Cornelius a Lapide

John XIII

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

First, Christ before the institution of the Eucharist washes the feet of His disciples. Second, at verse 17, He foreknows that He is to be betrayed by Judas, and indicates him to John by the morsel of bread. Third, at verse 34, He gives the mandate of mutual love, and foretells to Peter his threefold denial.

Vulgate Text: John 13:1-38

1. Before the feast day of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He should pass out of this world to the Father; having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2. And when supper was done (the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him): 3. Knowing that the Father had given Him all things into His hands, and that He came from God, and goeth to God; 4. He riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments; and having taken a towel, girded Himself. 5. Then He putteth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. 6. He cometh therefore to Simon Peter. And Peter saith to Him: Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? 7. Jesus answered, and said to him: What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. 8. Peter saith to Him: Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him: If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with Me. 9. Simon Peter saith to Him: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. 10. Jesus saith to him: He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly. And you are clean, but not all. 11. For He knew who it was that would betray Him; therefore He said: You are not all clean. 12. Then after He had washed their feet, and taken His garments: being set down again, He said to them: Know you what I have done to you? 13. You call Me Master and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. 14. If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15. For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also. 16. Amen, amen I say to you: the servant is not greater than his lord; neither is the Apostle greater than He that sent him. 17. If you know these things, you shall be blessed if you do them. 18. I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled: He that eateth bread with Me, shall lift up his heel against Me. 19. At present I tell you, before it come to pass; that when it shall come to pass, you may believe that I am He. 20. Amen, amen I say to you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me. 21. When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit; and He testified, and said: Amen, amen I say to you: one of you shall betray Me. 22. The disciples therefore looked one upon another, doubting of whom He spoke. 23. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, and said to him: Who is it of whom He speaketh? 25. He therefore, leaning on the breast of Jesus, saith to Him: Lord, who is it? 26. Jesus answered: He it is to whom I shall reach bread dipped. And when He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27. And after the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him: That which thou dost, do quickly. 28. Now no man at the table knew to what purpose He said this unto him. 29. For some thought, because Judas had the purse, that Jesus had said to him: Buy those things which we have need of for the festival day: or that he should give something to the poor. 30. He therefore having received the morsel, went out immediately. And it was night. 31. When he therefore was gone out, Jesus said: Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32. If God be glorified in Him, God also will glorify Him in Himself; and immediately will He glorify Him. 33. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews: Whither I go, you cannot come; so I say to you now. 34. A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35. By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another. 36. Simon Peter saith to Him: Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered: Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow hereafter. 37. Peter saith to Him: Why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thee. 38. Jesus answered him: Wilt thou lay down thy life for Me? Amen, amen I say to thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou deny Me thrice.

Verse 1: Before the Feast Day of the Pasch, Jesus Knowing That His Hour Was Come, That He Should Pass Out of This World to the Father; Having Loved His Own Who Were in the World, He Loved Them Unto the End

1. ANTE DIEM FESTUM PASCHAE, — that is, the day before the Passover, namely on the 13th day of the first month, since on the next day, the 14th, the Passover was to be celebrated by the Jews according to the law — so say the Greeks. For they contend from these words of John that Christ, because of His impending Passion, anticipated the Passover by one day and celebrated it on the 13th, and accordingly ate the lamb with leavened bread, not with unleavened. For the use of unleavened bread began with the Passover on the 14th. Whence Christ consecrated the Eucharist at that time in leavened bread, and therefore they themselves consecrate and celebrate it in leavened bread, not unleavened.

But this contradicts the other three Evangelists, who assert that Christ celebrated the Passover and instituted the Eucharist on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Jews sacrificed the Passover, that is, the paschal lamb. Therefore He did it on the same day as the Jews, namely the 14th day of the month, not the 13th. For so the law, Exodus XII, ordains and prescribes. What John therefore says, that Christ did it "before the feast day of the Passover," understand him to mean that He did it on the 14th day at evening, which preceded the Passover feast, that is, the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was the 15th day — namely the morning of the sixth day (Friday), on which Christ was crucified.

For which note that, although the immolation of the lamb took place on the 14th day at evening, yet the feast of the first day of Unleavened Bread properly began on the following morning, the 15th. And with respect to this John says that Christ celebrated the Passover before the feast day of the Passover, because He celebrated it on the 14th at evening, which was the eve of the first day of Unleavened Bread, which began the next morning, the 15th. But the other three Evangelists, because they link the evening of the 14th, on which the paschal lamb was immolated, with the following morning of the 15th as one and the same feast day (for feasts among the Hebrews began from the evening before and lasted until the evening after, as still happens in the Vespers of the ecclesiastical office), therefore they say that Christ celebrated the Passover and the Eucharist on the first day of Unleavened Bread, that is, on the 14th day of the month at evening, because this was the beginning of the feast: for this evening was the boundary between the 14th and 15th day; for in it the 14th ended and the 15th began, wherefore it belonged to both days. Whence, if you take it as the end of the 14th day, it should be reckoned as being before the 15th, or before the feast day of the Passover, that is, before the first day of Unleavened Bread. But if you take the same as the beginning of the feast to be celebrated on the following 15th, then it belonged to the 15th day and was called the feast day of the Passover.

Sciens Jesus quia venit hora ejus, ut (through the cross and death) TRANSEAT EX HOC MUNDO AD PATREM. — He alludes to the name of the Passover. For Pascha is the same as passage, or rather transportation, as I said on Exodus XII, as if He said: Jesus, knowing that it was now the Passover, that is, the feast of passing over, by which the Hebrews of old, under Moses' leadership, went out of Egypt and passed into the promised land through the immolation of the lamb (for by its blood they were delivered from the Angel who struck the Egyptians), which was a type of His own future immolation on the cross, through which He was to pass out of this world into heaven and return to the Father on the day of His Ascension, so that He might make us pass through the same, and after death rise from the world into heaven: knowing this, I say, He prepared Himself for this day by heroic acts of supreme humility, by which He washed His disciples' feet, and of supreme charity, by which He instituted the Eucharist. For by these acts He prepared Himself for death and disposed Himself for martyrdom, so that He might teach us to do the same, namely at the end of life to multiply and intensify acts of virtues, especially humility and charity.

And first, because it is fitting that we daily grow and advance together with life — as in years, so also in virtues — and spend the last days and hours of life most holily, and begin the life, thoughts, and manners of the heavenly beings (to whom we aspire and strive); just as natural motions are the faster, the closer they approach their end — for example, a stone by its gravity descends more swiftly the closer it approaches its own center.

Second, because it is fitting that when we depart from this world we leave to our brothers, companions, friends, and the whole world a great example of virtue. For those things cling more tenaciously to the minds of friends which we do and display to them when departing or dying.

Third, because it is fitting in this way to prepare ourselves for a noble death, and consequently for martyrdom, and as it were to merit it from God. So St. Lawrence, two days before his martyrdom, prepared himself for it by washing the feet of the poor and distributing to them the treasures of the Church, according to the mandate of St. Sixtus the Pope; and this was for him the occasion — indeed the cause and merit — of so glorious a martyrdom. The same was done by Saints Marius and Martha, husband and wife, and their sons Abachum and Audifax, Persians, who coming to Rome and visiting the martyrs shut up in prison, washing their feet and ministering food to them, exhorting them and inflaming them to the love of God, constancy, and every virtue, themselves also merited the illustrious contest of martyrdom. So Saints Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, and Sisinnius the Deacons, ministering to ten thousand Christian soldiers (who later became martyrs), who had been condemned by the Emperor Maximian to haul stones, carry sand, prepare lime, etc., for the construction of the Baths of the Emperor Diocletian, and carrying the old men's burdens on their own shoulders, and bringing and distributing to them the alms sent by Pope St. Marcellus and by Thraso, a wealthy man, obtained the noble laurel of martyrdom as a reward, as is evident from their acts in Surius.

Moreover, the faithful and pious pass out of this world in one way, unbelievers in another. For, as St. Augustine says (Tract. 55): "It is one thing to pass out of the world, another to pass with the world; one thing to pass to the Father, another to pass to the enemy. For the Egyptians also passed over: for in pursuing they did not remain; yet they did not pass through the sea to the kingdom, but in the sea to destruction."

CUM DILEXISSET SUOS (the faithful and those of His household, namely the Apostles whose feet He was soon to wash) QUI ERANT IN MUNDO. — Cyril thinks this is added to distinguish them from the angels, who are in heaven, not in the world, that is, on the earth; but St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius take it as distinguishing them from the Patriarchs and Prophets, who were no longer in the world, but in Limbo, as having already departed from life. More genuinely and fittingly, you may refer it to what went before: "That He should pass out of this world," as if to say: Jesus, about to pass out of this world, when He was about to leave behind in the world — that is, amid so many and such great afflictions, dangers, and persecutions of the world — the Apostles, His most beloved children; hence taking pity on them, before He departed, He showed them the greatest love, and gave them the supreme remedy against all tribulations of the world, namely the Eucharist, so that in it He Himself, being present, should always be with them and fortify and strengthen them against all adversities.

IN FINEM DILEXIT EOS. — "To the end," namely of life, that is, unto death, says Cyril, St. Augustine, and Rupert; or "always," as St. Chrysostom explains (Homily 69), and following him Ribera. Whence Nonnus: "Having loved His companions, he says, from the beginning, so He loved them even to the end;" the Ethiopic version has "forever."

Second, "to the end," namely of love and affection, as if to say: with extreme love, and supremely He loved them — since the Greek τέλος (that is, end) is used for perfection, that is, completeness, as Saints Chrysostom, Leontius, and Theophylact explain. Euthymius adds that he expounds "to the end" as "vehemently;" for τέλος is the end of a thing, the last, the utmost and highest, supreme perfection, the outcome, consummation, apex, and summit — as if to say: Christ had up until then loved His disciples greatly, but now being about to depart from them and pass over to the Father, He showed them the most perfect love by washing their feet, by instituting the Eucharist, and by the most ardent charity.

