Cornelius a Lapide

John VII

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

First, Christ goes up from Galilee to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. Second, verse 12, when the Jews were murmuring about Him, He answered that He had been taught and sent by God the Father, and by His guidance and impulse healed the sick, even on the Sabbath. Third, verse 32, the Pharisees wishing to kill Him send officers to seize Him; but they, astonished upon hearing Christ's preaching, return without touching Him, saying to the Pharisees: Never did a man speak like this man. Finally, verse 50, Nicodemus defending Jesus is rebuked by the Pharisees as a Galilean and a supporter of Jesus.

Vulgate Text: John 7:1-53

1. After these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for He did not wish to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2. Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 3. His brethren therefore said to Him: Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see Your works which You do. 4. For no one does anything in secret and himself seeks to be known openly: if You do these things, manifest Yourself to the world. 5. For neither did His brethren believe in Him. 6. Then Jesus said to them: My time has not yet come; but your time is always ready. 7. The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me, because I testify of it that its works are evil. 8. You go up to this feast; I am not going up to this feast, because My time has not yet been fulfilled. 9. When He had said these things, He Himself remained in Galilee. 10. But when His brethren had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. 11. Then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said: Where is He? 12. And there was much murmuring among the crowd concerning Him. For some said: He is good. Others said: No, but He deceives the people. 13. However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews. 14. Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15. And the Jews marveled, saying: How does this man know letters, having never learned? 16. Jesus answered them and said: My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak on My own authority. 18. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him, this man is truthful, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? 20. Why do you seek to kill Me? The crowd answered and said: You have a demon; who seeks to kill You? 21. Jesus answered and said to them: I did one work, and you all marvel. 22. Therefore Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath? 24. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with just judgment. 25. Then some of those from Jerusalem said: Is this not He whom they seek to kill? 26. And behold, He speaks openly, and they say nothing to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ? 27. But we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from. 28. Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying: You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. 29. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me. 30. Therefore they sought to seize Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31. And many of the crowd believed in Him, and said: When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done? 32. The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. 33. Then Jesus said to them: I am with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34. You will seek Me and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come. 35. Then the Jews said among themselves: Where is He going to go, that we shall not find Him? Is He going to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36. What is this saying that He said: You will seek Me and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come? 37. On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39. But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 40. Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said: Truly this is the Prophet. 41. Others said: This is the Christ. But some said: Will the Christ come out of Galilee? 42. Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 43. So there was a division among the crowd because of Him. 44. Now some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him. 45. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them: Why have you not brought Him? 46. The officers answered: Never has a man spoken like this Man. 47. Then the Pharisees answered them: Have you also been deceived? 48. Has any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? 49. But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. 50. Nicodemus said to them (he who came to Him by night, being one of them): 51. Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing? 52. They answered and said to him: Are you also from Galilee? Search the Scriptures, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. 53. And everyone went to his own house.

Verse 1: After These Things Jesus Walked in Galilee

1. AFTER THESE THINGS JESUS WALKED IN GALILEE, FOR HE DID NOT WISH TO WALK IN JUDEA, BECAUSE THE JEWS (the leaders of the Jews) WERE SEEKING TO KILL HIM. — "After these things." Not immediately, but after six months. For the multiplication of the loaves and the discourse on the Eucharist, about which the preceding chapter spoke, took place around Passover, that is, in March; but what John adds here happened at the feast of Tabernacles, which is celebrated in September. Christ then lived six months more, namely until the following March, when He suffered and was crucified. These things therefore and all that follows Christ said and did in the last six months of His life. John therefore omits here what Christ did in this third year of His preaching from Passover to September, namely the events of six months, among which was the defense of the disciples for eating with unwashed hands against the Pharisees; likewise the liberation of the Canaanite woman's daughter from a demon, the new multiplication of loaves by which He fed four thousand men; the questioning of the disciples about what people thought of Him, Peter responding: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," for which reason Christ made him the rock of the Church. In addition, the transfiguration of Christ on Tabor, the healing of the demoniac, the payment of the didrachma to the tax collectors, the rebuke of the Apostles contending among themselves about who was the greatest, the teaching about avoiding scandal to little ones, because their angels always behold the face of the Father, etc. — events which I have reviewed in the Chronotaxis from number 31 to number 38. The reason John omits them is that the other three Evangelists had already narrated them in detail.

JESUS WALKED IN GALILEE. — In the Greek, in Galilee. For Christ was already in Galilee; for there He had multiplied the loaves and delivered the discourse on the Eucharist in the Synagogue of Capernaum, which was a city situated on the Sea of Galilee, as is clear from chapter VI, verse 60. Therefore "Jesus walked in Galilee," that is, through Galilee, or to the further parts of Galilee; as if to say: Jesus walked about, visited, and traveled around the cities, villages, and towns of Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God.

FOR HE DID NOT WISH TO WALK IN JUDEA (in the Greek, in Judaea) (as if to say: He was unwilling to travel through the cities and villages of Judea, but preferred Galilee), BECAUSE THE JEWS (the leaders of the Jews) WERE SEEKING TO KILL HIM — because He did not keep the Sabbath according to the Jewish custom, but healed the sick on it, and because He called God His Father, and consequently claimed to be God Himself, as is clear from chapter V, verse 18. Therefore it seems that Jesus did not go up to the temple and Jerusalem at either the Passover or Pentecost of this His third year, according to the law and custom, because He knew that snares were being set for Him there and death was being prepared for Him before the time of dying predetermined for Him by the Father; not that He feared the Jews (for on other occasions He made Himself invisible and escaped from their hands), or dreaded death, but to give us an example of avoiding dangers and fleeing persecutors, until God reveals otherwise or Himself delivers us into the hands of our enemies, as St. Athanasius did when fleeing the Arians. So say St. Augustine, Chrysostom, and others.

Verse 2: The Feast of the Jews, the Feast of Tabernacles, Was Near

2. NOW THE FEAST OF THE JEWS, THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES, WAS NEAR. — In Greek σκηνοπηγία, that is, the pitching of tents, by which the Jews on the 15th day of the seventh month would pitch tents (which they hastily constructed from wood, branches, skins, or linen) and dwell in them for seven days, in memory of the divine protection which had fed their fathers wandering in the desert with manna for 40 years while they lived in tents, and led them by a pillar of fire and cloud into the promised land, Leviticus XXIII, 34. See what is said there. Hence the Arabic translates, when the feast day of the Tabernacles of the Jews had drawn near. The Syriac corruptly translates Scenopegia as Conopea. For a conopeum is properly a tent or curtain, and that linen or woolen canopy which is placed all around to ward off gnats — used especially by the Alexandrians, because gnats swarm from the Nile, which the Greeks call κώνωπας.

It is ridiculous that Abulensis, commenting on Leviticus XXIII, 34, derives the Greek word Scenopegia from κοινῶ, that is, common, and φαγία, that is, eating, on the grounds that at that feast they dined in common and held communal banquets. For σκηνοπηγία is derived from σκηνή, that is, tent, and πηγία, that is, pitching. Finally, Plutarch errs, being a pagan and therefore ignorant of Jewish affairs, who in book IV of the Symposiacs, Question V, maintains that the feast of Tabernacles among the Jews was the Bacchanalia; and he tries with many arguments to prove that they worshipped Bacchus, because they then carried thyrsi (which the Gentiles carried in honor of Bacchus). Plutarch adds: "Others go forward playing on harps, whom they call Levites, either from Lysios or from Evios; for both names suit Bacchus." He even thinks the Sabbath was a feast of Bacchus. "For that many even now," he says, "call Sabbos Bacchos, and utter that cry when they celebrate the orgies of Bacchus, one may show from Demosthenes and Menander." But Plutarch must be pardoned, being a Greek ignorant of the Hebrew language. For it is certain that the Hebrew sabbath is named from the Hebrew שבת shabat, that is, to rest; and that the Levites took their ancestral name from the patriarch Levi.

Verse 3: His Brethren Said to Him: Go Into Judea, That Your Disciples May See Your Works

3. HIS BRETHREN THEREFORE SAID TO HIM: DEPART FROM HERE AND GO INTO JUDEA, THAT YOUR DISCIPLES ALSO MAY SEE YOUR WORKS WHICH YOU DO. — "His brethren" — not sons of Joseph, as Leontius, Cyril, and Euthymius maintain; for Joseph remained a virgin, just as his spouse the Blessed Mary; nor were they James and Jude, as Chrysostom supposes, for they had already been chosen as Apostles by Christ, believed in Him, and followed His guidance and direction; but "brethren," that is, blood relatives or kinsmen of the Blessed Virgin, says St. Augustine, or also of Joseph. See the genealogy of Christ which I assigned at Luke III, at the end of the chapter. "Brethren" therefore, that is, His kinsmen — not all of them, but some. For some believed in Him, while others did not.

Depart from here and go into Judea. — As if to say: From Galilee and from insignificant Capernaum, come with us to the noble land of Judea and to Jerusalem, for the approaching feast of Tabernacles, to which Jews from everywhere are accustomed to gather, so that through Your teaching and miracles You may reveal Yourself to them. They themselves had seen, or had heard, that Christ had not gone to Jerusalem at the preceding Passover and Pentecost, and was seeking refuge in Galilee; they therefore wanted to draw Him out, so that He might go to Jerusalem and become known and famous there.

THAT YOUR DISCIPLES ALSO MAY SEE (in the Greek θεωρήσωσι, that is, gaze upon, discern, behold) YOUR WORKS WHICH YOU DO. — As if to say: You, O Jesus, our kinsman, work wonders here in this corner of Galilee, before a few poor Galilean disciples of Yours. Come with us to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jews, and perform similar works there, so that Your disciples, whom You recently gained for Yourself by preaching there, and whom You will gain again by working miracles — not only from the common people but also from the priests, Scribes, and rulers — may be instructed in Your faith, or if already instructed may be confirmed, and may receive You as Prophet and Messiah. For they wished Christ to become known especially to these men, so that they, as the leaders, might declare Jesus to be the Messiah, that is, the Christ, and propose Him to the people as such for their acceptance. For it was their prerogative to judge concerning the Faith, the Prophets, and the Messiah, and what they decreed the people followed and did, Matthew XXI, 1.

