HOMILY XLII. JOHN vi. 1-4. not in After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, into the parts of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed Him, els rà because they saw the miracles which He did on them that p were diseased. And Jesus departed into a mountain, and G. T. there sat with His disciples. And the Passover of the G. T. Jews was nigh. 2 αὐτοῦ ἀπῆλθε [ἀνῆλ.] G. T. 5 al.' be BELOVED, let us not contend with violent men, but learn1 [opτὴ τῶν when the doing so brings no hurt to our virtue to give place.] to their evil counsels; for so all their hardihood is checked. G. T. As darts when they fall upon a firm, hard, and resisting content' substance, rebound with great violence on those who throw VTETαμένον, them, but when the violence of the cast hath nothing to al. diar. oppose it, it soon becometh weaker and ceaseth, so is it with insolent men; when we contend with them they become the fiercer, but when we yield and give ground, we easily abate all their madness. Wherefore the Lord when He knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, went into Galilee, to quench their envy, and to soften by His retirement the wrath which was likely to be engendered by these reports. And when He departed for the second time into Galilee, He cometh not to the same places as before; for He went not to Cana, but to the other side of the sea, and' great multitudes followed Him, behold-7 Ben. ing the miracles which He did. What miracles? Why fore also' 'Where 1 al. thou' 362 1 Why Christ departed into a mountain. HOMIL. doth he not mention them specifically? Because this XLII. Evangelist most of all was desirous of employing the greater 'dost part of his book on the discourses and sermons [of Christ]. Observe, for instance, how for a whole year, or rather how even now at the feast of the Passover, he hath given us no more information on the head of miracles, than merely that He healed the paralytic and the nobleman's son. Because he was not anxious to enumerate them all, (that would have been impossible,) but of many and great to record a few. Ver. 2. A great multitude followed Him beholding the miracles that He did. What is here told marks not a very wise state of mind"; for when they had enjoyed such teaching, they still were more attracted by the miracles, which was a sign of the grosser state. For "miracles," It saith, "are not for believers, but for unbelievers "." The people described by Matthew acted not thus, but how? They all, he saith, such' were astonished at His doctrine, because He taught as one Mat. 7, having authority. 2 al. 'was not 28. 29. "And why doth He occupy the mountain now, and sit there with His disciples?" Because of the miracle which was about to take place. And that the disciples alone went up with Him, was a charge against the multitude which followed Him not. Yet not for this only did He go up into the mountain, but to teach us ever to rest at intervals from 3 év the tumults and confusion of common life. For solitude is μέσῳ. a thing meet for the study of wisdom. And often doth He go up alone into a mountain, and spend the night there, and pray, to teach us that the man who will come most near to God must be free from all disturbance, and must seek times and places clear of confusion. Ver. 4. And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. "How then," saith some one," doth He not go up unto the feast, but, when all are pressing to Jerusalem, goeth Himself into Galilee, and not Himself alone, but taketh His disciples with Him, and proceedeth thence to Capernaum?" Because henceforth He was quietly annulling the Law, taking occasion from the wickedness of the Jews. al. this kind of following belongs not to a settled mind.' Not exactly quoted from 1 Cor. 14, 22. where the words relate to the gift of tongues. Ver. 5. And as He lifted up His eyes, He beheld a great JOHN company. d 1 VI. 5. teach. ing' This sheweth that He sat not at any time idly with the dis- 1 års ciples, but perhaps carefully conversing with them, and making them attend and turn towards Him, a thing which peculiarly 2 al. marks His tender care, and the humility and condescension of His demeanour towards them. For they sat with Him, perhaps looking at one another; then having lifted up His eyes, He beheld the multitudes coming unto Him. Now the other Evangelists say, that the disciples came and asked and besought Him that He would not send them away fasting, while St. John saith, that the question was put to Philip by Christ. Both occurrences seem to me to be truly reported, but not to have taken place at the same time, the former account being prior to the other, so that the two are entirely different. 3 Wherefore then doth He ask Philip? He knew which of His disciples needed most instruction; for this is he who afterwards said, Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us, and c. 14, 8. on this account Jesus was beforehand bringing him into a proper state3. For had the miracle simply been done, the 3 éppú0marvel would not have seemed so great, but now He before-MIŠEV hand constraineth him to confess the existing want, that knowing the state of matters he might be the more exactly acquainted with the magnitude of the miracle about to take place. Wherefore He saith, 4 Ben. what he Whence shall we have so many loaves, that these may eat?' and see So in the Old [Testament] He spake to Moses, for He saith." wrought not the sign until He had asked him, What is that in thy hand? Because things coming to pass unexpectedly and all at once, are wont to throw us into forgetfulness of apóov things previous, therefore He first involved him in a confession of present circumstances, that when the astonishment should have come upon him, he might be unable afterwards to drive away the remembrance of what he had confessed, and thus might learn by comparison the greatness of the < ἀναβλέψας τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς δρᾶ ὄχλον πολύν. In G. T. the words are: ἐπάρας οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ θεασάμενος ὅτι πολὺς ὄχλος έρχεται πρὸς αὐτόν. d Ben. Ed. reads: où μáλioтa Kal HOMII.. miracle, which in fact takes place in this instance; for Philip being asked, replied, XLII. 1.2. Ver. 7, 6. Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do. What meaneth, to prore him? Did not He know what [2.] would be said by him? We cannot assert that. What then is the meaning of the expression? We may discover it from Gen.22, the Old [Testament]. For there too It saith, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Take thy beloved son whom thou lovest; yet it doth not appear in that place either, that when He saith this He waited to see the end of the trial, whether Abraham would obey or not, (how could He, Who knoweth all things before they come into existence1?) but the words in both cases are spoken after the manner of men. For as when Hist. (the Psalmist) saith that He " searcheth the hearts of men," ver, 42. he meaneth not a search of ignorance but of exact knowledge, 2 Ps.7,9. just so when the Evangelist saith that He proved (Philip), Paul he meaneth only that He knew exactly. And perhaps one Rom. 8, might say another thing, that as He once made Abraham 1 πρὶν γενέ σεως, Susann. or St. 27. 3 al. 'expels' 3 more approved, so also did He this man, bringing him by this question to an exact knowledge of the miracle. The Evangelist therefore, that thou mayest not stop at the feebleness of the expression, and so form an improper opinion of what was said, addeth, He Himself knew what He would do. Moreover we must observe this, that when there is any wrong suspicion, the writer straightway very carefully corrects it. As then in this place that the hearers might not form any such suspicion, he adds the corrective, saying, For He Himself knew what He would do: so also in that other place, when He saith, that the Jews persecuted Him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God, had there not been the assertion of Christ Himself confirmed by His works, he would there also have subjoined this correction. For if even in words which Christ speaketh the Evangelist is careful that none should have suspicions, much more in cases where others were speaking of Him would he VI.8.9. have looked closely, had he perceived that an improper JOHN opinion prevailed concerning Him. But he did not so, for he knew that this was His meaning', and immoveable 'wh decree 2. Therefore after saying, making Himself equal2 ↓ñ‰ov with God, he used not any such correction; for the matter spoken of was not an erroneous fancy of theirs, but His own assertion ratified by His works. Philip then having been questioned, Ver. 8, 9. Andrew, Simon's brother, said, There is a lados here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: G Πέτρου but what are they among so many? 6 1? 4, 43. 'farther' 'hence' [of that which is set on.] Andrew is higher minded than Philip, yet had not he attained to every thing. Yet I do not think that he spake without an object, but as having heard of the miracles of the Prophets, and how Elisha wrought a sign with the loaves; 2 Kings on this account he mounted to a certain height, but could 4 al. not attain to the very top. Let us learn then, we who give ourselves to luxury, what al. was the fare of those great and admirable men; and in quality and quantity let us behold and imitate the thriftiness of their table. What follows also expresses great weakness. For after Morel. saying, hath five barley loaves, he addeth, but what are they' among so many? He supposed that the Worker of the miracle would make less out of less, and more out of more. But this was not the case, for it was alike easy to Him to cause bread to spring forth from more and from less, since He7 needed no subject-matter. But in order that the creation a might not seem foreign to His Wisdom, as afterwards. slanderers and those affected with the disease of Marcion said, He used the creation itself as a groundwork for His note, P. 71. marvels. When both the disciples had owned themselves at a loss, then He wrought the miracle; for thus they profited the more, having first confessed the difficulty of the matter, that when it should come to pass, they might understand the power of God. And because a miracle was about to be i. e. the Equality of The Son with The Father. 8 8 hal. for I think that the miracles of the Prophets had entered his mind. and Ben. πηγα σαι see |