primo ponit quaestionem Iudaeorum; First, the Evangelist mentions the question asked by the Jews; secundo ponit responsionem Christi; then Christ’s answer; and tertio innuit securitatem respondentis. third, he intimates the security of Christ. 1159. Quaestio autem Iudaeorum proposita Christo est de Patre, ubi esset: unde dicebant ei ubi est pater tuus? Intelligebant enim Christum habere Patrem hominem sicut ipsi habent; et ideo, quia audierunt eum dicere: solus non sum, sed ego et qui misit me Pater, et hic viderant eum solum, dicunt ubi est pater tuus? 1159. The question which the Jews had for Christ was about his Father, where his Father was. They said to him: where is your father? for they thought that the Father of Christ was a man, just like their own fathers. Because they heard him say, I am not alone, but there is me and the Father who sent me, and since they saw that he was now alone, they asked him, where is your father? Vel dicendum, quod loquuntur hic cum quadam ironia et contumelia; quasi dicant: quid frequenter Patrem tuum nobis inducis? Numquid est tantae virtutis, ut eius testimonio credatur? Ignotus enim est, et ignobilis. Intelligebant hoc de Ioseph; nihilominus tamen Patrem ignorabant. Ps. CXIII, 2: ne quando dicant gentes: ubi est Deus eorum? Or, we could say that they were here speaking with a certain irony and contempt, saying in effect: why do you speak to us so often about your Father? Is he so great that his testimony should be believed? For they were thinking of Joseph, who was an unknown, and a person of low status; and they were ignorant of the Father: so the gentiles will not say: where is their God? (Ps 113:2). 1160. Responsio autem Christi est occulta, ibi: respondit Iesus: neque me scitis, neque Patrem meum. Quia enim non studio addiscendi, sed malignandi quaerebant, ideo Christus non aperit eis veritatem; sed ostendit primo quidem ipsorum ignorantiam; secundo quomodo possint ad veritatis cognitionem pervenire. 1160. Christ’s answer is mysterious: you know neither me nor my Father. Christ does not reveal the truth to them because they were questioning him not because they desired to learn, but in order to belittle him. Rather, he first shows them that of which they were ignorant; second how they may be able to attain knowledge of the truth. Ignorantiam quidem ipsorum ostendit cum dicit neque me scitis; quasi dicat: non quaeratis de Patre, quia me nescitis. Quia enim me hominem putatis, ideo Patrem meum hominem quaeritis; sed quia me non noscitis, neque Patrem cognoscere potestis. He shows them their ignorance when he says, you know neither me. He is saying: you should not be asking about my Father, because you do not know me. For since you regard me as a man, you are asking about my Father as though he were a man. But because you do not know me, neither can you know my Father. 1161. Sed contra. Supra VII, 28, dixit: et me scitis, et unde sim scitis. 1161. This seems to conflict with what he said above: you know me, and you know from where I come (John 7:28). Est dicendum quod sciebant eum secundum humanitatem, sed non secundum divinitatem. The answer to this is that they did know him according to his humanity, but not according to his divinity. Sciendum autem, secundum Origenem, quod ex hoc verbo aliqui sumentes occasionem erroris, dixerunt Patrem Christi non fuisse Deum Veteris Testamenti; nam ipsum Iudaei cognoscebant, secundum illud Ps. LXXV, 1: notus in Iudaea Deus. We should note, according to Origen, that some have misunderstood this, and they said that the Father of Christ was not the God of the Old Testament: for the Jews knew the God of the Old Testament, according to God is known in Judea (Ps 75:1). Sed ad hoc est quadruplex responsio. Prima, quia ideo dicit Dominus Iudaeos Patrem ignorare, quia ad modum ignorantium se habent, inquantum mandatum eius non servant. Et haec responsio pertinet ad actum. Secundo dicuntur Deum ignorare, quia non adhaerent ei spiritualiter per amorem: qui enim aliquid cognoscit, ei adhaeret. Tertio, quia etsi cognoscerent eum per fidem, non tamen habebant de eo plenam scientiam. Supra I, v. 18: Deum nemo vidit unquam. Unigenitus Filius, qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit. Quarto, quia in Veteri Testamento innotuit Pater sub ratione Dei omnipotentis, Ex. VI, 3: ego apparui eis in Deo omnipotente, et nomen meum Adonai non indicavi eis, non autem sub ratione Patris; unde licet scirent eum ut Deum, non tamen ut Patrem Filii consubstantialis. There are four answers to this. First, our