Homily 77 — John 15, verse 11, to 16, verse 3

“These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” [a]

All good things have their reward when they reach their proper end; but if they are cut off halfway, shipwreck follows. Think of a ship carrying a huge cargo. If it does not reach the harbor in time, but goes down in the middle of the sea, it gains nothing from the length of its voyage; in fact the disaster is all the greater, the more hardships it has endured. So it is with souls that fall back when they are near the end of their labors, and give up in the middle of the struggle. That is why Paul said that glory and honor and peace will meet those who run their course with patient endurance in doing good (Romans 2, verse 7).

And this is what Christ is now doing for the disciples. They had welcomed him and were rejoicing in him. Then the sudden approach of his suffering, and his sad words, were likely to cut their gladness short. So, having talked with them long enough to soothe them, he adds, “These things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled.” That is: “So that you will not be separated from me, so that you will not cut your course short. You were rejoicing in me, rejoicing greatly, but dejection has fallen on you. This I am taking away, so that joy may come at the end; and I am showing you that what is happening to you now is a reason not for pain but for pleasure. I saw you stumble, and I did not despise you. I did not say, ‘Why do you not keep up your noble spirit?’ No, I spoke words to you that brought comfort with them. And so I want to keep you always in the same love. You heard about a kingdom, and you rejoiced. So that your joy may be complete, then, I have spoken these things to you.”

“This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Do you see that the love of God is woven together with our own love, and linked to it like a kind of chain? That is why Scripture sometimes speaks of two commands, and sometimes of only one. For it is impossible that the man who has taken hold of the first should not have the second as well. At one time he said, “On this hang the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22, verse 40); at another, “Whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7, verse 12). And, “Love is the fulfilling of the Law” (Romans 13, verse 10). He says the same here too. For if abiding comes from love, and love from keeping the commands, and the command is that we love one another, then abiding in God comes from our love for each other.

And he does not simply speak of love; he also declares the manner of it: “as I have loved you.” Again he shows that even his departure came not from hatred but from love. “So I ought to be admired all the more on this account, for I lay down my life for you.” Yet nowhere does he say this in so many words. He said it earlier by sketching the good shepherd, and here he says it by urging them on, by showing the greatness of his love, and by showing who he himself is. But why does he everywhere raise love so high? Because this is the mark of the disciples; this is the bond of virtue. That is why Paul says such great things about it: he was a genuine disciple of Christ, and had experienced it.

Verses 14 and 15: “You are my friends. From now on I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. You are my friends, for everything that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” [d]

Then how can he say, “I have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16, verse 12)? By the words “everything” and “heard” he shows nothing else than this: that he said nothing foreign to the Father, but only what came from the Father. And since telling secrets seems to be the strongest proof of friendship, he says, “You have been counted worthy even of this sharing.” When he says “everything,” though, he means “everything it was fitting for them to hear.” Then he adds another sure proof of friendship, and no ordinary one. What was it?

Verse 16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” That is: “I was the one who ran to meet your friendship.” And he did not stop there. “I set you,” he says — that is, “I planted you” — “so that you should go” — he is still using the image of the vine — that is, “so that you should spread out”; “and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

“Now if your fruit remains, much more will you. For I have not only loved you,” he says, “but I have done you the greatest good, by spreading your branches through the whole world.” Do you see in how many ways he shows his love? By telling them secret things; by being the first to run to meet their friendship; by giving them the greatest blessings; by suffering for them what he then suffered. After this he shows that he also stays continually with those who will bear fruit, for they must have his help, and so bear fruit. [e]

“So that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” Yet it belongs to the one who is asked to do the thing asked. If it is the Father who is asked, how is it that the Son does it? It is so that you may learn that the Son is not inferior to the Father.

