Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus XXVII-XXXIV

Tractate XXVII.

From what is written, "These things He said teaching in the synagogue on the sabbath at Capernaum", as far as this, "For he was to betray Him, though he was one of the twelve." Chapter 6, verses 60-72.

1. The words of the Lord from the Gospel, which follow the former

discourse, we have heard. Hence a sermon is owed to your ears and minds, and it is not unsuited to today's day: for it concerns the body of the Lord, which He said He was giving to be eaten for the sake of eternal life. And He set forth the manner of this bestowal and of His gift, how He would give His flesh to eat, saying, He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:57). The sign that one has eaten and drunk is this: if he abides and is abided in, if he dwells and is dwelt in, if he cleaves so as not to be forsaken. This therefore He taught us and admonished us in mystical words, that we should be in His body, under Him as head, among His members, eating His flesh, not forsaking His unity. But the many who were present, by not understanding, were scandalized: for in hearing these things they thought of nothing but flesh, which they themselves were. But the Apostle says, and says truly, To savour according to the flesh is death (Rom. 8:6). The Lord gives us His flesh to eat, and to savour according to the flesh is death; whereas He says of His flesh that in it is eternal life. Therefore neither ought we to savour the flesh according to the flesh, as in these words:

2. Many therefore, hearing; not of His enemies, but of His disciples, said: This is a hard saying; who can hear it? If the disciples held this saying hard, what of the enemies? And yet it had to be said thus, as something not understood by all. The secret of God ought to make men attentive, not hostile. But these quickly fell away, when the Lord Jesus spoke such things: they did not believe that He was saying something great and covering some grace with those words; but just as they wished, so they understood, and after the manner of men, that Jesus was able, or that Jesus was arranging this, to distribute the flesh with which the Word was clothed, as if cut in pieces, to those believing in Him. This is a hard saying, they say; who can hear it?

3. But Jesus, knowing within Himself that His disciples were murmuring about Him. For they said these things among themselves in such a way as not to be heard by Him; but He who knew them in themselves, hearing within Himself, answered and said, Does this scandalize you: that I said, I give you My flesh to eat and My blood to drink, this indeed scandalizes you. What then if you should see the Son of man ascending where He was before? What is this? Did He hereby resolve what had disturbed them? Did He hereby disclose why they had been scandalized? Hereby plainly, if they understood. For they supposed that He would pay out His body; but He said that He would ascend into heaven, whole, to be sure. When you see the Son of man ascending where He was before; surely then at least you will see that He does not pay out His body in the way you suppose; surely then at least you will understand that His grace is not consumed by bites.

4. And He said: It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Before we expound this, as the Lord grants, that must not be carelessly passed over which He said, What then if you should see the Son of man ascending where He was before? For Christ is the Son of man, from the Virgin Mary. Therefore the son of man began to be here on earth, where

He took flesh from the earth. Hence it had been said prophetically, Truth has sprung from the earth (Ps. 84:12). What then does He mean when He says, When you see the Son of man ascending where He was before? For there would be no question if He had said thus: If you see the Son of God ascending where He was before? But since He said the Son of man ascending where He was before, was the Son of man in heaven before, when He began to be on earth? Here indeed He said, where He was before, as if He were not there at the time when He was saying these things. But in another place He says, No one ascends into heaven except He Who descended from heaven, the Son of man, Who is in heaven (John 3:13): He did not say "was", but, the Son, He says, of man Who is in heaven. He was speaking on earth, and He said that He was in heaven. And He did not say thus: No one ascends into heaven except He Who descended from heaven, the Son of God, Who is in heaven. To what does this tend, except that we should understand what I also commended to your Charity in the former sermon, that Christ, God and man, is one person, not two, lest our faith be not a Trinity but a quaternity? Christ therefore is one: the Word, soul and flesh, one Christ; the Son of God and the son of man, one Christ. Son of God always, son of man from a point in time; yet one Christ according to the unity of person. He was in heaven when He was speaking on earth. Thus was the son of man in heaven, as the Son of God was on earth: the Son of God on earth in the flesh He had taken up, the son of man in heaven in the unity of person.

