ACC ~ John 18 v20 - 21
HAD JESUS SPOKEN OPENLY?
AUGUSTINE: A question occurs that ought not to be passed over: Why did the Lord Jesus say, âI spoke openly to the worldâ and in particular what he afterward added, âIn secret have I said nothingâ? Even in the latest discourse that he had delivered to the disciples after supper, didnât he say to them, âThese things have I spoken unto you in proverbs. But the hour is coming when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of my Fatherâ? [1] If, then, he did not speak openly even to the more intimate company of his disciples but gave the promise of a time when he would speak openly, how was it that he spoke openly to the world? And still further, as is also testified on the authority of the other Evangelists, to those who were truly his own, in comparison with others who were not his disciples, he certainly spoke with much greater plainness when he was alone with them at a distance from the multitudes. For then he unfolded to them the parables that he had uttered in obscure terms to others. What then is the meaning of the words âin secret have I said nothingâ? It is ⌠as if he had said, There were many who heard me. And ⌠he spoke out in the open where many heard him. But then again it was not so openly spoken that they understood him, because they did not. And even what he spoke to his disciples when he was alone with them was certainly not in secret. For who is going to speak in secret in front of that many people? ⌠And so, the very things that they had heard without understanding were the kinds of things that could not with any justice or truth be turned into a criminal charge against him. And as often as they tried by their questions to find something to accuse him of, he gave them such replies as utterly upset all their plots, leaving no ground for the calumnies they devised. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 113.3. [2]
[1] Jn 16:25.
[2] CCL 36:638**; NPNF 1 7:419.
THE LAW WAS OBSCURE, CHRIST IS CLEAR
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: It would be fruitless, Christ says, to consider as obscure something universally known. And how can it be right to set up a pretence of ignorance when something is fully known? This is what Christ seems to us to be saying, with the object of releasing himself from the charges that had been fabricated and maliciously devised against him by the malice of the leaders of the people. But I think, also, that there is a suggestion of another meaning. For he says, âI have spoken openly to the world,â that is to say, the words given to you by the mediation of Moses come in types and shadows and do not teach expressly the will of God but rather create a vision of the actual truth beyond themselves. And, wrapped up in the obscurity of the letter, they do not completely reveal the knowledge of those things that we need. âI have spoken openly to the world.â And, apart from riddles and the shadow of the form of that which is good, I set before you the right way and pointed out the straight path of a life directed toward God without any tortuous turnings. I spoke to the worldânot, he says, to the one nation of the Israelites. If the whole world does not yet know me, it will know in due time. âI always taught in the synagogues.â We can scarcely fail to see what he means here. He reminds those of the Jews who were in his presence, I thinkâhowever reluctant they wereâof the prophecies that spoke about him. For what did the divine Isaiah say, putting the words in Christâs mouth? âI have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth.â [1] And again: âI have spread out my hands all the day unto a disobedient and rebellious people.â [2] For what else can ânot speaking in secret, in a dark placeâ mean, but teaching openly and speaking in places where there is no small gathering of hearers? COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.13. [3]
[1] Is 45:19.
[2] Is 65:2.
[3] LF 48:583**.
Jn