CHAPTER 12

(A.D. 33)

MARY ANOINTS JESUS

¹Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany (represents the closing days of His Ministry and Work), where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom He raised from the dead (He went to where He was welcome; He was not welcome in the Temple, even though it was His House; His Presence there would be looked at as an intrusion in a short time, as it is in most Churches presently).

²There they made Him a supper (probably in the house of Simon the Leper [Mat. 26:6; Mk. 14:3]); and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them who sat at the table with Him (possibly Simon the Leper was there as well! if so, there would have been seated at the table two transcendent proofs of the Power of Jesus to save not only from the semblance of death as was Simon the Leper, but from the reality of death by the Resurrection of Lazarus).

³Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly (probably worth about ten thousand dollars in 2003 currency), and anointed the Feet of Jesus, and wiped His Feet with her hair (harmonious with the purpose of this Gospel and setting forth the Deity of the Lord Jesus, only the Anointing of His Feet is recorded): and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment (it was testimony to His coming Resurrection, and she knew she would have no other opportunity; incidentally, Mary was not found at the empty Tomb; she was too spiritually intelligent to be there).

⁴Then said one of His Disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simons son, which should betray Him (was not Simon the Leper in whose house this supper was prepared),

⁵Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? (Reynolds said, sinful motive often hides itself under the mask of reverence for another virtue.)

⁶This he said, not that he cared for the poor (this was not his real reason); but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bear what was put therein (had the ointment been sold and the money given to Christ, Judas would have stolen it; unfortunately, most of the money presently given for that which is supposed to be the Work of God is stolen, i.e., used for the wrong purposes).

⁷Then said Jesus, Let her alone (Jesus places His Seal of approval on what she is doing): against the day of My burying has she kept this (indicating she had this ointment for quite some time).

⁸For the poor always you have with you (presents that which is regrettable, but true!); but Me you have not always (Jesus would not be with them in the flesh very much longer).

THE PLOT

⁹Much people of the Jews therefore knew that He was there (at the home of Lazarus): and they came not for Jesus sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom He had raised from the dead (no doubt, there were many and varied questions that people had concerning death, which they desired to ask Lazarus; and yet, the Scripture is silent on this subject).

¹⁰But the Chief Priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death (it had been about two months since Jesus had performed this greatest of Miracles; these religious leaders were not speaking of a judicial execution, but rather how they could hire some brigand to murder Lazarus in cold blood; religious evil is the worst evil of all!);

¹¹Because that by reason of Him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus (one cannot be in sympathy with Christ and at the same time remain in league with the evil of this religious hierarchy; one or the other must go!).

THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY

¹²On the next day much people who were come to the Feast (the Passover), when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem (their excitement is understandable),

¹³Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him (as was the custom; presents them waving these palm fronds in token of the approach of a conqueror), and cried, Hosanna (in the Hebrew means, saved we pray): Blessed is the King of Israel Who comes in the Name of the Lord (is taken from Ps. 118:25-26; while the people at that moment were proclaiming Jesus as King, the religious leaders were plotting His Death).

¹⁴And Jesus, when He had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written (presents an animal that had never before been ridden; Matthew tells us that the foal was accompanied by its mother, and both animals satisfied the prediction of Zech., Chpt. 9, and Isa 62:11),

¹⁵Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, The King comes, sitting on an asss colt (is recorded by John from Zech. 9:9).

¹⁶These things understood not His Disciples at the first (refers to His Disciples being a part of this great celebration, but yet not knowing or realizing that they were fulfilling Prophecy): but when Jesus was glorified (refers to the glorified Body of Jesus after His Resurrection), then remembered they that these things were written of Him (speaks of the time after the Day of Pentecost when they were Baptized with the Holy Spirit, and He began to explain things to them), and that they had done these things unto Him (the Scriptures portrayed what was to be done, and, in fact, what was done).

¹⁷The people therefore who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bear record (they had been giving the testimony of what they had seen and heard from the moment it happened, with, no doubt, ready ears to listen).

