Chapter Twelve

1-8. The anointing of Christ in Bethany. — 9-19. The triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. — 20-36. The last appearance of Christ in the temple. — 37-50. A review of the results of the Messiah’s activity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 12:1. Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. Since according to the law the Passover began on the 14th of Nisan after sunset, it means the Lord came to Bethany on the 8th of Nisan (six days before). But on what day did the 8th of Nisan fall? Some say it was a Saturday, arguing that the 14th of Nisan that year fell on Friday. Of course, if we allow that John understands “before the Passover” to mean the Passover “legally” observed by the Jews that year, and that this “legal” day of Passover fell on a Friday, then those who accept such an opinion would be right. But why could not John in the given expression have in view the Passover that Christ celebrated with his disciples, namely on the day before, that is, on the 13th of Nisan, on Thursday? Such a reckoning of days in John is very possible. Moreover, hardly would the Lord have disrupted the rest of the Sabbath without necessity by traveling with his disciples. Furthermore, it undoubtedly required considerable time to prepare a supper for Christ and his disciples—and who would prepare it on a Sabbath? Finally, on one Sabbath evening could not happen what John reports: many Jews coming to Bethany after learning of Christ’s coming there, and the determination of the chief priests to kill Lazarus (verses 9-10). Thus, it remains to accept that the Lord came to Bethany on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday he was served supper. The Hebrews, it seems, generally loved to arrange great suppers on Saturdays (compare Luke 14:1 and following). If the evangelist did not think it necessary to say that the supper was served on the day following his arrival, then neither in other cases does he always think it necessary to make such distinctions of days (compare John 1:39). The question whether this supper was the same one described by Matthew (Matt 26:6 and following) and Mark (Mark 14:3 and following) is answered differently by interpreters. Some (for example, Bishop Michael) maintain that it was a different supper, and as evidence they point, first, to the fact that in the first two evangelists a supper is described that took place not six, but two days before the Passover; second, that the name of the woman is given only in John; third, that the name of the host is given only in the first two evangelists; and fourth, that these suppers are distinguished in the Church hymns for Passion week. Others see no need to distinguish these suppers and argue that all three evangelists are speaking of the same one. The latter assumption is more natural, since it seems highly unlikely that in the course of one week the Lord came to Bethany twice and that the same event—the anointing of Christ—was repeated with nearly identical circumstances by two different women. As for the objections raised against the latter opinion, they have no force. First, the second and third objections, which point to the omission of names, have absolutely no force: one evangelist thought it necessary to name the person involved, another did not. As for the first ground, although it seems weighty, it actually has little significance. The fact is that Matthew and Mark do not speak of the anointing of Christ in strict chronological order of events, but only recall it on the occasion of reporting, after the story of this anointing, about the betrayal of Judas (Matt 26:14 and following); but as we see from the Gospel of John, it was Judas who initiated the protest of the other disciples against the wasteful expenditure of the precious ointment, which Mary made. Matthew the evangelist, thus, inserted the account of the anointing into chapter 26 not because strict chronological order of events required it, but in order to partly characterize the disposition of the disciples in general and Judas in particular, and partly to indicate that the Lord knew the fate prepared for him by his enemies (Matt 26:12). The history of the anointing stands in exactly the same connection in Mark’s Gospel. As for the testimony of liturgical hymns, they never aimed at establishing chronological order of events. This is evident, for example, from the fact that the conversation of Christ with the apostles about the preparation of the Passover is mentioned in the stichera for the Saturday of Palms, at the time when Christ came to Bethany (“six days” before the Passover); in another stichera of the same day it is said that Christ came six days before the Passover “to raise the four-day-old dead Lazarus.” Where did the Lord come from this time to Bethany? In all probability, from Jericho, where he visited the house of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:5). From Jericho to Bethany it was about six hours’ journey. Regarding Bethany, see the commentaries on Mark 11:1.

John 12:2. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. As we see from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, the supper for Christ was prepared “in the house of Simon the leper” (see Matt 26:6). But Martha was invited by the host to serve Christ, as a woman from the family to whom Christ was well-disposed. It is remarkable that Lazarus also took part in the banquet. Evidently, he felt well enough that he did not avoid the joyful banquet.

John 12:3. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. The evangelist again clearly contrasts Mary with Martha (compare John 11:32). While Martha was concerned with providing abundantly at the table, Mary anointed Jesus’s feet with perfume and wiped them with her hair. She forgets that Jewish propriety forbids a woman to appear with uncovered head in the company of men; she even lets down her hair to wipe Jesus’s feet with it, thus repeating what was once done by the sinful woman with regard to Jesus (Luke 7:38). A pound is 337.5 grams. Nard—see commentaries on Mark 14:3.

John 12:4. One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was about to betray him, said: John 12:5. “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor? In John, only Judas Iscariot objects against Mary’s deed, whereas in Matthew and Mark all the disciples do. Evidently John indicates who really initiated this protest. For the rest, see Matt 26; Mark 14.

John 12:6. He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it. Judas not only carried the money that had been contributed, but “took” or secretly took a considerable portion of it for himself. The verb here (ἐβάσταζεν), translated into Russian as “carried,” should more properly be translated “stole” (compare John 20:15). Why was Judas entrusted by Christ with the money box? It is very likely that by this show of trust Christ wanted to influence Judas, to inspire in him love and devotion to himself. But such trust did not have a favorable effect on Judas: he had already become too attached to money and therefore abused Christ’s trust in him.

John 12:7. Jesus said: Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. See commentaries on Matt 26:12; Mark 14:8. “Leave her alone.” More ancient manuscripts read “leave,” and this reading is more appropriate here, since John says that only Judas was condemning Mary. “She bought it so that.” The earliest manuscripts read here “so that she would keep it” (instead of τετήρηκεν—ἵνα... τηρήσῃ). According to this ancient reading, the Lord means to say that Mary, having now anointed his feet, should keep the remaining ointment in the flask not to sell it so that the proceeds might be given to the poor, but to save it for the day of his burial, when, according to custom, she would be able to anoint his body.

John 12:8. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. (See commentaries on Matt 26:11; Mark 14:7).

John 12:9. When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. From verses 9 through 19 there is an account of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, which John describes in general agreement with the Synoptists (compare Matt 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-38). But in John there are also some departures from the Synoptists, which are explained by the distinctive character of his narrative. While in the Synoptists the entry of Christ into Jerusalem begins from Jericho, with no mention of a stop in Bethany, in John Jericho is not mentioned at all, and on the contrary, Bethany appears as the main stopping point for Christ on this journey. The Jews even rush there to verify the reality of Lazarus’s raising. Evidently, John here supplements the narrative of the Synoptists.

John 12:10. The chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, John 12:11. since on account of him many of the Jews were deserting them and were believing in Jesus. The chief priests, noticing the agitation among the people and seeing how because of Lazarus, whom the Lord had raised, many of the Jews were leaving them (ὑπῆγον, in the Russian translation incorrectly translated as “were coming”) and turning to Christ, decided to kill Lazarus as well.

John 12:12. The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem The events mentioned in verses 9-11 certainly could not have taken place in only one day, so the expression “the next day” should be understood as designating the day following the day of supper in Bethany, which was on Saturday. Thus, the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem falls on the 10th of Nisan (on our calendar, on Sunday).

John 12:13. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel! (See commentaries on Matt 21:9-11). “Palm branches.” The word for “branch” in Greek is βαΐον—a word taken from the Egyptian language. In the Old Testament they are mentioned as symbols of joy. They were used to welcome kings, victors, and heroes (1 Macc 13:51). They recalled the bundles (Lulav) with which the Hebrews walked during the Feast of Tabernacles on the basis of Lev 23:40. If the people now meet Christ with shouts of “Hosanna,” they probably do so by a certain association of thought. Namely, the branches in their hands reminded the people of the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, when the 117th Psalm was chanted, and in this psalm the cry “Hosanna” occurs. The people thus expressed their joy at the coming of the Messiah-King and met him with joyful shouts, believing that Christ had come to reveal his kingdom.

John 12:14. Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: That Jesus did not find the donkey himself is evident from the words of verse 16: “this they did for him,” that is, certainly his disciples.

