Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Jesus is received at a banquet in Bethany, at which Magdalene anoints Christ, whom He defends against the murmuring of Judas. Secondly, verse 12, Christ on the next day, that is on Palm Sunday, carried on an ass, enters Jerusalem in solemn pomp as the Messiah. Thirdly, verse 24, through the parable of the grain of wheat, which dying rises abundantly, He foretells His impending Passion, and a voice from heaven glorifies Him, that being lifted up from the earth He may draw all things to Himself. Fourthly, verse 37, he narrates that the Jews, despite so many signs of Christ, did not believe in Him, though some believed secretly.
Vulgate Text: John 12:1-50
1. Jesus therefore, six days before the Pasch, came to Bethany, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised up. 2. They made Him a supper there, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of those who reclined at table with Him. 3. Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of spikenard, of pure nard, precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. 4. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was about to betray Him, said: 5. Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6. Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things which were put in. 7. Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8. For the poor you have always with you; but Me you have not always. 9. A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not only for Jesus' sake, but that they might see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10. But the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also: 11. because many of the Jews, by reason of him, went away, and believed in Jesus. 12. And on the next day, a great multitude that was come to the festival day, when they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13. took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him; and cried: Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. 14. And Jesus found a young ass, and sat upon it, as it is written: 15. Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold thy king cometh, sitting on an ass's colt. 16. These things His disciples did not know at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17. The multitude therefore gave testimony, which was with Him, when He called Lazarus out of the grave, and raised him from the dead. 18. For which reason also the people came to meet Him, because they heard that He had done this miracle. 19. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves: Do you see that we prevail nothing? behold, the whole world is gone after Him. 20. Now there were certain Gentiles among them, who came up to worship on the festival day. 21. These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus. 22. Philip cometh, and telleth Andrew; Andrew again and Philip told Jesus. 23. But Jesus answered them, saying: The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 24. Amen, amen, I say unto you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; 25. but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal. 26. If any man minister to Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also shall My minister be. If any man minister to Me, My Father will honour him. 27. Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour. 28. Father, glorify Thy name. A voice therefore came from heaven: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 29. The multitude therefore, that stood and heard, said that it thundered. Others said: An angel spoke to Him. 30. Jesus answered, and said: This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. 31. Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself. 33. (Now this He said, signifying what death He should die.) 34. The multitude answered Him: We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever; and how sayest Thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? 35. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while, the light is among you. Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not; and he that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth. 36. Whilst you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light. These things Jesus spoke; and He went away, and hid Himself from them. 37. And whereas He had done so many miracles before them, they believed not in Him: 38. That the saying of Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he said: Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? 39. Therefore they could not believe, because Isaias said again: 40. He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 41. These things said Isaias, when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him. 42. However, many of the chief men also believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, that they might not be cast out of the synagogue. 43. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. 44. But Jesus cried, and said: He that believeth in Me, doth not believe in Me, but in Him that sent Me. 45. And he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me. 46. I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in Me, may not remain in darkness. 47. And if any man hear My words, and keep them not, I do not judge him: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48. He that despiseth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. 49. For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. 50. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. The things therefore that I speak, even as the Father said unto Me, so do I speak.
Verse 1: Jesus Therefore, Six Days Before the Pasch, Came to Bethany, Where Lazarus Had Been Dead, Whom Jesus Raised to Life
Jesus, from Ephrem, with the Passover at hand, in which He was to die on the Cross, came to Bethany, to prepare Himself for death — nay, to offer Himself to death, and to give occasion for it through the avarice of Judas the traitor. This [John] gives as the reason why Jesus came not first to Jerusalem but to Bethany; that is to say: When the chief priests had given command (in the preceding chapter, last verse) that Jesus should be apprehended, He, knowing this by the divine Spirit, turned aside from Jerusalem and came to Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus and had many well-wishers, and therefore could act safely among them, so that from there, as a paschal lamb about to be immolated for the salvation of the world, He might shortly afterward, on Palm Sunday, enter Jerusalem with solemn pomp.
Moreover Bethany, which lies next to the Mount of Olives, means in Hebrew "the house of obedience," from which Christ willed to go up to Jerusalem to the Cross. Hence the Gloss: He came, it says, to Bethany — that is, to the house of obedience, being Himself obedient to the Father even unto death — teaching obedience to the Church, which is upon the Mount of Oil (that is, of mercy), and cannot be hid, in which He raises up those buried in grave sins. There the supper takes place in the faith and devotion of the just. Martha serves, while every faithful soul offers works of devotion to the Lord; Lazarus, that is, those who have been raised up, together with those who have remained in righteousness, joyfully feast in the presence of the Lord.
Six days before the Pasch — that is, six days before the Pasch: on the sixth day (Friday) in the evening, Jesus came from Ephraim to Bethany; then on the following Sabbath they made a feast for Him, and on the next day, that is, on Palm Sunday, He solemnly entered Jerusalem. For the Passover that year fell on the fifth day of the week (Thursday of the next week). So the six days preceding the Passover, before which Jesus came to Bethany, are these: Sabbath, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. He therefore came on Friday, since on the following week's Friday He was to be crucified. He did not come on the Sabbath, because on that day, by the Law, travelling was not allowed, but it had to be a day of rest.
Symbolically, the Gloss says: God made all things in six days; on the sixth day He created man; in the sixth age of the world He willed to redeem him; on the sixth day of the week He suffered; and at the sixth hour He was crucified.
Whom Jesus raised. — So that by His presence He might renew in the citizens of Bethany the memory and wonder of this so recent raising from the dead, and thereby stir them up, that on the following Sunday, when He was to enter Jerusalem solemnly, they might accompany Him as the Messiah, exulting with branches and crying "Hosanna!"
Verse 2: They Made Him a Supper There, and Martha Served; but Lazarus Was One of Them That Were at Table With Him
This supper is the same as the one narrated by Matthew in chapter 26, where I have explained it. "But Lazarus was one of those at table," in order that not a phantom but his true resurrection might be proved. For, as St. Augustine says, "he lived, he spoke, he feasted; the truth was shown, and the unbelief of the Jews was confounded."
Verse 3: Mary Therefore Took a Pound of Ointment of Right Spikenard, of Great Price, and Anointed the Feet of Jesus, and Wiped His Feet With Her Hair
Mary (Magdalene) therefore (lest, with Martha serving, she herself should be found wanting in her share, that she might above all others honour Christ and surpass all in service, whom she surpassed in love) took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price. — The Syriac: "of much price." From the word "pound" one might suspect that this ointment was thick and heavy; for thick substances are weighed by the pound, while liquids are measured by the amphora. For spikenard ointment was compounded of various aromatics, as Pliny teaches in book 13, chapter 2, and therefore thick. But that this was liquid, not thick, is gathered from the fact that it was poured over the head of Christ, as Matthew says in chapter 26:7. For liquids also are sometimes weighed in vessels; or at least the spikenard itself, from which the liquid of the ointment is distilled and drawn out. Or rather, this pound was not a pound by weight, but by measure. For just as with the Romans, so also with the Jews (who were then under the Romans), there was a twofold "pound": the measuring pound was a horn measure by which they measured out oil, marked with certain lines that divided it into twelve equal parts called "ounces," as Francis Lucas says.
Mystically, St. Augustine: The ointment with which Mary anointed Jesus was righteousness; therefore it was a pound. And the Gloss: Mary once, as a penitent, anointed His feet; but now, where not the beginnings of the penitent but the righteousness of the perfect is signified, she anoints both head and feet — wherefore it is called a pound of ointment, that is, the perfection of righteousness. He anoints the head who preaches sublime things concerning Christ; he anoints the feet who venerates His lowliness.
Of right spikenard (nardi pistici) — that is, of spikenard ointment made from "pistic" spikenard.
You will ask, What is "pistic" spikenard? First, the author of a commentary on Mark chapter 14, which is found among the works of St. Jerome, interprets "pistic" as "mystic"; but this is as ridiculous as it is unworthy of St. Jerome. Secondly, St. Augustine here, in tractate 50, says: "Pistic" is called so from the place from which it was brought; but this is uncertain, and the place "Pisticus" is as unknown as the "pistic" spikenard itself. Thirdly, Maldonatus says: "Pisticus" is so called from πίνειν, that is, "to drink": therefore "pistici" means "drinkable and liquid," so that it could be poured upon the head and feet of Jesus — for other ointments are thick and heavy. Fourthly, others derive it from male, that is, "I press," as though "pisticus" were πιεστικός, meaning "pressed, expressed": whence, as Francis Lucas attests, one codex has "pestici" instead of "pistici." But these last two explanations ascribe nothing distinctive, nothing new to this ointment, and "pisticus" is not used in that sense.
Fifthly, more commonly and significantly, others everywhere say: "Pistici" means "faithful" (for πίστις is "faith") — that is, pure, sincere, not sophisticated, not mixed nor adulterated. For Pliny teaches, book 12, chapter 12, that spikenard is easily adulterated with pseudo-nard, lavender, and other herbs. So Euthymius and Theophylact on Mark 14; Baronius, Ribera, Vatablus, Jansenius, Toletus and others. But we read nothing about "pistic" spikenard in Dioscorides, Pliny, or others; and if it were named from "faith," it should have been called πιστὸς or πιστά, not πιστική.
Sixthly, therefore: τὸ "pistici" is the same as "spicati" (of spikes); for so nearly all the codices, both old and new, read, with a few exceptions of lesser authority, which have "pistici" from the Greek instead of "spicati" (see Francis Lucas in the Notes here), as Mark has it in 14:3. That this is so is gathered: first, from the fact that the Greek codices in both Mark and John consistently have πιστικῆς. Therefore, since the Latin Vulgate translator of Mark (who was either Mark himself or someone close to him and contemporary) interpreted τὸ πιστικῆς as "spicati," there is no doubt that it should also be interpreted so in this passage of John — for that John here means to say the same thing about this spikenard that Mark said about it, is clear from comparing in both places the Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Greek interpreters.
Secondly, because in place of τῷ πιστικῆς the Syriac, both in Mark and in John, translates "nardin risoio" — that is, "head spikenard" — that is, the first and most excellent; the Arabic has "the best": and such is "spicate" (spiked) spikenard. Thirdly, because it is agreed by all what "spicate" spikenard is, whereas we read nothing anywhere about "pistic" spikenard. For spikenard has both spikes and leaves; ointment is made from both — the former is called "spicate," the latter "foliate." See Pliny, book 12, chapter 12. But the "spicate" kind, because it has more substance and marrow, is therefore more excellent — what Galen calls ναρδόσταχυν, and the apothecaries call "nardispica."
It seems, therefore, that the Greeks corrupted the Latin word "spicati," and pronounced it corruptly by metathesis (letter transposition) as πιστικῆς — either because this was easier and sweeter to pronounce (for it is difficult for Greeks to pronounce "spicati," since they have no noun or verb with kappa following "sp"), or because they did not understand τὸ "spicati," or because τὸ πίστις comes closer to the Greek πίστις, that is, "faith." So for σπικᾶτι or σπικᾶτις they said πιστικῆς; whence also one manuscript codex in John has "spiciti." Moreover, John wrote long after Mark, and since the word πιστικῆς for "spicati" had from Mark come into use among the faithful, John retained the same word for the sake of faithfulness in so obscure a matter. So Francis Lucas and some recent scholars skilled in languages.
In a similar way, very many names passing from one language into another have been altered and corrupted through metathesis — as "ephpheta" for "hippathach," "golgotha" for "gulgolta," "psomtomphanec," as the Septuagint renders it, for "sophnephaneach," that is, "savior of the world," Genesis 41:45.
