1.

A grievous thing, beloved, a grievous thing it is to come to the depths of wickedness; for then the soul becomes hard to be restored. Wherefore we should use every exertion not to be taken at all;¹ since it is easier not to fall in,² than having fallen to recover one's self. Observe, for instance, when Judas had thrown himself into sin, how great assistance he enjoyed, yet not even so was he raised. Christ said to him, "One of you is a devil" (c. vi. 71 ); He said, "Not all believe" (c. vi. 65 ); He said, "I speak not of all," and, "I know whom I have chosen" (c. xiii. 18 ); and not one of these sayings doth he feel. Now when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and sat down, He said, "Know ye what I have done unto you?" He no longer addresseth Himself to Peter only, but to them all.

Ver. 13. "Ye call Me Lord³ and Master,⁴ and ye say well, for so I am."

"Ye call Me." He taketh to Him their judgment, and then that the words may not be thought to be words of their kindness, He addeth, "for so I am." By introducing a saying of theirs,⁵ He maketh it not offensive, and by confirming it Himself when introduced from them, unsuspected. "For so I am," He saith. Seest thou how when He converseth with the disciples, He speaketh revealing more what belongeth unto Himself? As He saith, "Call no man master on earth,⁶ for One is your guide"⁷ (Matt. xxiii. 8, 9 ), so also, "And call no man father upon earth." But the "one" and "one"⁸ is spoken not of the Father only, but of Himself also. For had He spoken excluding Himself, how saith He, "That ye may become the children of the light"? And again, if He called the Father only, "Master," how saith He, "For so I am"; and again, "For one is your Guide, even Christ"? (c. xii. 26.)

Ver. 14, 15. "If I then," He saith, "your Lord⁹ and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you."

And yet it is not the same thing, for He is Lord and Master, but ye are fellow-servants one of another. What meaneth then the "as"? "With the same zeal." For on this account He taketh instances from greater actions that we may, if so be, perform the less. Thus schoolmasters write the letters for children very beautifully, that they may come to imitate them though but in an inferior manner. Where now are they who spit on their fellow-servants? where now they who demand honors? Christ washed the feet of the traitor, the sacrilegious, the thief, and that close to the time of the betrayal, and incurable as he was, made him a partaker of His table; and art thou highminded, and dost thou draw up thine eyebrows? "Let us then wash one another's feet," saith some one, "then we must wash those of our domestics." And what great thing if we do wash even those of our domestics? In our case¹⁰ "slave" and "free" is a difference of words; but there an actual reality. For by nature He was Lord and we servants, yet even this¹¹ He refused not at this time to do. But now it is matter for contentment if we do not treat free men as bondmen, as slaves bought with money. And what shall we say in that day,¹² if after receiving proofs of such forbearance, we ourselves do not imitate them at all, but take the contrary part, being in diametrical opposition, lifted up, and not discharging the debt? For God hath made us debtors one to another, having first so done Himself, and hath made us debtors of a less amount. For He was our Lord, but we do it, if we do it at all, to our fellow-servants, a thing which He Himself implied by saying, "If I then your Lord and Master--so also do ye." It would indeed naturally have followed to say, "How much more should ye servants," but He left this to the conscience of the hearers.