The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
4th. And most plainly, Christ here brings His disciples a twofold joy as a reward. The first joy is His own, the second that of the disciples. The meaning is, These things have I spoken unto you that in doing them ye may give Me joy. For parents and masters rejoice when they see their children and scholars act aright in obedience to their commands. This is the meaning of, that My joy may be in you , namely, that I may rejoice at your conformity to My will. As S. Augustine says, “ What is the joy of Christ in us save that wherein He deigns to rejoice concerning us?” The second joy is that of the disciples, concerning which He says, And that your joy may be full. This was the joy which the disciples had in Christ, that they were His disciples. Christ has reference to the explanation which He subjoins to the parable of the vine and its branches, Abide in Me, and I in you . The meaning is, Like as the vine, if it could rejoice, would rejoice because its branches abode in it, and bore fruit, and as the branches for their part would rejoice because they adhered to the vine, and derived sap from it to bring forth grapes, so likewise if ye, O ye disciples, abide in Me, the true Vine, by love, and I also abide in you by the continual influx of the Spirit of grace for the bringing forth of good works, then shall I have joy in you thus cleaving unto Me, and ye shall have joy in Me because ye derive from Me grace and the Holy Spirit for the conversion of all nations. And this joy shall gradually be fulfilled here, but shall have its perfect consummation in eternal glory.
Lastly, the words in you may be taken simply, just as they stand, thus, These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy with which I rejoice concerning the glory of God and the salvation of the whole world to be accomplished by Me, I may transfuse into you as My Apostles and fellow-workers; and that this joy may increase as your labours and your fruit increase ; until it be fulfilled in this life, but yet more completely in the life to come. For My good is your good, as the good of the Vine is the good of its branches.
This meaning seems the simplest, and is therefore sound. The words, That my joy may be in you , are exactly as if He said, That My joy may flow into you, may be communicated to you, and so be made your own.
Admirably saith S. Bernard (Epist. 114), “Verily that is the true and only joy which comes not from a creature, but from the Creator, and which no one shall take away from him who possesses it. Compared with this all other gladness is only sorrow ; all other pleasantness is pain, all sweetness bitter, all beauty but as ugliness.” And elsewhere he says, “ A sure sign of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul is spiritual joy.” For the soul which exults in God exults because God inhabits it.
Ver. 12. — This is My commandment, &c. The Greek is emphatic with the double art., ἡ ἐμή, i.e. My precept , even Mine. This is to be referred partly to the words, if ye keep My commandments , partly to, in My love, which is the scope of the whole parable from the beginning of the chapter to this place. The meaning therefore is, I have commanded you to keep My precepts, among which know ye that the chief is this, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Again, I have bidden you, Abide in My love, i.e. continue and persevere in loving Me. And this ye will do if ye love one another, and bestow your kindnesses and offices of charity upon your neighbours. For ye can bestow nothing upon Me, but whatsoever ye shall bestow upon them, I shall account as bestowed upon Myself as the Parent of all. Wherefore He calls this “My commandment.” There is an allusion to His words in xiii. 34, A new commandment I give unto you , &c. For what He here calls My commandment He there calls a new commandment. For He gives this precept to all Christians. For all were represented by the Apostles. For Christ willed by the Apostles and their successors to convert the whole world. He bids them therefore that out of love to Him they should love and seek the salvation of all nations, should expend all their faculties and labours upon that work, undergo all perils, sustain all persecutions, and lastly, should shed their blood for it. For so He loved them and all other men that He gave His life and endured the death of the Cross for them. Moreover, this precept in the first place concerned the Apostles, because Christ by them was about to accomplish His own work of preaching throughout the world. Wherefore it was the duty of every one to co-operate with and assist every other. For this union and mutual co-operation of many was most efficacious for overcoming all difficulties, and converting all nations however barbarous. And so we see the same thing at the present day in Religious Orders and in Religious and Apostolic men united among themselves. Thus it is said (Eccles. iv. 12.), “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
This example of Christ was followed by S. Elizius, who died in the year 665. This was his last admonition to his people, as Sigobert testifies in his Chronicle : “ If ye would pay me back my love for you, keep the commandments of Almighty God. Always breathe after Jesus Christ. Fix firmly His precepts in your minds. Love His name even as I have done.”
Ver. 13. — Greater love hath no man , &c. Christ here sets forth the manner and terminus or extremity of His love wherewith He loves us, and of that wherewith He wills that we should love one another. As though He said, I have supremely loved you, therefore I require the same of you, and have a right to ask it, that ye should supremely love one another. For the highest and supreme love is that in which a man not only gives his substance, but his life, that is, freely offers and lays it down for his friends. This I do for you, i.e. I will presently lay down My life for you. Do you therefore in like manner give your lives for your friends and neighbours in such a manner that ye do not refuse, but welcome, all labours, perils, persecutions, and every kind of torment and death for their salvation.
You may say, it is greater charity if any one lay down his life for his enemies than that he lay it down for his friends. Some reply to that the meaning is, There cannot be among men a greater love than to die for a friend, but Mine is a greater love for you, because I die for My enemies. To say for enemies was unnecessary, for it is never done among men. Whereas the friendship of Pylades and Orestes in being willing to die for one another is the theme of every one’s praise, as something exceeding rare. And this is S. Paul’s argument (Rom. v.) : “ For scarcely for a just man doth any one die : but perchance some one would dare to die for a good man. But God commends His love to us,” &c.
1st. And better Ribera and Toletus explain : The comparison here is not between friends and enemies, but between the acts of friendship, thus : Among all the acts and offices of friendship, none is greater than this, that any one should lay down his life for his friend. This I am about to do for you, who are My friends if ye keep My commandments.
2d. And most fully : friends are here called not those who love, but those who are loved, such as may even be enemies, it means, greater love there cannot be than his who dies for his friends, i.e. for those whom he loves and accounts his friends, even though they in fact be not his friends but his enemies. Thus Christ laid down His life upon the Cross for all men, who at the first were sinners and therefore his enemies. But many of them, through that death of His, and the grace which floweth from it, have been justified, and so become His friends and disciples. The Apostles and
Apostolic men following Christ have done the same. And all Christians whatsoever ought to do the like, namely, when the salvation of a neighbour's soul is in peril, to expose their lives to rescue it, even though the neighbour be an enemy.
You may urge, Why then does Christ call them friends rather than enemies? I reply, 1st, Because He was speaking to the Apostles, who by His vocation and grace were His friends, although they had before been sinners and enemies. 2d, Rupert answers, “ that by the sweetness of His manner of speaking He might instil into His hearers the sweetness of the love which He commanded them.” 3d, To teach us that so far as Christ and we are concerned all men must be loved as friends, even though they on their part are hostile to us. For the love of Christ extends itself to all, enemies as well as friends. Wherefore He accounts His enemies friends and beloved, and by this means gains them to be friends instead of enemies to
God and Himself. For love is the magnet of love. Nor can there be anything more mighty than love, for love forces enemies to win back love to him who loves them.