¹⁸For this cause the people also met Him, for that they heard that He had done this Miracle (proclaims the raising of Lazarus as the catalyst which instigated the Triumphant Entry).

¹⁹The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how you prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after Him (John portrays the anger of the Pharisees as no other writer; this public entrance associated with the supreme Miracle of the raising of Lazarus compelled Priests and people to a decision; while the people were praising Him, the Priests decided to Crucify Him, but they could have prevailed nothing had He not voluntarily surrendered Himself).

GREEKS

²⁰And there were certain Greeks among them who came up to worship at the Feast (pertained to a large group of Gentiles):

²¹The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee (one of the Twelve Apostles), and desired Him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus (they were ready to plead with Him to go among them and offer His Message to the Gentiles!).

²²Philip comes and tells Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus (may present more, much more, than the passing on of information; but the time was wrong, which Jesus will now address).

THE PREDICTION

²³And Jesus answered them (answered the Greeks as well as His Disciples), saying, The hour is come (the Crucifixion, which would pay the price for Adams fallen race), that the Son of Man should be Glorified (this statement guarantees the Resurrection, because Jesus could not be Glorified unless He was Resurrected).

²⁴Verily, verily, I say unto you (the pronoun you is emphatic toward the Disciples that their idea of circumventing His Death was a violation of the Word of God, and a hindrance to the very purpose and reason for which He came), Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone (says that His Atoning Death was a necessity): but if it die, it brings forth much fruit (proclaims the very purpose for His Death was to bring forth Life).

DISCIPLESHIP

²⁵He who loves his life shall lose it (hits at the very heart of mans problem; it could be paraphrased, He who loves self shall not see fulfillment); and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it unto Life Eternal (refers to putting self last, and Christ first in all things).

²⁶If any man serve Me, let him follow Me (follow Christ exclusively); and where I am, there shall also My Servant be (actually means to be Crucified together [Rom. 6:3-5], Glorified together [Rom. 8:17]): if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour (this is the true honor which comes from God).

JESUS PRAYS

²⁷Now is My soul troubled (proclaims Him facing that which would come about in a very short time); and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour (could be translated, should I pray to the Father that He save Me from this hour?): but for this cause came I unto this hour (could be translated, No, for this cause came I unto this hour).

²⁸Father, glorify Your Name (proclaims that which Jesus always sought to do). Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again (it was glorified at the raising of Lazarus, and it will be glorified again with the Resurrection of Christ).

²⁹The people therefore, who stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered (does not mean that it was unintelligible, but that the Voice sounded with such Power that it was like thunder): others said, An Angel spoke to Him (proclaims the fact that they did hear what was said, and did at least understand the words, even though they did not understand the meaning).

³⁰Jesus answered and said, This Voice came not because of Me (proclaims in no uncertain terms that Jesus was not in doubt as to Who and What He was), but for your sakes (refers to God making this statement, and in an audible Voice that all who were there may hear and know).

³¹Now is the Judgment of this world (pertains to that which Jesus would do at Calvary; He would suffer the Wrath of God instead of the world): now shall the prince of this world be cast out (Jesus would defeat Satan by atoning for all sin; sin is the legal means by which Satan keeps men in captivity; that means being removed, which it was by Christ, leaves the Evil One with no legal right, unless men freely give him that right; acceptance of Christ and the Cross defeats Satan and breaks his bondage).

³²And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth (refers to His Death at Calvary; He was lifted up on the Cross; the Cross is the Foundation of all Victory), will draw all men unto Me (refers to the Salvation of all who come to Him, believing what He did, and trusting in its atoning Work).

³³This He said, signifying what death He should die (Reynolds says, In these Words, we learn that the attraction of the Cross of Christ will prove to be the mightiest, and most sovereign motive ever brought to bear on the human will, and, when wielded by the Holy Spirit as a Revelation of the matchless Love of God, will involve the most sweeping judicial sentence that can be pronounced upon the world and its prince.).