5. What then is it that He adds, It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing? Let us say to Him (for He bears with us, since we do not contradict but desire to know): O Lord, good Master, how does the flesh profit nothing, when Thou hast said, Unless one eats My flesh and drinks My blood, he will not have life in himself? Does life profit nothing? And for what purpose are we what we are, except that we may have eternal life, which Thou promisest by Thy flesh? What then does "the flesh profits nothing" mean? It profits nothing, but in the way those men understood it: for they understood flesh in the way it is torn apart in a corpse or sold in the meat-market, not as it is quickened by the spirit. Accordingly it was said, The flesh profits nothing, in the way it was said, Knowledge puffs up. Must we then now hate knowledge? Far from it. And what does "knowledge puffs up" mean? Alone, without charity: that is why he added, But charity builds up (1 Cor. 8:1). Add charity, then, to knowledge, and knowledge will be useful; not through itself, but through charity. So also now, the flesh profits nothing, but flesh alone: let the spirit come to the flesh, as charity comes to knowledge, and it profits very much. For if the flesh profited nothing, the Word would not have become flesh, that He might dwell in us. If Christ profited us much through the flesh, how does the flesh profit nothing? But through the flesh the Spirit did something for our salvation. The flesh was a vessel; consider what it held, not what it was. The apostles were sent; did their flesh profit us nothing? If the flesh of the apostles profited us, could the flesh of the Lord profit nothing? For whence [comes] to us the sound of the word, except through the voice of the flesh? Whence the pen, whence the writing? All these are works of the flesh, but with the spirit moving it as an instrument

of its own. It is the Spirit, therefore, that gives life, but the flesh profits nothing: not in the way they understood flesh do I give My flesh to be eaten.

6. Accordingly, The words, He says, that I have spoken to you is spirit and life. For we have said, brothers, that the Lord commended this in the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood: that we should abide in Him, and He in us. Now we abide in Him when we are His members; and He abides in us when we are His temple. But that we may be His members, unity joins us together. And that unity may join together, what brings this about but charity? And the charity of God, whence is it? Ask the Apostle: The charity of God, he says, is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). Therefore it is the Spirit that gives life: for the spirit makes members living. Nor does the spirit make any members living except those it has found in the body which that spirit itself quickens. For the spirit which is in you, O man, by which you subsist so as to be a man, does it give life to a member which it has found separated from your flesh? By your spirit I mean your soul: your soul gives life only to the members which are in your flesh; if you take one away, it is no longer given life from your soul, because it is not joined to the unity of your body. These things are said so that we may love unity and fear separation. For there is nothing a Christian ought to dread so much as being separated from the body of Christ. For if he is separated from the body of Christ, he is not His member; if he is not His member, he is not quickened by His Spirit: But whoever, says the Apostle, does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:9). It is the Spirit, therefore, that gives life, but the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. What does are spirit and life mean? They are to be understood spiritually. Have you understood them spiritually? they are spirit and life. Have you understood them carnally? even so they are spirit and life, but not for you.

7. But there are some among you, He says, who do not believe. He did not say, There are some among you who do not understand; but He stated the cause why they do not understand. For there are some among you who do not believe; and therefore they do not understand, because they do not believe. For the prophet said, Unless you believe, you will not understand (Isa. 7:9, according to the Septuagint). By faith we are joined, by understanding we are given life. Let us first cleave by faith, so that there may be something to be given life by understanding. For he who does not cleave resists; he who resists does not believe. And he who resists, how is he given life? He is an adversary of the ray of light by which he ought to be pierced: he does not turn away his gaze, but shuts his mind. There are, therefore, some who do not believe. Let them believe and open, let them open and they will be enlightened. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were believing, and who was to betray Him. For Judas too was there. For some were scandalized; but he remained in order to lie in wait, not in order to understand. And because he had remained for that purpose, the Lord was not silent about him. He did not name him, but neither was He silent, so that all might fear, though only one was perishing. But after He had spoken and distinguished believers from unbelievers, He stated the cause why they do not believe: For this reason I said to you, He says, that no one can come to Me unless it has been given to him by My Father. Therefore believing too is given to us: for believing is not nothing. But if it is a great

something, rejoice that you have believed, but do not be puffed up: for what do you have that you have not received (1 Cor. 4:7)?

