ACC ~ John 12 v20 - 26

OVERVIEW:

The Greeks, having been impressed by the Jewish customs and temple, were present for the feast in order to honor the one, all-supreme God (CYRIL). John provides us with an instance of Jews and Greeks joined together in praise of their king (AUGUSTINE). In fact, the proclamation of the crowds that Jesus was king is more than likely what drew the Greeks to Jesus (PROCLUS). With the arrival of the firstfruits of the Gentiles to see Jesus (CYRIL), the time of Jesus’ glorification before Jews and Gentiles, which would occur at the passion, must be near (AUGUSTINE) as he here speaks of the glory of the cross, which the Gentiles too would now take up (PROCLUS).

Jesus provides the Greeks who come to see him with a parable. He tells them about a seed that is planted and dies, which sprouts again as new life from the ground and reveals the nature of the plant from which it came (AMBROSE). When Christ was planted in Calvary, the church sprouted into a multitude of grains (THEODORE) baked into the bread of life of the Eucharist, which is multiplied in us who receive it (IRENAEUS). Christ is the one sheaf of wheat made up of many individual stalks, since he contains in himself all believers (CYRIL).

Jesus goes on to speak of losing and gaining one’s life, which in the Greek refers to the soul. There is a wrong way and a right way to love your soul (AUGUSTINE). If we love our soul in sin, that is wrong, but if we love that which is in the image of God, then we love rightly (CAESARIUS). It is a painful thing to lose the one you love, especially if that person is yourself (AUGUSTINE). If you want to keep your soul safe forever, you have to hate it for a time (AUGUSTINE), since it is important not only to protect your life but also to submit it to testing; otherwise it may be lost in the future (THEODORE). He is not talking here about taking your life into your own hands either (AUGUSTINE). Rather, Jesus is calling us to turn away from evil as if we hated it (CHRYSOSTOM) so that, like the martyrs, we may gain a crown in exchange for the life that is sown here (AUGUSTINE). Imitating Christ in service to our fellow human beings is another way that we serve him (AUGUSTINE), becoming partners with him in service here and in eternity (JOHN CASSIAN). The path of service leads ultimately to the path of glory, as long as we follow Christ and not ourselves (CYRIL). Jesus says the honor conferred on one who serves is given by the Father, since his hearers at that time had more respect for the Father than for him (CHRYSOSTOM).

12:20 | Some Greeks Went to the Feast

WHAT WERE GREEKS DOING AT THE FEAST?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA Anyone might be perplexed at these words and wonder with what motive certain Greeks should be going up to Jerusalem to worship. Note that they were doing this at the time when the feast was being celebrated according to the Law. For surely no one will say that they went up merely to look at the people there. Certainly it was with the intention of participating in the feast that was suitable for Jews and Jews only that they were journeying up in the company of the Jews. What was the point as regards the motive of worship that was common to both Greeks and Jews? …

Since the territory of the Jews was situated near that of the Galileans, and since both they and the Greeks had cities and villages in close vicinity to each other, they were continually intermingling together and interchanging visits, being invited for a variety of occasions. And since it somehow happens that the disposition of idol worshipers is very easily brought to welcome a change for the better, and since nothing is easier than to convict their false worship of being utterly unprofitable, some among them were easily persuaded to change. This does not mean that they fully and perfectly worshiped him who alone is truly God, since they were somewhat divided with regard to the arguments in favor of abandoning idolatry and following the precepts of their own teachers. …

It was then a custom for certain of the inhabitants of Palestine, especially the Greeks, who had the territory of the Jews closely adjoining and bordering on their own, to be impressed in some way by the Jewish habits of thought and to honor the name of one sovereign [deity]. And this was the view current among those Greeks whom we just now mentioned, albeit they did not express it in the same way that we do. And they, not having the tendency to Judaism in full force, nor even having separated themselves from the habits dear to the Greeks but holding an intermediate opinion that inclined both ways, are called “worshipers of God.” People of this kind, therefore, seeing that their own habits of thought were not very sharply distinguished from those of the Jews … were in the habit of going up with the Jews to worship, especially at the national gatherings, not meaning to slight their own religion but as an act of honor to the one all-supreme God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [1]

[1] LF 48:143-45*. Cyril here provides a sociological-historical observation that helps account for the interest in Christ among the Gentiles prior to his resurrection. Theodore notes that they were also attracted to Jerusalem because of the miracles God had performed among the Jews. See Commentary on the Gospel of John 5.12.20-23 (CSCO 4 3:239).

