Judas saith to him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?
λεγει αυτω ιουδας ουχ ο ισκαριωτης κυριε και τι γεγονεν οτι ημιν μελλεις εμφανιζειν σεαυτον και ουχι τω κοσμω
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Do you see how their soul was constrained by fear? Judas was disturbed and troubled, and thought that they would see Him just as we see the dead in sleep. But notice the disciple: he is disturbed, yet he does not dare to say plainly what he wishes to say. He did not say, "Woe to us, You are dying and wish to appear to us like the dead." No, he did not say this, but said, "How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
The Judas mentioned here thought that, as we see the dead in sleep, so He would appear to them. Therefore he says, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" He says this from great astonishment and terror. He speaks as if to say: alas for us! You are dying and wish to appear to us in sleep, as the dead also appear. For the words "how is it" belong to one who is frightened and troubled. What, then, does the Lord answer to this? How does He overthrow his opinion as false?
Out of love the disciple comes forward with a question, although he appears not to have understood the Savior’s words precisely.
Our Lord Jesus Christ promises the saints a certain special knowledge, unlike the knowledge of all other men. The reason is that the features of the divine mysteries shine more strongly and far more brightly in divine men.
In men who have not yet attained such purity of thought as to be able, through the gift of the Spirit, to receive clearly the knowledge of things beyond reason, knowledge appears only in simple inferences. Perhaps it consists only in knowing that Christ is God and truly the Son of God by nature.
Yet although so great a difference is observed between the knowledge of ordinary men and the knowledge proper to the saints, the disciple does not make this distinction. He asks why He promises to reveal Himself not to all who dwell in the world, but only to the saints.
In his exclamation, “What has happened?” he seems to wish to indicate something like this. The purpose of Your coming to us, Master, is surely not that You should be known by some men separately and not by others.
For we have heard in the prophets that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Is 40:5). You Yourself also proclaimed: “Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be His people” (Zech 2:10-11).
We ourselves, while living and abiding with You, heard Your voice when You said to us: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself” (Jn 12:32). Likewise, to the Jews themselves You said: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and there will be one flock, one shepherd” (Jn 10:16).
Therefore, if the extension of Your grace to all is expected, and if You Yourself plainly promised us that You would draw all to the knowledge of God, and the voice of the holy prophets also bears witness to this, then “what has happened?”
Where, he asks, has the purpose of the promise turned and been transferred? Why do You reveal Yourself not to all who live in the world, but only to us? This, I think, and no other, is the meaning of the disciple’s words.
What drew him away from the true understanding of the Lord’s words must now be shown. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “A little while, and the world will see Me no more; but you will see Me” (Jn 14:19).
It was surely quite clear that by “world” in these words He does not mean those who are in this life or who live on earth. All, both evil and good, are in this world. Rather, He called “world” those who chose to mind earthly things and gave their mind over to the vanity of the world (cf. Phil 3:19).
Because the disciple did not understand this very well, he thought that He was saying He would be hidden from the sight, clearly the inward and secret sight, of all other men who dwell in this earthly expanse. He thought He would become wholly invisible and known to no one except His disciples alone.
This was the cause of his ignorance. If he had understood from the beginning, he would not have approached Him with the question: “What has happened, that You will manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?”
He was brought to this understanding of the Lord’s words because he took the word “world” in its general meaning, customary among others. For in common usage we ordinarily call those who live throughout the world “the world,” just as one may call the inhabitants of an entire city “the city.”
Nevertheless, the disciple is worthy of praise even for these words. Notice how he desires the Savior’s glory to appear like the sun to those who dwell throughout the whole earth.
He had the promise of knowing the Lord, and he could have been satisfied with his own good alone if he cared only for himself. But the good promised, as it were, to him individually was not enough for his happiness.
Since he was both a lover of God and a lover of the brethren, he desired the Savior’s glory to be spread to all, and grace to be offered to all the brethren in common. Indeed, what can be compared with the calling to the exact knowledge of God?
Because the disciples asked and the Teacher, Jesus, answered them, we too receive instruction as though together with them, when we read or hear the Holy Gospel. Therefore, when the Lord had said, "A little while, and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me" (Jn 14:19), Judas asked Him. This was not the traitor, who was surnamed Iscariot, but the one whose Epistle we read among the canonical Scriptures. He said, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Let us stand with them as though we too were questioning disciples, and let us listen to our common Teacher. For Saint Judas, not an ungodly man, not a persecutor, but a follower of the Lord, sought the reason why Jesus intended to manifest Himself to His disciples. He asked why, after a little while, the world would not see Him, but they would see Him.
"How is it" are the words of one greatly agitated and troubled. What does it mean, that You will appear to us in sleep, and will not appear to the world in the ordinary way? Since the disciples did not want Jesus Christ to die, they also regarded His death as strange and hopeless.
Here one of the listeners could not restrain himself from asking Him: what then, Lord, will You not manifest Yourself to the world? Why do You not wish to show Yourself before all as the Messiah? Is the Messiah to appear only before the disciples? All must see You!
The disciples continue to hold their former ideas about the Messiah. They expect that Jesus Christ, as the true Messiah, must finally reveal Himself to the world in a brilliant manner. Therefore they do not understand why Jesus Christ wishes to manifest Himself only to them, and not to the whole world. One of His disciples, Judas, not Iscariot, asks the Lord about this. In answering Judas's question, Jesus Christ on the one hand reveals the condition under which His manifestation to the believer takes place. On the other hand, He lets His disciples understand what kind of manifestation He is speaking about. To be counted worthy of the manifestation of Jesus Christ, one must love Him, expressing this love for Him by keeping His teaching.
Thus the one who loves Christ will be loved by God the Father, because Christ's word is the word of the Father who sent Him. Then God the Father and God the Son will come to him, together with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him, and will make him Their abode and temple. By contrast, the unbelieving world does not love Christ and does not fulfill His commandments. Therefore it can be neither the object of God's love nor the temple of God. From this answer of the Lord, the disciples should have understood that He was speaking to them of His spiritual, inward manifestation to the believer. Yet in conclusion the Lord notes that full clarification for the disciples, both of this truth and of the Savior's whole teaching, will follow only with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them.
The Apostles still expected Jesus to manifest Himself to the world in that majesty which the imagination of the Jews ascribed to the Messiah whom they awaited. Therefore one of the Apostles, Judas, not Iscariot, asked: "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Judas, not Iscariot, is the one otherwise called Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus, the son of James (cf. Mt 10:10; Lk 6:16). The addition "not Iscariot" does not indicate that Iscariot returned to the supper and was present at the Lord's farewell discourse. On the contrary, it indicates precisely that he was not there. It was added so that no one would think this was Iscariot returned. "Lord, how is it," and so forth. Judas, it seems, had not yet parted from the favorite thought of the Jews, to which the Lord's disciples also long held. This was the thought of a sensible manifestation of the Messiah in an outward, earthly, political kingdom, which the Messiah would establish and in which He would reign.
Therefore he understood the Lord's words literally, that He would appear in a sensible, bodily form to those who loved Him and kept His commandments. He was perplexed as to what this meant: that He wished to appear only to them, and not to the world, as the glorious king of the Messiah's glorious earthly political kingdom.
The sinful world cannot receive the Holy Spirit precisely because it does not believe in and love Christ the Savior. Christ the Savior emphasized this thought especially in response to the words of Judas, not Iscariot, who expressed his perplexity: "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" (v. 22). Clearly, the apostles had not yet renounced the Pharisaic views of the Messiah, who would solemnly proclaim Himself before the whole world as a mighty earthly king. Jesus Christ said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me" (vv. 23-24).
Sometimes sorrows and calamities, like wave upon wave, assault the poor soul, and no end to its griefs can be seen. The disciples of Christ were in such a condition. The Lord set before them plainly the fearful storm of calamities awaiting Him and His disciples. To console them, He said that He Himself would appear to the one who preserved sincere love for Him. You understand, hearers, that the words the Savior spoke to His troubled disciples are saving for all pilgrims on earth. "Judas, not Iscariot, said to Him: Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.
My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." The apostle Judas, otherwise called Thaddaeus, expressed the perplexity that was also in the souls of the other disciples. Christ's chosen disciples deeply honored their Teacher. Yet they still could not part from the earthly hopes then held by the Jews. They hoped that the Messiah would be a glorious earthly King, and that the glory of His earthly reign would be most splendid. Before it the enemies of God and the enemies of Israel would tremble (Mt 16:22; 20:24; Lk 22:24; Jn 13:36). The brothers of Jesus Christ even expressed their displeasure that He did not reveal His glory before the world: "His brothers therefore said to Him: Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works You are doing. Manifest Yourself to the world" (Jn 7:3-4). Such are men. They seek only their own rest, not the will of God. The apostle Judas hoped to see and share in the Messiah's earthly glory. After hearing from the Savior that He would appear only to His faithful, he did not understand why He did not wish to appear to the world. It seemed that such an appearance could pacify the rebellious world and console Christ's faithful.
The Lord does not answer Judas's question directly, but leads him back from earthly thought to heavenly thought, to abiding in the mansions of the heavenly Father. Judas is called here "not Iscariot" to remove from him the reproach of that surname. This Judas's name is replaced by another in the Gospels (Mt 10:2-4; Mk 3:16-19). But in Luke's Gospel (Lk 6:16) and in Acts, written by him, he is called Judas of James, or Judas the brother of James. This apostle Judas is identified with "Lebbaeus, surnamed Thaddaeus," mentioned in the list in Matthew 10. Blessed Jerome, on Matthew 10, calls him three-named, trionimus. Saint John Chrysostom, in Homily 32 on Matthew, holds the same opinion, as does Theophylact of Bulgaria.
As is known, we have the Epistle of Jude in the canon of the New Testament. Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Chronicle, preserves a tradition that the Church of Edessa was founded by the apostle Judas. The Lord continues His discourse, interrupted by Judas, and strongly repeats to His disciples the commandment of love and of keeping His word for the sake of this love, of which He spoke in verse 21. He reveals to the disciples the joyful future, eternal dwelling in the world of truth and love. This is the world that is the fulfillment of God's will, and man's union with God through man's fulfillment of God's will. The Lord's abode is the place of rest, "where there is no sickness, sorrow, or sighing, but life everlasting," as the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom and the memorial service say. "He who does not love Me does not keep My words," says the Lord. He indicates to man that failure to fulfill His commandments proves the absence of true love for the Lord, who so loved us and suffered for us. Besides this, the Lord again fixes the disciples' attention on the fact that, though in the form of a man, He speaks the words of God. They are eternal words, words embracing the whole world. He utters immutable laws that govern the spiritual man both in this life and in the life to come.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 19 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS