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John 12:1. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was dead, whom He raised from the dead. On the tenth day of the month, a lamb is chosen to be slaughtered on the holiday of Passover (Ex. 12:3) and from that time they begin to prepare everything necessary for the holiday. Usually six days before Easter, that is, on the ninth day of the month, they eat more luxuriously and on this day the holiday begins. Therefore Jesus, having come to Bethany, partakes of the supper. John 12:2. There they prepared a supper for Him, and Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those who reclined with Him. The Evangelist, wanting to show the truth of the resurrection of Lazarus, says: “and Lazarus was one of those who reclined with Him.” For he, having appeared alive, did not die immediately, but remained on earth for a long time, eating, drinking and doing other usual things. The words that “Martha served” meant that the treat was in her house. Accept, I ask you, the faith of this woman. She did not entrust the service to the maids, but performs it herself directly. And Paul speaks of the widow who “washed the feet of the saints” (1 Tim. 5:10). John 12:3. Mary, taking a pound of pure precious ointment of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the world. So, Martha herself serves everyone in general, and Mary gives honor only to Christ alone, because she listens to Him not as a person, but as God. For she shed myrrh and wiped her hair with her hair, because she had a different concept of Him than others had, not as a simple person, but as a Master and Lord. Mary can also be understood in a higher sense - about the deity of the Father and Lord of all; for Mary means “lady.” So, the Divinity of the Father, dominating over all, anointed the feet of Jesus, the recently assumed flesh of the Lord the Word, anointed with the ointment of the Spirit, just as David says: “Therefore, O God, Your God has anointed You with the oil of gladness” (Ps. 44:8); and the great Peter says: “All the house of Israel know that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). For the Flesh received by the Word, anointed by the divine Spirit who found on the womb of the Virgin and becoming the same as the Word, that is, God, filled the world with blessing, just as the oil of Mary filled the whole house with a fragrance. What are the “hairs” with which the feet are wiped? These are, of course, saints who adorn the head of God and His sovereignty. For they, being for the glory of God, can be called His adornment. They became partakers of the anointing of the Lord’s flesh, just as David calls them “partners” (Ps. 44:8), and the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: “He who establishes us with you in Christ and God anointed us" (2 Cor. 1:21). And everywhere we learn that those who live in Christ are called Christs (anointed ones). So, under the hair with which the feet of Jesus were wiped and which are part of the divine anointing, we can understand the hair as something dead. And Christians are dead, for they “crucified the flesh” (Gal. 5:24) and “put to death the members that are on the earth.” (Col. 3:5), and they were killed for the world. The hair adorns the head and constitutes its glory. The saints also make up the glory of God, “for their light shines before men, and the Father is glorified through them” (Matthew 5:16), and they create food and drink “for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31), and in their members they glorify Him. And you, since Jesus resurrected your mind, like a certain Lazarus, accept Him into the home of your soul; let the risen one also recline with Him; anoint the feet of the Lord, six days before the Passover, before the Passover of the next century comes, as long as you live in this world, created in six days. By the “feet” of Christ we can mean: the Apostle and the Gospel, and the commandments in general, for through them He walks in us. So, to these commandments add myrrh - a disposition made up of various virtues, of which the highest is faith, ardent as spikenard. For if you do not show an ardent, zealous and virtuous disposition towards these commandments and do not wipe them off with mortified members, as if with hair, and do not take them into yourself, you will not be able to perfume your home. By the “feet” of the Lord one can also understand the lesser brothers, in whose person Christ comes to everyone’s door and asks for what is needed: anoint them with the world of alms. Many give alms for show, and therefore do not benefit themselves, for here they receive a reward (Matthew 6:1-2). And you wipe your hair with your hair and perceive the benefits for the soul, collect the fruit of alms in the dominant part. And if you have something dead and soulless, like hair, perfume it with this good anointing. For it is said: “Atone for your sins with alms” (Dan. 4:24). John 12:4. Then one of His disciples, Judas Simon Iscariot, who wanted to betray Him, said: How does the other evangelist (Matthew 26:8-9) say that all the disciples said this? To this it must be said that although everyone said so, the others did not speak with the same thought as Judas. John 12:5. Why not sell this ointment for three hundred denarii and give it to the poor? Judas, being covetous, does not approve of this type of care. “Why,” he seems to say, “did you not bring money, from which I could steal, but myrrh?” John 12:6. He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He had a cash box with him and wore what was put