ACC ~ John 13 v18 - 22

OVERVIEW:

Jesus is surely aware of what Judas is up to when he says, “I know whom I have chosen” (ORIGEN). That Judas betrays Christ is not, however, the fault of Christ but of Judas (CYRIL). Judas, as the one who lifted up his heel against Christ, was incapable of praise toward the one who made him (COSMAS). Jesus foretold what would happen so that when these things did happen, his disciples would know who he was and believe (THEODORE), that is, that they would increase in faith as they continued to believe. Those who are sent by Jesus are his apostles, but they are apostles only to those to whom they are sent. Those who receive these apostles receive Jesus and in turn also receive the Father who sent Jesus (ORIGEN). He is not speaking here about the unity of nature between the sender and the one sent, so much as the authority of the sender (AUGUSTINE).

Christ was troubled in spirit about Judas (CHRYSOSTOM) and about us, as well as about all the other impending trials he was facing at the moment, which shows that Christians too can be troubled by what they see going on around them (AUGUSTINE). His troubled spirit may also be understood as his anger at Judas’s betrayal, which he foreknew (THEODORE). The disciples too were troubled (ORIGEN), and Jesus does nothing to allay that anxiety when he chooses not to name the betrayer (CHRYSOSTOM, AUGUSTINE).

13:18 | The Chosen and the Rebellious Heel

JESUS IS AWARE OF JUDAS

ORIGEN: Literally, this means, I know who each person is whom I have chosen. Therefore, I also know who Judas is, and he does not escape my notice, although the devil has already put the things against me into his heart. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.152. [1]

[1] FC 89:371; SC 385:254.

WAS JUDAS PREDESTINED TO BETRAY CHRIST?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Some may raise the following objection, “If we believe that Christ was all-knowing, why did he choose Judas, and why did he include him as one of the disciples if he knew that he would be convicted of treachery and fall prey to the snares of coveting?” Furthermore, another will say, “And if, as Christ himself says, Judas lifted up his heel against his master so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, surely Judas could not be deemed guilty of being responsible for what happened. Rather, the blame must rest with the power that caused the Scripture to be fulfilled.”… However, God knew that the first man, Adam, would sin, and yet he was created in the beginning. … And likewise, God anointed Saul to be king, knowing that he too would sin. … Therefore, in a similar manner, Christ chose Judas and associated him with the holy disciples, since at first he certainly possessed the capacity for discipleship. But when, after the temptations of Satan succeeded in making him captive to base greediness for gain, when he was conquered by passion and had become by this means a traitor, then he was rejected by God. This, therefore, was in no way the fault of him who called this man to be an apostle. For it lay in the power of Judas to have saved himself from falling, namely, by making the more excellent choice and transforming his whole heart and soul in such a way as to become a sincere follower of Christ. … Let no one suppose, as do some ignorant people, that the oracles delivered by the holy prophets are carried onward to final accomplishment simply in order that the Scriptures may be fulfilled. … Who could ever be so utterly void of proper reason as to suppose that the Word of the Holy Spirit should become, to any, a patron of sin? Therefore, we do not believe that the deeds of any were done simply so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. But the Holy Spirit has spoken in perfect foreknowledge as to what will happen, so that when the event comes to pass we may find in the prediction a pledge to establish our faith that we may from that point on hold our faith without hesitation. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9. [1]

JUDAS INCAPABLE OF PRAISE

COSMAS OF MAIUMA:

The hateful Iscariot, heedless,

By intent, of the law of friendship,

Readied for betrayal the feet

Which Christ had washed. And though he ate

Your bread, the divine Body,

He raised his heel against you, O Christ,

And knew not how to cry out:

“Praise the Lord, O his works,

and exalt him unto all ages.”

The man without conscience received

The Body which redeems from sin

And the divine blood poured out

For the sake of the world;

But he was not ashamed to drink

What he sold for a price;

He took no offense at his wickedness,

And knew not how to cry out:

“Praise the Lord, O his works,

and exalt him unto all ages.”

KANON FOR THE FIFTH DAY OF GREAT WEEK, EIGHTH ODE. [2]

[1] LF 48:187-90**.

[2] MFC 7:390-91.

13:19 | That You May Believe

JESUS’ FOREKNOWLEDGE TESTIFIES TO HIS IDENTITY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: I could not reveal what was about to happen, he says. However, in order that you might not think that I did not know the thoughts of those who follow me—or that I was unaware of what was happening to me and therefore striving in vain because of the shameful things that were happening to me—I foretell the facts before the event so that when they happen you will know who I am. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.18-19. [1]

“BELIEVE” HERE CAN ALSO MEAN “INCREASE IN FAITH

” ORIGEN: And understand the words “that you may believe” as capable of being equivalent to the words “that you may be increased in faith,” while you continue to believe. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.176. [2]

[1] CSCO 4 3:258-59.

[2] FC 89:375; SC 385:262.

13:20 | Receiving the Sender

PARTICULARITY OF APOSTLES OF JESUS CHRIST

ORIGEN: Whomever the Savior sends to minister to the salvation of anyone, that person who is sent is an apostle of Jesus Christ. But just as the apostle is an apostle of the one who sent him, so is he an apostle only to those to whom he is sent. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.204-5. [1]

[1] FC 89:380-81; SC 385:274.

RECEIVES THE FATHER

ORIGEN: He who receives whom[ever] Jesus may send, receives Jesus in the one sent, and he who receives Jesus receives the Father. Therefore, he who receives whomever Jesus may send receives the Father who sent Jesus. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.212. [1]

[1] FC 89:382*; SC 385:276.

RECEIVING THE SENDER THROUGH THE SENT ONE

AUGUSTINE: Did he mean us to understand that there is as little distance between one sent by him and himself as there is between himself and God the Father? If we take it this way, we would have to adopt the Arian system of gradations because, when they hear or read these words of the Gospel, they have immediate recourse to their dogmatic measurements and say, The Son’s messenger then stands at the same relative distance from the Son … as that in which the Son himself stands from the Father. … Listen rather to the Son himself when he says, “I and the Father are one.” [1] There is no shadow of distance there between the Begetter and the Only Begotten. There Christ himself has erased your measurements. …

But in what sense then are we to take these words of the Lord? “He who receives me receives him who sent me” expresses the oneness in nature of the Father and the Son. The other phrase, then, “He who receives whomever I send, receives me,” refers to the unity in nature of the Son and his messenger. And there is no impropriety in understanding it this way, … seeing that the Word became flesh, that is, God became man. And so he would have been speaking here with regard to the union with his human nature when he said, “He who receives whomever I send receives me,” but speaking of his [divine nature] when he says, “He who receives me [as God] receives him who sent me.” But in this passage he was not so much commending the unity of nature as the authority of the Sender in him who is sent. Let everyone, therefore, receive him who is sent [i.e., Christ], that in the person [of Christ] he may listen to the One who sent him [i.e., the Father]. If then, you look for Christ in Peter, you will find Peter’s instructor. And if you look for the Father in the Son, you will find the Begetter of the Only Begotten. Therefore, when you receive him who is sent, you are not mistaken when you believe that you are also receiving the Sender. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 59.2-3. [2]

[1] Jn 10:30.

[2] NPNF 1 7:308**.

13:21 | Jesus Was Troubled in Spirit

JESUS IS TROUBLED FOR JUDAS

CHRYSOSTOM: When Jesus reflected on the fact that the traitor would be deprived of [the twofold comfort] he had given … Jesus again was troubled. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 72.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:263**.

JESUS TROUBLED FOR US

AUGUSTINE: Was Jesus troubled, not in flesh but in spirit, because he was now about to say, “One of you shall betray me”? Did this occur then for the first time to his mind, or was it at that moment suddenly revealed to him for the first time, and so troubled him by the startling novelty of so great a calamity? … Was it because now he had to single out the betrayer so that he should no longer remain concealed among the rest but be separated from the others, that therefore “he was troubled in spirit”? Or was it because now the traitor himself was on the eve of departing to bring those Jews to whom he was to betray the Lord, that he was troubled by his imminent passion, the closeness of the danger and the swooping hand of the traitor, whose resolution was foreknown?

It was for some reason like these that Jesus was “troubled in spirit.” …

He was troubled, then, who had power to lay down his life and power to take it up again. [1] That mighty power is troubled, that immovable rock is disturbed? Or is it rather our infirmity that is troubling him? Most certainly this is the case. Let servants believe nothing unworthy of their Lord but recognize their own membership in their Head. He who died for us was also himself troubled in our place. He therefore who died in power was troubled in the midst of his power. He who shall transform the body of our humility into similarity of form with the body of his glory has also transferred into himself the feeling of our infirmity. He sympathizes with us in the feelings of his own soul. And so, when it is the great, the brave, the sure, the invincible One that is troubled, let us have no fear for him as if he were capable of failing. He is not perishing but is in search of us [who are]. … Away with the reasons of philosophers who assert that a wise person is not affected by mental troubles. … It is plain that the mind of the Christian may be troubled, not by misery but by pity. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 60.1-3. [2]

[1] See Jn 10:18.

[2] NPNF 1 7:309**; CCL 36:478-79.

JESUS ANGERED AT JUDAS’S BETRAYAL

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: As in the episode of Lazarus he said that he was troubled in spirit, because he foretold what would happen, and that he was angered in order to show that he had knowledge of the things that still had to happen as if they had already happened, so here too he says he was angered because of Judas’s betrayal and was confused by how vicious he was. He also said here the words “Jesus was troubled in spirit” because through the operation of the Spirit that was in him he foreknew the future [and the trouble that awaited him]. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.13.21-26. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:259-60.

13:22 | Doubting Themselves and One Another

THE DISCIPLES WERE CONFUSED

ORIGEN: The phrase about the disciples, “doubting of whom he spoke,” is vivid. For they were unable to conceive of whom this had been said and were in doubt about it, and they found nothing clear either to think or say. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.259. [1]

[1] FC 89:390; SC 385:294.

JESUS PERPETUATES THEIR ANXIETY

CHRYSOSTOM: They were in doubt, although they were conscious of nothing evil in themselves. But they considered that the declaration of Christ should be believed more than their own thoughts. And so, “they looked at one another.” By singling out one, Jesus would have allayed their fear, but by adding “one of you,” he troubled them all. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 72.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:263**.

THEY KNEW THEMSELVES, BUT NOT EACH OTHER

AUGUSTINE: While the disciples had a reverential love for their master, they were nonetheless affected by human frailty in their feelings toward each other. Each one’s own conscience was known to himself. But as he was ignorant of his neighbor’s, each one’s self-assurance was such that each was uncertain of all the others, and all the others were uncertain of that one. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 61.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:311**; CCL 36:481.