Homily 75 — John 14, verses 15 to 30

“If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may remain with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him, nor know him.” [a]

We need works and actions everywhere, not a mere show of words. It is easy for anyone to speak and to promise, but acting is not so easy. Why have I said this? Because there are many people at this time who say that they fear God and love him, but show the opposite by their works. And God requires the love that is shown by works.

That is why he said to the disciples, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” He had told them, “Whatever you ask, I will do it”; and so that they would not think the mere “asking” was enough, he added, “If you love me” — then, he says, “I will do it.” And since they were likely to be troubled when they heard, “I am going to the Father,” he tells them: “To be troubled now is not to love. To love is to obey my words. I have given you a commandment, that you love one another, that you do for one another as I have done for you. This is love: to obey these words of mine, and to yield to the one you love.”

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter.” Again he is speaking in a way that stoops down to meet them. Since they did not yet know him, they were likely to long eagerly for his company, his conversation, his presence in the flesh, and to accept no comfort while he was gone. So what does he say? “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter” — that is, “another like me.”

Let those be put to shame who have the disease of Sabellius, and who do not hold the right opinion about the Spirit. For the wonder of this saying is that it has struck down opposite heresies with one and the same blow. By saying “another,” he shows that the Spirit is a distinct person; and by “Paraclete,” that he is joined with him in essence.

But why did he say, “I will ask the Father”? Because if he had said, “I will send him,” they would not have believed him so readily; and the one aim now was that he should be believed. Afterward he declares that he himself sends the Spirit, when he says, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20, verse 22). But here he tells them that he asks the Father, so as to make what he says believable to them.

For John says of him, “From his fullness we have all received” (John 1, verse 16). How then does he receive from another what he himself had? And again, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Luke 3, verse 16). What more would he have had than the apostles, if he had to ask it of his Father in order to give it to others, when they often seem to have done this even without prayer? And if the Spirit is sent at the Father’s request, how does he come down of his own accord? How is the one who is present everywhere sent by another — the one who “distributes to each one individually as he wills” (First Corinthians 12, verse 11), and who says with authority, “Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas” (Acts 13, verse 2)? Those men were serving God, and yet the Spirit called them with authority to his own work. It was not that he called them to some different work; he did it to show his power.

“What then does ‘I will ask the Father’ mean?” He says it to show the time of the Spirit’s coming. For when he had cleansed them by the sacrifice, then the Holy Spirit came down upon them. “And why did the Spirit not come while he was with them?” Because the sacrifice had not yet been offered. But afterward, when sin had been undone, and they were being sent out into dangers and were stripping for the contest, then the Anointer had to come. “But why did the Spirit not come immediately after the resurrection?” So that, longing for him greatly, they would receive him with great joy. As long as Christ was with them, they were not in distress; but when he went away, and they were left defenseless and thrown into great fear, they would receive the Spirit with great eagerness.

“He remains with you.” This shows that even after death the Spirit does not leave them. But so that when they heard of the “Paraclete” they would not imagine a second taking of flesh and expect to see him with their eyes, he sets them right by saying, “whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him.” “He will not be with you as I have been, but will live in your very souls.” For this is what “will be in you” means. He calls him the “Spirit of truth,” and in this way explains the types in the Old Testament. “That he may be with you.” What does “may be with you” mean? What he says of himself: “I am with you” (Matthew 28, verse 20). Besides, he also hints at something else: “It will not be the same with the Spirit as with me. He will never leave you.” “Whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him.”

“Why, what is there that is visible about the other persons?” Nothing. But he is speaking here of knowledge; at least he adds, “nor knows him.” He usually calls exact knowledge “sight.” Because sight is clearer than the other senses, he always uses it to stand for exact knowledge. By “the world” he means here the wicked, and in this way too he comforts the disciples, by giving them a special gift.