Thus for the Hebrew "sippor" the Latins by metathesis say "passer" (sparrow); for "darag," "gradus" (step); for "mecar," "mercor" (I trade); for "erets," "terra" (earth); for "Jesaiahu," "Isaias"; for "Jecheskiel," "Ezechiel."
Thus for ἁρπαξ the Latins say "rapax" (greedy); for popul, forma; for νεῦρον, "nervus" (sinew); for κρέας, "caro" (flesh); for κίρκος, "circus"; for κρίνω, "cerno" (I discern); for ἄχρις, "arx" (citadel); for ταχύ, "cito" (quickly).
Thus the Italians say "cremesi" for "carmes" (crimson); "paduli" for "paludes" (marshes); "Gerolamo" for "Hieronymus"; "pistrello" for "vespertilio" (bat).
Thus the Spanish for "parabola" say "palabra" (the Italians and French say "parola," whence "parlare"); for "periculum," "peligro"; for "miraculum," "milagro"; for "oblivio," "olvido."
Thus for the Hebrew Jehochanan, the Latins and Greeks say "Joannes"; the Italians, "Giovanni"; the Spanish pronounce it "Juan," others "Goan"; the Germans, "Hans"; the Illyrians, "Juan"; the French, "Jean"; the Flemings, "Jan"; the country folk, "Hensen" and "Hennen."
Morally, learn here that good works, by which as with precious ointments we anoint Christ, ought to be "spicate" or "pistic" — that is, sincere, solid, excellent, outstanding. Such are owed to so great a Lord. Hence the sacrifices of Abel pleased God because they were better; those of Cain displeased Him because they were worse (Genesis 4). Wherefore David in Psalm 65:15 says: "I will offer Thee holocausts full of marrow (fat and full of marrow)." And in Psalm 19:4: "May thy whole burnt offering be made fat." Azariah, praying in the midst of the fire, says: "Let us be received... as in thousands of fat lambs" (Daniel 3:40). Nay, God once demanded the fat of the victim for Himself: Leviticus 3:16, "All the fat shall belong to the Lord by a perpetual right." And Numbers 18:17: "Thou shalt burn the fat as a most sweet odour to the Lord." Again, Leviticus 22:19, God commands that the victim to be offered to Him should be male and without any blemish (that is, defect) — that is, whole and perfect; hence He forbids blind, broken, or scabby animals to be offered to Him. Finally, Numbers 18:29, God decrees: "All things which you shall offer out of the tithes, and set aside for the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best and choicest."
And she anointed the feet of Jesus. — Matthew adds, "and the head." Mystically, Alcuin says: The head is the sublimity of the divinity; the feet, the humility of the Incarnation. Or else the head is Christ Himself, and the feet are the poor, who are the members of Christ: we anoint these when we give them alms.
And wiped His feet with her hair. — This is therefore a hysteron proteron (reversal of order). For first she wiped His feet of dust and mud, and then anointed them; for Christ walked barefoot, shod only with sandals, which He laid aside, according to the custom of the nation, when reclining at table. For if Mary had first anointed the feet of Jesus and then wiped them with her hair, she would rather have anointed her own hair, which she by no means wished to anoint and judged unworthy of anointing — [she judged her hair less worthy of anointing] than the feet of Jesus. Besides, this fragrant and precious ointment was not to be wiped away, but to be left on the feet of Christ, to warm and refresh them.
With her hair — so that she might soil with the filth of Jesus' feet those very locks in which she once vainly gloried, and with them lay her whole head beneath His feet in the utmost humility and reverence. "For when she wiped His feet with her hair," says Chrysostom, "she subjected to the feet of Christ the most honourable member of her whole body — I mean her head — and she was present to Him, not as to a man, but as to God."
And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. — Mystically, St. Augustine says: "The world is filled with the good report of the piety and virtue such as Mary practiced here, according to Paul's words: 'We are the sweet savour of Christ' — to the good, a savour of life unto life, but to the evil, of death unto death," as here happened. Hence follows:
Verse 4: Then One of His Disciples, Judas Iscariot, Who Was About to Betray Him, Said
Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, etc.
Verse 5: Why Was Not This Ointment Sold for Three Hundred Pence, and Given to the Poor?
Matthew and Mark add: "To what purpose is this waste of ointment?" Bede replies: It is not a waste, but a service of burial; nor is it any wonder that she gave the good odour of faith for Me, since I am about to pour out My blood for her.
Verse 6: Now He Said This, Not Because He Cared for the Poor, but Because He Was a Thief, and Having the Purse, Carried the Things Which Were Put In
Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things which were put in (offered to Christ). — "A thief" — nay, a sacrilegious one, in that he "seized for his own use what was given for divine purposes," says Theophylact; for "he carried it by office, he carried it away by theft," says St. Augustine. For Judas desired this ointment to be sold and the price given to him; and since he knew that Christ did not wish such a sum of money to be kept in His purse, but wished it to be distributed to the poor, he would have distributed some part to the poor and stolen the rest for himself. See here how opportunity makes the thief, and how dangerous it is for holy and religious men to handle money — especially money common to the whole community; for something from it is easily, at the suggestion of concupiscence, turned aside to one's own uses or those of one's friends.
And having the purse, he carried what was put in. — From this Jansenius and others rightly conclude that Christ, with His college of Apostles, having a purse, showed by the fact itself and by His own example that the Church may lawfully have purses and possessions, and that it does not derogate from perfection to have a common purse for appropriate and moderate expenses. For Jesus did nothing imperfect in His life, being the master of all perfection.
That you may understand this from its foundations, note that Christ, although by reason of the hypostatic union with the Word, He had an excellent and, as it were, divine dominion over all creatures, nevertheless professed poverty — that is, the lack of human dominion, as it is in human usage — so that He might be a master of a more perfect life and give us an example of it. This is clear from Matthew 8:20: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." Likewise, Matthew 19:21: "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, etc., and come, follow Me."
But why did Jesus entrust the purse to Judas, when He knew he would be a thief? I reply: Because Judas was more apt for procuring temporal things than the other Apostles; and He permitted the theft because from it arose the occasion of His betrayal and Passion, which He Himself sought. Again, St. Augustine: "Because," he says, "the Church was going to have purses, He admitted thieves, that His Church, while enduring powerful thieves, might tolerate them — to teach that the wicked must be tolerated, lest we divide the body of Christ: bear with evil as a good man, that thou mayest come to the reward of the good." Chrysostom adds: The Lord entrusted the purse to the thief in order to cut off from him every occasion of betrayal, lest he seem to betray Him because of a lack of money. But Theophylact says: "Some say that Judas, as the least of them all, took upon himself the administration of the money."
Finally, St. Bernard, in book 4 of De Consideratione, chapter 6, teaches that Christ here wished to instruct Prelates to entrust the care of temporal things readily to anyone, but to reserve to themselves the dispensation of spiritual things — the opposite of which some do. Again, Christ did this, that we should not wonder if in gatherings of the saints, monasteries, and congregations, some are at times found to be vicious and scandalous. Hence St. Augustine, Epistle 37, when one of his monks had given scandal, on account of which the people cried out against him, prudently replied: "However watchful the discipline of my house may be, I am a man, and I live among men, and I do not dare to claim that my house is better than the ark of Noah, where one reprobate was found among eight men; or better than the house of Abraham, where it was said: 'Cast out the handmaid and her son'; or better than the house of Isaac, to whom it was said of the two twins: 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated'; or better than the house of Jacob, where a son defiled his father's bed; or better than the house of David, whose son lay with his sister, and whose other son rebelled against the father's holy gentleness; or better than the cohabitation of the Lord Christ Himself, in which eleven good men tolerated Judas the traitor and thief; or finally, better than Heaven, whence the angels fell."
Indeed, God in His wise providence permits this, so that by the wickedness of one or of a few, the honesty and holiness of the rest may shine forth more by contrast — just as light among darkness, gold among lead, the sun among clouds, and the wise man among fools shines and glitters the more. For a contrary shines out more beside its opposite, as Ecclesiasticus 33:13 teaches. See what is said there.
Note secondly, that Christ had ownership of the monies and things offered to Him by the faithful, in common, not individually: because these purses belonged to the whole college of the Apostles, which held ownership of them; therefore Christ Himself did not hold them as His own, so as to be the particular owner of them. Hence also in ch. IV, vs. 8, the disciples are said to have gone into the city to buy food. And in ch. VI, Jesus says to Philip: "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"
Therefore from this example of Christ it follows that it detracts nothing from perfection to have goods in common, as religious orders commonly do, as John XXII defines in the Extravagant Ad conditorem. For according to the diversity of persons, states, and ends which each one sets before himself, sometimes this is more perfect and sometimes not. Yet Christ seems at times to have lacked all ownership, even in common, as when He says: "The Son of man has nowhere to lay His head;" when the women following Him supplied Him, Luke VIII, 3; likewise on the cross, where He freely renounced all things, even His clothes. And this alone seems to be the meaning of Nicholas IV (who in appearance seems to oppose John XXII), in the canon Exiit qui seminat, De verb. signific. in VI.
Further, that purses held in common do not hinder perfection, St. Thomas proves by an a priori argument, II-II, Quest. CLXXXVIII, art. 7: Because, he says, poverty is only an instrument of perfection, inasmuch as it removes three evils of riches which are impediments to charity: the first is the solicitude of acquiring and keeping them; the second, love of them; the third, pride on account of them. But to have purses in common brings neither solicitude nor love nor pride. Therefore this is not an impediment to charity, but rather a help. For it diminishes the solicitude which plain poor men and beggars often experience in begging and in procuring food and clothing for themselves: "For it is manifest," says St. Thomas, "that it involves the least solicitude to keep things necessary for human use, procured at a fitting time."
Wherefore all the ancient founders of religious orders, holy and wise men, ordained that religious should have goods in common, so that without care they might devote themselves to prayer, study, and preaching, as is clear from the Constitutions of St. Basil, St. Augustine (Epist. 109), St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Bruno, St. Romuald, St. Dominic. From this arose the Constitution of the Emperor Justinian, in Auth., col. 1, Constit. 5, § Illud, and col. 9, Constit. 15, § Si qua, which commands that the goods of those who become monks shall by that very fact belong to their monasteries. For the whole force of evangelical poverty lies in this, that nothing be held as one's own and individual, although something may afterwards be held in common, from which according to the Apostolic form it is distributed to individuals as each has need. For the Apostles, together with the first faithful, who were most holy and most religious, possessed goods in common, as is found in Acts IV, 32: "Neither did any one say that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." And vs. 27 [Matt. 19:27]: "Behold, we have left all things and have followed Thee."
This is what St. Jerome says about the religious of his age, Epist. 22: "It is not permitted to anyone to say: I have no tunic and cloak, and no rush mats for bedding. The superior of all so distributes the whole, that no one asks for anything, no one is without anything. But if anyone begins to be sick, he is transferred to a more spacious room, and is comforted with such great attendance of the elders, that he longs neither for the delights of cities nor for a mother's affection."
The Fathers and Scholastics teach the same everywhere. See Suarez, Part III, Quest. XL, art. 3, disp. XXVIII, sect. 2; Bellarmine, in book IV On the Supreme Pontiff, ch. XIV; Dominic Soto, book IV On Justice, Quest. 1, art. 1.
