JOHN 13:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.”
Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me — the chain of reciprocal reception moves outward from Jesus to the Father and back again; to welcome any messenger Jesus sends is to welcome him; to welcome him is to welcome God. This verse establishes the principle of mediated presence: Jesus does not abandon the disciples after his death; he remains present in those whom he sends, in the community gathered in his name. The saying inverts the natural hierarchy: one who welcomes a disciple (potentially insignificant, powerless) actually welcomes Jesus and the Father. This is how the ascended Christ is encountered—not in heavenly splendor but in the vulnerable needs of those sent in his name.
Church Fathers on John 13:20
Our Lord, mindful of His promise to Peter that he should know the meaning of His act, you shall know here after, now begins to teach him: So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was sat down again, He said to them, Know you what I have done to you?
Know you, is either interrogative, to show the greatness of the act, or imperative, to rouse their minds.
Mystically, when at our redemption we were changed by the shedding of His blood, He took again His garments, rising from the grave the third day, and clothed in the same body now immortal, ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the world.
Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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