See how many points he used to raise his words about the Spirit. He said, “He is another like me.” He said, “He will not leave you.” He said, “He comes to you alone, as I did too.” He said, “He remains in you.” But even so he did not drive out their dejection, for they still longed for him and his company. So to cure this feeling he says (verse 18), “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

“Do not be afraid,” he says. “I did not say that I would send you another Comforter as though I myself were leaving you forever. I did not say that he remains with you as though I would never see you again. For I myself will come to you too; I will not leave you orphans.” Since at the beginning he had said, “Little children,” here too he says, “I will not leave you orphans.” At first, then, he told them, “You will come where I am going,” and, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms.” But here, since that time was far off, he gives them the Spirit. And when they were still not comforted enough, because they did not know what it could be that he was speaking of, he says, “I will not leave you orphans”; for this was what they needed most. [j]

“I will come to you” was the saying of one who promises his presence. But notice how, so that they would not look again for the same kind of presence as before, he did not tell them this plainly but only hinted at it. For having said (verse 19), “Yet a little while, and the world does not see me,” he added, “but you see me.” It is as though he had said: “I do come to you, but not in the same way as before, being with you day after day.” And so that they would not say, “Then how did you say to the Jews, ‘From now on you will not see me’?” he resolves the contradiction by saying, “to you alone”; for such is the nature of the Spirit too.

“Because I live, you will live also.” For the cross does not part us for good; it only hides for a little moment. And by “life” he seems to me to mean not only the present life but the future one as well.

Verse 20: “On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.” With regard to the Father, these words refer to being; with regard to the disciples, to agreement of mind and to help from God. “And how, tell me, is this reasonable?” And how, please, is the opposite reasonable? For the distance between Christ and the disciples is great and utterly without limit. And if the same words are used, do not be surprised. Scripture is often in the habit of using the same words in different senses when they are applied to God and to human beings. So we are called “gods” and “sons of God,” yet the word does not have the same force when it is applied to us and to God. The Son is called “Image” and “Glory”; so are we, but the distance between us is great. Again, “You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (First Corinthians 3, verse 23); but we are not Christ’s in the way that Christ is God’s.

But what is it that he says? “When I have risen,” he says, “you will know that I am not separated from the Father but have the same power as he, and that I am with you continually — when the facts proclaim the help that comes to you from me: when your enemies are held down and you speak boldly, when dangers are taken out of your path, when the preaching of the good news flourishes day by day, when all give way and yield to the word of true religion.” “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20, verse 21). Do you see that here too the word does not have the same force? For if we take it as though it had, the apostles will differ in nothing from Christ. But why does he say, “Then you will know”? Because then they saw him risen and talking with them; then they learned the faith exactly. For great was the power of the Spirit, who taught them everything.

Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me.” It is not enough merely to have them; we also need to keep them exactly. But why does he keep saying the same thing to them — “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (verse 15), and, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them,” and, “If anyone hears my word and keeps it, he is the one who loves me; whoever does not hear my words does not love me” (verse 24)? I think he was hinting at their dejection. He had spoken many words of wisdom to them about death, saying, “Whoever hates his life in this world will save it for eternal life” (John 12, verse 25), and, “Unless a man takes his cross and follows me, he is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10, verse 38); and he is about to say other things besides. So, rebuking them, he says: “Do you think it is love that makes you grieve? Not grieving would be the sign of love.” And because he wanted to establish this all along, as he went on he summed up his words on this same point: “If you loved me,” he says, “you would have rejoiced, because I am going to my Father” (verse 28). “But as it is, you are in this state out of cowardice. To feel this way about death does not belong to those who remember my commandments. For you ought to be crucified, if you truly loved me, for my word urges you not to be afraid of those who kill the body. Those who are like that, both the Father loves and I.” [m]

“And I will show myself to him.” Then Judas says (verse 22), “How is it that you will show yourself to us?” Do you see that their souls were hard pressed by fear? For he was confused and troubled, and thought that Christ would be seen the way we see dead people in a dream. So that they would not imagine this, listen to what he says.

Verse 23: “I and the Father will come to him, and make our home with him.” He all but says: “As the Father reveals himself, so do I.” And he removed the suspicion not only in this way, but also by saying, “We will make our home with him,” which is not a thing that belongs to dreams. But notice, please, how confused the disciple was, and how he did not dare to say plainly what he wanted to say. He did not say, “Woe to us, because you are dying and will come to us the way the dead come.” He did not speak like that, but said, “How is it that you will show yourself to us, and not to the world?” Then Jesus says, “I accept you, because you keep my commandments.”

So that when they saw him afterward they would not take him for a ghost, he says these things beforehand. And so that they would not think he would appear to them in the way I have described, he also tells them the reason: “Because you keep my commandments.” He says that the Spirit too will appear in the same way. Now if, after spending so long a time with him, they still cannot bear that being — or rather, cannot even imagine it — what would have become of them if he had appeared to them like this at the start? That is also why he ate with them, so that what happened would not seem to be an illusion. For if they thought this when they saw him walking on the waters, although they saw his usual form and he was not far off, what would they have imagined if they had suddenly seen risen the one they had seen seized and swathed? That is why he keeps telling them that he will appear, and why he will appear, and how, so that they will not suppose him to be a ghost.

