John 14:29Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"You heard that I said to you." Why did He say this? Christ indicates by this that He is so far from fear and so sure of events that He even foretold them.

"And now I have told you before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe that I am." It is as though He said: you would not have known if I had not told you. I would not have told you if I were not entirely certain.

Do you see that those words were spoken in accommodation? So also when He says, "Do you think that I cannot pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with twelve legions of angels?" (Mt 26:53), He speaks in accommodation to the listeners’ opinion.

That is: I am so calm, not fearing death and not grieving, that I even foretell it. Therefore I command you also to rejoice, so that when it comes to pass you may believe Me. Just as I knew the sorrows that would befall you and, having foretold them, did not lie, so also in the prediction concerning your consolation and guidance I shall not prove false. Rather, every joyful thing will come to you.

A prediction of things expected is a firm guarantee of their fulfillment. Therefore Christ strengthens the disciples’ heart and persuades them to believe firmly that He truly ascends to the heavenly Father and God, to reign together with Him and sit with Him as God, being begotten of Him by nature as God.

Do not regard My bodily and visible withdrawal, He says, as equal to the departure of the holy prophets. For I will always be with you as God.

The prophets, being from the earth and having paid the debt of their nature, departed and underwent the law proper to men, that is, death. But I, being God by nature, will not be subject to the same lot as My creatures, waiting for the time of resurrection.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said to His disciples: “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (cf. Jn 14:28).

That this was said by Him according to the form of a servant, and not according to the form of God in which He is equal to the Father, is well known to faith established in pious minds and not invented by slanderers and madmen.

Then He added: “I have told you before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass, you may believe.” What does it mean that a man should believe before what he is to believe has occurred?

In this consists the glory of faith: to believe what is not accessible to sight. For what is great in believing what is obvious?

"And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it does come to pass, you may believe." I have told you that I will depart and that I will come again. I have told you about another Comforter, so that when you see the fulfillment of all this, you may believe that I knew everything and could do all this. Having thus comforted the disciples, Jesus Christ again speaks of what is sorrowful. By continually reminding them of it, He trains them so that they will not be troubled in dangers, since what is expected usually does not strike so forcefully.

As at the beginning it was said that glorification from the Father soon awaited Him, so now the Lord returns to this and seeks, by their very love for Him, to dispose them not to grieve.

"You heard that I said to you, I am going away and I will come to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I said, I am going to the Father. For My Father is greater than I. With Him glorification awaits Me. Arise, let us go from here."

The disciples rose. But the dark predictions weighed heavily upon them. They do not go. They draw closer to Jesus. They wish to look upon Him still more.

Intending to finish the supper and His discourse with the disciples, Jesus Christ gives them a farewell promise of peace. He promises to pour into their souls the same peace that He Himself enjoys in the consciousness of His unity with the Father in essence and life.

The peace that the cosmos gives consists in abundant, carefree enjoyment of earthly and passing goods. Yet in the soul unreconciled to God there always remain inward torments of conscience, division within oneself, and unrest.

The peace that the Savior communicates to the believing person is peace of soul, inward peace. It comes from the consciousness and feeling of reconciliation with God and communion with Him, and from hope in His almighty saving grace.

The departure from Jerusalem. "I deliberately tell you now that I am departing to the Father, so that you may remember My words and believe them when they come to pass."

"You have heard," and so forth. This recalls what He had said to them earlier that same evening (Jn 14:2-3).

"If you loved Me," using the same turn of speech as in Jn 14:7, means perfect, full, ideal love.

"You would rejoice," and so forth. What friend would not rejoice with great joy when seeing his friend exalted to the high place and rank proper to him?

Thus the Lord seems to say: if you rightly understood the meaning of My departure from you, then out of your love for Me you would rejoice, not grieve, that I am departing from you to My Father.

"And now I have told you this," that I am going to the Father, "before it comes to pass, so that when it comes to pass you may believe."

"I will no longer speak much with you, for the prince of this world is coming," in the person of Judas the betrayer, "and he has nothing in Me," that is, nothing that would give him the right to act thus against Me.

"But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do," not by compulsion, but voluntarily, out of love for Him, I now say to you: "Arise, let us go from here," to meet those who are coming to seize Me (Jn 14:29-31).

With the singing of psalms, the apostles followed Christ toward the Mount of Olives (Mt 26:30).

The faith of the weak disciples could have been shaken by the sufferings and death of Christ Jesus, especially because they did not expect this for their Teacher. To support this faith, the Lord reveals beforehand both His death and the glory that will follow after death. How could one not recognize in Jesus the Messiah, the Lord, when He sees the distant future with such clarity and speaks of it beforehand with such precision? Weak faith was to find its support here during His death on the Cross, and to grow from the time of the revelation of His glory.

"And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it does come to pass, you may believe." Jesus foretells future events to His disciples, events now incomprehensible to them, so that when the predictions are fulfilled, they may see that their Teacher knew them beforehand and foretold them. Through this they would be confirmed in faith in Him.

Remember, says the Lord, that I warned you about the coming events, so that when they are fulfilled your faith may not be shaken.

Remember that in this terrible night, when your hearts are filled with horror, you must strengthen yourselves with the thought that your Lord spoke to you about the coming sorrow, but promised joy after it.

Scripture foretold of old, in Zech 13 and Mt 26:31, "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." The Lord Himself said still more clearly to the disciples, in Mt 26:31 and Mk 14:27, "You will all fall away because of Me."

Yet the Lord was pleased to save His disciples from despair, so that the trial of grief would serve to strengthen their faith in the future.

The disciples had to suffer their way into faith, and they were saved by it. For despite the storm of evil raised by the prince of darkness, they held fast to the anchor of faith (cf. Heb 6:19).