64. (Vers. 46.). The officers answered: Never did a man speak thus, as this man speaks; as if they were saying: this is the reason why we did not bring him, because we were struck with awe by the greatness of his teaching, since never did a man speak thus. Never so sweetly: whence the woman hearing him said: "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you," Luke 11; and Song of Songs 4: "Honey and milk are under his tongue." Never so learnedly and wisely: whence Luke 2: "All were astonished at his understanding and his answers"; and Mark 1: "They were astonished at his teaching." Never so powerfully; Matthew 7: "He was teaching as one having authority"; and therefore they marveled at his teaching. Never so profitably: above in chapter 6: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life"; and in the same chapter: "Lord, you have the words of eternal life."
65. (Vers. 47.). The Pharisees therefore answered them. Having heard the response of the officers, the Pharisees rebuke them for having given credence to his teaching; whence they say: Have you also been led astray? And they endeavor to show that they had been led astray by the example of the wicked.
66. (Vers. 48.). Has any one of the rulers believed in him? As if to say: none; or of the Pharisees, who, that is, know the Law: none who are learned, but only the ignorant.
67. (Vers. 49.). But this crowd, which does not know the Law, believes, namely; and because they are ignorant of what they ought to know, and believe what they ought not, they are accursed: Deuteronomy 27: "Cursed is he who does not abide in the words of this Law." Chrysostom: "Nothing is more manifest than truth, nothing simpler; yet to the malicious nothing is more difficult. For behold, the wise men, scribes, and Pharisees, who had seen the signs and read the Scriptures, were wounded by the truth and blinded. But the officers, who had seen nothing, were captured by one single utterance, and those who had come to bind went away bound." But afterward the Pharisees strove to turn them from the faith; and therefore it is said to them in Matthew 23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees! who shut the kingdom of heaven before men: you yourselves do not enter, nor do you allow those who are entering to enter"; Luke 11: "Woe to you, lawyers! because you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves have not entered, and those who were entering you have hindered."
68. (Vers. 50.). Nicodemus said etc. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the refutation of the Pharisees made by the authority of the Law, through which it is shown that they ought not to have seized him, because he had not yet been condemned to death by the Law. Therefore Nicodemus said, namely that disciple who came to Jesus by night, who was one of them, namely of the Pharisees; above in chapter 3: "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus," etc.
69. (Vers. 51.). Does our Law judge a man unless it has first heard from him and known what he does? As if to say: no. Deuteronomy 17: "When upon hearing you shall have inquired diligently," etc. Job observed this law, chapter 29: "The cause which I did not know, I diligently investigated." The Romans observed this law; Acts 25: "It is not the custom of the Romans to condemn any man before the one who is accused has his accusers present and receives opportunity to defend himself in order to clear the charges."
70. (Vers. 52.). They answered and said, because they were incorrigible; and although they could not find fault with the word, they find fault with Nicodemus as though deceived, namely that he himself believed in Christ. Therefore they say: Are you also a Galilean? That is, do you believe in the Galilean, just as they are called Christians because they believe in Christ; whence Julian the Apostate called Christians ragged Galileans, and you foolishly believe in him. Whence they say: Search the Scriptures and see that from Galilee no prophet arises, the one whom we await. On the contrary: Augustine: "Not only does a prophet arise from Galilee, but even the Lord of the Prophets"; he himself was called a Nazarene, because he was raised in Nazareth.
71. (Vers. 53.). And they returned, because they could not avoid reproof and also could not carry out their evil design. Therefore he says: And they returned, each one to his own house, so that not one remained with another; whence Sirach 21: "The congregation of sinners is like gathered tow, and their end is a flame of fire"; Psalm: "Scatter the nations that desire wars."
QUESTIONS.
72. Question I. But here a question is raised about the officers: if they believed, why did they not follow Christ?
And it must be said according to Chrysostom that they believed and were his heralds; yet they did not follow him, because they did not ascend to the state of perfection.
73. Question II. But it is asked here: what great and sublime things had the Lord spoken, on account of which they said: Never has a man spoken thus?
Chrysostom responds: "When the mind," he says, "is uncorrupted, there is no need for long discourses; for such is the nature of truth that when it finds a soul well disposed, it wonderfully captivates and attracts it."
74. Question III. Likewise it is asked here: since the Pharisees did all their works in the sight of men and did not wish to be judged as evil, how did they thus abandon the order of law, when such fault is manifest?
I respond: It must be said that three things are required for a just judgment: a just mind, whence 2 Chronicles 19: Do all things with diligence, for with God there is no iniquity, nor respect of persons, nor desire for gifts.
The second is a just cause: Exodus 23: The innocent and the just you shall not put to death; and [Exodus] 22: You shall not suffer evildoers to live. The third is a just order, which proceeds through right inquiry: Deuteronomy 16: You shall justly pursue what is just.
Since therefore in the hypocritical Pharisees there was an unjust mind, by which they thirsted for the death of Christ, and a just cause was absent, because they could not condemn him by law, therefore they were necessarily compelled to bypass the order of judgment. Now there are four things that most pervert the mind, which were present in the Pharisees, and which are contained in these verses:
These four: fear, hatred, love, and wealth, often tend to pervert the right judgments of men.
And all these were present in the Pharisees, as is evident by induction. Against these four it is said in Exodus 18: Choose for yourself wise men who fear God, in whom there is truth, and who hate avarice.
75. Question IV. Likewise it is asked: since the Lord, as far as it pertains to himself, willed the faith of all, why is it that he concealed his origin, so that he was believed to have been born in Nazareth, and on account of this was not believed to be the Christ?
I respond: It must be said that this came about by divine judgment, divine dispensation, and the fulfillment of Scripture. By divine judgment: because in the time of Herod they recognized the one born and despised him, indeed consented to his death; therefore they merited that the place of his birth be hidden from them through his dwelling in Nazareth. Second, by divine dispensation: because he willed to be hidden from the wicked, so that by suffering from the wicked he might redeem the good. Third, by the fulfillment of Scripture: because Scripture does not only say that he was born in Bethlehem, but that he shall be called a Nazarene, as is written in Matthew 2. And because the Jews did not search the Scriptures, therefore they erred.