Verse 24: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.” “So whoever does not heed these words not only does not love me, but does not love the Father either.” For if this is the sure proof of love — heeding the commandments — and these are from the Father, then whoever heeds them loves not only the Son but the Father also. “And how is the word both ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’?” It means: “I do not speak apart from the Father, nor say anything of my own that is contrary to what seems good to him.”

Verse 25: “I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you.” These sayings were not clear: some they did not understand, and about most of them they were in doubt. So that they would not be confused again and say, “What commands?” he freed them from all their perplexity by saying (verse 26), “The Comforter, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you.” “Perhaps these things are not clear to you now, but he is a clear teacher of them.” And the words “remains with you” (verse 17) are those of one hinting that he himself will go away. Then, so that they would not grieve, he says that as long as he stayed with them and the Spirit had not come, they would be unable to grasp anything great or lofty. He said this to prepare them to bear his departure nobly, as something that was to be the cause of great blessings for them. He keeps calling him “Comforter” because of the troubles that had hold of them then.

And since even after hearing these things they were troubled, when they thought of the sorrows, the wars, his departure, see how he calms them again by saying (verse 27), “Peace I leave with you.” He all but says: “What harm does the trouble of the world do you, as long as you are at peace with me? For this peace is not of the same kind as that one. That one is outward; it is often harmful and useless, and is no advantage to those who have it. But I give you a peace of such a kind that you are at peace with one another, and this makes you stronger.” And because he said again, “I leave,” which was the word of someone departing and enough to throw them into confusion, he says once more, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” Do you see that they were affected partly by love and partly by fear?

Verse 28: “You have heard how I said to you, I am going away, and I am coming to you again. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I am going to the Father; for my Father is greater than I.”

And what joy would this bring them? What comfort? What, then, do the words mean? They did not yet know about the resurrection, nor did they have the right opinion about him — for how could they, when they did not even know that he would rise again? — but they thought that the Father was mighty. So he says: “If you are afraid for me, as though I could not defend myself, and if you are not confident that I will see you again after the crucifixion, still, when you heard that I am going to the Father, you ought to have rejoiced then, because I am going away to one who is greater and able to undo every danger.” “You have heard how I said to you.” Why has he put this in? Because, he says, “I am so firmly confident about the things that are coming to pass that I even foretell them — so far am I from being afraid.” This is also the meaning of what follows. [p]

Verse 29: “And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it has happened you may believe that I am.” It is as though he had said: “You would not have known if I had not told you; and I would not have told you if I had not been confident.” Do you see that the words stoop down to meet them? When he says, “Do you think that I cannot pray to the Father, and he will at once give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26, verse 53), he is speaking to the hidden thoughts of his hearers. No one, even at the height of madness, would say that he was not able to help himself but needed angels. But because they thought of him as a man, he spoke of “twelve legions of angels.” Yet in fact he only asked those who came to seize him a question, and threw them backward (John 18, verse 6).

(If anyone says that the Father is greater in that he is the cause of the Son, we will not contradict this. But this does not in any way make the Son to be of a different being.)

But what he says is of this kind: “As long as I am here, it is natural for you to think that I am in danger. But when I have gone there, be confident that I am safe; for no one will be able to overcome him.” All these words were addressed to the weakness of the disciples, for he means, “I myself am confident, and do not care about death.” That is why he said, “I have told you these things before they happen.” “But since,” he says, “you are not yet able to take in what is said about them, I bring you comfort even from the Father, whom you call great.”

Having comforted them in this way, he again tells them sad things (verse 30): “From now on I will not talk with you.” Why? “For the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.” By “the ruler of this world” he means the devil, and here again he gives wicked men the name “world.” For the devil does not rule heaven and earth — if he did, he would have overturned them and thrown everything down — but he rules over those who give themselves up to him. That is why he is called “the ruler of the darkness of this world,” evil deeds here again being called “darkness.” “What then? Does the devil kill you?” Not at all: “he has nothing in me.” “Then how do they kill you?” “Because I will it, and” (verse 31) “so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

“For since I am not subject to death,” he says, “nor in its debt, I endure it out of my love for the Father.” He says this to rouse their souls again, and so that they would learn that he goes to this not unwillingly but willingly, and that he does it with contempt for the devil. It was not enough for him to have said, “Yet a little while I am with you” (John 7, verse 33); he keeps handling this painful subject — and with good reason — until he could make it acceptable to them by weaving pleasant things in with it. That is why at one time he says, “I go, and I come again”; and, “so that where I am, you may be also”; and, “You cannot follow me now, but afterward you will follow me”; and, “I am going to the Father”; and, “The Father is greater than I”; and, “I have told you before it happens”; and, “I do not suffer these things under compulsion, but out of love for the Father.” So they would reflect that what was happening could not be ruinous or harmful, if the one who loved him greatly and was greatly loved by him willed it so.

