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. 1010. Postquam Dominus egit de vita spirituali et nutrimento, hic consequenter agit de instructione seu doctrina, quae est necessaria spiritualiter regeneratis, ut dictum est supra, et First, he shows the origin of his teaching; primo ostendit originem suae doctrinae; second, its usefulness (John 8). secundo manifestat eius utilitatem ab octavo capitulo, et deinceps. As to the first, he does three things. Circa primum tria facit. First, he mentions the place where he revealed the origin of his teaching; Primo ponitur locus ubi originem suae doctrinae manifestavit; second, the occasion for revealing this, at the Jews therefore looked for him; and secundo ponuntur occasiones eam manifestandi, ibi Iudaei ergo quaerebant eum etc.; third, his actual statement is given, at Jesus answered them and said: my doctrine is not mine (John 7:16). tertio ponitur ipsa manifestatio, ibi respondit eis Iesus, et dixit: mea doctrina non est mea etc. Three things are done about the first. Circa primum tria facit. First, we see Christ invited to go to the place where he revealed the origin of his teaching; Primo ponitur incitatio Christi ad eundum ad locum, ubi publicavit originem suae doctrinae; second, we see our Lord refuse, at then Jesus said to them: my time is not yet come; and secundo ponitur recusatio Domini, ibi dicit ergo eis Iesus etc.; third, how Jesus finally did go, at when he had said these things, he himself stayed in Galilee (John 7:9). tertio subditur quomodo Christus ad locum illum pervenit, ibi haec cum dixisset, ipse mansit in Galilaea. As to the first, he does two things. Circa primum duo facit. First, he gives the reasons why they encouraged Christ to go to Judea; Primo ponit occasiones quare Christum incitabant ad eundum; second, he adds their exhortation, at and his brethren said to him. secundo subdit ipsam incitationem, ibi dixerunt autem ad eum fratres eius. They were influenced by three things to encourage Christ to go to Judea: Ex tribus autem movebantur ut incitarent Christum ad eundum in Iudaeam: first, by his delay, primo quidem ex mora eius; second, by his intention and secundo ex proposito; third, by the appropriateness of the time. tertio ex congruitate temporis. 1011. They were influenced by Christ’s delaying in Galilee, which showed that he wanted to stay there. Thus he says, after these things, after teaching in Capernaum, Jesus walked in Galilee, i.e., he set out from Capernaum, a city of Galilee, with the intention to journey throughout this region. 1011. Ex mora quidem eius in Galilaea, in qua ostendebat Christus se velle morari: et ideo dicit post haec, verba scilicet quae dicta sunt in Capharnaum, ambulabat Iesus in Galilaeam; scilicet, acceperat iter de Capharnaum, quae erat metropolis Galilaeae, ut discurreret per Galilaeam. 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 (Ezek 12:13). Ideo autem Dominus in Galilaea frequentius moratur, ut ostendat nobis transmigrandum esse de vitiis ad virtutes; Ez. XII, 3: tu ergo, fili hominis, fac tibi vasa transmigrationis, et transmigrabis per diem coram eis. 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. As above: therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God (John 5:18). 1012. Ex proposito autem Christi, qui forte eis per verba innotuit; et ideo dicit non enim volebat in Iudaeam ambulare. Cuius ratio est quia quaerebant eum Iudaei interficere; supra V, 18: quaerebant eum Iudaei interficere: quia non solum solvebat Sabbatum, sed et Patrem suum dicebat Deum, aequalem se faciens Deo. But could not Christ still have gone among the Jews without being killed by them, as he did later, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple (John 8:59)? Sed numquid non poterat illuc ire, et ambulare inter Iudaeos, et ab eis non occidi, sicut fecit infra VIII, 59? 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 (Matt 10:23). Respondeo dicendum, quod ad hoc triplex ratio assignatur. Prima ab Augustino: quia futurum erat ut aliquis fidelis Christi absconderet se ne a persecutoribus inveniretur. Ne ergo illi fuga obiiceretur pro crimine, voluit Dominus ad consolationem nostram hoc in se praecessisse ostendere: quod etiam et verbo docuit. Matth. X, 23: si vos persecuti fuerint in una civitate, fugite in aliam. 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. Alia quidem ratio est, quia scilicet Christus Deus erat et homo, et ideo virtute divinitatis poterat non laedi a persecutoribus. Sed hoc noluit continue facere, quia sic fuisset declarata eius divinitas, quod tamen humanitas eius venisset in dubium. Et ideo fugiens quandoque persecutores ut homo, asserit suam humanitatem, ut confundat omnes eum non verum hominem fuisse dicentes. Quandoque autem transiens illaesus per eos, ostendit suam divinitatem, confundens omnes eum hominem purum esse dicentes. Et ideo Chrysostomus habet aliam litteram, scilicet non enim habebat potestatem, si vellet, in Iudaeam ambulare: quod dicitur secundum modum humanum; sicut si dicatur: aliquis non potest aliquo ire, si vellet, propter insidias. 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 knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father (John 13:1). Tertia ratio est, quia nondum passionis aderat tempus: futurum enim erat ut Pateretur in Pascha, quando immolabatur agnus, ut sic victima succederet victimae; infra XIII, v. 1: sciens Iesus quia venit hora eius ut transeat ex hoc mundo ad Patrem. 1013. They were also influenced by the suitableness of the time, for it was a time for going to Jerusalem. Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was at hand. Tabernacles 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 (Lev 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. 1013. Ex congruitate vero temporis, quia erat tempus congruum ad eundum in Ierusalem: et hoc est quod dicit erat autem in proximo die festus Iudaeorum Scenopegia. Scenopegia autem Graecum est, compositum ex scenos, quod est umbra, et phagim, quod est comedere; quasi dicat: erat tempus in quo comedebant in tabernaculis. Dominus enim mandavit filiis Israel, Lev. XXIII, 41, quod mense septimo per septem dies habitarent in tabernaculis, in memoriam quod quadraginta annis habitaverunt in tabernaculis in deserto. Et hoc festum tunc celebrabant Iudaei. 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. Commemorat autem hoc Evangelista, ut ostendat quod multum tempus praetermisit ab eo tempore quo praemissa de cibo spirituali dicta fuerunt usque ad istud tempus. Nam quando fecit miraculum de panibus, erat prope dies Paschae; hoc autem festum Scenopegiae est multo post Pascha; et sic nihil eorum quae in quinque mensibus intermediis per Dominum facta sunt, recitat hic Evangelista: ut detur intelligi quod licet indeficienter signa faceret, ut patet infra ultimo, illa praecipue studuerunt Evangelistae dicere pro quibus aut querela aut contradictio a Iudaeis subsequebatur. 1014. Then, at and his brethren said to him, our Lord is urged on by his brethren. 1014. Consequenter cum dicit dixerunt autem ad eum fratres eius, ponitur incitatio fratrum Domini, et First, we are given their advice; primo ponitur eorum admonitio; second, the reason for it, at so that your disciples also may see your works; and secundo assignatur admonitionis ratio, ibi ut discipuli tui videant opera tua; third, the Evangelist mentions the cause of this reason, at for neither did his brethren believe in him. tertio ab Evangelista assignatur causa talis rationis, ibi neque enim fratres eius credebant in eum. 1015. As to the first, the ones who urge Christ are mentioned; hence he says, and 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: let us not quarrel, for we are brothers (Gen 13:8), 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. 1015. Circa primum primo ponuntur incitantes; unde dicit dixerunt autem ad eum fratres eius, non carnales et uterini, ut Elvidius blasphemavit, quod abhorret fides Catholica, quod sanctissimus ille virgineus uterus qui Deum protulit et hominem, protulisset postmodum alium hominem mortalem. Fratres ergo eius erant cognatione, quia erant consanguinei Beatae Mariae virginis; haec enim est consuetudo Scripturae, consanguineos appellare fratres, secundum illud Gen. c. XIII, 8: non sit, quaeso, iurgium inter me et te . . . fratres enim sumus; cum tamen Lot nepos esset Abrahae. Et, ut Augustinus dicit, sicut in sepulcro ubi positum fuerat corpus Domini, nec ante nec postea iacuit corpus, sic uterus Mariae nec ante nec postea quidquam mortale concepit. Sed quia aliqui de consanguineis beatae virginis erant apostoli, sicut filii Zebedaei, et Iacobi Alphaei, et alii, ideo non est intelligendum quod fuerunt de illis qui incitaverunt Christum, sed illi fuerunt alii propinqui eius, qui Christum non diligebant. Second, we see their advice when they say: pass from here, that is, Galilee, and go into Judea, where you will find Jerusalem, a sacred place, well-suited to teachers. Seer, go, flee to the land of Ridah. There eat your bread and there prophesy (Amos 7:12). Secundo ponitur monitio eorum, cum dicunt transi hinc, scilicet de Galilaea, et vade in Iudaeam, ubi est Ierusalem locus solemnis, doctoribus conveniens; Amos VII, 12: qui vides, gradere in terram Iuda, et ibi comedes panem tuum, et prophetabis ibi. 1016. They give their reason when they say: so that your disciples also may see your works. Here they show, first, that they are hungry for an empty glory; second, that they are suspicious; and third, do not believe. 1016. Rationem autem subdunt, dicentes ut et discipuli tui videant opera tua, ubi ostendunt se primo inanis gloriae cupidos; secundo suspiciosos, et tertio incredulos. They show that they are hungry for an empty glory when they say, so that your disciples also may see your works. 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 comers, so people can see them (Matt 6:5). We read of such people: for they loved the glory of men, more than the glory of God (John 12:43). Cupidos quidem inanis gloriae ostendunt se, cum dicunt ut et discipuli tui videant opera tua. Patiebantur enim aliquid humani ad Christum, et volebant captare gloriam de honore humano, qui Christo exhiberetur a turbis; et ideo inducebant eum ut faceret opera sua in publico. Est enim proprium inanis gloriae cupidi ut quidquid gloriosum sui vel suorum fuerit, ostendatur in publico; Matth. VI, 5: amant in synagogis et in angulis platearum stantes orare ut videantur ab hominibus; de quibus dicitur infra XII, 43: dilexerunt magis gloriam hominum quam Dei. They reveal that they themselves are suspicious, and first of all remark on Christ’s fear, saying: for there is no man who does anything 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 spoken nothing in secret (John 18:20). Suspiciosos autem ostendunt se et primo de formidine Christum notant; unde dicunt ei nemo quippe in occulto aliquid facit, quasi dicant: tu dicis te facere miracula, sed facis in occulto et hoc ex timore, alioquin ires in Ierusalem et faceres ea ibi coram multitudine. Sed tamen Dominus dicit infra XVIII, v. 20: in occulto locutus sum nihil.