Verse 4: If You Do These Things, Manifest Yourself to the World

4. FOR NO ONE DOES ANYTHING IN SECRET, AND (but) HE HIMSELF SEEKS TO BE KNOWN OPENLY. — In the Greek ἐν παρρησίᾳ εἶναι, that is properly, to be in freedom; but because here it is opposed to secret, it means the same as openly, publicly, clearly, manifestly. John also uses this phrase in chapter V, verse 13, and chapter XVI, verses 25 and 29, and chapter XVIII, verse 20, and Mark, chapter VIII, verse 32. So say Maldonatus, following Leontius, Francis Lucas, and others.

IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, MANIFEST YOURSELF TO THE WORLD. — The word "if" here is not that of one doubting, but of one asserting, says Toletus, and it has the same force as "since," "because," "inasmuch as" — as if to say: Since You do such great and such wondrous things in Galilee, as we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, do the same in Judea, so that there You may become known to all Israel and thence to the whole world — who You are, and what dignity, power, and virtue You have received from God. For as Raphael says, Tobit XII, 7: "It is good to hide the secret of a king, but it is honorable to reveal and confess the works of God." They cloaked their own desire and ambition under the pretext of Christ's praise and God's glory; for they wished that as Christ became famous through His miracles and reputation, they too, as His kinsmen, might become famous, and be honored by the people and laden with gifts; moreover, that they might win the favor of the rulers and high priests, by whom they hoped to be promoted to great offices or benefices of the state. Just as when someone is made Pope, Cardinal, or Bishop, his relatives immediately flock to him, to obtain honors and wealth through him. For all seek the things that are their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

Verse 5: For Neither Did His Brethren Believe in Him

5. FOR NEITHER DID HIS BRETHREN BELIEVE IN HIM. — As if to say: His brethren so freely, confidently, and boldly admonished Jesus to go with them to Jerusalem, because they did not plainly and certainly believe Him to be the Messiah, that is, the Christ; for if they had believed it, they would have reverenced Him and would not have dared so freely to admonish and almost reproach Him. So says Euthymius. For although they saw Him performing so many signs and miracles and did not doubt that these were real, still they doubted whether He was the Messiah and the Son of God; for although they wished this to be true, and partly believed it on account of His many miracles, yet on the other hand, seeing His poverty and obscurity, they doubted. Therefore, to become certain about this matter, they urge Christ to go with them to Jerusalem, so that there the Scribes and high priests might examine Him and His works, and declare Him to be the Christ, so that He might thus be honored and celebrated, and they too as His kinsmen, through Him.

Verse 6: My Time Has Not Yet Come; But Your Time Is Always Ready

6. JESUS SAID TO THEM: MY TIME HAS NOT YET COME; BUT YOUR TIME IS ALWAYS READY — that is, convenient and opportune. "My time," namely of going up to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles, "has not yet come," because I have it fixed and determined by the Father, but delayed for a few days because of the hatred of the Jews, who will pursue Me; for which reason I will shortly go up to the same place, but secretly, not publicly with you. Go therefore and precede Me, because every time is "ready" for you, that is, suitable and fitting; I will then follow you secretly. So say Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others.

St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius, Leontius, and from them Maldonatus explain it differently, as if to say: "My time," namely of dying in Jerusalem, "has not yet come;" for the Scribes and rulers of Jerusalem are preparing death for Me; but this too had not yet come, but came shortly after, when Christ went up there, as will soon be evident. The former sense, therefore, is the genuine one.

Verse 7: The World Cannot Hate You; But It Hates Me

7. THE WORLD CANNOT HATE YOU; BUT IT HATES ME, BECAUSE I BEAR WITNESS ABOUT IT THAT ITS WORKS ARE EVIL. — He gives the reason why the time to go up to Jerusalem is always ready and opportune for His brethren, that is, His kinsmen, but not for Himself: namely, because the world, that is, the worldly Scribes and rulers, did not hate them, since they had suffered nothing from them; but they hated Jesus as the reprover and chastiser of their crimes. Therefore they were preparing a cross and death for Jesus, but not for His kinsmen. As if to say: You can go to Jerusalem at any hour without danger, because you do not resist the Scribes or contradict them, but favor and obey them; but I, because I publicly chastise their vices, if I go publicly with you, I expose Myself to manifest danger to My life. So say St. Chrysostom and Cyril, who also adds the reason: "For a mind," he says, "devoted to pleasure, bears it grievously if recalled from pleasure." For the Scribes were unwilling to abandon their pleasures, luxuries, drinking bouts, and injustices, which they loved, and therefore they hated Christ who called them away from these things, according to the oracle of the Wise Man about them: "Let us beset the just man, because he is unprofitable to us and is contrary to our works, and upbraids us with our transgressions of the law, and reproaches us with the sins of our upbringing," Wisdom II, 12. See what is said there.

Verse 8: You Go Up to This Feast; I Am Not Going Up

8. YOU GO UP TO THIS FEAST; BUT I AM NOT GOING UP TO THIS FEAST, BECAUSE MY TIME HAS NOT YET BEEN FULFILLED. — "You," who fear no danger, says Euthymius.

BUT I AM NOT GOING UP. — In the Greek οὐκ ἀναβαίνω, that is, I am not yet going up; and the Arabic, I am not going up now. As if to say: I do not wish now to go up publicly with you to Jerusalem, but I am waiting for the time to be fulfilled, so that when the indignation of the Scribes, who are expecting Me at the beginning of the feast in order to kill Me, has subsided, I may go up secretly after three days with less danger and without you; for it is clear from verse 10 that He went up shortly after. So say St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius. It is likely that Christ said, as our Translator renders: "I am not going up;" for if He had said: "I am not yet going up," the kinsmen would have insisted: Then we will wait for You, so that You may go up with us. Yet Christ's meaning was, as if to say: "I am not going up," that is, I am not yet going up; for this is what He intended to signify, even though He did not express it to His kinsmen, to avoid their troublesome insistence.

Second, St. Augustine, Cyril, and Eucherius, in the question on this passage of John, explain it thus, as if to say: "I am not going up to this feast day," that is, to the first day of the imminent feast, but, as is said in verse 14, "about the middle of the feast," that is, about the fourth day of the feast. But it is more true that Christ had resolved to go up for the first day of the feast, as I will show at verse 14.

Maldonatus explains it differently, as if to say: I am not going up — understand: as you, O My kinsmen, think and desire, namely as a mere man, to be honored and celebrated by the people in Jerusalem; but nevertheless I will shortly go up there as the Messiah, the Son of God, to teach the people the way of salvation, and thus to seek and advance the glory of God, not My own. But this seems rather forced.

Verse 9: When He Had Said These Things, He Remained in Galilee

9. WHEN HE HAD SAID THESE THINGS, HE HIMSELF STAYED IN GALILEE.

Verse 10: Then He Also Went Up to the Feast, Not Openly, But as It Were in Secret

10. BUT WHEN HIS BRETHREN HAD GONE UP, THEN HE HIMSELF ALSO WENT UP TO THE FEAST, NOT OPENLY, BUT AS IT WERE IN SECRET. — "Then," after three days, about the middle of the feast, verse 14, when the fury of the Jews, which was at its height at the beginning of the feast as they were expecting Him, had by now gradually cooled down over so many days, as Theophylactus and Euthymius, and St. Augustine note.

It seems more likely that Christ went up to Jerusalem shortly after His kinsmen, but secretly, so that He was present at the beginning of the feast; and this is what John implies here, about which more at verse 14.

NOT OPENLY, BUT AS IT WERE IN SECRET. — Hence it appears that Christ did not travel the direct route through Samaria, but crossing the Jordan, proceeded through Perea near Jericho, and having dismissed the crowds of people following Him, went on secretly with a few of those dearest to Him to Jerusalem. This is clear from comparing Matthew XIX, 1 and 2, with Luke IX, 54 and 53, and Mark IX, 29, and chapter X, 1.

Verse 11: The Jews Sought Him at the Feast and Said: Where Is He?

11. THE JEWS THEREFORE SOUGHT HIM AT THE FEAST AND SAID: WHERE IS HE? — At the "feast" of Tabernacles, concerning which see verse 2; that is, during the first days of the feast they were seeking Jesus in order to seize and kill Him. For as Chrysostom says: "On the feast day they were always carried toward murder, and on feast days they tried to seize Him." And Euthymius: "Fine deeds indeed for feast days, when they made them an occasion for killing!" — so that those who ought to have sought Christ for faith, to believe in Him, were seeking Him for death.

So also today many on feast days, on which they ought to reconcile themselves to God, instead offend God most of all by drinking, fornicating, quarreling, gambling, and blaspheming; therefore they celebrate the feast not for God, but for the devil, who accordingly repays them with feasts of fire for their deserts in hell. This is the fraud and suggestion of the devil, to profane feasts and to take away the worship due to God on them and transfer it to himself.

WHERE IS HE — that charlatan, impostor, deceiver of the people? "For out of excessive hatred they could not bear to call Him by name," says St. Chrysostom.

Verse 12: There Was Much Murmuring in the Crowd Concerning Him

12. AND THERE WAS MUCH MURMURING (so it should be read with the Roman editions, not multus; the Arabic has, much murmuring; Euthymius, much disturbance and contradiction) IN THE CROWD CONCERNING HIM. FOR SOME SAID: HE IS A GOOD MAN. BUT OTHERS SAID: NO, BUT HE DECEIVES THE CROWDS — in order to make himself the author of a new faction, and to stir up sedition or rebellion.

He is a good — man, indeed a teacher and a Prophet. For this was the voice and opinion of those who had heard Jesus teaching in Galilee, and had seen Him multiplying loaves, healing the sick, casting out demons, etc. The contrary voice and opinion was that of the Scribes and rulers, and of the crowd that followed them.