For this reason, while he mixed in these pleasant words, he kept speaking the painful ones too, training their minds. For both “remains with you” and “My going away is to your advantage” (John 16, verse 7) were the words of one giving comfort. That is why he spoke beforehand countless sayings about the Spirit: “is in you,” and, “the world cannot receive,” and, “he will bring all things to your remembrance,” and, “Spirit of truth,” and, “Holy Spirit,” and, “Comforter,” and that “it is to your advantage” — so that they would not lose heart, as though there would be no one to stand before them and help them. “It is to your advantage,” he says, showing that the Spirit would make them spiritual.

This, as we see, is what actually took place. Those who were now trembling and afraid, once they had received the Spirit, leaped into the middle of dangers and stripped for the contest against the sword, and fire, and wild beasts, and seas, and every kind of punishment. And they, unlettered and untaught, spoke so boldly that their hearers were astonished. For the Spirit made them men of iron instead of men of clay; he gave them wings and let nothing human cast them down. [s]

For that is what this grace is like. If it finds dejection, it scatters it; if evil desires, it burns them up; if cowardice, it drives it out. It does not let the one who has shared in it be a mere man afterward, but moves him, as it were, to heaven itself, and makes him picture to himself everything that is there (Acts 4, verse 32, and 2, verse 46). That is why no one said that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they continued in prayer, in praise, and in simplicity of heart. For this is what the Holy Spirit most requires; for “the fruit of the Spirit is joy, peace … faith, gentleness” (Galatians 5, verses 22 and 23). “And yet spiritual people often grieve,” someone says. But that sorrow is sweeter than joy. Cain was sorrowful, but with the sorrow of the world; Paul was sorrowful, but with godly sorrow. Everything spiritual brings the greatest gain, just as everything worldly brings the utmost loss.

So let us draw to ourselves the unconquerable help of the Spirit by keeping the commandments, and then we will be in no way inferior to the angels. For they are not what they are because they are bodiless. If that were so, no bodiless being would ever have become wicked. In every case it is the will that is the cause of everything. That is why among bodiless beings some have been found worse than human beings or animals without reason, and among those who have bodies some better than the bodiless. All the righteous, for example, whatever righteous deeds they did, did while they lived on earth and had bodies. For they lived on earth as foreigners and strangers, but in heaven as citizens.

So do not say, either, “I am clothed with flesh. I cannot win the mastery, or take on the labors that are undergone for the sake of virtue.” Do not accuse the Creator. If wearing flesh makes virtue impossible, then the fault is not ours. But the band of saints has shown that it does not make it impossible. A nature of flesh did not prevent Paul from becoming what he was, nor Peter from receiving the keys of heaven. Enoch too, though he wore flesh, was taken away and was not found. So too Elijah was caught up with his flesh. Abraham, with Isaac and his grandson, shone brightly while having the flesh; and Joseph, in the flesh, wrestled against that shameless woman.

But why do I speak of the flesh? Even if you put a chain on the flesh, no harm is done. “Though I am bound,” says Paul, yet “the word of God is not bound” (Second Timothy 2, verse 9). And why do I speak of bonds and chains? Add to them prison and bars, and not even these are any hindrance to virtue; at least, that is what Paul has taught us. For the soul’s bond is not iron but cowardice, and the desire for wealth, and countless passions. These bind us even when our body is free. “But,” someone says, “these have their origin in the body.” That is an excuse and a false pretense. If they were produced by the body, everyone would have suffered them. We cannot escape weariness and sleep and hunger and thirst, since they belong to our nature; in the same way, if these were of the same kind, they would not let anyone be free of their tyranny. But since many escape them, it is clear that such things are the faults of a careless soul.

So let us put a stop to this. Let us not accuse the body, but bring it under the soul, so that, keeping it under command, we may enjoy the everlasting good things, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.