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ST. M. MAGDALEN’S Upper North Street, Brighton.
Bequeathed by
The Rev. Frederick George Wilderspin
l913-
A
Catholic Stanbarb library
VOLUME SIX
THE GREAT COMMENTARY
0F
CORNELIUS A LAPIDE
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THE
GREAT COMMENTARY
OF
CORNELIUS A LAPIDE
TRANSLATED BY
THOMAS W. MOSSMAN, B.A.,
RECTOR OF TORRINGTON, LINCOLNSHIRE
i
ASSISTED BY VARIOUS SCHOLARS
-srtON wn*a nwpro
S. JOHN’S GOSPEL. —CHAPS. XII TO XX* 4 AND EPISTLES- I, II, AND III
FOURTH EDITION
EDINBURGH: JOHN GRANT
31 GEORGE IV. BRIDGE
1908
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THE
HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST,
ACCORDING TO JOHN.
CHAPTER XII.
I Jesus entertained at supper at Bethany , anointed by Mary Magdalene, defends her against the murmurings cf the Jews . 12 Enters Jerusalem riding upon
an ass, 24 In a parable He foretells His coming passion ; is glorified by a voice from heaven ; foretells that He would draw all to Himself 37 Announces the unbelief of the Jews in general , though some believed on Him secretly,
THEN Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
2 There they made him a supper ; and Martha served : but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair : and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son , which should betray him, ■ *
5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor ; but because he was a thief, tind had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone : against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
8 For the poor always ye have with you ; but me ye have not always.
9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there : and they came not for Jesus* sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. -
10 11 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death ; 11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed . on Jesus.
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12 U On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna : Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon ; as it is written,
15 Fear not, daughter of Sion : behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt
16 These things understood not his disciples at the first : but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.
18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing ? behold, the world is gone after him.
20 T And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast :
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew : and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
23 H And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my servant be : if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
27 Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour : but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered : others said, An angel spake to him.
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for youi sakes.
31 Now is the judgment of this world : now shall the prince of this world be cast out
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever : and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man ?
35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you : for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of
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MEANING OF BETHANY. 3
light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
37 IT But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him :
38 That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ?
39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart ; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
42 V Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him ; but be- cause of the Pharisees they did not confess him , lest they should be put out of the synagogue :
43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
44 If Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
45 And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not : for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
49 For I have not spoken of myself ; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting : whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Ver. 1. — Then Jesus six days before ihe Passover , &c. He came from Ephraim, as the Passover was drawing on when He was to die. And He came to Bethany to prepare Himself for it; nay more, to offer Himself for death, and furnish an opportunity for it through the covetousness of Judas. This explains why He first went to Bethany. For the chief priests had ordered that He should be seized. And He, knowing this by divine inspiration, came to Bethany, where He had many well-wishers, among whom He could remain in security, and might thence shortly afterwards enter Jeru- salem in solemn pomp on Palm Sunday, as the Paschal Lamb who was to be offered for the sins of the world.
Bethany, which is close to Mount Olivet, signifies in Hebrew the house of obedience. From Jhis place He wished to go to His Cross. For as the Gloss says, By being obedient even as far as
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S. JOHN, C. XII.
to the death of the Cross, He taught His Church obedience, on the Mount of Oil, />., the Mount of Mercy, which cannot be hid, and by which He raises up those who are buried in grievous sins. A supper is there made by the faith and devotion of the righteous. Martha ministers, when each of the faithful offers to the Lord works of devotion, and Lazarus, i.e., those who have been raised up (from sin), with those who have remained stedfast in their righteousness, joyfully feast on the Lord’s presence.
Six days before the Passover . It was on the Friday evening that He came from Ephraim. On the following Sabbath they made Him a feast, and on the next day (Palm Sunday) He in solemn manner entered Jerusalem. For the Passover that year fell on the Thursday of that week. He came to Bethany on the Friday, because it was not lawful to journey on the Sabbath.
Symbolically , The Gloss says, “ God made all things in six days. On the sixth He made man ; in the sixth age of the world He willed to redeem him. He suffered on the sixth day of the week, and died at the sixth hour.”
Whom Jesus raised from the dead \ That by His presence He
might revive the memory of this miracle, and arouse the people to attend Him on His solemn entry into Jerusalem, and shout Hosanna.
Ver. 2. — There they made Him a supper , &c. To show that He had really risen ; as S. Augustine says (in loc.) " He lived, He talked, He partook of the meal : the truth was set forth, the unbelief of the Jews was confounded.”
Ver. 3. Mary (Magdalene) therefore (that she might not be want- ing on her part, and in order specially to honour Christ, and to sur- pass all others in her services, as she surpassed them in love) took a pound of ointment of spikenard, \ very costly . Ointment of nard was composed of several sweet scents (see Pliny H. N. xiii. 2), and was thick. But this was liquid, as S. Matt. (xxvi. 7) says that it was poured on His head. Liquids are very often weighed in vessels, or anyhow the nard itself from which the ointment was made. Or this pound was rather a measure of quantity, not of weight.
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ANOINTING CHRIST'S FEET.
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Mystically. S. Augustine says, “ The ointment was righteousness. Therefore it was of due weight” (libra). The Gloss says, “Mary before anointed His feet as a penitent ; but now, when the righteous- ness of the perfect, and not the mere rudiments of penitence, are designated, she anoints His head and His feet. The pound of ointment is the perfection of righteousness. He anoints the head, who preaches high doctrines respecting Christ ; He anoints the feet who respects the least commandments.”
But what is “pistic nard”? (i.) The Commentary on S. Matthew (in S. Jerome) says “mystic,” which is absurd. (2.) S. Augustine says it is so called from the place whence it was brought. But the place itself is uncertain. (3.) Maldonatus derives it awb rov vi Inn, meaning that it was liquid, and so could be drunk, other ointments being thick and clotted. (4.) Others derive it from squeezed or pressed out. (5.) As if from wlurig, pure,
unadulterated, as nard frequently was. (See Pliny H. N. xii. 13.) So Euthymius, Theophylact, on Mark xii., Baronius, Ribera, Jan- senius, Toletus and others. (6.) Pistici is the same as spicati by a change of letters. This was the best kind of ointment. (This point treated at very great length.)
Morally. Here learn that the good works, with which we anoint Christ, ought to be quite free from fault, and of the very best kind. Compare the offerings of Cain and Abel. (See Ps. lxvi., xx. 4, and Dan. iii. 40 (Vulg.), Lev. iii. 16, Num. xviii. 17, 29, and Lev. xxiii. 19.)
And anointed the feet of Jesus. S. Matt, adds “ arid the head.” Alcuin explains mystically, “The Head is the loftiness of the God- head, the feet the humility of the Incarnation. Or the Head is Christ, the feet the poor who are His members. We anoint them when we give them alms.”
And wiped His feet with her hair. A hysteron * froteron. For
first she wiped, and then anointed His feet. For had she anointed His feet first, and then wiped them with her hair, she would have anointed her own hair, (which she did not wish to do,) and which indeed she counted unworthy of such anointing, and not His feet
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S. JOHN, c. XII.
Moreover, this sweet-scented and precious ointment was not to be wiped off, but left on His feet, to give them ease \
Her hair. To soil those hairs, of which she used to be vain, with the dust of His feet, and also that she might with the deepest reverence and humility place her whole head beneath His feet For S. Chrysostom says, she placed the noblest part of her body beneath His feet, and she approached Him not as man but as God.
And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment \ S. Augus- tine says, mystically, the whole world was filled with the good fame of her piety and virtue. As S. Paul says, “ We are a sweet savour of Christ” (2 Cor. ii. 14) — to the good, of life unto life; to the wicked, of death unto death — as was here the case. Whence it follows :
Ver. 4. — Then said one of His disciples , Judas Iscariot , (5.) Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence , and given to the poor ? SS. Matt, and Mark add, “ Why was this waste of the ointment made ? ” Bede replies, “ It was no waste, but for the rite of burial ; nor is it wonderful that she offered Me the sweet savour of Faith, when I am about to shed my blood for her.”
Ver. 6. — This he said , &c. Nay worse, sacrilegious, “for he seized for his own use, that which was given for a sacred purpose,” says Theophylact. “ He carried the money by his office, he carried it off by theft,” says S. Augustine. He wished the ointment to be sold, and the price of it given to him ; and since he knew that Christ did not wish so large a sum to be kept in his purse, but rather to be distributed amongst the poor, he would have distributed some of it to the poor, and have purloined the rest for himself. See here how opportunity makes the thief, and how dangerous it is for holy men in “religion” to handle moneys, those especially which belong to the whole community. For if covetousness suggests it, a portion is easily diverted to the use of themselves or their families.
But why did Jesus entrust to him the bag, knowing him to be a thief? I answer, Because Judas was more qualified than the other Apostles to make purchases. And He allowed the theft, because an opportunity was furnished thereby for the betrayal and death which He courted. Again S. Augustine, “ Because the Church
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1
would afterwards have its coffers, He admitted thieves, in order that His Church might tolerate powerful thieves, even when suffering from them, to teach us that the wicked must be tolerated, Tor fear of dividing the body of Christ. Do thou, the good, bear with the evil, that thou mayest attain to the reward of the good.” S. Chrysostom adds, “The Lord committed the bags to a thief; in order to cut off any excuse for betraying Him, and that it might not seem as if he betrayed Him from want of money.” But Theophylact says, “ Some maintain that as the least of the Apostles he undertook the management of the money.”
Lastly, S. Bernard (de Consid. iv. 6) teaches us “that Christ wished in ‘ this ’ way to teach Prelates readily to entrust the manage- ment of temporal affairs to any one, but to reserve the ordering of spiritual matters to themselves : though many do exactly the con- trary.” Again, Christ acted thus, to keep us from being surprised, if in the assemblies, monasteries, and congregations of holy men, there be occasionally found some vicious and scandalous persons ; and accordingly S. Augustine (Epist. 137, nunc 75), when one of his monks had caused scandal, at which the people cried out against him, prudently replied, “ However vigilant may be the discipline of my house, I am but a man, I am living among men : nor do I dare to claim for myself, that my house should be better than Noah’s ark, where among eight men one was found reprobate, or better than the house of Abraham, when it was said, Cast out the bond- woman and her son ; or better than the house of Isaac, to whom it was said respecting the twin children, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated : or better than the house of Jacob, when his son defiled his father’s bed ; or better than the house of David, whose son lay with his sister, and where another son rebelled against his holy and gentle father; or better than they who were associated with the Lord Christ Himself, where eleven righteous men tolerated Judas, that perfidious thief; or, lastly, better than heaven from which the angels fell.”
Doubtless God permits it in His wise providence, in order that by the wickedness of one or two the goodness and sanctity of others
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S. JOHN, c. XII.
may shine out the more by way of contrast, as light amid darkness, gold amongst lead, the sun between the clouds, a wise man* among fools, shines forth only the’ more resplendently. For contraries opposed to each other are the more marked. (See Ecclus . xxxiii. 15, and notes fit loc.)
And had the bag \ &c. From this Jansen and others rightly gather that it is lawful for the Church to have coffers and wealth, and that it does not derogate from perfection to have a common purse, for reasonable and moderate expenses. For Jesus did nothing which implied imperfection, being the teacher of all perfection.
In order to understand this* thoroughly, observe that though Christ, by reason of His Hypostatic Union with the Word, had a pre-eminent and (as it were) Divine dominion over all creatures, yet professed poverty, that is, an abandonment of ownership, special ownership, in order to be the teacher and example of a more perfect life. See Matt. viii. 20, xix. 21,* 2 7.
Observe, secondly, that Christ had absolute control of the offerings made to Him by the faithful, for the common good, and not for His special use. They belonged to the whole College of the Apostles. He held them not as though He were their sole owner. See John iv. 8, vi. 5.
It follows therefore that it does not in any way detract from their perfection for Religious orders to have goods in common. (See John xxii. Extravag. Ad Conditorem.) In some cases this is the most perfect way, in others not. But Christ at one time seemed to have lost all claim even to a share of the common property. (See Luke viii. 3.) This seems to be all that Nicholas IV. means. (Can. Exiit qui seminat. De Verb. Signif. in vi, though he apparently contradicts John xxii.)
S. Thomas (see Secund. Quasi, clxxxviii. Art. 7) proves d priori that the possession of goods in common does not hinder perfection. Poverty, he says, is only an instrument of perfection, as taking away anxiety in acquiring and preserving riches, the love of them, and our priding ourselves in them. But to have goods in common does not give rise to any of these evils ; and so far from hindering
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charity, it even promotes it. “ For it is manifest,” says S. Thomas, “ that to store up things which are necessary to man, and purchased at a fitting time, causes the least possibly anxiety.”
All founders of Religious Orders have sanctioned this. And hence resulted the Constitution of Justinian, that the goodS of those who became monks should belong as a matter of course to their monasteries. For the whole meaning of poverty turns on hot having anything belonging especially to one's own self, though there may be some common fund, from which* according to the Apostolic Rule, distribution should be made to each, as need may require. (See Acts ii. 44-45, 35> an(^ Nftes thereon .) This is just what
S. Jerome says to the “ Religious ” of his own day (Epist. xxii.) “ No one has any right so say, I have not a tunic, or a coat, or a bed pf plaited bulrushes. For the head of the Community so divides the common stock, that every one has what he asks for. And if any begins to fall ill, he is transferred to a larger cell, and is so carefully attended by the older monks, that he longs not for the delights of cities, or the tenderness of a mother.”
The fathers and schoolmen teach everywhere the same thing. (See Suarez par. iil Qusest xl disp. xxviii. § 2, Bellarm, de Summo Pont iv. 14, Soto de Just. iv. Qusest. i. art 1.)
Nicolas IV. ( ut supr.) says that to have common purses is to detract from perfection, for Christ in this matter adapted Himself to the weaker brethren, that He might be an example to all. Suarez replies, that Nicolas only asserted that in the matter of poverty that was the least rigid rule which allowed them to have common purses, but that it must not be concluded from this that the other rule was absolutely the most perfect. For though less perfect, as common poverty, it may be more perfect in charity, or some other virtue. For Nicolas is speaking of the Franciscans (of whom he was one), whose Order had for its scope and end the extremest poverty, in order to be conformed to S. Francis. But other orders have other pious and holy ends, for which it is more convenient to have goods in common. And therefore this is ‘more fitting and perfect in their case. Carthusians observe silence and solitude. Others practise
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S. JOHN, C. XII.
great austerity. But those who are employed in preaching and missions to unbelievers, need great strength to endure the great labours of their order, and make up for austerity of living by charity towards their neighbours. Both act in a manner suited to their order, and the end they propose to themselves. Different ends re- quire different means. The Council of Trent allows all " Religious,” except the Franciscans, to own Real Property (dona immobilia ).
Ver. 7. — Then said Jesus , Suffer her to keep this for the day of my burial. In the Greek it is “ for the day of my burial hath she kept this,” and also in the Syriac (see notes on Matt. xxvi. 12, &c.) Hear S. Augustine, “ He saith not to him, It is on account of thy thefts that thou speakest thus. He knew he was a thief, but was unwilling to expose him. He chose rather to bear with him, and to set us an example of patience in tolerating evil men in the Church.”
Ver. 9. — Much people of the Jews , &c. " Curiosity led them,”
says S. Augustine, “ not charity,” to see and hear Lazarus, and to ask him where he had been after death, what he had seen, what he had done? So Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius.
Ver. 10. — But the chief priests thought (sfiov'kiuaotvro consulted) that they might put Lazarus also to death . See here their virulent envy and malice : envying Jesus His glory. They grudge also Lazarus his life, lest it should add to the glory of Jesus. For the feast of the Passover was at hand, at which all the Jews who flocked together would see Lazarus, and wondering at the power of Jesus who had raised him from the dead, would consequently believe on Him. And in order to prevent this, they determine to put him out of the way. But S. Augustine (in loc .) rightly exclaims against them, “ O foolish thought, and blind cruelty! For could not the Lord, who had power to raise him from the dead, have power to raise him up also if he had been put to death ? In putting him to death, could ye take away Christ's power ? If a dead man seems to you one thing, and one who is put to death another, behold the Lord did both, for He both raised Lazarus who was dead, and Himself also who had been put to death.”
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MANY JEWS BELIEVE.
II
Lastly, the raising of Lazarus was especially the work of God, and they therefore who were so eager to put him to death, were fighting against God, and challenging Him, as it were, to the contest.
Ver. ii. — Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus — vnfjyov, withdrew themselves, deserted their party. This may mean either, “many of the Jews went their way,” or else “many went away from the unbelieving Jews, and followed Christ”
Ver. 12 .—But on the next day , i.e. on Palm Sunday, five days before the Passover ; the tenth day of the month Nizan, on which day the Lamb (the type of Christ) was to be killed, and on the fourteenth to be brought to Jerusalem. (Exod. xii. 3.) See notes to Matt. xxi. 7.
Ver. 17. — The people therefore . . . bare witness , &c., to the raising of Lazarus.
Ver. 18. — For this cause the people also met Him , for that they had heard that He had done this miracle. The people who were present at the raising of Lazarus spread abroad the miracle, affirming that they had seen it. And the strangeness of it so excited the people that they ran in crowds to meet Jesus, and to hail Him as the Messiah.
Ver. 19. — The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how that ye prevail nothing 1 Behold, the world is gone after Him . This is an hyperbole. But a large body, of every age, sex, and rank had gone after Him, old and young, Jews and Gentiles. S. Cyril observes that the Pharisees tacitly prophesied that all the world would be converted to Christ, though they themselves did not understand this.
S. Chrysostom and Theophylact consider that they who spoke thus were believers in Christ, or anyhow disposed to believe in Him, and that they addressed in these words those who disbelieved in Him.
