Commentary on the Gospel of John 28 part 3/3

XIX. Concerning the fact that, often, when certain grievous things prevail among the human race — such as plagues, or harmful stillnesses of the air, or famines — such things are resolved, the common evil spirit being, as it were, rendered powerless because a certain individual gives himself up on behalf of the common good, many accounts are current among both Greeks and barbarians, who neither spit upon nor reject the notion of such a thing. Whether such things are true or not, however, it is not for the present occasion to examine and determine.

Yet one who is able, on behalf of the whole world, so that the whole world might be purified, to undertake — for its purification — that which, had he not undertaken to die on its behalf, would have perished, has never been recorded in history, nor can be recorded — save only Jesus, who alone has been able to take upon himself the burden of the sin of all, on the cross, apart from God, on behalf of the whole, and to bear it by his own great strength.

For he alone knew how to bear infirmity, as the prophet Isaiah says: 'A man in suffering...'

'...being one who knows how to bear infirmity.' And this one indeed took our sins and has been afflicted because of our transgressions, and the chastisement that was owed to us, unto our being instructed and receiving peace, has come upon him.

For thus I understand the words: 'The chastisement of our peace was upon him.' And perhaps, since we were healed by his stripe, we who have been healed might, since the stripe came to him from the cross, apply to ourselves the words: 'But may it never be that I boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.' This Jesus the Father delivered up for our sins, and because of them he was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb.

In this one's humiliation, in which he humbled himself, having become obedient unto death, even death on a cross, his judgment was taken away; for thus I understand the words: 'In his humiliation his judgment was taken away' — so that the sense may be construed: 'In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.' And this one was led to death because of the transgressions of the people of God.

Therefore this man died for the people, and because of him the whole nation did not perish.

And consider whether you can take the name 'people' as referring to those of the circumcision, and that of 'nation' as referring to the rest.

For this man died not only for the people, but also that the whole nation might not perish — as though he were saying: lest the nation so designated, and all the Gentiles, should perish.

XX. Next in order is the phrase: 'This he did not say of himself.' From this, I think, we learn that some things we humans say of ourselves, with no power at work upon us toward the speaking; while other things are, as it were, suggested and prompted to us by some power sounding within, even if we are not wholly beside ourselves and lacking self-awareness, but rather seem to ourselves to be conscious of what we say.

But it is possible that, while we are conscious of ourselves as to what we say, we do not grasp the intent of what is said — just as now Caiaphas the high priest both 'did not speak of himself' and did not grasp the sense of what he said, as being spoken as prophecy.

And in Paul too there are certain teachers of the law who understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make confident assertions.

But the wise man is not such, concerning whom Solomon says in Proverbs: 'The wise man will understand the things from his own mouth, and upon his lips he will carry discernment.'

It seems to me that circumstance too sometimes becomes the cause of prophesying, just as now, in Caiaphas's case, his being high priest of that year in which Jesus was destined to die for the people, so that the whole nation might not perish. For although there were also other high priests, as is clear from what we have already cited, none of them prophesies except the high priest of that year in which Jesus was destined to suffer.

And circumstance likewise made even Saul's messengers, sent against David, prophesy, and Saul himself as well; for it was, so to speak, their seeking after David that became the cause of the prophecy — though a prophecy of the sort that has been recorded.

Balaam too would not, in taking up his parable, have said 'Out of Mesopotamia he sent for me,' and so on, had he not seen Israel encamped; and, ever seeing a different part of the camp, he was moved by the novelty of what he saw to speak concerning Israel.

Jesus, then, was destined to die for the nation, which was other than the scattered children of God — as is clear from: 'Jesus was destined to die, not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the scattered children of God.'

But what are the children of God who are scattered abroad, in distinction from the nation — this is now the moment to inquire. Concerning these, those who introduce fixed natures will say that the 'spirituals,' according to their teaching, are the children of God — not judging all things spiritually. For this follows necessarily for those who suppose there to be fixed natures, and it is contrary to the Apostle's intent to conceive of 'the spiritual' in this way, since he teaches: 'The spiritual man judges all things, and is himself judged by no one.'

And it follows from this that one who does not judge all things is not spiritual, or is not yet spiritual.

But also, if anyone is judged by someone, then, since the spiritual man is judged by no one, he is not spiritual, or is not yet spiritual.

Perhaps, then, it is better to say that someone becomes spiritual, not having been so before — one who is then, at last, properly speaking, a son of God.

It is time to consider, then, who are now meant by 'children of God,' if not those who, according to those who introduce the natures, are 'spiritual'; and see whether you can understand the scattered children of God, other than the nation, as those already, at the time this was spoken, righteous in God — whether the patriarchs or prophets who had already fallen asleep, or certain other elect of God — or even those who at that time were already strong. For as though the strong existed and there were none who were sick, he says: 'Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill'; and as though there were righteous ones, he says: 'I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.'

