They show they do not believe when they say: If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world, doubting whether he did perform miracles. “He who does not believe is unfaithful” (Is 21:2).
1017 The Evangelist tells why they said this when he says, For not even his brethren believed in him. For sometimes blood relatives are very hostile to one of their own, and are jealous of his spiritual goods. They may even despise him. Thus Augustine says: “They could have Christ as a relative, but in that very closeness they refused to believe in him.” “A man’s enemies are in his own house” (Mi 7:6); “He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances, like strangers, have gone from me. My relatives have left me, and those who knew me have forgotten me” (Jb 19:13).
1018 Then (v 6), Christ’s answer is given. First, he mentions that the time was not appropriate for going to Jerusalem; secondly, the reason for this (v 7); and thirdly, we see Christ deciding not to go (v 8).
1019 We should note that all of the following text is explained differently by Augustine and by Chrysostom. Augustine says that the brethren of our Lord were urging him to a human glory. Now there is a time, in the future, when the saints do acquire glory, a glory they obtain by their Sufferings and troubles. “He has tested them like gold in a furnace, and he accepted them as the victim of a holocaust. At the time of their visitation they will shine” (Wis 3:6). And there is a time, the present, when the worldly acquire their glory. “Let not the flowers of the time pass us by; let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither” (Wis 2:7). Our Lord, therefore, wanted to show that he was not looking for the glory of this present time, but that he wanted to attain to the height of heavenly glory through his passion and humiliation. “It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and so enter into his glory” (Lk 24:26). So Jesus says to them, i.e., his brethren: My time, i.e., the time of my glory, has not yet come, because my sorrow must be turned into joy: “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18); but your time, i.e., the time of the glory of this world, is always here.
1020 He gives the reason why these times are different when he says, The world cannot hate you, but me, it hates. The reason why the time for the glory of the worldly is here is that they love the same things the world loves, and they agree with the world. But the time for the glory of the saints, who are looking for a spiritual glory, is not here, because they want what is displeasing to the world, that is, poverty, afflictions, doing without food, and things like that. They even disparage what the world loves; in fact, they despise the world: “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). And so he says, The world cannot hate you. As if to say: Thus, the time of your glory is here, because the world does not hate you, who are in agreement with it; and every animal loves its like. But me, it hates, and so my time is not always here. And the reason it hates me is because I bear witness against it, that is, the world, for its works are evil; that is, I do not hesitate to reprimand those who are worldly, even though I know that they will hate me for it and threaten me with death. “They,” that is, those who love evil, “hate the one who rebukes at the city gate” (Am 5:10); “Do not rebuke one who mocks, lest he hate you” (Prv 9:8).
1021 But cannot a person of the world be hated by the world, i.e., by another person of the world? I answer that, in a particular case, one worldly person can hate another insofar as the latter has what the first wants, or prevents him from obtaining what relates to the glory of this world. But precisely insofar as a person is of the world, the world does not hate him. The saints, however, are universally hated by the world because they are opposed to it. And if anyone of the world does love them, it is not because he is of the world, but because of something spiritual in him.
1022 Our Lord refuses to go when he says, You yourselves go up for this feast. I, however, will not go up for this festival. For just as there are two kinds of glory, so there are two different feasts. Worldly people have temporal feasts, that is, their own enjoyments and banquets and such exterior pleasures. “The Lord called for weeping and mourning... and look at the rejoicing and gladness” (Is 22:12); “I hate your feasts” (Is 1:14). But the saints have their own spiritual feasts, which consist in the joys of the spirit: “Look upon Zion, the city of your feasts” (Is 33:20). So he says: You yourselves, who are looking for the glory of this world, go up for this feast, i.e., to the feasts of temporal pleasure; I, however, will not go up for this festival, for I will go to the feast of an eternal celebration. I am not going up now because my time, that is, the time of my true glory, which will be a joy that lasts forever, an eternity without fatigue, and a brightness without shadow, is not yet completed.
