Verse 23... And thou didst love them as thou didst love me. [989] The proof of God's love for people was that He did not spare His Son for them. And here it does not indicate equality, but only a certain similarity, as it was pointed out before (Jesus Christ often repeats this word in order to give the disciples some consolation by such a comparison and to inspire greater boldness. intended after the present life to further encourage His followers).

Verse 24. Father, Thou hast given Me, I will, that where I am, and they shall be with Me...,[990] i.e., in Thy Kingdom, reigning with Me.

Verse 24... Let them see My glory, which Thou hast given Me... [991] the glory of the Godhead, which Thou hast given Me, not as the lesser or begotten after, but as the culprit, that is, as He who begat Me (But when did God the Father give this glory to the Son?...? The question proposed goes back to time: it is incomprehensible. Together with His being, the Father begat the Son, and there was no time when God the Father was not the Father. Since the expression "Thou hast given" could arouse temptation in some and seem humiliating to the Son, Jesus Christ warns of this with the following words).

Verse 24... For Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world...,[992] i.e., before the ages, as the Holy Scriptures usually express eternity. And Jesus Christ did not say, "That they may share in my glory," but, "That they may see my glory." The first is impossible for them, and all their blessedness will consist in the fact that, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, they will be an open face, beholding the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). And indeed, the greatest glory is to behold His glory.

Verse 25. Righteous Father... Jesus Christ here calls God the Father righteous because He was pleased that not only the Jews, but also all people should know Him, so that all would be saved and no one would perish because of ignorance of God. This is characteristic of the greatest truth and goodness.

Verse 25... And the world is not known to Thee... All the other nations have not known Thee, because they serve idols, and the Jews because of their wickedness they do not acknowledge Thee as My Father.

Verse 25... And I know Thee... [993] by nature.

Verse 25... And these know, that Thou hast sent Me. [994] And My disciples learned this from My teaching and Divine works.

Verse 26. And I told them Thy name... [995] the name of the Father. Jesus Christ said this before, and now he repeats it.

Verse 26... And I will say... more through the Holy Ghost. You see that just as the Father speaks through the Holy Spirit, so the Son reveals through Him to the disciples what He wants. From this, again, the equality of honesty and unanimity of the Most Holy Trinity is revealed.

Verse 26... That they love, which Thou hast loved Me, shall be in them. [996] I, says Jesus Christ, will reveal to them Thy name still more, so that after this name has been fully revealed to them, and they know that I am Thy true Son and beloved by nature, that after that the same true and natural love may be manifested among them.

Verse 26... And I am in them... and that I may dwell more in them, because of their greater faith, because they know Me more perfectly. And so Jesus Christ ends His discourse with a speech about love, which is the fulfillment of all virtues.

CHAPTER XVIII

Verse 1. (And) these rivers Jesus went out with His disciples to the floor of the brook of Cedar, where there was a vineyard, in which He Himself and His disciples came in. [997] Find in the twenty-sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew the passage where it says: "And he sang and went out into the Mount of Olives" (Matt. 26:30), and read his explanation; there you will find an explanation of this verse as well. The same, however, must be said about the following verses, which we have explained more extensively and thoroughly in our interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.