Is not this he whom they seek to kill? : St John Chapter vii : Verses 21-30

St John Chapter vii : Verses 21-30

Contents

• St John Chapter vii : Verses 21-30. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter vii : Verses 21-30

And no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. 
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

21 Jesus answered, and said to them: One work I have done; and you all wonder:  

22 Therefore, Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and on the sabbath day you circumcise a man.  

23 If a man receive circumcision on the sabbath day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you angry at me because I have healed the whole man on the sabbath day?  

24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment.  

25 Some therefore of Jerusalem said: Is not this he whom they seek to kill?

26 And behold, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing to him. Have the rulers known for a truth, that this is the Christ?  

27 But we know this man, whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.  

28 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching, and saying: You both know me, and you know whence I am: and I am not come of myself; but he that sent me, is true, whom you know not.  

29 I know him, because I am from him, and he hath sent me.  

30 They sought therefore to apprehend him: and no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.

21 ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Ἓν ἔργον ἐποίησα καὶ πάντες θαυμάζετε.

21 Respondit Jesus et dixit eis : Unum opus feci, et omnes miramini :  

22 διὰ τοῦτο Μωϋσῆς δέδωκεν ὑμῖν τὴν περιτομήν— οὐχ ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Μωϋσέως ἐστὶν ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν πατέρων— καὶ ἐν σαββάτῳ περιτέμνετε ἄνθρωπον.

22 propterea Moyses dedit vobis circumcisionem (non quia ex Moyse est, sed ex patribus), et in sabbato circumciditis hominem.  

23 εἰ περιτομὴν ⸀λαμβάνει ἄνθρωπος ἐν σαββάτῳ ἵνα μὴ λυθῇ ὁ νόμος Μωϋσέως, ἐμοὶ χολᾶτε ὅτι ὅλον ἄνθρωπον ὑγιῆ ἐποίησα ἐν σαββάτῳ;

23 Si circumcisionem accipit homo in sabbato, ut non solvatur lex Moysi : mihi indignamini quia totum hominem sanum feci in sabbato?  

24 μὴ κρίνετε κατ’ ὄψιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν ⸀κρίνετε.

24 Nolite judicare secundum faciem, sed justum judicium judicate.  

25 Ἔλεγον οὖν τινες ἐκ τῶν Ἱεροσολυμιτῶν· Οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ὃν ζητοῦσιν ἀποκτεῖναι;

25 Dicebant ergo quidam ex Jerosolymis : Nonne hic est, quem quaerunt interficere? 

26 καὶ ἴδε παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ λέγουσιν· μήποτε ἀληθῶς ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄρχοντες ὅτι οὗτός ⸀ἐστιν ὁ χριστός;

26 et ecce palam loquitur, et nihil ei dicunt. Numquid vere cognoverunt principes quia hic est Christus?  

27 ἀλλὰ τοῦτον οἴδαμεν πόθεν ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ χριστὸς ὅταν ἔρχηται οὐδεὶς γινώσκει πόθεν ἐστίν.

27 Sed hunc scimus unde sit : Christus autem cum venerit, nemo scit unde sit.  

28 ἔκραξεν οὖν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ λέγων· Κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί· καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλήλυθα, ἀλλ’ ἔστιν ἀληθινὸς ὁ πέμψας με, ὃν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε·

28 Clamabat ergo Jesus in templo docens, et dicens : Et me scitis, et unde sim scitis : et a meipso non veni, sed est verus qui misit me, quem vos nescitis.  

29 ἐγὼ οἶδα αὐτόν, ὅτι παρ’ αὐτοῦ εἰμι κἀκεῖνός με ἀπέστειλεν.

29 Ego scio eum : quia ab ipso sum, et ipse me misit.  

30 ἐζήτουν οὖν αὐτὸν πιάσαι, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπέβαλεν ἐπ’ αὐτὸν τὴν χεῖρα, ὅτι οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ.

30 Quaerebant ergo eum apprehendere : et nemo misit in illum manus, quia nondum venit hora ejus.

Annotations

    21. Jesus answered, and said to them: One work I have done; and you all wonder. The work of healing the paralytic. Jesus did not return taunt for taunt, but forbearingly suppressed his feelings, and with gentleness and prudence pulled up their charge by the roots. “He was not troubled, but calm in the possession of His truth; He returned not evil for evil, or railing for railing, though, if He had said to them, Ye have a devil, He would certainly have spoken truth; for they would never have said such things to Him who is Truth itself, if the false teaching of the devil had not ensnared them.

    and you all wonder, and are indignant, as though I had done contrary to the law. “Ye are disturbed and agitated,” says S. Chrysostom. “Ye condemn Me,” says Cyril. “Ye seek to kill Me,” Euthymius. The order of events is inverted. For astonishment caused indignation, indignation, disturbance, disturbance the contriving His death.

    22. Therefore, Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and on the sabbath day you circumcise a man. (1.) Some, as Theophylact and Maldonatus, connect this with the preceding verse, “Ye all marvel at this My healing on the Sabbath.” 

(2.) Euthymius and Jansen explain thus, “To keep you from wondering, just consider what I am going to say about circumcision.”

(3.) S. Cyril, Toletus and F. Lucas explain it thus: “Though Moses gave you, circumcision, it was because he wished studiously to observe the tradition of the fathers, and yet on the Sabbath day, which Moses also authorised, ye circumcise a man. 

(4.) It is on account of the surprise you feel that I add an argument from the rite of circumcision, which ye perform by Moses’ own order on the Sabbath.

    not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers. The patriarch Abraham, and not Moses, instituted circumcision. And he adds this to teach them not to rely to such an extent on the law of Moses alone, respecting the Sabbath, or to neglect the laws of those who preceded him. But on the other hand, if those earlier laws are at variance with the law of Moses, the elder laws should prevail and the law of Moses give way to them. And, thus, the law of circumcision given to Abraham cancelled the law of the Sabbath given to Moses, that if a child were born on the Sabbath, he was obliged to be circumcised precisely on the eighth day, and that his circumcision could not possibly be deferred to the day following. If then the law of Moses was obliged to give way to the law of Abraham, much more should it give way to the Law of Christ and God, which orders us to do good, if we can, to the sore afflicted, even on the Sabbath, more especially if we do so quickly, and in a word, as Christ did.

    and on the sabbath day you circumcise a man. and, i.e., therefore, because the law of circumcision was anterior, and given to Abraham by God, it overrules the Sabbath, which was instituted afterwards by Moses at the command of God. And therefore, if the eighth day from the child’s birth is the Sabbath, ye circumcise him with great preparation and trouble, that the law of God given to Abraham may be kept.

    23. If a man receive circumcision on the sabbath day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you angry at me because I have healed the whole man on the sabbath day?. If circumcision, which in its own nature is a servile, troublesome, and tedious work, as well as one causing pain, is not only lawful, but even commanded to be done on the Sabbath; why am not I equally allowed to heal on the Sabbath a man who has been paralysed for so many years, and with a word to restore him to health, and that too to the alone praise and glory of God? For the law of piety and kindness is a law of nature, to which every law, human and divine, such as that of the Sabbath, should give way. Observe here, “the whole man.” For as Euthymius remarks, since his whole body was shattered by palsy, He rendered it entirely whole. Christ appositely compares the healing to circumcision, because as a superfluous part of the body is cut off by the one, so the palsy, which was attacking his whole body, was cut off by the other. But circumcision took place with pain and wounds, the healing by Christ with pleasure and complete health, for He healed the whole man, that is, body and soul together. Christ appears to have cut off from the soul of this sick man his vices and sins, and to have justified and sanctified him, as well as others who were healed by Him, just as circumcision by circumcising the flesh circumcised the soul also; cut away from it original sin, and clothed it with the grace and righteousness of God.

