Tractates on the Gospel of John 55–111

Tractate 66

TRACTATE 66 On John 13.36–38 hen the Lord Jesus committed to the disciples the holy love by which they would love one another, “Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’” So indeed did the disciple say this to the Teacher, the servant to the Lord, as though he were prepared to follow . For this reason, of course, the Lord, who saw his mind [and] why he asked this, answered him thus: “Where I am going you cannot follow me now,” as though he would say, “As to what you ask, you cannot now.” He did not say, “You cannot,” rather, he said, “You cannot now.” He introduced a delay, he did not take away hope; and the same hope that he did not take away, but rather gave, he strengthened with the following statement, by adding and saying, “but you shall follow later.” (2) Why are you in a hurry, Peter? The Rock has not yet hardened you with his Spirit. Do not be upraised by presuming ; “you cannot now.” Do not be downcast by despairing; “you shall follow later.” But still what does he say to him? “Why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” What desire was in his mind, he saw; what strength there was, he did not see. Weak, he boasted his will, but the Physician saw the state of his health. This one promised; that one knew beforehand. He who knew not, dared; He who foreknew, taught. How much had Peter taken on himself by seeing what he wanted, by not knowing what he could do! How much had he taken on himself that, when the Lord had come to lay down his life for his friends and therefore also for him, he would be confident to offer this to the Lord, and when Christ’s life was not yet laid down for him, he would promise that he would lay down his life for Christ! 54 (3) “Therefore Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me?’” So will you do for me what I have not yet done for you? “Will you lay down your life for me?” Can you who cannot follow go on ahead? Why do you presume so much? What do you perceive about yourself? What do you believe that you are? Hear what you are: “Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow till you deny me three times.” Look how quickly you will be revealed to yourself, you who say big things and know not that you are a little one. You who promise me your death will deny your Life three times. You who now think that you can die for me, live first for yourself; for by fearing the death of your flesh, you will give death to your soul. For as great a life as it is to profess Christ, so great a death it is to deny Christ. 2. Can it be that the Apostle Peter, as some try to excuse him by a perverse favor,1 did not deny Christ, because, when asked by the woman servant, he answered that he did not know the man, as the other evangelists attest rather clearly?2 As if indeed he who denies Christ as a man does not deny Christ, and he denies in him that which he was made for us so that what he had made, us, might not perish. Therefore he who so professes Christ as God that he denies him as man, for him Christ did not die because Christ died in accordance with [the fact that he was] a man. He who denies Christ as a man is not reconciled to God through the Mediator . “For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”3 He who denies Christ as a man is not justified: “For as by the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also by the obedience of one man many shall be made just.”4 He who denies Christ as a man will not rise up to the resurrection of life: “For by a man death, also by a man the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”5 Moreover, by what is he the Head of the Church except by TRACTATE 66 55 1. See Ambrose, Expositio...