Verse 2: And When Supper Was Done, the Devil Having Now Put Into the Heart of Judas Iscariot, the Son of Simon, to Betray Him

2. ET COENA FACTA, CUM DIABOLUS JAM MISISSET IN COR, UT TRADERET EUM JUDAS (filius) SIMONIS ISCARIOTAE. — As if to say: after the supper of the legal lamb had been completed, likewise the common supper, before the sacred supper (that is, before the institution of the Eucharist), Christ washed the disciples' feet. For by this washing He wished to show with how much purity and humility one should approach the Eucharist. Note: Christ here ate a threefold supper with the Apostles. The first was ceremonial, in which He ate the paschal lamb. The second was common or usual: for since in large households with many and hearty eaters the lamb did not suffice to satisfy everyone's hunger, after eating it a common supper followed, in which they ate other meats and foods after the manner of other days. The third was the supper of the Eucharist. And so Christ, after the two former suppers, before this third one, washed the Apostles' feet, for the reason already mentioned. Whence it is clear that this washing of the feet done by Christ was not that common and customary washing among the Jews and Gentiles, by which guests and diners had their feet washed before a banquet (for they walked with bare feet), but was a Sacramental washing, by which Christ was preparing the disciples for the Eucharist to receive. For Christ transformed the common washing into a ceremonial and sacred washing. Wrongly therefore do some suppose from this place that Christ washed the disciples' feet after the Eucharist, before that long discourse which He gave to them afterwards, as John adds. So supposed St. Cyprian (or whoever is the author) in the treatise On the Washing of the Feet: "Already," he says, "the Lord had distributed to the Apostles the Sacraments of His Body, Judas had already gone out, when suddenly rising from the table, He girded Himself with a linen cloth, and about to wash Peter's feet at his knees, He Himself the Lord with bent knees offered the service of consummate humility to the servant."

CUM DIABOLUS, etc. — As if to say: Since Christ was now to be betrayed by Judas, at the devil's prompting, and killed by the Jews, Christ willed, before the death that threatened Him, to leave us a perpetual memorial of Himself, namely the Eucharist, which would continually recall His Passion and the death He endured for us, and thus kindle us to a reciprocal love for Him. Second, John mentions the betrayal by Judas in order to magnify Christ's extraordinary humility, patience, and charity, as if to say: Christ, although He already knew that He had been sold and was soon to be betrayed by Judas, nevertheless persevered in the love of His disciples to such a degree that He willed to wash their feet — even those of Judas himself. So say Saints Cyril, Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact, Euthymius, and Rupert. He says that the devil put this betrayal into Judas's heart in order to signify its unworthiness and atrocity, namely that it was so great that it could only be the work of the devil.

Verse 3: Knowing That the Father Had Given Him All Things Into His Hands, and That He Came From God, and Goeth to God

3. SCIENS QUIA OMNIA DEDIT EI PATER IN MANUS, ET QUIA A DEO EXIVIT, ET AD DEUM VADIT. — First, as if to say: Although Christ knew Himself to be such and so great that He had all things in His power — indeed that He was true God from true God, and, as He had come from God, so He would soon return to God and sit at God's right hand; nevertheless He so abased and humbled Himself that He willed with bent knee to wash the feet of His disciples, and indeed of Judas Himself His betrayer. So say Cyril, Augustine, Bede, and St. Gregory, Moralia Book III, Chapter XII. Maldonatus adds that Christ knew that all things had been handed over to Him by the Father, that is, that it was now permitted Him by the Father's command to carry out all the things that had been committed to Him; before He was not permitted to die, because the time appointed by the Father had not yet arrived; now the time had come in which the Father had granted Him all things, and it was permitted Him to do all things that pertained to the redemption of men: and such was the washing of the disciples' feet, and therefore He willed to wash them.

Second, more fittingly and effectively, John here assigns three motives, or three causes, which moved Christ to this washing of the disciples' feet. The first is, that "the Father had given Him all things into His hands," that is, because the Father had entrusted Him with the salvation of men and committed to Him their every care: for this incited Him, so that He might produce and leave for imitation these astonishing works of supreme humility and charity for men before His departure. What it means that all things were handed over to Christ by the Father, I have said on Matthew XI, 27.

The second cause was, "because He came from God," as if to say: It was fitting that Christ the Son should display supreme charity and reverence to God the Father by this washing; for in nothing is God more honored and delighted than by our humility. Humility therefore is the highest praise of God.

The third was, "because He goeth to God," as if to say: Christ knew that death was imminent for Him, and the final act of life for men's salvation, which must be most excellent and of the highest virtue of life; wherefore He willed here to produce a supreme act of humility and charity, and to leave it to posterity as it were by testament: so Toletus.

Verse 4: He Riseth From Supper, and Layeth Aside His Garments; and Having Taken a Towel, He Girded Himself

4. SURGIT A COENA, ET PONIT VESTIMENTA SUA: ET CUM ACCEPISSET LINTEUM, PRAECINXIT SE. — John one by one recounts all the acts, conditions, and circumstances of Christ's washing, to show how Christ in this work (as in all others) was attentive, diligent, exact, outstanding, and preserving τὸ πρέπον, that is, decorum, in order to teach us to do the same even in the smallest matters, according to that saying: "In all thy works be excellent," Ecclesiasticus XXXIII, 23.

PONIT VESTIMENTA SUA, — namely His outermost tunic, keeping on the inner one, lest He should bare His body; or rather His dining garment, which those about to dine used to put on over their common clothing: for in Greek it is ἱμάτια, that is, outer garments, namely the outermost garment such as a toga or cloak. It is an enallage of number, because the plural is used for the singular.

PRAECINXIT SE — with a towel, both so as not to soil His garments, and to be more expeditious for the work of washing, and to wipe the washed feet, and to take on for this servile ministry a servile habit and garb befitting it, thus plainly lowering and humbling Himself. "What wonder, then," says St. Augustine, "if He rose from supper and laid aside His garments, He who, though He was in the form of God, emptied Himself?" For humility is the proper virtue of Christ and of Christians. Humility is the treasury of the virtues, says St. Basil, chapter XVI of the Constitutions. Humility is the sign of Christianity, says St. Macarius in Homily 15; he who lacks it is a vessel of the devil: humility is the ballast of the virtues.

Hear St. Augustine on Psalm XXXIII, first sermon: "That David overthrew Goliath — it is Christ who slays the devil. But what is it in Christ that slays the devil? Humility slays pride. Therefore, when I name Christ, my brethren, humility above all is commended to us. For He made a way for us through humility, because through pride we had departed from God: we could not return to Him except through humility, and we had none whom we might set before ourselves to imitate. For all the mortality of men had swollen with pride. And if there existed some man humble in spirit — such as were the Prophets and Patriarchs — mankind disdained to imitate humble men. Therefore, lest man disdain to imitate a humble man, God became humble, so that in this way at least the pride of the human race might not disdain to follow in God's footsteps."

Verse 5: Then He Putteth Water Into a Basin, and Began to Wash the Feet of the Disciples, and to Wipe Them With the Towel With Which He Was Girded

5. DEINDE MITTIT AQUAM IN PELVIM, ET COEPIT LAVARE PEDES DISCIPULORUM, ET EXTERGERE LINTEO, QUO ERAT PRAECINCTUS. — Saints Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius note that Christ did all these things by Himself alone, without anyone's help or ministry, in order to teach us how diligently, carefully, and zealously we ought to serve others. Euthymius adds that Christ Himself asked the master of the house for the basin, drew the water, and carried it. "What wonder," says St. Augustine (Tract. 55), "if He put water into a basin with which to wash the disciples' feet, who poured out blood on the earth with which to cleanse the uncleanness of sins? What wonder if with the towel with which He was girded He wiped the feet He had washed, who with the flesh with which He was clothed confirmed the footsteps of the Evangelists?"

Symbolically, St. Ambrose, Preface of Book I On the Holy Spirit: "This water," he says, "was that heavenly dew; this was prophesied, that with that heavenly dew the Lord Jesus would wash His disciples' feet." And soon after: "Come then, Lord Jesus: lay aside the garments which Thou hast put on for me, be naked, so that by Thy mercy Thou mayest clothe us. Gird Thyself for our sake with a towel, so that Thou mayest gird us with the immortality of Thy gift. Put water into the basin, wash not only the feet but also the head. Not only of our body, but of our mind as well I wish to strip away the traces — all the squalor of our frailty — that I too may say: I have put off my tunic by night, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?" Canticle V. See the things said there.

Verse 6: He Cometh Therefore to Simon Peter. And Peter Saith to Him: Lord, Dost Thou Wash My Feet?

6. VENIT ERGO AD SIMONEM PETRUM, — namely, so as to begin the washing from Peter, as from the head and chief of the Apostles, just as in other cases. For if He had come first to the other Apostles, surely they would have refused this great and unwonted self-abasement of their Lord, just as Peter did; but when they saw Peter, rebuked by Christ, acquiesce, then they too acquiesced and allowed their feet to be washed by Christ. So say St. Augustine, Bede, Rupert, Maldonatus, and others.

Tropologically: Christ here indicates that visitation and reform must begin from the head and from those who are in authority; for thus the faithful subjects will easily be reformed. Origen and Leontius, however, think that Peter was the last in this washing. The same — together with Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius — opine that Christ first of all washed the feet of Judas, in order to soften him and call him back from the crime of betrayal, and to give us an example of love for enemies, that we should repay evil deeds with good ones, and benefit them the more, the more we feel them to be maliciously disposed against us.

ET DICIT EI PETRUS: DOMINE, TU LAVAS MIHI PEDES? — that is, art Thou preparing to wash. An action begun, or rather intended, is signified; for Christ had not yet begun to wash. Peter said this, astonished and marveling at the great humility of Christ, from his deep reverence for Him, says Cyril; whence each of his words has its emphasis: "Thou," who art the King of kings and Lord of lords, "to me," who am a lowly fisherman and a worm of the earth, "dost Thou wash" with Thy blessed hands, "my feet," muddy, filthy, and foul. "These things," says Augustine, "are rather to be pondered than spoken; lest perchance what the soul has in some measure worthily conceived from these words, the tongue may not explain."

Verse 7: Jesus Answered, and Said to Him: What I Do Thou Knowest Not Now, but Thou Shalt Know Hereafter

7. RESPONDIT JESUS, ET DIXIT EI: QUOD EGO FACIO TU NESCIS MODO, SCIES AUTEM POSTEA. — Christ signifies that hidden mysteries lay concealed in this washing of the feet, which Peter did not yet recognize. "Peter," says St. Ambrose in his book On Those Who Are Initiated, chapter VI, "did not perceive the mystery, and therefore refused the ministry, because he believed that his servant's humility would be burdened if he patiently allowed the service of his Lord." Christ therefore says: This mystery thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Namely, first, when a little later in verse 14 I will say that I do this in order to give thee, and the Apostles, and the rest of the faithful an example of supreme humility and charity, which you should imitate. So Cyril.

Second, because by this washing is signified penitence, which should precede the Eucharist, as thou, O Peter, shalt understand after the sending of the Holy Spirit, for He Himself will teach you all things. So St. Cyprian in the tract On the Lord's Supper; St. Pacianus, Epistle 1 Against the Novatians; St. Gregory, Book IX, Epistle 39; and Saints Augustine and Bernard also imply the same. As a symbol of this, the Aaronic priests, entering the temple to perform the sacred rites, washed their hands and feet in the bronze laver erected for this purpose before the Sanctuary — and that for the sake of bodily purity, so that through it they might be reminded in their minds of spiritual purity, Exodus XXX, 19.

