The people answered him, "We have heard from the law that Christ abides forever; how then do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Then Jesus said to them, "Yet a little while the light is with you; walk while there is light, so that darkness does not overtake you, and he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. As long as the light is with you, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. 

Thinking to rebuke the Lord and make it difficult for Him as the untrue Christ, they say: if Christ is immortal, and You say of Yourself that You will die, how can we believe that You are truly the Christ? They spoke so maliciously. For the Scriptures, which they call the Law, mention not only the resurrection, but also suffering. Thus, Isaiah points to both: to suffering and death, when he says: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter"; on the resurrection, when he says: "The Lord wants to cleanse Him from the plague and show Him with light" (Isaiah 53:11), David also mentions death and resurrection together. For He says: "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell" (Psalm 15:10). Likewise, the patriarch, blessing Judas, prophesies about Christ: "He lay down, fell asleep like a lion, and like a lion's cub: who will wake Him?" (Gen. 49:9). Therefore, rejecting the sufferings of Christ and attributing the resurrection to Him, they did so maliciously. We know from the Law, that is, from the Scriptures (for the Law, as we have often observed, is the name of all Scripture), that Christ endures for ever. "Rightly you know this, for He abides forever and, as God, abides even after the resurrection. But how did you not learn of suffering, when the same Scriptures, as we have shown, teach both together? How, they say, do you say that the Son of Man must be "lifted up"? Do you see, they understood much from the Lord's flowing speeches, for example, they understood that by the words: "to be lifted up" He was speaking about the Cross? Yes, they really understood a lot, but out of their evil will they hid behind ignorance. Notice what they say. How do you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? Their speech is full of malice. They say as it were: although we do not know of whom you speak, and who the Son of man is, yet we clearly understand the truth that whoever is exalted, whoever he is, is not the Christ; it is incompatible; for the Scriptures say that Christ is immortal. What about the Lord? Shutting their mouths and showing that His sufferings do not in the least hinder Him from abiding forever, He says: "There is still a little time of Light in you." He called Himself Light. As the light of the sun does not disappear at all, but is hidden and shines again, so My death is not corruption, but the west and repose, and through the resurrection I will shine again. And since suffering does not in the least hinder Me from being eternal, and the Scriptures testify of Christ that He is eternal, then I am truly the Christ, although I will endure suffering. For I am the Light; I will go in and come up again. So, while the Light is with you, walk, that is, believe in Me. What time is He talking about here? He speaks of the time before suffering, or of the time after suffering, or of both Places. Therefore, he says, walk and believe in me, both before my crucifixion and after it. He points to this with the words: "As long as the Light is with you," that is, as long as you can believe in Me; but you can believe in Me, who am the Light, both before and after sufferings. But he who walks in unbelief does not know where he is going. For whatever the Jews are doing now, they do not know what they are doing, but walk as it were in darkness; they think that they are on the straight path, but everything is the opposite for them, when they observe the Sabbath and circumcision. But not so do those who believe. They walk in the light, doing all things that pertain to salvation. For they escaped the shadow of the law and the darkness of divination, and came to the light which was hidden in them, but which now shone forth, and became sons of Light, that is, of Christ. "That ye may be," he says, "sons of Light," that is, My sons. Although the Evangelist at the beginning of the Gospel says that some are born of God (1:13), here he calls them sons of Light, that is, of Christ. Let Arius and Eunomius be ashamed. For here also it is shown that the Father and the Son have one action.

     When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them. So many miracles did He do before them, and they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled; God! Who believed what we heard? and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? (Isaiah 53:1). Therefore they could not believe that, as Isaiah said, "This people have blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn back, that I may heal them" (Isaiah 6:10). 

