Tractate 55 (John 13:1-5)

1. The Lord's Supper, as set forth in John, must, with His assistance, be unfolded in a becoming number of Lectures, and explained with all the ability He is pleased to grant us. Now, before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end. Pascha (passover) is not, as some think, a Greek noun, but a Hebrew: and yet there occurs in this noun a very suitable kind of accordance in the two languages. For inasmuch as the Greek word paschein means to suffer, therefore pascha has been supposed to mean suffering, as if the noun derived its name from His passion: but in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, pascha means passover; because the pascha was then celebrated for the first time by God's people, when, in their flight from Egypt, they passed over the Red Sea. And now that prophetic emblem is fulfilled in truth, when Christ is led as a sheep to the slaughter, Isaiah 53:7 that by His blood sprinkled on our doorposts, that is, by the sign of His cross marked on our foreheads, we may be delivered from the perdition awaiting this world, as Israel from the bondage and destruction of the Egyptians; Exodus 12:23 and a most salutary transit we make when we pass over from the devil to Christ, and from this unstable world to His well-established kingdom. And therefore surely do we pass over to the ever-abiding God, that we may not pass away with this passing world. The apostle, in extolling God for such grace bestowed upon us, says: Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Colossians 1:13 This name, then, of pascha, which, as I have said, is in Latin called transitus (pass over), is interpreted, as it were, for us by the blessed evangelist, when he says, Before the feast of pascha, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should pass out of this world to the Father. Here you see we have both pascha and pass-over. Whence, and whither does He pass? Namely, out of this world to the Father. The hope was thus given to the members in their Head, that they doubtless would yet follow Him who was passing before. And what, then, of unbelievers, who stand altogether apart from this Head and His members? Do not they also pass away, seeing that they abide not here always? They also do plainly pass away: but it is one thing to pass from the world, and another to pass away with it; one thing to pass to the Father, another to pass to the enemy. For the Egyptians also passed over [the sea]; but they did not pass through the sea to the kingdom, but in the sea to destruction.

2. When Jesus knew, then, that His hour had come that He should pass out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end. In order, doubtless, that they also, through that love of His, might pass from this world where they now were, to their Head who had passed hence before them. For what mean these words, to the end, but just to Christ? For Christ is the end of the law, says the apostle, for righteousness to every one that believes. Romans 10:4 The end that consummates, not that consumes; the end whereto we attain, not wherein we perish. Exactly thus are we to understand the passage, Christ our passover is sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:7 He is our end; into Him do we pass. For I see that these gospel words may also be taken in a kind of human sense, that Christ loved His own even unto death, so that this may be the meaning of He loved them unto the end. This meaning is human, not divine: for it was not merely up to this point that we were loved by Him, who loves us always and endlessly. God forbid that He, whose death could not end, should have ended His love at death. Even after death that proud and ungodly rich man loved his five brethren; Luke 16:27-28 and is Christ to be thought of as loving us only till death? God forbid, beloved. He would have come in vain with a love for us that lasted till death, if that love had ended there. But perhaps the words, He loved them unto the end, may have to be understood in this way, That He so loved them as to die for them. For this He testified when He said, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. We have certainly no objection that He loved them unto the end should be so understood, that is, it was His very love that carried Him on to death.

3. And the supper, he says, having taken place, and the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, [Jesus] knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He has come from God, and is going to God; He rises from supper, and lays aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. We are not to understand by the supper having taken place, as if it were already finished and over; for it was still going on when the Lord rose and washed His disciples' feet. For He afterwards sat down again, and gave the morsel [sop] to His betrayer, implying certainly that the supper was not yet over, or, in other words, that there was still bread on the table. Therefore, by supper having taken place, is meant that it was now ready, and laid out on the table for the use of the guests.

4. But when he says, The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him; if one inquires, what was put into Judas' heart, it was doubtless this, to betray Him. Such a putting [into the heart] is a spiritual suggestion: and enters not by the ear, but through the thoughts; and thereby not in a way that is corporal, but spiritual. For what we call spiritual is not always to be understood in a commendatory way. The apostle knew of certain spiritual things [powers], of wickedness in heavenly places, against which he testifies that we have to maintain a struggle; Ephesians 6:12 and there would not be spiritual wickednesses, were there not also wicked spirits. For it is from a spiritual being that spiritual things get their name. But how such things are done, as that devilish suggestions should be introduced, and so mingle with human thoughts that a man accounts them his own, how can he know? Nor can we doubt that good suggestions are likewise made by a good spirit in the same unobservable and spiritual way; but it is matter of concern to which of these the human mind yields assent, either as deservedly left without, or graciously aided by, the divine assistance. The determination, therefore, had now been come to in Judas' heart by the instigation of the devil, that the disciple should betray the Master, whom he had not learned to know as his God. In such a state had he now come to their social meal, a spy on the Shepherd, a plotter against the Redeemer, a seller of the Saviour; as such was he now come, was he now seen and endured, and thought himself undiscovered: for he was deceived about Him whom he wished to deceive. But He, who had already scanned the inward state of that very heart, was knowingly making use of one who knew it not.

5. [Jesus] knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands. And therefore also the traitor himself: for if He had him not in His hands, He certainly could not use him as He wished. Accordingly, the traitor had been already betrayed to Him whom he sought to betray; and he carried out his evil purpose in betraying Him in such a way, that good he knew not of was the issue in regard to Him who was betrayed. For the Lord knew what He was doing for His friends, and patiently made use of His enemies: and thus had the Father given all things into His hands, both the evil for present use, and the good for the final issue. Knowing also that He has come from God, and is going to God: neither quitting God when He came from Him, nor us when He returned.

6. Knowing, then, these things, He rises from supper, and lays aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. We ought, dearly beloved, carefully to mark the meaning of the evangelist; because that, when about to speak of the pre-eminent humility of the Lord, it was his desire first to commend His majesty. It is in reference to this that he says, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He has come from God, and is going to God. It is He, therefore, into whose hands the Father had given all things, who now washes, not the disciples' hands, but their feet: and it was just while knowing that He had come from God, and was proceeding to God, that He discharged the office of a servant, not of God the Lord, but of man. And this also is referred to by the prefatory notice he has been pleased to make of His betrayer, who was now come as such, and was not unknown to Him; that the greatness of His humility should be still further enhanced by the fact that He did not esteem it beneath His dignity to wash also the feet of one whose hands He already foresaw to be steeped in wickedness.

7. But why should we wonder that He rose from supper, and laid aside His garments, who, being in the form of God, made Himself of no reputation? And why should we wonder, if He girded Himself with a towel, who took upon Him the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of a man? Philippians 2:6-7 Why wonder, if He poured water into a basin wherewith to wash His disciples' feet, who poured His blood upon the earth to wash away the filth of their sins? Why wonder, if with the towel wherewith He was girded He wiped the feet He had washed, who with the very flesh that clothed Him laid a firm pathway for the footsteps of His evangelists? In order, indeed, to gird Himself with the towel, He laid aside the garments He wore; but when He emptied Himself [of His divine glory] in order to assume the form of a servant, He laid not down what He had, but assumed that which He had not before. When about to be crucified, He was indeed stripped of His garments, and when dead was wrapped in linen clothes: and all that suffering of His is our purification. When, therefore, about to suffer the last extremities [of humiliation,] He here illustrated beforehand its friendly compliances; not only to those for whom He was about to endure death, but to him also who had resolved on betraying Him to death. Because so great is the beneficence of human humility, that even the Divine Majesty was pleased to commend it by His own example; for proud man would have perished eternally, had he not been found by the lowly God. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10 And as he was lost by imitating the pride of the deceiver, let him now, when found, imitate the Redeemer's humility.

Tractate 56 (John 13:6-10)

1. When the Lord was washing the disciples' feet, He comes to Simon Peter; and Peter says unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? For who would not be filled with fear at having his feet washed by the Son of God? Although, therefore, it was a piece of the greatest audacity for the servant to contradict his Lord, the creature his God; yet Peter preferred doing this to the suffering of his feet to be washed by his Lord and God. Nor ought we to think that Peter was one among others who so expressed their fear and refusal, seeing that others before him had suffered it to be done to themselves with cheerfulness and equanimity. For it is easier so to understand the words of the Gospel, because that, after saying, He began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded, it is then added, Then comes He to Simon Peter, as if He had already washed the feet of some, and after them had now come to the first of them all. For who can fail to know that the most blessed Peter was the first of the apostles? But we are not so to understand it, that it was after some others that He came to him; but that He began with him. When, therefore, He began to wash the disciples' feet, He came to him with whom He began, namely, to Peter; and then Peter took fright at what any one of them might have been frightened, and said, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? What is implied in this Thou? And what in my? These are subjects for thought rather than for speech; lest perchance any adequate conception the soul may have formed of such words may fail of explanation in the utterance.

