Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus XXVII-XXXIV

of bearing, the multiplication of sons, the abundance of fruits, all of which were promised to them by God, Who is indeed true and good, yet promised as to carnal men; all these things made for them the Old Testament. What is the Old Testament? As it were an inheritance pertaining to the old man. We have been renewed, we have been made a new man; because that Man too came as a new Man. What is so new as to be born of a virgin? Since, therefore, there was nothing in Him which a precept might renew, because He had no sin, a new birth was given. In Him a new birth, in us a new man. What is the new man? One renewed from oldness. Renewed for what? For desiring heavenly things, for longing after everlasting things, for the homeland which is above and does not fear the enemy, a homeland to be desired, where we do not lose a friend and do not fear an enemy; where we live with good affection, without any failing; where no one is born, because no one dies; where no one any longer advances, and no one falls away; where there is no hunger and no thirst, but immortality is our fullness, and truth our food. Having these promises, and belonging to the New Testament, and made heirs of a new inheritance, and co-heirs of the Lord Himself, we have a very different hope: let us not judge by persons, but let us hold to right judgement.

8. Who is it that does not judge by persons? He who loves equally. Equal love brings it about that persons are not respected. It is not when we honour men in different ways according to their ranks that we must fear lest we respect persons. But when we judge between two, and sometimes between kinsfolk, there is at times a judgement between father and son; a father complains of a bad son, or a son complains of a harsh father: we preserve for the father the honour that is owed him by the son; we do not make the son equal to the father in honour; but we give [the father] precedence; if [the son] has a good cause, let us make the son equal to the father in truth; and so we shall pay the honour due, in such a way that equity does not lose its merit. Thus we profit by the words of the Lord, and that we may profit we are helped by His grace.

Tractate 31.

From the place, Some of those from Jerusalem therefore were saying, Is not this He whom the Jews were seeking to kill; as far as this, You will seek Me, and will not find [Me]; and where I am, you cannot come. (John 7:25–36).

1. Your Charity remembers from earlier sermons that it was both read in the Gospel and discussed by us as far as we were able, that the Lord Jesus went up to the feast day as if in secret, not because He feared lest He be seized, He in Whose power it was not to be seized, but in order to signify, even on the very feast day which was being celebrated by the Jews, that He was hidden, and that it was His mystery: in today's reading, therefore, the power appeared which was thought to be timidity; for He was speaking openly on the feast day, so that the crowds marvelled, and said what we heard when the reading was being read, Is not this He whom they were seeking to kill? And behold, He speaks openly, and they say nothing to Him: have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ? Those who knew with what savagery He was being sought marvelled by what power He was not being seized. Then, not fully understanding His

power, they supposed that it was the knowledge of the rulers, that they had recognized Him to be the Christ: and that therefore they had spared Him, Whom they had so eagerly sought to kill.

2. Then those very people who had said among themselves, Do the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? raised for themselves a question by which it would seem to them that He was not the Christ: for they went on to say, But we know this man, whence He is; but when the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is. Whence this opinion arose among the Jews, that when the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is (for it did not arise without reason): if we consider the Scriptures, we find, brethren, that the holy Scriptures said of the Christ that He shall be called a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23). Therefore they foretold whence He is. Again, if we seek the place of His birth, as though He were from the place where He was born, neither was this hidden from the Jews, because of the Scriptures which had foretold these things. For when the Magi, having seen the star, sought Him to worship Him, they came to Herod and told him what they were seeking and what they wanted; and he, having called together those who knew the Law, asked of them where the Christ was to be born; they said, In Bethlehem of Judah; and they also brought forward the prophetic testimony (Matt. 2:1–6). If, then, the Prophets had foretold both the place from which was the origin of His flesh, and the place where His mother gave birth to Him, whence arose this opinion among the Jews, which we have just heard, When the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is, unless because the Scriptures had proclaimed and foretold both? According to the man, the Scriptures had foretold whence He would be; according to God, He was hidden from the ungodly, and sought out the godly. For to this end these men too said, When the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is; because what was said through Isaiah had begotten this opinion in them, But His generation who shall declare? (Isa. 53:8). Lastly the Lord Himself also answered to both points, both that they knew Him, whence He was, and that they did not know Him; that He might bear witness to the holy prophecy which had been foretold of Him beforehand, both according to the humanity of weakness and according to the divinity of majesty.