Jesus, then, was about to die on behalf of the nation, that it might not perish, and on behalf of the children of God who were in a state of dispersion, that they might be gathered together into one and become in him one flock, one shepherd — at which time, I think, the Savior's prayer is fulfilled, when he says: 'As I and you are one, that they also may be one in us.'

But if there is something deeper to say about Israel — not of nature, but of race/lineage, concerning which it is written: 'Israel is my firstborn son' — having come to be in dispersion, you yourself will also discern this, namely that these are the children of God who are scattered, on whose behalf Jesus was about to die, that he might gather them together into one. 'From that day, therefore, they took counsel together that they might kill him.'

The chief priests and Pharisees, having gathered a council and having deliberated concerning our Savior as to what they must do about him, when Caiaphas the high priest had spoken the words set forth above, being provoked by his words, took counsel together that they might kill the Lord.

Wherefore you will inquire by what spirit he prophesied that Jesus was about to die on behalf of the nation, and whether the Holy Spirit was at work even in such a man and became the cause of the counsel against Jesus, or whether it was not that Spirit at all, but rather another spirit which is able both to speak even in the impious man and to move those like him against Jesus, and which nonetheless also saw something with regard to Jesus, as we have investigated beforehand to the extent of our ability.

He, however, who wishes to defend the point regarding the Holy Spirit — which seems to have become the cause of the chief priests and Pharisees, moved by the words of Caiaphas, taking counsel to kill Jesus — says that such a work is not alien to holiness, since Jesus himself made himself no less worthy when he became a cause of the fall and rising of many in Israel, saying: 'For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.'

For just as we need a word of wisdom to defend how he who confesses that he has come into this world for judgment has not done something unworthy of himself, so also we need a word of wisdom regarding the fact that, through the words spoken by Caiaphas, it was the Holy Spirit that counseled the chief priests and Pharisees to kill Jesus.

Concerning the saying 'For judgment I came into this world,' we have said as much as we were able in the exegetical remarks on that passage. But concerning the matter now before us, one might say the following: just as those who receive it in the worse sense slander the sacred meaning of the Scriptures — which is spoken for the benefit of those seeking to be benefited by it — so as even to seem to have grounds for the construction of the impious teaching of those who speak unrighteousness on high; so too the Pharisees and chief priests, not having heard in a sound manner the prophecy made concerning our Savior by Caiaphas — true in that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation not perish — but having supposed the sense and intention of Caiaphas's counsel to be something else, from that day took counsel together to kill Jesus.

I say these things according to what follows the interpretation concerning the Holy Spirit having prophesied through Caiaphas, not asserting altogether that this is so, but leaving it also to those who read to judge which of the two must be accepted concerning Caiaphas, and how †he was moved beneath the feet of the spirit† [text uncertain]. Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews, but departed to the region near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and there he remained with the disciples.

XXIII. I think that these things and things similar to them have been recorded because the word wishes to turn us away from leaping too fervently and unreasonably into contending unto death for the truth and bearing witness.

For it is good, when one has fallen into the contest concerning confessing Jesus, not to shrink back from confession, nor to hesitate about dying on behalf of the truth.

No less good than this, however, is also not giving occasion to so great a temptation, but avoiding it by every means — not only because the outcome involved is unclear to us, but also so that we may not become the cause of certain persons becoming more sinful and more impious: persons who, if we, doing what lies within our own power, turned aside those plotting against us unto death, would not become guilty in deed of having shed our blood; but who, if out of self-love, and without regard also for their own good, we gave ourselves over to being killed when no necessity had compelled us to this, would incur a greater and heavier punishment than ourselves.

For if indeed one who has become an occasion of sin for someone, by having himself moved the one sinning to this, will pay the penalty for the sins committed by that person on his account, how would not also the one who was able to avoid danger, so that a certain man might not become a betrayer of a Christian and a plotter against the reverence for God shown through Jesus, but who did not avoid it and instead provoked further — will he not also give account concerning that man's sin, even if, to the extent of his eagerness to bear witness and his courage in this, he is worthy of honor and acceptance before the God who is worshiped and the Savior confessed by him?

That these things are written for our sake, that we, having Jesus as an example, might become imitators of him also in such matters, the Scripture that says this will show: 'They sought, therefore, to seize him, and no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.'

For just as, according to this saying, on this account no one laid a hand on him though he was present and not fleeing, because his hour had not yet come, so also, even apart from withdrawing, at a time when our hour has not yet arrived, we would not be seized.

