Since the Lord was close to suffering and knew that the disciples would be filled with sorrow, therefore He says: "You should not grieve in the least for My death." For if you yourself do not die, it will be of no use to you. And in general, any person who loves the present life and loves his soul, that is, fulfills its inappropriate desires, when he pleases it more than he should, and does not despise death, will destroy it. And whoever hates it, that is, does not serve it and does not bow down before it, will preserve it unto eternal life. Wishing to show how severe an aversion one should have to the lusts of the soul, He said, "Who hates?" We can neither see the faces nor hear the voices of those whom we hate: we must treat the irrational desires of the soul in the same way, that is, hate them with complete hatred. With the words: "Whoever hates his soul "in this world" shows the temporality of the matter. This commandment seemed murderous and inconsistent with the love of life. He softened it by adding: "in this world." I, he says, do not always command to hate the soul; but "in this unfaithful world" turn away from it, when it enjoins you to "do unlike" (Romans 1:28). He also adds to the benefit: "He will preserve it unto eternal life"; you will hate it for a time, but you will keep it alive forever for divine life.

Wishing to persuade them still more to despise the present life and encourage them against death, he says: "Whosoever serves Me, let him follow Me," let him be ready for death as I am. Then He offers consolation: "Where I am, there will My servant be." Where is Christ? In heaven. For the heavenly and the earthly are opposed to each other. Whoever loves to be on earth will not be in heaven, and whoever avoids earthly things and this world will be high in heaven. "Whoever serves Me, My Father will honor him." He did not say, "I will mail him," but, "Father." This shows His affinity with Him. For the true Father will honor him as a servant of His true Son. At the same time, this shows that He is not an adversary of God. For God the Father would not honor a servant who opposes Him. Therefore, let us not set the love of our soul in keeping it from dangers for the truth's sake, and not wishing to suffer evil for good; but if we are servants of Christ, we give it up in danger for the truth, and will undoubtedly be in the same condition as Christ is now; I do not speak in divine dignity, for He is God by nature, but in that with which human nature can be adorned; for He is God by nature, and we are gods by adoption and by grace.

My soul is now troubled; and what shall I say? Father! deliver me from this hour! But at this hour I have come. Father! glorify Thy name. Then came a voice from heaven: I have glorified, and I will glorify again.

What is He saying? He seems to contradict himself. Above, it seems, He prepared others for death and persuaded them to hate the soul, but now, near death, He is indignant. This is not fitting for one who exhorts to death, but averts from it. But if you examine carefully, you will find that His very indignation is an exhortation to contempt for death. Lest anyone think of saying that it is easy for Him to be so inquisitive about death and to persuade others to endure misfortunes, when He Himself is beyond human suffering and beyond danger, He shows that He Himself has experienced what is proper to people and is a partaker of our nature, although without sin. Therefore, although He, as a Man who loves life by nature, does not desire death and is indignant, yet He does not renounce it, since it is necessary for the salvation of the world. For this reason, he says, at this hour I have come, to receive death for all. This clearly teaches us that we, too, even if we are indignant, even if we grieve, yet we do not escape death for the truth. And I, he says, am indignant, for I am truly a man, and I allow human nature to reveal what is proper to it, yet I do not tell the Father that He should deliver Me from this hour; but what am I saying? "Father! glorify Thy name," that is, please Me to accept the cross and death for the salvation of all. Behold, He called death for the truth the glory of God. For this reason the Father also says: "I have glorified, and I will glorify again"; glorified by those miracles which Thou didst perform in My name before the Cross; "and I will glorify again," having performed miracles through Thee on the Cross itself; and after the burial I will make My name and Thee more glorious, by raising Thee up and sending down the Spirit.

The people who stood and heard it said, "This is thunder." And others said, "The angel spoke to him." Jesus answered, "This voice was not for me, but for the people." Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. This He said, giving us to understand by what death He would die.

Since so many were coarse and ignorant, they took the voice for thunder, although this voice was articulate and very clear. For they soon forgot the words of the voice, retaining only its echo. Some remembered the very words of the voice: "And I glorified, and I will glorify again," however, not understanding what meaning of these words they thought that the angel spoke to Him, and therefore these words, as spoken by an angel, are incomprehensible to them. But Jesus says, "This voice was not for me, but for you." I had no need of teaching that the Father had glorified and would glorify His name. And you had to be taught that I am not an adversary of God, but act for the glory of the name of God. For if the name of God be glorified through me, how can I be an adversary of God? Therefore this voice was for you, that you might know that I am working for the glory of God, and if you cannot know for yourselves, you would know by questioning what you do not know.

The words: "now is the judgment of this world" apparently have no connection with the previous one. For what is their relation to the words: "I have glorified, and I will glorify again"? But there is no doubt that there is a connection. Since the Father from above said: "I will glorify," the Lord shows us the way to glorify. What exactly? That the prince of this world will be cast out and defeated, and for peace there will be judgment, that is, vengeance. These words have the following meaning: now is the judgment and vengeance for this world being carried out. Since the devil has put this world to death, making all men guilty of sin, but having attacked Me and found no sin in Me, he has brought Me under death on an equal footing with others, he will be condemned by Me, and thus I will avenge the world. Let him put death on the rest for sin; but what has he found in me like the rest, that he may put me to death? And so, now I am carrying out the judgment of this world, that is, vengeance for it. For having slain him who slew all, and then attacked Me, the innocent, I will avenge all those whom he slayed, and the cruel ruler (tyrant) condemned by My death will be cast out. The expression "cast out" is used in comparison with the way convicts are pushed out of the court in judicial places.

"He will be cast out" can also be understood to mean that he will be cast out into outer darkness. He will lose his dominion over people and will not reign as before in them, and in their souls, and in their mortal body – but I will draw all to Myself when I am lifted up to the cross. For all, even among the Gentiles, will be drawn to faith in me. Since they themselves cannot come to Me, restrained by this ruler, I, having defeated him, sent him out, and cut off the threads of his dominion over men, will draw them also against his will. This He called in another place theft: "No one," He says, "can plunder the things of the strong, except he first bind the strong" (Mark 3:27).

When "I shall be lifted up," He said this, giving to understand by what death He would die, that is, He would be crucified, for this signifies the height of the Cross.

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 – suffering and death, when he says: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter"; for 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, also abides 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"? You see, they understood many things 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 prevent 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 decline 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. 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.