3. Hear, then, the Word of the Lord, brethren; see how He confirmed for them both what they had said, "We know this man, whence He is," and what they had said, "When the Christ comes, no one knows whence He is. Jesus therefore cried out, teaching in the temple: You both know Me, and you know whence I am; and I have not come of Myself, but He Who sent Me is true, Whom you do not know." That is to say, You both know Me and do not know Me: that is to say, You both know whence I am and do not know whence I am. You know whence I am: Jesus of Nazareth, Whose parents also you know. For in this matter only the virgin's childbearing was hidden, to which nevertheless the husband was a witness: for he could faithfully make this known, who might, as a husband, also be jealous. Except, then, for the virgin's childbearing, they knew everything in Jesus that pertains to the man: His face was known, His homeland was known, His family was known, where He was born was known. Rightly, then, did He say, You both know Me and know whence I am, according to the flesh and the likeness of man which He bore: but according to the divinity, And I have not come of Myself,

but He is true Who sent Me, Whom you do not know; but so that you may know Him, believe in Him Whom He sent, and you will know. For no one has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father: He has made Him known (John 1:18); and, No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son will choose to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27).

4. Then, when He had said, But He is true Who sent Me, Whom you do not know, in order to show them whence they could know what they did not know, He added, I know Him. Therefore seek from Me, so that you may know Him. But why do I know Him? Because I am from Him, and He sent Me. He has shown both magnificently. I am, He says, from Him; because the Son is from the Father, and whatever the Son is, He is from Him Whose Son He is. Therefore we call the Lord Jesus God from God; we do not call the Father God from God, but only God: and we call the Lord Jesus Light from Light; we do not call the Father Light from Light, but only Light. To this, then, belongs what He said, I am from Him. But that you see Me in the flesh, He sent Me. When you hear, He sent Me, do not understand a dissimilarity of nature, but the authority of the One Who begets.

5. They sought therefore to seize Him, and no one laid hands on Him, because His hour had not yet come: that is, because He was not willing. For what is, His hour had not yet come? For the Lord was not born under fate. This is not to be believed even of you, much less of Him through Whom you were made. If your hour is His will, what is His hour, except His own will? He did not, then, mean an hour in which He would be compelled to die, but one in which He would deign to be killed. For He was awaiting the time in which He would die, because He also awaited the time in which He would be born. Speaking of this time, the Apostle says: But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son (Gal. 4:4). Therefore many say: Why did Christ not come before? To them it must be answered that the fullness of time had not yet come, as He through Whom times were made was governing them: for He knew when He ought to come. First, through a long series of times and years He had to be foretold; for it was no small thing that was to come: He had to be foretold for a long time, to be held fast for ever. The greater the Judge Who was coming, the longer the series of heralds that went before. At length, when the fullness of time came, He also came Who would free us from time. For, freed from time, we shall come to that eternity where there is no time: nor is it said there, When will the hour come? For the day is everlasting, which is neither preceded by yesterday nor shut out by tomorrow. But in this world days roll on, and some pass away, and others come; none remains: and the moments in which we speak drive one another out, nor does the first syllable stand still so that the second may sound. Since we began speaking we have grown somewhat older, and without any doubt I am older now than this morning: thus nothing stands still, nothing remains fixed in time. We ought therefore to love Him through Whom times were made, that we may be freed from time and be fixed in eternity, where there is no longer any changeableness of times. Great, then, is the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He through Whom times were made was made in time for our sake; that He was made among

all things, He through Whom all things were made: to be made what He made. For He was made what He had made; for He Who had made man was made man, lest what He had made should perish. According to this dispensation the hour of His birth had already come, and He had been born: but the hour of His passion had not yet come, therefore He had not yet suffered.

