Homily 27 — John 3, verses 12 to 16

“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.” [a]

What I have often said, I will now say again, and I will not stop saying it. What is that? That when Jesus is about to touch on lofty teachings, he often holds himself back because of the weakness of his hearers. He does not dwell for long on subjects worthy of his greatness, but rather on those that involve his stooping down to meet them. For something lofty and great, said just once, is enough to establish that truth, as far as we are able to hear it. But unless humbler sayings, close to what the hearers could grasp, were spoken again and again, the loftier ones would not easily take hold of a listener who crawls along the ground. That is why more of Christ’s sayings are humble than lofty.

Yet so that this in its turn would not do a different kind of harm, by keeping the learner down here below, he does not simply set his lesser sayings before people without first telling them why he speaks them. That is in fact what he has done in this place. He had said what he said about baptism, and about the birth by grace that takes place on earth. Then, wanting to bring them in to his own birth, mysterious and beyond understanding, he holds it back for a while and does not bring them in, and then tells them his reason for not doing so. What is it? The dullness and weakness of his hearers. It was to this that he pointed when he added the words, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” So wherever he says anything ordinary and humble, we must put it down to the weakness of his audience.

Some say the expression “earthly things” is used here of the wind, as if he meant, “If I have given you an example from earthly things and even so you did not believe, how will you be able to learn loftier things?” And do not be surprised if he calls baptism an “earthly” thing here. He calls it that either because it is carried out on earth, or by comparison with his own most awe-inspiring birth. For although this birth of ours is heavenly, compared with that true birth, which is from the Father’s essence, it is earthly.

He does not say, “You have not understood,” but, “You have not believed.” When a person is badly disposed toward things the mind is able to grasp, and will not readily accept them, he may fairly be charged with a lack of understanding. But when he does not accept things that cannot be grasped by reasoning, but only by faith, the charge against him is no longer a lack of understanding, but unbelief. So, to lead Nicodemus away from probing what had been said by reasoning, he strikes him harder by charging him with a lack of faith. Now if we must accept our own birth by faith, what do those people deserve who busy themselves with reasonings about the birth of the only Son?

But perhaps someone will ask: “If the hearers were not going to believe these sayings, why were they spoken at all?” Because even if they did not believe, those who came after would believe them and profit by them. So, having touched him to the quick, Christ goes on to show that he knows not only these things but others too, far more and far greater than these. He made this plain by what follows, when he said, “And no one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.”

Someone asks: “And what kind of sequel is that?” The very closest, and entirely in keeping with what came before. Nicodemus had said, “We know that you are a teacher come from God.” On this very point Christ sets him right, all but saying: “Do not think of me as a teacher in the way many of the prophets were, who were of the earth. I have only now come from heaven. None of the prophets has gone up there, but I live there.” Do you see how even what sounds most exalted is quite unworthy of his greatness? For he is not in heaven only, but everywhere, and he fills all things. Yet he speaks to suit his hearer’s weakness, wanting to lead him upward little by little. And in this place it is not the flesh that he called “Son of Man”; he has named, so to speak, his whole self from the lesser nature. Indeed this is his habit: often he calls his whole person by his divinity, and often by his humanity.

Verse 14: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” This too seems to hang on what came before, and it too is very closely connected with it. Having spoken of the very great benefit that had come to humankind through baptism, he goes on to mention another benefit, which was the cause of that one and not inferior to it: the benefit that comes by the cross. Paul too, arguing with the Corinthians, sets these benefits side by side when he says, “Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?” For these two things above all show his love, which is beyond words: that he suffered for his enemies, and that, having died for his enemies, he freely gave them through baptism the complete forgiveness of their sins.

But why did he not say plainly, “I am going to be crucified,” instead of sending his hearers back to the ancient type? First, so that you may learn that the old things are related to the new, and that the one is not foreign to the other. Next, so that you may know that he did not come to his suffering unwillingly. And besides these reasons, so that you may learn that no harm comes to him from the event, while salvation springs up from it for many. For so that no one may say, “How is it possible that those who believe in one who was crucified should be saved, when he himself is held by death?” he takes us back to the ancient story. Now if the Jews escaped death by looking at the bronze image of a serpent, those who believe in the Crucified One will with good reason enjoy a far greater benefit. For this happens not through any weakness in the Crucified One, or because the Jews are stronger than he, but because “God loved the world.” That is why his living temple is fastened to the cross. [f]

Verse 15: “So that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Do you see the cause of the crucifixion, and the salvation that comes by it? Do you see how the type is related to the reality? There the Jews escaped death, but the death of this passing life; here believers escape the eternal death. There the serpent that was hung up healed the bites of serpents; here the crucified Jesus cured the wounds made by the spiritual dragon. There the one who looked with his bodily eyes was healed; here the one who looks with the eyes of his understanding has put off all his sins. There what hung was bronze shaped into the likeness of a serpent; here it was the Lord’s body, built by the Spirit. There a serpent bit and a serpent healed; here death destroyed, and a death saved.

