Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom222Ver. 27–30 . “For My sheep hear My voice, 1643 and follow Me; and I give unto them eternallife 1644 ; neither can 1645 any man pluck them out of My hand. The Father, 1646 which gave them Me,is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father areOne.”Observe how in renouncing He exciteth them to follow Him. “Ye hear Me not,” He saith, “forneither are ye sheep, but they who follow, these are of the flock.” This He said, that they mightstrive to become sheep. Then by mentioning what they should obtain, He maketh these men jealous,so as to rouse them, and cause them to desire such things.“What then? Is it through the power of the Father that no man plucketh them away, and hastthou no strength, but art too weak to guard them?” By no means. And in order that thou mayestlearn that the expression, “The Father which gave them to Me,” is used on their account, that theymight not again call Him an enemy of God, therefore, after asserting that, “No man plucketh themout of My hand,” He proceedeth to show, that His hand and the Father’s is One. Since had not thisbeen so, it would have been natural for Him to say, “The Father which gave them to Me is greaterthan all, and no man can pluck them out of My hand.” But He said not so, but, “out of My Father’shand.” Then that thou mayest not suppose that He indeed is weak, but that the sheep are in safetythrough the power of the Father, He addeth, “I and the Father are One.” As though He had said “Idid not assert that on account of the Father no man plucketh them away, as though I were too weakto keep the sheep. For I and the Father are One.” Speaking here with reference to Power, forconcerning this was all His discourse; and if the power 1647 be the same, it is clear that the Essenceis also. And when the Jews used ten thousand means, plotting and casting men out of theirsynagogues, He telleth them that all their contrivances are useless and vain; “For the sheep are inMy Father’s hand”; as the Prophet saith, “Upon My hand I have pictured thy walls.” ( Isa. xlix.16 .) Then to show that the hand is One, He sometimes saith that it is His own, sometimes theFather’s. But when thou hearest the word “hand,” do not understand anything material, but thepower, the authority. Again, if it was on this account that no one could pluck away the sheep,because the Father gave Him power, it would have been superfluous to say what follows, “I andthe Father are One.” Since were He inferior to Him, this would have been a very daring saying, forit declares nothing else than an equality of power; of which the Jews were conscious, and took upstones to cast at Him. ( Ver. 31 .) Yet not even so did He remove this opinion and suspicion;though if their suspicion were erroneous, He ought to have set them right, and to have said,“Wherefore do ye these things? I spake not thus to testify that my power and the Father’s are equal”;but now He doth quite the contrary, and confirmeth their suspicion, and clencheth it, and that toowhen they were exasperated. For He maketh no excuse for what had been said, as though it hadbeen said ill, but rebuketh them for not entertaining a right opinion concerning Him. For when theysaid,1643“ and I know them. ”1644“ and they shall never perish. ”1645“ shall. ”1646“ My Father, ” N.T.1647i.e. of the Father and the Son.336