John 12:34Meaning & 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."

Likewise the patriarch, blessing Judah, prophesies of Christ: "He lay down, He slept as a lion and as a young lion. Who shall awaken Him?" (Gen 49:9).

Therefore, when they rejected the sufferings of Christ and ascribed Resurrection to Him, they acted maliciously.

"We know from the Law," that is, from Scripture, for, as we have often observed, the whole of Scripture is called the Law, "that Christ remains forever."

You know this rightly, for He remains forever. As God, He remains also after the Resurrection.

But how did you not learn of the sufferings, when the very 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?" Do you see that they understood many things even from the Lord’s figurative sayings?

For example, they understood that by the words "to be lifted up" He was speaking of the Cross.

Yes, they truly understood much, but by their evil will they hid behind ignorance.

Mark, then, what they say. "How do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Their speech is full of malice.

They speak as though saying: "Although we do not know of whom You speak, or who the Son of Man is, we nevertheless clearly understand this truth. Whoever is to be lifted up, whoever he may be, is not Christ.

This is incompatible, for the Scriptures say that Christ is immortal."

For He was to be minister of the holy things and high priest of our souls; Heb 8:2. As the One who is higher and immortal, He came to life again.

Scripture foretells not only that He will come in this common and human form; Phil 2:7 and following. It also foretells that He will die for the life of all and live again, breaking the bonds of death.

Because of this, the statement that Christ "remains forever" is fully accomplished. Having proved superior to corruption and death, He ascended to the Father.

"We have heard from the Law that Christ remains forever. How do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? And who is this Son of Man?"

"For if He is Christ," they say, "then Christ remains forever. If He remains forever, how will He be lifted up from the earth, that is, how will He die in the torments of the Cross?"

For they understood that He had said what they themselves had planned to do. Thus He explained these dark words, not by filling them with wisdom, but by wounding their conscience.

Therefore they thought to convict Him of not being Christ, as though saying: "We have heard from Scripture that Christ does not die. How then do You say that He must die?"

Then, so that it might not appear that they were saying this about Him, they add, "Who is the Son of Man?"

If He is Christ, then He does not die. If He dies, then He is not Christ.

But your words are vain, foolish men! Both things are true: He is immortal according to the Godhead, and mortal according to the humanity.

Yet Jesus Christ did not now explain in what sense He is immortal and in what sense mortal, knowing that His hearers would not now understand discourse about His Godhead.

Notice also that these people continue to act craftily even after they had heard the voice from heaven and had themselves said that an angel had spoken to Him.

In reply to this, Jesus Christ affirms the truth of the thought that He must depart from men and deprive them of His visible presence. From this He draws moral instructions.

He is the light of the world; Jn 1:4. While this light acts among men not only invisibly, but also visibly, it is the most convenient time for them to be enlightened by Him.

It is the time to believe in Him and become sons of light. They must hasten to make use of this time while the light remains among them.

Otherwise, afterward, the darkness of prejudices and all kinds of errors will envelop them still more, and then wandering in this darkness will be their lot; 1 Jn 2:11.

According to the corrupted Jewish idea of the Messiah, He was to be an earthly king, and His earthly kingdom was to continue forever.

Now the people hear from the Lord that the ruler of this world, the devil, the king and god of the Gentile world according to the Jewish idea, will be cast out of the world.

Yet the Messiah, the Son of Man, as the Lord Jesus calls Himself, will also be lifted up from the earth. Who, then, will remain king on the earth?

Who, then, is the Messiah: You, or will it be someone else? cf. Mt 11:3 and parallels.

"We have heard": this shows that the people are speaking, not the scribes and teachers of the people. They would have said, "We know," or, "We read"; cf. Jn 9:24, 29 and others.

"From the Law": by the Law was sometimes meant the whole body of Old Testament canonical books, not only the books of Moses; cf. the note on Jn 10:34-36.

"Christ remains forever," that is, according to the corrupted Jewish idea, His Kingdom will be eternal on earth.

Probably they have in mind Old Testament prophetic passages in which the Messiah is figuratively represented as establishing, on the ruins of Gentile kingdoms after judgment upon them, a new eternal Kingdom; Is 9:6; Ps 2; Ps 109:2-4; Dan 7:13 and following, and parallels.

"How then do You say," and so on: the Lord said, "I shall be lifted up." The people place in His mouth the expression, "The Son of Man must be lifted up."

Either the people themselves know that Christ called Himself the Son of Man as Messiah, or they knew this name from the indicated passage in Daniel as a title of the Messiah, and applied it to the Lord Jesus.

Or the Evangelist gives the Lord’s words in abbreviated form. Perhaps the Lord, in this discourse, called Himself the Son of Man, as He loved to do.

They said, "This poor Messiah is the son of Joseph, about whom no one is concerned." With such an upbringing the people did not know the suffering Messiah.

So when the people heard the Savior’s words about ascent to heaven by way of the Cross, they did not know what to think.

Either Jesus is the Messiah, and then He must remain on earth as king forever, or, if He must suffer, who is He? The poor son of Joseph! Poor people!

"Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that you may become sons of light." In these words love is expressed, grieving over the condition of those to whom He speaks.

This love calls itself light and presents itself as a mother: "Children, make use of the blessed time while I am with you. Without Me it is dark for you.

Learn from the light, Christ. Be toward Him as children are toward a mother. Treasure His instructions. Without them there is misfortune; with them there is blessedness."

There are similar expressions in Lk 16:8 and 1 Thess 5:5. "The true Light enlightens every man coming into the world" (Jn 1:9).

Christ the Light is not now seen by bodily eyes as He was seen when He lived on earth. Nevertheless He shines even now.

"The darkness is passing away, and this true Light already shines" (1 Jn 2:8).

Until what time will the light of grace shine? For me and for you, until the time of our death. For the whole earthly world, until the time of its universal transformation.

Then people will either be transferred into the realm of more abundant illumination, or the light will be hidden from them.

How, then, can one fail to treasure the time while the light is with us? We must believe in the light. We must turn its luminous thoughts and rules into life.

"Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2).

"Believe while you have the light." "While" is said. Therefore there is no reason to deceive ourselves with dreams that we can be corrected beyond the grave.

The decree of God is unchangeable. Earthly life is appointed so that we may be formed into sons of light.

If during it we remain sons of darkness, then eternal darkness is our lot beyond the grave.

"When He had said this, Jesus departed and hid Himself from them." Entirely similar notices are read in St Matthew: "And leaving them, He went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there"; Mt 21:17.

And in St Luke, Lk 21:37: "During the day He taught in the temple, and at night He went out and spent the night on the mount called Olivet."

Therefore it is in vain that some wish to see in John’s words a notice that the Savior’s public instruction of the people had ceased.

This is especially vain, since the other Evangelists present many teachings of the Savior that followed His entrance into Jerusalem.

Here we must pay special attention to the fact that those who raise their voice and argue are plainly people who know the Scriptures.

They clearly know such passages of Scripture as: "I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David My servant: I will establish your seed forever, and build your throne to all generations" (Ps 88:4-5).

Or: "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Ps 109:4). Or: "A Child is born to us; a Son is given to us. Of the increase of His dominion and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, from now and unto the ages" (Is 9:6-7), and many others.

These men versed in Scripture, as Chrysostom beautifully indicates, do not wish to allow the Lord Jesus to be identified with Christ.

Therefore they object treacherously, keeping silent about those passages of Scripture, such as Isaiah chapters 42 and 53, where the Lord’s sufferings are plainly foretold together with His glory.

"From this one can see," says Chrysostom, "that they understood much, but that they acted maliciously by their own will."