The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Ver. 19. — Then said they unto Him , Where is Thy Father? They said this, in order to elicit from Him a clear statement that God was His Father, in order to accuse Him of blasphemy, as they did, chap. v. 18, xix. 7. So Chrysostom and others.
But Cyril and Leontius less probably think that the Pharisees spoke contemptuously and sarcastically, as if He were the Son of some unknown father. S. Augustine and Bede think that they referred to Joseph, as being His father in the flesh. But the first is the best meaning.
Jesus answered , &c. Christ did not wish to answer clearly and directly, “My Father is in heaven,” because He knew that the question was put in order to ensnare Him. He therefore, though answering their question directly, yet spoke so guardedly that the Pharisees could not bring any charge against Him. As if He said, Ye think that I am a man, and that I have only an earthly father. But ye are wrong, for ye know not that I am God as well as man. And therefore ye understand not that I have no other Father than God in heaven, though I have proved this by so many miracles.
But how does this agree with what Christ said (vii. 28), Ye both know Me, and know whence I am. I answer, Christ then spoke of Himself as man, but here He speaks of Himself as God. Origen adds that then Christ spoke to the people of Jerusalem who knew Him, but here to the Pharisees who knew Him not, and were moreover His enemies. The word “ if ” is here equivalent to assuredly. See Leontius. As Christ says to Philip (xiv. 9), He that seeth Me seeth My Father also .
S. Augustine explains it somewhat differently ; “ Ye ask, who is My Father, because ye know Me not, for ye think not that I am God eternal in heaven.”
(2.) Cyril speaks more profoundly and to the point. “The names of Father and Son imply each other,” Christ therefore is the gate (as it were) leading to the Father. “ Let us learn then,” he adds, “what He is by nature, and then we shall rightly understand as in an express image the Antitype Itself.” For the Father is manifested in the Son, as in a mirror, in the proper nature of His offspring. (See Wisdom vii. 26 and Heb. i. 3.)
Origen considers that “know” means to “love.” If ye loved Me ye would surely love My Father. For evil livers practically know not God, as is said of Eli’s sons.
Ver. 20 . — These words , &c. ... in the temple (i.e., the Court of the Temple). Rupertus thinks that the reason why no man laid hands on Him was because the treasury was a remote spot, frequented only by the Priests who wished to take money out, and the lay people who wished to pay it in. But it was in fact a public and much-frequented place, being a large portico close to the court of the temple, and in it were preserved all the treasures of the temple. Christ then spake all these things openly and boldly in a place where He could easily have been taken. But He by His Divine power restrained their hands and their resolve, because the destined hour had not yet come. Adrichomius ( Descript . Hieros. 103) describes the treasury as a chest wherein all requisites were kept for the sacrifices, the support of the poor, repair of the temple, &c. When Heliodorus attempted to plunder it, he was said to have been scourged by angels, and Pilate was prevented by a popular tumult from applying its contents to bringing water into the city. It was afterwards plundered by the Romans. Here also the poor woman cast in her two mites. It was from this chest that the whole porch where it stood was called the treasury.
The other reason why Christ spoke thus in the treasury was of a more hidden kind. Because it was the dark hiding-place of the Pharisees, where they wrought all those evil devices which Christ recounts, Matt. v. and xxiii. In this very spot He condemns their dark deeds by saying, “ I am the Light of the world,” the true Light of wisdom and holiness, who teach men to despise earthly riches, as mean and perishing, and to aim at heavenly riches, as being great and eternal. Follow not the Pharisees who are blindly intent on these earthly riches, for Vespasian will speedily carry them all away ; but rather follow Me, the Light of the world, for I preach to you poverty of spirit as the way to gain boundless riches in heaven. And on the other hand, “Woe to you rich,” &c. (Luke vi. 24). This then was the cause of the intense hatred they felt against Christ, which led them to persecute Him even to death on the cross. It was out of this treasury that they sacrilegiously took the thirty pieces of silver which they gave to Judas to betray Jesus. And therefore in the very same spot He willed that He would by that means be lifted up on the cross, and draw all men unto Him.