John 12:15. “Do not fear, daughter of Zion! See, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt. John interprets Christ’s entry on a donkey as fulfilling the prophet Zechariah’s words (Zech 9:9) as a designation of the meekness of the Messiah King. Not to punish and judge does he now come, but to save his people. Certainly, John wanted to say that salvation will be given only to the true daughter of Zion, that is, to those worthy of this salvation. The quotation from the prophet Zechariah is given in a shortened form. Besides, the expression “rejoice with great joy” (Zech 9:9) John replaced with the expression “do not fear.” He did this because at that time it was too early for the true Israelites, who understood that the Lord was going to his suffering and death, to rejoice. On the contrary, the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem for the devout Israelites served only to dispel their anxieties, namely that Messianic salvation was still not accomplished. And John now comforts their anxieties. The Messiah the Savior is coming!

John 12:16. His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. Just as the disciples earlier did not understand Christ’s words about himself as the temple, which would first be destroyed and then rebuilt (John 2:19), so also regarding the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem they show a failure to understand that in this the Old Testament prophecies about Christ were being fulfilled. Only after Christ’s glorification did they understand that they themselves had served the accomplishment of these prophecies, having brought the Lord a donkey on which he made his entry into Jerusalem (“and had been done to him”).

John 12:17. The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. John 12:18. It was also because the crowd heard that he had done this sign that they went out to meet him. John 12:19. The Pharisees then said to one another: “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him. The “crowd,” that is, the throng of people (ὁ ὄχλος), that was in Bethany when Lazarus was raised; they explained to the “people,” that is, again the throng (ὁ ὄχλος), that met Christ at the gates of Jerusalem, what the Lord had done in Bethany. This is how the evangelist explains the enthusiasm with which Christ was received. The Pharisees seemed to think that “the whole world” or all the people were going after Christ, and this reasoning prompted them to take more decisive action against Christ.

John 12:20. Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. The Greeks mentioned here apparently belonged to what were called “proselytes of the gate” and came to Jerusalem to worship (compare Acts 24:11). The evangelist does not indicate on what day the following event took place.

John 12:21. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus. These proselytes saw how the Jewish people were receiving their Messiah, about whom they surely must have had some knowledge before, and wished to “see Jesus,” that is, to become acquainted with him (though they could have “seen” him before as well). They approach the apostle Philip with their request to introduce them to Christ. John, by saying that Philip was from Bethsaida in Galilee (see Luke 9:10), suggests that Philip would be known to these “Greeks,” who probably came from the Decapolis, in relation to which Bethsaida occupied a neighboring location (compare Matt 4:25). There is nothing improbable in the supposition that these proselytes were present at Christ’s expulsion of the money changers from the temple, which took place the day after his entry into Jerusalem. (And John does not say that the Greeks approached Philip on the very day of the “entry.”) After all, the money changers occupied precisely the court in the temple that was set aside for the prayer of the proselytes, and Christ, by driving them out, was in a sense taking these proselytes under his protection. From this it naturally followed that the proselytes felt sympathy for him and a desire to know him better.

John 12:22. Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip told Jesus. Philip did not dare to report on his own to Christ about the Greeks’ desire. First, he may have been troubled by the memory of the command Christ gave regarding pagans (Matt 10:5), and Christ’s words regarding the request of the Canaanite woman (Matt 15:24); second, Philip saw how enthusiastically Christ was received by the Jewish people, and he thought that a conversation between Christ and these Greeks, probably in the temple, would arouse irritation against him among the Jews and give them grounds to accuse Christ of being alien in soul to his own people (compare John 7:35). But Andrew, to whom Philip turned for advice, was more resolute and thought it possible to tell Christ about the Greeks’ desire. Andrew may have recalled such cases as Christ’s healing of the centurion’s servant at Capernaum, his conversation with the Samaritan woman, and finally his words: “the one who comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37).

John 12:23. Jesus answered: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Christ gave no response to the Greeks’ request. His words appear to be addressed to Philip and Andrew (“answered them”). In these words he speaks of the coming of his departure. His death now awaits him, and the coming of those who represent the pagan world seem to remind him that it is time for him to give his soul for the good of all mankind. But the accomplishment of redemption is, of course, the highest deed of the Messiah, and therefore Christ calls his death his “glorification.” The hour has come for him to die, but at the same time also to be “glorified,” and his glorification so far exceeds the humiliation he will receive in death that Christ does not even speak of death, but only of glorification. At the same time, he does not say “to me,” but “to the Son of Man.” This usual designation of the Messiah in John has special significance here. The Lord means to say that he will appear as the Redeemer not just of the Israeli people alone, but of all mankind: “the Son of Man,” he belongs to all humanity.

