1001 Then, from Peter’s answer, we see the devotion of those who did not leave. For Peter—who loved the brethren, who guarded his friendships, and had it special affection for Christ—answered for the whole group, and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Here he did three things. First, he extolled the greatness of Christ; secondly, he praised his teaching; and thirdly, he professed his faith.
1002 He extolled the greatness of Christ when he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? As if to say: Are you telling us to leave you? Give us someone better to whom we can go. But then, “There is no one like you among the strong, O Lord” (Ex 15:11); “Who is like God” (Ps 88:7). And so you will not tell us to go. “Where can I go that is away from your spirit?” (Ps 138:7). Further, according to Chrysostom, Peter’s words show great friendship; for to him, Christ was more worthy of honor than father or mother.
1003 He praised his teaching when he said, You have the words of eternal life. Now Moses, and the prophets, also spoke the words of God; but they rarely had the words of eternal life. But you are promising eternal life. What more can we ask? “Whoever believes in me has eternal life” (above 6:47); “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (above 3:36).
1004 He professed his faith when he said, We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God. For in our faith there are two things above all that must be believed: the mystery of the Trinity, and the Incarnation. And these two Peter professed here. He professed the mystery of the Trinity when he said, you are the Son of God: for in calling Christ the Son of God he mentioned the person of the Father and that of the Son, along with the person of the Holy Spirit, who is the love of the Father and of the Son, and the bond or nexus of both. He professed the mystery of the Incarnation when he said, you are the Christ: for in Greek, the word “Christ” means “anointed”; anointed, that is, with the invisible oil of the Holy Spirit. He was not anointed according to his divine nature, because one who is anointed by the Holy Spirit is Made better by that anointing. But Christ, so far as he is God, is not made better. Thus, Christ was anointed as man.
He said, We have come to believe and to know , because believing comes before knowing. And therefore, if we wanted to know before believing, we would neither know nor be able to believe, as Augustine says, and as in that other version of Isaiah: “If you do not believe, you will not understand” (Is 7:9).
1005 Our Lord corrected Peter’s answer when he said, Did I not choose you Twelve? And one of you is a devil. First, we have the Lord’s reply: secondly, the Evangelist’s explanation of it (v 72).
1006 Because Peter was great-hearted and included all in his answer, We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God, it seemed that all of them would arrive at eternal life. And so our Lord excluded Judas from this community of believers. This trust was commendable in Peter, who did not suspect any evil in his companions; but we must also admire the wisdom of our Lord, who saw what was hidden. Thus he says, Did I not choose you Twelve? And one of you is a devil; not by nature, but by imitating the devil’s malice: “Death came into the world -by the envy of the devil; his disciples imitate him” (Wis 2:24); “After the morsel, Satan entered into him” (below 13:27), because Judas became like him in malice.
1007 But if Christ chose Judas, who was later to become evil, it seems that our Lord made a mistake in choosing him. First, we might answer this as Chrysostom does, and say that this choice was not for predestination, but for some task, and in reference to a condition of present justice. Sometimes a person is chosen this way, not in relation to the future, but according to present realities; for being chosen in this way does not destroy one’s free choice or the possibility of sinning: hence we read, “Let him who thinks that he stands, take heed so he will not fall” (1 Cor 10:12). And so our Lord did choose Judas, but not as evil at that time; and being so chosen did not take away his possibility of sinning. Secondly, we could answer with Augustine, who said that our Lord did chose Judas as evil. And although he knew that he was evil, because it is characteristic of a good person to use evil for good, God made good use of this evil in allowing himself to be betrayed in order to redeem us. Or, we could say that the choice of the Twelve does not refer here to the persons, but rather to the number; as if to say: I have chosen Twelve. For this number is fittingly set apart for those who would preach the faith of the Holy Trinity to the four corners of the world. And indeed, this number did not pass away, because Matthias was substituted for the traitor. Or, according to Ambrose, Jesus chose Judas as evil so that when we read that our Lord and Master was betrayed by his disciple, we might be consoled if sometimes our friends betray us.
