ℹ️ This corpus has no verse-level morphological tagging. Lemmas come mainly from word-level tagging of other books in the same language (not from this verse), falling back to dictionary form-matching for the rest. Rare homographs can still be misread; verify against the original and a specialist lexicon where precision matters.
ℹ️ The Chinese and English alongside are this site's own translation, made directly from the original text on this page (not the CUV or the WEB, which follow the Masoretic Text and a different textual tradition).
But when the heavenly Father revealed the knowledge of Jesus to those to whom he revealed it — who were apart from the world — then the Son of Man was glorified among those who had come to know him; and by the glory through which he was glorified among those who had come to know him, he procured glory for those who had come to know him. For those who with unveiled face behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into the same image.
When therefore he came to the dispensation from which he was about to rise for the world and, being known, be glorified with the glory of those who glorify him, he said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified," and again, "No one knew the Father except the Son, and he to whomever the Son reveals him." But since the Son was about to reveal the Father by means of the dispensation, on this account: "And God was glorified in him." (You will examine what "And God was glorified in him" means alongside "He who has seen me has seen the Father who sent me"; for in the Word — who is god and image of the invisible God — the Father who begot him is beheld, since the one who has looked upon the image of the invisible God is at once able to look also upon the archetype of the image, the Father.)
And further, in this way too the matters concerning this passage might be grasped more clearly: as through some the name of God is blasphemed among the nations, so through the saints, whose good works are seen shining most brightly before men, the name of the Father who is in the heavens is glorified.
But if God was glorified in him, the Father grants him in return something greater than what the Son of Man has done; for it is a greater thing — for the one who glorified God, being the lesser, differing from him according to "The Father who sent me is greater than I" — that the Son of Man be glorified in God, the lesser in the better.
And it was fitting that the Greater One, repaying the glory with which the Son glorified him, should grant the Son, as a gift, to be glorified in him, so that the Son might be glorified in God. Then, since these things — I mean the Son's being glorified in God — were about to happen very soon, on this account he adds, "And immediately he will glorify him."
But we are not unaware that these things are far less than what the passage, when examined, contains — while God reveals, and his Word sojourns among us to set forth the glory of the Son, granting it also to whomever the Father is able to grant it, bestowing the whole glory of God.
Wherefore, as being brief and much lower than the dignity of the words, we also confess our thanks to God for the things that have been set forth, they being much greater than our own worth. "Little children, yet a little while I am with you; you will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am you cannot come,' so now I say to you also."
Having gathered from the Gospels the words spoken by our Savior to children as if by a father, I dare to say that the Savior is the father of certain people; for to the paralytic he says, "Take courage, child; your sins are forgiven you"; and to the woman with the flow of blood, "Daughter, your faith has saved you"; and now he says to the disciples, "Little children" — signifying, I think, something also by the diminutive, and teaching the still smallness of the apostles' soul at that time.
But if someone should ask: was the paralytic then, hearing "child," more complete than those to whom the Word says, "little children"? He will hear that if someone is indeed a "little child," he is certainly also a "child."
Wherefore nothing prevents the paralytic, who is called "child," from also being a "little child"; so that it is not necessary that the one named "child," the paralytic, be more complete than those to whom the Word said "little children."
But one must know that, whereas among men a child cannot afterward become the brother of the one whose child he already was, it is not likewise impossible to change from being a child of Jesus into becoming his brother.
These, then, to whom he said "little children," after the resurrection of the Savior — as if remade by the resurrection of Jesus — become brothers of the one who had earlier said "little children."
Just as it is possible to change from being a slave of Jesus — for the disciples were slaves before they were little children, as is clear from "You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am," and from "A slave is not greater than his lord," which is written before "Little children, yet a little while I am with you." But you will note whether the slave first becomes a disciple, then a little child, then a brother of Christ and a son of God.
And here "disciple" must be said of the one who, by presenting himself, is to receive the knowledge of the Word, learning from so great a teacher the wisdom of God.
Now "Yet a little while I am with you," according to the simpler sense, is clear as regards the literal statement, since he was very soon about to be no longer with the disciples: first being seized by the cohort and the tribune and the Jewish officers, who, having bound him, led him away first to Annas; and after this, handed over to Pilate, and then condemned to the cross; then, having spent in the...
...three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But according to the deeper sense, you will inquire whether after "a little while" he was no longer with them — not by his not being present with them according to the flesh and by his soul having descended into Hades (for on this account he who said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," and "Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age," was not prevented from being also with the disciples), but rather by the fulfillment of "You will all be scandalized because of me on this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered" — in this sense he who is present only with the worthy was no longer with them.
But against this someone might raise as a counter-objection, "Among you stands one whom you do not know," saying that he is also with those who do not know him.