Verse 17: “These things I command you, that you love one another.” That is: “It is not to reproach you that I tell you I lay down my life for you, or that I ran to meet you first. It is to lead you into friendship.” Next: to be persecuted and insulted by the many was a hard and unbearable thing, enough to humble even a lofty soul. So it was only after saying countless things first that Christ took up this subject. He first smoothed their minds, and then went on to these points, showing that these things too were greatly to their advantage, just as he had shown the others were. For as he had told them that they ought not to grieve, but rather to rejoice, “because I go to the Father” — since he was doing this not to abandon them, but because he loved them greatly — so here too he shows that they ought to rejoice, not grieve.

And see how he accomplishes this. He did not say, “I know that this is hard to bear, but bear it for my sake, since it is for my sake that you suffer.” That reason was not yet enough to console them. So he let it pass and put forward another. And what is that? That this would be a sure proof of the virtue they had already shown. “On the contrary, you ought to grieve, not because you are hated now, but if you were going to be loved.” This is what he implies when he says, Verse 19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own.” “So if you had been loved, it would be perfectly clear that you had shown signs of wickedness.” Then, since saying this first did not achieve his purpose, he takes up the discourse again.

Verse 20: “The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too.” [g]

He showed that in this, above all, they would be his imitators. While Christ was in the flesh, people made war on him; but when he had been taken up, the battle came next upon them. Then, because they were so few, they were terrified at having to face the attack of so great a multitude. So he lifts their spirits by telling them that it was a special reason for joy that they were hated by these people: “For this is how you will share my sufferings. So you should not be troubled, for you are not better than I am. As I told you before, ‘The servant is not greater than his master.’” Then there is a third source of comfort as well: the Father too is insulted along with them.

Verse 21: “But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they do not know the one who sent me.” That is, “They insult him too.” Besides this, he takes away the others’ excuse and adds another source of comfort as well, saying, Verse 22: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin.” He shows that they will be acting unjustly both in what they do against him and in what they do against the disciples. “Then why did you bring us into such disasters? Did you not know beforehand about the wars, the hatred?” That is why he says again, Verse 23: “Whoever hates me hates my Father also.”

By this, too, he announces in advance no small punishment for them. For since they kept claiming that they persecuted him for the Father’s sake, he spoke these words to take this excuse away from them: “They have no excuse. I gave them teaching in words; I added teaching in works, as the law of Moses required. For Moses told everyone to obey one who spoke and acted like this, when he both led people to godliness and showed the greatest miracles.” And he did not simply speak of “signs,” but, Verse 24: “which no one else did.” [h]

And they themselves are witnesses of this, when they say, “Nothing like this was ever seen in Israel” (Matthew 9, verse 33); and, “Since the world began it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind” (John 9, verse 32). The raising of Lazarus was of the same kind, and all his other acts were the same: the manner of his wonder-working was new, and all of it was beyond thought. “Why, then,” someone asks, “do they persecute both you and us?” “Because you are not of the world. If you were of the world, the world would love its own” (verse 19). He first reminds them of the words he also spoke to his own brothers (John 7, verse 7). But there he spoke more indirectly, so as not to offend them; here, on the contrary, he revealed everything. “And how is it clear that this is why we are hated?” “From what was done to me. For tell me, which of my words or deeds could they seize on as a reason for not receiving me?” Then, since the thing would astonish us, he tells the cause: their wickedness. And he does not stop there either, but brings in the prophet (Psalm 35, verse 19, and Psalm 69, verse 4), showing him announcing it long ago and saying, Verse 25: “They hated me without a cause.”

This is what Paul does too. When many wondered how it was that the Jews did not believe, he brings in the prophets foretelling it long before and declaring the cause: that their wickedness and pride were the cause of their unbelief. [k]

“Well, then: if they did not keep your word, neither will they keep ours. If they persecuted you, then they will persecute us too. If they saw signs such as no one else ever worked, if they heard words such as no one else ever spoke, and gained nothing from them; if they hate your Father, and you with him — then why,” someone says, “have you sent us in among them? How, after this, will we be believed? Which of our own people will listen to us?” So that they would not be troubled by such thoughts, see what comfort he adds.

