Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (March 23, 2021) Gospel (Joh 8:21-30)

21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

John Gill

So he said to them again—It may be, immediately after he had said the above words; or rather some time after, it may be on the same day:

I am going away—Meaning, the way of all flesh, or that he should die: the way of speaking shows, that his death was certain, a determined thing; which must be, and yet was voluntary: he was not driven, nor forced, but went freely; this being the path, the way, through which he must enter into his kingdom and glory:

And you will seek me—That is, shall seek the Messiah, as their deliverer and Saviour, when in distress; and whom he calls himself, because he was the true Messiah, and the only Saviour and Redeemer of his people, in a spiritual sense; otherwise they would not, nor did they seek Jesus of Nazareth:

And you will die in your sin—Meaning, in their sin of unbelief, and rejection of him the true Messiah: the sense is, that in the midst of their calamities, which should come upon them, for their sin against him, they should in vain seek for the Messiah, as a temporal deliverer of them; for their nation, city, and temple, and they therein should utterly perish, for their iniquity; and their ruin would not only be temporal, but eternal: since it follows,

Where I am going, you cannot come—Signifying, that whereas he was going to his Father, to heaven and glory; to enjoy eternal happiness at his Father’s right hand, in the human nature; they should never come there, but whilst many sat down in the kingdom of heaven, with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who should come from afar, they would be shut out, and not suffered to enter in.

As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, “He is not here,” he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. 1KI 18:10

Rashi

That they had not found you—That the nation was unable to find you.

22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

John Gill

So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself”—Which was not only a wicked, but a foolish consequence, drawn from his words: for it by no means followed, because he was going away, and where they could not come, that therefore he must destroy himself; this seems to be what they would have been glad he would have done, and suggested the thought that he might do it, in which they imitated Satan (Mat 4:6), under whose influence they now apparently were, and hoped that he would, which would at once extricate them out of their difficulties on his account:

Since he says, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?—This is no reason at all; for had Christ’s meaning been, as they blasphemously intimate, they might have destroyed themselves too, and have gone after him.

23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

John Gill

He said to them—Upon this wicked remark of theirs, and query on his words:

You are from below—Not only of the earth, earthy, and so spoke of the earth, and as carnal men; but even of hell, they were the children of the devil; they breathed his spirit, spoke his language, and did his lusts, as in Joh 8:44.

I am from above—Not with respect to his human body, which he did not bring with him from heaven, that was formed below, in the virgin’s womb; otherwise he would not have been the seed of the woman, the son of Abraham, David, and Mary: but either with regard to his divine nature and person, he was of God, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, who then lay in his bosom, and was in heaven above at that time; or to his mission, which was from heaven.

You are of this world—They were, as they were born into the world, sinful, carnal, and corrupt; they were in it, and belonged to it, had never been chosen, or called out of it; they had their conversation according to the course of it, and conformed to its evil customs and manners; they were under the influence of the God of the world, and were taken with the sinful and sensual lasts thereof; they were men of worldly spirits; they minded earth, and earthly things, and had their portion in this world, and might be truly called the men of it.

I am not of this world—He was in it, but not of it; he was come into it to save the chief of sinners, but he did not belong to it, nor did he conform to it; for though he conversed with sinners, ate with them, and received them, being called to repentance by him; yet he was separate from them, and did not as they did: nor did he pursue the pleasures, honours, and riches of this world, being all his days a man of sorrows, and despised of men; and though Lord of all, had not where to lay his head.

With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips

I have avoided the ways of the violent. PSA 17:4

Rashi

With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips, etc. My steps have held fast, etc.—From then on, for every deed of man that I came to perform, I watched myself by the word of your lips; I watched the ways of the violent, to turn away from them, so that I should not walk in them, but would support my steps constantly in your paths, that my feet should not falter from them. Another explanation:

For the works of man according to the word of your lips, etc.—Since a person must use his works according to the uprightness (decre—early editions) of the word of your lips, as you said, “You shall not commit adultery,” I have avoided the ways of the violent although I behaved unseemly according to the good you have done.

24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.

