Homily 72 — John 13, verses 20 to 35

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” [a]

Great is the reward for the care we show to the servants of God, and of itself it yields its fruits to us. For “whoever receives you,” it says, “receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me” (Matthew 10, verse 40). Now what can equal receiving Christ and his Father? But what connection does this have with what was said before? What does it have in common with what he had just said, “If you do these things, happy are you,” to add, “Whoever receives you”? A close connection, and a very harmonious one. See how.

They were about to go out and suffer many terrible things, so he comforts them in two ways: one drawn from himself, the other drawn from others. “For if you are truly wise,” he says, “always keeping me in mind, and carrying about with you everything I said and everything I did, you will easily endure terrible things. And not in this way only, but also because you will enjoy great care from everyone.” The first point he made when he said, “If you do these things, happy are you”; the second when he said, “Whoever receives you receives me.” For he opened everyone’s houses to them, so that they might have a double comfort: from the good sense of their own way of life, and from the eagerness of those who would look after them.

Then, when he had given them these instructions as men about to travel through the whole world, he reflected that the traitor was cut off from both these things and would enjoy neither of them, neither endurance in hardships nor the service of kind hosts, and he was troubled again. The evangelist, to point this out as well, and to show that it was on the traitor’s account that he was troubled, adds:

Verse 21: “When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’”

Again he makes them all afraid by not naming the traitor. [b]

Verse 22: “But they are in doubt.”

They were in doubt although they were aware of nothing wrong in themselves; but they thought Christ’s declaration more to be trusted than their own thoughts. That is why they “looked at one another.” By laying the whole thing on one man, Jesus would have cut short their fear; but by adding “one of you,” he troubled them all.

What then? The rest looked at one another, but Peter, always so fervent, “beckons” to John. He had been rebuked before, and when Christ wanted to wash him he would have stopped him; and everywhere he is found moved by love, it is true, yet reproved. Being afraid for this reason, he neither kept quiet nor spoke out, but wanted to find out by means of John.

But it is a question worth asking: when all were distressed and trembling, and their leader was afraid, why does John, like a man at ease, lean on Jesus’ bosom, and not only lean there, but even lie on his breast? Nor is this the only thing worth inquiring into; so is what follows. What is that? What he says about himself: “whom Jesus loved.” Why did no one else say this about himself? The others were loved too. But he was loved more than any. And if no one else said this about him, but he said it about himself, that is nothing to wonder at. Paul too does the same when the occasion calls for it, saying, “I knew a man fourteen years ago.” And in fact John has gone through other praises of himself, and no small ones.

Does it seem a small thing to you that when he heard, “Follow me,” he immediately left his nets and his father and followed; and that Christ took him alone with Peter up the mountain (Matthew 17, verse 1), and another time again when he went into a house (Luke 8, verse 51)? And what high praise he himself gives Peter too, without concealing it, telling us that Christ said, “Peter, do you love me more than these?” (John 21, verse 15). Everywhere he shows him as warm, and nobly disposed toward himself. For instance, when Peter said, “Lord, and what will this man do?” he spoke from great love.

But why did no one else say this about him? Because John himself would not have said it either, had he not come to this passage. For if, after telling us that Peter beckoned to John to ask, he had added nothing more, he would have caused considerable doubt and forced us to look for the reason. So, to settle this difficulty himself, he says, “He lay on the bosom of Jesus.” Do you think you have learned a little thing when you hear that “he lay” there, and that their Teacher allowed them such freedom? If you want to know the cause of it, the thing came from love; that is why he says, “whom Jesus loved.”

I suppose John also does this for another reason: he wants to show that he was clear of the charge, and so he speaks openly and with confidence. Again, why did he use these words at no other point, but only when the chief of the apostles beckoned? So that you would not think Peter beckoned to him as the greater of the two, he says that it happened because of the great love Jesus had for him.