You will say: Nicholas IV in the place already cited implies that to have purses is to diminish perfection: for he says that Christ, when He had purses, accommodated Himself to the weaker, so that He might be an example to all. Suarez answers: Nicholas only asserted that, in the matter of poverty, that kind is lesser and less rigid which permits having purses; but from this it is not concluded that this is of greater perfection absolutely; for what is less perfect in poverty can be more perfect in charity or in some other virtue. For Nicholas is speaking of the Franciscans (as he himself was), whose Religion has as its scope and end the highest poverty, in order to conform itself to their founder St. Francis, who supremely loved the greatest poverty and nakedness of all things. But other religious orders have other pious and holy ends, for which it is fitting to have goods in common: wherefore in these it is more congruent and more perfect. Thus the Carthusians keep holy silence and solitude. Others pursue great austerity of life. But those who devote themselves to preaching and to missions to infidels must mix among men and have great strength, so that they can sustain the great labors of their institute: wherefore they compensate austerity of life with charity toward their neighbor. Both do fittingly, piously, and suitably according to their institute and the end set before them. For a different end demands different means. Finally, the Council of Trent, sess. 25, ch. III, grants to all religious, except the Franciscans, that they may possess immovable goods.
Verse 7: Jesus Therefore Said: Let Her Alone, That She May Keep It Against the Day of My Burial
"That she may keep it," that is, that she may be shown to have kept it. Hence in Greek it is in the past tense: for the day of My burial she has kept it. So too the Syriac. The other things pertaining here I have explained at Matt. XXVI, 12, etc. Hear St. Augustine: "He did not say to him: You say these things because of your thefts: He knew the thief and was unwilling to betray him, but rather bore with him and showed us an example of patience in enduring evil men in the Church."
Verse 9: A Great Multitude Therefore of the Jews Knew That He Was There: and They Came, Not for Jesus' Sake Only, but That They Might See Lazarus, Whom He Had Raised From the Dead
"Curiosity," says St. Augustine, "brought them, not charity," namely that they might see Lazarus risen from the dead, hear him, and ask him where he had been after death, what he had seen, what he had done. So Cyril, Theophylact, and Leontius.
Verse 10: But the Chief Priests Thought to Kill Lazarus Also
But the chief priests thought (in Greek ἐβουλεύσαντο, that is, they took counsel: so the Syriac, Arabic, and Vatablus, and by consulting together they decreed) to kill Lazarus also. — See here the virulent envy and malice of the chief priests, by which, envying the glory of Jesus, they envy also Lazarus and his life, lest his life increase the glory of Jesus. For the feast of the Pasch was at hand, at which all the Jews flocking to Jerusalem were going to see Lazarus raised from the dead and to admire the power of Christ who raised him, and therefore many would believe in Him: and to prevent this, the chief priests decree to put Lazarus out of the way. But St. Augustine rightly exclaims against them, tract. 50: "O foolish thought and blind cruelty! The Lord Christ, who could raise the dead, could He not raise the slain? When you were bringing death upon Lazarus, were you taking away power from Christ? If death seems one thing to you and being slain another; behold, the Lord has done both, both Lazarus dead, and He Himself raised His slain self."
Finally, the raising of Lazarus was a work proper to God; and those therefore who strove to kill him were fighting against God and, as it were, challenging Him to a duel.
Verse 11: Because Many of the Jews, by Reason of Him, Went Away, and Believed in Jesus
"Went away," in Greek ὑπῆγον, that is, they withdrew themselves, they left them, they deserted their faction; "of the Jews" refers to "many," as the Syriac and Arabic render it, and as is gathered from the Greek: yet it can also be referred to "went away," as if to say: Many of the Jews went away from the Jews who were opposed to Christ, and passed over to Christ.
Verse 12: And on the Next Day, a Great Multitude That Was Come to the Festival Day, When They Had Heard That Jesus Was Coming to Jerusalem
And on the next day. — That is, on the following day, or the day after the supper of Jesus made on the Sabbath in Bethany, namely Palm Sunday, which was the fifth day before the Pasch, and was the tenth day of the month Nisan, on which Christ, as the Paschal Lamb, was about to enter Jerusalem with solemn rite, so that there He might become the victim and expiation of the world: for on the tenth day the paschal lamb, which was a type of Christ, was to be led into Jerusalem to be immolated on the 14th of the month, according to the law of Exod. XII, 3. The other things which follow up to verse 17, concerning the procession of Christ entering Jerusalem, I have explained at Matt. XXI, 7.
Verse 17: The Multitude Therefore Gave Testimony, Which Was With Him, When He Called Lazarus Out of the Grave, and Raised Him From the Dead
The crowd therefore gave testimony (concerning the raising of Lazarus, namely that Jesus had truly, not feignedly, raised Lazarus from the dead) — the crowd which was with Him (Jesus) when He called Lazarus out of the tomb.
Verse 18: For Which Reason Also the People Came to Meet Him, Because They Heard That He Had Done This Miracle
John gives the reason why the citizens of Jerusalem now run in crowds to meet Jesus with such great applause, which they had never done before, namely because the crowd which had been present at the raising of Lazarus spread this miracle of Jesus throughout all Jerusalem, saying that they had seen it with their own eyes. The novelty of so great a miracle therefore stirred the citizens, so that they ran in crowds to meet Jesus, acclaiming Hosanna to Him as their Messiah and King.
Verse 19: The Pharisees Therefore Said Among Themselves: Do You See That We Prevail Nothing? Behold, the Whole World Is Gone After Him
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves (conferring counsels among themselves): Do you see that we prevail nothing? Behold, the whole world is gone after Him. — The Arabic: the whole world follows Him. It is a hyperbole, as if to say: Very many are going away from us and believing in Jesus. For they had seen a huge crowd of men running to Him as to the Messiah and acclaiming Hosanna, and those of every sex, age, and kind, namely both men and women, both old men and boys, both Jews and Gentiles, as is clear from the following verse. Cyril notes that the Pharisees here tacitly prophesy that all the nations of the whole world would be converted to Christ, though they themselves did not understand it.
St. Chrysostom and Theophylact think that those who said these things were believers in Christ, or at least inclined toward Him, as if they were saying to the other unbelievers who were persecuting Christ: We see that by persecuting Christ we accomplish nothing against Him — but rather we increase His sect and His glory: for the whole world has gone after Him; let us therefore cease from persecuting Him. Hence the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic have: you see that we accomplish nothing.
More truly, Cyril, Euthymius, and others think that these were unbelievers and enemies of Christ; for such were the Pharisees, as if to say: Lately we all with Caiaphas decreed to kill Jesus, but meanwhile we delay and are slow in doing it; and behold, by this delay and slowness of ours we accomplish nothing, but rather increase the evil; for the whole world has gone after Him: how much better would it have been, if recently, when we decreed to kill Him, we had at once killed Him, before His sect had grown and become so illustrious. What then ought we now to do? That we execute our decree as quickly as possible, and take Him out of the way. Why then do we delay, why do we spin out delays? If we tarry, all will go away from us to Jesus, and we shall not be able to call them back: we shall be overcome by numbers, unless we overcome by cunning.
Verse 20: Now There Were Certain Gentiles Among Those Who Had Come Up to Adore on the Festival Day
It is strange that some should think these were Jews dwelling among the Gentiles, when John expressly says they were Gentiles. These therefore were partly proselytes, that is, those who had already embraced the Jewish religion, or rather were thinking of embracing it, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius think; partly Gentiles who held that there is one God, whom, when they saw Him adored by the Jews with such majesty in the Jerusalem temple, and by such a great multitude of men at the Pasch, they themselves had determined to do the same with the same things, especially drawn by the fame of the sanctity and miracles of Jesus, whom they desired to see and hear, as John here says. So Cyril, Leontius, and Theophylact. In a similar way the eunuch of Queen Candace came to adore at Jerusalem, to whom an angel sent another Philip, namely the Deacon (not this Apostle), who converted him to Christ, Acts VIII. So too the kings of the Gentiles venerated the temple of Jerusalem, and sent gifts to it, as Cyrus, I Esdras, 1; Darius Hystaspes, ibid., ch. VI; Seleucus and other kings of Asia, II Macc. III.
Verse 21: These Therefore Came to Philip, Who Was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and Besought Him, Saying: Sir, We Would See Jesus
These therefore came to Philip (the Apostle), who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and besought him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus. — They approached Philip rather than the others, either because he was known to them, or because he first met them, or because in voice and countenance he bore greater frankness, affability, and kindness, and so drew all to himself; for they, being Gentiles, did not dare to approach Christ Himself, as a most holy man and excellent Prophet, and moreover a Jew (for the Jews abhorred the Gentiles), says Cyril, Chrysostom, and Leontius. Therefore they employ Philip as mediator between themselves and Christ, that he may make them access to Him.
Verse 22: Philip Cometh, and Telleth Andrew; Andrew Again and Philip Told Jesus
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew (as to a greater and more senior Apostle), again Andrew and Philip told Jesus. — For Andrew had greater authority with Christ, inasmuch as he had been the first of all to approach Jesus and had brought his brother Peter to Him, ch. I, vs. 40. Having therefore conferred together, they refer the whole matter to Jesus before bringing the Gentiles themselves, because they had heard from Jesus: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles," Matt. X, 5.
Verse 23: But Jesus Answered Them, Saying: The Hour Is Come, That the Son of Man Should Be Glorified
In Greek δοξασθῇ, that is, may be glorified. So the Syriac and Arabic, as if to say: Do not keep the Gentiles from Me, but bring them to Me. For what I said formerly, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles," I said to you at the beginning of My preaching, by which I was destined by God to the Jews alone; but now, when My preaching is ending, as well as My life, and when the Jews reject My preaching, I shall transfer it through you to the Gentiles. Therefore now the hour is at hand, that is, the time in which I, after My death (and through it) which is imminent for Me, and through My resurrection from the dead, My ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, shall be glorified not only by the Jews but by the Gentiles throughout the whole world, that is, I shall be acknowledged as the Messiah Savior, worshiped and adored through your preaching, O My Apostles, everywhere.
Moreover the glorification of Christ is the glorification of all Christians. For, as St. Augustine says, serm. 176 De Tempore: "The death of Christ gave us life, the resurrection raised us up, the ascension consecrated us." Because, as the same father says, serm. 184: "When Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit descended to us."
Verse 24: Amen, Amen I Say to You, Unless the Grain of Wheat Falling Into the Ground Die, Itself Remaineth Alone
Christ teaches that the brightness or glory just mentioned will come to Him through the death of the cross, lest the Apostles and faithful be disturbed and scandalized by it. Hear St. Augustine, tract. 51: "Jesus was speaking of Himself: He Himself was the grain to be put to death and multiplied; to be put to death in the unbelief of the Jews, to be multiplied in the faith of all peoples," as if to say: Just as a grain of wheat sown in the earth, unless it die in it, that is, be corrupted, put to death, and dissolved by the heat into another substance, namely into the germ of the earth, does not sprout nor bear fruit: but if it die, by sprouting it bears much fruit and multiplies itself, so that one grain produces from itself 20, 30, 60 grains. Supply: so likewise I, who am as it were a grain of wheat cast from heaven to earth, must die, so that through My death and its merit, as well as its example, I may bring forth many fruits of virtues and of the faithful, and those eminent and celebrated, namely so many thousands of Martyrs, Virgins, Doctors, Confessors, and the rest of the faithful, scattered throughout the whole world and to be scattered in future ages. The same happens in the death of the Martyrs, that when one dies, many rise up in his place and embrace the faith of Christ. Wherefore the Church reads this passage on the feast of St. Lawrence and of the other Martyrs. Truly Tertullian says, at the end of the Apology: "The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of Christians." Whence he adds in the same place: "Torture us, rack us, condemn us, grind us down; your iniquity is the proof of our innocence." And soon after: "Your more exquisite cruelty is a greater allurement to the sect; we become more numerous as often as we are cut down by you." St. Gregory, book III Dialog., ch. XXXI, gives an illustrious example in St. Hermenegild, who, slain by his father Leovigild, the Arian king, for the orthodox faith, converted both his brother Reccared and the whole Visigothic nation from Arianism to the right faith: "One therefore," says Gregory, "died in that nation, that many might live, and when one grain fell faithfully to obtain the faith of souls, a great harvest arose."