Verse 13: No One Spoke Openly of Him for Fear of the Jews

13. YET NO ONE SPOKE OPENLY ABOUT HIM FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS — that is, the Scribes, Pharisees, and high priests, to whom Jesus was hateful as a censor of their vices. For John generally calls them "Jews," not "Scribes" or "priests," both so as not to detract from their dignity, office, and authority; and because, as Cyril says, "he judged it unworthy to call men so far removed from piety priests or elders." "No one" — understand, of those who stood for Jesus and said "He is a good man," says Euthymius. Shrewdly St. Augustine says: "'He deceives the crowds' — this they proclaimed loudly; 'He is a good man' — this they whispered more quietly."

Verse 14: About the Middle of the Feast, Jesus Went Up Into the Temple and Taught

14. NOW ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE FEAST, JESUS WENT UP INTO THE TEMPLE AND TAUGHT. — The Syriac and Arabic have, when the days of the feast had been halved, that is, when it was about the fourth or fifth day of the feast of Tabernacles; for this feast was celebrated for eight days. In the Greek τῆς ἑορτῆς μεσούσης, that is, when the feast was now at its midpoint.

JESUS WENT UP INTO THE TEMPLE. — St. Augustine, Theophylactus, Euthymius, and others hold that Christ entered Jerusalem and the temple on the same day, namely the fourth day of the feast; for when He came to the city, out of piety He was accustomed first to visit the temple, an example of Christ that many of the faithful follow. Toletus, Maldonatus, and others hold the contrary, namely that Christ went up to the city shortly after His kinsmen, so that He was present at the beginning of the feast, but did not go up to the temple until the fourth day of the feast. For this is what the narrative of John plainly seems to require in this verse compared with verse 10, and because Jesus, as a teacher and model of religion, wished to celebrate this entire festival for the edification of others. For this was prescribed by law, Leviticus XXIII, 42: "You shall dwell," it says, "in booths for seven days; everyone who is of the race of Israel shall remain in tents." Furthermore, each person had to build his booth before the first day of the feast, either in the city or outside the city; therefore it is probable that Jesus did the same, unless one says He was received into the already-prepared booth of a friend or disciple. Finally, by going up secretly in this way for the first day of the feast, He ran no danger unless He approached the temple; hence He did not approach it until the fourth day, for in the first three days He lay hidden in His booth.

First, therefore, Christ went up to the city before the first day of the feast; then on the fourth day of the feast He went up to the temple. That ascent was secret, this one public: the former was for the feast day of Tabernacles, which was celebrated not in the temple, but in booths erected throughout the city or outside the city; this one was for teaching in the temple.

One may ask why Christ, ascending to the city on the first day, did not also go up to the temple. They answer: First, St. Augustine, Leontius, Chrysostom, Theophylactus, and Euthymius say it was so that the wrath and indignation of the Scribes and chief priests dwelling in the temple, which had previously been inflamed against Him, might cool down.

Second, that He first remained hidden was an example of human weakness; that He later came forth was a sign of divine power, says St. Augustine, and Bede after him.

Third, so that by the delay and expectation of so many days, He might kindle in His hearers, who were awaiting Him, a greater desire to hear Him. So says Theophylactus.

Fourth, so that He might have listeners who were more at leisure and free from other cares: for in the first days they were occupied with adorning their booths and procuring things necessary for the feast. So says Theophylactus.

AND HE TAUGHT — in His customary manner the things pertaining to salvation and leading to the kingdom of heaven, and this publicly in the temple before the Scribes and rulers, to whom He was hateful. See here and imitate the magnanimity of Christ, who moves amid the greatest dangers without fear of peril, and fearlessly discharges and teaches His office. For although the anger of the Scribes against Him, having been deferred for three days, had somewhat cooled, yet by this public act of teaching it could easily be kindled again. But Jesus magnanimously despised it, both because He was prepared to be killed by them, and because He knew that God would divert their thoughts and plans against Him, lest they lay hands on Him, since the time appointed by Him for dying had not yet come. Therefore, that He lay hidden for three days was meant to teach us prudence, so that we may prudently and quietly avoid the rage of persecutors for a time; but that on the fourth day He came forth publicly and preached gave us an example of fortitude, so that we may vigorously discharge the office committed to us by God, even at the risk of our lives, trusting in God that He will either deliver us from it, or give us the strength and fortitude to endure and overcome it.

Verse 15: How Does This Man Know Letters, Having Never Studied?

15. AND THE JEWS MARVELED, SAYING: HOW DOES THIS MAN KNOW LETTERS, WHEN HE HAS NEVER STUDIED? — "They marveled, seeing in Him an unheard-of power of speech and wisdom," says Cyril. For, as Theophylactus says, "He said marvelous things, by which He restrained them and turned their mind to wonder," so that they might convert their fury into love and admiration of Christ. "For they heard Him," says St. Augustine, "disputing about the law, bringing forth the testimonies of the law," and explaining them with a grace and manner not human, but divine. For, as Augustine adds: "Many knew where He was born, how He had been brought up, and had never seen Him learning letters."

HE HAS NEVER STUDIED. — From this the Scribes should have inferred: Therefore the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus, so great, was not acquired by study, but infused by God; but blinded by hatred and stupefied, they stop at mere admiration, and do not proceed further to investigate the origin of the thing they admire. So says St. Chrysostom. For this reason God willed that Jesus should spring into the teacher's chair not from the schools, but from the carpenter's trade, so that all might recognize that His doctrine was not humanly acquired, but divinely inspired.

Verse 16: My Doctrine Is Not Mine, But His Who Sent Me

16. JESUS ANSWERED THEM AND SAID: MY DOCTRINE IS NOT MINE, BUT HIS WHO SENT ME. — That is to say: My doctrine, that is, my teachings which I teach, were not invented by me, nor acquired by my study, nor did they originate primarily from me, but from God the Father, that is: God the Father communicated to me, insofar as I am God, His omniscience; and insofar as I am man, He implanted in me His beatific and infused knowledge of all things, according to that passage in Isaiah 11:2: "The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety." So say St. Chrysostom, Leontius, Euthymius and others, who also note that by this very statement Christ implied that He was God, as if to say: I drew from the Father, together with the divine essence, my omniscience and doctrine. Hear St. Augustine, tract. 29: "What is the doctrine of the Father if not the Word of the Father? Therefore Christ Himself is the doctrine of the Father, if He is the Word of the Father. But because the Word cannot belong to no one, but to someone, He called Himself His own doctrine, and yet not His own, because He is the Word of the Father. For what is so much yours as yourself? And what is so little yours as yourself, if what you are belongs to another?"

Verse 17: If Anyone Wills to Do His Will, He Shall Know Concerning the Doctrine

17. IF ANYONE WILLS TO DO HIS WILL (the Arabic has: His good pleasure), HE SHALL KNOW CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE, WHETHER IT IS FROM GOD, OR WHETHER I SPEAK OF MYSELF. — The Syriac has: from the will of my soul, that is, invented and fabricated by me, and therefore discordant and divergent or adverse to God's will. That is to say, as Chrysostom puts it: "If anyone is a lover of virtue, he will understand the force of my words," namely that it proceeds from God. For from God flows all virtue, of which I am the constant teacher and preacher. Therefore whoever loves and observes God's commandments concerning virtue will likewise love and observe me and my words, because I say and teach nothing other than what is pleasing to God and commanded by Him. Jesus tacitly implies that they love vices, not virtues, and therefore oppose God and Himself, and resist the teaching of both. "Remove," says Chrysostom, "this doubt, and your anger and envy, and your monstrous hatred against me, and nothing will prevent you from recognizing that my words are truly God's. Now these things cast darkness upon you and corrupt right and true judgment: if you were to cast them aside, you would not hold this opinion."

Verse 18: He Who Speaks of Himself Seeks His Own Glory

18. HE WHO SPEAKS OF HIMSELF SEEKS HIS OWN GLORY: BUT HE WHO SEEKS THE GLORY OF HIM WHO SENT HIM, HE IS TRUE, AND THERE IS NO INJUSTICE IN HIM. — From this infer the opposite with Cyril: "But he who does not seek the glory of God, but his own, is both a liar and most unjust: a liar indeed, because under the pretense of keeping the law, he proposes that his own will be heard; and most unjust, because, neglecting the dignity of the lawgiver, he dares to prefer his own precepts to the Lord's."

This is the second mark and argument by which Christ proves that He does not speak of Himself, and that the teachings He has delivered are not His own, fabricated by Himself, but are the Father's. And this is Christ's syllogism in the mode of Baroco:

He who speaks of himself seeks his own glory. But I, Jesus, do not seek my own glory, but the Father's, as I proclaim by my words and deeds. Therefore I do not speak of myself, but from the heart and mouth of the Father, whose glory alone I seek and desire to spread.

For, as Cajetan says: "glory is the chief desirable thing arising from teaching." For this reason philosophers and heretics opened their schools and taught their own inventions in them, so as to draw disciples after themselves, who would glorify their master, and from him be called Platonists, Pythagoreans, Epicureans, Aristotelians, Arians, Nestorians, etc. For the appetite for glory has given birth to the heresies and sects of both philosophers and heretics.

Injustice — that is, fraud, deceit, deception — because He sincerely and truthfully teaches what He knows is pleasing to God and promotes His glory, while others who seek their own glory, in order to extort it from men, flatter them and deceive them, and delude them with various tricks and frauds.

Verse 19: Did Not Moses Give You the Law, and None of You Keeps It?

19. DID NOT MOSES GIVE YOU THE LAW? AND NONE OF YOU KEEPS THE LAW? 20. WHY DO YOU SEEK TO KILL ME? — First, the meaning is, as if to say: It is no wonder you do not accept my law and my Father's law, since you do not keep the law of Moses, whom you esteem so highly and throw up against me. For, to omit other things, many of you, especially the leaders, want to kill me though I am innocent, which Moses expressly forbids, Exodus 23:7. So St. Augustine: "If they kept the law," he says, "they would recognize Christ in it, and would not kill Him when present." And the Gloss: "You glory in the law," it says, "and against the law, which forbids killing, you seek to slay me." So also Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius.

