ACC ~ John 3 v15 - 16
THE LIFE-GIVING PASSION
CHRYSOSTOM: He says that the one who was given was âthe Son of God,â and he is the cause of lifeâof everlasting life. He who procured life for others by death would not himself be continually in death. For if those who believed on the crucified did not perish, much less does the one perish who is crucified. He who takes away the destitution of others is that much freer from it. He who gives life to others brings forth even more life to himself. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.2. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:95.
THE INTENSITY OF GODâS LOVE AND OUR RESPONSE
CHRYSOSTOM: The text, âGod so loved the world,â shows such an intensity of love. For great indeed and infinite is the distance between the two. The immortal, the infinite majesty without beginning or end loved those who were but dust and ashes, who were loaded with ten thousand sins but remained ungrateful even as they constantly offended him. This is who he âloved.â For God did not give a servant, or an angel or even an archangel âbut his only begotten Son.â And yet no one would show such anxiety even for his own child as God did for his ungrateful servantsâŚ.
He laid down his life for us and poured forth his precious blood for our sakesâeven though there is nothing good in usâwhile we do not even pour out our money for our own sake and neglect him who died for us when he is naked and a strangerâŚ. We put gold necklaces on ourselves and even on our pets but neglect our Lord who goes about naked and passes from door to door. ⌠He gladly goes hungry so that you may be fed; naked so that he may provide you with the materials for a garment of incorruption, yet we will not even give up any of our own food or clothing for himâŚ. These things I say continually, and I will not cease to say them, not so much because I care for the poor but because I care for your souls. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.2-3. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:95-96**.
THE GREAT PHYSICIAN STOOPS TO HEAL MY FESTERING WOUNDS
GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but he was also God. He was of the race of David but Adamâs creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priestâyet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you. POEM 2. [1]
[1] JFA:74-75; PG 37:401, 406-8.
GIFTS OF PRICE ARE EVIDENCE OF AFFECTION
HILARY OF POITIERS: God, who loved the world, gave his only begotten Son as a manifest token of his love. If the evidence of his love is this, that he bestowed a creature on creatures, gave a worldly being on the worldâs behalf, granted one raised up from nothing for the redemption of objects equally raised up from nothing, such a cheap and petty sacrifice is a poor assurance of his favor toward us. Gifts of price are the evidence of affection: the greatness of the surrender is evidence of the greatness of the love. God, who loved the world, gave no adopted son but his own, his only begotten [Son]. Here is personal interest, true sonship, sincerity; not creation, or adoption, or pretence. Here is the proof of his love and affection, that he gave his own, his only begotten Son. ON THE TRINITY 6.40. [1]
[1] NPNF 2 9:113.
HE GAVE WHAT WAS MOST PRECIOUS TO SHOW HIS ABUNDANT LOVE
ISAAC OF NINEVEH: The sum of all is God, the Lord of all, who from love of his creatures has delivered his Son to death on the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for it. Not that he was unable to save us in another way, but in this way it was possible to show us his abundant love abundantly, namely, by bringing us near to him by the death of his Son. If he had anything more dear to him, he would have given it to us, in order that by it our race might be his. And out of his great love he did not even choose to urge our freedom by compulsion, though he was able to do so. But his aim was that we should come near to him by the love of our mind. And our Lord obeyed his Father out of love for us. ASCETICAL HOMILY 74. [1]
[1] MTIN 442-43.
THE PRECEDENT OF LOVE WITH ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Abraham had many servants. Why did he [God] not tell him to offer up one of them as a sacrifice? It was only because his love would not be shown in a servant. His son was thus needed, so that through him Abrahamâs love would be revealed. [1] God had servants like this, but he did not show his love through any of them for his creatures, but rather through his Son, so that through him his love toward us might be proclaimedâŚ.
From [the time of] Abraham, the symbols of the wood and of the lamb began to take shape. Isaac was a symbol of the lamb [caught] in the tree, [2] and Jacob showed the wood that was life-giving for water. [3] Thus wood was esteemed as worthy for him to hang upon it, because not a bone in him was broken. [4] As for the earth, its fruits are stimulated by wood, and for the sea, its treasures are taken by means of wood. This is also the case for the body and the soul. [5] Thus it [the wood of the cross] was carved by the fury of the savage crowd. It was like a mute person in its silence, but in its use it bore fruit exalting the status of human beings. COMMENTARY ON TATIANâS DIATESSARON 21.7, 9. [6]
[1] See Gen 22:1-18.
[2] See Gen 22:1-13.
[3] See Gen 30:37-42.
[4] See Jn 19:33-36.
[5] This enigmatic phrase is explained in McCarthyâs text by Sebastian Brock,âSo too, body and soul need the wood of the cross.â
[6] CB709:212.
CHRIST THE LIFE OF THE WORLD
AUGUSTINE: Unless the Father, you see, had handed over life, we would not have had life. And unless life itself had died, death would not have been slain. It is the Lord Christ himself, of course, that is life, about whom John the Evangelist says, âThis is the true God and eternal life.â [1] It was he himself that through the prophet had also threatened death with death, saying, âI will be your death, O death; I will be your sting.â [2] This was as though he had said, âI will slay you by dying. I will swallow you up. I will take all your power away from you. I will rescue the captives you have held. You wanted to hold me, though innocent. It is right that you should lose those you had the power to hold.â SERMON 265B.4. [3]
[1] 1 Jn 5:20.
[2] Hos 13:14.
[3] WSA 3 7:250.
RESTORATION TO WHAT WE WERE CREATED TO BE
BEDE: Our Redeemer and Maker, who was Son of God before the ages, became Son of man at the end of ages. Thus the one who, through the power of his divinity, had created us to enjoy the happiness of everlasting life, might himself restore us, through the weakness of our humanity, to recover the life we had lost. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.18. [1]
[1] CS 111:186.
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