2. But Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you know not now, but you shall know hereafter. And not even yet, terrified as he was by the sublimity of the Lord's action, does he allow it to be done, while ignorant of its purpose; but is unwilling to see, unable to endure, that Christ should thus humble Himself to his very feet. You shall never, he says, wash my feet. What is this never [in æternum]? I will never endure, never suffer, never permit it: that is, a thing is not done  in æternum which is never done. Then the Saviour, to terrify His reluctant patient with the danger of his own salvation, says, If I wash you not, you shall have no part with me. He speaks in this way, If I wash you not, when He was referring only to his feet; just as it is customary to say, You are trampling on me, when it is only the foot that is trampled on. And now the other, in a perturbation of love and fear, and more frightened at the thought that Christ should be withheld from him, than even to see Him humbled at his feet, exclaims, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Since this, indeed, is Your threat, that my bodily members must be washed by You, not only do I no longer withhold the lowest, but I lay the foremost also at Your disposal. Deny me not having a part with You, and I deny You not any part of my body to be washed.

3. Jesus says to him, He that is washed needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. Some one perhaps may be aroused at this, and say: Nay, but if he is every whit clean, what need has He even to wash his feet? But the Lord knew what He was saying, even though our weakness reach not into His secret purposes. Nevertheless, so far as He is pleased to instruct and teach us out of His law, up to the little measure of my apprehension, I would also, with His help, make some answer bearing on the depths of this question: and, first of all, I shall have no difficulty in showing that there is no self-contradiction in the manner of expression. For who may not say, as here, with the greatest propriety, He is all clean, except his feet?— although he would speak with greater elegance were he to say, He is all clean, save his feet; which is equivalent in meaning. Thus, then, does the Lord say, He needs not save to wash his feet, but is all clean. All, that is, except, or save his feet, which he still needs to wash.

4. But what is this? What does it mean? And what is there in it we need to examine? The Lord says, The Truth declares that even he who has been washed has need still to wash his feet. What, my brethren, what think you of it, save that in holy baptism a man has all of him washed, not all save his feet, but every whit; and yet, while thereafter living in this human state, he cannot fail to tread on the ground with his feet. And thus our human feelings themselves, which are inseparable from our mortal life on earth, are like feet wherewith we are brought into sensible contact with human affairs; and are so in such a way, that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8 And every day, therefore, is He who intercedes for us, Romans 8:34 washing our feet: and that we, too have daily need to be washing our feet, that is ordering aright the path of our spiritual footsteps, we acknowledge even in the Lord's prayer, when we say, Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12 For if, as it is written, we confess our sins, then verily is He, who washed His disciples' feet, faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9 that is, even to our feet wherewith we walk on the earth.

5. Accordingly the Church, which Christ cleanses with the washing of water in the word, is without spot and wrinkle, Ephesians 5:26-27 not only in the case of those who are taken away immediately after the washing of regeneration from the contagious influence of this life, and tread not the earth so as to make necessary the washing of their feet, but in those also who have experienced such mercy from the Lord as to be enabled to quit this present life even with feet that have been washed. But although the Church be also clean in respect of those who tarry on earth, because they live righteously; yet have they need to be washing their feet, because they assuredly are not without sin. For this cause is it said in the Song of Songs, I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? Song of Songs 5:3 For one so speaks when he is constrained to come to Christ, and in coming has to bring his feet into contact with the ground. But again, there is another question that arises. Is not Christ above? has He not ascended into heaven, and sits He not at the Father's right hand? Does not the apostle expressly declare, If you, then, be risen with Christ, set your thoughts on those things which are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God. Seek the things which are above, not things which are on earth? Colossians 3:1-2 How is it, then, that to get to Christ we are compelled to tread the earth, since rather our hearts ought to be turned upwards toward the Lord, that we may be enabled to dwell in His presence? You see, brethren, the shortness of the time today curtails our consideration of this question. And if you perhaps fail in some measure to do so, yet I for my part see how much clearing up it requires. And therefore I beg of you to suffer it rather to be adjourned, than to be treated now in too negligent and restricted a manner; and your expectations will not be defrauded, but only deferred. For the Lord who thus makes us your debtors, will be present to enable us also to pay our debts.

Tractate 57 (John 13:6-10, SONG OF SOLOMON 5:2-3)

In what way the Church should fear to defile her feet, while proceeding on her way to Christ.

1. I Have not been unmindful of my debt, and acknowledge that the time of payment has now come. May He give me wherewith to pay, as He gave me cause to incur the debt. For He has given me the love, of which it is said, Owe no man anything, but to love one another. Romans 13:8 May He give also the word, which I feel myself owing to those I love. I put off your expectations till now for this reason, that I might explain as I could how it is we come to Christ along the ground, when we are commanded rather to seek the things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth. Colossians 3:1-2 For Christ is sitting above, at the right hand of the Father: but He is assuredly here also; and for that reason said also to Saul, as he was raging on the earth, Why do you persecute me? Acts 9:4 But the topic on which we were speaking, and which led to our entering on this inquiry, was our Lord's washing His disciples' feet, after the disciples themselves had already been washed, and needed not, save to wash their feet. And we there saw it to be understood that a man is indeed wholly washed in baptism; but while thereafter he lives in this present world, and with the feet of his human passions treads on this earth, that is, in his life-intercourse with others, he contracts enough to call forth the prayer, Forgive us our debts. Matthew 6:12 And thus from these also is he cleansed by Him who washed His disciples' feet, and ceases not to make intercession for us. Romans 8:34 And here occurred the words of the Church in the Song of Songs, when she says, I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? when she wished to go and open to that Being, fairer in form than the sons of men, who had come to her and knocked, and asked her to open to Him. This gave rise to a question, which we were unwilling to compress into the narrow limits of the time, and therefore deferred till now, in what sense the Church, when on her way to Christ, may be afraid of defiling her feet, which she had washed in the baptism of Christ.

2. For thus she speaks: I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocks at the gate. And then He also says: Open to me, my sister, my nearest, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the drops of the night. And she replies: I have put off my dress; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? Song of Songs 5:2-3 O wonderful sacramental symbol! O lofty mystery! Does she, then, fear to defile her feet in coming to Him who washed the feet of His disciples? Her fear is genuine; for it is along the earth she has to come to Him, who is still on earth, because refusing to leave His own who are stationed here. Is it not He that says, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world? Matthew 28:20 Is it not He that says, You shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man? If they ascend to Him because He is above, how do they descend to Him, but because He is also here? Therefore says the Church: I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? She says so even in the case of those who, purified from all dross, can say: I desire to depart, and to be with Christ; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. Philippians 1:23-24 She says it in those who preach Christ, and open to Him the door, that He may dwell by faith in the hearts of men. Ephesians 3:17 In such she says it, when they deliberate whether to undertake such a ministry, for which they do not consider themselves qualified, so as to discharge it blamelessly, and so as not, after preaching to others, themselves to become castaways. 1 Corinthians 9:27 For it is safer to hear than to preach the truth: for in the hearing, humility is preserved; but when it is preached, it is scarcely possible for any man to hinder the entrance of some small measure of boasting, whereby the feet at least are defiled.

3. Therefore, as the Apostle James says, Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak. James 1:19 As it is also said by another man of God, You will make me to hear joy and gladness; and the bones You have humbled will rejoice. This is what I said: When the truth is heard, humility is preserved. And another says: But the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him, and rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Let us rejoice in the hearing that comes from the noiseless speaking of the truth within us. For although, when the sound is outwardly uttered, as by one that reads; or proclaims, or preaches, or disputes, or commands, or comforts, or exhorts, or even by one that sings or accompanies his voice on an instrument, those who do so may fear to defile their feet, when they aim at pleasing men with the secretly active desire of human applause. Yet the one who hears such with a willing and pious mind, has no room for self-gratulation in the labors of others; and with no self-inflation, but with the joy of humility, rejoices because of the Master's words of truth. Accordingly, in those who hear with willingness and humility, and spend a tranquil life in sweet and wholesome studies, the holy Church will take delight, and may say, I sleep, and my heart wakes. And what is this, I sleep, and my heart wakes, but just I sit down quietly to listen? My leisure is not laid out in nourishing slothfulness, but in acquiring wisdom. I sleep, and my heart wakes. I am still, and see that You are the Lord: for the wisdom of the scribe comes by opportunity of leisure; and he that has little business shall become wise. Sirach 38:24 I sleep, and my heart wakes: I rest from troublesome business, and my mind turns its attention to divine concerns (or communications).

