphemer, and a violent man appeared as a herald to the world. The Magi became teachers of the Jews. A thief was declared a citizen of paradise. A prostitute shone out by the greatness of her faith. And of the two women, the one from Canaan and the one from Samaria, the Samaritan — another prostitute — took it upon herself to preach the good news to her countrymen, caught a whole city in her net, and so brought them to Christ; while the Canaanite, by her faith and persistence, won the driving out of an evil spirit from her daughter’s soul. And many others far worse than these were at once enrolled in the ranks of the disciples. All at once the illnesses of their bodies and the diseases of their souls were changed, and they were made new, to health and the most exact virtue. And of these there were not two or three, not five or ten, but nations, and they were remade with the greatest ease.

Why speak of the wisdom of his commands, the excellence of the heavenly laws, the good order of the angels’ way of life? For such is the life he has set before us, such are the laws he has appointed for us, such is the way of life he has established, that those who put these things into practice at once become angels, and like God as far as it lies in our power, even though they may have been worse than anyone.

So the evangelist gathered all these things together — the wonders in our bodies, in our souls, in the first teachings of our faith; the commands, those gifts beyond words and higher than the heavens; the laws, the way of life, the persuasion, the promises to come, his sufferings — and uttered that saying so wonderful and so full of lofty teaching: “We saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.” [m]

For we marvel at him not only because of the miracles but also because of his sufferings: that he was nailed to the cross, that he was scourged, that he was beaten, that he was spat on, that he took blows on the cheek from those he had done good to. Even of these very things that seem shameful it is right to repeat the same words, since he himself called that deed “glory.” For what took place then was proof not only of kindness and love, but also of power beyond words. At that time death was abolished, the curse was loosed, the demons were put to shame, led in triumph, and made a public show of, and the handwritten record of our sins was nailed to the cross.

And since these wonders were being done unseen, others took place openly, showing that he was truly the only Son of God, the Lord of all creation. While that blessed body still hung on the tree, the sun turned away its rays, the whole earth was troubled and grew dark, the graves were opened, the ground quaked, and a countless multitude of the dead leaped out and went into the city. And while the stones of his tomb were fastened over the vault and the seals were still on them, the Dead One rose — the Crucified, the one pierced by the nails. He filled his eleven disciples with his mighty power and sent them to people throughout the whole world: to be the common healers of the whole human race, to correct their way of living, to spread through every part of the earth the knowledge of their heavenly teachings, to break down the tyranny of the demons, to teach those great blessings beyond words, and to bring us the good news of the soul’s immortality, of the eternal life of the body, and of rewards beyond imagining that will never end.

These things, then, and more than these, the blessed evangelist had in mind — things he knew but could not write, because the world could not have held them. (For if everything “were written down one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written”; John 21, verse 25.) Reflecting, then, on all these, he cries out, “We saw his glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

It is right, therefore, for those who have been counted worthy to see and hear such things, and who have enjoyed so great a gift, to show a life worthy of the teachings too, so that they may also enjoy the good things laid up there. For our Lord Jesus Christ came not only so that we might see his glory here, but also the glory that is to come. That is why he says, “I want these also to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory” (John 17, verse 24). Now if the glory here was so bright and splendid, what can one say of the glory to come? For it will appear not on this corruptible earth, nor while we are in perishable bodies, but in a creation that is imperishable and never grows old — a glory such as no one can even put into words. O blessed, three times blessed, yes, many times blessed are those who are counted worthy to see that glory! It is of this that the prophet says, “Let the unrighteous man be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord” (Isaiah 26, verse 10, in the Greek Old Testament).

God grant that not one of us may be taken away or ever shut out from seeing it! For if we do not enjoy it hereafter, then it is time to say of ourselves, “It would have been good for us if we had never been born.” For why do we live and breathe? What are we, if we miss that sight, if no one grants us then to see our Lord? Those who do not see the light of the sun live a life more bitter than any death. What, then, are those likely to suffer who are deprived of that light? In the one case the loss is limited to this one deprivation. In the other it does not stop there. (Though even if this were the only thing to be feared, the punishments would still not be equal: the one would be as much more severe than the other as that sun is beyond all comparison greater than this one.) But as it is, we must expect other punishment as well. For whoever does not see that light must not only be led away into darkness, but must be burned without end, and waste away, and gnash his teeth, and suffer ten thousand other dreadful things.

So let us not make this brief time a time of carelessness and slackness, and so let ourselves fall into everlasting punishment. Let us keep watch and be sober. Let us do everything, and make it our whole business, to reach that happiness and to keep far from that river of fire which rushes with a loud roar before the terrible judgment seat. For whoever has once been thrown in there must stay forever. There is no one to deliver him from his punishment: not father, not mother, not brother. The prophets themselves declared this aloud. One says, “A brother does not deliver a brother; will a man deliver?” (Psalm 49, verse 7, in the Greek Old Testament). And Ezekiel has declared something more than this, saying, “Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they will deliver neither sons nor daughters” (Ezekiel 14, verse 16). For there is one defense only, the one that comes through works, and whoever is deprived of it cannot be saved by any other means.

So, turning these things over and reflecting on them constantly, let us cleanse our life and make it shine, so that we may see the Lord with confidence and obtain the good things promised, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.