³⁴The people answered Him (proclaims an unsatisfactory answer, actually an answer of unbelief!), We have heard out of the Law that Christ abides forever (refers to several passages out of the Old Testament being taken out of context): and how do You say, The Son of Man must be lifted up? (This presents these people attempting to excuse their unwillingness to obey moral appeal to the conscience by raising some Bible difficulty.) who is this Son of Man? (If they did not now know, there is nothing that could be done that would ever help them to know.)

³⁵Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the Light with you (the warning is clearly given that their day was nearly gone, and the eternal darkness was coming). Walk while you have the Light, lest darkness come upon you (presents a choice!): for he who walks in darkness knows not where he goes (proclaims the majority of the world at present and, in fact, since the beginning of time).

³⁶While you have the Light (Jesus is the Light), believe in the Light (make Christ the central focus of your life and living), that you may be the Children of Light (which at the same time means they were not the children of Light). These things spoke Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them (this was the last public Word of Jesus; if the Word of God is rejected, ultimately the Lord will hide Himself, fulfilling Prov. 1:24-30).

REJECTION

³⁷But though He had done so many Miracles before them (seems to be proclaimed with a sigh by the Holy Spirit), yet they believed not on Him (if people will not believe the Word of God, they will little believe Miracles, irrespective as to how powerful they may be):

³⁸That the saying of Isaiah the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke (Isa., Chpt. 53), Lord, who has believed our report? (This doesnt mean no one believed, but it does mean that the number was few.) and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? (This speaks of the Messiah being revealed to Israel, but they would not accept Him!)

³⁹Therefore they could not believe (means that Israel willfully shut their eyes to the Message of the Miracles), because that Isaiah said again (refers to where their unbelief led them),

⁴⁰He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart (God set in motion the Law of Unbelief, which, in effect, is the Law of Sowing and Reaping); that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (because they willfully refused to believe, God willed a judicial blindness and hardness accordingly).

⁴¹These things said Isaiah, when he saw His Glory, and spoke of Him (in this Passage, John proclaims that the vision Isaiah had of the Lord [Isa. 6:1-2] was actually of the pre-Incarnate Christ; so we are told here that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was Jesus).

⁴²Nevertheless among the Chief Rulers also many believed on Him (does not relate exactly who they were, with the exception of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea); but be cause of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they be put out of the Synagogue (proclaims not only their excuses, but the excuses of many millions the world over):

⁴³For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (this means that they counted God as less than men; what an indictment!).

TEACHING

⁴⁴Jesus cried and said, he who believes on Me (claims the absolute necessity of believing on Christ as God manifest in the flesh and, therefore, the Saviour of mankind, which He was through the Cross), believes not on Me (believes not on Me Alone), but on Him Who sent Me (to have the Son is to have the Father; to refuse the Son is to refuse the Father).

⁴⁵And he who sees Me sees Him Who sent Me (had to be done by Faith, because Christ in His human form offered no expression of Deity).

⁴⁶I am come a Light into the world (reveals all understanding, all purifying, all gracious influence which are shed on human affairs, nature, and destiny), that whosoever believes on Me should not abide in darkness (the only way out of darkness is through Christ; He Alone is the Light!).

⁴⁷And if any man hear My Words, and believe not, I judge him not (means that He is not pronouncing sentence now; He has come as Saviour): for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world (proclaims His present Mission, which has lasted now for nearly 2,000 years).

⁴⁸He who rejects Me, and receives not My Words, has One Who Judges him (presents a Truth that the Church desperately needs to hear and understand, and the entirety of the world for that matter): the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (speaks of the Judgment Seat of Christ for Believers, and the Great White Throne Judgment for unbelievers).

⁴⁹For I have not spoken of Myself (His Words are not simply His Own, but rather from the Father, i.e., in effect, the entirety of the Godhead); but the Father which sent Me (He was sent by the Father for a distinct purpose and mission), He gave Me a Commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak (in effect, says, in rejecting Me and My Words, men reject and insult the Father; His Word that they dare to renounce is as solemn and unalterable as the Word spoken on Sinai).

⁵⁰And I know that His Commandment is Life Everlasting (as well says that Life Everlasting is found in the Words of no one else): whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak (His Doctrine, its Substance, and the very Words used in its proclamation are all of Divine origin).