But the snake that destroyed had venom, and the one that saved was free of venom. So it was here too: the death that killed us had sin with it, as the serpent had venom; but the Lord’s death was free from all sin, as the bronze serpent was free from venom. For, as Peter says, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (First Peter 2, verse 22). And this is what Paul also declares: “And having stripped the rulers and authorities, he made a public show of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2, verse 15). A noble champion makes his victory more glorious by lifting his opponent high and dashing him down. In the same way Christ, in the sight of the whole world, threw down the hostile powers; and having healed those who were bitten in the wilderness, he set them free from all the venomous beasts that harassed them, by hanging on the cross. Yet he did not say “must hang,” but “must be lifted up.” He used this term, which seemed milder, because of his hearer, and because it suited the type.

Verse 16: “God so loved the world,” he says, “that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What he means is something like this: “Do not be amazed that I am to be lifted up so that you may be saved. This is what seems good to the Father, and he has loved you so much that he gives his Son for slaves, and ungrateful slaves at that.” Yet a man would not do this even for a friend, nor readily even for a righteous man, as Paul declared when he said, “Scarcely for a righteous man will anyone die” (Romans 5, verse 7). Paul spoke at greater length, since he was speaking to believers. Here Christ speaks briefly, because his words were addressed to Nicodemus; but he speaks all the more pointedly, for every word carried great weight. By the expression “so loved,” and by setting “God” over against “the world,” he shows the great strength of his love. Vast, infinite was the distance between the two. He is the immortal one, without beginning, the infinite Majesty; they are dust and ashes, full of ten thousand sins, ungrateful people who have offended him at every moment. And these he “loved.” Again, the words he added after these are just as meaningful, when he says that “he gave his only Son”: not a servant, not an angel, not an archangel. And yet no one would show such concern for his own child as God showed for his ungrateful servants.

So his suffering he sets before him not very openly, but rather in veiled words; the benefit of his suffering, though, he adds more clearly, saying, “So that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He had said “must be lifted up,” and hinted at death. So that the hearer would not be cast down by these words, forming some merely human opinion of him and supposing that his death meant ceasing to exist, notice how he sets this right, by saying that the one who was given was “the Son of God,” and the cause of life, of everlasting life. He who won life for others by death would not himself remain in death forever. For if those who believed in the Crucified One do not perish, far less does the one who was crucified perish. He who takes away the want of others is far more free of it himself. He who gives life to others, far more does he pour out life for himself. Do you see that faith is needed everywhere? For he calls the cross the fountain of life, which reason cannot easily accept, as the pagans testify even now by their mocking. But faith, which goes beyond the weakness of reasoning, may easily receive it and hold on to it. And where did God’s loving the world so much come from? From no other source but his goodness alone.

Let us be put to shame by his love; let us blush at the excess of his love for humankind. For our sakes he did not spare his only Son, yet we spare our wealth, to our own harm. For us he gave his own Son, yet for him we will not even think lightly of money — no, not even for our own sakes. How can these things deserve pardon? If we see a man undergo suffering and death for us, we set him above everyone else. We count him among our closest friends, put everything we own into his hands, and consider it his more than ours; and even so we do not think we are giving him the return he deserves. But toward Christ we do not keep even this much right feeling. He laid down his life for us and poured out his precious blood for our sakes, though we were neither well disposed nor good. Yet we do not pour out even our money for our own sakes, and we neglect him who died for us when he is naked and a stranger. Who will rescue us from the punishment to come? [l]

Suppose it were not God who punishes, but we who punished ourselves. Would we not cast our vote against ourselves? Would we not sentence ourselves to the very fire of hell, for letting him who laid down his life for us waste away with hunger? But why do I speak of money? If we had ten thousand lives, ought we not to lay them all down for him? And even then we could not do what his kindnesses deserve. For the one who does a kindness first gives clear proof of his goodness; but the one who has received a kindness, whatever return he makes, is paying back a debt, not bestowing a favor — especially when the one who did the first good turn was doing good to his enemies. And the one who repays both gives his gifts to a benefactor and reaps their fruit himself besides.

But not even this moves us. We are more foolish than anyone. We put golden necklaces on our servants and on our mules and horses, and we neglect our Lord, who goes about naked and passes from door to door, who always stands in our lanes and stretches out his hands to us; and often we look at him with pitiless eyes. Yet he goes through these very things for our sake. Gladly does he go hungry so that you may be fed; naked he goes so that he may provide you with the material for a garment that never decays. Yet not even so will you give up any of what is yours. Some of your clothes are moth-eaten; others are a burden to your chests and a needless trouble to their owners; while he who gave you these and everything else you have goes naked.

But perhaps you do not lay them away in your chests; you wear them and make yourself fine with them. And what do you gain by that? Is it that the people in the street may see you? What of it? They will not admire you for wearing such clothes, but the man who gives clothes to the needy. So if you want to be admired, you will win boundless applause instead by clothing others. Then God as well as people will praise you. As it is, no one can praise you, and everyone will resent you, seeing your body finely dressed and your soul neglected. Prostitutes, too, have their finery, and their clothes are often unusually costly and splendid; but the adornment of the soul belongs only to those who live in virtue.

I say these things all the time, and I will not stop saying them — not so much because I care for the poor as because I care for your souls. For they will have some comfort, if not from you, then from somewhere else. Or even if they get no comfort, but die of hunger, the harm to them will be no great matter. What harm did poverty and wasting away with hunger do to Lazarus? But no one can rescue you from hell if you do not have the help of the poor. We will say to you what was said to the rich man, who burned on without end and found no comfort. God grant that no one ever hears those words, but that all may go into the bosom of Abraham, by 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.