For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God

 

 "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.  

 

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

"Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, 

So that I should heal them."

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. 

 

 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

 

- John 12:36-43 

 

In our current reading, Jesus is now in Jerusalem at the final Passover He will attend.  It is now Holy Week, the last week of Christ's earthly life.  He has made His Triumphal Entry, and has been teaching in the temple, knowing that the religious leadership plots to put Him to death.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. 

 

  "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.   This verse is repeated from yesterday's reading (see above).  Jesus Himself is the light, but His teaching here (as we reported yesterday) has various facets of meaning.  He will soon be completing His public ministry, and going to His death on the Cross.  Our own lives are indeed far more limited than we understand, and we have a short time to repent and believe in Christ before our deaths.  Compared to eternity, the second coming of Christ is simply a little while.  For an extensive commentary on the implications of Christ's words here, see yesterday's reading and commentary.  

 

But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:  "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"  Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."  My study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that Isaiah's prophecy does not mean God causes spiritual blindness to people who would otherwise have been faithful.  It says that this is a figure of speech common to Scripture which reveals God as giving people up to their own devices (such as in Romans 1:24-26).  In using the phrase He has blinded it is meant that God has allowed their self-chosen blindness (compare Exodus 8:15, 32 with Exodus 10:20, 27).  They did not become blind because God spoke through Isaiah.  Rather, Isaiah spoke because he foresaw their blindness.  

 

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  My study Bible says that Isaiah . . . saw His [Christ's] glory in about 700 BC (Isaiah 6:1), and spoke of Him in many places throughout his lengthy prophecy.  

 

  Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  Again my study Bible cites the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who declares that these rulers are in reality the worst of slaves, in that they are enslaved by the opinions of men.  This keeps them from leading as God would have them lead.  

 

There is so much power and poignancy in our final verse today, as reported by St. John.   Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  This apparently small, simple phrase, "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" says so much about our lives and how we live them.  We frequently do not realize how much we sacrifice of our own integrity and personal salvation through the same way of being in the world.  Salvation is what is understood in Isaiah's prophecy as being healed by the Lord.  As mentioned in yesterday's reading, if we turn to the concept of theosis (that is, growing in likeness to God), we can understand more clearly how this division between seeking the praise of God on the one hand, or the praise of men on the other, inhibits our growth of the soul and our salvation.  In the Gospels, the crowds are presented as fickle.  One day they are praising Jesus and welcoming Him into Jerusalem as Messiah.  A few days later, "the crowd" will be stirred up by the religious leaders to demand His Crucifixion, and that Pilate free Barabbas instead (see Matthew 27:15-26).   "The crowd follows the crowd," my study Bible has commented.  In the understanding of the concept of theosis, we accept that, following the "ancestral sin" in the Garden of Eden, the world is beset by competing thoughts and impulses that would lead us off the path that God desires for us.  These intrusive thoughts are called logismoi in the Patristic tradition.  We are heir to an uncountable number of temptations to "miss the mark" (the literal meaning of the Greek word for "sin" in the Gospels).  As human beings we are all subject to these temptations, to the myriad ways in which we might be influenced by the crowds, by "men," in the language of the Gospels.   The collective passions of crowds may easily inflame and sweep us into the mob.  When we seek only to please those who may give us some form of honor, then we are at the mercy of their whims and desires.  To be fashionable or popular is not the end toward which Christ's light is meant to guide us.  No matter how we may conflate worldly success with salvation and God's favor, that is not the story of Jesus the Messiah.  Christ the Lord comes into the world to "save" precisely by giving us the light to guide us, rather than our seeking only the praise of men.  Indeed, in His grand critique of the Pharisees and scribes, it is chiefly their desire for the praise of men He will condemn as their hypocrisy.  He tells His disciples, "For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men," and to the scribes and Pharisees He says, "For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation" (see the full chapter of Matthew 23).  More to the point, Jesus will contrast the world's ways of thinking and living with what He teaches.  At the Last Supper, as reported in St. John's Gospel, Jesus will tell the disciples, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:19).  In His final prayer, He will say to the Father, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:14-16).  These examples in His teaching and in His final prayer illustrate the difference between seeking the praise of God and the praise of men as our focus in life, the thing we nurture and choose in the heart.  It is the crucible at the heart of the Gospel and the story of Jesus.  We are always asked to choose where our loyalty lies, for this is the spiritual battle at the heart of the world and the identity of our soul.