1023 Chrysostom keeps the same division of the text, but explains it this way. He says that these brethren of our Lord joined with the Jews in plotting the death of Christ. And so they urged Christ to go to the feast, intending to betray him and hand him over to the Jews. That is why he says: My time, that is, the time for my cross and death, has not yet come, to go to Judea and be killed. But your time is always here, because you can associate with them without danger. And this is because they cannot hate you: you who love and envy the same things they do. But me, it hates, because I bear witness against it, for its works are evil. This shows that the Jews hate me, not because I broke the sabbath, but because I denounced them in public. You yourselves go up for this feast, that is, for its beginning (for it lasted seven days, as was said), I, however, will not go up for this festival, that is, with you, and when it first begins: because my time is not yet completed, when I am to suffer, for he was to be crucified at a future Passover. Accordingly, he did not go with them then in order to remain out of sight, and so forth.
LECTURE 2
9 When he had said this, he remained in Galilee. 10 However, after his brethren had gone up, he himself went up for the feast, not publicly, but as it were in secret. 11 The Jews looked for him at the feast, and they asked: “Where is he?” 12 There was much whispering among the people concerning him, for some were saying that he was a good man, while others said, “On the contrary, he leads people astray.” 13 Nevertheless, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews. 14 Now when the festival was half over, Jesus went into the temple, and he taught. 15 The Jews were amazed, saying, “How did this man get his learning, since he never studied?” 16 Jesus answered and said: “My doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether this doctrine is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on his own [authority] seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is truthful, and there is no injustice in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you obey the law. 20 Why do you want to kill me?”
The crowd replied and said: “You have a demon within you! Who wants to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them: “I performed one work, and you are all amazed. 22 Therefore, Moses gave you circumcision, (not that it originated with Moses, but with the patriarchs) and you circumcise on the sabbath day. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath day, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you indignant with me because I healed a whole man on the sabbath? 24 Judge not by the appearances, but with a just judgment.”
1024 After the Evangelist mentioned how our Lord’s relatives urged him to go to Judea, and what Christ replied to them, he then tells us of his journey. First, of his delay in going into Judea; secondly, of the order of the events; and thirdly, the way Christ went up.
1025 He mentions our Lord’s delay in going when he says, When he had said this, in answer to his relatives, he remained in Galilee, and did not go to the feast with them. He did this to keep to his word: “I, however, will not go up for this festival.” As we read in Numbers (23:19): “God is not like man, a liar.”
1026 He gives the order of events when he says, However, after his brethren, that is, his relatives, had gone up, he himself went up for the feast. This seems to conflict with what he had said before: “I will not go up”, for the Apostle says, “Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you... was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but only ‘Yes.’” (2 Cor 1:19).
I answer, first, that the festival of Tabernacles lasted for seven days, as was mentioned. Now our Lord first stated, “I, however, will not go up for this festival,” that is, for its beginning. When it says here that he himself went up for the feast , we should understand this to refer to the middle of the feast. This is why we read a little further on: “Now, when the festival was half over” (v 14). So it is clear that Christ was not breaking his word. Secondly, as Augustine says, his relatives wanted him to go to Jerusalem to try for a temporal glory. So he said to them: “I, however, will not go up for this festival,” for the purpose you want me to. But he did go to the festival to teach the people and to tell them about an eternal glory. Thirdly, as Chrysostom says, our: Lord said, “I, however, will not go up for this festival,” to suffer and die, as they wished; but he did go, not in order to suffer, but to teach others.
1027 The way he went was not publicly, but as it were in secret. There are three reasons for this. The first, given by Chrysostom, is so that he would not call more attention to his divinity, and so perhaps make his incarnation less certain, as was said above; and so that those who are virtuous would not be ashamed to hide from those who are persecuting them when they cannot openly restrain them. Thus he says, in secret, to show that this was done according to plan: “Truly, you are a hidden God” (Is 45:15). Augustine gives us another reason: to teach us that Christ was hidden in the figures of the Old Testament: “I will wait for the Lord, who has hidden his face (i.e., clear knowledge) from the house of Jacob” (Is 8:17); so, “Even to this day... a veil is over their hearts” (2 Cor 3:15). Thus everything that was said to this ancient people was a shadow of the good things to come, as we see from Hebrews (10:1). So our Lord went up in secret to show that even this feast was a figure. Scenopegia , as we saw, was the feast of Tabernacles; and the one who celebrates this feast is the one who understands that he is a pilgrim in this world. Another reason why our Lord went up in secret was to teach us that we should conceal the good things we do, not looking for human approval or desiring the applause of the crowd: “Take care not to perform your good actions in the sight of men, in order to be seen by them” (Mt 6:1).