Anagogically Bede says: Jesus was sown from the seed of the Patriarchs in the field of this world, that is, He was incarnate: He alone died, but rose with many. Finally, hear St. Bernard, serm. 15 on the Canticle: "Let the grain die, and let the harvest of the nations rise. It was necessary that Christ should suffer and rise from the dead, and that penance and the remission of sins should be preached in His name, not only in Judaea but also to all nations, so that from one name, which is Christ, thousands of thousands of believers should be called Christians, and should say: Thy name is as oil poured out."
Verse 25: But If It Die, It Bringeth Forth Much Fruit; He That Loveth His Life Shall Lose It; and He That Hateth His Life in This World Keepeth It Unto Life Eternal
First, as if to say: "He who loves his soul," that is, his life, above My faith and the profession of it, so that he prefers to deny the faith rather than lose his life, this man "shall lose" his soul and life, because he will incur eternal death and hell. But "he who hates his soul," that is, his life, so as to prefer to lose it rather than the faith, this man "keeps it," that he may live forever blessed in heaven. Again, "he who loves his soul," that is, the desires and concupiscences of his soul, above My will and commandments, so that he prefers to follow his concupiscences rather than My commandments, this man "shall lose" his soul in hell; but "he who hates it" by resisting its concupiscences contrary to the law of God, this man "keeps it," so as to obtain from Me the eternal life of blessedness. So did the Martyrs, Anchorites, Religious, Virgins, and the other Saints.
Both senses are fitting for this passage and intended by Christ, and therefore are to be joined together, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius join them. For Christ saw that the Apostles and Christians after His death would suffer persecution and martyrdom from the Jews and Gentiles: He wished therefore here to forewarn and fortify them against these things, as if to say: After My death, the Scribes, chief priests, and tyrants will rise up against you: see therefore that you do not deny My faith in order to preserve your temporal life, because by so doing you will lose the eternal and blessed life which you will gain if you expose your temporal life to death for My faith.
Again Christ wished to teach all the faithful that they must continually resist and struggle with their concupiscences: "For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh," Gal. V. This is what Christ says, Matt. X, 39: "He who finds his life shall lose it." And ch. XVI, 25: "He who would save his life shall lose it: but he who shall lose his life for My sake shall find it." And Ecclus. XVIII, 30: "Go not after thy concupiscences, and turn away from thy own will. If thou give to thy soul her desires, she will make thee a joy to thy enemies." See what is said there.
Further, the heretics called Circumcellions wrongly understood this passage; they, as St. Augustine testifies here, killed themselves, so as thus to obtain the eternal life here promised by Christ. For it is one thing to hate one's soul, and another to kill it, which is forbidden by every law.
Finally, hear St. Augustine, tract. 51: "He who loves his soul shall lose it. This can be understood in two ways: He who loves, shall lose, that is, if you love, you will lose: if you desire to hold your life in Christ, do not fear to die for Christ. Likewise in another way: He who loves his soul shall lose it: do not love, lest you lose; do not love in this life, lest you lose in the life eternal. This latter, which I said, seems rather to have the evangelical sense." And after some interposed remarks: "A great and wondrous saying, how a man's love toward his own life is such that it perishes; hatred, so that it does not perish: if you love badly, then you hate; if you hate well, then you love. Happy are they who hate by guarding, lest they lose by loving." Whence after many things he concludes: "When therefore the crucial moment of a cause comes, when this condition is proposed, either to act against God's commandment, or to depart from this life: of which two, if a man is forced to choose one, with the persecutor threatening death, let him there choose to die loving God rather than to live having offended Him; let him there have hated his soul in this world, that he may keep it unto life eternal."
Hear also St. Chrysostom: "He loves his soul in this world who fulfills its unsuitable desires; but he hates it who does not yield to it when it lusts harmfully. He said, hates; for just as we cannot bear to hear the voice of those whom we hate, so the soul willing things contrary to God must be vehemently turned away." And Theophylact, because it was hard to hear that the soul must be hated, consoles them, saying: "In this world," in which he indicates the brevity of time, adding an eternal reward. Chrysostom adds: Christ, seeing that the disciples were going to be saddened by His death, raised them up to greater things, as if to say: "What do I say? If you will not bear My death bravely: unless you yourselves die, no reward will follow you." Thus Chrysostom here, tract. 66.
This saying of Christ therefore is the axiom, basis, foundation, and compendium of the Christian life. For it is the root and principle of all virtues, which are drawn from it just as conclusions from premises: whoever then desires to become learned, eminent, and perfect in the school of Christ, let him continually ruminate on this maxim, weigh it, imprint it on his will, and carry it out in deed, so that he may adapt, measure, and conform all his actions to it as to a Lydian touchstone: thus will he become a true and singular disciple, follower, and imitator of Christ, and in exchange for the temporal life which he neglects, he will obtain the blessed joys of eternal life.
Verse 27: Now Is My Soul Troubled
27. NOW IS MY SOUL TROUBLED. — Note: Christ here, because He had made mention of His death threatening Him after three days (for He spoke these words on Palm Sunday), permitted its natural horror to be aroused in Himself, as happens in us, and by this horror He troubled Himself. Wherefore He says, "save," that is, deliver Me "from this hour," and from the horror of death hanging over Me. Similar was the scene in the garden, when, sorrowful even unto death, He prayed: "Let this chalice pass from Me." St. Chrysostom gives the reason: Christ, he says, had exhorted His own to follow Him through death; lest therefore they should say that He, being outside of pain, easily philosophized about death and exhorted others to it, He also shows Himself to be in agony, and yet not refusing death, that we may follow Him and do the same in the horror of death and mortification.
St. Cyril gives a second reason, namely that He might show Himself to be not only God, but also true man, subject to our sufferings and miseries.
The third reason St. Augustine gives, and from him Bede: that Christ, taking our infirmities upon Himself, might heal and strengthen us. Hear Augustine: "Thou commandest my soul to follow, but I see Thy soul troubled; what foundation shall I seek, if the Rock gives way? I recognize Thy mercy, O Lord; for Thou who art troubled by the will of charity dost console the weak, lest by despairing they perish; in Himself our Head took upon Him the affection of His members." And again: "As He raised us to the highest things, so He suffers with us in the lowest." And presently he introduces Christ speaking to us thus: "Thou hast heard in Me the voice of My strength; thou hast heard in Me the voice of thy weakness; I supply strength that thou mayest run, nor do I restrain what thou hastenest; but I take upon Myself what thou dreadest, and I lay down a path for thee to pass over."
AND WHAT SHALL I SAY? FATHER, SAVE ME FROM THIS HOUR. — Theophylact and Leontius expound thus, as if to say: In this trouble and agony I am held fast, and my mind wavers, and I know not what to do or say. Shall I then say: Father, save Me from this hour? Shall I flee from death? By no means; but I shall conquer My agony, and willingly go to meet death.
Others more simply and plainly, as if to say: What shall I say in this agony? Whither shall I flee? Whom shall I call upon? Surely the Father, who saves. I shall say therefore: "Father, save Me from this hour," that is, deliver Me from this agony of death. For, as St. Augustine, Bede, and Rupertus say, this prayer is similar to that one in the garden: "My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me," which was the prayer of the lower part, or the natural appetite, which shrank from death; whence presently the upper part, namely the mind and higher will, corrected it and said: "Nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done." In the same way He also corrects this, when He immediately adds:
BUT FOR THIS CAUSE I CAME UNTO THIS HOUR. — This is a correction, by which Christ corrects the lower part, which had said: "Save Me from this hour," as if to say: Although I naturally shrink from death, nevertheless I absolutely do not wish My natural desire to be fulfilled, since I have come into the world for this very purpose, that I might undergo this hour of death and drink the chalice of the Passion. Thus St. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, and others.
Verse 28: Father, Glorify Thy Name
28. FATHER, GLORIFY THY NAME, — that is, through the death appointed for Me by Thee, which I willingly accept, that I may glorify, that is, make famous Thy name through My ultimate obedience and religion, by which I offer Myself to Thee as a victim for the sins of the whole world, and thus restore men lost through sin to the grace of life, and reconcile them to Thee, and lead them into heaven, that they may glorify Thee for ever. Thus St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Euthymius. So it is said of Peter, XXI, 19: "This He said, signifying by what death he should glorify God." Hear Augustine: Glorify Me by the Passion and the Resurrection. And St. Chrysostom: That He dies for the truth, He calls the glory of God: for it was to come to pass that after the Cross the name of God would be recognized by the world. And the Gloss: I seek salvation, but I do not refuse the Passion; for the sake of which Passion glorify Me, which is the glory of Thy name.
Secondly, "glorify Thy name" in this moment also, so that the Gentiles who had come to Me, and likewise the Jews, may know that I was sent by Thee, that I might redeem men by My death, and therefore may glorify Thee and Thy beneficence. For the Father, hearing this prayer, at once answered: "And I have glorified, and will glorify again." Thus Theodore of Heraclea.
A VOICE THEREFORE CAME FROM HEAVEN: I HAVE BOTH GLORIFIED IT, AND WILL GLORIFY IT AGAIN. — "I have glorified it," first, by communicating to Him as My only-begotten Son My brightness, that is, My majesty, glory, and divinity from all eternity, according to that passage in chapter XVII: "And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." Thus St. Augustine and Bede.
Secondly, by creating the world through Him, and all things that are in it in time. Thus Rupertus.
Thirdly, and most aptly, through the voice that descended from heaven at the baptism: "This is My beloved Son;" likewise through so many and such great miracles and works of virtue which Christ performed throughout; and in the present, I glorify by this voice of Mine from the heavens, "and I will glorify again," namely in the death and after the death of Jesus, when through His resurrection, ascension into heaven, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the preaching and miracles of the Apostles, all the Gentiles will acknowledge, worship, love, and adore Him as Christ the Son of God, and consequently God the Father. Thus Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius, Euthymius, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
Verse 29: The Multitude Said That It Thundered
29. The multitude therefore, that stood and heard (this trumpet-like voice of God the Father), SAID THAT IT THUNDERED, — because this voice was very great, very dense, and very resounding like thunder. Perhaps also because they received the voice confusedly, not articulately, as the confused sound of thunder is received. Whence Chrysostom: "The voice indeed," he says, "was clear and significant, but it quickly flew away from the coarse and carnal, and they retained only the sound." And shortly after: "They knew that it was indeed articulate, but they did not grasp what it signified." But it is truer, says Rupertus, and from him Maldonatus, that all understood this voice as speaking articulately and recognized its meaning — for example, that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour; but because of the magnitude of the voice they could not persuade themselves that it was a real voice, but either that it was thunder, and that they, who seemed to themselves to have heard a human and articulate voice, were deceived; or else that it was certainly the voice of an angel. And this is why the Evangelist recorded this, to teach that the voice was not silent or obscure, such that only Christ heard it and no others were witnesses of it; but that it was so great, so clear, that not only did all hear it, but they heard it in such a way that some judged it thunder, others an angel's voice, and no one judged it a human voice. And this very thing indicated that the voice was divine, in that they supposed it to be thunder; for thunderclaps too are wont to be called voices of God.
