THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
"My Father," He says, "works until now, and I work." When He had to defend His disciples, He pointed to David as a fellow servant like them: "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him?" (Mt 12:3). But when the matter concerns Himself, He turns to the Father. In two ways He shows His equality with Him: by calling Him His own Father in the proper sense, and by presenting Himself as working together with Him. Why did He not mention what happened at Jericho? Because He wished to raise them from the earth, so that they would heed Him no longer as a man, but as God and Lawgiver. If He were not the true Son and consubstantial with the Father, His defense would have been worse than the accusation. It would be like a governor who broke the king's law and then, when accused, said in defense that the king himself also broke it. By this he would not escape condemnation, but would increase his guilt. Here, however, the dignity is equal, and therefore the defense is wholly firm. What you do not charge against God, He says, you cannot charge against Me. For this reason He said beforehand, "My Father," to compel them, even against their will, to concede the same to Him as to God the Father, out of regard for His perfect union with the Father. If someone asks how the Father works, when He rested on the seventh day from all His works, let him learn the manner of His working. How does He work? By providence and by preserving all creation. When you see the sun rising, the moon running its course, lakes, springs, rivers, rains, and nature moving in seeds, in our bodies, and in irrational animals, and all else by which the universe is held together, recognize in this the Father's unceasing work. Christ says that He "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Mt 5:45). Again He says, "If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven" (Mt 6:30). Speaking also of the birds, He says, "Your heavenly Father feeds them" (Mt 6:26). In that case, His whole work on the Sabbath consisted only in words, and He added nothing more. By what takes place in the temple, and by what they themselves do, He refuted their accusations. But here He also commanded an action, namely, to take up the bed. This in itself was no great work, yet it seemed to be a manifest violation of the Sabbath. Therefore He directs His speech to a higher matter, wishing to strike them more strongly by the dignity of His Father and to raise them to higher thoughts. Thus, when the Sabbath was under discussion, He defended Himself neither only as man nor only as God, but sometimes as God and sometimes as man. He wished to persuade them of both: the abasement of His becoming man, and His divine dignity. In the present case He defends Himself as God. If He had always spoken with them only as man, they would have remained forever with the thought of His abasement alone. To prevent this, He points them to His Father. Creation itself also works on the Sabbath: the sun completes its course, rivers flow, springs pour forth, women give birth. But so that you may know that He does not belong to creation, He did not say, "I work as creation works." What, then? "I work," because "My Father works." Recently, in the discourse on spectacles and racecourses, I touched you sharply. Therefore I rejoice and am glad according to the apostolic word: "If I make you sorrowful, who is there to make me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?" (2 Cor 2:2). I see great fruit springing from this sorrow. Medicines that heal wounds first sting the sores, and afterward free them from pus. So too the word that wounds the hearer becomes the beginning of correction. In our body, a deadened part is insensible to cutting, medicines, and cautery. Even if countless remedies are applied, it cannot return to health, because it has lost the principle and foundation of treatment. But a part that feels iron, fire, and medicines can quickly return to health. So it is also with souls. Some, being in an insensible state, cannot easily be changed. Others know how to be ashamed, to blush, to grieve, and to be pained under rebuke. They give us the strongest proof that they will soon be removed from vice. Blessed Paul knew this. He greatly approved those who were made sorrowful and rejoiced over them. But he rejected those otherwise disposed, saying, "Being past feeling, they have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Eph 4:19). How can one who cannot grieve ever be corrected, unless he first learns this very thing? Since you have made progress in this, we are very confident concerning your love. If one discourse wounded you so deeply and brought such disturbance that you were anxious, stirred, and troubled, then a second and third will clearly free you from the whole sickness. Know that I do not say this to flatter you. By what you recently showed, you bore witness to the truth of what we said. Though wounded and grieved, and in such sorrow and anxiety, on the following Sunday you prepared for us a more splendid spectacle. The assembly was larger and more zealous. You were all in eagerness and clung to our tongue, like young swallows clinging to their nest. Then, when honoring our brother who came from Galatia, we yielded the word to him, both by the law of the Church, which commands us so to receive guests, and out of respect for his venerable gray hairs. You went away noisily, complaining of your misfortune as though you had endured a long famine. You desired our speech that cut, rebuked, struck, and grieved. You did what a child does who, despite blows and scolding, cannot leave his mother, but follows crying, holding the side of her garment and dragging after her with tears. Therefore I rejoice, winged with delight, and say that I am blessed to contend among such lovers, among you who cling so closely to my word. This is sweeter to me than these rays, more pleasant than light, and is life itself: to be with such prudent hearers. You desire not simply to applaud, but to be corrected. You do not flee rebukes, but run to the one who rebukes. Therefore I myself take up the discourse to you with greater readiness. Today I wish to pay the remainder of what was recently said to you, leaving rebuke aside for now. I do this so that, by again accusing the negligent and spending the whole discourse on their censure, I may not harm the zealous. Even if we had said nothing, what happened yesterday would have sufficed to remove even those most mad and frenzied over the circus from this improper passion. The killing that took place yesterday in the circus flooded our city with tragedy. It drew crowds of women and filled the marketplace with great lamentation, when in the midst of the people a man was carried in so pitiable a state, cut apart by the chariots. As I learned, he intended the next day to light the wedding lamps. The bridal chamber was already adorned, and everything had been prepared for the marriage. But by order of the tax official, while running across the racecourse below, he was suddenly overtaken by charioteers competing with one another. He was caught in the midst and suffered this violent and pitiable death, losing his head and limbs. Do you see the fruit of the circus? And how, you ask, does this concern us who sit above? It concerns you most of all. If you all were not eager to run there, these things would not happen below. But so as not to make the word too heavy again, nor to inflame the wound, I will leave this to your conscience and try to pay what remains from what was recently said to you. What, then, was recently said? I said that Christ is called the foundation because He bears all things, holds them, and balances them. Now I wish to show this from another apostolic saying. Explaining this, the Apostle says: "He, being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His hypostasis, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb 1:3). What does "upholding" mean? Governing as a charioteer, guiding as a helmsman, ordering as a household, restraining, holding, and balancing. He not only brings all things from non-being into being, but also foreknows what comes to pass, as does the Father who begot Him. Therefore, explaining this, He said, "My Father works until now, and I work." For this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill Him. It was not only because He broke the Sabbath, but also because He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Where now are the heretics who rage against their own salvation and separate Him from equality with His Father? Let them hear the voice of the Evangelist. When I say the Evangelist, I mean Christ stirring his soul. Let them hear, be ashamed, and cease from such madness. As the Jews persecuted Him because He called Himself equal to the Father, so these men are ready to destroy themselves because we, taught by Him, render Him this glory. But they say this was not His opinion, nor the Evangelist's, but the Jews'. Even if it were the Jews', this would especially be your greatest fault and utmost condemnation. Wishing to be blind, you fail to see what the ungrateful Jews at once understood as the conclusion from these words. They did not add this from themselves, but drew it from what Christ said to them. And so that you may know that this saying is not even the Jews', but the Evangelist's, both as thought and as speech, examine these very words. When I say the Evangelist, I mean Christ stirring his mind. "My Father." Is it not plain to everyone, even the very foolish, that He said "My Father" to declare Him His own? And when He added, "works until now, and I work," is this not the word of one drawing the conclusion of equality? He did not say, "He works, and I cooperate," or, "He works, and I assist." He said, "He works, and I work." Do you see that what was said was not an inference of the Jews, but a conclusion from His words? If it had been some mistaken supposition and opinion of the Jews that He made Himself equal with God, and if He Himself did not wish to be suspected of this, the Evangelist would not have left it uncorrected. If the Jews suspected something other than what He Himself wished to imply, the Evangelist would have marked this and said it plainly. This is their custom, both the Evangelists' and Jesus' own. From one or two examples I will try to make this clear to you. When Christ says something one way and the Jews understand it another way, the Evangelist corrects it. To understand this clearly, hear John himself explaining it. When He entered the temple of God, made a whip, and drove out the money changers, He said, "Take these things away; do not make My Father's house a house of trade" (Jn 2:16). The scribes and Pharisees came and said, "What sign do You show us, since You do these things?" What did He answer? "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," speaking of His own body. They did not understand this. What did they say? "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" (Jn 2:18-20). They meant the Jewish temple made of stones. It had been built over forty-six years after the return from Babylon, when the builders were hindered by foreign plots, and after much time the temple was completed. Therefore Jesus spoke of His own body, declaring His Cross and Resurrection. This is the meaning of, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." But they supposed He meant the Jewish temple, and therefore said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple. And will You raise it up in three days?" Do you see how the Evangelist did not pass this over, but added a correction, saying, "But He was speaking of the temple of His body" (Jn 2:21). He did not say, "Destroy this body," but "temple," to show God dwelling in it. Destroy the church, He says, far better than the Jewish one.