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| author | Henry S. Thompson <ht@inf.ed.ac.uk> |
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| date | Sat, 03 May 2025 22:47:32 +0100 |
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8 </head> |
| 35 | 9 <body style="text-align:justify"> |
| 10 <blockquote> | |
| 11 <center> | |
| 12 <p><span style="font-size: 60pt">7</span></p> | |
| 13 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">LECTURE 1</span></p> | |
| 14 </center> | |
| 15 <blockquote> | |
| 16 <p>1 After this, Jesus walked about in Galilee, for he did not want | |
| 17 to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now it was | |
| 18 close to the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. 3 So his brethren said to | |
| 19 him: “Leave this place, and go to Judea, so that your | |
| 20 disciples also may see your works which you perform. 4 Surely, no | |
| 21 one works in secret if he wants to be publicly renowned. If you do | |
| 22 these things, reveal yourself to the world.” 5 For not even | |
| 23 his brethren believed in him. 6 Jesus therefore said to them:</p> | |
| 24 <dl> | |
| 25 <dd>“My time has not yet come,</dd> | |
| 26 <dd>but your time is always here.</dd> | |
| 27 <dd>7 The world cannot hate you, but me, it hates,</dd> | |
| 28 <dd>because I bear witness against it, for its works are evil.</dd> | |
| 29 <dd>8 You yourselves go up for this feast.</dd> | |
| 30 <dd>I, however, will not go up for this festival, because my time | |
| 31 is not yet completed.”</dd> | |
| 32 </dl> | |
| 33 </blockquote> | |
| 34 <p>1010 After our Lord considered the spiritual life and its food, | |
| 35 he now treats of his instruction or teaching, which, as mentioned | |
| 36 above, is necessary for those who are spiritually reborn. First, he | |
| 37 shows the origin of his teaching; secondly, its usefulness (c 8 and | |
| 38 onwards). As to the first, he does three things. First, he mentions | |
| 39 the place where he revealed the origin of his teaching; secondly, | |
| 40 the occasion for revealing this (v 11); and thirdly, his actual | |
| 41 statement is given (v 16). Three things are done about the first. | |
| 42 First, we see Christ invited to go to the place where he revealed | |
| 43 the origin of his teaching; secondly, we see our Lord refuse (v 6); | |
| 44 and thirdly, how Jesus finally did go (v 9). As to the first, he | |
| 45 does two things. First, he gives the reasons why they encouraged | |
| 46 Christ to go to Judea; secondly, he adds their exhortation (v 3). | |
| 47 They were influenced by three things to encourage Christ to go to | |
| 48 Judea: first, by his lingering on [in Galilee] , secondly, by his | |
| 49 intention [not to travel in Judea] and thirdly, by the | |
| 50 appropriateness of the time.</p> | |
| 51 <p>1011 They were influenced by Christ’s lingering on in | |
| 52 Galilee, which showed that he wanted to stay there. Thus he says, | |
| 53 <span style="font-weight: bold">After this,</span> after teaching | |
| 54 in Capernatim, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus walked about | |
| 55 in Galilee,</span> i.e., he set out from Capernaum, a city of | |
| 56 Galilee, with the intention to journey throughout this region. Our | |
| 57 Lord lingered on so often in Galilee to show us that we should pass | |
| 58 from vices to virtues: “So you, son of man, prepare your | |
| 59 belongings for exile, and go during the day in their sight” | |
| 60 (Ez 12:13).</p> | |
| 61 <p>1012 Then they were influenced by Christ’s intention, | |
| 62 which he perhaps told them; hence he says, <span style= | |
| 63 "font-weight: bold">for he did not want to walk in Judea,</span> | |
| 64 the reason being, <span style="font-weight: bold">because the Jews | |
| 65 sought to kill him.</span> “The Jews tried all the harder to | |
| 66 kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even | |
| 67 called God his own Father, making himself equal to God” | |
| 68 (above 5:18).</p> | |
| 69 <p>But could not Christ still have gone among the Jews without | |
| 70 being killed by them, as he did after (c 8)? Three answers are | |
| 71 given to this question. The first is given by Augustine, who says | |
| 72 that Christ did this because the time would come when some | |
| 73 Christians would hide from those who were persecuting them. And so | |
| 74 they would not be criticized for this, our Lord wanted to console | |
| 75 us by setting a precedent himself in this matter. He also taught | |
| 76 this in word, saying: “If they persecute you in one town, | |
| 77 flee to another” (Mt 10:23). Another answer is that Christ | |
| 78 was both God and man. By reason of his divinity, he could prevent | |
| 79 his being injured by those persecuting him. Yet, he did not want to | |
| 80 do this all the time, for while this would have shown his divinity, | |
| 81 it might have cast doubt on his humanity. Therefore, he showed his | |
| 82 humanity by sometimes fleeing, as man, those who were persecuting | |
| 83 him, to silence all those who would say that he was not a true man. | |
| 84 And he showed his divinity by sometimes walking among them | |
| 85 unharmed, thus refuting all those who say he was only a man. Thus, | |
| 86 Chrysostom has another text, which reads: “He could not, even | |
| 87 if he wanted to, walk about Judea.” This is expressed in our | |
| 88 human way, and is the same as saying: Due to the danger of | |
| 89 treachery, a person cannot go anywhere he might wish. The third | |
| 90 answer is that it was not yet the time for Christ’s passion. | |
| 91 The time would come when Christ would suffer, at the feast of the | |
| 92 Passover, when the lamb was sacrificed, so that victim would | |
| 93 succeed victim: “Jesus knew that his time had come to leave | |
| 94 this world for the Father” (below 13:1).</p> | |
| 95 <p>1013 They were also influenced by the suitableness of the time, | |
| 96 for it was a time for going to Jerusalem. <span style= | |
| 97 "font-weight: bold">Now it was close to the Jewish feast of | |
| 98 Tabernacles</span> (<i>scenopegia</i>). <i>Scenopegia</i> isa Greek | |
| 99 word, composed of <i>scenos,</i> which means “shade,” | |
| 100 or “tent,” and <i>phagim,</i> which means “to | |
| 101 eat.” As if to say: It was the time in which they used to eat | |
| 102 in their tents. For our Lord (Lv 23:41 ) had ordered the children | |
| 103 of Israel to stay in their tents for seven days during the seventh | |
| 104 month, as a rerninder of the forty years they had lived in tents in | |
| 105 the desert. This was the feast the Jews were then celebrating. The | |
| 106 Evangelist mentions this in order to show that some time had | |
| 107 already passed since the previous teaching about spiritual food. | |
| 108 For it was near the Passover when our Lord performed the miracle of | |
| 109 the loaves, and this feast of Tabernacles is much later. The | |
| 110 Evangelist does not tell us what our Lord did in the intervening | |
| 111 five months. We can see from this that although Jesus was always | |
| 112 performing miracles, as the last chapter says, the Evangelist was | |
| 113 mainly concerned with recording those matters over which the Jews | |
| 114 argued and with which they disagreed.</p> | |
| 115 <p>1014 Then (v 3), our Lord is urged on by his brethren. First, we | |
| 116 are given their advice; secondly, the reason for it (v 3b); and | |
| 117 thirdly, the Evangelist mentions the cause of this reason (v | |
| 118 5).</p> | |
| 119 <p>1015 As to the first, the ones who urge Christ are mentioned; | |
| 120 hence he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">So his brethren said | |
| 121 to him.</span> These were not brothers of the flesh or of the womb, | |
| 122 as the blasphemous opinion of Elvidius would have it. It is, | |
| 123 indeed, offensive to the Catholic faith that the most holy virginal | |
| 124 womb, which bore him who was God and man, should later bear another | |
| 125 mortal man. Thus, they were his brothers or brethren in the sense | |
| 126 of relatives, because they were related by blood to the Blessed | |
| 127 Virgin Mary. For it is the custom in Scripture to call relatives | |
| 128 “brothers,” as in Genesis (13:8): “Let us not | |
| 129 quarrel, for we are brothers,” although Lot was the nephew of | |
| 130 Abraham. And, as Augustine says, just as in the tomb in which our | |
| 131 Lord’s body had been placed no other body was placed either | |
| 132 before or after, so the womb of Mary conceived no other mortal | |
| 133 person either before or after Christ. Although some of the | |
| 134 relatives of the Blessed Virgin were apostles, such as the sons of | |
| 135 Zebedee, and James of Alpheus, and some others, we should not think | |
| 136 that these were among those who were urging Christ; this was done | |
| 137 by other relatives who did not love him.</p> | |
| 138 <p>Secondly, we see their advice when they say: <span style= | |
| 139 "font-weight: bold">Leave this place,</span> that is, Galilee, | |
| 140 <span style="font-weight: bold">and go to Judea,</span> where you | |
| 141 will find Jerusalem, a sacred place, well-suited to teachers. | |
| 142 “Seer, go, flee to the land of Ridah. There eat your bread | |
| 143 and there prophesy” (Am 7:12).</p> | |
| 144 <p>1016 They give their reason when they say: <span style= | |
| 145 "font-weight: bold">so that your disciples also may see your works | |
| 146 which you perform.</span> Here they show, first, that they are | |
| 147 hungry for an empty glory; secondly, that they are suspicious; and | |
| 148 thirdly, do not believe [in our Lord] .</p> | |
| 149 <p>They show that they are hungry for ail empty glory when they | |
| 150 say, <span style="font-weight: bold">so that Your disciples also | |
| 151 may see your works which you perform.</span> For they allowed | |
| 152 something human to Christ and wanted to share the glory of the | |
| 153 human honor that the people would show him. And so, they urged him | |
| 154 to perform his works in public: for it is a characteristic of one | |
| 155 who is seeking human glory to want publicly known whatever of his | |
| 156 own or of his associates can bring glory. “They like to pray | |
| 157 at street comers, so people can see them” (Mt 6:5). We read | |
| 158 of such people: “For they loved the glory of men, more than | |
| 159 the glory of God” (below 12:43).</p> | |
| 160 <p>They reveal that they themselves are suspicious, and first of | |
| 161 all remark on Christ’s fear, saying: <span style= | |
| 162 "font-weight: bold">Surely, no one works in secret.</span> As if to | |
| 163 say: You say that you are performing miracles. But you are doing | |
| 164 them secretly because of fear; otherwise you would go to Jerusalem | |
| 165 and do them before the people. Nevertheless, our Lord says below: | |
| 166 “I have said nothing secretly” (below 18:20).</p> | |
| 167 <p>Secondly, they refer to his love of glory, saying: <span style= | |
| 168 "font-weight: bold">if he wants to be publicly renowned.</span> As | |
| 169 if to say: You want glory because of what you are doing, yet you | |
| 170 are hiding because you are afraid. Now this attitude is | |
| 171 characteristic of those who are evil: to think that other people | |
| 172 are experiencing the same emotions as they are. Notice the | |
| 173 disrespect with which the prudence of the flesh reproached the Word | |
| 174 made flesh. Job says against them: “You reproach him who is | |
| 175 not like you, and say what you should not” (Jb 4:3).</p> | |
| 176 <p>They show they do not believe when they say: <span style= | |
| 177 "font-weight: bold">If you do these things, reveal yourself to the | |
| 178 world,</span> doubting whether he did perform miracles. “He | |
| 179 who does not believe is unfaithful” (Is 21:2).</p> | |
| 180 <p>1017 The Evangelist tells why they said this when he says, | |
| 181 <span style="font-weight: bold">For not even his brethren believed | |
| 182 in him.</span> For sometimes blood relatives are very hostile to | |
| 183 one of their own, and are jealous of his spiritual goods. They may | |
| 184 even despise him. Thus Augustine says: “They could have | |
| 185 Christ as a relative, but in that very closeness they refused to | |
| 186 believe in him.” “A man’s enemies are in his own | |
| 187 house” (Mi 7:6); “He has put my brethren far from me, | |
| 188 and my acquaintances, like strangers, have gone from me. My | |
| 189 relatives have left me, and those who knew me have forgotten | |
| 190 me” (Jb 19:13).</p> | |
| 191 <p>1018 Then (v 6), Christ’s answer is given. First, he | |
| 192 mentions that the time was not appropriate for going to Jerusalem; | |
| 193 secondly, the reason for this (v 7); and thirdly, we see Christ | |
| 194 deciding not to go (v 8).</p> | |
| 195 <p>1019 We should note that all of the following text is explained | |
| 196 differently by Augustine and by Chrysostom. Augustine says that the | |
| 197 brethren of our Lord were urging him to a human glory. Now there is | |
| 198 a time, in the future, when the saints do acquire glory, a glory | |
| 199 they obtain by their Sufferings and troubles. “He has tested | |
| 200 thein like gold in a furnace, and he accepted them as the victim of | |
| 201 a holocaust. At the time of their visitation they will shine” | |
| 202 (Wis 3:6). And there is a time, the present, when the worldly | |
| 203 acquire their glory. “Let not the flowers of the time pass us | |
| 204 by; let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither” | |
| 205 (Wis 2:7). Our Lord, therefore, wanted to show hat he was not | |
| 206 looking for the glory of this present time, but that he wanted to | |
| 207 attain to the height of heavenly glory through his passion and | |
| 208 humiliation. “It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and so | |
| 209 enter into his glory” (Lk 24:26). So Jesus says to them, | |
| 210 i.e., his brethren: My time, i.e., the time of my glory, | |
| 211 <span style="font-weight: bold">has not yet come,</span> because my | |
| 212 sorrow must be turned into joy: “The sufferings of this | |
| 213 present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, | |
| 214 which will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18); <span style= | |
| 215 "font-weight: bold">but your time,</span> i.e., the time of the | |
| 216 glory of this world, <span style="font-weight: bold">is always | |
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217 here.</span></p> |
| 35 | 218 <p>1020 He gives the reason why these times are different when he |
| 219 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The world cannot hate you, | |
| 220 but me, it hates.</span> The reason why the time for the glory of | |
| 221 the worldly is here is that they love the same things the world | |
| 222 loves, and they agree with the world. But the time for the glory of | |
| 223 the saints, who are looking for a spiritual glory, is not here, | |
| 224 because they want what is displeasing to the world, that is, | |
| 225 poverty, afflictions, doing without food, and things like that. | |
| 226 They even disparage what the world loves; in fact, they despise the | |
| 227 world: “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the | |
| 228 world” (Gal 6:14). And so he says, <span style= | |
| 229 "font-weight: bold">The world cannot hate you.</span> As if to say: | |
| 230 Thus, the time of your glory is here, because the world does not | |
| 231 hate you, who are in agreement with it; and every animal loves its | |
| 232 like. <span style="font-weight: bold">But me, it hates,</span> and | |
| 233 so my time is not always here. And the reason it hates me is | |
| 234 <span style="font-weight: bold">because I bear witness against | |
| 235 it,</span> that is, the world, <span style="font-weight: bold">for | |
| 236 its works are evil;</span> that is, I do not hesitate to reprimand | |
| 237 those who are worldly, even though I know that they will hate me | |
| 238 for it and threaten me with death. “They,” that is, | |
| 239 those who love evil, “hate the one who rebukes at the city | |
| 240 gate” (Am 5:10); “Do lot rebuke one who mocks, lest he | |
| 241 hate you” (Prv 9:8).</p> | |
| 242 <p>1021 But cannot a person of the world be hated by the world, | |
| 243 .e., by another person of the world? I answer that, in a particular | |
| 244 case, one worldly person can hate another insofar as the latter has | |
| 245 what the first wants, or prevents him from obtaining what relates | |
| 246 to the glory of this world. But precisely insofar as a person is of | |
| 247 the world, the world does not hate him. The saints, however, are | |
