John 18:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But perhaps someone will think that He who knows minds and hearts (Ps 7:10) indicated one of those present as a possible hearer of His. This is not how it should be understood.

He pointed especially to certain servants who had indeed once marveled at His teaching. How and when this happened must also be said, in order to explain the saying.

The same divine Evangelist again related something similar. Once, when our Savior Christ was explaining and unfolding to the assembled Jews the teaching concerning the Kingdom of Heaven, the leaders of the Jewish people again grew enraged.

Bearing within themselves the fire of envy against Him, they sought to remove Him. The Evangelist says, "The chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take Him" (Jn 7:32).

But while our Savior was delivering a very long discourse, the messengers of the Jews were convinced along with all the other hearers. They marveled more than anyone else in the crowd.

Concerning this the Evangelist again says, "Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, 'Why have you not brought Him?' The officers answered, 'Never did a man speak like this Man.' The Pharisees answered them, 'Have you also been deceived?'" (Jn 7:45-47).

Do you hear how the Pharisees resisted when they found the officers already persuaded and amazed?

Knowing this very thing, the Savior says, "Ask those who heard; behold, these know what I said." Seeing those very men who had then been present now standing here, He says "these."

Or He indicates that even the servants, the instruments of your impiety, marveled at the beauty of My teaching.

Moreover, as the authority of the other evangelists bears witness, He certainly spoke more openly with those who were His disciples than with those who were not. He did this when He was alone with them, apart from the multitude of others.

For then He explained to them the parables which He told to others while leaving them obscure. What, then, does "I have said nothing in secret" mean?

Yet His words, "I have spoken openly to the world," should be understood as though He said, "Many have heard Me." The very word "openly" was in one sense open, and in another sense not open.

It was open, because many heard. Yet it was not open, because many did not understand.

And what He said separately to His disciples, however one may take it, He did not say in secret. For who speaks in secret when he speaks before so many people?

For it is written, "At the word of two witnesses, or at the word of three witnesses, a matter shall be established" (Deut 19:15).

This is all the more true if He spoke to a few what He wished to reveal to many through them. Concerning this the Lord Himself says to the few who were with Him: "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops" (Mt 10:27).

Therefore, the very thing which seemed to be spoken by Him in a hidden manner was, in a certain sense, not spoken as a secret. For He did not speak so that those to whom it was said should keep silence.

Rather, He spoke so that it might be preached everywhere. Thus something may be said openly and yet not openly, or secretly and yet not as a secret.

For it is said, "that seeing they may see and not see" (cf. Mk 4:12). Why do they "see," if not because it is open and not secret?

And why do the same persons "not see," if not because it is not open, but hidden?

Yet the very thing which men heard and did not understand was such that it could not truly become a charge of crime against Him.

And whenever they questioned Him in order to find something by which to accuse Him, He answered them in such a way that all their snares were broken and their devices confounded.

For this reason He said, "Why do you ask Me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; behold, they know what I said."

As we have seen, Jesus Christ demanded a real, formal accusation and investigation: "Why do you ask Me? Ask those who heard what I said to them."

And to the very end we shall hear no further word from Him. When the demand for public justice was answered by a night investigation, the Accused refused to take part in it.

"And in secret I have said nothing." These words recall a very curious measure prescribed by the Mishnah concerning a Mesith, or private "seducer," that is, laicus seducens laicum.

This is the expression translated in the Gospel by the words, "He perverts the people" (Lk 23:2). In the case of such a man, who privately said, "Let us go after other gods," the rule against setting a snare for the accused was suspended.

The person being seduced could pretend to agree with the seducer. In this way he could give hidden witnesses an opportunity to overhear the Mesith and testify against him.

The Trial of Jesus Christ from the juridical point of view. The question was unnecessary and treacherous. Therefore the Prisoner answered it with right and dignity.

"I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews come together. In secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask Me? Ask those who heard what I said to them; behold, they know what I said."

By this answer Christ reminded the unjust judge of his flagrant violation of judicial laws. These required a public, daytime trial with witnesses, not a secret night trial before an armed gathering.

For this reason the answer so enraged the surrounding attendants that one of them insolently struck Christ on the cheek, crying out, "Do You answer the high priest so?"

It is a new sign of its divine origin. Earthly philosophy finds access only in schools, and therefore it is divided into schools: Aristotelian, Platonic, Pythagorean, Pharisaic, Sadducean, and so on without number.

Only heavenly wisdom is one for all. It is understood by all, and it finds entrance in every class of the people, in every heart and mind.

"Behold, these know what I said." After this, if Annas the high priest wishes to know the disciples of Jesus, he can easily find them. He will find them in every conscientious Israelite.

Such was the Savior's answer to Annas: an answer full of meekness, simplicity, clarity, and divine majesty.

He shows that He did not preach a secret teaching, but brought to earth a teaching for all men. He shows that He is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12).

For He poured out His gracious Word upon innumerable crowds of people, upon rich and poor, noble and despised, ignorant men and those very Pharisees, scribes, and Sadducees who now surrounded the high priest.

They pretended that they had never heard His rebukes or His call to God and to the Kingdom of God.

Why, then, do you not ask those who heard My teaching? Thus the Lord speaks to the high priest, who remained silent.

For he did not dare answer the voice of truth. Still less would he dare summon before the Sanhedrin, as witnesses, those who had received into their hearts the gracious words of the God-man.

The Sanhedrin and the Pharisees did not need such witnesses. Even earlier they had said, "You see... behold, the world has gone after Him" (Jn 12:19).