But why does he even lie on his bosom? They had not yet formed any lofty ideas about him. Besides, in this way he eased their dejection, for their faces were probably clouded over at this moment; and if they were troubled in their souls, much more would they be so in their looks. So, to soothe them by his words and by the question, he prepares the way beforehand and lets John lean on his breast. Notice his modesty too: he does not give his own name, but says, “whom he loved,” just as Paul said, “I knew a man about fourteen years ago.” Now for the first time Jesus exposed the traitor, yet not even now by name. How, then?

Verse 26: “It is he to whom I will give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” Even the manner of it was meant to put him to shame. He had no regard for the table, though he shared its bread. Let that pass. But receiving the piece of bread from Christ’s own hand — whom would that not have won over? Yet it did not win him. [f]

Verse 27: “Then Satan entered into him,” laughing at him for his shamelessness. As long as he belonged to the band of disciples, Satan did not dare to leap on him, but attacked him from outside. But when Christ exposed him and separated him, then he leaped on him without fear. It was not fitting to keep inside a man of such a character, who had stayed incorrigible for so long. So Christ cast him out from then on, and then that other seized him, cut off as he was; and Judas left them and went out by night.

“Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, what you are doing, do quickly.’”

Verse 28: “Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.”

What amazing callousness! How could he be neither softened nor shamed, but made even more shameless, so that he “went out”? The “do quickly” is not the word of one commanding, or of one advising, but of one reproaching him, and showing that he had wanted to correct him but, since he was incorrigible, was letting him go. And this, the evangelist says, “no one of those at the table knew.”

Someone may perhaps find a considerable difficulty here. The disciples had asked, “Who is it?” and he had answered, “The one to whom I will give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” How is it that even so they did not understand? Unless, indeed, he said it secretly, so that no one would hear. For this very reason John, leaning on his breast, asked him almost right at his ear, so that the traitor would not be exposed; and Christ answered in the same way, so that not even then did he reveal him. And though he spoke pointedly, “Friend, what you are doing, do quickly,” even so they did not understand.

But he spoke this way to show that what he had said to the Jews about his death was true. For he had said to them, “I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again,” and, “No one takes it from me” (John 10, verse 18). As long as he chose to keep it, then, no one was able to take it; but when he gave it up, then the deed became easy. All this he implied when he said, “What you are doing, do quickly.”

Yet not even then did he expose him, for perhaps the others would have torn him to pieces, or Peter would have killed him. That is why “no one at the table knew.” Not even John? Not even he, for he could not have expected that a disciple would reach such a pitch of wickedness. Since they were far from such evil themselves, they could not suspect such things of others. Just as earlier he had told them, “I am not speaking about all of you” (John 13, verse 18), yet did not reveal the person, so here they thought the words were said about some other matter.

“It was night,” the evangelist says, when he went out. “Why tell me the time?” So that you may learn how headstrong he was: not even the hour held him back from his purpose. Yet not even this made him fully known. The others were in confusion at this time, taken up with fear and deep distress, and did not know the true reason for what had been said, but supposed he spoke this way so that Judas would give something to the poor. For he cared greatly for the poor, teaching us too to take great pains over this. [h]

They did not think this without cause, but “because he had the money bag.” Yet no one appears to have brought money to him. That the women disciples supported him from their own means, Scripture has said (Luke 8, verse 3), but this it has nowhere indicated. But how did he who told his disciples to carry neither bag, nor money, nor staff, carry a money bag himself, to serve the poor? So that you may learn that even someone in extreme need, and crucified, must take great care over this. For many things he did by way of arrangement, for our instruction.

The disciples, then, thought he said this so that Judas would give something to the poor. And not even this shamed him: that Christ was unwilling, right up to the last day, to make a public example of him. We too ought to do the same, and not parade the sins of our companions, even if they are incurable. For even after this he gave a kiss to the man who came to betray him, and bore such a deed as that, and then went on to something far more daring, the cross itself, the death of shame; and there again he showed his love for humankind.

