Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Read Chapter 13
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
1. We have just heard in the holy Gospel the Lord speaking, and saying, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord, nor the apostle [he that is sent] greater than he that sent him: if you know these things, blessed shall you be if you do them. He said this, therefore, because He had washed the disciples' feet, as the Master of humility both by word and example. But we shall be able, with His help, to handle what is in need of more elaborate handling, if we linger not at what is perfectly clear. Accordingly, after uttering these words, the Lord added, I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but, that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me, shall lift up his heel upon me. And what is this, but that he shall trample upon me? We know of whom He speaks: it is Judas, that betrayer of His, who is referred to. He had not therefore chosen the person whom, by these words, He sets utterly apart from His chosen ones. When I say then, He ...
Verily, verily I say to you, The slave is not greater than his Lord, nor the messenger than He that sent him. Foreseeing the contention about the chief place which would soon follow, Christ insists on the humility which He is inculcating on His apostles.
Also in the Gospel according to John: "The servant is not greater than his lord, nor the apostle greater than He that sent himself. If ye know these things, blessed shall ye be if ye shall do them."
Christ proceeds to strengthen the effect of His action by [deriving the same lesson from] laws that may be termed necessary, and shows that the transgression of His beneficial commandment would be in the highest degree dangerous. For when a law is confirmed by an oath, the transgressor of it cannot escape a just accusation. He says therefore that it is an offence admitting of no palliation, for servants to refuse to be of the same mind as their own masters: because a passionate longing for greater things, and for things higher than our merits deserve, is really covetousness and nothing else. And just so He would with perfect justice bring the same charge against the Apostles, namely, of seeking to be on a higher level than He Who commissioned them. For the mind of Him Who sent them should suffice for them, as the measure of all their glory. But this is nothing else than to use exactly the following argument:----"You will justly be laughed to scorn before the Divine tribunal if through ...
What He said before, this He says here also, to shame them; For if the servant is not greater than his master, nor he that is sent greater than him that sent him, and these things have been done by Me, much more ought they to be done by you. Then, lest any one should say, Why now do You say these things? Do we not already know them? He adds this very thing, I speak not to you as not knowing, but that by your actions ye may show forth the things spoken of. For to know, belongs to all; but to do, not to all. On this account He said, Blessed are you if you do them; and on this account I continually and ever say the same to you, although ye know it, that I may set you on the work. Since even Jews know, but yet they are not blessed; for they do not what they know.
I speak not, He says, of you all. O what forbearance! Not yet does He convict the traitor, but veils the matter, hence giving him room for repentance. He convicts and yet does not convict him when He says thus, He that eats brea...