Peculiar here is St. Ambrose, who in Book III On the Sacraments, chapter 1, and in his book On Those Who Are Initiated, chapter VI, thinks that this bodily washing of feet is necessary for all the faithful before baptism, so that through it they may be prepared for the sacred Synaxis, just as here Christ prepared the Apostles for the same by washing their feet. Therefore this washing of the feet is something Sacramental, or a sacred rite here enacted by Christ, by which we are armed against the devil's supplanting. Hence he himself enumerates the washing of feet among other ceremonies or rites of baptism: whence it was in use at Milan, as I shall say shortly. Hence also St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Lord's Supper, calls this washing of feet a Sacrament, and implies that it avails for the remission of venial sins: "For that we may not doubt about the remission of daily sins," he says, "we have His Sacrament, the washing of feet." But St. Bernard here by sacrament understands a symbol, type, figure, mystical signification, as he himself explains shortly after, of which more presently.

Symbolically: Origen and St. Jerome (Epistle to Damasus, on the first vision of Isaiah) think that Christ washed the Apostles' feet in order to prepare them for the preaching of the gospel, according to that: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, of those who bring good news!" Isaiah chapter LII, verse 7; Romans chapter X, verse 15.

Second, St. Ambrose, in his book On Those Who Are Initiated into the Mysteries, chapter VI, thinks that in baptism Christ washes away actual sins by washing the head; but here, by washing the feet, He washed away the remnants of original sin, that is, the motions of concupiscence; for by this washing He strengthened the feet, that is, their affections, so that they might nobly resist desires.

Third, St. Augustine and St. Bernard, On the Lord's Supper: "By the feet," he says, "with which we tread the earth, are signified earthly loves, squalor, and defects, which, while we live upon the earth (that is, among earthly things), stick like dust or mud to our feet, that is, to our affections, which must be washed away through tears and penitence, especially before holy communion."

Fourth, St. Cyprian On the Lord's Supper, and St. Gregory (Book IX, Epistle 39): "The washing of the feet," he says, "which are the lowest and last part of man, signifies that not only are our outward works to be scrutinized, but we must descend into the deepest and most hidden recesses of conscience, and these are to be cleansed of every hidden stain and perverse intention, by contrition, tears, and groanings."

From this washing of the feet by Christ flowed the custom at Milan, and in some other Churches, that the feet of those to be baptized were washed by the Bishop, and then by priests and clerics in the font, which was set up for this purpose before the doors of the Church; the Bishop would then kiss the feet he had washed, and the hindmost part of the bottom of the foot was placed over the Bishop's head. St. Ambrose reports and defends this custom in Book III On the Sacraments, chapter 1, and says it flowed from St. Peter and Christ in this passage, wherefore he marvels that it is not observed in the Roman Church. And the Seventeenth Council of Toledo, chapter III, ordains that Bishops and priests should wash the feet of the faithful on the Lord's Supper, after the example of Christ, and commands that the interrupted use of it be restored. This Council was held in the era 732, that is, in the year of Christ 694.

The same Ambrose, in his book On Those to Be Initiated, chapter VI, gives the mystical cause of this washing, saying: "Peter was clean, but he had to have the sole of his foot washed: for he had the sin of the first man by succession, when the serpent supplanted him and persuaded him to error; therefore the sole of his foot is washed, that the hereditary sins may be taken away." He alludes to that word of God to the serpent about man: "Thou shalt lie in wait for his heel," Genesis III, 15. The same Ambrose, Book III On the Sacraments, chapter 1: "Because Adam was supplanted by the devil, and poison was poured out upon him."

Verse 8: Peter Saith to Him: Thou Shalt Never Wash My Feet. Jesus Answered Him: If I Wash Thee Not, Thou Shalt Have No Part With Me

8. DICIT EI PETRUS: NON LAVABIS MIHI PEDES IN AETERNUM. — Origen accuses Peter of brazen audacity and disobedience; but St. Augustine, tract 56, rightly excuses him, saying that this word of his proceeded from sincere faith, reverence, fear, humility and love, as if to say: I am a vile little man, Thou art King of kings and Lord of majesty; wherefore I will not suffer Thee to wash my feet. "I" (these are the words of Cyprian, in the treatise On the Washing of the Feet), "if it be necessary for me to die with Thee, am ready; this I owe, this I embrace. For Thee I gladly offer my neck to the smiter; but my God and my Lord prostrate at my feet I cannot endure, I dare not bear."

RESPONDIT EI JESUS: SI NON LAVERO TE, NON HABEBIS PARTEM MECUM. — First, St. Augustine takes this mystically, as if to say: Unless through penitence (which the washing of feet represents and excites) I wash thy venial sins, I will not give thee the Eucharist, which I am now preparing to institute, nor wilt thou enter heaven, because nothing defiled enters therein. So also St. Cyprian, in the treatise On the Washing of the Feet.

Secondly, St. Chrysostom and Cyril say, as if: Unless thou receive the lesson of humility which I deliver to thee by this washing of feet, thou shalt have no part with Me; because only the humble attain the grace and glory of God.

Thirdly, literally and properly: If, O Peter, I do not wash thee as thou resistest Me, that is, if thou obstinately persist in disobedience, so that thou wilt not let thy feet be washed by Me; thou, because disobedient, shalt have no part with Me, that is, thou shalt not commune with Me at the Eucharistic table, I will not give thee a share of the bread to be consecrated into My body, I will exclude thee from the sacred assembly, I will not keep thee as an intimate and companion of the sacred table. For Christ threatens Peter with the deprivation of His intimacy and of the Eucharist, but not of grace and glory; for although Peter obeyed more reluctantly, yet it was from profound humility and reverence, and therefore worthy of pardon. So Toletus, who adds this reason: He threatens Peter, he says, that He will not give him the Eucharist, through which Christ was to remain in him and he in Christ; for this is chiefly why He was washing their feet, that once disposed and clean He might give Himself to them as food, and really be united to them. And this is what He threatens Peter with: If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part in Me; for I am now preparing the banquet of Myself, to be given to those only whom I shall have washed. Peter did not understand this word distinctly when it was spoken; he only conceived that he would have nothing in common with Christ, and would be separated from Him, unless he were washed; which indeed was a great pain; afterwards, however, he came to know the mystery of the thing. A similar phrase is found in III Kings XII, 16, where the people, offended by the cruelty of Rehoboam, say: "What part have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Jesse?" as if to say: We are unwilling henceforth to be friends and associates and subjects of the household of David, but we will make another king for ourselves. So St. Basil in his oration On Sin: "For this reason," he says, "such threats were made by Christ against Peter, that unless he had corrected his will by promptness and speed of obedience, neither those beatitudes that came from God upon him, nor the gifts, nor the promises, nor even that very declaration of God the Father's such and so great inclined will toward His only-begotten Son would have sufficed to expiate the present disobedience."

Hence the same St. Basil gathers from this passage two notable moral rules, Rule 12, ch. II. The first is: "He who opposes the Lord's commands, although he do it with a pious and friendly mind, is nevertheless for that reason estranged from the Lord." The other is: "Whatever is said by the Lord, we ought to receive it with the fullest satisfaction of soul."

Furthermore, from this passage St. Ambrose thought that the washing of feet was necessary for all the faithful at baptism, as a preparation and disposition to the Eucharist sanctioned by Christ, as I said at verse 7.

Verse 9: Simon Peter Saith to Him: Lord, Not Only My Feet, but Also My Hands and My Head

9. DICIT EI SIMON PETRUS: DOMINE, NON TANTUM PEDES MEOS, SED ET MANUS, ET CAPUT. — Peter, struck by this threat of Christ as by a thunderbolt, immediately obeyed Christ and offered more than Christ had asked, namely his hands and head, which otherwise are customarily washed. Hence St. Basil, in the Shorter Rules, response 60, gives a useful rule: "Whatever has been previously established beyond the Lord's command must be rescinded. He shows this plainly in the Apostle Peter, who had previously resolved: Thou shalt never wash my feet; but when he heard the Lord say affirmatively: Unless I wash thee, thou shalt have no part with Me; he immediately changed his mind and said: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands."

Again Basil, in Response 233, teaches from this passage that obedience is to be preferred to other virtues: Peter, he says, when testimony of such and so many right actions had been given him by the Lord, and he had been so addressed and praised as blessed, when in one thing only he seemed to depart from obedience — and that not through negligence or pride, but from reverence and honor toward his Lord — for this alone it is said to him: "Unless I wash thee, thou shalt have no part with Me."

Verse 10: Jesus Saith to Him: He That Is Washed Needeth Not but to Wash His Feet, but Is Clean Wholly. And You Are Clean, but Not All

10. DICIT EI JESUS: QUI LOTUS EST, NON INDIGET NISI UT PEDES LAVET, SED EST MUNDUS TOTUS. — Note that Christ here alludes to those who wash themselves in baths, who indeed come out wholly washed and clean; but because they tread the ground with bare feet and so soil their feet, for that reason they then wash only those. Note secondly that Christ, in His customary manner, rises by anagogy from bodily washing to spiritual, as if to say: He who is washed spiritually through baptism, by which I have cleansed you, O Apostles; or he who is washed through contrition and penance, this man is wholly clean in his soul, but nevertheless needs to wash only his feet, that is, that he often cleanse by contrition, chastisement of the body and similar virtues (of which this washing is a symbol) the affections of the soul, which from the contagion of earthly things in which they are occupied are repeatedly stained and contract light soilings, especially before the sacred assembly and the reception of the Eucharist. So St. Augustine, Bede, Rupert, and St. Bernard, sermon On the Lord's Supper, hear him: "He who is washed needs only to wash his feet. He is washed who has no grave sins, whose head, that is, his intention, and his hands, that is, his work and conversation, are clean; but the feet, which are the affections of the soul, while we walk in this dust, cannot be wholly clean, but sometimes the mind yields for an hour to vanity, sometimes to pleasure or curiosity, more than is fitting. For in many things we all offend. Yet let no one despise or belittle it. For it is impossible to be saved with them, impossible for them to be washed away except through Christ Jesus, and by Christ."

Therefore Christ by this washing of feet purged the sins of Peter and the Apostles, especially venial ones, because through it and through such great self-abasement He pricked their minds and admonished them of the interior washing to be performed in the soul through contrition, by which venial sins are expiated. For this reason the priests in the Old Testament washed their feet and hands before sacrifice, as I have already said. Many Gentiles did the same, whom Brissonius lists, Book I On Roman Formulas, page 4. The Jews likewise did so of old, as is clear from Mark VII, 4, and still do today.

Finally, St. Augustine, in epistle 108 to Seleucianus, from the phrase "he who is washed" probably concludes that Peter and the Apostles had been baptized before the Eucharist, both because no one is capable of the Eucharist unless baptized, and because Christ baptized them before His death; for after His death He baptized no one, but it is clear they were all baptized by Christ, either immediately or mediately. Finally, lotus (washed) properly seems to denote the washing which is done in baptism.

ET VOS MUNDI ESTIS, SED NON OMNES. — Tacitly Christ pricks Judas, that he may come to his senses from his scheme of betrayal and his crime; yet He would not name him, lest He defame him and lest the Apostles rise against him as a traitor and ill-treat him.

Verse 11: For He Knew Who It Was That Would Betray Him; Therefore He Said: You Are Not All Clean

11. SCIEBAT ENIM QUISNAM ESSET QUI TRADERET EUM: PROPTEREA DIXIT: NON ESTIS MUNDI OMNES. — Hence St. Augustine, Book II Against Petilian, ch. XXII, concludes that Judas was then present, and therefore was washed by Christ and received the sacred Eucharist; though St. Cyprian, in the treatise On the Washing of Feet, denies that Judas was present at the washing and consequently at the Eucharist.

Verse 13: You Call Me Master and Lord; and You Say Well, for So I Am

13. VOS VOCATIS ME MAGISTER ET DOMINE; ET BENE DICITIS: SUM ETENIM. — "Master and Lord." Christ was Master and Lord of all men and of the whole world not only as God, but also as man; nor did He teach only by outward speaking, as ordinary masters do, but inwardly He illumined minds and impelled the will wherever He wished; whence He alone is the perfect, heavenly and divine Master, as He Himself says in Matt. XXIII, 10. See what is said there.

Verse 15: For I Have Given You an Example, That as I Have Done to You, So You Do Also

15. EXEMPLUM ENIM DEDI VOBIS, UT QUEMADMODUM EGO FECI VOBIS, ITA ET VOS FACIATIS, — not to Me, as I am now going to death, but to your neighbors, when necessity or piety requires it; for example, when guests come from abroad. For, as St. Gregory says in the preface to his books of Dialogues: "Examples kindle love of the heavenly homeland more than do sermons." Hence "Jesus began" first "to do," then "to teach," Acts I, 1, and He taught more by deed than by word. Hence St. Basil, in Book I of Morals, rule 70, ch. X, teaches that he who presides ought first to do those things which he teaches his subjects must be done, and in ch. XXIV he teaches that as in dignity, so also in humility the superior ought to go before his subjects. Christ foresaw that the Apostles would shortly after dispute proudly among themselves which of them was the greatest; whence He set before them and urged upon them this example of humility, that He might break down and restrain this ambition of theirs, and so in fact, if He did not eradicate it, at least broke it.

From this saying of Christ the custom has grown that many Prelates, indeed princes and kings, on Holy Thursday wash the feet of their subjects or of the poor; indeed St. Ambrose thought that Christ here commands this very thing, as I said above. Thus the feet of the poor were washed by St. Louis, king of France; St. Elisabeth, wife of the Landgrave of Hesse; St. Hedwig, Duchess of Poland; St. Bridget, and many others. See Gretser, On the Washing of Feet.

Verse 16: Amen, Amen I Say to You: The Servant Is Not Greater Than His Lord; Neither Is the Apostle Greater Than He That Sent Him

16. AMEN, AMEN DICO VOBIS, NON EST SERVUS MAJOR DOMINO SUO, NEQUE APOSTOLUS MAJOR EST EO QUI MISIT ILLUM. — Christ insists on impressing humility upon the Apostles, because He foresaw their dispute about the primacy which would soon follow, as if to say: If I, your Lord, have humbled Myself and washed your feet, much more does it befit you to humble yourselves and wash one another's feet. For if the lord has washed, let the servant wash also: for neither can the servant disdain the work which the lord has done; nor can the apostle or legate refuse the office which his prelate or prince who sent him has performed.

Verse 17: If You Know These Things, You Shall Be Blessed if You Do Them

17. SI HAEC SCITIS, BEATI ERITIS, SI FECERITIS EA. — As if to say: If you know these things, as I know that you know them (for who does not know that the lord is greater than the servant, and the prelate than his apostle or legate?), you will be blessed if, as you know them, so you also do them and fulfill them in deed. Blessed, I say, in hope, but not yet in reality; but you shall be blessed in reality after death, if you persevere in doing these things until then, and in following Me persevere, as I know you will all do and persevere, with one exception, Judas: whence excepting him He adds:

Verse 18: I Speak Not of You All

18. I speak not of you all — that you will do these things which I have said, because I know Judas will not do it. I know whom I have chosen. — St. Augustine, tract 59, explains this of God's eternal predestination and election to glory, as if to say: I do not speak of all, but only of those whom I have chosen to glory, to which I have not chosen Judas, and therefore I have not spoken of him, but I except him. But this seems somewhat harsh, both because all blame must be cast upon Judas, not upon Christ or Christ's election, from which He excluded Judas: whence in the following verse Christ casts the blame upon Judas; and because Christ, when He speaks of God's eternal election and predestination to glory, never attributes it to Himself, but to the Father; for it is the primary part of providence, which is appropriated to the Father.

Therefore Christ here is treating of His temporal election, by which as man He chose the twelve Apostles, and among them Judas himself, of which it is said in Luke VI: "He called to Him His disciples, and chose twelve of them, whom also He named Apostles;" but among the twelve one was Judas. Christ therefore here speaks of election to the apostolate, say Toletus and Maldonatus, as if to say: I know and have known whom and what sort I have chosen as Apostles; I know and have known who would be worthy of it and who unworthy, who would persevere and therefore be blessed, and who not; I know those who will do what I have said and those who will not; just as I know and have known that Judas, whom I chose, would not do them, but would become My betrayer; wherefore I did not choose him as Apostle out of ignorance, as though I were ignorant that he would betray Me; rather I foreknew and foresaw this very thing most perfectly, and yet I chose him, that I might use his wickedness for the common good, namely that through him My passion might be fulfilled, and through it the salvation and redemption of men. Whence He adds:

BUT THAT THE SCRIPTURE MAY BE FULFILLED: HE WHO EATS BREAD WITH ME SHALL LIFT UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME. — as if to say: I knew that Judas would be the traitor, but nevertheless I chose him as an Apostle, that through him My passion might be fulfilled, and consequently the Scripture, which foretold it and the manner of it; namely that it would be begun through the betrayal of one intimate and domestic to Me, namely Judas, who has perfidiously abused My friendship and intimacy to betray Me; and I willed to permit this, that from his malice I might bring forth a great good, namely the redemption of the world, just as I permitted the fall of Lucifer and of Adam, that from them I might bring forth the Incarnation of Christ.

SHALL LIFT UP HIS HEEL. — He cites Psalm XL, 9, where the Septuagint renders: "he has magnified supplanting over me;" St. Jerome: "he has lifted up his foot against me," that is, he has tried to deceive, supplant, betray and destroy me; indeed he has in fact supplanted me by guile and fraud, has caused me to fall into the hands of the Jews, has driven me to the cross and death. For to supplant is properly to thrust the sole or foot or heel between another's legs in wrestling or running, so as to cause the runner's feet to strike against the foot of the supplanter, to fall and collapse.

David speaks literally of Ahithophel, his betrayer in the cause of his son Absalom, as the Chaldee has it; mystically of Judas the betrayer of Christ, whose type was Ahithophel, just as David was of Christ.

Verse 19: That When It Has Come to Pass, You May Believe

19. Now I tell you before it comes to pass, that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am He. — "Amodo," in Greek ἀπάρτι, which can be translated first as "from now on, from this time," as the Syriac renders; secondly, "immediately, very soon, quickly, at once;" and in this sense it is taken here, and this is what "amodo" signifies. For it marks the imminent betrayal of Judas, as if to say: Very soon, after a few hours, Judas will betray Me, and therefore I predict this to you, that when presently you see Me betrayed, captured, slain, you may not be troubled, but "may believe," that is, may persevere in faith in Me, "because I am He," namely that I am the Messiah, the Son of God, offering Myself willingly to death for the redemption of men; for I predict these things so that you may know that I foreknow all these things and am able to prevent them and withdraw Myself, but I will not, indeed I will to suffer for the salvation of the world; then likewise you will see that I spoke truly when I said that not all of you are clean, but that Judas is unclean and wicked, and therefore to be reprobated and damned, when you see him from consciousness of his crime and its enormity strangle himself with a noose. Therefore this prediction of Mine, joined with the event of the thing predicted, will stabilize and confirm you when you are about to waver in faith in Me. So Cyril.

Verse 20: He Who Receives Whomever I Send Receives Me

20. Amen, amen I say to you, HE WHO RECEIVES WHOMEVER I SEND RECEIVES ME: AND HE WHO RECEIVES ME RECEIVES HIM WHO SENT ME. — It is not apparent how these words cohere with the preceding. First, Chrysostom, homily 71, and Theophylact following him, refer these to the passion and cross of Christ, as if He were exhorting the Apostles to bravely imitate it through His own example, as if to say: Do not fear persecutions, deaths and crosses which you will suffer in preaching My faith; because in this matter you will follow Me; for you will suffer as My legates, sent by Me and consequently by God the Father. Wherefore this passion will be to you not of ignominy but of glory. But here it is not a question of the passion, but of the reception of the Apostles.

Secondly, Cyril, Book IX, ch. XII, thinks that Christ here is showing the enormity of Judas's betrayal by an argument drawn from the contrary, as if to say: Just as he who receives and honors one sent by Me receives and honors Me; so on the contrary, he who rejects one sent by Me inflicts grave insult and injury not only on Me, but also on God who sent Me. But here many things must be supplied which Christ does not say.

Thirdly, Cajetan, Jansenius and Ribera more probably judge that Christ, wishing now to end the discourse on the washing of feet, adds some points and returns to it, exhorting all the faithful to receive the Apostles sent to them and do good to them, just as He had earlier exhorted the Apostles to do good to the faithful; in which matter He also consoles the Apostles, as Chrysostom says in homily 71, whom He had commanded to labor in the offices of charity for the salvation of all.

Fourthly, more particularly and properly, Toletus thinks these words pertain to the example of the washing of feet given by Christ, that the Apostles and faithful may imitate it, and not excuse themselves from it on the ground that this washing is a menial act which makes a man menial and abject, since Christ Himself has used it and by using it has honored and as it were ennobled it, as if to say: Do not shrink from guests nor from washing their feet; because he who receives the faithful guests, especially the Apostles, into hospitality and washes their feet, receives Me who sent them, as into hospitality: and he who receives Me, receives also the Father who sent Me.