12:21-22 | The Request to Philip to See Jesus

JEWS AND GENTILES JOINED IN PRAISE

AUGUSTINE Look how the Jews want to kill him, the Gentiles to see him. [1] But they also were there with the Jews who cried, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.” Here then are both those of the circumcision and those of the uncircumcision, once so wide apart, coming together like two walls and meeting in the one faith of Christ by the kiss of peace. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51.8. [2]

THE CROWDS DRAW THE GREEKS TO JESUS

PROCLUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE:

[The crowds] caused the Pharisees to turn away.

They loathed the high priests.

They lifted up in song their voices befitting to God.

They caused creation to rejoice.

They sanctified the air.

They shook the dead beforehand.

They opened heaven.

They planted paradise.

They stirred up the dead to the same zeal.

For that reason some of the Greeks at that time were urged on toward that zeal for God, because of this utterance befitting to God;

And having reached a turning about, they approached … one of the apostles by the name of Philip, saying to him:

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Behold the preaching of the crowd,

And how they moved the Greeks to conversion.

HOMILY 9.3, ON THE PALM BRANCHES. [3]

[1] See also Bede, loc. cit., PL 92:788.

[2] NPNF 1 7:285**; CCL 36:442.

[3] ECS 1:152.

FIRSTFRUITS OF THE GENTILES ARRIVE TO SEE JESUS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: This approach of the Greeks [to Philip] happened at that time as a sort of firstfruits. And the Galileans came to Philip as being himself a Galilean, asking him to show them Jesus whom they wanted to see because they were continually hearing good things about Jesus. They wanted to worship him and attain the object of their desires. But Philip remembered what the Lord had said to them, “Do not go into any area of the Gentiles or enter any city of the Samaritans.” [1] And so Philip was afraid that he might give offense by bringing to Christ those who had not believed, not realizing that it was for a set purpose that the Lord had forbidden the disciples to approach the Gentiles until the Jews should first have rejected the grace given to them. And so Philip tells Andrew, who was more disposed for and accustomed to such things, and then, with his approval they both carry the message to the Lord. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [2]

[1] Mt 10:5.

[2] LF 48:145*.

12:23 | The Hour for Glorification Has Arrived

THE HOUR LOOKS TOWARD THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES

AUGUSTINE: We listen to the voice of the cornerstone. … Did he think of himself as glorified because the Gentiles wished to see? No. But he saw that after his passion and resurrection, the Gentiles in all lands would believe in him … and took occasion from this request of some Gentiles to see him to announce the approaching fullness of the Gentiles. For the Gentiles would believe that the hour of his being glorified was now at hand and that after he was glorified in the heavens the Gentiles would believe, as it is written in the psalm, “Set yourself up, O God, above the heavens, … and your glory above all the earth.” [1] … But it was necessary that his exaltation and glory should be preceded by the humiliation of his passion. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51.8-9. [2]

THE GLORY IS THE CROSS

PROCLUS OF CONSTANTINOPLE:

[The Greeks say,] “We wish to see Jesus”—

not so much in order to look him in his face,

as to carry the cross.

And therefore Jesus, having seen their intention,

Openly said to those present:

“The hour has come

for the Son of man to be glorified.”

Glorified—referring to the conversion of the Greeks;

A glory that the Jews donned

But that the nations put on.

Therefore Jesus said concerning the Gentiles:

“The hour has come

For the Son of man to be glorified.”

Glorified—referring to the cross.

For from it the power of the Lord was made known,

Because it changed the shame into glory—

the insult into honor,

the curse into blessing,

the gall into sweetness,

the vinegar into milk,

the slap in his face into freedom,

death into life.

The hour has come,

For the Son of man to be glorified.

Glorified—referring to the cross,

For from it the cross is even now glorified.

For the cross itself even now still glorifies kings,

and gives radiance to priesthood,

and preserves virginity,

and establishes asceticism,

and strengthens union,

and guards widowhood,

and protects orphans,

and increases the blessing of children,

and multiples the church,

and enlightens the people,

and preserves a spiritual lifestyle, [3]

and opens paradise,

and guides the robber,

and roots out enmity,

and extinguishes hatred,

and puts demons to flight,

and drives the devil away.

HOMILY 9.3, ON THE PALM BRANCHES. [4]

[1] Ps 57:5 (56:6 LXX, Vg) and Ps 108:5 (107:6 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:285**; CCL 36:442. See also Hilary On the Trinity 3.10 (NPNF 2 9:64).

[3] Gk erēmos is often used in patristic texts as metaphor for a spiritual lifestyle, as Barkhuizen the editor notes.

[4] ECS 1:152-53*.

12:24 | Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls to the Earth and Dies

THE SEED MUST DIE BEFORE BEING RESURRECTED

AMBROSE: How many more wonders appear, if you examine each plant, noticing how the seed when laid in the earth decays and, if it did not die, would bear no fruit. But when it decays, by that very act of death, it rises up to bear fruit in greater abundance. The pliable sod receives, then, a grain of wheat. The scattered seed is controlled by the use of the hoe, and mother earth cherishes it in firm embraces to her breast. When that grain decays, there comes the pleasing aspect of the green burgeoning shoot, which immediately reveals its kind from its similarity to its own seed, so that you may discover the nature of the plant even in the very beginning of its growth, and its fruit, too, is made evident to you. SIX DAYS OF CREATION 3.8.34. [1]

[1] FC 42:92-93*; CSEL 32 1:81.

JESUS AS THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: However, he says, my death must not upset you. As indeed a grain of wheat is just a single grain before falling into the earth, after it has fallen and decomposed, it sprouts forth in great glory and produces double fruit by showing before everyone its riches in its ears and displaying the spectacle of its beauty to those looking on. This is the same way you should think about me. Now I am alone, and just one more man among obscure people without any glory. But when I undergo the passion of the cross, I will be raised in great honor. And when I produce much fruit then everyone will know me—not only the Jews but also the people of the entire world will call me their Lord. Then, not even the spiritual powers will refuse to worship me. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 5.12.24. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:240.

DYING GRAIN BECOMES THE EUCHARIST

IRENAEUS: A cutting from the vine planted in the ground bears fruit in its season, or a kernel of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed rises and is multiplied by the Spirit of God, who contains all things. And then, through the wisdom of God, it serves for our use when, after receiving the Word of God, it becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time. The Word of God grants them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption. [1] This is so because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness [2] in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, or become exalted against God with ungrateful minds. AGAINST HERESIES 5.2.3. [3]

[1] 1 Cor 15:53.

[2] See 1 Cor 15:43; 2 Cor 13:4.

[3] ANF 1:528; SC 153:36-38. See also Against Heresies 5.7.2.

CHRIST THE ONE SHEAF MADE UP OF MANY STALKS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Christ is also symbolized by a sheaf of grain, as a brief explanation will show.

The human race may be compared with stalks of wheat in a field rising, as it were, from the earth, awaiting their full growth and development, and then in time being cut down by the reaper, which is death. The comparison is apt, since Christ himself spoke of our race in this way when he said to his holy disciples, “Do you not say, ‘Four months and it will be harvest time?’ Look at the fields; I tell you, they are already white and ready for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving his wages and bringing in a crop for eternal life.” [1] …

Now Christ became like one of us. He sprang from the holy Virgin like a stalk of wheat from the ground. Indeed, he spoke of himself as a grain of wheat when he said, “I tell you truly, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains as it was, a single grain, but if it dies its yield is very great.” And so, like a sheaf of grain, the firstfruits, as it were, of the earth, he offered himself to the Father for our sake.

For we do not think of a stalk of wheat in isolation any more than we do of ourselves. We think of it rather as part of a sheaf, which is a single bundle made up of many stalks. The stalks have to be gathered into a bundle before they can be used, and this is the key to the mystery they represent, the mystery of Christ, who, though one, appears in the image of a sheaf to be made up of many, as in fact he is. Spiritually, he contains in himself all believers. “As we have been raised up with him,” writes Paul, “so we have also been enthroned with him in heaven.” [2] He is a human being like ourselves, and this had made us one body with him, the body being the bond that unites us. We can say, therefore, that in him we are all one, and indeed he himself says to God, his heavenly Father, “It is my desire that as you and I are one, so they also may be one in us.” [3] GLAPHYRA ON NUMBERS 2. [4]

[1] Jn 4:35-36.

[2] Eph 2:6.

