Behold, the hour cometh, and it is now come, that you shall be scattered every man to his own and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
ιδου ερχεται ωρα και νυν εληλυθεν ινα σκορπισθητε εκαστος εις τα ιδια και εμε μονον αφητε και ουκ ειμι μονος οτι ο πατηρ μετ εμου εστιν
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
The expression “the Father is with Me” He again used for their sake, because always and everywhere He wished to teach them this.
Then, to show that by speaking in this way He had not yet given them perfect knowledge, but had said it so that they would not be troubled by thoughts, He adds: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.”
For it was natural for them to think something human, and to suppose that they would receive no help from Him.
"Behold, the hour is coming, and has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone." So that they, holding such thoughts about Him, would not think that they were pleasing Him, He says: "The hour is coming when you will be scattered, each to his own."
You think that you have a great conception of Me. But I tell you that you will leave Me to the enemies. Such fear will seize you that you will not depart from Me together, but will be scattered one by one. Each will seek refuge and salvation for himself.
"Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." But I shall suffer no harm from this. For I am not alone, but the Father is with Me.
Therefore I suffer not from powerlessness, but voluntarily give Myself over to those who crucify Me. Therefore, when you hear, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt 27:46), do not understand it simply, as though the Savior had been abandoned by the Father.
For here He Himself bears witness: "The Father is with Me." Rather, understand that these words were spoken by the human nature, abandoned and rejected because of sins, but in Christ reconciled and made the Father's own.
The Savior showed with great skill that the time of steadfastness in all good things had not yet come. That time was the one that brought the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven and power from on high, as it is written (Lk 24:49).
Only then, finally freed from human faintheartedness, did the disciples acquire unconquerable boldness. They feared neither the attacks of the Jews, nor the senseless anger of the Pharisees, nor any other terrors.
They came forth with the divine preaching in boldness and openly said: "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). And: "We cannot but speak of what we have known and heard" (Acts 4:20).
Thus He showed at the same time that they had not yet been established in perfect faith, since they had not yet tasted communion with the Spirit. He offered as proof the cowardice that would soon be revealed in them.
He also appears to bring them no small benefit by foretelling what was about to happen to them. For they would be more firmly and strongly convinced that He is God by nature when they learned that He knows all things.
Behold, He says, the time is not far off. Rather, it is already coming, when, leaving "Me alone," you will go away "to your own." This can be expressed more clearly thus. When you yield to powerless cowardice, you will care only for your own life. Preferring your own safety to the love owed to the Teacher, you will withdraw to whatever places you find.
Is this, then, why you "now believe," if you have not yet removed from yourselves the shameful charge of cowardice, since you have not yet received boldness through the Spirit?
That the blessed disciples turned to flight, unable to endure the assault of the Jews when the traitor came leading an impious band of soldiers and officers' servants, admits not the slightest doubt. Then they left Christ "alone."
We say "alone" only in the sense that no one remained with Him from those who had usually followed Him and stayed with Him. For He was not alone as God from God, and in God by nature and indivisibly.
Christ also spoke this for us in a human manner. He teaches that, if time sometimes brings upon us temptation, persecution, or something similar, and calls us to glorious danger, I mean for the sake of piety, we must not lose hope of escape.
This remains true even if none of the like-minded brethren helps us, defending us as far as he can, and by his shared mind, as it were, dividing with us the danger threatening us.
For even if they turned to burdensome flight and showed in excessive measure an unconquerable cowardice, still we must be confident that God is not weakened because of this. He alone will be able to save the one devoted to Him.
We are not "alone," even if no one should be present, as I have just said, when we have almighty God as defender, helper, and protector. He shields us by His most merciful protection, according to the Psalmist's word: "O Lord, with the shield of Your good pleasure You have crowned us" (Ps 5:13).
We say this now not because we consider attachment to life a good thing when it is necessary for us to end bodily life with glory, struggling and contending against temptations for God's sake. Rather, we say it so that we may believe the opposite. Even if there are none who wish and strive to do this together with us, we must not despair. For we shall not be "alone" when God is present with us.
He says, "The Father is with Me," so that they would not think that the Son came forth from the Father in such a way as to leave Him.
Yet much greater was this: desiring them to be raised and lifted up to the understanding of Him, He spoke after their words, which were faithful words: "He came forth from God." He said to them. "Because the Father is with Me," so that they would not think the Son had come forth from the Father in such a way that He ceased to be with Him. See also under verse 33.
“Behold, the hour is coming, and has now come, when you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.” By the hour, or time, Jesus Christ here means the assault of the accomplices of Judas the betrayer.
Then the disciples left Him and all fled, as the Evangelist Matthew writes (Mt 26:56). Then fear truly revealed the disciples’ imperfect faith, since they were somewhat scandalized by the Savior’s sufferings.
“And yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me.” He is always with Me, because We are indivisible.
“But I am not alone,” the Lord added, “for the Father is with Me.” And just as everything He said to them tended toward revealing the source of consolations in the coming struggle with the world, so He also concluded His discourse with words that briefly contained everything.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace,” that is, in communion with Me. “In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.”
The disciples were struck that Jesus Christ had just spoken about a question they had not voiced to Him, and which they had quietly put only to one another, cf. Jn 16:17-19.
At the same time, they find His speech an answer to their inner questions. This greatly stirs their faith in Him, and with fervor they confess that He came forth from God.