Therefore whoever receives My faithful and legates receives God, and the honor paid to them is paid to God; and conversely, whatever injury one inflicts upon them, the same he inflicts upon Me and upon God Himself. Christ therefore here teaches that the offices of humility, such as washing feet, must be performed even by Apostles and Prelates, and must not be refused on account of the dignity of the office, lest that dignity become vile and contemned, because through them they will rather be honored, as true imitators and vicars of Christ, because whoever honors them honors Christ and God Himself who sent them. Humble offices therefore do not disgrace Prelates, but adorn and decorate them. So Toletus, Jansenius and others. Hence our St. Francis Xavier, sailing to India, when he would make the beds of the sick, cook food, administer medicine, and heard it objected to him that such menial duties were unbecoming an Apostolic Legate, as he was, replied that they befitted a disciple and apostle of Christ, because Christ performed similar things and as it were ennobled them. For in the school of Christ humility alone ennobles and exalts, because it conforms us to Christ our God and Lord. So Tursellinus in his Life.

St. Charles Borromeo in a public supplication walked with bare feet, a rope about his neck, bearing a cross, served the poor, ministered to those afflicted with plague, performed every menial task; and yet by these things he did not disgrace his Archiepiscopal and Cardinal dignity, but rather adorned it, and obtained the name of Holy Cardinal; for just as a carbuncle gem in its setting adorns a gold ring, so humility adorns purples and crowns.

Verse 21: He Was Troubled in Spirit

21. WHEN JESUS HAD SAID THESE THINGS, HE WAS TROUBLED IN SPIRIT: AND DECLARED (that is, openly, plainly and clearly testified) AND SAID: AMEN, AMEN I SAY TO YOU, ONE OF YOU SHALL BETRAY ME. — The Syriac: "Jesus said these things, and groaned in spirit, and testified, and said: Amen, amen I say to you, one of you shall betray Me;" the Arabic: "He was stirred in spirit, etc." This trouble therefore was a great grief and indignation at the crime of Judas, because he was about to betray Him to the Jews: for because of the enormity of this crime, and likewise because of Judas's perdition and damnation, Christ grieved in His innermost feelings and groaned in spirit; and this grief He did not suffer involuntarily, but Christ freely admitted it, indeed voluntarily assumed it here, just as at the death of Lazarus, ch. XI, v. 33, as I said there. Concerning this prediction of Christ about the betrayal of Judas, I spoke at Matt. XXVI, 21 and following.

The question here is, when did this prediction of Christ occur, before the institution of the Eucharist or after? For John omits that institution here, because it was clearly narrated by the other three Evangelists; but Matthew and Mark place this prediction of Christ before the institution of the Eucharist, while Luke places it after. There are here three probable opinions.

The first is that of Jansenius and Francis Lucas, who judge that Christ foretold Judas's betrayal after the institution of the Eucharist, as Luke has it; wherefore Matthew and Mark, who narrate this prediction before the Eucharist, do so by anticipation: whence they place the institution of the Eucharist immediately before this verse 21 of John. The reason is that, if He had foretold Judas's betrayal before the Eucharist, He would have troubled the Apostles and moved them to anger, and rendered them less disposed and attentive to the Eucharist. But this reason is not conclusive. For before the Eucharist Christ foretold His passion and death, by which He troubled the Apostles much more, and a little after the Eucharist, as they themselves admit, He foretold Judas's betrayal, which then troubled them, so that they attended less to the recollection of mind which is required after the Eucharist. Finally, this prediction by Christ of Judas's betrayal before the Eucharist served both to deter Judas from his crime, and to prick the minds of the Apostles and render them anxious, so that each might examine his own conscience, lest Christ find anything in it which He might equally with Judas's crime reveal and censure.

The second opinion is plainly contrary, that of Baronius, in the year of our Lord 34, ch. LVIII, and of others, who judge that Christ foretold Judas's betrayal not after, but before the institution of the Eucharist, as Matthew and Mark have it; wherefore they interpret Luke, who places it after, as using postposition. Baronius therefore thinks the event occurred in the order in which it is recounted by John; namely, that after the washing of feet Jesus spoke of His betrayal, then gave to John, who asked about the betrayer, that sign by the dipped morsel; but when he says that after receiving the morsel he went out immediately, this is not to be understood, Baronius says, as meaning that he left at that very moment with no delay; but that, as if stirred by a certain fury, he did not wait for that lengthy discourse which the Lord delivered after the supper. For St. Luke plainly testifies that Judas remained with the others until the end of the Eucharistic communion, after which nothing seemed to be left on the table (according to the aforesaid Jewish rite) in which bread could be dipped; and so it also seems unable to be said that that dipped bread was the Eucharist.

But Judas after the morsel "went out immediately," indeed at the same moment, as the Syriac has it; he therefore did not wait for the lengthy assembly of the Apostles, if it took place after the morsel was given. Whence other followers of this opinion more probably think that this morsel given to Judas by Christ was the Eucharist itself: for after receiving it unworthily, driven as it were into fury by the devil, he went out at once to accomplish the crime he was plotting. Moreover, during the institution of the Eucharist, and after it, Christ reclined at the table, and there foretold Judas's betrayal, as Luke has it. It is therefore entirely probable that the table had not yet been cleared, but that on it from the three preceding suppers of Christ there had remained bread and food scraps, from which Christ could take a morsel and dip it, and give it dipped to Judas.

The third opinion, therefore, midway between the two just stated, seems truer, namely that Christ foretold Judas's betrayal both before the Eucharist, and repeated it after it: both because He was greatly moved by it and its atrocity and grieved, indeed was troubled in spirit, as John says here; and to cast his crime in Judas's face and to show him that He knew it and to deter him from carrying it out; and to prepare the minds of the Apostles and forearm them by this prediction, lest when they shortly would see in fact Judas's betrayal and Jesus' capture they be overwhelmed, but might stand firmly in faith in Jesus. By this reason we best reconcile Matthew and Mark with Luke, so that both have told the truth and narrated the thing in its order. This is the express opinion of St. Augustine, Book III On the Agreement of the Evangelists, ch. I, of Euthymius and Toletus, who assert that this was the order of the event. Having completed the paschal supper of the lamb, and the common meal having been begun, while they were supping Christ rose and washed the disciples' feet, and after washing them, reclining again, He spoke all these things which John narrates; troubled therefore in spirit, He speaks of His betrayer, and each one asks: "Is it I?" and Judas hears: "Thou hast said it." Having done these things, He instituted the Eucharist; and this having been instituted and the mystery completed, He again speaks of the betrayer, as Luke relates, ch. XXII: "Nevertheless, behold, the hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table," etc. Then Peter asks John: "Who is it of whom He speaks?" and John, asking Jesus, hears: "He to whom I shall give the dipped bread." And after this morsel Satan entered into Judas, and he departed; and when he had departed and the supper was altogether finished, Christ delivers to His disciples the wonderful discourse described shortly after by John. Hence it is clear that the institution of the Eucharist is to be placed not before this verse, as Jansenius would have it, but before verse 32: "He therefore was one," etc.

Verse 22: The Disciples Looked at One Another

22. THE DISCIPLES THEREFORE LOOKED AT ONE ANOTHER, DOUBTING OF WHOM HE SPOKE, — indeed each one asking: "Is it I, Lord?" as Matt. XXVI, 22 has it. For, as Chrysostom says, "because He did not speak by name, He induced fear in all; and although they were not conscious of evil in themselves, yet they trusted Christ more than their own thoughts." And as Origen says, "they remembered, as men, that the affections even of the advanced are changeable."

Verse 23: One of His Disciples in the Bosom of Jesus

23. THERE WAS THEREFORE RECLINING ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES IN THE BOSOM OF JESUS, WHOM JESUS LOVED, — namely John himself. The word "therefore" continues Christ's prediction about the betrayal of Judas, even though it was interrupted by the institution of the Eucharist, because John here omits it; for Jesus instituted the Eucharist immediately before this verse, after the first prediction of Judas's betrayal which Matthew and Mark recount: then after the Eucharist was instituted and the sacred Synaxis performed, Christ repeated and resumed the same prediction, saying, as Luke has it, ch. XXII, v. 21: "Nevertheless, behold, the hand of him that betrays Me is with Me on the table;" and when the Apostles desired to know by name who that was, Peter, more eager and fervent than the others, made a sign to John who was reclining on Jesus' bosom, that he should ask Jesus to designate him, as John here relates, and insinuates by the word "therefore," as if to say: John was nearer and dearer to Jesus and closest to Him, reclining as he was on His bosom: "therefore," that is for this reason, Peter made a sign to John to seek from Jesus His beloved the name of the betrayer. John is said to have reclined on Jesus' bosom because the ancients did not sit at table, but reclined two or three together on individual dining couches, so that propped on the right elbow they did not so much sit as lie at table, whence it happened that the second person, being next to the left of the first, seemed as it were to lie and recline on his bosom. See Ciaccone, On the Triclinium.

WHOM JESUS LOVED, — not only with the love of human friendship, as being youngest in age, as Toletus would have it, but also with the love of charity, on account of his virginity and purity, modesty and meekness, and the gentle and holy character in which he excelled the others; so Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius and St. Jerome, in the epistle to Heliodorus. Yet it does not follow from this that John was absolutely holier than all the Apostles; for Peter could have been more ardent than he in charity, and therefore holier. For holiness consists chiefly in charity and is measured by it, so that as great as one's charity is, so great is each one's grace and holiness.

Moreover, that John reclined on Jesus' bosom and upon His breast was not only a sign of present love, but also a sign of a future reality, "namely that thence he would take his voice, which afterwards he would utter, unheard in all ages," says Bede.

Verse 24: Simon Peter Beckoned to Him

24. SIMON PETER THEREFORE BECKONED TO HIM AND SAID TO HIM: WHO IS IT OF WHOM HE SPEAKS? — From this it is clear that Peter beckoned to John not only by a sign of a wink and nod, as St. Augustine would have it, but also modestly said to him in a suggesting word: "Who is it of whom He speaks?" as John here narrates. So Origen, Chrysostom, and Cyril. Peter asks this not because he was chief of the Apostles, although Cyril suggests this, nor as if fearing for himself lest he were the betrayer, as Chrysostom opines, but out of zeal, that he might prevent so great a crime and the betrayal of Christ, just as in the garden he wished to prevent Christ's capture by cutting off the ear of Malchus who wished to seize Him.

Verses 25-26: He to Whom I Shall Give the Dipped Bread

25. THEREFORE WHEN HE HAD LEANED UPON THE BREAST OF JESUS, HE SAID TO HIM: LORD, WHO IS IT? 26. JESUS ANSWERED: IT IS HE TO WHOM I SHALL REACH THE DIPPED BREAD; AND WHEN HE HAD DIPPED THE BREAD, HE GAVE IT TO JUDAS, SON OF SIMON ISCARIOT. — "When he had leaned." It seems that John, at Peter's beckoning, or at Peter's secret tugging of his garment, applied his ears and body, and so withdrew somewhat from Christ's bosom, to hear Peter's request, and having heard it, reclined his body again and leaned upon Jesus' breast, to ask from Jesus what Peter had suggested.

