^14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. (1967)
^14:28 You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. (1968)
^14:29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it comes to pass, you may believe. (1973)
^14:30 I will not now speak many things with you. For the prince of this world comes, and in me he has not anything. (1974)
^14:31 But that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father has given me commandment, so I do: arise, let us go hence. (1976)


1965. Above, our Lord consoled his disciples by mentioning what directly affected them: he promised them that they could approach the Father, that the Holy Spirit would come, and that he himself would return. Here he consoles them by mentioning what directly concerns himself. These give them two reasons for being consoled: one is from the fruit which will follow Christ’s leaving; the other is from the reason for his death:

first, he gives the first.

second, the second, at I will not now speak many things with you.


1966. Now the fruit which would follow from Christ’s leaving would be such things as his exaltation, which would console them. For it is usual among friends that when one departs to go to his exaltation, the others feel less desolate. And so our Lord mentions this reason for their consolation. First, he casts a certain uneasiness from their hearts; second, he recalls something which somewhat consoled them, yet partly troubled them; third, he gives a reason which will completely console them; fourth, he answers an unspoken question.


1967. He casts out uneasiness from their hearts when he says, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:27). Here, trouble means sadness, and being afraid refers to fear. Sadness and fear are similar in that both are concerned with an evil. Yet they are different because sadness is over an evil which is present, while fear is over an evil which is to come. Our Lord said, let not your hearts be troubled, about evil which is present: for the righteous will never be moved (Ps 112:6). Neither let them be afraid, of what is future: who are you that you are afraid of man who dies? (Isa 51:12), which refers to human fear, for he does not reject divine fear.


1968. Then when he says, you have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you, they were troubled because he was leaving them. But they were somewhat consoled because he added, and I will come to you. As before, I go away, and I come unto you. This did not completely console them because they were afraid that perhaps in the meantime, when the shepherd was gone, the wolf would attack the flock, according to strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered (Zech 13:7). Thus he said to them, let not your hearts be troubled because I go away, neither let them be afraid because I will come to you.

He goes by his own power, by dying; and he comes by arising: the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death . . . and he will rise on the third day (Matt 20:18). Again, he went by his ascension: the beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength (Isa 63:1); and he will come to judge: they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).


1969. He completely consoles them when he says, if you loved me, you would indeed be glad. It is like saying: if you love me, you should not be sad, but rather rejoice that I am leaving, because I am leaving to be exalted, because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.


1970. This passage led Arius to the disparaging statement that the Father is greater than the Son. Yet our Lord’s own words repel this error. One should understand the Father is greater than I, based on the meaning of I go to the Father. Now the Son does not go to the Father insofar as he is the Son of God, for as the Son of God he was with the Father from eternity: in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God (John 1:1). Rather, he is said to go to the Father because of his human nature. Thus when he says, the Father is greater than I, he does not mean I, as Son of God, but as Son of man, for in this way he is not only inferior to the Father and the Holy Spirit, but even to the angels: we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of his passion and death (Heb 2:9). Again, in some things he was subject to human beings, as his parents (Luke 2:51). Consequently, he is inferior to the Father because of his human nature, but equal because of his divine nature: he did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:6).


1971. One could also say, as Hilary does, that even according to the divine nature the Father is greater than the Son, yet the Son is not inferior to the Father, but equal. For the Father is not greater than the Son in power, eternity and greatness, but by the dignity of a grantor or source. For the Father receives nothing from another, but the Son, if I can put it this way, receives his nature from the Father by an eternal generation. So, the Father is greater because he gives; but the Son is not inferior, but equal, because he receives all that the Father has: God has bestowed on him the name which is above every name (Phil 2:9). For the one to whom a single act of existence is given, is not inferior to the giver.


1972. Chrysostom explains this by saying that our Lord is saying this by taking into account the opinions of the apostles, who did not yet know of the resurrection or think that he was equal to the Father. And so he said to them: even if you do not believe me on the ground that I cannot help myself, or expect that I will see you again after my cross, yet believe me because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.