Why did the Lord hide from them? Now they did not lift up stones against Him, nor did they say any blasphemy, as they did before. Why did He hide? Though they said nothing, yet when He penetrated into their hearts, He saw that their wrath was increasing. In order to tame their hatred, He hides. That they did not believe, but were vexed, the Evangelist also pointed out when he said: "He did so many miracles, and they did not believe in Him." And of course, it is a matter of no small malice not to believe in so many miracles. So many, he says, miracles about which he has kept silent. So. Jesus hid himself in order to calm their malice, and at the same time to give them time and tranquillity, so that they could calm down and discuss His words and deeds. For in such a case, if they wished, they could come to understand His dignity - the Godhead. Though He knew their unbelief beforehand, yet what depended on Himself, He did and allowed, giving them, as it is said, time to discuss. In the words, "They have not believed in him, that the word of Isaiah may be fulfilled," there is not a cause, but an event. For they did not believe in Christ, not because Isaiah foretold about them, but the prophet foretold about them because they would not believe. The same thought is expressed in the words: "Therefore they could not believe that Isaiah had yet spoken of them." By all this He wants to confirm that the Scriptures are not false, and that Isaiah's prophecy was not fulfilled in any other way than he had predicted. Lest anyone speak and wonder why Christ came, if he knew that the Jews would not believe in Him, for this purpose the Evangelist cites the prophets who foretold this; But Christ, though He knew of their unbelief, yet He came so that they would not have an excuse for their sin, and could not say that we would believe if He had come. The words: "could not believe" mean the same as "did not want." For an evil and wicked man, as long as he remains so, that is, chooses evil, cannot believe. But when you hear that God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, do not think that He simply makes some good and others evil (away with such a thought!), but by complete blindness understand abandonment from God. Let me explain by an example, Suppose that someone is moderate in malice. God seems to be with him, because there is hope that such a person will be converted. When a person plunges into the depths of malice, then God leaves him because of his evil will. Of a man who has lost the Divine light and walks in the darkness of sin, it is said that he walks like a blind man; the absence of the Divine word, which softens the hearts of those who accept it, is a hardening of the heart. He is already blinded who does not receive the ray of Divine light at all, and he is petrified who does not want to listen to the teaching that softens the heart, and the withdrawal of God completely blinds and darkens him. Therefore, when you hear that God blinds, understand that He blinds because He is not intrinsic. For if God were inherent in man, man would not become blind. If there were sunshine, there would be no darkness. And now the sun produces night. How? When it comes in. In the same way, God makes people blind by withdrawing from them. And he departs from them because of their malice, and from there, like blind men, they sin irretrievably and fall irreparably. Let us also consider the words of Isaiah: "Lord! Who believed our hearing?" For the word "who" is used in many places of Scripture instead of "no one." The prophet said this as if on behalf of Christ. It is as if Christ says to the Father: Lord! Who believed Our hearing? - that is, no one believed Our word and My preaching, which He called "hearing". For He says, "What I have heard from My Father, that I say" (John 8:26). "And the arm of the Lord was revealed to whom?" - that is, the powerful action of miracles, which I called "the arm", was not revealed to any of the foolish Jews, but they slander Me even when I work so many miracles.

     This is what Isaiah said, when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. However, many of the rulers also believed in Him, but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess, so as not to be excommunicated from the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. 

This is what Isaiah said when he saw His glory. Whom? Son. Although the prophet, judging by the connection of the speech, seems to have seen the glory of the Father, the Evangelist says here that Isaiah saw the glory of the Son, and the Apostle Paul says that he saw the glory of the Spirit (Acts 28:25). Truly one is the glory of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Isaiah, he says, saw glory: the smoke that appeared to him, the seraphim, the coals, the altar, the throne (Isaiah 6:1). So Isaiah saw this glory and spoke of Him, that is, of the Son. What did He say about Him? That which is said above, that he blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts. The Evangelist notes that many of the rulers also believed in Him, showing that the Pharisees lied when they said: "Did any of the rulers believe in Him?" (John 7:48). For behold, many of the rulers believed, but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess. For they have loved the glory of men. Christ had said to them about this before: "How can you believe, when you receive glory from men, and reject the glory that is from God alone" (John 5:44)? Thus, the Evangelist shows that what Christ predicted happened to them. Truly, they were not bosses, but slaves, and slaves of the lowest. From now on we learn that whoever loves glory is a slave and dishonorable.

     And Jesus cried out, and said, He that believeth in Me believeth not in Me, but in Him who sent Me; and he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.