But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
Read Chapter 4
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Jesus speaks about the sacrileges of the Jews, which the Lord had foretold long ago through the prophet. These sacrileges were predicted in the verse of a psalm which declares that he would suffer when in the body. It says, “They repaid me with evil things for good.” These are fulfilled in the Gospel. For when he himself spread blessings among the peoples, they inflicted injuries. No wonder they who threw the Savior out of their nation lost salvation. At the same time, understand that he was not forced to suffer the passion of his body. It was voluntary. He was not taken by the Jews but given by himself. Indeed, he is taken when he wants to be. He glides away when he wants to. He is hung when he wants to be. He is not held when he does not wish it. Here he goes up to the summit of the hill to be thrown down. But, behold, the minds of the furious men were suddenly changed or confused. He descended through their midst, for the hour of his passion had not yet come. Indeed, he still prefer...
But He passing through the midst of them went His way. Maldonatus thinks that Christ here made Himself invisible, S. Ambrose and Bede that He changed their wills, so that they consented to let Him go. Others hold the better opinion that Christ turned away their imagination or their eyes, or suspended their consciousness and held their hands and feet, so that, like men bereft of their senses, though they saw Him they could not or dared not lay hold of Him. Wherefore Christ here manifested His Godhead. S. Ambrose says, "Behold! the minds of these furious men, being suddenly changed, or stupefied, He goes down through the midst of them." And he adds the reason, "For when He wills He is taken; when He wills He slips away; when He wills He is slain; because His hour had not yet come," John vii30. For as yet he must preach, and at last be crucified at Jerusalem by the Father"s decree, but not cast down headlong in Nazareth. So Bede, S. Chrysostom, Euthymius, and others. Brocardus, in his "De...
Passing through the midst of them, went his way. Perhaps by making himself on a sudden invisible, or by striking them with blindness, or by changing their minds, and hearts, as he pleased. (Witham)
All commentators observe on these words, that the evangelist wished to show that Christ worked a miracle on this occasion, and by it proved his divinity. This is the opinion of Sts. Euthymius, Ambrose, and Thomas Aquinas. St. Ambrose says, we must observe that Christ did not suffer from necessity, but because he wished it. He was not taken by the Jews, but delivered up himself; at his own pleasure he is seized, and at his own pleasure he escapes; when he wills it, he is condemned; and when he wills it, he is freed. The most common opinion is, that he rendered himself invisible on this occasion; though others imagine that he changed their wills, or withheld their hands. (Maldonatus)
When we observe the outrageous treatment Jesus Christ met with from the people of Nazareth, we are not surpri...