4. But while the Church finds delightful repose in those who thus sweetly and humbly sit at her feet, here is one who knocks, and says: What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops. Matthew 10:27 It is His voice, then, that knocks at the gate, and says: Open to me, my sister, my neighbor, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. As if He had said, You are at leisure, and the door is closed against me: you are caring for the leisure of the few, and through abounding iniquity the love of many is waxing cold. Matthew 24:12 The night He speaks of is iniquity: but His dew and drops are those who wax cold and fall away, and make the head of Christ to wax cold, that is, the love of God to fail. For the head of Christ is God. 1 Corinthians 11:3 But they are borne on His locks, that is, their presence is tolerated in the visible sacraments; while their senses never take hold of the internal realities. He knocks, therefore, to shake off this quiet from His inactive saints, and cries, Open to me, thou who, through my blood, has become my sister; through my drawing near, my neighbor; through my Spirit, my dove; through my word which you have fully learned in your leisure, my perfect one: open to me, go and preach me to others. For how shall I get in to those who have shut their door against me, without some one to open? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14

5. Hence it happens that those who love to devote their leisure to good studies, and shrink from encountering the troubles of toilsome labors, as feeling themselves unsuited to undertake and discharge such services with credit, would prefer, were it possible, to have the holy apostles and ancient preachers of the truth again raised up against that abounding of iniquity which has so reduced the warmth of Christian love. But in regard to those who have already left the body, and put off the garment of the flesh (for they are not utterly parted), the Church replies, I have put off my dress; how shall I put it on? That dress shall, indeed, yet be recovered; and in the persons of those who have meanwhile laid it aside, shall the Church again put on the garment of flesh: only not now, when the cold are needing to be warmed; but then, when the dead shall rise again. Realizing, then, her present difficulty through the scarcity of preachers, and remembering those members of her own who were so sound in word and holy in character, but are now disunited from their bodies, the Church says in her sorrow, I have put off my dress; how shall I put it on? How can those members of mine, who had such surpassing power, through their preaching, to open the door to Christ, now return to the bodies which they have laid aside?

6. And then, turning again to those who preach, and gather in and govern the congregations of His people, and so open as they can to Christ, but are afraid, amid the difficulties of such work, of falling into sin, she says, I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? For whosoever offends not in word, the same is a perfect man. And who, then, is perfect? Who is there that offends not amid such an abounding of iniquity, and such a freezing of charity? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? At times I read and hear: My brethren, be not many masters, seeing that you shall receive the greater condemnation: for in many things we offend all. James 3:1-2 I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? But see, I rise and open. Christ, wash them. Forgive us our debts, because our love is not altogether extinguished: for we also forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12 When we listen to You, the bones which have been humbled rejoice with You in the heavenly places. But when we preach You, we have to tread the ground in order to open to You: and then, if we are blameworthy, we are troubled; if we are commended, we become inflated. Wash our feet, that were formerly cleansed, but have again been defiled in our walking through the earth to open unto You. Let this be enough today, beloved. But in whatever we have happened to offend, by saying otherwise than we ought, or have been unduly elated by your commendations, entreat that our feet may be washed, and may your prayers find acceptance with God.

Tractate 58 (John 13:10-15)

1. We have already, beloved, as the Lord was pleased to enable us, expounded to you those words of the Gospel, where the Lord, in washing His disciples' feet, says, He that is once washed needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. Let us now look at what follows. And ye, He says, are clean, but not all. And to remove the need of inquiry on our part, the evangelist has himself explained its meaning, by adding: For He knew who it was that should betray Him; therefore said He, You are not all clean. Can anything be clearer? Let us therefore pass to what follows.

2. So, after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said to them, Know ye what I have done to you? Now it is that the blessed Peter gets that promise fulfilled: for he had been put off when, in the midst of his trembling and asserting, You shall never wash my feet, he received the answer, What I do, you know not now, but you shall know hereafter (vers. 7-8). Here, then, is that very hereafter; it is now time to tell what was a little ago deferred. Accordingly, the Lord, mindful of His foregoing promise to make him understand an act of His so unexpected, so wonderful, so frightening, and, but for His own still more terrifying rejoinder, impossible to be permitted, that the Master not only of themselves, but of angels, and the Lord not only of them, but of all things, should wash the feet of His own disciples and servants: having then promised to let him know the meaning of so important an act, when He said, You shall know afterwards, begins now to show them what it was that He did.

3. You call me, He says, Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. You say well, for you only say the truth; I am indeed what ye say. There is a precept laid on man: Let not your own mouth praise you, but the mouth of your neighbor. Proverbs 27:2 For self-pleasing is a perilous thing for one who has to be on his guard against falling into pride. But He who is over all things, however much He commend Himself, cannot exalt Himself above His actual dignity: nor can God be rightly termed arrogant. For it is to our advantage to know Him, not to His; nor can any one know Him, unless that self-knowing One make Himself known. If He, then, by abstaining from self-commendation, wish, as it were, to avoid arrogance, He will deny us the power of knowing Him. And no one surely would blame Him for calling Himself Master, even though believing Him to be nothing more than a man; seeing He only makes profession of what even men themselves in the various arts profess to such an extent, without any charge of arrogance, that they are termed professors. But to call Himself also the Lord of His disciples — of men who, in an earthly sense, were themselves also free-born — who would tolerate it in a man? But it is God that speaks. Here no elation is possible to loftiness so great, no lie to the truth: the profit is ours to be the subjects of such loftiness, the servants of the truth. That He calls Himself Lord is no imperfection on His side, but a benefit on ours. The words of a certain profane author are commended, when he says, All arrogance is hateful, and specially disagreeable is that of talent and eloquence; and yet, when the same person was speaking of his own eloquence, he said, I would call it perfect, were I to pronounce judgment; nor, in truth, would I greatly fear the charge of arrogance. If, then, that most eloquent man had in truth no fear of being charged with arrogance, how can the truth itself have such a fear? Let Him call Himself Lord who is the Lord, let Him say what is true who is the Truth; so that I may not fail to learn that which is profitable, by His being silent about that which is. The most blessed Paul— certainly not himself the only-begotten Son of God, but the servant and apostle of that Son; not the Truth, but a partaker of the truth— declares with freedom and consistency, And though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I say the truth. 2 Corinthians 12:6 For it would not be in himself, but in the truth, which is superior to himself, that he was glorying both humbly and truly: for it is he also who has given the charge, that he that glories should glory in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31 Could thus the lover of wisdom have no fear of being chargeable with foolishness, though he desired to glory, and would wisdom itself, in its glorying, have any fear of such a charge? He had no fear of arrogance who said, My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; and could the power of the Lord have any such fear in commending itself, in which His servant's soul is making her boast? You call me, He says, Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. Therefore ye say well, that I am so: for if I were not what ye say, you would be wrong to say so, even with the purpose of praising me. How, then,could the Truth deny what the disciples of the Truth affirm? How could that which was said by the learners be denied by the very Truth that gave them their learning? How can the fountain deny what the drinker asserts? How can the light hide what the beholder declares?

4. If I, then, He says, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. This, blessed Peter, is what thou did not know when thou were not allowing it to be done. This is what He promised to let you know afterwards, when your Master and your Lord terrified you into submission, and washed your feet. We have learned, brethren, humility from the Highest; let us, as humble, do to one another what He, the Highest, did in His humility. Great is the commendation we have here of humility: and brethren do this to one another in turn, even in the visible act itself, when they treat one another with hospitality; for the practice of such humility is generally prevalent, and finds expression in the very deed that makes it discernible. And hence the apostle, when he would commend the well-deserving widow, says, If she is hospitable, if she has washed the saints' feet. 1 Timothy 5:10 And wherever such is not the practice among the saints, what they do not with the hand they do in heart, if they are of the number of those who are addressed in the hymn of the three blessed men, O you holy and humble of heart, bless ye the Lord. But it is far better, and beyond all dispute more accordant with the truth, that it should also be done with the hands; nor should the Christian think it beneath him to do what was done by Christ. For when the body is bent at a brother's feet, the feeling of such humility is either awakened in the heart itself, or is strengthened if already present.