6. Finally, that you may know not the necessity but the power of the One dying: I say this on account of some who, when they hear, His hour has not yet come, are built up towards believing in fates, and their hearts become foolish: so that you may know the power of the One dying, call to mind the passion itself, look upon the Crucified. Hanging on the wood He said, I thirst. They, having heard this, offered Him vinegar on the cross, on a reed by means of a sponge: He received it, and said, It is finished; and with His head bowed, He gave up His spirit. You see the power of the One dying, because He was waiting for this, until all things should be fulfilled that had been foretold of Him as going to happen before His death. For the prophet had said: They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink (Ps. 68:22). He was waiting for all these things to be fulfilled: after they had been fulfilled, He said, It is finished; and He departed by power, because He had not come by necessity. Therefore some marvelled more at this power of the One dying than at the might of the One working miracles. For they came to the cross, so that the bodies might be taken down from the wood, since the sabbath was dawning; and the robbers were found alive. For the punishment of the cross was harsher precisely because it tortured longer, and all the crucified were killed by a long death. But they, so as not to remain on the wood, were forced to die by having their legs broken, so that they could be taken down from it. But the Lord was found dead (John 19:28–33); and men marvelled: and those who had despised Him living so marvelled at Him dead that some said, Truly this is the Son of God (Matt. 27:54). Hence also that saying, brothers, where He said to those seeking Him, I am; and they, going backwards, all fell down (John 18:6). There was therefore in Him the highest power. Nor was He compelled by the hour to die; but He awaited the hour in which His will might fittingly be done, not that in which necessity might be fulfilled upon one unwilling.

7. But of the crowd many believed in Him. The humble and the poor the Lord was saving. The leaders were raving; and therefore they not only did not recognize the physician, but even desired to kill Him. There was a certain crowd which quickly saw its own sickness, and recognized His medicine without delay. See what that crowd, moved by the miracles, said to itself: When the Christ comes, will He do more signs? Surely, if there are not to be two, this is He. So they believed in Him, saying these things.

8. But those leaders, having heard of the faith of the multitude, and of the murmur by which Christ was being glorified, sent officers to seize Him. Seize Whom? One still unwilling? Since therefore they could not seize Him unwilling, they were sent to hear Him teaching. Teaching what? Jesus therefore says: Yet a little time I am with you. What you now wish to do,

you are going to do, but not now; because now I do not will it. Why do I still not will it now? Because yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to Him Who sent Me. I must fulfil My dispensation, and so come to My passion.

