When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them. He performed so many miracles before them, and they did not believe in Him, so that the word of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Lord! Who believed what we heard? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1). Therefore they could not believe that, as Isaiah also 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 had wished, they could have 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 did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah may be fulfilled" 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. In order that someone should not speak and wonder why Christ came, if he knew that the Jews would not believe in Him, – for this reason 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 to." 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 with an example. Let us 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 that softens the hearts of those who accept it is a hardening of the heart. Blinded is the one who does not receive the ray of Divine light at all, and he is stony 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. 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 perform 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.

Jesus, yielding to the fury of the Jews, hid for a while, and then appeared again and cried out openly. And showing that He Himself is equal to the Father and not an adversary of God, He says: "He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me," saying, as it were, "Why are you afraid to believe in Me?" Faith in Me goes back to My Father. Note also the accuracy in words. The Lord did not say: he who believes "in me", but: he who believes "in me", which means faith in God. For it is one thing to believe someone, and another thing to believe in someone. If anyone believes someone, it can be understood that he believes the justice of his words, and whoever believes in Him as God. Therefore it may be said, He believes the Apostles; but to believe in the apostles – it is impossible to say. Therefore the Lord did not say, "He that believeth on Me." For both Paul and Peter could have said, He that believeth unto me. And the Jews were reproached for not believing Moses (John 5:46). But He said more: he who believes "in Me" than He shows that He Himself is God, just as He says to His disciples: "Believe in God, and believe in Me" (John 14:1). Therefore, whoever believes in Him raises his faith to the Father, and he who does not believe in Him does not believe in the Father.

"And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." Is it he who sees bodily features? No. For the Father is not the body, so that it may be said that he who sees Christ bodily sees the Father also, but by vision understand, I beseech thee, the contemplation of the mind. The Lord says as it were: whoever embraces My being by the contemplation of the mind, as far as it is possible for man, embraces the essence of the Father as well. Whoever acknowledges Me as God undoubtedly acknowledges the Father as well. For I am the image of the Father. All this shows the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. Let those who suffer from Arianism hear that he who believes in the Son does not believe in Him, but in the Father, so that either the Father is a creature, or the Son is not a creature. As if someone said that he who draws water from the river does not take it from the river, but from the source, so he who believes in the Son does not believe in the Son, the river (for the Son is not another being with the Father, and has nothing different from the Father), but believes in the source of good, that is, the Father.

I have come into the world as a light, that whosoever believeth in Me should not remain in darkness. And 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.

Again with these words He shows His consubstantiality with the Father. For just as the Father is everywhere called Light in the Scriptures, so He also says of Himself: "I have come into the world as light." For this reason the Apostle Paul also calls Him Radiance (Heb. 1:3), showing that there is nothing mediating between the Father and the Son, but the Father and the Son are together, as light and radiance are together. Therefore the Son is Light, because He delivers from error and dispels the darkness of the mind, and because just as the Light, with its appearance, becomes visible and reveals other visible things, so the Son, having come and appeared to us, gave knowledge of Himself and of the Father, and enlightened the hearts of those who received Him with all knowledge.

"If," he says, "anyone hears Me and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world." The meaning of these words is this: I am not guilty of condemning the unbelieving man, for I did not come primarily for this, but it happened afterwards. I came to save and taught for this. But if anyone does not believe, I am not the cause of his condemnation, but he brought it upon himself. This will become even clearer from what follows. Listen, then, to what follows.

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath judge unto himself: the word which I have spoken, it shall judge him at the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what to say and what to say. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say, as the Father told Me.