    24. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge just judgment. He charges the Jews with acceptance of persons, in acquitting Moses, or rather themselves, in a like matter, but accusing and condemning Jesus. Ye accuse Me as a Sabbath-breaker only for healing a sick man by my divine power, whereas ye think it lawful by the law of Moses to circumcise and wound a child, to heal his wound by applying plasters, and to staunch the blood, which is much more tedious, painful and horrible. And this is because ye judge not according to the truth of things, but according to the dignity of the persons. For Me ye contemn as vile, poor and hated; but ye set up yourselves with Moses as the chiefs and teachers of the people. For were ye to judge according to our doings, ye ought to acquit Me as well as Moses and yourselves; or if ye condemn Me, ye should condemn both Moses and yourselves. For I healed the man on the Sabbath, but ye with Moses on the very same day first wound and afterwards heal the child. And my object was even more holy, because I did it only for the glory of God, to show that I was the Messiah. So say S. Augustine, S. Chrysostom, and others. Many think that Christ here put Himself above Moses. But it would be more fitly said that Christ here compared Himself with the Jews, who, according to the law of Moses, circumcised on the Sabbath. But Moses never expressly commanded this. It was merely inferred from his words.

    25. Some therefore of Jerusalem said:  Those, that is, that were convinced by Christ’s argument. Many of the people at Jerusalem had a leaning towards Him, but could not openly show it for fear of the rulers.

    Is not this he whom they seek to kill? They knew, says S. Augustine, how savagely He was sought for. The others then said falsely and craftily, “Who seeketh to kill Thee?”

    26. And behold, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing to him. Have the rulers known for a truth, that this is the Christ? What means this great silence? says Nonnus. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? They know it, or easily could have known it, but they, blinded by their pride and hatred, persecuted Him to the death; but they were restrained by His divine power from laying hands on Him.

    27. But we know this man, whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. We know that His parents are Joseph and Mary, and they themselves confessed elsewhere in general that they knew He was to be born in Bethlehem of the seed of David. But these were the words of the ignorant people, who thought that Christ would suddenly appear to the world from unknown ancestors, that He would remain hid in Bethlehem for a long time, or else be carried away to a distance, be there brought up to man’s estate, and then appear unexpectedly in Judea. Other strange myths were invented concerning Him, derived mainly from wrong interpretations of Is. liii.8, Heb. vii. 3, Micah v. 2, and Ps. cix. 3 (see Vulg.), “from the womb before the day star I begot thee.” all which passages should be understood of His divine and not of His human nature. But the Jews considered Him a mere man, and thought that He had been begotten from eternity in Bethlehem. On which account Christ teaches them that they knew His human, but not His divine origin. So Toletus and others.

    28. Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching, and saying: You both know me, and you know whence I am: . I grant what you say, that ye know My ancestry and My parents; though ye are much mistaken. Ye do not know them; for the Jews knew not the God head of Christ, regarding Him only as the son of Joseph. But S. Chrysostom and Maldonatus explain thus: “Ye know Me, i.e., ye ought, and are able to know that I am the Messiah. For I have proved this from prophecy, and confirmed it by miracles.”

    He cried out, as showing that He knew their secret murmurings. And the things which they spake secretly (says S. Chrysostom), He openly proclaimed, and confounded them. In order also by His loud speaking to gain attention and add weight to His preaching.

    and I am not come of myself; but he that sent me, is true, whom you know not. But He is true in faithfully and truthfully fulfilling in My person the promises made to Abraham and David. But ye know him not, i.e., to be My Father, and that He sent Me to redeem the world. Or otherwise, “ye know Him not, ye do not obey, love, or worship Him, as though ye knew Him.” So Theophylact.

    29. I know him, because I am from him, and he hath sent me. “Born,” saith S. Augustine, “by divine and eternal generation, inasmuch as I am His own proper and natural Son:” and He sent Me “into the world by My Incarnation.” “See,” saith Theophylact, “the two natures in Christ set forth in this passage, for by His saying, ‘I am of Him,’ His Divine Substance is set forth; but His human when He says, ‘and He sent Me.’ ” Christ here refutes them of Jerusalem, who excused themselves for not believing in Him, because they knew His parents, whereas no one was to know the parents of Christ. For He shows that they knew not either His Divine generation from the Father, nor His human generation, by having been Incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; and that this was no hindrance to their duty of believing in Him as the Messiah, even though His parentage were not known.

    30. They sought therefore to apprehend him: and no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. Who were they? asks S. Chrysostom. Not the multitude, but the priests, who hated Jesus because the people preferred Him to them, and He was held to be the Messiah. Because his hour was not yet come, the hour at which He had resolved to die (says Theophylact), for when He thought it the time for Him to suffer He gave Himself to His crucifiers. This manifestly shows the wisdom of the Saviour “in not wishing to die except at the fitting and suitable time which was destined for Him. For the passion of Christ was free and voluntary, not of force or compulsion. His hour means the hour chosen by Himself, and determined on for His death.” S. Cyril here argues at length against the brethren who thought that some hours were favourable, and others unfavourable to man. For he teaches that times as well as men are subjected to and regulated by God’s providence.

+       +        +

 

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

How doth this man know letters? : St John Chapter vii : Verses 11-20

St John Chapter vii : Verses 11-20

Contents

• St John Chapter vii : Verses 11-20. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter vii : Verses 11-20

No man spoke openly of him, for fear of the Jews. Verse 13.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

11 The Jews therefore sought him on the festival day, and said: Where is he?  

12 And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning him. For some said: He is a good man. And others said: No, but he seduceth the people.  

13 Yet no man spoke openly of him, for fear of the Jews.  

14 Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.  

15 And the Jews wondered, saying: How doth this man know letters, having never learned?

16 Jesus answered them, and said: My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.  

17 If any man do the will of him; he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.  

18 He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him.

19 Did Moses not give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?  

20 Why seek you to kill me? The multitude answered, and said: Thou hast a devil; who seeketh to kill thee?

11 οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ καὶ ἔλεγον· Ποῦ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος;

11 Judaei ergo quaerebant eum in die festo, et dicebant : Ubi est ille?  

12 καὶ γογγυσμὸς ⸂περὶ αὐτοῦ ἦν πολὺς⸃ ἐν τοῖς ὄχλοις· οἱ μὲν ἔλεγον ὅτι Ἀγαθός ἐστιν, ἄλλοι ⸀δὲ ἔλεγον· Οὔ, ἀλλὰ πλανᾷ τὸν ὄχλον.

12 Et murmur multum erat in turba de eo. Quidam enim dicebant : Quia bonus est. Alii autem dicebant : Non, sed seducit turbas.  

13 οὐδεὶς μέντοι παρρησίᾳ ἐλάλει περὶ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

13 Nemo tamen palam loquebatur de illo propter metum Judaeorum.  

14 Ἤδη δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς μεσούσης ⸀ἀνέβη Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἐδίδασκεν.

14 Jam autem die festo mediante, ascendit Jesus in templum, et docebat.  

15 ⸂ἐθαύμαζον οὖν⸃ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι λέγοντες· Πῶς οὗτος γράμματα οἶδεν μὴ μεμαθηκώς;

15 Et mirabantur Judaei, dicentes : Quomodo hic litteras scit, cum non didicerit? 

16 ἀπεκρίθη οὖν αὐτοῖς ⸀ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν· Ἡ ἐμὴ διδαχὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὴ ἀλλὰ τοῦ πέμψαντός με·

16 Respondit eis Jesus, et dixit : Mea doctrina non est mea, sed ejus qui misit me.  

17 ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν, γνώσεται περὶ τῆς διδαχῆς πότερον ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ἢ ἐγὼ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ λαλῶ.

17 Si quis voluerit voluntatem ejus facere, cognoscet de doctrina, utrum ex Deo sit, an ego a meipso loquar.  

18 ὁ ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ· ὁ δὲ ζητῶν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτὸν οὗτος ἀληθής ἐστιν καὶ ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν.