John 12:24. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Since the disciples, under the influence of the solemn reception of Christ by the people, might interpret Christ’s words about his glorification as a promise of new miracles, the Lord with special emphasis (the twice-repeated “very truly”) rejects such an understanding. No, not external glorification awaits him now, but on the contrary, humiliation and death. Yet this death is a necessary condition for the emergence of a new, richer, and more varied life. He must give up his soul or life so that the salvation he has brought might come out of the narrow confines of Judaism and become the possession of the whole world. Such is the meaning of this parable of the grain, which, dying (that is, decomposing) in the earth, gives rise to a new shoot, on which appear many grains (fruits). Thus here is expressed the thought that in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is contained the life of the entire Church, that every believer reflects Christ in himself, lives with him and in him. It should be noted that if the pagans also began to listen to Christ’s words, they too could understand their meaning to some extent, since in their own mysteries the grain played a significant role as a symbol of life.

John 12:25. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:26. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. Such a willingness for self-sacrifice should also characterize Christ’s disciples. See commentaries on Matt 10:39 and parallel passages. As for the reward that the Lord promises to his followers, John here expresses in somewhat distinctive terms what is indicated in Matt 10:32 and Mark 8:38.

John 12:27. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. According to Archbishop Innocent’s remark, all of this, as shown by the very character of the thoughts and words, was spoken with the majesty befitting the Son of God. “But suddenly his bright gaze was as if covered with some gloom of sorrow. On his divine face it was evident that one feeling in his soul was rapidly replaced by another, and there occurred as it were a strong internal movement and struggle.” From the thought of his glorious future the Lord suddenly turns to the thought of the present, and behold, the “soul,” which is to be hated, responds to this thought with terrible painful sensation. Indeed, Christ was sinless, yet death is the consequence of sin. It is clear that it was especially hateful, repugnant to Christ’s soul, to his most holy nature. Besides, the very death that Christ underwent was horrible, because it was the punishment for the sins of all mankind. Christ in this death of his was to taste all the bitterness of the cup that divine justice had prepared for sinful mankind. “And what should I say?” The Lord is so shaken by the thought of death, by the foretaste of its bitterness, that he cannot find suitable words to express his feelings. Yet this state lasts only a few moments. “Father, save me from this hour!” This is not a request, but a question. The Lord seems to reflect with himself: “Shall I say to the Father to save me? But I came for this hour. No, I must go into this mortal struggle, must accomplish the work for which I came. Let all that the righteous judgment of God has determined for me be accomplished.” Christ overcame the involuntary fear of death. It is very likely that John, in reporting this brief “struggle” of Christ with the fear of death, is saying the same thing that the Synoptists wanted to say in their account of Christ’s struggle in Gethsemane (Matt 26:36-46 and parallel passages).

John 12:28. “Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Christ prays for the glorification of God’s name—glorification, of course, by his death and resurrection, after which should come the fulfillment of Christ’s words about the salvation of all mankind (verse 24). In answer to this prayer, God himself answered Christ from heaven, that as he had previously fulfilled his intentions through Christ, so through Christ’s death he will soon glorify his name, that is, complete his plan for the salvation of mankind (John 9:3).

John 12:29. The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder; others said, “An angel has spoken to him. Whenever the Son manifested his devotion to the Father in some important event of his life, the Father answered him in the presence of some witnesses. So it was at his baptism, at his transfiguration, and so it happened now. Christ on this solemn final day of his prophetic ministry dedicated himself to the coming work—ultimately entered the path leading to death. Now from the Father it was solemnly announced to the Son his approval of this decision. The Father proclaimed to the Son glorification, that is, the imminent coming of a new era of Christ’s activity—his activity as King (Godet). There is no doubt that the Father’s words were spoken as articulate sounds; this is evident from the fact that some of those present understood them but thought them to be the words of an Angel.

John 12:30. Jesus said: “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Christ, of course, even without such a sign, knew what the Father meant to say to him. The voice was for the Jews standing around him, who should have paid attention to such a miraculous testimony to Christ, but because of their own lack of receptivity (compare John 5:37) still did not understand that God himself was thus calling them to Christ.

