Fathers

John 7

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After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do. For no one does anything in secret while he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” Having said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret. The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?” There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “Not so, but he leads the multitude astray.” Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?” Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?” The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?” Jesus answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” Therefore some of them of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill? Behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is truly the Christ? However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, he won’t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?” The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Then Jesus said, “I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. You will seek me, and won’t find me. You can’t come where I am.” The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me, and won’t find me;’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?” Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified. Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So a division arose in the multitude because of him. Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is cursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?” They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search, and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” Everyone went to his own house,

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What the Fathers say

John 7:34

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

"And I go unto Him that sent Me." This was enough to terrify and throw them into an agony. For that they should stand in need of Him, He declareth also. "Ye shall seek Me," He saith, (not only "ye shall not forget Me," but ye shall even "seek Me,") "and shall not find Me." And when did the Jews "seek Him"? Luke saith that the women mourned over Him, and it is probable that many others, both at the time and when the city was taken, remembered Christ and His miracles, and sought His presence. …

Homily on the Gospel of John 50 ↗

Cyril of Alexandria

And where I am, YE cannot come. With greatest gentleness does He again put the race of the Jews forth from the kingdom of Heaven, adding words correspondent to those that He had already uttered, yet concealing therein a deep Mystery. For applying our mind more simply to the words, and admitting a more surface consideration thereof, we say that it signifies something of this sort, that He will in no wise be apprehensible by them, nor yet will fall into their meshes, having gone back to the Father. …

Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 5 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Showing that His death would not be such as that of everyone in general, He says: where I go, "you cannot come." For if His death were common and similar to the death of most people, and He were to remain dead, He would not have said that you cannot come. For we all come to the common death. But, as I said, wishing to show that His death is not such as that of everyone, He says that you cannot come where I will be. By the words "you will seek Me, and will not find Me," He shows that they will desire Him. When did they seek Him? …

Commentary on John ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come." Here He has already foretold His resurrection; for they would not acknowledge Him when present, and afterwards they sought Him when they saw the multitude already believing on Him. For great signs were wrought, even when the Lord was risen again and ascended into heaven. …

Tractates on John 31 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

When he says, You will look for me, and you will not find me, he is predicting what the Jews will desire in the times to come. As if to say: You can enjoy my teaching for a short time; but this brief time, which you are now rejecting, you will look for later, and you will not find it: "Search for the Lord while he can be found" (Is 55:6); and "Seek the Lord (at the present time), and your soul will live" (Ps 68:33). …

Commentary on John ↗

Bonaventure

"You will seek me and will not find me;" you will seek my aid in the devastation wrought by the Romans under Titus and Vespasian. Or: "You will seek me;" through compunction and sorrow, "and you will not find me," because many fell into despair; yet some who were penitent sought and did not find him bodily, but spiritually: Acts 2: "Having heard these things, they were pricked in their heart." Or: "You will seek me and will not find me," in judgment: Proverbs 1: "They will rise early and will not find me, because they had held wisdom …

Commentary on John, Chapter 7 ↗