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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up and taught." By the delay He made them more attentive; for they who had sought Him on the first days and said, "Where is He?" when they saw Him suddenly present, observe how they drew near, and were like to press upon Him as He was speaking, both those who said that He was a good man, and those who said that He was not such; the former so as to profit by and admire Him, the latter to lay hold on and detain Him. …
Cyril of Alexandria
Temple-befitting is the teaching of our Saviour: for where else should we rather hear the Divine Voice, save in the places where the Divinity is believed to dwell? For God tendeth all things, and will not be conceived of as circumscribed by space, in respect of His Own Nature, but is wholly uncontained by things that are, yet is it more meet that we should suppose that He dwells in the holy places, and we most reasonably deem that the will of the Divine Nature will specially be heard by us in sacred places. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Why did He come in the middle of the feast? In order to soften their anger and so that they would listen to His words with greater diligence and attention, when the feast was not blocking their hearing. For at the beginning of the feast it was natural for them to be distracted by the festive surroundings. …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
The feast seems, as far as we can judge, to have lasted several days. And therefore it is said, "about the middle of the feast day:" i. e. when as many days of that feast had passed, as were to come. So that His assertion, I go not up yet to this feast day, (i. e. to the first or second day, as you would wish me,) was strictly fulfilled. For He went up afterwards, about the middle of the feast. (de Quaest. Nov. et Vet. Test. 2. 78) In going there too, He went up, not to the feast day, but to the light. …
Thomas Aquinas
Next we see the second opportunity Christ had to present his teaching, that is, the amazement of the people. First, we see the object of their amazement; secondly, their amazement itself, and thirdly, the reason why they were amazed. The object of their amazement is the doctrine or teaching of Christ. Both the time and the place of this teaching are given. The time is mentioned when he says, Now when the festival was half over, that is, when as many days were left of the feast as had passed. …
Bonaventure
After the concealment has been treated, the discussion turns to the manifestation of our Teacher. "Now about the midst of the feast," and this was "the fourth day of the feast," as the Gloss says, which is the middle of the seven days: "Jesus went up into the temple and was teaching," in a public place, not a hidden one, lest his doctrine be suspect; below in the eighteenth chapter: "I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together, and in secret I have said nothing." But it is asked here: since …
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