John 8:56Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He also shows that He goes to His sufferings voluntarily, since He praises the man who rejoiced in the Cross. For through it comes the salvation of the universe. Others understand by "day" the whole time of Christ's manifestation in the flesh. Foreseeing this, Abraham rejoiced that the Savior would come from him and his seed. Perhaps not Abraham alone rejoiced, but all did, as David says: "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps 117:24).

And again, "What will you do on the day of assembly and on the day of the feast of the Lord?" (Hos 9:5).

"On that day the plans of some will perish," says the Psalmist (Ps 145:4). He calls day the time of the expected judgment of God.

Then the falsehood of ancient thoughts and the empty, proud inflation of wealth will give no benefit to the nobles of this world.

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day," He says, "and he saw it and was glad." How and when, we must ask, did blessed Abraham behold the day of our Savior Christ?

That is, how did he see the time of His coming in the flesh? It is not easy to give a clear answer. Yet one may think that God revealed His mystery to him as to one of the holy prophets.

Other explanations of this saying may also be offered to the inquisitive. We must say why Christ considered it necessary to speak this.

The Jews saw in Him a mere man because He was clothed in flesh. They thought nothing divine about Him, but considered Him mortal like us, as one brought from nonbeing into being.

They refused, because of their great irrationality, to believe that He was eternal, as having proceeded from the eternal Father. Therefore He says this to show clearly that He is not newly born and not a creature like us.

He shows that He was acknowledged as eternal even by their most ancient fathers.

At the same time, He seems profitably to rebuke them because they irrationally and foolishly despise what was a cause of joy for the head of their race. For he merely "saw, and rejoiced."

But they already possess it and can enjoy it, yet by unbelief they insult and despise so great a grace. Perhaps He also indirectly indicates that He is greater and higher than Abraham.

For it was joy for Abraham even to know something about Him. Because of the unrestrained nature of their anger, it was not possible to say this plainly and without any covering. He therefore indicates it again in another way.

Let no one think that Jesus contradicts Himself when He says to the Jews, "Abraham your father died." At one time He excludes them from kinship with Abraham, saying, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham" (Jn 8:39).

Yet now He again calls them sons of Abraham. One must know that in both cases He directs His speech beautifully toward the truth.

There, defining the quality of spiritual nobility, He portrays kinship in sameness of character. Here, however, He ascribes to them only their past kinship according to the flesh. Thus there He speaks the truth, and here He does not lie.

Or we may allow that he truly beheld the day of the Lord's slaughter, in which our blessedness was arranged and all good things were communicated to us.

This happened when he was commanded to offer his only-begotten and firstborn son Isaac as a sacrifice, in the image of the Lord. In that priestly act, as in a type being performed, this mystery naturally stood before his gaze with complete clarity and precision.

Thus, when he saw the three men by the oak of Mamre (Gen 18:1), he received from God the promise that he would be the father of many nations.

That promise could be fulfilled only because, through faith in Christ, the nations were called. They call Abraham their father, recline with him in the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 8:11), and share with him in all the good gifts of our Savior.

Therefore, He says, "Abraham saw My day," and seeing it, "he rejoiced."