5. But apart from this moral understanding of the passage, we remember that the way in which we commended to your attention the grandeur of this act of the Lord's, was that, in washing the feet of disciples who were already washed and clean, the Lord instituted a sign, to the end that, on account of the human feelings that occupy us on earth, however far we may have advanced in our apprehension of righteousness, we might know that we are not exempt from sin; which He thereafter washes away by interceding for us, when we pray the Father, who is in heaven, to forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12 What connection, then, can such an understanding of the passage have with that which He afterwards gave Himself, when He explained the reason of His act in the words, If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you? Can we say that even a brother may cleanse a brother from the contracted stain of wrongdoing? Yea, verily, we know that of this also we were admonished in the profound significance of this work of the Lord's, that we should confess our faults one to another, and pray for one another, even as Christ also makes intercession for us. Romans 8:34 Let us listen to the Apostle James, who states this precept with the greatest clearness when he says, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another. James 5:16 For of this also the Lord gave us the example. For if He who neither has, nor had, nor will have any sin, prays for our sins, how much more ought we to pray for one another's in turn! And if He forgives us, whom we have nothing to forgive; how much more ought we, who are unable to live here without sin, to forgive one another! For what else does the Lord apparently intimate in the profound significance of this sacramental sign, when He says, For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you; but what the apostle declares in the plainest terms, Forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye? Colossians 3:13 Let us therefore forgive one another his faults, and pray for one another's faults, and thus in a manner be washing one another's feet. It is our part, by His grace, to be supplying the service of love and humility: it is His to hear us, and to cleanse us from all the pollution of our sins through Christ, and in Christ; so that what we forgive even to others, that is, loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven.

Tractate 59 (John 13:16-20)

1. We have just heard in the holy Gospel the Lord speaking, and saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord, nor the apostle [he that is sent] greater than he that sent him: if you know these things, blessed shall you be if you do them. He said this, therefore, because He had washed the disciples' feet, as the Master of humility both by word and example. But we shall be able, with His help, to handle what is in need of more elaborate handling, if we linger not at what is perfectly clear. Accordingly, after uttering these words, the Lord added, I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but, that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me, shall lift up his heel upon me. And what is this, but that he shall trample upon me? We know of whom He speaks: it is Judas, that betrayer of His, who is referred to. He had not therefore chosen the person whom, by these words, He sets utterly apart from His chosen ones. When I say then, He continues, Blessed shall you be if you do them, I speak not of you all: there is one among you who will not be blessed, and who will not do these things. I know whom I have chosen. Whom, but those who shall be blessed in the doing of what has been commanded and shown as needful to be done, by Him who alone can make them blessed? The traitor Judas, He says, is not one of those that have been chosen. What, then, is meant by what He says in another place, Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Was it that he also was chosen for some purpose, for which he was really necessary; although not for the blessedness of which He has just been saying, Blessed shall you be if you do these things? He speaks not so of them all; for He knows whom He has chosen to be associated with Himself in blessedness. Of such he is not one, who ate His bread in order that he might lift up his heel upon Him. The bread they ate was the Lord Himself; he ate the Lord's bread in enmity to the Lord: they ate life, and he punishment. For he that eats unworthily, says the apostle, eats judgment unto himself. 1 Corinthians 11:29 From this time, Christ adds, I tell you before it come; that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am He: that is, I am He of whom the Scripture that preceded has just said, He that eats bread with me, shall lift up his heel upon me.

2. He then proceeds to say: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receives whomsoever I send, receives me; and he that receives me, receives Him that sent me. Did He mean us to understand that there is as little distance between one sent by Him, and Himself, as there is between Himself and God the Father? If we take it in this way, I know not what measurements of distance (which may God forbid!) we shall be adopting, in the Arian fashion. For they, when they hear or read these words of the Gospel, have immediate recourse to their dogmatic measurements, whereby they ascend not to life, but fall headlong into death. For they straightway say: The Son's messenger stands at the same relative distance from the Son, as expressed in the words, He that receives whomsoever I send, receives me, as that in which the Son Himself stands from the Father, when He said, He that receives me, receives Him that sent me. But if you say so, you forget, heretic, your measurements. For if, because of these words of the Lord, you put the Son at as great a distance from the Father as the messenger [apostle] from the Son, where do you purpose to place the Holy Spirit? Has it escaped you, that you are wont to place Him after the Son? He will therefore come in between the messenger and the Son; and much greater, then, will be the distance between the Son and His messenger, than between the Father and His Son. Or perhaps, to preserve that distinction between the Son and His messenger, and between the Father and His Son, at their equality of distance, will the Holy Spirit be equal to the Son? But as little will you allow this. And where, then, do ye think of placing Him, if you place the Son as far beneath the Father, as you place the messenger beneath the Son? Restrain, therefore, your foolhardy presumption; and do not be seeking to find in these words the same distance between the Son and His messenger as between the Father and His Son. But listen rather to the Son Himself, when He says, I and my Father are one. For there the Truth has left you no shadow of distance between the Begetter and the Only-begotten; there Christ Himself has erased your measurements, and the rock has broken your staircase to pieces.

3. But now that the heretical slander has been disposed of, in what sense are we to understand these words of the Lord: He that receives whomsoever I send, receives me; and he that receives me, receives Him that sent me? For if we were inclined to understand the words, He that receives me, receives Him that sent me, as expressing the oneness in nature of the Father and the Son; the sequence from the similar arrangement of words in the other clause, He that receives whomsoever I send, receives me, would be the unity in nature of the Son and His messenger. And there might, indeed, be no impropriety in so understanding it, seeing that a twofold substance belongs to the strong man, who has rejoiced to run the race; for the Word was made flesh, that is, God became man. And accordingly He might be supposed to have said, He that receives whomsoever I send, receives me, with reference to His human nature; and he that receives me as God, receives Him that sent me. But in so speaking, He was not commending the unity of nature, but the authority of the Sender in Him who is sent. Let every one, therefore, so receive Him that is sent, that in His person he may give heed to Him who sent Him. If, then, you look for Christ in Peter, you will find the disciple's instructor; and if you look for the Father in the Son, you will find the Begetter of the Only-begotten: and so in Him who is sent, you are not mistaken in receiving the Sender. What follows in the Gospel cannot be compressed within the shortness of the time remaining. And therefore, dearly beloved, let what has been said, if thought sufficient, be received in a healthful way, as pasture for the holy sheep; and if it is somewhat scanty, let it be ruminated over with ardent desire for more.

Tractate 60 (John 13:21)

1. It is no light question, brethren, that meets us in the Gospel of the blessed John, when he says: When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Was it for this reason that Jesus was troubled, not in flesh, but in spirit, that He was now about to say, One of you shall betray me? Did this occur then for the first time to His mind, or was it at that moment suddenly revealed to Him for the first time, and so troubled Him by the startling novelty of so great a calamity? Was it not a little before that He was using these words, He that eats bread with me will lift up his heel against me? And had He not also, previously to that, said, And you are clean, but not all? Where the evangelist added, For He knew who should betray Him: to whom also on a still earlier occasion He had pointed in the words, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Why is it, then, that He was now troubled in spirit, when He testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me? Was it because now He had so to mark him out, that he should no longer remain concealed among the rest, but be separated from the others, that therefore He was troubled in spirit? Or was it because now the traitor himself was on the eve of departing to bring those Jews to whom he was to betray the Lord, that He was troubled by the imminency of His passion, the closeness of the danger, and the swooping hand of the traitor, whose resolution was foreknown? For some such cause it certainly was that Jesus was troubled in spirit, as when He said, Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour. And accordingly, just as then His soul was troubled as the hour of His passion approached; so now also, as Judas was on the point of going and coming, and the atrocious villainy of the traitor neared its accomplishment, He was troubled in spirit.

2. He was troubled, then, who had power to lay down His life, and had power to take it again. That mighty power is troubled, the firmness of the rock is disturbed: or is it rather our infirmity that is troubled in Him? Assuredly so: let servants believe nothing unworthy of their Lord, but recognize their own membership in their Head. He who died for us, was also Himself troubled in our place. He, therefore, who died in power, was troubled in the midst of His power: He who shall yet transform the body of our humility into similarity of form with the body of His glory, has also transferred into Himself the feeling of our infirmity, and sympathizes with us in the feelings of His own soul. Accordingly, when it is the great, the brave, the sure, the invincible One that is troubled, let us have no fear for Him, as if He were capable of failing: He is not perishing, but in search of us [who are]. Us, I say; it is us exclusively whom He is thus seeking, that in His trouble we may behold ourselves, and so, when trouble reaches us, may not fall into despair and perish. By His trouble, who could not be troubled save with His own consent, He comforts such as are troubled unwillingly.

3. Away with the reasons of philosophers, who assert that a wise man is not affected by mental perturbations. God has made foolish the wisdom of this world; 1 Corinthians 1:20 and the Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain. It is plain that the mind of the Christian may be troubled, not by misery, but by pity: he may fear lest men should be lost to Christ; he may sorrow when one is being lost; he may have ardent desire to gain men to Christ; he may be filled with joy when such is being done; he may have fear of falling away himself from Christ; he may sorrow over his own estrangement from Christ; he may be earnestly desirous of reigning with Christ, and he may be rejoicing in the hope that such fellowship with Christ will yet be his lot. These are certainly four of what they call perturbations — fear and sorrow, love and gladness. And Christian minds may have sufficient cause to feel them, and evidence their dissent from the error of Stoic philosophers, and all resembling them: who indeed, just as they esteem truth to be vanity, regard also insensibility as soundness; not knowing that a man's mind, like the limbs of his body, is only the more hopelessly diseased when it has lost even the feeling of pain.