1008 We could ask here why the disciples did not say anything after our Lord said, one of you is a devil; for later on, when he says, “One of you will betray me” (below 13:21), they reply, “Is it I, Lord?” (Mt 26:22). 1 answer that the reason for this is that our Lord was speaking here in a general way when he said that one of them was a devil; for this could mean any kind of malice, and so they were not disturbed. But later on, when they heard of such a great crime, that their Master would be betrayed, they could not keep quiet. Or, we could say that when our Lord said this, each of them had confidence in his own virtue, and so none feared for himself; but after he said to Peter, “Follow after me, Satan” (Mt 16:23), they were afraid, and realized their own weakness. That is why they asked in that indecisive way, “Is it I, Lord?”
1009 Finally, what our Lord had just said privately is explained by the Evangelist when he says, he was talking about Judas, as events proved and which will be clear below (c 13).
7
LECTURE 1
1 After this, Jesus walked about in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. 2 Now it was close to the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. 3 So his brethren said to him: “Leave this place, and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see your works which you perform. 4 Surely, no one works in secret if he wants to be publicly renowned. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” 5 For not even his brethren believed in him. 6 Jesus therefore said to them: “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but me, it hates, because I bear witness against it, for its works are evil. 8 You yourselves go up for this feast. I, however, will not go up for this festival, because my time is not yet completed.”
1010 After our Lord considered the spiritual life and its food, he now treats of his instruction or teaching, which, as mentioned above, is necessary for those who are spiritually reborn. First, he shows the origin of his teaching; secondly, its usefulness (c 8 and onwards). As to the first, he does three things. First, he mentions the place where he revealed the origin of his teaching; secondly, the occasion for revealing this (v 11); and thirdly, his actual statement is given (v 16). Three things are done about the first. First, we see Christ invited to go to the place where he revealed the origin of his teaching; secondly, we see our Lord refuse (v 6); and thirdly, how Jesus finally did go (v 9). As to the first, he does two things. First, he gives the reasons why they encouraged Christ to go to Judea; secondly, he adds their exhortation (v 3). They were influenced by three things to encourage Christ to go to Judea: first, by his lingering on [in Galilee], secondly, by his intention [not to travel in Judea] and thirdly, by the appropriateness of the time.
1011 They were influenced by Christ’s lingering on in Galilee, which showed that he wanted to stay there. Thus he says, After this, after teaching in Capernaum, Jesus walked about in Galilee, i.e., he set out from Capernaum, a city of Galilee, with the intention to journey throughout this region. Our Lord lingered on so often in Galilee to show us that we should pass from vices to virtues: “So you, son of man, prepare your belongings for exile, and go during the day in their sight” (Ez 12:13).
1012 Then they were influenced by Christ’s intention, which he perhaps told them; hence he says, for he did not want to walk in Judea, the reason being, because the Jews sought to kill him. “The Jews tried all the harder to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath rest, but even called God his own Father, making himself equal to God” (above 5:18).
But could not Christ still have gone among the Jews without being killed by them, as he did after (c 8)? Three answers are given to this question. The first is given by Augustine, who says that Christ did this because the time would come when some Christians would hide from those who were persecuting them. And so they would not be criticized for this, our Lord wanted to console us by setting a precedent himself in this matter. He also taught this in word, saying: “If they persecute you in one town, flee to another” (Mt 10:23). Another answer is that Christ was both God and man. By reason of his divinity, he could prevent his being injured by those persecuting him. Yet, he did not want to do this all the time, for while this would have shown his divinity, it might have cast doubt on his humanity. Therefore, he showed his humanity by sometimes fleeing, as man, those who were persecuting him, to silence all those who would say that he was not a true man. And he showed his divinity by sometimes walking among them unharmed, thus refuting all those who say he was only a man. Thus, Chrysostom has another text, which reads: “He could not, even if he wanted to, walk about Judea.” This is expressed in our human way, and is the same as saying: Due to the danger of treachery, a person cannot go anywhere he might wish. The third answer is that it was not yet the time for Christ’s passion. The time would come when Christ would suffer, at the feast of the Passover, when the lamb was sacrificed, so that victim would succeed victim: “Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world for the Father” (below 13:1).
