Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Christ foretells the persecutions impending over the Apostles, and against them promises them the Holy Spirit, who will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, in order to glorify Christ. Secondly, in verse 16: "A little while," He says, "and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me," and He explains this. Thirdly, in verse 23: "If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you"; and finally: "In the world," He says, "you shall have distress, but take courage: I have overcome the world."
Vulgate Text: John 16:1-33
1. These things I have spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. 2. They will put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour comes that whosoever kills you will think that he does a service to God. 3. And these things they will do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor Me. 4. But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. 5. But I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. And now I go to Him that sent Me; and none of you asks Me: Where are You going? 6. But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go; for if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. 9. Of sin indeed, because they did not believe in Me; 10. and of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you shall see Me no longer; 11. and of judgment, because the prince of this world is already judged. 12. I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13. But when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will teach you all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever things He shall hear, He shall speak, and the things that are to come, He shall announce to you. 14. He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shall announce it to you. 15. All things whatsoever the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said: that He shall receive of Mine, and shall announce it to you. 16. A little while, and now you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me, because I go to the Father. 17. Then some of His disciples said to one another: What is this that He says to us: A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me, and because I go to the Father? 18. They said therefore: What is this that He says, A little while? We do not know what He speaks. 19. And Jesus knew that they wished to ask Him, and He said to them: Of this you inquire among yourselves, because I said: A little while, and you shall not see Me; and again a little while, and you shall see Me. 20. Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she has brought forth the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22. So also you now indeed have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man shall take from you. 23. And in that day you shall not ask Me anything. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24. Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name: Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25. These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will announce to you plainly of the Father. 26. In that day you shall ask in My name; and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father for you; 27. for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28. I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father. 29. His disciples say to Him: Behold, now You speak plainly, and speak no proverb. 30. Now we know that You know all things, and You have no need for anyone to ask You: in this we believe that You came forth from God. 31. Jesus answered them: Do you now believe? 32. Behold, the hour comes, and has already come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress; but take courage, I have overcome the world.
Verse 1: These Things I Have Spoken to You, That You May Not Be Scandalized
1. THESE THINGS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU, THAT YOU MAY NOT BE SCANDALIZED. — The Syriac has, that you may not be offended. First, some think this refers to what Christ said in Matthew XXVI, 31: "All you shall be scandalized in Me this night," which Christ had spoken a little before these words, so that the sense is: I have foretold and forewarned you that you will this night suffer scandal in Me, and when you see Me taken, you will flee; and I did this for this purpose, that this scandal of yours might be less, and the disturbance smaller, while you remember that this was foretold by Me, and so will quickly after your flight gather your courage and return to Me.
Secondly, St. Cyril, book X, ch. 34, Maldonatus, and others refer it to the hatreds and persecutions which Christ a little before foretold were impending over the Apostles, that they might arm themselves against them; for evils that rush in unexpectedly severely shake even strong men, because they are unforeseen, whereas weapons foreseen and provided for strike less deeply. "These things" therefore, says Christ, "I have spoken to you" — having spoken of the world's hatred and persecution against you — "that you may not be scandalized," lest, being offended and broken by them, you fall away from faith in Me and from constancy of mind.
Thirdly, Bede, Euthymius, and others refer it to the Holy Spirit of whom the preceding discourse had just spoken, as if to say: These things I have foretold concerning the Holy Spirit who is to come upon you, so that when you see yourselves harassed by persecutions, you may not be scandalized, but bravely resist them, remembering that the Holy Spirit will bring you help. To this comes close St. Augustine, tract. 93: "Rightly, he says, after promising the Holy Spirit, by whose working in them they would become His witnesses, He added: These things I have spoken to you. For when the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us, there is great peace to those who love the law of God, so that there is no scandal."
Fourthly, best of all, Toletus, Ribera, and others, joining the second and third expositions, explain thus: "These things I have spoken to you," namely what I said concerning the persecution and hatred of the world against you, and also concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit who is to confirm you: "That you may not be scandalized," that is, lest you stumble on the way of eternal life on which you were going, and withdraw from Me, as though I had not foreknown it, or had been unwilling to warn you, or as though what you suffer were intolerable and had befallen you beyond expectation. Therefore Christ removes the scandal, that is, the stumbling-block of the Apostles, both because He forewarns them of imminent danger, and because against it He promises the help of the Holy Spirit. That this is the sense is plain from the following words, especially in the Syriac and Arabic, which add the causal conjunction "for," by which they connect what follows with this verse as a cause to an effect, as if to say: the persecutions will be the cause of the scandal.
Verse 2: They Will Put You Out of the Synagogues; Yea, the Hour Comes That Whosoever Killeth You Will Think He Doth a Service to God
2. THEY WILL PUT YOU OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUES. — The Syriac and Arabic: "for they will cast you out of their synagogues"; Greek, ἀποσυναγώγους ποιήσουσιν ὑμᾶς, that is, strangers to the synagogues, and, to put it literally, they will make you extra-synagogue people, that is, they will expel you from their assemblies and, as it were, excommunicate you. So Vatablus. Synagogue in Greek is properly the same as "congregation" in Latin — a gathering, a collection. Hence the assembly of the faithful people, that is, of the Jews, was called the Synagogue, just as now the assembly of Christians is called the Church. Hence again the place, or oratory, to which the Jews gathered for prayer and for the hearing of the law, was called a Synagogue. For because God had commanded that there should be only one temple in Judaea in which sacrifices were to be offered to Him, which neither could hold all the Jews nor could be approached by all every week; for this reason in every city the Jews built one or several synagogues (whence at Jerusalem, at the time of its destruction by Titus, there were 480 synagogues) to which the inhabitants gathered every Sabbath, not for the sake of sacrifice, but for prayer, and to hear the law expounded by the Scribes. Hence the synagogues seem to have begun in the time of the Judges, a little after the entrance of the Hebrews into the land of Canaan. Hence to be cast out of the synagogue was the same as to be excommunicated, as I said in chapter IX concerning the man born blind. But Christ here promises the Apostles, who were to be excommunicated by the Jews, the Church — nay, the primacy of His Church. Thus St. Augustine.
BUT THE HOUR COMES (the time is at hand), THAT WHOSOEVER KILLS YOU WILL THINK HE IS RENDERING A SERVICE TO GOD. — As if to say: Not only will they cast you out of the synagogues, but they will also kill you, and in killing you they will think they are offering a sacrifice to God. Hence the Syriac, omitting the word "but," renders: "and the hour will come when whoever kills you will think he is offering an oblation to God." But Maldonatus takes "but" for "because." For the Septuagint often renders the Hebrew "ki," that is, "because," by ἀλλά, that is, "but." You may better say that "but" is put for "but also," nay, as it is used in II Corinthians ch. VII, v. 11, when he says: "What carefulness it works in you, but (that is, but also) defense, but indignation," etc.
SERVICE. — In Greek λατρείαν, that is, sacrifice, as the Arabic renders it, or oblation, as the Syriac has it. For latria signifies the service and worship owed to God alone, such as adoration and sacrifice, as if to say: The Jews and the Gentiles will slaughter and immolate you to God as victims for sin, and will sacrifice you to God. For they will think you to be impious men, wicked, subverters of their ancestral religion, enemies of God, and therefore the refuse and off-scouring of the world, as Paul says, I Corinthians IV, 13. Therefore they will think that by killing you they are offering a sacrifice most pleasing to God. Moreover St. Augustine, tract. 93, thinks this is said by Christ for the consolation of the Apostles, as if to say: The Jews will cast you out; but I will gather you together, and you will convert so great a multitude of men to Me, that the Jews, fearing lest their temple and law be forsaken, will kill you, thinking that by this slaughter they render the greatest honor to God, in that they defend His temple and law.
The Martyrs of Lyons under the Emperor Marcus Antonius Verus declare this oracle of Christ to have been fulfilled in themselves, in the encyclical Letter which Eusebius reports, book V, ch. 1; for when their own servants, compelled by the threats of the Gentiles, had testified of their "Thyestean banquets" and "Oedipal incests" — that is, that they devoured human flesh and had promiscuous couplings — all at once began to rage against the Christians and to burn with insatiable hatred. "Then," they say, "we saw fulfilled that word of Christ: The time will come when whoever kills you will think that he offers a service to God."
Note: Christ here speaks of the persecution not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, and especially of the Princes and Roman Emperors who, from Nero to Constantine, for 300 years, most fiercely persecuted the Apostles and all Christians, so that at Rome alone they put to martyrdom more than two hundred thousand Christians. The first cause was that the demon and the priests of the idols persuaded the princes that by Christianity their empire was being overthrown, as if the people were being called away from their faith and obedience to the faith and obedience of Christ, and therefore would despise the earth and earthly princes, because they sought heaven and heavenly things.
The second, that they themselves thought their ancestral and ancient religion — namely the worship of their gods (or more truly, demons) — to be the foundation of their empire; and they saw this being destroyed by the Apostles and Christians.
The third, that the Apostles were introducing a new religion, monstrous to the world, and were teaching that a crucified man — namely Christ — was to be worshiped and adored.
The fourth, because they saw their impious customs — namely luxuries, drunkenness, hatreds, quarrels, pride, envy — being corrected and chastened through the Apostles.
The fifth, because the demon and the priests of the idols persuaded them that the Christian religion was the cause of all evils and public disasters, for example, famine, war, plague, floods, as is clear from Tertullian, Athenagoras, Justin, and others in their Apologies on behalf of the Christians.
Verse 3: And These Things They Will Do to You, Because They Have Not Known the Father, nor Me
3. AND THESE THINGS THEY WILL DO TO YOU, BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE FATHER, NOR ME. — He gives the cause of the persecutions, not to excuse the persecutors by it, but rather to accuse them and to console the Apostles, as if to say: The cause why the Jews and Gentiles will persecute you is, that they do not know — nay, do not wish to know — that I am the Son of God the Father; which nevertheless I have proved to them by so many miracles and arguments, and you will prove it: wherefore this ignorance does not diminish their sin, but rather aggravates it, because it is gross, yes, affected. But to you in your persecutions it shall be a consolation that you know, worship, and love Me and the Father, and suffer for us both; for if it is glorious to die for one's father and country, far more glorious is it to meet death for God. Thus St. Augustine. Chrysostom adds that this is said by Christ so that the Apostles might despise the persecutions of the Jews and Gentiles: As, he says, a prince or a prince's legate, if he enters a city alone, having left his retinue behind, and therefore is not recognized and is treated unworthily, and is mocked by some as a foreigner, makes little of all these things; because a little later, when his retinue arrives, he will make himself known and will put his mockers to shame.