John 12:31. “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. After this remark, made by Christ with regard to the crowd, the Lord again returns to speaking of what his “hour” will bring to all mankind. Now the judgment (κρίσις) that began with Christ’s appearance at his ministry (cf. John 3:19) is approaching its end. The world, condemning Christ to death, supposes it is completely eliminating his influence on its life, but in reality it is not Christ who is condemned, but this very world hostile to Christ that is now subject to judgment. At the same time, the ruler of this world (the devil) will be driven out of the world (according to some ancient manuscripts, “down” - κάτω) (Eph 2:2). The decision about the devil will be pronounced “now,” that is, at the hour of Christ’s death, but the execution of this decision will take place gradually, with the acquisition of ever more new followers of Christ, so Christ says not “is driven out,” but “will be driven out” (compare John 16:11).

John 12:32. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. The expression “lifted up” (ὑψωθῶ) the Lord uses here in the same twofold sense as before (see commentaries on John 3:14): his lifting up on the cross becomes for him a means of his lifting up to heaven. On the other hand, this lifting up is a means by which all people, including the “Greeks” (verse 20), will be drawn to Christ, under his power. When Christ is in heaven, he will no longer be confined to the narrow limits of one nationality to which he belonged by birth, but will be the Lord of “all” (Rom 10:12).

John 12:33. He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The evangelist himself understands the Lord’s words as an indication of the very manner of his death—crucifixion, in which the Lord was indeed lifted up or raised above the earth and, stretching his arms on the cross, seemed to wish to draw all the world to himself.

John 12:34. The crowd answered him: “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? The crowd seemed unable to reconcile the recent solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem as Messiah and these words of his about his imminent death. The Old Testament prophecies indeed speak of the Messiah reigning forever (Ps 109:4; Isa 9:6; Dan 7:13-14). No, if the Messiah, or the Son of Man, is to leave the place of his activity, then this is not the Messiah the Jews were expecting—this is some special Messiah! Let Christ explain to them whom he really means to say he is.

John 12:35. Then Jesus said to them: yet for a little while the light is with you; walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you; and whoever walks in darkness does not know where he is going. John 12:36. As long as the light is with you, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. Having said this, Jesus went away and was hidden from them. The Lord again encounters incomprehension from his listeners, but now finds it impossible to enter into any explanations with the crowd about what the Messiah should be from the point of view of the prophets. He persuades the listeners to make use of those few days in which the light of the sun – Christ – will still shine for them (cf. John 7:33). But of course, in order to use this Light (to walk in it), one needs faith in this Light, and so Christ considers it necessary to remind them of this, moreover promising that they may become in time “sons of light” (see the commentary on Luke 16:8). Having said this, Christ withdrew, probably to Gethsemane, to the Mount of Olives. From verse 37 to verse 50, the evangelist casts a glance at the results of the activity of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Jewish people and is astonished at how meager these results were, how few believers in Christ were revealed. How can this fact be explained? Here, in the evangelist’s view, God’s threat to the Jewish people was fulfilled, which the prophet Isaiah once pronounced. In this connection, the evangelist briefly sums up the testimonies that exist about Christ in the previously cited speeches of Christ to the Jews.

John 12:37. He performed so many signs before them, and yet they did not believe in him, Speaking of the multitude of signs (“so many signs”), John evidently has in mind the signs described in the Synoptists: he himself speaks only of a few signs of Christ.

John 12:38. so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The fact that the Hebrews did not believe – of course, in the mass – in Christ was not in any way unexpected. The prophet Isaiah already predicted this. (Isa 53:1, the evangelist cites according to the text of the translation of the Seventy). Christ can now say with the apostles (“what we have heard”) that believers in his preaching were found very few.

