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

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom32Homily IX.John i. 11“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”[1.] If ye remember our former reflections, we shall the more zealously proceed with the buildingup 195 of what remains, as doing so for great gain. For so will our discourse be more intelligible toyou who remember what has been already said, and we shall not need much labor, because you areable through your great love of learning to see more clearly into what remains. The man who isalways losing what is given to him will always need a teacher, and will never know anything; buthe who retains what he has received, and so receives in addition what remains, will quickly be ateacher instead of a learner, and useful not only to himself, but to all others also; as, conjecturingfrom their great readiness to hear, I anticipate that this assembly will specially be. Come then, letus lay up in your souls, as in a safe treasury, the Lord’s money, and unfold, as far as the grace ofthe Spirit may afford us power, the words this day set before us.He (St. John) had said, speaking of the old times, that “the world knew him not” ( ver. 10 );afterwards he comes down in his narrative to the times of the proclamation (of the Gospel), andsays, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not,” now calling the Jews “His own,” asHis peculiar people, or perhaps even all mankind, as created by Him. And as above, when perplexedat the folly of the many, and ashamed of our common nature, he said that “the world by Him wasmade,” and having been made, did not recognize its Maker; so here again, being troubled beyondbearing 196 at the stupidity of the Jews and the many, he sets forth the charge in a yet more strikingmanner, saying, that “His own received Him not,” and that too when “He came to them.” And notonly he, but the prophets also, wondering, said the very same, as did afterwards Paul, amazed atthe very same things. Thus did the prophets cry aloud in the person of Christ, saying, “A peoplewhom I have not known, have served Me; as soon as they heard Me, they obeyed Me; the strangechildren have dealt falsely with Me. 197 The strange children have waxed aged, and have haltedfrom their paths.” ( Ps. xviii. 43–45 , LXX.) And again, “They to whom it had not been toldconcerning Him, shall see, and they which had not heard, shall understand.” And, “I was found ofthem that sought Me not” ( Isa. lii. 15 ); “I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.”( Isa. xlv. 1, as quoted Rom. x. 20 .) And Paul, in his Epistles to the Romans, has said, “Whatthen? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for: but the election hath obtained it.” ( Rom.xi. 7 .) And again; “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles which followed not afterrighteousness, have attained unto righteousness: but Israel which followed after the law ofrighteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” ( Rom. ix. 30 .)For it is a thing indeed worthy of our amazement, how they who were nurtured in (knowledgeof) the prophetical books, who heard Moses every day telling them ten thousand things concerning195 al. “the dispensing.”196δυσανασχετῶν197 “lied unto me.” LXX.53