We begin the interpretation with verse 27:
All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Saint John Chrysostom here reflects on the great dogmatic truths concealed within this verse. Chrysostom writes that Jesus is speaking here about His divinity and His equality with the Father, yet He does so in a veiled manner because of the Jews. Here is Chrysostom’s interpretation: “So that you might not suppose that when Jesus said, I thank You… that You have hidden these things… and revealed them to babes, He meant that He Himself did not possess the same power and was not able to do this, Christ says: All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. And to those who rejoice that the demons are subject to them He says: Why do you marvel that the demons are subject to you? All things are Mine. All things have been handed over to Me. … Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ hints at something even more important and thus directs us towards the understanding of the words: and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son. To those who lack understanding, these words appear to be independent of what precedes them; yet in fact they are profoundly interconnected. By saying, All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, the Lord grants us to understand these words, as though saying: ‘What is there to marvel at that I am the Lord of all, when I possess something even greater than this? I know the Father and am of one nature with Him.’ And He indicates this latter point in a veiled manner, saying that only He knows Him in this way, for the words nor does anyone know the Father except the Son mean precisely this. And note when Jesus says this to the apostles: at the moment when they had received proof of His power from the deeds themselves, when they had not only seen Him perform miracles, but were themselves able to perform such miracles in His name. … Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. It is not written: to whom He commands, or to whom He orders, but: to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. The Son, in revealing the Father, also reveals Himself. … Since the Pharisees were particularly scandalized by the fact that Jesus seemed to them to be an adversary of God, He refutes this notion in every possible way and strives against it no less than He does through miracles—perhaps even more so. When He says: nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, He does not mean that not all have known the Father, but that no one has such knowledge of the Father as the Son has.”
Saint Cyril of Alexandria, for his part, writes in his interpretation of this verse: “Since Jesus said, All things have been handed over to Me, lest it should appear that He is of a different origin and inferior to the Father, Jesus added this in order to show that His nature is mysterious and incomprehensible, just as the Father’s is. For only the divine nature of the Trinity knows itself. Only the Father knows His Son, the fruit of His nature; only the divine Offspring knows Him from whom He was begotten; only the Holy Spirit knows the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:10), that is, the thoughts of the Father and of the Son.”
The hieromartyr Onuphrius Gagalyuk here writes about something we should never forget: “There are many spiritual questions that cannot be grasped not only by natural human reason, but even by reason enlightened by Christian knowledge. Such are questions concerning the divine nature: about the beginning and eternity of God, about His existence apart from the angelic world and the whole universe, and the like. For our intellect it is extremely dangerous to venture into this hidden realm; it lies infinitely beyond our field of vision, and we are incapable of encompassing these matters by our understanding. The Holy Fathers of the Church, such as Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and others, teach that we can know the divine attributes—wisdom, goodness, omnipotence, and others—and also that God exists. However, a human being cannot know what God is in His very nature. The wise John of Damascus says that God has revealed to us everything that is necessary for our salvation… To enter into speculation about the divine nature is a sign of the pride of human thought. In general, the movement of the Christian intellect is directed not towards conquering new truths, but towards assimilating the truths given to us by God. We must always remember that if something is pleasing to God, He will reveal His mysteries to His people and to whomever the Son wills to reveal them… Therefore, beloved, if a thought concerning the divine nature or concerning matters not found in the word of God, which have not been revealed to us, should suddenly arise in you, know that these are vain and harmful thoughts; they come from the evil one who also tempted our first parents: you will be like gods (Gen. 3:5). Drive away this temptation from yourself and answer the tempter with the words of the great Apostle: For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11).”
Saint Justin of Ćelije offers his interpretation in the following way: “The Son wills to reveal the Father to every human being; only man must first, through faith in Christ and love for Christ, make himself worthy of this revelation. Christ the God-Man shows and reveals the Father to all; to all He proclaims the Father by body and soul, by teaching and by deeds.” With this interpretation, Abba Justin simultaneously refutes all claims that salvation is difficult for man or that God does not care. As always, it is man who must make himself ready so that the Lord Jesus may reveal to him the heavenly Father.
Here are also the final verses of chapter 11:
Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria explains whom the weary and the heavy laden signify: “By the weary Jesus calls the Jews who were unable to bear the yoke of the Law, and by the heavy laden He calls the idolaters, since they were burdened by the devil and weighed down by a multitude of sins.”
Saint Justin of Ćelije movingly explains to whom Christ is addressing Himself here. Justin writes: “All of you who labour, who work tirelessly seeking meaning in life, meaning for the soul, meaning for the world; all of you who are burdened by the heavy load of your own sins and the sins of the whole world, and by the most dreadful terrors of death; who, unto the desperate exhaustion of spirit, feel your own sinfulness and the sinfulness of all people; who ceaselessly seek rest from sins and salvation from death and find it neither in the Law nor outside the Law—come to Me and I will give you rest—I will remove the heavy burdens from your souls, the self-destructive burden of sin and the all-devastating burden of death… Come to Me, all who labour—all, not this one or that one, but come all who find yourselves in cares, in sorrows, in sins; come not that I might subject you to torment, but that I might free you from your sins; come, not because I need your glory, but because I need your salvation.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov explains the meaning of the yoke and the burden: “The yoke and the burden of Christ are the Gospel commandments. They demand self-sacrifice and are therefore called a yoke; yet they liberate and enliven the soul, filling it with ineffable peace and delight, and for this reason they are called a gentle and light yoke. Each of them exhales the fragrance of meekness and humility and transmits these virtues to the one who fulfills the commandments. The habit of fulfilling the Gospel commandments causes meekness and humility to become qualities of the soul. Then the grace of God introduces into the soul spiritual meekness and spiritual humility through the action of the suprarational peace of Christ.” Blessed Augustine continues and explains a great truth of the spiritual life—that through the keeping of the commandments a person begins to acquire humility, and only with humility do the other virtues required by the Lord follow: “If you wish to be great, begin with what is small. If you desire to raise a building of great height, begin first with the foundation of humility. And whoever wishes and intends to erect a building of great proportions digs all the deeper the higher the building is to be. When a building is raised, it is lifted upward; but the one who lays the foundation goes downward.”
Macarius the Great writes about what all those who sincerely strive to live according to God have experienced, at least to some degree: “For the Lord calls man to rest, saying: Come to Me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And those souls that submit and draw near, Jesus calms from heavy, burdensome, and impure thoughts; they become purified from all lawlessness, they keep a true Sabbath, pleasing and holy, they celebrate a spiritual feast of ineffable joy and gladness; from the heart they perform a service that is pure and well-pleasing to God. And this is the true and holy Sabbath.” Precisely this relief and the greater freedom that we feel from the assaults of thoughts testify to how free a person feels the closer he is to the Lord, and how much he suffers and is tormented when he is far from the Lord.
The interpretation of chapter 11 may be concluded with the words of Saint Justin of Poljana: “How moving is this commandment by which the Lord—the Way, the Truth, and the Life—calls to Himself all who are weary and heavy laden, promising that He will give them rest. It is as though He entreats them: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am meek and humble in heart; My burden is light. And the beloved disciple of Christ, the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, of course, speaks from experience when he says that the commandments of Christ are not burdensome (1 John 5:3). How blessed is the one who fulfills these commandments!”
Adapted for the contemporary reader based on Patristic commentary by Stanoje Stanković