8. From this many of His disciples went away backwards, and no longer walked with Him. They went away backwards, but after Satan, not after Christ. For once the Lord Christ called Peter Satan, rather because he wanted to go before his Lord, and to give counsel that He should not die, He who had come in order to die, so that we might not die for eternity; and He said to him: Get back behind me, Satan; for you do not savour the things that are of God, but the things that are of man (Matt. 16:23). He did not drive him back to go after Satan, even though He called him Satan; but He made him go after Himself, so that by walking after the Lord he might not be Satan. These, however, went back in the way in which the Apostle speaks of certain women: For some have turned back after Satan (1 Tim. 5:15). They no longer walked with Him. Behold, cut off from the body they lost life, because perhaps they were not even in the body. They too are to be reckoned among those who do not believe, although they were called disciples. They went away backwards, not a few, but many. Perhaps this was done for consolation, since it sometimes happens that a man says what is true, and what he says is not grasped, and those who hear are scandalized and depart. And the man regrets having said what is true: for the man says within himself, I ought not to have spoken so, I ought not to have said this. Behold, it happened to the Lord; He spoke, and lost many, He was left with few. But He Himself was not troubled, because He had known from the beginning both who would be believers and who would not be believers: we, if it should happen to us, are thrown into disturbance. Let us find solace in the Lord, and yet let us speak our words with caution.

9. And He [spoke] to the few who had remained: Jesus therefore said to the twelve; that is, to those twelve who remained: Do you also, He says, wish to go? Not even Judas departed. But why he was staying was already apparent to the Lord; to us it was made manifest afterwards. Peter answered for all, one for many, unity for the whole: Simon Peter therefore answered Him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou drivest us away from Thee: give us another Thee. To whom shall we go? If we withdraw from Thee, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. See how Peter, God granting it, the Holy Spirit renewing him, understood. From where, unless because he believed? Thou hast the words of eternal life. For Thou hast eternal life in the ministration of Thy body and blood. And we have believed, and have known. Not we have known and have believed, but we have believed and have known. For we believed in order that we might know: for if we wished first to know and then to believe, we would be able neither to know nor to believe. What have we believed, and what have we known? That Thou art the Christ, the Son of God; that is, that Thou art eternal life itself, and Thou givest in Thy flesh and blood nothing but what Thou art.

10. The Lord Jesus therefore said: Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? Then He should have said, I chose eleven: is a devil also chosen, and is there a devil among the chosen? The chosen are usually so called in praise: or was this one too chosen, through whom, unwilling and unknowing, some great good would be done? This is proper to God; the contrary is proper to the wicked. For just as the wicked make bad use of good

