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1. We have just heard in the holy Gospel the Lord speaking, and
saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not
greater than his lord, nor the apostle [he that is sent] greater than
he that sent him: if ye know these things, blessed shall ye be if ye
do them." He said this, therefore, because He had washed the
disciples' feet, as the Master of humility both by word and example.
But we shall be able, with His help, to handle what is in need of
more elaborate handling, if we linger not at what is perfectly clear.
Accordingly, after uttering these words, the Lord added, "I speak
not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but, that the Scripture
may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me, shall lift up his
heel upon me." And what is this, but that he shall trample upon me?
We know of whom He speaks: it is Judas, that betrayer of His, who
is referred to. He had not therefore chosen the person whom, by these
words, He setteth utterly apart from His chosen ones. When I say
then, He continues "Blessed shall ye be if ye do them, I speak not
of you all:" there is one among you who will not be blessed, and who
will not do these things. "I know whom I have chosen." Whom, but
those who shall be blessed in the doing of what has been commanded and
shown as needful to be done, by Him who alone can make them blessed?
The traitor Judas, He says, is not one of those that have been
chosen. What, then, is meant by what He says in another place,
"Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" Was it
that he also was chosen for some purpose, for which he was really
necessary; although not for the blessedness of which He has just been
saying, "Blessed shall ye be if ye do these things"? He speaketh
not so of them all; for He knows whom He has chosen to be associated
with Himself in blessedness. Of such he is not one, who ate His
bread in order that he might lift up his heel upon Him. The bread
they ate was the Lord Himself; he ate the Lord's bread in enmity to
the Lord: they ate life, and he punishment. "For he that eateth
unworthily," says the apostle, "eateth judgment unto himself."
"From this time," Christ adds, "I tell you before it come; that
when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He:" that is, I
am He of whom the Scripture that preceded has just said, "He that
eateth bread with me, shall lift up his heel upon me."
2. He then proceeds to say: "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that
receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." Did He mean us to
understand that there is as little distance between one sent by Him,
and Himself, as there is between Himself and God the Father? If
we take it in this way, I know not what measurements of distance
(which may God forbid!) we shall be adopting, in the Arian
fashion. For they, when they hear or read these words of the
Gospel, have immediate recourse to their dogmatic measurements,
whereby they ascend not to life, but fall headlong into death. For
they straightway say: The Son's messenger stands at the same
relative distance from the Son, as expressed in the words, "He that
receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me," as that in which the
Son Himself stands from the Father, when He said, "He that
receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me." But if thou sayest so,
thou forgettest, heretic, thy measurements. For if, because of
these words of the Lord, thou puttest the Son at as great a distance
from the Father as the messenger [apostle] from the Son, where dost
thou purpose to place the Holy Spirit? Has it escaped thee, that ye
are wont to place Him after the Son? He will therefore come in
between the messenger and the Son; and much greater, then, will be
the distance between the Son and His messenger, than between the
Father and His Son. Or perhaps, to preserve that distinction
between the Son and His messenger, and between the Father and His
Son, at their equality of distance, will the Holy Spirit be equal
to the Son? But as little will ye allow this. And where, then, do
ye think of placing Him, if ye place the Son as far beneath the
Father, as ye place the messenger beneath the Son? Restrain,
therefore, your foolhardy presumption; and do not be seeking to find
in these words the same distance between the Son and His messenger as
between the Father and His Son. But listen rather to the Son
Himself, when He says, "I and my Father are one." For there
the Truth hath left you no shadow of distance between the Begetter and
the Only-begotten; there Christ Himself hath erased your
measurements, and the rock hath broken your staircase to pieces.
3. But now that the heretical slander has been disposed of, in what
sense are we to understand these words of the Lord: "He that
receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me,
receiveth Him that sent me"? For if we were inclined to understand
the words, "He that receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me," as
expressing the oneness in nature of the Father and the Son; the
sequence from the similar arrangement of words in the other clause,
"He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me," would be the
unity in nature of the Son and His messenger. And there might,
indeed, be no impropriety in so understanding it, seeing that a
twofold substance belongeth to the strong man, who hath rejoiced to run
the race; for the Word was made flesh, that is, God became man.
And accordingly He might be supposed to have said, "He that
receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me," with reference to His
human nature; "and he that receiveth me" as God, "receiveth Him
that sent me." But in so speaking, He was not commending the unity
of nature, but the authority of the Sender in Him who is sent. Let
every one, therefore, so receive Him that is sent, that in His
person lie may give heed to Him who sent Him. If, then, thou
lookest for Christ in Peter, thou wilt find the disciple's
instructor; and if thou lookest for the Father in the Son, thou wilt
find the Begetter of the Only-begotten: and so in Him who is sent,
thou art not mistaken in receiving the Sender. What follows in the
Gospel cannot be compressed within the shortness of the time
remaining. And therefore, dearly beloved, let what has been said,
if thought sufficient, be received in a healthful way, as pasture for
the holy sheep; and if it is somewhat scanty, let it be ruminated over
with ardent desire for more.
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