What was their joy when they saw the immutable Word, the Radiance enlightening pious minds, the inexhaustible Wisdom, God abiding with the Father? What was their joy when they saw Him who would one day come in the flesh, without leaving the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18)? Abraham saw all this. Perhaps it is unclear what He means by the words "My day." Is it the passing day of the Lord, on which He was to come in the flesh? Or is it the day of the Lord that knows neither beginning nor end? But I do not doubt that Father Abraham knew all this. How do I know this? Should the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ be enough for us? Let us suppose that we cannot know this. Perhaps it is difficult to determine in what sense it was said that Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ, saw it, and was glad. But if we cannot know, can the Truth lie? Let us believe the Truth and not doubt Abraham's merits in the least. Yet hear one passage which has come to my mind in the meantime. When Father Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, he bound him by an oath. He did this so that the servant would faithfully carry out what was entrusted to him, and understand what he was to do. For a great deed was to be done. A bride had to be found for the seed of Abraham. But the servant had to understand what Abraham knew. Abraham longed for grandchildren not according to the flesh, and did not think carnally concerning his lineage. Therefore he said to the servant whom he sent, "Put your hand under my thigh, and swear to me by the God of heaven" (Gen 24:2-3). What has the God of heaven to do with Abraham's thigh? You already understand this mystery: through the thigh comes the lineage. What was this oath, if not an indication that from Abraham's race, according to the flesh, the God of heaven would come? Fools blame Abraham because he said, "Put your hand under my thigh." Those who revile the flesh of Christ also revile Abraham's deed. But we, brothers, if we acknowledge the flesh of Christ as worthy of worship, should not despise that thigh. Rather, let us receive what was said as prophecy. For Abraham was a prophet. Of whom was he a prophet? Of his seed and of his Lord. He pointed to his seed when he said, "Put your hand under my thigh." He pointed to the Lord when he added, "and swear to me by the God of heaven."

This refers to the salvation of the Hebrews from death by the blood of the lambs (Ex 12). From that time many lambs were slain until the true Lamb came. When John approached Him, he cried out, "Behold, the Lamb of God" (Jn 1:29). Since the true Lamb had come, those lambs which served only as His figures came to an end. "Abraham saw My day and rejoiced," namely, he saw it in the lamb by the tree. That lamb loosed and freed the bound Isaac, just as the Lord, through the Cross, destroyed the bonds of the Gentiles. The face of the Angel was hidden from Balaam (Num 22:22-31). But from this people, who knew the mystery of Balaam, the Lord of peace was hidden. Peace was hidden from him. From this people, the Lord of peace was hidden.

Since Abraham was a prophet and saw in the Spirit the day of the Lord's coming and the establishment of the Passion, he greatly rejoiced. Through that Passion both he himself and all who, like him, believe God begin to be saved. Therefore neither the Lord, whose day Abraham longed to see, nor the Father of the Lord was unknown to him. For he learned of God from the Word and believed Him. Therefore it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3) by the Lord. Thus Abraham, knowing through the Word the Father who made heaven and earth, acknowledged Him as God. He was taught by revelation that the Son of God would be among men as man. Through His coming, his seed would be like the stars in heaven. Therefore he desired to see that day, so that he himself might embrace Christ. Seeing Him through the prophetic Spirit, he rejoiced.

Although in the persons there is the number of the Trinity, in Their nature there is the unity of divinity. But the carnal minds of the hearers do not lift their eyes from the flesh, measuring only the age of the flesh.

"My day" means the day of the Messiah. In the strict sense, it is the day of the Messiah's manifestation in the world, the day on which the Word became flesh (Jn 1:14).

In the broader sense, it is the whole New Testament period, the whole time of the Kingdom of the Messiah (Lk 17:22, 24). In this latter sense, the word "day" is used here as the word "hour" is used in another discourse of the Savior (Jn 5:25, 28).

"He saw it and was glad." When and how did he see it? The Apostle Paul speaks about the relation of the Old Testament righteous to the New Testament times, including Abraham.

"All these died in faith, not having received the promises" concerning the New Testament, "but having seen them from afar and rejoiced" (Heb 11:13). Thus this seeing was from afar, in faith.

During his earthly life, the great father of believers saw the New Testament time from afar by faith, and he rejoiced. How and in what did he see this time and rejoice?

In the events of his life there was much in which his faith could discern the New Testament time and fill him with joy.

The great promises said that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen chs. 12, 15, 17, 18, 22; cf. Rom ch. 4; Gal ch. 3; Heb ch. 11).

He received this with faith and understood that from his name would come the Messiah, the Restorer of all fallen humanity. Without doubt, these promises must have filled Abraham's heart with joy.

By faith he saw in them the day of the Messiah. His offering of Isaac as a sacrifice was performed by faith (Heb ch. 11 and following). It was a type of the Messiah's sacrifice on the Cross.