John 12:39. For this reason they could not believe, for as Isaiah said again, John 12:40. He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they might not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and turn to me, so that I would heal them. What is the cause of such a sad and to many incomprehensible phenomenon as the unbelief of a people who had long since been prepared for the reception of the Messiah? For this reason, answers the evangelist, they could not (ancient Greek interpreters replaced the expression “could not” with “would not,” but such a replacement finds no basis in the words of the prophet cited below) believe in Christ, because, as Isaiah says, this people is extremely stubborn in their understanding of those tasks which the Messiah was to accomplish. The Jews stubbornly refused to understand their spiritual weakness, in which they found themselves because of their sins. They did not find the need for a Messiah as a spiritual Savior and Healer. Therefore they did not turn to Christ. The evangelist cites here a passage from the book of Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) according to the translation of the Seventy, as this passage is cited already in the Synoptists (Matt 13:14-15 and parallel passages). But our Russian translation does not quite accurately convey the Greek text: instead of “their eyes” it reads “their eyes” and to the verb “blinded” it adjoins the subject “this people,” whereas this expression is not found in the Greek text. It is more correct and closer to the Greek original the Slavonic translation: “blind, i.e., he blinded their eyes” and so on. According to this translation, the subject of the word “blinded” should be recognized as the word “God” or “Lord,” found in verse 38 (“Lord!”), and the whole verse takes on this meaning: God – as punishment because the Jews from the very beginning of Christ’s appearance with the preaching of the Gospel in Judea (John 2:13-14) showed an unwillingness to believe in Christ – blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts or, in other words, hardened them, so that they might not understand the meaning of Christ’s deeds. However, as the blessed Augustine notes, “God hardens not so that he instills stubbornness, but only by withholding from man his grace. He makes salvation difficult in the sense that he himself does not send relief, and he blinds by not enlightening.” “So that I would heal them.” Since we have seen that the subject with the verb “blinded” should be the word “God,” it is clear that here by the expression “I” the evangelist could not mean God – then it would be necessary to say, according to the requirement of construction, “he” healed – but meant Christ the Savior and Healer. Thus the whole verse takes on the character of a complaint which Christ brings against his people. “This people,” as Christ would seem to say, “angered my heavenly Father by their stubborn unwillingness to listen to me, and my Father for this took away from it his gracious help, which is necessary for man so that he could understand my deeds and examine them as they should be examined. If the people had not fallen into such hardening, then it could have received healing or salvation from me, but now all is finished!”

John 12:41. Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him. Here the evangelist explains the reason why he gives such significance to the above prophecy of Isaiah, referring it to Christ. The prophet saw “the glory of Christ,” that is, he saw God, sitting in all his glory and surrounded by seraphim; but in seeing God, he, in the evangelist’s view, also saw Christ, because Christ, as the divine Logos, was always with God (cf. John 1:1). Therefore one can say that Isaiah in the above prophecy about the hardening of the Jews had in mind Christ (“spoke of him”). Cf. the commentary on Isa 6.

John 12:42. Nevertheless, many even of the leaders believed in him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear of being put out of the synagogue, John 12:43. for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. To show that the mission of Christ did not pass without effect even for the Jews, the evangelist points out that even some of the leaders – of simple Jews he does not speak at all, and many such believed – were believers in Christ, but because of material and other advantages they did not openly confess their faith. Such were Nicodemus (John 7:50) and Joseph of Arimathea (John 19:38). Ancient Greek interpreters hold that from verse 44 onwards a new speech of the Lord begins, but this opinion cannot be accepted, because according to the evangelist’s understanding, Christ already “was hidden” from the Jews (verse 36). To whom could he have spoken this speech? It is better to see here a conclusion which the evangelist himself draws to the history of Christ’s public ministry which he has set forth above. In this conclusion he sums up the numerous testimonies of Christ about himself as the Messiah, Son of God. The connection of this section with the previous one is as follows. The Jews did not believe in Christ, and even the leaders who believed in Christ did not openly confess their faith, and meanwhile, Christ loudly proclaimed (“cried out,” ἔκραξεν – shouted), what great significance faith in him has and what terrible consequences unbelief brings with it.

John 12:44. Jesus cried out and said: Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. (See John 7:16 and following; John 8:42).

John 12:45. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. (See John 14:9).

John 12:46. I have come into the world as a light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. (See John 8:12).

John 12:47. If anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. (See John 3:17).

John 12:48. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has someone to judge him: the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (See John 5:45). “The word... will judge.” At the final judgment, judgment will not be performed personally by Christ, but by the word announced by him: people will be judged to the extent that they have shown faith in “the word of Christ” and his Gospel in all its fullness. So also the Lord said of the Jews that their law judges them (John 7:51).

John 12:49. For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me has given me a commandment what to say and what to speak. (See John 7:17).

John 12:50. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So whatever I speak, I speak as the Father has told me. (See John 3:34).