Commentary on Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, Homilies 1–47

Homily 26

250 SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM in the heavenly City. If we visit Him when He is sick, He Himself will quickly free us also from our infirmities.9 Accordingly, as persons who receive great things and give little, let us give even that little, that we may secure the great. While it is yet time, let us sow, that we may reap. When the winter descends, when the sea is no longer navigable, we are no longer able to trade. And when will it be winter? When that great and notorious day may come. Then we shall no longer sail this great and vast sea, for that is what the present life is like. Now is the time of sowing; then, that of reaping and gaining profit. If a man does not cast seeds at the time for sowing, but sows in the reaping season, besides accomplishing nothing he will also be ridiculous. But, if the present is the time for sowing, it should be a time, not of collecting but of disnersing for the future. Well, then, let us scatter abroad in ordu that we may gather in; let us not wish to collect now, that we may not destroy the harvest. This time, as I have said, summons us to sow and to dispense and to spend, not to collect and to store away. Let us not, then, forego the opportunity, but let us cast down a rich sowing, and let us be sparing of none of our possessions, that we may receive them back with abundant recompense by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory be to the Father together with the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Homily 26 (fohn 3.6-11) 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'l 9 Cf. Matt. 25.31·46. 1 John 3.6. HOMILIES 251 The only-begotten Son of God has deemed us worthy of great mysteries-great ones, and such as we do not deserve, but such as were fitting for Him to give. In the light of our merit, not only are we unworthy of the gift, but even deserving of punishment and torture. Since He did not look to this, not only did He set us free from punishment, but also endowed us with a life much more splendid, brought us to another world, made us another creature. 'If then any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.'2 What sort of new creature? Listen to Him as He says: 'Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' We were entrusted with paradise and did not prove worthy of our sojourn there, and yet He brought us to heaven. In the first [trial] we were not found faithful, yet He entrusted to us a greater. We were not strong enough to refrain from one food, yet He provided nourishment from above. In paradise we did not remain steadfast, yet He opened heaven to us. With reason has Paul said: 'Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God.'3 No longer is there a mother, no longer travail, nor the couch, and carnal intercourse, but the forming of our nature is from above, of the Holy Spirit and water. Moreover, the water succeeds to the task, becoming a means of birth for that which has been begotten. As the womb is to the embryo, so the water is to the believer, since he is formed and shaped in the water. In the beginning, to be sure, God said: 'Let the waters bring forth crawling creatures having life.'4 From the time when the Lord came forth from the waters of the Jordan, the water brings forth no longer 'crawling creatures having life,' but rational souls bearing the Holy Spirit. And that statement made of the sun: 'Like a bridegroom advanc2 Cor. 5.17. S Rom. IUS. 4 Cf. Gen. 1.20. 252 SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM ing from his bridal chamber'5 might be more fittingly said of the faithful, for they send forth beams much more brilliant than its rays. However, that which is formed within the womb needs time, while this is not so in the case of the water, since all takes place in a...