John 13:22 — Community Reflections

JOHN 13:22 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.”

The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking — confusion seizes the table; no one can imagine which of them would betray Jesus, or perhaps each suspects himself of hidden capacity for treachery. The mutual glancing shows a community suddenly fractured, each disciple isolated in uncertainty about his own heart. The ignorance of the disciples is structural to John's narrative: knowledge belongs to Jesus alone; the disciples live in partial light, capable of loyalty yet haunted by possible failure.

Church Fathers on John 13:22

Our Lord after His twofold promise of assistance to the Apostles in their future labors, remembers that the traitor is cut off from both, and is troubled at the thought: When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you shall betray Me.
Chrysostom · 4th century

This did not come into His mind then for the first time; but He was now about to make the traitor known, and single him out from the rest, and therefore was troubled in spirit. The traitor too was now just about to go forth to execute his purpose. He was troubled at the thought of His Passion being so near at hand, at the dangers to which His faithful followers would be brought at the hand of the traitor, which were even now impending over Him. Our Lord deigned to be troubled…
Augustine · 4th century

His being troubled in spirit, was the human part, suffering under the excess of the spiritual. For if every Saint lives, acts, and suffers in the spirit, how much more is this true of Jesus, the Rewarder of Saints.
Origen · 3rd century

Read all 32 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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