The Pharisees heard the people murmuring these things concerning him: and the rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend him.

“(Tract. xxxi. 7) Or they mean, If there are not to be two Christs, this is He. The rulers however, possessed with madness, not only refused to acknowledge the physician, but even wished to kill Him: The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to take Him.”

“After the Lord had set down the principle of his origin, here he consequently intimates its term — namely, that to which he is about to go by means of death — and first the term of Christ's way is intimated; secondly, the crowds' wonder at his words is set down, where it says, "The Jews therefore said among themselves," and so on. Concerning the first he does three things. First he intimates the term of his life; secondly he foretells the future longing of the crowds, where it says, "you shall seek me, and shall not find me"; thirdly he adds their deficiency, where it says, "and where I am, you cannot come." Concerning the first he does two things. First he foretells the postponement of his death; secondly he hints at whither he is about to go by means of death, where it says, "and I go to the Father," etc.: and thus in the first he shows his power; in the second, his will to suffer. He shows his power indeed in the postponement of his death, because, although the Jews sought to seize him, they were nevertheless unable to do this unless Christ willed it; below, chapter 10:18: "No one takes my soul from me, but I lay it down.." And therefore Jesus said to them, "Yet a little while I am with you"; as if to say: you wish to kill me, but this is not placed in your will, but in mine, and I determine that I am still with you for a little while; therefore wait a short time. What you wish to do now, you shall do: for "yet a little while I am with you." In this indeed the Lord makes satisfaction, first to the crowd that revered him, making it more eager to hear him, as it were left for a short time, in which they might avail themselves of this teaching, as Chrysostom says. Below, chapter 12, verse 36: "While you have the light, believe in the light." Secondly, to the crowd that persecuted him, as if to say: your desire for my death is not deferred for long, wherefore bear it patiently, because it is still but a little. For I must fulfill my dispensation — namely, by preaching and by working miracles — and thus arrive at the passion; Luke 13:32: "Go, and tell that fox, that today and tomorrow I work, and the third day I am consummated.." Now there is a threefold cause why Christ willed to preach for so short a time. The first, to demonstrate his power, in that in so short a time he would change the whole world; Psalm 83:11: "For better is one day in your courts above thousands." The second is to arouse the desire of the disciples, namely that they might desire him the more whom they were to have for a little while by bodily presence; Luke 17:22: "The days will come, when you shall desire one day of the Son of man.." The third is to increase the spiritual progress of the disciples. For since Christ's humanity is for us the way of tending toward God, as is said below, chapter 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," we ought not to rest in it as in a term, but through it we ought to tend toward God. Therefore, lest the hearts of the disciples, carnally affected toward Christ, should rest in him as in a man, Christ for this reason quickly withdrew his bodily presence from them; whence he said, below, chapter 16:7, "It is expedient for you that I go"; 2 Corinthians 5:16: "And if we have known Christ according to the flesh" — namely, at that time when he was with us bodily — "but now we know him so no longer." He shows the will of his passion when he says, "and I go to him that sent me," as one going spontaneously, namely through the passion; Isaiah 53:7: "He was offered because it was his own will"; Ephesians 5:2: "He offered himself a victim to God, for an odor of sweetness.." "I go," I say, "to the Father who sent me." And this fittingly: for anything whatsoever naturally returns to its own principle; Ecclesiastes 1:7: "Unto the place from which the rivers come, they return." Below, chapter 13:3: "Knowing that he was come from God, and goeth to God." And again, chapter 16:5: "I go to him that sent me." Consequently, when he says, "you shall seek me, and shall not find me," he foretells the desire of the Jews, as if to say: it is but a little that you are able to enjoy my teaching; but this little, which you now reject, you shall someday seek, and shall not find; Isaiah 55:6: "Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found"; and in Psalm 68:33: "Seek ye the Lord," namely in the present, "and your soul shall live." Now this saying, "you shall seek me, and shall not find me," can be understood either of a bodily seeking of Christ, or of a spiritual one. If it be understood of the bodily seeking, then, according to Chrysostom, they sought him when the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the women, mourned over him, as is said in Luke 23:27, and it is credible that many others suffered this then. Nor is it remote from the truth, because, with tribulation impending over the Jews, and especially when the city was being taken, mindful of Christ and of his miracles, they would desire his presence, by which they might be freed; and according to this it must be said, "you shall seek me" — that is, my bodily presence — "and shall not find me." But if it be understood of the spiritual seeking, it must be said, according to Augustine, that him whom they refused to know while present, they afterward sought when, seeing the multitude believing, and pricked at heart over the crime of Christ's death, they said to Peter, Acts 2:37: "What shall we do, men and brethren?" Thus, then, they sought Christ when they believed in him who forgave their crimes, whom they had seen dying by their own crime. Consequently, when he says, "and where I am, you cannot come," he shows their deficiency. Nor does he say "whither I go," which would be more consequent upon what was said before, namely "I go to the Father who sent me"; but he says "where I am," so as to show himself to be God and man. Man indeed, insofar as he goes — below, chapter 16:5, "I go to him that sent me" — but insofar as Christ was always there, whither he was to return, he shows himself to be God; above, chapter 3:13: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven." Thus, then, according to Augustine, just as Christ returned so as not to abandon us, so he descended to us through the assumption of visible flesh, so that according to his invisible majesty he might also be in heaven. He does not, however, say "you shall not find," because some were about to go there too; but he says "you cannot come," namely for as long as you are so disposed. For no one can arrive at the heavenly inheritance unless he is an heir of God. Now one becomes an heir of God through faith in Christ; above, chapter 1:12: "He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name." But the Jews did not yet believe in him; and therefore he says, "you cannot come." In Psalm 23:3 it is asked: "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord?" And the answer is given: "the innocent in hands, and clean of heart." But the Jews were not clean of heart, nor innocent in hands, because they wished to kill Christ; therefore he says: you cannot ascend into the mountain of the Lord. Consequently, when he says, "The Jews therefore said among themselves," the wonder of the Jews is set down, who, although they had a carnal understanding of Christ, nevertheless partly believed. And they do three things. First they wonder; secondly they suspect; and thirdly they argue against their own suspicion. They wonder indeed when they say among themselves, whither is he about to go, that we shall not find him? For, as has been said, they understood this carnally; 1 Corinthians 2:14: "The sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God." And therefore, that he was about to go, not indeed through death, but bodily, to some place to which it would not be lawful for them to ascend, they suspect on this matter, saying, "Will he go into the dispersion of the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" For the Gentiles had been estranged from converse with the Jews; Ephesians 2:12: "Strangers to the testaments, having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world, alienated from the conversation of Israel." And therefore, as if reproaching them, they say "into the dispersion of the Gentiles," who were scattered everywhere, and imperfectly mingled with one another; Genesis 10:32: "These are the families of Noah, according to their peoples and nations: and by these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood." But the people of the Jews was gathered together in one place, and in the worship of one God, and in the observance of the law; Psalm 146:2: "The Lord buildeth up Jerusalem: he will gather together the dispersed of Israel." Nor do they say that he is about to go to the Gentiles as one who was to become a Gentile, but as one who was to bring them back: whence they add, "and teach the Gentiles." Which perhaps they took from Isaiah 49:6: "It is a small thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel. Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth." Although, however, these men did not understand what they were saying, just as Caiphas also did not understand when he said, "It is expedient for you that one man should die, and not that the whole nation should perish," nevertheless they speak the truth, and foretold the salvation of the Gentiles, as Augustine says, in that he was about to go to the Gentiles, not by the presence of his body, but by his own feet, namely the apostles. For he sent his members to us, and made us his members; below, chapter 10:16: "Other sheep I have, that are not of this fold; them also I must bring... and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." And therefore in Isaiah 2:3 it is said, in the person of the Gentiles: "he will teach us his ways." But they object against what they suspect, saying, "What is this saying that he said: You shall seek me?" As if they said: if he had said "you shall seek me, and shall not find me, and where I am, you cannot come," it could indeed be understood that he was about to go to the Gentiles; but by the fact that he added, "where I am you cannot come," he seems to exclude this understanding. For it is not impossible for us to go to the Gentiles, and so on.”

“Then said Jesus unto them,.... To the officers that were sent to take him, and other unbelieving Jews that were about him: yet a little while am I with you; no longer than till the next passover, which was but about half a year at most: this he might say, partly to quicken the attention of the people to him, to make the best use and improvement of his ministry whilst they had it, since in a little time he would be removed from them; and partly to suggest to the officers that were sent to take him, that they, and their masters, need not have given themselves that trouble, for in a short time he should be gone from them, and till that time he should continue in spite of them. And then I go unto him that sent me; still confirming his mission from God, expressing his death by going, and as being voluntary, and signifying his glory and happiness after it.”