Verse 4: But These Things I Have Told You, That When the Hour Shall Come, You May Remember That I Told You
4. BUT I HAVE SPOKEN THESE THINGS TO YOU, THAT WHEN THE HOUR SHALL COME, YOU MAY REMEMBER (recall) THAT (what) I TOLD YOU. — The word "but" is adversative; but to what opposite? First, Cyril, book X, ch. XIII, supplies the opposite thus, as if to say: "I did not say these things for this cause, that the vigor of your mind might be weakened, and that before the dangers come you might be frightened; but that remembering these things to have been foretold by Me, you might marvel the more, and in the very time of the dangers be made more certain by the outcome of events and more steadfast in faith in Me."
Secondly, Rupertus, supplying nothing, explains more closely thus: "These things," he says, "they will do to you, but do you take comfort. For this is why I now foretell them to you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember them, because I told you; and remembering, you may not forget that also which I promised — that in all tribulations not a hair from your head shall perish, and when enemies kill your bodies, in your patience you shall possess your souls." The former part suits this passage, the latter does not; for Christ bids them remember, not the things He had said long before, but those which He had said a little while earlier.
Thirdly, Toletus connects thus, as if to say: They will kill you because they have not known the Father nor Me; but I foretell what is to come for another reason, namely that you may remember, when that hour shall come, that I foretold all these things to you.
Fourthly and genuinely, Ribera and Maldonatus, as if to say: You will indeed suffer these things, but against them I offer you this antidote, that you remember that I, who am God, was by no means unaware of these things, and could have avoided them if I willed; and that you trust in Me as God, since I as God will be with you and will strengthen you, so that you may bravely overcome all adversities, and then I may adorn and crown you with the laurel of martyrdom.
The word "of them" St. Augustine, Bede, and Rupertus join with "hour"; but better St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius join it with "you may remember."
Verse 5: But I Did Not Tell You These Things From the Beginning, Because I Was With You. And Now I Go to Him That Sent Me
5. BUT THESE THINGS I DID NOT SAY TO YOU FROM THE BEGINNING, BECAUSE I WAS WITH YOU. — This is an occupatio: for Christ meets a silent objection of the Apostles; they might have said: Why from the beginning, when You called us to the Apostolate, did You not tell us this, so that we might consider whether it was expedient to embrace it and follow You, or not? Christ answers that He did this on purpose, because at that time they were not yet capable of it, and because He Himself was with them, directing and protecting them through all things; but now, departing, He was leaving them to themselves, yet in such a way that by His grace He would always strengthen them, and by the Holy Spirit being sent, enlighten and confirm them.
Because I was with you. — As if to say: Hitherto I have not spoken to you of these impending persecutions, because while I was with you, I turned away from you all the hatreds, curses, and evil deeds of the Jews, and received them upon Myself; but now, departing, I know that they themselves will assail you on account of Me: therefore I forewarn you of this, lest unforeseen weapons strike and prostrate you, so that you may arm and fortify yourselves against them; but I Myself will send the Holy Spirit, who will fortify and arm you on every side. Morally: learn here that God at the beginning of a vocation does not reveal to the novices the state to which He calls them, nor the difficulties, temptations, and crosses, lest they be daunted at being called, and flee from that to which they are called; but when they have been established and strengthened in their vocation, He sends these things upon them, or permits them to be sent by the devil, the flesh, and the world, in order to exercise them as His soldiers for battles, and that they may learn to conquer, so that He may crown them as victors. Hence it is said of the Hebrews coming out of Egypt, Exodus XIII, 17: "God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, which is near: reflecting lest perhaps it might repent Him, if he should see wars rise up against him, and he should return into Egypt; but he led them about by the way of the desert." For this cause God preserves novices in religion from temptations and soothes them with spiritual consolations, as a mother gives suck to her infant.
But what are these new things which He is now saying to the Apostles for the first time, and had not said before? For He had already foretold persecutions to them in Matthew X, 17, and Luke XII, 12. First, St. Augustine, tract. 94 (whom Bede and Rupertus customarily follow), to escape this, takes this whole passage of the coming of the Holy Spirit, as if to say: What I have said about the coming of the Paraclete, I did not say earlier because I Myself was with you as a Paraclete — that is, a consoler and exhorter; but now departing to the Father, I say it, and I promise you another Paraclete. This sense partly satisfies, partly does not, because the word "these things" refers not only to the coming of the Holy Spirit, but also to the persecutions foretold.
Secondly, the Gloss refers "these things" to all the preceding words of Christ's consolation, as if to say: These things I have said in consoling you, and not earlier, because while I was with you, I Myself consoled you. This is too broad and general.
Thirdly, Jansenius and Maldonatus think that what Matthew has in chapter X concerning persecutions was not said then, but later, and is inserted there by anticipation on account of the suitability of the place. They prove it: first, because when the Apostles were first sent by Christ to preach through Judaea, they suffered no persecution, and so there was no need at that time to say these things. Secondly, because those things are understood of the persecution of the Gentiles, but at that time they were forbidden to preach to the Gentiles: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles." Thirdly, because almost all the things in that passage of Matthew — from the words "Behold, I send you" — Mark and Luke report as said at another time and in different places: from which they infer that they were said after the resurrection, when they were being sent to the Gentiles, and were placed there on account of the suitability of the subject matter.
Ribera and Toletus attack this answer in many ways, but their arguments are not convincing.
Fifthly, you may say most easily and plainly: Although Christ had already foretold certain things concerning persecutions to the Apostles, yet not all of those things which He here foretells in particular, nor with so great weight and signification of atrocity; for He had not foretold that they would be excommunicated by the Jews, as He says here: "They will put you out of the synagogues"; nor that they would all suffer death and martyrdom — for though it is said in Luke ch. XXI, "and they will put some of you to death," yet this might be understood of a few, not of all; nor the "that whoever kills you will think he is rendering a service to God," nor the "the hour comes," as if to say: Now, now persecutions, scourges, prisons, deaths, and martyrdoms threaten you; for evils long to come frighten less than those which are immediately impending and present. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Toletus, Ribera, and others. Add to these from St. Augustine the remedy of the persecutions, namely the help of the Holy Spirit to be sent upon them, which He had not foretold before.
AND NOW I GO TO HIM WHO SENT ME. — As if to say: Through the cross and death I go to the resurrection, that I may gloriously ascend into heaven and return to the Father, who sent Me into the earth.
AND NONE OF YOU ASKS ME: WHERE ARE YOU GOING? — For although Thomas indeed had asked this very thing in chapter XIV, 5, yet neither he, nor any other, understood Christ's obscure answer sufficiently, nor insisted and urged Christ to explain it and its reason and manner more perfectly to them, because they were all absorbed in the sorrow they had conceived at Christ's departure. So Cyril, Euthymius, Maldonatus, Jansenius, and others.
Therefore Christ tacitly reproves the Apostles because they did not ask further where He was going — that is, to what joys He was proceeding, to what glory, to what kingdom, and what help He would bring them from there, what rewards He would give: for these things, if they had not dispelled their sorrow, would certainly have lessened it.
Verse 6: But Because I Have Spoken These Things to You, Sorrow Hath Filled Your Heart
6. BUT BECAUSE I HAVE SPOKEN THESE THINGS TO YOU, SORROW HAS FILLED YOUR HEART. — Maldonatus again explains "but" by "for," so as to give the cause why the disciples do not ask Jesus where He is going, namely their sorrow, as if to say: You do not ask Me, because you are filled with sorrow. Toletus, however, explains "but" by "rather," so that it is an auxesis (intensification), as if to say: Not only do you not ask Me where I am going, but rather, because you have heard these things — namely My departure — you are overwhelmed with sorrow. You may simply take "but" as the adversative of a question, as if to say: You do not ask Me, but absorbed in sorrow you are silent, like frightened mice. He tacitly reproves them, because they had given themselves over to sorrow and grief at His departure so much, that they had neither tongue nor spirit to ask about that which would have soothed their sorrow and which was the greatest consolation and joy — namely that He was going to the Father, in order to send them the Holy Spirit and to prepare a place for them in heaven.
Verse 7: But I Tell You the Truth: It Is Expedient to You That I Go; for if I Go Not, the Paraclete Will Not Come to You; but if I Go, I Will Send Him to You
7. BUT I TELL YOU THE TRUTH: IT IS EXPEDIENT FOR YOU THAT I GO. — First, St. Chrysostom, homily 77, explains it thus, as if to say: I do not speak to please, but although you are grieved in a greater measure, what is expedient must be heard; you indeed would wish Me to be present, but usefulness demands otherwise: and it belongs to a loving man, when he recognizes what is useful, not to permit that... Similarly Cyril, book X, ch. XXXIX: "I perceive," he says, "that you are moved by grief and sorrow, because I have determined harshly; nor is this without reason, especially since you have heard that great temptations will come upon you; but since usefulness is to be preferred to pleasant things, I will open the truth to you."
But Christ here opposes "truth" not to pleasing, but to sorrow, and refers the truth to the consolation of the Apostles; for He says this to remove their sorrow by a glad announcement of consolation, as if to say: You grieve over My departure as over your greatest evil, your abandonment and desolation; but know that you err, and that in truth it is expedient for you that I go, for My departure to the Father will be most useful to you: for from there I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, who will fill you with all virtue and joy: therefore My departure will result not only in your utility, but also in your delight, as you will feel in reality at Pentecost; whence He adds concerning this:
FOR IF I DO NOT GO, THE PARACLETE (the Holy Spirit, your Consoler and Exhorter) WILL NOT COME TO YOU; BUT IF I GO, I WILL SEND HIM TO YOU, — for the reasons which I reviewed at chapter VII, 39, on those words: "For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." For the disciples, like children with their mother and chicks with the hen, were too attached to human conversation and talks with Christ and to His bodily presence, and were not capable of the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts: therefore Christ departed, so that, as it were weaned from Him and wholly intent upon the Holy Spirit, they might be raised by Him to the heroic works by which they would convert the whole world. Hence the Holy Spirit, coming at Pentecost, made them masters instead of disciples, and created them doctors of the world. See St. Augustine, tract. 94, and St. Gregory, book VIII of the Morals, ch. XXXIII.
