Homilies on the Gospel of John

“Father, I will that they also whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am.”

“Then dost Thou gain by prayer, and dost Thou not yet possess that concerning which they enquired continually, saying, 'Where are You going?' What sayest Thou? How then did You say to them, 'You shall sit upon twelve thrones'? How did You promise other things more and greater?” Do you see that He says all in the way of condescension? Since how would He have said, “You shall follow afterwards”? But He speaks thus with a view to a fuller conviction and demonstration of His love.

“That they may behold My glory which You have given Me.”

This again is a sign of His being of one mind with the Father, of a higher character than those former, for He says, “Before the foundation of the world,” yet has it also a certain condescension; for, “You have given Me,” He says. Now if this be not the case, I would gladly ask the gainsayers a question. He that gives, gives to one subsisting; did the Father then, having first begotten the Son, afterwards give Him glory, having before allowed Him to be without glory? And how could this be reasonable? Seest that the “He gave,” is, “He begot”?

3. But why said He not, “That they may share My glory,” instead of, “That they may be hold My glory”? Here He implies, that all that rest is, the looking on the Son of God. This certainly it is which causes them to be glorified; as Paul says, “With open face mirroring the glory of the Lord.” For as they who look on the sunbeams, and enjoy a very clear atmosphere, draw their enjoyment from their sight, so then also, and in much greater degree, this will cause us pleasure. At the same time also He shows, that what they should behold was not the body then seen, but some awful Substance.