John 7:1-53

CHAPTER 7

But after this Jesus walked in Galilee, &c. Not immediately, but about six months after. The incidents of the former chapter took place in March, the feast of tabernacles was in September. But Christ lived six months after this, to the following March. All which follows Christ said and did in the last months of His life. S. John then omits here the events of these six months, amongst which are the defence of the disciples for eating with unwashed hands; the healing of the daughter of the Canaanitish woman; St. Peter's testimony, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, for which. He was constituted the head of the Church; the paying the tribute-money; His reproof of the Apostles for disputing who was the greatest, &c. For all this which S. John omits had been recorded by the other Evangelists.

Jesus walked in Galilee. He was already in Galilee, but it means He went to and fro in Galilee, preaching the kingdom of God.

For He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews (i.e., the chief of the Jews) sought to kill him, because He kept not the Sabbath, as the Jews did, but healed the sick on that day, and called God His father, and consequently asserted that He Himself was God (see chap. v. 18). It appears that Jesus did not go up to Jerusalem at either the Passover or Pentecost of this year. And this because He knew the death that was devised against Him, before His appointed time; not because He feared the Jews, or dreaded death, but to set us an example of flying from our persecutors, till God otherwise reveals, and delivers us into their hands, as S. Athanasius did. (So say S. Augustine and others.)

Ver. 2. But the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand. They kept it for seven days, living in booths, hastily constructed of branches of trees, in memory of the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. The Syriac version for Scenopegia reads Conopea quite wrongly. For these were mosquito curtains, not booths. Abulensis (in Lev 23:34) gives a most erroneous derivation of σκηνοπηγία, and Plutarch from not knowing Hebrew was equally wrong in regarding this feast as merely a Bacchanalian orgy, mistaking also the meaning of Sabbath.

Ver. 3. But His brethren said to Him. Not the sons of Joseph, as Leontius, Cyril, and Euthymius supposed, for both Joseph and Mary remained virgins; nor yet James and John, as Chrysostom thinks, for they were Apostles already, but kinsmen of the Blessed Virgin, or even of Joseph (see S. Luke 3:23-38 ad fin.) Some, that is, of His kinsfolk, not all; for some believed in Him, some not.

Depart hence and go into Judea. From Galilee and the ignoble Capharnaum to the coming feast of tabernacles, to make Thyself known to them by Thy doctrine and miracles. They wish to draw Him away from Galilee, to be known and renowned at Jerusalem.

That Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. Thou, 0 Jesus, our kinsman, art performing wondrous works in a corner of Galilee, before Thy few and poor disciples in Galilee, come with us to Jerusalem, and work similar works there; that Thy disciples, whom Thou hast there obtained by Thy preaching, and wilt hereafter gain by Thy miracles, not from the people only, but also from the Priests, Scribes, and chiefs of the people, may be instructed or confirmed in Thy faith, and receive thee as a Prophet and the Messiah. For they wished that Christ should come especially to their notice, that the chief rulers should proclaim Jesus to be the Messiah, and propose Him as such for the reception of the people. For it was theirs to decide about the faith, the prophets, and the Messiah, and what they decided that the people followed and did.

Ver. 4. For no man doeth anything in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly. Εν παζζησία properly means to be at liberty; but here, as opposed to "secretly," it means "openly" (see John 5:13; John 16:25; John 16:29; John 18:20; and S. Mar 8:32). So Maldonatus an others.

If Thou doest this, manifest Thyself to the world. "If" does not imply doubt, but means assertion, and is the same as "since." Since Thou doest such great and wondrous works in Galilee, do the same in Jerusalem, that there all Israel, and from them the whole world, may know who Thou art, and what dignity, power, and virtue Thou hast received from the Father. For as Raphael saith, "It is goo d to keep close the secret of a king, but it is honourable to reveal and make known the works of God" (Tob. 12:7). They make the praise of Christ and the glory of God a cloke for their own covetousness and ambition: for they wished that as Christ became renowned by the fame of His miracles, they as His kinsman might become renowned, and honoured by the people, and be loaded with gifts: and might, moreover, secure the favour of the rulers and priests, and then, as they hoped, rise to high offices in the state. Just as when one is made Pope, or Cardinal, or Bishop, his kinsfolk at once flock about him, to gain through him honours and wealth. For "all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ."