John 12:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Father, glorify Your name.” By this He shows that He dies for the truth. He calls His death the glory of God.

This was fulfilled after the Cross. Then the whole universe was to be converted, to know the name of God, and to serve God.

And not only the name of the Father, but also of the Son, though Christ is silent about this.

“Then a voice came from heaven: I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” When did He glorify it? In the events that had gone before.

“And I will glorify it again” means after the Cross.

Christ despised death and the shame of suffering. He saw the death of all already departing through the death of His own flesh. He saw the dominion of corruption about to be utterly destroyed.

He saw human nature finally being transformed into newness of life (cf. Rom. 6:4). Therefore He says something like this to God the Father.

Although the body is slow toward suffering, O Father, and fears death contrary to nature, it may seem in some respect unfitting that the One enthroned with You and holding authority over all should endure the insolence of the Jews.

Yet since I came for this, "glorify Your Son." That is, do not hinder Me from going to death. Be well pleased in Your Son for the profit of all.

That the Evangelist elsewhere called the cross glory, you may learn from his words: "For the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (Jn 7:39). He clearly calls the Crucifixion glorification, and the cross glory.

Although during His sufferings He patiently and voluntarily endured many insults, He could have avoided them. That He willingly underwent sufferings for our sake, and endured them for the benefit of others, manifests very great mercy and the highest glory.

In another respect also the Son was revealed in great glory. From the fact that He overcame death, we learned that He is Life and the Son of the Living God.

The Father is glorified when He is shown to have begotten such a Son from Himself, one who is what the Father Himself is. He is good, light, life, above death, and does all things according to His will.

When He says, "Glorify Your Son," He means: be well pleased in My desire to suffer. For the Father did not give the Son over to death against His will, but willingly, for the life of the world.

Thus the Father's consent is called the giving of blessings to us, for He called suffering glory. He says this as an example for us.

Although we must pray not to fall into temptation, when we have fallen into it we must bear it courageously and not turn aside. We must also ask God for salvation.

But "glorify Your name." If glory is brought to God through our sufferings, let everything else be placed second after this.

As death was abolished in no other way than by the death of the Savior, so it is also with the fleshly passions of each person. If He had not been subject to fear, our nature would not have been freed from fear.

If He had not endured sorrow, it would never have been released from sorrow. If He had not feared and been afraid, it would never have been outside these passions.

You will find in Christ, in the corresponding manner, the very things present in each man. The movements of the passions of the flesh are not such that they rule, as they do in us.

Rather, they are conquered and abolished by the power of the Word dwelling in the flesh, while nature is transformed into a better condition. ... And later, after some other discussions, when he openly rebukes the impiety of Arius and Eunomius, Saint Cyril teaches as follows.

If what comes from reason, namely manifestations of reason, thought, memory, and the like, does not truly belong to soulless flesh, but rather belongs to the human and rational soul, then consider the absurdity.

If we think rightly, how can suffering no longer be proper to the human soul? By necessary and inescapable reasoning, we would then have to deny that Christ's sufferings belong to His soul.

This would follow if, as they say, the Godhead filled the place of the soul while dwelling in Christ's body.

"Then a voice came from heaven, saying: I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." The Evangelist did not say that the Father cried out from above, but that a "voice" came "from heaven."

He did this so that heretics, hearing in the Gospel that the Father speaks, would not try to assert that the divine nature, that is, the Father, is clothed in some coarse body.

Therefore he uses the very fitting term "voice" (φωνή). How this voice was produced, we cannot say. But the meaning of the saying is this.

The Son had been glorified through many signs, while the Father worked together with Him in the performance of miracles. Since the Father cooperated with Him in all that He did, He says that He has already glorified Him.

He again promises His readiness to glorify Him, namely through the sign at His death. Therefore, since the Son is God and from God, and Life begotten of Life by nature, He raised Himself from the dead.

But insofar as He is conceived as a man like us, without sin, He is not conceived as having raised Himself, but as having risen through the Father.

It can also be understood another way. "I have glorified it" refers to the time when He was born of the Virgin, when He performed miracles, and when the Magi came to worship Him, guided by the heavenly star.

It refers to when He was recognized by the saints filled with the Holy Spirit. It refers to when, after the Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, He declared Himself and was manifested through the voice from heaven.

It refers to when He was transfigured on the mountain, when He showed many miracles, healed and cleansed multitudes, fed crowds with a few loaves, commanded the winds and waves to obey, and raised the dead.

"And I will glorify it again" refers to when He rises from the dead and death no longer has dominion over Him. As God He will be exalted above the heavens, and His glory above all the earth (cf. Ps. 56:6, 12; Ps. 107:6).

He taught you what to think. He taught you what to say, whom to call upon, in whom to hope, and whose firm and divine will to prefer to your own weak and human will.

Do not think that He lost anything of the things above because He wished you to be raised from the things below. Indeed, He allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil, by whom He could not have been tempted unless He had willed it.

He gave the devil such answers (cf. Mt 4:1-10) as you ought to give in temptations. Though He was tempted, He was not in danger.

Thus He taught you, who are in danger at the moment of temptation, how to answer the tempter. You must not follow the tempter, but escape the danger of temptation.

As He says here, "Now My soul is troubled," so there He says: "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death" (Mt 26:38), and: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me" (Mt 26:39).

He took on man's weakness in order to teach man, so darkened and crushed, to say what follows: "nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Mt 26:39).

For this is how man turns from the human to the divine: when he prefers the divine will to the human will. To what, then, do the words "glorify Your name" refer, if not to His Passion and Resurrection?

What else does this mean, except that the Father must glorify the Son, who will glorify His name in such sufferings for His servants? For this reason it is written of Peter that the Lord said of him, "another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish."

He said this to show by what death he would glorify God (Jn 21:18-19). Thus God glorified His name in him, because in His members He glorifies Christ.

Then a voice came from heaven: "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." That is: I glorified it before I created the world, and I will glorify it again when He rises from the dead and ascends into heaven.

It can also be understood otherwise. "I have glorified it" when He was born of the Virgin, when He manifested powers, and when the Magi worshiped Him after seeing the star in heaven.

I glorified it when He was recognized by the saints filled with the Holy Spirit, when He was revealed by the Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and when the voice from heaven pointed Him out.

I glorified it when He was transfigured on the mountain, when He performed many miracles, when He healed and cleansed many, and when He fed a great multitude with a small number of loaves.

I glorified it when He commanded the winds and waves, and when He raised the dead. "And I will glorify it again" when He rises from the dead, when death no longer has dominion over Him, when He ascends as God into the heavens, and when His glory spreads through all the earth.

“I have glorified My name through You, and I will be glorified through You again.” The whole earthly life of Jesus up to this time had already served to glorify the name of God.

His sufferings and their consequences were to serve still more for the glorification of God the Father, through the very founding of the Kingdom of God.

“My soul is troubled; and what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, deliver Me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour.

No, I will say: Father, glorify Your name through Me, through all that must happen to Me, in accordance with the purpose of My coming to earth.”

Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

This voice was differently received and understood by different hearers. For those completely incapable of receiving the heavenly voice, it was simply thunder.

Others heard articulate sounds, although they did not distinguish or understand them. They concluded that an angel had spoken with Jesus.

The apostles, as is evident from the fact that one of them, John, gives us the account of this event, probably were deemed worthy to hear and understand this voice clearly.

In this case, with the different hearers, the same thing occurred as at the conversion of the Apostle Paul with his companions (Acts 9:3 and following; 26:13 and following).

The prayer of Jesus and the voice from heaven: “My soul is now troubled; and what shall I say?” Shall I say, “Father, deliver Me from this hour”? No, I will not say this, for this purpose I came to this hour.

But I will say: “Father, glorify Your name.” As soon as Jesus said, “Father, glorify Your name,” a voice immediately resounded from the height of heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

In the garden of Gethsemane an angel appeared to Him, strengthening Him (Lk 22:43). Now the Heavenly Father Himself strengthens Him by His voice.

From this one sees the greatness of the present hour and event in the life of the Lord.

Three times there was a voice from heaven to the Lord. At His baptism, when He entered upon the work of public ministry. At the Transfiguration, to assure the disciples of His messianic dignity.

And now, at the end of His public ministry, for the people (Jn 12:30).

“I have glorified it” refers to the Lord’s arduous and much-suffering activity as Messiah among the people of Israel, from the time He entered upon public ministry until now.

“I will glorify it again” refers to the glorification of God’s name through the sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Savior.

From that time His messianic activity, through the apostles, begins not only among the Jewish people, but also among the Gentile world, throughout the whole world.

Between “I have glorified” and “I will glorify” there stands before the Lord’s gaze this fearful hour, which troubled His soul. It is a transition from one glory to another.

It is a transition from glory among the Jewish people to glory throughout the whole world.

Here is the heavenly strengthening of the Lord’s troubled soul against this fearful hour. Before it is the glorification of God’s name among Israel. After it is the glorification of God’s name throughout the whole world.

The fearful hour is the hour of God’s glory.

For the third time a voice from heaven, from the Heavenly Father, resounds over the Son of Man. The first time it was heard at the baptism in the Jordan, Mt 3:17; Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22.

The second time was on Tabor, Mt 17:5; 2 Pet 1:17-18; Lk 9:35. The third time is now.

At the beginning, middle, and end of Christ’s ministry, the Heavenly Father bears witness to the significance of the Son.

Frivolity may say that “unclear thought mistook the thunder that struck the senses for the voice of God” (De Bette, Stud. und Krit. 1834, 4, 939).

