John 1:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If you remember our former reflections, we shall continue the instruction more readily, gaining much profit from this for ourselves.

When you remember what has been read, our word will be clearer to you, and little labor will be required from us. Because of your love of learning, you can then enter more deeply into the further teaching.

Whoever always loses from memory what has been taught will always need a teacher and will never know anything.

But whoever preserves all he has received and adds further instruction to it can soon become a teacher instead of a disciple. He will be useful not only to himself, but also to others.

I hope that the assembly before me will be such. I infer this from its great zeal for hearing.

Therefore, as into a secure treasury, we shall place the Lord’s silver in your souls. As far as the grace of the Spirit helps, we shall explain the reading set before us today.

Speaking of earlier times, the Evangelist said, "The world did not know Him." Then, turning his speech to the time of the preaching itself, he says, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him."

By "His own" he here means the Jews, as a particular people, or all men, as descended from that people.

Above, grieving over the folly of many men and putting to shame the common spirit of the age, he said that the world made through Him did not know its Maker.

So here, indignant at the ingratitude of the Jews and of many others, he pronounces an even heavier condemnation, saying, "His own did not receive Him," though it was to them that He came.

Not only the Evangelist, but also the prophets spoke with wonder of the same thing. Finally, Paul too was astonished at it.

The prophets cried out, speaking in the person of Jesus Christ: "A people whom I did not know served Me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed Me; strangers submitted to Me; strangers grew faint and trembled in their strongholds" (Ps 17:44-46).

And elsewhere: "So shall He startle many nations, for they shall see what had not been told them, and they shall understand what they had not heard" (Isa 52:15).

Again: "I was revealed to those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me" (Isa 65:1).

Paul said in the Epistle to the Romans: "What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it" (Rom 11:7).

And elsewhere: "What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness" (Rom 9:30-31).

Truly it is worthy of wonder. The Jews were reared on the prophetic books and heard Moses every day, who says very much about the coming of Christ. They also heard the prophets who came after him.

Finally, they saw Christ Himself, who worked miracles for them every day and conversed only with them.

As He did not yet permit the disciples to go on the way of the Gentiles or enter any city of the Samaritans, so He Himself did not do this.

He often said that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

How then did the Jews, who received so many signs and heard every day the prophets and Christ Himself with His continual exhortations, so blind and deafen themselves that nothing could lead them to faith in Christ?

Meanwhile the Gentiles had nothing of this kind. They had never heard the divine oracles. Even in dreams, so to speak, they were always occupied only with the ravings of deranged men. Such is pagan philosophy.

They reread the empty talk of poets, were attached to trees and stones, and knew nothing sound or useful either in beliefs or in rules of life.

Their life was still more impure and criminal than their teaching. How could it have been otherwise?

They saw that their gods took pleasure in every vice, were honored with shameful words and still more shameful deeds, and accepted these as festival and honor.

They were also honored with abominable murders and the killing of children. In this, men imitated the gods themselves.

Yet although they had fallen into such a depth of evil, they were suddenly raised on high as if by some device. They appeared to us shining from the very summit of heaven.

How and why did this happen? Hear what Paul says about it.

The blessed Apostle carefully examined these circumstances. He did not leave them until he had found the cause and explained it to all.

What is this cause? Why was there such blindness among the Jews? Hear what he himself says, the one entrusted with this divine economy.

What does he say to resolve the perplexity of many? "Being ignorant of the righteousness of God," he says, "and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God" (Rom 10:3).

This is why they suffered such misfortune.

Elsewhere the Apostle sets forth the same thing differently: "What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, the righteousness that is by faith.

But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they sought it not by faith, but by works of the law. For they stumbled over the stone of stumbling" (Rom 9:30-32).

This means that unbelief was the cause of evil for the Jews, and unbelief came from arrogance.

At first they had more than the Gentiles. They received the law, had knowledge of God, and possessed the other things of which Paul speaks.

But after Christ’s coming, they saw that both they and the Gentiles were called by faith to salvation with equal honor. They saw that, in the matter of faith, the circumcised man had no advantage over the convert from the Gentiles.

Then, from pride, they passed into envy and could not endure the great and ineffable love for mankind of the Lord.

This arose in them from nothing other than arrogance, malice, and hatred of mankind.

What harm, most senseless of men, did this care of the Lord shown to others bring you? Were your blessings diminished because others received a share in them?

But truly, malice is blind and cannot quickly understand anything just. Tormented by the thought that others would share in the same rights, they turned the sword against themselves and deprived themselves of God’s love for mankind.

Justice required this. It is said, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. I choose to give to this last one the same as to you" (Mt 20:13-14).

But they are not even worthy of these words.

The hired laborer mentioned in the Gospel, though he was vexed, could at least point to his labor through the whole day, to the burden, the heat, and the sweat.

But what could they say? Nothing of the kind. In them there was only carelessness, lack of self-restraint, and a multitude of vices.

All the prophets constantly rebuked them for these vices, and by them they offended God just as the Gentiles did.

Pointing to this, Paul said, "There is no distinction between Jew and Greek" (Rom 10:12). "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace" (Rom 3:23-24).

The Apostle sets forth this subject usefully and very wisely through an entire chapter of the Epistle.

Before this, he also shows that the Jews deserve even greater punishment. "Those who have sinned under the law," he says, "will be judged by the law" (Rom 2:12).

That means a stricter judgment, because besides nature they also have the law as their accuser.

And not only for this reason, but also because they caused God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles. "Because of you," it is said, "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles" (Rom 2:24).

This especially provoked them, so that even those of the circumcision who believed found this circumstance strange.

For this reason they accused Peter when he returned to them from Caesarea, because he had entered into fellowship with uncircumcised men and had eaten with them.

Even after they understood God’s foreordaining, they still marveled that the gifts of the Holy Spirit had been poured out also upon the Gentiles. By this amazement they showed that they had never expected such a strange thing.

Knowing that this especially wounded them, the Apostle directs everything toward destroying their pride and suppressing their overly arrogant haughtiness.

See how he does this. After discussing the Gentiles, he shows that they have no justification in anything and no hope of salvation. He carefully exposes both their perverse teaching and the impurity of their life.

Then he transfers his word to the Jews.

He repeats all that the prophet said about them: that they are criminal, treacherous, and wicked; that all are altogether worthless; that none seeks God, but all have turned aside; and the like.

Then the Apostle adds, "We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may become guilty before God, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:19, 23).

Why then do you boast, O Jew? Why do you think highly of yourself?

Your mouth is stopped. Your self-confidence is destroyed. You stand under judgment together with the whole world and, like others, need justification freely.

Therefore, even if you were righteous according to the law and had great boldness before God, you ought not to have envied those who could be shown mercy and saved by God’s love for mankind.

It is exceedingly evil to be grieved at the prosperity of others, especially when it involves no loss for you.

If the salvation of others harmed your well-being, you would have a reason to be grieved, though even this is not proper to a man taught to love wisdom.

But if neither the punishment of others increases your rewards nor their prosperity diminishes them, why do you torment yourself merely because another is saved freely?

As I said, you ought not to have been irritated that salvation was granted by grace also to the Gentiles, even if you yourself belonged to those worthy of approval.

But when you are guilty before the Lord in the same way as the Gentile, and have brought His wrath upon yourself, yet are vexed at another’s prosperity and think so highly of yourself, as if you alone had the right to share in grace, then you are subject to heavier torments than all others.

This is not only for envy and arrogance, but also for extreme folly. You have grown within yourself the root of all evils: pride.

Therefore one wise man said, "The beginning of sin is pride" (Sir 10:15), that is, the root, source, and mother.

Through pride the first-formed man was deprived of the blessed state. Through pride the devil who deceived him fell from the height of his dignity.

That foul being learned that this sin can cast one down even from the heavens themselves. He chose this path to deprive Adam of so great an honor.

By puffing him up with the promise of equality with God, he overthrew him and hurled him down into the very depth of Hades.

Truly, nothing so alienates one from God’s love for mankind and subjects one to the fire of Gehenna as the dominion of pride.

When it is in us, our whole life becomes impure, even if we labor in chastity, virginity, fasting, prayers, almsgiving, and other virtues.

"Everyone arrogant in heart is an abomination before the Lord" (Prov 16:5).

Therefore, if we wish to be pure and free from the punishment prepared for the devil, let us bridle haughtiness of spirit and cut off pride.

That the proud must undergo the same punishment as the devil, hear what Paul says: "He must not be a recent convert, lest he be puffed up and fall into the condemnation of the devil" (1 Tim 3:6).

How shall we escape this disaster? We shall escape if we meditate on our nature, on the multitude of our sins, on the greatness of the torments to come, and on the fact that everything splendid here is temporary.

It is no better than grass and withers more quickly than spring flowers.

If we often stir up such thoughts in ourselves and bring to mind people who performed great ascetic labors, the devil will not easily puff us up, however much he strives.

Here the Evangelist is evidently speaking of the divine economy of salvation in the flesh. The whole order of thought is this: the true Light was in the world without flesh and was not known. Then He came to His own with flesh. By "His own" you may understand either the whole world, or Judea, which He chose as His inheritance, His portion and His possession (Ps 113:2). "And His own did not receive Him" means either the Jews or the other men created by Him. Thus he laments the madness of men and marvels at the Master's love for mankind. Although, he says, they were His own, not all received Him. For the Lord draws no one by force, but leaves each to his own judgment and free choice.

The Evangelist continues to unfold the fact that the world did not know the One enlightening it, that is, the Only-begotten. Passing from the worse sin of the Israelites, he seeks to establish also the guilt of the Gentiles.

He points to the sickness of ignorance and unbelief that embraced the whole world. Very skillfully he approaches the discourse on the Incarnation. From pure theology he turns at last to the explanation of the divine economy according to the flesh, which the Son accomplished for our sake.

There is nothing astonishing, he says, if the world did not know the Only-begotten. The world had departed from the understanding proper to man and did not know what it was and what honor it had possessed.

"He came to His own," because all this was created through Him. "And His own did not receive Him." Who are "His own"? They are the men whom He created.

They are the Jews, whom He established at the beginning so that they might be above all nations. Other nations worshiped idols and served idols.

That people, however, was born from the seed of Abraham. Therefore they are first of all "His own," so that even according to the flesh which He was pleased to assume, they are near to Him.

"He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." Did they not receive Him at all? Did no one receive Him? Then was no one saved? For no one will be saved except those who received Christ when He came.

He explains this Word still further. His own things are the world, as His creation, and those created according to His image. He came to them as man, while as God He was in the world.

This is also explained in another way. Since Jesus Christ came according to the flesh from the Jews, His own things are their way of life, and His own people are the Jews, as His relatives and fellow countrymen.

Therefore He says, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24). He came to His own not because of any need of His own, since God lacks nothing, but for the salvation of His own.

Yet His own did not receive Him, though He came to benefit them. In their madness they rejected the Savior as though He were an enemy.

Christ came into His own country, for it is written: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (Jn 1:11). Indeed, when He says, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country," He teaches that it is grievous to possess authority among one's own. Exaltation among fellow citizens burns. The glory of someone close at hand burns those who are close to him. If neighbors must render honor to a neighbor, they count it slavery. "And He did not do many mighty works there," it says, "because of their unbelief." No miracle takes place where unbelief does not deserve it. Although Christ seeks no reward when He heals, He is indignant when ingratitude is returned to Him instead of honor.

That the Word of God the Father came into this world and became a perfect man, apart from sin, the same holy Gospel says further: "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." That is, the unbelieving Jewish people.

Do you hear? "He was in the world," and "the world did not know Him." So too the light of the sun is poured out over the whole face of the earth, but the blind do not see it.

Foolish is the man who, being blind in himself and unable to see, begins to blame the light. The disease of the eyes is the cause of that blindness, not the radiance of the sun.

Likewise foolish and senseless is the unbelieving man when he dares to blame God. The cause of his impenitence and unbelief is not God, but his own evil will.

The wicked disposition of his heart makes him incapable of receiving the light of God's grace, just as the weakness of a blind man's eyes makes him incapable of receiving material light.

By "His own" one may understand all people in general, just as the Apostle calls men "the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29). More particularly, it means the Jews, from whom He came according to the flesh. More particularly still, it means His nearest kinsmen, for the Evangelist notes that "even His brothers did not believe in Him" (Jn 7:5).

"He came to His own": by His own are meant the Jews, the people chosen by God, belonging to God, or God's own (Deut 7:6; 9:26; Is 27:9; Heb 2:13).

"And His own did not receive Him": in the general sense, they did not receive Him as the people especially prepared to receive Him should and ought to have received Him.

Or, not all received Him as one would have expected from a people chosen by God. Even before the Incarnation of the Word, when He constantly revealed Himself to the Jewish people in direct acts of providence over them, in prophecies, promises, and theophanies, the Jewish people in general did not relate to Him as they should have.

The Lord came first of all to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 15:24). He had determined this beforehand.

Jehovah called the Jewish people His own chosen people (Deut 7:6; Is 27:9; Ps 84:1). He called the land of Israel His own land (Is 6:6; Mt 21:38).

If the people of Israel were called the people of God, and if in the seer of mysteries the eternal Word calls the Jews His own people, then just as the Word is shown to be God, so the visitation of Israel by the Word is shown to be a great and priceless visitation.

It is all the stranger, then, that "His own did not receive Him." His own did not receive the heavenly Guest. They did not receive Him with those dispositions of soul and that reverent faith of which He was worthy.

The second characteristic feature of the true Light is hiddenness. "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him." He does not shine in such a way that one is enlightened by Him whether one wishes it or not.

In Himself He is all-luminous, all-radiant, and all-enlightening. Yet only those who belong to Him behold His light and receive brightness from it. Only those who open within themselves the organs of their spirit that correspond to Him receive it.

Everything in the material and human world follows its own course. Spiritual enlightenment also takes place by its own hidden paths. These pass undisturbed amid all the storms and changes of the outward world, like a ray of light through air stirred by the wind.