Christ went up to this feast in secret to show the
weakness of his human nature; but he publicly taught in the temple, with his
enemies being unable to restrain him, to show his divinity. And so, as
Augustine remarks, what was thought to be a lack of courage turned out to be
strength. Accordingly, Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem then said, in
amazement, for they knew how fiercely their leaders were looking for him, as
they lived with them in Jerusalem. Thus, Chrysostom says: “The most pitiable of
all were they who saw a very clear sign of his divinity and, leaving everything
to the judgment of their corrupt leaders, failed to show Christ reverence.” “As
the ruler of a city is, so are its inhabitants” (Sir 10:2). Yet they were
amazed at the power he had which kept him from being apprehended. So, they
said: Is he not the man they, i.e., their leaders, want. This agrees with what
was said before: “For reasons like this the Jews began to persecute Jesus,
because he performed such works on the sabbath” (above 5:16); “Evil has come
out of the elders of the people, who ruled them” (Dn 13:5). This also shows
that Christ spoke the truth, while what their leaders said was false. For
above, when our Lord asked them: “Why do you want to kill me?” they denied it
and said: “You have a demon within you! Who wants to kill you?” But here, what
their leaders had denied, these others admit when they say, Is he not the man
they want to kill? Accordingly, they are amazed, considering the evil
intentions of their leaders.
Again, they were amazed that Christ was openly
teaching; so, they said: Look, he is speaking publicly, i.e., Christ was
teaching, an indication of the secure possession of the truth, “I have spoken
publicly” (below 18:20), and they say nothing to him, held back by divine
power. For it is a characteristic of God’s power that he prevents the hearts of
evil men from carrying out their evil plans. “When the Lord is pleased with the
way a man is living he will make his enemies be at peace with him” (Ps 16:7);
and again, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; he turns it
wherever he wills” (Prv 21:1).
We see their conjecture when he says, could it be
that the rulers really know that he is the Christ? As if to say: Before, they
sought to kill him; but now that they have found him, they do not say anything
to him. Still, the leaders had not changed their opinion about Christ: “If they
had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8), but
were restrained by divine power.
Their objection to this conjecture is then added:
We know where this man comes from. As if to argue: The Christ should have a
hidden origin; but the origin of this man is known; therefore, he is not the
Christ. This shows their folly, for granted that some of their leaders believed
Christ, they did not follow their opinion, but offered another, which was
false. “This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations” (Ez
5:5). For they knew that Christ took his origin from Mary, but they did not
know the way this came about: “Isn’t Joseph his father, and Mary his mother’?”
as we read in Matthew (13:55).
Why did they say, when the Christ comes, no one
will know where he comes from, since it says in Micah (5:2): “Out of you
[Bethlehem-Ephrathah] will come a leader, who will rule my people Israel.”? I
answer that they took this opinion from Isaiah, who said: “Who will make known
his origin?” (53:8). Thus, they knew from the prophets where he was from,
according to his human origin; and they also knew from them that they did not
know it, according to his divine origin.
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