Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Fourth Sunday of Easter

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:1-10)

The shepherd of the sheep is the one who is worthily endowed with the gift of teaching and uses the lawful entrance. In other words, he is the one who endeavors to live entirely according to the teaching of the law and thus enters the sheepfold exactly as he should. He then leads all the rest, like sheep, to the pastures of his teaching by showing them the food of his words, with which they must first nourish themselves. Once they have done so, he explains the power of those words and how they must be understood. He also points out to the sheep those teachings that others might deceitfully propose to them for their perdition but from which they should abstain.

Since this is what the shepherd is like, it follows that a thief and a bandit is the exact opposite. He does not use the lawful entrance, nor does he show respect for the precepts of the law. This is how he teaches the people given to him: he simply scales the fence and seizes the entrance as well as the office of teacher, because he has done nothing that would entitle him to such honor. He behaves inconsiderately and, by doing whatever he wants, does things that harm the sheep. Indeed, how can one who does not discipline himself in the precepts of the law be useful to anyone else? In other words, the Lord is saying, “Let us discern between you and me, if you like, who uses the lawful entrance; who diligently follows the precepts of the law; for whom Moses, the gatekeeper of the sheepfold, opens the gate; to whom offers praise for completing his work and who he considers worthy to be declared shepherd because of what he has done.…

Then what does he say? I am the gate; that is, “I am not like them; they are thieves. I am the true door.” If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. Those who come to me will receive truth through me. They will enjoy true life and safely graze in the truth, being filled with delight by the teaching of the divine law.” The words, he will go in and out and find pasture, refer to what happens among sheep that derive great delight from his doctrine of truth.

But how can it be ascertained that they are the thieves and you are the shepherd of the sheep? Since what he had said could not be verified by words only, his words also had to be confirmed by evidence. And so He added, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. He confirms His argument by citing those actions that are typical of thieves. “Thieves exist to steal, kill and destroy for their own greed. I am so far removed from these actions that I, in fact, do the exact opposite for those who obey me. In other words, I give them life—and not just any life, but eternal life.” This is what he meant when he said, and have it abundantly, alluding to the resurrection he will give to the human race.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on John 4.10

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday of Easter

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:25–31)

After the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, He met two of His disciples on the road, talking about the events which had just taken place, and that He said to them: ‘What words are these that you are exchanging … and are sad?’ Mark briefly touched upon the incident, saying that the Lord appeared to the two disciples on the road, but he did not mention what the disciples said to the Lord nor what the Lord said to them.

What lesson does that reading bring home to us? A very important one, if we understand. Jesus appeared; He was visible to their eyes, yet He was not recognized. The Master walked with them on the way; in fact, He was the Way on which they were not yet walking; but He found that they had wandered some distance from the Way. For, when He was with them before His Passion, He had foretold all—that He would suffer, that He would die, that He would rise again on the third day—He had predicted all; but His death was as a loss of memory for them. They were so disturbed when they saw Him hanging on the cross that they forgot His teaching, did not look for His Resurrection, and failed to keep His promises in mind.

“We,” they said, “had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” O my dear disciples, you had hoped! So now you no longer hope? Look, Christ is alive! Is hope dead in you? Certainly, certainly, Christ is alive! Christ, being alive, found the hearts of his disciples dead, as he appeared and did not appear to their eyes. He was at one and the same time seen and concealed. I mean, if he wasn't seen, how could they have heard him questioning them and answered his questions? He was walking with them along the road like a companion and was himself the leader. Of course he was seen, but he wasn't recognized. For their eyes were restrained, as we heard, so that they wouldn't recognize him. They weren't restrained so that they wouldn't see him, but they were held so that they wouldn't recognize him.

Ah yes, brothers and sisters, but where did the Lord wish to be recognized? In the breaking of bread. We're all right, nothing to worry about—we break bread, and we recognize the Lord. It was for our sake that he didn't want to be recognized anywhere but there, because we weren't going to see him in the flesh, and yet we were going to eat his flesh. So if you're a believer, any of you, if you're not called a Christian for nothing, if you don't come to church pointlessly, if you listen to the Word of God in fear and hope, you may take comfort in the breaking of bread. The Lord's absence is not an absence. Have faith, and the one you cannot see is with you. Those two, even when the Lord was talking to them, did not have faith, because they didn't believe he had risen. Nor did they have any hope that he could rise again. They had lost faith, lost hope. They were walking along, dead, with Christ alive. They were walking along, dead, with life itself. Life was walking along with them, but in their hearts life had not yet been restored.

Therefore, if you wish to have life, do what they did that you may recognize the Lord. They received Him with gracious courtesy. Because the Lord seemed intent on proceeding further, they constrained Him. And after they had reached the place toward which they were making their way, they said: ‘Now stay with us here, for it is getting toward evening.’ Constrain your Guest, if you wish to recognize the Savior. Hospitality restored what unbelief had taken away. Therefore, the Lord revealed Himself in the breaking of bread. Learn where to seek the Lord; learn where to possess Him; learn where to recognize Him, that is, when you eat His Body. Truly do the faithful discern something in that reading which they understand better than they who do not discern.

Augustine, Liturgical Sermons 235.1–3

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Second Sunday of Easter

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:19–31)

These words, Receive the Holy Spirit, were said in place of, “you will receive,” in the upper room. Therefore the gift, conferred through breathing, pertains only to the power of binding and absolving, as will be seen. This is the fulfillment of what was said to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom.” It was necessary that He granted these gifts so that they might know that He was of the same nature and substance of the Spirit who would give them an overabundance of gifts. This is why He said, “He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Consider, however, how far this breathing extends, If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. What truly wonderful gifts! Indeed [the Spirit] not only gives power over the elements and the ability to perform signs and wonders, but even concedes that God has called them by name, and that which is only appropriate to Himself is given to His servants. The prerogative to absolve and retain sins only belongs to God. The Jews sometimes raised this objection to the Savior, saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And yet the Lord generously gave this power to those who feared Him.

Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on the Gospel of John 7.20.25

Patristic Wisdom for Easter

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. (John 20:11–18)

The angels asked Mary, saying: “Woman, why are you weeping?” And she said to them: “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him.” The sacred message which stirs up tears of love in us provides consolation for these tears when it promises us the sight of our Redeemer. But we should note that, in the historical sense, the woman did not say, “They have taken away the body of my Lord”, but, “They have taken away my Lord.” … The Lord’s body alone had lain in the sepulcher; Mary was not seeking the body, but the Lord who had been taken away, indicating the part by the whole.

When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, and she did not know that it was Jesus. Mary, who was still in doubt about the Lord’s resurrection, turned round to see Jesus. By this doubt she had turned her back to the face of the Lord, whom she did not believe had risen. Because she loved, and doubted, she saw and did not recognize him. Her love revealed him to her, and her doubt prevented her from knowing him. He said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? He asked the reason for her sorrow to increase her desire, so that when he asked whom she was seeking she might feel a more vehement love for him.

She thought that it was the gardener, and said to him: “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away.” Perhaps this woman was not as mistaken as she appeared to be when she believed that Jesus was a gardener. Was he not spiritually a gardener for her, when he planted the fruitful seeds of virtue in her heart by the force of his love? But why did she say to the one she saw and believed to be the gardener, when she had not yet told him whom she was seeking, “Sir, if you have taken him away”? She had not yet said who it was who made her weep from desire, or mentioned him of whom she spoke. But the force of love customarily brings it about that a heart believes everyone else is aware of the one of whom it is always thinking. It is understandable that the woman did not say whom she was seeking, and yet said, “If you have taken him away.” She did not believe that the one for whom she herself so constantly wept in her desire was unknown to the other.

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 25

Patristic Wisdom for Good Friday

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:25–30)

The lamb, beholding her lamb advancing to the slaughter,
Followed Him wearily with the other women, saying,
“Where dost Thou go, O my son?
Is there another wedding in Cana,
And dost Thou hasten there to turn water into wine?
Shall I go with Thee, my child, or shall I wait for Thee?
Give me word, O Word, some word, and do not pass me by in silence,
O Thou who hast kept me pure,
My son and my God.…
 
“Thou dost advance, my child, to an unjust death,
And no one suffers with Thee. Peter does not accompany Thee—he who said to Thee,
‘I shall never deny Thee, even if I die.’
Thomas has left Thee—he who said: ‘Let us all die with Him.’
And again the others, well-known and intimate friends,
Destined to judge the tribes of Israel, where are they now?
No one of all of them is here. But the One above all,
Thou, alone, O Son art to die in return for all whom Thou hast gratified,
My son and my God.” …
 
[Jesus replies] “Bear up for a short time, O Mother, and thou shall shalt see
How, like a physician, I strip and come where they lie dead
And cure their wounds,
Cutting their callousness and hardness with the spear;
And I take the vinegar and use it as an astringent on the wound;
And when I have opened up the cut with the surgical lancet of the nails, I shall use my cloak as dressing,
Using my cross as remedy,
I use it, O Mother, so that thou mayest sing with understanding:
‘He has redeemed suffering by suffering,
My son and my God.’
 
“Lay aside thy grief, Mother,
And advance with joy; for I now hasten to that for which I came,
To do the will of Him who sent me;
For, from the first this was ordained for me by my Father,
And it was not displeasing to my spirit
That I should assume human form and suffer for the fallen.
Then, O Mother, hastening, tell all people
That by suffering He strikes down the one who hates Adam
And, having conquered, He comes,
My son and my God.”

Romanus Melodus, Kontakion on Mary at the Cross 19.1, 3, 13-14.

Patristic Wisdom for Maundy Thursday

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?” He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it.” And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Matt 26:20–29)

The bread which God the Word revealed to be His own body is the Word of the sustainer of souls. What was set upon the table was the Word proceeding from God the Word, bread from heavenly bread, as it is written: “You have prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” And the wine which God the Word revealed to be His blood is the Word filling and wondrously inebriating the hearts of all who drink it. It is the Word contained in that chalice about which it is written: “My cup overflows.” This wine is the fruit of the true vine who said, “I am the true vine.” It is blood of grapes processed in the wine press of his Passion. Likewise the bread is the Word of Christ ground from that grain of wheat which “falls into the earth” and “bears much fruit.” It was not the visible bread that He held in His hands which God the Word called His body, but it was the Word in whose sacrament the bread was to be broken. Nor was it the visible drink that He identified as His blood, but it was the Word in whose sacrament the libation was to be poured out.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew 85