Second, more precisely and connectedly, and indeed profoundly, Francis Lucas explains it thus, as if to say: You, O Scribes and Jews, accuse me and demand my death, as though I were guilty of neglecting the law, and as though I had violated the Sabbath when I healed the paralytic on it. But you in like manner violate the same law of the Sabbath when you circumcise a man on it: for it is a greater and more laborious work to circumcise than to cure by a word. Therefore if I violated the law, you have violated it much more; and if you judge me worthy of death for having transgressed the law of the Sabbath in healing, you should judge yourselves much more worthy of death, since you continually transgress the same law by circumcising: for this work is far more laborious than mine, and more carnal and bloody. For so Christ explains Himself immediately afterward, in verses 21 and 22.

Verse 20: The Crowd Answered: You Have a Demon; Who Seeks to Kill You?

THE CROWD ANSWERED AND SAID: YOU HAVE A DEMON: WHO SEEKS TO KILL YOU? — "You have a demon," that is, you are raving, you are mad, as demoniacs do, and those possessed and driven by a demon, just as Saul was, 1 Kings 16:23. Or properly, as if to say: A demon instigates you to this calumny, by which you falsely charge us with plotting murder, namely that we wish to kill you; for nothing of the sort has entered our minds.

These are the words of the crowd, among whom some thought well of Jesus, others badly, yet so that they did not wish to kill Him; but that is precisely what the Scribes and rulers wanted, along with their followers, who mingled with the common people. It is these, therefore, that Christ here targets, and He reveals their secret plot to murder Him, which they were concealing, so that they might know that their snares did not escape His notice, and that therefore He was a divine man, indeed God.

Verse 21: I Did One Work, and You All Marvel

21. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID TO THEM: I DID ONE WORK, AND YOU ALL MARVEL. — "I did one work," namely that I healed the paralytic on the Sabbath and commanded him to carry his bed, chapter 5:8. Jesus did not repel insult with insult, but bore it patiently, and modestly and prudently pulled up the root of the insult. "Clearly not disturbed, but tranquil in His truth," says Augustine, "He did not return evil for evil, nor curse for curse: if He had said to them, 'You have a demon,' He would indeed have spoken the truth; for they would not have said such things to the Truth, unless the falsehood of the devil had ensnared them."

YOU MARVEL — that is, marveling you are indignant, as if I had done it against the law. St. Chrysostom says: "you are disturbed and in tumult;" St. Cyril, "you condemn;" Euthymius, "you seek to kill me." It is a catachresis and metalepsis. For admiration at so great a crime, namely the violation of the Sabbath, as they supposed, gave birth in them to indignation, indignation to tumult, tumult to a plot of murder.

Verse 22: Moses Gave You Circumcision, and on the Sabbath You Circumcise a Man

22. THEREFORE MOSES GAVE YOU CIRCUMCISION (NOT BECAUSE IT IS FROM MOSES, BUT FROM THE FATHERS), AND ON THE SABBATH YOU CIRCUMCISE A MAN. — "Therefore," in Greek dia touto, that is, on account of this. This particle is obscure in this passage, and it is doubtful to what it refers.

First, Theophylactus and Maldonatus refer it to the preceding verse, and thus connect the words: "You all marvel on account of this," namely the work of healing which I did on the Sabbath. But the punctuation of the Greek and Latin manuscripts is against this, since they place the word "therefore" at the beginning of the following verse 22, and connect it with "Moses gave."

Second, Euthymius and Jansenius hold that "therefore" here is not causal but illative, as if to say: And so, that you may not marvel, but may know that I acted rightly in curing the sick man on the Sabbath, consider what I add about circumcision, which is performed on the Sabbath. In a similar way "therefore" is sometimes used in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah 30:16. And thus "therefore" is in fact also causal; for it implies the cause of that of which it is the illative.

Third, St. Cyril, Toletus, and Francis Lucas refer "therefore" to what follows, namely "but from the fathers," and arrange the words thus, as if to say: But Moses gave you circumcision, not because it originated from Moses, but because it came from the fathers: for Moses wished to carefully preserve the precepts and traditions of the fathers, as was fitting; and yet on the Sabbath established by that same Moses, you circumcise a man.

Fourth, properly and most fully, "therefore" is causal, meaning the same as "for this reason," as if to say: Therefore, or as the Greek has it, on account of this, that is, on account of your astonishment; because you so marvel at and are indignant about my work of healing on the Sabbath — so that I may take away your amazement and you may cease to marvel — I bring forward a strong argument drawn from circumcision, which you yourselves perform on the Sabbath by decree of Moses.

NOT BECAUSE IT IS FROM MOSES, BUT FROM THE FATHERS. — That is to say: Not that Moses is the originator of circumcision, but the patriarch Abraham, who received it from God and handed it down to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and these to their descendants and to Moses, as he himself recounts in Genesis 17. He adds this to teach the Jews that they ought not to be so devoted to Moses alone as to keep his precepts alone about the Sabbath, while neglecting those of the earlier and more ancient patriarchs; rather, if these conflict with the decrees of Moses, they ought to be given precedence as being more ancient, so that the law of Moses yields to them. For thus the law of circumcision given to Abraham overrode the law of the Sabbath given to Moses, so that if someone were born on the Sabbath, he had to be circumcised precisely on the eighth day, that is, on the following Sabbath, and the circumcision could not be deferred to a later day. If the law of Moses must yield to the law of Abraham, then much more must it yield to the law of Christ and of God, which commands that you help a severely afflicted sick person if you can, even on the Sabbath, especially if you can do it briefly and by a word, as Christ did.

AND ON THE SABBATH YOU CIRCUMCISE A MAN. — "And," that is, therefore, as if to say: Because the law of circumcision was prior, and given by God to Abraham, the first father and Patriarch of the Hebrews, it therefore takes precedence over the Sabbath, which was later instituted by Moses at God's command. And so if the eighth day from the child's birth falls on the Sabbath, you laboriously, with great preparation and effort, circumcise the child on that day, so that the law of God given to Abraham may be kept: "On the eighth day the infant shall be circumcised," Genesis 17 and Leviticus 12:3.

Verse 23: Are You Angry With Me Because I Made a Whole Man Well on the Sabbath?

23. IF A MAN RECEIVES CIRCUMCISION ON THE SABBATH, SO THAT THE LAW OF MOSES MAY NOT BE BROKEN, ARE YOU ANGRY WITH ME BECAUSE I MADE A WHOLE MAN WELL ON THE SABBATH? — That is to say: If circumcision, which by its nature seems to be a servile, laborious, and protracted work, equally troublesome and painful — for it wounds and mutilates the infant — is nevertheless lawful, indeed commanded on the Sabbath, why should it not likewise be lawful for me on the Sabbath to free a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years, sick and afflicted in his whole body, from so great a disease and affliction, and to restore him to health by a word, and this for the praise and glory of God alone? For the law of almsgiving and beneficence belongs to natural law, to which all human and divine law, such as the Sabbath, must yield.

Note the phrase "a whole man." For, as Euthymius notes, "since his whole body had been dissolved by paralysis, He restored the whole of it to health." Christ aptly compares His cure with circumcision, because just as through circumcision the superfluous part of the foreskin is cut away, so through His cure the paralysis of the sick man, which had spread through his whole body, was cut away; but circumcision was performed with pain and a wound, while Christ's cure brought pleasure and complete health. For He healed the whole man, that is, both the entire body and the soul. Therefore it seems that Christ also circumcised the vices and sins from the soul of this sick man, and justified and sanctified him, just as He did others whom He healed, as I have said elsewhere — just as circumcision, by circumcising the flesh, also circumcised the soul, cutting away from it original sin and bestowing upon it the grace and righteousness of God.

Verse 24: Do Not Judge According to Appearance, But Judge With Just Judgment

24. DO NOT JUDGE ACCORDING TO APPEARANCE, in Greek kat' opsin, that is, according to sight, aspect, semblance; the Syriac has: by acceptance of face, that is, of person. BUT JUDGE WITH JUST JUDGMENT. — He rebukes the Jews for the vice of respect of persons, because in the same or similar matter they acquit Moses, or rather themselves, but accuse and condemn Jesus. As if to say: You judge according to appearance and respect of persons, and therefore unjustly and perversely, because you accuse me as a violator of the Sabbath, for merely healing a sick man on the Sabbath by a single powerful and divine command; while you, by the law of Moses, consider it lawful on the Sabbath to circumcise and wound a little child, and to heal the wound of the circumcised with plasters and stanch the blood — which is a far more laborious, troublesome, and dreadful work. The reason is that you do not judge according to the truth of the matter and the work, but according to the dignity of persons: for you despise and reject me as a lowly, poor, and hated man; but you exalt and praise yourselves with Moses as rulers and teachers. For in truth, if you judged according to the work, you ought to acquit me along with Moses and yourselves; or if you condemn me, you should also condemn Moses and yourselves: for I healed a whole man on the Sabbath, while you with Moses on the same day first wound a little child by circumcising him, then heal him; and my purpose and aim is as pious as that of Moses and yours, indeed more so, because I did it solely for the glory of God, to show that I am the Messiah, sent by God for the salvation of mankind. Therefore my work of healing was more pious and divine than your work of circumcision. So say St. Augustine, Leontius, Cyril, and Chrysostom. Many think that Christ here compares Himself with Moses and places Himself above him; but it is more apt to say that Christ here compares Himself not with Moses, but with the Jews, who circumcised on the Sabbath according to the law of Moses. For Moses nowhere expressly commanded a man to be circumcised on the Sabbath, but the Scribes inferred from Moses's command to circumcise the infant on the eighth day: Therefore, if the eighth day is a Sabbath, he must be circumcised on that day, not on the following day.

Verse 25: Some of Those From Jerusalem Said: Is Not This the Man Whom They Seek to Kill?

25. SOME OF THOSE FROM JERUSALEM THEREFORE SAID (namely those who had been convinced by this argument of Christ). — The Arabic and Syriac have: certain men from Jerusalem. For in this city, as the capital of Judea, in which alone was the temple of God, Christ frequently taught and performed many signs, on account of which many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were favorably disposed toward Him; but out of fear of the rulers, they did not dare to show this openly, says Cyril, who also adds the reason: "For the speech of those who teach rightly is like a door and gateway to the knowledge of God and to all virtue."

IS NOT THIS THE MAN WHOM THEY SEEK TO KILL? — "These knew," says St. Augustine, "with what cruelty Jesus was being sought." Therefore falsely and fraudulently had others said in verse 20: "Who seeks to kill you?"

Verse 26: Behold, He Speaks Openly: Do the Rulers Truly Know That This Is the Christ?

26. AND BEHOLD HE SPEAKS OPENLY, AND THEY SAY NOTHING TO HIM (Nonnus: "what does this great silence of all mean?"). DO THE RULERS TRULY KNOW (the Syriac has: the elders of the people) THAT THIS IS THE CHRIST? — They certainly did know this, or could and should have easily known it; but blinded by pride and hatred, they refused to accept Him as the Christ, and instead pursued Him to death. Therefore it was not out of love for Jesus, as these Jerusalemites supposed, that they spared Him; but because Jesus by His divine power restrained their mind and hand from attacking Him, which the Jerusalemites did not know.

Verse 27: When the Christ Comes, No One Knows Where He Is From

27. BUT WE KNOW WHERE THIS MAN IS FROM: BUT WHEN THE CHRIST COMES, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE HE IS FROM. — That is to say: We know that the parents of Jesus are Joseph and Mary, chapter 6:42, but when Christ "comes, no one knows," that is, will know, "where," that is, from what parents He has sprung. For otherwise they themselves confess in general that Christ would be born in Bethlehem and from the seed of David, verse 42. Note that these are the words of the ignorant populace, which supposed that when Christ came, no one would know His immediate parents, but that He would suddenly appear to the world from unknown forebears. Hence, having been born in Bethlehem, He would either lie hidden there secretly, or be transferred to distant regions and raised there until manhood, and then appear suddenly and unexpectedly in Judea. Others fabricated other tales about Christ.

They were led to these ideas, first, by the words of Isaiah, chapter 53:8: "Who shall declare His generation?" Second, from Melchizedek, who is said to have been apator kai ametor, that is, without father and without mother, Hebrews 7:3; for he was a type of Christ. Third, from that passage of Micah 5:2: "His goings forth are from the days of eternity;" and from that of David: "From the womb before the morning star I begot you." All of which must be understood not of the human but of the divine nature of Christ, which the Jews denied in Christ; for they supposed He would be a mere man. Therefore they thought that He had been begotten in Bethlehem from eternity, and then hidden away, until in due time He would show Himself visibly to the expectant Jews. For this reason Christ in the following verses answers ad hominem, and teaches that His human origin was known to them, but not His divine origin, as the Prophets had foretold. So Toletus, Jansenius, Francis Lucas, and others.

Verse 28: You Both Know Me and Know Where I Am From; He Who Sent Me Is True

28. JESUS THEREFORE CRIED OUT IN THE TEMPLE, TEACHING AND SAYING: YOU BOTH KNOW ME, AND YOU KNOW WHERE I AM FROM: AND I HAVE NOT COME OF MYSELF, BUT HE WHO SENT ME IS TRUE, WHOM YOU DO NOT KNOW. — This is a concession. For Christ speaks by conceding and granting to the Jews what they had said: "We know where this man is from," as if to say: I concede and grant you what you say, that you know my lineage and parents, even though in truth you are mistaken and do not know them. For the Jews did not know Christ's divinity, and they were also ignorant of Christ's human generation, because they thought He was the son of Joseph. Otherwise St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Euthymius, and Maldonatus interpret it as follows: "You know me," that is, you are able and ought to know me, namely that I am the Messiah, the Son of God. For I have proved this to you from the Prophets and confirmed it by my miracles.

HE CRIED OUT — both to show that He knew the secret whisperings of the Jerusalemites, who were saying: "We know where this man is from, but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from." "What they were speaking secretly," says Chrysostom, "He brings into the open, openly confounding them;" and also so that by His cry He might win attention and add weight to His preaching, which concerned a matter of the greatest importance.

I HAVE NOT COME OF MYSELF — but sent by the Father; hence He adds: "but He is true," that is, truthful and faithful is God the Father, who has truly and faithfully fulfilled in me His promises made to Abraham and David, of sending the Messiah for the salvation of mankind. "Whom you do not know" to be my Father and to have sent me, as follows, for the redemption of the world. Or "you do not know," that is, you do not obey Him, you do not love Him, nor worship Him, as if you did not know and did not recognize Him. So Theophylactus.

Verse 29: I Know Him, Because I Am From Him, and He Sent Me

29. I (the Syriac has: I indeed) KNOW HIM: BECAUSE I AM FROM HIM, AND HE SENT ME. — "I am from Him," that is, born, says St. Augustine, through the divine and eternal generation, as His own and natural Son; "and He sent me" into the world through the incarnation. "See," says Theophylactus, "how in this passage two natures in Christ are manifested: for by saying 'I am from Him,' the divine substance is declared; but when He says 'And He sent me,' the human."

Here, therefore, Christ refutes the Jerusalemites, who excused their not believing in Him on the ground that they knew His parents, whereas no one would know Christ's parents. For He shows that they know neither His divine generation and eternal Father, nor His human generation, namely that He was formed and incarnated not from Joseph, but from the Holy Spirit in the Virgin. Therefore this was no obstacle to their being obliged to believe in Him as the Messiah, whose lineage was unknown.

Verse 30: They Sought to Seize Him, But No One Laid Hands on Him

30. THEY SOUGHT THEREFORE TO SEIZE HIM: AND NO ONE LAID HANDS ON HIM, BECAUSE HIS HOUR HAD NOT YET COME. — "They sought" — who? asks Chrysostom, and answers: "Not the multitude, which did not aspire to power nor was seized by envy, but the priests." For they envied Jesus because the people preferred Him over them and regarded Him as the Messiah; therefore they plotted to do away with Him.

BECAUSE HIS HOUR HAD NOT YET COME — "the hour at which He had determined to be taken and to suffer," says Theophylactus; "for when He considered it timely that He should suffer, then He also gave Himself over to His crucifiers. Hence the word 'hour' shows the manifest prudence and wisdom of the Savior:" namely, that He willed to suffer and die only at the hour, that is, at the opportune and fitting time appointed by Himself. For this Passion was voluntary and free for Christ, not unwilling or forced, and this is what 'His hour' signifies, that is, the hour chosen by Him and destined for His death. "Hour" is called the time suitable and fitting for the matter, says Cyril, who in the Roman manuscript copy treats extensively here against those pagans who hold that some hours are favorable to men and others unfavorable. For he teaches that hours, just like men, are created by God, subject to His providence, and governed by it.

Here the learned commentary of St. Cyril on John is interrupted and comes to a halt, at the end of his fourth book: for the four following books, namely the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, perished through the injury of time. Therefore Jodocus Clichtovaeus, recently a Doctor of Paris, supplied them. But I found the genuine two following books of Cyril, namely the fifth and sixth, in manuscript at Rome; therefore I shall henceforth cite them, as I said in the preface.

Verse 31: When the Christ Comes, Will He Do More Signs Than This Man Does?

31. BUT MANY OF THE CROWD BELIEVED IN HIM, AND SAID: WHEN THE CHRIST COMES, WILL HE DO MORE SIGNS THAN THIS MAN DOES? — "Of the crowd," because the common people were simpler, more candid, humbler, and more eager for their salvation than the priests and rulers, who, fearing for their authority and profits, hated Jesus, who was regarded by the people as the greatest teacher and Prophet, indeed the Messiah. Therefore the Scribes and priests were esteemed little in comparison with Christ and were neglected by the people, which greatly stung them and incited them to hatred of Christ.

WHEN THE CHRIST COMES — as if to say: If Christ were yet to come, would He perform more miracles than Jesus does? Certainly not: why then do we not accept Him who is present as the Christ? Why do we wait for another who is uncertain? For it is the mark of a prudent man to accept what is certain over what is uncertain, and what is present over what is future. For the crowd had seen and heard that very many miracles had been performed by Christ, which John passes over in silence because they had already been narrated at length by the other three Evangelists. So say Chrysostom and Cyril, whom hear from the Roman manuscript codex: "The crowd conducted itself excellently in drawing inferences, led as if by its own feet to the due belief by the excellence of the deeds performed, waiting only for the teaching of the rulers concerning Christ." And further on: "But the head became the tail, as it is written. For he who is in charge follows behind, and consenting to the wickedness of the Pharisees, makes an unbridled assault upon Christ."

Verse 32: The Chief Priests and Pharisees Sent Officers to Seize Him

32. THE PHARISEES HEARD THE CROWD MURMURING THESE THINGS ABOUT HIM: AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND PHARISEES SENT OFFICERS TO SEIZE HIM — "as though He were stirring the people to sedition," says Euthymius; but in truth out of envy, because they envied Jesus the following and applause of the people.

The Pharisees — the Greek and the Syriac add: and the chief priests. For the Pharisees were members of the council and magistracy, and they accused Jesus before the high priests and drew them over to their view of putting Jesus to death.

Verse 33: Yet a Little While I Am With You, and Then I Go to Him Who Sent Me

33. JESUS THEREFORE SAID TO THEM: YET A LITTLE WHILE I AM WITH YOU: AND I GO TO HIM WHO SENT ME.

"He said to them," namely to the officers of the rulers sent to arrest Him, either to win them over, says Chrysostom, by showing that He understood the reason for their coming; and so that they would report these words to their masters. "Yet a little while," as if to say: I shall not long be a trouble to your masters, because delays among murderers are troublesome to me; I shall flee from the wicked," says Cyril. Therefore I shall live among you for yet six months, and preach and teach, namely from the Feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated in September, until the Passover, for then will be my hour and time for dying for the salvation of the world, as decreed by the Father. Therefore you strive in vain to seize and kill me now; for you will be able to accomplish nothing against God's will. You labor in vain and kick against the goad. Here Christ shows His magnanimity, as well as His divine providence and power, by which He mocks the schemes of the rulers against Him and blows them away like cobwebs.

