Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 7:33-36

"Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come. The Jews therefore said among themselves, Whither will this man go that we shall not find him? will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, ye cannot come?" — John 7:33-36 (ASV)

After our Lord spoke of the principle of His origin, He then mentions His end, that is, where He would go by dying.

First, the end of Christ’s life is given; second, we see that the people are puzzled by what He says:

1. The end of Christ’s life is given.
2. We see that the people are puzzled by what He says: the Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will he go that we will not find him?”

Regarding the first point, He does three things.

1. The end of His life is mentioned.
2. He predicts what they will desire in the future: you will seek me and will not find me.
3. He mentions one of their deficiencies: and where I am, you are not able to come.

Regarding the first of these points, He does two things.

1. He predicts the delay of His death until a later time.
2. He states where He will go by dying: I go to the Father, and you shall see me no more (John 16:5).

And so, in the first, He shows His power; and in the second, His will to suffer.

Our Lord shows His power by delaying His death until a later time. Although the Jews wanted to seize Him, they could not do this until Christ willed it. No man takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself (John 10:18).

And so Jesus said, yet a little while I am with you. It is as if He were saying: You want to kill Me, but this does not depend on your will, but on Mine. I have decided that yet a little while I am with you, so wait a while. You will do what you want to do, for yet a little while I am with you.

As Chrysostom says, these words of our Lord first of all satisfied those people who honored Him, making them more eager to listen because only a short time remained to receive His teaching. While you have the light, believe in the light (John 12:36). Second, He satisfied those who were persecuting Him. It is as if He were saying: Your desire for My death will not be delayed long, so be patient, because it is a little while. For I must accomplish My mission: to preach, to perform miracles, and then to come to My passion. Go and tell that fox that I will work today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish my course (Luke 13:32).

There are three reasons why Christ wished to preach for only a short time.

1. To show His power by transforming the entire world in such a brief time: one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Psalms 83:11).
2. To arouse the desire of His disciples—that is, for them to desire Him more, whose physical presence they would have for only a short time: the days will come when you will desire to see one day of the Son of man (Luke 17:22).
3. To accelerate the spiritual progress of His disciples. Since the humanity of Christ is our way to God, as it says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14:6), we should not rest in it as a goal, but through it strive toward God. So that the hearts of His disciples, which were moved by the physical presence of Christ, would not rest in Him as a man, He quickly took His physical presence from them. Thus He said, it is expedient to you that I go (John 16:7); if we knew Christ according to the flesh—that is, when He was physically present to us—now we no longer know him in this way (2 Corinthians 5:16).

He shows His desire for His passion when He says, then I am going to him who sent me (John 16:5), that is, willingly, through His passion: he was offered because it was his own will (Isaiah 53:7); he gave himself for us, an offering to God (Ephesians 5:2).

Now I go, He says, to the Father, to him who sent me (John 16:5). This is appropriate, for everything naturally returns to its principle: rivers return to the place from which they come (Ecclesiastes 1:7); knowing... that he came from God, and was going to God (John 13:3). And again: I am going to him who sent me (John 16:5).

When He says, you will seek me and will not find me, He is predicting what the Jews will desire in the times to come. It is as if He were saying: You can enjoy My teaching for a short time, but this brief time, which you are now rejecting, you will look for later and not find it. Search for the Lord while he can be found (Isaiah 55:6); and seek the Lord at the present time, and your soul will live (Psalms 68:33).

This statement, you will seek me and will not find me, can be understood as either a physical or a spiritual search for Christ.

If we understand it as a physical search, then, according to Chrysostom, this is how He was sought by the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the women who cried for Him (Luke 23:27). No doubt many others were affected at the same time. It is not unreasonable to think that when trouble was near, especially during the capture of their city, the Jews remembered Christ and His miracles and wished that He were there to free them. In this way, they would seek me—that is, for Me to be physically present—and will not find me.

If we understand this as a spiritual search for Christ, then we should say, as Augustine does, that although they refused to recognize Christ while He was among them, they later looked for Him. This happened after they had seen the people believe and had themselves been stung by the crime of His death, saying to Peter, Brothers, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37). In this way, they were looking for the Christ whom they saw die as a result of their crime when they believed in Him who forgave them.

Then, when He says, and where I am, you are not able to come, He points out one of their deficiencies. He does not say, “and where I am going,” which would be more in keeping with the earlier thought, I am going... to him who sent me (John 16:5). Rather, He says, where I am, to show that He is both God and man.

He is man insofar as He is going: I am going to him who sent me (John 16:5). But insofar as Christ had always been where He was about to return, He shows that He is God: and no man has ascended into heaven, except he who descended from heaven (John 3:13). And so, as Augustine says, just as Christ returned in such a way as not to leave us, so he came down to us, when he assumed visible flesh, but in such a way as still to be in heaven according to his invisible greatness.

He does not say, “you will not find,” because some were about to go; but He does say, you are not able to come, that is, as long as you keep your present attitude. For no one can obtain the eternal inheritance unless he is God’s heir, and one becomes an heir of God by faith in Christ: he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to those who believe in his name (John 1:12).

But the Jews did not yet believe in Him, and so He says, “you will not be able to come.” In the Psalm it is asked, who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? And the answer given is, those whose hands are innocent and whose hearts are clean (Psalms 23:3). But the hearts of the Jews were not clean, nor were their hands innocent, because they wanted to kill Christ. And so He says, you are not able to ascend the mountain of the Lord.

Then, with the words, the Jews therefore said among themselves, we see that this was bewildering to the Jews, who, although they thought of Christ in a worldly way, still believed to a certain extent.

Three things happen here.

1. They are astonished.
2. They form an opinion.
3. They argue against their own opinion.

They are perplexed when they say to each other, Where will he go that we will not find him? For, as was said, they understood this in a physical way: the sensual man does not perceive those things that pertain to the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

And so they came to the opinion that Christ was going to go away physically, not by dying, to some place where they would not be permitted to go. Thus they ask, Will he go to the dispersed among the gentiles and teach the gentiles? For the Gentiles were separated from the way of life of the Jews: separated from Israel’s way of life, strangers to the covenants, without hope in the promise, and without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12).

They spoke of “the dispersed among the gentiles” in a reproaching way, referring to those who had settled in many different places: these are the families of Noah... and they settled among the nations on the earth after the flood (Genesis 10:32). The Jewish people, by contrast, were united by place, by their worship of the one God, and by their observance of the law: the Lord builds up Jerusalem, and he will gather the dispersed of Israel (Psalms 146:2).

They did not say that He would go to the Gentiles to become a Gentile Himself, but to bring them back; and so they said, and teach the gentiles. They probably took this from Isaiah: I have given you to be a light to the gentiles, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6).

However, as Augustine says, even though they did not understand what they were saying—just as Caiaphas did not understand his own words, it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish (John 11:50)—what they said was true. They were predicting the salvation of the Gentiles, for Christ would go to the Gentiles, not in His own body, but by His feet, that is, His apostles.

For He sent His own members to us to make us His members. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold: those also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one fold and one shepherd (John 10:16). And so Isaiah says, speaking for the Gentiles, he will teach us his ways (Isaiah 2:3).

Finally, they saw an objection to their own opinion when they asked, What is this saying that he has said: “You will seek me”? It is as if they were reasoning: If He had said only, “You will look for me, and you will not find me,” we could think that He was going to the Gentiles. But He seems to exclude this when He adds, where I am, you are not able to come, for we can go to the Gentiles.