Symbolically: This thunder signified that Jesus was the Son of the high-thundering God, and therefore that He Himself was also the high-thundering God; for the thunder here as it were returns to its own author, to venerate Him and make Him known to the Gentiles. Again, it signified that Jesus, as He was man, not only thundered with His mouth and hurled lightning with His heart, so as to move the hard hearts of men to repentance, and the cold to the ardor of love; but that He also made His Apostles and the rest of His own thunderers and wielders of lightning. Whence He Himself gave John and James that name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Mark III, 17. Hence Paul is called by St. Jerome, epistle 61, "the trumpet of the Gospel, the roaring of our Lion, the thunder of the Gentiles." For he adds: "Whom as often as I read, I seem to myself to hear not words but thunderclaps." Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 39 on the Epistle to the Romans, in Moralia: "Thunder is not so terrible as the voice of Paul was to the demons. For if his garments shuddered, how much more his voice. His voice led them bound and captive; this voice cleansed the whole world, this dissolved diseases, expelled vice, brought in truth, had Christ as its inhabitant. It went forth everywhere with Him; and what the Cherubim were, this too was the voice of Paul. Just as God sat in those Powers, so also in the tongue of Paul." Thus "the speech of St. Basil was thunder, because his life was lightning," says Nazianzen, Oration 20. Hence the voice of Christ is likened to the voice of many waters, Apoc. I, 15, and to the voice of a multitude, Daniel X, 6.
OTHERS SAID: AN ANGEL HAS SPOKEN TO HIM. — For this voice was too majestic to be human, and therefore angelic, nay, divine. For an angel taking the person of God the Father had formed this voice like thunder in the air.
Verse 30: This Voice Came Not for My Sake, but for Your Sakes
30. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID: THIS VOICE CAME NOT FOR MY SAKE, BUT FOR YOUR SAKES, — that is, that you may believe in Me, and thus be saved; for I do not need this voice. For I am the Word of the Father, whom God the Father and the Holy Spirit glorify with uncreated and immense praise and glory; wherefore I do not need the created and slight praise of this voice; but you do need it, because some of you object to Me that I am not the Son of God, nor sent by God; others doubt concerning this; for this voice of the Father proclaims to you the contrary of both, so as to remove every doubt from you. Thus St. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius.
Verse 31: Now Is the Judgment of the World
31. NOW IS THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD; NOW SHALL THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD BE CAST OUT. — "Judgment" often signifies by metonymy the condemnation that takes place in judgment, and thus Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius take it in this place, as if to say: Now impends the condemnation of the world, that is, of the worldly Jews, and the vengeance of God, because they have condemned Me, the innocent, nay the Messiah and Son of God, to death. Others better take "judgment" not for the condemnation of the guilty, but for the absolution of the innocent, or rather for the liberation of one oppressed from an oppressor and tyrant, as if to say: "Now is," that is, now the time impends in which the world, oppressed through tyranny by the devil, is to be freed from him. For My death is at hand, through which I shall free men from sin and consequently from the power and tyranny of the devil, and cast out the devil, who has hitherto tyrannically ruled over the world — namely, that he may be banished from the minds of the faithful and the saints into the minds of the unbelieving and the impious. Whence Rupertus subtly: "He wishes," he says, "two worlds to be understood, namely one hostile, the other reconciled; or one condemned, and the other saved — while He says first without the article: It is a judgment of the world; but secondly pointedly with the article: The prince, He says, of this world. What therefore is the judgment of the world, and what is the casting out of the prince of this world? Certainly the present Passion of Him who speaks these things, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the judgment of the world, that is, the salvation, distinguishing from the reprobate the whole company of the elect, who were from the beginning of the world even to the hour of the same Passion; and the casting out of the prince of this world, who holds dominion in the lovers of this world, is the reconciliation of the elect Gentiles, in whom the devil dwelt through idolatry, before the often-mentioned glorification of our same Lord Jesus Christ." Christ therefore signifies here, first, that He would through His death free the world, that is, the peoples from the whole world who would believe in Him, from sin and the devil. Secondly, that He would cast out the devil from the souls of the faithful, and likewise from altars and temples, so that thereafter in them the true God might be worshipped, the idols and demons having been cast out.
Thirdly, that He would take away from the devil the strength and power by which, before His coming, by tempting men most mightily, he drew nearly all to sin and thereby to his yoke; for which reason Christ broke the devil's strength, so that now he cannot tempt men so often or so forcibly as before, and Christ bestows on men powerful grace, by which they may easily, if they are willing to strive with Him, be able to resist temptation.
Fourthly, Christ cast out many demons from the bodies of men and from the whole compass of the earth, and banished them into hell. Whence Prosper, in Dimidium Temporis, ch. II, reads: "Now is the prince of this world cast down," into Tartarus. Hence the demons driven out by Christ begged Him not to send them into the abyss, Luke VIII, 31. Hear St. Augustine: "He foresaw that after His Passion and glorification many peoples throughout the whole world would believe, from whose hearts the devil, when they renounce him by faith, is cast out. He was indeed cast out of the hearts of the ancient just men, but He is said now to be cast out because what was done then in very few was shortly to be done in many and great peoples. The devil is indeed cast out, yet he does not cease to tempt; but it is one thing to reign within, another to assault from without." St. Chrysostom gives a similar analogy: "As if," he says, "someone should strike debtors and cast them into chains, and out of the same madness should drag to prison one who owes nothing — he will pay the penalty for what he did to the others: so the devil, through what he dared against Christ, also paid the penalty for what he did to us."
This is what Christ said, Luke XI, 21: "When the strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils."
Christ therefore here, seeing the Gentiles eager to see Him, grieved that the whole world was oppressed by paganism and worshipped the devil in idols; for which reason He desired His death to be hastened, so that He might obtain from God faith and grace for them, and send the Apostles to convert them to God; and therefore He says: "Now is the judgment of the world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out." In like manner St. Gregory, as John the Deacon testifies in his Life, book I, ch. XXX, when at Rome he saw English youths for sale, comely in countenance, and asked who and what sort they were, whence they came, whether their land was Christian or pagan, and when he heard it was pagan, groaning bitterly: "Alas, what grief!" he said, "what splendid faces the prince of darkness now possesses, and what beauty of brow bears a mind empty of God's inward grace." Again he asked what was the name of that nation. The merchant answered: They are called Angli (Angles). But he said: Well, Angli, as if angels; for they both have angelic faces, and such ones ought to be fellow-citizens with the angels in heaven. Again therefore he asked what name the province itself had. The merchant answered: The people of that province are called Deiri. And Gregory: Well, he said, Deiri, because they are to be rescued de ira (from wrath) and called to Christ's grace. "How is the king of that province named?" The merchant answered: He is called Aelle. And Gregory, playing on the name, said: Well, because the king is called Aelle: for Alleluia, in praise of the Creator, ought to be sung in those parts. And so presently he went to Pope Benedict and asked of him to be sent into England to convert the English; whence he himself is honoured by the English as, as it were, their Apostle.
Verse 32: And I, If I Be Lifted Up From the Earth, Will Draw All Things to Myself
32. AND I, IF I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH, WILL DRAW ALL THINGS TO MYSELF. — "If I be lifted up," through the Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, says Chrysostom. Others say better and more commonly, as if to say: If I be lifted up on the Cross, that is, if I be crucified on the high Cross. Whence John, explaining it, adds: "Now this He said, signifying what death He should die." Christ speaks, says Maldonatus, of Himself as a soldier fighting with the devil: a soldier is usually the stronger and superior to his adversary the higher the ground from which he fights; He signified therefore that from His Cross, as from a most lofty and most fortified citadel, He would fight and vanquish the devil; for which reason He called that kind of death an "exaltation." Being lifted up He drew all things to Himself, just as an eagle flying on high draws its prey.
Thus Mark, Bishop of Arethusa in Syria, under Julian the Apostate, hung up on high and smeared with honey to become food for wasps and bees, mocked his torturers and said that "they were lowly and earthly, but he lofty and sublime," says Theodoret, History bk. III, ch. VII, and Sozomen bk. V, ch. X. More literally Christ alludes to what He said in chapter III, verse 14: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting."
Morally Christ here teaches that the Cross is not to be dreaded, but to be embraced, because the Cross alone exalts.
ALL THINGS, — that is, soul and body, say St. Augustine and Bede. But Rupertus understands "all things" as heaven, earth, men, angels, and demons; namely because it was decreed "that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth," Philippians II.
Thirdly and most plainly, "all things," that is, all men of all nations who are willing to believe in Me — that is, every kind of men, says St. Augustine. Whence St. Cyril, Chrysostom, and Theophylact read, for "all things," "all men"; but the term "all things" is more emphatic, as if to say: All the spoils of the devil, namely all the rich booty of the world, that is, the nations of the whole world, who will believe in Me. For whom He a little before called "the world," He here calls "all things." The Arabic: I will draw to Myself each one; the Syriac: all.
I WILL DRAW, — that is, I will draw away from the unwilling devil, so that I may draw to Myself not unwilling, but willing men, sweetly yet effectually enticing them, that I may make them My brethren, nay sons; that just as I am the natural Son of God, so they may be adopted sons of God. For the Greek is ἑλκύσω, that is, I will draw by force, namely from the unwilling devil, violently snatching his prey, and quickening and strengthening men to do violence to themselves and their desires, according to that saying: "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away," Matthew XI.
Hear St. Leo, sermon 8 On the Passion, elegantly and pathetically handling this whole passage: "O admirable power of the Cross, O ineffable glory of the Passion! in which are the tribunal of the Lord, and the judgment of the world, and the power of the Crucified. For Thou, O Lord, hast drawn all things unto Thyself; when Thou hadst stretched out Thy hands all the day to a people that believed not and contradicted Thee, the whole world received a sense of Thy majesty that must be confessed. Thou hast drawn all things, O Lord, when in execration of the Jewish crime all the elements pronounced a single sentence, when the luminaries of heaven were darkened, and day was turned into night, the earth too was shaken with unwonted quakings, and all creation refused itself to the use of the impious." He then more forcefully pursues and urges this drawing of Christ: "Thou hast drawn, O Lord, all things unto Thee, since with the veil of the temple rent, the Holy of Holies departed from the unworthy pontiffs, that figure might be turned into truth, prophecy into manifestation, and the Law into the Gospel. Thou hast drawn, O Lord, all things unto Thee, that what was covered in one temple of Judea by shadowed meanings, the devotion of all nations everywhere might celebrate in full and open sacrament. For now the order of Levites is more illustrious, and the dignity of elders greater, and more sacred is the anointing of priests; because Thy Cross is the fountain of all blessings, the cause of all graces, through which there is given to believers strength out of weakness, glory out of reproach, life out of death."
Further, Christ, lifted up from the earth onto the Cross so as to hang midway between heaven and earth, drew all things to Himself. First, because He reconciled heaven to earth, angels to Gentiles, Gentiles to Jews, and God to men: "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmities in His flesh, making void the law of commandments contained in decrees; that He might create in Himself of the two one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body by the Cross, killing the enmities in Himself," Ephesians II, 14.
Secondly, because He drew all the nations of the whole world to the faith and love of Himself: and He drew them from earth to the Cross, namely to repentance, continual mortification, and martyrdom, and from the Cross to heaven; He drew them, I say, first by the merit and price of His blood; secondly, by His example; thirdly, by His love. For who does not return love to Christ, who willingly died out of love for us? Who does not say with St. Ignatius the Martyr, placed among the lions: "My Love is crucified?" See what is said on Zechariah XIII, 6, on the words: "With these was I wounded in the house of them that loved Me."
Thirdly, symbolically: Christ on the Cross drew all things to Himself, that is, God the Creator with all creatures. For God was appeased to men by this sacrifice of Christ, the sun and the heavens were astounded; whence, as if mourning the death of their Creator, they withdrew their rays from the earth; the moon hid itself under the sun, the air wrapped itself in densest darkness, the whole earth, shaken and convulsed from its centre, trembled, rocks were split and tombs opened, so that both the buried and the living might mourn the death of Christ, as St. Leo suggested. All creatures therefore as it were raised themselves to Christ crucified, as if amazed and offering themselves to fight for Him against the Christ-killing Jews and to destroy them.
But from this the Origenists wrongly inferred: Christ drew all things to Himself, therefore He also drew and saved the damned out of hell — because, as St. Gregory explains, book VI, epistle 45, Christ drew all things, namely the elect: "for," he says, "he could not be drawn to God after death who separated himself from God by living wickedly."
Symbolically, St. Bernard, sermon 21 on the Canticle, applies this saying of Christ to himself and to all religious. For these, by contempt of earthly things and love of heavenly things, are exalted from the earth, and thus draw all things to themselves; because all things, both adverse and prosperous, cooperate for their good, and they themselves possess all things as it were by treading upon them; "for to the faithful man the whole world is a store of riches."
Verse 33: Signifying What Death He Should Die
33. NOW THIS HE SAID, SIGNIFYING WHAT DEATH HE SHOULD DIE, — namely the death of the Cross: for hanging on this He is lifted up from the earth. These are not words of Christ, but words of John interpreting Christ's words; whence they are set off in a parenthesis.
Verse 34: We Have Heard Out of the Law That Christ Abideth For Ever
34. THE MULTITUDE ANSWERED HIM: WE HAVE HEARD OUT OF THE LAW, THAT CHRIST ABIDETH FOR EVER; AND HOW SAYEST THOU: THE SON OF MAN MUST BE LIFTED UP? — The Jews understood that Christ had spoken of His death on the Cross: for to be lifted up from the earth is the same as to be crucified; they ask therefore how He says He will die, when the Law asserts that Christ will not die. Otherwise St. Augustine: "They understood," he says, "that He had said this which they themselves were planning to do; and it was not infused wisdom that opened for them the obscurity of the words, but a goaded conscience."
Out of the Law. — The whole Old Testament is called "the Law." Therefore the Jews inferred that Christ would abide for ever, and consequently would not die, from that passage of Micah V, 2: "His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." And Psalm CIX, 4: "Thou art a priest for ever." Psalm LXXXVIII, 30: "I will make his seed to endure for evermore, and his throne as the days of heaven." And verse 38: "And his throne as the sun before Me, and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven." And Psalm LXXI, 5: "And He shall continue with the sun and before the moon, from generation to generation." Isaiah IX, 7: "He shall be called the Father of the world to come." Similar passages are Isaiah XL, 8; Ezekiel XXXVII, 27; Daniel IX, 26. But these Scriptures speak of Christ's glorious kingdom, which, rising after His death and ascending into heaven, He obtained; for this will be eternal. For otherwise Isaiah expressly foretold Christ's death before this kingdom, throughout chapter LIII; David, Psalm XXI, 12 and 17; Daniel IX, 26; Jeremiah XI, 19.
Who is this Son of man? — as if to say: If Thou art that Son of man of whom Thou speakest (as appears from the fact that Thou art wont to call Thyself the Son of man), then how dost Thou wish to be held for Christ? For Christ according to the Law, that is, according to the oracles of the prophets already cited, is eternal and cannot die, whereas Thou on the contrary sayest that the Son of man must die and be lifted up on the Cross. But if someone else is the Son of man of whom Thou speakest, declare who he is. So Toletus and Jansenius. Somewhat differently Maldonatus thinks that the Jews here, as if they had vanquished Christ, insult Him and mock the vanquished: Who is this Son of man? — just as if a barbarous soldier, insolent through victory, were to say to a king captured by him in war and reduced to servitude: Who is this king? and just as the same Jews later said to the same Christ, when captured: "Hail, King of the Jews."
Verse 35: Yet a Little While the Light Is Among You
35. JESUS THEREFORE SAID TO THEM: YET A LITTLE WHILE, THE LIGHT IS AMONG YOU. WALK WHILST YOU HAVE THE LIGHT, THAT DARKNESS OVERTAKE YOU NOT; FOR he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. — Christ did not wish to answer the Jews' objection directly, because He knew they were unworthy and incapable of an answer, says Cyril. Indirectly therefore He answers, that they may use Him as it were as light; for this light will shortly be extinguished through death, when they will seek it in vain; but if they are willing to use this light, they will receive from it the illumination by which they may see the solution to their objection and recognize the other things necessary for salvation. The Latins commonly refer the word "little while" to the light, as if to say: You still have a little light and understanding, by which you understand that Christ will abide for ever; but you do not know that He will also die and rise again. "Walk" therefore "while you have the light," that is, go forward and advance in searching out and knowing the truth, while you have this light of understanding. For thus you will know by what means Christ will indeed die, but yet, raised up, will abide for ever. Thus St. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, St. Bernard, sermon 49 on the Canticle, Lyranus, and others.
But the word "little while" does not refer to the light, but to χρόνον, that is, time. For the Greek has: ἔτι μικρὸν χρόνον, τὸ φῶς μεθ' ὑμῶν ἐστι, that is, yet a little while the light is with you. So the Syriac; and the Arabic says, the light is with you for a little time. Christ calls Himself "light" or "the light," or the sun of the world, for the reasons I have recounted in chapter I, 4, and in the first Epistle of John I, 8.
St. Chrysostom therefore and Theophylact think that Christ here likened Himself to the light or the sun, because just as the light of the sun is not extinguished at night, but only hidden for a little time, so that it may rise again in the morning and shine throughout the day; so He too would die indeed, but on the third day rise again, and from then on live and reign for ever, which was what the Jews were seeking.
Secondly, you may expound it more plainly and genuinely, as if to say: I, Christ, who am the light of the world, enlightening it with the doctrine and knowledge of God, of salvation, and of divine things, will yet for a little time (for three days), O Jews, be with you bodily, will converse, teach, and preach: wherefore, if you are wise, so long as you have Me thus present with you, shining before you with doctrine and miracles, walk, that is, embrace and follow this light; that is, as follows, believe in Me, hear Me, question Me, and I will resolve all your doubts — and in particular how Christ is to die, and nevertheless to abide for ever, which you have now proposed to Me: for if you do not do this, this light will soon be taken away from you — that is, I shall soon die, and then the darkness of errors will occupy and envelop you. For although I shall leave the Apostles after Me, who will continue the light of the Gospel brought by Me; yet you will make little of them and persecute them, seeking Me, who am the original light itself, in vain. In like manner Christ says to the same Jews in chapter VII, 33: "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to Him that sent Me. You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me."
Christ therefore calls Himself and His life "the light." Wherefore Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Rupertus less aptly and genuinely take "light" to mean the life of each believer, which is as it were each one's own day, as if to say: Walk, that is, act well, believe in Me, while the light of life is left to you; for after it will succeed the darkness of death, when it will not be permitted to believe or to act well.
Symbolically, Leontius takes "darkness" to mean sins; Rupertus, however, the punishments of the damned: for among these is the outer darkness, Matthew VIII, 12.
Verse 36: Believe in the Light, That You May Be the Children of Light
36. WHILST YOU HAVE THE LIGHT, BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT, THAT YOU MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT. — Behold, here He explains "walk while you have the light" by "believe in the light," namely in Me, who am the light of the world; believe, I say, that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world, and obey Me and My Gospel: so Cyril, Theophylact; "that you may be the children of light," namely that you may be My children, who am the light of the world: and consequently children of grace, charity, virtue, and holiness in this life, and children of the resurrection, felicity, and glory in the other. See what is said on 1 John I, 5: "Because God is light." And in his Gospel, chapter I, 4. And Ephesians V, 8: "Walk as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth."
Tropologically: when you feel the illuminations, promptings, and inspirations of the Holy Spirit, follow and carry them out at once; because like lightning they appear and disappear. Thus St. Francis, when he heard God's inspiration, although on a journey, would halt in order to receive it, and immediately put it into action.
THESE THINGS JESUS SPOKE, AND HE WENT AWAY, AND HID HIMSELF FROM THEM. — Because He foresaw their thoughts, that they wished to seize Him before the time appointed by the Father. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others. "He hid Himself," for a little time, namely by night. For Christ during these last three days of His life used to teach by day in the Temple, but by night would withdraw to the Mount of Olives, and thence to Bethany, as appears from Luke XXI, 37. Whence Maldonatus thinks that Christ hid Himself by withdrawing to Bethany.
FROM THEM. — Not "from those," says St. Augustine, and from him Bede, who had begun to believe and to love Him; not "from those" who had come to meet Him with palm branches and praises, but "from those" who saw and envied, because they did not see, but stumbled upon that stone by their blindness.
Symbolically, Rupertus: Christ, he says, hid Himself from them, not in place, but in grace; because He left them in their unbelief, blinded and hardened them, as follows.
Verse 37: Whereas He Had Done So Many Signs, They Believed Not in Him
37. BUT WHEREAS (Greek τοσαῦτα, that is, so many and such great, or so great) HE HAD DONE SO MANY SIGNS BEFORE THEM, THEY BELIEVED NOT IN HIM. — St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius think that Jesus at this time performed many miracles to move the Jews by them to believe in Him, and that John here speaks of those miracles, but that they were omitted by John for the sake of brevity. Others better think that John is speaking of all the miracles which Jesus worked throughout the whole time of His preaching. For he gives the reason why Jesus said: "Believe in the light," as if to say: I have proved by so many signs that I am the Messiah and teacher of the world; why then have you not believed in Me? There is no reason to expect more from Me. For I am now going on to My end and death. If therefore you are wise, believe in Me at once, before I depart.
The reason why few believed in Jesus, and very many did not believe, was partly their animal life, by which, attached to earthly goods and to their own desires, they did not grasp the heavenly goods and the contempt of worldly things which Christ preached; partly the fear of the Scribes, pontiffs, and princes, whom they knew to be hostile to Jesus — for the people follows the faith of its leaders; partly Christ's poverty, modesty, and humility, which they despised. For they hoped, and still hope, that their Messiah will come with great pomp and great wealth, as another Solomon, king of Israel.
Verse 38: Lord, Who Hath Believed Our Report?
38. THAT THE SAYING OF ISAIAS THE PROPHET MIGHT BE FULFILLED, WHICH HE SAID: LORD, WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HATH THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED? — The word "that" does not signify the end and aim intended by God, but the consequence, or what followed, as if to say: Whence from the unbelief of the Jews it followed and came to pass that the saying of Isaiah, by which he had foretold it, was fulfilled. So Chrysostom, Cyril, and others.
BELIEVED OUR REPORT? — He cites Isaiah chapter LIII, 1, where I have more fully explained these words: wherefore I will here briefly touch upon them.
OUR REPORT, — that is, the preaching and discourse that was heard, which the Jews heard from Me, Christ, and from My apostles evangelizing, as if to say: How few of the Jews believed the Gospel, which they themselves heard preached by Me and the Apostles! It is a Hebraism: for שְׁמוּעָה shemuah, that is, hearing, is put for the preaching that is heard — namely, the power or act is put for its object, which is frequent among the Hebrews.