18 Qui a semetipso loquitur, gloriam propriam quaerit; qui autem quaerit gloriam ejus qui misit eum, hic verax est, et injustitia in illo non est.  

19 Οὐ Μωϋσῆς ⸀δέδωκεν ὑμῖν τὸν νόμον; καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ποιεῖ τὸν νόμον. 

19 Nonne Moyses dedit vobis legem : et nemo ex vobis facit legem?  

20 τί με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι; ἀπεκρίθη ὁ ⸀ὄχλος· Δαιμόνιον ἔχεις· τίς σε ζητεῖ ἀποκτεῖναι;

20 Quid me quaeritis interficere? Respondit turba, et dixit : Daemonium habes : quis te quaeret interficere?

Annotations

    11. The Jews therefore sought him on the festival day, and said: Where is he?   S. Chrysostom says that on a feast day they were always disposed to murder, and they endeavoured to catch Him on feast days. And Euthymius, “Admirable work for feast days, in making them occasions for murder; and that on the very day they ought to have been searching for Christ in order to believe on Him, they were aiming only at His death.” And thus in our days many on the feast days on which they ought to be making their peace with God, only offend Him by their gross sins and blaspheming, making their feasts to the devil and not to God; this is the fraud and suggestion of the devil, who takes away the service due to God, and appropriates it to himself.

    Where is he?, that impostor, and deceiver of the people? In their extreme wrath, says S. Chrysostom, they could not bear to mention Him by name.

    12. And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning him. He would make Himself the founder of a new faction, and stir up sedition and rebellion.

    A good man, nay, a teacher and a prophet; this was the opinion of those who had heard Him teaching, and seen His miracles in Galilee. The contrary was the opinion of the Scribes and Rulers, and the multitude who followed them.

    13. Yet no man spoke openly of him, for fear of the Jews, i.e., from fear of the Scribes, Pharisees, and Chief Priests. S. John speaks of them merely as Jews, so as not to derogate from the authority of the Scribes and Priests, and also, as Cyril says, he counted it wrong to term persons so estrayed from holiness, priests or elders. “no man,” i.e., of those who said that Jesus was a good man, says Euthymius; or as S. Augustine says, “They loudly proclaimed, ‘He seduces the people;’ ‘He is a good man,’ they spoke in suppressed whispers.”

    14. Now about the midst of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. On the fourth or fifth day, for it lasted for eight days.

    S. Augustine, Theophylact, and others think that Christ entered Jerusalem and the temple on the same day: for when He came to the city He used first of all to visit the temple, as an act of piety, and many Christians follow his example. On the other hand, Toletus, Maldonatus, and others think that He went up shortly after His kinsfolk, so as to be present at the beginning of the feast, but that He did not enter the temple till the fourth day. This the language of S. John both here and in verse 10 seems to require. And besides Jesus, as a teacher and pattern of religion, wished for the edification of others to keep the whole of this festival. (See Lev. xxiii. 43). Moreover, they were required to erect their booths on the first day of the feast, which Jesus probably did, unless you suppose that He was taken into the booth of a disciple or friend. Coming up secretly in this way on the first day of the feast He ran no risk, unless He entered the temple, which He did not do till the fourth day, remaining hid in a booth for the first three days. His first entry then was in secret, His second was public, the one to keep the feast in the booths outside, and then afterwards to teach in the temple.

    But why did He not at once enter the temple? First, as S. Augustine and others reply, in order that the anger of the Scribes and Chief Priests who lived in the temple might cool down. (2.) His remaining concealed was for example’s sake and from His weakness as man, as His coming forth afterwards was a proof of Divine power, says S. Augustine, and Bede after him. (3.) To create in His expectant hearers a greater desire of hearing Him after such delay. (4.) That they might be more free to hear Him, when unemployed in the necessary arrangements for the feast.

    and taught, after His own manner, the things which concerned salvation, and led to the kingdom of heaven; and publicly too before the Scribes and Rulers who hated Him. Behold here the nobleness of His mind in intrepidly discharging His office in the midst of danger. For although the anger of the Scribes had somewhat cooled down by the delay of three days, yet it could be easily rekindled by His teaching thus in public. But Jesus nobly despised it, both because He was ready to be killed by them, and also because He knew that God would thwart their designs against Him, because the appointed time of His death had not come. By His three days’ concealment He teaches us prudence, and by His coming forth and preaching openly on the fourth day He gave us a pattern of boldness, to discharge resolutely the duty imposed on us by God, even at the peril of our life, in sure trust that He will either deliver us from danger or give us strength and fortitude to bear and overcome it.

    15. And the Jews wondered, saying: How doth this man know letters, having never learned?. “They marvelled,” says Cyril, “when they saw in Him such unheard-of wisdom and power of speech;” for, as Theophylact says, “He spake wondrous words, restraining and changing their minds in a wondrous manner,” so that their fury was changed into love and admiration of Christ. “For they heard Him,” says S. Augustine, “disputing about the law, and adducing its testimony,” and explaining it with such grace and manner as was not human but divine. For, as he adds, “Many knew where He was born, and how brought up, but had never seen Him learning anything.” And hence the Scribes ought to have inferred that His great learning and wisdom had not been acquired by study, but infused by God. But blinded and stupefied by hatred they stand still in wonder, and proceed not to investigate the origin of that which surprises them. So S. Chrysostom. And for this very cause God willed that Jesus should leap up into the chair of learning, not from the schools, but from the carpenter’s trade, to the end that all might acknowledge that His learning was not taught by man but inspired by God.

    16. Jesus answered them, and said: My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. My doctrines are not My inventions nor the result of My study. They did not primarily and originally proceed from Me, but from God the Father. He, as I am God, communicated to Me His own omniscience. But, as I am man, He gave and infused into Me His own Blessed knowledge of all things, according to that of Isaiah xi. 2. “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,” &c. So S. Chrysostom and others, who observe that in this very way Christ implies that He is God: as if He said, “I together with the Divine Essence have derived all My omniscience and doctrine from the Father.” As S. Augustine says (Tract 29), “What is the doctrine of the Father, but the Word of the Father? Christ Himself, therefore, is the doctrine of the Father, if He is the Word of the Father. But because a Word cannot be of no one, but of some one, He called Himself His own doctrine, and yet not His own, because He is the Word of the Father. For what is so much thine as thyself? and what is so little thine as thyself if thou art from some one else?”

    17. If any man do the will of him; he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.. That is, something invented by Me, and therefore disagreeing, or contrary to the will of God. As S. Chrysostom says, “If anybody has love of virtue, he will understand the force of My words that they come from God. For of Him cometh every virtue, of which I am the earnest teacher. For he who loves to observe the commands of God in this matter, will love and observe My Word, because I do not say or do anything contrary to what is pleasing and commanded by God;” tacitly hinting that they loved vice, and therefore were opposed to the teaching both of God and Himself. “Put away,” says Chrysostom, “this doubt, your anger and malice and intense hatred of Me, and nothing will then keep you from acknowledging that My words are those of God. But now these tempers obscure your judgment, and if you put them aside you would think otherwise.”

    18. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him. But on the other hand Cyril concludes with, “He who seeks not God’s glory but his own, is a liar, and full of deceit”—a liar, because under pretence of observing the law he puts forth his own will; and full of deceit, because he dares to prefer his own commands to those of God. This then is the second proof that Christ gives, that He speaks not of Himself. Put logically it is thus, He that speaks for Himself seeks his own glory. But I seek not my own glory; therefore I speak not of Myself. Heretics and philosophers teach their own opinions, and call their followers after their own names. For in either case, it is desire for fame which causes heresies and sects.

    injustice, that is fraud, craft, deception, for Christ teaches sincerely and truly what he believes will please God and promote His glory, while others seek their own glory, and use flattery and other arts to extort it from men for themselves.

    19.-20. Did Moses not give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why seek you to kill me? The primary sense is, no wonder ye do not accept Mine and My Father’s law, since ye keep not the law of Moses, which ye value so much and urge against Me. For it strictly forbids murder (Ex. xxiii.7). So S. Augustine and others. But secondly, F. Lucas thus explains it more profoundly and more closely to the context: “Ye accuse Me of disregarding the law, and breaking the Sabbath by healing the paralytic. But ye equally break it by circumcising a man, which is a longer and more cruel act than healing with a word. Ye are therefore more deserving of death than I am.”

    20. The multitude answered, and said: Thou hast a devil; who seeketh to kill thee? That is, Thou art mad as Saul was when possessed with a devil. Or more strictly, it is the devil who instigates Thee to make this false charge of murder against us. We never thought of it. These are the words of the people, some of whom thought well, and others ill of Christ, but yet did not wish to kill Him. But that was the wish of the Scribes and rulers, who mingled with the crowd. Christ therefore glances at them, and openly proclaims their secret plans for killing Him, which were fully known to Him, thus shewing Him to be God.

+       +        +

 

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

My time is not yet come : St John Chapter vii, Verses 1-10

St John Chapter vii : Verses 1-10

Contents

• St John Chapter vii : Verses 1-10. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter vii : Verses 1-10

He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him.  

2 Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.  

3 And his brethren said to him: Pass from hence, and go into Judea; that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou dost.  

4 For there is no man that doth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, manifest thyself to the world.  

5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.

6 Then Jesus said to them: My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready.  

7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil.  

8 Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day: because my time is not accomplished.  

9 When he had said these things, he himself stayed in Galilee.  

10 But after his brethren were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret.

1 Καὶ ⸂μετὰ ταῦτα περιεπάτει ὁ Ἰησοῦς⸃ ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ, οὐ γὰρ ἤθελεν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ περιπατεῖν, ὅτι ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἀποκτεῖναι.

1 Post haec autem ambulabat Jesus in Galilaeam : non enim volebat in Judaeam ambulare, quia quaerebant eum Judaei interficere.  

2 ἦν δὲ ἐγγὺς ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ σκηνοπηγία.

2 Erat autem in proximo dies festus Judaeorum, Scenopegia.  

3 εἶπον οὖν πρὸς αὐτὸν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ· Μετάβηθι ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ὕπαγε εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, ἵνα καὶ οἱ μαθηταί σου ⸀θεωρήσουσιν ⸂σοῦ τὰ ἔργα⸃ ἃ ποιεῖς·

3 Dixerunt autem ad eum fratres ejus : Transi hinc, et vade in Judaeam, ut et discipuli tui videant opera tua, quae facis.  

4 οὐδεὶς γάρ ⸂τι ἐν κρυπτῷ⸃ ποιεῖ καὶ ζητεῖ αὐτὸς ἐν παρρησίᾳ εἶναι· εἰ ταῦτα ποιεῖς, φανέρωσον σεαυτὸν τῷ κόσμῳ.

4 Nemo quippe in occulto quid facit, et quaerit ipse in palam esse : si haec facis, manifesta teipsum mundo.  

5 οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπίστευον εἰς αὐτόν.

5 Neque enim fratres ejus credebant in eum. 

6 λέγει οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὔπω πάρεστιν, ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὁ ὑμέτερος πάντοτέ ἐστιν ἕτοιμος.

6 Dicit ergo eis Jesus : Tempus meum nondum advenit : tempus autem vestrum semper est paratum.  

7 οὐ δύναται ὁ κόσμος μισεῖν ὑμᾶς, ἐμὲ δὲ μισεῖ, ὅτι ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ πονηρά ἐστιν.

7 Non potest mundus odisse vos : me autem odit, quia ego testimonium perhibeo de illo quod opera ejus mala sunt.  

8 ὑμεῖς ἀνάβητε εἰς τὴν ⸀ἑορτήν· ἐγὼ ⸀οὐκ ἀναβαίνω εἰς τὴν ἑορτὴν ταύτην, ὅτι ὁ ⸂ἐμὸς καιρὸς⸃ οὔπω πεπλήρωται.

8 Vos ascendite ad diem festum hunc, ego autem non ascendo ad diem festum istum : quia meum tempus nondum impletum est.

9 ταῦτα ⸀δὲ εἰπὼν ⸀αὐτὸς ἔμεινεν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ.

9 Haec cum dixisset, ipse mansit in Galilaea.  

10 Ὡς δὲ ἀνέβησαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ ⸂εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνέβη⸃, οὐ φανερῶς ἀλλὰ ὡς ἐν κρυπτῷ.

10 Ut autem ascenderunt fratres ejus, tunc et ipse ascendit ad diem festum non manifeste, sed quasi in occulto.

Annotations

    1. After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Not immediately, but about six months after. The incidents of the former chapter took place in March, the feast of tabernacles was in September. But Christ lived six months after this, to the following March. All which follows Christ said and did in the last months of His life. S. John then omits here the events of these six months, amongst which are the defence of the disciples for eating with unwashed hands; the healing of the daughter of the Canaanitish woman; St. Peter’s testimony, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for which He was constituted the head of the Church; the paying the tribute-money; His reproof of the Apostles for disputing who was the greatest, &c. For all this which S. John omits had been recorded by the other Evangelists.

    Jesus walked in Galilee. He was already in Galilee, but it means He went to and fro in Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God.

    for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him, because He kept not the Sabbath, as the Jews did, but healed the sick on that day, and called God His father, and consequently asserted that He Himself was God (see chap. v. 18). It appears that Jesus did not go up to Jerusalem at either the Passover or Pentecost of this year. And this because He knew the death that was devised against Him, before His appointed time; not because He feared the Jews, or dreaded death, but to set us an example of flying from our persecutors, till God otherwise reveals, and delivers us into their hands, as S. Athanasius did. (So say S. Augustine and others.)

    2. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. They kept it for seven days, living in booths, hastily constructed of branches of trees, in memory of the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness. The Syriac version for Scenopegia [σκηνοπηγία] reads Conopea quite wrongly. For these were mosquito curtains, not booths. Abulensis (in Lev. xxiii. 34) gives a most erroneous derivation of σκηνοπηγία, and Plutarch from not knowing Hebrew was equally wrong in regarding this feast as merely a Bacchanalian orgy, mistaking also the meaning of Sabbath.

    3. And his brethren said to him:  Not the sons of Joseph, as Leontius, Cyril, and Euthymius supposed, for both Joseph and Mary remained virgins; nor yet James and John, as Chrysostom thinks, for they were Apostles already, but kinsmen of the Blessed Virgin, or even of Joseph (see S. Luke, chap. iii. ad fin.) Some, that is, of His kinsfolk, not all; for some believed in Him, some not.

    Pass from hence, and go into Judea. From Galilee and the ignoble Capharnaum to the coming feast of tabernacles, to make Thyself known to them by Thy doctrine and miracles. They wish to draw Him away from Galilee, to be known and renowned at Jerusalem.

    that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou dost. Thou. O Jesus, our kinsman, art performing wondrous works in a corner of Galilee, before Thy few and poor disciples in Galilee, come with us to Jerusalem, and work similar works there; that Thy disciples, whom Thou hast there obtained by Thy preaching, and wilt hereafter gain by Thy miracles, not from the people only, but also from the Priests, Scribes, and chiefs of the people, may be instructed or confirmed in Thy faith, and receive thee as a Prophet and the Messiah. For they wished that Christ should come especially to their notice, that the chief rulers should proclaim Jesus to be the Messiah, and propose Him as such for the reception of the people. For it was theirs to decide about the faith, the prophets, and the Messiah, and what they decided that the people followed and did.