1028 Then (v 11), he mentions the opportunity Christ had to show the origin of his spiritual teaching. He mentions two such opportunities: one was due to the disagreement among the people; the other to their amazement (v 15). The people disagreed in what they thought of Christ. He does three things concerning this. First, he shows what they had in common; secondly, how they differed (v 12); and thirdly, whose opinion prevailed (v 13).
1029 What they had in common was that they looked for him at the feast, and they asked: Where is he? It is obvious that they did not even want to mention his name because of their hatred and hostility: “They hated him and could not speak civilly to him” (Gn 37:4).
1030 They differed, however, because some looked for him because they wished to learn: “Seek him, and your soul will live” (Ps 68:33); others were looking for him in order to harm him: as in the Psalm (39:15): “They seek my soul to carry it away.” And so There was much whispering among the people concerning him, because of their disagreements. And although “whispering” ( murmur ) is neuter in gender, Jerome makes it masculine ( murmur multus ) because he was following the custom of the older grammarians, or else to show that divine Scripture is not subject to the rules of Priscian.
There was disagreement: for some of the people, that is, those who were right in heart, were saying, of Christ, that he was a good man. “How good God is to Israel, to those whose heart is right” (Ps 72:1); “The Lord is good to those who hope in him, to the one who seeks him” (Lam 3:25). While others, that is, those who were badly disposed, said: On the contrary, i.e., he is not a good man. We can see from this that it was the people who thought that he was a good person, while he was considered evil by the chief priests; so they say, he leads people astray: “We found this man leading our people astray” (Lk 23:2); “We have remembered that that seducer said...” (Mt 27:63).
1031 Here we should note that to seduce is to lead away. Now a person can be led away either from what is true or from what is false. And in either way a person can be called a seducer: either because he leads one away from the truth, and in this sense it does not apply to Christ, because he is the truth (below c 8); or because he leads one away from what is false, and in this sense Christ is called a seducer: “You seduced me, O Lord, and I was seduced. You were stronger than I, and you have won” (Jer 20:7). Would that all of us were called and were seducers in this sense, as Augustine says. But we call a person a seducer primarily because he leads others away from the truth and deceives them: because a person is said to be led away if he is drawn from the common way. But the common way is the way of truth; heresies, on the other hand, and the way of the wicked, are detours.
1032 It was the opinion of the evil, that is, of the chief priests, that finally won out. Thus he continues, Nevertheless, no one spoke openly about him. This was because the people were held back by their fear of the chief priests, for as stated below (9:22): “If any one should profess him to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.” This reveals the wickedness with which the leaders plotted against Christ; and it shows that those who were subject to them, i.e., the people, were not free to say what they thought.
1033 Next (v 15), we see the second opportunity Christ had to present his teaching, that is, the amazement of the people. First, we see the object of their amazement; secondly, their amazement itself, and thirdly, the reason why they were amazed.
1034 The object of their amazement is the doctrine or teaching of Christ. Both the time and the place of this teaching are given. The time is mentioned when he says, Now when the festival was half over, that is, when as many days were left of the feast as had passed. Thus, since the feast lasted some seven days, this took place on the fourth day. As we said, when Christ hid himself, it was a sign of his humanity, and an example of virtue for us. But when he did come before them, and they could not suppress him, this showed his divinity. Further, our Lord went when the feast was half over, because at the beginning everyone would be occupied with matters relating to the feast: the good, with the worship of God, and others with trivialities and financial profit; but when it was half over, and such matters had been settled, the people would be better prepared to receive his teaching. Thus our Lord did not go to the first several days of the feast so that he would find them more attentive and better prepared for his teaching. Similarly, Christ’s going to the feast at this time paralleled the arrangement of his teaching: for Christ came to teach us about the kingdom of God, not at the beginning of the world, nor at its ending, but during the intervening time. “You will make it known in the intervening years” (Hb 3:2).
The place where our Lord taught is mentioned when he says, into the temple. He taught there for two reasons. First, to show that he was teaching the truth, which they could not depreciate, and which was necessary for all: “I have said nothing secretly” (below 18:20). Secondly, because the temple, since it was a sacred place, was appropriate for the very holy teaching of Christ: “Come! Let us go up the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his steps,” as we read in Isaiah (2:3).