On the contrary, the historian and eyewitness firmly says that this was a voice from heaven, articulate and clear.

He also states what the opinions of spiritually undeveloped people about this matter were: “The people standing by, who heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’”

The latter opinion deserves special notice, though De Bette entirely overlooks it. Even among the people there were some who distinguished articulate signs, words, in the heavenly voice.

They therefore did not regard it as mute thunder or a dull rumble.

If the other apostles, besides John, had not understood the voice along with the people, the exact historian would have said so. He is not ashamed to display the apostles’ lack of understanding where it occurred.

Therefore it must be accepted as certain that not John alone, but all the apostles, heard and understood the heavenly voice as John transmits it.

Finally, one must not forget that the Apostles Peter and Paul heard a voice from heaven, articulate signs (Acts 9:7; Acts 22:7, 10; Acts 13:15). Later many saints also heard such voices, for example St. Polycarp (Ep. de mart. Polycarpi § 9).

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The Heavenly Father embraces His whole relation to the Son, in its past and future.

He does not point to some particular manifestation of His will to the Son. Rather, embracing the whole course of events concerning sinful humanity, taken under the protection of the Son of God, He speaks.

He says that the Father’s good pleasure always rests upon the work of the Son, the Redeemer.

“This voice was not for My sake, but for the sake of the people.” At the Jordan the voice from heaven was heard by the Baptist. On Tabor it was heard by the three apostles.

Now it resounds in the hearing of the people, to warn the simple-hearted against participation in the fearful crime being prepared. It also instructs those among the people who, if not now, then later, would attend to the significance of Christ Jesus.

At that moment the Lord stood surrounded by a crowd, among whom were also Gentiles who had come to Jerusalem to worship. It pleased the Lord that a sign from heaven should confirm in hearts capable of faith the conviction of His divinity as the God-man.

"The Word was always glorified before all ages, but He became flesh in order to sanctify and deify men, and in Himself to glorify the flesh," says Saint Athanasius the Great.

Therefore the voice from heaven bore witness that faith in the Lord Jesus, who stood before the people in the form of a man, is truly faith in God, revealed to men in the second Hypostasis.

This voice was heard by all, but not understood by all. The understanding of it, like every utterance of God, depends on how ready the human heart is to receive the word of God.

The people in general are said to have heard. The sounds reached them, but not all understood the sign. Some said that it was thunder. Others, better prepared, said that it was the voice of an angel.

Probably only the Lord's disciples clearly understood the words of God. Yet even they fully understood their meaning only after the Lord's Resurrection and glorification.

All the people had to understand one thing: a solemn manifestation of God's will had taken place. It had taken place in answer to the prayer of Him who had called the dead Lazarus from the tomb.

This was the One whom the people had recently greeted as their king on the descent from the Mount of Olives. Above, in verse 24, the Lord had pointed to His suffering death.

The voice from heaven points to the glorification of God in His Son, who assumed flesh. Yet in the Lord's voluntary death itself, and in the Resurrection that followed it, the highest glorification of the God-man is revealed.

He is God Almighty, suffering together with all mankind in the most terrible sufferings that can befall man on earth. The disciples had to learn this.

On the one hand, the voice from heaven had to save them from despair when they would see the Lord dying on the cross. In the future, it had to illumine for them the whole plan of divine wisdom.

It had to show how the salvation of men was prepared and fulfilled. After the Lord's Resurrection, they were entrusted with preaching this salvation to the whole world.

For the people of Jerusalem, the voice from heaven had another meaning also. It was a witness against the people. All heard the sign, and all knew that this sign came in answer to the prayer of the Lord Jesus.

Yet a few days later, at the instigation of the Pharisees, this people cried: "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" "This voice came for the sake of the people."

After this, the Lord continues to reveal the mysteries accomplished by His coming and says: Jn 12:31. "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

The voice did not take possession of the hearing of those present. Yet the Son is glorified by the manner in which the voice appeared.

For there was a law handed down from the fathers: audible words are not uttered from the mouth of God.

Moses and all the others who reported audible words of God described them to men while affirming that the manner of speaking was angelic.

If we also allow that the one to whom the voice belonged was an angel, then it will be right to conclude that the Father’s voice, sent from above to man, was heard through an angel.

Jesus answered and said: “This voice did not come for My sake.” For He who knows the Father and what belongs to the Father was in need of nothing.

Therefore, so that we might know who He is in relation to God, Jesus does not allow Himself to be considered something small, or to be thought one of the prophets.

Notice that “Glorify Your name” is not what pertains to the Savior as existing as the Word of God.

Thus the name belongs to the Father. Yet this name is not composed of syllables and is not signified by sounds, but reveals the property of the Father.

The name of God must be understood according to what the psalmist says: “I will declare Your name to My brethren” (Ps 21:23).

For how else should speaking in the name of God be understood?