Homilies on the Gospel of John

“I and the Father will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.”

All but saying, “As the Father reveals Himself, so also do I.” And not in this way only He removed the suspicion, but also by saying, “We will make Our abode with him,” a thing which does not belong to dreams. But observe, I pray you, the disciple confounded, and not daring to say plainly what he desired to say. For he said not, “Woe to us, that Thou diest, and will come to us as the dead come”; he spoke not thus; but, “How is it that You will show Yourself to us, and not unto the world?” Jesus then says, that “I accept you, because ye keep My commandments.” In order that they might not, when they should see Him afterwards, deem Him to be an apparition, therefore He says these things beforehand. And that they might not deem that He would appear to them so as I have said, He tells them also the reason, “Because ye keep My commandments”; He says that the Spirit also will appear in like manner. Now if after having companied with Him so long time, they cannot yet endure that Essence, or rather cannot even imagine It, what would have been their case had He appeared thus to them at the first? On this account also He ate with them, that the action might not seem to be an illusion. For if they thought this when they saw Him walking on the waters, although His wonted form was seen by them, and He was not far distant, what would they have imagined had they suddenly seen Him arisen whom they had seen taken and swathed? Wherefore He continually tells them that He will appear, and why He will appear, and how, that they may not suppose Him to be an apparition.