Verses 26 and 27: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

“He will deserve to be believed, for he is the Spirit of Truth.” That is why he did not call him “Holy Spirit” here, but “Spirit of Truth.” And the words “proceeds from the Father” show that he knows all things exactly, just as Christ also says of himself, “I know where I came from and where I am going” (John 8, verse 14) — speaking in that place too about truth. “Whom I will send”: look, it is no longer the Father alone who sends, but the Son also. “And you too,” he says, “have a right to be believed, for you have been with me, and have not heard these things from others.” And in fact the apostles lean confidently on this, saying, “We who ate and drank with him” (Acts 10, verse 41). And to show that this was not said merely to please, the Spirit bears witness to the words spoken (Acts 10, verse 44). [m]

Chapter 16, verse 1: “These things I have spoken to you, so that you will not stumble.” That is, “when you see many refuse to believe, and yourselves ill-treated.”

Verse 2: “They will put you out of the synagogues.” For “the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue” (John 9, verse 22).

“Yes, the time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God.” “They will seek your murder as though it were a godly act, pleasing to God.” Then again he adds the comfort, Verse 3: “And these things they will do because they have not known the Father, or me.” “It is enough to comfort you that you endure these things for my sake and the Father’s.” Here he reminds them of the blessing he spoke of at the beginning: “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say every kind of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be very glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5, verses 11 and 12). [n]

Verse 4: “These things I have told you, so that when the time comes, you may remember them.” “So judge from these words that the rest is trustworthy too. You will not be able to say that I flattered you by telling you only what would please you, or that my words were words of deceit. Someone who meant to deceive would not have told you in advance of things likely to turn you away. So I have told you beforehand, so that these things would not fall on you unexpectedly and trouble you; and for another reason besides, so that you would not say that I did not know beforehand that these things would happen. Remember, then, that I told you.”

And in fact the pagans always covered their persecutions of the disciples with the pretense that they were wicked, driving them out as corrupters. But this did not trouble the disciples, who had heard it beforehand and knew what they were suffering for. The cause of what was happening was enough to rouse their courage. That is why he dwells on this everywhere, saying, “They have not known me”; and, “For my sake they will do it”; and, “For my name’s sake, and for the Father’s sake”; and, “I suffered first”; and, “They dare these things without any just cause.”

Let us too think of these things in our trials, when we suffer anything from wicked people, “looking to the originator and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12, verse 2), and considering that it comes from wicked people, and that it is for virtue’s sake, and for his sake. If we reflect on these things, everything will be very easy and bearable. For if someone who suffers for those he loves even takes pride in it, how could anything seem dreadful to one who suffers for God’s sake? If he, for our sake, calls that shameful thing, the cross, “glory” (John 13, verse 31), much more ought we to feel the same way. And if we can despise sufferings like this, much more will we be able to despise riches and greed. [o]

So when we are about to endure something unpleasant, we ought to think not of the toils but of the crowns. Merchants take into account not only the seas but also the profits; in the same way we ought to reckon on heaven and on confidence before God. If getting more seems pleasant to you, think that Christ does not want it, and at once it will seem distasteful. If it is hard for you to give to the poor, do not stop your reckoning at the cost; carry your thoughts at once to the harvest that comes from the sowing. And when it is hard to despise your love for a woman who belongs to another man, think of the crown that comes after the struggle, and you will bear the struggle easily. For if fear turns a man away from shameful things, much more should the love of Christ.

Virtue is hard. But let us wrap her form in the greatness of the promise of what is to come. It is true that the virtuous, even apart from these promises, see her as beautiful in herself, and that is why they go after her. They work because it pleases God, not for pay, and they think it a great thing to be self-controlled, not so as to escape punishment, but because God has commanded it. But if anyone is too weak for this, let him think of the prizes.

Let us do the same with almsgiving. Let us have pity on our fellow human beings. Let us not, I beg you, neglect them when they are dying of hunger. How can it be anything but shameful that we sit at table laughing and enjoying ourselves, and when we hear others wailing as they pass through the street, we do not even turn at their cries, but get angry with them and call them frauds? What are you saying, my friend? Does anyone plot a fraud for a single loaf of bread?

