Chapter 16 Caput 16 The Last Supper Discourse Cont. Continuatio Sermonis in Coena Lecture 1 Lectio 1 Coming persecution Persecutio futura ^16:1 These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. [n. 2069] ^16:1 Haec locutus sum vobis, ut non scandalizemini. [n. 2069] ^16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues: indeed, the hour comes, when whoever kills you, will think that he does a service to God. [n. 2071] ^16:2 Absque synagogis facient vos. Sed venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos, arbitretur obsequium se praestare Deo. [n. 2071] ^16:3 And these things they will do to you; because they have not known the Father, nor me. [n. 2075] ^16:3 Et haec facient vobis, quia non noverunt Patrem neque me. [n. 2075] ^16:4 But these things I have told you, that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. But I told you not these things from the beginning, because I was with you. [n. 2077] ^16:4 Sed haec locutus sum vobis, ut cum venerit hora eorum, reminiscamini quia ego dixi vobis. Haec autem vobis ab initio non dixi, quia vobiscum eram. [n. 2077] 2068. Above, our Lord had used certain considerations to console his disciples over his leaving and against the persecutions and tribulations that would come upon them. Here he amplifies these considerations more clearly. 2068. Supra consolatus est Dominus discipulos quibusdam rationibus de suo recessu, et de persecutionibus et tribulationibus eis superventuris; hic easdem rationes manifestius explicat, et First, he explains the considerations he gave before; primo ponitur rationum explicatio supra positarum; and second, we see the effect of this explanation on the disciples: his disciples say to him: his disciples said to him: behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no proverb (John 16:29). secundo insinuatur effectus explicationis in discipulis, ibi dicunt ei discipuli: ecce nunc palam loqueris etc. If we pay close attention to what was said in the pervious two chapters, we can see that our Lord aimed at consoling his disciples against two things: his own leaving them, and the tribulations that would come upon them. But he here explains these two things in reverse order. He had consoled them first over his leaving because this would take place very soon and he had not yet foretold all the tribulations that would come upon them. But now, since they seemed to be more troubled by their own tribulations than by Christ’s leaving, Dominus autem, si bene considerentur ea quae in superioribus duobus capitulis dicta sunt, discipulos consolari intendebat de duobus: de recessu suo, et tribulationibus eis superventuris et rationes ad haec duo hic explicat, ordine retrogrado. Cuius ratio est, quia cum recessus suus statim immineret, nec adhuc eis tribulationes superventuras praenuntiaverat, ideo primo consolatus est eos de recessu. Sed quia iam ex praenuntiatis eis tribulationibus videbantur magis affici ad tribulationes, quam ad recessum Christi, ideo hic our Lord here consoles them first of all against their forthcoming trials, primum consolatur eos de his tribulationibus superventuris; and then against his leaving: and now I go to him who sent me (John 6:5). secundo de recessu suo, ibi et nunc vado ad eum qui misit me. He does three things concerning the first: Circa primum tria facit. first, he gives his intention; Primo manifestat suam intentionem; second, he mentions the tribulations they will suffer from being persecuted: they will put you out of the synagogues; secundo praenuntiat discipulis tribulationum persecutionem, ibi absque synagogis facient vos etc.; third, he tells why they will be persecuted: and these things they will do to you. tertio subdit persecutionis rationem, ibi et haec facient vobis. 2069. He says: I have said that the Jews hate me and you, because they do not know who sent me. I have said that they are inexcusable and that you and the Holy Spirit will bear witness against them. Now these things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized, that is, so you don’t fall away when the tribulations I have foretold come upon you. And it is fitting that our Lord restrains them from falling after promising the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is love, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Rom 5:5), and the Holy Spirit prevents stumbling: great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble (Ps 119:165). Now it is characteristic of friends that they disregard any loss for the sake of one another (Prov 12:26). So, for one who is a friend of God, to suffer punishment and loss is no reason to fall away. Yet because the disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit before the death of Christ, they did fall away during his passion: you will all fall away because of me this night (Matt 26:31). But after the Holy Spirit came there was no falling away. 2069. Dicit ergo: dixi quod Iudaei oderunt me et vos, quia non cognoverunt eum qui me misit. Et sunt inexcusabiles, et Spiritus Sanctus et vos testificabimini contra illos. Sed haec omnia ideo locutus sum vobis, ut non scandalizemini; idest ut cum venerint tribulationes quas praenuntio vobis, sitis absque scandalo. Et merito post promissionem Spiritus Sancti scandalum prohibet, quia Spiritus Sanctus est amor, amor autem Dei diffusus est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum Sanctum, qui datus est nobis: Rom. V, 5, et omnem propellit scandalum, Ps. CXVIII, 165: pax multa diligentibus legem tuam, et non est illis scandalum. Amicorum autem est negligere damnum propter amicum, ut dicitur Prov. XII, 26. Amicis ergo Dei non est scandalum, poenas et damna pati pro Christo. Quia vero ante mortem Christi discipuli Spiritum Sanctum non acceperunt, ideo in passione Christi scandalizati sunt; Matth. XXVI, 31: omnes vos scandalum patiemini in me in nocte ista. Sed post adventum Spiritus Sancti omnino absque scandalo fuerunt. 2070. The disciples might say: don’t we have reason to fall away? Many troubles will come upon us: 2070. Sed possent dicere discipuli: numquid est nobis materia scandali? Immo, quia tribulationes multae supervenient nobis, et first, that of rejection; primo quidem, exclusionis; second, we will be killed. secundo interfectionis. 2071. They will be rejected from the society of the Jews; so he says, they will put you out of the synagogues: as above, the Jews had already agreed among themselves, that if any man should confess him to be Christ, he should be put out of the synagoge (John 9:22). This was so successful that for this reason some of the authorities who did believe in Christ were afraid to profess him publicly, as we read above (John 12:42). Christ foretold this rejection: blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man (Luke 6:22). 2071. Exclusionis quidem a consortio Iudaeorum, unde dicit absque synagogis facient vos; supra IX, 22: iam conspiraverant Iudaei ut si quis confiteretur ipsum esse Christum, extra synagogam fieret. Et hoc intantum invaluit quod aliqui ex principibus in Christum credentes timebant propter hoc publice confiteri, ut habetur supra XII, 42. Hanc exclusionem praenuntiat Lc. VI, 22: beati eritis cum vos oderint homines, et eiecerint nomen vestrum tamquam malum propter Filium hominis. 2072. Was it an evil for the apostles to be cast out of the Jewish synagogues, since they were going to leave them in any case? 2072. Sed numquid malum erat apostolis extra synagogam Iudaeorum fieri, cum ipsi essent ab eo recessuri? The answer, according to Augustine, is that it was a trial for them, because this was our Lord’s way of telling them that the Jews would not accept Christ. For if they had received Christ, the synagogue of the Jews and the Church of Christ would have been the same; and those who would be converted to the Church of Christ would have been converted to the synagogue of the Jews. Ad quod dicendum, secundum Augustinum, quod in hoc erat eis tribulatio, quia per hoc dabat Dominus intelligere quod Iudaei non erant recepturi Christum. Nam si Christum recepissent, eadem fuisset synagoga Iudaeorum et Ecclesia Christi; et qui convertentur ad Ecclesiam Christi, conversi ad synagogam Iudaeorum fuissent. 2073. The other trial is that of being killed: indeed, the hour comes, when whoever kills you, will think he does a service to God. We can take these words as spoken to console the disciples, so that the indeed signifies a contrary train of thought and the sense would be: you ought to be consoled by what they will do to you, for, indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 2073. Interfectionis autem: sed venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos, arbitretur obsequium se praestare Deo. Haec quidem verba possunt accipi quasi in consolationem discipulorum dicta, ut ly sed accipiatur adversative, ut sit sensus: quasi consolari debetis ex hoc quod vobis facient, sed venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos, arbitretur