36. Question II. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says: You shall weep and lament, etc.
The question is: whether the Apostles in that sorrow merited or demerited. That they merited, it seems:
1. Because it is said in 2 Timothy 2: If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him: therefore to suffer with him was meritorious for them.
2. Likewise, evil sorrow is converted into greater sorrow, but that which is converted into joy—that, I say, is good sorrow; but the sorrow of the Apostles was converted into joy, as is said in the text: Your sorrow shall be turned into joy: therefore it was good and meritorious.
Against this: 1. Because either they willed that Christ should die, or they did not. If not, then they sinned, whence Peter was rebuked for this; but if they did will it, then they did not grieve.
2. Likewise it seems from the text, because the Lord exhorts them not to be troubled: but the Lord does not discourage what is good: therefore to be troubled is not good.
3. Likewise, above in chapter fourteen it is said: If you loved me, you would indeed rejoice: therefore they ought to have rejoiced at the Passion; but whoever grieves over that at which one ought to rejoice grieves inordinately: therefore the Apostles were troubled inordinately and culpably.
I respond: It must be said that there are two ways to judge what kind of sadness it is, namely from the side of its origin and from the side of its manner.
From the side of its origin, sadness has its rise from love. A certain sadness, then, is from pleasurable and carnal love, as when a glutton is saddened at the loss of a good morsel; a certain sadness is from natural love, as when the soul is separated from the body, or a mother at the death of her son; a certain sadness is from social love, as when a friend is saddened when he is bodily separated from a friend whose company delights him; and a certain sadness is from spiritual love, as when someone loves out of charity and suffers with one who suffers.
The first sadness is blameworthy; the second and third are tolerable; but the fourth is praiseworthy.
It must therefore be understood that the Apostles loved the Lord in two ways, namely with a social love, by which one loves a companion because he does not wish to be separated from him, and with a spiritual love. And so there was in them a certain praiseworthy sadness, by which they suffered with Christ, and a certain tolerable sadness, by which they did not wish to be separated from Christ.
From the side of the manner of being sad, it must be understood that measure must be kept in sadness. Hence the Apostle says: Be not sorrowful, even as others who have no hope. Hence sadness ought to be tempered by joy. And in this regard the Apostles went to excess and were deserving of reproof, because they rejoiced in no way; rather, they grieved as those who despair. And with respect to this manner, that is, to remove this immoderation, the Lord exhorted them not to be sorrowful; he exhorted them to rejoice. Hence Chrysostom says: "Great is the tyranny of sadness, and we have need of much manliness to resist this passion; and purifying what is useful, let us set aside what is superfluous. " Therefore they were praiseworthy in their sadness, but blameworthy in its manner.
Third, he consoles the disciples from the hearing of their petitions.
37. Amen, amen I say to you. This is the third part of the chapter, in which the Lord consoles the disciples from the hearing of their petitions; and he proceeds in this part in the following manner. First is noted the Lord's generous promise; second, the consolation of the disciples, at the words: His disciples say to him, etc. The first, then, is described as follows. First is noted the Lord's generosity in promising; second, the opportuneness of the time for petitioning; third, the readiness of will to hear.
(Vers. 23.). First, therefore, the Lord's liberality in promising is made or noted under certitude: on account of which he says: Amen, amen I say to you, this is a sign of certitude: if you shall ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you. If anything, that is, if something: that something is eternal life; whence Augustine: "Whatever else is asked for, nothing is asked for, not because it is no thing at all, but because in comparison with so great a thing, whatever else is desired is nothing"; therefore James 1: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all abundantly, and it shall be given to him."
38. (Vers. 24.). Until now you have not asked. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the fitness of time for asking, which hitherto had not been, but henceforth was to be: therefore he says: Until now you have not asked anything in my name, because it was not the opportune time: because the Lord himself was with them, who gave all things: whence below in chapter seventeen: "When I was with them, I kept them in your name." But from now the time has come: therefore he says: Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full, because all your petition ought to be referred to that joy. This full joy consists in the endowments of soul and body: concerning which Isaiah last chapter: "You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall sprout like grass." And that the apt time for asking has arrived is clear, because until now they neither knew nor recognized from whom they ought to ask: but from now on they shall know: therefore he says:
39. (Vers. 25.). These things I have spoken to you in proverbs: therefore in similitudes, because, First Corinthians 3, "I could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal." But the hour comes when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, that is, obscurely, but plainly of my Father I shall announce to you. That hour was the time of the sending of the Holy Spirit.
40. (Vers. 26.). In that day, that is, in that time, you shall ask in my name, because then you shall know me and the Father: whence Jeremiah 31: "A man shall not say to his brother: Know the Lord: for all shall know me from the least even to the greatest." And this was in the time after the reception of the Holy Spirit, who not only taught, but also compelled to ask: Romans 8: "The Spirit asks for us with unspeakable groanings," that is, makes us ask.
And I do not say to you. Here the third point is noted, namely the promptitude to hear, because the Father was ready to hear the Apostles asking without any mediating intercessor: therefore he says: And I do not say to you that I will ask the Father concerning you, because it is not necessary.
41. (Vers. 27.). For the Father himself loves you, and therefore gladly hears you; and the reason for this is: Because you have loved me: above in the fourteenth chapter: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father"; not only was love the cause, but also faith: and you believed that I came forth from God. And by the merit of faith they deserve to be heard, because it is said in Matthew twenty-one: "All things, whatever you ask in prayer believing, you shall receive." Because therefore you have believed, you deserve to be heard. But until then it had sufficed to believe that he had come forth from God; henceforth it was necessary to believe that he would return to God. Whence, to perfect their faith, he adds:
42. (Vers. 28.). I came forth from the Father and came into the world: I came forth through eternal generation; I came, through the incarnation — and this you believed; whence above in the eleventh chapter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, who came into this world." Again I leave the world, through the passion, and I go to the Father, through the glorious resurrection. Whence when he rose again, he sent word to his disciples through Mary, below in the twentieth chapter: "Tell my brothers: I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God." Concerning these two things it is said in the Psalm: "His going forth is from the highest heaven, and his circuit unto the highest thereof."
43. His disciples say to him. After Christ's promise has been set forth, there is set forth the consolation of the disciples, which is described in this order. First, the consolation is noted; then, because they were deceived, the instruction is set forth; third, because they were wavering, the confirmation is set forth.
(Vers. 29.). First, therefore, the consolation of the disciples is indicated, which they had from the words of the Lord, which they had now understood, and they believed that the promised time of consolation was now at hand. On account of this his disciples say to him: Behold, now you speak plainly and speak no proverb; and so the time has come, of which you say: "The hour comes when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, but shall announce plainly."
44. (Vers. 30.). Now we know that you know all things, and it is not needful for you that anyone should question you. And so the hour has come, of which you said above: "In that day you shall ask me nothing." In this we believe that you came forth from God, because, namely, you know all things; above in the sixth chapter: "We have believed and have known that you are the Christ, the Son of God," etc. For it belongs to God alone to know hidden things; Jeremiah seventeen: "The heart of man is perverse and inscrutable, and who shall know it? I the Lord, searching hearts and testing reins."
45. (Vers. 31.). Jesus answered. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the instruction of the disciples. For because, strengthened by the Lord's discourse, they believed themselves consoled and perfected in faith, the Lord teaches them to think humbly, as he did above to Peter; therefore he takes up their words again, in order to correct them. For this reason he says: Jesus answered them: Do you now believe, that is, you boast of this, that you believe.