ACC ~ John 13 v21

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.