Thomas Aquinas

Above, the Lord consoled his disciples with reasons drawn from the side of the disciples themselves, by promising them access to the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and his own return; but here he consoles them with reasons drawn from his own side, from which a twofold cause of consolation could come to them. One, from the benefit of the fruit that would follow from Christ's departure; the other, from the cause of his death. And therefore he first sets down the first; second, the second, at the place "I will now speak much with you no more." Now the fruit that followed from Christ's departure was his own exaltation, etc., whence the disciples could be consoled. For it is the custom of friends that, when a friend goes off to his own exaltation, they are less desolated at his departure; and therefore the Lord sets down this cause for their consolation. And first he excludes the doubt of the heart; second, he calls to mind something that consoled them in part, and in part troubled them; third, he adds the cause that consoles totally; fourth, he answers a certain tacit question.

He excludes indeed the trouble of the heart, saying, "Let not your heart be troubled," and so on. Trouble is referred to sadness; dread to fear. Now sadness and fear agree in something, namely in this, that each is about an evil; but they differ, because sadness is about a present evil, while dread is about a future evil. Now the Lord says, "Let not your heart be troubled," concerning present evil — Psalm 111:6: "The just man shall not be moved"; "nor let it be afraid," namely concerning the future — Isaiah 51:12: "Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a mortal man?" This is to be understood of human fear, for he does not exclude divine fear.

Consequently, when he says, "You have heard that I said to you: I go, and I come to you"; for they were troubled by Christ's departure, but they were in part consoled by what he adds, "and I come to you" — above: "I go, and I come to you." Yet they were not totally consoled by this, fearing lest perhaps the wolf might invade the flock in this interval, in the absence of the shepherd, according to that saying of Zechariah 13:7: "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." He says therefore, "let it not be troubled," because "I go"; but "let it not be afraid" either, because "I come to you." He goes indeed by his own power in dying, and he comes by rising again; Matthew 20:18: "The Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death... and the third day he shall rise again." He went by ascending; Isaiah 63:1: "This beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength." He will come to judge; Luke 21:27: "They shall see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty."

But he consoles them totally when he says, "If you loved me, you would indeed rejoice"; as if to say: if you love me, you ought not be saddened, but rather you ought to rejoice at my departure, because I go to my exaltation, namely because "I go to the Father, who is greater than I." But from this Arius exults, saying that the Father is greater than the Son. His error is excluded by these very words of the Lord. For from the understanding by which "I go to the Father" is understood, from that same understanding "the Father is greater than I" is understood. But the Son does not go to the Father, nor does he come to us, insofar as he is the Son of God, according to which he was with the Father from eternity — above, chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." But he is said to go to the Father according to his human nature.

Thus, therefore, when he says "is greater than I," he does not say it insofar as he is the Son of God, but insofar as he is the Son of man, according to which he is not only less than the Father and the Holy Spirit, but even than the angels themselves; Hebrews 2:9: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor." Likewise he was subject, in some respect, to certain men, namely his parents, as is read in Luke 2:51. So then he is less than the Father according to his humanity, equal according to his divinity; Philippians 2:6: "He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant."

It can also be said, according to Hilary, that the Father, even according to divinity, is greater than the Son, but nevertheless the Son is not lesser, but equal. For the Father is greater than the Son not in power, eternity, and greatness, but in the authority of one who gives, that is, of a principle. For the Father receives nothing from another, but the Son, so to speak, receives his nature from the Father through eternal generation. The Father, then, is greater because he gives; but the Son is not lesser, but equal, because he receives all that the Father has; Philippians 2:9: "He gave him a name which is above all names." For he to whom one and the same being is given is no longer lesser than the one giving.

Chrysostom, however, expounds it thus, saying that the Lord speaks according to the suspicion of the apostles, who did not yet know what the resurrection was, nor did they consider him equal to the Father. And therefore he says to them: even if you do not believe me that I am not able to help myself, nor trust that after the cross I shall see you again; nevertheless believe me, that I go to the Father, who is greater than I.

He responds, however, to a tacit question, saying, "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it shall come to pass, you may believe." For they might ask why he was saying these things, and therefore, anticipating them, he says, "Now I have told you," and so on. But Augustine asks: since faith is of those things which are not seen, a man ought not to believe after it has come to pass, but before. But it must be said that they saw one thing, and believed another. They saw, before, the death of Christ and his resurrection; and having seen this, they believed that he was the Christ, the Son of God. Hence when it had come to pass, they believed not with a new faith, but with an increased one; or rather, indeed, when he had died, it was diminished; when he had risen, it was restored, as Augustine says.

Consequently, when he says, "I will now speak much with you no more," he sets down another cause of consolation on the part of his departure, which is taken from the cause of his death. Now it must be known that the cause of death is of one kind inducing sorrow, when someone is killed for a fault; and of another kind inducing consolation, namely when someone dies for the good of virtue; 1 Peter 4:15: "Let none of you suffer as a thief or a murderer... but if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed." Concerning this, therefore, the Lord first shows that sin was not the cause of his death; second, that the cause of it was the power of obedience and charity, at the place, "but that the world may know that I love the Father."

He says, therefore, "I will now speak much with you no more," on account of the brevity of the time; above, chapter 13:33: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you." Or because you are not yet capable of it; below, chapter 16:12: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." Or he says, "I will not speak much with you," for this reason: because in one brief discourse I will explain to you that I shall not die on account of my own fault.

And he does this consequently, when he says, "For the prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing," namely the Devil, who is called prince, not by reason of creation, nor by natural power, as the Manichaeans blaspheme, but by reason of the fault of this world, that is, of its lovers; hence he is called the prince of the world and of sin. Ephesians, last chapter, verse 12: "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and princes of this darkness." He is not, therefore, the prince of creatures, but of sinners and of darkness; Job 41:25: "He is king over all the children of pride." This prince, therefore, comes to persecute: for he entered into the heart of Judas, that he might betray, and into the hearts of the Jews, that they might kill; but "in me he has nothing": for in us he has no power except on account of sin; above, chapter 8, verse 34: "He who commits sin is the servant of sin." But in Christ there was no sin, neither according to the soul — 1 Peter 2:22: "Who did no sin," etc. — nor according to the flesh, because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit from a virgin without original sin; Luke 1:35: "For that which shall be born of thee shall be called holy, the Son of God." Because, therefore, the Devil also invaded Christ, in whom he had no right, he deserved to lose what he justly possessed; Mark 5:7: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the most high God?" Thus, then, it is clear that the cause of his death was not fault; indeed there was no reason why he should die, if he had no sin.

Consequently he adds the true cause, which is the good of virtue; and therefore he says, "but that the world may know that I love the Father": which, according to Augustine, is punctuated thus: "but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given me commandment, so do I" — with a suspended pause — "arise, let us go hence." Here it must be known that two things moved Christ to undergo death, namely love of God and love of neighbor; Ephesians 5:2: "Walk in love." And he proves this by a sign, in that he fulfills his own commandments; above: "If you love me, keep my commandments." And as to this he says, "but that the world may know that I love the Father," etc.; and this effectively, namely because I die; hence he adds, "and as the Father has given me commandment, so do I": which is according to that whereby the Father moved him to undertake death, namely obedience, which is caused by love. Now the Father gave this commandment not to the Son of God, who, since he is the Word, is himself also the commandment of the Father; but he gave it to the Son of man, insofar as he inspired in his soul that it was necessary for human salvation that Christ should die in his human nature. That the world, therefore, may know this: "arise" — from the place where they had supped — "and let us go" — to the place where I am to be handed over — that you may see that I die not out of necessity, but out of charity and obedience; Job 39:21: "He goes forth boldly to meet armed men."

According to Chrysostom, however, it is read otherwise: namely, that at the point where he says "so do I" there is the end of the sentence; and at the point where he resumes, "arise, let us go hence," there is the beginning of another; so that the sense is: I do not die as though the prince of this world had anything in me, but because I love the Father, therefore I do this. But do you arise, and let us go hence. For he saw that they were afraid, both on account of the time, because it was deep night, and on account of the place, because they were plainly stationed in a house in a village, so that they kept turning their eyes toward the door, as if expecting enemies to invade them, and on this account not attending to the things that were being said. And therefore, that they might better understand the words he was about to say, he leads them into another, secluded place, so that, judging themselves to be safe, they might listen more attentively to what he was saying to them; Hosea 2:14: "I will lead her into solitude, and I will speak to her heart."