Church Fathers Commentary John 13:33-35

"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say unto you. A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." — John 13:33-35 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: After He had said, And shall immediately glorify Him, so that they would not think that God was going to glorify Him in such a way that He would no longer have any interaction with them on earth, He says, Little children, yet a little while I am with you. This is as if to say, “I will indeed be glorified immediately by My resurrection, but I will not immediately ascend to heaven.” For we read in the Acts of the Apostles that He was with them for forty days after His resurrection. These forty days are what He means by, A little while I am with you.

Origen of Alexandria: Little children, He says, for their souls were still in their infancy. But these little children, after His death, were made brothers, just as before they were little children, they had been servants.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It can also be understood this way: I am still in this frail flesh, just as you are, until I die and rise again. He was with them after His resurrection by bodily presence, but not by sharing in human frailty. He says to His disciples after His resurrection, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you (Luke 24:44), meaning, “while I was in mortal flesh, as you are.” He was in the same flesh with them then, but not subject to the same mortality.

But there is another Divine Presence, unknown to mortal senses, of which He said, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world (Matthew 28:20). This is not the presence meant by, A little while I am with you, for the time until the end of the world is not short. Or even if it is a short time—because in God's sight a thousand years are like one day—still, what follows shows that this is not what our Lord is referring to here, for He adds, Where I go, you cannot follow Me now. At the end of the world they were to follow Him where He went, as He said below: Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am.

Origen of Alexandria: But could there not be a deeper meaning in the words, yet a little while I am with you? After a little while, He was not with them. In what sense was He not with them? It was not because He was physically absent—in that He was taken from them, brought before Pilate, crucified, and descended into hell—but because they all forsook Him, fulfilling His prophecy: All of you shall be offended because of Me this night. He was not with them because He dwells only with those who are worthy of Him.

But though they wandered from Jesus for a short time, it was only for a short time; they soon sought Him again. Peter wept bitterly after his denial of Jesus and sought Him with his tears. Therefore, it follows, You shall seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, Where I go, you cannot come, so I now say to you that you cannot follow Me now. To seek Jesus is to seek the Word, wisdom, righteousness, and truth—all of which is Christ. Therefore, to His disciples who wish to follow Him, not in a bodily sense, as the ignorant think, but in the way He ordains, He says, Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Our Lord said, Where I go, you cannot follow Me now. For though they wished to follow the Word and confess Him, they were not yet strong enough to do so; the Spirit had not yet been given to them, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or He means that they were not yet fit to follow Him to death for the sake of righteousness. For how could they, when they were not yet ready for martyrdom? Or how could they follow our Lord to immortality, they who were to die and not rise again until the end of the world? Or how could they follow Him to the bosom of the Father, when none could partake of that felicity except those whose love was perfected? When He told the Jews this, He did not add the word now. But the disciples, though they could not follow Him then, would be able to do so afterward, and therefore He adds, So now I say to you.

Origen of Alexandria: As if to say, “I say it to you, but with the addition of now.” The Jews, who He foresaw would die in their sins, would never be able to follow Him; but the disciples were unable to do so only for a short time.

St. John Chrysostom: And therefore He said, little children, for He did not mean to speak to them as He had to the Jews. You cannot follow Me now, He says, in order to rouse the love of His disciples. For the departure of loved friends kindles all our affection, especially if they are going to a place where we cannot follow them. He also purposely speaks of His death as a kind of transition, a happy removal to a place where mortal bodies do not enter.

St. Augustine of Hippo: And now He teaches them how to fit themselves to follow Him: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. But does not the old law say, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18)? Why then does He call it a new commandment? Is it because it strips us of the old man and puts on us the new? Does it renew the hearer, or rather, the doer of it? Love does this, but it is the love that our Lord distinguishes from carnal affection when He says, As I have loved you, that you also love one another.

This is not the love with which people love one another, but the love of the children of the Most High God, who would be brothers of His only-begotten Son. Therefore, they love one another with the same love with which He loved them, which will lead them to the fulfillment of their desires.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, as I have loved you, meaning: “My love has not been the payment of something owed to you, but began on My side. And in the same way, you ought to do good to one another, even if you do not owe it.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: But do not think that the greater commandment—namely, that we should love the Lord our God—is passed by. For if we understand the two precepts correctly, each is implied in the other. He who loves God cannot despise His commandment to love his neighbor; and he who loves his neighbor in a heavenly, spiritual way, loves God in his neighbor.

That is the love our Lord distinguishes from all human love when He adds, As I have loved you. What did He love in us when He loved us, but God? Not the God who was already in us, but so that God might be in us. Therefore, let each of us so love the other that by this work of love, we make each other habitations of God.

St. John Chrysostom: Passing over the miracles they were to perform, He makes love the distinguishing mark of His followers: By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one to another. This is what proves one to be a disciple, or a saint, as He calls him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is as if He said: “Other gifts are shared with you by those who are not Mine—birth, life, sense, reason, and such good things as belong to both humans and animals. Indeed, even tongues, sacraments, prophecy, knowledge, faith, giving all goods to the poor, and giving the body to be burned. But since they do not have charity, they are tinkling cymbals, they are nothing; nothing profits them.”