THE DIPPED BREAD. — Note that Judas was present at the celebration of the paschal lamb, and likewise of the Eucharist, and partook of it with the other Apostles, as St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Cyril, and others commonly teach; indeed some have thought this "dipped bread" was the Eucharist, but wrongly; for Christ did not consecrate "dipped bread," but dry bread, just as pure and unmixed wine. Wherefore after the sacred Synaxis, Christ took from the table a portion or morsel of bread remaining, and dipped it in a sauce or some more delicate broth which was still on the table (for it is not fitting in a banquet for the host to give the guest dry bread), and gave it to Judas, that by this sign He might indicate to John that He was pointing him out as the betrayer: for the other Apostles did not hear Christ's words to John about this sign of the betrayer, being spoken modestly by Christ into John's ear alone.

Moreover Christ aptly indicated him by this sign, because bread at the table is a sign of peace and friendship: whence by it Christ showed not only the person of the betrayer, but also his quality and manner of betrayal: that Judas would betray Him by a similar symbol of friendship, namely a kiss. Mystically, this dipping of the bread denoted the fiction and fraud in Judas's soul, says St. Augustine.

Again St. Cyril and Augustine say that Judas was indicated by Christ with the morsel of bread, that that passage of Psalm XL might be fulfilled: "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me;" indeed Chrysostom says that by this very act Christ tacitly reproached Judas with the same thing, as if to say: How are you not ashamed, O Judas, to betray Me, you who are a partner and guest at My table.

Finally, Judas, having received the morsel from Christ, from consciousness of his crime, and perceiving himself marked by this sign of Christ, shamelessly and obstinately persisted in his purpose of betraying Christ. For, seeing himself wholly detected and defamed, as it were mad and raging, at the instigation of the devil, he went out to carry out the crime, and went to the chief priests, to demand from them armed men who with him as leader and informer would seize Jesus. For although Matthew places these words and Christ's answer before the Eucharist — whence St. Augustine, Book III On the Agreement of the Evangelists, ch. I, judges they were said before it — nevertheless from the words of Luke and John it is clear that they were said after the Eucharist; for Matthew in his customary manner gathers all these predictions of Christ concerning Judas into one, lest he be forced to dissect them and narrate them again after the Eucharist. For it is plainly probable that Judas, having heard Christ's answer "Thou hast said," confounded and indignant, at once went out. And he went out immediately after receiving the morsel, as John here says. Therefore immediately after receiving the morsel he asked: "Is it I, Rabbi?" and heard: "Thou hast said," and having heard these things, blushing and indignant, he at once went out. Whence follows:

Verse 27: Satan Entered Into Him

27. And after THE MORSEL (Greek ψωμίον, that is, a morsel, a small cake), SATAN ENTERED INTO HIM, — driving and stirring him to avenge this infamy of his, namely that he might betray Christ, who was exposing his crime, to the Jews. Therefore Satan, who had previously entered into Judas to plot the betrayal, as was said in verse 2, here again entered into him to accomplish it and to bring it into effect: both because Judas, already hearing himself called a betrayer by the Apostles and Christ, did not dare to remain any longer among them, lest he be badly punished by them; and because the hour suitable for the betrayal and appointed by Judas was at hand, namely that at which he knew Christ after supper would customarily go to the Mount of Olives for prayer, where He could easily be seized. Wherefore there was no need for John to show Christ's indication to Peter, who asked Christ to point him out; both because Judas soon betrayed himself both by his question and by his departure and going out. Satan therefore entered into Judas here, so as to possess him wholly, and that surely and firmly, whence he soon drove him to the noose; not that the morsel given by Christ sent the devil into him, for this was a sign of Christ's love, by which He wished to draw his heart to love Him in return, but because Judas, ungrateful to this love of Christ, took it in the wrong way: for he thought that Christ out of hatred and contempt, to expose his crime to the Apostles, gave him the morsel. Wherefore Judas then sent word to Christ's apostolate and the college of the Apostles, and went off to the household and service of Satan and the Jews, as a deserter and apostate. So St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and Cyril, who notes that a benefit harms the ungrateful, not of itself but through their own vice and ingratitude. Hear St. Ambrose, Book II On Cain and Abel, ch. IV: "When Satan entered Judas's heart, Christ withdrew from him, and in the very moment in which he received the one, he lost the other. Finally it is written thus: After the morsel, Satan entered into him." And he entered for three reasons: first, because of ingratitude, says St. Augustine; for when Christ had performed every office of charity toward him, and he was not thereby softened, he was left to be wholly possessed by the devil. Secondly, because the devil from those words of the Lord and from the signs recognized that he was now obstinate in evil and abandoned by the Lord, as Chrysostom says, Homily 71, and Euthymius on Matthew xxvi. Thirdly, because Judas himself understood that he was now manifest to all, and as it were separated from the disciples and the Master, and therefore was confirmed in evil and wholly delivered his heart to the devil, as one despairing; and for that reason also he at once went out, not enduring the sight of the Lord and the Apostles, or fearing lest he be torn apart by them, says Euthymius from St. Chrysostom. So Ribera. Thus we see sinners, when their hidden sins are made public, harden their brow, obstinate their mind, rage and fume, wishing to defend their crimes and glory in them, and rush into the depth of every wickedness. See here in Judas how a man who deserts Christ is gradually deserted by Christ, and being deserted is invaded and possessed by Satan; being possessed into every wickedness, and thence is cast headlong into the abyss: just as Judas from an Apostle became a devil, just as Lucifer from a most beautiful angel became a most foul demon, and as from the sweetest wine is made the most sour vinegar, and from a monk, e.g., Luther, is made a heretic, nay a heresiarch.

Verses 28-29: No One at Table Knew

28. NOW NO ONE AT TABLE KNEW FOR WHAT PURPOSE HE SAID THIS TO HIM. 29. FOR SOME THOUGHT THAT, BECAUSE JUDAS HAD THE PURSE, JESUS HAD SAID TO HIM: BUY THE THINGS WE NEED FOR THE FEAST, OR GIVE SOMETHING TO THE POOR. — For although from Christ's words they knew that Judas would be the traitor, yet they did not know that he would betray Christ so soon, namely on that same night, but rather at his own time. Hence they did not understand Christ when He said;

AND JESUS SAID TO HIM: WHAT YOU DO, DO QUICKLY. — "Citius," that is, quickly, as the Syriac renders it; for the comparative is put for the positive. Christ is not commanding Judas's betrayal, but permitting it. These words then are Christ's, not as one commanding, but as one foretelling, as if to say: Do not think you are hidden from Me; I know that you plot My betrayal. He did not command the crime, says St. Augustine, but foretold it, not so much raging toward the ruin of the faithless one as hastening toward the salvation of the faithful. Secondly, it is the voice of one permitting, as if to say: Do what you have begun, finish what you have determined; I could hinder you in a thousand ways from carrying out your wickedness, but I will not; rather I permit you your freedom: do what you have planned in your mind. Thirdly, it is the voice of one reproaching, says Chrysostom, as if to say: I know that you, from whom I have received so many gifts, are plotting extreme evils against me: are these your wicked deeds, which you repay for so many benefits of mine? but do what you are doing. For although I have uncovered your crime, I did not do it with the intention, as it were, of fearing it and wishing to hinder it: for if I wished, I would be able and would do so; but to cast your malice and shamelessness in your face and rebuke you. Fourthly, they are the words of a lofty spirit, despising all Judas's plottings, as if to say: I am so unconcerned, and fear not all your machinations against me, that I supremely desire my captivity and death to be hastened through you, that I may the sooner offer myself as a victim to God the Father and redeem humanity: "What you do therefore, do quickly." Hear St. Leo, Sermon 7 On the Passion: "This is not the voice of one commanding, but of one permitting; not of one trembling, but ready, who, having power over all times, shows that He does not delay for the traitor, and thus to carry out the paternal will for the redemption of the world, that He neither urged on nor feared the crime being prepared by those present." Fifthly, they are the words of one excluding the incorrigible Judas from His household and the fellowship of the Apostles, as if to say: Since you wish to separate yourself from us, I exclude you from my table, home, apostolate, society: go therefore to your Jews and Satan; to whom you have sold yourself. So St. Ambrose, Book II On Cain, ch. IV.

Further, Cyril, Book IX, ch. XVII, following Origen, novelly judges that these words were said by Christ not to Judas but to Satan, who was entering into Judas. For, says he, just as if a strong man, against whom some raging adversary is carried, himself relying on his own strength and not doubting that his opponent will fall, loudly threatens and says: What you do, do more quickly, that you may experience the might of my right hand; we should not say these are the words of one hastening to die, but rather of one foreknowing that the adversary will fall. So our Lord commands the devil to run more swiftly to what he has prepared, so that being the more quickly conquered and bound he may abandon his tyranny over the world. But it is clear from what precedes and follows that this is said to Judas, not to Satan, as the Fathers and interpreters teach throughout.

"What you do, do quickly," as speaking of his betrayal, but rather transferred it to the buying of necessaries for the approaching Passover. For Judas was the steward of Christ and the Apostles.

Verse 30: He Went Out Immediately

30. WHEN THEREFORE HE HAD RECEIVED THE MORSEL, HE WENT OUT IMMEDIATELY, — both because after the morsel he was possessed by the devil, who drove him to go out and complete the betrayal; and because Christ by the words just spoken, casting him out of His household and home, expelled him. Both are indicated and marked by the word therefore. Further, when the unclean one went out, says St. Augustine, all the clean remained with their Cleanser, as wheat with the tares separated. Morally Cyril notes, Book IX, ch. XIX, that the devil impelled Judas to go out at once to betray Christ, lest by the power of the Eucharist, though unworthily received, pricking and stinging him, he should repent and come to himself. Hear him: "The devil possesses great powers to command those whom he has wholly seized: he fears lest by delay room for repentance be given, and the man, like one rousing his mind more rightly from drunkenness, should escape; for that reason he hastens and drives on: for when he had separated Judas after the bread, fearing both delay and the power of the blessing, lest it kindle a spark in his soul and from thence illumine him and draw him back to better things, he drove him headlong with great speed." Origen adds that Christ's teaching was so efficacious that afterwards it moved His betrayer to repentance, so that he said: "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood;" indeed to such grief that, unable to bear himself or endure to live, he hanged himself, "showing," he says, "how powerful Jesus's teaching was, even in a sinner, thief and traitor, unable wholly to despise what he had learned from Jesus." From this you may gather that to those who are violently tempted by the demon to commit a crime at once, delays are to be interposed, so that they may put off the deed; for by the delay itself, the matter being more maturely considered, the foulness of the crime is seen, the harms and penalties that frighten a man away from it; the counsels of the prudent are heard, various obstacles can be inserted. Finally, the very heat of temptation cools and slackens in the delay itself.

On the contrary, in carrying out good resolutions of virtue — e.g. in entering the priestly or religious state — haste is necessary, lest parents, companions, or the devil, by interposing delays, shatter and dissipate the whole affair, as we often see happen. Hear St. Chrysostom, Homily 57 to the People: "While this love is fervent in you, go at once to those very angels and kindle him further. Do not say: Let me first speak to my relatives and settle my affairs. Such delay is the beginning of sluggishness. The disciple wished to bury his father, and Christ did not permit it. Why so? Because the devil presses keenly, to insinuate himself into the mind, and if he seizes even a brief interval or postponement, he leads on to great lukewarmness. Therefore one admonishes: Do not defer from day to day." And St. Anselm, Epistle I: "Hasten, he says, to so great a good, because by no good will you attain the highest good more efficaciously. I have seen many who promised and delayed, whom death so overtook that they neither completed that by which they hindered themselves, nor began what they promised." And the same at once adds: "He who defers correcting his life to a future and perhaps not-to-be age, without doubt lets go the certain good, and by despising what he loses, proves that he does not love what he awaits, and deserves not to receive it." And St. Bernard, in his sermon on Behold we have left all things: "Since you doubt not, he says, that the word is from God, what need is there of deliberation? The Angel of great counsel is calling: why do you await the counsels of others? Who is more faithful, who wiser than He? Lead me, Lord, and I shall be led; be stronger and prevail. I know what things ought to be done quickly." See St. Thomas, Opusc. XVII, chs. IX and X.

NOW IT WAS NIGHT. — John adds this, first, for the completeness of the narrative, to note the time at which Christ was betrayed by Judas and arrested by the Jews; secondly, to indicate the devil's haste, urging Judas at an untimely hour of the night to seek out the officers, perhaps sleeping; thirdly, this is added, says Chrysostom, Homily 71, that you may learn Judas's rashness, when not even the unsuitable time held him back.

Symbolically the Gloss says: Night suits the mystery: for he who went out was a son of darkness, doing the works of darkness. Night therefore indicates the darkness of mind in which Judas was, says St. Ambrose, Book II On Cain, ch. IV, and also his impenitence and damnation to the darkness of Gehenna, toward which Judas was heading. Hear St. Gregory, Book II Morals, ch. 2: "From the quality of the time the end of the action is expressed, as Judas is said to have gone out at night to the treachery of his betrayal, as one who would not return to pardon, since as he went out the Evangelist says: But it was night. For hence also it is said to the wicked rich man: This night they shall require your soul of you. For a soul that is led to darkness is recorded as being required not by day but by night."

Verse 31: Now Is Glorified the Son of Man

31. WHEN THEREFORE HE HAD GONE OUT, JESUS SAID: NOW IS GLORIFIED (in Greek ἐδοξάσθη, that is, as the Syriac and Arabic render it, has been glorified) the Son of man, AND GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM. — "Is glorified," that is, will now be glorified. For the past is used for the immediate and imminent future, as if to say: Judas now goes out to betray and kill Me, therefore the cross and death are imminent for Me, which so far from tending to My dishonor, that through it I shall be supremely glorified. For in it I shall be acknowledged to be not only the Son of man and man, but also the Son of God and God: for the divinity hidden in My humanity shall be acknowledged from the darkening of the sun and the splitting of the rocks, from the opening of the tombs and resurrection of the buried, from the shaking of the whole earth, etc.; for all these will signify that God suffers and dies on the cross. Also from its effect: for through the cross I will subject to Myself the whole world, all the demons and sin, death and Gehenna, as God and Lord of all. So St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Origen, Theophylact, Euthymius. Note here: By these signs and these effects, the God and Deity of Christ not only glorified Christ's humanity but also Himself; for in them appeared the immense goodness, power, wisdom, majesty and glory of Christ's deity. This is what follows:

Verse 32: God Shall Glorify Him in Himself

32. IF GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM, GOD ALSO SHALL GLORIFY HIM IN HIMSELF: AND SHALL STRAIGHTWAY (in Greek εὐθύς, i.e. quickly, at once; so the Syriac) GLORIFY HIM. — First, "if," i.e. because, as if to say: Because Christ, having become obedient to the Father unto the death of the cross, by this His obedience, reverence, and sacrifice supremely glorified, that is, honored and glorified God the Father; therefore in turn God the Father will glorify and glorify the Son "in Himself," namely, by declaring and showing the divinity hidden in Him; and He will do this "straightway" and quickly, because on the third day He will raise Him from death alive and glorious, and on the 40th day will cause Him to ascend in triumph into heaven, and on the 50th day will send the Holy Spirit from heaven upon the Apostles: from all which the glorious divinity hidden in Him will shine forth most of all. For through all these things it was made known to the whole world that Jesus is not only man but also God and the Son of God. So Cyril and Chrysostom. The glorification of Christ was twofold, says Origen, Homily 6 on Exodus: the earlier, in death, by which He was glorified in the lowliness of mortality; the later, in the resurrection, by which He was glorified in the sublimity of immortality.

Secondly, more forcefully, St. Hilary, Book V On the Trinity, and from him Toletus, hold that God is said to be glorified in Christ when in His death and resurrection He showed His divinity, and demonstrated Himself to be the Son of God and true God, by raising Himself from death, ascending into heaven by His own power, from thence sending the Holy Spirit, and working many miracles through the Apostles; for this is what the phrases "in Him" and "in Himself" demand; as if to say: "If God is glorified in Him," that is, if God is about to be declared to be in Him (Christ) and hidden beneath His humanity, with great brightness and glory of Him; then "God will also glorify Him in Himself," showing, namely, that He has hidden divinity in Himself, and this He will do straightway, that is, at once; as if to say: God and divinity lay hidden in Christ until His death, but in His death it shone forth and put itself forward, and showed that Christ was not only man but also the Son of God; inasmuch as by the power of His own divinity He raised Himself from death, ascended into heaven, and from there sent the Holy Spirit. For, as Origen says: "The Son is the brightness of all divine glory, as Paul says, from whence splendors come forth upon the whole rational creation; for only the Son can contain the whole brightness of divine glory." This brightness shone forth in His death, just as the lit torches enclosed in earthen jars, when struck together and broken by Gideon's soldiers, shone forth and terrified and put to flight the Midianites, Judges VII, 19. So likewise, Christ's body being broken in death, His divinity shining forth through the signs already mentioned glorified Him, because by these same signs, and many others that followed, such as the miracles of the Apostles and the conversion of the whole world, He showed Him to be truly the almighty Son of God, coequal to the Father, and thus put to flight the devil, sin, and death.

Further, the phrase "in Himself" can be referred, first, to the Son of man, as if to say: God glorified Christ the man, by showing that He as man contains in Himself the indwelling God and the Deity of the Word. Secondly, to "God," as if to say: God glorified the man Christ, by showing that He subsists in Himself, that is, in God, namely in the divine hypostasis of the Word: for the humanity in Christ does not have its own human subsistence, but subsists in the same divine subsistence in which the Word subsists, which is a great exaltation, sublimity, and glory of Christ's humanity.

Verse 33: Little Children, Yet a Little While I Am With You

33. LITTLE CHILDREN. — Note here the tenderness of Christ's affection and love for His own faithful and Apostles; for He does not say "sons" but "little sons": thus He shows the motherly heart toward them, as toward infants recently begotten of Himself. Again, "little sons," because the Apostles were still little in faith and love of Christ; for they received His fullness and, as it were, manly age from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Symbolically Cyril says: All the saints, however perfect, are in comparison with Christ little sons, that is, very small.

YET A LITTLE WHILE (for a little time) I AM WITH YOU, — because within an hour I shall be betrayed by Judas and delivered to the Jews. Christ here bids His own a last farewell, as if to say: Farewell, My most beloved sons; for I am going from you to death; henceforth I shall not be with you in My customary way, but shall return to heaven.

So St. Antony, dying, turned to his disciples and said: "Farewell, my own heart. For Antony departs, and shall no longer be with you in this present age." So St. Athanasius in his Life. And St. Ephrem in his Testament: "Let me go, for failing I depart. Remember me a wretched one in your holy prayers. For I have passed my life in vanity." And St. Dominic, called by an angel saying: "Come, my beloved, enter into true joys," told his own: "You, dearest ones, now see me well; but before the most celebrated Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, I shall set out for the Lord." Said and done. So says his Life, Book IV, ch. XII. And St. Francis: "Farewell, all my sons, in the fear of the Lord, and remain in Him always; and since future temptation and tribulation draws near, blessed are those who will persevere in what they have begun. But I hasten to God, to whose grace I commend you all." And shortly after, saying: "The just await me, until Thou render to me my reward," he gave up his spirit to God. So St. Bonaventure in his Life, Book I, ch. XIV.

YOU SHALL SEEK ME; AND AS I SAID TO THE JEWS (ch. VII, v. 34): WHERE I GO, YOU CANNOT COME: AND I SAY TO YOU NOW. — as if to say: I through death return to heaven; you, O Apostles, deprived of My presence, in the tribulations and persecutions that await you, shall seek Me and long for Me to be present, that you may consult Me in doubts and receive consolation and comfort from Me in adversities; but "where I go, you cannot come," both because by your own strength, your own feet, your own natural powers, you cannot follow Me as I ascend into heaven; and because you do not yet have the supernatural powers of grace, that you might follow Me: for you are not yet so strong as to accompany Me to the cross, death, and martyrdom; you are not yet so perfect in grace, virtue, and charity as to be fit and worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Lastly, you cannot yet come to it, because My heavenly Father has decreed to send you after My death to preach the Gospel throughout the whole world, that you may bring all nations to My faith and salvation. With these words, then, Christ tacitly exhorts the Apostles and strengthens them to bear bravely all adversities for His faith. So Cyril, Book IX, ch. XXII.

AS I SAID TO THE JEWS. — He adds this, says Chrysostom, to show that it was not new and recent, but long before foreseen and foretold by Himself and decreed by the Father. Again, to show that they were going to suffer persecution from the Jews and be killed, just as He had been afflicted and killed by them. Thirdly, to indicate that they themselves would suffer many tribulations and at last death, as the Jews suffered, but with a different cause and end: for the Jews on account of their crimes were cut off and went to hell; but the Apostles, killed for the Gospel, flew up to heaven.

AND I SAY IT TO YOU NOW, — both that by this My prediction I may now forearm and fortify you against all tribulations threatening you; and that you may know now, that is, at this time, that you cannot yet follow Me, but shall follow afterward, when you shall be perfect in virtue and merits, and when, following Me dying by your own death, you shall merit for My faith the laurel of martyrdom in the kingdom of heaven. Hence Christ, clearly signifying this, says to Peter in v. 36: "You cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow afterward."

Verse 34: A New Commandment I Give You

34. A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE YOU: THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER. — Why "new"? Various authors give various reasons for this reading. St. Augustine says "new" because through love the faithful puts off the old man and puts on the new; Jansen says "new," that is, renewed by Christ, inasmuch as in the minds of men it had become antiquated; Maldonatus, "new," meaning outstanding, excellent. Just as in Apocalypse VII, virgins are said to sing "a new song," that is, singular and excellent.

But I say the commandment of love is called "new" because it is proper and chief to the New Testament, and commended by Christ especially by word and example, just as, on the contrary, the commandment of fear was ancient and chief among the Jews. For the new law is of love, as the old law is of fear.

Secondly, "new," because Christ here delivered to us this commandment of love more explicitly, more strictly, and more firmly than before, and therefore as new, and so He poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that we might fulfill this new commandment of love with a new spirit of love.

Thirdly, and more properly to the present matter, it is called "new" by reason of a new object and cause of loving: for Christ having become incarnate, who is the head of the Church, a singular communication and union of the members of the Church has been made, both among themselves and with Christ their head, now homogeneous with them — a union, I say, both through the human nature assumed by Christ, and through the grace which He pours into us as the head into its members, and above all through the Sacrament of the Eucharist recently instituted by Him. This union is the foundation and root of the more singular and tighter love of Christ and of Christians, and of the greater obligation to love one another; for through it we are closely united not only to the humanity of Christ, but also to the Deity and to the whole Holy Trinity, and in it and through it to one another.

Christ hints at this meaning when He adds: "That you love one another, as I have loved you," as if to say: Because I have loved you in a new and singular way, assuming your flesh and giving it to you as food for your soul through the Eucharist, which I instituted a little before, that in it I might unite you all to Myself, and couple you most tightly to one another in Me; hence I likewise require from you a new and singular love, by which you, O Christians, love one another — not only as man loves man because they share the same human nature, but as a Christian ought to love a Christian, that is, one who, most closely united to him in Christ, is a partaker and sharer of the same Church and Eucharist of Christ.

For Toletus rightly observes that this precept of Christ is given here not to all men, but only to Christians: for these must love one another, not merely as neighbors for God's sake, but as brothers and members of one body of Christ, for Christ's sake.

See what was said on I John II, 8, on the words: "I write to you a new commandment," where I have fully recounted eight reasons why it is called "new."

This love, says Tertullian, Book On Patience, "is the highest sacrament of faith," that is, the sign and symbol of Christians. Hence the same Tertullian, Apology ch. XXXIX, says that the Gentiles, admiring this mutual love of Christians, were accustomed to say: See how the Christians love one another, and how one is ready to die for another, so that they seem to be suffering from one father and the same mother — those whom neither language, nor nation, nor ancestral custom, nor the diversity of birthplace has divided. This, says Toletus, is that love which if we all kept, just as no nation is more blessed than the Christian, so none would be stronger or more powerful. Hence St. Pachomius, serving in the army of the Emperor Constantine, seeing the charity of the Christians, by which they freely and gratuitously offered the soldiers food, drink, and all necessaries, was converted from paganism to Christianity, indeed to monasticism, and became the founder and chief of cenobitic life.

AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, THAT YOU ALSO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. — That is, just as I, being in the form of God, out of love for you took the form of a servant, that I might teach, save, and bless you: so you also descend to the lowest and harshest things, that you may help one another; I have now washed your feet, and you wash one another's feet; I have given Myself as food in the Eucharist, and you feed your neighbors; I shall soon be crucified and die for you, and you accept any bodily death whatsoever that you may save souls: I loved you with no preceding merits of yours, when you were enemies; I loved you, seeking not My advantage but your salvation; I loved you even to the shedding of blood; I loved you in such a way that nothing was so abject and laborious that I refused it, if it was useful to you: these same things you ought to do for your brothers. So St. Chrysostom and Cyril. This is what John says in his 1st Epistle, ch. III, v. 16: "In this we know the love of God, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."

Note: The phrase "as I have loved you" can be referred first, to what precedes, as if it pertained to the substance of the commandment, as if to say: I command you to love one another in the same way in which I have loved you, namely, that as I first loved you, so also you be the first to love one another, and anticipate each other in mutual love. So St. Chrysostom. Again, that as I gave My bodily life for your spiritual life, so also you spend your bodily life for the salvation of souls. So Cyril. Secondly and better, you may refer "as I have loved you" to what follows, "that you also love one another," lest it be a tautology, repeating what was said before. Hence the Complutensians, Toletus, and others place a colon before "as I have loved you." And the Syriac, clearly distinguishing these things, translates: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; as I have loved you, you also love one another; so that the first part signifies the substance of the commandment, namely that we are commanded to love one another; and the second part after the colon signifies the mode of the commandment, namely that we should love one another in the same way in which Christ loved us, as I explained a little above. Further, to add to us a sharp spur to love one another, as if to say: A great spur must be for you, O Christians (for Christ is addressing all these, since the Apostles represented them all), the love of Christ with which He loved you. First, because as Christ loved you, so also He loved your companions and all the faithful; these therefore, whom Christ loved so much, you too, O followers of Christ, love. Secondly, Christ, loving you, asks this of you in recompense for His love: that you too love your neighbors. This requital of love, then, and this vicarious love, pay to Him as much as you can; for your love, being vile and small, will not be able to equal Christ's love, which is exceptional and inexhaustible, even if it should grow continuously until the day of judgment. Thirdly, as if Christ were saying: I have joined, bound, and associated your neighbors to you in My love, just as in the communion of My body and blood in the Eucharist. You therefore, thus joined to one another in Me, and as it were kindred, indeed made brothers, love and love one another again as such.

Verse 35: By This All Shall Know That You Are My Disciples

35. BY THIS ALL SHALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. — as if to say: My school is the doctrine and discipline of love; My school is the academy of charity; if therefore you wish to hear and follow Me as teacher, if you wish to be My disciples and to be so regarded and acknowledged by all, love one another. This privilege therefore is granted to charity alone; for not miracles, not talent, not eloquence, not strength, not anything else, but love alone makes us Christ's disciples, says Chrysostom. For He Himself is the master, centurion, king, leader, and prince of love.

Hence love of neighbor is called by St. James, ch. II, v. 8, the royal law, for seven reasons which I have recounted there. Hence also Paul, Romans XIII, 8: "He who loves his neighbor, he says, has fulfilled the law." Such were the first Christians, of whom Luke says, Acts IV, 32: "The multitude of believers had one heart and one soul, and they had all things in common." See there what has been said. Dorotheus gives a fitting example in his sixth teaching: Just as, he says, in a circle, lines drawn from the circumference to the center — the more they approach the center, the more they approach one another; the more, on the other hand, they recede and are distanced from the center, the more they recede from one another: so likewise, the more one approaches the love of God and Christ, the more one approaches the love of neighbor; and as much as one withdraws from the love of God, so much also does one withdraw from the love of neighbor. For God is the center of the world, as also of our heart and love; and our neighbors are as it were lines drawn to the center. In God, therefore, every love of neighbors converges and is united. Hear St. Augustine: "That great commandment about loving God is not passed over: for he who loves his neighbor spiritually, what does he love in him except God? So also he who loves God cannot despise Him who commands him to love his neighbor; thus for those who understand well, each commandment is found in the other." Hence St. Basil, in his Rules at Length, Rule 3, teaches us to satisfy the love of God through love of neighbor: "Indeed," he says, "since He Himself receives that benefit just as if it had been conferred properly on Himself," according to that saying: "What you have done to one of the least of Mine, you have done to Me," Matthew XXV.

Verse 36: Lord, Where Are You Going?

36. SIMON PETER SAID TO HIM: LORD, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? — Peter asks this not in order to know, but in order to follow Christ, whom he loved supremely, says Chrysostom. But Peter presumed more about himself than was fitting, says Cyril; for he thought that he could follow Christ in everything, which he was not yet able to do. Hence Christ, checking him, adds: "You cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."

At Rome there exists a place adorned with a chapel, before the gate of St. Sebastian, in which Christ visibly meeting St. Peter — who at the request of the Christians was fleeing from the Mamertine prison and asking: "Lord, where are You going?" — answered: "I am going to Rome to be crucified again." Whence St. Peter, understanding that Christ was speaking of himself, returned to Rome to the prison, and a little later was crucified by Nero: wherefore that chapel to this day is called, Domine, quo vadis?

JESUS ANSWERED: WHERE I GO, YOU CANNOT FOLLOW ME NOW, — because you have not yet received the Holy Spirit, by whose strength you might overcome death, says Cyril. For it was fitting that Christ should go before and overcome death, as if to say: Now you do not have that firmness of spirit and that strength that you might die for Me: the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and then you will be able, says St. Augustine, Tract 66. Again, Christ had destined Peter to be, after Him, the head of the Apostles, the prince and governor of the Church, and founder of the Roman Pontificate, etc.; these things therefore Peter had to perform first.

BUT YOU SHALL FOLLOW AFTERWARD — Me on the cross, and through the cross to heaven. So Cyril. The love and fervor of Peter at that time deserved this first following of Christ on the same cross.

Verse 37: I Will Lay Down My Life for You

37. PETER SAID TO HIM: WHY CANNOT I FOLLOW YOU NOW? I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE (SOUL) FOR YOU. — Peter says this out of his usual fervor and zeal, but not according to knowledge — ignorant, that is, and indiscreet: for he suspected that Christ was going to death, as He had foretold; wherefore he offers himself as a companion and a faithful Achates in every danger, as if to say: I am ready to undergo every hazard of dangers with You; I offer myself as Your companion in every adversity; I will willingly accept death with You and for You. Peter's pious affection toward Christ is to be praised, although lacking in effect and vain; for he had not yet received from the Holy Spirit the wings of love to fly to so sublime a cross.

Verse 38: The Cock Shall Not Crow Until You Deny Me Three Times

38. JESUS ANSWERED HIM: WILL YOU LAY DOWN YOUR LIFE (SOUL) FOR ME? AMEN, AMEN I SAY TO YOU, THE COCK SHALL NOT CROW UNTIL YOU HAVE DENIED ME THREE TIMES. — Christ humbles Peter, who was overconfident in himself, and allows him to fall into denial of Him, that he may learn to trust not in his own strength but in the grace of Christ. For this reason Christ foretold this to Peter several times: for this prediction in John is different from the others recorded by the other three Evangelists. Further, when and how Peter before the second and last cock-crow denied Christ three times, I have shown on Matthew, ch. XXVI, v. 70 and following. Hear St. Chrysostom, Homily 72: "By experience you shall know that your love is nothing without divine grace: whence it is clear that Jesus permitted this fall for his own benefit." And St. Augustine, Tract 66: "Will you do for Me what I have not yet done for you? You will lay down your life for Me; can you go before, who cannot follow? Why do you presume so greatly? What do you think yourself to be? Hear what you are: The cock shall not crow until you deny Me three times."