John 13:31Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Indeed, is it not great glory that after death He appeared more powerful than before death? To give assurance of the Resurrection, the disciples performed great miracles. But if He had not risen and were not God, how could they have done such works in His name?

By this He indicates the saving Passion as already standing at the doors and about to take place. "The Son of Man is glorified," He says, naming no one other than Himself, not dividedly, as it seemed to some. For Christ is one Son, both before the flesh and with the flesh, both before He became man like us and when He became man.

But how He says that He has been glorified must be examined. Some perhaps will say: was He not glorified before by the working of miracles?

When by one word He stilled the raging sea and stopped the motion of the strongest winds, those in the boat bowed down before Him. He heard, "Truly You are the Son of God" (Mt 14:33).

So also, when He made Lazarus, the man of Bethany, return to life, He performed so glorious a miracle that, when He entered Jerusalem at the feast, all came out to meet Him, together with the children. They greeted Him wondrously with the words, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (Mt 21:9).

And once, breaking five loaves and two small fish, He fed the multitude that had come to Him. Apart from children and women, it reached five thousand men. To some this miracle seemed so glorious that, struck by the strangeness of the event, they sought Him even to proclaim Him king (Jn 6:15).

The Evangelist himself bore witness to this for us. It would not be difficult to extend the discourse much further concerning events whose glory is no less than those listed.

How then, after having long been glorified, does He now call Himself glorified? Yes, He was glorified and was shown to possess divine glory also through other events.

Yet the culmination of glory and the fullness of majesty undoubtedly lay in this: that He suffered for the life of the world and gave the means for the resurrection of all.

If we examine as well as we can the meaning of the mystery accomplished by Him, we shall see that He died not for Himself, nor properly for His own sake. He suffered for all humanity and accomplished both the Passion itself and the Resurrection after it.

He died according to the flesh, showing His life to be equal in value to the life of all. Being equivalent to all, He fulfilled in Himself the power of that primordial curse.

He rose again from the dead to eternal and unceasing life, restoring in Himself the whole human nature. For, once subjected to death, according to what is written, "He dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him. For what died, died to sin once; and what lives, lives to God" (Rom 6:9-10).

Through Christ, this must be true also of us. We too shall rise no longer for death, but for endless life. Yet after this there will be a great difference among those who rise, I mean in glory and in the recompense fitting each one's life.

Therefore, having been "obedient to God and the Father unto death, even death on a cross," according to Paul's word, He ascended again, receiving the name above every name (Phil 2:8-9).

He who was considered a mere man was exceedingly glorified, being manifested as true God and true Son of God. He was not called into a new dignity, to be God by nature.

Rather, what He was even before the flesh, into this He undoubtedly ascended also with the flesh itself. In this, we think, His glorification consisted, although He is always the Lord of Glory.

No new divine dignity is found in Christ, since He possesses all things naturally as God, even before the abasement just mentioned (Phil 2:7). Yet after assuming the form of a servant, because He again raised Himself to that state, He is conceived and called as having received glorification.

With the glorified Christ, of course, "God" and the Father is also glorified. He was "glorified" in the Son, not by receiving an addition of glory from His Son. The divine and ineffable nature has no need of any such thing.

Rather, He was glorified because He became known as the One whose Father He is. As it is glory and praise for the Son to have such a Father by nature, so, I think, it is glory and praise for the Father Himself to have from Himself such a proper Son.

Therefore He says, "And God is glorified in Him, and God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately." Through the Son, the Father was glorified together with Him. For His part, He immediately glorified the Son. Glory comes to both and through both.

Nevertheless, to bring the meaning of these words down to us human beings and give benefit from them to the hearers, let us add the following. If we glorify God in ourselves, we should expect to be glorified by Him.

For the Lord says, "As I live, those who glorify Me I will glorify, and they shall not be destroyed" (cf. 1 Sam 2:30; Ps 50:19). God is glorified through us and in us when, having cast off the filth of sin, we adorn our own life by every good work. In this way we live to His glory.

"Now the Son of Man is glorified." It is as though He said, "Behold, so it will be at My glorification, where there will be no ungodly man, and no righteous man will perish." It is not said. "Now a sign has been given of the glorification of the Son of Man," but, "Now the Son of Man is glorified." Likewise it is not said, "The rock signified Christ," but, "The rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4). [...] Scripture often speaks of that which signifies as though it were the thing signified. Thus the Lord uses the words, "Now the Son of Man is glorified," to show that the final separation from the ungodly, and His dwelling among the saints, anticipates His glorification. Then the wicked will be separated, and He will abide eternally with His saints.

He foretells His Resurrection, which will follow at once, not at the end of the world as ours will. Therefore He says, "Now the Son of Man is glorified." This "now" refers not to the approaching Passion, but to the Resurrection that will follow it. It is spoken as though what is about to happen very soon had already taken place.

The glorification of the Son of Man is the glorification of God in Him, for He adds, "And God is glorified in Him." If God is glorified in Him, since He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him (cf. Jn 6:38), then God also will glorify Him in Himself. Thus the human nature assumed by the eternal Word will be endowed with eternity.