But S. Cyril, Euthymius, and others, think that they were un- believers, and enemies of Christ, explaining it thus : — We have all
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of us decided to put Jesus to death. Why do we delay ? We have gained nothing by it It would have been far better, if we had put Him to death at once, before His party had increased, and become so well known. What now is our course of duty ? To carry out our intention as quickly as possible. Why do we delay? If we delay much longer all will go after Him. We shall be beaten by numbers, unless we prevail by craft.
Ver. 20. — And there were certain Greeks , &c. Some strangely suppose these to have been Jews who lived among the Gentiles, when S. John expressly says that they were Gentiles. These were partly proselytes, who had already embraced Judaism, or at least were thinking about it (so Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius), and partly Gentiles, who believed that there was One God, and who on seeing Him worshipped so reverently in the Temple, and by such multitudes at the Passover, resolved to do the same, being specially attracted by the fame of Christ's holiness and miracles, and being desirous of seeing Him. So S. Cyril, Leontius, and Theophylact. Just as the Eunuch of Queen Candace went up to Jerusalem to worship (Acts viii. 27); and Gentile kings also reverenced the Temple of Jerusalem and sent offerings to it, as Cyrus, Darius Hystaspes (Ezra i. and vi), Seleucus, and other kings of Asia (2 Macc. iii. 3).
Ver. 21. — The same came therefore to Philip (the Apostle), who was of Bethsaida , &c. They went to Philip, in preference to the other Apostles, either because he was known to them, or was the first they met, or because in his voice and bearing he exhibited greater affability and candour, which attracted all men to him. For they did not venture as Gentiles to approach Jesus Himself, a person of such great holiness, and a Prophet, and moreover a Jew, say S. Cyril, Chrysostom, and Leontius. They request Philip there- fore to mediate in their behalf.
Ver. 22. — Philip cometh and telleth Andrew (as the greater and elder Apostle) , and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus . Andrew had the greater authority with Jesus, as having been the first called, and as having brought to Him his brother Peter. Having consulted
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together, they mention the whole matter to Jesus before introducing the Gentiles : for they had heard Jesus say, “ Go not into the way of the Gentiles ” (Matt. x. 5).
Ver. 23. — But Jesus answered them, , &c. Do not drive away the Gentiles from me, but bring them to me. What I said before was at the beginning of my preaching, which was intended for the Jews only ; but now, when my preaching as well as my life is coming to an end, and the Jews reject my preaching, I will pass over to the Gentiles. For the hour is coming, when I shall be glorified, not only by the Jews, but also by the Gentiles, throughout the whole world; I shall be acknowledged, that is, as the Messiah and the Saviour, and worshipped and adored by means of your preaching in every place.
Moreover, the glorification of Christ is the glorification of all Christians. For S. Augustine says {Serm. clxxvi de temp.) — The Death of Christ hath quickened us ; His Resurrection hath raised us up ; His Ascension hath dedicated us ; and {Serm. clxxxiv.) the Lord Jesus Christ ascends, the Holy Spirit descends [ Both these , not S. Augustine].
Ver. 24. — Verily , verily, I say unto you , Except a com of wheat, &c. Christ teaches us that His glorification would come to Him through the death of the Cross, lest the Apostles and the faithful should be offended at it. Hear S. Augustine {in loc.), “ Jesus by this meant Himself. For He was the grain of wheat which had to die, and be multiplied ; to die through the unbelief of the Jews, to be multiplied by the faith of all people.” This means, that as a grain of wheat thrown into the ground does not germinate except it die, but if it die it germinates and brings forth much fruit ; so, in like manner, I must needs die, that by the merits and through the example of my death, I may bring forth many eminent and striking fruits of virtue and faith : I mean the many thousands of Martyrs, Virgins, Doctors, and Confessors, all over the world in the present and future ages. This also comes to pass in the death of Martyrs, when one dies* and many spring up in his place, and embrace the faith of Christ The Church reads this passage on the Feast of S. Lawrence, and
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other Martyrs. Tertullian truly says (in fin . Apol. ), “The Blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church,” and adds, “ Torture us, rack us, condemn us, crush us : your iniquity is the proof of our innocence.” And again, “ The more exquisite your cruelty, the more does it attract to our sect ; we increase in number the oftener you mow us down.” S. Gregory (Dialog, lib . Hi. cap . 39) gives a remarkable instance in S. Hermengild. He was killed by his father Leovigild, an Arian king, and thus won the king himself and his brother Recared, and the whole nation of the Visigoths, to the orthodox faith. “One, then,” says S. Gregory, “died in that nation, that many might live ; and while one grain fell to the ground in faith , to win the faith of souls, an abundant harvest sprang up.”
Anagogically . Bede says, “Jesus was sown of the seed of the Patriarchs, on the field of this world, that is, He was incarnate : He died Himself alone, He arose in company with many.” Hear S. Bernard (Serm. xv. in Cant.), “ Let the grain die ; let the harvest of the Gentiles spring up. It was needful that Christ should suffer, and rise from the dead, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name, not to Judea only, but to all nations ; to the end that from that one Name of Christ thousands of thousands should be called Christians, and say ‘Thy Name is as ointment poured forth (Cant. i. 3).
Ver. 25. — He that loveth his life, &c. He that so preferreth his life to my Faith and its profession, as rather to deny the Faith than lose his life, shall incur eternal death. But he who hateth his life, so as to prefer losing it to losing the Faith, will live in eternal happiness in heaven. Again, the same is true of those who prefer their own evil desires to my Law : and of those who hate their life by resisting its desires which are contrary to God’s Law, and thus keep it unto life eternal Such as Martyrs, Anchorites, “ Religious,” and all other holy people. Either meaning is suitable, and was intended by Christ. Both meanings are conjoined by SS. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius. For Christ foresaw that the Apostles, and Christians in general, would after His death suffer persecution, and accordingly He here wished to forewarn and forearm them.
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Again, Christ wished to teach all Christians, that they should constantly resist all evil desires and strive against them. (See Gal. v. 17 ; Matt. x. 39, xvi. 25 ; Ecclus. xviii. 30. See notes on this last passage.)
But the Circumcelliones misinterpreted this passage, for, as S. Augustine testifies (in loo.), they used to kill themselves in order to obtain the eternal life here promised by Christ. For it is one thing to hate one’s life, and another to make away with it, an act forbidden by every law.
Lastly, hear S. Augustine (in loc.), “ He that loveth his life shall lose it Which can be understood in two ways. He who loves will lose ; *'&, if thou lovest, thou wilt lose : if thou wishest to have life in Christ, fear not to die for Christ. Or, in the other sense, love not thy life, lest thou lose it, — love it not in this life, lest thou lose it in life eternal. This latter meaning more accords with the mind of the Gospel.” And a few sentences sffter, “ A great and marvellous saying, that a man should so love his life as to lose it, and so hate it as not to lose it If thou hast loved it ill, then dost thou hate it ; if thou hast hated it rightly, then hast thou loved it Happy they who hate their souls and keep them, that they lose them not by loving them.” And then he concludes, “When therefore it comes to the point, that we must either do contrary to the commandment of God, or else depart this life, and a man is obliged to choose either the one or the other, when the persecutor threatens his death, let him rather choose to die through loving God, than to die through offending Him. Let him hate his life in this world, that he may keep it unto life eternal.” Hear S. Chrysostom, “ He loves his life in this world, who obeys its unseemly desires. He hates it, who yields not to its hurtful desires. He says ‘hate’ because as we cannot bear to hear the voice of those we hate, so should a soul resolutely turn away from one who wishes what is contrary to God.” And Theophylact adds (by way of consolation, and as knowing how grievous it is to hate one’s soul), “ In this world? indicating the shortness of the time, and speaking of the eternal reward. S. Chry- sostom adds, “ that Christ, when He saw that His disciples would
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be saddened at his. death, raised up their thoughts to higher things, as if He said — If ye will not bear my death manfully, no benefit will accrue to you unless -ye die yourselves. These words of Christ are an axiom, and a summary of a Christian’s life. It is the root and foundation of all virtues, which are deduced from it, as conclusions from their premisses. He therefore who wishes to become specially learned and perfect in the school of Christ, should constantly rumi- nate on this saying, weigh it, impress it on his will and carry it out in act, try all his actions by it as a touchstone, adapt and conform himself to it. For thus will he become a pre-eminently true disciple and follower of Christ, and in return for this brief life which he counts but nought, will obtain the joys of life eternal
Ver. 26. — If any man love Me, let him follow Me . “ Let him
imitate Me by death and mortification, and by good works,” says & Chrysostom, “ walk in my ways, and not his own, and not seeking his own, but the things which are Jesus Christ’s (Phil, ii 21) ; and * whatever good he does, either in temporal or spiritual things, doing it for Him.”
And where I am, there shall my servant be. “ Behold the fruit and the reward,” S. Augustine proceeds ; “ He is loved freely, and the reward of His ministration is to be with Him, to be adopted by Him to whom he is united, in heaven, i.e. in the vision and possession of God, in happiness and joy eternaL” So S. Chrysostom. See notes on Luke xxii 7.
If any man serve Me, him will my Father honour, with heavenly honour, before the angels and the whole world. He says not, “ I will honour him, for they had not yet attained a right knowledge of Him, but thought more of the Father,” says S. Chrysostom.
Ver. 27, — Now is my soul troubled. Because He had mentioned His approaching death, He allowed the natural dread of it to be aroused in His mind (as is the case with ourselves), and so was troubled. “Father,” He said, “save Me from this hour.” Just as in the garden he prayed, “ Let this cup pass from Me.”
(1.) S. Chrysostom gives the reason, “Having exhorted His disciples to follow Him even to death, for fear they should say that
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He could easily philosophise about death, He showed that He was in an agony, and yet that He did not refuse to die, to teach us to do the same, when dreading death and selfkienial.
(2.) S. Cyril says, He did it to show that He was not only God, but true man, subject to all our passions and sorrows.
(3.) S. Augustine, and after him Bede, “ that Christ by taking on Him our infirmities might heal and strengthen us. Thou tellest my soul to follow Thee. But I see that thy soul is troubled. What foundation shall I seek, if the Rock r gives way? But I recognise thy compassion therein. * For by being thus troubled by thy voluntary act of love,’ Thou comfortest the weak, lest they should perish through despain Our Head took on Himself the feelings of
His members.” And again, “As He has raised us up to things
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which are highest, so does He feel sympathy for us in those which
are lowest” And he brings in Christ as thus speaking, “Thou hast
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heard my mighty voice addressed to thee/ Thou -hast heard in Me , the voice of thine own weakness : I give thee strength that thou mayest run ; I check not thy speed, but I take upon Myself thy fear, and make a way for thee to pass over.”
And what shall 1 say 9 Father , save Me from this hour Theo- phylact and Leontius explain thus : “I know not what to do or say. Shall I say then, Father, save Me from this hour ? Shall I shrink from death? By no means, I will master my agony, I will go willingly to meet my death.”
Others express it more simply and plainly, as expressing His natural dread of death, corrected at once by the exercise of His superior will As in the Agony in the* garden. For He imme- diately adds,
Yet for this cause have I come to this hour . Though I naturally dread death, yet I do not wish this natural desire of Mine to be fulfilled. For I came into the world for the very purpose of drink- ing this cup of the Passion. So S. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, and others.
Ver. 28. — Father \ glorify thy Name . That in My death, which I
willingly undertake, I may glorify thy Name, by the entire VOL. V. B
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obedience and devotion with which I will offer myself as a Victim for the sins of the whole world, thus restoring to the life of grace men who were lost in sin, reconciling them to Thee, and taking them to heaven to glorify Thee for ever. So S. Augustine, Chrysostom, Euthymius. It was said in like manner to S. Peter, that He would by His death glorify God (John xxi. 19). Hear S. Augustine: “Glorify Me by my Passion and Resurrection.” And S. Chrysostom: “His dying for the truth He calls ‘ the glory of God:* for after His death the Name of God would be acknowledged by the world.” And the gloss, “ I seek salvation, but I refuse not to suffer, and for the sake of this passion glorify Me, for that is the glory of thy Name.”
Ver. 2. — Glorify Me at this very instant ; that both Gentiles and Jews may acknowledge that I have been sent by Thee to redeem man, and will therefore glorify Thee for thy goodness. So Theodore of Heraclaea.
Then came there a voice , &c. I have glorified It — (1) By com- municating to Him, as my only begotten Son, my majesty, glory, and Godhead from all eternity. As He said chap. xvii. 5. So S. Augustine and Bede.
(2.) In creating the world, and all things therein by Him. So Rupertus.
(3.) Most sensibly. By the voice from heaven at His Baptism, and by the miracles and mighty works which He wrought. And also by the voice at this time uttered from heaven. He glorified Him also by His death and resurrection, His ascension, His sending the Holy Spirit, by the preaching of the Apostles, and the miracles, which will lead all nations to acknowledge, worship, love and adore Him as the Son of God. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and others.
Ver. 29. — The people therefore that stood by , and heard it (this trumpet voice of God the Father) said that it thundered. Because it was very loud and resonant. Or perhaps because it was not articulate, but like the confused sound of thunder. S. Chrysostom says, “ The voice was clear and significant enough, but they being dull and carnal, it soon passed away, and they retained merely the
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sound of it” And further on, “ They knew it was articulate, but did not take in its meaning.” But the truer meaning, Rupertus, and after him Maldonatus, say is this, “ That they all heard this articulate voice and understood its meaning, viz., that Jesus was the Son of God ; but that on account of the loudness of the voice they could not persuade themselves it was really a voice, but that either it was thunder, and that they were mistaken in supposing they had heard an articulate voice as of a man, or that it was certainly the voice of an angel.” They thought also that the Evangelist mentioned this, in order to show that it was not a low or indistinct voice, such as Christ only could hear, and that there were no other witnesses, but that it was so loud and so clear that they not only all heard it, but heard it so plainly that some thought it was thunder, some the voice of an angel, while none considered it to be the voice of a man. And this consequently proved that what they considered thunder was in truth the voice of God, for thunder is commonly spoken of as His voice.
Symbolically . This thunder signified that Jesus was the Son of God, who thunders from heaven, and consequently that He Himself was God For the thunders voice refers us back to its source, and leads us to venerate Him, and announce Him to the Gentiles. Again, it signified that Jesus, even as man, not merely thundered Himself with His mouth and flashed forth from His heart, to move hard hearts to penitence and to warm cold hearts with love ; but also that He caused the Apostles and His followers to thunder and lighten. In fact, He gave that name to James and John, calling them Sons of Thunder {Mark Hi. 17). And S. Paul is called by S. Jerome (Epist lxi.) “The trumpet of the Gospel, the roaring of our Lion, the thunder of the Gentiles,” adding, “ for as often as I read him, I seem not to hear words only, but thunder.” Hear S. Chrysostom {Horn, xxxii. in Rom, .), “Thunder is not so terrible, as was his voice to the devils. For if they dreaded his garments, much more did they dread his voice. For it led them bound and captive, it purified the world, it cured diseases, it expelled vice, it brought in truth ; it had Christ dwelling within. For He accom-
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S. JOHN, C. XII.
panied him everywhere, and just as were the Cherubim, so also was the voice of Paul. For as God sat in the midst of these heavenly Powers, so sat He on the tongue of S. Paul.” And Nazienzen (Orat. xx.) says, “The words of S. Basil were as thunder, because his example shone as lightning.” Hence the voice of Christ is com- pared to the voice of many waters (Rev. i. 15) and to the voice of a multitude (Dan. x. 6).
Others said , an angel spake to Him. For this voice was more dignified than that of a man. It was therefore angelic, or rather divine. For an angel, assuming the Person of God the Father, had uttered it.
Ver. 30 .—Jesus answered and said} This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes . In order that ye may believe in Me, and be saved. I need not this voice for my own sake, for I am the Word of the Father, whom the Father and the Holy Spirit glorify with increate and boundless glory. But ye need it, because some of you object, that I am not the Son of God, nor sent by God ; others have doubts on the matter. But this voice of the Father proclaims the contrary of both these statements, so as to remove all doubt. So SS. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, &c.
Ver. 31. — Now is the judgment of this world, &c. Judgment here signifies condemnation, the condemnation of the Jews for condemning Me to death. So SS. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius. But others understand it to mean judgment in favour of the innocent It means, in this sense, the time is at hand for the deliverance of the world from the tyranny of Satan. For my death is at hand, by which this deliverance will be effected, and Satan will be cast out of the hearts of the faithful. Rupertus acutely observes, “Two worlds are here spoken of, one the enemy of God, the other reconciled to Him — the one lost, the other saved.” He founds this distinction on the absence or the presence of the article [but this does not appear in the Greek]. But what then is the judg- ment of this world, and the casting out of the prince of this world ? Surely the coming Passion of Him who is speaking : for that is the judgment of this world, its salvation indeed, as separating from the
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reprobate the whole body of the elect from the beginning of the world to the hour of His Passion : and the casting out of the prince of this world, holding sway over the lovers of the world, is the reconciliation of the elect Gentiles. “ Christ therefore here signifies (i) that He would by His death free the world (that is the Gentiles who would believe in Him) from sin and the devil; (2) that He would drive out the devil from the hearts of the faithful, and also from the temples, that the true God might be worshipped therein ; (3) that He would deprive the devil of the power he had heretofore exercised in tempting men, and would also bestow all-powerful grace, by which, if they willed, they would be able to resist tempta- tion ; (4) Christ cast out many devils from the bodies of men, and consigned them to hell. So Prosper (in Dtm. Temp.)\ and see Luke viii. 31. S. Augustine writes, " He foresaw that after His Passion and glorification many people throughout the whole world would believe on Him, out of whose hearts the devil is cast when they renounce him by their faith. He was also cast out of the hearts of righteous men of old. But it is said here that he will be cast out, because that which then took place in a very few cases, would hereafter take place in many and great multitudes. He is cast out, but yet ceases not to tempt. But it is one thing to rule within, and another to assail from without” S. Chrysostom in like manner says, “ As if a man who assaults his debtors and casts them into prison, and with like madness throws another into prison, who owes him nothing at all, will have to pay the penalty for the wrongs he has done ; so will the devil pay the penalty for the wrongs he has done us, by his bold assaults against Christ”
Just as He Himself says, Luke xi. 21.