obsequium se praestare Deo. How is it a consolation for them that whoever kills them thinks he is serving God? Sed qualis consolatio poterat eis esse, haec scilicet, ut omnis qui interficeret eos arbitraretur se obsequium praestare Deo? The answer, according to Augustine, is that in saying, they will put you out of the synagogues, we are to understand that those converted to Christ would be immediately killed by the Jews. And so to console his disciples our Lord tells them that they would win so many to Christ, who would be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, that they could not all be killed, and so the Jews would try to kill the apostles so they would not convert all the people to the name of Christ by their preaching. Ad quod dicendum, secundum Augustinum, quod per hoc quod dixerat absque synagogis facient vos, dabatur intelligi quod illi qui converterentur ad Christum, statim a Iudaeis occidendi erant: et ideo ad eorum consolationem dicit eis Dominus, quod tam multos Christo acquisituri erant, expulsi de Iudaeorum congregationibus, ut eos extirpare non possent; et propter hoc mortem eis intentare studerent, ne omnes ad nomen Christi sua praedicatione converterent. Or, we could say that here Christ is simply telling them beforehand that they will be killed. Vel dicendum, quod in hoc praedixit eis tribulationem interfectionis. 2074. He says, whoever kills you, will think he does a service to God, and not to the gods, to show that he is speaking only of persecution from the Jews: I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify (Matt 23:34). The martyrs of Christ were killed by the gentiles, and they did not consider that they were serving God but only their own gods. It was the Jews who, when they killed those who were preaching Christ, thought this was a service to God. For they had zeal for God, but without knowledge, since they believed that anyone who converted to Christ was deserting God. We read of this killing: for your sake we are slain all the day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Ps 44:22). 2074. Dicit autem arbitretur obsequium se praestare Deo, non diis, ut det intelligere hoc dici solum de persecutione Iudaeorum; Matth. XXIII, 34: ecce ego mitto ad vos sapientes et Scribas; et ex illis occidetis et crucifigetis. Nam martyres Christi occisi sunt a gentilibus, non tamen illi arbitrati sunt Deo sed diis suis solum obsequium se praestare. Ideo autem Iudaei, Christi praedicatores occidentes, putabant Deo se praestare obsequium, quia zelum Dei habebant, sed non secundum scientiam: credebant enim quod desereret Deum Israel quicumque converteretur ad Christum. De ista interfectione dicitur in Ps. XLIII, 22: propter te mortificamur tota die; aestimati sumus sicut oves occisionis. 2075. He gives the reason why this will be so: and these things they will do to you; because they have not known the Father, nor me, 2075. Rationem dictorum assignat, dicens et hoc facient vobis, quia non noverunt Patrem neque me et first stating the reason of the future persecution, primo rationem futurae persecutionis; and then saying why he foretold this persecution: but these things I have told you. secundo rationem praenuntiationis, ibi sed haec locutus sum vobis. 2076. He says, they will persecute you, but they will do to you, not out of zeal for the truth, but because they have not known the Father, as Father, nor me, his Son: if you did know me, perhaps you would also know my Father (John 8:19); I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief (1 Tim 1:13). 2076. Dicit ergo: persequentur vos, et haec facient vobis, non propter zelum veritatis, sed quia non noverunt Patrem, inquantum scilicet est Pater, neque me, Filium suum; supra VIII, 19: si me sciretis, et Patrem meum forsitan sciretis; I Tim. I, 13: qui prius fui blasphemus et persecutor . . . misericordiam Dei consecutus sum, quia ignorans feci in incredulitate. 2077. One could ask: if the Jews are going to persecute you because of their ignorance of the faith, why did Christ foretell this to you? But these things I have told you, that when the hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. 2077. Sed posset dici: si per ignorantiam fidei Iudaei vos sunt persecuturi, quare ergo praedixit vobis? Et ideo cum dicit sed haec locutus sum vobis, ut cum venerit hora eorum, reminiscamini quia ego dixi vobis, So Christ first gives the reason why he foretold this; primo ponit causam praenuntiationis;