But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.
Read Chapter 26
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee, "where I will meet you," says Euthymius. "He mentioned Galilee," says S. Chrysostom, "to deliver them from fear of the Jews, and induce them the more readily to listen to Him." It was to keep them from despair.
He did not leave the disciples with sad expressions but proclaimed the resurrection to them ahead of time, freeing them from grief, and he promised to go ahead of them into Galilee. In this way he shows that he is about to desert the Jews and go to the Gentiles.
He does not permit them to become sorrowful but immediately says, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.” For he does not immediately appear from heaven on a single occasion and then depart to a distant country. Rather, he promises to come in resurrected form to the same nation in which he had also been crucified, and nearly to the same place. All this was to give complete assurance that he had indeed been crucified and that he indeed rose again, thereby to comfort them more abundantly when in sorrow. Therefore also he specified “to Galilee,” in order that being freed from the fears of the Jews they might believe his saying. This is why he indeed appeared there. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
He suffers them not however, on the other hand, to wait until the sorrows, but what says He? But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. For not from Heaven does He appear at once, neither will He depart into any distant country, but in the same nation, in which He had also been crucified, nearly in the same place, so as hereby again to assure them that He that was crucified was the very same that rose again, and in this way to comfort them more abundantly when in sorrow. Therefore also He said in Galilee, that being freed from the fears of the Jews they might believe His saying. For which cause indeed He appeared there.
. As God He foretells what will be. To avoid offending them by seeming to accuse them, He says, "It is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad" (Zechariah 13:7), thus implying, It is I Who have held you together and My departure from you will scatter you. The Father is said to "smite" the Son, in that the Jews crucified the Lord in accordance with the Father’s plan of salvation, hence, with His consent. It is said that the Father smote, because He was able to prevent it, yet did not. Then Jesus takes away their grief by announcing to them the good tidings, saying, "I shall rise and go before you, that is, precede you, into Galilee." By this He shows that He will leave Jerusalem and go to the Gentiles, for Gentiles dwelt in Galilee.