Someone says, “Yes, they do.” Then in that case above all he should be pitied; in that case above all he should be rescued from his need. Or if you do not want to give, at least do not insult him. If you will not save the wreck, do not push it down into the deep. For think what you will be when you call on God, if you push away the poor man who comes to you. “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Matthew 7, verse 2). Think how he goes away crushed, bowed down, lamenting, having received on top of his poverty the blow of your insults as well. If you count begging a curse, think what a storm it raises to beg, get nothing, and go away insulted besides. How long will we be like wild animals, and fail to recognize nature itself because of our greed? Many groan at these words; but I want them to have this feeling of compassion not only now, but always. [p]

Think, I beg you, of that day when we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, when we will be begging for mercy, and Christ will bring them forward and say, “For the sake of a single loaf, a single obol, you raised so great a surge in these souls!” What will we answer? What defense will we make? To show that he will bring them forward, hear what he says: “Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of these, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25, verse 45). They will say nothing more to us; God will reproach us on their behalf. So it was with the rich man: he saw Lazarus too, and Lazarus said nothing to him, but Abraham spoke for him. That is how it will be with the poor whom we now despise. We will not see them stretching out their hands in a pitiful state, but at rest; and we will take their former state as our punishment — and would that it were only that state, and not one far more painful! For the rich man there did not merely long to be filled with crumbs; he was scorched and sharply tormented, and was told, “In your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus likewise evil things” (Luke 16, verse 25).

So let us not think wealth any great thing. If we are not careful, it will help us on our way to punishment; just as, if we are careful, poverty too becomes an addition to our enjoyment and rest. For if we bear it with thankfulness, we both put off our sins and gain great boldness before God.

So let us not always be seeking ease here, so that we may enjoy ease there. Let us accept the labors that virtue requires, cut away what is superfluous, seek nothing beyond what we need, and spend all our wealth on those in need. What excuse can we have, when God promises us heaven and we will not even give him bread? When he makes the sun rise for you and supplies all the service of creation, and you do not even give him a garment, or let him share your roof? But why do I speak of sun and moon? He has set his body before you, he has given you his precious blood; and do you not even give him a share of your cup? [r]

But have you done so once? That is not mercy. As long as you have the means and do not help, you have not yet fulfilled the whole duty. So it was with the virgins who had the lamps: they had oil, but not in abundance. Why, even if you were giving from what is your own, you ought not to be so stingy; but now, when you are giving what is your Lord’s, why do you count every little bit?

Do you want me to tell you the cause of this inhumanity? When people gather their wealth through greed, those same people are slow to give alms. One who has learned to gain in that way does not know how to spend. How can a man prepared for plunder adapt himself to its opposite? How will one who takes from others be able to give up his own to another? A dog used to feeding on flesh cannot guard the flock; that is why shepherds kill such dogs. So that this will not be our fate, let us refrain from such feasting. For these people too feed on flesh, when they bring about death by hunger.

Do you not see how God has granted us all things in common? If he has allowed people to be poor amid riches, it is for the comfort of the rich, so that by showing them mercy they may be able to put off their sins. But you have been cruel and inhuman even in this. From this it is clear that if you had received the same power over greater things, you would have committed countless murders, and would have shut people out from the light, and from life altogether. So that this might not happen, necessity has cut short the insatiable appetite in such matters.

If you are pained when you hear these things, much more am I when I see them happening. How long will you be rich, and that man poor? Until evening, and no further. So short is life, all things so near their end, all things now standing so close at the door, that the whole must be thought of as no more than a brief hour. What need do you have of bursting storehouses, of a crowd of household servants and stewards? Why do you not have countless heralds of your almsgiving instead? The storehouse makes no sound, yet it will bring many robbers down on you; but the storehouses of the poor will go up to God himself. They will make your present life sweet and put away all your sins, and you will gain glory from God and honor from people.

Why, then, do you begrudge yourself such good things? For you will not do the poor as much good as you do yourself when you help them. You will set their present condition right; but for yourself you will lay up in advance the glory and confidence that are to come hereafter. May we all obtain this, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be the glory and the might forever. Amen.