And here he calls it “glory,” showing us that there is nothing so shameful and disgraceful that it does not make the one who goes to it more glorious, if it is done according to the will of God. At any rate, after Judas had gone out to betray him, he says:

Verse 31: “Now is the Son of Man glorified.”

In this way he rouses the dejected thoughts of the disciples, and persuades them not only not to lose heart, but even to rejoice. That is why he rebuked Peter at the start; for one who has been in death to overcome death is great glory. And this is what he said of himself: “When I am lifted up, then you will know that I am” (John 8, verse 28); and again, “Destroy this temple” (John 2, verse 19); and again, “No sign will be given to you but the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12, verse 39). For how can it be anything but great glory to be able, even after death, to do greater things than before death? For in order that the resurrection might be believed, the disciples did do greater things. But unless he were alive, and were God, how could these men have done such things in his name? [k]

Verse 32: “And God will glorify him.”

What does “And God will glorify him in himself” mean? It means “by means of himself, not by means of another.”

“And will glorify him at once.”

That is, “at the same time as the cross.” “For it will not be after a long time,” he says, “nor will he wait for the distant time of the resurrection and only then show him glorious; but at once, on the cross itself, his glories will appear.” And so the sun was darkened, the rocks were split, the veil of the temple was torn in two, many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose; the tomb had its seals, the guards sat by it, and while a stone lay over the body, the body rose. Forty days passed, and the gift of the Spirit came, and they all at once preached him. [l]

This is what “will glorify him in himself, and will glorify him at once” means: not by angels or archangels, not by any other power, but by himself. But how did the Father also glorify him by himself? By doing everything for the glory of the Son. Yet it was the Son who did everything. Do you see how he credits the Father with the things he did himself?

Verse 33: “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. And as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.” He now begins words of sorrow, after the supper. For when Judas went out it was no longer evening, but night. And since they were about to come shortly, it was necessary to set everything before the disciples, so that they might keep it in memory; or rather, the Spirit brought everything back to their minds.

For they were likely to forget many things, since they were hearing them for the first time and were about to undergo such trials. They were men weighed down with sleep, as another evangelist says (Luke 22, verse 45), men possessed by dejection, as Christ himself says: “Because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts” (John 16, verse 6). How could they retain all these things exactly? Why, then, were they spoken? It was no small gain to them, for their opinion of Christ, that later, when they were reminded, they knew for certain that they had heard these things from Christ long before.

But why does he first cast down their souls, saying, “Yet a little while I am with you”? “To the Jews it was said with reason; but why do you put us in exactly the same class as those obstinate men?” He by no means did so.

“Then why did he say, ‘As I said to the Jews’?” He reminded them that he was not warning them of these things now because troubles were upon them, but that he had foreknown them from the first; and they were witnesses who had heard him say these things to the Jews. That is why he also added the words “little children,” so that when they heard, “As I said to the Jews,” they would not think the expression was meant in the same sense toward them. He spoke this way, then, not to depress them but to comfort them, so that their dangers would not trouble them beyond measure by coming on them suddenly.

“Where I am going, you cannot come.” He shows that his death is a removal, and a change for the better, to a place that does not admit bodies subject to decay. He says this both to stir up their love for him and to make it more fervent. You know that when we see one of our dearest friends leaving us, our affection is at its warmest, and all the more when we see them going to a place where it is not even possible for us to go. He said these things, then, to terrify the Jews, but to kindle longing in the disciples.

“The place is such that not only they, but not even you, my best beloved, can come there.” Here he also shows his own dignity. [n]

“So now I say to you.” Why “now”? “In one way to them, to you in another”; that is, “not together with them.” But when did the Jews look for him, and when the disciples? The disciples, when they fled; the Jews, when they suffered miseries beyond endurance and beyond all description at the capture of their city, when the wrath of God bore down on them from every side. To the Jews, then, he said it back then because of their unbelief, “but to you now, so that troubles will not come on you unexpectedly.”

