Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but,
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?
Read Chapter 21
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Yet Jesus said not, &c. This is the correction. John corrects the mistaken opinion of the disciples concerning himself, that he should not die. Whence it may be gathered that the meaning of Christ"s words was different, and that John really died, as I have shown upon verse22.
This saying, therefore: that is, a report went about among the disciples, the John was not to die. But St. John himself, as St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom observe, took care to tell us, that Christ said not so. Nor do we find any sufficient grounds to think that St. John is not dead. (Witham)
Do not thou on any account suppose, He says, that I order your matters after a single rule. And this He did to withdraw them from their unseasonable sympathy for each other; for since they were about to receive the charge of the world, it was necessary that they should no longer be closely associated together; for assuredly this would have been a great loss to the world. Wherefore He says unto him, You have had a work entrusted to you, look to it, accomplish it, labor and struggle. What if I will that he tarry here? Look thou to and care for your own matters. And observe, I pray you, here also the absence of pride in the Evangelist; for having mentioned the opinion of the disciples, he corrects it, as though they had not comprehended what Jesus meant. Jesus said not, he tells us, that 'he shall not die, but, If I will that he tarry.'
Even John underwent death, although concerning him there had prevailed an ungrounded expectation that he would remain alive until the coming of the Lord.