in there. If Judas was covetous and a thief, then why did the Lord entrust the management of money to him? By the very fact that he was a thief, in order to take away any apology from him. For he could not say that he betrayed Him (Jesus) for the love of money. The cash box consoled him, but even while carrying the box, he was not faithful. For he carried away, that is, stole, what was placed there, and he was a blasphemer, appropriating for himself alms for a holy cause. Let the blasphemers hear what their fate is. The height of evil is that Judas subsequently betrayed Jesus and the Lord. Do you see what covetousness can lead to? Before the betrayal. So, the Apostle Paul appropriately called “the love of money the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10), because it betrayed the Lord and always does so. Some say that Judas was entrusted with the custody of the money, as the least of the others. For it is less important to serve around money than to teach, as in Acts (Acts 6:2) the apostles say: “It is not good for us to leave the word of God and worry about tables.” John 12:7. Jesus said: Leave her alone; she saved it for the day of my burial. John 12:8. For you always have the poor with you, but not always Me. The Lord does not rebuke Judas, although he knows that he said this with the intention of being a thief. For he did not want to disgrace him by teaching us to tolerate such people for a long time. However, the Lord secretly reproaches Judas for betrayal and for betraying Him to death out of covetousness. Therefore, he also mentions burial, striking his unreasonable heart so that he would correct himself, and the addition has the following meaning: “You always have the poor with you,” he says, “but you do not always have Me; a little more and I will go away, since you have prepared death for Me. Therefore, if I am unpleasant to you and the honor done to Me is painful for you, be patient a little and you will get rid of Me; and then it will be revealed whether it is because of the poor that you are concerned about selling the world.” John 12:9. Many of the Jews knew that He was there and came not only for Jesus, but to see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. Those who came to the Lord were more well-intentioned than others, unconscious and frantic; for they came not only for Jesus, but also to see Lazarus. Since a truly greatest miracle had happened, many wanted to be spectators of the resurrected one, perhaps in the hope of learning from Lazarus something about those in hell. John 12:10. The high priests decided to kill Lazarus too, John 12:11. Because for his sake many of the Jews came and believed in Jesus. The Pharisees are so inhuman that they want to kill not only Jesus, but also Lazarus, because for many he served as a reason for salvation through a miracle performed on him, leading simple-minded people to faith. So the good deed of Jesus became a crime for them. They were especially annoyed that, on the occasion of the holiday, everyone goes to Bethany, learns about the miracle and sees the risen man with their own eyes. John 12:12. The next day, when the multitude of people who came to the feast heard that Jesus was going to Jerusalem, The Lord, having retired into the desert for a short time in order to calm the rage of the bloodthirsty, again clearly enters Judea and appears before everyone. The time had finally come to suffer, and He should not have hidden, but given Himself for the salvation of the world. Look what the sequence of suffering was. The Lord raised Lazarus, preserving at the end this miracle, the most important of all others; As a result, many flocked to Him and believed. Because many believed, the envy of the enemies increased. This was followed by intrigues against Him and the Cross. John 12:13. They took palm branches The palm trees perhaps meant that He, having raised Lazarus, became the conqueror of death; for the palm tree was given to the winners in battles. Perhaps they also expressed the fact that the one being glorified is a heavenly Being who came from above. For the palm tree, among other trees, is the only one that reaches, so to speak, the very sky, puts out leaves at a height, has white kernels in the leaf, but in the trunk and in the middle, up to the top, it is rough and inconvenient for climbing on it, since it has thorns on the branches. So the one who strives for knowledge of the Son and the Word of God will find it not easy, but difficult, ascending through the labors of virtue, but, having reached the height of knowledge, he will be illuminated by the bright light of knowledge of God and the revelation of ineffable mysteries, as if by the whitest kernels of a palm tree. They came out to meet Him and exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, The people, hearing that Jesus was coming, met Him with glory, no doubt because of the miracle at Lazarus, giving Him greater honor than was due to a common man. For they no longer took Him for a prophet, because to which of the prophets did their fathers give such honor? That is why they exclaimed: “Hosanna! blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” From this exclamation we understand, first, that He is God; for “Hosanna” means “save.” This is how the LXX interpreters translated this word into Greek in Psalm 117 (Ps. 117:25). For in Hebrew it reads “Hosanna,” but in Greek it reads “Oh, Lord, save!” Saving is characteristic of God alone, and it is said to Him: “Save us, O Lord our God!” From all the passages of Scripture, everyone learns that salvation is attributed by Scripture to God alone. So, those who exclaimed to Christ with the words of David thereby show, firstly, that He is God; then, that He is God in the proper sense. For they say “the one who is coming,” and not the one who is led. The latter is something slavish, but walking is autocratic. The words “in the name of the Lord” express the same thing, that He is the true God. For they do not say that He comes in the name of the servant, but in the name of the “Lord.” They also imagine that He is not an opponent of God, but came in the name of the Father, just as the Lord Himself says: “I came in the name of My Father, and another will come in his own name” (John 5:43). They also call Him the King of Israel, perhaps in dreams of a sensual kingdom; for they expected that some king of a nature higher than human would arise and deliver them from the dominion of the Romans. John 12:14. Jesus found a colt and sat on it, as it is written: Other evangelists say that the Lord said to the disciples: “When you have untied them, bring them to Me” (Matthew 21:1–2; Mark 11:2; Luke 19:30). And here John does not mention any of this, but simply says: “Jesus, found a young donkey.” However, there is no disagreement between the evangelists. The others spoke more expansively, but John said more briefly: Jesus found a colt.” When the disciples untied him and brought him in, Jesus found him and sat on him. John 12:15. Fear not, daughter of Zion! Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a colt. In this circumstance, He also fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, who said: “Fear not, daughter of Zion! behold, your King is coming to you, sitting on a colt” (Zechariah 9:9). Since the kings of Jerusalem, for the most part, were unjust and selfish, the prophet says: “Fear not, daughter of Zion! The king about whom I predict to you is not like this, but meek and humble in wisdom, and not at all proud.” This is also evident from the fact that He came sitting on a donkey. For He did not enter accompanied by an army, but came on one donkey. The Lord's sitting on a donkey was also an image of the future. This animal, unclean by law, was the image of the unclean people of the pagans, on which Jesus, the Word of God, sits, subjugating to Himself this rebellious and rude, like a donkey, new people, which He raises to the true Jerusalem after they have become tame and obedient to Him. For did not the Lord bring into heaven those pagans who became His people and submitted to the preaching of the Gospel? John 12:16. His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus became glorified, then they remembered that it was written about Him, and they did it to Him. I ask you, marvel at the evangelist, how he is not ashamed, but openly speaks about his former ignorance of the apostles. “The disciples,” he says, “at first did not understand this, but then they understood how Jesus became glorified.” By glory is meant the ascension that follows suffering and death. Then, without a doubt, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, they knew that this was written about Him. They may have known that this was written, but that what was written referred to Jesus was hidden from them, and not without benefit. Otherwise, they would have been tempted by His crucifixion, when He Whom Scripture calls King suffers in this way. John 12:17. The people who were with Him before testified that He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead. The people who saw the miracle of Lazarus testified and preached about the power of Jesus. John 12:18. That is why the people met Him, because they heard that He had performed this miracle. Therefore, those who heard about the performance of this miracle met Him with glory, that is, they believed; If they had not believed, they would not have changed so quickly. John 12:19. The Pharisees said to each other: Do you see that you do not have time to do anything? the whole world follows Him. The Pharisees, who say, “You see that you are not accomplishing anything,” do not say this out of deceit, for they were not one of those who slandered the Savior, but they seem to be well-disposed, only implicitly, because they do not dare to openly oppose those who are raging against the Lord, they try to calm them down with the consequences of the deed, saying, as it were: “What benefit is it to you that you build a lot over this Man? No matter how much you plot, He grows more and more, and His glory increases; for the world, that is, the whole people, follows Him. Therefore, if you have no success, leave your wiles and do not sin in vain.” John 12:20. Of those who came to worship on the holiday, there were some Greeks. Because of the beauty of the church and the miracles reported among the Jews, many of the Hellenes came to worship. They were close to becoming aliens, that is, accepting Judaism. John 12:21. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying: Master! we want to see Jesus. When the rumor about Jesus reached them, they approached Philip and asked him to give them the opportunity to see Jesus. John 12:22. Philip goes and tells Andrey about this; and then Andrew and Philip tell Jesus about this. Philip, out of humility and decorum, speaks to Andrey as his superior. Andrei does not take up the report, does not decide this on his own, but, taking Philip with him, he dares to report to Jesus (such good order and mutual love prevailed between them). John 12:23. Jesus answered and said to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” What about the Lord? Since He commanded the disciples “not to go into the way of the pagans” (Matthew 10:5), and now he saw that the pagans themselves were already coming to Him (for the Greeks who wanted to see Him were, without a doubt, pagans), and the Jews were building fetters for Him, He says: “It is time, finally, to go to suffering, for the time of the Cross has come, so that the Son of Man may be glorified.” What is the benefit of not accepting the pagans who come to us, and of forcing ourselves on the Jews who hate and persecute? So, since the pagans are coming to us, now is the time to be crucified. So, I will allow the Jews to finish their machinations and allow them to crucify Me, so that they will subsequently be without any apology, since I will blessedly leave them as crucifiers and murderers and turn to the pagans who have already begun to come to My teaching. For it would be very unfair not to give anything to the pagans, who thirst for the word and salvation, and to give abundantly to the Jews, who trample on what is given to them and plot evil against the Benefactor. John 12:24. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; and if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Then, so that the disciples would not be tempted by the fact that He was dying when the pagans began to come, He said: “This very thing, that is, My death, will further increase the faith of the pagans. For just as a grain of wheat bears much fruit when it is sown and dies, so will My death bear much fruit for the faith of the Gentiles.” So, let no one be tempted, because My death does not prevent the joining of the pagans, but let him be convinced by the example of grain that My fall in My death will increase the number of believers. For if this happens to grain, how much more will it happen to Me. For, having died and risen, through the resurrection I will demonstrate My power even more, and then everyone will believe in Me as God. John 12:25. He who loves his life will destroy it; But he who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. Since the Lord was close to suffering and knew that the disciples would be filled with sadness, therefore He says: “You should not be at all sad about My death. For unless you yourself die, there will be no benefit for you.” And in general, every person who loves real life and loves his soul, that is, fulfills its inappropriate wishes, when he pleases it more than he should, and does not despise death, will destroy it. But whoever hates her, that is, does not serve her and does not bow before her, will preserve her to eternal life. Wanting to show how strict aversion one should have to the lusts of the soul, he said “he who hates.” We cannot see the faces or hear the voices of those we hate; we must treat the unreasonable wishes of the soul in the same way, that is, hate them with complete hatred. The words “who hates his life in this world” shows the temporary nature of the matter. This commandment seemed murderous and inconsistent with the love of life. He softened it with the addition of “in this world.” “I,” he says, “do not always command you to hate the soul, but “in this unfaithful world,” turn away from it when it commands you to “do inappropriate things” (Rom. 1:28). It also adds benefit: “He will preserve her for eternal life”; You will hate it for a while, but you will keep it alive forever for divine life. John 12:26. Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me; Wanting to further convince them to despise real life and encourage them against death, he says: “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me,” that is, let him be ready for death just like I am. For he is talking here about following Himself in reality. and where I am, there will my servant also be. Then he offers consolation: “Where I am, there will my servant be.” Where is Christ? In heaven. For the heavenly and the earthly are opposite to each other. Whoever loves to be on earth will not be in heaven, but whoever avoids earthly things and this world will be high and in heaven. And whoever serves Me, My Father will honor him. He did not say “I honor him,” but “the Father.” This shows His affinity with Him. For the true Father will honor him as the servant of His true Son. This also shows that He is not an opponent of God. For God and the Father would not honor that servant who opposes Him. So, let us not place love for our soul in keeping it from danger for the truth and not wanting to endure evil for good; but, if we are servants of Christ, we will give it up in danger for the truth and, without a doubt, we will be in the same state as Christ is now; I do not speak in divine dignity, for He is God by Nature, but in what human nature can be adorned with; for He is God by Nature, and we are gods by adoption and grace. John 12:27. My soul is now indignant; and what should I say? Father! deliver Me from this hour! But for this hour I have come. What is He saying? He seems to contradict Himself. Above, He, it seems, prepared others for death and convinced them to hate the soul, but now He, near death, is indignant. This is not appropriate for one who exhorts death, but for one who turns away from it. But if you look carefully, you will find that His very indignation is an exhortation to despise death. Lest anyone think of saying that it is easy for Him to philosophize about death and to convince others to endure disasters, when He Himself is beyond human suffering and beyond danger, He shows that He Himself experienced what is characteristic of people and is involved in our nature, although without