John 12:23

(Tr. li. 8) Listen we to the voice of the corner stone: And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Did He think Himself glorified, because the Gentiles wished to see? No. But He saw that after His passion and resurrection, the Gentiles in all lands would believe on Him; and took occasion from this request of some Gentiles to see Him, to announce the approaching fulness of the Gentiles, for that the hour of His being glorified was now at hand, and that after He was glorified in the heavens, the Gentiles would believe; according to the passage in the Psalm, Set up Thyself, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth. (Ps. 56, and 107) But it was necessary that His exaltation and glory should be preceded by His humiliation and passion; wherefore He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into they round and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. That corn was He; to be mortified in the unbelief of the Jews, to be multiplied in the faith of the Gentiles.

Let us listen, then, to the voice of the Cornerstone: "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." Perhaps some one supposes here that He spake of Himself as glorified, because the Gentiles wished to see Him. Such is not the case. But He saw the Gentiles themselves in all nations coming to the faith after His own passion and resurrection, because, as the apostle says, "Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should be come in." Taking occasion, therefore, from those Gentiles who desired to see Him, He announces the future fullness of the Gentile nations, and promises the near approach of the hour when He should be glorified Himself, and when, on its consummation in heaven, the Gentile nations should be brought to the faith. To this it is that the prediction pointed, "Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth." Such is the fullness of the Gentiles, of which the apostle saith, "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles come in."

But the height of His glorification had to be preceded by the depth of His passion. Accordingly, He went on to add, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." But He spake of Himself. He Himself was the grain that had to die, and be multiplied; to suffer death through the unbelief of the Jews, and to be multiplied in the faith of many nations.

Seeing therefore that Gentiles are hastening in eager desire to see Him and to turn towards Him, on this account He says: The hour is come. For near at hand was the time of His Passion, after which the calling of the Gentiles immediately followed. And He calls the time now present "the hour," with the intention of showing that no other occasion can bring Him to the necessity of suffering, save only this season marked out by His own appointed limitations. For having done all things that were to lead men on to faith, and having preached the word of the kingdom of heaven, He now desires to pass onward to the very crowning point of His hope, namely to the destruction of death: and this could not otherwise be brought to pass, unless the Life underwent death for the sake of all men, that so in Him we all may live. For on this account also He speaks of Himself as glorified in His Death, and in suffering terrible things at the hands of the sinners who dishonour Him. Even though by the angels in heaven He had been glorified from everlasting, yet nevertheless His Cross was the beginning of His being glorified upon earth by the Gentiles as God. For after He had left to themselves the Jews who openly despised Him, He turned to the Gentiles and is glorified by them as God, being confidently expected to come again in the glory of the Father. And He declares not merely that the Word shall then be glorified, but, showing that He Who is ineffably to be regarded as sharing in humanity no less than Deity is One Only Son, He uses the title "Son of man:" for He is One Son and One Christ, capable since His Incarnation of no separation of Nature; but ever remaining and ever regarded as God, although clothed in flesh.

(From the Syriac.) [He is One Son and One Christ, capable since His Incarnation of no separation of Nature,] except so far as this, that we may say that we acknowledge separately the Nature of the Word and [the nature] of the flesh. And [we may say] that they are not the same in conception, for the one is of the Essence of God the Father, but the other had its root upon earth in the holy Virgin. Nevertheless there is only One Christ of the two, Who is not divided into a duality of Sons after the concourse of these Natures which have been mentioned, but remains and is regarded as in possession of the power of the Godhead, although clothed in Flesh.

[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,
and opens paradise,
and guides the robber,
and roots out enmity,
and extinguishes hatred,
and puts demons to flight,
and drives the devil away.

What then does the Lord say? Since He had commanded the disciples "not to go in the way of the Gentiles" (Matt. 10:5), and now saw that the Gentiles were already coming to Him of their own accord (for the Greeks who wished to see Him were undoubtedly Gentiles), while the Jews were plotting against Him, He says: "The time has finally come to go to suffering, for the hour of the Cross has arrived, that the Son of Man may be glorified."
What is the benefit of not receiving the Gentiles who come to us, and imposing ourselves on the Jews who hate and persecute? Therefore, since the Gentiles are coming to us, the time has now come to be crucified. So I will allow the Jews to complete their schemes and permit them to crucify Me, so that they may afterwards be without any excuse, since I will justly leave them as crucifiers and murderers and turn to the Gentiles, who have already begun to come to My teaching. For it would be very unjust to give nothing to the Gentiles who thirst for the word and salvation, and to give abundantly to the Jews who trample upon what is given to them and plot evil against their Benefactor.

Then, the passion of Christ is foretold: first, Christ foretells that the time of his passion is near; secondly, he intimates that his passion is necessary (v 24); and thirdly, he mentions the necessity for others to suffer (v 25).

He says, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Here it should be noted that our Lord, seeing these Gentiles hastening to see him, and understanding that in them the conversion of the Gentiles was somehow beginning, foretold the imminence of his passion, somewhat like a person who sees a wheat field growing white says that the hour has come to use the sickle for the harvest" (4:35). This is the way the Lord speaks here. Since the Gentiles want to see me, he says, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.

Now there were three events where he was glorified. First, in his passion: "Christ did not exalt (glorify) himself to be made a high priest," on the altar of the cross, "but was appointed by him who said to him, 'Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee,'" as we read in Hebrews (5:5). In reference to this he says, The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified, that is, to suffer, because the Gentiles will not be converted to him before his passion. Indeed, in his passion he was glorified both with visible signs, such as the sun becoming dark, the rending of the temple curtain and so forth, and with invisible signs, such as the victory by which in himself he overcame the powers of darkness, as stated in Colossians (2:15). Earlier he had said, "My hour has not yet come" (2:4), because the devotion of the Gentiles had not been as keen as it was now.

Secondly, he was glorified in his resurrection and ascension. For it was necessary for Christ to first rise and ascend into heaven, and thus glorified, to send the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, through whom the Gentiles were to be converted: "For as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (7:39); Christ "ascended to the heights: he captured his spoil" (Ps 69:19).

Thirdly, he was glorified by the conversion of the Gentiles: in Philippians (2:11) we read, "Every tongue will confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father."