520 Christ's hour, of will not of necessity. HOMIL, transcendeth even the stars? Or, because thou knowest XXXVII. Christ's flesh to have been under heaven, thinkest thou 22. Christ power to have been subject to heaven? 9. Hear, thou fool: His hour was not yet come, not an hour in which He should be forced to die, but in which He should deign to be put to death. For He knew when He behoved to die. He marked well all that was foretold of Him, and waited the finishing of all things that were foretold to be before His passion; that when they should be fulfilled, then should come His passion, in the order of His disposing, not by fatal necessity. In short, hear, that ye may prove it: among the rest that was prophesied concerning Him, it was Ps. 69, also written, They gare Me gall for My meat, and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. How this came to pass, we are apprised in the Gospel. First, they gave gall; He received, tasted, and spat it out: afterward, hanging on the cross, that all might be fulfilled, He saith, I thirst: they took a sponge filled with vinegar, fastened it to a reed, and applied it to Him as He hung on the cross: He received. it, and said, It is finished. What meaneth, It is finished? Fulfilled are all things which were prophesied before My Passion; then what make I any longer here? And in fact, when He had said, It is finished, He bowed the head, and gave up the ghost. Did those thieves who were nailed beside Him, expire when they would? They were held by the bonds of the flesh, because they were not creators of the flesh: fixed by the nails they were long excruciated, because they had not dominion over their infirmity. But the Lord, when He would, took flesh in the virgin's womb; when He would, came forth to men; as long as He would, lived among men; when He would, departed from the flesh: this is of power, not of necessity! This then was the hour He waited for; not a fated, but a seasonable and voluntary hour: that all might first be completed, which before His Passion behoved to be completed. And indeed, how could He be under John10, necessity of fate, Who in another place hath said, I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again: none taketh it from Me, but I Myself lay it down from Me, and take it again? He displayed this power when the Jews sought Him. Whom seek ye? said He: said 18. In His deepest passion He was the Omnipotent. 521 they, Jesus. He said, I am He. At hearing which word, JoHN they went back, and fell to the ground. VIII. 20. 40. 10. Saith some man, If there was in Him this power, why, John18, when the Jews taunted Him as He hung upon the tree, and 4-6. said, If He be the Son of God, let Him descend from the Mat. 27, cross, did He not descend, that He might by descending) shew them His power? Because He was teaching the lesson of patience, therefore He deferred the putting forth of power. For if, as being moved by their words, He had descended, He would have been thought to have been overcome by the sting of their reproaches. But no, He did not come down; He remained there fixed, to depart when it should be His will. For what great matter was it for Him to come down from the Cross, Who had power to rise again from the tomb? Then let us, to whom this is ministered, understand that the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, hidden at that time, will be manifest in the Judgment: of which it is said, God Ps.50,3. shall come, manifest: our God, and shall not keep silence. How, shall come manifest? Because He came hidden, He shall come manifest, He, our God, even Christ. And shall not keep silence. How, not keep silence? Because at first He did keep silence. Where? When He was judged: that this also might be fulfilled which the Prophet had foretold, As a sheep He was led to be immolated, and as Is.53,7. a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. Then had it not been His will to suffer, He had not suffered; had He not suffered, that blood had remained unshed; had that blood remained unshed, the world had remained unredeemed. Therefore let us give thanks both to the power of His Godhead, and to the pity of His infirmity: both concerning the hidden might which the Jews knew not, whence it is here said to them, Ye neither know Me, nor My Father; and concerning the taking on Him of that flesh which the Jews knew', and whose lineage they had the means1 noveof knowing; whence He said to them in another place, Yerant both know Me, and whence I am ye know. Let us know bant both in Christ; both that by which He is equal with the 28. Father, and that by which the Father is greater than He. That, the Word; this, the Flesh: that, God; this, Man: howbeit One Christ, God and Man. 2 scie John 7, HOMILY XXXVIII. 1 see §. 11. v. 20. JOHN viii. 21–25. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. Then said they unto Him, Who art Thou? And Jesus saith unto them, [Believe Me to be] the Beginning': because also I speak unto you. 1. THE Lesson of the Holy Gospel which preceded this of to-day, ended thus, that the Lord spake, as He taught in the treasury, what He would, and what ye heard: and no man laid hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come. Hereof we reasoned on the Lord's Day, what He vouchsafed to bestow. We intimated to you, beloved, why it is said, His hour was not yet come; lest any impiety should dare wickedly to surmise that Christ was under some fatal necessity. His hour, namely, was not yet come, at which, coming in its order, according to the things foretold of Him, He should be, not forced to die unwilling, but, put to death fully prepared. 2. In the present Lesson, however, it was of His passion, which rested not in a necessity for Him, but in His own Two ways of seeking after Christ. 523 4. VIII. 15. power, that He spoke to the Jews, saying, I go. For to JOHN Christ the Lord, death was a going to that place which 21-25. He came from, and yet never quitted. I, saith He, go, and ye shall seek Me: not of desire, but of hatred. For in fact, when He had withdrawn from the eyes of men, He was sought both by them which hated, and by them which loved Him; those sought Him by persecuting, these by desiring to have Him. In the Psalms the Lord Himself saith by the Prophet, Flight hath failed Me, and Ps. 142, there is none that seeketh after My soul and again, He saith in another place in a Psalm, Let them be confounded Ps. 40, and abashed, that seek after My soul. He hath blamed some for not seeking, condemned some for seeking. For it is evil, not to seek the soul of Christ, howbeit, as the disciples sought; and evil, to seek the soul of Christ, howbeit, as the Jews sought for those sought in order to have, these, in order to destroy. Well, because these so sought, in evil manner, with a perverse heart, what added He next? Ye shall seek Me, and, lest ye should think to get good by seeking, in your sin shall ye die. This it is to seek Christ in an evil way, to die in one's sin: this it is for one to hate Him, through Whom alone he might be saved. For whereas men whose hope is in God ought not to render evil, no, not even for evil, these rendered evil for good. Therefore the Lord fore-announced to them, and spake their sentence in His foreknowledge, that they should die in their sin. Then He adds, Whither I go, ye cannot come. This same He said to the disciples too in another place, and yet He said not to them, Ye shall die in your sin. But what said He? The same as to these, Whither I go, ye cannot come. He John13, took not away hope, but only foretold the deferring thereof. 33. For at the time when the Lord was speaking this to the disciples, they were not able to come whither He was going, but should come afterwards: these never, because by His foreknowledge He said to them, In your sin ye shall die. 3. But at hearing these words, as is the way with men whose thoughts are of fleshly things, and who judge after the flesh, hearing and understanding every thing quite in a carnal way, they said, Will He kill Himself, that He said, 524 Christ from above; all men, of the world: HOMIL. Whither I go, ye cannot come? Foolish words, and altogether XXXVIII. full of silliness! What? were they not able to come whither He should go if He should kill Himself? Must not they also die? Then what meaneth, Will He kill Himself, that He said, Whither I go ye cannot come? If He spake of man's dying, what man dieth not? Therefore in saying, Whither I go, He meant it, not of the going to death, but of the place whither He was going after death. They, therefore, not understanding, made this answer. 4. And the Lord, what said He to these earthly-minded v. 23. people? And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath. Ye are earthly-minded, because serpent-like ye eat earth. How, eat earth? Feed on things of earth, delight in things of earth, are open-mouthed for things of earth, have not your heart set on things above. Ye are from beneath, I am from above. Ye are of this world, I am not of this world. Indeed, how should He be of the world, He by Whom the world was made? All that are of the world, are after the world; for the world is first, then man, of the world: but Christ first, then world, because Christ before the world, John 1, before Christ nothing: for in the beginning was the Word, all things were made by Him. Thus then was He from above. From what above? From the air? Far be the thought! the birds also fly there. From the heavens which we see? Far be that thought also! the stars also and sun and moon go about there. From the Angels? Think not this! Angels too were made by Him, by Whom all things were made. Then from what Above is 1.3. Origen in loc. tom. xix. §. 4. urges |