works of God; so, on the contrary, God makes good use of the evil works of wicked men. How good it is that the members of the body are such as they could not have been arranged except by God the Craftsman! Yet how badly does wantonness use the eyes? How badly does deceit use the tongue? Does not the false witness first slay his own soul with his tongue, and, having himself perished, try to harm another? He uses the tongue badly, yet the tongue is not therefore evil: the tongue is a work of God, but that wickedness makes bad use of the good work of God. How do those who run to crimes use their feet? how do murderers use their hands? and how badly do the evil use those good creatures of God that lie around them outside? With gold they corrupt judgements, they oppress the innocent. The evil make bad use of this light: for by living evilly they usurp even the very light by which they see for the service of their crimes. For the evil man, going out to do something evil, wants it to give him light lest he stumble, he who has already stumbled within and fallen: what he fears in the body, he has already run into in the heart. Of all the good things of God, then, not to make it long by running through them one by one, the evil man makes bad use: on the contrary, the good man makes good use of the evils of evil men. And what is so good as the one God? Since the Lord Himself said, No one is good but the one God (Mark 10:18). The better He is, then, the better He uses even our evils. What is worse than Judas? Among all who clung to the Master, among the twelve, the purse was entrusted to him, and the stewardship for the poor was allotted [to him]: ungrateful for so great a kindness, for so great an honour, he took money, he lost righteousness: dead himself, he betrayed the Life; Him whom he had followed as a disciple, he persecuted as an enemy. All this is the evil of Judas; but the Lord made good use of his evil. He endured to be betrayed that He might redeem us. Behold, the evil of Judas has been turned into good. How many martyrs has Satan persecuted? If Satan had ceased from persecuting, we would not today be celebrating the so glorious crown of Saint Lawrence. If, then, God makes good use of the evil works of the devil himself, what the evil one does by using badly harms himself; it does not contradict the goodness of God. The Craftsman uses him; and a great craftsman, if He did not know how to use him, would not even permit him to exist. Therefore, one of you is a devil, He says, though I have chosen you twelve. What He says, I have chosen twelve, can also be understood thus: that the number is sacred. For it is not because one perished from it that the honour of that number was taken away: for in the place of him who perished, another was substituted (Acts 1:26). The consecrated number remained, the number twelve; because throughout the whole world, that is, through the four cardinal points of the world, they were to proclaim the Trinity. Therefore three times four. Judas, then, destroyed himself; he did not violate the number twelve: he himself deserted his teacher, for God appointed him a successor.

11. All this which the Lord spoke concerning His flesh and His blood, and that in the grace of its distribution He promised us eternal life, and that He wished it to be understood hereby that the eaters and drinkers of His flesh and blood abide in Him and He in them, and

that those who did not believe did not understand, and that by savouring spiritual things carnally they were scandalized, and that while they were scandalized and perishing, the Lord was present as a consolation to the disciples who had remained, whom He questioned in order to test them, Do you also wish to go? so that the reply of their remaining might become known to us; for He knew that they were remaining: let all this, then, avail us for this, dearly beloved, that we eat the flesh of Christ and the blood of Christ not only in the Sacrament, which many evil men also do; but that we eat and drink even to participation in the Spirit, so that we may remain as members in the Lord's body, so that we may be quickened by His Spirit, and not be scandalized, even if many now eat and drink the Sacraments with us in time, who will have eternal torments at the end. For now the body of Christ is mixed, as on a threshing floor: but the Lord knows who are His (2 Tim. 2:19). If you know what you are threshing, that there is a hidden mass there, and the threshing does not consume what the winnowing will cleanse; we are certain, brethren, that all of us who are in the body of the Lord, and remain in Him, so that He also may remain in us, must in this world live among the wicked until the end. I do not mean among those wicked who blaspheme Christ: for now there are rarely found those who blaspheme with the tongue, but many who do so with their life. It is necessary, then, that we live among them until the end.

12. But what is it that He says, He who remains in Me, and I in him (John 6:57 [6:56], and 15:5)? What, except what the martyrs heard, He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved (Matt. 24:13)? How did Saint Laurence, whose feast we celebrate today, remain in Him? He remained even to temptation, he remained even to tyrannical interrogation, he remained even to the harshest threatening, he remained even to being put to death: that is little, he remained even to monstrous torture. For he was not killed quickly, but was tortured in the fire: he was permitted to live long; rather, he was not permitted to live long, but was compelled to die slowly. In that long death, then, in those torments, because he had eaten well and drunk well, as one fattened by that food and drunk with that cup, he did not feel the torments. For He was there who said, It is the Spirit that gives life. For the flesh was burning, but the Spirit was quickening the soul. He did not yield, and he passed into the kingdom. Now the holy martyr Xystus, whose day we celebrated on the fifth day back from this, had said to him: "Do not grieve, son." For the one was a bishop, the other a deacon. "Do not grieve," he said; "you will follow me after three days." Now he called three days the interval between the day of the passion of Saint Xystus and the day of today's passion of Saint Laurence. Three days is the interval. O consolation! He does not say, Do not grieve, son; the persecution will cease, and you will be safe: but, Do not grieve; where I go before, you will follow; nor is your following delayed: three days will be the interval, and you will be with me. He received the oracle, he conquered the devil, he arrived at the triumph.