Moreover, the Holy Spirit is here aptly called by Christ the Paraclete, to signify that He will in the highest degree console the disciples grieving over His departure, and fill them with all joy. Hence St. Chrysostom, hom. 77 Against Macedonius, proves that the Holy Spirit is truly God: for if the Holy Spirit were not Creator but a creature, how would it be expedient, for the sake of His coming, for Christ — who was Creator and God — to depart from the Apostles? Again, lest the Holy Spirit be thought to be the same as the Son, Christ adds: "I will send Him to you," for the sender is distinguished really and personally from the one sent. Finally, the word "I will send" signifies that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son as well as from the Father. For in the Holy Trinity, whatever Person sends another, produces that same Person — that is, begets or spirates; just as the Father, sending the Son, begets Him; likewise, together with the Son, sending the Holy Spirit, spirates Him.
Verse 8: And When He Is Come, He Will Convince the World of Sin, and of Justice, and of Judgment
8. AND WHEN HE HAS COME, HE WILL CONVICT THE WORLD OF SIN, AND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND OF JUDGMENT. — By "the world" He means the Jews as well as the worldly Gentiles, not believing in Christ, and infidels. These the Holy Spirit will "convict," that is, first, He will rebuke, reproach, refute; secondly, He will convince by His arguments, so that it is openly plain that they have been convicted: though they themselves, obstinate in their unbelief, are unwilling to confess themselves convicted of it, nor willing to believe in Christ, as heretics do, stubborn in their heresy.
Verse 9: Of Sin Indeed, Because They Believed Not in Me
9. OF SIN INDEED, BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT BELIEVED IN ME. — So the Roman and Arabic, although the Syriac and the Greek read in the present, πιστεύουσιν, that is, "they believe." The sense is, as if to say: The Holy Spirit, whom I will send at Pentecost, will convict and convince both the Jews and the Gentile unbelievers, My enemies, of sin — both of great unbelief (says St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine), and of every other sin (says Cyril) — because, although they had heard so many arguments and seen so many miracles, yet they were unwilling to believe in Me. As if to say: The Spirit will demonstrate to them, both outwardly through ardent preaching, sanctity, and miracles which He will work through the Apostles, and inwardly, enlightening their minds by interior inspirations, the state of their own soul, so that they themselves may know, and though unwilling, may acknowledge that they are in their old unbelief and in the sins of other crimes, and remain in them, because they cannot be freed from them except through faith in Me, which they would not receive. For He will show them that there is no other Savior who can expiate sins except Me: "For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved," says St. Peter, Acts IV, 12. Wherefore, stirred by this preaching of Peter and the Apostles, many believed in Christ, while others, persisting in their unbelief, being made inexcusable, made themselves guilty of damnation and of hell.
Whence in Acts II it is said: "On hearing these things, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles: What shall we do, men and brethren?" So Cyril, Leontius, and others.
Verse 10: And of Justice, Because I Go to the Father, and You Shall See Me No Longer
10. AND OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER, AND YOU SHALL NO LONGER SEE ME. — As if to say: The Holy Spirit will convict and convince the world's righteousness of being false: that of the Jews indeed, because they sought it in the ceremonies of the law and bodily washings, which cannot cleanse the soul; and that of the Gentiles, because they sought righteousness in moral integrity, or in works naturally and morally upright; but Christ, despised on that account by both and esteemed as unrighteous, He will convince and show to be the only righteous one, the fount and parent of all righteousness. So Cyril, book VI.
Tropologically, St. Bernardine, in the Parvis, sermon 21: "The Holy Spirit," he says, "convicts the world of sin, which it dissembles; of righteousness, which it does not rightly order, while it gives it to itself, not to God; of judgment, which it usurps, while it rashly judges both of itself and of others."
Because I go to the Father, — as if to say: To the world and to worldly men it is a scandal, and from this they argue that I am unrighteous and an impostor, because, although I seem to be a common and mere man, not divine, I yet teach new and paradoxical things; but presently the contrary will be plain to them — that I was sent by God the Father into the earth, that by My death on the cross I might reconcile the world to God the Father and raise it to the right of sons: namely, because ascending into heaven I shall return to Him, so that the world may no longer see Me, nor be scandalized by the sight of My weak flesh; and from there I will send the Holy Spirit, who will justify and sanctify the faithful who believe in Me: whence it will become clear to the whole world that I am not a mere man, but the Man-God, the justifier and Savior of the world. So Leontius, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius. Chrysostom adds that the Holy Spirit, at the invocation of the name of Jesus, distributed His gifts and graces among the faithful.
AND YOU SHALL NO LONGER SEE ME. — He speaks not of persons, but of the kind, as if to say: Men such as you are will not see Me. But He said "you shall not see Me" rather than "they shall not see Me," because the Apostles, not the world, were to behold Him ascending into heaven, as if to say: You will indeed see Me ascending to the Father, but further in this life you will not see Me.
So Maldonatus, Ribera, and others. Toletus adds that Christ says this to signify that there is no need for Him to come again into the world to suffer and die; for by a single death He consummated righteousness for all past, present, and future things. "I go," He says, "to My Father and yours, and you shall not see Me again in this age as you have seen Me hitherto, as though there were need to die and suffer again." For He has now consummated all righteousness; therefore the world is to be convicted and convinced of righteousness immediately after this My departure: namely, that it has now been perfected and consummated by Me. St. Augustine adds: "The world," he says, "is convicted of sin, because it does not believe in Christ; but of the righteousness of those who believe: for the comparison of the faithful is the reproof of the unfaithful; and because the voice of the unbelievers used to be: How shall we believe what we do not see? therefore He defined the righteousness of believers thus: Because I go to the Father, and you shall no longer see Me; blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. Your righteousness therefore, of which the world is convicted, will be this, that you believe in Me whom you do not see." The same St. Augustine, On the Words of the Lord, sermon 61: "They," he says, "did not believe; He Himself goes to the Father; theirs therefore is the sin, His the righteousness: for what comes to us is mercy; but the righteousness is that He goes to the Father, according to that word of the Apostle: Wherefore God also has exalted Him." The same, Questions on the New and Old Testament, Quest. LXXXIX: "By the fact that He has returned, He has proved that He came from there." And Chrysostom: "To go to the Father was a proof that He had lived an irreproachable life, lest they could say: He is a sinner, and is not of God."
Verse 11: And of Judgment, Because the Prince of This World Is Already Judged
11. AND OF JUDGMENT, BECAUSE THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD IS ALREADY JUDGED. — First, St. Chrysostom and Euthymius expound, as if to say: The Holy Spirit will convict and convince the world's judgment of being false, by which it judges that I work miracles — that is, do wondrous things in appearance — through the help and deceptions of the demon; for He will show that the demon has been judged by Me, cast out, and condemned.
Secondly, Theophylact, as if to say: The Holy Spirit will condemn the world for cowardice, because the world itself was unwilling to prostrate, trample, and conquer Satan, who had been wounded and weakened by Christ.
Thirdly, Cyril, as if to say: The Holy Spirit will refute the world as seduced, because it has and places its hope in the demon whom I have condemned, or because, leaving God aside, it has worshiped the devil in creatures and idols.
Fourthly, Toletus and others, as if to say: The Holy Spirit will show the world that I am the just judge of the living and the dead, while He will cause the world to see its prince, that is, the devil, judged by Me, that is, condemned and expelled: for if I judge and condemn the demons, much more do I judge men.
Fifthly, and most aptly, as if to say: The Spirit will cause that the world may know that the prince of this world has been judged by Me, and so it may also know that I am the just Judge.
Verse 12: I Have Yet Many Things to Say to You, but You Cannot Bear Them Now
12. I HAVE YET MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU, BUT YOU CANNOT BEAR THEM NOW. — Christ stirs up the Apostles, that they may lift up their spirits and conceive a desire to come to know such great mysteries through the coming of the Holy Spirit. From this learn that the Apostles and the Church advanced and grew gradually in the knowledge of the mysteries of the faith, just as the light of the sun grows by degrees from dawn to noon. Hence the Church "goes forth as the rising dawn," Canticles VI, 9. So too every faithful soul advances gradually in faith and holiness, according to Proverbs IV, 18: "The path of the just, as a shining light, goes forward and grows unto the perfect day." See what is said there.
Verse 13: But When He, the Spirit of Truth, Is Come, He Will Teach You All Truth
13. BUT WHEN HE (the Paraclete) THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (for the reasons I reviewed in chapter XIV, verse 17), SHALL COME, HE WILL TEACH YOU ALL TRUTH, — namely that which it is fitting for you to know in this life, both for yourselves and that you may direct all the Gentiles into the way of salvation. So Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius. For otherwise He was not going to teach them absolutely all truth in this life, but in heaven. So St. Augustine and Bede. For "shall teach" the Greek has ὁδηγήσει, that is, He shall lead by the straight road to the truth as a guide of the way; the Syriac, He shall lead you into all truth. For the way of truth is study, the searching of Sacred Scripture, the books of the Fathers, prayer and invocation of the Holy Spirit; for by these roads, as it were, one arrives at the truth. Hence again it is clear that the Holy Spirit gradually taught the Apostles more and greater mysteries, so that the Apostles advanced step by step in the knowledge of them. For that He did not teach them all things at Pentecost is clear from Acts X, where long after Pentecost He revealed to St. Peter that the Gospel was to be preached not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, and especially to Cornelius the Centurion; and Acts XV, that the Gentiles were not to be circumcised nor bound to keep the law of Moses. Wherefore the Church on the Wednesday of Pentecost prays thus: "May the Paraclete who proceeds from Thee, we beseech Thee, O Lord, enlighten our minds and lead us into all truth, as Thy Son promised."
FOR HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF (Syriac: from the thought of His own self), BUT WHATSOEVER HE SHALL HEAR, HE SHALL SPEAK. — First, St. Chrysostom expounds this thus: the Holy Spirit will not speak things contrary to what I have spoken and taught, but conformable to them; for what He hears from Me, He shall speak. So also Cyril, Theophylact, Rupert and Maldonatus. Chrysostom adds, Homily 77, that this is added lest anyone, from the fact that He said the Holy Spirit would teach all truth, should imagine Him to be greater than the Son, who did not teach all truth.