9. You will seek Me, and will not find [Me]; and where I am, you cannot come. Here He already foretold His resurrection: for they refused to recognize Him when present, and afterwards they sought Him, when they saw the multitude already believing in Him. For great signs were done, even when the Lord had risen and ascended into heaven. Then great things were done through the disciples; but it was He [Who did them] through them, He Who also [did them] through Himself: for He Himself had said to them, Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). When that lame man who used to sit at the gate rose up at the voice of Peter and walked on his own feet, so that men marvelled, Peter addressed them thus, that he had not done these things by his own power, but by the power of Him Whom they themselves had killed (Acts 3:2–16). Many, pierced to the heart, said: What shall we do (ibid. 2:37)? For they saw themselves bound by the enormous crime of impiety, since they had killed Him Whom they ought to have venerated and adored: and this they thought to be inexpiable. For it was a great deed of wickedness, the consideration of which would make them despair: but they ought not to despair, for whom the Lord, hanging on the cross, deigned to pray. For He had said: Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). He saw some of His own among many strangers; for them He was already asking pardon, from whom He was still receiving injury. For He did not attend to the fact that He was dying at their hands, but that He was dying for them. Much is it that was granted to them, both by them and for them; so that no one should despair of the remission of his own sin, when they obtained pardon who killed Christ. Christ died for us; but did He die at our hands? But they indeed saw Christ dying by their crime; and they believed in Christ forgiving their crimes. Until they drank the blood which they had shed, they despaired of their salvation. So He said this, You will seek Me, and will not find [Me]; and where I am, you cannot come: because they were going to seek Him after the resurrection, pierced to the heart. Nor did He say, where I shall be; but, where I am. For Christ was always there, whither He was to return: for He so came as not to depart. Hence in another place He says, No one has ascended into heaven, except He Who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, Who is in heaven (John 3:13): He did not say, Who was in heaven. He was speaking on earth, and He said that He was in heaven. He so came as not to go away from there: He so returned as not to forsake us. Why do you marvel? God does this. For man according to the body is in a place, and moves from a place, and when he has come to another place, he will not be in that place from which he came: but God fills all things, and is everywhere whole; He is not held in places according to spaces. Yet the Lord Christ was on earth according to the visible flesh, in heaven and on earth according to the invisible majesty: therefore He says, Where I am, you cannot come. Nor did He say, you will not be able; but, you cannot: for such were they then who were not able. For that you may know that this was not said unto despair, He also said something of the kind to His disciples, Whither

I go, you cannot come (John 13:33); since, praying for them, He had said, Father, I will that where I am, they also may be with Me (John 17:24). Finally He explained this to Peter, and said to him: Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow afterwards (John 13:36).

10. The Jews therefore said, not to Him, but among themselves: Where is this man going to go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go into the dispersion of the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? For they did not know what they said; but because He willed it, they prophesied. For the Lord was going to go to the Gentiles, not by the presence of His body, but nevertheless by His feet. What were His feet? Those feet which Saul wished to trample upon by persecuting, when the Head cried out to him: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4). "What is this saying which He said: You will seek Me, and you will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come?" Why the Lord said this, they did not know, and yet, not knowing, they foretold something that was to come. For the Lord said this because they did not know the place, if indeed it is to be called a place, that is, the bosom of the Father, whence the only-begotten Son never departs; nor were they fit to conceive where Christ was, whence Christ did not withdraw; whither Christ was to return, where Christ was abiding. Whence [is it given] to the human heart to conceive this, still less to the tongue to express it? This, then, they in no way understood; and yet on this occasion they foretold our salvation, that the Lord would go to the dispersion of the Gentiles, and would fulfil what they read and did not understand, A people whom I have not known has served Me; at the hearing of the ear it has obeyed Me (Ps. 17:45). Those in whose eyes He was did not hear; those in whose ears He sounded heard.

11. For the woman who suffered a flow of blood bore the type of that Church which was to come from the Gentiles: she touched, and was not seen; she was not known, and she was healed. For it was a figure, that the Lord asked, Who touched Me? As though not knowing, He healed her who was not known (Luke 8:43–48): so He did also for the Gentiles. We did not come to know Him in the flesh, and yet we have merited to eat His flesh, and to be members in His flesh. Why? Because He sent to us. Whom? His heralds, His disciples, His servants, His redeemed whom He created, but whom He also redeemed as His brothers: all this I have said is too little: His members, Himself; for He sent to us His members, and made us His members. Yet according to the appearance of the body which the Jews saw and despised, Christ was not among us: because this too had been said of Him, as the Apostle also says, For I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of the fathers. To them He had to come, by whose fathers and to whose fathers He was promised: therefore He Himself also speaks thus, I was not sent except to the sheep that perished of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24). But what does the Apostle say in what follows? But that the Gentiles glorify God for mercy (Rom. 15:8–9). What does the Lord Himself also [say]? I have other sheep which are not of this fold (John 10:16). He who had said, I was not sent except to the sheep