Lord says that the Jews did not know his Father because insofar as they do not keep his commandments they are acting like those who do not know him. This answer refers to their conduct. Second, they are said not to know God because they did not cling to him spiritually by love: for one who knows something adheres to it. Third, because although they did know him through faith, they did not have a full knowledge of him: no one has ever seen God: the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known (John 1:18). Fourth, because in the Old Testament the Father was known under the aspect of God Almighty: I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but my name, Lord, I did not show them (Exod 6:3), that is, under the aspect of Father. Thus, although they knew him as God Almighty, they did not know him as the Father of a consubstantial Son. 1162. Viam autem perveniendi ad cognitionem Patris dicit se esse: unde dicit si me sciretis, quasi dicat: quia Patrem meum loquor occultum, opus prius est ut me noveritis, et tunc Patrem meum forsitan scietis. Nam Filius est via cognitionis Paternae. Infra XIV, 7: si cognovissetis me, et Patrem meum utique cognovissetis. Nam, secundum Augustinum, quid est si me sciretis, nisi ego et Pater unum sumus? Quotidiana locutio est, quando vides aliquem alicuius similem, ut dicas: si hunc vidisti, illum vidisti, non tamen quod Pater sit Filius, sed quia sit Patri similis. 1162. Christ says that he is the way to arrive at a knowledge of the Father, if you did know me. He is saying in effect: because I speak of my Father, who is hidden, it is first necessary that you know me, perhaps you would also know my Father. For the Son is the way to the knowledge of the Father: if you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also (John 14:7). As Augustine says, what does, if you did know me mean, except, I and the Father are one (John 10:30). It is customary when you see someone who is like someone else to say: if you have seen one, you have seen the other; not that the Son is the Father, but he is like the Father. Dicit autem forsitan, non dubitative, sed increpative, velut si indigneris servo tuo, et dicas: contemnis me? Considera quod forsitan dominus tuus sum. He says, perhaps, not to indicate a doubt, but as a rebuke. It would be like being irritated with your servant and saying to him: have you no respect for me? Just remember that I might be your master. 1163. Securitatem autem Christi respondentis ostendit Evangelista, cum dicit haec verba locutus est Iesus in gazophylacio. Et primo quidem ex loco ubi docebat, quia in gazophylacio et in templo. Gaza enim, Persica lingua, dicuntur divitiae, phylaxe vero servare: unde ‘gazophylacium’ ponitur in Scriptura pro arca, ubi divitiae conservantur; et hoc modo accipitur IV Reg. XII, 9, quod tulit Ioiada sacerdos gazophylacium unum, aperuitque foramen desuper, et posuit illud iuxta altare ad dexteram ingredientium domum Domini, mittebantque in eo sacerdotes qui custodiebant ostia, omnem pecuniam quae deferebatur ad templum Domini. Aliquando autem pro domo ubi divitiae conservantur; et hoc modo accipitur hic. 1163. The Evangelist shows the security with which Christ answered when he says, these words Jesus spoke in the treasury. We see the first from the place where he taught, that is, in the treasury and in the temple. For gaza is the Persian word for riches, and philaxe for keep. Thus ‘gazophylacium’ is the word used in Sacred Scripture for the chest in which riches are kept. It is used in this sense: and Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its top, and put it by the altar, to the right of those coming into the house of the Lord. And the priests who kept the doors put into it all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord (2 Kgs 12:9). Sometimes, however, it was used to indicate the building where riches were kept; and this is the way it was used here. Secundo, ex hoc quod illi qui missi fuerant ad eum apprehendendum, hoc facere non potuerunt, quia ipse nolebat: unde dicit et nemo apprehendit eum, quia nondum venit hora eius, in qua pateretur; non fatalis, sed sua voluntate ab aeterno praedestinata. Unde dicit Augustinus nondum venerat hora eius, non qua cogeretur mori, sed qua dignaretur occidi. We can also see Christ’s security from the fact that those who had been sent to arrest him could not do so, because he was not willing. Thus the Evangelist says, and no man laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come, that is, the time for him to suffer, an hour not fixed by fate, but predetermined from all eternity by his own will. Thus Augustine says: his hour had not yet come, not in which he would be forced to die, but in which he would not refuse being killed. 