Tractates on the Gospel of John
TRACTATE 7 175 shoulders?*^'' Had not that drachma been lost, and did not the woman light a lamp and seek for it in her whole house until she found it?*'"^ And when she found it, she said to her neighbors, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I lost." So, too, we, like the sheep, had been lost; like the drachma, we had been lost. And our shepherd found the sheep, but sought for the sheep. The woman found the drachma, but sought for the drachma.
(3) What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the lamp? 'T have prepared a lamp for my anointed." Therefore we were sought in order that we might be found; having been found, we speak. Let us not be proud because, before we were found, if we were not sought for, we would have been lost. Therefore let not those whom we love and whom we wish to win over to the peace of the Catholic church say to us, "Why do you want us? Why do you seek us if we are sinners?"^' We seek you precisely that you may not be lost; we seek you because we were sought; we wish to find you because we were found.
22. And so when Nathanael had said, "Where do you know me from?" the Lord said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." O thou Israel without guile, whoever you are, O people living by faith, before I called you through my apostles, when you were under the shadow of death and you did not see me, I saw you.
(2) Then the Lord said to him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, you believe. A greater thing than these you will see." What does this mean, "A greater thing than these you will see"? "And he says to him, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.'"
(3) Brothers, I have said something greater than "I saw you under the fig tree." For it is a more considerable thing that the Lord has justified us after we have been called than that he saw us lying under the shadow of death. For what profit
64. Cf. Lk 15.4-7. 65. Cf. Lk 15.8-9. 66. Cf. Ps 131.17; Tractate ^.14. 67. Cf. Tractate 6.22.