THE ARM OF THE LORD. — That is, Christ, as if to say: To how few Jews was Christ known and revealed! For Christ is called "the Arm of the Lord," first, because He proceeds willingly from the Father, as an arm consubstantial with the body and head emanates from them; secondly, because Christ, as God, is the arm of the Father — that is, the power, strength, and might through which the Father works all things powerfully; thirdly, because Christ, as man in the flesh He assumed, performed among men the works of God's great power and might. So St. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, Toletus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others here; and St. Jerome, on Isaiah LIII; and St. Athanasius, book On the Common Essence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the "arm" can be taken more simply and plainly for the divine power and might which manifested itself in Christ's miracles, as if to say: How few of the Jews recognized the power of God working in Christ in so many and so great ways! So Jansenius and Maldonatus.
Verse 39: He Hath Blinded Their Eyes, and Hardened Their Heart
39. THEREFORE THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE ISAIAS SAID AGAIN: 40. HE HATH BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HARDENED THEIR HEART: THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES, NOR UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM. — "Therefore... because." Note that these two causal particles are not taken here in a strict sense and do not signify a cause, as if to say: The cause of the Jews' unbelief was God's blinding of them, as Calvin would have it. Rather they signify only the necessity of the consequence and the order of the sequel, as if to say: It could not come to pass that, since Isaiah had said and foretold that the Jews would not believe in Christ, they should nevertheless believe Him, because Scripture cannot lie, nor can the foreknowledge of God be deceived — which through Isaiah foretold they would not believe. And He foretold this because He foresaw them by their own freedom, obstinacy, and malice, would not believe in Christ. For God foresaw that they would not believe, because they themselves freely were not going to believe. But it is not because God foresaw that they would not believe that they did not believe. For their not believing is prior to God's foreseeing that they would not believe; for God foresees the future, because it is really going to be: for God can foresee nothing unless it is presupposed that it will really come to pass or be in the future. For the object seen is prior to the vision itself; for nothing can be seen unless it already is or will be. So Chrysostom, Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others.
But St. Augustine, and following him Toletus, explain it thus: The Jews could not believe in Christ, because they were hardened and blinded, as Isaiah foretold; but in that case "could not" does not mean absolute necessity, but either moral necessity, that is, great difficulty, or conditional necessity, as if to say: The Jews could not believe in Christ, given that, fixed in their vices, darkness, and errors, they had stiffened their minds to cling to them, and therefore by their malice had hardened and blinded themselves. For otherwise, though blinded and hardened, since they have free will and sufficient grace is not lacking to them, they can absolutely lay aside their hardness and turn to God.
HE HATH BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HARDENED THEIR HEART. — Christ cites Isaiah 6:9-10, where I have expounded these things at length: wherefore I shall here briefly repeat them. Note first that the intellect is properly said to be blinded, but the affections and will to be hardened. Secondly, that the direct and proper cause of blindness and hardening is man's own liberty and malice, according to Wisdom 2:21: "Their own malice blinded them." Whence the Arabic here translates, Their eyes were blinded, and their hearts hardened; the Syriac, Their eyes were made blind, and their hearts covered with darkness. Yet God is said to blind and harden man indirectly and improperly, because He gradually withdraws from him the light of truth and grace, and allows occasions of error and vice to be set before him by the devil, the flesh, and the world, to punish his earlier sins. Moreover, in Isaiah, instead of "He hath blinded," it is "Blind the heart of the people:" these are the words of God to Isaiah, but the sense comes to the same thing. For "Blind" means the same as: Foretell that he shall be indirectly blinded by Me. "He hath blinded" therefore is the same as "He will blind;" for the past is put for the future, to signify the certainty of the matter, namely that the thing shall so certainly come to pass, as if it had already been done; that is to say, that the Jews shall be blinded as certainly as if they had already been blinded.
Verse 41: When He Saw His Glory and Spake of Him
41. THESE THINGS SAID ISAIAH, WHEN HE SAW HIS GLORY, AND SPAKE OF HIM. — "His glory," namely of Christ or of the Son of God incarnate, about whom the discourse went before and follows. So Cyril, Nonnus, Leontius, Augustine, and generally the ancients against the Arians. Hence then it is clear that Christ, the Son of God, that He is truly God, consubstantial (ὁμοούσιον) with the Father, who namely has the same substance, majesty, and glory with the Father. For the Jews do not deny that these words and this glory belonged to God the Father, nor can there be any doubt about it; but here it is said that the same glory belonged to the Son. That the same belonged to the Holy Spirit is clear from Acts 28:25; and therefore to the Holy Trinity thus appearing to Isaiah the Seraphim cried out three times: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; the whole earth is full of His glory." This glory, therefore, which Isaiah saw in chapter 6, was a glorious image, by which the essence of the Holy Trinity, and the individual Persons, were clearly represented to him by some imaginary symbol, in a manner ineffable to us. But this image was a human form: for God was seen by Isaiah as a man or king sitting on a lofty throne; whence Isaiah names and describes both the face and feet of God. Finally, this form was gloriously adorned with immense light and majesty: whence John here calls it "glory." And so Isaiah in that vision, say Ribera, Maldonatus, Toletus, and others, most clearly recognized, as much as can be known by man in this mortal life, three Persons in unity of essence, both from the cry of the Seraphim and from the most sublime revelation which he had, and therefore he says: "When he saw His glory," that is, when there was shown to him by revelation the Person of the Son, coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I have said more about this vision on Isaiah 6:1.
Verse 42: Even of the Rulers Many Believed in Him
42. NEVERTHELESS, EVEN OF THE RULERS MANY BELIEVED IN HIM; BUT BECAUSE OF THE PHARISEES THEY DID NOT CONFESS HIM, LEST THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE. — By "rulers" He does not mean the high priests and magistrates: for these shortly after seized Jesus and killed Him; but the chief men and nobles, as the Syriac translates, who excelled the rest in wisdom, authority, and wealth, both among the priests and among the laity. So Rupert. These then, convinced by the truth, holiness, and miracles of Jesus, believed that He was the Messiah; but they dared not profess it openly, lest they be driven out of the synagogue. For this had already been decreed by the Pharisees, as we heard in chapter 9, verse 22.
Verse 43: They Loved the Glory of Men More Than the Glory of God
43. FOR THEY LOVED THE GLORY OF MEN MORE THAN THE GLORY OF GOD. — "Glory" here can first be taken actively, as if to say: They loved to glorify men more, namely the Jews and Pharisees, by saying that they were wise and true teachers of the Law, rather than Jesus sent by God, so as to profess Him to be the Messiah, the light and teacher of the world. Secondly, and more probably, passively, as if to say: They loved more to be glorified by men than by God, so that they might hear from the Pharisees: You are the true Israelites, who constant in the faith of the fathers, have preferred Moses to the recent innovator Jesus, and the ancient religion of the Israelites to the new sect of the Christians. So St. Augustine, Cyril, Bede, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others. These then had the faith of Christ, but not charity; for if they had had charity, they would have loved the glory of God more than of men, and would have professed with the mouth the faith of Christ which they held in their heart: "For with the heart a man believeth unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," Romans 10.
Such there are today many in England, Germany, Poland, who cultivate faith and piety in their minds, but dare not show it outwardly, lest they incur the mockery and jeers of heretics or worldly men; against whom Christ thunders: "He that shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him the Son of Man shall be ashamed, when He shall come in His majesty, and that of His Father, and of the holy angels," Luke 9:26. Wisely the Gloss from St. Augustine, Tractate 53, at the end: Therefore, he says, the cross is fixed on the forehead, where is the seat of shame, that we may not be ashamed of the name of Christ and may seek the glory of God rather than of men.
Verse 44: He That Believeth in Me, Believeth Not in Me, but in Him That Sent Me
44. AND JESUS CRIED, AND SAID: HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, BELIEVETH NOT IN ME (only, as the Arabic adds), BUT (also) IN HIM THAT SENT ME. — Whether Jesus said this at the same time as the preceding, verse 35, as Maldonatus wishes, before He hid Himself and went away, as I said on verse 36 (so that what is said there would be by anticipation, though in correct order it should be placed at the end of the chapter); or at another time, as Theophylact wishes, is uncertain and ambiguous, and is therefore a problem. For Christ, during these three last days of His life, used by night to withdraw to the Mount of Olives and Bethany, but in the morning returned to the temple and there taught and preached. When therefore He saw some not believing in Him, and others believing but not daring to profess their faith, from shame and fear of the Pharisees, He "cried out" with strained voice to remove this shame and fear from them: "He that believeth in Me," believeth not in a mere poor and wretched man, but in a man who is at the same time God, and therefore "believeth in God, who sent Me," namely in God the Father, to whom I am ὁμοούσιος and consubstantial, as if to say: Be not ashamed of My poverty and humility, because, though outwardly I am poor and humble, inwardly I am rich and sublime: for I am God of God; therefore he that believes in Me, believes in God. But what is more worthy and glorious than to believe in God? What should he fear or be ashamed of, who believes in God?
Cyril adds: Jesus "cried out," to signify that He did not wish to be worshipped timidly and secretly, but wills that we profess and proclaim the faith freely and clearly. Thirdly, He "cried out," because little time remained to Him for preaching, says Rupert; for after three days He was to be seized, as if to say: He who wishes to hear Me, believe, and be saved, let him do so at once; for after three days no one will be able to hear Me. So St. Chrysostom: Why are you afraid, he says, to believe in Me? Through Me faith reaches to God: just as he who takes water from a river, does he not take that which is of the fountain? And St. Augustine: "Because," he says, "man appeared to men, while God lay hidden, lest they think Him to be only what they saw (a man), wishing Himself to be believed such and so great (God) as and as great as the Father, He says: He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me, that is, in what he sees, but in Him that sent Me, that is, the Father."
Hence then it is clear that the Son is God, and consubstantial with God the Father. The Arians denied this and objected: He who believes the Apostles sent by God, believes in God; and yet does not believe that the Apostles are Gods. Therefore likewise he who believes Christ sent by God, even though he believes in God, does not however believe that Christ is God. I answer by denying the consequence. For we indeed believe the Apostles, but not in the Apostles. But Christ here says: "He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me." No one, however, believes in anyone, except in Him who is God. Therefore if we believe in Christ, we believe Him to be God, and since there is but one God, we believe Him to be numerically the same God with God the Father, and therefore He says: "He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me," as if to say: He who believes in Me the Son of God, believes likewise in God My Father, because both have one nature, one majesty. So St. Augustine, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Wherefore, that He may signify this more clearly, Christ adds:
Verse 45: He That Seeth Me, Seeth Him That Sent Me
45. AND HE THAT SEETH ME, SEETH HIM THAT SENT ME; — because the nature of both is one: so that in the same way in which through the humanity one sees My divinity hidden in it, in the same way one also sees the divinity of My Father, since it is one and the same. So St. Augustine. He shows, he says, that there is so little distance between Himself and the Father, that he who saw Him, would see also the Father. Hear St. Cyril, in the Council of Ephesus: "O my faithful hearers! Do not think small and lowly things of Me. Rather hold this persuaded of Me, namely that if you shall believe in Me whom you discern in this body, you shall believe not in some one among many, but in the Father Himself through Me the Son, who though I have been made flesh for your sake; yet I am altogether equal to the Father, and in no respect torn from or separated from Him, being endowed with the same nature, power, and glory as He."
Verse 46: I Am Come a Light Into the World
46. I AM COME A LIGHT INTO THE WORLD, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN ME, MAY NOT REMAIN IN DARKNESS. — Again and again Christ calls Himself the light of the world, which shows the true faith in God, worship, piety, virtue, and all things leading to salvation, and dispels the darkness of unbelief, idolatry, errors, and all vices, so that what the sun is in the world corporeally, He Himself is in the world spiritually. The name "light," says Cyril, indicates divinity; for it is proper to God to be the light of the world. For God is by essence a spiritual light, uncreated, immense, from which every created light, both spiritual and corporeal, both of angels and of men, both of the sun and of the heavens, and of the elements, is derived like a ray from the sun. But it is proper to the Son that He proceeds from God the Father in the manner of a ray and of light, according to the words of the Nicene Creed: "Light from Light, true God from true God:" for He Himself proceeds from the Father through intellect and knowledge, as the word of the mind, which as a most luminous mirror represents all things. Wherefore Wisdom says of Him, chapter 7, verse 26: "He is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of His goodness." And from Wisdom the Apostle, Hebrews 1:3: "Who, being the brightness of His glory and the figure of His substance," etc. And Ecclesiasticus 24:6: "I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth."
These things concerning Christ as He is God; but as He is man, He was sent by God the Father into the world, that as a heavenly sun He might illuminate the world beset with the darkness of ignorance, unbelief, and sins, as I said on chapter 1, verse 9 and following.
Symbolically St. Gregory, book 25 of the Morals, chapter 4: "The eternal light," he says, "which is God, the more unchangeably it shines, the more penetratingly it sees, and neither is ignorant of hidden things, because it penetrates all things; nor does it forget what it has penetrated, because it endures unchangeable. Consequently, as often as we conceive anything unworthy in our heart, so often do we sin in the light, because that light is present to us (present to itself, not to us), and walking perversely we strike against it, from which by our merit we are far removed. But when we do not believe ourselves to be seen, we hold our eyes closed in the sun. Him indeed we hide from ourselves, not ourselves from Him."
The same St. Gregory, book 7, epistle 32 to Dominicus: "The light of the flock," he says, "is the flame of the shepherd. For it befits a shepherd, it befits the Lord's priest, to shine forth in morals and life, so that in him, as in a mirror of his own life, the people committed to him may both choose what to follow and see what to correct."
Verse 47: I Came Not to Judge the World, but to Save the World
47. AND IF ANY MAN HEAR MY WORDS, AND KEEP THEM NOT, I DO NOT JUDGE HIM. — "Shall not keep them," that is, shall not retain them in mind, shall not have believed, as the Greek has (which has πιστεύσῃ, that is, shall have believed; for which Our Latin with the Syriac and Arabic reads φυλάξῃ, that is, shall have kept, and so Christ explains in the following verse): "I do not judge," as if to say: I came not in the flesh and into the world that I might judge and condemn him, but that I might redeem and save. Yet such a one who does not believe in Me is already judged and condemned through his own malice and unbelief, and through the eternal decree of My Father. This is clear from what follows; so Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius, and others. See the remarks on chapter 3, verse 18. But this decree of the Father I will execute on the day of judgment, when as judge I shall return to judge the world, who already came as redeemer to save the world. Whence Chrysostom: "I do not judge," that is, as if to say: I am not the cause of his perdition, but he himself is, who despises My words.
FOR I CAME NOT TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT TO SAVE (to make whole) THE WORLD, — that is, the men who are inhabitants of the world: because now is the time of mercy, but afterwards of judgment, says St. Augustine.
Verse 48: He That Despiseth Me Hath One That Judgeth Him
48. HE THAT DESPISETH ME, AND RECEIVETH NOT MY WORDS, HATH ONE THAT JUDGETH HIM. — as if to say: He that "receiveth not," that is, does not embrace in his mind (and, as He said a little before, does not keep), that is, does not believe My words, shall have God the Father as avenger, who will punish and condemn him through Me the judge on the day of judgment. For, as St. Augustine says, book 1 Of the Trinity: "Christ will judge not by human power, but by the power of the Word of God."
THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, THE SAME SHALL JUDGE HIM IN THE LAST DAY. — St. Augustine, Tractate 54, takes "word" to mean Christ Himself; for He will be the judge on the day of judgment: "He manifested sufficiently," he says, "that He Himself would judge on the last day; for He spoke Himself, He announced Himself, He set Himself as the door, by which He Himself the shepherd entered to the sheep."
More plainly and forcefully others, as if to say: My word, heard by the Jews and not believed, will on the day of judgment accuse them, and will with mute voice proclaim them worthy of hell. So Rupert: "That word," he says, "which they heard, which they cannot not know to be true, inasmuch as it is confirmed by the magnificent testimonies of works — that shall judge him, that shall reprove, that shall convince him. Where shall such a judge sit? What voices or sentences of judgment shall He give from His throne? He will be near at hand, He will sit within, in the conscience of each man He will terribly sound forth just sentences." It is a prosopopoeia. For Christ's word is here introduced as a person and witness accusing the unbelievers, and making Christ the judge on the day of judgment.
Verse 49: I Have Not Spoken of Myself, but the Father Who Sent Me Gave Me Commandment
49. FOR I HAVE NOT SPOKEN OF MYSELF; BUT THE FATHER WHO SENT ME, HE GAVE ME COMMANDMENT WHAT I SHOULD SAY, AND WHAT I SHOULD SPEAK. — The word "for" gives the reason why Christ's word will condemn the Jews; namely because Christ spoke this word, not of Himself, but by the command of the Father: wherefore he who did not believe Him, did not believe God; he who despised Him, despised God, and therefore will experience Him as judge and avenger. So the Syriac. Somewhat differently Rupert: "Hence," he says, "the word which I have spoken has the strength to judge, because I do not speak of Myself." Moreover, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and Bede judge that Christ here speaks of Himself as He is God, as if to say: I Christ as God speak not from Myself, but from the Father, who gave Me commandment what I should say and speak, that is, gave Me the divine nature, and with it omniscience and all power of speaking and saying. Hear St. Augustine: "In the Wisdom of the Father, which is the Word, all the commandments of the Father are contained: but a commandment is said to be given, because He to whom it is said to be given is not from Himself. But to give to the Son is to beget the Son." Moreover, Chrysostom: "All these things," he says, "were said on account of them, and they have no excuse." And the Gloss: "The Father gave commandment to the Son, the Word Himself, wisdom, in which are all commandments, by begetting Him, just as He gave Him life, Him who is life, by begetting Him."
More simply, St. Cyril, Chrysostom, Leontius, and Theophylact think that Christ here speaks of Himself inasmuch as He is man: for so He properly received from the Father the commandment of saying this or that and of speaking, and no others. For Christ speaks humbly of Himself, in order to move the proud Jews, who did not believe Him to be God, as if to say: Granted that I were a mere man, as you suppose, yet you ought to believe Me, because I speak nothing of Myself; but all things that I speak I have heard from the Father; indeed, from Him I have received commandment to say them. Hence the Doctors of Theology conclude (though some deny it) that Christ received from God the commandment, just as of saying all that He said, so too of doing all that He did. For if the Father commanded Him the lesser things, such as speaking and saying, therefore also the greater things, such as working and performing virtues and miracles.
An accommodated reading is what Rupert says: "I have received commandment from the Father, what I should now say patiently to those contradicting, and what I shall speak terribly in the future judgment, where no one shall dare to contradict."
WHAT I SHOULD SAY, AND WHAT I SHOULD SPEAK. — Between "to say" (dicere) and "to speak" (loqui) there is this difference, that "to say" is to assert, teach, or preach something weightily; but "to speak" is to utter something familiarly. Whence Varro, book 5 Of the Latin Language: "Loquor," he says, "is said from locus (place); for an infant is first said to speak (fari), then loqui. Therefore he speaks (loquitur) who knowingly puts each word in its own place." Hence "loquacious," one who speaks too much; "eloquent," one who speaks copiously; "colloquium," when they gather in one place for the sake of speaking. Hence also they say women went allocutum, when they go to speak to someone for the sake of consulting. In the same place Varro derives dico from the Greek δικάζω, that is, I judge or declare the law. Hence: "I proclaim war, I announce a funeral, He awarded the prize." Hence a dictum in a mime, dictata in a school, the dictator, master of the people, because he is to be declared (dici) by the Consul. Hence doceo is declined, either because when we teach we say, or because those who are taught are led (inducuntur) into what they are taught, from that which knows how to lead — which is a leader or guide, who so leads as to teach: from docere comes discipline and discere, with a few letters changed. From the same principle come documenta, that is, examples, which are said for the sake of teaching. All this from Varro. Somewhat differently the Rhetoricians: To speak (loqui), they say, is simply to discourse or enunciate; but to say (dicere) is to peroration elegantly, orderly, and eloquently. Therefore to speak belongs to Dialecticians, to say to Orators, as Cicero in the book Of the Orator, and Quintilian, book 10, chapter 7.
Verse 50: His Commandment Is Life Everlasting
50. AND I KNOW THAT HIS COMMANDMENT IS LIFE EVERLASTING. — That is, it is the cause and way leading men to eternal life, according to that: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Matthew 19. Moreover, the commandment formally also is eternal life, inasmuch as the commandment of God is the eternal law, which lives in the ideas and eternal reasons which are in the living mind of God. But Christ does not treat of it here: He therefore asserts that the commandment is eternal life causally, not formally; namely because it causes, merits, and effects eternal life. Christ says this, says Chrysostom, in order to invite the Jews to believe Him in those things which He was speaking by the commandment of the Father; He invites them, I say, by the hope of the highest reward, namely eternal life, and consequently by the fear of the highest punishment, if they do not believe, namely eternal death in hell: for this He tacitly threatens them by antithesis, and lest they doubt of it, He asserts: "I know," as if to say: From certain knowledge I say and affirm that the commandment of God is the cause of eternal life, because I have heard this from God Himself, and thence I most certainly know that it was decreed by Him, so that it is inviolable. In a similar way Christ says, John 17:3: "This is eternal life (that is, the way to eternal life), that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent."
Christ alludes to that of Ecclesiasticus 1:5: "The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways are everlasting commandments." And to Baruch 3:9: "Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life, etc. Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayest know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace." "If therefore," says St. Augustine, sermon 186 On the Times, at the end, "you wish to live by the Holy Spirit, hold fast charity, love truth, desire unity, and you shall come to eternity."
Christ therefore concluded all His doctrine and all His discourses to the people with this maxim: "His commandment is eternal life;" that He might fix in the Jews and in all posterity, as He was about to go to death, a constant memory of eternity and a desire of eternal life, as a spur to following His faith and morals. For nothing so stimulates the mind to good as the serious and frequent meditation of eternity. For, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 118: "Of all perfection I have seen an end; Thy commandment is exceeding broad," as if to say: All sublunary things have their end, but the commandment of God has no end, but endures forever, and leads its observers to blessed eternity, but its despisers to eternal punishments and fires. "Momentary is what tortures, eternal is what delights. Momentary is what delights, eternal is what tortures."
Symbolically St. Augustine: "If," he says, "eternal life is the Son Himself, but eternal life is the commandment of the Father, what else is said than: I am the commandment of the Father?"
THE THINGS THEREFORE THAT I SPEAK (that is, I who announce Myself the Word, says the Interlinear Gloss), EVEN AS THE FATHER SAID UNTO ME, SO DO I SPEAK, — that is, says the Interlinear: "As the truthful one begot Me the truth, so I the truth announce the truth." And St. Augustine: "So He said as the truthful one, so He speaks as the truth; the truthful one begot the truth."