Let us strain the eye of the mind, and with the Lord's help let us seek God. Thus the hymn to the Lord says, "Seek God, and your soul shall live" (cf. Ps 68:33). Let us seek God, for He must be found. Let us apprehend Him when He has already been found. He is hidden, so that He who must be found must be sought. He is immeasurable, so that He must always be apprehended, even when He has been found.

Therefore it is said elsewhere, "Seek His face always" (Ps 104:4). He satisfies the thirst of the seeker according to his capacity. He makes the one who apprehends Him more receptive, so that he may desire again and again to drink Him in, having become more receptive.

Yet the saying, "Seek His face always," is not spoken as of certain men who are "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim 3:7). Rather, it is as He Himself said, "When a man has finished, then he is only beginning" (Sir 18:6). This continues until we reach that life where we shall be so filled that we cannot become more receptive. We shall be so perfect that we cannot make further progress. Then everything needful for us will be revealed.

But here let us always seek Him, and let the fruits of the search not set a limit to the searching. We must not say that this search will be "not always" because it is carried on only "here." Rather, we say that He must be sought "here always," lest we decide that at some point here the search should be abandoned.

Those of whom it is said, "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," are in some sense "learning" here. But when they leave this life, they will no longer be learners. They will receive recompense for their error. For the phrase, "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," is spoken as though it meant, "always wandering and never able to find the road."

Let us then always walk upon the road, until by it we come to the place where the road leads. Let us never stop upon it, until it brings us to the place where we must stop. Thus we must persevere in seeking. Having found, we must turn to something further, and pass on to what remains unfound and unapprehended. This continues until the end of seeking comes, when no place remains for progress in one who has attained perfection.

Let these preliminary remarks, beloved, make you more attentive to the words which the Lord addressed to the disciples before His Passion. They contain a deep meaning. Where the interpreter intends to expend much effort, the listener must not be distracted.

What did the Lord say after Judas went out, so that he might more quickly accomplish what he intended, namely, to betray Christ? What did the Day say when the night departed? What did the Redeemer say when the seller departed? He said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified" (Jn 13:31).

Why "now"? Was it because the betrayer had gone out, and those who would seize and kill Him would soon come? Was He now glorified because still greater humiliation was near? Was it because bonds, judgment, condemnation, mockery, crucifixion, and death already hung over Him? Is this glorification, and not abasement?

On the other hand, when He worked miracles, did not John say of Him, "The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (cf. Jn 7:39)? What then? Was He not yet glorified when He raised the dead, but now glorified when He drew near to the dead? Was He not glorified when doing divine works, but glorified when about to suffer human passions?

It would be strange if God, the great Teacher, indicated this and taught this in those words. We must ascend higher, in order to uncover the words of the Most High. He reveals Himself a little, so that we may turn to apprehending Him. Again He hides Himself, so that we may seek Him anew. Thus we advance, as though stepping from what has been found toward what must be found.

I see here something that prefigures something great. Judas went out, and Jesus was glorified. The son of perdition went out, and the Son of Man was glorified. Certainly the one went out of whom it had been said to the apostles, "And you are clean, but not all" (Jn 13:10). When the impure man went out, only the pure remained, and they remained with their Purifier.

Something similar will happen when this world, conquered by Christ, passes away. No impure person will remain in this world, when the tares are separated from the wheat (cf. Mt 13:30). The righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Mt 13:43).

The Lord foresaw this future. To testify that a figure was contained in that event, Judas departed as though he were the tares, and the holy apostles remained as though they were the wheat. Therefore He said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified," as though saying, "See what will happen at that glorification of Mine, when none of the evil will remain, and none of the good will perish."

Certainly it was not said, "Now the glorification of the Son of Man is prefigured." Rather, it was said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified." In the same way it was not said, "The rock symbolized Christ," but, "The rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4). Nor was it said, "The good seed symbolized the sons of the Kingdom," or, "The tares symbolized the sons of the evil one." Rather, it was said, "The good seed, these are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one" (Mt 13:38).

Such is the customary language of Scripture. It speaks of figures as though reporting the realities they signify. Therefore the Lord also said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified." By the ungodly man going out and the saints remaining with Him, His glorification was prefigured. Then, after the separation of the ungodly, He will abide eternally with the saints.

After He said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified," He added, "And God is glorified in Him" (Jn 13:31). The very glorification of the Son of Man exists so that God may be glorified in Him. If He Himself is not glorified in Himself, but God is glorified in Him, then He is the One whom God glorifies in Himself. Finally, as though making this plain, He added, "If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself" (Jn 13:32).

That is, if God is glorified in Him because He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him, then God also will glorify Him in Himself. Thus the human nature according to which He is the Son of Man, and which was assumed by the eternal Word, will also be endowed with eternal immortality.

"And He will glorify Him immediately" (Jn 13:32). By this He was surely foretelling His Resurrection. It is not like ours, which will be at the end of the age, but one in the near future. This is the glorification of which the Evangelist had already spoken, as I mentioned a little earlier. The Spirit had not yet been given in a special way to those believers to whom He would be given in a special way after His Resurrection. For Jesus had not yet been glorified. That is, mortality had not yet been clothed with immortality, and temporal weakness had not yet been changed into eternal power.

It may also be understood that the words about glorification, "Now the Son of Man is glorified" (Jn 13:31), are spoken so that "now" seems to refer not to the approaching Passion, but to the Resurrection that follows it. It is as though that which is near in the immediate future had already taken place.

For today, beloved, this is enough. When the Lord permits, we shall discuss what follows next in the Gospel.

As it is glory for the Son that He has such a Father, so also it is glory for the Father that He has such a Son. Therefore, when people saw the miracles of Jesus Christ and heard His teaching, they glorified God, as the Evangelists relate.

Is it a dishonor to Christ to die for the world? "Now the Son of Man is glorified." This does not mean that He had no glory before. He was glorified with glory before the foundation of the world. As God He was always glorified. But now He was glorified because He was crowned with the crown of patience.

But He referred to the future the glory by which God would glorify Him in Himself. The glory of God is visible in Him through the power of the Resurrection. After the humiliation He accepted, He Himself will forever abide in the glory of God, that is, in God, all in all.

Speaking to the apostles about His approaching death, having pointed out His betrayer to them, and finally offering them His Body and Blood, Jesus wished to draw His disciples out of the oppressed state of spirit into which what had just occurred had to bring them. Therefore He immediately fixes their attention on the thought of His glory. "To be delivered to death," says John Chrysostom, "and to conquer death, and after death to appear more powerful than before, this is indeed great glory." If God was glorified in this way in the person of the Son of Man, then He would soon glorify Him also by receiving Him, in the Ascension, into union with Himself.

These solemn words of a song of victory especially belong to this moment, after the apostles had communed, except Judas who had departed: "Now the Son of Man is glorified," and so forth. The faithless disciple departed to fulfill the terrible deed of betrayal. The Lord instituted the most holy Mystery of the New Testament, portraying the mystery of redemption as though already accomplished. It was as if He had already been offered in sacrifice. It was as if, through His death, victory over all hostile powers had already been accomplished. And now, in view of this work of His as though already accomplished, the Lord cries out a song of victory: "Now the Son of Man is glorified." The title Son of Man is undoubtedly used deliberately by the Lord here to designate His human being, which was offered as a redeeming sacrifice. The glory meant here is not yet heavenly glory, of which the next verse speaks. It is the glory in the sufferings of the Son of Man and in His death, by which He redeemed all mankind. "For to be delivered to death and to conquer death is indeed great glory" (Chrysostom; cf. Theophylact). This glory of the Lord Jesus is at the same time the glory of God the Father. For by His death the Lord accomplished the work of reconciling the all-holy God with sinful mankind. In this the glory of God appeared. Such is the meaning of the words: "and God is glorified in Him," that is, in the person of the glorified God-man.

It revealed in Him the One whom sinful mankind had long desired for itself in its better moments, and what no other had been for it. Not only Israel, but the nations of every land and people bless the name of the crucified Jesus as Savior from the dread wrath of God. The redeeming death of Jesus, necessary for the reconciliation of the Godhead with guilty mankind, opened heaven for mankind and brought down to earth the waters of the grace of the Holy Spirit. After this, thousands and millions counted it happiness and blessedness to call themselves confessors of the Sufferer of Golgotha. Then they saw in the crucified Son of Man the true Son of God, "the radiance of the Father's glory and the image of His hypostasis" (Heb 1:3), bearing all things by the word of His power. Then they knew that there is no other name under heaven by which one may be saved. The Savior Himself showed the connection of His death on the Cross with the sending down to earth of the Spirit of grace, who regenerates the corrupted hearts of men. He said: "If I do not go, the Comforter will not come. But if I go, I will send Him to you." "Now God also is glorified in Him," more precisely, in Him. How was God glorified in the crucified Jesus? God was glorified in Him because the Son of Man so loved and so honored the will of the heavenly Father that, to fulfill His will, He did not refuse the shameful Cross. This followed a whole earthly life of holiness. Therefore the Cross of Jesus is a preacher of holiness. And this is not all. In the Son of God crucified for men, God's righteousness and God's goodness were glorified. God's righteousness was glorified. The world learned that no one, whoever he may be, can violate the laws of the Eternal One without punishment. The rights of God's righteousness are inviolable. Man the sinner had to perish as an offender against the majesty of God. The Son of God took humanity upon Himself. And behold, this Son of Man, pure and holy in Himself, suffers the sufferings of the Cross for guilty mankind. If the Crucified One is the Son of the eternal Father, what moved the Son of God to take upon Himself the sins of mankind, if not His infinite love for mankind? What moved the heavenly Father to sacrifice His Son for men, if not love for sinful men? Thus the Cross is a preacher of divine love and incomprehensible goodness.