827 Thus Christ presented the various testimonies to himself not for the reason they thought, but for another one: because I know you, i.e., I have made known about you, that you do not have the love of God in your hearts, although you pretend to have it. And so you are not persecuting me because of your love for God. You would be persecuting me for the love of God if God and the Scriptures did not bear witness to me; but God himself bears witness to me by himself, his works and in the Scriptures, as has been said. Consequently, if you truly loved God, then so far from rejecting me, you would come to me. You, therefore, do not love God.
Another interpretation would be this. It is as though he were saying: I have not brought in these witnesses because I wanted your praise; but I know you do not love God and your waywardness makes me sad, and I want to lead you back to the way of truth: “Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father” (below 15:24); “The pride of those who hate you continuously rises,” as the Psalm (73:23) says.
828 Here we should point out that God cannot be hated in himself by anyone, nor can he be hated with respect to all his effects, since every good in things comes from God, and it is impossible for anyone to hate all good, for he will at least love existence and life. But someone may hate some effect of God, insofar as this is opposed to what he desires: for example, he might hate punishment, and things of that sort. It is from this point of view that God is said to be hated.
829 Then (v 43), he gives a sign that they do not love God. First, a present sign; secondly, a future sign (v 43b).
830 The present sign concerns his own coming; so he says, I have come in my Father’s name. As if to say: What I say is obvious, for if one loves his Lord, it is clear that he will honor and receive one who comes from him, and seek to honor him. But I have come in my Father’s name, and I make his name known to the world: “I have made your name known to those you have given me” (below 17:6), and yet you do not accept me. Therefore, you do not love him. The Son is said to make his Father known to men because, although the Father, as God, was known—“God is known in Judah” (Ps 75:1)—yet he was not known as the natural Father of the Son before Christ came. Thus Solomon asked: “What is his name? And what is the name of his son?” (Prv 30:4).
831 The future sign concerns the coming of the Antichrist. For the Jews could say: Although you come in his name, we have not accepted you, because we will not accept anyone but God the Father. The Lord speaks against this, and says that it cannot be, because you will accept another, who will come, not in the Father’s name, but in his own name; and what is more, he will come, not in the name of the Father, but in his own name, precisely because he will not seek the glory of the Father but his own. And whatever he does, he will attribute it, not to the Father, but to himself: “who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God, or is worshipped” (2 Thes 2:4). You would be accepting him; and so the Apostle continues in the same letter: “God will send them a misleading influence so that they might believe what is false” (2 Thes 2:11). And this, because they did not accept the true teaching, that they might be saved. So the Gloss says: “Because the Jews were unwilling to accept Christ, the penalty for this sin will be, fittingly enough, that they will receive the Antichrist; with the result that those who were unwilling to believe the truth, will believe a lie.”
According to Augustine, however, we can understand this text as applying to heretics and false teachers: who spread a teaching that comes from their own hearts and not from the mouth of God, and who praise themselves and despise the name of God. Of such persons it is written: “You have heard that the Antichrist is coming; and now many antichrists have appeared” (1 Jn 2:18). So it is clear that your persecution of me does not spring from your love for God, but from your hatred and envy of him. And this was the reason why they did not believe.
832 He concludes: How can people like you believe, when you crave praise from each other, i.e., human praise, and yet not even ask for that one praise which is from God alone? which is true glory. The reason they could not believe in Christ was that, since their proud minds were craving their own glory and praise, they considered themselves superior to others in glory, and regarded it as a disgrace to believe in Christ, who seemed common and poor. And this was why they could not believe in him. The one who can believe in Christ is the person of humble heart, who seeks the glory of God alone, and who strives to please him. And so we read: “Many of the leaders believed in him; but they did not admit it because of the Pharisees, so that they would not be expelled from the synagogue” (below 12:42). We can see from this just how dangerous vainglory is. For this reason Cicero says: “Let a man beware of that glory that robs him of all freedom; that freedom for which a man of great spirit should risk everything.” And the Gloss says: “It is a great vice to boast and to strive for human praise: to desire that others think you have what you really do not have.”
833 Then (v 45), he shows that they do not have zeal for Moses. First, how Moses was against them. Secondly, he gives the reason for this opposition (v 46). As to the first he does two things First, he rejects their false zeal; secondly, he shows them true zeal, The one who accuses you is Moses.
834 As to the first he says: Do not think that I will accuse you before my Father. There are three reasons for his saying this. First, the Son of God did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. So he says, Do not think that I have come to condemn, I have come to free: “God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world,” that is, to condemn the world, “but that the world might be saved through him” (above 3:17). And so the blood of Christ cries out, not to accuse, but to forgive: “We have the blood of Christ, crying out better than that of Abel” (Heb 12:24), whose blood cried out to accuse; “Who will accuse God’s elect? It is Christ who justifies. Who is it, then, who will condemn?” (Rom 8:33). As to his second reason for saying this, he says: Do not think that I will accuse you before my Father, because I will not be the one to accuse you, but to judge you: “The Father has given all judgment to the Son” (above 5:22). The third reason is: Do not think that I, i.e., I alone, will accuse you before my Father for what you are doing to me; for even Moses will accuse you for not believing him in the things he said of me.
835 Consequently he adds: The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you place your trust, because you believe you are saved through his precepts. Moses accuses them in two ways. Materially, because they deserved to be accused for transgressing his commands: “Those who have sinned under the law, will be judged by the law” (Rom 2:12). Again, Moses accuses them because he and the other saints will have authority in the judgment: “The two-edged swords will be in their hands” (Ps 149:6).
836 He presents the reason for this opposition when he says: If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me as well, as is clear from “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet for you, from your nation and your brothers; he will be like me: you will listen to him” (Dt 18:15), and from all the sacrifices, which were a symbol of Christ. He says, perhaps, to indicate that their will acts from a free judgment, and not to imply that there is any doubt on the part of God.
837 Then when he says, But if you do not believe in his written statements, how will you believe in my spoken words? he gives a sign of this opposition. He does this by comparing two things, and then denying of the lesser of them what is denied of the greater. First, there is a comparison between Moses and Christ: for although Christ, absolutely speaking, is greater than Moses, Moses was the greater in reputation among the Jews. Thus he says: If you do not believe Moses, you will not believe me either. Secondly, he compares the way in which they presented their teaching: Moses gave his precepts in a written form; and so they can be studied for a long time, and are not easily forgotten. Hence they impose a stronger obligation to believe. But Christ presented his teachings in spoken words. Thus he says, But if you do not believe in his written statements, which you have preserved in your books, how will you believe in my spoken words?
6
LECTURE 1
1 After this Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, which is that of Tiberias. 2 And a great multitude followed him because they saw the miracles he worked on those who were sick. 3 Jesus therefore went up a mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover was near, a festival day of the Jews. 5 Then, when Jesus lifted his eyes and saw that a great multitude had come to him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?”
6 He said this, however, to test him, for he knew what he would do. 7 Philip replied, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not suffice for each to have a little bit.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes, but what are these for so many?” 10 Jesus then said, “Make the people recline.”
There was much grass in the place. Therefore the men reclined, in number about five thousand. 11 Jesus then took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he distributed it to those reclining; he did likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the fragments that are left over, lest they be wasted.”
13 They therefore gathered and filled twelve baskets with the leftovers, from the five barley loaves and the two fishes, that remained after all had eaten.
838 The Evangelist has presented the teaching of Christ on the spiritual life, by which he gives life to those who are born again. He now tells us of the spiritual food by which Christ sustains those to whom he has given life. First, he describes a visible miracle, in which Christ furnished bodily food. Secondly, he considers spiritual food (6:26). He does two things about the first. First, he describes the visible miracle. Secondly, he shows the effect this miracle had (6:14). He tells us two things about this miracle. First, its circumstances, secondly, about its actual accomplishment (v 5). As to the first he does three things. First he describes the crowd that Jesus fed, secondly, the place; thirdly, the time (v 4). As to the first he does three things. First, he identifies the place where the crowd followed Jesus; secondly, the people who followed him; and thirdly, he tells why they followed him.
839 The Evangelist describes the place to which the crowd followed our Lord when he says, After this Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, i.e., after the mysterious words Jesus had spoken concerning his power. This Sea of Galilee is mentioned frequently in various places in Scripture. Luke calls it a lake (Lk 5:1) because its water is not salty, but was formed from the waters flowing in from the Jordan. Yet it is still called a “Sea,” because in Hebrew all bodies of water are called “seas”: “God called the waters ‘seas’” (Gn 1:10). It is also called Gennesaret because of the character of its location: for this water is tossed about a great deal, being buffeted by the winds that come from the vapors rising from its surface. Thus in Greek the word “Gennesaret” means “wind forming.” It is called the Sea of Galilee from the province of Galilee in which it is located. Again, it is called the Sea of Tiberias from the city of Tiberias: this city was situated on one side of the sea, facing Capernaum on the opposite side. The city of Tiberias was formerly called Chinnereth, but later, when it was rebuilt by Herod the Tetrarch, it was renamed as Tiberias in honor of Tiberius Caesar.
840 The literal reason why Jesus crossed the sea is given by Chrysostom: to give ground to the anger and agitation which the Jews felt against Christ because of the things he had said about them. As Chrysostom says: just as darts strike a hard object with great force if they meet it, but pass on and soon come to rest if nothing is in their way, so also the anger of defiant men increases when they are resisted, but if we yield a little, it is easy to keep their fury within bounds. So Christ, by going to the other side of the sea, was able to soften the anger of the Jews, caused by what he had said. He thus gives us an example to act in the same way: “Do not be provoked by one who speaks evil of you” (Sir 8:14).
841 In the mystical sense, the sea signifies this present troubled world: “This great sea, stretching wide” (Ps 103:25). Our Lord crossed over this sea when he assumed the sea of punishment and death by being born, trod it under foot by dying, and then crossing over it by his rising, arrived at the glory of his resurrection. We read of this crossing: “Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world for the Father” (below 13:1). A great crowd, composed of both peoples, has followed him in this crossing, by believing in him and imitating him: “Your heart will be full of wonder and joy, when the riches of the sea will be given to you” (Is 60:5); “Rise up, O Lord, you who demand that justice be done; and the people will gather round you” (Ps 7:7).
842 The crowd that followed him is described as large, And a great multitude followed him.
843 The reason why they followed him is because he was performing miracles, hence he says, because they saw the miracles he worked on those who were sick. We should point out that some followed Christ because of his teachings, that is, those who were better disposed. But there were others, i.e., those who were less perfect and less perceptive, who followed him because they were attracted by visible miracles; “Signs were given to unbelievers, not to believers” (1 Cor 14:22). Still others followed him out of devotion and faith, those, namely, whom he had cured of some bodily defect: for our Lord had so healed their body that they were also completely healed in soul: “The works of God are perfect” (Dt 32:4). This is clear, because he expressly said to the paralytic, “Do not sin again” (above 5:14), and in Matthew (9:2) he says, “Son, your sins are forgiven”; and these remarks concern the health of the soul rather than that of the body.