Secondly, St. Ambrose, Book II De Spiritu Sancto, chapter XII: "He will not speak of Himself," that is, he says, not without the communion of the Father and Mine, as if to say: He will speak only what He hears; wherefore what He Himself shall speak, the Father and the Son will also speak.
Thirdly, St. Augustine: The Holy Spirit does not speak of Himself, that is, he says, not from Himself, but is breathed forth from the Father and the Son.
Fourthly, you may best expound this by joining the second and third senses, as if to say: The Holy Spirit "will not speak of Himself," that is, not without My and the Father's will, because He is not from Himself, but from the Father and from Me; and what He subsists and speaks, He has from the Father and from Me, says Didymus, Book De Spiritu Sancto. Therefore the phrase "He will not speak of Himself" Christ explains by an antithesis, saying: "But what He shall hear, He shall speak." He alludes to men, who are said to speak of themselves when they make up and fabricate something: for such speak not from the thing and the truth of the thing, but from the fiction of their own brain. Therefore "to speak of Himself" is to make up, to deceive, to lie — which the Holy Spirit cannot do. Again, Christ wished to teach that the origin of truth, as of the Holy Spirit, is both the Father and Himself; wherefore the Holy Spirit would teach the same truth which He Himself had taught: because "what He shall hear," that is, what He has heard from eternity, hears and shall hear forever, or rather what He draws with the divine essence from both the Father and the Son — this He shall speak. In a similar way, above, Christ often said that He did not speak of Himself, but what He had heard from the Father; for to the Father belongs the authority of origin, of essence as of knowledge. Hear St. Augustine, tract. 99: "For Him, to hear is to know, and to know is to be. From Him from whom He proceeds, He has essence, knowledge, and hearing. The Holy Spirit always hears, because He always knows." And Didymus: "For the Father to speak and the Son to hear is a signification of the same nature and consent in the Father and the Son. But the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and wisdom, cannot, when the Son speaks, hear what He does not know, since He Himself is that which is brought forth by the Son, that is, truth proceeding from truth, comforter from comforter, God from God."
Again St. Augustine, tract. 99: "Let it not disturb you, he says, that the verb is put in the future tense: for that hearing is eternal, because knowledge is eternal. But in what is eternal, without beginning and end, a verb of any tense is put, and we do not lie when we say Was, and Is, and Shall be; was, because He never was lacking; shall be, because He shall never be wanting; is, because He always is."
AND THE THINGS THAT ARE TO COME, HE SHALL SHOW YOU. — As if to say: The Holy Spirit will teach you all the truth that concerns you and your office, not only past and present, but also future; and thus He will make you not only Apostles and Evangelists, but also Prophets, by putting into you the gift of prophecy. That the Apostles had this is clear from Acts XI, 28, and XX, 29, and XXI, 11. Indeed, the Apocalypse of St. John is almost one continuous prophecy. For it was fitting that the Apostles should be not inferior to the prophets of old, but superior. Whence Didymus, Book De Spiritu Sancto: Through the Spirit of truth, he says, certain knowledge of things to come is granted to the Saints; whence also the Prophets beheld future things as if they were present. For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, who knows and reveals all truths, even future ones. For He is the Spirit of eternal wisdom, which makes friends of God and prophets, Wisdom VII, 27.
St. Chrysostom gives the reason: By this, he says, He stirred up the minds of the Apostles; for the human race is greedy for nothing so much as for knowing the future. Therefore He freed them from this anxiety, showing that things to come would be revealed to them, lest by being unwary they should err.
Anagogically, Bede: "He shall announce things to come," that is, He shall bring back to memory the joys of the heavenly fatherland; He shall also announce the evils that are to come upon you for the confession of Christ. And the Interlinear Gloss: Not only, it says, does He announce the things that are to come in time, but rather eternal things, with the love of which He inflames.
Verse 14: He Shall Glorify Me, Because He Shall Receive of Mine, and Shall Show It to You
14. HE SHALL GLORIFY ME, — that is, shall make Me glorious, by showing Me to be the Son of God, the Messiah, the Teacher and Saviour of the world. Hear St. Augustine: "He shall glorify Me: by diffusing charity in their hearts, and making them spiritual, He declared to them that the Son was equal to the Father, whom previously they had known only according to the flesh. Likewise, by that same charity the Apostles, filled with confidence and with their fear driven out, announced Christ to men, and thus His fame was spread throughout the whole world: for what they were going to do in the Holy Spirit, this He said the same Spirit would do."
BECAUSE HE SHALL RECEIVE OF MINE (Arabic: of that which is Mine), — namely, from Me My divine essence, says Nazianzen, Oration De Fide, and consequently My will and knowledge: for this is what He must announce to you, says Cyril, Chrysostom, Jansenius, Toletus and others. Hear Didymus: "The Son, in giving, is not deprived of what He gives, nor does He impart to others to His own loss, nor does the Holy Spirit receive what He did not have before; thus the Holy Spirit is to be understood as receiving from the Son, so that the substance of the giver and the receiver may be known to be one: so also the Son receives from the Father those things in which He subsists."
Maldonatus takes it otherwise, as if to say: "He shall receive of Mine," that is, He shall come in My name, and shall expound to you no other than My doctrine, as though My legate. But this seems foreign to the meaning. Nonnus wrongly translates: "He shall receive from My Father," as though the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father alone, not from the Son. For Christ does not say: He shall glorify the Father, because He shall receive from the Father, but: "He shall glorify Me, because He shall receive of Mine."
From this passage the Fathers, and indeed the Council of Florence, session 25, prove the divinity of Christ and the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son as well as from the Father. Maldonatus cites them at length here at the end of this verse, and Bellarmine, Book II De Christo, chapters XXIV and XXV. Whence Theodorus Heracleotes learnedly, in the Greek Catena, on this passage: "The Holy Spirit," he says, "was the witness of the divinity of the Only-Begotten, since He was of His essence and declared His essence;" nor for the Holy Spirit cannot be breathed forth except by Him who is God.
You will say: Why then did Christ not say, "He shall receive Me," but "of Mine"? I answer: because the Holy Spirit does not receive from the Son the whole of what is in the Son; for He does not receive the sonship, but the essence, from which, together with the sonship, the Son is constituted according to our way of conceiving. And thus Christ explains it in the next verse, saying: "All things whatsoever the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said: Because He shall receive of Mine." Whence it is clear that "of Mine" is the same as "all things whatsoever the Father has are Mine"; namely, the Godhead itself with all its attributes. Hence Theophylact expounds: "Of Mine," that is, "of the treasury of the divinity which is in Me, He shall receive." Wrongly, therefore, did the heretics, from "of Mine," contend that the Holy Spirit is God not by nature but by participation, as St. Augustine reports, tract. 100, and Cyril, Book XIII Thesauri, chapter IV; for He participates in the divine nature itself, which has no parts, but is wholly indivisible and most simple.
HE SHALL RECEIVE, — that is, He received from eternity, receives and shall receive always. For the future tense embraces all time, and better suits eternity, because eternity endures forever, just as the spiration of the Holy Spirit endures always. The meaning of this whole passage is, as if to say: Do not be sad that by My departure you will be deprived of your teacher; for I will send the Holy Spirit, who, since He is pure Divine Spirit, shall teach you all things that pertain to salvation and the spirit: and when He teaches, I teach you, because He receives all from Me, from whom He proceeds; He shall show you My brightness and glory, because He shall receive from Me all that He shall say to you, and so through Him I shall speak to you and show Myself to you; nor should you wonder that I have said of the Holy Spirit, "He shall receive of Mine"; for I through eternal generation have received from the Father all that He Himself has; and therefore I received from Him that I am one with Him the principle of the Holy Spirit. So Ribera.
Verse 15: All Things Whatsoever the Father Hath Are Mine. Therefore I Said, That He Shall Receive of Mine, and Show It to You
15. ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER THE FATHER HAS ARE MINE (Arabic: All things that are the Father's are Mine; Nonnus: All things My Father has are My lot). He proves that the Holy Spirit receives essence and knowledge from Him, from the fact that all things which the Father has are His; for all things that are the Father's, except paternity, says the Council of Florence, the Father communicated to the Son by generating Him; therefore also the power of breathing forth the Holy Spirit, which the Father has, He communicated to the Son. Whence, explaining this, He adds:
THEREFORE I SAID THAT HE SHALL RECEIVE OF MINE, AND SHALL SHOW IT TO YOU. — As if to say: I said, "He shall receive of Mine," because He shall receive all things which the Father has and which He has communicated to Me; for all things that are the Father's are also Mine, and I communicate the same things to the Holy Spirit by breathing Him forth, namely My Deity, omniscience, omnipotence, etc. So Didymus: "By the name of the Father," he says, "He declared Himself to be the Son, not usurping paternity (as Sabellius wished): what the Father has according to substance, that is, eternity, immutability, goodness, these same things the Son also has." And St. Hilary, Book VIII De Trinitate: "He teaches," he says, "that these things are to be received from the Father, yet are received from Himself, because all things that are the Father's are His; the totality does not have diversity." Hence again it is gathered that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, because all things that the Father has, the Son has, except paternity; but the Father has the power and action of breathing forth the Holy Spirit, therefore the Son also has the same. It is confirmed: because if the Father and the Son did not have all things in common, except the opposed relation, they would be distinguished by more than a relation, and thus would be distinguished in substance: for the Father as breather-forth is not relative to the Son; therefore if as breather-forth He is distinguished from the Son, He is distinguished by spiration, not as it is a relation, but as it is a certain form subsisting in the Father: accordingly the Father and the Son would differ in substance, which is the Arian heresy.