1013 They were also influenced by the suitableness of the time, for it was a time for going to Jerusalem. Now it was close to the Jewish feast of Tabernacles ( scenopegia ). Scenopegia is a Greek word, composed of scenos, which means “shade,” or “tent,” and phagim, which means “to eat.” As if to say: It was the time in which they used to eat in their tents. For our Lord (Lv 23:41) had ordered the children of Israel to stay in their tents for seven days during the seventh month, as a reminder of the forty years they had lived in tents in the desert. This was the feast the Jews were then celebrating. The Evangelist mentions this in order to show that some time had already passed since the previous teaching about spiritual food. For it was near the Passover when our Lord performed the miracle of the loaves, and this feast of Tabernacles is much later. The Evangelist does not tell us what our Lord did in the intervening five months. We can see from this that although Jesus was always performing miracles, as the last chapter says, the Evangelist was mainly concerned with recording those matters over which the Jews argued and with which they disagreed.
1014 Then (v 3), our Lord is urged on by his brethren. First, we are given their advice; secondly, the reason for it (v 3b); and thirdly, the Evangelist mentions the cause of this reason (v 5).
1015 As to the first, the ones who urge Christ are mentioned; hence he says, So his brethren said to him. These were not brothers of the flesh or of the womb, as the blasphemous opinion of Elvidius would have it. It is, indeed, offensive to the Catholic faith that the most holy virginal womb, which bore him who was God and man, should later bear another mortal man. Thus, they were his brothers or brethren in the sense of relatives, because they were related by blood to the Blessed Virgin Mary. For it is the custom in Scripture to call relatives “brothers,” as in Genesis (13:8): “Let us not quarrel, for we are brothers,” although Lot was the nephew of Abraham. And, as Augustine says, just as in the tomb in which our Lord’s body had been placed no other body was placed either before or after, so the womb of Mary conceived no other mortal person either before or after Christ. Although some of the relatives of the Blessed Virgin were apostles, such as the sons of Zebedee, and James of Alpheus, and some others, we should not think that these were among those who were urging Christ; this was done by other relatives who did not love him.
Secondly, we see their advice when they say: Leave this place, that is, Galilee, and go to Judea, where you will find Jerusalem, a sacred place, well-suited to teachers. “Seer, go, flee to the land of Judah. There eat your bread and there prophesy” (Am 7:12).
1016 They give their reason when they say: so that your disciples also may see your works which you perform. Here they show, first, that they are hungry for an empty glory; secondly, that they are suspicious; and thirdly, do not believe [in our Lord].
They show that they are hungry for an empty glory when they say, so that Your disciples also may see your works which you perform. For they allowed something human to Christ and wanted to share the glory of the human honor that the people would show him. And so, they urged him to perform his works in public: for it is a characteristic of one who is seeking human glory to want publicly known whatever of his own or of his associates can bring glory. “They like to pray at street corners, so people can see them” (Mt 6:5). We read of such people: “For they loved the glory of men, more than the glory of God” (below 12:43).
They reveal that they themselves are suspicious, and first of all remark on Christ’s fear, saying: Surely, no one works in secret. As if to say: You say that you are performing miracles. But you are doing them secretly because of fear; otherwise you would go to Jerusalem and do them before the people. Nevertheless, our Lord says below: “I have said nothing secretly” (below 18:20).
Secondly, they refer to his love of glory, saying: if he wants to be publicly renowned. As if to say: You want glory because of what you are doing, yet you are hiding because you are afraid. Now this attitude is characteristic of those who are evil: to think that other people are experiencing the same emotions as they are. Notice the disrespect with which the prudence of the flesh reproached the Word made flesh. Job says against them: “You reproach him who is not like you, and say what you should not” (Jb 4:3).