The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
3. Because it behoved Christ first to suffer and to die, and by His death to merit those wonderful works, which afterwards He wrought by His Apostles.
4. Because it behoved Christ first to rise and ascend into Heaven, and then to send the Holy Ghost, who should work such great miracles. This reason Christ adds, when He says, Because I go to the Father.
Let prelates and superiors here learn from Christ to keep for themselves the lower and meaner offices, and to leave to their inferiors the greater and more honourable. They will do greater things by subjects than by themselves. For what the subject doeth, the superior is considered to do through him. S. Ignatius, the Founder of our Society, when he was made General, publicly catechised, whilst he left to his companions under him the honour of filling notable pulpits.
Because I go to the Father . When after death I have obtained the victory, and have triumphed over the world, the devil, and hell, I will ascend in glory to the Father’s throne, and thenceforward I will, through you, show forth greater works than I did whilst I was yet struggling in this life. There is no reason why I should then veil my face in poverty and humility, as I have done when I willed to submit to My Passion for the redemption of mankind. That being accomplished, I shall go up to My Father, who wills that My Name shall be manifested and adored in all the world by the preaching of the Apostles. Wherefore He will work greater things by them than He wrought by Me in this life. So S. Cyril (lib. ix. c. 41).
Ver. 13. — And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father , &c. Thus it is in the Latin, and in S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and others. But in the Greek, Arabic, and Syriac the word Father is omitted. These words have reference to what preceded, and greater works shall he do, &c. For after the faith, concerning which He said in the preceding verse, he that believeth in Me, He here subjoins a profession of faith, and the invocation of His Name, and the asking for those greater things. As though He said, “ I indeed, O ye Apostles, am going away from you to the Father, but instead of My presence I leave and give you the invocation of My Name, that by means of It ye may ask and obtain those greater things.” Wherefore Christ, says Cyril, here signifies that His own Divinity and authority is the same as the Father’s. For it is the glory of the Son that by the invocation of Him the Father should give to the Apostles to do greater works than He wrought by the Son during His earthly life.
In My Name, i.e. by the invocation of My Name.
I will do it. I will cause that the Father will grant unto you. Yea, I in the Father and with the Father will do this thing, and will grant it to you, so that all the power, virtue, and glory of these greater works which ye will do shall be ascribed to Me, not to you. For when prayer is made to the Father, prayer is also made to the Son.
That the Father may be glorified in the Son. Christ out of modesty is wont to ascribe all His glory to the Father, as to the prime Fount and origin. Learn from hence that miracles must not be asked for except for God’s glory, or when the glory of God requires them.
Ver. 14. — If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it. What Christ in the last verse said of the Father He here says of Himself, that He may show that He is the same God with the Father, that He hears those who pray to Him, and that He doeth all things which the Father doeth. Whence S. Cyril asserts that Christ is here speaking of His Divinity. Some are of opinion that the same thing is spoken and confirmed which He had said in the verse preceding. Wherefore Chrysostom and Nonnus omit this verse. But it is found in the Arabic, Syriac, S. Augustine, S. Cyril, Theophylact, &c.
But Toletus and others, with better reason, think that something different is meant from the verse preceding. They think that the words of the former verse relate to the petition for the greater things : but that in this verse Christ says that He will hear particular prayers. He means that although He is going away to the Father, and will be absent in the body, yet He is always present, and will hear their prayers, and help their necessities, so that whatsoever they ask in His name, i.e., through His merits, He will do for them. S. Augustine supposes an objection. S. Paul asked that the angel of Satan might depart from him, but received it not. But consider that it is said, In My Name, i.e. in Jesus ! For whatever we ask contrary to our salvation, we do not ask in the name of the Saviour. For He would not be a Saviour to a man, if He did anything to hinder his salvation. The physician knows what is against his patient’s health, and what is in favour of it : and therefore he does not comply with his wishes in what is against his recovery.
Ver. 15. — If ye love Me, &c. Christ here takes His farewell of His disciples, gives His last commands, which pertain to the exercise of the three chief theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. Concerning faith He speaks in the 1st verse, Ye believe in God, &c. Concerning hope in the 3d, Whatsoever ye shall ask, &c. Now He speaks of charity, If you love Me, keep My commandments. And these three are united together. For faith begets hope, and hope begets charity. The meaning then is, If ye wish to obtain these My promises, and to gain what ye ask in My name, then love Me in return who love you, and persevere and grow in My love. If ye wish to please Me, and through Me obtain all that ye ask, keep My commandments . And if they do this, He promises them a great reward, saying,
Ver. 16. — And I will ask the Father , If ye persevere in My love, and keep My commandments, I will obtain for you by My prayers the Holy Ghost, which the Father will pour upon you at Pentecost. And He will work through you even greater things than I have wrought.
And I will ask , as man. For Christ as man prays for us, says S. Augustine.
Another Comforter , i.e. another than Myself. From hence it is plain that Christ also was the Paraclete of the Apostles and the faithful. That is, He is — 1. an Advocate, an Intercessor, according to those words of Paul, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 2. An Exhorter, an Inciter. 3. A Comforter, as the Syriac translates. All these meanings are included in the Greek παράκλητος. But when Christ went away He sent another Paraclete, even the Holy Ghost, who in these three things took Christ’s place. For, 1. He is the Advocate of the faithful, “Who intercedes for us with groanings unutterable ” (Rom. viii. 26). He likewise is our Exhorter and Consoler. To these two offices Christ here specially refers. As though He said, I, O ye disciples, have taught you until this present ; I have called you, and comforted you, and you are very sad on account of My near departure. But lift up your minds and trust. For I will send you another Comforter in My place, who will teach, console, and protect you, not for a little while, but all through your life. The Holy Spirit then is this Paraclete , i.e., 1. An Exhorter, an Inciter, because He stirred up the Apostles to undertake noble works of virtue for the glory of God, that they should preach the Gospel throughout the whole world, not fearing tyrants or tortures, yea, being ambitious of the most dreadful deaths for Christ’s sake. 2. A Consoler, because He would comfort and support them in adversities, distresses, doubts and temptations. For the Holy Spirit is as it were a burning and shining fire, which drives all darkness, fear, and torpor from the mind. As S. Bernard says ( Serm . 2, de. Pent.), “ Those whom He fills, He makes to be fervent in spirit, and to have knowledge of the truth.” And again, “ The Paraclete gives the pledge of salvation, the light of knowledge ; and the strength of life, — that what is impossible should be made possible, yea easy, by grace.”
He will give you, O ye Apostles, at the next Pentecost. From hence S. Jerome ( Quæst . 9, ad Hedib.) refutes the heresy of Montanus, whom Tertullian followed, who said that long after the Apostles the Holy Ghost first came down upon the heresiarch Montanus , a.d. 220, and therefore that Montanus was the Paraclete promised by Christ.
That He may abide with you for ever . From this promise of Christ it is that the Holy Ghost always abides in the Church, and assists the faithful, so as to be a Comforter in afflictions, and a stirrer-up to heroic works of virtue. S. Augustine proposes the objection, “ How shall we keep the commandments, that we may receive Him, when, unless we do possess Him, we cannot keep them ? ” He answers, “ He who loveth hath the Holy Spirit, and by having Him deserves to have more of Him, that by having more of Him, he may love more.”
The Spirit of Truth . Why is the Holy Ghost called the Spirit of Truth ? First, S. Cyril answers, because He is the Spirit of the Son, proceeding by Spiration from the Son, whose special attributes are wisdom and truth, according to the words, I am the way , the truth, and the life .