Verse 16: A Little While, and Now You Shall Not See Me; and Again a Little While, and You Shall See Me, Because I Go to the Father
16. A LITTLE WHILE, AND NOW YOU SHALL NOT SEE ME; AND AGAIN A LITTLE WHILE, AND YOU SHALL SEE ME: BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER. — Syriac: For a little while, and you shall not see Me; and again for a little while, and you shall see Me, since I go to the Father; as if to say: In a little time (after a few hours) I am to be seized by the Jews, to suffer, and to die on the cross, and soon to be buried, and then in sorrow "you shall not see Me"; but after another little while, "you shall see Me" again. For after three days I shall rise from the dead, and shall present Myself to be seen by you with great joy: because a little later I am to go to the Father, and to ascend into heaven, and to be glorified by sitting at His right hand; for I cannot be held by death, but shall soon conquer it in Myself and shall bring it about that you also conquer and overcome the same. So Chrysostom, Homily 78; Cyril; Leontius, Theophylact, Euthymius, Ribera, Toletus, Jansenius. For Christ consoles the Apostles, grieved at His departure, by the brevity of His absence, because it was going to be brief and short, and was soon to be compensated by great joy and heaped up with immense glory.
Otherwise St. Augustine, Bede and Maldonatus, as if to say: For a short and little time I shall remain with you on earth, namely for 40 days until My ascension into heaven, after which you shall see Me no more; but after another little while of this age, you shall see Me again, namely on the day of judgment and the common resurrection of all, when I shall take you up with Me in body and soul into heaven, and shall beatify and glorify you; "for I go to the Father," that I may obtain the glory which I merited by My passion, sitting at His right hand, and there reign gloriously with Him until the day of judgment, when I shall return to transfer you to My kingdom; because the time of this age, although it be of many thousands of years, if compared with the eternity of God, is little and slight as a point. Hear St. Augustine, tract. 101: "This whole span which the present age flies through is little. Whence the same Evangelist says, I Epistle, chapter II: It is the last hour." And after some things: "This little while seems long to us, because it is still going on; when it is finished, then we shall feel how little it was; therefore let not our joy be such as the world has, of which it was said: But the world shall rejoice; nor however, in the travail of this desire, let us be sad without joy, but as the Apostle says, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation: for even the woman in travail, to whom we have been compared, rejoices more over the offspring soon to come than she is sad over her present labor." Hence the Psalmist, and from him St. Peter, Epistle II, chapter III, verse 8: "One day with the Lord," he says, "is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." See what is said there.
Verse 17: Then Some of His Disciples Said One to Another, What Is This That He Saith to Us, A Little While
17. THEN SOME OF HIS DISCIPLES SAID ONE TO ANOTHER: WHAT IS THIS THAT HE SAITH TO US: A LITTLE WHILE, AND YOU SHALL NOT SEE ME; AND AGAIN A LITTLE WHILE, AND YOU SHALL SEE ME, AND BECAUSE I GO TO THE FATHER? 18. THEY SAID THEREFORE: WHAT IS THIS THAT HE SAITH, A LITTLE WHILE? WE KNOW NOT WHAT HE SPEAKETH. — This saying of Christ seemed to the Apostles obscure, indeed an enigma: nor is it any wonder, since even now it seems so to many Christians. Christ did this deliberately, that by the novelty of this sharp and involved phrase He might lift up their sorrowful minds and impel them to ask for its explanation; and then, answering it Himself, He might drive away or at least soothe their sorrow. St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius give a twofold reason: first, that the saying was really obscure in itself; second, that the Apostles were weighed down and as it were oppressed with sorrow. Rupert gives a third, that the Apostles did not yet grasp the mystery of the resurrection, nor firmly believe that Christ would rise from the dead on the third day. A fourth is given by St. Augustine and Bede, that the "little while" repeated and inverted by Christ confused them. For the little pleasure of this life in the other is turned into eternal and immeasurable joy, as St. Francis used to say: "For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works beyond measure in sublimity an eternal weight of glory in us," II Corinthians IV, 17. Choose.
post: "I wish you would say: We cannot live without pleasure — we who must die with pleasure! For what other wish is ours than that of the Apostles, to depart from the world and be received with the Lord? This is pleasure, where there is also our wish." Then he assigns these as the joys of this life for the faithful: "What greater pleasure is there than loathing of pleasure itself, than contempt of the whole world, than true liberty, than an unstained conscience, than a sufficient life, than no fear of death; that you trample on the gods of the nations, that you cast out demons, that you perform cures, that you seek revelations, that you live for God! These are the pleasures, these the spectacles of Christians — holy, perpetual, free of charge, etc. To rise at the sign of God, to be lifted up at the angel's trumpet, to glory in the palms of martyrdom. Behold impurity cast down by chastity, perfidy smitten by faith, cruelty crushed by mercy, insolence overshadowed by modesty, and such are the contests among us, in which we ourselves are crowned." And soon after: "What exultation of the angels, what glory of the rising Saints shall there be! What a kingdom thereafter of the just! What a new city of Jerusalem!"
Isaiah, foreseeing this same thing 700 years before, graphically describes it, chapter LXV, verse 14: "Behold, My servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, and you shall thirst; behold, My servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded; behold, My servants shall praise for exultation of heart, and you shall cry out for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for contrition of spirit." See what is said there.
Hence St. Cecilia, always carrying the Gospel of Christ in her bosom and preaching it, converted Tiburtius and many others to Christ, to whom above all she inculcated this: "Do not, O children of men, seek the fleeting joy of this life, that you may possess the eternal joy of that life which follows this one. For in this life you live but a short time; in that, however, for all eternity." And when Almachius the prefect asserted that she and her companions were foolish, because, despising the joys of this world, they had embraced the austere and mournful life of Christians, St. Valerian, St. Cecilia's bridegroom, replied: "The time will come when we shall receive a thousandfold the fruits of our affliction, and those who now exult in pleasures shall weep while we rejoice; for now is the time of sowing. Those therefore who in this life sow, for a time, their tears, in that blessed and eternal life shall reap everlasting joy."
Finally St. Cyprian, in his treatise On Mortality, from this saying of Christ, proves that in pestilence and death a Christian should not be sorrowful, but rejoice, because through them he comes to the vision of Christ and the highest joy. Hear him: "Since therefore to see Christ is to rejoice, and our joy cannot be except when we see Christ, what blindness of soul, what madness is it, to love the distresses and punishments and tears of the world, and not rather to hasten to the joy which can never be taken away!"
Verse 21: A Woman, When She Is in Labor, Hath Sorrow
21. A WOMAN, WHEN SHE IS IN LABOR, HATH SORROW, BECAUSE HER HOUR IS COME (to give birth with great labor and pain): BUT WHEN SHE HATH BROUGHT FORTH THE CHILD, SHE REMEMBERETH NO MORE THE ANGUISH, FOR JOY THAT A MAN IS BORN INTO THE WORLD. — Syriac: A woman, when she is in labor, is afflicted with pain, because the day of her bringing forth is come; but when she has brought forth a son, she remembers not the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world; because, namely, the mother sees the little infant whom she has brought forth, whom she hopes will be her help and honor in life, and in death will leave behind her as her successor and survivor in the world, that through him her stock and family may be propagated. For since men desire always to be and to live, and cannot obtain this in themselves, being subject to the laws of death; hence they rejoice to bring forth children, that they may endure in them and as it were obtain a kind of eternity. So a queen rejoices when she has brought forth her firstborn, because she reckons that she has given birth to a king.
This parable of Christ is fitly applied, for it compares the time of His passion and death to the travail of childbirth, and His resurrection to the joy after the birth. For Christ in His passion was tormented with pains and anguish, like a woman in labor; but when the labor was accomplished, when He saw Himself rising by the merit of His death, and knew that we too would likewise rise, He rejoiced marvelously, and filled the Apostles and all the faithful with great joy. For He brought these forth, as it were, as His own little infants, dying for them on the cross. So St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius. In a similar way, according to the sense of St. Augustine and Bede given a little before, you may apply the same to the persecutions and sorrows of the Apostles and faithful in this life, and to their joy and exultation in the common resurrection of all; about which more soon.
THE CHILD, — because, as St. Augustine says, greater joy is wont to be when not a girl but a boy (male) is born, so that mystically it may signify that the faithful ought to be of masculine and manly spirit, for doing and suffering brave deeds; for they are called to the contemplation of heavenly things, indeed to the storming of heaven; not to the softness of this world, says the Interlinear Gloss. Moreover, the child here is at once called a "man," when it is said: "A man is born into the world"; to signify the resurrection of Christ; for through the resurrection Christ is as it were born anew, not a child, but a man and a perfect man. So Chrysostom: He did not say "child," he says, but "man," secretly hinting at His own resurrection, as well as our blessedness after death; for then shall we be born into eternal life, says Alcuin. Whence Bede: "It ought not," he says, "to seem strange if one who has departed from this life is said to be born; for as one proceeding from the mother's womb enters into this light, so, released from the bonds of the flesh, he is raised up to eternal light. Whence the solemnities of the Saints are called not funereal but natal."
Moreover, the sorrow of the disciples is rightly compared to the sorrow of a woman in labor: First, because each was most bitter, and is more bitter in the birth of a male than of a female, says Augustine, tract. 101. Secondly, because each is brief. So Chrysostom, sermon 78. Thirdly, each is dangerous. Fourthly, each is turned into joy — that of the child's birth, and this of Christ's resurrection and the disciples'. So Cyril. Fifthly, as the same child born is the cause of pain while being brought forth, and of joy when born; so the same Christ by His death created great sorrow for the disciples, but by His resurrection great joy. Sixthly, the joy of each is marvelous and supreme, absorbing all preceding sorrow.
Verse 22: So Also You Now Indeed Have Sorrow
22. SO ALSO YOU NOW INDEED HAVE SORROW: BUT I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN, AND YOUR HEART SHALL REJOICE; AND YOUR JOY NO MAN SHALL TAKE FROM YOU. — This is an after-parable, or application of the parable, signifying its aim and fruit. And "so," that is, thus, likewise, in a similar way. For He connects similar things, namely the woman in labor with the suffering Christ and the Apostles, as if to say: As a woman in labor is tormented and groans, but rejoices when her offspring is brought forth; so you also shall be sorrowful at My imminent passion and death, but on the third day, rising again and as it were born anew from the tomb, I will see you, and then your heart shall wonderfully rejoice, and your joy no man shall take away, but shall remain with you perpetually, because I shall rise immortal and glorious, and shall no longer be able to die, but shall always live a blessed life, that I may be with you and help you in every persecution and affliction, and shall make you superior to all adversities, and finally crown you with glorious martyrdom, and so lead you over to the heavenly joys which no one shall take from you, because they shall be eternal. Therefore Christ speaks first of the joy of the Apostles on account of His resurrection; but secondarily, on account of their own resurrection, happiness, and glory, as I have already said. For the labor and sorrow of this life bring this forth, as a woman in childbirth brings forth her offspring.
Excellently St. Cyprian to Demetrian: "He feels the punishment of the adversities of the world," he says, "whose joy and glory are entirely in the world. He mourns and weeps if things go ill for him in the age, who cannot fare well after the age, whose entire fruit of living is grasped here, whose every consolation here comes to an end, whose fleeting and brief life here reckons some sweetness and pleasure; when they depart hence, now punishment alone remains for sorrow. But for those to whom there is confidence of future goods, there is no sorrow at the onset of present evils. Finally, we are not dismayed by adversities, nor broken, nor grieved, nor do we murmur in any calamity of affairs or sickness of bodies; living more by spirit than by flesh, we overcome the weakness of the body by firmness of soul." And further below, after several intervening remarks: "The strength of hope and the firmness of faith flourish among us, and amid the very ruins of the falling age our mind is upright, and our virtue immovable, and our patience never other than joyful, and our soul always secure concerning its God."
YOU HAVE SORROW. — You are sorrowful at My departure to death; then after My death you shall be sorrowful at the persecutions and crosses pressing upon you. So also shall the rest of the faithful be sorrowful, who through tears and sufferings strive toward the eternal joys, says Alcuin. Moreover, as St. Augustine observes, in these sufferings "we are not sad without joy, but, as the Apostle says, rejoicing in hope; for even the woman in travail, to whom we have been compared, rejoices more over the offspring soon to come than she is sad over her present pain."
Tropologically: The mind of a repentant sinner, and likewise the mind of the just man when he meditates on martyrdom, on entering religious life, or some other arduous and heroic work, is like a woman in labor, because with great labor and pain she strives for and brings forth the offspring of her conversion, martyrdom, religious life, etc. Read also St. Augustine, in the Confessions, Book VIII, chapter XII, where he tells with what struggle he brought forth the resolve of a new life. This is what Isaiah says, chapter XXVI: "As a woman with child, when she draws near to her delivery, cries out sorrowing in her pains; so have we been in Thy presence, O Lord: we have conceived, and been as it were in labor, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation." But this travail brings forth immense joy. But the wicked likewise bring forth their crimes with immense labor and pain; but this is turned into the eternal torment of Gehenna, according to that of Isaiah LIX: "They have conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity." And Psalm VII: "Behold he hath been in labor with injustice: he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity." Of these it is said, Wisdom V: "We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity, we have walked difficult ways," and the rest.
Again, the preacher, the confessor, and whoever else strives to gain souls for God does so with great travail. Whence St. Gregory, Book XXX of the Moralia, chapter IX, compares such a one to a hind in labor, which gives birth with the greatest difficulty and therefore roars for pain. For, explaining that saying of Job XXXIX, 1: "Hast thou observed the hinds when they are in travail? Few understand," he says, "what labor there is in the preachings of the Fathers; with what pains, as with certain struggles, they bring forth souls in faith and conversation, with what cautious observation they look around themselves, that they may be strong in commandments, compassionate in infirmities, terrible in threats, gentle in exhortations, humble in showing their authority, ruling in the contempt of temporal things, rigid in bearing adversities; and yet, while they do not attribute their strength to themselves, weak; how great sorrow they have over those who fall, how great fear over those who stand; with what fervor they seek to attain other things, with what dread they preserve what they have attained."
AND NO MAN SHALL TAKE YOUR JOY FROM YOU, — because their joy is Christ, who now dies no more, says the Interlinear Gloss. Again, this shall be more truly so in heaven. Whence St. Augustine: "Nor indeed does any end suffice for us," he says, "except that which has no end."
Verse 23: And in That Day You Shall Not Ask Me Anything
23. AND IN THAT DAY YOU SHALL NOT ASK ME ANYTHING.
First therefore, Cyril takes it in the former sense and refers it to the day of the Resurrection and of Pentecost, as if He said: When I have risen and have sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, there will be no need to ask Me anything, because partly I in rising, partly the Holy Spirit in coming will teach you everything that pertains to your office and apostolate. For the disciples in their ignorance had asked Christ many things, such as, "Lord, where are You going? How can we know the way? Show us the Father. Why do You manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?" as is clear in chapter 14, verses 5, 8, and 22; and here in verse 17, not understanding the "little while," they wished to ask Him: Christ therefore fittingly answered them that in a short time, through the Holy Spirit, He would so enlighten them that, being as it were theodidaktoi (taught by God), they would have no need to ask any further about those things which before the coming of the Holy Spirit they used to inquire about, as they asked Him shortly before: "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1). So also Euthymius.
Secondly, St. Chrysostom, homily 78; Theophylact, Ribera, and others explain "you will ask" as "you will petition, you will pray, you will request," as if He said: On that day when I return to you through the Resurrection, you will not need to ask Me nor pray to Me in your necessities, but it will be enough for you to invoke My name before the Father, so that even in My absence you may obtain all things from Him. This interpretation is favored by what follows: "Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you."
Thirdly, St. Augustine, tract 101, joins both senses already given and refers the passage to the day of heavenly glory: for then there will be no need to ask or beseech anything, since through glory all things will be supplied in abundance. Hear St. Augustine: "But after He rose, we read that He was asked by the disciples when He would restore the kingdom to Israel; He was also asked by Stephen, when He was in heaven, to receive his spirit; I think therefore that what He says here must be referred to the time when we shall see Him as He is, where nothing will remain to be desired, nothing will lie hidden to be sought."
AMEN, AMEN I SAY TO YOU: IF YOU ASK THE FATHER ANYTHING IN MY NAME, HE WILL GIVE IT TO YOU.
This is a new consolation for the Apostles, and also a new instruction given them by Christ, that in His absence they might use it to obtain from the Father everything they need, namely by asking it from Him in the name of Christ, as if He said: Disciples, do not grieve over My departure and absence; I surely promise you that God the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.
Each word has its emphasis. First, "I say to you," as if: I promise this to you, because you are My most intimate friends, disciples, and Apostles, whom I love supremely, so that I take a singular care for you and provide for you in everything. Christ therefore says these things primarily to the Apostles; secondarily, to all the faithful living in every age, because the Apostles bore their person and represented them.
Secondly, "whatever," that is, whatever is salutary for you and honorable to God — something (solid and useful and pleasing to God), not nothing, says the Gloss. And St. Augustine: "Something," he says, "which is not nothing in comparison with the blessed life." Whoever therefore asks for an unlawful or harmful thing, such as vengeance upon enemies, is not heard, because he is not asking for something (salutary) but nothing; for sin is non-being and as it were nothing. It is indeed lawful to ask God for temporal and indifferent things, such as health, wealth, office, dignity; but these must be referred to an honorable end, namely that through them we may more please God and perform more good works.
Thirdly, "you shall ask": in Greek aitesete, that is, you shall demand, pray, petition, implore, strive for, insist upon, beg for, invoke — namely, as is fitting and proper, that is, first humbly; secondly, reverently; thirdly, confidently; fourthly, fervently; fifthly, perseveringly.
Fourthly, "the Father," as if: Ask with great hope and love, as children from a father: for He loves you supremely with paternal affection.
Fifthly, "in My name," that is, through Me and My merits, not through yours, about which more shortly.
Sixthly, "He will give it to you," surely and certainly, if you ask as you ought.
In My Name. — As if: About to depart, I leave you My name; allege this before the Father and it will obtain everything. He shows the power of His name, says Chrysostom, for when merely named before the Father, He works wonders — as if to say: Do not think that from now on I shall not be with you, or that you are abandoned: for My name will give great assurance. Thus Chrysostom.
You will ask: What is it to ask in the name of Christ? First, St. Gregory answers, homily 27: "The name of the Son is Jesus, and Jesus means Savior, or also salutary; he therefore asks in the name of the Savior who asks for that which pertains to true salvation. For if something which is not expedient is asked for, the Father is not being asked in the name of Jesus. Hence the Lord says to the Apostles themselves while they were still weak: 'Hitherto you have not asked anything in My name,' as if He clearly said: You have not asked in the name of the Savior, because you do not know how to seek eternal salvation. Hence also Paul is not heard, because if he had been freed from temptation it would not have profited him unto salvation," 2 Corinthians 12. And further on: "Weigh your petitions, see if you ask in the name of Jesus, that is, if you seek the joys of eternal salvation. For in the house of Jesus you are not seeking Jesus, if in the temple of eternity you pray importunately for temporal things. Behold, one in prayer seeks a wife, another asks for an estate, another demands clothing, another begs that food be given to him." And St. Augustine: "It is not asked," he says, "in the name of the Savior, whatever is asked contrary to the reason of salvation; and he who thinks of Christ what should not be thought of the only-begotten Son of God does not ask in His name: but he receives, who asks as he ought when he ought to receive; for some things are not denied, but are deferred so that they may be given in a fitting time." So also Bede, Rupert, and St. Thomas. These things are true, but symbolic, not literal.
Secondly therefore, more literally. St. Cyril, and from him Jansenius: He says "in My name," he writes, so that Christ may show Himself as mediator and co-bestower: for insofar as He is God, He bestows good things upon us together with the Father; insofar as He is mediator, He brings our prayers to the Father, for He Himself grants us liberty and confidence before the Father.
Thirdly, Euthymius: "in My name," he says, "that is, as Mine, as Christians."
Fourthly, and genuinely, St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Toletus, and others: To ask in the name of Christ, they say, is to ask through Christ, or through the merits, dignity, and authority of Christ. For Christ by His passion and death merited that whatever we ask in His name, we should obtain from God. Wherefore this obtaining, on our part, is grace; on Christ's part, it is as it were justice. His name in Scripture signifies power, virtue, merits, grace, dignity, authority. To ask therefore in the name of Christ is to ask by alleging the merits of Christ and trusting in them, not in one's own; so that God may look not upon our unworthiness and sins, but upon the face of His Christ, and on account of His holiness and merits grant us what we do not deserve. Christ therefore here signifies not only God, but God incarnate, obedient even unto the death of the cross. For He thus merited that the Father should hear our prayers. Thus the Church explains it, which concludes all her prayers with: "Through our Lord Jesus Christ." Thus the Jews used to pray to God through the merits of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob their fathers: but Christians through the merits of Christ, who infinitely surpasses their merits.
Fifthly, Ribera explains it thus: Ask "in My name," that is, ask as sent by Me, as though I through you were asking this from the Father; as a king asks something of the Pontiff through his legate. Ask, not as if it were to be given to you, but to Me, as Joseph's brothers beg that their iniquity be forgiven their father, as though the father had taken it upon himself and were asking it to be pardoned to himself, not to his brothers (Genesis 50). For in a similar manner Christ bestows upon us His merits, His authority, and the grace which He has with the Father, so that through it we may ask.
Hence again, to ask in the name of Christ is to ask those things which Christ desires for us and wills to be given to us, namely those which pertain to the salvation of the soul. Whence such prayer is efficacious and is heard by God. Therefore very pious and efficacious is that prayer of some: Lord, give me that which Christ the Lord desires in me, which He Himself desires to be given to me, for which He Himself dying on the cross prayed and requested to be granted to me; again, what the Blessed Virgin wishes for me, what she herself prays for me: for she loves me and my salvation, and knows better than I what is more useful to me for it. This sense is pious, but the fourth is more literal and genuine.
He Will Give It to You. — You will say: We experience many people asking many things of God and not obtaining them: how then is it said here, "He will give it to you?" I answer, the reason why they do not obtain is that they do not ask for those things they ought to ask, or in the manner and way in which they ought, as St. James teaches in his Epistle, chapter 4. For the affirmative promises in Scripture require certain conditions which she explains elsewhere. Thus prayer and impetration requires, first, humility and reverence; wherefore he who lacks these, but prays proudly and presumptuously, as did that Pharisee in Luke 18, obtains nothing.
Secondly, it requires contrition for sins, so that the one praying is a friend, or seriously desires to become a friend of God; for God does not hear His enemies and foes. Therefore sinners, who wish to persist in their sins, are not heard by God. Do you wish God to hear you? First hear and fulfill His law yourself, first do the will of God; thus God will do your will and fulfill your desires: this is what He says in Isaiah 1: "I will not hear you, because your hands are full of blood."
Thirdly, it requires great faith and hope, or confidence that we shall obtain through the merits of Christ that which we ask. Many lack this confidence, and therefore do not obtain: "Let him ask," says St. James, chapter 1, "in faith, nothing wavering." Hence St. Basil, Constitutions of the Monastery, chapter 1, gives the reason why they are not heard, assigning it, says: "You have not asked rightly, because you asked either wavering in doubt or while doing something else."
Fourthly, it requires perseverance, as is clear from Luke 11, verses 7 and 8. See what is said there. Finally, St. Augustine rightly notes here, tract 73, that God sometimes denies what we ask, because it is more expedient for our salvation and the glory of God. God therefore does not hear us according to our will, but according to our salvation. So He did not hear Paul praying to be freed from the thorn of the flesh, because it was more useful to him for humility and for continual struggle and victory with it. Whence he heard: "My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is perfected in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).
Hence St. Augustine, tract 102, holds that the effect of prayer is promised here only if we pray for ourselves, but not if we pray for others. "The saints," he says, "are heard for themselves, not for all; for it is not said: He will give, but: He will give you." But St. Basil, in the Shorter Rule, rule 261, together with Toletus and others, more correctly and generously holds that this is promised whether we pray for ourselves or for others. For God gives to us what He gives to those for whom we pray; for He gives the fruit of prayer to us who pray. And this agrees better with the most liberal beneficence of God. Add that to pray for others is a work of greater charity, especially if we pray for enemies; whence such prayer is usually heard, as Christ was heard when praying for those who crucified Him, and St. Stephen when praying for Saul. The reason is the one given by St. Gregory, homily 27: "The power," he says, "of true prayer is the height of charity. And then one obtains what he rightly asks, when his mind in petition is not darkened by hatred of the enemy. But for the most part we overcome a reluctant mind if we also pray for enemies."
Moreover, that sometimes those praying for others are not heard, is either our fault, or the fault of those for whom we pray, who by their sloth or malice render themselves unworthy of God's grace, and even sometimes rebel against God and spurn Him when He calls. There is an example in the Lives of the Fathers. A certain man tempted by the spirit of lust asked the prayers of a holy anchorite to obtain for him deliverance. The anchorite prayed once and again, but in vain. God answered him as he marveled: The tempted man does not deserve to be heard, because by his own sloth, by fostering obscene thoughts and dallying with them, he is himself the cause of his temptation. The anchorite told the same to the tempted man, who, compunct, by the anchorite's counsel gave himself to prayer, vigils, and fasts, and merited to be freed from the temptation. Tempted men therefore must cooperate and collaborate with those praying for them, that they may be heard, just as a sick man must cooperate with his doctor to be healed; if he refuses to do so, all the doctor's labor and skill are in vain.
Verse 24: Hitherto You Have Not Asked Anything in My Name
24. HITHERTO YOU HAVE NOT ASKED ANYTHING IN MY NAME.
That is, because you, trusting hitherto in My presence, have asked all things from Me present, and I have asked the Father for you and obtained them: now, however, being about to depart, I send you back to the Father, so that you may ask from Him those things you need through the interposition of My name. Although therefore the Apostles, having invoked the name of Christ, cast out demons and healed the sick, nevertheless they had hitherto asked nothing from the Father through the merits of Christ, because they had Him present and at hand, and asked from Him whatever they wished.
ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE.
Because I by My merits have obtained this same thing for you from the Father, as if He said: There is no reason, O disciples, for you to grieve over My departure, because My Father, in My absence, when invoked by you through My name, will give you greater things than I have given. So Euthymius, Maldonatus, and others. See what is said at Matthew 7:7.
THAT YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL.
First, St. Augustine, tract 102, refers these words to "ask," as if: Ask, so that God, in My absence, may fully console you and fill you with full joy in eternal happiness.
Secondly, St. Cyril refers it to "you will receive," as if: If you ask and pray, you will receive from God full joy, namely the remission of sins and abundance of graces.
Thirdly, and genuinely, the "that" does not signify a cause or intended end, but an effect and consequence, as if: You will begin to rejoice when you see Me risen, as I said in chapter 20. But so that this joy of yours may be perfected and completed, ask in My name for all the graces you need: thus it will come about that, obtaining them from the Father, you may have full joy, nor desire anything further in this life. So Ribera, Toletus, Jansenius, and others.
Verse 25: These Things I Have Spoken to You in Proverbs
25. THESE THINGS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU IN PROVERBS. THE HOUR IS COMING WHEN I WILL NO LONGER SPEAK TO YOU IN PROVERBS, BUT WILL SHOW YOU PLAINLY OF THE FATHER.
"In proverbs," that is, through proverbs. So the Arabic; in Greek, in paroemias; the Syriac, in parables. In my preface to Proverbs I said that "proverb," "parable," and "paroemia" are often taken for the same thing, and signify any hidden, obscure, and involved discourse, even though it does not contain a properly so-called parable. So it is taken here, as if He said: Those things which I have hitherto spoken to you about the "little while," about the Holy Spirit, about My departure to the Father, about your joy, etc., now seem obscure to you and like enigmas; but experience itself will soon teach you all these things most clearly: when, namely, I Myself will "announce these very things to you" plainly and openly, both through Myself, after I rise, during the forty days in which, until the Ascension, I shall be with you and will open to you the meaning of sacred Scripture (Acts 1:3): so St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius; and most of all through the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you at Pentecost, so that He may clearly and distinctly teach you the mysteries of My faith, and set you on fire with love for them. So St. Augustine, Bede, Maldonatus, and others. Furthermore, St. Gregory, in book 30 of the Morals, chapter 5, refers this promise of Christ to the state of beatitude in heaven; for it will then be most fully fulfilled, when we shall see God face to face.
Verse 26: In That Day You Shall Ask in My Name
26. IN THAT DAY YOU SHALL ASK IN MY NAME; AND I DO NOT SAY TO YOU THAT I WILL PRAY TO THE FATHER FOR YOU.
As if: I, in chapter 14, verse 16, said: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete:" so then I prayed to the Father for you; but now hereafter there will be no need of My asking; because I will soon send the Holy Spirit, who will teach you to ask the Father in My name with great affection; wherefore the Father will grant you all things as you pray, because He ardently loves you; you will therefore not then need My asking and My prayers — those, namely, which I poured out for you to God while present on earth. Note: Hence some Fathers think that Christ in heaven does not pray for us by prayer properly so called, but only by the representation of His wounds, which He shows to the Father. Our Vasquez cites them, third part, volume 1, Question 21. But it is far more probable that Christ in heaven prays for us by prayer properly so called, as I showed at Romans 8, verse 24. The mind of Christ here is therefore another, namely that which I explained, that there is no need of His presence on earth for praying for them in the usual way.
Verse 27: For the Father Himself Loves You
27. FOR THE FATHER HIMSELF LOVES YOU, BECAUSE YOU HAVE LOVED ME AND HAVE BELIEVED THAT I CAME FORTH FROM GOD.
The Father anticipates us in love and loves us first, when He calls and rouses us sinners to repentance and to His love: therefore we then begin to love God, and then God infuses charity and justifying grace into us, by which He makes us friends and sons of God. Wherefore God then loves us back with greater love, as His friends and sons. From this it is clear that charity is friendship between God and men: for it brings about that we love God, and in turn that God loves us, as a friend loves a friend and is loved in return by him.
YOU HAVE BELIEVED THAT I CAME FORTH FROM GOD,
that is, you have believed that I am the Son of God, sent by Him into flesh and into the world, for your salvation and that of others.
You will say: If God loves us, why does He not of Himself give those things which He knows we need, but wishes to be asked and entreated? I answer: First, because the majesty and reverence of God demand this, namely that in praying we should reverence it and testify that we need His beneficence, and that nothing can relieve our need except Himself. This tribute of prayer therefore we owe Him, that as suppliants we may confess our indigence and His liberality.
Secondly, the condition of man demands this, that he should acknowledge himself to depend on God, to be fed, cherished, protected by Him, and in all things to need His help and bounty — indeed, as St. Augustine says, openly confess himself to be God's beggar. Let him therefore humble himself before God, and with bowed neck ask and beg from Him those things which he needs.
Thirdly, the dignity of the thing asked demands the same: for we ask of God grace and glory, than which nothing is more excellent. God therefore wishes these to be bought, as it were, with prayer as the price, so that man may value them more highly and not lose them, but diligently preserve them. So St. Basil in the Monastic Constitutions, chapter 2.
Fourthly, the usefulness and excellence of prayer itself demand the same, which confers enormous benefits upon the one praying. For in prayer we exercise: first, faith, because we believe God to be omnipotent, most wise, and best, so that He is able, knows, and wills to give what we ask; secondly, hope: for we hope that He will give what is necessary, indeed useful for this present and eternal life, which we request; thirdly, charity, by which as children we ask the same things from a most loving father. St. Chrysostom gives this reason, on Psalm 4: "Because," he says, "prayer is no small bond of love toward God, which accustoms us to converse with Him and leads us to the pursuit of wisdom. For if he who spends much time with some great and admirable man receives the greatest benefit from his fellowship, how much more he who has continual fellowship with God!" For prayer is, as he says elsewhere, a conversation with God, which makes a man as it were an angel familiar with God. See the same author, his book On Praying to God; and Climacus, step 28, at the beginning, where he bestows many and most excellent encomia on prayer, adding: "Prayer is a certain pious tyranny over God:" for it does violence to God and as it were compels Him to grant what is asked.
Verse 28: I Came Forth from the Father and Came into the World
28. I CAME FORTH FROM THE FATHER AND CAME INTO THE WORLD: AGAIN I LEAVE THE WORLD AND GO TO THE FATHER.
"I came forth from the Father," not only by a temporal exit into human generation, by being born of the Virgin, as Jansenius will have it, but also by an exit and eternal generation, by which I was begotten of the Father as the Son. So the Fathers. Hear St. Augustine, tract 102: "He came forth from the Father, because He is of the Father, and He came into the world, because He showed His body — which He took from the Virgin — to the world." And Cyril: "To have come forth from God is nothing other than to have been born and to have shone forth from the substance of the Father by that procession by which He exists, and thus His proper subsistence is understood." And Euthymius: "'I came forth from the Father' means that He is of the substance of the Father, or the legitimate Son of the Father." So also Bede, St. Thomas, and Lyra, Ribera, Toletus, and others. This will appear more from verse 30. So in Hebrews 7 it is said of sons: "they themselves came forth from the loins of Abraham;" and in Isaiah 39: "Of his sons, who shall come forth from thee, whom thou shalt beget." To come forth, therefore, from the Father is the same as to be begotten by Him.
Verses 29-30: His Disciples Said to Him, Behold, Now You Speak Plainly
29. HIS DISCIPLES SAID TO HIM: BEHOLD, NOW YOU SPEAK PLAINLY AND USE NO PROVERB. 30. NOW WE KNOW THAT YOU KNOW ALL THINGS, AND YOU DO NOT NEED THAT ANYONE SHOULD ASK YOU: BY THIS WE BELIEVE THAT YOU CAME FORTH FROM GOD.
As if: Now we clearly understand what before we did not grasp. For You had said obscurely: "A little while, and you shall not see Me," etc.; now You clearly explain the same, when You say: "I leave the world and go to the Father."
NOW WE KNOW THAT YOU KNOW ALL THINGS.
As if: From the fact that we see and hear You knowing and anticipating our secret thoughts, doubts, and desires concerning the interpretation of that, "A little while, and you shall not see Me," etc., verse 19, answering us so that You do not need to ask anyone in order to know what he is thinking and asking and desiring to know; from this, I say, that You have anticipated our thoughts, "we know that You know all things," even the secrets of hearts, "and You do not need that anyone should ask You:" for when we wished to ask You about the "little while," You, seeing it, anticipated our question and of Yourself explained our doubt. "By this we believe that You came forth from God," as if: By this we more firmly believe (and are strengthened in our faith) that You are the true Son of God begotten by Him, because You know all things and see through the secrets of hearts: which is proper to God. So Cyril. Or, as Toletus has it: "By this we believe," as if: Or this alone is enough for us, to believe that You have come forth from God, that You reveal our secrets and answer them. And if other arguments (of which we have many) were lacking, this one alone would suffice for us to believe in You.
Verses 31-32: Jesus Answered Them, Do You Now Believe?
31. Jesus answered them: Do you now believe? 32. BEHOLD, THE HOUR IS COMING, AND HAS NOW COME, THAT YOU SHALL BE SCATTERED, EVERY ONE TO HIS OWN, AND SHALL LEAVE ME ALONE: AND YET I AM NOT ALONE, BECAUSE THE FATHER IS WITH ME.
The Romans, Theophylact, Euthymius, Jansenius, and others read this as a question, as if: Do you now believe? But shortly you will show how small and little-solid your faith is, when, seeing Me seized by the Jews, you will flee. Others read it assertively; indeed the Syriac and Arabic read it imperatively, "now believe;" but it comes to the same sense, as if: Now you have faith in Me, but far weaker than you think, as you will soon show, when, leaving Me, you will run away.
THAT YOU SHALL BE SCATTERED, EVERY ONE TO HIS OWN.
That is, each one of you will flee apart, wherever impulse and fear will carry him; one will not wait for the other, nor will you all meet at a fixed place, but each will flee to whatever place first offers itself to the fleeing man.
AND I AM NOT ALONE.
As if: I do not say these things for My own sake, but for yours: for I do not need your protection, since I have with Me the Father and His omnipotence.
Verse 33: These Things I Have Spoken to You, That in Me You May Have Peace
33. THESE THINGS I HAVE SPOKEN TO YOU, THAT IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PEACE. IN THE WORLD YOU SHALL HAVE DISTRESS, BUT TAKE COURAGE: I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.
"These things," namely about the world's hatred and persecution against Me and you in verse 5, and chapter 15, verses 18 and 19, "I have spoken" and foretold, "that in Me you may have peace," that is, that trusting in Me and placing your sure hope in Me, you may be of a tranquil, stable mind, even amid the waves of persecution quiet, immovable, and unterrified: which is clear from what follows.
IN THE WORLD YOU SHALL HAVE DISTRESS, BUT TAKE COURAGE: I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.
"I have overcome," inceptively, through holy life and heavenly teaching, but even now I shall fully and perfectly overcome it through My heroic Passion and death, as if: Take courage in Me, because just as I have overcome the world, so you too shall overcome, if you persevere in faith and love: if therefore you abide in Me, you too, by My example, through the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit which I shall supply to you, shall overcome the world, that is, all the hatreds, terrors, temptations, and persecutions of Jews and Gentiles. For as John says, 1 Epistle 5: "Everything that is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith." See what is said there. By "world" understand the devil, the prince of the world, and the other adversaries of Christ who are in the world. So Toletus, Ribera, and others. Take courage therefore in every distress of the world, because I have overcome the world — not for Myself, but for you; for I overcame so that you might overcome; to give you a rule and pattern of overcoming; to obtain for you from God the grace of overcoming. Strive therefore nobly, because I will strive in you and I will conquer in you, while I make you conquerors. For, as St. Augustine says here, tract 103: "He would not have conquered the world, if the world were to conquer His members."
Trusting in these words of Christ and strengthened by them, Montanus and his fellow martyrs, disciples of St. Cyprian, exulted in a dark and horrid prison, because, as they themselves said: "Where the temptation is great, there is a greater One there who conquers it in us; and there is no battle in which, the Lord protecting, there is not victory." So their Acts record in Surius, for February 24. And St. Cyprian himself, in his epistle to Fortunatus On the Exhortation to Martyrdom: "If anyone," he says, "keeping the Lord's precepts and clinging bravely to Christ, stands against him [the adversary], he must conquer, because Christ is unconquered." The same, book 2, epistle 2 to Donatus: "He," he says, "can no longer seek or desire anything of the world, who is greater than the world." The same, book 4, epistle 6 to the people of Thibaris: "The soldier of Christ," he says, "instructed by His precepts and admonitions, does not tremble at the battle, but is prepared for the crown." And earlier: "The Lord willed us to rejoice and exult in persecutions, because when persecutions come, then the crowns of faith are given, then God's soldiers are tested, then heaven lies open to the martyrs." And after some intervening words: "He is not alone, whose companion in flight is Christ; he is not alone who, keeping the temple of God, is, wherever he may be, not without God; and if, as he flees, a robber overwhelms him in solitude and the mountains, or a wild beast attacks him, or hunger, thirst, or cold afflicts him, or as he hastens over the seas by swift sailing, a tempest and storm overwhelms him, Christ looks upon His soldier wherever he fights, and renders to him who dies for the cause of persecution for the honor of His name the reward which He promised to give at the resurrection." The same, in his tract On Mortality: "He," he says, "who fights for God must acknowledge himself, who, being placed in the heavenly camp, already hopes for divine things; so that at the storms and whirlwinds of the world there should be no trembling in us, no hesitation, since the Lord has foretold these things to come, by the exhortation of His providential voice instructing and teaching, and preparing and strengthening us." The same, in his first epistle to Cornelius, says: "The soldiers of Christ cannot be conquered, but can die, and for this very reason are unconquered, because they do not fear to die."
And pathetically the Confessors in prison, destined for martyrdom, writing to St. Cyprian as the trumpet of the Martyrs, book 5, epistle 12: "What," they say, "more glorious, or what happier, could befall any man by divine deigning, than, amid the very executioners, to confess the Lord God unterrified? Than, amid the varied and refined torments of the raging secular power, even with the body wrenched, tortured, and mangled, to confess Christ the Son of God, with a spirit even as it departs yet free? Than, all worldly impediments broken, to present oneself now free in the sight of God? Than to retain the heavenly kingdom without any delay? Than to have become a partner in Passion with Christ in the name of Christ?"
Thus St. Chrysostom conquered the world: for when his expulsion was being dealt with, he delivered two homilies on this matter to his people, in which he begins thus: "Many indeed are the waves and the monstrous billows, but I do not fear being overwhelmed, because I stand upon the rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot overturn the rock. But what shall I fear? Shall I fear death, to whom to live is Christ and to die is gain? Shall I dread exile, who know that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof? Or shall I dread the confiscation of goods, since I know that I have brought nothing into this world, nor can I take anything away? Whatever terror the world has, I despise; whatever delightful thing it has, I laugh at. I do not desire riches, I do not shudder at poverty, I do not fear death."