Go you up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet fully come.
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Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
The Lord now says clearly that He will not feast with the Jews, or go with them, to partake with them in their rejoicing in shadows. For that which is once said to a few, albeit reputed His brethren, will be extended in its force to the whole race of Israel. For no one will say that Jesus refused to be with His brethren on their own account in particular, seeing He was plainly with them in Galilee, and we must suppose that not without a purpose by reason of His generally supposed relationship after the flesh, did He also dwell with them. It is manifest then, that the whole multitude of the Jews being introduced in a type by His brethren, Christ declines feasting with them, according to that which is said by one of the holy Prophets, I have hated, I have thrust away your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies: for even though ye offer Me whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them, and will not look at your assembly of thanksgiving: take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs and the psalm of thine instruments I will not hear. For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, as the Saviour Himself saith. But being a Spirit, He would (one may think) take pleasure in spiritual honours and offerings, for a type too whereof by command of the law, were the sacrifices of oxen and sheep, oblations moreover of frankincense, of fine flour and wine and oil, duly appointed, signifying by more visible forms the many hues of the virtue of them that worship in spirit. Do YE then (He says) who still love the shadow, and are more grossly and Jewishly affected concerning these things, go up to the assembly that is in shadows and types; Me it pleaseth not so to feast; to this feast I go not up, that, namely, in type and outline: for I have no pleasure in it, but rather I await the time of the true assembly, which is not yet full come. For then, then (He says) shall I be together with My company rejoicing in the brightness of the saints, in the glory of the Father, flashing forth extreme brilliance. But He says His and calls the time His own. For His is the feast, He the Master of it. For to Him did the blessed Jeremiah ascribe it, saying to those who have neglected piety to God-ward, and held for nought the desire to excel in goodness, What will ye do in the day of the Assembly, and in the days of the feast of the Lord? For ye (He says) who totally reject all toil for virtue, and have not the bright robe of the love of God, what will ye do in the day of the assembly, how shall ye come in to the Divine and Heavenly Feast, or how shall not the master of the Feast with reason thrust you forth from the most glorious choir of them that were bidden, saying, Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? Akin to this, and bringing us the same meaning, is that in the Prophet Zechariah, And it shall come to pass (he says) that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. He says that they which are left shall go up to worship the great King, and to accomplish the feast of tabernacles. For whereas many have been called by grace, not many are they who go up to the city above; for few are the chosen, as the Saviour saith, taken to wit out of every nation. But in saying that they shall go up to worship, he shews that they no longer perform the worship of the law, but rather that in spirit, and keep the feast of tabernacles in truth, well-nigh with clear voice singing that verse of the Psalms, Blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication: on Him trusted my heart, and I was holpen, and my flesh revived. For the flesh revived, and will live again, and that not apart from Christ: for He hath been made to us the First-fruits of the resurrection, and the door of the truer feast of tabernacles. And this it was that was said by one of the holy Prophets, I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. For the tabernacle that fell, of Christ Who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, was first raised to incorruption by the Power of God the Father, according to what is said to the Jews by one of the Apostles concerning Him, This Man delivered up by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, ye took by hand of ungodly men and crucified and slew: Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of it, and again, This Jesus God raised up, whereof all WE are witnesses. For that it is the custom of the Divine Scripture, to call Christ, Who was of David after the flesh, David, is not at all hard to see.