1164. Sed nota, secundum Origenem, quod quandocumque designatur locus in quo Dominus aliquid fecit, hoc fit propter mysterium. In gazophylacio ergo, qui est locus divitiarum, Christus docuit, ut daret intelligi, quod numismata, id est verba suae doctrinae, imaginem regis magni impressam habent. 1164. We may note, according to Origen, that whenever the place where our Lord did something is mentioned, this is done because of some mystery. Thus Christ taught in the treasury, the place where riches were kept, to signify that the coins, that is, the words of his teaching, are impressed with the image of the great King. Nota etiam, quod quando docebat, nemo apprehendit eum, quia sermones eius fortiores erant his qui eum capere volebant: quando vero voluit crucifigi, tacuit. Note also that when Christ was teaching, no man laid hands on him, because his words were stronger than those who wanted to seize him; but when he willed to be crucified, then he became silent. Lectio 3 Lecture 3 Christus iterum mortem suam perhibet Christ again proclaims his death 8:21 Dicit ergo iterum eis Iesus: ego vado, et quaeretis me, et in peccato vestro moriemini. Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire. [n. 1166] 8:21 Again Jesus said to them: I go, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. [n. 1166] 8:22 Dicebant ergo Iudaei: numquid interficiet semetipsum, quia dicit: quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire? [n. 1172] 8:22 The Jews therefore said: Will he kill himself, because he said: where I go, you cannot come? [n. 1172] 8:23 Et dicebat eis: vos de deorsum estis, ego de supernis sum. Vos de mundo hoc estis, ego non sum de hoc mundo. [n. 1174] 8:23 And he said to them: You are from below, and I am from above. You are of this world, and I am not of this world. [n. 1174] 8:24 Dixi ergo vobis quia moriemini in peccatis vestris. Si enim non credideritis quia ego sum, moriemini in peccato vestro. [n. 1177] 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sin. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sin. [n. 1177] 8:25 Dicebant ergo ei: tu quis es? Dixit eis Iesus: principium, qui et loquor vobis. [n. 1180] 8:25 They therefore said to him: who are you? Jesus said to them: the source, who also speaks to you. [n. 1180] 8:26 Multa habeo de vobis loqui, et iudicare; sed qui me misit, verax est: ego quae audivi ab eo, haec loquor in mundo. [n. 1185] 8:26 Many things I have to say and to judge about you. But he who sent me is truthful, and the things that I have heard from him are the same that I speak to the world. [n. 1185] 8:27 Et non cognoverunt quia Patrem eius dicebat Deum. [n. 1189] 8:27 And they did not understand why he called God his Father. [n. 1189] 8:28 Dixit ergo eis Iesus: cum exaltaveritis Filium hominis, tunc cognoscetis. Quia ego sum, et a meipso facio nihil; sed sicut docuit me Pater, haec loquor. [n. 1191] 8:28 Jesus therefore said to them: when you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father has taught me, these things I speak: [n. 1191] 8:29 Et qui me misit, mecum est, et non reliquit me solum, quia ego quae placita sunt ei, facio semper. [n. 1192] 8:29 and he who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please him. [n. 1192] 8:30 Haec illo loquente, multi crediderunt in eum. [n. 1193] 8:30 When he spoke these things, many believed in him. [n. 1193] 1165. Postquam Dominus manifestavit de se privilegium lucis, hic consequenter manifestat lucis effectum, scilicet quod liberat a tenebris, et 1165. After our Lord showed his special position with respect to light, he here reveals the effect of this light, that is, that it frees us from darkness. primo ostendit quod ipsi in tenebris detinentur; First, he shows that the Jews are imprisoned in darkness; secundo docet remedium quo ab eis liberentur, ibi dicebant ergo Iudaei: numquid interficiet semetipsum etc. second he teaches the remedy which can free them, at the Jews therefore said: will he kill himself? Circa primum tria facit. He does three things concerning the first: Primo denuntiat Dominus suum recessum; first, the Lord tells them he is going to leave; secundo ostendit Iudaeorum studium perversum; second, he reveals the perverse plans of the Jews, and tertio ipsorum defectum. third, he mentions what they will be deprived of.