ACC ~ John 12 v27

THE INFIRMITY OF HUMAN NATURE

CHRYSOSTOM: Surely this is not the expression of one urging them to go even to death. No, but it is that of one who is greatly urging them on. For they might try to say that he was exempt from mortal pain and so it was easy for him to ruminate about death, and this is how he can exhort us because he himself is in no danger. This is why he shows here that, although he dreaded death, he does not refuse it, because it is efficacious for our salvation. But this is a manifestation of his humanity not of his divinity, which is why he says, “Now my soul is troubled,” since if this is not the case, what connection does what was spoken here have with his saying, “Father, save me from this hour”? And he is so troubled that he even looked for deliverance from death if it were possible to escape. These were the infirmities of his human nature. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:249**.

HIS SUFFERING STRENGTHENS US

AUGUSTINE: I heard him saying previously … “If anyone wants to serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant shall also be.” [1] And so, I was all on fire to despise the world, and the whole of this life, however long it might be, had become only a vapor before my eyes. In comparison with my love for eternal things, everything temporal had lost its value for me. But now, this same Lord, whose words had transported me from the weakness that was mine to the strength that was his—I now hear him saying, “How is my soul troubled.” What does this mean? How can you ask my soul to follow you when I see your own in so much turmoil? How can I endure when even a strength as great as yours feels it is a heavy burden? What kind of foundation am I left with when the Rock is giving way? But the Lord is already forming the answer inside my own head, saying: You shall follow me that much better, because it is to strengthen your own endurance that I included this. You have heard, as if addressed to yourself, the voice of my strength. Now hear in me the voice of your infirmity. I supply strength when you need to run without slowing you down, but I take on myself whatever makes you afraid, paving the way for you to continue your march. Lord, I acknowledge your mercy! You, who are so great, allowed yourself to be troubled in order to console all of those in your body who are troubled by the continual experience of their own weakness—keeping them from perishing utterly in despair. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 52.2. [2]

[1] Jn 12:26.

[2] NPNF 1 7:287**.

CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE HAD TO FEEL WHAT WE FEEL

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Only the death of the Savior could bring an end to death, and it is the same for each of the other sufferings of the flesh too. Unless he had felt dread, human nature could not have become free from dread. Unless he had experienced grief, there could have never been any deliverance from grief. Unless he had been troubled and alarmed, there would have been no escape from these feelings. Every one of the emotions to which human nature is liable can be found in Christ. The emotions of his flesh were aroused, not that they might gain the upper hand, as indeed they do in us, but in order that when aroused they might be thoroughly subdued by the power of the Word dwelling in the flesh, human nature as a whole thus undergoing a change for the better. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [1]

[1] LF 48:154**. See also Athanasius Against the Arians 3.26, where he includes this passage in a list of passages the Arians cite as showing Jesus’ inferiority to the Father. He refutes the charge by showing how these pertain to his humanity, not his divinity.

JESUS STRUGGLES WITH HIS FEAR

CHRYSOSTOM: Although my trouble urges me to say, “Save me,” yet I say the opposite, “Glorify your name,” that is, “From now on, lead me to your cross.” Here he definitely shows his humanity and a nature unwilling to die that is clinging to this present life. It proves that he was not exempt from human feelings. To have a desire for this present life is not necessarily wrong, though, any more than it is to be hungry or to want to sleep. Christ indeed had a body free from sin, and yet it was not free from the natural wants of the body; otherwise it would not have been a body. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:249**.

JESUS TEACHES BY EXAMPLE WHOSE WILL WE SHOULD PREFER

AUGUSTINE: He also teaches you here on whom to call, in whom to hope, and whose sure and divine will you should prefer over your own will which is human and weak. Do not imagine that he has lost any of his exalted position in wanting you to rise out of the depths of your own ruin. … He assumed human infirmity in order to teach us, when saddened and troubled, to say, “Nevertheless, Father, not as I will but as you will.” [1] For when the will of God is preferred to our own, this is how humanity is turned from the human to the divine. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 52.3. [2]

[1] Mt 26:39.

[2] NPNF 1 7:288**.

Jn