This was also a special time in which Abraham's faith saw the day of Christ, the day of humanity's redemption by the Messiah. This contemplation, of course, could not fail to fill the heart of the father of believers with joy.

So say Chrysostom and Theophylact. Then, he was a prophet (Gen 20:7). In prophetic contemplation he could joyfully see the day of Christ, although this is not recorded in the history of his life.

Finally, if according to the Greek structure of the speech one must distinguish the time signified by "rejoiced to see" from that signified by "and he saw and was glad," then the first words may refer to his joy during life on earth.

The latter words may refer to his seeing and joy, at the coming of the Kingdom of the Messiah, in his life beyond the grave, in Paradise.

We see that at the Lord's Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah speak with Him about the end of His earthly life (Lk 9:30-31). Therefore the mysteries of Christ had been revealed and made known to them.

One may suppose that these mysteries were revealed not only to these great men of the Old Testament, but also to others, including Abraham, the father of believers.

Thus one may think that the Lord here reveals a special fact from the realm of the spiritual world. This is the fact of Abraham's seeing the Kingdom of the Messiah at its manifestation in the world through the Incarnation of Christ the Savior.

It is a fact known only to Him, the all-knowing One.

There is, without doubt, an historical and economic difference between the revelation of the Old Testament and that of the New. But the essential content is one in both. The Savior is one, and God is one.

The books of the Old Testament are sacred for every Christian as divinely inspired Scripture. They are not like monuments of ancient pagan literature. Nevertheless, the new revelation is not only the revelation of one and the same Godhead. It is a fuller and clearer revelation of the Godhead known through the ancient revelation. Therefore our reverence for the new revelation must be all the higher and deeper.

“And ye have not known Him; but I know Him.” The revelation of God concerning God and Christ is one thing. The understanding of that revelation among the Jewish people is another.

The Savior says to the Jews: you do not know Him, the heavenly Father. Does this reproach apply only to the contemporaries of Jesus? “Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do ye,” says St. Stephen, Acts 7:51.

The people of Israel were the chosen people, the best people. Yet their own monuments, the historical and prophetic books, clearly say that they understood the revelation of God badly. Thus they appeared also in their dealings with Christ Jesus.

They do not recognize in Jesus Him of whom the prophets spoke. They do not recognize Him because they formed false notions of the Messiah and of the God of the prophets. In the tumult of earthly passions, they lost the pure concepts of human salvation.

“I know Him,” says the Savior. This knowledge was not received from outside, as happens with men. It is the consequence of the inward consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.

The Savior says this because truth requires it. If He were to say otherwise, He would resemble the Jews, to whom lying is so characteristic. The faithfulness of such testimony can be tested by His works. His whole life is dedicated to the glory of the heavenly Father.

Thus it is not vainglory, but love of truth, which testifies before the Jews that He knows the Father. Therefore whoever treasures truth must treasure His testimony.

“Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” The Jews vainly think that the greatness of Abraham is inaccessible to Jesus. On the contrary, Jesus is far above Abraham. He is the Messiah awaited by the father of believers.

The “day” of Jesus is “the time of His coming,” as Cyril of Alexandria says. So the Savior Himself explains it, Jn 9:4-5. Otherwise, it is the time of light indicated by the prophets, 2 Pet 1:19. It is the time of salvation, “which the prophets sought and searched diligently,” 1 Pet 1:10-12.

Abraham desired to see this day, and he saw it with rapture. How and when did Abraham see the time of Jesus Christ? Some suppose that he saw it in prefigurations, for example, in the offering of his son in sacrifice, as Zigabenus, Augustine, and Origen say.

But Jesus Christ distinguishes the expectation of the manifestation from the seeing. In the latter He lets us discern a special state of Abraham. Abraham rejoiced not only when he received the promises concerning the Messiah, or was instructed about Him through types. He saw with rapture the very time of Christ, or, what is the same, His manifestation to the world.

When and how did he see it? By a revelation given in the life beyond the grave. This thought is confirmed by the example of Moses and Elijah, who appeared on Tabor and spoke with Jesus concerning the Cross, Mt 17:4.