Origen gives a mystical reason. “ Christ,” he says, “ spake these things in the treasury, because the treasury, or rather the treasures, are His divine discourses, impressed with the image of the great King. Coins (he says) are divine words. Let every one then contribute to the treasury, i.e., for the edification of the Church, whatever he is able for the honour of God, and the common benefit.”
And Bede, “ Christ speaks in the treasury, because He spake to the Jews in parables which were covered and kept close. But the treasury then began (as it were) to be opened, when He explained them to His disciples, and unlocked the heavenly mysteries therein conceived.”
For His hour was not yet come. " Not the fated, but the opportune and self-chosen hour,” says the Interlinear Gloss. “ Some,” says S. Augustine, “ on hearing this, believe that Christ was subject to fate. But how can He be under fate, by whom the heaven and the stars were made, when Thy will, if Thou thinkest aught, transcends even the stars ? The hour therefore had not come, not the hour in which He should be forced to die, but in which He deigned to be slain.”
Ver. 21 .—Jesus therefore said to them again. (1.) Some think that “ therefore ” only indicates the beginning of a new discourse. (2.) Origen thinks it indicates that what follows was spoken by Christ at the same time and place. (3.) Maldonatus refers it to verse 19,
Ye neither know Me nor My Father. The time therefore will come for you to know Me as God, but ye will not find Me, for ye will die in your sins. (4.) Rupertus and Toletus refer it more appositely to the words immediately preceding. Because He saw that the Pharisees understood, and were angered at His words, He adds,
He had said the same before (see vii. 33), first to the officers, and then to the Pharisees. I go My way , that is out of this life to My Father by My cross and death. “Death was to Christ,” says S. Augustine, “a going forth, for He abode not in the world, but passed through it to heaven and immortal life.”
And ye shall seek Me, i.e., ye shall seek another Messiah, and will not find him, says Toletus, for there is none other but Me. More simply : Ye shall seek Me, to crucify Me again (see vii. 34). So Origen and S. Augustine, who says, “Ye shall seek Me, not from desire but from hatred.” For after He had withdrawn from sight, they who hated and they who loved Him alike sought Him, the one to persecute, and the other from desire to hear Him. For He adds, And ye shall die in your sins. Your obstinate sins of unbelief and hatred. Ye will therefore seek Me in vain, for I shall ascend to heaven, ye will be thrust down to hell. Euthymius explains “ in your sin,” in consequence of your sin, for which ye will be slain by the Romans. But the first explanation is the plainest and most forcible. For Christ frequently alarms the Pharisees with the terrors of the last judgment.
Whither I go ye cannot come. Ye cannot, because ye will not, says Origen, for every sin is a voluntary and free act.
S. Augustine thinks that these words were spoken to the disciples, “ Whither I go ye cannot go now,” not depriving them of hope, but predicting its postponement. But the words which follow were evidently addressed to the Pharisees.
Ver. 22. — Then said the Jews , &c. The officers made a wiser inquiry (vii. 35), Will He go to the dispersion of the Gentiles? But the Pharisees, blinded by their hatred, thought He had no way of escape but by killing Himself. Wherever He may go, we will follow Him up. If He goes to the Gentiles, we will drag Him back. He must therefore mean that He will kill Himself, so as to escape our hands. A presumptuous and foolish thought, suggested, however , by their malice. He might have withdrawn Himself from them in various ways, as He had already done. But He meant that He would go up to heaven, whither the Pharisees could not come. But His words, says S. Augustine, referred not to His going to death, but to where He was going afterwards.
Ver. 23. — And (therefore) He said unto them , &c. Ye cleave to your sins and will go to the lowest depth, while I shall return to heaven, and therefore ye will seek Me and will not find Me. For I am like the soaring eagle, dwelling in the loftiest mountains of eternity, while ye are as worms and insects creeping on the earth. So Rupertus and S. Augustine, who says, “Ye are from beneath ; ye savour of the earth; serpent-like, ye eat the earth. But what is meant by eating the earth ? Ye feed on things of earth, ye delight in things of earth, are greedy for things of earth, ye lift not up your hearts above.”