| 248 universally hated by the world because they are opposed to it. And | |
| 249 if anyone of the world does love them, it is not because he is of | |
| 250 the world, but because of something spiritual in him.</p> | |
| 251 <p>1022 Our Lord refuses to go when he says, <span style= | |
| 252 "font-weight: bold">You yourselves go up for this feast. I, | |
| 253 however, will not go up for this festival.</span> For just as there | |
| 254 are two kinds of glory, so there are two different feasts. Worldly | |
| 255 people have temporal feasts, that is, their own enjoyments and | |
| 256 banquets and such exterior pleasures. “The Lord called for | |
| 257 weeping and mourning ... and look at the rejoicing and | |
| 258 gladness” (Is 22:12); “I hate your feasts” (Is | |
| 259 1:14). But the saints have their own spiritual feasts, which | |
| 260 consist in the joys of the spirit: “Look upon Zion, the city | |
| 261 of your feasts” (Is 33:20). So he says: You yourselves, who | |
| 262 are looking for the glory of this world, <span style= | |
| 263 "font-weight: bold">go up for this feast,</span> i.e., to the | |
| 264 feasts of temporal pleasure; <span style="font-weight: bold">I, | |
| 265 however, will not go up for this festival,</span> for I will go to | |
| 266 the feast of an eternal celebration. I am not going up now | |
| 267 <span style="font-weight: bold">because my time,</span> that is, | |
| 268 the time of my true glory, which will be a joy that lasts forever, | |
| 269 an eternity without fatigue, and a brightness without shadow, | |
| 270 <span style="font-weight: bold">is not yet completed.</span></p> | |
| 271 <p>1023 Chrysostom keeps the same division of the text, but | |
| 272 explains it this way. He says that these brethren of our Lord | |
| 273 joined with the Jews in plotting the death of Christ. And so they | |
| 274 urged Christ to go to the feast, intending to betray him and hand | |
| 275 him over to the Jews. That is why he says: <span style= | |
| 276 "font-weight: bold">My time,</span> that is, the time for my cross | |
| 277 and death, <span style="font-weight: bold">has not yet come,</span> | |
| 278 to go to Judea and be killed. <span style="font-weight: bold">But | |
| 279 your time is always here,</span> because you can associate with | |
| 280 them without danger. And this is because they cannot hate you: you | |
| 281 who love and envy the same things they do. <span style= | |
| 282 "font-weight: bold">But me, it hates, because I bear witness | |
| 283 against it, for its works are evil.</span> This shows that the Jews | |
| 284 hate me, not because I broke the sabbath, but because I denounced | |
| 285 them in public. <span style="font-weight: bold">You yourselves go | |
| 286 up for this feast,</span> that is, for its beginning (for it lasted | |
| 287 seven days, as was said), <span style="font-weight: bold">I, | |
| 288 however, will not go up for this festival,</span> that is, with | |
| 289 you,and when it first begins: <span style= | |
| 290 "font-weight: bold">because my time is not yet completed,</span> | |
| 291 when I am to suffer, for he was to be crucified at a future | |
| 292 Passover. Accordingly, he did not go with them then in order to | |
| 293 remain out of sight, and so forth.</p> | |
| 294 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 295 </p> | |
| 296 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 297 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 2</span></p> | |
| 298 <blockquote> | |
| 299 <p>9 When he had said this, he remained in Galilee. 10 However, | |
| 300 after his brethren had gone up, he himself went up for the feast, | |
| 301 not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews looked for him | |
| 302 at the feast, and they asked: “Where is he?” 12 There | |
| 303 was much whispering among the people concerning him, for some were | |
| 304 saying that he was a good man, while others said, “On the | |
| 305 contrary, he leads people astray.” 13 Nevertheless, no one | |
| 306 spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews. 14 Now when the | |
| 307 festival was half over, Jesus went into the temple, and he taught. | |
| 308 15 The Jews were amazed, saying, “How did this man get his | |
| 309 learning, since he never studied?” 16 Jesus answered and | |
| 310 said:</p> | |
| 311 <dl> | |
| 312 <dd>“My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me.</dd> | |
| 313 <dd>17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know</dd> | |
| 314 <dd>whether this doctrine is from God,</dd> | |
| 315 <dd>or whether I am speaking on my own.</dd> | |
| 316 <dd>18 Whoever speaks on his own [authority] seeks his own | |
| 317 glory.</dd> | |
| 318 <dd>But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him</dd> | |
| 319 <dd>is truthful, and there is no injustice in him.</dd> | |
| 320 <dd>19 Did not Moses give you the law?</dd> | |
| 321 <dd>And yet none of you obey the law.</dd> | |
| 322 <dd>20 Why do you want to kill me?”<br /> | |
| 323 The crowd replied and said: “You have a demon within you! Who | |
| 324 wants to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them:</dd> | |
| 325 <dd>“I performed one work, and you are all amazed.</dd> | |
| 326 <dd>22 Therefore, Moses gave you circumcision,</dd> | |
| 327 <dd>(not that it originated with Moses, but with the | |
| 328 patriarchs)</dd> | |
| 329 <dd>and you circumcise on the sabbath day.</dd> | |
| 330 <dd>23 If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath day,</dd> | |
| 331 <dd>so that the law of Moses may not be broken,</dd> | |
| 332 <dd>why are you indignant with me because I healed</dd> | |
| 333 <dd>a whole man on the sabbath?</dd> | |
| 334 <dd>24 Judge not by the appearances, but with a just | |
| 335 judgment.”</dd> | |
| 336 </dl> | |
| 337 </blockquote> | |
| 338 <p>1024 After the Evangelist mentioned how our Lord’s | |
| 339 relatives urged him to go to Judea, and what Christ replied to | |
| 340 them, he then tells us of his journey. First, of his delay in going | |
| 341 into Judea; secondly, of the order of the events; and thirdly, the | |
| 342 way Christ went up.</p> | |
| 343 <p>1025 He mentions our Lord’s delay in going when he says, | |
| 344 <span style="font-weight: bold">When he had said this,</span> in | |
| 345 answer to his relatives, <span style="font-weight: bold">he | |
| 346 remained in Galilee,</span> and did not go to the feast with them. | |
| 347 He did this to keep to his word: “I, however, will not go up | |
| 348 for this festival.” As we read in Numbers (23:19): “God | |
| 349 is not like man, a liar.”</p> | |
| 350 <p>1026 He gives the order of events when he says, <span style= | |
| 351 "font-weight: bold">However, after his brethren,</span> that is, | |
| 352 his relatives, <span style="font-weight: bold">had gone up, he | |
| 353 himself went up for the feast.</span> This seerns to conflict with | |
| 354 what he had said before: “I will not go up”, for the | |
| 355 Apostle says, “Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you ... | |
| 356 was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but only | |
| 357 ‘Yes.’” (2 Cor 1:19).</p> | |
| 358 <p>I answer, first, that the festival of Tabernacles lasted for | |
| 359 seven days, as was mentioned. Now our Lord first stated, “I, | |
| 360 however, will not go up for this festival,” that is, for its | |
| 361 beginning. When it says here that <span style= | |
| 362 "font-weight: bold">he himself went up for the feast</span>, we | |
| 363 should understand this to refer to the middle of the feast. This is | |
| 364 why we read a little further on: “Now, when the festival was | |
| 365 half over” (v 14). So it is clear that Christ was not | |
| 366 breaking his word. Secondly, as Augustine says, his relatives | |
| 367 wanted him to go to Jerusalem to try for a temporal glory. So he | |
| 368 said to them: “I, however, will not go up for this | |
| 369 festival,” for the purpose you want me to. But he did go to | |
| 370 the festival to teach the people and to tell them about an eternal | |
| 371 glory. Thirdly, as Chrysostom says, our: Lord said, “I, | |
| 372 however, will not go up for this festival,” to suffer and | |
| 373 die, as they wished; but he did go, not in order to suffer, but to | |
| 374 teach others.</p> | |
| 375 <p>1027 The way he went was not <span style= | |
| 376 "font-weight: bold">publicly, but as it were in secret.</span> | |
| 377 There are three reasons for this. The first, given by Chrys ostom, | |
| 378 is so that he would not call more attention to his divinity, and so | |
| 379 perhaps make his incarnation less certain, as was said above; and | |
| 380 so that those who are virtuous would not be ashamed to hid from | |
| 381 those who are persecuting them when they cannot openly restrain | |
| 382 them. Thus he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">in | |
| 383 secret,</span> to show that this was done according to plan: | |
| 384 “Truly, you are a hidden God” (Is 45:15). Augustine | |
| 385 gives us another reason: to teach us that Christ was hidden in the | |
| 386 figures of the Old Testament: “I will wait for the Lord, who | |
| 387 has hidden his fact (i.e., clear knowledge) from the house of | |
| 388 Jacob” (Is 8:17); so, “Even to this day ... a veil is | |
| 389 over their hearts” (2 Cor 3:15). Thus everything that was | |
| 390 said to this ancient people was a shadow of the good things to | |
| 391 come, as we see from Hebrews (10:1). So our Lord went up in secret | |
| 392 to show that even this feast was a figure. <i>Scenopegia</i>, as we | |
| 393 saw, was the feast of Tabernacles; and the one who celebrates this | |
| 394 feast is the one who understands that he is a pilgrim in this | |
| 395 world. Another reason why our Lord went up in secret was to teach | |
| 396 us that we should conceal the good things we do, not looking for | |
| 397 human approval or desiring the applause of the crowd: “Take | |
| 398 care not to perform your good actions in the sight of men, in order | |
| 399 to be seen by them” (Mt 6:1).</p> | |
| 400 <p>1028 Then (v 11), he mentions the opportunity Christ had to show | |
| 401 the origin of his spiritual teaching. He mentions two such | |
| 402 opportunities: one was due to the disagreement among the people; | |
| 403 the other to their amazement (v 15). The people disagreed in what | |
| 404 they thought of Christ. He does three things concerning this. | |
| 405 First, he shows what they had in common; secondly, how they | |
| 406 differed (v 12); and thirdly, whose opinion prevailed (v 13).</p> | |
| 407 <p>1029 What they had in common was that they <span style= | |
| 408 "font-weight: bold">looked for him at the feast, and they asked: | |
| 409 Where is he?</span> It is obvious that they did not even want to | |
| 410 mention his name because of their hatred and hostility: “They | |
| 411 hated him and could not speak civilly to him” (Gn 37:4).</p> | |
| 412 <p>1030 They differed, however, because some looked for him because | |
| 413 they wished to learn: “Seek him, and your soul will | |
| 414 live” (Ps 68:33); others were looking for him in order to | |
| 415 harm him: as in the Psalm (39:15): “They seek my soul to | |
| 416 carry it away.” <span style="font-weight: bold">And so There | |
| 417 was much whispering among the people concerning him,</span> because | |
| 418 of their disagreements. And although “whispering” | |
| 419 (<i>murmur</i>) is neuter in gender, Jerome makes it masculine | |
| 420 (<i>murmur multus</i>) because he was following the custom of the | |
| 421 older grammarians, or else to show that divine Scripture is not | |
| 422 subject to the rules of Priscian.</p> | |
| 423 <p>There was disagreement: for some of the people, that is, those | |
| 424 who were right in heart, were saying, of Christ, <span style= | |
| 425 "font-weight: bold">that he was a good man.</span> “How good | |
| 426 God is to Israel, to those whose heart is right” (Ps 72:1); | |
| 427 “The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the one who | |
| 428 seeks him” (Lam 3:25). <span style="font-weight: bold">While | |
| 429 others,</span> that is, those who were badly disposed, said: On the | |
| 430 contrary, i.e., he is not a good man. We can see from this that it | |
| 431 was the people who thought that he was a good person, while he was | |
| 432 considered evil by the chief priests; so they say, he leads people | |
| 433 astray: “We found this man leading our people astray” | |
| 434 (Lk 23:2); “We have remembered that that seducer said | |
| 435 ...” (Mt 27:63).</p> | |
| 436 <p>1031 Here we should note that to seduce is to lead away. Now a | |
| 437 person can be led away either from what is true or from what is | |
| 438 false. And in either way a person can be called a seducer: either | |
| 439 because he leads one away from the truth, and in this sense it does | |
| 440 not apply to Christ, because he is the truth (below c 8); or | |
| 441 because he leads one away from what is false, and in this sense | |
| 442 Clirist is called a seducer: “You seduced me, O Lord, and I | |
| 443 was seduced. You were stronger than I, and you have won” (Jer | |
| 444 20:7). Would that all of us were called and were seducers in this | |
| 445 sense, as Augustine says. But we call a person a seducer primarily | |
| 446 because he leads others away from the truth and deceives them: | |
| 447 because a person is said to be led away if he is drawn from the | |
| 448 common way. But the common way is the way of truth; heresies, on | |
| 449 the other hind, and the way of the wicked, are detours.</p> | |
| 450 <p>1032 It was the opinion of the evil, that is, of the chief | |
| 451 priests, that finally won out. Thus he continues, <span style= | |
| 452 "font-weight: bold">Nevertheless, no one spoke openly about | |
| 453 him.</span> This was because the people were held back by their | |
| 454 fear of the chief priests, for as stated below (9:22): “If | |
| 455 any one should profess him to be the Christ, he would be put out of | |
| 456 the synagogue.” This reveals the wickedness with which the | |
| 457 leaders plotted against Christ; and it shows that those who were | |
| 458 subject to them, i.e., the people, were not free to say what they | |
| 459 thought.</p> | |
| 460 <p>1033 Next (v 15), we see the second opportunity Christ had to | |
| 461 present his teaching, that is, the amazement of the people. First, | |
| 462 we see the object of their amazement; secondly, their amazement | |
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463 itself, and thirdly, the reason why they were amazed.</p> |
| 35 | 464 <p>1034 The object of their amazement is the doctrine or teaching |
| 465 of Christ. Both the time and the place of this teaching are given. | |
| 466 The time is mentioned when he says, <span style= | |
| 467 "font-weight: bold">Now when the festival was half over,</span> | |
| 468 that is, when as many days were left of the feast as had passed. | |
| 469 Thus, since the feast lasted some seven days, this took place on | |
| 470 the fourth day. As we said, when Christ hid himself, it was a sign | |
| 471 of his humanity, and an example of virtue for us. But when he did | |
| 472 come before them, and they could not suppress him, this showed his | |
| 473 divinity. Further, our Lord went when the feast was half over, | |
| 474 because at the beginning everyone would be occupied with matters | |
| 475 relating to the feast: the good, with the worship of God, and | |
| 476 others with trivialities and financial profit; but when it was half | |
| 477 over, and such matters had been settled, the people would be better | |
| 478 prepared to receive his teaching. Thus our Lord did not go to the | |
| 479 first several days of the feast so that he would find them more | |
| 480 attentive and better prepared for his teaching. Similarly, | |
| 481 Christ’s going to the feast at this time paralled the | |
| 482 arrangement of his teaching: for Christ came to teach us about the | |
| 483 kingdom of God, not at the beginning of the world, nor at its | |
| 484 ending, but during the intervening time. “You will make it | |
| 485 known in the intervening years” (Hb 3:2).</p> | |
| 486 <p>The place where our Lord taught is mentioned when he says, | |
| 487 <span style="font-weight: bold">into the temple.</span> He taught | |
| 488 there for two reasons. First, to show that he was teaching the | |
| 489 truth, which they could not depricate, and which was necessary for | |
| 490 all: “I have said nothing secretly” (below 18:20). | |
| 491 Secondly, because the temple, since it was a sacred place, was | |
| 492 appropriate for the very holy teaching of Christ: “Come! Let | |