I GO — that is, I shall shortly go through death to the Father who sent me. "By saying 'I go,' says Theophylactus after Chrysostom, He signifies His death," and that it was voluntary; therefore the rulers strive in vain to do Him violence and seize Him by force. For "I go" means the same as: I shall go of my own accord, and offer myself to you for bonds, scourging, and death.

TO HIM WHO SENT ME. — By this clause Christ signifies, first, that He will go willingly to death, inasmuch as through it He will go to the Father; second, that the persecutions of the rulers will not harm Him but benefit Him, because they will send Him from earth to heaven — so Chrysostom and Euthymius; third, He frightens the rulers, because in going to the Father He will report their hatred against Him to the Father and demand vengeance. So also Chrysostom and Cyril in the manuscript, whom hear: "In vain have you sharpened the sword of impiety against me; restrain the dart of envy which will come to nothing; you will not subject life to death, etc. I shall rise again to Him who sent me, I shall ascend into heaven, bearing the accusation of your wickedness before angels and men. For the former will marvel at my return, and the latter, coming to meet me, will ask: 'What are these wounds in the midst of your hands?' And I shall answer: 'With these I was wounded in the house of those who loved me,'" Zechariah 13:6.

Verse 34: You Will Seek Me and Will Not Find Me

34. YOU WILL SEEK ME, AND (that is, but) YOU WILL NOT FIND ME: AND WHERE I AM, YOU CANNOT COME. — "You will seek me," that is, you will seek another Messiah whom you might have in place of Christ, but you will not find one, because there is no other Christ but I — so Toletus. But this is rather obscure and remote. More plainly and simply, therefore, as if to say: When after my death you hear that I have risen, and that my disciples work miracles, you will seek me so as to seize and kill me again, that is, so as to utterly root out and abolish my name, fame, and religion; but you will not find me, because I, risen from the dead, will gloriously ascend from earth to heaven. And though you may kill my Apostles, I shall nonetheless appoint others who, against your will, will spread my doctrine and Church throughout the whole world — so Rupert.

Third, Jansenius and others interpret it thus: After my death and ascension into heaven, when Peter and the Apostles preach at Pentecost, many of you, repenting and pricked in heart for having spurned me, the giver of so many blessings, will turn to me, and then will seek and desire to see and hear me, whom they now spurn when present; but they will not find me, because I will have ascended to heaven. So also Cyril, who also teaches morally that good, when it is present, must be embraced, lest if it slips away, we seek it in vain. For "opportunity has hair in front, but is bald behind," so that it cannot be grasped.

Tropologically: marvel at and imitate the equanimity and constancy of Christ here in responding. "For the mind devoted to God," says St. Cyril, "must avoid all the assaults of anger and passions as of waves, and delight in gentle thoughts as in serene breezes. But strive above all to conduct yourself with long-suffering, and to appear to all as patiently enduring adversity; and to have a mind that is entirely benign, and to speak words that are not unbecoming even to enemies."

Verse 35: Is He Going to the Dispersion Among the Gentiles?

35. THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID AMONG THEMSELVES: WHERE IS THIS MAN GOING THAT WE SHALL NOT FIND HIM? IS HE GOING TO THE DISPERSION AMONG THE GENTILES, AND TO TEACH THE GENTILES?

36. WHAT IS THIS SAYING THAT HE SAID: YOU WILL SEEK ME AND WILL NOT FIND ME: AND WHERE I AM, YOU CANNOT COME? — "To the dispersion of the Gentiles;" the Syriac has: to the regions of the peoples, that is, to the nations and peoples scattered throughout the whole world. Hence the epistles which St. Peter, James, John, and Jude wrote to them are called Catholic, that is, universal and encyclical, that is, circular, because they were written to the faithful scattered throughout the whole world. But the Jews, by way of mockery, called the Gentiles "the dispersed," as though scattered vagrants over the whole world, says Chrysostom, since they themselves lived gathered and united in Judea; and again, as though they held various scattered errors, superstitions, and cults, while they themselves conspired united in the orthodox faith and religion of the one true God, and served God alone with one mind.

The Jews here do not grasp Christ's meaning, because they did not believe that He Himself would go to heaven; yet they speak the truth. For when the Jews rejected the faith of Christ, the Apostles, by Christ's command, transferred it to the Gentiles, as Paul reproaches the Jews, Acts 13:46.

Verse 37: If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come to Me and Drink

37. ON THE LAST AND GREAT DAY OF THE FEAST, JESUS STOOD AND CRIED OUT, SAYING: IF ANYONE THIRSTS, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK. — "On the last;" the Syriac has: on the great day, which was the last day of the feast, namely the Octave of the Feast of Tabernacles. For this feast was celebrated for eight days, and the eighth day was the most solemn, as is gathered from Leviticus 23:36 and Numbers 29:35. This eighth day was called the assembly. Or on the most solemn day of the same feast, namely the seventh, as Augustine holds, and after him Bede and Maldonatus; for the seventh day was called the great feast, and on it the libations and sacrifices for sin, which were offered for seven days (Numbers 29), seem to have ceased. Moreover, the dwelling in tabernacles itself ceased on the seventh day, not the eighth, Leviticus 23:42. For the eighth day was like an appendix to the feast, on which they would say farewell and prepare for departure.

This last day was as great and frequent as the first, and was called the day of the assembly or gathering, on which namely the whole people, gathered together, would go to the temple, giving thanks to God and commending themselves to Him, and from there returned home. See what was said on Leviticus 23:36. Therefore Christ wished on this last day of the feast, to cast into all the people as they departed a longing for Himself, and a scruple about their own religion, indeed a great sting. Let the preacher do the same, so that at the end of his sermon he may fix a sting in the mind of those departing, which may thereafter continually prick and spur them to change their life for the better. So Chrysostom: "Because they were about to go home, he says, He provides them with provisions for salvation."

Symbolically: the feast of Tabernacles was full of pleasure and joy, and therefore was a type of the resurrection and the joy of the Blessed, to which Christ had shortly before said He was going, and with these words He declares Himself to be the light leading them there. So Cyril.

IF ANYONE THIRSTS — for his own salvation, happiness, blessed eternity: for this must be supremely thirsted for and desired by everyone, as the highest and ultimate good of man, and beatitude itself; let him "come to Me," that is, believe in Me, as Christ explains in the following verse, "and drink," that is, draw from Me the evangelical doctrine, grace and spirit, and the Holy Spirit Himself, with all His gifts and virtues, who will lead him to heavenly glory, where all his thirst, all his desire, all his longing will be satisfied and fulfilled. With these waters, therefore, I will give him drink, satisfy and inebriate him. He alludes to Isaiah 55:1: "All you who thirst, come to the waters," etc. See what was said there.

IF ANYONE THIRSTS — that is, if anyone with burning desire seeks divine grace and glory, that is, blessedness — LET HIM COME TO ME — through faith, hope, and charity — AND DRINK — let him quench his thirst, because I am the fountain of grace and glory, whose water, that is, grace, satisfies and blesses everyone who thirsts for it and drinks it.

Allegorically: at the Feast of Tabernacles there was a most solemn rite of the libation of water, in which the priest drew water from the fountain of Siloam and poured it with wine upon the altar, in memory of the water which God brought forth from the rock through Moses in the desert, Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. Alluding to this, therefore, Christ says: I am that spiritual rock which in the desert of the world gives the water of eternal life, 1 Corinthians 10:4.

Chrysostom says: "'If anyone thirsts' — He did not say, 'if anyone wishes to become rich, if anyone seeks honors;' but 'if anyone thirsts:' that is, if anyone burns with such a desire as those who suffer thirst. He who so burns, let him come to me."

Here Christ plays the part of a learned and wise preacher, who seizes the opportunity presented by the people and, from the circumstances of the time and the occasion, proposes something suitable and fitting. Christ saw the priests at the Feast of Tabernacles drawing and pouring water from Siloam; hence, as if from a theme, He preached that He was the fountain of the water of life, teaching: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Fittingly also, as St. Augustine notes, Christ reserved His promise for the last day, because the last day signifies the last time, when Christ through the Holy Spirit would give His Church all the charisms which He gave to the Apostles at Pentecost.

JESUS STOOD AND CRIED OUT. — He stood, because at the Feast of Tabernacles the Jews did not sit in the temple but stood under the tabernacles, that is, leafy shelters; therefore Christ also stood. He cried out, first because the ears of the Jews had been deafened by unbelief; second, to show that He did not fear the rulers who were seeking Him; third, so that all might hear, because what He cried out pertained to all; fourth, to show the power and ardor of the Holy Spirit in Himself.

Here Christ displays the manner of a learned preacher: who preaches at the most fitting time and place, and adapts the force of his words to the capacity of his hearers. For He sees the thirsty crowd and the water of Siloam being poured out, and from this occasion teaches that He is the true fountain of living water.

Verse 38: Rivers of Living Water Shall Flow From His Belly

38. He who believes in Me (as he ought, namely with faith formed by charity, or he who believes, so that at the same time he obeys Me and My commandments), AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS. — These words Chrysostom with his followers refers to what preceded: "He who believes in Me." For all the Prophets prophesy about Christ, and command that He be believed and obeyed. Others more correctly generally refer them to what follows: "Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly." But where does Scripture say this?

First, Rupert and St. Thomas here, and St. Jerome in his preface to Genesis, think it was written in Proverbs 5:16: "Let your fountains be dispersed abroad, and in the streets divide your waters," according to the mystical sense: for the literal sense of that passage is different, as I said there. Second, Francisco Lucas thinks it was said in Isaiah 58:11: "And you shall be like a watered garden, continuous, and like a fountain of waters whose waters shall not fail." Thirdly, most fully, others judge that this was written not in one place but in many, and that not at all with regard to the words but with regard to the matter and sense. For everywhere the Prophets foretell the abundance of the spirit and spiritual gifts, like rivers, to be given by Christ, as Joel 2:28: "I will pour out, He says, My spirit (like a river, indeed rivers) upon all flesh, and your sons shall prophesy." And Isaiah 12:18: "I will open rivers on the bare hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will make the desert into pools of water, and the pathless land into streams of water." And chapter 25, verse 3: "For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground: I will pour out My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring." Similar passages are found in chapter 55:1, and Ezekiel 36:23, and Sirach 24:40: "I, Wisdom, have poured forth rivers: I am like a channel of an immense stream from a river, I like a river's canal, and like an aqueduct I came forth from paradise." And Song of Songs 4:15: "A fountain of gardens, he says, a well of living waters, which flow with force from Lebanon."