Christ, therefore, knowing that the Gentiles longed to see Him, was grieved that the whole world was overwhelmed with heathenism, and therefore wishes His death to be hastened, in order that He might obtain for them faith and grace from God, and might send His apostles to convert them to God. And in like manner S. Gregory greatly desired the conversion of the Angles. [Thi* Cornelius tells at length] :
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S. JOHN, C. XII.
Ver. 32. — And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto Me . “ Exalted by my resurrection and ascension,”
says S. Chrysostom. But other commentators refer it to the Cross, as S. John himself explains it “ Christ,” says Maldonatus, “ speaks of Himself as a soldier contending with the devil. For as a soldier has an advantage over his enemy if he is on higher ground, so would He, from His Cross, as from a very high and well-defended post, fight against the devil and overcome him. And therefore He called this kind of death an exaltation. When exalted He drew all to Himself, as an eagle carries his prey aloft with him.”
In like manner Mark, the Bishop of Arethusa in Syria, when lifted up on high, and besmeared with honey to attract the bees, laughed at his torturers, and said that they were grovelling on the earth, while he was lifted up above them. (See Theodoret, Hist iii. 7, Soz. v. 10.) But Christ alludes to the lifting up of the brazen serpent (see chap . iii. 14), and thus teaches us that the Cross is not to be dreaded, but desired, for it alone exalts.
All things . (1) “Soul and body,” say S. Augustine and Bede.
(2) But Rupertus says : “ Heaven and earth, men, angels, and devils. Because I will cause 6 every knee to bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth’” (Phil. ii. 10). (3) All
men who will believe in Me, all nations of men. The Greek Fathers read vavrag. But Cornelius prefers the Vulgate “omnia” as more expressive, signifying all the choicest things of the world, all the spoils of the devil. The Arabic version has “ each one,” the Syriac “ all”
Draw. Will withdraw from the devil against his will, and not against their own will. For I will sweetly allure, and effectually draw them to Myself, and make them My brethren ; nay more, My children, that as I am the Son of God by nature, so they may be the sons of God by adoption. The Greek word iXxu<r« means, I will draw them by force, snatch them out of the power of the devil against his will, and strengthen men, moreover, to withstand their several temptations. See Matt. xi. 12.
Hear S. Leontius (Serm. viii. de Pass.), treating this whole passage
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with grace and tenderness. “O wondrous power of the Cross! O ineffable glory of the Passion, wherein is seen the tribunal of Christ, the judgment of the world and the power of the Crucified ! For Thou didst draw, O Lord, all things unto Thee. And when Thou didst stretch forth Thine hands all the day to a disobedient and gainsaying people, the whole world felt the force of Thine acknow- ledged Majesty. Thou didst draw all things to thyself, O Lord, when in execration of the sin of the Jews all the elements pronounced one and the same sentence, when the luminaries of heaven were obscured, and night was turned into day, the earth also was shaken with unwonted quakings, and the whole creation refused its aid to the service of the wicked.” He afterwards follows up the subject, and urges it still more forcibly, " Thou hast drawn all things to Thee, O Lord. When the veil of the temple was rent, and the holy of holies withdrawn from the unworthy priesthood, in order that the figure might be changed into Truth, prophecy into manifestation, and the Law into the Gospel. Thou didst draw all things to Thee, in order that that which was kept hid in the Jewish temple, by shadows and outward signs, the devotion of all nations might every- where set forth in its full sacramental force before the eyes of all. For now there is a more illustrious order of Levites, a higher dignity of elders, and a more sacred unction of priests. Because thy Cross is the Fount of all blessings, the Source of all graces, and by it believers obtain strength out of weakness, glory out of shame, and life out of death.”
Moreover, Christ, when exalted on the Cross, between heaven and earth, drew all things to Himself. (1) Because He reconciled heaven and earth, Angels to the Gentiles, Gentiles to Jews, and God to men. For He is our peace, &c, Eph. ii. 14. (2) Because He drew
all nations of the world to the faith and love of Himself. He drew them from the earth to the Cross ; to penitence, that is, to continual mortification and martyrdom ; and from the Cross to heaven. He drew them by the merits and price of His Blood ; by His example, and by His Blood. For if Christ, of His own accord, died for us on the Cross, who would not love Him in return ? Who would not say
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55. JOHN, C. XTT.
with S. Ignatius among the lions, “ My love is crucified ? ” See Zech. xiil 6 on the words, “ I was wounded in the house of my friends.” (3) Christ on the Cross drew all things to Himself, ue. the Creator and His creatures. For God by this sacrifice was propitiated towards men, the sun and the heavens were astonished, and* as though be- wailing the death of their Creator, withdrew their rays from the earth, the air was involved in the thickest darkness, the whole earth, con- vulsed and shaken, trembled from its very centre ; the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, that both the dead as well as the living might bewail the death of Christ. All creatures therefore looked up towards Christ "crucified, as if in amazement, and as offering them- selves to fjght in His behalf against His murderers and to scatter them abroad.
The Origenists wrongly inferred from this passage, that Christ brought tha, lost out of hell, and saved them. But as S. Gregory explains ( Epist lib . vi. 15), Christ drew all, that is, the elect. “ For a man cannot be drawn to God after death who has separated himself from God by his evil life.”
Symbolically . S. Bernard (Serm. xxi. in Cant) applies Christ’s words to himself, and all “Religious.” For they, by contempt of earthly and love of heavenly things, are lifted up from the earth, and therefore draw all things to them. For all things, whether adverse or prosperous, work together for their good : and they them- selves possess a source of wealth by trampling it as it were under foot " For to a faithful man the whole word is full of riches.”
Ver. 33. — But this He said , &c. The death of the Cross. These are the words of S. John inserted parenthetically.
Ver. 34. — The people answered Him , We have heard out of the Law , that Christ abideth ever, and how sayest Thou, the Son of Man must be lifted up f The Jews understood that Christ spake of His death on the Cross. How then does He say that He would die, when the Law says that He would not die ? S. Augustine says, “ They under- stood Him to mean the very thing which they were contemplating. It was not inspired wisdom, but the sting of their conscience which disclosed to them the meaning of these obscure words.”
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Out of the Law . By the Law is meant the whole of the Old Testament. They understood this from the following passages, Micah, v. 2; Ps. cx. 14, lxxxix. 30, 38, lxxii. 5 j Is. ix. 7, xl 8; Ezek. xxxvii. 27 ; Dan. ix. 26. But these passages speak of the kingdom of Christ after His ascension. This kingdom will be eter- nal. But Chrfet elsewhere foretold His death. See Is. liii. 3; Ps. xxii. 12, 17; Dan. ix. 26; Jer. xi 19.
Who is this Son of Man f Meaning thereby, “ If Thou art that Son of Man, as Thou art wont to call Thyself, how dost Thou wish to be regarded as the Christ ? For Christ, according to the Scrip- tures, as has just been said, is eternal, and cannot die. Whereas Thou sayest, on the contrary, that the Son of Man must (Be and be raised-up on the Cross. If there be any other Son of Man, tell us plainly who he is.” So Toletus and Jansen. Maldonatus somewhat differently ; he thinks that the Jews insulted Christ, as if tfiey had refuted His claims, and taunted Him, as a conqueror would taunt a king whom he had taken captive. As the Jews afterwards said (tauntingly) to Him, “ Hail, King of the Jews 1 ”
Ver. 35. — -Jesus therefore said unto them. Yet a little while is the Light with you, &c. “Christ would not answer their objections directly, as knowing that they deserved not a reply,” says S. Cyril. He therefore answers indirectly, that they should use Him as a light ; for that that light would be soon extinguished by death, when they would have to seek for Him in vain. But if they desired to use that light they would be enlightened by it, so as to find an answer to their objection, and know other things which were necessary for their salvation. The Latin commentators take the word “ modicum ” as referring to the light, thus, “ a little light” Ye have but little light in thinking that Christ will abide for ever. But ye know not that He will also die and rise again. Walk therefore while ye have the light Go on to investigate the truth. Ye will then learn how Christ will die, and yet rise again, and abide for ever. (So S. Augustine, S. Bernard, Serm. xlix. in Cant. Lyra, and others). But the word u modicum” does not refer to the light, but to the word “time” as is plain in the Greek. He calls Himself the light of the world.
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for the reasons which are mentioned in notes to chap, i., and also i John i 5.
(1.) S. Chrysostom and Theophylact think that Christ here likened Himself to the Light, or Sun, because as the light of the sun is not extinguished by night, but is only hid for awhile, and rises again in the morning, and shines throughout the day, so He would die and rise again, and reign for ever, which was the very thing the Jews were inquiring about.
(2.) It may be explained more clearly and to the point in this way, — I, Christ, the Light of the world, enlightening it with the doctrine and knowledge of God, of salvation and of things eternal, shall be but a short time (only three days) with you in the body. And, therefore, if ye are wise, as long as you have Me with you, embrace and follow this light, believe in Me, hearken unto Me, question Me, I will resolve all your doubts, especially how Christ will die, and yet abide for ever. But if ye do it not now, the light will shortly be taken from you. I shall soon die, and then the darkness of error will overwhelm you. For though I shall leave the Apostles after Me, to carry on the light of the Gospel which I brought : yet ye will not value them, and will persecute them, and then ye will in vain seek for Me, who am the very source of light. Just as He spake to the same Jews, John vii. 33.
Christ calls Himself the Light. Wherefore S. Chrysostom, Theo- phylact, and Rupertus less appropriately understand by the light, the life of each faithful Christian, which is as it were to each one his own day. Believe in Me while the light of life lasts, for after it comes the darkness of death, when ye will not be able to believe, and do what is right.
Symbolically. Leontius by darkness understands sins ; Rupertus, the sufferings of the lost in outer darkness.
Ver. 36. — While ye have the lights walk as children of the light. Believe in Me, who am the light of the world ; believe that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world believe in Me and my Gospel (so S. Cyril and Theophylact), that ye may be my children, and consequently the children of grace, charity, virtue,
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and sanctity in this life, and the children of the Resurrection, of happiness, and glory in the next life (see notes on 1 John i. 5, John L 4., Eph. v. 8).
Tropologically . When thou feelest the enlightenment, the emo- tions, the breath of the Holy Spirit, act on them at once, for they come and go like lightning. As S. Francis, when he heard the voice of God, stopped short even on a journey, that he might listen to it, and at once put it into practice.
These things spake Jesus , and departed , and did hide Himself from them. Because He knew that they wished to take Him before the time appointed of the Father. So S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others. He hid Himself, probably at night, for by day He taught in the temple, and at night He withdrew to Mount Olivet, and thence to Bethany (see Luke xxi. 37).
“He withdrew Himself not,” says S. Augustine and Bede, “from those who began to believe in Him and to love Him. Not from those who came out with palm branches and praises to meet Him. But from those who saw Him indeed, but with an evil eye ; because in truth they saw Him not, but in their blindness stumbled at that stone of offence.”
Symbolically . Rupertus says, “He hid Himself from them not in place but in grace ; because He left them in their unbelief, He blinded and hardened them.”
Ver. 37. — But though He had done so many (rc<raura, so great) miracles before them , yet they believed not on Him . S. Chrysostom and Euthymius think that He wrought many miracles at this special time to lead the Jews to believe in Him, which S. John omitted for the sake of brevity. But others consider, more correctly, that S. John spoke of the many miracles Christ had wrought during the whole course of His ministry. As if Christ said, I have proved by so many miracles that I am the Messiah, why have ye not believed in Me ? Ye cannot expect more. I am about to die : believe on Me at once, before I go hence.
The reason why so few believed on Jesus, and the many did not, was partly their animal life, by which they were tied down to earthly
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desires, and did not understand the heavenly blessings and that contempt for worldly things which Christ taught : and partly their fear of the Scribes and Chief Priests, whom they knew to be opposed to Christ, for the people follow the belief of those above them : and partly the poverty, lowliness, and humility of Christ, which they themselves despised. For they hoped, and even now hope, that their Messiah would come with great pomp and wealth, as a secortd Solomon.
Ver. 38. — That the saying of Esaias, &c. The word “ that ” does not signify the end and purpose intended by God, but simply the result. The fulfilment of the prophecy resulted from the unbelief of the Jews. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and others.
The passage quoted is Is. liii. 1, on which see a full comment.
Our report Our hearing, the Hebrew word scernaa , hearing, being put for that which was heard by an ordinary Hebraism.
The arm of the Lord. That is Christ. (1.) So called as being “of one Substance with the Father,” as the arm is of the same substance as the body. (2.) Because Christ, as God, is the “arm” of the Father, His virtue and strength, whereby He works all things mightily. (3.) Because as man He performed, in the flesh, the mighty and powerful works of God. (So S. Augustine, Maldonatus, and others, on this passage; and S. Jerome on Is. liii. and S. Athanasius, “L>e communi essentia Patris et Filii et Sp . Sancti opus dubiumf) But it may be more simply understood of the Divine power which manifested itself in Christ’s miracles. The meaning being, How few Jews recognised the power of God, working as it did in Christ’s Person so many and great miracles. So Jansenius and Maldonatus.
Ver. 39. — Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again , &c. The words “therefore” and “because” signify not the cause of their unbelief, as Calvin supposes, but marking the necessary consequence. It could not but be so, because it had been foretold, and Scripture cannot lie. But God foretold it, because He foresaw that through their freedom of will, their obstinacy and malice, they would not believe in Christ. God therefore saw that
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they would not believe, because they, of their own free will, would not do so. But they did not refuse to believe, because God foresaw that they would not believe. For their unbelief was prior to God’s foreseeing. God foresees the future, because it will surely come to pass. For God cannot foresee anything, unless it is presupposed that it will really take place. For the object which is seen is prior to the act of seeing it. For nothing can be seen but that which either now is, or hereafter will be. So S. Chrysostom, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
But S. Augustine, and after him Toletus, explain it thus : the Jews could not believe in Christ, because they were hardened and blinded, as Isaiah foretold. But then the words “could not” do not signify absolute necessity, but either a moral, that is a great, difficulty, or else a conditional difficulty. That is to say, the Jews could not believe in Christ, supposing they continued to hold fast to their sins, darkness, and ignorance ; and therefore blinded and hardened themselves by their own wickedness. For otherwise, though they were blinded and hardened, yet as having free will, and sufficient grace to enable them, they could (speaking abstractedly) give up their hardness of heart and turn to God.
He hath blinded their eyes , and hardened their hearts . Christ quotes Is. vi. 9, 10. Having fully explained this passage before, I will here briefly repeat what I there said. Observe then (1) that properly speaking the intellect is said to be blinded, but the affections and will to be hardened ; (2) that the direct and proper cause of a man’s blindness and hardening, is his own free will and wickedness. See Wisdom ii. 21. The Arabic and Syriac versions understand it in this way, “ their eyes are blinded, and their heart is hardened.” But yet God is said indirectly and in a less strict sense ( improprie ) to harden a man, because He gradually withdraws from Him the light of truth and grace, and allows opportunities of error and sin to be presented to him by the world, the flesh, and the devil, in punishment for his former sins.
Moreover, in Isaiah we read “ blind thou the heart of this people,” these being the words of God to Isaiah. But it comes to
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the same meaning. For “blind thou,” is the same as “foretell that a man will, indirectly, be blinded by Me.” “ He blinded ” is then the same as “ He will blind.” The past is put for the future, to signify the certainty of the thing, that it will as surely come to pass as though it had already happened ; that the Jews will be as surely blinded, as though they had been blinded already.
Ver. 41. — These things said Esaias , when he saw His glory , and spake of Him, The glory of Christ the Incarnate Son of God, who is spoken of in what preceded, and what follows. So SS. Augustine, Cyril, and all the Fathers, as against the Arians. It is therefore quite clear that Christ the Son of God is “ of one substance ” with the Father, having the same substance, majesty, and glory with Him. For the Jews deny not that these words and that Divine glory pertain to God the Father, nor can there be any doubt on the matter. But here it is said that the same glory belongs to the Son. And it is plain that the same is the glory of the Holy Ghost (Acts xxviii. 25). And therefore when the Holy Trinity thus appeared to Isaiah, the Seraphim thrice exclaimed, Holy, Holy, Holy, &c.
This glory then which Isaiah saw, was that glorious vision in which the Essential Nature of the Holy Trinity and the Three Persons severally were represented in some ineffable manner by some out- ward symbol addressed to the imagination. But yet it was a kind of human appearance ; for God appeared to Isaiah as a king seated on a lofty throne, and the prophet describes His countenance and His feet. And this appearance was most glorious, bright, and majestic. And accordingly, S. John terms it “glory.” Therefore Ribera, Maldonatus, Toletus, and others say that Isaiah in that vision most clearly discerned (as far as man can discern in this mortal state) the Three Persons in Unity of Essence. And this too both from the words of the Seraphim, as also from that most exalted revelation which was made to him. And therefore he says, “ When he saw His glory,” when there was shown to him by revelation the Person of the Son as co-equal and consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Ghost. (See more on Is, vi. 1).
Ver. 42. — Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed
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on Him, &c. By the chief rulers are not meant the chief priests and the magistrates, for they shortly afterwards took Jesus and put Him to death. But the chief persons, those who were pre-eminent for their wisdom, their authority, and their means, both among the priests and the common people. S. Rupertus. They therefore were convinced by the truth of Christ’s doctrine, by His holiness and miracles, but yet did not dare to confess Him openly, for the reason mentioned above, chap. ix. 22.
Ver. 43. — For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. “ Glory ” may here be taken in an active sense. They loved to give glory to men — to the Jews, e.g., and the Pharisees — by saying that they were wise and sound teachers of the Law, rather than to Jesus Christ, by acknowledging Him to be the Messiah.
Secondly, in the passive sense (and this is the best meaning), they preferred to be glorified by men rather than by God, to hear the Pharisees say, “Ye are the true Israelites, who abide in the faith of your fathers, and prefer Moses to this innovator Jesus, and the ancient religion of the Israelites to the novelties of this sect of Christians. So Augustine, Cyril, Bede, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others. They therefore had the faith of Christ, but not charity. For if they had had it they would have loved the glory of God, rather than that of men, and would have professed with their lips the faith of Christ which they held in their heart.” See Rom. x. 10.
Many such are found at the present time in England, Germany, and Poland, who cherish in their minds faith and piety, but who dare not profess them outwardly, for fear of incurring the derision and scoffs of worldlings or heretics. Against these Christ thunders forth, “ Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of my words,” &c. (Luke ix. 26.)
The Gloss says wisely (quoting S. Augustine in loci), “ The Cross is marked on the forehead, which is the seat of shame, to keep us from blushing at the Name of Christ, and seeking the praise of men rather than the praise of God.”
Ver. 44 .—Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me (“only” as adds the Arabic version) but (also) on Him that
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sent Me. It is uncertain whether Jesus said these words at the same time as those ^hich precede them (ver. 35), as Maldonatus thinks, i.e. before he hid Himself and withdrew (as I said, ver. 36), being there mentioned by anticipation, when in the regular order it should be placed at the end of the chapter ; or at another time, as Theophy- lact supposes. It is in fact a question to be solved. For Christ in these last three days of His life, came back in the morning to the Temple. But when He saw that some believed not, and that others believed but did not dare to profess their faith, for shame, and for fear of the Pharisees, He cried with a loud voice, to drive away this shame and fear : “ He that believeth in Me ” believeth not in a mere poor and wretched man, but in a man who is also God, and he therefore “ believes in God who sent Me,” in God the Father with Whom I am consubstantial. Be not ashamed of my poverty and humility, for though I am outwardly poor and humble, yet in my inward nature I am rich and highly exalted. For I am God of God. And therefore he that believeth in Me believeth in God. But what is more noble and glorious than to believe in God ? What can he fear or be ashamed of who believes in God? S. Cyril adds, " Jesus cried out, to signify that He did not wish to be worshipped in a cowardly and stealthy way, but that He wished us boldly and clearly to profess and proclaim the faith.” “ Again He cried out,” says Rupertus, “ because He had but little time left Him to preach in. He then who wishes to hear Me, to believe and be saved, should do so at once, for after three days no one will be able to hear Me.” And so S. Chrysostom says, “ Why do ye fear to believe in Me ? Faith in God comes through Me. Just as he who drinks the water of the river, drinks he not of the source ? ” And S. Augustine, “ Because the manhood only appeared to men, and the Godhead was latent, lest they should think Him to be only that which they saw (a man), and He wished Himself to be believed in (as God) the same and as great as the Father ; He saith, ‘ He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me,* that is, in that which He seeth, ‘ but in Him who sent Me, that is, in the Father.* ”
It is, however, quite plain that the Son is God, consubstantial with
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God the Father. The Arians denied this, and objected : He who believeth in the Apostles who were sent by God, believeth in God, and yet does not believe that the Apostles are gods. I reply by denying the conclusion. We believe the Apostles, but not in the Apostles. But Christ here says, “ He who believeth in Me, believeth in Him who sent Me.” But no one believes in any one, excepting in Him who is God. If, then, we believe in Christ, we believe that He is God : and since there is but one God, we believe that He is numerically the same God with God the Father. And therefore He says, “ He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me ; ” He who believes in Me as God the Son, believes also in God My Father, for we have both one nature and one majesty. So SS. Augustine, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Whence Christ adds, to make it clearer still, —
Ver. 45. — And he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me . Because the nature of us both is one only. And just as through My man- hood he sees the Godhead which is latent therein, so does he also see the Godhead of My Father, since it is one and the same. And so S. Augustine says, “ He shows that there is no difference whatever between Himself and the Father, insomuch that He who seeth Him seeth the Father.”
Hear S. Cyril in the Council of Ephesus (speaking in our Lord’s name) : " Oh, my faithful hearers, do not think meanly and humbly of Me. But rather be most fully persuaded of this respecting Me, that if ye believe in Me, ye will believe in Him who is not merely one among many, but in the Father Himself through Me His Son, and that though I became man for your sakes, yet am I in every respect equal to the Father, and in no respect whatever severed or separated from Him, inasmuch as I am endowed with the same nature, power, and glory with Him.”
Ver. 46. — I am come a Light into the world , See. Christ calls Himself again and again the Light of the world, which sets forth the true faith in God, His worship, devotion towards Him, virtue, and all things which tend to our salvation, and also dispels the darkness
of unbelief, idolatry, and all errors and vices, so that what the VOL. v. c
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sun is in the material world, is He in the spiritual. “The word light,” says S. Cyril, “ indicates Godhead, for it is the property of God to be the Light of the world. For God in His Essence is spiritual, uncreate, boundless Light, from which every created light, whether spiritual or material, whether of angels or men, whether of the sun or stars or of the elements, is derived as a ray from the Sun.” But it is the peculiar property of the Son that He proceeds from God the Father after the manner of a ray, and of light, according to the Nicene Creed : “ Light of Light, Very God of Very God.” For He proceedeth from the Father by understanding and knowledge, as the verbal expression of the mind, which, like the brightest mirror, represents all things. As the Book of Wis- dom says (vii. 26), “It is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness.” And Heb. i. 3, “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the image of His substance.” And Ecclus. xxiv. 6 ( Vulg. ;), “I made the never-failing Light to arise in the heavens.” These things are spoken of Christ as God. But as man He was sent by God the Father into the world, to enlighten it as the sun in the heavens, when overwhelmed with the darkness of ignorance, unbelief, and sin. See S. John, i. 6, 7.
Symbolically , S. Gregory (Moral, xxv. 4) says that eternal Light, which is God, the more changelessly it shines the more piercingly does it see. Even things which are hid it knows well, for it pene- trates through all things, and keeps them in memory, because it changelessly abides. And consequently, whenever we conceive in our minds an unworthy thought, we sin in the light Because It is present to us, even when we are not present to It. And when we walk in crooked ways we stumble against that, from which we are in our deserts far away. But when we believe that we are not seen, we keep our eyes closed in the sunlight. That is, we hide Him from ourselves, but not ourselves from Him.
The same S. Gregory (Epist. vii. 32, ad Dom.) says, “.The warmth of the shepherd is the light of the flock. For the priest of the Lord should shine forth in his conduct and life, in order that the people
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committed to his charge may be able in the mirror of his life to choose what to follow, and see what to correct”
Ver. 47. — And if any hear My words , and keep them not , I judge him not That is, does not retain them in his mind, “ believes them not,” as in the Greek, though the Vulgate, agreeing with the Syriac and Arabic, reads “ Keep them not ; ” as Christ explains in the next verse. By the words “ / judge him not,” Christ means, I came not into the world to judge it but to save it. But a man who believes not on Me, is at once condemned and judged by his own wicked- ness and unbelief, and also by the eternal decree of the Father. This is plain from what follows. So S. Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius, and others. See notes on chap. iii. 18. This decree of the Father I will execute at the day of judgment, when 1 shall return to judge the world, as I have now come to redeem it S. Chrysostom says, M I judge not,” that is, I am not the cause of his ruin, but he is him- self its cause in despising My words.
For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. That is, the inhabitants of the world. “Now,” says S. Augustine, “is the time of mercy, hereafter the time of judgment.”
Ver. 48. — He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him. He that believeth not My words will have God as his Judge, who will judge him by Me at the judgment day. For, as S. Augustine says (de Trinit i. 28), Christ will not judge by His human power, but by the power of the Word of God.
The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day. S. Augustine (in loc.) understands by the “Word” Christ Himself, for He will be the Judge. “He has sufficiently set forth that He will be the Judge at the last day, for He spake of Himself. He announced Himself, He placed Himself as the Door by which He as Shepherd came in to the sheep.” Others more clearly, and with greater force, say, My word heard and not believed in by the Jews will accuse them at the day of judgment, and with mute voice will proclaim them worthy of hell “ That word,” says Rupertus, “which they heard, which they could not but know to be true, as approved by the wondrous testimony of His miracles, that word will
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judge, will reprove, will convict. But where will that Judge be seated ? What sentences of judgment will He give from His throne? He will be close at hand. He will hold His court within. He will proclaim full terribly in the conscience of each one His just sentence. There is a prosopopoeia. The word of Christ is here introduced as a person, and as a witness against unbelievers before Christ as Judge in the day of judgment.
Ver. 49. — For 1 have not spoken of Myself & c. This gives the reason why the word of Christ would condemn the Jews, because He spake at the command of the Father, and therefore he who believed not in Him believed not in God. He who despised Him despised God, and would therefore experience Him as his Judge. So the Syriac version. Rupertus somewhat differently says, “ The word which I spake has the force of a judgment, for I speak not of Myself.” SS. Augustine, Ambrose, and Bede think that Christ is here speaking of Himself as God. I, as God, speak not from Myself, but from the Father who gave Me My Divine Nature, and with It omniscience, and My full power of saying and speaking. Hear S. Augustine, “In the Wisdom of the Father, which is the Word, are all the commands of the Father. But the command is said to be given, since He to whom it is given, is not of Himself. But to give to the Son is the same as begetting the Son.” “All these things were said,” says S. Chrysostom, “ for their sakes that they might have no excuse.” And the Gloss, “ The Father gave the command to the Son, by begetting Him, as His Very Word and Wisdom, as He gave Him life by begetting Him who is life.”
More simply S. Cyril and Chrysostom think that Christ is here speaking of Himself as man. For thus did He properly receive a command from the Father to say or speak this or that, and nothing else. Christ speaks of Himself in an humble manner, in order to move the haughty Jews, who believed Him not to be God. As if He said, “ Granting that I am a mere man, as ye think, yet ye ought to believe Me, for I speak nothing of Myself, but all things which I speak I have heard of the Father.” Hence theologians infer (though some deny it) that Christ received a command from God for saying
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everything He said, and for doing everything He did. For if the Father commanded Him in these lesser matters, He did so in greater matters, as the working of miracles and mighty deeds. What Rupertus says is an adaptation to circumstances. “ I have received a commandment from the Father what to say now forbearingly to those who gainsay Me, and what I shall pronounce terribly in the last judgment, when no one will dare to gainsay Me.”
What I shall say , and what I shall speak. Between saying and speaking there is this difference. To say ( dicere ) is solemnly to assert anything, to teach, to preach. To speak (loqui) is to say anything in a more familiar manner, colloquially. (See Varro, de Lingua Latina , lib. v., Cicero, de Oratore , and Quintilian, lib. x. chap. 7.)
Ver. 50. — And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. The way which leads to eternal life. w If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments.” It is also formally eternal life because the commandment of God is that eternal Law which lives in the eternal reason of things, in the living mind of God. But Christ is not speaking of this. And therefore He asserts that the command is eternal life, causally, because it causes, merits, and brings about eternal life. Christ says this, says S. Chrysostom, “ to induce the Jews to believe Him in those things which He spake by the command of the Father, to induce them by the hope of the highest reward, and consequently by the fear of the heaviest punishment if they do not believe in Him. He tacitly threatens them with this by way of antithesis. And to keep them from doubting this He boldly asserts it I maintain, says Christ, and assert of My own sure know- ledge, that the command of God is the cause of eternal life. I have heard it from God Himself, and I therefore know fully and surely that it has been decreed by Him as an inviolable law. In like manner Christ says, “ This is life eternal ” (that is, the way to life eternal), “ to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3).
Christ alludes to Ecclus. i. 5, “ The Word of God Most High is a fountain of wisdom, and the entrance thereto everlasting command- ments ; ” and to Baruch lii. 9. “ If then,” says S. Augustine
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(Serm. clxxxvi. (nunc cclxvii.) Dc Temp.), “ye wish to have the Holy Spirit, hold fast to charity, love the truth, long for unity, and ye will attain to eternity.”
Christ therefore summed up all His teaching to the people in this saying, “ His commandment is eternal life,” in order, when he was now going to death, to impress on the Jews and on all who should come after the perpetual memory of eternity, and a longing for life everlasting; to stimulate them to follow His faith and examples. For nothing so stimulates the mind for good, as a serious and frequent meditation on eternity. As the Psalmist says (Ps. cxix. 96), “ I have seen an end of all perfection, but Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” This means, all sublunary things have an end, but the commandment of God has no end. It endures for ever, and leads those who keep it to a blessed eternity, but those who despise it to eternal punishments. Sufferings are momentary, but delights are eternal But momentary are our delights, our sufferings eternal.
Symbolically , S. Augustine says, “If the Son Himself is eternal life, and the commandment of God is eternal life, what else is meant, but that I am the commandment of the Father? ”
Whatsoever I speak therefore (“ in announcing Myself to be the Word,” says the Interlinear Gloss), even as the Father said unto Me , so 1 speak. That is, “ As He who is True begat Me who am Truth, so I the Truth proclaim Myself as Truth.” And S. Augustine, “Just as the Father spake as being True, so does the Son speak as being the Truth; the True begat the Truth.”
The genuine printed commentary of S. Cyril here begins again.
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CHAPTER XIII.
I Christ before the institution of the Eucharist washes the feet of His disciples \ 17 Foretells that He is soon to be betrayed by Judas , and points him out to John by means of a morsel of bread, 34 He gives the new commandment of lovef and foretells to Peter his {Peter's) treble denial of Him,
NOW before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
2 And supper being ended (the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him),
3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God ;
4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments ; and took a towel, and girded himself.
5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter : and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet ?
7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know hereafter.
8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit : and ye are clean, but not alL
11 For he knew who should betray him ; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you ?
13 Ye call me Master and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord ; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
17 If ye know these things, happy ate ye if ye do them.
18 IF I speak not of you all : I know whom I have chosen : but, that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against qie.
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49 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he,
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
21 When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
22 Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
23 Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.
24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.
25 He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it ?
26 Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
27 And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.
28 Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.
29 For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast ; or, that he should give something to the poor.
30 He then having received the sop went immediately out : and it was night.
31 H Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me : and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say to you.
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
36 IT Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now ; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now ? I will lay down my life for thy sake.
38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
Ver. 1. — Before the Feast of the Passover. About the thirteenth day of the first month ; the Passover, say the Greeks, having to be celebrated by the Law of the Jews on the fourteenth day. For they make out from these very words of John that Christ, on account of the approach of His Passion, anticipated the Pasch, celebrating it on the thirteenth day, and therefore ate the lamb with leavened and not with unleavened bread. For the use of unleavened bread began with the Passover on the fourteenth day. For this
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reason they say that Christ consecrated the Eucharist with leavened bread, and they therefore consecrate and celebrate in leavened and not unleavened bread. But this is opposed to the other Evange- lists, who assert that Christ celebrated the Pasch and instituted the Eucharist on the first day of unleavened bread — on which day the Jews used to sacrifice the Paschal Lamb — the fourteenth day of the month, for thus the Law prescribes in Exodus xii. As for what John says, that Christ did it on the day before the feast of the Passover, this must be understood to mean His having done it on the four- teenth day, in the evening preceding the feast, — preceding the first day of unleavened bread, which was the fifteenth day, the morn- ing of the Friday on which Christ was crucified. And in favour of this view, it is to be observed that, though the sacrifice of the lamb took place on the fourteenth day, in the evening, still the feast of the first day of unleavened bread properly began on the morning of the fifteenth. It is in this sense that John says Christ celebrated the Pasch on the day before the Feast of the Pasch, because He celebrated it in the evening of the fourteenth day. But the other three Evangelists, because they couple the evening of the fourteenth day with the morning of the fifteenth, as being one and the same feast (for feasts were begun by the Hebrews on the evening of the day before, and lasted until the evening of the succeeding day, as is still the practice in the Vespers of the Ecclesiastical Office), for this reason say that Christ celebrated the Passover and the Eucharist on the first day of unleavened bread, the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, this being the beginning of the festival, and belonging to both the fourteenth and fifteenth days. So that if we take it as being the end of the fourteenth day, it must be considered as being before the first day of unleavened bread. But if we take it in the beginning of the feast to be held on the next day, then in this sense it belonged to, and was called, the fifteenth day or the first day of unleavened bread, as the other three Evangelists call it.
Jesus, knowing that the hour was come for Him (by His Cross and death) to pass from this world to the Father \ This is an allusion to the name Passover , — a passing , or rather a leaping oi’er. Jesus,
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knowing that it was now the Feast of the Passover, when the Hebrews of old, led by Moses, went out of Egypt and passed into the promised land by the immolation of the lamb (for it was by the blood of this lamb that they were delivered from the angel when he smote the Egyptians), the type of His Immolation, which was about to be accomplished on the Cross, and by which He was about to pass from this world into heaven and return to His Father on the day of His Ascension, that so He might cause us also to pass thither, and leap after death from the world into heaven,— know- ing this, He prepared Himself for this day by heroic acts of the supremest humility — inasmuch as He washed the feet of His dis- ciples— and of the sublimest love — inasmuch as He instituted the Eucharist By these acts He prepared for death and martyrdom that He might teach us to do likewise, to multiply and intensify towards the end of our lives our virtuous actions, especially our acts of humility and charity. And this, first, because it becomes us to grow and advance in virtue daily, with the advance of our lives, to pass the latest day and hour of life in the holiest manner, and to be already beginning the heavenly life, thought, and habits to which we aspire. Secondly, because it is right that when we go out of this world we should leave our brethren, our associates, our friends, and all men a great example of virtue, for the things which we do when going away from them, or dying, make a more lasting impression on the minds of our friends. Thirdly, because it is fitting that we should be prepared in this manner for a generous death, in some cases for martyrdom, and, as it were, earn it from God. Thus S. Laurence, two days before his martyrdom, prepared himself for it by washing the feet of the poor and distributing to them the treasures of the Church, and this was for him the occasion — even the meritorious cause — of so glorious a martyrdom. So too SS. Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, and Sisinnius the Deacons, minister- ing to the ten thousand Christian soldiers condemned by Diocletian to labour in the construction of his baths, carrying on their shoulders the burdens of old men, and distributing the alms supplied to them by S. Marcellijs the Pope and Thraso, obtained as their reward
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the glorious laurels of martyrdom, as appears from the record of their acts in Surius.
Moreover, faithful and pious souls pass from this world in one way — those without faith in another. For, as S. Augustine says ( Tract 55), “ It is one thing to pass from the world, another to pass with it ; one thing to pass to a Father, another thing to a foe. For the Egyptians too passed over ... yet did they not pass through the sea to the kingdom, but to destruction in the sea.”
Having loved His own (the faithful ones of His household, the Apostles whose feet He soon after washed) who were in the world. Cyril thinks that this is added for the sake of distinguishing them from the angels who are in heaven ; but S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius consider it as marking the distinction of the patriarchs and prophets who were not now in the world but in Limbo, as having passed away from this life. The connection is more appro- priate with the preceding “ for Him to pass from this world” Being about to leave the Apostles, His most dear children, in the world, and in its troubles, perils, and persecutions, so numerous and so great, Jesus, taking pity on them, gave them, before He went, the highest token of His love towards them, and furnished them, in the Eucharist, with the supreme remedy for all the tribulations of the world, that in it He might always be present to them to fortify and strengthen them against all that might be opposed to their salvation.
He loved them to the end \ To the end of life, unto death, say S. Cyril, S. Augustine, and Rupert ; or, as S. Chrysostom (Horn. 69) explains it, always. Whence Nonnus says, “ Having loved His own from the beginning, so also He loved them to the end.”
Secondly, to the end of His love — He loved them with a supreme love, the Greek rt\oe, end, being put for riXg/W/;, perfection, as S. Chrysostom, Leontius, and Theophylact explain. Euthymius too interprets “ to the end ” as vehemently , for riXo; is the end, the last, the sum of a thing, its highest perfection, its issue, completion, and crowning point Christ had hitherto loved His disciples exceedingly, but now, being about to pass away to the Father, He manifested to them His most perfect love by washing their feet, by instituting the
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Eucharist, by exhorting them with the most ardent charity, and by rousing them to the love of God, to constancy, and to all virtue.
Of these two meanings the former is the plainer and simpler, and, therefore, that which Christ first intended ; the latter, however, is the more full of meaning, and therefore Christ had it in view at the same time. So says Toletus. For He (Christ) gives it to be understood that His love to His disciples was so great that, though He knew a fearful and instant death to be awaiting Him, yet, as though forgetful of this, He poured forth His whole being in the love and service of His disciples. Wherefore S. Thomas ( Opusc \ 57) says, “Where- fore, that the vastness of this charity might be the more deeply impressed upon the hearts of the faithful in the Last Supper, when, after celebrating the Pasch with His disciples, He was about to pass from this world to the Father, He instituted this sacrament as an everlasting memorial of His Passion, the fulfilment of ancient types, the greatest of the miracles wrought by Him, and the peculiar solace for their grief at His absence.”
S. Augustine and Bede understand Christ by the end, symbolically. For Christ is “ the end of the Law ” (Rom. x. 4) ; He loved His own, therefore, to the end ’ that is, on account of Himself, or by communi- cating to them His own glory. The Interlinear says that He loved His own unto the end, that is, by dying for them, that they by His love might pass from the world.
And supper being over , when Satan had put it into the heart of Judas , the son of Simon the Iscariot, to betray Him . After the legal supper and the common supper too, before the Sacred Supper — the institution of the Eucharist — Christ washed the feet of His disciples ; for by this washing He wished to show with how great purity and humility we ought to approach the Eucharist. Observe that Christ partook of a triple supper with His disciples, the ceremonial, the ordinary supper, and the Supper of the Eucharist. In families of ample means, the lamb being insufficient to satisfy the hunger of so many persons, there usually followed the ordinary supper, at which they ate other kinds of meat. And so Christ washed the feet of the Apostles after the two former suppers and before the third. And
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hence it is clear this washing of feet was not merely the ordinary usage of the Jews according to which they were accustomed to wash the feet of their guests, but a sacramental ablution, by which Christ was preparing His disciples for the reception of the Eucharist, con- verting the ordinary usage into a sacred ceremony. So that they are in error who gather from this passage that Christ washed the feet of His disciples after the Eucharistic Supper and before the lengthy discourse which He then made them, and which is subjoined by John. Of this number is S. Cyprian, or whoever is the author of the “ Treatise on the Washing of Feet.” “ The Lord,” he says, “ had now distributed to the Apostles the Sacrament of His Body; Judas had now gone out ; when, rising from the table, He girt Him- self with a towel, and at the knees of Peter the Lord Himself, on bended knee, about to wash the feet of His servant, discharged towards him an office of consummate humility.”
When the devil \ The betrayal of Christ by Judas being now at hand — the result of a diabolical prompting — and His murder by the Jews, He wished first to leave us in the Eucharist a perpetual memorial of Himself, by means of which He would also recall to our minds His Passion and Death endured for us, and so incite us to a reciprocal love of Him. Again, John mentions the treachery of Judas in order to increase our appreciation of Christ’s humility, patience, and loving-kindness. For, knowing that He had been sold for money, and was soon to be betrayed by Judas, He never- theless was so persistent in the love of His Disciples that He wished to wash their feet, even the feet of Judas. So say S. Cyril, S. Chrysostom, S. Augustine, Theophylact, Euthymius, and Rupert. The Evangelist tells us that the devil put this treachery into the heart of Judas ; by which he wishes to imply that its atrocity was such that it could only have been the work of the devil.
Ver. 3. — Knowing that the Father gave all things into His hands , and that He came forth from God and went to God. That is, first, though Christ knew Himself to be such, and so great as to have all things in His power, and indeed to be Very God of Very God, and that, as He had come forth from, so he was about to return to, and
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sit down at the right hand of God, yet He humbled Himself so fai as to kneel down and wash the feet of His disciples and of Judas His betrayer. So Cyril, Augustine, Bede, and S. Gregory ( Morals , Book iii., chap. 12). Maldonatus adds that Christ knew that all things were given Him by the Father , that is, that it was now permitted Him by the Father’s ordinance to complete all the things that were given Him to do ; — that hitherto He had not been permitted to die, because the time appointed by the Father had not yet come, but that now that time had come when it was permitted Him to do all that belonged to the redemption of man.
Again, John here assigns three very fitting and efficacious motives which impelled Christ to wash the feet of His disciples. The first is, that “ the Father gave all things into His hands ; ” that is, because the Father intrusted to Him the salvation of mankind, and com- mitted their whole care to Him ; for this trust incited Him to leave to mankind before His departure these stupendous examples of humility and charity. As for what is meant by the Father’s making over all things to Christ, see the remarks on Matt xi. 27.
The second motive was that “ He came forth from God” It was fitting that Christ the Son should by this washing of feet manifest His supreme love and reverence towards God the Father. For by nothing is God more honoured and gratified than by our humility ; so that humility is the highest praise of God.
And the third was that “ He went to God” Knowing that His death was near at hand, and wishing the last act of His life to be one of the most sublime virtue, He would now do an act of the greatest charity and humility, and leave it as a legacy to posterity. Such is the view of Toletus.
He rises from supper and lays aside His garments , and taking a towel girded Himself John enumerates all the actions, conditions, and circumstances of the washing of feet to show us how attentive, exact, and observant of decorum Christ was in this, as in all else that He did, that we may learn to do likewise even in the smallest matters, according to the words of Ecclus. xxxiii. 23, “ In all thy works [be thou careful to] excel"
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Lays aside Hts garments — the outer tunic, keeping on the inner lest His body should be exposed ; or rather the robe which those about to partake of supper usually put on over their ordinary dress. The Greek has i/uanct, the outermost garments or garment ', such as the toga or pallium. By the figure of enallage the plural number is here put for the singular.
Girt Himself— that He might not soil His garments, that He might be the. more unimpeded in the work of washing, that He might wipe their feet when He had washed them, and also that He might assume for this servile office the servile garb which befitted it, and in this way abase Himself completely. “ What wonder,” says S. Augustine, “if He who, when He was in the form of God, did make Himself void, arose from supper and laid aside His gar ments?” For humility is the distinctive virtue of Christ and Christians. S. Basil ( Constit ., chap, xvi.) says that humility guards the treasure-house of the virtues. Humility, says S. Macarius (HomiL xv.), is the badge of Christianity, which he who lacks is a vessel of the Evil One ; humility is the ballast of the virtues. This is what S. Augustine says in his first Discourse on Psalm xxiii. “ As David laid Goliath low, it is Christ who hath slain the devil. And what is the Christ who hath slain the devil ? Humility hath slain pride. When therefore, my brethren, I mention Christ, humi- lity is chiefly commended to us. For by humility He hath made a way for us, inasmuch as by pride we had receded from God. Except by humility we could not have returned to Him, and we had none to set before us as an example to imitate, for all mortals had become puffed up with human pride. And if there existed any man humble in spirit, as were the prophets and patriarchs, the human race disdained to imitate humble persons. Then let not man disdain to imitate a humble man ; God hath become humble that so the pride of the human race might at least not disdain to follow the footsteps of God.”
Ver. 5. — Then He puts water into a bason and begins to wash the feet of His disciples , and wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. S. Cyprian, Theophylact, and Euthymius note that
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Christ did all these things by Himself, without the aid or help of any one, to teach us how attentively and carefully we ought to serve others. Euthymius adds that Christ Himself asked the master of the house for the basin, and drew and brought the water. “ What wonder,” says S. Augustine ( Tract 55), “if He who poured forth His blood on the earth to wash away the uncleanness of sin poured water into a bason to wash the feet of His disciples ? What wonder if He who made firm with the flesh He had taken upon Him the footsteps of His Evangelists, wiped with the towel He was girded with the feet that He had washed ? ”
Symbolically , S. Ambrose (Book i., “On the Holy Spirit ”) says, “This water was the heavenly dew. This it was that was pro- phesied, that with that heavenly dew the Lord Jesus should wash the feet of His disciples.” And later on, “Come, therefore, O Lord Jesus ! put off the garments that Thou hast for my sake put upon Thee ; be Thou naked, that Thou rnayest clothe us with Thy mercy. Gird Thyself for our sakes with linen, that Thou mayest gird us with the immortality of Thy (muneris immortalitate ) free gift. Pour water in the bason, and wash not our feet only but our head also ; and not only those of the body, but I would also put off from the footsoles of the mind all the uncleanness of my frailty, that I too may say, ‘ 1 have put off my garment in ^he night, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them?*” (Cant, v.)
Ver. 6. — He comes therefore to Simon Peter: so as to begin here* as elsewhere with Peter, the Head and Primate of the Apostles. For if He had gone first to the other Apostles, they would assuredly have protested as much as Peter against so great and unusual an act of condescension on the part of their Lord ; but <when they saw Peter acquiesce after having been rebuked by Christ, they too acquiesced, and allowed their feet to be washed by Him. So S. Augustine, Bede, Rupert, Maldonatus, and others.
Christ here indicates figuratively that visitation and reformation must be begun with the head and those who bear rule, for that so it will be easy to reform the faithful who are subject to them. However, Origen and Leontius think that Peter was the last in this
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washing of feet, and with Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthy- mius, hold that Christ first of all washed the feet of Judas that He might soften his heart and recall him from his wicked treason, and might give us an example of the love of our enemies, that we may repay their injuries with kindness, and do them the more good the more spiteful we feel them to be towards us.
And Peter says to Him , Lord, dost Thou wash my feet ? That is, dost Thou prepare to do so? The action is represented as just beginning, or rather intended, for Christ had not yet begun to wash his feet. Peter said this in stupefied amazement at the humility of Christ, and out of the depth of his reverence for Him, says Cyril ; and hence every one of the words is emphatic. Thou who art the King of kings and Lord of lords, my feet, who am a low fisherman, and but a worm of this earth, feet that are muddy and filthy, dost Thou wash them with Thine own blessed hands? “ These things,” says S. Augustine, “ must be thought upon rather than spoken of, lest the tongue fail to express what the mind has more or less worthily comprehended by these words.”
Ver. 7 .—Jesus answered and said to him , What I do thou knowest not now, but hereafter thou shalt know \ Christ means that in this washing of feet, mysteries are hidden which as yet Peter knew not. “ Peter,” says S. Ambrose (in his work, De Us qui initiantur^ ch. 6), “saw not the hidden meaning, and therefore rejected the service, thinking that the humility of the servant would be com- promised should he suffer his Lord to do him this office.” “ Her* after thou shalt know,” that is, first, “ when I shall tell you (ver. 14) that I do this to give to thee, to the apostles, and to the rest of the faithful an example of the greatest humility and most sublime charity ; ” so S. Cyril interprets. Secondly, because by this ablution penance is signified, and this sacrament must precede that of the Eucharist, as thou, O Peter, shalt understand after the Holy Spirit has been sent, for “ He shall teach you all things.” So S. Cyprian, (Tract, de Coend Dom.\ S. Pacianus (Ep. 1, contra JVovat.)9 S. Gregory (bk. ix. Ep. 39), and SS. Augustine and Bernard
imply the same. It was as a type of this that the Jewish priests vol. v. d
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used, when entering the temple to sacrifice, to wash their hands and feet in the brazen laver that was set for this purpose in front of the Holy of Holies ; and this they did for the sake of bodily cleanli- ness, that by it they might be admonished of spiritual purity.
On this point S. Ambrose is singular in his view ; for in his work “On the Sacraments” (bk. iii. ch. i, and in De Us qui initiantur , ch. 6) he holds that this bodily washing of feet is necessary for all the faithful before baptism, that by it they may be prepared for the Holy Eucharist just as Christ prepared the apostles. Hence he maintains that the washing of feet is a kind of sacrament or sacred rite here sanctioned by Christ, by which we are to be strengthened against the devil’s endeavours to trip us up. And for this reason he reckons the washing of feet amongst the rites or ceremonies of baptism, so that it came into use as such at Milan. S. Bernard, too, in his sermon “ On the Lord’s Supper,” calls the washing of feet a sacrament, and implies that it has power for the remission of venial sins ; “ for,” he says, “ that we may not be in doubt about the remission of our daily sins, we have the sacrament of it — the washing of feet” By “sacrament” however, S. Bernard here understands symbol or figure, , as he himself explains a little farther on.
Symbolically , Origen and S. Jerome (in his epistle to Damasus on the first vision of Isaiah) think that Christ washed His apostles’ feet to prepare them for the preaching of the gospel, according to the words, “ How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring good tidings!” (Isa. Iii. 7.) Secondly, S. Ambrose thinks that Christ in baptism washes away actual sin by washing the head, but that here, in washing their feet, He washed away the remains of original sin, the movements of con- cupiscence, for that by this washing He strengthened their feet — that is, their affections — to make generous resistance to their lower appetites.
Thirdly, S. Augustine and S. Bernard (Lc.) say that by the feet with which we tread the earth are signified the loves, the stains, and the defects which, while we are amid the things of earth, adhere to our affections, as dust or mud to our feet.
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S. Ambrose (Be Initiandis , ch. 6) gives the mystical reason for the washing of feet as follows : — “ Peter was clean, but He must wash his foot, for he had by inheritance the sin of the first man when the serpent tripped him up and led him astray ; and therefore is his foot washed, that these hereditary sins may be taken away.” He alludes here to the word spoken by God to the serpent, “Thou shalt ensnare his heel” (Gen. iii. 15). The same Saint says again (Be Sacratn , book iii. ch. 1), “Because Adam was tripped up by the devil and the venom was poured out over thy feet, therefore dost thou wash thy feet that in that part where the serpent ensnared thee there may be added the more abundant aid of sanctification, so that he be not able to trip thee up hereafter,” x. r. X.
Another more literal reason was that those who were to be bap- tized used to go barefooted as a sign of hiimility. This going bare- footed is called by S. Augustine (“On the Creed,” bk. ii. ch. 1) “the humility of the feet.” And so they used to wash off the stains contracted by their bare feet. This custom spread from the Church of Milan to other churches (see S. Augustine, Epp. 118, 1 19). Palladius, too, in his Lauriaca , ch. 73, tells how Serapion the Sindonite converted two comic actors, washed their feet and then baptized them ; but afterwards, as a great many persons came to think that this washing of feet was sufficient without baptism, it was forbidden by the Council of Eliberis, ch. 48. The Church of Milan, however, continued the usage. Guisseppe Visconti treats at length of this subject in his De Ritibus Baptism (bk. iii. ch. 17, etseq.).
Ver. 8. — “ Peter says to Him , Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Origin accuses Peter of headstrong audacity and disobedience, but S. Augustine (Tract. 56) rightly excuses him, inasmuch as this speech of his showed profound faith, reverence, fear, humility, and love. “ I ” (the words are St. Cyprian's in his treatise on the wash- ing of the feet), “I am ready to die with Thee, if needs be, for this I ought to do, this fate I embrace. For Thee I will gladly present my neck to the executioner ; but my God and my Lord prostrate at my feet, this I suffer not, this I dare not endure.”
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Jesus answered him , If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. First , S. Augustine takes this mystically. Unless I wash away thy venial sins by penance I will not give thee the Eucharist, which I am about to institute, neither shalt thou enter heaven, for nothing that is defiled can enter there. So, too, St. Cyprian in his treatise on the washing of feet. Secondly , according to SS. Chry- sostom and Cyril : Unless thou receive the lesson of humility which I give thee in this washing of feet, thou shalt have no part with Me, for only the humble attain to the grace and glory of God.
Thirdly , according to the letter: If thou, O Peter, persistest
in thy disobedience, thou shalt not communicate with Me in the Eucharistic table, — I will give thee no part of the bread that is about to be consecrated into My body, — I will not have thee for My familiar friend and the companion of My sacred table. Christ threatens Peter with the loss of His intimate friendship and of the Eucharist, not the loss of His grace and glory ; for though Peter was loth to obey, yet this arose from his profound humility and reverence, and was, therefore, worthy of pardon. Toletus says: He threatened not to give Peter the Eucharist by which Christ was to abide in him and he in Christ ; for it was chiefly for this that He washed their feet, so that they might be clean and fitly prepared to receive Him when He should give Himself to them and be really united to them. Peter did not distinctly understand what Christ said at the time, but only understood that he was to be cut off from Christ and have nothing in common with Him unless he underwent this washing; afterwards, however, he com- prehended the mystery. There is a similar expression in 3 Kings xii. 16, where the people, exasperated by the cruelty of Roboam, say, “ What part have we in David ? or what inheritance in the son of Jesse ?”
S. Basil, in his “ Discourse on Sin,” says, “ For this reason threats of this kind were held out by Christ against Peter, that unless he had rectified his will by promptitude and quickening of obedience, not those wonderful blessings which had come to him from God, not his gifts, not the promises made to him, not even that declaration of
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such and so great a yearning towards the Only-Begotten Son of God the Father, would have served him to expiate his actual dis- obedience.” Hence S. Basil draws from this two remarkable rules of conduct : — 44 He that opposes himself to the commands of God, even though he do so with a pious and friendly intention, such an one is nevertheless for this cause estranged from the Lord.” And the second is : — “ Whatever is said by the Lord, that ought we to receive with all the fulness of our heart.” (Reg. xii. ch. 2.)
Simon Peter says to Himy Lordy not only my feet% but also my hands and my head \ Struck by the threat of Christ as by a thunderbolt, Peter obeys, and offers more than Christ had asked. Hence S. Basil in his Shorter Rules, 60th Answer, gives a useful rule : — 44 Whatever we have before resolved upon beside that which is com- manded by the Lord must be rescinded. This is plainly shown in the case of the Apostle Peter, who had first resolved 4 Thou shalt never wash my feet/ but when he heard the Lord say positively,
4 Unless I wash thee, thou shalt have no part with Me/ straightway changed his mind and said, * Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands.’ ”
Again, in the 233rd Answer, St Basil teaches us from this text that obedience is to be preferred to all the other virtues. 44 Peter,” he says, 44 although the Lord had borne him witness of such and so great meritorious acts, and had called him and pronounced him blessed in so singular a manner, yet, having in one point only seemed to turn aside from obedience, and that too not from negli- gence or pride, but from reverence and respect to his Lord, — for this and this only is it said to him, 4 Unless I wash thy feet, thou shalt have no part with Me.’ ”
Ver. 10. — Jesus says to him , He that has been washed needeth not but to wash his feety but is clean throughout. Observe that Christ here alludes to those who wash themselves in the baths and go out washed all over, but, walking barefoot on the ground soil their feet, and therefore afterwards wash them only. Again, observe that Christ, as His wont is, here rises from the corporal to the spiritual washing, thus — He that has been spiritually washed by baptism, as
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I, O apostles, have washed you, or he who has been washed by contrition and penance, such an one is washed all over in soul, but needs only to wash his feet, that is, purge frequently by contrition, bodily austerities, and the like virtues, the inclinations of the soul which is stained by contact with the things of earth, and contact from their slight impurities, and this is especially needful before receiving the Holy Eucharist
SS. Augustine, Bede, Rupert, and S. Bernard in his Sermon on the Lord’s Supper, interpret more or less to this effect.
So Christ by this washing of feet purged away the sins of Peter and the apostles, especially their venial sins ; for by means of this act of self-abasement He pricked their consciences and reminded them of that inward purification that must be made in the soul by contrition by means of which venial sins are expiated.
Lastly, S. Augustine in his 108th Letter to Seleucianus, gathers with some probability from the words “ he that has been washed,” that Peter and the apostles had been baptized before the Eucharist ; both because no one is qualified to receive the Eucharist without having been baptized, and also because Christ baptized them before His death, for after His death He baptized no one, and it is clear that they must all have been baptized either by Christ Himself or by others in His behalf. The expression appears to be rightly appli- cable to the washing which takes place in baptism.
And ye are clean , but not all Christ secretly strives to provoke Judas to think better of his plot of wicked treason; still He would not mention him by name, lest He should bring him into bad odour, and the apostles should rise up against him as a traitor, and ill-use him.
Ver. n. — For He knciu who it was that should betray Him; wherefore He said , Ye are not all clean . From this S. Augustine gathers that Judas was then present, and had been washed by Christ, and that he received the Blessed Sacrament — (Bk ii. contra Petil. ch. 22.) S. Cyprian, however, in his treatise on the Washing of Feet, says that Judas was not present at the washing, nor, conse- quently, at the Eucharist.
Ver. 13. — Ye call Me 'Master' and ‘ Lord / and ye speak rightly ,
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for so I am. Christ was Master and Lord of all men and of the whole world, not only as God but as man, and not only taught externally by speaking, as masters commonly do, but illuminated minds interiorly, and impelled the will whithersoever He would See Matt. xxii. io.
Ver. 15. — I have given you an example, that as I have done so ye may do also — not unto Me, seeing that I am even now going to death, but to others, your neighbours, when necessity or kindness shall require. For, as St. Gregory says in his preface to his books of Dialogues, “ Examples stir us up to the love of our heavenly country more than preaching.” It was thus that Jesus began first to do and then to teach (Acts i. 1), and taught more by deed than by word. Hence S. Basil teaches that he who bears rule must first do those things which he teaches his subjects to do, and that he ought to excel his subjects in humility as he does in dignity. Christ foresaw that the apostles would soon be wrangling in their pride as to who should be the greater, so He put before them this example of humility to break down and suppress their ambition; and in the event He did if not crush at least break it.
Ver. 16. — Verily , verily I say to you, The slave is not greater than his Lord, nor the messenger than He that sent him. Foreseeing the contention about the chief place which would soon follow, Christ insists on the humility which He is inculcating on His apostles.
Ver. 17. — If ye know these things , blessed shall ye be if ye do them. If you know these things — and who is ignorant that a master is greater than his slave ? — you shall be blessed if, as you know them, you also act up to your knowledge in practice. Blessed in hope, though not yet in actuality ; — blessed ye shall be after death if until then ye continue to do these things, and persevere in following Me, as I know that ye all will persevere excepting only Judas. And so, to indicate this exception, He adds,
Ver. 18. — 1 speak not of you all, because I know that Judas will not do these things which I have said. I know whom 1 have chosen, S. Augustine (Tract. 59) Aplains this with reference to the eternal predestination and election to glory by God : — I speak not of all,
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but of those only whom I have chosen to glory, and Judas I have not chosen. This, however, seems rather harsh, both because the whole blame must be laid upon Judas and not upon Christ, and His election from which He excluded Judas, and in the next verse Christ lays the blame on Judas ; and then again because Christ, when He speaks of the eternal election and predestination of God, is not wont to attribute it to Himself but to the Father, for it is a primary function of Providence, which is the attribute of the Father. Christ therefore is here speaking of His temporal elec- tion, by which He, as man, chose twelve apostles (see Luke vi.), and Judas himself among the number. This is the view of Toletus and Maldonatus.
I know and have known whom and what manner of men 1 have elected to be apostles , who will be worthy , and who will not , who will persevere, , arid therefore be blessed , and who will not ; I know those who will do these things which I have said , and who will not , as I know and have known , that Judas being chosen by Me> would not do these things , but would be My betrayer. Wherefore I did not choose him in ignorance , nay rather I foreknew and foresaw that he would betray Me} yet did I choose him to use his malice for the common good , that through him My Passion might be fulfilled , and through it the salvation and redemption of men . Wherefore He adds, — But that the Scripture may be fulfilled ; He that eateth bread with Me shall lift up his heel against Me. I knew that Judas would be My betrayer , yet I elected him an Apostle , that through him the Scripture which foretold My Passion and its manner , might be fulfilled , for it foretold that it should be begun by the treachery of My familiar friend , of one of Mine own household \ of Judas who has abused My friendship and fami- liarity in order to betray Me. And I have been willing to allow this, that from his wickedness I may elicit an infinite good — the salva- tion, namely, of the world — just as I permitted the fall of Lucifer and of Adam, to draw from thence the Incarnation of Christ
Lift up his heel . He is quoting Ps. xl. 9, where the Septuagint translate “made great upon Me his tripping up,” and S. Jerome, “lifted up against me the sole of his foot,” that is, tried to deceive,
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trip up, betray, and bring Me to ruin ; nay, he did indeed trip Me up by his deceit, caused Me to fall into the hands of the Jews, and brought Me to My Cross and death. David is speaking literally of Achitophel, who betrayed him to his son Absalom, but mystically of Judas, the betrayer of Christ, of whom Achitophel was a type as David was of Christ
Ver. 19. — I say to you at once, before it come to pass , that when it come to pass ye may believe that I am. Now , in the Greek, a*’ agn, which may be translated from now or from this time, as in the Syriac Version, or, as here, straightway , forthwith, indicating the treachery of Judas to be near at hand. A few hours hence Judas shall betray Me, and therefore I foretell it to you, that when you see Me betrayed, seized, and killed, you may not be disturbed, but may believe— persevere in My Faith, that I am — the Messiah, the Son of God, freely offering Myself to death for the redemption of mankind. I foretell all these things to you that you may believe that I know them all beforehand and could withdraw Myself from danger, but that I will not, but wish to suffer for the salvation of the world. Then, too, shall you see that I said truly, “ Ye are not all clean ” — that Judas is unclean and wicked, and therefore to be reprobated and condemned, when you see him for the enormity of his crime strangle himself with a cord. Let, therefore, this predic- tion of Mine, coupled with the occurrence of the thing predicted, make you firm and strong in My faith when you are on the point of tottering. So Cyril.
Ver. 20. — Verily , verily I say to you, that He that receives him whom 1 have sent, receives Me; and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me. It is not clear how these words are connected with those which precede. First Chrysostom (Horn. 21), and Theophy- lact after him, refer them to the passion and cross of Christ, as though He were encouraging the apostles to imitate it. In other words : Fear not the persecutions, death, and crosses which you shall suffer in preaching My faith, for in this you will be following Me, — suffering as My ambassadors, sent by Me and therefore by God the Father. Wherefore this suffering shall not bring ignominy
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on you, but glory. There is, however, no reference here to the sufferings of the apostles, but to their reception by the world.
Then again Cyril (bk. ix. ch. 12) thinks that Christ is showing the heinousness of Judas’ treachery by means of an argument from its contrary, thus — Just as he who receives and honours one sent by Me receives and honours Me, so, too, he who rejects him that I send offers a grievous insult not only to Me, but also to God who sent Me. Here, however, we must supply a great many things which Christ did not say.
Gaetano, Jansen ius, and Ribera, with more probability, hold that Christ wished, at the close of His discourse on the washing of feet, to make some additional remarks by way of exhorting all the faith- ful to receive and treat with kindness the apostles sent to them, just as He had previously exhorted the apostles to be kind to the faithful. In this way He consoles the apostles too, whom He had bidden labour in offices of charity for the good of all (Chrysostom, Homily 71.)
Lastly, Toletus thinks that this is connected with the example given in the washing of feet by Christ, in order that the apostles and the faithful may not excuse themselves from following it on the score that such an act lowers a man. For Christ Himself practised it, and in so doing rendered it honourable and noble. The meaning then is: He who entertains guests who are of the faith, especially apostles, and washes their feet, as it were receives Me who sent them, but he that receives Me receives also the Father who sent Me.
Christ, then, here teaches that offices of humility, such as the washing of feet, must be undertaken even by apostles and pre- lates, and not refused by them on the score of the dignity of their station, for by these works they shall become honourable as true imitators of Christ and His genuinely accredited agents. It was for this that St Francis Xavier when, on his voyage to India, he used to make the beds of the sick people, cook their food, and give them their medicine, hearing the complaint made that such degrading occupations were not becoming to an Apostolic Legate
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as he was, answered that they were becoming to a disciple and apostle of Christ, since Christ Himself underwent, and, as it were, ennobled them. For in the school of Christ humility alone ennobles and exalts, because it makes us like Christ our God and Lord. So says Tursellinus in his life of this Saint.
S. Charles Borromeo would, on an occasion of public supplication, ga with his feet bare, a halter tied round his neck, carrying a cross. He used to discharge servile functions towards the poor,^ninister to those who were stricken with the plague, and fulfil every menial office ; yet did he not by so doing derogate from his dignity as an Archbishop and a Cardinal, but rather enhanced it, and earned the name of “ the Holy Cardinal.” For as a carbuncle set in a gold ring increases its beauty, so does humility shed a lustre upon the insignia of high station.
Ver. 21. — When He had said these things , Jesus was troubled in spirit , and testified (openly and plainly), saying , Verify, I say unto you, that one of you will betray Me. In the Syriac, “ These things said Jeschua, and groaned in spirit, and testified and said, Amin, amin, I say to you,” x.r.A. In the Arabic Version “was moved in spirit.” This emotion, then, was an immense grief and indignation at the crime of Judas. Christ was pained in the innermost feelings of His soul, and groaned in spirit for the enormity of this crime as well as for the perdition of Judas. And this sorrow he did not suffer involuntarily, but admitted it of His free will, and took it upon Him at this point of His own accord, as He did at the death of Lazarus. See commentary on ch. xi. ver. 33.
The question arises here, Did this prediction of Christ take place before or after the institution of the Eucharist? John omits all mention of that event, it having been narrated fully by the other Evangelists. Matthew and Mark put the prediction before the institution of the Eucharist in order of time, but Luke puts it after.
There are three probable opinions on this point. The first is that of Jansenius and Francis Lucas, who think that Christ predicted the treason of Judas after the Eucharist, as Luke has it, and that Matthew and Mark, in making it come before, anticipate inten-
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tionally. The reason for this view is that if Christ had predicted the treason of Judas before the institution of the Eucharist, He would have disturbed the minds of the apostles, moved them to anger, and rendered their dispositions for its reception less collected than would have been fitting. But this is not conclusive. For Christ before the Eucharist foretold His passion and death, and this dis- turbed the apostles far more : and soon after the Eucharist— as these interpreters themselves admit — He foretold the treason of Judas, and this disturbed them then, so that they did not duly dispose themselves for that recollection which is proper after Communion. Then again this prediction would, before the Eucharist, have had the force of deterring Judas from his crime, as well as producing compunction in the hearts of the apostles and making them all careful to examine each one his own conscience, lest Christ should there find anything to bring to light and complain of, as He did the crime of Judas.
The second opinion is that of Baronius (Anno Dni. 34, ch. 58). He thinks that Christ made this prediction before the institution of the Eucharist, as Matthew and Mark have it Baronius, then, is of opinion that the events took place in the order given by John, namely, that after the washing of the feet, Jesus spoke of His betrayal, that it was then that He gave John the sign of the morsel dipped in the dish, but that, as for Judas having gone out immediately after he had taken the morsel, we are not to take the phrase as meaning without any delay in point of time, but that, driven on by a kind of madness, he did not wait for the lengthy discourse which our Lord made after the Supper. For S. Luke clearly bears witness that Judas stayed with the others until the end of the Communion ; and after this, according to the Jewish ceremonial, it would seem that nothing was left on the table in which the morsel of bread could have been dipped, so, too, it seems impossible to say that this morsel of bread was the Eucharist But then Judas, after taking the morsel, did go out immediately , nay, that very moment according to the Syriac. He did not, then, wait for the lengthy Communion of the apostles, if that took place after the incident of the morsel.
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Hence it is with greater likelihood that other upholders of this view maintain that the morsel given to Judas by Christ was itself the Eucharist ; and he, driven, as it were, to madness by the devil when he had received it unworthily, straightway went forth to carry out the crime he was meditating. Moreover, during and after the insti- tution of the Eucharist Christ reclined at the table, and there, as Luke has it, foretold the treason of Judas. It is, therefore, alto- gether probable that the table had not yet been removed, but that on it there remained bread and fragments of food out of which Christ could take the bread which He dipped and gave to Judas.
The third opinion, therefore, holding a middle place between the two former, seems to be the more correct — namely, that Christ both foretold His betrayal by Judas before the Eucharist, and repeated the prediction after it ; and this both because He felt the atrocity of the crime, and was, as John here says, disturbed in spirit by it, again, that He might place his own wickedness before Judas, show him that He knew of it, and deter him from carrying it out, and also to prepare and fortify the minds of the Apostles, that when they should soon after see the actual betrayal and the capture of Jesus they might not be shocked, but might persevere with con- stancy in His faith. In this way we best reconcile Matthew and Mark with Luke. This is the expressed view of S. Augustine (De Consensu Evang ;, bk. iii. ch. i), of Euthymius, and of Toletus, who say that the order of events was as follows. The Supper of the Paschal Lamb having been finished, and the ordinary Supper begun, Christ, while they were supping, arose and washed the feet of His disciples ; then, reclining once more, He said all these things which John narrates ; being troubled in spirit He speaks of His betrayer, and they all ask, one by one, “ Is it I ? ” Judas receiving the answer, “Thou hast said.”
Next He institutes the Eucharist, and this being done, and the Mystery having been celebrated, He again speaks of His betrayer, as Luke relates, ch. xxii. “Nevertheless,” He says, “behold, the hand of him that betrayeth Me is with Me at table,” &c. Then Peter asks John, “Who is it of whom He speaks?” and John ask-
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ing Jesus, receives the answer, “ He to whom I shall offer the bread when I have dipped it.” And after this morsel Satan entered into Judas, and he went away ; and when he went away, and the Supper was quite finished, Christ made to His disciples the wonderful discourse shortly after recorded by John.
Ver. 22. — Therefore the disciples began to look at one another , doubt- ing of whom He was speaking, and asking, too, one by one, “ Lord, is it I ? ” For, as Chrysostom says, “ Because He did not speak of His betrayer by name, He brought fear upon all, and, though con- scious to themselves of nothing evil, they yet believed Christ more than their own thoughts.” And, as Origen says, “ They, as being men, remembered that the feelings even of enthusiasts are liable to change.”
Ver. 23 — There was then reclining on the bosom of Jesus one of His disciples , whom Jesus loved , namely, John himself. The Apostles, desiring to know by name who was to be the traitor, Peter, more eager and fervent than the rest, hints to John, who is reclining on the bosom of Jesus, to inquire of Jesus, as John here relates, and this is the force of the “then.” John being dearer to Jesus and closer to Him, inasmuch as he was reclining on His bosom, therefore, for this reason, Peter hints to him to inquire of Jesus his beloved the name of the traitor. Moreover, John is said to have reclined on the bosom of Jesus because the ancients used not to sit at table, but reclined by twos or threes on the several couches placed before the tables, so that, leaning on the lower part of the right arm, they lay rather than sat at table ; and so it came to pass that the second person coming next to the first on his left hand would seem as it were to lie upon his bosom.
Whom Jesus loved — not only with the love of human friendship, but also with the love of charity, for the sake of virginity and purity, his modesty and meekness, and the sweet and holy disposition by which he excelled all the others. So say Cyril, Chrysostom, Theo- phylact, Euthymius, and St. Jerome in his letter to Heliodorus. Still it does not follow from this that John was absolutely holier than all the other apostles ; Peter may have been more ardent in
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charity than he, and therefore holier than John. For sanctity consists chiefly in the love of God, which is its measure. Moreover, that John was reclining on the bosom of Jesus was not only a mark of His love for him at the time, but also a sign of what was to be, “ That he might take from thence,” says Bede, “ that voice unheard through all ages which he was afterwards to send forth to the world.”
Ver. 24. — Simon Peter , therefore, gave him a sign , and said to him , Who is it of whom He speaks t — Hence it is plain that Peter not only gave a sign to John by winking and nodding, as S. Augustine would have it, but also spoke to him quietly, as John here relates. Such is the opinion of Origen, Chrysostom, and Cyril. Peter asks this not as Prince of the Apostles (though Cyril takes this view), nor as though fearing for himself lest he should be the traitor, as Chrysostom thinks, but out of his zeal, that he might avert so enormous a crime and prevent the betrayal of Christ, just as in the garden he wished to prevent His capture by cutting off the right ear of Malchus.
Verses 25, 26. — So when he had reclined upon the breast of fesus9 x.r. A. John seems to have moved towards Peter, who was making signs to him, and so to have moved away a little from the bosom of Jesus in order to hear what Peter had to say ; and having heard, he seems to have reoccupied his former position to ask of Jesus what Peter had suggested to him.
The bread I have dipped. — Observe that Judas was present at the celebration of the Passover, and also of the Eucharist ; and received the latter together with the other Apostles, as SS. Augustine, Chrysos- tom, Cyril, and others show. Indeed some have thought that this bread which He had dipped was the Eucharist, but erroneously ; for Christ did not consecrate bread which He had dipped, but dry bread, and likewise pure wine and unmixed (with bread). Christ, after the Holy Communion, took from the table a morsel of the bread that remained, dipped it into some little dainty sauce that remained on the table, for it is not fitting that at a banquet dry bread should be given to a guest by the host, and gave it to Judas, that by this sign He might
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indicate him to John as the traitor. The other apostles did not hear the words of Christ to John about this way of pointing -out the traitor, He having spoken quietly to John in his ear.
Moreover, Christ pointed him out by this sign with peculiar fitness, bread which we eat at table being a sign of peace and friendship, so that Christ showed by it, not only who the traitor was, but also the nature and mode of his treachery, for Judas was to betray Him by a similar sign of friendship, a kiss.
Mystically this pipping of the bread denoted the falseness and fraud that was in the soul of Judas, says St. Augustine. Again St Cyril and Augustine say that Judas was pointed out by Christ by the morsel of bread that the words of Ps. xli. might be fulfilled — “ He that eateth bread with me hath lifted his heel against me.” Indeed Chrysostom says that by this very act Christ here upbraided Judas with this, as if He had said, How is it, Judas, that thou, a companion of My table, art not ashamed to betray Me? Judas, then, having received the morsel from Christ, feeling by his own evil conscience, and by this sign, that he was a marked man, persisted shamelessly and obstinately in his intention of betraying Christ. For seeing himself found out and disgraced, as it were beside himself and infuriated, he went forth at the devil's prompting to finish his crime, going to the chief priests to ask them for guards who, with him for their leader and guide, should seize Jesus.
Though Matthew puts these words and Christ's answer before the Eucharist, so that S. Augustine (De Consensu Evang . bk. iii. ch. 1) thinks that they were spoken before it, yet from the words of Luke and John it is plain that they were spoken after the Eucharist. For it is altogether likely that Judas, when he heard Christ;s answer, Thou hast said , straightway went out embarrassed and indignant. Immediately, then, after receiving the morsel he asked, Master • is it 11 received the answer, Thou hast said , and then went out at once, covered with shame and indignation.
Ver. 27. — And after the morsel Satan entered into him, urging and impelling him to avenge this his disgrace, — to betray to the Jews Christ who had betrayed his villainy. Satan, who had before
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entered into Judas for the plotting of the betrayal, as was said in verse 2, here again entered into him for its accomplishment ; both because Jifdas, being already called by Christ and the apostles a traitor, dared remain among them no longer lest he should be ill-treated by them, and also because the hour proper for the betrayal, and appointed first by Judas, was near at hand — that hour, namely, when he knew that Christ would, after His wont, go out to pray on Mount Olivet, where He could easily seized* Wherefore there was no need for John to point out Judas to Peter when Christ pointed out the traitor to him, for Judas soon betrayed himself both by his question and by his departure.
So Satan entered into Judas to take complete possession of him, and that with certainty and with a strong hold, so that he brought him soon to the halter. Not that the morsel given him by Christ put the devil into him, for this was a sign of Christ’s love by which He wanted to win the heart of Judas to love Him in return, but that Judas, ungrateful for this love of Christ, took it in bad part, thinking that Christ was giving him the morsel out of hatred and a desire to injure him and make his crime known to the apostles.
Wherefore, bidding farewell to the apostolate of Christ, he went away to the household and the bondage of Satan and of the Jews as a deserter and apostate. So S. Chrysostom, S. Augustine, and Cyril, who observes that a kindness hurts those who are ungrateful not of itself, but through their fault and ingratitude. S. Ambrose ( De Cain et Abel \ bk. ii. ch. 4) says — “When Satan put him- self into the heart of Judas, Christ went away from him, and in that moment when he received the former he lost the latter.”
The devil entered into Judas for three reasons. First, for his ingratitude, says S. Augustine ; for Christ having discharged all the offices of love towards him, and he not being moved even by these, was left to be fully possessed by the devil. Then again, because the devil knew from the words of the Lord and from outward signs that he was stubborn in his evil will, and given over by the Lord, says Chrysostom (Homily 71). Thirdly, because Judas himself
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from the disciples and from their Master ; so he became hardened in evil, and, as if in desperation, gave himself over entirely to the devil; and so it was that he went out, unable to bear the looks of his Lord and of the disciples, or, says Euthymius, following S. Chrysostom, fearing lest he should be torn to pieces by them. So Ribera.
Notice here in the case of Judas how a man who deserts Christ is palpably deserted by Christ, and when deserted is attacked by Satan — possessed by him, and, when possessed, hurried into every crime, and then into the abyss. Just as Judas from an apostle became a devil, so Lucifer from the fairest of angels became the darkest of evil spirits, — as the sourest vinegar is made from the sweetest wine, and the heretic — Luther, for instance — nay, the heresiarch, is made from the monk.
And Jesus said to him ; What thou doesi, do more quickly — more quickly , that is quickly , as the Syriac translates it ; the comparative is put for the positive. Christ is not precipitating the treason of Judas, but He permits it He says as it were : Think not that thy doings are hidden from Me ; I know that thou art meditating treason. He did not tell him to commit the crime, says S. Augus- tine, but He foretold it, not so much in wrathful desire for the destruction of the villain, as in haste for the safety of the faithful. He permitted it, saying, as it were : Do what thou hast begun, finish what thou didst intend ; in a thousand ways could I hinder thee, but I will not ; rather do I leave thee to thy free wilL Do what thou hast planned in thy heart.
Thirdly, S. Chrysostom says they are words of reproach. I know that thou art working great evil against Me, from whom thou hast received so many gifts ; are these the injuries thou repayest Me for so many kindnesses? But do what thou hast to do. For even though I have made known thy crime, yet have I not done so as fearing it, nor would I wish to hinder it ; for if I wished I could do so; but in order to cast before thine eyes thy malice and thy shamelessness, and to reprove thee.
Fourthly, they are the words of a lofty mind that despises all the machinations of Judas. St. Leo (Serm. y, On the Passion) says,
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“ It is the voice of one who commands not but permits, of one not fearing but prepared, who, holding all time in His power, showed that He allowed no delay to the traitor, and that He so followed out the will of the Father for the redemption of the world, as neither to prompt nor fear the crime that was being matured.”
Fifthly, they are the words of one excluding Judas, as incorrig- ible, from His family and the fellowship of the apostles. Since thou wilt sever thyself from us, I exclude thee from My table, from My house, My apostolate, and My companionship ; get thee gone, then, to thine own Jews and to Satan, to whom thou hast sold thy- self. So S. Ambrose (De Cain et Abel , bk. ii. ch. 4). Cyril (bk. ix. ch. 17), following Origen, interprets in a novel fashion, taking these things as said by Christ not to Judas but to Satan, who was entering into Judas. He says that, “ Just as if a mighty man against whom some one advances with hostile intent, trusting in his own might, doubts not but that his adversary shall fall, and, with loud and threatening noise, speaks : What thou doest do quickly , that thou niayest know the strength of my right hand. Such words we would not call so much the words of one in haste to die, as of one who knew before that his adversary must fall. So our Lord bids the devil run quickly to the things he has made ready, that being conquered and bound he may the sooner relieve the world of his tyranny.” But from what we have said it is clear that this was said to Judas and not to Satan, as the Fathers and interpreters generally hold.
Ver. 28. — But of this , none of those at table kneiu why He said it , *. r. A. For though they knew from the words of Christ that Judas was to be His betrayer, yet they did not know that he would betray Him that very night ; and therefore they did not understand that Christ, when He said, What thou doest , do quickly , was speaking of His betrayal, but interpreted it with reference to the purchase of things needful for the celebration of the Passover, Judas being the steward of Christ and the apostles.
Ver. 30. — When , therefore , he had received the morsel , he straight- way went out. Both because he then became possessed by the devil,
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and also because Christ by the foregoing words had expelled him from His household. The word “ therefore ” refers to both these reasons. S. Augustine remarks that, the unclean one going forth, all they that were clean remained with Him that cleanseth them, like the wheat when the tares have been separated from it. S. Cyril observes that the devil impelled Judas to go forth immediately to betray Christ, lest, by the virtue of the Eucharist which, though unworthily received, was pricking his conscience, he might repent and think better of his crime. Origen adds further, that the teaching of Christ was so efficacious as to move His betrayer afterwards to say : I have sinned in betraying the innocent bloody nay, even to such sorrow, that unable to tolerate life he hanged himself, “ showing ” he says, “ how great was the power of the teaching of Jesus even in a sinner, a thief, and a traitor, seeing that he even could not alto- gether set at nought the things he had learnt from Jesus.” Hence we may gather that it is good to bring about delays in the way of those who are suffering a strong temptation from the devil to commit some sin forthwith ; for through this very delay, the matter being more maturely considered, the vileness, the evil results, and penalties of the sin come to be seen, and deter the man from its commission ; and at last the heat of the temptation abates and slackens by reason of the mere delay.
On the other hand, when we are following after good and virtuous intentions, as, for instance, a resolution to enter the Priest- hood or the Religious State, there is need of haste, lest our relatives, our companions, or the devil, by interposing delays, succeed in frittering away the whole scheme. Hear what S. Chrysostom says (Horn. 57), “While this love is burning in thee, betake thee straight- way to the angels themselves and inflame it yet more exceedingly. Say not, I will first speak to my relations, and set my affairs in order; for such delay is the beginning of torpor. The disciple would bury his father, and Christ suffered him not Why so? Because the devil is eager and watchful to creep into the soul, and if he can seize but a brief delay brings thee to lukewarmness.” S. Anselm and S. Bernard speak in the same sense.
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And it was night. John adds this, first, for the sake of historical completeness, to mark the time when Christ was betrayed and seized by the Jews ; secondly, to indicate the haste of the devil, who drove on Judas late at night to go and look for the guards who were per- haps asleep; and, thirdly, says S. Chrysostom (Horn. 71), “that we may appreciate the rashness of Judas whom the unreasonableness of the hour did not restrain.”
Symbolically, the Gloss says that the night-time is in keeping with the mystery, for he that went out was a son of darkness and did the works of darkness. The night indicates the darkness of mind in which Judas was, says S. Ambrose (De Cain , bk. ii. ch. 4), also the impenitence and condemnation to the darkness of hell, to which Judas was on his way. S. Gregory (“ Morals,” ii. 2), “ By the nature of the time the end of the action is expressed, and Judas, who was never to come back to pardon, is recorded to have gone forth by night. ... For this cause it is said to the wicked rich man : This night shall thy soul be required of thee. His soul which is being carried away into darkness, is mentioned as being required of him not by day but by night”
Ver. 31. — When, therefore , he had gone forth , Jesus said , Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him — “ is glorified equivalent to “ is soon to be glorified f the perfect put for the imme- diate future; Judas is now gone forth to betray Me, therefore is my cross and death nigh at hand, and so far is it from bringing ignominy on Me that* on the contrary, by it I am to be supremely glorified. For in it shall I be recognised as not only man and the Son of man, but also the Son of God and God ; for the Divinity that lieth veiled in My humanity shall be recognised by the darken- ing of the sun, the cleaving asunder of rocks, the opening of sepul- chres, the rising up of the dead, and the quaking of all the earth, — all these things shall show forth that God suffereth and dieth upon the cross. And again by its effects, for by the cross will I subjugate to Myself the whole world, all the devils, and sin, death and hell, as the God and Lord of all things. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and others. And here, note that by these signs God and the Godhead
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of Christ not only glorified the humanity of Christ but Itself also ; for in them was made manifest the infinite goodness, power, wisdom, majesty, and glory of Chrises Godhead.
Ver. 32. — If God is glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself and shall glorify Him straightway . If that is because — because Christ, made obedient unto the death of the cross, hath by this His obedience, reverence, and sacrifice, glorified God the Father, therefore shall God the Father in turn glorify the Son in Himself by demonstrating and making manifest the Divinity that is hidden in Him. And this straightway — quickly, for on the third day He shall raise Him up revived, and glorious in His death ; on the fortieth day He shall cause Him to ascend in triumph into Heaven ; and on the fiftieth to send down His Holy Spirit upon the apostles. By all these things He made known to the world that Jesus is not only man but God, and the Son of God. So Cyril and Chrysostom. Origen, in his 6th Homily, says that the glorification of Christ was twofold, — the former in His death, by which He was glorified in the lowliness of His mortality ; and the latter in His resurrection, by which He was glorified in the sublimity of His immortality.
Secondly, S. Hilary (He Trinitate , bk. v.), and Toletus following him,' think that God is said to be glorified in Christ , because He showed His own Divinity in His death and resurrection ; proving Himself God and the Son of God by raising Himself from death, ascending into heaven by His own power, and thence sending down the Holy Spirit and working many wonders through the apostles. This interpretation is called for by the expressions — in Him , in Himself The Godhead was veiled in Christ until His death, but it then shone out and thrust itself forth, showing Christ to be not only man, but also the Son of God, inasmuch as He raised Himself from death by virtue of His own Divinity. Origen says, “The Son is, as Paul says, the brightness of the Divine glory, from whence come its splendours upon every rational creature ; for only the Son is capable of comprehending all the brightness of the Divine glory.” The words “ in Himself” may be referred, first, to “the Son of Man.” God glorified the Man Christ, by showing that He, as man,
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had God indwelling in Him, and the Godhead of the Word ; and secondly, to “ God ” — God showing that the Man Christ subsists in the Divine Person of the Word, that is, in God.
Ver. 33. — My little children . Notice the tenderness of Christ’s feeling of love towards His apostles and the faithful. He says not “ my sons” but “ my little children” showing in our regard the heart, as it were, of a mother towards her newly born infants. Again, little children, because the apostles were as yet little in the faith and love of Christ, for they received its fulness and, as it were, their manhood from the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Symbolically Cyril says that all the Saints are little ones in relation to Christ
Yet a little (a little time) I am with you — because an hour hence I shall be betrayed by Judas and given up to the Jews. Christ is here taking His last farewell of His own. Farewell, He says, My well-beloved children, for I am going away from you to death, and after that I shall not converse with you as we have been wont, but shall return to heaven.
Ye shall seek Me , and, as I said to the Jews, whither l go ye cannot come . I by My death return to heaven ; you, O apostles, bereft of My presence, shall seek Me in the tribulations and persecutions that await you, and shall wish that I were with you that you might consult Me in your doubts and receive comfort and consolation from Me in your troubles; but whither I go you cannot come , both because you cannot by your own strength — with your own feet and your own natural powers — follow Me when I ascend into heaven, and you have not yet the supernatural strength of grace. For you are not yet strong enough to be able to accompany Me to the Cross and the martyr’s death, — not yet so perfect in grace, strength, and love as to be fit for and worthy of the king- dom of heaven. Lastly, you cannot come there yet, because My Heavenly Father has determined to send you after My death to preach the gospel throughout the world, and bring all nations to My faith and salvation.
As 1 said to the Jews . This, says Chrysostom, He adds to show that it is nothing new or fresh, but foreseen and predicted long
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before, and decreed by the Father. Moreover, it was to reveal to them that they should suffer persecution and death at the hands of the Jews as He was ill-used and slain. Thirdly, to indi»:ate that they, like the Jews, were to suffer many tribulations arid, at length, death, though for a different reason and a different end. For the Jews, cut off by reason of their crimes, went into hell, but the Apostles, slain for the sake of the Gospel, took flight to heaven.
And I say to you now — both in order to protect and arm you against all the tribulations that threaten you, and also that you may know at this time that you cannot yet follow Me, but that you shall follow Me when perfected in strength and merits, and following Me dying in your own death, you shall earn by faith in Me the laurel of Martyrdom in the kingdom of Heaven. Hence Christ, clearly explaining to Peter, says at ver. 36 ; Thou canst not follow Me now , but thou shalt hereafter \
Ver. 34. — A new commandment I give to you ; that you love one another. Why new ? Various reasons are given. S. Augustine says, because the faithful by love put off the old man and put on the new. “ Newf says Jansenius, “that is renewed by Christ, having grown out of date in the minds of men.” Maldonatus says that “ new ” means excellent . surpassing. As in Rev. vii., the virgins are said to sing “ a new song,” that is a remarkable one.
But I say that the command of love is called new, because it is the chief characteristic of the New Testament, and specially com- mended by the words and example of Christ ; just as, on the other hand, the command of fear was the old command and the chief one among the Jews. The new law is that of love, as the old was of fear.
Secondly, because Christ here taught us this precept of love more explicitly, and more forcibly than it had been taught before ; and for this cause He sent forth the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that we might fulfil this new commandment of love with a new spirit of love.
Thirdly, and more appropriately to the actual circumstances, new in respect of the new object and cause of love. For when Christ the
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Hea<J of the Church was incarnate, there was brought about a pecu- liar community and union among the members of the Church, both among themselves and with Christ their Head, now made of like nature with themselves. A union both through the human nature assumed by Christ, and by the grace whose influence He, as Head, brought to bear upon us as members, and chiefly by that Sacrament of the Eucharist here instituted by Him. And this union is the foundation of that especial and more intimate love between Christ and Chris- tians, and of that greater obligation to love one another. For by this union we are closely bound not only to the humanity of Christ, but also to His Godhead and to the Blessed Trinity, and by and through it to one another.
This sense is implied by Christ when He adds : that you love one another , as I have loved you — because I have loved you in a new and especial manner, taking upon Me your flesh and giving it to you by means of the Eucharist which I have just instituted as the food of your soul, that in this Sacrament I might unite you all to Me, and to one another in Me ; for this cause I likewise demand of you, O Christians, that you love one another with a new and peculiar love, not merely as man loves man, because of their common nature, but as a Christian ought to love one who is united to himself in Christ, a fellow-member of the same Church of Christ, and participator of the same Eucharist For Toletus rightly observes that this com- mand is given not to all men, but only to Christians.
As 1 have loved you^ that ye love one another ; that as I, when I was in the form of God, for love of you took the form of a slave to teach you, save you, and make you blessed, so you too descend to any humiliation or hardship whatsoever in order to help one another. This is what John says in his first Epistle, iii. 16 — “ In this have we known the love of God, that He laid down His life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
The words, “ as I have loved you, ” are but taken as relating to those which follow — “ that ye love one another •” Toletus, and others, place a colon before the former. The former part of the verse gives the substance of the precept, the latter signifies the mode of its proper
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execution. Moreover, this latter part supplies a sharp incentive to this mutual love, as if to say : The love of Christ to you, O Chris-
tians, should stir you up to love one another. For those whom Christ so loved you also, His followers, must love. And again Christ in His love asks that you love one another.
Ver. 35. — In this shall all men know that ye are My disciples , if ye have love towards one another \ My school is the discipline of love. If, then, you desire to follow Me as your Teacher, to be My dis- ciples, and to be recognised as such by all men, love one another. This privilege is granted, therefore, only to charity. For it is not miracles that constitute us disciples of Christ, nor intellect, nor eloquence, nor strength, nor anything else but only love, says S. Chrysostom. For He is the Master, Leader, Prince, and Chief of love. Hence Paul says, Rom. xiii. 8, “ He that loveth his neighbour hath fulfilled the law.” Such were the early Christians of whom Luke, Acts iv. 32, says, “And the multitude of them that believed had one heart and one soul, and had all things in common.”
Simon Peter says to Him ; Lord , whither goest Thou ? Peter, says Chrysostom, asked this not for information, but that he might follow Christ, whom he loved supremely. But Cyril says that he was presuming too far ; for he thought that he could follow Christ through all, and he could not yet. Wherefore Christ repressed him, adding, “ Thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt hereafter.” At Rome, before the gate of S. Sebastian, there is a spot where stands a chapel, and there Christ appeared to S. Peter, who, at the entreaty of the Christians, was fleeing from the Mamertine Prison. And when Peter then asked Him, Lord whither goest Thou ? He answered, “ I go to Rome , to he once more crucified.” So S. Peter, understanding that Christ was speaking of him, went back to his prison at Rome, and was soon after crucified by Nero. And for this reason that chapel is called to this day the “ Domine quo vadis f ”
Jesus saith to Him : Whither 1 go thou canst not follow Me now . Because thou hast not yet received the Holy Ghost, by whose strength thou mayest overcome death, says Cyril. For Christ must
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needs go first and conquer death. Thou hast not now that con- stancy of soul and strength to die for Me ; but the Holy Ghost will come upon thee, and then shalt thou be able. Moreover, Christ had destined Peter to be Head of the apostles, Prince and Ruler of the Church after Himself, and Founder of the Roman Pontificate.
But thou shalt follow Me hereafter , on the cross, and, by the cross, to heaven. The love and zeal of Peter at this time merited for him the privilege of being the first to follow Christ on the cross.
Ver. 37. — Peter says to Him , Why can I not follow Thee now l I will lay down my life for Thee. Peter says this with his wonted fervour and zeal, but a zeal not according to knowledge. For, suspecting that Christ was going to death, as He had foretold, he offers himself as a comrade to share all dangers with Him. I am ready with Thee to take every chance of danger ; I offer myself to Thee as a companion for all that may befall; with Thee and for Thee I will gladly welcome death. The affectionate feeling of Peter for Christ, though without effect, is worthy of praise ; he had not yet received the wings of love from the Holy Ghost to fly to so lofty a cross.
Ver. 38. — Jesus answered him : Layest thou thy life down for Mel Verily I say unto thee , The cock shall not crow before thou deny Me thrice. Christ humbles Peter, who trusts too much in himself, and suffers him to fall, that he may learn to confide not in his own strength but in the grace of Christ. Wherefore Christ repeatedly made this prediction to Peter. Hear S. Chrysostom (Horn. 72), M Thou shalt know by experience that thy love is nothing without Divine grace. And hence it appears that Jesus permitted this fall for his benefit.”
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CHAPTER XIV.
I Christ comforteth His disciples with the hope of heaven. 6 Professeth Himselj the way , the truths and the life , and one with the Father. 13 Assureth their prayers in His name to be effectual. 1 5 Requesteth love and obedience. 16 Promiseth the Holy Ghost the Comforter . 27 And leaveth His peace with them.
LET not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself 5 that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest ; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also : and from hence- forth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then , Show us the Father ?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself : but the Father, that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
1 1 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me : or else believe me for the very works* sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it,
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments :
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ;
17 Even the spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
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1 8 I will not leave you comfortless ; I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me ; because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings : and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father : for my Father is greater than L
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
Let not your heart , &*c. Christ saw that the minds of His dis- ciples were troubled, i.e. anxious and sorrowful, because He had fore- told them that His own departure and Passion, through the treachery of Judas, was at hand, as well as the scandal of Peter’s threefold denial of Him. For they feared lest they also through dread of the Jews should betray Christ For if Peter, who seemed as firm as a rock, was about to do so, would not the rest, who were weaker and more timid, do the same ? Christ heals this their perturbation by the words, Ye believe in God% believe also in Me.
The Greek reads for ye believe , cr/mu«ri, i.e. Believe ye in God , or, ye believe , &*c. The meaning is, If ye believe in God, as I know ye do, believe also in Me, and consequently trust Me. For I am God. By this faith and confidence ye may overcome all your fears, and
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be made partakers of My promises. Cast all your cares and anxieties upon Me, your Lord and your God. For although I go away from you as to My bodily presence, yet in My spirit, in My care and guidance of you, I shall be always with you.
Listen to S. Chrysostom. He shows the power of His Divinity, setting out what they had in their minds. As if He said, “Ye fear the adversity which hangs over Me and you. Lay aside your fear. For faith in Me and the Father is mightier than those things which will come upon us. And nothing can prevail against it.” And S. Augustine says, “ Lest as men they should fear the death of Christ, and so be troubled, He consoles them, declaring that He is God. As though He said, Ye fear death for this form of a servant ; let not your heart be troubled, the form of God will raise it up.” More- over Christ did this, as Ribera says, like husbandmen who attach a weakly vine to an elm, that it may from the elm receive strength to mount up and grow, even though wind and storms rage against it Thus the Lord joins the apostles to Himself as a most strong wall, by faith : as it is said in Ps. 26, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?” Let the Christian think that the same thing is said to himself by Christ when he is harassed by temptation, trouble, or fear. “ Thou believest in God, believe also in thy Christ. He will be present with thee, and give thee strength. He will open out for thee a way of escape, and make thee conqueror.”
In My Fathers house, . Christ had said that He was about to go to the Father, and that Peter would follow Him thither, but He had said nothing concerning the other disciples. They feared therefore that they should be shut out from the Father’s house and from heaven. This fear Christ removes. “Fear not, for though it be that I do not take you with Me now to My Father’s kingdom, yet I will cause you to follow Me in due time. Do not suppose that Peter only will follow Me thither, as if there were only room for Myself and Peter. I tell you there will not be wanting room for you likewise. For in My Father's house are many mansions . For heaven is a vast empyrean, and has innumer-
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able mansions, sufficient to hold all men whatsoever.” So SS. Augustine and Chrysostom.
Moreover, the expression many , intimates that there are in heaven various degrees and ranks of blessedness and glory. As it were said, To each saint shall be his own place in heaven, to each his own beatitude, his own glory, in accordance with the merit of each. So the Fathers against Jovinian, who thought that as all virtues are equal, so likewise would be all rewards in heaven.
Listen to St. Gregory (lib. 4, “Moral,” ch. 31), “ In the many man- sions shall be a concordant diversity of requital. For so great shall be the might of the love which shall unite us in that house of peace, that whatsoever any one shall not receive in himself, he shall rejoice to have received it in another. Wherefore, although all did not labour equally in the vineyard, yet every one received a penny. And indeed with the Father there are many mansion, and yet the different labourers receive the same penny, because to all shall be the one blessed gladness, although not to all the same sublimity of life.” The same S. Gregory says, that to a certain Stephen these many mansions were shown full of a marvellous light Christ then by these words, and by this exhibition of the heavenly reward, ani- mates the apostles, so that they should not dread the temptations and persecutions which were impending over them, but should rather court them, forasmuch as by their means they were about to obtain such rewards.
If it were not so , i.e. if it were otherwise, I would have told you. First, it is as though He said, “ I would have told you that I was going away that I might go to prepare a place for you in heaven, unless there were already many mansions prepared there ; but because they are already prepared, I said not to you, 1 will go to prepare them.19
2. Following the Greek and Syriac, which omit the word that before I go, Arias Montanus simply expounds as follows : “ There are many mansions in My Father’s house. If it were not so I would tell you plainly ; nor would I deceive you with the vain hope that I am going to prepare a place for you.” As though He said, “ Since
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I so greatly love you, that I am going away from you for the sake of preparing a place for you, how should I suffer you to be deceived in so great a matter? To prepare a place is to come into possession of heaven, which until that time had been closed to man. When I ascend, the heavens shall be opened to you, according as it is said, ‘Lift your gates, ye princes, and the King of glory shall come in,* (Ps. xxiv. Vulg.) ; and, ‘ He shall ascend preparing the way before them*” (Mic. ii. Vulg.)
You will say, if mansions were already prepared for the apostles in heaven, why does Christ go to prepare a place for them? I answer, both are true. For, ist, these mansions were prepared for the apostles and the rest of the elect from all eternity, by God’s predestination, in the first intention, as it were. 2d, Christ went, nevertheless, to prepare them in act, as it were ; namely, to bring the apostles into possession of them so to say. Moreover, Christ made plain the way to heaven, which before was shut, by His ascension. For He by His own blood and death upon the cross paid to God the price of those heavenly mansions, and by that price purchased them for us. Moreover, when Christ ascended, He sent the Holy Ghost from heaven, that He, by His peace, might render the apostles and the rest of the elect worthy of heaven.
So S. Augustine. “ How,” saith he, “ does He prepare, if there are already many ? They are not yet in existence if they are still to be prepared. But they do already exist by predestination. Otherwise, He would have said, I will go and prepare , t.e. I will predestinate. But it was because they were not prepared as a matter of actual existence that He said, If I go away and prepare , &c., He is preparing the mansions by preparing their destined inhabitants. For that is the house of God, of which the apostle says, ‘ The temple of God is holy, which temple are ye/ It is still being built, it is yet being prepared. He speaks of going away to prepare, because the just live by faith. For if thou seest there is no faith, the thing is hid that it may be believed, then is the place being prepared if there is a life of faith ; being believed it is desired, that that which is longed for may be possessed. He goes away by
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becoming unseen. He comes by appearing. But unless He abide with us to rule us, that we may make progress in good living, we shall not have a place prepared for us where we can abide in con- tinual gladness.”
Ver. 3. — AndifI go away , &c. IJ Le. when, I go away into heaven and there prepare a place for you and all your successors, that is, for all the elect, by giving them through the ages the Holy Ghost, and His grace by which He may prepare them for celestial glory ; when, I say, this has been accomplished, then I will come again in the day of judgment, and receive you all to Myself, and crown you with a worthy reward in heaven.
And whither I go , ye kno7v, &c. ; i.e. Ye can, and ought easily know, because ye have often heard of Me that I am going to* the Father in heaven, and that the road to heaven is My faith, doc- trine, passion, and cross. The Apostles knew that Christ had said these things, but they did not yet understand them, which was the reason why they did not remember them. So S. Augustine, Maldonatus.
Yer. 5. — Thomas saith unto Him , &c. Since we know not whither Thou goest, how can we know the way? For he who knows not the goal to which a way leads, cannot be said to know the way to that goal. We indeed have heard Thee say that Thou art going to Thy Father’s house, where there are many mansions, to prepare us a place. But where is this Father’s house ? Where are those many mansions ? If this house is heaven, as we suppose it is, declare the matter to us more fully and explicitly. Explain to us concerning these mansions where and in what region they are. For the vastness of heaven, or rather of the many heavens, is infinite. Thus Thomas. “ But Christ,” as Cyril says, “gave no response to this overweening curiosity. For He does not explain the whole subject, but leaving that for a fitting season, He unfolds only what is necessary for the present time.”
Jesus saith to him , &c. Briefly the genuine meaning is this : u Thou askest, O Thomas, two questions, viz., about My way and
its terminus, whither I am going, and what road ? I answer thus,
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* I am the way which thou seekest, a way not deceitful, but true, a way which leads to true life, even to God the Father in heaven, where is My Father’s house, in which are the many mansions I have spoken of.’” Wherefore He adds, by way of explanation, No one cometh to the Father but by Me. The Father, therefore, is the goal or terminus. I am the way to it. I am the way9 i.e. I am the teacher, the guide, and the leader of the true way which leads straight to the eternal and beatific life. I xim the way , because I point out and teach the true faith and the holy living, which is the true way to everlasting life. There is an allusion to Isa. xxx. 20, 21, “Thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left”
But because some ways are true and right, others false and erroneous, therefore is Christ called the way andthetruth9 Le. the true and right way according to the words in Isa. xxxv. 8, “ And this shall be to you the direct way, so that fools shall not err in it.’* (Vulg.) As though Christ said, both Jewish and Gentile philosophers have taught many things concerning blessedness and the virtues which as a road lead to blessedness, yet they have fallen into many errors, and so have led men not to life, but to the destruction of hell. For as they made blessedness — not true indeed, but false blessedness — to consist in riches, honours, and vain science, so they have gone themselves, and led others into no good, or true, but into a false way. But I teach true faith and unity and those other virtues by which you may arrive by a direct way at that true and eternal life which is with the Father, and therefore with Me. For I and the Father are one. For as the Father is beatific life, both formal and causative, because He communicates the same to us, and also objective life, because He is the author of the beatific vision, so likewise am I the very self-same life and truth. I therefore am He who points out to you the right road to heaven. I am He who as the Truth delivers you from every error of the mind. I am He who leads you to true life.
From hence it is plain that Christ is the way : — 1. Because by
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the merit of His Passion He has opened to us the way to heaven.
2. Because by His doctrine He shows us the same way. 3. Because He inspires us with faith and grace and good works and merits, by which as by a path we walk to life eternal. 4. Because by this way of a holy life and by His Passion He has gone before us, treading it first Himself, that we might follow Him in the same, and imi- tating Him, arrive at the heaven whither He has gone.
This is the genuine meaning of this passage. But since this is a golden saying of Christ, let us listen to various comments and obser- vations of the Fathers upon it
1. S. Leo (Serm. 2, de Resur.) says, “ Christ is the way of holy conversation, the truth of Divine doctrine, the life of everlasting blessedness.”
2. S. Cyril saith, “ Christ is our way by the actions of His life, the truth by a right faith, the life by the well-spring of sanctification.” The meaning is, No one comet