Wherefore one must give heed not only to 'If they persecute you in this city, flee to another,' and what follows, but also to the fact that, when the chief priests and Pharisees took counsel to kill Jesus —

— keeping what was reasonable, he no longer walked openly among the Jews, nor did he withdraw to another city full of crowds, but to one that was withdrawn/secluded.

For it is written: 'Jesus, therefore, no longer walked openly among the Jews, but departed from there to the region near the desert, to a city called Ephraim.'

And he did not go there alone, but, giving no occasion to those seeking him, he also took the disciples with him and remained there with the disciples.

Such also is what is written in the Gospel according to Matthew, where: 'Having heard that John had been delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee,' and 'having left Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali'; and when the time for his arrest arrived, he took care, so that this should not happen because of himself, neither to be found in Jerusalem, nor in the temple, where he had often taught, nor in any other such place: 'For he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he entered, he and his disciples.'

Thus he withdrew at that time and did not make himself public, so that the chief priests and the Pharisees, wishing to seize him, had need of Judas — because he had been his disciple — to find out with careful inquiry also the places of his withdrawal.

Wherefore then Judas, taking a cohort and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, comes there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

In this passage of the Gospel it is shown that if he had willed not to be caught, he would not have been seized; but he was seized, having humbled himself and become obedient to those who held him, even unto the cross.

For instance, when he went out, and says to those who came into the garden: 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him: 'Jesus the Nazarene.' And when he said to them, 'I am he,' [by power] they went back and fell to the ground.

Then after this, because he willed to take up the dispensation accomplished in the passion, again he asked them: 'Whom do you seek?' And they said: 'Jesus the Nazarene.'

And a little later: 'The cohort and the tribune and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus willingly, and bound him as he offered himself to the bonds.' For if he had not willed to be there, he would have said again, 'I am he,' and so many as they were would have gone backward and all would have fallen to the ground.

And just as through such things he teaches us to withdraw during persecutions and plots against us, so too you might find him in other passages withdrawing also from things reputed to be good in the world, in order that through these he might also teach us to flee the honors of the world and the pre-eminences in it.

For Jesus once, knowing that they were about to come and seize him, to make him king, withdrew to the mountain — but not with the disciples, rather alone, giving no occasion even to them, who loved him and would have wished, together with those wanting to do so, to make him king, so that he might already become also their king in a worldly sense.

These things, then, pertain to the literal sense and to the teaching from the evangelical text concerning withdrawal. But for the anagogical sense, such things might be said: that Jesus formerly walked openly among the Jews, when the Word of God, through the prophets, dwelt as a citizen among them — for Jesus's boldness of speech was 'Thus says the Lord.' But now Jesus no longer walks openly among the Jews, but has departed from there, and the Word of God is no longer among the Jews; and having departed from there (I mean, from the Jews), he came to the region near the desert, concerning which it is said: 'Many are the children of the desolate one, more than of her who has a husband,' and to which it was said: 'Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry, you who are not in labor.'

Now the city near the desert is Ephraim, to which Jesus came, no longer walking openly among the Jews.

Ephraim is interpreted as 'fruitfulness,' being the brother of Manasseh, the elder brother, representing the people 'of forgetfulness.'

For after the people 'of forgetfulness' was left behind, the fruitfulness from the nations was begotten — at the time when God turned the rivers that were in Israel into desert, and the outflows of the waters there into thirst, and their fruitful land into salt-marsh, because of the wickedness of those dwelling in it; but from the nations he turned the desert into pools of water, and their waterless land into outflows of water.

And there he made the hungry to dwell, and they established a city of habitation, the Church; where he sowed fields, according to the seed that fell upon the good and fertile earth and produces a hundredfold, and he planted vineyards — for the Lord's disciples are branches, who also produced the fruit of offspring; and he blessed them and they multiplied exceedingly.

But neither did he, the Lord who saves both men and beasts, consider the more irrational ones among these to be small; for it is written: 'And he did not diminish their cattle.'

And the Jews were diminished and afflicted by the tribulation of evils and pain; and contempt was poured out upon the rulers, on account of Abraham; and he made them wander in a trackless waste and not in a way.

After these, God helped the poor people from the nations, out of poverty, and set them, as sheep, into families/clans, whom the upright shall see and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop its mouth.

And to these things, prophesied mystically in the 106th Psalm, is added: 'Who is wise and will keep these things, and they will understand the mercies of the Lord?'

For, the Lord showing mercy to those from the nations, the wise man will keep these things, understanding the mercies of the Lord.

Therefore Jesus no longer walks openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the region of the whole world, near the desert of the Church, into the city called Ephraim, 'the fruit-bearing one,' and there remained with the disciples.

And Jesus, with his disciples, is even until now near the desert, in the city called Ephraim; for he is present to 'fruitfulness.'

And concerning the origin of this Ephraim, our 'grain-dispenser' Lord, who begot him — he who humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross — might say: 'God has increased me in the land of my humiliation.' Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many of the Jews went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover, that they might purify themselves. They sought, therefore, Jesus, and said among one another, standing in the temple: 'What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?'

One must not consider the Passover of the Lord and the Passover of the Jews to be the same. For the Passover according to the Law is the Lord's, but the Passover of the lawless is that of the Jews.

Wherefore one must observe when the Passover and other days are said to be the Lord's, and when they are not the Lord's but belong to those who are convicted of sins.

For instance, in Exodus it is written, among other things, according to the first commandment concerning the Passover: 'And you shall eat it with haste; it is the Passover of the Lord'; and according to the second: 'If your sons say to you, What is this service to you? you shall say: It is the sacrifice of the Passover of the Lord, how he covered the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt.'

But in Isaiah, the Lord says that the new moons and the Sabbaths and the fast and the holiday and the feasts are not his own, but belong to the sinners.

But if the feasts, it is clear that the Passover too, for this is one of the feasts. And it is written thus: 'Your new moons and your Sabbaths and the great day I cannot endure; fasting and rest, and your new moons and your feasts my soul hates as a day.' And in a certain one of the Twelve it is written: 'I have hated, I have rejected your feasts.'

And so, according to the passage set before us, the Passover was not 'of the Lord' but 'of the Jews'; for our Savior was being plotted against in it.

And for this reason, I think, their Passover has been spoken of them prophetically by the phrase 'I have hated, I have rejected your feasts'; for they have done a deed in it that is not of a feast of God, but accursed, having killed Jesus.

Nevertheless, before this Passover of the Jews, many went up to Jerusalem from the country, that they might purify themselves.

But I would say in advance that many did not understand how they might purify themselves. Wherefore, thinking they were offering to God the service of their Passover, they fell so far short of purifying themselves that they became more accursed than they were accursed before they purified themselves. For the Jews who handed Jesus over to Pilate said: 'It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death' — on account of whom he said to the Savior: 'Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me.'

And indeed those who said they had gone up in order to purify themselves cried out, saying to Pilate: 'Do not release this man, but Barabbas.' Now Barabbas was a robber.

And again: 'The Jews answered: We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.' And again: 'The Jews cried out, saying to Pilate: If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.' And again: 'The Jews cried out: Away, away, crucify him!'

And indeed those who had gone up before the Passover to purify themselves said, at the very Passover itself: 'We have no king but Caesar.' Now what the Savior said to the disciples, prophesying, when he said: 'The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God' — this, beginning from him, has been fulfilled.

For those who deemed him worthy of death thought they were offering a service to God, and they had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover in order to purify themselves.

But the true purification is not before the Passover, but in the Passover, when Jesus died on behalf of those being purified, as the Lamb of God, and took away the sin of the world.

And indeed these Jews sought Jesus, not that they might be benefited, but that they might kill him — 'a man who has spoken to you the truth which I heard from God.'

And indeed, standing in the very temple, they said to one another concerning Jesus: 'What do you think? That he will surely not come to the feast?'

But it was not where these were standing that Jesus was celebrating the feast, but in the large upper room, swept and furnished, where he earnestly desired to eat the Passover with his disciples before his suffering.

You might say that even now they stand in the temple seeking Jesus, relying as it were on the sacred Scriptures, but because of not recognizing the one who has come, in seeking him they revile this one, while confessing another as Christ instead of this one.

But take heed whether you can also speak of other Jews going up to the regions of Jerusalem, and coming so that, having purified themselves, they might be able, when Christ the Passover is sacrificed, to celebrate the feast not with old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

And indeed such persons will seek Jesus, standing in the temple of the Scriptures, and will be perplexed among one another whether Jesus will come to the feast. Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, so that they might seize him.

See how it is testified that he had withdrawn, so that we too might know to do such a thing at the right time. And note that neither the chief priests nor the Pharisees knew where he was; and not knowing, they give orders that if anyone should know where he is, he should report it to them, that they might seize him wherever he is.

Wherefore they give other commands besides these, since they do not know where Jesus is.

Wherefore they give other commands besides the commandments of God, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.

And their commandments, which the Pharisees and chief priests — being the bodily Jews — give, are against Jesus; for they want some to report Jesus to them, so that, having gotten him into their hands, they may betray him.

And you will say that everyone who busies himself with matters concerning Christianity, with a view to overturning it and bringing accusation, is a kind of Pharisee, who thinks he is informing himself about the things concerning Jesus, so that, once Jesus has been reported to him, he may seize him and, having outraged him, kill him.

But since the twenty-eighth volume of the commentaries on the Gospel according to John has now received a sufficient outline, let us here bring the discourse to a close, beginning, God granting it, the things that follow in the twenty-ninth.