4. But says some one: Ought the mind of the Christian to be troubled even at the prospect of death? For what comes of those words of the apostle, that he had a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, Philippians 1:23 if the object of his desire can thus trouble him when it comes? Our answer to this would be easy, indeed, in the case of those who also term gladness itself a perturbation [of the mind]. For what if the trouble he thus feels arises entirely from his rejoicing at the prospect of death? But such a feeling, they say, ought to be termed gladness, and not rejoicing. And what is that, but just to alter the name, while the feeling experienced is the same? But let us for our part confine our attention to the Sacred Scriptures, and with the Lord's help seek rather such a solution of this question as will be in harmony with them; and then, seeing it is written, When He had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, we will not say that it was joy that disturbed Him; lest His own words should convince us of the contrary when He says, My soul is sorrowful, even unto death. Matthew 26:38 It is some such feeling that is here also to be understood, when, as His betrayer was now on the very point of departing alone, and straightway returning along with his associates, Jesus was troubled in spirit.

5. Strong-minded, indeed, are those Christians, if such there are, who experience no trouble at all in the prospect of death; but for all that, are they stronger-minded than Christ? Who would have the madness to say so? And what else, then, does His being troubled signify, but that, by voluntarily assuming the likeness of their weakness, He comforted the weak members in His own body, that is, in His Church; to the end that, if any of His own are still troubled at the approach of death, they may fix their gaze upon Him, and so be kept from thinking themselves castaways on this account, and being swallowed up in the more grievous death of despair? And how great, then, must be that good which we ought to expect and hope for in the participation of His divine nature, whose very perturbation tranquillizes us, and whose infirmity confirms us? Whether, therefore, on this occasion it was by His pity for Judas himself thus rushing into ruin, or by the near approach of His own death, that He was troubled, yet there is no possibility of doubting that it was not through any infirmity of mind, but in the fullness of power, that He was troubled, and so no despair of salvation need arise in our minds, when we are troubled, not in the possession of power, but in the midst of our weakness. He certainly bore the infirmity of the flesh — an infirmity which was swallowed up in His resurrection. But He who was not only man, but God also, surpassed by an ineffable distance the whole human race in fortitude of mind. He was not, then, troubled by any outward plessure of man, but troubled Himself; which was very plainly declared of Him when He raised Lazarus from the dead: for it is there written that He troubled Himself, that it may be so understood even where the text does not so express it, and yet declares that He was troubled. For having by His power assumed our full humanity, by that very power He awoke in Himself our human feelings whenever He judged it becoming.

Tractate 61 (John 13:21-26)

1. This short section of the Gospel, brethren, we have in this lesson brought forward for exposition, as thinking that we ought also to say something of the Lord's betrayer, as now plainly enough disclosed by the dipping and holding out to him of the piece of bread. Of that indeed which precedes, (namely), that Jesus, when about to point him out, was troubled in spirit, we have treated in our last discourse; but what I perhaps omitted to mention there, the Lord, by His own perturbation of spirit, thought proper to indicate this also, that it is necessary to bear with false brethren, and those tares that are among the wheat in the Lord's field until harvest-time, because that when we are compelled by urgent reasons to separate some of them even before the harvest, it cannot be done without disturbance to the Church. Such disturbance to His saints in the future, through schismatics and heretics, the Lord in a way foretold and prefigured in Himself, when, at the moment of that wicked man Judas' departure, and of his thereby bringing to an end, in a very open and decided way, his past intermingling with the wheat, in which he had long been tolerated, He was troubled, not in body, but in spirit. For it is not spitefulness, but charity, that troubles His spiritual members in scandals of this kind; lest perchance, in separating some of the tares, any of the wheat should also be uprooted therewith.

2. Jesus, therefore, was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. One of you, in number, not in merit; in appearance, not in reality; in bodily commingling, not by any spiritual tie; a companion by fleshly juxtaposition, not in any unity of the heart; and therefore not one who is of you, but one who is to go forth from you. For how else can this one of you be true, of which the Lord so testified, and said, if that is true which the writer of this very Gospel says in his Epistle, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us? 1 John 2:19 Judas, therefore was not of them; for, had he been of them, he would have continued with them. What, then, do the words One of you shall betray me mean, but that one is going out from you who shall betray me? Just as he also, who said, If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, had said before, They went out from us. And thus it is true in both senses, of us, and not of us; in one respect of us, and in another not of us; of us in respect to sacramental communion, but not of us in respect to the criminal conduct that belongs exclusively to themselves.

3. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom He spoke. For while they were imbued with a reverential love to their Master, they were none the less affected by human infirmity in their feelings towards each other. Each one's own conscience was known to himself; but as he was ignorant of his neighbor's, each one's self-assurance was such that each was uncertain of all the others, and all the others were uncertain of that one.

4. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. What he meant by saying in His bosom, he tells us a little further on, where he says, on the breast of Jesus. It was that very John whose Gospel is before us, as he afterwards expressly declares. For it was a custom with those who have supplied us with the sacred writings, that when any of them was relating the divine history, and came to something affecting himself, he spoke as if it were about another; and gave himself a place in the line of his narrative becoming one who was the recorder of public events, and not as one who made himself the subject of his preaching. Saint Matthew acted also in this way, when, in coming in the course of his narrative to himself, he says, He saw a publican named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, and says unto him, Follow me. Matthew 9:9 He does not say, He saw me, and said to me. So also acted the blessed Moses, writing all the history about himself as if it concerned another, and saying, The Lord said to Moses. Exodus 6:1 Less habitually was this done by the Apostle Paul, not however in any history which undertakes to explain the course of public events, but in his own epistles. At all events, he speaks thus of himself: I knew a man in Christ fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such an one caught up into the third heaven. 2 Corinthians 12:2 And so, when the blessed evangelist also says here, not, I was leaning on Jesus' bosom, but, There was leaning one of the disciples, let us recognize a custom of our author's, rather than fall into any wonder on the subject. For what loss is there to the truth, when the facts themselves are told us, and all boastfulness of language is in a measure avoided? For thus at least did he relate that which most signally pertained to his praise.

5. But what mean the words, whom Jesus loved? As if He did not love the others, of whom this same John has said above, He loved them to the end John 13:1; and as the Lord Himself, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And who could enumerate all the testimonies of the sacred pages, in which the Lord Jesus is exhibited as the lover, not only of this one, or of those who were then around Him, but of such also as were to be His members in the distant future, and of His universal Church? But there is some truth, doubtless, underlying these words, and having reference to the bosom on which the narrator was leaning. For what else can be in dicated by the bosom but some hidden truth? But there is another more suitable passage, where the Lord may enable us to say something about this secret that may prove sufficient.

6. Simon Peter therefore beckons, and says to him. The expression is noteworthy, as indicating that something was said not by any sound of words, but by merely beckoning with the head. He beckons, and says; that is, his beckoning is his speech. For if one is said to speak in his thoughts, as Scripture says, They said [reasoned] with themselves; Wisdom 2:1 how much more may he do so by beckoning, which expresses outwardly by some sort of signs what had previously been conceived within! What, then, did his beckoning mean? What else but that which follows? Who is it of whom He speaks? Such was the language of Peter's beckoning; for it was by no vocal sounds, but by bodily gestures, that he spoke. He then, having leaned back on Jesus' breast,— surely the very bosom of His breast this, the secret place of wisdom!— says unto Him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a piece of bread, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the bread, Satan entered into him. The traitor was disclosed, the coverts of darkness were revealed. What he got was good, but to his own hurt he received it, because, evil himself, in an evil spirit he received what was good. But we have much to say about that dipped bread which was presented to the false-hearted disciple, and about that which follows; and for these we shall require more time than remains to us now at the close of this discourse.

Tractate 62 (John 13:26-31)

1. I Know, dearly beloved, that some may be moved, as the godly to inquire into the meaning of, and the ungodly to find fault with, the statement, that it was after the Lord had given the bread, that had been dipped, to His betrayer that Satan entered into him. For so it is written: And when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the Son of Simon. And after the bread, then entered Satan into him. For they say, Was this the worth of Christ's bread, given from Christ's own table, that after it Satan should enter into His disciple? And the answer we give them is, that thereby we are taught rather how much we need to beware of receiving what is good in a sinful spirit. For the point of special importance is, not the thing that is received, but the person that receives it; and not the character of the thing that is given, but of him to whom it is given. For even good things are hurtful, and evil things are beneficial, according to the character of the recipients. Sin, says the apostle, that it might appear sin, wrought death to me by that which is good. Romans 7:13 Thus, you see, evil is brought about by the good, so long as that which is good is wrongly received. It is he also that says: Lest I should be exalted unduly through the greatness of my revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. For which thing I besought the Lord thrice, that He would take it away from me; and He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you: for strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 And here, you see, good was brought about by that which was evil, when the evil was received in a good spirit. Why, then, do we wonder if Christ's bread was given to Judas, that thereby he should be made over to the devil; when we see, on the other hand, that Paul was visited by a messenger of the devil, that by such an instrumentality he might be perfected in Christ? In this way, both the good was injurious to the evil man, and the evil was beneficial to the good. Bear in mind the meaning of the Scripture, Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:27 And when the apostle said this, he was dealing with those who were taking the body of the Lord, like any other food, in an undiscerning and careless spirit. If, then, he is thus taken to task who does not discern, that is, does not distinguish from the other kinds of food, the body of the Lord, what condemnation must be his, who in the guise of a friend comes as an enemy to His table! If negligence in the is thus visited with blame, what must be the punishment that will fall on the man that sells the very person who has invited him to his table! And why was the bread given to the traitor, but as an evidence of the grace he had treated with ingratitude?

2. It was after this bread, then, that Satan entered into the Lord's betrayer, that, as now given over to his power, he might take full possession of one into whom before this he had only entered in order to lead him into error. For we are not to suppose that he was not in him when he went to the Jews and bargained about the price of betraying the Lord; for the evangelist Luke very plainly attests this when he says: Then entered Satan into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, being one of the twelve; and he went his way, and communed with the chief priests. Luke 22:3-4 Here, you see, it is shown that Satan had already entered into Judas. His first entrance, therefore, was when he implanted in his heart the thought of betraying Christ; for in such a spirit had he already come to the supper. But now, after the bread, he entered into him, no longer to tempt one who belonged to another, but to take possession of him as his own.

3. But it was not then, as some thoughtless readers suppose, that Judas received the body of Christ. For we are to understand that the Lord had already dispensed to all of them the sacrament of His body and blood, when Judas also was present, as very clearly related by Saint Luke; Luke 22:19-21 and it was after this that we come to the moment when, in accordance with John's account, the Lord made a full disclosure of His betrayer by dipping and holding out to him the morsel of bread, and intimating perhaps by the dipping of the bread the false pretensions of the other. For the dipping of a thing does not always imply its washing; but some things are dipped in order to be dyed. But if a good meaning is to be here attached to the dipping, his ingratitude for that good was deservedly followed by damnation.

4. But still, possessed as Judas now was, not by the Lord, but by the devil, and now that the bread had entered the belly, and an enemy the soul of this man of ingratitude: still, I say, there was this enormous wickedness, already conceived in his heart, waiting to be wrought out to its full issue, for which the damnable desire had always preceded. Accordingly, when the Lord, the living Bread, had given this bread to the dead, and in giving it had revealed the betrayer of the Bread, He said, What you do, do quickly. He did not command the crime, but foretold evil to Judas, and good to us. For what could be worse for Judas, or what could be better for us, than the delivering up of Christ — a deed done by him to his own destruction, but done, apart from him, in our behalf? What you do, do quickly. Oh that word of One whose wish was to be ready rather than to be angry! That word! expressing not so much the punishment of the traitor as the reward awaiting the Redeemer! For He said, What you do, do quickly, not as wrathfully looking to the destruction of the trust-betrayer, but in His own haste to accomplish the salvation of the faithful; for He was delivered for our offenses, Romans 4:25 and He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. Ephesians 5:25 And as the apostle also says of himself: Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20 Had not, then, Christ given Himself, no one could have given Him up. What is there in Judas' conduct but sin? For in delivering up Christ he had no thought of our salvation, for which Christ was really delivered, but thought only of his money gain, and found the loss of his soul. He got the wages he wished, but had also given him, against his wish, the wages he merited. Judas delivered up Christ, Christ delivered Himself up: the former transacted the business of his own selling of his Master, the latter the business of our redemption. What you do, do quickly, not because you have the power in yourself, but because He wills it who has all the power.

5. Now no one of those at the table knew for what intent He spoke this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the money-bag, that Jesus said to him, Buy those things which we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. The Lord, therefore, had also a money-box, where He kept the offerings of believers, and distributed to the necessities of His own, and to others who were in need. It was then that the custom of having church-money was first introduced, so that thereby we might understand that His precept about taking no thought for the morrow Matthew 6:34 was not a command that no money should be kept by His saints, but that God should not be served for any such end, and that the doing of what is right should not be held in abeyance through the fear of want. For the apostle also has this foresight for the future, when he says: If any believer has widows, let him give them enough, that the church may not be burdened, that it may have enough for them that are widows indeed. 1 Timothy 5:16

6. He then, having received the morsel of bread, went immediately out: and it was night. And he that went out was himself the night. Therefore when the night had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified. The day therefore uttered speech unto the day, that is, Christ did so to His faithful disciples, that they might hear and love Him as His followers; and the night showed knowledge unto the night, that is, Judas did so to the unbelieving Jews, that they might come as His persecutors, and make Him their prisoner. But now, in considering these words of the Lord, which were addressed to the godly, before His arrest by the ungodly, special attention on the part of the hearer is required; and therefore it will be more becoming in the preacher, instead of hurriedly considering them now, to defer them till a future occasion.

Tractate 63 (John 13:31-32)

1. Let us give our mind's best attention, and, with the Lord's help, seek after God. The language of the divine hymn is: Seek God and your soul shall live. Let us search for that which needs to be discovered, and into that which has been discovered. He whom we need to discover is concealed, in order to be sought after; and when found, is infinite, in order still to be the object of our search. Hence it is elsewhere said, Seek His face evermore. For He satisfies the seeker to the utmost of his capacity; and makes the finder still more capable, that he may seek to be filled anew, according to the growth of his ability to receive. Therefore it was not said, Seek His face evermore, in the same sense as of certain others, who are always learning, and never coming to a knowledge of the truth; 2 Timothy 3:7 but rather as the preacher says, When a man has finished, then he begins; Sirach 18:7 till we reach that life where we shall be so filled, that our natures shall attain their utmost capacity, because we shall have arrived at perfection, and no longer be aiming at more. For then all that can satisfy us will be revealed to our eyes. But here let us always be seeking, and let our reward in finding put no end to our searching. For we do not say that it will not be so always, because it is only so here; but that here we must always be seeking, lest at any time we should imagine that here we can ever cease from seeking. For those of whom it is said that they are always learning, and never coming to a knowledge of the truth, are here indeed always learning; but when they depart this life they will no longer be learning, but receiving the reward of their error. For the words, always learning, and never coming to a knowledge of the truth, mean, as it were, always walking, and never getting into the road. Let us, on the other hand, be walking always in the way, till we reach the end to which it leads; let us nowhere tarry in it till we reach the proper place of abode: and so we shall both persevere in our seeking, and be making some attainments in our finding, and, thus seeking and finding, be passing on to that which remains, till the very end of all seeking shall be reached in that world where perfection shall admit of no further effort at advancement. Let these prefatory remarks, dearly beloved, make your Charity attentive to this discourse of our Lord's, which He addressed to the disciples before His passion: for it is profound in it self; and where, in particular, the preacher purposes to expend much labor, the hearer ought not to be remiss in attention.

2. What is it, then, that the Lord says, after that Judas went out, to do quickly what he purposed doing, namely, betraying the Lord? What says the day when the night had gone out? What says the Redeemer when the seller had departed? Now, He says, is the Son of man glorified. Why  now? It was not, was it, merely that His betrayer had gone out, and that those were at hand who were to seize and slay Him? Is it thus that He is now glorified, to wit, that His deeper humiliation is approaching; that over Him are impending both bonds, and judgment, and condemnation, and mocking, and crucifixion, and death? Is this glorification, or rather humiliation? Even when He was working miracles, does not this very John say of Him, The Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified? Even then, therefore, when He was raising the dead, He was not yet glorified; and is He glorified now, when drawing near in His own person unto death? He was not yet glorified when acting as God, and is He glorified in going to suffer as man? It would be strange if it were this that God, the great Master, signified and taught in such words. We must ascend higher to unveil the words of the Highest, who reveals Himself somewhat that we may find Him, and anon hides Himself that we may seek Him, and so press on step by step, as it were, from discoveries already made to those that still await us. I get here a sight of something that prefigures a great reality. Judas went out, and Jesus is glorified; the son of perdition went out, and the Son of man is glorified. He it was that had gone out, on whose account it had been said to them all, And you are clean, but not all (ver. 10). When, therefore, the unclean one departed, all that remained were clean, and continued with their Cleanser. Something like this will it be when this world shall have been conquered by Christ, and shall have passed away, and there shall be no one that is unclean remaining among His people; when, the tares having been separated from the wheat, the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matthew 13:43 The Lord, foreseeing such a future as this, and in testimony that such was signified now in the separation of the tares, as it were, by the departure of Judas, and the remaining behind of the wheat in the persons of the holy apostles, said, Now is the Son of man glorified: as if He had said, See, so will it be in that day of my glorification yet to come, when none of the wicked shall be present, and none of the good shall be wanting. His words, however, are not expressed in this way: Now is prefigured the glorification of the Son of man; but expressly, Now is the Son of man glorified: just as it was not said, The Rock signified Christ; but, That Rock was Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:4 Nor is it said, The good seed signified the children of the kingdom, or, The tares signified the children of the wicked one; but what is said is, The good seed, these are the children of the kingdom; and the tares, the children of the wicked one. Matthew 13:38 According, then, to the usage of Scripture language, which speaks of the signs as if they were the things signified, the Lord makes use of the words, Now is the Son of man glorified; indicating that in the completed separation of that arch sinner from their company, and in the remaining around Him of His saints, we have the foreshadowing of His glorification, when the wicked shall be finally separated, and He shall dwell with His saints through eternity.

3. But after saying, Now is the Son of man glorified, He added, and God is glorified in Him. For this is itself the glorifying of the Son of man, that God should be glorified in Him. For if He is not glorified in Himself, but God in Him, then it is He whom God glorifies in Himself. And just as if to give them this explanation, He furthers adds: If God is glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself. That is, If God is glorified in Him, because He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself, in such wise that the human nature, in which He is the Son of man, and which was so assumed by the eternal Word, should also be endowed with an eternal immortality. And, He says, He shall straightway glorify Him; predicting, to wit, by such an asseveration, His own resurrection in the immediate future, and not, as it were, ours in the end of the world. For it is this very glorification of which the evangelist had previously said, as I mentioned a little ago, that on this account the Spirit was not yet in their case given in that new way, in which He was yet to be given after the resurrection to those who believed, because that Jesus was not yet glorified: that is, mortality was not yet clothed with immortality, and temporal weakness transformed into eternal strength. This glorification may also be indicated in the words, Now is the Son of man glorified; so that the word now may be supposed to refer, not to His impending passion, but to His closely succeeding resurrection, as if what was now so near at hand had actually been accomplished. Let this suffice your affection today; we shall take up, when the Lord permits us, the words that follow.

Tractate 64 (John 13:33)

1. It becomes us, dearly beloved, to keep in view the orderly connection of our Lord's words. For after having previously said, but subsequently to Judas' departure, and his separation from even the outward communion of the saints, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;— whether He said so as pointing to His future kingdom, when the wicked shall be separated from the good, or that His resurrection was then to take place, that is, was not to be delayed, like ours, till the end of the world — and having then added, If God is glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him, whereby without any ambiguity He testified to the immediate fulfillment of His own resurrection; He proceeded to say, Little children, yet a little while I am with you. To keep them, therefore, from thinking that God was to glorify Him in such a way that He would never again be joined with them in earthly intercourse, He said, Yet a little while I am with you: as if He had said, Straightway indeed I shall be glorified in my resurrection; and yet I am not straightway to ascend into heaven, but yet a little while I am with you. For, as we find it written in the Acts of the Apostles, He spent forty days with them after His resurrection, going in and out, and eating and drinking: Acts 1:3 not indeed that He had any experience of hunger and thirst, but even by such evidences confirmed the reality of His flesh, which no longer needed, but still possessed the power, to eat and to drink. Was it, then, these forty days He had in view when He said, Yet a little while I am with you, or something else? For it may also be understood in this way: Yet a little while I am with you; still, like you, I also am in this state of fleshly infirmity, that is, till He should die and rise again: for after He rose again He was with them, as has been said, for forty days in the full manifestation of His bodily presence; but He was no longer with them in the fellowship of human infirmity.

2. There is also another form of His divine presence unknown to mortal senses, of which He likewise says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Matthew 28:20 This, at least, is not the same as yet a little while I am with you; for it is not a little while until the end of the world. Or if even this is so (for time flies, and a thousand years are in God's sight as one day, or as a watch in the night,) yet we cannot believe that He intended any such meaning on this occasion, especially as He went on to say, You shall seek me, and as I said to the Jews, Whither I go, you cannot come. That is to say, after this little while that I am with you, you shall seek me, and whither I go, you cannot come. Is it after the end of the world that, whither He goes, they will not be able to come? And where, then, is the place of which He is going to say a little after in this same discourse, Father, I will that they also be with me where I am? It was not then of that presence of His with His own which He is maintaining with them till the end of the world that He now spoke, when He said, Yet a little while I am with you; but either of that state of mortal infirmity in which He dwelt with them till His passion, or of that bodily presence which He was to maintain with them up till His ascension. Whichever of these any one prefers, he can do so without being at variance with the faith.

3. That no one, however, may deem that sense inconsistent with the true one, in which we say that the Lord may have meant the communion of mortal flesh which He held with the disciples till His passion, when He said, Yet a little while I am with you; let those words also of His after His resurrection, as found in another evangelist, be taken into consideration, when He said, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you: Luke 24:44 as if then He was no longer with them, even at the very time that they were standing by, seeing, touching, and talking with Him. What does He mean, then, by saying, while I was yet with you, but, while I was yet in that state of mortal flesh wherein ye still remain? For then, indeed, He had been raised again in the same flesh; but He was no longer associated with them in the same mortality. And accordingly, as on that occasion, when now clothed in fleshly immortality, He said with truth, while I was yet with you, to which we can attach no other meaning than, while I was yet with you in fleshly mortality; so here also, without any absurdity, we may understand His words, Yet a little while I am with you, as if He had said, Yet a little while I am mortal like yourselves. Let us look, then, at the words that follow.

4. You shall seek me: and as I said to the Jews, Whither I go, you cannot come; so say I to you now. That is, you cannot come now. But when He said so to the Jews, He did not add the now. The former, therefore, were not able at that time to come where He was going, but they were so afterwards; because He says so a little afterwards in the plainest terms to the Apostle Peter. For, on the latter inquiring, Lord, where are You going? He replied to him, Whither I go you can not follow me now; but you shall follow me afterwards John 13:36. But what it means is not to be carelessly passed over. For whither was it that the disciples could not then follow the Lord, but were able afterwards? If we say, to death, what time can be discovered when any one of the sons of men will find it impossible to die; since such, in this perishable body, is the lot of man, that therein life is not a whit easier than death? They were not, therefore, at that time less able to follow the Lord to death, but they were less able to follow Him to the life which is deathless. For there it was the Lord was going, that, rising from the dead, He should die no more, and death should no more have dominion over Him. Romans 6:9 For as the Lord was about to die for righteousness' sake, how could they have followed Him now, who were as yet unripe for the ordeal of martyrdom? Or, with the Lord about to enter the fleshly immortality, how could they have followed Him now, when, even though ready to die, they would have no resurrection till the end of the world? Or, on the point of going, as the Lord was, to the bosom of the Father, and that without any forsaking of them, just as He had never quitted that bosom in coming to them, how could they have followed Him now, since no one can enter on that state of felicity but he that is made perfect in love? And to show them, therefore, how it is that they may attain the fitness to proceed, where He was going before them, He says, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another John 13:34. These are the steps whereby Christ must be followed; but any fuller discourse thereon must be put off till another opportunity.