But observe whether his being with someone — which is given as a promise, to the worthy — is not the same thing as his standing, unrecognized, in the midst of those who do not know him.
For in the way of promise are "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," and "Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age"; but "Among you stands one whom you do not know" is not of this kind.
And so, in the passage before us, the one who said, "Behold, I am with you," is he who says, "Yet a little while I am with you." But he who says, "Yet a little while I am with you" — to Judas, who was sensibly present, the devil having already cast into his heart that he should betray the Savior — would not have said to him, "I am with you" (for he was no longer with him), neither when, having dipped the morsel, he gave it to him, but from when, after the morsel, Satan entered into him.
XXXI. But even though Jesus, their father, was about to be with the little children only a little while longer, one must know what happened after that little while: even if he was not with them, they were nonetheless about to seek Jesus — just as Peter, after denying him, wept bitterly, seeking, I think, Jesus.
Now then, "Yet a little while I am with you" has been said; but a little later: "A little while," he says, "and you no longer see me, and again a little while and you will see me" — when the disciples were saying, "What is this that he says, 'a little while'? We do not know what he is speaking." And Jesus, knowing that they wanted to ask him, said to them: "Is this what you are seeking among yourselves, that I said, 'A little while and you do not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'? Truly, truly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be grieved, but your grief will turn into joy."
For in that little while during which they did not see him, they were seeking Jesus; wherefore they wept and lamented, their grief turning into joy when "And again a little while and you will see me" was fulfilled.
In these matters you will examine whether the one who, after a little while, does not see him, if he is about to see him after this, will certainly see him not long after — as we understand "And again a little while and you will see me."
But some who have seen signs seek him, and, along with having seen, having taken bread from him and eaten, the cause of their seeking became their having been fed by the Word: "You seek me," he says, "not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."
Then, since he had earlier said to the Jews, "I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin; where I am going you cannot come" — referring the present passage back to that, he says: "And just as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' so now I say to you also."
For this is how I understand "And I say to you now," which is not the same as "And I say to you" without the addition of "now." For the Jews, whom he foresaw would die in their own sin, were not unable to come where Jesus was going only for a shortened time; but the disciples, after the little while following which he was about to be no longer with them, were unable, for the reasons stated above, to follow the Word as he departed to his own dispensations.
XXXII. And if "As I said to the Jews" had not been placed before "Where I am going you cannot come," we might perhaps have supposed these things to have been said more simply, referring to the departure of the soul of Jesus from life; but as it is, the Jews too were about to die, and Jesus, having died, was about to descend into Hades.
How is it that where Jesus was going, those Jews could not depart? But someone will say: since he was also about to be in the paradise of God, where those who were about to die in their sins were not going to be, whereas the disciples of Jesus were — at that time, then, they could not be there, but later they would; on this account it is said to the Jews who were about to die in their sins, "Where I am going you cannot come," but to the disciples, "Where I am going you cannot come now."
For the sequence of the wording is like this: "As I said to the Jews, I say to you also: Where I am going you cannot come now." And even so this passage presents no small difficulty, on account of "The Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
For how will he spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, who, together with his departure, was about to be in the paradise of God, according to "Today you will be with me in the paradise of God"? And this saying has so disturbed some, as being discordant, that they have dared to suspect that this very saying, "Today you will be with me in the paradise of God," was added to the Gospel by certain unscrupulous men.
But we say, more simply, that perhaps before departing into what is called the heart of the earth, he restored to the paradise of God the one who had said to him, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom"; but more deeply, that in many places in Scripture "today" extends over the whole present age; just as also in "This saying was spread abroad among the Jews until today," and "This one is the father of the Moabites unto this day," and "Today, if you will hear his voice, ...... and do not turn away from the Lord."
On "this day" he promises him — who had asked to be remembered in the kingdom of God — that in the present age, before the age to come, he would cause him to be with him in the kingdom of God.
But let this be said, in passing, as a digression concerning what was previously stated. But to the disciples, who wished to follow Jesus — not as the more simple-minded might suppose, bodily, but as "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy to be my disciple" makes clear — the Lord now says that "Where I am going you cannot come now."
For though they wished to follow the Word and confess him without being scandalized in him, they were not yet able to do this; for "the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified," and "No one is able to say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit."
But the Word goes on his own journeys, and the one who follows the Word does indeed accompany him; but the one who is not prepared so as to tread vigorously in his footsteps cannot follow — the Word leading toward his own Father those who do everything so that they may both be able to follow him and do follow him, until they say to the Christ, "My soul has clung after you."
Since the thirty-second book of the Commentaries on the Gospel according to John has now received a sufficient compass, we shall bring our discourse to a close at this point.