Homily 53 — John 8, verses 20 to 30

“Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.” [a]

What folly the Jews showed! They had been looking for him before the Passover. Then, when they found him right in the middle of them, and had often tried to seize him, by their own hands or by others’, and could not, they were not even awed by his power. They held fast to their wickedness and did not let up. For the evangelist tells us that they kept making the attempt: “He spoke these words in the treasury, teaching in the temple; and no one laid hands on him.”

He spoke in the temple, and in the role of a teacher, which was all the more likely to rouse them. And he spoke the very things that stung them and made them accuse him of making himself equal to the Father; the words “the witness of two men is true” show this. And yet, it says, “he spoke these words in the temple,” in the role of a teacher, “and no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come” — that is, it was not yet the fitting time for him to be crucified. So even then, what was done did not lie in their power but in his own arrangement. They had wanted it for a long time, but they had not been able; and they would not have been able even then if he had not consented.

Verse 21: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will look for me.’”

Why does he keep saying this? To shame their souls and to frighten them. Look what fear this saying caused in them. Though they wanted to kill him so as to be rid of him, they still ask “where he is going,” such great things did they imagine from it. He also wanted to show them something else: that what would be done would not be carried out by their force. He showed it to them beforehand in a veiled way, and by these words he was already foretelling the resurrection.

Verse 22: “Then the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself?’”

What does Christ do, then? To remove their suspicion, and to show that such an act is a sin, he says, in verse 23, “You are from below.” What he means is something like this: “It is no wonder that you imagine such things, you who are people of the flesh and have no spiritual thoughts. But I will do nothing of the kind, for ‘I am from above; you are of the world.’”

Here again he is speaking of their worldly and fleshly way of thinking. From this it is clear that “I am not of this world” does not mean that he had not taken flesh, but that he was far removed from their wickedness. For he even says that his disciples were “not of the world” (John 15, verse 19), and yet they had flesh. So just as Paul, when he says, “You are not in the flesh” (Romans 8, verse 9), does not mean that they are bodiless, so Christ, when he says that his disciples are “not of the world,” is doing nothing else than bearing witness to their heavenly wisdom.

Verse 24: “So I told you that … if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

For if he came to take away the sin of the world, and if it is impossible for people to put it off any other way except by the washing, then the one who does not believe must depart from here still having the old man. The one who will not kill and bury that old man by faith will die in him, and will go away to that place to suffer the punishment for his former sins. That is why he said, “The one who does not believe is judged already” (John 3, verse 18) — not merely because he does not believe, but because he departs from here with his former sins still on him.

Verse 25: “Then they said to him, ‘Who are you?’”

What folly! After so long a time, after such signs and such teaching, they ask, “Who are you?” What does Christ say, then? “The same thing I told you from the beginning.” What he means is something like this: “You are not worthy to hear my words at all, much less to learn who I am. For everything you say, you say to test me, and you pay attention to none of my sayings. And I could prove all this against you now.” For this is the sense of verse 26: “I have many things to say about you and to judge.” “I could not only prove you guilty; I could punish you too. But the one who sent me, that is, the Father, does not want this. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world” — since, as he says, “God did not send his Son to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 3, verse 17). “If, then, he has sent me for this, and he is true, I have good reason to judge no one now. The things I speak are the things that lead to your salvation, not to your condemnation.” He speaks this way so that they would not think it was out of weakness that, after hearing so much from them, he did not go to extremes, or that he did not know their secret thoughts and their mockery.

Verse 27: “They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.” What folly! He never stopped speaking about him, and they did not recognize him. Then, since after working many signs and teaching them he had not drawn them to himself, he next speaks to them about the cross, saying, in verses 28 and 29: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am, and that I do not speak on my own, and that the one who sent me is with me. And the Father has not left me alone.”

He is showing that he was right to say, “The same thing I told you from the beginning” — so little attention did they pay to his words. “When you have lifted up the Son of Man”: “Don’t you expect that then you will certainly be rid of me, and kill me? But I tell you that it is then above all that you will know that I Am, because of the miracles, the resurrection, and the destruction of Jerusalem.” For all these things were enough to make his power plain. He did not say, “Then you will know who I am.” Rather, he says: “When you see that I suffer no harm from death, then you will know that I Am — that is, the Christ, the Son of God, the one who governs all things and is not opposed to him.” That is why he adds, “and I speak nothing on my own.” “For you will know both my power and my oneness of mind with the Father.” The words “I speak nothing on my own” show that his essence does not differ from the Father’s, and that he says nothing except what is in the Father’s mind. “For when you have been driven out of your place of worship, and are no longer allowed even to serve him as you have until now, then you will know that he does this to avenge me, and because he is angry with those who would not listen to me.” It is as though he had said: “If I were an enemy of God and a stranger to him, he would not have stirred up such wrath against you.” [g]

Isaiah declares this too: “He will give the wicked in return for his burial” (Isaiah 53, verse 9, in the Greek Old Testament). So does David: “Then he will speak to them in his wrath” (Psalm 2, verse 5). And so does Christ himself: “Look, your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23, verse 38). His parables declare the same thing, when he says, “What will the lord of that vineyard do to those tenant farmers? He will miserably destroy those wicked men” (Matthew 21, verses 40 and 41). Do you see that everywhere he speaks this way because he is not yet believed?

But if he himself is going to destroy them, as he is — for “Bring here,” it says, “those who did not want me to reign over them, and kill them” — why does he say that the deed is not his but his Father’s? He is speaking to their weakness, and at the same time honoring the one who begot him. That is why he did not say, “I leave your house desolate,” but that it “is left”: he put it without naming who does it. But by saying, “How often I would have gathered your children together, and you would not,” and then adding, “is left,” he shows that he was the one who brought about the desolation. He is telling them: “Since, when you were helped and healed of your sicknesses, you would not know me, you will know by being punished who I am.”

“And the Father is with me.” So that they would not think “the one who sent me” was a mark of inferiority, he says, “is with me.” The first belongs to the plan of salvation, the second to his divinity.

“And he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please him.”

Again he has brought his words down to a humbler level, continually setting himself against what they were claiming: that he was not from God, and that he did not keep the Sabbath. To this he replies, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him,” showing that it was pleasing to him even that the Sabbath should be broken. So too, for example, just before the crucifixion he said, “Do you think that I cannot call on my Father?” (Matthew 26, verse 53). And yet by merely saying, “Whom are you looking for?” (John 18, verses 4 and 6) he threw them backward to the ground. Why, then, does he not say, “Do you think that I cannot destroy you?” when he had proved this by what he did? He is stooping down to meet their weakness. For he took great pains to show that he did nothing contrary to the Father. So he speaks rather in the manner of a man; and just as “he has not left me alone” was spoken this way, so was “I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Verse 30: “As he spoke these words, many believed in him.”

When he brought his speech down to a humble level, many believed in him. Do you still ask why he speaks humbly? Yet the evangelist plainly hinted at this when he said, “As he spoke these things, many believed in him.” By this he is all but proclaiming aloud to us: “Listener, do not be thrown into confusion if you hear some humble expression. Those who, after such lofty teaching, were still not persuaded that he was from the Father had good reason to be given humbler words to hear, so that they might believe.” And this serves as a defense of the humble expressions still to come. They believed, then, but not as they should have: carelessly, and as if by chance, pleased and refreshed by the humility of the words. That they did not have complete faith, the evangelist shows by what they say afterward, when they insult him again. And he has made it clear that these are the very same people by saying, in verse 31: “Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word.’”

This shows that they had not yet received his teaching, but were only listening to his words. That is why he speaks more sharply. Before, he simply said, “You will look for me” (John 7, verse 34); but now he adds something more: “You will die in your sins” (John 8, verse 21). And he shows how: “Because when you have come to that place, you cannot plead with me afterward.”

“The things I speak to the world.” By these words he showed that he was now going out to the Gentiles. But because they still did not know that he was speaking to them about the Father, he speaks about him again, and the evangelist has set down the reason for the humility of the expressions.

If, then, we search the Scriptures in this way, carefully and not carelessly, we will be able to attain our salvation. If we keep dwelling on them, we will learn right teaching and a perfect way of life. Even if someone is very hard, stubborn, and proud, and gets nothing out of it at other times, he will still gain some fruit from this time and receive benefit — if not so much that he is aware of it, he will still receive it. If a man who passes by a perfumer’s shop, or sits in one, is soaked with the scent even against his will, how much more is this true of someone who comes to church! For just as idleness is born of idleness, so work produces a ready mind. Even if you are full of ten thousand sins, even if you are impure, do not avoid spending time here. [o]

Someone may say: “What is the point, if I hear and do not do it?” It is no small gain to count oneself wretched. This fear is not useless; this dread is not out of season. If only you groan because “I hear and do not do it,” you will certainly come to the doing too, sooner or later. For it cannot be that someone who speaks with God and hears God speak should gain nothing.

We compose ourselves at once and wash our hands when we want to take the Bible into them. Do you see how much reverence there is here even before the reading? And if we go on carefully, we will reap great benefit. We would not have washed our hands unless it helped to put the soul in a reverent frame. And a woman, if she is unveiled, puts on her veil at once, giving proof of the reverence within; and a man, if his head is covered, bares it. Do you see how the outward behavior proclaims the reverence within? Then, too, the one who sits and listens often groans and condemns the life he is living now.

So, beloved, let us pay attention to the Scriptures. If not the rest, then let the Gospels at least be the object of our earnest care; let us keep them in our hands. For as soon as you open the book, you will see the name of Christ there, and you will hear someone say, “The birth of Jesus Christ was like this. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1, verse 18). Whoever hears this will at once long for virginity, will marvel at the birth, will be set free from earthly things. It is no small thing when you see the Virgin counted worthy of the Spirit, and an angel talking with her.

And that is only on the surface. If you persevere and go on to the end, you will loathe everything that belongs to this life and laugh at all worldly things. If you are rich, you will think nothing of wealth when you hear that the wife of a carpenter, a woman of humble family, became the mother of your Lord. If you are poor, you will not be ashamed of your poverty when you hear that the Creator of the world was not ashamed of the lowliest dwelling. Thinking about this, you will not rob, you will not be greedy, you will not take other people’s goods; you will rather be a lover of poverty and despise wealth. And if that is so, you will banish every evil. Again, when you see him lying in a manger, you will not be eager to dress your child in golden clothes, or to have your wife’s couch inlaid with silver. And if you do not care about these things, you will not do the deeds of greed and robbery either, which they give rise to. There are many other things you may gain that I cannot list one by one; but those who have tried it will know.

So I urge you to get Bibles, and together with the Bibles to keep the thoughts they set out, and to write them in your minds. Because the Jews paid no attention, they were commanded to hang their books from their hands. But we do not even keep ours in our hands, only in our houses, when we ought to stamp them on our hearts. Cleansing our present life in this way, we will obtain the good things to come. May we all attain them, 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, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.