Verse 34: “A new commandment I give to you.”

Since they were likely to be troubled when they heard these things, as though they were about to be abandoned, he comforts them by investing them with love, the root of all blessings and their safeguard. It is as though he said, “Do you grieve that I am going away? No; if you love one another, you will be the stronger.” Why, then, did he not say this? Because he said what profited them more than this.

Verse 35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples.” [o]

By this he showed at the same time that their company would never be extinguished, since he gave them a distinguishing mark. He said this when the traitor had been cut off from them. But how does he call that a new commandment which is contained in the old covenant as well? He made it new himself, by the manner of it; that is why he added, “as I have loved you.”

“I have not paid you back a debt for good deeds you did first; I myself began it,” he says. “And so you too ought to do good to your dearest ones, though you owe them nothing.” And saying nothing of the miracles they would work, he makes love their mark. Why? Because it is love above all that shows people to be holy; it is the foundation of all virtue; by it, above all, we are all saved. “For this,” he says, “is what it is to be a disciple; so will everyone praise you, when they see you imitating my love.”

What then? Do miracles not show this far more? By no means. For “many will say, ‘Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name?’” (Matthew 7, verse 22). And again, when they rejoice that the demons obey them, he says, “Do not rejoice that the demons obey you, but that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10, verse 20). Miracles did draw the world, it is true, but because love came before them; had love not been there, the miracles would not have lasted either. This is what made them perfect at once: having all one heart and one soul. But had they separated from one another, all would have been lost.

He said this not to them only, but to all who would believe in him. For even now nothing else makes the pagans stumble but the fact that there is no love. “But they also hold the absence of miracles against us.” Not in the same way. “But where did the apostles show their love?” Do you see Peter and John inseparable from each other, and going up to the temple together (Acts 3, verse 1)? Do you see Paul disposed the same way toward them? And do you still doubt? If they had gained the other blessings, much more did they have the mother of them all. For this is something that springs from a virtuous soul; but where wickedness is, the plant withers away. For “when lawlessness abounds,” it says, “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24, verse 12). [p]

And miracles do not attract the pagans so much as a way of life does, and nothing produces a right life so much as love. Those who worked miracles they often even called deceivers, but against a pure life they could find no handle. While the message of the good news had not yet spread abroad, miracles were rightly marveled at; but now people must be admired for their lives. For nothing so wins the respect of the pagans as virtue, and nothing so offends them as vice.

And with good reason. When one of them sees the greedy man, the plunderer, urging others to do the opposite; when he sees the man who was commanded to love even his enemies treating his own relatives like animals without reason, he will say the words are folly. When he sees someone trembling at death, how will he accept what is said about immortality? When he sees us fond of power and slaves to the other passions, he will hold all the more firmly to his own beliefs, forming no high opinion of us. We, we are the reason they remain in their error. Their own doctrines they condemned long ago, and in the same way they admire ours; but they are held back by our way of life.

Talking wisdom is easy; many among them have done it. But they demand the proof of deeds. “Then let them look to the men of old who professed our faith.” But they do not believe what is told about them at all; they ask about those living now. For “show me,” it says, “your faith by your works” (James 2, verse 18). But that is not how things are. On the contrary, seeing us tear our neighbors worse than any wild beast, they call us the curse of the world. These things hold the pagans back and do not let them come over to our side. So we will be punished for this too: not only for what we ourselves do wrong, but because the name of God is blasphemed.

How long will we be given over to wealth, and luxury, and the other passions? From now on, let us leave them. Listen to what the prophet says of certain foolish people: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (Isaiah 22, verse 13). But in the present case we cannot even say this, since so many gather to themselves what belongs to all. Rebuking them too, the prophet said, “Will you dwell alone on the earth?” (Isaiah 5, verse 8). That is why I am afraid that something grievous may happen, and that we may draw down on ourselves heavy vengeance from God. And so that this may not happen, let us take care of every virtue, that we may obtain the blessings to come, 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, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.