Tractate 65 (John 13:34-35)

1. The Lord Jesus declares that He is giving His disciples a new commandment, that they should love one another. A new commandment, He says, I give unto you, that you love one another. But was not this already commanded in the ancient law of God, where it is written, You shall love your neighbor as yourself? Leviticus 19:18 Why, then, is it called a new one by the Lord, when it is proved to be so old? Is it on this account a new commandment, because He has divested us of the old, and clothed us with the new man? For it is not indeed every kind of love that renews him that listens to it, or rather yields it obedience, but that love regarding which the Lord, in order to distinguish it from all carnal affection, added, as I have loved you. For husbands and wives love one another, and parents and children, and all other human relationships that bind men together: to say nothing of the blame-worthy and damnable love which is mutually felt by adulterers and adulteresses, by fornicators and prostitutes, and all others who are knit together by no human relationship, but by the mischievous depravity of human life. Christ, therefore, has given us a new commandment, that we should love one another, as He also has loved us. This is the love that renews us, making us new men, heirs of the New Testament, singers of the new song. It was this love, brethren beloved, that renewed also those of olden time, who were then the righteous, the patriarchs and prophets, as it did afterwards the blessed apostles: it is it, too, that is now renewing the nations, and from among the universal race of man, which overspreads the whole world, is making and gathering together a new people, the body of the newly-married spouse of the only-begotten Son of God, of whom it is said in the Song of Songs, Who is she that ascends, made white? Made white indeed, because renewed; and how, but by the new commandment? Because of this, the members thereof have a mutual interest in one another; and if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 For this they hear and observe, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another: not as those love one another who are corrupters, nor as men love one another in a human way; but they love one another as those who are gods, and all of them sons of the Highest, and brethren, therefore, of His only Son, with that mutual love wherewith He loved them, when about to lead them on to the goal where all sufficiency should be theirs, and where their every desire should be satisfied with good things. For then there will be nothing wanting they can desire, when God will be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:28 An end like that has no end. No one dies there, where no one arrives save he that dies to this world, not that universal kind of death whereby the body is bereft of the soul; but the death of the elect, through which, even while still remaining in this mortal flesh, the heart is set on the things which are above. Of such a death it is that the apostle said, For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3 And perhaps to this, also, do the words refer, Love is strong as death. Song of Songs 8:6 For by this love it is brought about, that, while still held in the present corruptible body, we die to this world, and our life is hid with Christ in God; yea, that love itself is our death to the world, and our life with God. For if that is death when the soul quits the body, how can it be other than death when our love quits the world? Such love, therefore, is strong as death. And what is stronger than that which binds the world?

2. Think not then, my brethren, that when the Lord says, A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, there is any overlooking of that greater commandment, which requires us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; for along with this seeming oversight, the words that you love one another appear also as if they had no reference to that second commandment, which says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. For on these two commandments, He says, hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40 But both commandments may be found in each of these by those who have good understanding. For, on the one hand, he that loves God cannot despise His commandment to love his neighbor; and on the other, he who in a holy and spiritual way loves his neighbor, what does he love in him but God? That is the love, distinguished from all mundane love, which the Lord specially characterized, when He added, as I have loved you. For what was it but God that He loved in us? Not because we had Him, but in order that we might have Him; and that He may lead us on, as I said a little ago, where God is all in all. It is in this way, also, that the physician is properly said to love the sick; and what is it he loves in them but their health, which at all events he desires to recall; not their sickness, which he comes to remove? Let us, then, also so love one another, that, as far as possible, we may by the solicitude of our love be winning one another to have God within us. And this love is bestowed on us by Him who said, As I have loved you, that you also love one another. For this very end, therefore, did He love us, that we also should love one another; bestowing this on us by His own love to us, that we should be bound to one another in mutual love, and, united together as members by so pleasant a bond, should be the body of so mighty a Head.

3. By this, He adds, Shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another: as if He said, Other gifts of mine are possessed in common with you by those who are not mine — not only nature, life, perception, reason, and that safety which is equally the privilege of men and beasts; but also languages, sacraments, prophecy, knowledge, faith, the bestowing of their goods upon the poor, and the giving of their body to the flames: but because destitute of charity, they only tinkle like cymbals; they are nothing, and by nothing are they profited. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 It is not, then, by such gifts of mine, however good, which may be alike possessed by those who are not my disciples, but by this it is that all men shall know that you are my disciples, that you have love one to another. O thou spouse of Christ, fair among women! O thou who ascendest in whiteness, leaning upon your Beloved! For by His light you are made dazzling to whiteness, by His assistance you are preserved from falling. How well becoming you are the words in that Song of Songs, which is, as it were, your bridal chant, That there is love in your delights! This it is that suffers not your soul to perish with the ungodly; it is this that judges your cause, and is strong as death, and is present in your delights. How wonderful is the character of that death, which was all but swallowed up in penal sufferings, had it not been over and above absorbed in delights! But here this discourse must now be closed; for we must make a new commencement in dealing with the words that follow.

Tractate 66 (John 13:36-38)

1. While the Lord Jesus was commending to the disciples that holy love wherewith they should love one another, Simon Peter says unto Him, Lord, where are You going? So, at all events, said the disciple to his Master, the servant to his Lord, as one who was prepared to follow. Just as for the same reason the Lord, who read in his mind the purpose of such a question, made him this reply: Whither I go, you can not follow me now; as if He said, In reference to the object of your asking, you can not now. He does not say, You can not; but You can not now. He intimated delay, without depriving of hope; and that same hope, which He took not away, but rather bestowed, in His next words He confirmed, by proceeding to say, You shall follow me afterwards. Why such haste, Peter? The Rock (petra) has not yet solidified you by His Spirit. Be not lifted up with presumption, You can not now; be not cast now into despair, You shall follow afterwards. But what does he say to this? Why cannot I follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake. He saw what was the kind of desire in his mind; but what the measure of his strength, he saw not. The weak man boasted of his willingness, but the Physician had an eye on the state of his health; the one promised, the Other foreknew: the ignorant was bold; He that foreknew all, condescended to teach. How much had Peter taken upon himself, by looking only at what he wished, and having no knowledge of what he was able! How much had he taken upon himself, that, when the Lord had come to lay down His life for His friends, and so for him also, he should have the assurance to offer to do the same for the Lord; and while as yet Christ's life was not laid down for himself, he should promise to lay down his own life for Christ! Jesus therefore answered him, Will you lay down your life for my sake? Will you do for me what I have not yet done for you? Will you lay down your life for my sake? Can you go before, who art unable to follow? Why do you presume so far? What do you think of yourself? What do you imagine yourself to be? Hear what you are: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The cock shall not crow, till you have denied me thrice. See, that is how you will speedily become manifest to yourself, who art now talking so loftily, and know not that you are but a child. You promise me your death, and you will deny me your life. You, who now thinkest yourself able to die for me, learn to live first for yourself; for in fearing the death of your flesh, you will occasion the death of your soul. Just as much as it is life to confess Christ, it is death to deny Him.

2. Or was it that the Apostle Peter, as some with a perverse kind of favor strive to excuse him, did not deny Christ, because, when questioned by the maid, he replied that he did not know the man, as the other evangelists more expressly affirm? As if, indeed, he that denies the man Christ does not deny Christ; and so denies Him in respect of what He became on our account, that the nature He had given us might not be lost. Whoever, therefore, acknowledges Christ as God, and disowns Him as man, Christ died not for him; for as man it was that Christ died. He who disowns Christ as man, finds no reconciliation to God by the Mediator. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 He that denies Christ as man is not justified: for as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one man shall many be made righteous. Romans 5:19 He that denies Christ as man, shall not rise again into the resurrection of life; for by man is death, and by man is also the resurrection of the dead: for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 And by what means is He the Head of the Church, but by His manhood, because the Word was made flesh, that is, God, the Only-begotten of God the Father, became man. And how then can one be in the body of Christ who denies the man Christ? Or how can one be a member who disowns the Head? But why linger over a multitude of reasons when the Lord Himself undoes all the windings of human argumentation? For He says not, The cock shall not crow till you have denied the man; or, as He was wont to speak in His more familiar condescension with men, The cock shall not crow till you have thrice denied the Son of man; but He says, till you have denied me thrice. What is that me, but just what He was, and what was He but Christ? Whatever of Him, therefore, he denied, he denied Himself, he denied the Christ, he denied the Lord his God. For Thomas also, his fellow disciple, when he exclaimed, My Lord and my God, did not handle the Word, but only His flesh; and laid not his inquisitive hands on the incorporeal nature of God, but on His human body. And so he touched the man, and yet recognized his God. If, then, what the latter touched, Peter denied; what the latter invoked, Peter offended. The cock shall not crow till you have denied me thrice. Although thou say, I know not the man; although thou say, Man, I know not what you say  although thou say, I am not one of His disciples; you will be denying me. If, which it were sinful to doubt, Christ so spoke, and foretold the truth, then doubtless Peter denied Christ. Let us not accuse Christ in defending Peter. Let infirmity acknowledge its sin; for there is no falsehood in the Truth. When Peter's infirmity acknowledged its sin, his acknowledgment was full; and the greatness of the evil he had committed in denying Christ, he showed by his tears. He himself reproves his defenders, and for their conviction, brings his tears forward as witnesses. Nor have we, on our part, in so speaking, any delight in accusing the first of the apostles; but in looking on him, we ought to take home the lesson to ourselves, that no man should place his confidence in human strength. For what else had our Teacher and Saviour in view, but to show us, by making the first of the apostles himself an example, that no one ought in any way to presume of himself? And that, therefore, really took place in Peter's soul, for which he gave cause in his body. And yet he did not go before in the Lord's behalf, as he rashly presumed, but did so otherwise than he reckoned. For before the death and resurrection of the Lord, he both died when he denied, and returned to life when he wept; but he died, because he himself had been proud in his presumption, and he lived again, because that Other had looked on him with kindness.