| 493 us go up the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of | |
| 494 Jacob. And he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his | |
| 495 steps,” as we read in Isaiah (2:3).</p> | |
| 496 <p>The Evangelist does not mention what Christ taught, for, as was | |
| 497 said, the Evangelists do not report everything our Lord did and | |
| 498 said, but those which excited the people or produced some | |
| 499 controversy. And so here he mentions the excitement his teaching | |
| 500 produced in the people: that is, that those who had said before, | |
| 501 “He leads people astray,” were now amazed at his | |
| 502 teaching.</p> | |
| 503 <p>1035 He mentions this amazement when he says, <span style= | |
| 504 "font-weight: bold">The Jews were amazed.</span> And this is not | |
| 505 surprising, for “Your testimony is wonderful” (Ps | |
| 506 118:129). For the words of Christ are the words of divine | |
| 507 wisdom.</p> | |
| 508 <p>He adds the reason why they were amazed when he says, | |
| 509 <span style="font-weight: bold">How did this man get his learning, | |
| 510 since he never studied?</span> For they knew that Jesus was the son | |
| 511 of a poor woman and he was considered the son of a carpenter; as | |
| 512 such, he would be working for a living and devoting his time, not | |
| 513 to study, but to physical work, according to “I am poor, and | |
| 514 have labored since my youth” (Ps 87:16). And so when they | |
| 515 hear him teach and debate, they are amazed, and say, <span style= | |
| 516 "font-weight: bold">How did this man get his learning, since he | |
| 517 never studied?</span> Much the same is said in Matthew (13:54): | |
| 518 “Where did he acquire this widsom, and these great works? | |
| 519 Isn’t he the son of the carpenter?”</p> | |
| 520 <p>1036 Having been told of the place and opportunity which Christ | |
| 521 had to reveal the origin of his spiritual teaching, we now see the | |
| 522 origin of this teaching. First, he shows them that God is the | |
| 523 source of this spiritual teaching; secondly, he invites them to | |
| 524 accept it (v 37). As to the first, he does two things. First, he | |
| 525 shows the origin of this teaching; secondly, the origin of the one | |
| 526 teaching it (v 25). He does two things about the first. First, he | |
| 527 shows the origin of this teaching; secondly, he answers an | |
| 528 objection (v 19). In regard to the first he does two things. First, | |
| 529 he shows the origin of this teaching; secondly, he proves th t it | |
| 530 comes from God (v 17).</p> | |
| 531 <p>1037 He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus answered and | |
| 532 said.</span> As if to say: You are wondering where I gained my | |
| 533 knowledge; but <span style="font-weight: bold">I say, My doctrine | |
| 534 is not mine.</span> If he had said: “The doctrine that I am | |
| 535 presenting to you is not mine,” there would be no problem. | |
| 536 But he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">My doctrine is not | |
| 537 mine;</span> and this seems to be a contradiction. However, this | |
| 538 can he explained, for this statement can be understood is several | |
| 539 ways. Our Lord’s doctrine can in some sense be called his | |
| 540 own, and in some sense not his own. First, we can understand Christ | |
| 541 as the Son of God. Then, since the doctrine of anyone is nothing | |
| 542 else than his word, and the Son of God is the Word of God, it | |
| 543 follows that the doctrine of the Father is the Son himself. But | |
| 544 this same Word belongs to himself through an identity of substance. | |
| 545 “What does belong to you, if not you yourself?” | |
| 546 However, he does not belong to himself through his origin. As | |
| 547 Augustine says: “If you do not belong to yourself (because | |
| 548 you are from another), what does?” This seems to be the | |
| 549 meaning, expressed in summary fashion, of: <span style= | |
| 550 "font-weight: bold">My doctrine is not mine.</span> As if to say: I | |
| 551 am not of myself’. This refutes the Sabellian heresy, which | |
| 552 dared to say that the Son is the Father.</p> | |
| 553 <p>Or, we could understand it as meaning that <span style= | |
| 554 "font-weight: bold">My doctrine,</span> which I proclaim with | |
| 555 created words, <span style="font-weight: bold">is not mine, but his | |
| 556 who sent me,</span> i.e., it is the Father’s; that is, my | |
| 557 doctrine is not mine as from myself, but it is from the Father: | |
| 558 because the Son has even his knowledge from the Father through an | |
| 559 eternal generation. “All things have been given to me by my | |
| 560 Father” (Mt 11:27).</p> | |
| 561 <p>Secondly, we can understand Christ as the Son of Man. Then he is | |
| 562 saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">My doctrine,</span> which I | |
| 563 have in my created soul, and which my lips proclaim, <span style= | |
| 564 "font-weight: bold">is not mine,</span> i.e, it is not mine as from | |
| 565 myself, but from God: because every truth, by whomever spoken, is | |
| 566 from the Holy Spirit.</p> | |
| 567 <p>Thus, as Augustine says in <i>The Trinity</i> (Bk 1), our Lord | |
| 568 called this doctrine his own from one point of view, and not his | |
| 569 own from another point of view. According to his form of God, it | |
| 570 was his own; but according to his form of a servant, it was not his | |
| 571 own. This is an example for us, that we should realize that all our | |
| 572 knowledge is from God, and thank him for it: “What do you | |
| 573 have which you have not been given? And if you have been given it, | |
| 574 why do you glory as if you have not been given it?” (1 Cor | |
| 575 4:7).</p> | |
| 576 <p>1038 Then (v 17), he proves that his doctrine is from God. And | |
| 577 he does this in two ways: first, from the judgment of those who | |
| 578 correctly understand such matters; and secondly, from his own | |
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579 intention (v 18).</p> |
| 35 | 580 <p>1039 With respect to the first, we should note that when there |
| 581 is a question whether someone is performing well in some art, this | |
| 582 is decided by one who has experience in that art; just as the | |
| 583 question whether someone is speaking French well should be decided | |
| 584 by one who is well versed in the French language. With this in | |
| 585 mind, our Lord is saying: The question whether my doctrine is from | |
| 586 God must be decided by one who has experience in divine matters, | |
| 587 for such a person can judge correctly about these things. | |
| 588 “The sensual man does not perceive those things that pertain | |
| 589 to the Spirit of God. The spiritual man judges all things” (1 | |
| 590 Cor 2:14). Accordingly, he is saying: Because you are alienated | |
| 591 from God, you do not know whether a doctrine is from God. If anyone | |
| 592 wants to do his. will, that is, the will of God, he can know | |
| 593 whether this doctrine is from God, <span style= | |
| 594 "font-weight: bold">or whether I am speaking on my own</span> (a | |
| 595 <i>meipso).</i> Indeed, one who is speaking what is false is | |
| 596 speaking on his own, because “When he lies, he speaks on his | |
| 597 own,” as we read below (8:44).</p> | |
| 598 <p>Chrysostom explains this text in another way. The will of God is | |
| 599 our peace, our love, and our humility; thus Matthew (5:9) says: | |
| 600 “Happy are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons | |
| 601 of God. But the love of controversy often distorts a person’s | |
| 602 mind to such an extent that he thinks that what is really true is | |
| 603 false. Thus, when we abandon the spirit of controversy, we possess | |
| 604 more surely the certitude of truth. “Answer, I entreat you, | |
| 605 without contention, and judge, speaking what is just” (Jb | |
| 606 6:29). So our Lord is saying: If anyone wishes to judge my doctrine | |
| 607 correctly, let him do the will of God, i.e., abandon the anger, the | |
| 608 envy and the hatred which he has for me without reason. Then, | |
| 609 nothing will prevent him from knowing <span style= | |
| 610 "font-weight: bold">whether this doctrine is from God, or whether I | |
| 611 am speaking on my own,</span> i.e., whether I am speaking the words | |
| 612 of God.</p> | |
| 613 <p>Augustine explains it this way. It is the will of God that we | |
| 614 know his works, just as it is the will of a head of a household | |
| 615 that his servants do his works. The work of God is that we believe | |
| 616 in him whom he has sent: “This is the work of God, that you | |
| 617 believe in him whom he sent” (above 6:29). Thus he says: | |
| 618 <span style="font-weight: bold">If anyone wants to do his | |
| 619 will,</span> that is, God’s will, which is to believe in me, | |
| 620 <span style="font-weight: bold">he will know whether this doctrine | |
| 621 is from God:</span> “If you do not believe, you will not | |
| 622 understand,” as that other version of Isaiah (7:9) says.</p> | |
| 623 <p>1040 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever | |
| 624 speaks on his own seeks his own glory,</span> he proves the same | |
| 625 thing from his intention. And he presents two intentions through | |
| 626 which we can recognize the two sources of a doctrine. Some are said | |
| 627 to speak on their own [<i>a se</i>], and others not on their own. | |
| 628 Now whoever strives to speak the truth does not speak on his own. | |
| 629 All our knowledge of the truth is from another: either from | |
| 630 instruction, as from a teacher; or from revelation, as from God; or | |
| 631 by a process of discovery, as from things themselves, for | |
| 632 “the invisible things of God are clearly known by the things | |
| 633 that have been made” (Rom 1:20). Consequently, in whatever | |
| 634 way a person acquires his knowledge, he does not acquire it on his | |
| 635 own. That person speaks on his own who takes what he says neither | |
| 636 from things themselves, nor from any human teaching, but from his | |
| 637 own heart: “They proclaim a vision taken out of their own | |
| 638 hearts” (Jer 23:16); “Woe to those foolish prophets who | |
| 639 prophesy out of their own hearts” (Ez 13:3). Accordingy, when | |
| 640 a person devises a doctrine on his own he does it for the sake of | |
| 641 human glory: for, as we see fromChrysostom, a person who wishes to | |
| 642 present his own private doctrine does so for no other purpose than | |
| 643 to acquire glory. And this is what our Lord says, proving that his | |
| 644 doctrine is from God: <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever | |
| 645 speaks on his own,</span> about a certain knowledge of the truth, | |
| 646 which is really from another, <span style="font-weight: bold">seeks | |
| 647 his own glory.</span> It is for this reason, and because of pride, | |
| 648 that various heresies and false opinions have arisen. And this is a | |
| 649 characteristic of the antichrist “who opposes and is exalted | |
| 650 above all that is called God, or is worshipped” (2 Thes | |
| 651 2:4).</p> | |
| 652 <p><span style="font-weight: bold">But the one who seeks the glory | |
| 653 of him who sent him,</span> as I do—“I do not seek my | |
| 654 own glory” (below 8:50)—<span style= | |
| 655 "font-weight: bold">is truthful, and there is no injustice in | |
| 656 him.</span> I am truthful because my doctrine contains the truth; | |
| 657 there is no injustice in me because I do not appropriate the glory | |
| 658 of another. As Augustine says: “He gave us a magnificent | |
| 659 example of humility when, in the form of a man, he sought the glory | |
| 660 of the Father, and not his own. O man, you should do the same! When | |
| 661 you do something good, you seek your glory; when you do something | |
| 662 evil, you insult God.” It is obvious that he was not looking | |
| 663 for his own glory, because if he had not been an enemy of the chief | |
| 664 priests, he would not have been persecuted by them. So Christ, and | |
| 665 everyone who is looking for the glory of God, has knowledge in his | |
| 666 intellect, “Master, we know that you are truthful” (Mt | |
| 667 22:16): thus he says, he <span style="font-weight: bold">is | |
| 668 truthful.</span> And he has the correct intention in his will: thus | |
| 669 he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and there is no injustice | |
| 670 in him.</span> For a person is unjust when he takes for himself | |
| 671 what belongs to another; but glory is proper to God alone; | |
| 672 therefore, he who seeks glory for himself is unjust.</p> | |
| 673 <p>1041 Then (v 19), he answers an objection. For someone could | |
| 674 tell Christ that his doctrine was not from God because he broke the | |
| 675 sabbath, according to, “This man is not from God, for he does | |
| 676 not keep the sabbath” (below 9:16). This is what he intends | |
| 677 to answer; and he does three things. First, he clears himself, by | |
| 678 arguing from the actions of those who are accusing him; secondly, | |
| 679 we see their vicious reply (v 20); and thirdly, he vindicates | |
| 680 himself with a reasonable explanation (v 21).</p> | |
| 681 <p>1042 He says: Even granting, as you say, that my doctrine is not | |
| 682 from God because I do not keep the law, breaking the sabbath, | |
| 683 nevertheless, you do not have any reason to accuse me since you do | |
| 684 the same thing. Thus he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Did | |
| 685 not Moses give you the law?</span> i.e., did he not give it to your | |
| 686 people? <span style="font-weight: bold">And yet none of you obey | |
| 687 the law.</span> “You received the law through the angels, and | |
| 688 have not kept it” (Acts 7:53). This is why Peter says: | |
| 689 “A yoke, which neither our fathers nor we were able to | |
| 690 bear” (Acts 15:10). Therefore, if you do not keep the law, | |
| 691 why do you want to kill me for not keeping it? You are not doing | |
| 692 this because of the law, but out of hatred. If you were acting out | |
| 693 of devotion for the law, you would keep it yourselves. “Let | |
| 694 us lie in wait for the just man, because he is unfavorable to us, | |
| 695 and against our works, and he reproaches us for breaking the | |
| 696 law” (Wis 2:12); and a little further on we read: “ Let | |
| 697 us condemn him to a most shameful death” (Wis 2:20).</p> | |
| 698 <p>Or, it could be explained this way: You do not keep the law that | |
| 699 Moses gave you; and this is obvious from the fact that you want to | |
| 700 kill me, which is against the law: “You shall not kill” | |
| 701 (Ex 20:13). Another explanation, following Augustine, is: You do | |
| 702 not keep the law because I myself am included in the law: “If | |
| 703 you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me as well, for it | |
| 704 was about me that he wrote” (above 5:46). But you want to | |
| 705 kill me.</p> | |
| 706 <p>1043 Then we see the vicious reply of the crowd, when he says, | |
| 707 <span style="font-weight: bold">The crowd replied and said: You | |
| 708 have a demon within you!</span> As Augustine says, their reply | |
| 709 indicates disorder and confusion, rather than any order: for they | |
| 710 are saying that the one who casts out devils has one himself (Mt c | |
| 711 12).</p> | |
| 712 <p>1044 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">I | |
| 713 performed one work, and you are all amazed,</span> our Lord, at | |
| 714 peace in his own truth, answers them, and justifies himself with a | |
| 715 reasonable explanation. First, he recalls the incident that is | |
| 716 troubling them; secondly, he shows that this should not bother them | |
| 717 (v 22); and thirdly, he shows the way to a judgment that is just (v | |
| 718 24).</p> | |
| 719 <p>1045 Jesus answered them: <span style="font-weight: bold">I | |
| 720 performed one work, and you are all amazed.</span> He does not | |
| 721 trade one insult for another, nor rebuff it, because “When he | |
| 722 was derided, he did not deride in return” (1 Pt 2:23). He | |
| 723 rather recalls for them his cure of the paralytic, which was the | |
| 724 cause of their amazement. But their amazement was not one of | |
| 725 devotion, as in “Your heart will be amazed and | |
| 726 expanded” (Is 60:5), but a kind of agitation and disturbance, | |
| 727 as in “Those who see it will be afflicted with terrible fear, | |
| 728 and will be amazed” (Wis 5:2). So, if you are amazed over one | |
| 729 of my works, i.e., if you are disturbed and troubled, what would | |
| 730 you do if you saw all of my works? For, as Augustine says, his | |
| 731 works were those which they saw in the world: even all the sick are | |
| 732 healed by him. “He sent his word, and healed them” (Ps | |
| 733 106:20); “It was neither a herb nor a poultice that healed | |
| 734 them, but your word, O Lord, which heals all” (Wis 16:12). | |
| 735 Thus, the reason why you are disturbed is that you have seen only | |
| 736 one of my works, and not all of them.</p> | |
| 737 <p>1046 Then (v 22), he shows that there is no reason why they | |
| 738 should be disturbed. First, he recalls the command given to them by | |
| 739 Moses; secondly, he states their customary behavior; and thirdly, | |
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740 he presents an argument based on the first two.</p> |
| 35 | 741 <p>1047 The command of Moses was about circumcision; so he says: |
| 742 <span style="font-weight: bold">Therefore,</span> i.e., to signify | |
| 743 my works, <span style="font-weight: bold">Moses gave you | |
| 744 circumcision.</span> For circumcision was given as a sign, as we | |
| 745 read, “it will be a sign of the covenant between me and | |
| 746 you” (Gn 17:11). For it signified Christ. This is the reason | |
| 747 why it was always done on the genital organ, because Christ was to | |
| 748 descend, in his human nature, from Abraham; and Christ is the one | |
| 749 who spiritually circumcises us, i.e., both in mind and body. Or, it | |
| 750 was done to the genital organ because it was given in opposition to | |
| 751 original sin.</p> | |
| 752 <p>We do not find it explicitly stated that Moses gave | |
| 753 circumcision, unless in Exodus (12:44): “Every slave who is | |
| 754 bought shall be circumcised.” And although Moses did tell | |
| 755 them to circumcise, he was not the one who established this | |
| 756 practice, because he was not the first one to receive the command | |
| 757 to circumcise; this was Abraham, as we see from Genesis ( | |
| 758 17:10).</p> | |
| 759 <p>1048 Now it was the custom among the Jews to circumcise on the | |
| 760 sabbath. And this is what he says: <span style= | |
| 761 "font-weight: bold">you circumcise on the sabbath day.</span> They | |
| 762 did this because Abraham was told that a boy should be circumcised | |
| 763 on the eighth day: “He circumcised him on the eighth day, as | |
| 764 God had commanded him” (Gn 2 1:4). On the other hand, they | |
| 765 were told by Moses not to do any work on the sabbath. But it | |
| 766 sometimes happened that the eighth day was a sabbath. And so, in | |
| 767 circumcising a boy on that day, they were breaking a command of | |
| 768 Moses for a command of the patriarchs.</p> | |
| 769 <p>1049 Our Lord is arguing from those facts when he says: | |
| 770 <span style="font-weight: bold">If a man receives circumcision on | |
| 771 the sabbath day, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why | |
| 772 are you indignant with me because I healed a whole man on the | |
| 773 sabbath?</span></p> | |
| 774 <p>We should note here that three things make this argument | |
| 775 effective: two of these are explicit, and the other implied. First, | |
| 776 although the command given to Abraham [about circumcision] was the | |
| 777 first to be given, it was not canceled by the command given to | |
| 778 Moses concerning observing the sabbath. “I say that the | |
| 779 covenant, confirmed by God, is not canceled by the law, which came | |
| 780 four hundred and thirty years later” (Gal 3:17). And so | |
| 781 Christ is arguing from this: Although when dealing with human laws, | |
| 782 the later ones cancel the earlier laws, in the case of divine laws, | |
| 783 the earlier ones have greater authority. And so the command given | |
| 784 to Moses about observing the sabbath does not cancel the command | |
| 785 which was given to Abraham concerning circumcision. Therefore, much | |
| 786 less does it interfere with me, who am only doing what was decided | |
| 787 by God before the creation of the world, for the salvation of | |
| 788 mankind; and this salvation was symbolized by the sabbath.</p> | |
| 789 <p>Another point is that the Jews were commanded not to work on the | |
| 790 sabbath; yet they did do things that were related to the salvation | |
| 791 of the individual. So Christ is saying: If you people, who were | |
| 792 commanded not to work on the sabbath, circumcise on that day (and | |
| 793 this concerns the salvation of the individual, and thus it was done | |
| 794 to an individual organ) and you do this <span style= | |
| 795 "font-weight: bold">so that the law of Moses may not be | |
| 796 broken</span> (from which it is clear that those things that | |
| 797 pertain to salvation should not be omitted on the sabbath), it | |
| 798 follows with greater reason that a man should do on that day those | |
| 799 things that pertain to the salvation of everyone. Therefore, you | |
| 800 should not be indignant with me <span style= | |
| 801 "font-weight: bold">because I healed a whole man on the | |
| 802 sabbath.</span></p> | |
| 803 <p>The third point is that each command was a symbol: for | |
| 804 “all these things happened to them in symbol” (1 Cor | |
| 805 10:11). Thus, if one symbol, i.e., the command to observe the | |
| 806 sabbath, does not cancel the other symbol, i.e., the command to | |
| 807 circumcise, much less does it cancel the truth. For circumcision | |
| 808 sybolized our Lord, as Augustine says.</p> | |
| 809 <p>Finally, he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">a whole | |
| 810 man,</span> because, since God’s works are perfect, the man | |
| 811 was cured so as to be healthy in body, and he believed so as to be | |
| 812 healthy in soul.</p> | |
| 813 <p>1050 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">Judge | |
| 814 not by the appearances, but with a just judgment,</span> he guides | |
| 815 them to a fair consideration of himself’, so that they do not | |
| 816 judge him according to appearances, but give a judgment which is | |
| 817 just. There are two ways in which one is said to judge according to | |
| 818 appearances. First, a judge may reach his decision relying on the | |
| 819 allegations: “Men see the things that are evident” (1 | |
| 820 Kgs 15:7). But this way can lead to error; thus he says, | |
| 821 <span style="font-weight: bold">Judge not by the | |
| 822 appearances,</span> i.e., by what is immediately evident, but | |
| 823 examine the matter diligently: “I diligently investigated the | |
| 824 stranger’s cause” (Jb 29:16); “He will not judge | |
| 825 by appearances” (Is 1 1:3). In the second way, <span style= | |
| 826 "font-weight: bold">Judge not by the appearances,</span> i.e., do | |
| 827 not show partiality or favoritism in your judgment: for all judges | |
| 828 are forbidden to do this. “You will not show favoritism when | |
| 829 judging a person who is poor” (Ex 23:6); “You have | |
| 830 shown partiality in your judgment” (Mal 2:9). To show | |
| 831 partiality in a judgment is not to give a judgment that is just | |
| 832 because of love, or deference, or fear, or the status of a person, | |
| 833 which things have nothing to do with the case. So he says: | |
| 834 <span style="font-weight: bold">Judge not by the appearances, but | |
| 835 with a just judgment,</span> as if to say: Just because Moses is | |
| 836 more honored among you than I am, you should not base your decision | |
| 837 on our reputations, but on the nature of the facts: because the | |
| 838 things I am doing are greater than what Moses did.</p> | |
| 839 <p>But it should be noted, according to Augustine, that one who | |
| 840 loves all equally does not judge with partiality. For when we honor | |
| 841 men differently according to their rank, we must beware of showing | |
| 842 partiality.</p> | |
| 843 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 844 </p> | |
| 845 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 846 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 3</span></p> | |
| 847 <blockquote> | |
| 848 <p>25 Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem then said: “Is he | |
| 849 not the man they want to kill? 26 Look, he is speaking publicly, | |
| 850 and they say nothing to him! Could it be that the rulers feally | |
| 851 know that he is the Christ? 27 We know where this man comes from; | |
| 852 but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes | |
| 853 from.” 28 So as Jesus was teaching in the temple, he cried | |
| 854 out and said:</p> | |
| 855 <dl> | |
| 856 <dd>“You do indeed know me,</dd> | |
| 857 <dd>and you know where I come from.</dd> | |
| 858 <dd>And I have not come of my own accord.</dd> | |
| 859 <dd>But the one who sent me is truthful,</dd> | |
| 860 <dd>whom you do not know.</dd> | |
| 861 <dd>29 I know him.</dd> | |
| 862 <dd>And if I were to say that I do not know him,</dd> | |
| 863 <dd>I would be like you, a liar.</dd> | |
| 864 <dd>But I do know him, because I am from him,</dd> | |
| 865 <dd>and he sent me.”<br /> | |
| 866 30 They therefore wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on | |
| 867 him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Many of the people, | |
| 868 however, believed in him, and they said: “When the Christ | |
| 869 comes, will he work more wonders than this man has done?” 32 | |
| 870 The Pharisees heard the people saying these things about him, so | |
| 871 the rulers and Pharisees sent officers to apprehend Jesus.</dd> | |
| 872 </dl> | |
| 873 </blockquote> | |
| 874 <p>1051 Having considered the origin of his doctrine, he now tells | |
| 875 us about the origin of its teacher. First, Christ shows his source, | |
| 876 from which he comes secondly, he shows his end, to which he goes (v | |
| 877 33). He does three things concerning the first. First, we see the | |
| 878 doubt of the people about his origin; secondly, we have | |
| 879 Christ’s teaching concerning his origin (v 28); and thirdly, | |
| 880 we see the effect this teaching had (v 30). He does two things | |
| 881 about the first. First, we see the amazement of the people; | |
| 882 secondly, their conjecture (v 26). The people were amazed over two | |
| 883 things: at the unjust statements of their leaders, and at the | |
| 884 public teaching of Christ (v 25).</p> | |
| 885 <p>1052 As we said before, Christ went up to this feast in secret | |
| 886 to show the weakness of his human nature; but he publicly taught in | |
| 887 the temple, with his enemies being unable to restrain him, to show | |
| 888 his divinity. And so, as Augustine remarks, what was thought to be | |
| 889 a lack of courage turned out to be strength. Accordingly, | |
| 890 <span style="font-weight: bold">Some of the inhabitants of | |
| 891 Jersusalem then said,</span> in amazement, for they knew how | |
| 892 fiercely their leaders were looking for him, as they lived with | |
| 893 them in Jerusalem. Thus Chrysostom says: “The most pitiable | |
| 894 of all were they who saw a very clear sign of his divinity and, | |
| 895 leaving everything to the judgment of their corrupt leaders, failed | |
| 896 to show Christ reverence.” “As the ruler of a city is, | |
| 897 so are its inhabitants” (Sir 10:2). Yet they were amazed at | |
| 898 the power he had which kept him from being apprehended. So they | |
| 899 said: <span style="font-weight: bold">Is he not the man | |
| 900 they,</span> i.e., their leaders, want. This agrees with what was | |
| 901 said before: “For reasons like this the Jews began to | |
| 902 persecute Jesus, because he performed such works on the | |
| 903 sabbath” (above 5:16); “Evil has come out of the elders | |
| 904 of the people, who ruled them” (Dn 13:5). This also shows | |
| 905 that Christ spoke the truth, while what their leaders said was | |
| 906 false. For above, when our Lord asked them: “Why do you want | |
| 907 to kill me?” they denied it and said: “You have a demon | |
| 908 within you! Who wants to kill you?” But here, what their | |
| 909 leaders had denied, these others admit when they say, <span style= | |
| 910 "font-weight: bold">Is he not the man they want to kill?</span> | |
| 911 Accordingly, they are amazed, considering the evil intentions of | |
| 912 their leaders.</p> | |
| 913 <p>1053 Again, they were amazed that Christ was openly teaching; so | |
| 914 they said: <span style="font-weight: bold">Look, he is speaking | |
| 915 publicly,</span> i.e., Christ was teaching, an indication of the | |
| 916 secure possession of the truth, “I have spoken | |
| 917 publicly” (below 18:20), <span style="font-weight: bold">and | |
| 918 they say nothing to him,</span> held back by divine power. For it | |
| 919 is a characteristic of God’s power that he prevents the | |
| 920 hearts of evil men from carrying out their evil plans. “When | |
| 921 1he Lord is pleased with the way a man is living he will make his | |
| 922 vneinies be at peace with him” (Ps 16:7); and again, | |
| 923 “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; he turns | |
| 924 it wherever he wills” (Prv 21:1).</p> | |
| 925 <p>1054 We see their conjecture when he says, <span style= | |
| 926 "font-weight: bold">Could it be that the rulers really know that he | |
| 927 is the Christ?</span> As if to say: Before, they sought to kill | |
| 928 him; but now that they have found him, they do not say anything to | |
| 929 him. Still, the leaders had not changed their opinion about Christ: | |
| 930 “If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord | |
| 931 of glory” (1 Cor 2:8), but were restrained by divine | |
| 932 power.</p> | |
| 933 <p>1055 Their objection to this conjecture is then added: We | |
| 934 <span style="font-weight: bold">know where this man comes | |
| 935 from.</span> As if to argue: The Christ should have a hidden | |
| 936 origin; but the origin of this man is known; therefore, he is not | |
| 937 the Christ. This shows their folly, for granted that some of their | |
| 938 leaders believed Christ, they did not follow their opinion, but | |
| 939 offered another, which was false. “This is Jerusalem; I have | |
| 940 set her in the midst of the nations” (Ez 5:5). For they knew | |
| 941 that Christ took his origin from Mary, but they did not know the | |
| 942 way this came about: “Isn’t Joseph his father, and Mary | |
| 943 his mother’?” as we read in Matthew ( 13:55).</p> | |
| 944 <p>1056 Why did they say, when the Christ comes, <span style= | |
| 945 "font-weight: bold">no one will know where he comes from,</span> | |
| 946 since it says in Micah (5:2): “Out of you | |
| 947 [Bethlehem-Ephrathah] will come a leader, who will rule my people | |
| 948 Israel.”? I answer that they took this opinion from Isaiah, | |
| 949 who said: “Who will make known his origin?” (53:8). | |
| 950 Thus, they knew from the prophets where he was from, according to | |
| 951 his human origin; and they also knew from them that they did not | |
| 952 know it, according to his divine origin.</p> | |
| 953 <p>1057 Then (v 28), he shows his origin. First, he shows in what | |
| 954 sense his origin is known, and in what sense it is not know; in the | |
| 955 second place, he shows how we can acquire a knowledge of his origin | |
| 956 (v 29). He does two things about the first. First, he shows what | |
| 957 they knew about his origin; secondly, what they did not know about | |
| 958 it (v 28b).</p> | |
| 959 <p>1058 They did know the origin of Jesus; and so he says of Jesus | |
| 960 that <span style="font-weight: bold">he cried out</span>. Now a cry | |
| 961 comes from some great emotion. Sometimes it indicates the upheaval | |
| 962 of a soul in interior distress; and in this sense it does not apply | |
| 963 to Christ: “He will not cry out” (Is 42:2); “The | |
| 964 words of the wise are heard in silence” (Ecc 9:17). Sometimes | |
| 965 it implies great devotion, as in, “In my trouble I cried to | |
| 966 the Lord” (Ps 119:1). And sometimes, along with this, it | |
| 967 signifies that what is to be said is important, as in, “The | |
| 968 Seraphim cried to each other and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy, is | |
| 969 the Lord God of hosts’ “ (Is 6:3); and in, “Does | |
| 970 not wisdom cry out?” (Prv 8:1). This is the way preachers are | |
| 971 encouraged to cry out: “Cry out, do not stop!. Raise you | |
| 972 voice like a trumpet” (Is 58:1). This is the way Christ cried | |
| 973 out here, teaching in the temple.</p> | |
| 974 <p>And he said: <span style="font-weight: bold">You do indeed know | |
| 975 me,</span> according to appearances, <span style= | |
| 976 "font-weight: bold">and you know where I come from,</span> that is, | |
| 977 as to my bodily existence: “After this he was seen on | |
| 978 earth” (Bar 3:38). For they knew that he was born from Mary | |
| 979 in Bethlehem, and brought up in Nazareth; but they did not know | |
| 980 about the virgin birth, and that he had been conceived through the | |
| 981 Holy Spirit, as Augustine says. With the exception of the virgin | |
| 982 birth, they knew everything about Jesus that pertained to his | |
| 983 humanity.</p> | |
| 984 <p>1059 They did not know his hidden origin; and so he says: And I | |
| 985 have not come of my own accord. First, he gives his origin; and | |
| 986 secondly, he shows that it is hidden from them.</p> | |
| 987 <p>His origin is from the Father, from eternity. And so he says: | |
| 988 <span style="font-weight: bold">I have not come of my own | |
| 989 accord,</span> as if to say: Before I came into the world through | |
| 990 my humanity, I existed according to my divinity: “Before | |
| 991 Abraham came to be, I am” (below 8:58). For he could not have | |
| 992 come unless he already was. And although I have come, <span style= | |
| 993 "font-weight: bold">I have not come of my own accord</span> [<i>a | |
| 994 me ipso</i>], because the Son is not of himself [<i>a se</i>], but | |
| 995 from the Father. “I came from the Father and have come into | |
| 996 the world” (below 16:28). Indeed, his origin was foretold by | |
| 997 the Father, who promised to send him: “I beg you, O Lord, | |
| 998 send him whom you are going to send” (Ex 4:13); “I will | |
| 999 send them a Savior and a defender, to free them” (Is 19:20). | |
| 1000 And so he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">the one who sent me | |
| 1001 is truthful,</span> as if to say: I have not come from another but | |
| 1002 from him who promised and kept his promise, as he is truthful: | |
| 1003 “God is truthful” (Rom 3:4). Consequently, he teaches | |
| 1004 me to speak the truth, because I have been sent by one who is | |
| 1005 truthful. But they do not know this, because they do not know him | |
| 1006 who sent me; and so he says: whom you do not know.</p> | |
| 1007 <p>1060 But since every man, although born in a bodily condition, | |
| 1008 is from God, it seems that Christ could say that he is from God; | |
| 1009 and consequently, that they do know where he comes from. I answer, | |
| 1010 according to Hilary, that the Son is a (from) God in a different | |
| 1011 way than others: for he is from God in such a way that he is also | |
| 1012 God; and so God is his consubstantial principle. But others are | |
| 1013 <i>a</i> (from) God, but in such a way that they are not <i>ex</i> | |
| 1014 (from) him. Thus, it is not known where the Son is from because the | |
| 1015 nature <i>ex</i> (from) which he is, is not known. But where men | |
| 1016 are from is not unknown: for if something exists <i>ex</i> (from) | |
| 1017 nothing, where it is from cannot be unknown.</p> | |
| 1018 <p>1061 Then when he says, I know him, he teaches us how to know | |
| 1019 him from whom he is. For if a thing is to be learned, it must be | |
| 1020 learned from one who knows it. But only the Son knows the Father. | |
| 1021 And so he says: If you wish to know him who sent me, you must | |
| 1022 acquire this knowledge from me, because <span style= | |
| 1023 "font-weight: bold">I</span> alone <span style= | |
| 1024 "font-weight: bold">know him.</span> First, he shows that he knows | |
| 1025 him; secondly, he shows the perfection of his knowledge; and | |
| 1026 thirdly, the nature of his knowledge.</p> | |
| 1027 <p>1062 He shows that he knows him when he says, I know him. Now it | |
| 1028 is true that “All men see him” Qb 36:25), but they do | |
| 1029 not we him in the same way, for in this life we see him through the | |
| 1030 intermediary of creatures: “The invisible things of God are | |
| 1031 clearly known through the things that have been made” (Rom | |
| 1032 1:20). Thus we read: “Now we see in a mirror, in an obscure | |
| 1033 manner” (1 Cor 13:12). But the angels and the blessed in | |
| 1034 heaven see him through his essence:—“Their angels in | |
| 1035 heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt | |
| 1036 18:10): “We shall see him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2). The Son | |
| 1037 of God, on the other hand, sees him in a more excellent way than | |
| 1038 all, that is, with a comprehensive or all-inclusive vision: | |
| 1039 “No one has ever seen God,” i.e., in a comprehensive | |
| 1040 way; “it is the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the | |
| 1041 Father, who has made him known” (above 1:18); “No one | |
| 1042 knows the Father but the Son” (Mt 11:27). It is of this | |
| 1043 vision that he is speaking of here, when he says: I know him, with | |
| 1044 a comprehensive knowledge.</p> | |
| 1045 <p>1063 He shows the perfection of his knowledge when he says: And | |
| 1046 if I were to say that I do not know <span style= | |
| 1047 "font-weight: bold">him, I would be like you, a liar.</span> This | |
| 1048 is mentioned for two reasons. Intellectual creatures do know God, | |
| 1049 though from a distance and imperfectly, for “All men see him, | |
| 1050 from a distance” (Jb 36:25). For divine truth transcends all | |
| 1051 our knowledge: “God is greater than our hearts” (1 Jn | |
| 1052 3:20). Therefore, whoever knows God can say without lying: “I | |
| 1053 do not know him,” because he does not know him to the full | |
| 1054 extent that he is knowable. But the Son knows God the Father most | |
| 1055 perfectly, just as he knows himself most perfectly. Thus he cannot | |
| 1056 say: I do not know him.</p> | |
| 1057 <p>Again, because our knowledge of God, especially that which comes | |
| 1058 through grace, can be lost—“They forgot God, who saved | |
| 1059 them” (Ps 105:21)—men can say, I do not know him, as | |
| 1060 long as they are in this present life: because no one knows whether | |
| 1061 he deserves love or hatred. The Son, on the other hand, has a | |
| 1062 knowledge of the Father that cannot be lost; so he cannot say: I do | |
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1063 not know him.</p> |
| 35 | 1064 <p>We should understand, I would be like you, as a reverse |
| 1065 likeness. For they would not be lying if they said they did not | |
| 1066 know God; but they would be if they said that they did know him, | |
| 1067 since they did not know him. But if Christ said that he did not | |
| 1068 know him, he would be lying, since he did know him. So the meaning | |
| 1069 of this statement is this: If I were to say that I do not know him, | |
| 1070 then since I really do know him, I would be like you, a liar, who | |
| 1071 say that you know him, although you do not.</p> | |
| 1072 <p>1064 Could not Christ have said: I do not know him? It seems he | |
| 1073 could, since he could have moved his lips and said the words. And | |
| 1074 so he could have lied. I reply that Christ did say this and still | |
| 1075 was not lying. We should explain it this way: If he were to say, | |
| 1076 <span style="font-weight: bold">I do not know him,</span> | |
| 1077 declaratively, meaning, “I believe in my heart what I profess | |
| 1078 by my lips,” [then he would have been a liar]. Now to say as | |
| 1079 the truth what is false comes from two defects: from a defect of | |
| 1080 knowledge in the intellect; and Christ could not have this since he | |
| 1081 is the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:30); or it could come from a defect | |
| 1082 of right will in the affections; and this could not be in Christ | |
| 1083 either since he is the power of God, according to the same text. | |
| 1084 Thus he could not say the words <span style="font-weight: bold">I | |
| 1085 do not know him</span>, declaratively. Yet this entire conditional | |
| 1086 statement is not false, although both its parts are impossible.</p> | |
| 1087 <p>1065 The reason for this singular and perfect knowledge of | |
| 1088 Christ is given when he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">I do | |
| 1089 know him, because I am from him, and he sent</span> me. Now all | |
| 1090 knowledge comes about through some likeness, since nothing is known | |
| 1091 except insofar as there is a likeness of the known in the knower. | |
| 1092 But whatever proceeds from something has a likeness to that from | |
| 1093 which it proceeds; and so, all who truly know have a varied | |
| 1094 knowledge of God according to the different degrees of their | |
| 1095 procession from him. The rational soul has a knowledge of God | |
| 1096 insofar as it participates in a likeness to him in a more imperfect | |
| 1097 way than other intellectual creatures. An angel, because it has a | |
| 1098 more explicit likeness to God, being a stamp of resemblance, knows | |
| 1099 God more clearly. But the Son has the most perfect likeness to the | |
| 1100 Father, since he has the same essence and power as he does; and so | |
| 1101 he knows him most perfectly, as was said. And so he says: | |
| 1102 <span style="font-weight: bold">But I do know him,</span> that is, | |
| 1103 to the extent that he is knowable. And the reason for this is | |
| 1104 because I am from him, having the same essence with him through | |
| 1105 consubstantiality. Thus, just as he knows himself perfectly through | |
| 1106 his essence, so I do know him perfectly through the same essence. | |
| 1107 And so that we do not understand these words as referring to his | |
| 1108 being sent into this world, he at once adds, and he sent me. | |
| 1109 Consequently, the statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">I am | |
| 1110 from him,</span> refers to his eternal generation, through which he | |
| 1111 is consubstantial with the Father. But then when he says, and he | |
| 1112 sent me, he is saying that the Father is the author of the | |
| 1113 incarnation: “God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under | |
| 1114 the law” (Gal 4:4). Now just as the Son has a perfect | |
| 1115 knowledge of the Father because he is from the Father, so because | |
| 1116 the soul of Christ is united to the Word in a unique way, it has a | |
| 1117 unique and more excellent knowledge of God than other creatures, | |
| 1118 although it does not comprehend him. And so Christ can say, | |
| 1119 according to his human nature: I know him in a more excellent way | |
| 1120 than other creatures do, but without comprehending him.</p> | |
| 1121 <p>1066 Then (v 30), he considers the effect of his teaching. First | |
| 1122 (in the people; then on the Pharisees (v 32). He does two things | |
| 1123 with the first. First, he shows the effect of this teaching on | |
| 1124 those of the people who were ill-willed; secondly, on those who | |
| 1125 were favorable (v 31). He does three things concerning the first. | |
| 1126 First, he mentions the evil intention of the people; secondly, that | |
| 1127 they were hindered in carrying out their plan; and thirdly, he | |
| 1128 mentions the reason why they were hindered.</p> | |
| 1129 <p>1007 he presents their evil intention when he says, <span style= | |
| 1130 "font-weight: bold">They therefore wanted to seize him.</span> | |
| 1131 Because our Lord said to them, “whom you do not know,” | |
| 1132 they became angry, feigning that they did know him. And so they | |
| 1133 formed the evil plan of seizing him, so that they could crucify and | |
| 1134 kill him: “Go after him, and seize him” (Ps 70:11). Yet | |
| 1135 there are some who have Christ within themselves, and still seek to | |
| 1136 seize him in a reverent manner: “I will go up into the palm | |
| 1137 tree and seize its fruit” (Sg 7:8). And so the Apostle says: | |
| 1138 “I will go after it to seize it” (Phil 3:12).</p> | |
| 1139 <p>1068 He mentions that they were hindered in their plans when he | |
| 1140 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">but no one laid a hand on | |
| 1141 him:</span> for their rage was invisibly checked and restrained. | |
| 1142 This shows that a person has the will to inflict injury from | |
| 1143 himself, while the power to inflict injury is from God. This is | |
| 1144 clear from the first chapters of Job, where Satan was unable to | |
| 1145 torment Job except to the extent that he was permitted to do so by | |
| 1146 God.</p> | |
| 1147 <p>1069 The reason they were hindered was <span style= | |
| 1148 "font-weight: bold">because his hour had not yet come.</span> Here | |
| 1149 we should note that “There is a time and fitness for | |
| 1150 everything” (Ecc 8:6). However, the time for anything is | |
| 1151 determined by its cause. Therefore, because the heavenly bodies are | |
| 1152 the cause of physical effects, the time for those things that act | |
| 1153 in a physical way is determined by the heavenly bodies. The soul, | |
| 1154 on the other hand, since it is not subject to any heavenly body in | |
| 1155 its intellect and reason (for in this respect it transcends | |
| 1156 temporal causes) does not have times determined by the heavenly | |
| 1157 bodies; rather, its times are determined by its cause, that is, | |
| 1158 God, who decrees what is to be done and at what time: “Why is | |
| 1159 one day better than another? ... They are differentiated by the | |
| 1160 knowledge of the Lord” (Si,33:7). Much less, therefore, is | |
| 1161 Christ’s time determined by these bodies. Accordingly, his | |
| 1162 hour must be regarded as fixed not by fatal necessity, but by the | |
| 1163 entire Trinity. For as Augustine says: “You should not | |
| 1164 believe this about yourself; and how much less should you believe | |
| 1165 it about he who made you? If your hour is his will, that is, | |
| 1166 God’s, what is his hour but his own will? Therefore, he was | |
| 1167 not speaking here of the hour in which he would be forced to die, | |
| 1168 but rather of the hour in which he thought it fitting to be | |
| 1169 killed.” “My time has not yet come,” as he said | |
| 1170 before (above 2:4); “Jesus knew that his time had come to | |
| 1171 leave this world for the Father” (below 13:1).</p> | |
| 1172 <p>1070 Then he mentions the effect his teaching had on those who | |
| 1173 were favorable. First, he shows their faith: <span style= | |
| 1174 "font-weight: bold">Many of the people, however, believed in | |
| 1175 him.</span> He does not say, “of the leaders,” because | |
| 1176 the higher their rank, the further away they were from hirn. So | |
| 1177 there was no room in them for wisdom: “Where there is | |
| 1178 humility, there is wisdom” (Prv 11:2).But the people, because | |
| 1179 they were quick to see their own sickness, immediately recognized | |
| 1180 our Lord’s medicine: “You have hidden these things from | |
| 1181 the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to little | |
| 1182 ones” (Mt 11:2 5). This is why in the beginning, it was the | |
| 1183 poor and the humble who were converted to Christ: “God chose | |
| 1184 what is lowly and despised in the world, and things that are not, | |
| 1185 to destroy those things that are” (1 Cor 1:28).</p> | |
| 1186 <p>Secondly, he gives the motive for their faith when he says, | |
| 1187 <span style="font-weight: bold">When the Christ comes, will he work | |
| 1188 more wonders than this man has done?</span> For it had been | |
| 1189 prophesied that when the Christ came, he would work many miracles: | |
| 1190 “God himself will come, and save us. Then the eyes of the | |
| 1191 blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear” (Is | |
| 1192 35:4). And so when they saw the miracles Christ was accomplishing, | |
| 1193 they were led to believe. Yet their faith was weak, because they | |
| 1194 were led to believe him not by his teaching, but by his miracles; | |
| 1195 whereas, since they were already believers, and instructed by the | |
| 1196 law, they should have been influenced more by his teaching: | |
| 1197 “Signs were given to unbelievers; while prophecies were given | |
| 1198 to believers, not to unbelievers” (1 Cor 14:22).</p> | |
| 1199 <p>Secondly, their faith was weak because they seemed to be | |
| 1200 expecting another Christ; thus they say: <span style= | |
| 1201 "font-weight: bold">When the Christ comes, will he work more | |
| 1202 wonders than this man has done?</span> From this it is obvious that | |
| 1203 they did not believe in Christ as in God, but as in some just man | |
| 1204 or prophet. Or, according to Augustine, they were reasoning this | |
| 1205 way: <span style="font-weight: bold">When the Christ comes, will he | |
| 1206 work more wonders than this man has done?</span> As if to say: We | |
| 1207 were promised that the Christ would come. But he will not work more | |
| 1208 signs than this man is doing. Therefore, either he is the Christ, | |
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1209 or there will be several Christs.</p> |
| 35 | 1210 <p>1071 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">The |
| 1211 Pharisees heard the people saying these things about him,</span> we | |
| 1212 see the effect this had on the Pharisees. And as Chrysostom says, | |
| 1213 Christ said many things, and yet the Pharisees were not aroused | |
| 1214 against him. But when they saw that the people were accepting him, | |
| 1215 they were immediately fired up against him; and in their madness | |
| 1216 they wanted to kill him. This shows that the real reason why they | |
| 1217 hated him was not that he broke the sabbath; what provoked them the | |
| 1218 most was the fact that the people were honoring Christ. And this is | |
| 1219 clear below: “Do you not see that we can do nothing? Look, | |
| 1220 the entire world has gone after him!” (12:19). Because they | |
| 1221 were afraid of the danger they did not dare to seize Christ | |
| 1222 themselves, but they sent their officers, who were used to such | |
| 1223 things.</p> | |
| 1224 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1225 </p> | |
| 1226 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 1227 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 4</span></p> | |
| 1228 <blockquote> | |
| 1229 <p>33 Jesus then said to them:</p> | |
| 1230 <dl> | |
| 1231 <dd>“For still a short time I am with you;</dd> | |
| 1232 <dd>then I am going to him who sent me.</dd> | |
| 1233 <dd>34 You will look for me,</dd> | |
| 1234 <dd>and you will not find me;</dd> | |
| 1235 <dd>and where I am, you will not be able to come.”<br /> | |
| 1236 35 The Jews therefore said to one another: “Where is he going | |
| 1237 that we cannot find him? Is he going to those dispersed among the | |
| 1238 Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? 36 What does he mean by saying, | |
| 1239 ‘You will look for me, and you will not find me’; and | |
| 1240 ‘where I am, you will not be able to come’?”</dd> | |
| 1241 </dl> | |
| 1242 </blockquote> | |
| 1243 <p>1072 After our Lord told the principle of his origin, he then | |
| 1244 mentions his end, i.e., where he would go by dying. First, the end | |
| 1245 of Christ’s life is given; secondly, we see that the people | |
| 1246 are puzzled by what he says (v 35). As to the first he does three | |
| 1247 things. First, the end of his life is mentioned; secondly, he | |
| 1248 predicts what they will desire in the future (v 34); and thirdly, | |
| 1249 he mentions one of their deficiencies (v 34b). He does two things | |
| 1250 about the first. First, he predicts the delay of his death until | |
| 1251 later; and secondly, he states where he will go by dying (v 33b). | |
| 1252 And so, in the first, he shows his power; and in the second, his | |
| 1253 will to suffer.</p> | |
| 1254 <p>1073 Our Lord shows his power by the delaying of his death until | |
| 1255 later; because, although the Jews wanted to seize him, they could | |
| 1256 not do this until Christ willed. “No one takes it from me, | |
| 1257 but I lay it down of myself” (below 10:18). And so Jesus | |
| 1258 said: <span style="font-weight: bold">For still a short time I am | |
| 1259 with you.</span> As if to say: You want to kill me; but this does | |
| 1260 not depend on your will, but on my will. And I have decided that | |
| 1261 <span style="font-weight: bold">For still a short time I am with | |
| 1262 you;</span> so wait a while. You will do what you want to do. These | |
| 1263 words of our Lord first of all satisfied those people who honored | |
| 1264 him, and made them more eager to listen to him because there was | |
| 1265 only a short time left to receive his teaching, as Chrysostom says. | |
| 1266 “While you have the light, believe in the light” (below | |
| 1267 12:36). Secondly, he satisfied those who were persecuting him. As | |
| 1268 if to say: Your desire for my death will not be delayed long; so be | |
| 1269 patient, because it is <span style="font-weight: bold">a short | |
| 1270 time.</span> For I must accomplish my mission: to preach, to | |
| 1271 perform miracles, and then to come to my passion. “Go and | |
| 1272 tell that fox that I will work today and tomorrow, and on the third | |
| 1273 day I will finish my course” (Lk 13:32).</p> | |
| 1274 <p>1074 There are three reasons why Christ wished to preach for | |
| 1275 only a short time. First, to show his power, by transforming the | |
| 1276 entire world in such a brief time: “One day in your courts is | |
| 1277 better than a thousand elsewhere” (Ps 83:11). Secondly, to | |
| 1278 arouse the desire of his disciples, i.e., to desire him more (him | |
| 1279 whose physical presence they would have for only a short time): | |
| 1280 “The days will come when you will desire to see one day of | |
| 1281 the Son of Man” (Lk 17:22). Thirdly, to accelerate the | |
| 1282 spiritual progress of his disciples. For since the humanity of | |
| 1283 Christ is our way to God, as it says below, “I am the way, | |
| 1284 and the truth, and the life” (14:6), we should not rest in it | |
| 1285 as a goal, but through it tend to God. And so that the hearts of | |
| 1286 his disciples, which were moved by the physical presence of Christ, | |
| 1287 would not rest in him as man, he quickly took his physical presence | |
| 1288 from them; thus he said: “It is advantageous for you that I | |
| 1289 go” (below 16:7); “If we knew Christ according to the | |
| 1290 flesh (i.e., when he was physically present to us) now we no longer | |
| 1291 know him in this way” (2 Cor 5:16).</p> | |
| 1292 <p>1075 He shows his desire for his passion when he says, | |
| 1293 <span style="font-weight: bold">I am going to him who sent | |
| 1294 me,</span> that is, willingly, by my passion: “He was offered | |
| 1295 because it was his own will” (Is 53:7); “He gave | |
| 1296 himself for us, an offering to God” (Eph 5:2). 1 am going, I | |
| 1297 say, to the Father, to him who sent me. And this is appropriate, | |
| 1298 for everything naturally returns to its principle: “Rivers | |
| 1299 return to the place from which they come” (Ecc 1:7); | |
| 1300 “Jesus ... knowing that he came from God, and was going to | |
| 1301 God” (below 13:3). And again: “I am going to him who | |
| 1302 sent me” (below 16:5).</p> | |
| 1303 <p>1076 When he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">You will look | |
| 1304 for me, and you will not find me,</span> he is predicting what the | |
| 1305 Jews will desire in the times to Come. As if to say: You can enjoy | |
| 1306 my teaching for a short time; but this brief time, which you are | |
| 1307 now rejecting, you will look for later, and you will not find it: | |
| 1308 “Search for the Lord while he can be found” (Is 55:6); | |
| 1309 and “Seek the Lord (at the present time), and your soul will | |
| 1310 live” (Ps 68:33).</p> | |
| 1311 <p>1077 This statement, <span style="font-weight: bold">You will | |
| 1312 look for me, and you will not find me,</span> can be understood | |
| 1313 either as a physical search for Christ or as a spiritual search. If | |
| 1314 we understand it as a physical search, dien, according to | |
| 1315 Chrysostom, this is the way he was sought by the daughters of | |
| 1316 Jerusalem, i.e., the women who cried for him, as Luke (23:27) | |
| 1317 mentions; and no doubt many others were affected at the same time. | |
| 1318 It is not unreasonable to think that when trouble was near, | |
| 1319 especially when their city was being captured, the Jews remembered | |
| 1320 Christ and his miracles and wished that he were there to free them. | |
| 1321 And in this way, <span style="font-weight: bold">You will look for | |
| 1322 me,</span> i.e., for me to be physically present, <span style= | |
| 1323 "font-weight: bold">and you will not find me.</span></p> | |
| 1324 <p>If we understand this as a spiritual search for Christ, then we | |
| 1325 should say, as Augustine does, that although they refused to | |
| 1326 recognize Christ while he was among them, they later looked for | |
| 1327 him, after they had seen the people believe and had themselves been | |
| 1328 stung by the crime of his death; and they said to Peter: | |
| 1329 “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). In this way, | |
| 1330 they were looking for Christ (whom they saw die as a result of | |
| 1331 their crime) when they believed in him who forgave them.</p> | |
| 1332 <p>1078 Then when he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">and | |
| 1333 where I am, you will not be able to come,</span> he points out one | |
| 1334 of their deficiencies. He does not say, “and where I am | |
| 1335 going,” which would be more in keeping with the earlier | |
| 1336 thought, “I am going,” to the Father, “to him who | |
| 1337 sent me.” He says rather, where I am, to show that he is both | |
| 1338 God and man. He is man insofar as he is going: “I am going to | |
| 1339 him who sent me” (below 16:5). But insofar as Christ had | |
| 1340 always been where he was about to return, he shows that he is God: | |
| 1341 “No one has gone up to heaven except the One who came down | |
| 1342 from heaven” (above 3:13). And so, as Augustine says, just as | |
| 1343 Christ returned in such a way as not to leave us, so he came down | |
| 1344 to us, when he assumed visible flesh, but in such a way as still to | |
| 1345 be in heaven according to his invisible greatness.</p> | |
| 1346 <p>He does not say, “You will not find,” because some | |
| 1347 were about to go; but he does say, you will not be able to come, | |
| 1348 i.e., as long as you keep your present attitude; for no one can | |
| 1349 obtain the eternal inheritance. unless he is God’s heir. And | |
| 1350 one becomes an heir of God by faith in Christ: “he gave them | |
| 1351 power to become the sons of God, to all who believe in his | |
| 1352 name” (above 1:12). But the Jews did not yet believe in him; | |
| 1353 and so he says, <span style="font-weight: bold">you will not be | |
| 1354 able to come.</span> In the Psalm it is asked: “Who will | |
| 1355 ascend the mountain of the Lord?” And the answer given is: | |
| 1356 “Those whose hands are innocent and whose hearts are | |
| 1357 clean” (Ps 23:3). But the hearts of the Jews were not clean, | |
| 1358 nor were their hands innocent, because they wanted to kill Christ. | |
| 1359 And so he says: you are not able to ascend the mountain of the | |
| 1360 Lord.</p> | |
| 1361 <p>1079 Then (v 35), we see that this was bewildering to the Jews, | |
| 1362 who, although they thought of Christ in a worldly way, still did | |
| 1363 believe to a certain extent. And three things happen here. First, | |
| 1364 they are bewildered; secondly, they form an opinion, and thirdly, | |
| 1365 they argue against their own opinion.</p> | |
| 1366 <p>1080 They are perplexed when they say to each other: | |
| 1367 <span style="font-weight: bold">Where is he going that we cannot | |
| 1368 find him?</span> For, as was said, they understood this in a | |
| 1369 physical way: “The sensual man does not perceive those things | |
| 1370 that pertain to the Spirit of God” (1 Cor 2:14).</p> | |
| 1371 <p>1081 And so they came to the opinion that Christ was going to go | |
| 1372 in a physical way, not by dying, to some place where they would not | |
| 1373 be permitted to go. Thus they say: <span style= | |
| 1374 "font-weight: bold">Is he going to those dispersed among the | |
| 1375 Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?</span> For the Gentiles were | |
| 1376 separated from the way of life of the Jews: “separated from | |
| 1377 Israel’s way of life, strangers to the covenants, without | |
| 1378 hope in the promise, and without God in this world” (Eph | |
| 1379 2:12). And so they said, in a way reproaching him, to those | |
| 1380 dispersed among the Gentiles, who had settled in many different | |
| 1381 places: “These are the families of Noe ... and they settled | |
| 1382 among the nations on the earth after the flood” (Gn 10:32). | |
| 1383 But the Jewish people were united by place, by their worship of the | |
| 1384 one God, and by the observance of the law: “The Lord builds | |
| 1385 up Jerusalem, and he will gather the dispersed of Israel” (Ps | |
| 1386 146:2).</p> | |
| 1387 <p>They did not say that he would go to the Gentiles to become a | |
| 1388 Gentile himself, but to bring them back; and so they said, and | |
| 1389 teach the Gentiles. They probably took this from Isaiah (49:6): | |
| 1390 “I have given you to be a light to the Gentiles, to be my | |
| 1391 salvation to the ends of the earth.” However, even though | |
| 1392 they did not understand what they were saying (just as Caiphas did | |
| 1393 not understand his own words: “It is expedient for you that | |
| 1394 one man die for the people, and that the entire nation does not | |
| 1395 perish”), what they said was true, and they were predicting | |
| 1396 the salvation of the Gentiles, as Augustine says, for Christ would | |
| 1397 go to the Gentiles, not in his own body, but by his feet, i.e., his | |
| 1398 apostles. For he sent his own members to us to niake us his | |
| 1399 members. “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold, | |
| 1400 and I must bring them also ... and there will be one fold and | |
| 1401 oneShepherd” (below 10:16). And so Isaiah says, speaking for | |
| 1402 the Gentiles: “He will teach us his ways” (Is 2:3).</p> | |
| 1403 <p>1082 Finally, they saw an objection to their own opinion when | |
| 1404 they said: <span style="font-weight: bold">What does he mean by | |
| 1405 saying</span> ... ? As if to say: If he had said only, <span style= | |
| 1406 "font-weight: bold">You will look for me, and you will not find | |
| 1407 me</span>, we could think that he was going to the Gentiles. But he | |
| 1408 seems to exclude this when he adds, <span style= | |
| 1409 "font-weight: bold">where I am, you will not be able to | |
| 1410 come</span>, for we can go to the Gentiles.</p> | |
| 1411 <p style="margin-bottom: 0.125in; margin-bottom: 0.125in"> | |
| 1412 </p> | |
| 1413 <p style="text-align: center"><span style= | |
| 1414 "font-weight: bold">LECTURE 5</span></p> | |
| 1415 <blockquote> | |
| 1416 <p>37 On the last and greatest day of the festival Jesus stood up | |
| 1417 and cried out, saying:</p> | |
| 1418 <dl> | |
| 1419 <dd>“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.</dd> | |
| 1420 <dd>38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures say,</dd> | |
| 1421 <dd>out of his heart shall flow rivers of living | |
| 1422 water.”<br /> | |
| 1423 39 (He said this concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in | |
| 1424 him would receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, since | |
| 1425 Jesus had not yet been glorified.) 40 From that moment some of the | |
| 1426 people, hearing these words of his, said: “Truly, this is the | |
| 1427 Prophet.” 41 Others said: “This is the Christ.” | |
| 1428 But others said: “Would the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Does | |
| 1429 not Scripture say that the Christ will come from the seed of David, | |
| 1430 and from David’s town of Bethlehem?” 43 And so there | |
| 1431 was dissension among the people because of him. 44 Although some of | |
| 1432 them wanted to apprehend him, no one laid a hand on him. 45 So the | |
| 1433 officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to | |
| 1434 them: “Why have you not brought him?” 46 The officers | |
| 1435 replied: “Never has any man spoken like this man.” 47 | |
| 1436 The Pharisees then retorted: “Have you too been seduced? him, | |
| 1437 or any of the Pharisees? 48 Has any one of the rulers believed in | |
| 1438 49 But these people, who do not know the law, they are | |
| 1439 accursed.” 50 Nicodemus (the same one who came to him at | |
| 1440 night, and was one of them) said: 51 “Does our law judge a | |
| 1441 man without first hearing from him and knowing what he has | |
| 1442 done?” 52 They answered and said to him: “Are you too a | |
| 1443 Galilean? Look at the Scriptures and see that the Prophet will not | |
| 1444 come from Galilee.” 53 Then every man returned to his own | |
| 1445 house.</dd> | |
| 1446 </dl> | |
| 1447 </blockquote> | |
| 1448 <p>1083 After our Lord told them about the origin of his doctrine | |
| 1449 and of the teacher, as well as his end, he now invites them to | |
| 1450 accept his teaching itself. First, we see Christ’s | |
| 1451 invitation; secondly, the dissension among the people (v 40). He | |
| 1452 does three things about the first. First, he tells us the manner of | |
| 1453 this invitation; secondly, we see the invitation itself (v 37); and | |