    4. For there is no man that doth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly.   Εν παρρησὶα properly means to be at liberty; but here, as opposed to “secretly,” it means “openly” (see John v.13; xvi. 25, 29; xviii. 20; and S. Mark viii. 32). So Maldonatus and others.

    If thou do these things, manifest thyself to the world. “If” does not imply doubt, but means assertion, and is the same as “since.” Since Thou doest such great and wondrous works in Galilee, do the same in Jerusalem, that there all Israel, and from them the whole world, may know who Thou art, and what dignity, power, and virtue Thou hast received from the Father. For as Raphael saith, “For it is good to hide the secret of a king: but honourable to reveal and confess the works of God.” (Tob. xii. 7). They make the praise of Christ and the glory of God a cloak for their own covetousness and ambition: for they wished that as Christ became renowned by the fame of His miracles, they as His kinsman might become renowned, and honoured by the people, and be loaded with gifts: and might, moreover, secure the favour of the rulers and priests, and then, as they hoped, rise to high offices in the state. Just as when one is made Pope, or Cardinal, or Bishop, his kinsfolk at once flock about him, to gain through him honours and wealth. For “all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.”

    5. For neither did his brethren believe in him. They so freely and boldly urged Jesus to come with them to Jerusalem, because they did not fully believe that He was the Christ. For had they believed it, they would not have dared to speak to Him so freely. So says Euthymius. For though they saw Him work so many miracles, and did not doubt their truth, yet they doubt whether He were the Messiah and the Son of God. For though they wished it to be true, and partly believed it on account of His many miracles, yet on the other hand they doubted when they saw Him so poor and despised. To make certain they urge Christ to go with them to Jerusalem, where the Scribes and Priests could, on examination had, declare Him to be the Christ, and thus He, and they through Him, might gain honour and celebrity.

    6. Then Jesus said to them: My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. My time is appointed of the Father, but it must be put off for a few days, through the hatred with which the Jews pursue me. For this reason I will go up in a few days, but with secrecy. But do ye go first, for any time is fitting and appropriate for you. I will follow you secretly. (See Jansenius, F. Lucas, and others.)

    On the other hand, S. Chrysostom and others (see Maldonatus) consider that the time spoken of is the time of His death, which had not yet come. The first meaning is the best.

    7. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil. You (my kinsmen) can go at any time to Jerusalem without risk, because ye do not oppose the Scribes, but rather favour, and pay them court. But I, if I go up openly with you, put Myself in manifest peril of My life. So S. Cyril, who also adds the reason, “For a mind given to pleasures, greatly resents being called away from them;” for the Scribes were unwilling to abandon their pleasures, their luxuries, their injustice, and therefore hated Christ, who wished to draw them away from them, as the wise man says (Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. Wisdom ii. 12).

    8. Go you up to this festival day,  For ye have no danger to fear (says Euthymius).

    but I go not up to this festival day: because my time is not accomplished. I am waiting for the anger of the Scribes to subside. For they are looking out for Me to kill Me at the beginning of the feast, but after three days I shall come up secretly and with less danger by myself. For it is clear from verse 10 that He came up a little while after. It is probable that Christ said, as the Vulgate reads, “I go not up,” for had he said, “I go not up yet,” his kinsmen would have proposed to wait for Him. But Christ’s meaning was, I go not up yet, though He did not say so to His kinsmen, to relieve their vexation. Secondly, S. Augustine and Cyril explain “I go not up on this first day of the Feast, but afterwards on the fourth day.” But the truer view is that He determined to go up on the first day (see on ver. 14). Maldonatus explains, “I go not up as ye wish and suppose, as a mere man to be honoured and followed by the people. But I shall soon go up thither as the Messiah and Son of God to teach them the way of salvation, and thus seek, to extend His glory and not My own. But this seems somewhat forced.

    9.-10. When he had said these things, he himself stayed in Galilee. But after his brethren were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret. Christ appears not to have taken the straight road through Samaria, but to have crossed the Jordan, and after dismissing the multitudes, to have gone up to Jerusalem, with a few of His favoured disciples, in secret (see Matt. xix.1, 2; Luke ix. 51, 53; Mark ix. 29, x. 1).

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

Lord, to whom shall we go? St John Chapter vi, verses 66-72

St John Chapter vi : Verses 66-72

Contents

• St John Chapter vi : Verses 66-72. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter vi : Verses 66-72

 One of you is a devil...Now he meant Judas Iscariot.
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

66 And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.  

67 After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.  

68 Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?  

69 And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  

70 And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.

71 Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil?  

72 Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him, whereas he was one of the twelve.

[SBLG does not always match the Vulgate]

65 καὶ ἔλεγεν· Διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηκα ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐλθεῖν πρός με ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ δεδομένον αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ ⸀πατρός.

66 Et dicebat : Propterea dixi vobis, quia nemo potest venire ad me, nisi fuerit ei datum a Patre meo.  

66 Ἐκ τούτου πολλοὶ ⸀ἐκ ⸂τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπῆλθον⸃ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ οὐκέτι μετ’ αὐτοῦ περιεπάτουν.

67 Ex hoc multi discipulorum ejus abierunt retro : et jam non cum illo ambulabant.  

67 εἶπεν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τοῖς δώδεκα· Μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς θέλετε ὑπάγειν;

68 Dixit ergo Jesus ad duodecim : Numquid et vos vultis abire?  

68 ⸀ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ Σίμων Πέτρος· Κύριε, πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα; ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἔχεις,

69 Respondit ergo ei Simon Petrus : Domine, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes :  

69 καὶ ἡμεῖς πεπιστεύκαμεν καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ⸀ἅγιος τοῦ ⸀θεοῦ.

70 et nos credidimus, et cognovimus quia tu es Christus Filius Dei. 

70 ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Οὐκ ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς τοὺς δώδεκα ἐξελεξάμην; καὶ ἐξ ὑμῶν εἷς διάβολός ἐστιν.

71 Respondit eis Jesus : Nonne ego vos duodecim elegi : et ex vobis unus diabolus est?  

71 ἔλεγεν δὲ τὸν Ἰούδαν Σίμωνος ⸀Ἰσκαριώτου· οὗτος γὰρ ἔμελλεν ⸂παραδιδόναι αὐτόν⸃, ⸀εἷς ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα.

72 Dicebat autem Judam Simonis Iscariotem : hic enim erat traditurus eum, cum esset unus ex duodecim.

Annotations

    66. And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father, i.e., unless My Father draw him, as He said in verse 44. Graciously does Christ not attribute the unbelief of the Jews to their fault, but excuses them on the ground that it was not given them of the Father: at the same time He consoles Himself, as it were, thus—” I do not distress Myself because many do not believe in Me, but I console Myself because the Father will cause to believe in Me those whom He hath chosen, and will cause them to come to Me. With these I am content. I am not ambitious of others. For whom the Father willeth (to come), those I also will; and those whom He willeth not (to come), those likewise I do not will.” Yet those who would not come, i.e., would not believe in Christ, sinned, both because they had sufficient grace, by which they might have believed if they had wished (although they had not efficacious grace, by which they would really and actually believe), as also because they did not humbly ask of God efficacious grace, also because by their pride, and other sins, they had rendered themselves unworthy of that grace. Yea, by their obstinacy they repelled the grace and faith of God, as S. Cyprian learnedly explains (lib. I, epist. 3, ad. Cornel.)

    67. After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. 

    After this. From this time, say Euthymius and others: otherwise the Syriac, on account of this discourse: Arabic, because of this, left Jesus, &c. These disciples were not the Apostles, for Christ excepts them in the following verse. Neither were they the seventy-two disciples. For those had not yet been designated and chosen by Christ. But they were His more constant hearers and followers, “who.” as Theophylact says, “followed Him in the rank of His disciples, and remained with Him longer than the multitudes, and so, compared with the rest of the crowd, were called His disciples. These persons therefore up to this time being allured by the sweet doctrine of Christ, fed by the loaves miraculously multiplied, and hoping to be fed in future by similar food, when they heard Christ substituting His own Flesh in the place of bread, and willing that they should eat It, thought either that He was mad, or else was contriving some horrible and savage scheme, or perchance a conspiracy against the Romans, and would inaugurate it by their tasting His flesh and blood, as Cataline had done before at Rome. Thus, to provide for their own safety, they fell away from Christ.