[3] See Jn 17:11.

[4] JFB 38-39*; PG 69:621-24.

12:25 | Losing One’s Soul20 and Keeping It for Eternity

WHEN YOU LOVE YOURSELF

AUGUSTINE: Only a human being would ask, “How can someone who loves himself deny himself?” God … says to such a person, “Let him deny himself, if he loves himself.” By loving himself, you see, he loses himself; by denying himself, he finds himself. “Whoever loves his soul,” he says, “let him lose it.”… It is a painful thing to lose what you love. …

There is not anyone, after all, who does not love himself. But we have to look for the right sort of love and avoid the wrong sort. You see, anyone who loves himself by leaving God out of his life (and leaves God out of his life by loving himself), does not even remain in himself. He actually leaves his self. He goes away into exile from his own heart by taking no notice of what is inside and instead only loving what is outside. … For instance, let me ask you this: Are you money? … And yet, by loving money, you end up abandoning yourself. First you abandon and then later end up destroying yourself. Love of money, you see, has caused you to destroy yourself. You tell lies on account of money. [1] … While looking for money, you have destroyed your soul.

Bring out the scales of truth … and put on one side money, on the other the soul. … But do not weigh it yourself. You want to cheat yourself. … Let God do the weighing—the one who does not know how to deceive or be deceived. … Watch him weighing them and then listen to him announce the result: “What does it profit someone if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?” [2] . … You were willing to lose your soul in order to acquire the earth. This soul, however, outweighs heaven and earth combined. But you do this because by leaving God out of your life and loving yourself, you have also gone away from yourself. You end up valuing other things, which are outside you, more than yourself. Come back to yourself. But then turn upward when you have come back to yourself; do not stay in yourself. First come back to yourself from the things outside you, and then give yourself back to the one who made you, who looked for you when you were lost and found you when you were a runaway. SERMON 330.2-3. [3]

[1] See Wis 1:11.

[2] Mt 16:26.

[3] WSA 3 9:186-87**; PL 38:1456-57.

LOVE WHAT IS IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Whatever you love is either the same as yourself, below you or above you. If what you love is beneath you, love it to comfort it, care for it and to use it but not to cling to it. For example, you love gold. Do not become attached to the gold, for how much better are you than gold? Gold, indeed, is a shining piece of earth, while you have been made in the image of God in order that you may be illumined by the Lord. Although gold is a creature of God, still God did not make it according to his own image, but you he did. Therefore, he put the gold beneath you. This kind of love should be despised. Those things are to be acquired for their usefulness, but we should not cling to them with the bond of love as if with glue. Do not make for yourself members over which, when they have begun to be cut away, you will grieve and be afflicted. What then? Rise from that love with which you love things that are lower than you, and begin to love your equals, that is, things that are what you are. … The Lord himself has told us in the Gospel and clearly showed us in what order we may have true love and charity. For he spoke in this way, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul and with your whole strength. And your neighbor as yourself.” [1] Therefore, first love God and then yourself. After these, love your neighbor as yourself. SERMON 173.4-5. [2]

[1] Lk 10:27.

[2] FC 47:431-32*.

HOW TO LOSE ETERNAL LIFE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Therefore, he says, not only must you not be upset by my suffering or have doubts about my words that will be confirmed by the facts later on, but you must also be drawn to that suffering so that you might enjoy the same things I do by suffering the same things I do. The one who appears to be so concerned with his life here that he does not want to submit it to testing will lose it in the future world. The one who hates his life, and in this world exposes it to afflictions, gathers much more fruit for himself. Jesus does not express this idea as if he wants to reveal here something about life. Rather, he simply identifies love for life as something that is prevalent among us as we seek to defend, preserve and protect our body and life from any possible danger. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.12.25. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:241.

SUICIDE IS NOT MEANT HERE

AUGUSTINE: But do not think for an instant that by hating your soul, it means that you may kill yourself. For wicked and perverse people have sometimes so mistaken it and have burned and strangled themselves, thrown themselves from precipices, and in other ways put an end to themselves. This is not what Christ taught. In fact, when the devil tempted him to cast himself down, he said, “Get behind me, Satan.” [1] … But when no other choice is given you, when the persecutor threatens death and you must either disobey God’s law or leave this life … then hate your life in this world so that you may keep it to life eternal. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51.10. [2]

[1] Augustine conflates Mt 4:7-10 with Mt 16:23.

[2] NPNF 1 7:285**.

TURN AWAY FROM EVIL

CHRYSOSTOM: The present life is sweet and full of much pleasure—not for everyone, although it is for those riveted to it. The moment anyone looks to heaven, however, and sees the beauty that is there, he will soon despise this life as if it counted for nothing. The beauty of an object is admired, in other words, as long as there is nothing more beautiful to be seen. But when something better comes along, the earlier object loses its luster. … The one who loves his life in this world loses it by indulging its inordinate desires. … The one who hates it resists them. Notice, it does not say “who does not yield to” but “who hates.” For as we cannot bear to hear the voice or see the face of those whom we hate, so when the soul invites us to things contrary to God, we should turn it away from them with all our might. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:248**.

LOSING STRAW, GAINING A CROWN

AUGUSTINE: If you love [your soul], lose it. Sow it here, and you will reap it in heaven. If the farmer does not lose wheat in the seed, he does not love it in the harvest. … Do not love your soul so much that you lose it. People who are afraid to die seem to love their souls. If the martyrs had loved their souls like that, they would undoubtedly have lost them. … What good, after all, would it be to hold on to the soul on earth and lose it in heaven? And what does holding on to it amount to? Keeping it for how long? What you keep eventually vanishes from you. If you lose it, you find it in yourself. … The martyrs lost their souls at a great profit—losing straw, earning a crown. Earning a crown, I repeat, and keeping hold of life without end. SERMON 331.1. [1]

[1] WSA 3 9:190*.

12:26 | Serving and Following

IMITATION OF CHRIST IS SERVICE TO CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: Christ’s servants are those who look out for his things rather than their own. [1] “Let him follow me” means “Let him walk in my ways and not in his own,” as it is written elsewhere. [2] … For if he supplies food for the hungry, he should do so in the way of mercy, not to brag about it. He should be looking for nothing else there but to do good and not letting his left hand know what his right hand does. [3] In other words, any work of charity should be utterly devoid of any thought of “what’s in it for me.” The one who serves in this way serves Christ and will have it rightly said to him, “Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of those who are mine, you did it unto me.” [4] … And the one who serves Christ in this way will be honored by his Father with the peculiar honor of being with his Son and having nothing lacking in his happiness ever again. And so, when you hear the Lord saying, “Where I am, there shall also my servant be,” do not think merely of good bishops and clergy. But you yourselves should also serve Christ in your own way by good lives, by giving to the poor, by preaching his name and doctrine as best as you can too. Every father [or mother] … too will be filling an ecclesiastical and episcopal kind of office by serving Christ in their own homes when they serve their families so that they too may be with him forever. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 51.12-13. [5]

[1] See Phil 2:21.

[2] 1 Jn 2:6.

[3] See Mt 6:3.

[4] Mt 25:40.

[5] NPNF 1 7:286-87**; CCL 36:444-45.

PARTNERS WITH CHRIST IN MINISTRY

JOHN CASSIAN: Everyone who lives in this body knows that he must be committed to that special task or ministry to which he has given himself in this life as a participant and a laborer, and he ought not to doubt that in that everlasting age he will also be the partner of him whose servant and companion he now wishes to be, according to what the Lord says, “If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” For just as the kingdom of the devil is gained by deceiving people with vices, so the kingdom of God is possessed in purity of heart and spiritual knowledge by practicing the virtues. And where the kingdom of God is, there without a doubt is eternal life, and where the kingdom of the devil is, there—it is not to be doubted—are death and hell. Whoever is there cannot praise the Lord. CONFERENCE 1.14.1-2. [1]

[1] ACW 57:52*.

THE PATH TO DIVINE GLORY LEADS TO GOD

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Since the author of our salvation did not travel by the path of glory and luxury but by that of dishonor and hardships, we must do the same thing without complaining if we are to reach the same destination and share in the divine glory. But what honor shall we receive if we refuse to endure sufferings like those of our Master? … The one who does things pleasing to God serves Christ, but the one who follows his own wishes is a follower of himself and not of God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [1]

[1] LF 48:149-50*.

VALUING THE FATHER MORE THAN CHRIST

CHRYSOSTOM: Why didn’t he say that the Father will honor “me”? Because at that time they did not have the proper opinion of him but held a higher opinion of the Father. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:248**.