1973. He now answers an unspoken question when he says, and now I have told you before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe. For they could have asked why he was telling them these things, and so he anticipates them by saying this, and now I have told you.

Augustine brought up a problem: since faith is concerned with things which are not seen, a person should not believe after the event, but before it.

One should say to this that the apostles saw one thing and believed another. They saw the death and resurrection of Christ, and having seen, they believed that he was the Christ, the Son of God. But after these events they did not believe with a new faith, but with an increased faith. Or, indeed, they believed with a failing faith when he had died, and a renewed faith when he arose, as Augustine says.


1974. Then when he says, I will not now speak many things with you, he mentions another source of their consolation, based on the reason for his death. Sometimes the reason for a person’s death is a cause for sorrow, as when one is killed because he is guilty; other reasons are consoling, as when someone dies for that good we call virtue: let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief . . . yet if one suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed (1 Pet 4:15). With respect to this,

our Lord first shows that a sin was not the reason for his death;

second, that it was caused by the virtues of obedience and love, but that the world may know, that I love the Father.


1975. He says, I will not now speak many things with you, because the time is short: little children, yet a little while I am with you (John 13:33). Or, because you are not yet ready for it: I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). Or, I will no longer talk much with you, because I will briefly explain to you that I will not die because of my own guilt. And he does this when he says, for the prince of this world is comes, and in me he has not anything. This prince is the devil, and he is called a prince of this world not because he is its creator, or because of his natural power, as the Manicheans blasphemed, but because of guilt, that is, because of the lovers of this world. For this reason he is called the prince of the world and of sin: for we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against . . . the world rulers of this present darkness (Eph 6:12). Therefore, he is not the ruler of creatures, but of sinners and of darkness: he is king over all the children of pride (Job 41:34).

So this ruler comes to afflict: he entered into the heart of Judas to incite his betrayal, and into the hearts of the Jews to incite them to kill. But and in me he has not anything, for he has no power over us except because of sin: whoever commits sin is the slave of sin (John 8:34). Now in Christ there was no sin: not in his soul, he committed no sin (1 Pet 2:22), nor in his flesh, because he was conceived of the Virgin without original sin through the Holy Spirit: the child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Because the devil even attacked Christ, over whom he had no right, he deserved to lose what he justly held: what have I do to with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? (Mark 5:7). So it is clear that the cause of Christ’s death was not his own guilt; and there was no reason for him to die if he had no sin.


1976. Then he mentions the true reason for his death, which is that good which is virtue. He says, but that the world may know, that I love the Father. Augustine relates this sentence, but that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father has given me commandment, so I do, to what follows, arise, let us go hence.

Two things led Christ to undergo death: love for God and love for neighbor; walk in love (Eph 5:2). He shows this love by the sign that he accomplishes what God commands: if you love me keep my commandments (John 14:15). Referring to this he says, that the world may know, that I love the Father, with an active love, because I go to die. Thus he adds, as the Father has given me commandment, so I do. This is obedience, which is produced by love; and it is the second thing by which the Father moved him to undergo death. The Father did not give this commandment to the Son of God, who, since he is the Word, is also the command of the Father. He gave this commandment to the Son of man, insofar as he infused into his soul that it was necessary for the salvation of humankind that the Christ die in his human nature. And so, that the world may know these things, arise, from the place where they had eaten, let us go hence, to the place where I am to be betrayed, so that you can see that I am not dying by necessity, but from love and obedience: he goes out to meet the weapons (Job 39:21).


1977. Chrysostom understands this differently, since he does not relate arise, let us go hence, to what came before it in the same way. The meaning now is: I am not dying because the ruler of this world has power over me; that I love the Father. But as for you, rise, let us go hence. He said this because he saw they were afraid, both because of the time, as it was deep into the night, and due to the place, for they were obviously at some house and constantly watching the entrance as if expecting to be set upon by their enemies. Consequently they were not paying attention to what he was saying. So Christ led them to another hidden place, so that feeling more secure they could listen with more attention to what he would say to them and understand it better: I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her (Hos 2:14).