John 12:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In Scripture, too, suffering and resurrection are spoken of together in many places. Isaiah, for example, sets both together when he says, "Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter" (Is 53:7), and so on.

David also joins both in the second psalm, as in many others. The patriarch Jacob, after saying, "He stooped down, he lay as a lion," added, "And as a lioness: who shall rouse him?" (Gen 49:9). By this he points both to suffering and to resurrection.

But the Jews say that Christ remains forever because they thought by this to stop His mouth and show that He is not the Christ.

See their malice. They did not say, "We have heard that Christ must not suffer, that He must not be crucified." Instead they said, "that He remains forever," although these words do not constitute an objection. Suffering was no obstacle to immortality.

From this one can see that they understood many things that might have seemed ambiguous, and that they acted maliciously by their own will.

Since Christ had spoken above about death, when they heard here the word "to be lifted up," they came precisely to the thought of death.

Then they say, "Who is this Son of Man?" This too is said with an evil intent.

"Do not think," they say, "that we understand You here. Do not say that we contradict You because of hostility toward You. See, we do not even know of whom You are speaking, and nevertheless we state our opinion."

Or, if "all" is to be understood of men themselves, then we may speak of all that is predestined to salvation. He said that nothing of all this would perish, just as He had said earlier about His sheep; see Jn 10:28.

Or, in any case, this "all" means every kind of men: people of all languages, all ages, all ranks, all honors, all different talents, and all lawful and useful occupations.

It includes all who can be named according to the innumerable differences by which men, apart from sin alone, differ from one another. It includes all, from the highest to the lowest, from king to beggar.

"All things," He says, "I will draw after Myself, so that I may become their Head and they may be His members."

But He says, "If I am lifted up from the earth," meaning, "when I am lifted up." For He did not doubt that what He had come to accomplish would happen.

By this He expresses what He said above: "If the grain of wheat dies, it bears much fruit"; cf. Jn 12:24.

For of what else did He speak, when mentioning His lifting up, if not the suffering on the Cross? The Evangelist himself did not conceal this, for he added, "This He said, signifying by what death He would die" (Jn 12:33).

Together with the author of evil, the devil, He will cast evil out of the world. After the victory over the chief of evil is accomplished, the drawing of all his former subjects, Jews and Gentiles, to Christ, the chief of good, will begin.

This will happen precisely after the Son of Man has been lifted up from the earth, first of all on the Cross, and through this also to heaven.

At another time, such an open and sharp contradiction of popular prejudice would have made the people immediately rise in anger. Perhaps they would have taken stones in hand, as happened in similar cases; Jn 10:31.

Now, after the voice from heaven, they were content with a modest expression of bewilderment, and even covered it with the mask of the Law.

"How is it," some said, "that we have heard from the Law that the Messiah must remain forever? And You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"

That is, is He someone else, distinct from You, who appear as the Messiah? Or are You Yourself not the Messiah, but only His forerunner?

Such questions could have served as an occasion for an extended conversation and broad explanations. But this was no longer the time to enter into such explanations.

The Lord considered it sufficient, without touching the dogmatic side of the matter, to give the people one moral instruction.

This second meaning is especially clearly marked by the word "from the earth": "I shall be lifted up from the earth," that is, from earth to heaven.

For being lifted up on the Cross is not a complete lifting up from the earth, but only a lifting up onto a Cross fixed in the earth.

All these majestic sayings of the Lord are explained and unfolded in the equally majestic exposition of this teaching by the holy Apostle Paul in Col 2:13 and following.

"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself" (vv. 31-32).

By "lifting up from the earth," the Lord here means His sufferings on the Cross and His death. By them He will conquer the devil, the ruler of this world, and lay the foundation of His glorification.

For after death will follow the glorious Resurrection. Then those stubborn in their unbelief in Christ will be openly condemned.

Those who believe will be strengthened still more in their faith, because they will be freed from the devil’s power and his temptations.

They spoke of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which the glorified Son of God sent down, and by which He drew and continues to draw the nations to Himself. He draws them not only for their earthly happiness, but, what is more important, for their eternal blessedness.

This drawing of men is wondrous, powerful, and yet it does not constrain human freedom.

The word of the apostles swiftly moves through the Gentile world and everywhere finds souls being carried away, and carried by an invisible power, to follow Christ.

Their teaching flatters not a single passion. On the contrary, it declares war on them all. Yet the passions fall silent before it, and hearts breathe only for Christ.

Paganism, strong in worldly power, uses every cruelty to suppress Christianity. Yet Christianity draws to itself its very enemies.

False philosophy, catering to the passions, now invents slanders against Christianity, now introduces heresies into it, in order to weaken the heavenly teaching. Yet the heavenly teaching overcomes its enemies.

Men and nations of different education, with different characters and habits, and with different conditions of climate, recognize in the teaching of the Galilean Teacher happiness for earth and salvation for eternity.

With what exactness the history of nations confirms the prophecy of the Son of God: "I will draw all to Myself!"

Perhaps more precisely: he will be cast out. Chrysostom says that the enemy's schemes against the sinless Christ became the cause of his expulsion from the world, where he had reigned through sin.

The Apostle Paul speaks of the same ruler of this world in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 2:2): "You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience."

The Apostle also says: "Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness under heaven" (Eph. 6:12).

This same enemy of mankind is called by the Apostle Paul "the god of this age" in 2 Cor. 4. This god of this age is the one who presides over all evil deeds, thoughts, passions, and attachment to earthly goods and pleasures.

"The Kingdom of God is within you" (Lk 17:21), the Lord said. First of all, the devil is cast out by the Lord from the human soul.

As the Kingdom of God spread over hundreds of millions of souls, the devil was also cast out of the world, insofar as Christianity took possession of the world.

The devil is cast out from the soul of the members of Christ's community. This community creates a new society, wholly unlike ancient societies. It is founded on principles of love unknown not only to pagan societies, but also to Jewish society.

The expulsion or casting out of the ruler of this world is joined to the Lord's words, still mysterious at the time He spoke them: "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself."

How deeply moving these words of all-embracing love now are for us. They signify "by what death He was about to die" (v. 33).

"I will be lifted up from the earth," says the divine Sufferer, knowing what moral and physical torments and anguish were contained in these words. Yet after this He adds: "that I may draw all to Myself" (cf. Jn 3; Jn 8:28).

The divine thought of love for man and the salvation of mankind stands above all. It is the thought of God. The Lord Jesus subjects His humanity to it, knowing by His Godhead what dreadful sufferings He would endure as man.

Concerning death on the cross, see chapter 19. Concerning human moral sufferings, see the same chapter and passim.

But let us note that the Lord's words, "I will be lifted up from the earth," have a double meaning. Each meaning is a glorification of God, as the voice from heaven and the Lord Jesus indicated.

The first meaning is the Lord's being lifted up on the cross (cf. Jn 3:14; 8:28). The second meaning is the Lord's ascension from and out of the earth into glory, and His victory over death.

Therefore, in the Lord's words there is first the sign of "by what death He was about to die." Second, there is the joyful Resurrection, by which the Lord promised to "draw all to Himself."

Love, the cross, death, and Resurrection are all contained in these words of the God-man, breathing love. He calls to men: "Come to Me," "I will not cast out," "Follow Me," "He who believes in Me is not condemned," and "My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Jn 7:37; 6:37; Mt 8:23; Jn 3:18; Mt 11:30).