[John 13:33] Little children, I am with you a little while longer; you will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.
Gathering from the Gospels the sayings of our Savior, spoken as if by a father to his children, take courage in saying that the Savior is the father of some; for to the paralytic he says, 'Take courage, child; your sins are forgiven,' and to the woman with the hemorrhage, 'Daughter, your faith has saved you,' and now to the disciples he says, 'Little children,' implying, I think, something affectionate and also teaching the still immature state of the apostles' souls at that time. But if anyone should ask, 'Was the paralytic, hearing "child," more complete than those to whom the word says "little children?"' he will hear that if anyone is a little child, he is certainly a child; therefore, it does not preclude the paralytic, called 'child,' from being also a little child; hence, it is not necessary that the one called 'child,' the paralytic, be more complete than those to whom the word said 'little children.' But one should know that just as among men a child cannot later become a brother of one who once was a child, so it is impossible for one to change from being a child of Jesus to becoming his brother. Therefore, those to whom he said ‘little children’ after the resurrection of the Savior, as if changed from the resurrection of Jesus, become brothers to the one who formerly said ‘little children.’ Thus, it is written, 'Go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.’ And perhaps just as it is possible to change from being a slave of Jesus—they were slaves before being little children, evident from 'You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am' and from 'A slave is not greater than his master,’ which was written before ‘Little children, I am with you a little while longer,’—you may understand whether a slave first becomes a disciple, then a little child, then a brother of Christ and a son of God. Disciples in this case should be considered those who, by their presence, partake in the comprehension of the word, learning the wisdom of God from such a teacher. The expression 'I am with you a little while longer,’ in its simplest understanding, means that he would soon no longer be with the disciples; first, he was arrested by the cohort and the tribune and the Jewish servants, who bound him and led him to Annas first; after this he was handed over to Pilate and subsequently condemned to the crucifixion; then he spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But regarding the deeper searches, perhaps after the "little while", he was no longer with them; not because he wasn't present with them in the flesh and because his soul had descended into Hades (for on this account he was not prevented from being with his disciples, the one who said, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them" and "Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age"), but since the saying, "You will all fall away because of me this night; for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered'", had been fulfilled, he was no longer with them, who is present with those worthy only. To this one might bring up, "In your midst stands one whom you do not know," saying that he was also with those not recognizing him. But see if it is not the same to be with someone, which is given as a promise to those worthy, as it is to be standing and unrecognized in the midst of those who do not know him. For in the promise he says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them," and "Behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age"; but not like this is the one who says, "In your midst stands one whom you do not know." And in the passage now under consideration, the one who says, "Behold, I am with you," says also, "Yet a little while I am with you." The one saying, "Yet a little while I am with you," would not have said to Judas, present to the senses and now having the devil cast into his heart to betray the Savior, "I am with you" (for he was no longer with him), nor when he dipped the bread and gave it to him, but when after the bread Satan entered into him, much more was Christ not with Judas, who distanced himself from the Savior; "For what accord has Christ with Belial?" And even though the father Jesus was still to be with the little children for a little while, it must be known that after that little while, even if he was not with them, they would still be seeking Jesus, just as Peter, after his denial, wept bitterly, I think, seeking Jesus. Now then, the phrase "A little while longer I am with you" has been spoken, and shortly after: "A little while, he says, and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me," when the disciples were saying, "What is this he says, 'a little while'? We do not know what he means." Jesus, knowing they wanted to ask him, said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy." For that "little while" in which they did not see him, they sought Jesus; therefore, they wept and lamented, their sorrow turning into joy when the saying was fulfilled, "And again a little while and you will see me." In the matters of examination, if one does not see him in a little while, whether he will see him thereafter, he will surely see him soon, understanding the saying, "And again a little while and you will see me." Seeking Jesus is seeking the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Righteousness, and the Truth, and the Power of God, all of which are Christ. Some seek him having seen signs, and having received bread from him and eaten, the reason for seeking him being that they were nourished by the Word; "You seek me, he says, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." Then, since he had previously said to the Jews, "I go away and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin; where I go you cannot come," referring to that preceding statement, he says, "And as I said to the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say to you." For as he said this to them, so too to you; but I say this to you not for a longer time. Thus, I hear the saying, "And I say to you now," which is not the same as "And I say to you" without the addition of "now." For the Jews, whom he foresaw would die in their own sin, could not come where Jesus was going for a short time; but the disciples, after whom he would no longer be with them for a little while, because of the things previously spoken, could not follow the Word departing to his own arrangements. And if it had not been prefaced with "Where I am going, you cannot come," the phrase "As I said to the Jews" might have seemed simpler, referring to the departure of the soul of Jesus from life; but now both the Jews were about to die, and Jesus, having died, was about to descend into Hades. How is it that where Jesus was going, they could not go? But someone might say, since he was also going to be in the paradise of God, where those who were dying in their sins were not going to be, but the disciples of Jesus then indeed could not be there, later for this reason it was said to those dying in their sins, the Jews, "Where I am going, you cannot come," but to the disciples, "Where I am going, you cannot come now." For the following statement is of this kind: "As I said to the Jews, so I say to you now: Where I am going, you cannot come now." And yet this passage carries no small difficulty because of "The Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights." For how will he be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, who at the same time of his departure was to be in the paradise of God, according to "Today you will be with me in the paradise of God"? Thus what was said troubled some because it seemed contradictory, so much so that they dared to suspect the addition to the gospel by certain schemers of the very phrase "Today you will be with me in the paradise of God." But we say more simply that perhaps before going into the so-called heart of the earth, he restored the one who said to him, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," into the paradise of God. And more profoundly, we say that the "today" in Scripture often extends over the entire present age, just as in "This word has been spread among the Jews to this day," and "He is the father of the Moabites to this day," and "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." The promise is made to him on this day, to the one worthy of being remembered in the kingdom of God, that he would be made to be with him in the kingdom of God in the present age before the future. But this is said in passing as a parenthesis to the aforementioned matter.
To the disciples, wishing to follow Jesus, not as the simpler ones might assume, physically, but as it is indicated, "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy to be my disciple," the Lord now says, "Where I go, you cannot come now." For if they wished to follow the word and confess him without being scandalized by him, but they could not yet do this, "for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified," and "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit."
The word goes on its own ways, and the one who follows it does so, but the one who is not prepared cannot follow, in order to walk earnestly in its footsteps, the word leading to its own Father those who do all things so that they may be able to follow it and do follow it, until they say to Christ, "My soul clings to you." Having now taken a sufficient account of the thirty-two chapters of the exegesis of the Gospel of John, we shall here conclude the discourse.