Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.
All Commentaries on John 14:1 Go To John 14
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Let not your heart, &c. Christ saw that the minds of His disciples were troubled, i.e. anxious and sorrowful, because He had foretold them that His own departure and Passion, through the treachery of Judas, was at hand, as well as the scandal of Peter"s threefold denial of Him. For they feared lest they also through dread of the Jews should betray Christ. For if Peter, who seemed as firm as a rock, was about to do Song of Solomon , would not the rest, who were weaker and more timid, do the same? Christ heals this their perturbation by the words, Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
The Greek reads for ye believe, πιστεÏετε, i.e. Believe ye in God, or, ye believe, &c. The meaning Isaiah , If ye believe in God, as I know ye do, believe also in Me, and consequently trust Me. For I am God. By this faith and confidence ye may overcome all your fears, and be made partakers of my promises. Cast all your cares and anxieties upon Me, your Lord and your God. For although I go away from you as to My bodily presence, yet in My spirit, in My care and guidance of you, I shall be always with you.
Listen to S. Chrysostom. He shows the power of His Divinity, setting out what they had in their minds. As if He said, "Ye fear the adversity which hangs over Me and you. Lay aside your fear. For faith in Me and the Father is mightier than those things which will come upon us. And nothing can prevail against it." And S. Augustine says, "Lest as men they should fear the death of Christ, and so be troubled, He consoles them, declaring that He is God. As though He said, Ye fear death for this form of a servant; let not your heart be troubled, the form of God will raise it up." Moreover Christ did this, as Ribera says, like husbandmen who attach a weakly vine to an elm, that it may from the elm receive strength to mount up and grow, even though wind and storms rage against it. Thus the Lord joins the apostles to Himself as a most strong wall, by faith: as it is said in Psalm 26 , "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?" Let the Christian think that the same thing is said to himself by Christ when he is harassed by temptation, trouble, or fear. "Thou believest in God, believe also in thy Christ. He will be present with thee, and give thee strength. He will open out for thee a way of escape, and make thee conqueror."
In My Father"s house. Christ had said that He was about to go to the Father, and that Peter would follow Him thither, but He had said nothing concerning the other disciples. They feared therefore that they should be shut out from the Father"s house and from heaven. This fear Christ removes. "Fear not, for though it be that I do not take you with Me now to My Father"s kingdom, yet I will cause you to follow Me in due time. Do not suppose that Peter only will follow Me thither, as if there were only room for Myself and Peter. I tell you there will not be wanting room for you likewise. For in My Father"s house are many mansions. For heaven is a vast empyrean, and has innumerable mansions, sufficient to hold all men whatsoever." So SS. Augustine and Chrysostom.
Moreover, the expression many, intimates that there are in heaven various degrees and ranks of blessedness and glory. As it were said, To each saint shall be his own place in heaven, to each his own beatitude, his own glory, in accordance with the merit of each. So the Fathers against Jovinian, who thought that as all virtues are equal, so likewise would be all rewards in heaven.
Listen to St. Gregory (lib4 , "Moral," ch31), "In the many mansions shall be a concordant diversity of requital. For so great shall be the might of the love which shall unite us in that house of peace, that whatsoever any one shall not receive in himself, he shall rejoice to have received it in another. Wherefore, although all did not labour equally in the vineyard, yet every one received a penny. And indeed with the Father there are many mansion, and yet the different labourers receive the same penny, because to all shall be the one blessed gladness, although not to all the same sublimity of life." The same S. Gregory says, that to a certain Stephen these many mansions were shown full of a marvellous light. Christ then by these words, and by this exhibition of the heavenly reward, animates the apostles, so that they should not dread the temptations and persecutions which were impending over them, but should rather court them, forasmuch as by their means they were about to obtain such rewards.
If it were not Song of Solomon , i.e, if it were otherwise, I would have told you. First, it is as though He said, "I would have told you that I was going away that I might go to prepare a place for you in heaven, unless there were already many mansions prepared there; but because they are already prepared, I said not to you, "I will go to prepare them."
2. Following the Greek and Syriac, which omit the word that before I go, Arias Montanus simply expounds as follows: "There are many mansions in My Father"s house. If it were not so I would tell you plainly; nor would I deceive you with the vain hope that I am going to prepare a place for you." As though He said, "Since I so greatly love you, that I am going away from you for the sake of preparing a place for you, how should I suffer you to be deceived in so great a matter? To prepare a place is to come into possession of heaven, which until that time had been closed to man. When I ascend, the heavens shall be opened to you, according as it is said, "Lift your gates, ye princes, and the King of glory, shall come in," ( Psalm 24Vulg.); and, "He shall ascend preparing the way before them."" (Mic. ii. Vulg.)
You will say, if mansions were already prepared for the apostles in heaven, why does Christ go to prepare a place for them? I answer, both are true. For, 1st, these mansions were prepared for the apostles and the rest of the elect from all eternity, by God"s predestination, in the first intention, as it were2d, Christ went, nevertheless, to prepare them in Acts , as it were; namely, to bring the apostles into possession of them so to say. Moreover, Christ made plain the way to heaven, which before was shut, by His ascension. For He by His own blood and death upon the cross paid to God the price of those heavenly mansions, and by that price purchased them for us. Moreover, when Christ ascended, He sent the Holy Ghost from heaven, that Hebrews , by His peace, might render the apostles and the rest of the elect worthy of heaven.
So S. Augustine. "How," saith Hebrews , "does He prepare, if there are already many? They are not yet in existence if they are still to be prepared. But they do already exist by predestination. Otherwise, He would have said, I will go and prepare, i.e, I will predestinate. But it was because they were not prepared as a matter of actual existence that He said, If I go away and prepare, &c, He is preparing the mansions by preparing their destined inhabitants. For that is the house of God, of which the apostle says, "The temple of God is holy, which temple are ye." It is still being built, it is yet being prepared. He speaks of going away to prepare, because the just live by faith. For if thou seest there is no faith, the thing is hid that it may be believed, then is the place being prepared if there is a life of faith; being believed it is desired, that that which is longed for may be possessed. He goes away by becoming unseen. He comes by appearing. But unless He abide with us to rule us, that we may make progress in good living, we shall not have a place prepared for us where we can abide in continual gladness."