    S. Epiphanius declares expressly that one of these was S. Mark, who was afterwards brought back by S. Peter, and became an Evangelist (Hœres. 51): but others deny this, and assert that S. Mark neither saw nor heard Christ (in the flesh), but was converted by S. Peter after His death. So S. Jerome on Ecclesiastical Writers, and others.

    68. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? For when the others were scandalized and went away from Christ “the Twelve remained,” says S. Augustine, “for not even did Judas go away:” partly for shame’s sake, not to be the only Apostle to go away, and be called an apostate; partly that he might be fed by Christ without labour on his part, as he had been hitherto; and that as he bore the bag and was a sort of purveyor for Christ’s family, he might steal and enrich himself. For he was a thief.

    Christ asks the question of the Apostles for five reasons. 

    (1.)The first was that He might leave them their liberty. As though He said, “I give you your choice: if ye wish to go away, depart: if ye wish to remain with Me, remain. I will not retain you either by force, or shame.” Listen to S. Chrysostom. “Jesus neither flattered, nor drove away: but He asked the question, not because He despised them, but that they might not seem to be retained by compulsion.” For if they had remained unwillingly, He would have been in exactly the same condition as if they had gone away.

    (2.) To show His greatness of soul; and that He did not need the work of Apostles, forasmuch as He by Himself could do all things: and when they were sent away, He could substitute others who were better in their place.

    (3.) That the Apostles might understand that by remaining, they did not commend, or show favour to Jesus, but to themselves. “That they received rather than conferred a benefit,” says Theophylact.

    (4.) That by this freedom of choice He might the more bind them to Himself, and invite them to remain. For it often occurs, as a natural consequence, that when we are asked, we decline; when we are not asked, we desire; when we are invited, we flee; when we are not invited, we draw near.

    (5.) That by this interrogation He might prove their affection, and try their constancy, and draw a confession of their true faith concerning Himself. So S. Cyril. And that such a confession was drawn forth is plain from the next verse.

    69. And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. Peter, as greater in rank (ordine major), says S. Cyril, firmer in faith, more loving to Jesus, more fervent in spirit, answered in the name of the rest of the Apostles, thinking that this was the mind and feeling of all. For that which he himself thought of Jesus he believed his colleagues thought likewise.

    to whom shall we go? Meaning, says S. Augustine, “Do you send us from Thee? Give us another such as Thou art. To whom shall we go, if we leave Thee?” Wherefore S. Chrysostom says, “This is an answer of great affection. For Christ was preferable to both father and mother.”

    thou hast the words of eternal life. First, as it were said, “Thy words, O Jesus, are sweet and life-giving, because they promise the very eternal life. Who therefore, save a fool, would leave them, and go elsewhere?” S. Cyril saith, “Not hard are the words, as those Capharnaites say, but Thou hast the words of eternal life, which are able to lead those who believe to the incorruptible life.” Wherefore what Thou hast said concerning Thy flesh to be eaten, that by It we may obtain eternal life, although I do not as yet well understand it, yet am I not scandalized, nor offended by Thy words, but I firmly believe them to be true, not doubting that in due time I shall understand them better, and silently asking and beseeching Thee to cause me to do this.

    (2.) By Thy words, O Jesus, Thou dost promise us eternal life, if we eat Thy Flesh. These words draw us and unite us to Thee, rather than drive us away. For who would not wish for eternal life, and such a means of obtaining it? Wherefore the Arabic renders, To whom shall we go, since the words of eternal life are with Thee? “Hence we learn,” says Cyril, “that one only Christ who is able to bring us to everlasting life, must be followed as our Master.”

    (3.) thou hast the words, &c. Because Thou art Life eternal. Therefore in Thy Flesh and Blood Thou only givest what Thou art, says S. Augustine. Thou art the Word of the Father: and therefore Thou hast in Thee eternal life, because Thou art Life eternal Itself. What wonder then if Thou bestowest on those who eat Thee, life eternal? For Thou dost bestow that very self-same thing which Thou art.

    70. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God. The Greek has the article to both Christ and Son: ὁ χριστὸς, the Christ promised by God, and excepted for so many ages: ὁ υἱὸς, i.e., the Son of God by nature and substance, not adopted by grace. “Diligently consider this,” says Cyril, “that everywhere, especially with the prefix of the article, they say, Thou art the very Christ, the very Son of the Living God, truly and naturally separating (this) Son from other sons of God, who being called, are adopted by grace. And we being conjoined by likeness to Him, are called sons.”

    We know, from the testimony of John the Baptist, our prophet and master, from the many and great miracles which Thou hast wrought, from Thy heavenly doctrine, and the holiness of Thy life, which we who are in constant intercourse with Thee, know to be heavenly and Divine.

    Son of God: the Greek adds τοῦ ξωντς, the living, so also the Syriac and Arabic read. The meaning is, We believe that Thou art the Son of God. Wherefore, we also believe that all Thy sayings are Divine and most true, even when we do not understand them, and therefore that they are life-giving, and confer salvation and eternal life. For Thou art the Son of the Living God, who in His Essence is Life, which He communicates to Thee: therefore nothing can proceed from Thee but what is vital and life-giving: neither do we expect anything else from Thee.

    71. Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil?, Thou, O Peter, answerest in the name of all the Apostles, as if all believed in Me, and were My faithful friends. But know that thou art deceived, for one of them is a devil, unbelieving, and faithless to Me, who also will betray Me.

    Have chosen Twelve, as to the Apostleship according to their present state apt and meet. Whence it seems that Judas the traitor, even when he was first chosen by Christ, was good and honest. For prudence and charity forbid the choice of one who is dishonest. So S. Cyril, Maldonatus and others. Also S. Jerome (lib. 3, cont. Pelag.), Tertullian (lib. de prœscrip. hœret. c. 3). Some, however, think that Judas, when he was bad, as Christ knew, was yet chosen by Him to be an Apostle, with this object, that it might be one of His own who should betray Him, and so afford the occasion and the way for His passion and death, and from them the redemption of men. This opinion is attributed to SS. Bede and Augustine, yet neither says so expressly. Indeed, both rather intimate that Judas was chosen by Christ when he was good, even though he was known to be about to become bad by his own fault. Hear S. Augustine: “Their number of Twelve was consecrated, who through the four quarters of the world were to proclaim the Trinity. And because one of them perished, not on that account was the honour of that number taken away from them. For in the room of him who perished another was chosen.” And after a while he says, “He was chosen, from whom, albeit unwilling, and knowing it not, a great good was to proceed. For as wicked men wickedly use the good works of God, so, on the contrary, God for good uses the wicked works of men. The Lord used for good the wicked Judas, and delivered Himself to be betrayed that He might redeem us.” Hear also Bede: “To one end He chose eleven, to another end one. These He chose that they should persevere in the dignity of the apostolate, him, that by the office of his treachery He might work out the salvation of the human race.”

    A devil: Syriac, Satan: Nonnus, he who is called by posterity another new devil. Christ would not name Judas that He might spare his reputation. “He neither openly pointed him out,” says S. Chrysostom, “nor wished him to lie concealed. The former was that he might not contend too impudently; the latter, lest supposing he was concealed, he should act too unguardedly.” He did it also that he might impress the Apostles with fear, that they like Judas might not apostatize, nor presume proudly upon their own constancy. Listen to Cyril: “He confirms them by sharper words, and makes them diligent by the peril before their eyes. For it is thus He seems to speak, Ye have need, O ye disciples, of great watchfulness, and great care for your safety: for the way of perdition is very slippery.” After a while, “He makes all more watchful, because He does not say openly who would betray Him, but affirming that the charge of such heinous impiety hung over one, He makes them all anxious, and by the dread of such a thing He arouses them to greater vigilance.”

    You will ask why Judas is called a devil. I answer 

    (1.) because he was διάβολος (diabolus), i.e., a false accuser. For he spoke evil of the works and miracles of Christ to the Scribes and chief priests.

    (2.) He was a diabolus, Hebrew and Syriac, a Satan, i.e., an adversary, because he opposed himself to Christ.

    (3.) He was a diabolus because he did not believe in Christ. because he was a thief and a liar. For the devil is “a liar and the father of a lie” (cap. 8.) Wherefore Christ saith, he is a devil, in the present tense, not will be in the future.

    (4.) He was a devil, that is a minister of the devil, an instrument and organ of the devil. For at the instigation of the devil he betrayed Christ his Lord and his God, as though he had been possessed of a devil. Whence John says (xiii. 27), that “Satan entered into him.” So S. Chrysostom and others. So in common speech a very wicked man is called a devil.

    (5.) He was a diabolus, i.e., betrayer of Christ. For in this sense diabolus is used for a traitor in Ecclus. xxvi. 6. in the Greek, though the Vulgate has betrayal. So the devil is the traitor angel, because by his malice he betrayed and ruined the angelic state. For from the angelic choirs and from heaven Lucifer, the traitor, by his perfidy dragged down with himself to hell the third part of the stars (Apoc. xii. 4). He betrayed therefore heaven and its inhabitants to hell and destruction.

    Christ is alluding to the fall of Lucifer, who being chosen by God prince of the angels, by his pride made himself a devil and the prince of the demons. In like manner Judas chosen by Christ to the angelic office of the Apostolate, by his own fault fell from it, and made himself a companion of the devil, and a diabolus, that we may learn to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and to fear a fall, although we stand in the most holy places. For the higher the place the greater is the fall, and the ruin the more profound.

    72. Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him, whereas he was one of the twelve. Christ forewarns the Apostles, so that when they should afterwards behold the treachery of Judas, they might know that He had foreseen and foretold it, and therefore that it was not against His will, but by the permission of His certain counsel that this was done to bring about His death, by which He might redeem the human race.

    Here John finishes the acts of the second year of Christ’s preaching, up to the third year, or from the second Passover to the third. He proceeds with the acts of the third year in the following chapter. He passes over therefore many acts of Christ’s second year, because they had been given at length by the other three Evangelists. He concludes Christ’s second year with the multiplication of the loaves, which He wrought about the time of the Passover, and which furnished the occasion of Christ’s long argument with the Jews concerning the spiritual bread and His Flesh to be partaken in the Eucharist.

+       +        +

 

The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam. 

This saying is hard, and who can hear it? St John Chapter vi, verses 61-65

St John Chapter vi : Verses 61-65

Contents

• St John Chapter vi : Verses 61-65. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter vi : Verses 61-65

He that would betray Him (verse 65).
J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

61 Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it?  

62 But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you?  

63 If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 

64 It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.  

65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him.

[Ed. Greek and Latin verse numbering out of synch. at this point]

60 Πολλοὶ οὖν ἀκούσαντες ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ εἶπαν· Σκληρός ἐστιν ⸂ὁ λόγος οὗτος⸃· τίς δύναται αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν;

61 Multi ergo audientes ex discipulis ejus, dixerunt : Durus est hic sermo, et quis potest eum audire?  

61 εἰδὼς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὅτι γογγύζουσιν περὶ τούτου οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Τοῦτο ὑμᾶς σκανδαλίζει;

62 Sciens autem Jesus apud semetipsum quia murmurarent de hoc discipuli ejus, dixit eis : Hoc vos scandalizat?  

62 ἐὰν οὖν θεωρῆτε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀναβαίνοντα ὅπου ἦν τὸ πρότερον;

63 si ergo videritis Filium hominis ascendentem ubi erat prius?  

63 τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ ζῳοποιοῦν, ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν· τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ ⸀λελάληκα ὑμῖν πνεῦμά ἐστιν καὶ ζωή ἐστιν.

64 Spiritus est qui vivificat : caro non prodest quidquam : verba quae ego locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt.  

64 ἀλλὰ εἰσὶν ἐξ ὑμῶν τινες οἳ οὐ πιστεύουσιν. ᾔδει γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ Ἰησοῦς τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ μὴ πιστεύοντες καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ παραδώσων αὐτόν.

65 Sed sunt quidam ex vobis qui non credunt. Sciebat enim ab initio Jesus qui essent non credentes, et quis traditurus esset eum.

Annotations

    61. Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? Hard, i.e., austere, rigid, oppressive, unmerciful. The Arabic has difficult: Euthymius, can scarcely be admitted. And who can hear it? “Who can,” we do not say, ‘do such a thing, but even bear to hear it?” What Jesus said concerning His Flesh, and especially the command to eat It (ver. 54). except ye eat, &c., seems too difficult to be believed, and too horrible to be done. For what butcher will slay Christ? Who can bear to eat human flesh, or drink human blood? These are the feasts of cannibals, such as the heathen who did not understand the mystery of the Flesh of Christ in the Eucharist in after times reproached Christians with, and so were imitators of those Capharnaites, as Tertullian and other Fathers testify.

    This saying was not hard in itself, but hard to the stupid Jews, who imagined that the Flesh of Christ was to be cut by a butcher, and mangled by the teeth like the flesh of an ox. But they greatly erred, for Christ neither said this, nor meant it. But He wished us to eat His Flesh sacramentally, i.e., hidden in the Sacrament under the species of bread and wine, a thing which is not dreadful, but which we who daily offer and communicate find by experience to be most easy and sweet. The Jews ought therefore humbly to have asked Christ to unfold to them the manner of doing this. It they would have done this, they would have heard it, and might have received it, and not thought the saying hard. As Cyril says, “They thought that they were called to the savage manners of wild beasts, and were urged to eat raw human flesh, and drink blood, things too horrible to hear of. Such were their thoughts as to how the flesh of this man would bestow eternal life, and bring them to immortality.”

    62. But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you?, Greek, ἐν ἑαυῷ, Syriac, in His soul, i.e., through His omniscience, without any one to tell, or reveal it. “For this was a proof of His Divinity, that He revealed secrets,” says Chrysostom. 

    That His disciples murmured at this, He saith unto them, Doth this scandalize you? As though he said, “I do so many and wonderful things because I am sent by the Father for this purpose, as I have proved to you by My miracles; ye ought not therefore to be scandalized and offended at My words and deeds, but ye ought rather to ask God who sent Me for light and grace, that ye may be able to receive them.”

    63. If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? “He is speaking,” says Euthymius, “concerning His future ascension into heaven.” For some of them, such as the Apostles, beheld this. And others, who did not believe, although they saw it not, might have heard, and certainly learnt from those who did see.

    Where He was before, as regards His Divinity, says Euthymius. For He ascended into heaven, as regards His humanity. What will ye say, must be understood, as Euthymius observes. “Will ye be still scandalized? I trust not. Certainly I know ye will not rightly be so. For by My ascension into heaven by My own power ye will be able to know that I came down from heaven, and that I return whither I was before, and therefore that I am not only true and a prophet, but that I am also God, and the Son of God, to whom all things are possible, yea easy, and therefore that I am able to give My Flesh for food, and by It to raise the dead. From the miracle of His ascension into heaven Christ rightly proves His Divinity and omnipotence, and from them the mystery of the Eucharist. For to the Deity nothing is impossible, nothing strange, nothing paradoxical. Yea, it is becoming to Deity to do things strange (nova) and paradoxical, which are above nature and human reason. As S. Cyril says, “By another wonderful thing He urges them to faith,” and that appositely. For the ascension of Christ into heaven signified that He came down from heaven (for He went back from whence He came), and therefore that He was the Living Bread which came down from heaven, which was what He here wished to persuade the Capharnaites.

    Maldonatus explains otherwise, thus, “When ye shall hear that I have ascended into heaven, what will ye say? Surely ye will be still more scandalized; ye will still less believe Me; ye will say that I am a sorcerer, who by the aid of the devils have pretended to fly into heaven.”

    64. It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life: 

    the flesh. Arabic, the body, &c. The Calvinists bring forward against us these words of Christ to show that in the Eucharist there is not the Flesh of Christ really and corporeally, but only spiritually and figuratively by representation and faith, because, say they, the flesh profiteth nothing. But if this be true, then in vain was the Word made Flesh, then in vain did the Flesh of Christ suffer and was crucified, and died. God forbid. And who does not see that the Flesh of Christ is more profitable than the mere bread of Calvin, even though it were seasoned with sugar and honey out of Calvin’s throat? For in his bread there is no spirit, except the spirit of error and satanic madness.

    First then SS. Cyril and Austin learnedly expound these words, thus: they are as if Christ said, “My Flesh alone profits not to preserve him who eats It unto life eternal, because it is not My mere Flesh which confers life and resurrection, but it is the Spirit, i.e., My Divinity united to the Flesh which quickens first the soul, and then the body at the Resurrection. And thus My Flesh profiteth very exceedingly, forasmuch as being united to the Spirit of the Word, it derives from It its quickening power.” By a similar form of speech we are wont to say, The eye doth not see, the ear doth not hear, nor the body feel, but it is the spirit, i.e., the soul, which sees through the eye, and hears through the ear. Consequently, the words, i.e., the reality and the mystery of My Flesh to be eaten in the Eucharist, which I speak unto you are spirit and life. That is, My Deity, which is a pure Spirit, is a living and quickening Spirit. For It will give you life in the Eucharist, not My bare Flesh. So S. Augustine says, “This Flesh alone profiteth not, but let the Spirit be joined to the Flesh, and It profiteth greatly. For if the Flesh profiteth nothing, the Word would not have become Flesh.” The same (lib. 10, de. Civit. Dei) says, “The Flesh of itself cleanseth not, but through the Word by which it hath been assumed.” And S. Cyril, “If the Flesh be understood alone, it is by no means able to quicken, forasmuch as it needs a Quickener, but because it is conjoined with the life-giving Word, the whole is made life-giving. For the Word of God being joined to the corruptible nature does not lose Its virtue, but the Flesh itself is lifted up to the power of the higher nature. Therefore, although the nature of flesh as flesh cannot quicken; still it doth this because it hath received the whole operation of the Word.”

    For Christ is here making answer to the Capharnaites murmuring as to how Christ’s Flesh being eaten could give eternal life. But He gave this answer because they had murmured still more concerning the eating the flesh of Christ, and the method of doing so, which they thought of as something carnal and barbarous, as is seen by verses 52 and 60, and 61. For it seems something savage and inhuman to tear like wolves, and devour the human flesh of Christ. Hence secondly.

    More aptly and naturally, the flesh, i.e., the carnal understanding, by which in sooth ye suppose that My Flesh is to be visibly cut and eaten like the flesh of sheep, profits nothing for the bestowal of everlasting life: but the spirit and the spiritual intelligence, by which we believe that the Flesh of Christ united to His spiritual Divinity, i.e., in a sacramental manner, veiled and hidden in the Eucharist under the species of bread and wine, is to be eaten—this gives life to soul and body. So S. Chrysostom, &c. No otherwise is S. Augustine’s meaning on the 98th Ps. (Vulg.), if he be carefully read: He says, “It is not this body which ye see nor the blood which those who crucify Me will shed, that ye are about to eat and drink. I commend unto you a sacrament which spiritually understood will quicken you. And although it be necessary that it be visibly celebrated, yet it ought to be understood in an invisible sense.” These words the Calvinists understood thus, that in the Eucharist we eat the Flesh of Christ not really, but figuratively and mystically by faith. But they are in error. For the meaning of S. Augustine is, In the Eucharist we do not eat the Flesh of Christ by visibly cutting and masticating it, as the Capharnaites supposed, but under a sacrament, i.e., sacramentally and invisibly, lying hid under the species of bread and wine. For if understood otherwise, S. Augustine would conflict with himself (Serm. I. in Ps. xxxiii. and Lib. 22, Civit. c. 8, and elsewhere), where he manifestly upholds the truth of Christ’s Body in the Eucharist.

    Wherefore Christ subjoins, The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life : Spirit, i.e., are spiritual, and must be understood spiritually, i.e., Sacramentally, in the manner in which I have now explained, and not carnally, as ye Capharnaites, like butchers, understand them. So they are life, i.e., vital, and bestow life on him who heareth and eateth Me. There is a hebraism, by which the abstract is put for the concrete. Thus frequently elsewhere the flesh and spirit are put for the carnal and spiritual understanding and sense. Thus 2 Cor. iii. 6, “The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” Matt. xvi.17. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.” Moreover it is common in Scripture to play upon the meanings of words. Wherefore it is not surprising that flesh is to be understood differently from what it is in verse 56, &c. My Flesh is truly Food. For there real, but here figurative flesh is meant. So Christ plays upon the meaning of water (c. 4.), rising from the corporeal to the spiritual sense. So the Apostle plays upon the word sin (2 Cor. v. 21), “He who knew no sin, was made sin,” i.e., a Victim for sin, “for us.”

    Thirdly, the fullest sense will be if we join both meanings previously given, and with Bede unite them into one, thus—The virtue of giving life which My Flesh eaten in the Eucharist possesses, is not derived so much from the flesh as from the Spirit of the Word which is living and life-giving. And consequently this eating of My Flesh is not to be taken in the carnal manner of butchers, but in a spiritual manner, and accommodated to the spirit, that is to say in a hidden and sacramental manner. For from the words of Christ ignorantly understood the Capharnaites alleged the contrary of both, and turned away, as is plain from the words. And so this spiritual, i.e., sacramental, manner of eating the Flesh of Christ by taking the species of bread and wine, under which in reality lie hid the Body and Blood of Christ and His Divinity Itself, occasions no horror to the eater, and causes no wounding or harm to the Flesh of Christ which is eaten. For here Christ lies hid, and is invisible and indivisible like an angel. So Euthymius says, “They are things spiritual and life-giving. For we ought not simply to look at them (for that is carnally to understand them), but we ought to suppose something else, and to look upon them as mysteries with our inward eyes.”

    65. But there are some of you that believe not.  The reason why some of you do not receive, but oppose, My words concerning the Eucharist, is not because My saying is hard, as ye say, but because ye are faithless, and will not believe My many miracles and signs. For here there is need of humble faith, which ought by lowly prayer to be asked and waited for from God the Father. But ye lack humility both of prayer and faith, and therefore ye neither pray to God, nor believe in Me. So S. Augustine, Bede and Rupert.

    For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. It means that Christ as God knew from eternity what would happen, and this foreknowledge. He communicated to His Humanity from the beginning of His conception. And who should betray Him. By this John intimates that Judas the traitor was one of those who did not believe; indeed, that he was offended at Christ’s sayings concerning the eating His flesh: that he conceived and cherished a dislike to Christ, which at last broke out into treachery against Him. The connection makes this conclusion necessary. Otherwise this mention of the traitor would be inopportune, unless from this discourse of Christ Judas had taken the first initiative of his unbelief and subsequent treachery. So S. Augustine, Bede, &c.

    Christ added this that the Jews might not think that He had, unaware of his future treachery, admitted Judas to the Apostolate. He had done it consciously and advisedly, that so His Passion and man’s redemption might be fulfilled as God had decreed.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen. 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.