26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”

John Gill

I have much to say about you and much to judge—Being God omniscient, he knew their persons and actions, their lives and conversations, and all their sins and transgressions, which he could justly have complained of, and charged them with, and proved against them, and judged and condemned them for; but this was not his present business, he came not to judge and condemn, but to save: wherefore he waved these things, and took no notice of them, leaving them to his Father, who would call them to an account, and punish them for them:

But he who sent me is true—As to his promises concerning the mission of his Son, to be the Saviour of sinners; so to his threatenings, to bring down vengeance on those that disbelieve him, and reject him:

And I declare to the world—Or “in the world,”

What I have heard from him—As concerning his love, grace, and mercy to those that should believe in him, so of the destruction of the despisers and rejecters of him; which things he spoke not in secret, in a corner, but publicly and openly, before all the world, to Jews and Gentiles, and to as many as were in the treasury, in the temple at this time; see Joh 18:20.

27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.

And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ ” ISA 6:9

Rashi

Keep on hearing—I say to you, Keep on hearing, but do not strive to understand, and keep on seeing miracles that I have performed for you, yet do not strive to know me.

28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.

John Gill

So Jesus said to them—Upbraiding them with their ignorance, and giving them a sign, as well as pointing out the time when they either, by good or sad experience, should have knowledge of him:

When you have lifted up the Son of Man—Meaning himself, who was to be lifted up upon the cross, as the serpent was upon the pole, in the wilderness; and which signified the manner of death he should die, the death of the cross; and suggested, that what the Jews designed for his reproach, shame, and abasement, would be the way and means of his rise and exaltation; and this lifting him up, or crucifying him, he ascribes to them, because they would deliver him to Pontius Pilate to be condemned, and stir up the people to ask, and be importunate themselves for his crucifixion:

Then you will know that I am he—The Son of God, and true Messiah, as the centurion, and those that were with him, did, when they observed the earthquake; and the things that were done at his death; and after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and the pouring forth of his Spirit, many of the Jews had not only a notional, but a true and spiritual knowledge of Jesus, as the Messiah; and upon the destruction of their temple, city, and nation, and their disappointment by false Christs, they doubtless many of them must, and did know, that the true Messiah was come, and that Jesus of Nazareth was he:

And that I do nothing on my own authority—(See Gill on Joh 5:19);

But speak just as the Father taught me—This he says not as lessening himself, or making himself inferior to the Father, but to show the excellency of his doctrine, and to assert the original, authority, and divinity of it; suggesting that it was not an human doctrine, or a device of man’s, or his own, as man, but was divine, and from God; see Joh 7:16.

29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

John Gill

And he who sent me is with me—By virtue of that near union there is between them, they being one in nature, essence, power, and glory, and by the gracious, powerful, comfortable, assisting, and strengthening presence of his Father, which he vouchsafed to him as man, and mediator;

He has not left me alone—Christ, as the Word, was with the Father from all eternity, and, as the Son of God, was in heaven, and in the bosom of the Father, when he, as the Son of Man, was here on earth; for though he came forth from the Father into this world, by assumption of the human nature, yet the Father was always with him, and he with the Father, through the unity of the divine nature; nor did he withhold his supporting and assisting presence from him as man; nor did he withdraw, at least he had not yet withdrawn his gracious and comfortable presence from him, though he afterwards did, when upon the cross: compare with this Joh 16:32;

For I always do the things that are pleasing to him—By submitting to gospel ordinances, as to baptism, at which the Father declared his well pleasedness in him; and by complying with the ordinances of the ceremonial law, which were typical of him; and by perfectly obeying the precepts of the moral law, and bearing the penalty of it; or by suffering and dying in the room and stead of his people; all which were the will of God, and well pleasing to him.

30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

John Gill

As he was saying these things—Concerning his being lifted up, or his crucifixion, and the knowledge the Jews should then have of him; of the excellency and divinity of his doctrine, of his mission from the Father, and of the Father’s presence with him, and of his always doing the things that are pleasing in his sight; which were spoken by him with majesty and authority, and came with power:

Many believed in him—As the Son of God, and true Messiah: faith came by hearing; Christ’s hearers were of different sorts; some understood him not, and disbelieved, and rejected him; others had their eyes, and their hearts opened, and received him, and his words.