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Tractate 124
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TRACTATE 124 OnJohn 2I.19-25 T IS NO small question why, when he manifested himself to the disciples a third time, the Lord said to the Apostle Peter, "Follow me," but concerning the Apostle John, "So I will have him to remain till I come. What is it to you?" We are devoting the very last discourse of this work, as the Lord himself may grant, to expounding this question, or solving it. Therefore, when the Lord had given an indication to Peter by what death he would glorify God, "He says to him, 'Follow me.' Peter, turning about, saw that disciple following whom Jesus loved, who had also leaned on his breast at the supper and said, 'Lord, who is he who shall betray you?' When Peter therefore had seen him, he says to Jesus, 'Lord, what about this man?' Jesus says to him, 'So I will have him to remain till I come. What is it to you? Do you follow me!' This saying therefore went among the brothers that that disciple is not going to die. AndJesus did not say, 'He is not going to die,' but 'So I will have him to remain until I come. What is it to you?'" Look how far in this Gospel is protracted a question that by its profundity in no small measure exercises the mind of the investigator. For why is "Follow me" said to Peter and is not said to the others who were present at the same time? And surely they were following him as disciples [follow] their master . But if it must be understood with reference to suffering, did Peter alone suffer for Christ's truth? Was there not among those seven another son of Zebedee, John's brother, who after his ascension is disclosed to have been killed by Herod?1 But someone may say that, because James was not crucified, it was rightly said to Peter, "Follow me," as he experienced not only death but also the death of the cross, as Christ [did]. So be it if nothing else can be found which is more suitable. Therefore, 1. Sc. James. Cf. Acts 12.2. On the seven disciples there seeJn 21.2. 82 TRACTATE 124 83 why was it said aboutJohn, "So I will have him to remain till I come. What is it to you?" And "Do you follow me" is repeated, as if that other would not follow for this reason that he would have him to remain till he comes? Who can easily believe that something other was said than what the brothers who were then there had believed, namely that that disciple was not going to die but would remain in this life until Jesus came? But John himself has eliminated this view, declaring in open contradiction that the Lord did not say this. For why did he add on, "Jesus did not say, 'He is not going to die,''' except so that what had been false might not cling in the hearts of men? 2. But let him who pleases still resist and say that what John says is true, that the Lord did not say that that disciple is not going to die but nevertheless this was signified by such words as he related that he said, and let him assert that the Apostle John is living, and let him contend that in that sepulcher of his which is at Ephesus he lies sleeping rather than lies dead. Let him take up for evidence the fact that there the ground is said to heave perceptibly and, as it were, to bubble up, and let him assert, whether resolutely or stubbornly, that this happens because of his breathing.2 For there cannot fail to be those who believe, if there are not lacking those who also assert that Moses is alive because it was written that his tomb is not found3 and he appeared with the Lord on the mountain where Elias also was,4 whom we read did not die but was caught Up.5 As if the corpse of Moses could not have been concealed somewhere that where it was would be altogether hidden from men, and from there it could have been divinely called up at 2. In the original apocryphal Acts ofJohn, John died and was buried, but in the later expansion he was transported to heaven or is asleep in the grave and not dead. See K. Schaferdiek, "The Acts ofJohn," in...