| 1454 thirdly, he explains what it means (v 39). The manner of the | |
| 1455 invitation is described in three ways: by its time; by the posture | |
| 1456 of the one inviting; and by his efforts.</p> | |
| 1457 <p>1084 As to the time, we see that it was <span style= | |
| 1458 "font-weight: bold">the last and greatest day of the | |
| 1459 festival.</span> For as we saw before, this feast was celebrated | |
| 1460 for seven days, and the first and the last day were the more | |
| 1461 solemn; just as with us, the first day of a feast and its octave | |
| 1462 are the more solemn. Therefore, what our Lord did here he did not | |
| 1463 do on the first day, as he had not yet gone to Jerusalem, nor in | |
| 1464 the intervening days, but on the last day. And he acted then | |
| 1465 because there are few who celebrate feasts in a spiritual way. | |
| 1466 Consequently, he did not invite them to his teaching at the | |
| 1467 beginning of the festival so that the trifles of the following days | |
| 1468 would not drive it from their hearts; for we read that the word of | |
| 1469 the Lord is choked by thorns (Lk 8:7). But he did invite them on | |
| 1470 the last day so that his teaching would be more deeply impressed on | |
| 1471 their hearts.</p> | |
| 1472 <p>1085 As to his posture, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus | |
| 1473 stood up.</span> Here we should note that Christ taught both while | |
| 1474 sitting and standing. He taught his disciples while sitting (Mt | |
| 1475 5:1); while he stood when he taught the people, as he is doing | |
| 1476 here. It is from this that we get the custom in the Church of | |
| 1477 standing when preaching to the people, but sitting while preaching | |
| 1478 to religious and clerics. The reason for this is that since the aim | |
| 1479 in preaching to the people is to convert them, it takes the form of | |
| 1480 an exhortation; but when preaching is directed to clergy, already | |
| 1481 living in the house of God, it takes the form of a reminder.</p> | |
| 1482 <p>1086 As to his effort we read that he <span style= | |
| 1483 "font-weight: bold">cried out,</span> in order to show his own | |
| 1484 assurance: “Raise up your voice with strength ... raise it | |
| 1485 up, and do not be afraid” (Is 40:9); and so that all would be | |
| 1486 able to hear him: “Cry out, and do not stop; raise your voice | |
| 1487 like a trumpet” (Is 58:1); and to stress the importance of | |
| 1488 what he was about to say: “Listen to me, for I will tell you | |
| 1489 about great things” (Prv 8:6).</p> | |
| 1490 <p>1087 Next (v 37b), we see Christ’s invitation: first, | |
| 1491 those who are invited; secondly, the fruit of this invitation.</p> | |
| 1492 <p>1088 It is the thirsty who are invited. Thus he says: | |
| 1493 <span style="font-weight: bold">If anyone thirsts, let him come to | |
| 1494 me and drink;</span> “Come to the waters, all you who | |
| 1495 thirst” (Is 55:1). He calls the thirsty because such people | |
| 1496 want to serve God. For God does not accept a forced service: | |
| 1497 “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). So we read: | |
| 1498 “I will sacrifice freely” (Is 53:8). And such people | |
| 1499 are described in Matthew this way: “Blessed are they who | |
| 1500 hunger and thirst for what is right” (Mt 5:6). Now our Lord | |
| 1501 calls all of these people, not just some; and so he says: | |
| 1502 <span style="font-weight: bold">It anyone thirsts,</span> as if to | |
| 1503 say: whoever it is. “Come to me, all you who desire me, and | |
| 1504 be filled with my fruits” (Sir 24:26); “He desires the | |
| 1505 salvation of all” (1 Tim 2:4).</p> | |
| 1506 <p>Jesus invites them to drink; and so he says, <span style= | |
| 1507 "font-weight: bold">and drink.</span> For this drink is spiritual | |
| 1508 refreshment in the knowledge of divine wisdom and truth, and in the | |
| 1509 realization of their desires: “My servants will drink, and | |
| 1510 you will be thirsty” (Is 65:13), “Come and eat my | |
| 1511 bread, and drink the wine I have mixed for you” (Prv 9:5), | |
| 1512 “She [wisdom] will give him the water of saving wisdom to | |
| 1513 drink” (Sir 15:3).</p> | |
| 1514 <p>1089 The fruit of this invitation is that good things overflow | |
| 1515 upon others; thus he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever | |
| 1516 believes in me, as the Scriptures say, out of his heart shall flow | |
| 1517 rivers of living water.</span> According to Chrysostom, we should | |
| 1518 read this as follows: <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever | |
| 1519 believes in me, as the Scriptures say.</span> And then a new | |
| 1520 sentence begins: <span style="font-weight: bold">Out of his heart | |
| 1521 shall flow rivers of living water.</span> For if we say: | |
| 1522 <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever believes in me,</span> and | |
| 1523 follow this with, <span style="font-weight: bold">as the Scriptures | |
| 1524 say, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water,</span> it | |
| 1525 does not seem to be correct, for the statement, <span style= | |
| 1526 "font-weight: bold">out of his heart shall flow rivers of living | |
| 1527 water,</span> is not found in any book of the Old Testament. So we | |
| 1528 should say: <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever believes in me, | |
| 1529 as the Scriptures say;</span> that is, according to the teaching of | |
| 1530 the Scriptures. “Search the Scriptures ... they too bear | |
| 1531 witness to me” (above 5:39). And then there follows: | |
| 1532 <span style="font-weight: bold">Out of his heart shall flow rivers | |
| 1533 of living water.</span> He says here, <span style= | |
| 1534 "font-weight: bold">Whoever believes in me,</span> while before he | |
| 1535 said, “He who comes to me,” because to believe and to | |
| 1536 come are the same thing: “Come to him and be | |
| 1537 enlightened,” as we read in the Psalm (33:6).</p> | |
| 1538 <p>But Jerome punctuates this in a different way. He says that | |
| 1539 after <span style="font-weight: bold">Whoever believes in | |
| 1540 me,</span> there follows, <span style="font-weight: bold">as the | |
| 1541 Scriptures say, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living | |
| 1542 water.</span> And he says that this phrase was taken from Proverbs | |
| 1543 (5:15): “Drink the water from your own cistern, and from the | |
| 1544 streams of you own well. Let your fountains flow far and | |
| 1545 wide.”</p> | |
| 1546 <p>1090 We should note, with Augustine, that rivers come from | |
| 1547 fountains as their source. Now one who drinks natural water does | |
| 1548 not have either a fountain or a river within himself, because he | |
| 1549 takes only a small portion of water. But one who drinks by | |
| 1550 believing in Christ draws in a fountain of water; and when he draws | |
| 1551 it in, his conscience, which is the heart of the inner man, begins | |
| 1552 to live and it itself becomes a fountain. So we read above: | |
| 1553 “The water that I give will become a fountain within | |
| 1554 him” (4:14). This fountain which is taken in is the Holy | |
| 1555 Spirit, of whom we read: “With you is the fountain of | |
| 1556 life” (Ps 35:10). Therefore, whoever drinks the the gifts of | |
| 1557 the graces, which are signified by the rivers, in such a way that | |
| 1558 he alone benefits, will not have living water flowing from his | |
| 1559 heart. But whoever acts quickly to help others, and to share with | |
| 1560 them the various gifts of grace he has received from God, will have | |
| 1561 living water flowing from his heart. This is why Peter says: | |
| 1562 “According to the grace each has received, let them use it to | |
| 1563 benefit one another” (1 Pet 4:10).</p> | |
| 1564 <p>He says, <span style="font-weight: bold">rivers,</span> to | |
| 1565 indicate the abundance of the spiritual gifts which were promised | |
| 1566 to those who believe: “The river of God is full of | |
| 1567 water” (Ps 64:10) ; and also their force or onrush: | |
| 1568 “When they rush to Jacob, Israel will blossom and bud, and | |
| 1569 they will fill the surface of the earth with fruit” (Is | |
| 1570 27:6); and again, “The rush of the rivers gives joy to the | |
| 1571 city of God” (Ps 45:5). Thus, because the Apostle was | |
| 1572 governed by the impulsive force and fervor of the Holy Spirit, he | |
| 1573 said: “The love of Christ spurs us on” (2 Cor 5:14); | |
| 1574 and “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of | |
| 1575 God” (Rom 8:14). The separate distribution of the gifts of | |
| 1576 the Holy Spirit is also indicated, for we read, “to one the | |
| 1577 gift of healing ... to another the gift of tongues” (1 Cor | |
| 1578 12:10). These gifts are “rivers of living water” | |
| 1579 because they flow directly from their source, which is the | |
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1580 indwelling Holy Spirit.</p> |
| 35 | 1581 <p>1091 Then (v 39), he explains what he said. First we see the |
| 1582 explanation; secondly, the reason behind this explanation (v | |
| 1583 39b).</p> | |
| 1584 <p>1092 Christ had said: “out of his heart shall flow rivers | |
| 1585 of living water.” The Evangelist tells us that we should | |
| 1586 understand this <span style="font-weight: bold">concerning the | |
| 1587 Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive,</span> | |
| 1588 because the Spirit is the fountain and river of life. He is the | |
| 1589 fountain of which we read: “With you is the fountain of life; | |
| 1590 and in your light we will see light” (Ps 35:10). And the | |
| 1591 Spirit is a river because he proceeds from the Father and the Son: | |
| 1592 “The angel then showed me the river of the water of life, | |
| 1593 clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the | |
| 1594 Lamb” (Rv 22:1). “He gave the Spirit,” that is, | |
| 1595 to those who obey him (Is 42:1).</p> | |
| 1596 <p>1093 He gives the reason behind this explanation, saying, | |
| 1597 <span style="font-weight: bold">for as yet the Spirit had not been | |
| 1598 given.</span> And he says two things. <span style= | |
| 1599 "font-weight: bold">as yet the Spirit had not been given,</span> | |
| 1600 and that <span style="font-weight: bold">Jesus had not yet been | |
| 1601 glorifled.</span></p> | |
| 1602 <p>There are two opinions about the first of these. For Chrysostom | |
| 1603 says that before the resurrection of Christ the Holy Spirit was not | |
| 1604 given to the apostles with respect to the gifts of prophecy and | |
| 1605 miracles. And so this grace, which was given to the prophets, was | |
| 1606 not to he found on earth until Christ came, and after that it was | |
| 1607 not given to anyone until the above mentioned time. And if anyone | |
| 1608 objects that the apostles cast out devils before the resurrection, | |
| 1609 it should be understood that they were cast out by that power which | |
| 1610 was from Christ, not by the Spirit; for when he sent them out, we | |
| 1611 do not read that he gave them the Holy Spirit, but rather that | |
| 1612 “he gave them power over unclean spirits” (Mt | |
| 1613 10:1).</p> | |
| 1614 <p>However, this seems to conflict with what our Lord says in the | |
| 1615 Gospel of’ Luke: “If I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by | |
| 1616 whom do your children cast them out’?” (Lk 11:19). But | |
| 1617 it is certain that our Lord cast out devils by the Holy Spirit, as | |
| 1618 the children did also, that is, the apostles, Therefore, it is | |
| 1619 clear that they had received the Holy Spirit. And so we must say, | |
| 1620 with Augustine, that the apostles had the Holy Spirit before the | |
| 1621 resurrection, even with respect to the gifts of prophecy and | |
| 1622 miracles. And when we read here that <span style= | |
| 1623 "font-weight: bold">as yet the Spirit had not been given,</span> we | |
| 1624 should understand this to refer to a more abundant giving, and one | |
| 1625 with visible signs, as the Spirit was given to them in tongues of | |
| 1626 fire after the resurrection and ascension.</p> | |
| 1627 <p>1094 But since the Holy Spirit sanctifies the Church and is even | |
| 1628 now received by those who believe, why does no one speak in the | |
| 1629 languages of all nations as then? My answer is that it is not | |
| 1630 necessary, as Augustine says. For now the universal Church speaks | |
| 1631 the languages of all the nations, because the love of charity is | |
| 1632 given by the Holy Spirit: “The love of God is poured out into | |
| 1633 our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5); and this love, | |
| 1634 making all things common, makes everyone speak to everyone else. As | |
| 1635 Augustine says: “If you love unity, then you have everything | |
| 1636 that anyone else has in it (i.e., in the Church). Give up your | |
| 1637 envy, and what I have is also yours; ill-will divides, the love of | |
| 1638 charity unites. If you have this love, you will have | |
| 1639 everything.” But at the beginning, before the Church was | |
| 1640 spread throughout the world, because it had few members, they had | |
| 1641 to speak the languages of all so that they could establish the | |
| 1642 Church among all.</p> | |
| 1643 <p>1095 With regard to the second point, we should note that | |
| 1644 Augustine thinks the statement, <span style= | |
| 1645 "font-weight: bold">Jesus had not yet been glorified,</span> should | |
| 1646 be understood as the glory of the resurrection. As if to say: Jesus | |
| 1647 had not yet risen from the dead or ascended into heaven. We read | |
| 1648 about this below: “Father, glorify me” (17:5). And the | |
| 1649 reason why Christ willed to be glorified before he gave the Holy | |
| 1650 Spirit is that the Holy Spirit is given to us so that we might | |
| 1651 raise our hearts from the love of this world in a spiritual | |
| 1652 resurrection, and turn completely to God. To those who are afire | |
| 1653 with the love of the Holy Spirit, Christ promised eternal life, | |
| 1654 where we will not die, and where we will have no fear. And for this | |
| 1655 reason he did not wish to give the Holy Spirit until he was | |
| 1656 glorified, so that he might show in his body the life for which we | |
| 1657 hope in the resurrection.</p> | |
| 1658 <p>1096 For Chrysostom, however, this statement does not refer to | |
| 1659 the glory of the resurrection, but to the glorification of the | |
| 1660 passion. When his passion was near, our Lord said: “Now the | |
| 1661 Son of Man is glorified” (below 13:3 1). So, according to | |
| 1662 this view, the Holy Spirit was first given after the passion, when | |
| 1663 our Lord said to his apostles: “Receive the Holy | |
| 1664 Spirit” (below 20:22). The Holy Spirit was not given before | |
| 1665 the passion because, since it is a gift, it should not be given to | |
| 1666 enemies, but to friends. But We were enemies. Thus it was necessary | |
| 1667 that first the victim be offered on the altar of the cross, and | |
| 1668 enmity be destroyed in his flesh, so that by this we might be | |
| 1669 reconciled to God by the death of his Son; and then, having been | |
| 1670 made friends, we could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.</p> | |
| 1671 <p>1097 The Evangelist, having shown us Christ’s invitation | |
| 1672 to a spiritual drink, now presents the disagreement of the people. | |
| 1673 First, the disagreement among the people themselves; secondly, that | |
| 1674 of their leaders (v 45). He does two things about the first. First, | |
| 1675 he states what those who disagreed said; secondly, he states the | |
| 1676 fact that there was a disagreement (v 43).</p> | |
| 1677 <p>What the people said varied according to their different | |
| 1678 opinions about Christ. And he gives three of their opinions: two of | |
| 1679 these were the opinions of those who were coming for spiritual | |
| 1680 drink; and the third was held by those who shrank from it.</p> | |
| 1681 <p>1098 The first opinion was that Christ was the Prophet. So he | |
| 1682 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">From that moment,</span> | |
| 1683 i.e., from the time Christ had spoken on the great day of the | |
| 1684 feast, <span style="font-weight: bold">hearing these words of his, | |
| 1685 some of the people said,</span> i.e., those who had now begun to | |
| 1686 drink that water spiritually, <span style= | |
| 1687 "font-weight: bold">Truly, this is the Prophet.</span> They did not | |
| 1688 just call him a prophet, but <span style="font-weight: bold">the | |
| 1689 Prophet,</span> thinking that he was the one about whom Moses | |
| 1690 foretold: “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you | |
| 1691 from your brothers ... you will listen to him” (Dt | |
| 1692 18:15).</p> | |
| 1693 <p>1099 Another opinion was of those who said, <span style= | |
| 1694 "font-weight: bold">This is the Christ.</span> These people had | |
| 1695 drawn closer to that [spiritual] drink, and had slaked the thirst | |
| 1696 of unbelief to a greater extent. This is what Peter himself | |
| 1697 professed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living | |
| 1698 God” (Mt 16:16).</p> | |
| 1699 <p>1100 The third opinion conflicts with the other two. First, | |
| 1700 those who hold this disagree with those who say that Jesus is the | |
| 1701 Christ; secondly, they support their opinion with an authority. So | |
| 1702 he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">But others said,</span> | |
| 1703 those remaining in the dryness of unbelief, <span style= | |
| 1704 "font-weight: bold">Would the Christ come from Galilee?</span> For | |
| 1705 they knew that it was not predicted by the prophets that the Christ | |
| 1706 would come from Galilee. And they said what they did because they | |
| 1707 thought that Jesus had been born in Nazareth, not knowing that it | |
| 1708 was really in Bethlehem: for it was well known that he had been | |
| 1709 brought up in Nazareth, but only a few knew where he was born. | |
| 1710 Nevertheless, although the Scripture does not say that the Christ | |
| 1711 would be born in Galilee, it did foretell that he would first start | |
| 1712 out from there: “The people who walked in darkness saw a | |
| 1713 great light, and on those who lived in the region of the shadow of | |
| 1714 death, a light has risen” (Is 9:1). It even foretold that the | |
| 1715 Christ would come from Nazareth: “A flower will rise up from | |
| 1716 his roots” (Is 11:1 ), where the Hebrew version reads: | |
| 1717 “A Nazarene will rise up from his roots.”</p> | |
| 1718 <p>1101 They support their objection by the authority of Scripture | |
| 1719 when they say, <span style="font-weight: bold">Does not Scripture | |
| 1720 say that the Christ will come from the seed of David, and from | |
| 1721 David’s town of Bethlehem?</span> We read in Jeremiah (23:5) | |
| 1722 that Jesus would come from the seed of David: “I will raise | |
| 1723 up a just branch for David.” And we see that David was | |
| 1724 “the anointed of God” (2 Sm 23:1). In Micah (5:2) we | |
| 1725 read that Jesus would come from Bethlehem: “And you, | |
| 1726 Bethlehem, land of Judah: from you there will come forth, for me, a | |
| 1727 ruler of Israel.”</p> | |
| 1728 <p>1102 Then (v 43), the disagreement among the people is | |
| 1729 mentioned; secondly, the attempt of some of them to seize Christ; | |
| 1730 and thirdly, the failure of their attempt.</p> | |
| 1731 <p>1103 <span style="font-weight: bold">And so there was dissension | |
| 1732 among the people because of him,</span> that is, Christ. For it | |
| 1733 often happens that when the truth is made known, it causes | |
| 1734 dissensions and uneasiness in the hearts of the wicked. So Jeremiah | |
| 1735 says, representing Christ: “Woe is me, my mother! Why did you | |
| 1736 give birth to me as a man of strife and dissension for all the | |
| 1737 earth” (Jer 15:10). And our Lord said: “I have not come | |
| 1738 to send peace, but the sword” (Mt 10:34).</p> | |
| 1739 <p>1104 Some of them attempted to seize Christ; so he says, some of | |
| 1740 them, that is, those who had said, “Would the Christ come | |
| 1741 from Galilee?” <span style="font-weight: bold">wanted to | |
| 1742 apprehend him,</span> to kill him out of hatred: “Pursue and | |
| 1743 seize him” (Ps 70:11); “The enemy said: ‘I will | |
| 1744 pursue and seize’ “ (Ex 15:9). On the other hand, those | |
| 1745 who are good and those who believe want to seize Christ to enjoy | |
| 1746 him: “I will go up into the palm tree and seize its | |
| 1747 fruit” (Sg 7:8).</p> | |
| 1748 <p>1105 But they were frustrated by the power of Christ. So he | |
| 1749 says: <span style="font-weight: bold">no one laid a hand on | |
| 1750 him,</span> that is, because Jesus was not willing that they do so, | |
| 1751 for this depended on his power: “No one takes my soul from | |
| 1752 me, but I lay it down of myself” (below 10. 18). Accordingly, | |
| 1753 when Christ did will to suffer, he did not wait for them, but he | |
| 1754 offered himself to them: “Jesus stepped forward and said to | |
| 1755 them: ‘Whom are you looking for?” (below 18:4).</p> | |
| 1756 <p>1106 Then (v 45), we see the dissension of the leaders of the | |
| 1757 people: first, their disagreement with their officers; and | |
| 1758 secondly, the disagreement among themselves (v 50). He does three | |
| 1759 things about the first: first, he shows the leaders rebuking their | |
| 1760 officers; secondly, the testimony the officers gave about Christ; | |
| 1761 and thirdly, we see the leaders reprimanding their own | |
| 1762 officers.</p> | |
| 1763 <p>1107 As to the first, let us note the evil of the leaders, that | |
| 1764 is, the chief priests and Pharisees, when they say to their | |
| 1765 officers. <span style="font-weight: bold">Why have you not brought | |
| 1766 him?</span> For their evil was so great that their own officers | |
| 1767 could not please them unless they injured Christ: “They | |
| 1768 cannot sleep unless they have done something evil” (Prv | |
| 1769 4:16).</p> | |
| 1770 <p>There is a problem here about the literal meaning of the text. | |
| 1771 For since it was said before that the officers were sent to | |
| 1772 apprehend Jesus when the festival was half over (v 32), that is, on | |
| 1773 the fourth day, and here we read that they returned on the seventh | |
| 1774 day, “On the last and greatest day of the festival” (v | |
| 1775 37), it seems that the Evangelist overlooked the days inbetween. | |
| 1776 There are two answers to this: either the Evangelist anticipated | |
| 1777 the disagreement among the people, or the officers had returned | |
| 1778 before, but it is just mentioned now to show the reason why there | |
| 1779 was dissension among the leaders.</p> | |
| 1780 <p>1108 As to the second point, let us realize how good these | |
| 1781 officers were in giving this praiseworthy testimony about Christ, | |
| 1782 saying: <span style="font-weight: bold">Never has any man spoken | |
| 1783 like this man.</span> They deserve our praise for three reasons. | |
| 1784 First, because of their admiration: for they admired Christ because | |
| 1785 of his teachings, not his miracles. And this brought them nearer to | |
| 1786 the truth, and further from the custom of the Jews, who looked for | |
| 1787 signs, as is said in 1 Corinthians (1:22). Secondly, we should | |
| 1788 praise them because of the ease with which they were won over: | |
| 1789 because with just a few words, Christ had captivated them and had | |
| 1790 drawn their love. Thirdly, because of their confidence: because it | |
| 1791 was to the Pharisees, who were the enemies of Christ, that they | |
| 1792 said: <span style="font-weight: bold">Never has any man spoken like | |
| 1793 this man.</span> And these things are to be expected, for Jesus was | |
| 1794 not just a man, but the Word of God; and so his words had power to | |
| 1795 affect people. “Are not my words like fire, says the Lord, | |
| 1796 and like a hammer breaking a rock?” (Jer 23:29). And so | |
| 1797 Matthew says: “He was teaching them as one who had | |
| 1798 authority” (Mt 7:29). And his words were sweet to | |
| 1799 contemplate: “Let your voice sound in my ears, for your voice | |
| 1800 is sweet” (Sg 2:14); “How sweet are your words to my | |
| 1801 tongue! “ (Ps 118:103). And his words were useful to keep in | |
| 1802 mind, because they promised eternal life: “Lord, to whom | |
| 1803 shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (above | |
| 1804 6:69); “I am the Lord, who teaches you things that are | |
| 1805 useful” (Is 48:17).</p> | |
| 1806 <p>1109 As to the third point, see the treachery of the Jews in | |
| 1807 living to alienate the officers from Christ; <span style= | |
| 1808 "font-weight: bold">The Pharisees then reforted, to the</span> | |
| 1809 officers, <span style="font-weight: bold">Have you too been | |
| 1810 seduced?</span> Here they do three things. First, they attack what | |
| 1811 they consider a mistake of their officers; secondly, they hold up | |
| 1812 their leaders as an example; and in from him and the third place, | |
| 1813 they reject the example of the people.</p> | |
| 1814 <p>1110 They attack the officers when they say, <span style= | |
| 1815 "font-weight: bold">Have you too been seduced?</span> As if to say: | |
| 1816 We see that what he said was pleasing to you. As a matter of fact, | |
| 1817 they had been seduced, but in an admirable way, because the left | |
| 1818 the evil of unbelief and were brought to the truth of the faith. We | |
| 1819 read about this: “You seduced me, O Lord, and I was | |
| 1820 seduced” (Jer 20:7).</p> | |
| 1821 <p>1111 Then they appeal to their rulers as an example, to turn the | |
| 1822 officers further from Christ, saying: <span style= | |
| 1823 "font-weight: bold">Has any one of the rulers believed in him, or | |
| 1824 any of the Pharisees?</span> There are two reasons why a person | |
| 1825 should be believed: either because of some authority or because of | |
| 1826 a religious disposition. And they say that none of these are found | |
| 1827 with Christ. As if to say: If Christ were worthy to be received, | |
| 1828 then our rulers, who have authority, would have accepted him; and | |
| 1829 so would the Pharisees, who have a religious disposition. But none | |
| 1830 of these believe in him; and so neither should you believe in him. | |
| 1831 This fulfills the saying: “The stone that the builders (that | |
| 1832 is, the rulers and the Pharisees) rejected has become the | |
| 1833 cornerstone (that is, in the hearts of the people). The Lord has | |
| 1834 done this,” because his goodness is greater than man’s | |
| 1835 evil (Ps 117:22).</p> | |
| 1836 <p>1112 They reject the statements of the people because they are a | |
| 1837 rebuke to their own evil. So they say: <span style= | |
| 1838 "font-weight: bold">But these people, who do not know the law, they | |
| 1839 are accursed;</span> therefore, you should not agree with them. | |
| 1840 This thought was found in Deuteronomy: “Accursed are they who | |
| 1841 do not live within the law and do not act according to it” | |
| 1842 (Dt 27:26). But they did not understand this correctly, because | |
| 1843 even those who do not have a knowledge of the law but act in | |
| 1844 harmony with it, live more within the law than those who do have a | |
| 1845 knowledge of the law yot do not keep it. It is said about such | |
| 1846 people: “This people honors me with their lips, but their | |
| 1847 heart is far from me” (Mt 15:8); and in James (1:22): | |
| 1848 “Be a doer of the word, and not just a hearer.”</p> | |
| 1849 <p>1113 Next, we see the dissension among the rulers. First, the | |
| 1850 advice of Nicodemus is given; secondly, the opposition of the | |
| 1851 rulers; and thirdly, the outcome of the whole affair. The | |
| 1852 Evangelist does two things about the first: first, he tells us | |
| 1853 something about Nicodemus; secondly, he gives his advice.</p> | |
| 1854 <p>1114 He tells us three things about Nicodemus: the first two | |
| 1855 show us the attitude of Nicodemus himself; and the second reveals | |
| 1856 the malice of the rulers. The first concerns the faith of | |
| 1857 Nicodemus, and he says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Nicodemus, | |
| 1858 who came to him,</span> i.e., who believed, for to come to Christ | |
| 1859 is the same as to believe in him. The second shows the imperfection | |
| 1860 of his faith, because he came <span style="font-weight: bold">at | |
| 1861 night.</span> For if he had believed perfectly, he would not have | |
| 1862 been fearful, for as we read below ( 12:42): “Many of the | |
| 1863 rulers believed in him, but they did not admit it because of the | |
| 1864 Pharisees, so that they would not be expelled from the | |
| 1865 synagogue.” And one of these was Nicodemus.</p> | |
| 1866 <p>The third thing the Evangelist tells us shows us that the rulers | |
| 1867 did not speak the truth: for they said that none of the rulers, or | |
| 1868 of the Pharisees, believed in Christ. And so the Evangelist says | |
| 1869 about Nicodemus that he was one of them: as if to say: If | |
| 1870 Nicomedus, who was one of the rulers, believed in Christ, then the | |
| 1871 rulers and Pharisees are speaking falsely when they say that none | |
| 1872 of the rulers believed in him. “Truly, a lie was | |
| 1873 spoken” (Jer 16:19).</p> | |
| 1874 <p>1115 The advice of Nicodemus is given when he says: <span style= | |
| 1875 "font-weight: bold">Does our law judge a man without first hearing | |
| 1876 from him and knowing what he has done?</span> For according to the | |
| 1877 civil laws, a judgment was only to be given after a complete | |
| 1878 investigation. This is why we read: “It is not the custom of | |
| 1879 the Romans to condemn any man before he has his accusers face him, | |
| 1880 and can defend himself from the charges” (Acts 25:16). | |
| 1881 “I diligently investigated the stranger’s cause” | |
| 1882 (Jb 29:16). And so the law of Moses says: “Do not condemn one | |
| 1883 who is innocent and just, because I hate the wicked” (Ex | |
| 1884 23:7).</p> | |
| 1885 <p>Nicodemus said what he did because he believed in Christ and | |
| 1886 wanted to convert them to Christ; yet because he was afraid, he did | |
| 1887 not act very candidly. He thought that if they would only listen to | |
| 1888 Christ, the words of Christ would be so effective that perhaps they | |
| 1889 would be changed like those whom they sent to Jesus, and who, when | |
| 1890 they heard Christ, were turned aside from the very act for which | |
| 1891 they had been sent.</p> | |
| 1892 <p>1116 We see the opposition of the rulers to Nicodemus when he | |
| 1893 says, <span style="font-weight: bold">They answered and said to | |
| 1894 him.</span> First, they think that he has been seduced; and | |
| 1895 secondly, that he does not know the law.</p> | |
| 1896 <p>As to the first, they say: <span style="font-weight: bold">Are | |
| 1897 you too a Galilean?</span> that is, one who has been seduced by | |
| 1898 this Galilean. For they considered Christ a Galilean because he | |
| 1899 lived in Galilee. And so anyone who followed Christ they derisively | |
| 1900 called a Galilean. “The girl servant said to Peter: | |
| 1901 ‘You are a Galilean, are you not” (Mt 26:69), “Do | |
| 1902 you also want to become his disciples?” (below 9:27).</p> | |
| 1903 <p>About his ignorance of the law, they say: <span style= | |
| 1904 "font-weight: bold">Look at the Scriptures and see that the Prophet | |
| 1905 will not come from Galilee.</span> But since Nicodemus was a | |
| 1906 teacher of the law, he did not have to look again. It is as if they | |
| 1907 were saying: Although you are a teacher, you do not know this. | |
| 1908 Something like this was said before: “You are a teacher in | |
| 1909 Israel and you do not know these things?” (above 3:10). Now | |
| 1910 even though the Old Testament does not explicitly say that a | |
| 1911 prophet will come from Galilee, it does say that the Lord of the | |
| 1912 prophets would come from there, according to: “A flower | |
| 1913 (i.e., a Nazarene) will arise from his root ... and the Spirit of | |
| 1914 the Lord will rest upon him,” as we read in Isaiah | |
| 1915 (11:1).</p> | |
| 1916 <p>1117 The outcome of this dissension is seen to be useless. So he | |
| 1917 says: <span style="font-weight: bold">Then every man | |
| 1918 returned,</span> leaving the matter unfinished, to his own house, | |
| 1919 i.e., to what belonged to him, empty of faith and frustrated in his | |
| 1920 evil desires. “He frustrates the plans of the wicked” | |
| 1921 (Jb 5:13); “God destroys the plans of rulers, and frustrates | |
| 1922 the schemes of the people” (Ps 3 2:10).</p> | |
| 1923 <p>Or, each returned <span style="font-weight: bold">to his own | |
| 1924 house,</span> i.e., to the evil of his unbelief and irreverence. | |
| 1925 “I know where you live: where the throne of Satan is. You | |
| 1926 hold to my name, and you have not denied my faith” (Rv | |
| 1927 2:13).</p> | |
| 1928 </blockquote> | |
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