sin. Therefore, although He, as a Man who by nature loves life, does not desire death and is indignant, he nevertheless does not abandon it, since it is needed for the salvation of the world. “For this reason,” he says, “I came to this hour, to accept death for everyone.” This clearly teaches us that even if we are indignant, even if we are sad, we should not avoid death for the truth. “And I,” he says, “are indignant, for I am truly a man and I allow Human nature to reveal what is characteristic of it, however, I do not tell the Father to deliver Me from this hour.” But what am I saying? John 12:28. Father! glorify Your name. “Father! glorify Your name,” that is, deign Me to accept the cross and death for the salvation of all. Look: He called death for the truth the glory of God. Then a voice came from heaven: I have glorified it and will glorify it again. Therefore, the Father says: “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” “Glorified” by those miracles that You performed in My name before the Cross; “And I will also glorify” by performing miracles through You on the Cross itself; and after burial I will make both My name and You even more glorious by resurrecting You and sending down the Spirit. John 12:29. The people who stood and heard it said: this is thunder; Since so many were rude and ignorant, they considered the voice to be thunder, although this voice was articulate and very clear. For they soon forgot the words of the voice, retaining only its echo. and others said: The angel spoke to him. Others remembered the very words of the voice: “I have glorified and will glorify again,” however, not understanding the meaning of these words, they thought that the Angel spoke to Him, and therefore these words, as if spoken by an angel, were incomprehensible to them. John 12:30 . To this Jesus said: This voice was not for Me, but for the people. But Jesus says: “This voice was not for Me, but for you. I had no need to be taught that the Father has glorified and will glorify His name. And you needed to be taught that I am not an opponent of God, but act for the glory of the name of God. For if the name of God is glorified through Me, how can I be adversary to God?” So, this voice was for you, so that you would know that I act for the glory of God, and if you cannot find out for yourself, then through questioning you would find out what you do not know. John 12:31. Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. The words “now is the judgment of this world” apparently have no connection with the previous one. For what is their relation to the words “I have glorified and will glorify again”? But there is, without a doubt, a connection. Since the Father from above said “I will glorify,” the Lord shows us the way to glorify. Which one exactly? The one that the prince of this world will be cast out and defeated, and for the world there will be judgment, that is, vengeance. These words have the following meaning: “Now judgment and vengeance are being taken for this world. Since the devil subjected this world to death, making all people guilty of sin, but having attacked Me and not finding sin in Me, he brought Me to death along with others, then he will be condemned by Me, and thus I will avenge the world. Let him inflict death on others for sin; But what is it that he found in Me like the others, so that he could kill Me too? So, now I am carrying out the judgment of this world, that is, vengeance for it. For, having killed the one who killed everyone, then attacked Me, the innocent one, I will be the avenger for all those killed by him, and the cruel ruler (tyrant), condemned by My death, will be driven out.” The expression “expelled out” is used in comparison with the way in which convicts are pushed out of the court in judicial places. “He will be cast out” can also be understood to mean that he will be cast out into outer darkness. He will lose his dominion over people and will not, as before, reign in them, both in their souls and in their mortal body. John 12:32. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me. But I will draw everyone to Myself when I am lifted up to the cross. For everyone, even from among the Gentiles, will be drawn to believe in Me. Since they themselves cannot come to Me, held back by this ruler, then I, having defeated him, sent him out and cut off the threads of his rule over people, will attract them against his will. In another place He called this abduction. “No one,” he says, “can plunder the things of a strong man, unless he first binds the strong man” (Mark 3:27). John 12:33. He said this, making it clear by what kind of death He would die. “When I am exalted,” he said this, making it clear what kind of death He will die, that is, He will be crucified, for this signifies the height of the Cross. John 12:34. The people answered Him: We have heard from the law that Christ abides forever; How then do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Thinking to expose the Lord and make Him difficult as the untrue Christ, they say: “If Christ is immortal, and You say about Yourself that You will die, how can we believe that You are truly the Christ?” They spoke so maliciously. For the Scripture, which they call the Law, mentions not only the resurrection, but also suffering. So, Isaiah points to both - to suffering and death, when he says: “He was led... like a sheep... to the slaughter” (Is. 53:7); for the resurrection, when he says: “The Lord wants to cleanse Him from the plague and show Him with light” (Is. 53:11). David also mentions death and resurrection together. For he says: “You will not leave my soul in hell” (Ps. 15:10). Also, the Patriarch, blessing Judas, prophesies about Christ: “Thou hast fallen asleep like a lion, and like a monk: who will awaken Him?” (Gen. 49:9). Therefore, when they rejected the suffering of Christ and attributed the resurrection to Him, they did so maliciously. We know from the Law, that is, from Scripture (for the Law, as we have often noted, is the name of all Scripture) that Christ abides forever. You know this rightly, for He abides forever and, like God, abides even after the resurrection. But how did you not know about suffering, when the same Scriptures, as we have shown, teach both together? “How then,” they say, “do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?” You see, they understood a lot and from the Lord’s tributary speeches, for example, they understood that with the words “to be lifted up” He was talking about the Cross. Yes, they truly understood a lot, but out of their own evil will they hid behind ignorance. Take note of what they say. “How do you say that the Son of Man must be exalted? Who is this Son of Man? Their speech is full of malice. They say something like this: “Although we do not know who You are talking about and who the Son of Man is, we nevertheless clearly understand the truth that whoever is lifted up, no matter who he is, is not the Christ; it is incompatible; for the Scriptures say that Christ is immortal.” John 12:35. Then Jesus said to them: For a little while yet the light is with you; walk while there is light, lest darkness overtake you: but he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. What about the Lord? Stopping their mouths and showing that His sufferings do not in the least prevent Him from remaining forever, He says: “For a little while yet there is Light in you.” He called Himself Light. Just as the light of the sun does not completely disappear, but is hidden and shines again, so My death is not decay, but decline and repose, and through the resurrection I will shine again. And since suffering in no way prevents Me from being eternal, but the Scriptures testify of Christ that He is eternal, then I am truly the Christ, although I will endure suffering. For I am Light; I will go in and come up again. John 12:36. As long as the light is with you, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. So, while the Light is with you, walk, that is, believe in Me. What time is He talking about here? Talks about the time before suffering or the time after suffering, or both. So, he says, walk and believe in Me, both before My crucifixion and after it. He points to this with the words “as long as the Light is with you,” that is, as long as you can believe in Me; You can believe in Me, who am Light, both before and after suffering. But he who walks in unbelief does not know where he is going. For whatever the Jews do now, yet they do not know what they are doing, but walk as if in darkness; They think that they are on the straight path, but everything turns out the opposite for them when they keep the Sabbath and circumcision. But those who believe do not act this way. They walk in the light, doing all things pre-salvation. For they escaped the shadow of the law and the darkness of fortune-telling and came to the light that was hidden in them, but now shone, and they became sons of the Light, that is, Christ. “May you,” he says, “be sons of Light,” that is, My sons. Although the evangelist at the beginning of the Gospel says that some are born of God (John 1:13), here he calls them sons of Light, that is, Christ. Let Arius and Eunomius be ashamed. For here too it is shown that the Father and the Son have one action. Having said this, Jesus walked away and hid from them. Why did the Lord hide from them? Now they did not raise stones against Him and did not say any blasphemy, as was the case before. Why did He hide? Although they did not say anything, but, penetrating into their hearts, He saw that their rage was intensifying. To tame their hatred, He hides. John 12:37. He performed so many miracles before them, and they did not believe in Him, That they did not believe, but were annoyed, the evangelist pointed out this when he said, “He did so many miracles, and they did not believe in Him.” And, of course, it is a matter of no small malice not to believe in so many miracles. “There are so many,” he says, “the miracles of which he [the evangelist. – Approx. ed. ] kept silent." So. Jesus hid himself in order to calm their anger, and at the same time in order to give them time and peace so that, having calmed down, they would discuss His words and deeds. For in this case, if they wanted, they could come to an understanding of His dignity - Divinity. Although He knew their unbelief ahead of time, He did and allowed what depended on Himself, giving them, as is said, time for discussion. John 12:38. May the word of the prophet Isaiah be fulfilled: In the words “they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled,” there is not a reason, but an event. For they did not believe in Christ, not because Isaiah foretold about them, but the prophet foretold about them because they would not believe. God! who believed what they heard from us? Let us delve into the words of Isaiah “Lord! who believes our hearing? (Isa. 53:1). This is the same thing that no one believed. For the word “who” is used in many places in Scripture instead of “no one.” The prophet said this as if on behalf of Christ. Christ, as it were, says to the Father: “Lord! who believed Our hearing?”, that is, no one believed Our word and My preaching, which He called “hearing.” For he says: “What I have heard from My Father, that is what I speak” (John 8:26). and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? “And to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?” - that is, the powerful effect of miracles, which he called “muscle,” was not revealed to any of the foolish Jews, but they slander Me even when I perform so many miracles. John 12:39. Therefore they could not believe, because, as Isaiah also said, The same thought is expressed in the words “therefore they could not believe what Isaiah had yet spoken about them.” With all this He wants to confirm that the Scripture is not false and that the prophecy of Isaiah came true no differently than he predicted. So that someone does not begin to say and wonder why Christ came if he knew that the Jews would not believe in Him, for this the evangelist brings the prophets who foretold this. Christ, although he knew about their unbelief, nevertheless came, so that they would not have an excuse for their sin and could not say that we would believe if He came. The words “they could not believe” mean the same thing as “they did not want to.” For an evil and crafty person, as long as he remains so, that is, chooses evil, cannot believe. John 12:40 . This people has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes and do not understand with their hearts, and do not turn so that I can heal them (Isa. 6:10). When you hear that God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, do not think that He simply makes some good and others evil (away from such a thought!), but by complete blindness understand abandonment from God. I'll explain with an example. Let us assume that someone is moderate in anger. God is apparently with him, because there is hope that such a person will be converted. When a person plunges into the depths of evil, then God leaves him because of his evil will. About a person who has lost the Divine light and walks in the darkness of sin, it is said that he walks like a blind man; the absence of the Divine word, which softens the hearts of those who accept it, is a hardening of the heart. The one who does not accept the ray of Divine light at all is already blinded, and the one who does not want to listen to the teaching that softens the heart is petrified, and the removal of God completely blinds and darkens him. So, when you hear that God blinds, then understand that he blinds because he is not present. For if God were inherent in man, man would not become blind. If there was sun, there would be no darkness. And now the sun produces night. How? When he comes in. So God makes people blind by moving away from them. He moves away from them because of their malice, and from there they, like the blind, sin irrevocably and fall incorrigibly. John 12:41. This is what Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke about Him. “Isaiah said these things when he saw His glory.” Whom? Son. Although the prophet, judging by the connection of speech, seems to have seen the glory of the Father, the evangelist says here that Isaiah saw the glory of the Son, and the Apostle Paul says that he saw the glory of the Spirit (Acts 28:25). Truly there is one glory of the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. “Isaiah,” he says, “saw the glory”: the smoke that appeared to him, the seraphim, the coals, the altar, the throne (Isaiah 6:1–7). So, Isaiah saw this glory and spoke about Him, that is, about the Son. What did he say about Him? What is said above blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts. John 12:42. However, many of the rulers believed in Him; but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess, lest they should be excommunicated from the synagogue, The Evangelist notes that many of the leaders believed in Him, showing that the Pharisees also lied when they said: “Did any of the leaders believe in Him?” (John 7:48). For many of the rulers believed, but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess. John 12:43. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. “For they loved the glory of men.” Christ told them about this before: “How can you believe when you receive glory from people, but do not seek the glory that comes from the One God?” (John 5:44) So, the evangelist shows that what Christ predicted to them happened to them. Truly, they were not bosses, but slaves, and the lowest slaves. From now on we learn that whoever loves glory is a slave and dishonorable. John 12:44. Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.” Jesus, yielding to the rage of the Jews, hid for a while, and then again appears and cries out openly. Showing that He Himself is equal to the Father and is not an opponent of God, He says: “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me,” saying, as it were: “Why are you afraid to believe in Me? Faith in Me goes back to My Father.” Pay attention to precision in words. The Lord did not say “he who believes in Me,” but “he who believes in Me,” which means faith in God. For it is another thing to believe in someone, and another thing to believe in someone. If someone believes someone, this can be understood to mean that he believes the truth of his words, and whoever believes in Him - as God. Therefore we can say “believes the apostles”; but “believing in the apostles” cannot be said. Therefore, the Lord did not say “he who believes Me.” For both Paul and Peter could say “he who believes me.” And the Jews were reproached for not believing Moses (John 5:46). But He said more - “he who believes in Me”, which shows that He Himself is God, just as He said to His disciples: “Believe in God, and believe in Me” (John 14:1). Therefore, whoever believes in Him places his faith in the Father, and whoever does not believe in Him does not believe in the Father. John 12:45. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. Is it really the one who sees bodily features? No. For the Father is not a body, so that one can say that he who sees Christ bodily also sees the Father, but under the vision of the mind, I ask you, mental contemplation. The Lord says something like this: “Whoever, through the contemplation of the mind, has embraced My being, as far as is possible for man, has embraced the being of the Father. Whoever recognized Me as God, without a doubt, recognizes the Father. For I am the Image of the Father." All this shows the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. Let those who suffer from Arianism hear that he who believes in the Son believes not in Him, but in the Father, so that either the Father is a creature, or the Son is not a creature. Just as if someone said that he who draws water from a river takes it not from the river, but from a source, so he who believes in the Son does not believe in the Son - the river (for the Son is not another being with the Father and does not have anything different from the Father), but believes in the source of good, that is, the Father. John 12:46. I have come as light into the world, so that whoever believes in Me will not remain in darkness. Again, with these words, He shows His oneness with the Father. For just as the Father is called Light everywhere in Scripture, He also says about Himself: “I am light come into the world.” Therefore, the Apostle Paul calls Him Radiance (Heb. 1:3), showing that there is nothing mediating between the Father and the Son, but the Father and the Son are together, as light and radiance together. So, the Son is Light, because he delivers from error and dispels mental darkness, and because just as light with its appearance becomes visible and shows other visible objects, so the Son, having come and appeared to us, gave knowledge of Himself and of the Father, and enlightened the hearts of those who received Him with all knowledge. John 12:47. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. “If,” he says, “anyone hears Me and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” The meaning of these words is: “It is not I who am guilty of condemning an unbeliever, for I did not come primarily for this, but this happened as a consequence. I came to save and taught for this. If anyone does not believe, then I am not the cause of his condemnation, but he brought it upon himself.” This will become even more clear from what follows. Listen to what's next. John 12:48. He who rejects Me and does not accept My words has a judge for himself: the word that I have spoken will judge him at the last day. I do not judge anyone, but the unbeliever has a judge for himself. And it is our custom, and we often say, when we want to punish a disorderly child, that it is not we who punish him, but his carelessness and disorderliness, and it is not we who condemn him, but our convictions, to which he has not submitted, they accuse him as being disobedient. So the Lord says: “It is not I who judge, but the word that I have spoken, it will judge.” John 12:49. For I did not speak from Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what to say and what to say. For why did they not believe? Is it because I am an opponent of God and seek glory for Myself? But “I did not speak from Myself,” but I spoke everything from My Father and nowhere did I present Myself as saying anything different. For “the Father who sent me gave me a commandment, what to say and what to say.” What deep humility in these words! John 12:50 . And I know that His commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me. Is it possible, Lord, that before the Father sent You and gave You the commandment, You did not know what you should say, did not know that commandment, which is eternal life? Didn’t know this eternal life? How did You say: “I am life” (John 11:25)? You see what inconsistency arises if we do not prudently understand what is being said. So, know that the Lord expresses himself so humbly because the listeners are weak. And what does He want to express by this? What He does not say does not suggest anything different from the Father. “For just as those who are sent,” he says, “do not say anything except what is commanded, so I Myself do not philosophize and have not taught anything other than what serves the glory of the Father.” So, wanting to prove this, that is, like-mindedness with the Father, I recalled this example, that is, the commandment. Therefore, he adds: “So what I say, I say as the Father told me. And since I did not say anything from Myself, what excuse will those who disbelieve present? Without any contradiction they will be condemned for not believing the Father.” So, Orthodox, do not mean anything base in humble words (for example, “I received the commandment” and the like), but understand them prudently, like this: “I accepted the commandment, what to say and what to say.” For the Son, being the Word and expressing what is in the Mind, that is, the Father, says that from Him he received the commandment what to say and what to say. Just like our word, if we want to be true, says what the mind suggests to it, and the word never differs in essence from the mind, but is completely consubstantial.