RIVERS OF LIVING WATER SHALL FLOW FROM HIS BELLY. — "Rivers," He says, not "river," says St. Ambrose and Theophylactus, to denote the greatest abundance and plenty, as well as the force, efficacy, and impetus of spiritual graces and operations, namely rivers of charity, rivers of virginity and virgins, rivers of martyrdoms and Martyrs; rivers of wisdom, rivers of Christian eloquence. So St. Chrysostom: "He says 'rivers,' he remarks, to signify the abundance and plenty of grace." Likewise Rupert, Theophylactus, and others, and St. Gregory, Homily 10 on Ezekiel: "Because, he says, from the minds of the faithful holy preachings flow, as it were rivers of living water run from the belly of believers. But what else are the bowels of the belly, if not the interior of the mind, that is, right intention, holy desire, humble will toward God, and pious will toward one's neighbor?"

Again St. Chrysostom: "Consider Peter's tongue, and Paul's impetuosity, and Stephen's wisdom, whom nothing escaped when they spoke, but all followed, seized as if by certain rivers rushing with force," as happened at Pentecost, when Peter, pouring forth rivers of his spirit, by one sermon converted three, and by another five thousand Jews to Christ, Acts 2. Hence St. Jerome, Epistle 64 to Pammachius: "Paul, he says, vessel of election, trumpet of the Gospel, roar of our Lion, river of Christian eloquence, etc., whom whenever I read, I seem to myself to hear not words but thunderclaps." And St. Chrysostom, Homily 4 On the Praises of St. Paul: "Paul, he says, is a heaven having the sun of justice, he himself a sea of the purest and most profound wisdom."

Note: Christ is the fountain of living water, that is, of vital and life-giving grace, according to that Psalm 35:10: "For with You is the fountain of life." From this fountain, if we drink, that is, if we believe in Christ and obey Him, there will be made in us "a fountain of water springing up into eternal life," as Christ promised the Samaritan woman, 4:14. This fountain is the Holy Spirit or His abundant and plentiful grace: from this fountain dwelling in the soul, very many and most perfect spiritual gifts and virtues, like streams and many rivers, flow and pour forth into the soul itself and the body, and its faculties, acts, and operations, and indeed even to one's neighbors. "For the grace of the Spirit, says Chrysostom, when it has entered the mind and watered it, springs up more abundantly than any fountain, never fails, is never emptied, never stands still. Thus He called it at once an unfailing supply, an incredible operation, and both a fountain and rivers."

A streamlet of the Holy Spirit is faith, says St. Gregory, a streamlet is hope, a streamlet is charity, etc. That this is so is evident, because John thus explains when he adds: "Now this He said of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive."

FROM HIS BELLY. — By catachresis He calls the interior of the soul the "belly." "From the belly" therefore, that is, from the heart and mind, which is as it were the belly of the soul; so St. Chrysostom, Leontius, Theophylactus, Euthymius. Hear St. Augustine: "The belly of the interior man is the conscience of the heart, which, purged by this liquid, will have a fountain, and will itself be a fountain: moreover the fountain and flowing river is benevolence, which desires to be of service to one's neighbor, and therefore is not dried up, because it flows."

SHALL FLOW — abundantly through acts of virtue, through the effects of grace, through the operations and impulses of the Holy Spirit, by which they lead not only themselves but also others to heaven. For the fountain of this spiritual river, that is, its source and origin is in heaven, wherefore by its own force it springs back to where it sprang from, and spiritual men it brings back by the same rebound, according to that passage in chapter 4, verse 14: "There shall be made in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life."

LIVING WATER. — Refer it with the Syriac to "rivers," as if to say: Rivers not of standing and stagnant water, which seems dead, but of flowing and springing water, which seems alive, shall flow from his belly. They shall flow, I say, "rivers," that is, an abundance of living water, that is: first, of charity, says St. Augustine; second, of spiritual joy, according to that Psalm 45: "The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God," says St. Basil on Psalm 45; third, of evangelical doctrine, says St. Ambrose; fourth, of happiness and heavenly glory: for John compares this to the river of the water of life, shining as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb, Revelation 22:1. See what was said there. Fifth, and most fully, "living water," that is, of all grace and glory, of all charisms and virtues, of all gifts of the Holy Spirit. So St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril, Origen, Leontius, and others, and this is clear from what follows.

Verse 39: This He Said of the Spirit, Whom Believers Were to Receive

39. NOW THIS HE SAID OF THE SPIRIT, WHOM THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM WERE TO RECEIVE: FOR THE SPIRIT WAS NOT YET GIVEN, BECAUSE JESUS WAS NOT YET GLORIFIED. — "Were to receive" after His death, by the merit of the same at Pentecost: for although before that the Apostles and other Saints had received the Holy Spirit, nevertheless not in that river-like abundance and plenty which was poured out upon them at Pentecost: whence they themselves soon, like overflowing rivers, watered the whole dry world with the streams of their preaching and power, made it fruitful with good works, inebriated it with the love of God, flooded it with all virtues, through the living water of their grace, life, and Christian doctrine.

FOR THE SPIRIT WAS NOT YET (Holy, as the Greek adds) GIVEN (in such great abundance and outpouring as at Pentecost), BECAUSE JESUS WAS NOT YET GLORIFIED. — Because He had not yet, rising from death and ascending into heaven, sat in glory at the right hand of God the Father; for this gives the reason why He said "were to receive" in the future tense, not "had received" in the past.

You will ask, why before the ascension of Christ the Holy Spirit was not given visibly and abundantly, as He was after it at Pentecost? I answer: First, St. Leo, Sermon 2 On Pentecost: So that this gift and outpouring of the Holy Spirit might be recognized as the fruit of Christ's passion, and of His ascension or triumph. For kings are accustomed, when they enter their kingdom or celebrate a triumph over conquered enemies, to scatter gold and silver abundantly among the people, as a cause of public joy and congratulation. So Christ, entering the heavenly kingdom and triumphing there, soon at Pentecost poured out an abundance of graces upon His faithful, according to that: "Therefore being exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you see and hear," Acts 2:33. See what was said there. Whence truly St. Leo in the cited passage: "The Lord's ascension, he says, was the reason for giving the Spirit," as if to say: Christ ascended into heaven for this reason, that from there He might send the Holy Spirit.

The second reason is that the mission and outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was the glorification of Christ: for the Holy Spirit, through so many and such great gifts, wonderfully illuminated the glory of Christ, by whom He was sent; since through them He worked such wonders through the Apostles, indeed converted the whole world to Christ, so that the faithful everywhere on earth worship and adore Christ.

Third, because the disciples before the ascension of Christ were not capable of such a spiritual gift: for they thought too carnally about Christ and dealt with Him thus. So Jansenius.

The fourth reason is given by St. Augustine, Tract. 32: The Lord, he says, did not wish to give the Holy Spirit except after the resurrection, "so that in the resurrection our charity might burn, and be separated from the love of the world, so that it might run entirely toward Him." Hear St. Cyril: "Then Christ became the beginning of a renewed nature, when despising the bonds of death He lived again." And below: "In the Prophets, he says, there was a certain splendor of the Holy Spirit, and a torch shining before them, which would lead them to knowledge of future things; but to those who believe in Christ, not only a torch shining before them was the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit Himself dwelt in them as in His temple."

Then therefore rivers of graces flowed, indeed rained, from heaven upon the faithful, not few but very many. For from there flowed so many thousands of Martyrs, generously overcoming racks, fires, and lions for the faith of Christ; so many choirs of virgins, unconquered even unto death, contending for the virginity of Christ and their own; so many swarms of monks and hermits, who in monasteries and deserts, separated from the world, lived for God, like heavenly men and earthly angels; so many orders of Bishops and Prelates, who most holily governed the Churches entrusted to them, and formed them to all holiness; so many companies of Doctors, Preachers, Confessors, who scattered the rivers of their doctrine and piety through teaching and preaching, and through volumes of books in every direction, and illuminated the whole world with the knowledge of God, and set it ablaze with His love; of whom accordingly Sirach 39:9 says: "He himself will send forth as showers the words of his wisdom;" and finally so many myriads of the faithful, both men and women, who living soberly, justly, and piously in this world, eagerly awaited and await the coming of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Is not this an immense and enduring glorification of Christ?

Verse 42: Christ Comes From the Seed of David and From Bethlehem

42. DOES NOT THE SCRIPTURE SAY THAT CHRIST COMES FROM THE SEED OF DAVID, AND FROM BETHLEHEM THE TOWN WHERE DAVID WAS? — As if to say: From Bethlehem, the little town of Judea, where David was born and raised, Christ will be born as the son of David, as Micah 5:2 foretold. Therefore Jesus is not the Christ, because He is a Galilean, having been conceived, born, and raised in Nazareth. But they are mistaken and in error; for although Christ was conceived and raised in Nazareth, He was nevertheless born in Bethlehem, says Cyril, and since they had seen in Jesus so many marvels and such evident signs of the Messiah, they ought to have inquired more certainly about this one point which they thought was lacking, or questioned Jesus; and if they had done so, they would have understood the truth of the matter, and would have known that His homeland did not prevent Jesus from being the Christ: but the crowds out of laziness, and the Scribes out of envy, neglected to investigate this, and therefore both are inexcusable.

Verse 43: There Was Therefore a Division in the Crowd Because of Him

43. THERE WAS THEREFORE A DIVISION IN THE CROWD BECAUSE OF HIM.

Verse 44: Some Wished to Seize Him, But No One Laid Hands on Him

44. AND SOME OF THEM WANTED TO SEIZE HIM; BUT NO ONE LAID HANDS ON HIM. — "Division;" in Greek, schism, with some accusing Christ as an innovator, others defending and praising Him as a Prophet, and each side quarreling for its own opinion, says Euthymius.

IN THE CROWD — "not among the rulers: for the rulers were of one opinion, that He should not be received as the Christ," says Theophylactus.

Some (especially the officers and guards sent by the rulers to seize Him) wanted to arrest Him (as the author of division, lest because of Him a tumult and sedition should arise among the people); BUT NO ONE LAID HANDS ON HIM. — For Christ by His eloquence and the majesty of His countenance, but much more by His hidden divine power, restrained them from laying hands on Him; for the hour of suffering chosen by Him had not yet come. So Cyril.

Verse 45: The Officers Came to the Chief Priests: Why Have You Not Brought Him?

45. THE OFFICERS THEREFORE CAME TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND PHARISEES (as to their masters by whom they had been sent), AND THEY SAID TO THEM: WHY HAVE YOU NOT BROUGHT HIM? — "That they came back, says St. Chrysostom, was far greater than if they had stayed with Christ; for thus they would have been freed from their harassment: now they become heralds of Christ's wisdom, and show a greater spirit."

HIM — the innovator, the seducer, the false prophet, to seize whom we sent you. For they disdain to call Him by His proper name Jesus.

Verse 46: Never Did a Man Speak Like This Man

46. THE OFFICERS ANSWERED: NEVER DID A MAN SPEAK LIKE THIS MAN. — Because this is not a mere man, like others, but a Man who is God, and therefore He speaks and teaches not with human but with divine grace, eloquence, efficacy, and majesty. See here how great was the power of speaking in Christ, how great His authority and dignity, which so astonished the officers of the chief priests that although they wanted to seize Him, they could not, but were rather compelled to love, revere, and worship Him, and this they professed candidly and freely before their own masters the rulers, even those most hostile to Christ! And thus "he convicted the wickedness of the rulers, says Cyril, showing how feeble and rash it is to fight against God." "They could indeed, says Chrysostom, have excused themselves on account of the crowd (saying: We did not dare to seize Jesus, lest we stir up the crowd, which was favorable to Him, to sedition against us), but they show the uprightness of their spirit, etc. Nor did they seem so much to admire Him, as to accuse those who had sent them to bind Him, whom they ought to have listened to," as if to say: Why did you send us to seize such a great teacher of truth? For we were captured by the force of His words; and if you yourselves heard Him, you would be captured in the same way. Therefore, as Theophylactus says, "they did not care about the anger of the Pharisees, nor because they had been sent as servants did they say what was pleasing to the rulers, but they bore witness to the truth." Such is the efficacy of truth. Truly the Wise Man says: "What thought will compel? The force of truth."

Therefore it is likely that many of these officers, attracted and delighted by the sweetness and truthfulness of Christ, were afterward perfectly converted to Christ through Peter and the Apostles preaching at Pentecost: for God seems to have given this reward for their testimony about Christ, so sincere and magnanimous. Indeed the Gloss says: "Laudably, he says, they were led astray, who having abandoned the evil of unbelief passed over to the faith." Finally St. Cyril, in the Manuscript, thinks that these officers so exalted Christ above all men that they believed or suspected Him to be God, as if to say: How could we seize Him who is exalted above us as much as God is above man?

Verse 47: Have You Also Been Deceived?

47. THE PHARISEES THEREFORE ANSWERED (implacable enemies of Christ, as Nonnus says): HAVE YOU ALSO BEEN DECEIVED — by this trickster and impostor? Hear Chrysostom: "When they ought to have been moved to compunction and changed their opinion, they accuse them; more gently, however, fearing lest they finally desert them. But they should have asked what Jesus said that was worthy of admiration? This they certainly avoided," blinded by envy toward Jesus and obstinate in their hatred of Him. St. Cyril presses further: "Even them, as if to say: Let the crowd that has been deceived by Him be pardoned for believing in Him; but you who are our officers, and have shared in the same unbelief with us, how could you be so quickly deceived by Him as to believe in Him?

Verse 48: Has Any of the Rulers or the Pharisees Believed in Him?

48. HAS ANY ONE OF THE RULERS BELIEVED IN HIM, OR OF THE PHARISEES? — As if to say: The rulers and Pharisees, who are prudent and learned in the law, do not believe in Jesus; therefore He is not the Christ. It is an argument from authority, but deceitful and false; for these rulers and Pharisees were sworn enemies of Jesus, because He censured their vices. Yet they are mistaken; for some of the rulers privately and secretly favored Jesus and believed in Him, among whom was Nicodemus, chapter 3, verse 1. Wisely St. Augustine says: Those who did not know the law, he says, believed in Him who had sent the law; but those who taught the law condemned Him, so that the saying might be fulfilled: I came that those who do not see might see, and those who see might become blind.

Verse 49: But This Crowd That Does Not Know the Law Is Accursed

49. BUT THIS CROWD THAT DOES NOT KNOW THE LAW, THEY ARE ACCURSED. — It is accursed; but they say "accursed" in the plural, because in the crowd there were many. It is a syllepsis. They allude to Deuteronomy 27:26: "Cursed is he who does not abide in the words of this law, nor carry them out in deed;" as if to say: Cursed by God is he who passes from Moses and the law to Jesus and His Gospel, and becomes an apostate. With this word of cursing the Pharisees attempt to terrify the officers and others, and to draw them away from faith in and love of Jesus. Hear Theophylactus: "They call the crowd accursed because it believed, they themselves being worthy of innumerable curses, being unbelievers and authors of unbelief for others." Wherefore Rupert, turning their own curse back upon themselves: "Surely, he says, that crowd would have spoken more truly against them: This council of vanity and assembly of the wicked, which does not keep the law, they are accursed." For, as St. Cyril says: "The wise, while they advertise themselves, are rendered foolish. For while they profess to know the law, they accuse themselves of unbelief," as well as of ignorance, because they do not recognize the Christ promised by the law and now present, and therefore deserve to be cursed and destroyed by God, as Moses foretold, Deuteronomy 18:19.

Verse 50: Nicodemus Said to Them, He Who Had Come to Him by Night

50. NICODEMUS SAID TO THEM, HE WHO HAD COME TO HIM BY NIGHT, WHO WAS ONE OF THEM:

Verse 51: Does Our Law Judge a Man Unless It First Hears From Him?

51. DOES OUR LAW JUDGE A MAN UNLESS IT FIRST HEARS FROM HIM AND KNOWS WHAT HE DOES? — "Our law," that is, the practice of our law, derived both from the law itself and more so from the very law of nature and of nations: for although the Mosaic law, Deuteronomy 13:14, commands the crime of the accused to be examined before he is condemned; yet it does not expressly command that he be heard, nor does it forbid the unheard from being condemned, if by witnesses or other arguments the accused is proven guilty.

Nicodemus censures his colleagues the rulers, as violators of the law and of natural right, but silently and modestly, fearing their anger, whence he suggests that they hear and examine Jesus. For, as St. Augustine says: "He believed (hoped) that if only they were willing to hear Him patiently, perhaps they would become like those (officers) who were sent to seize Him, and preferred to believe." Moreover, Cyril asserts that Nicodemus said this from the sting of conscience: "But still laboring under harmful shame, he says, and not mixing the freedom of speaking with zeal, he does not allow the faith clinging to him to be seen bare, but covering himself with a certain obscure cloak, by pretense, he still in some way lies hidden as a defender of Christ; whereas it befits believers to bear an open freedom before them, and without fear and shame to profess the true faith clearly," as Paul did, saying: "I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes," Romans 1. Thus Cyril.

Verse 52: Are You Also a Galilean? No Prophet Arises From Galilee

52. THEY ANSWERED AND SAID TO HIM: ARE YOU ALSO A GALILEAN? SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES AND SEE THAT NO PROPHET ARISES FROM GALILEE. — "Galilean;" in Greek, from Galilee, as if to say: Are you, because of your common homeland with Jesus the Galilean, His patron, supporter, and defender?

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. — "Insultingly, says Chrysostom, they answer as if to one ignorant of Scripture, as if to say: Submit to us and learn." For, as Theophylactus says: "Heaping insult upon him as upon an ignorant man, they say: Search, that is, go, learn, because up to this time you have not learned, that no prophet arises from Galilee." The Translator reads with Nonnus and the Arabic egeiretai, that is, arises; others read egeegertai, that is, arose. This axiom of the Pharisees is first of all false; for Deborah the prophetess was a Galilean, namely from the tribe of Naphtali or Zebulun, Judges 4:4, 5, 6. Likewise Anna the prophetess was a Galilean, being from the tribe of Asher, Luke 2:36. Likewise the prophet Nahum was an Elkeshite, that is, a native of Elkese, a village of Galilee, says St. Jerome, in his preface to Nahum. Similarly in Samaria, which was near Galilee, and in the whole kingdom of Israel, of which Galilee was the principal part, under idolatrous kings there were many Prophets who rebuked them for idolatry, such as Elijah, Elisha, and the sons of the Prophets, so much so that Obadiah, the steward of King Ahab, hid a hundred of them in caves, lest they be killed by Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, 1 Kings 18:4.

Secondly, it is rash, because even if before that time no Prophet had arisen from Galilee, one could nevertheless now arise and be born: for the same objection could be raised against Elijah the Tishbite: From Tishbi up to now no Prophet has arisen; therefore Elijah, born in Tishbi, is not a prophet; and against any other prophet who was the first in his nation.

Thirdly, it is foolish, because Nicodemus had not said that Jesus the Galilean was a Prophet, but only that He should be heard, and that no one should be condemned unheard. Thus blinded by envy and hatred, they are carried away by an act of fury, so that they commit many things imprudently, falsely, rashly, and foolishly against the judgment of reason.

Verse 53: They Returned Each One to His Own House

53. AND THEY RETURNED EACH ONE TO HIS OWN HOUSE. — "Fearing lest perhaps someone else also might say things similar to Nicodemus," says Euthymius; therefore they deferred their plan of seizing and killing Jesus, but did not revoke or change it. God brought about this delay through the intervention of Nicodemus, because the hour of Jesus's death decreed by Him had not yet come.