But in response to this fervent confession, the Lord foretells a difficult trial of their faith, when they will leave Him and scatter in different directions.
Knowing how weak the Apostles' faith still was, Jesus asked them: "Do you now believe? Do you not think that now your faith is so firm that it can endure every trial?
No. Until another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, comes to you in My place, your faith is so weak that it will be shaken at the first temptation.
The hour is coming, and has now come, when this very night you will leave Me alone and be scattered, each to his own, wherever each can manage to hide. But I shall not remain alone, because the Father will be with Me.
I warn you that all of you will leave Me this very night, and that afterward many sorrowful days await you in the world. I do this so that you may not lose heart in the trials before you."
"Behold, the hour is coming, and has now come," that is, the time is very near; cf. the notes on Jn 12:23 and Jn 4:23. Then you will be scattered and will leave Me alone.
"Each to his own," or each to his own place, wherever he happens to go.
It seems that John here gives in abbreviated form the same speech that the evangelists Matthew and Mark transmit more fully (Mt 26:31-35; Mk 14:27-31). There followed the second prediction of Peter's denial and the disciples' assurance of devotion to Him unto death.
This fully accords with the disciples' mood at this moment, according to John. It also accords with the Lord's intention to point out the imperfection of their faith, by which it would not withstand the temptation awaiting it.
The fulfillment of this prophecy of Christ is precisely indicated by the evangelists (Mt 26:56 and parallels), when all His disciples fled at the Lord's arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.
"I am not alone," and so forth. See the note on Jn 8:29. The temporary abandonment of His Son by God the Father in the moment of suffering and death (Mt 27:46) does not contradict this.
For at that same moment the Lord solemnly declares: "Into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Lk 23:46).
But this faith of the apostles rested only on feeling, without firm ground in a clear understanding of the meaning of the events before them. To warn the apostles against dangerous self-confidence, which easily passes into disappointment and despair, Christ points out the weakness of their faith. He also points to the force of the trials that their faith is about to face. Only after victory over these trials will their faith grow strong. Only then, endowed with the Holy Spirit, will they go forth to struggle against the sinful world and overcome the world. “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, and has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage: I have overcome the world.”
Before Him who sees the depths of our hearts, we are sometimes not at all what we think ourselves to be. The Lord tells the disciples that their faith will not stand against temptations.
A little while, only a few hours, and they will be scattered like sheep of the flock. They will abandon their Shepherd and Lord.
The heavenly Witness of truth gives the disciples their due and approves their faith. Yet He does not hide the bitter truth from them. He does not flatter self-love, but humbles it by the situation into which they will soon place themselves (Mt 26:31; Mk 14:27, 50).
The faithful Witness of truth adds to this the testimony of one truth pleasant for Him and for them: the heavenly Father is always with Him.
Let the malice of earth and Hades arise. The Father is with Him. Therefore His work, for which He came into the world, will lose nothing from the malice of His enemies. It will even be glorified by victory over the malice of the world.
This truth had to serve as a support for His disciples during His sufferings. This same truth will always be fruitful in His Church.
How can a Christian fail to be firm in sorrows, when the One in whom he believes is so close to the heavenly Father, and is His Son?
Chrysostom observes concerning the disciples’ words that, although they say, “Now we know,” their very words show clearly that they still did not understand much. “Do you now believe?” the Lord says to them, revealing the twofold error in their speech. The Lord points both to the imperfection of their faith and to the true faith within their hearts. It had long been kindled by His miracles and by the divine words of grace that came from His mouth. That they truly loved the Lord and believed in Him had been witnessed by the Lord Himself above, in verse 27. Only the words they now uttered in verses 29-30 were empty and human words. It now seemed to them that they had understood the whole depth of the mystery of the Lord’s coming. They thought they had grasped it by their human reason.
But the understanding of the mysteries of the Godhead is given only by the Holy Spirit, whom they had not yet received. Human reason cannot comprehend them. Therefore, by His question, “Do you now believe?” the Lord chiefly indicates that the disciples themselves do not understand what they are saying. They claim that only now they have come to know and understand everything, and that on this basis they believe. If they had not loved the Lord and believed in Him, they would long ago have departed from Him, as some others did, Jn 6:66. But they were attached to the Lord in soul, though of course they still did not understand much. Continuing His discourse, the Lord also points to another side of the disciples’ mistaken assurance. When they declared, “Now we believe,” the Lord showed that grace-filled faith had long ago touched their hearts. They truly both believed and loved. Yet, on the other hand, the Knower of hearts showed them that their faith was not firm, as they wished to assure themselves when they said, “We believe that Thou camest forth from God.” For the hour had already come, as the Lord was going to the brook Kidron, when they would flee in different directions, maddened by fear. They would hide in their dwellings and instantly forget their solemn declaration of faith. A few minutes after this assurance, they too abandon their dearly beloved Teacher, humanly speaking, alone. But the Lord does not reproach them. He only foretells what is to come, since firmness and unshakable faith would be established in the disciples’ hearts by the Lord’s Resurrection and by their sanctification through the Holy Spirit. For weak is the strength of man when it is not strengthened by the Spirit of God. Humanly speaking, the Lord remains alone, and the man Christ Jesus stands alone before the crowd of enemies. Yet this is God, working the salvation of men through sacrifice, and in His Being one with the Father. The Lord expresses this in the words, “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” Compare Jn 8:29: “The Father hath not left Me alone,” and Jn 10:30: “I and the Father are one.”
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 24 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS