THEOPHYLACT . As if He were going to complain of them to the Father: for if they reviled Him who was sent, no doubt they did an injury to Him that sent.
BEDE . I go to Him that sent Me: i. e. I return to My Father, at whose command I became incarnate. He is speaking of that departure, from which He has never returned.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. l. 2) That they wanted His presence, appears from His saying, Ye seek Me, and shall not find Me. But when did the Jews seek Him? Luke relates that the women lamented over Him: and it is probable that many others did the same. And especially, when the city was taken, would they call Christ and His miracles to remembrance, and desire His presence.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxi. 9) Here He foretels His resurrection: for the search for Him was to take place after His resurrection, when men were conscience-stricken. They would not acknowledge Him, when present; afterward they sought Him, when they saw the multitude believing on Him; and many pricked in their hearts said, What shall we do? They perceived that Christ’s death was owing to their sin, and believed in Christ’s pardon to sinners; and so despaired of salvation, until they drank of that blood which they shed.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. xlix. 3) Then lest any should think that His death would take place in the common way, He adds, And where I am, thither ye cannot come. If He continued in death, they would be able to go to Him: for we all are going thitherwards.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxi. 9) He does not say, Where I shall be, but Where I am. For Christ was always there in that place whither He was about to return: He returned in such a way, as that He did not forsake us. Visibly and according to the flesh, He was upon earth; according to His invisible majesty, He was in heaven and earth. Nor again is it, Ye will not be able, but, Ye are not able to come: for they were not such at the time, as to be able. That this is not meant to drive men to despair, is shewn by His saying the very same thing to His disciples; Whither I go, ye cannot come; and by His explanation last of all to Peter, Whither I go, ye cannot follow Me now, but ye shall follow Me afterwards.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. 1. 32.) He wants them to think seriously how little time longer He should be with them, and what regret they will feel when He is gone, and they are not able to find Him. I go unto Him that sent Me; this shews that no injury was done Him by their plots, and that His passion was voluntary. The words had some effect upon the Jews, who asked each other, where they were to go, which was like persons desiring to be quit of Him: Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will He go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? In the fulness of their self-satisfaction, they call them Gentiles, as a term of reproach; the Gentiles being dispersed every where; a reproach which they themselves underwent afterwards. Of old all the nation was united together: but now that the Jews were mixed with the Gentiles in every part of the world, our Lord would not have said, Whither I go, ye cannot come, in the sense of going to the Gentiles.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxi. 10) Whither I go, i. e. to the bosom of the Father. This they did not at all understand: and yet even their mistake is an unwitting prophecy of our salvation; i. e. that our Lord would go to the Gentiles, not in His own person, but by His feet, i. e. His members. He sent to us those whom He had made His members, and so made us His members.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. l. 3) They did not mean, that our Lord was going to the Gentiles for their hurt, but to teach them. Their anger had subsided, and they believed what He had said. Else they would not have thought of asking each other, What manner of saying is this that He said, Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me: and whither I am, ye cannot come.
7:37–39
37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. l. 1) The feast being over, and the people about to return home, our Lord gives them provisions for the way: In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxii. 1) The feast was then going on, which is called scenopegia, i. e. building of tents.
CHRYSOSTOM . Which lasted seven days. The first and last days were the most important; In the last day, that great day of the feast, says the Evangelist. Those between were given chiefly to amusements. He did not then make the offer on the first day, or the second, or the third, lest amidst the excitements that were going on, people should let it slip from their minds, He cried out, on account of the great multitude of people present.
THEOPHYLACT . To make Himself audible, inspire confidence in others, and shew an absence of all fear in Himself.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. li. 1) If any thirsteth: as if to say, I use no compulsion or violence: but if any have the desire strong enough, let him come.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxii. 2.) For there is an inner thirst, because there is an inner man: and the inner man of a certainty loves more than the outer. So then if we thirst, let us go not on our feet, but on our affections, not by change of place, but by love.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. li. 1) He is speaking of spiritual drink, as His next words shew: He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But where does the Scripture say this? No where. What then? We should read, He that believeth in Me, as saith the Scripture, putting the stop here; and then, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water: the meaning being, that that was a right kind of belief, which was formed on the evidence of Scripture, not of miracles. Search the Scriptures, He had said before.
JEROME . (Hierom. in prolog. Gen.) Or this testimony is taken from the Proverbs, where it is said, Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. (Prov. 5:16)
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxii. 4) The belly of the inner man, is the heart’s conscience. Let him drink from that water, and his conscience is quickened and purified; he drinks in the whole fountain, nay, becomes the very fountain itself. But what is that fountain, and what is that river, which flows from the belly of the inner man? The love of his neighbour. If any one, who drinks of the water, thinks that it is meant to satisfy himself alone, out of his belly there doth not flow living water. But if he does good to his neighbour, the stream is not dried up, but flows.
GREGORY . (super Ezech. Hom. x.) When sacred preaching floweth from the soul of the faithful, rivers of living water, as it were, run down from the bellies of believers. For what are the entrails of the belly but the inner part of the mind; i. e. a right intention, a holy desire, humility towards God, mercy toward man.
CHRYSOSTOM . (Hom. li. 1) He says, rivers, not river, to shew the copious and overflowing power of grace: and living water, i. e. always moving; for when the grace of the Spirit has entered into and settled in the mind, it flows freer than any fountain, and neither fails, nor empties, nor stagnates. The wisdom of Stephen, the tongue of Peter, the strength of Paul, are evidences of this. Nothing hindered them; but, like impetuous torrents, they went on, carrying every thing along with them.
AUGUSTINE . (Tract. xxxii 5) What kind of drink it was, to which our Lord invited them, the Evangelist next explains; But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. Whom does the Spirit mean, but the Holy Spirit? For every man has within him his own spirit.