Jesus has been doomed to death (John 11:53; John 11:57), and the hour is at hand when He shall be seized, and the sentence executed. But the malice of man cannot interfere with the purposes of God. In the midst of dangers, under sentence of death, the redeemer pursues His path of glory. Three pictur... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:1. JESUS THEREFORE, SIX DAYS BEFORE THE PASSOVER, CAME TO BETHANY, WHERE LAZARUS WAS, WHOM JESUS HAD RAISED FROM THE DEAD. The word _therefore_ marks a close connection with the preceding chapter, not however with its concluding words. The 56 th and 57 th verses of chap. 11, describing how t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:2. THERE THEREFORE THEY MADE HIM A SUPPER; AND MARTHA SERVED: BUT LAZARUS WAS ONE OF THEM THAT SAT AT THE TABLE WITH HIM. Two points only are mentioned by John, that a feast was given in honour of Jesus, and that every member of the family so signally blessed was present. By whom, when, and... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:3. MARY THEREFORE TOOK A POUND OF OINTMENT OF SPIKENARD, VERY PRECIOUS. By ointment we are to understand rather a liquid perfume than what we commonly know as ointment. The precise description of ointment or perfume that is here indicated is a question that has been much controverted. The wo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:4. BUT JUDAS ISCARIOT, ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES, HE THAT was ABOUT TO BETRAY HIM, SAITH. After the picture of the highest loving homage to Him whom the Jewish rulers had adjudged to death, the Evangelist gives the contrasted view of an apostle, who, apostle as he was, would shortly be seeking to... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:5. WHY WAS NOT THIS OINTMENT SOLD FOR THREE HUNDRED PENCE AND GIVEN TO THE POOR? Care for the poor is the mask which the murmuring protest of Judas wears. Thus sin, that it may the better extinguish the virtue by which at the moment it is offended, is wont to pay reverence to some other virt... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:6. BUT THIS HE SAID, NOT BECAUSE HE CARED FOR THE POOR; BUT BECAUSE HE WAS A THIEF, AND, HAVING THE BAG, BARE AWAY WHAT WAS PUT THEREIN. Matthew mentions the murmuring on the part of _some_ of the disciples: evidently, therefore, the plausible remonstrance of Judas led more honest and guilel... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:7. JESUS THEREFORE SAID, LET HER ALONE, THAT FOR THE DAY OF THE PREPARATION FOR MY BURIAL SHE MAY KEEP IT. The meaning of the word which in the Authorised Version is rendered ‘burial' is made clear by chap. John 19:40 (where substantially the same word is used); ‘they took the body of Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:8. FOR THE POOR ALWAYS YE HAVE WITH YOU, BUT ME YE HAVE NOT ALWAYS. The duty of giving to the poor is fully recognised: it must never be forgotten. But there are moments when what may seem lavish waste upon objects visible only to the eye of faith are to be commended for the faith that is pr... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:9. THE COMMON PEOPLE OF THE JEWS THEREFORE LEARNED THAT HE WAS THERE: AND THEY CAME, NOT FOR JESUS' SAKE ONLY, BUT THAT THEY MIGHT SEE LAZARUS ALSO, WHOM HE HAD RAISED FROM THE DEAD. Faith and unbelief have revealed them SELVES IN the case of the friends and the enemies of Jesus, and especia... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:10-11. BUT THE CHIEF PRIESTS CONSULTED THAT THEY MIGHT PUT LAZARUS ALSO TO DEATH; BECAUSE THAT BY REASON OF HIM MANY OF THE JEWS WENT AWAY, AND BELIEVED IN JESUS. When the rulers found that even their own adherents were deserting them (comp. chap. John 11:48), their rage knew no bounds. Laza... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:12. THE NEXT DAY, that is, the day following the feast in Bethany (see on John 12:2), and therefore our Sunday; the day, it may be observed, fixed in the tradition of the Church for the triumphal entry, tradition thus confirming the exegesis of the text, and finding in the latter support for... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:13. TOOK THE BRANCHES OF THE PALM TREES. The word rendered ‘branches' occurs only here in the New Testament. It is the top of a palm tree where the fruit is produced. We are to understand by the word, therefore, not branches only, but fruit-bearing branches, those from which in due season th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:14-15. AND JESUS, WHEN HE HAD FOUND A YOUNG ASS, SAT THEREON: AS IT IS WRITTEN, FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF SION, BEHOLD, THY KING COMETH, SITTING ON AN ASS'S COLT. Jesus ‘found' the ass, having taken means to find it (comp. Matthew 21:2; Mark 11:1; Luke 19:30; comp. also chap. John 1:43). It is a... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:16. THESE THINGS UNDERSTOOD NOT HIS DISCIPLES AT THE FIRST. What was it that the disciples did not understand at the time? The true application of the prophecy of Zechariah now pointed out? Certainly not. It was the events themselves now occurring that were dark to them. They were not seen i... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:17-18. THE MULTITUDE THEREFORE THAT WAS WITH HIM WHEN HE CALLED LAZARUS OUT OF THE TOMB AND RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, BARE WITNESS. FOR THIS CAUSE ALSO THE MULTITUDE WENT TO MEET HIM, BECAUSE THEY HEARD THAT HE HAD DONE THIS SIGN. These verses are not a returning to the story after a digress... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:19. THE PHARISEES THEREFORE SAID AMONG THEMSELVES, BEHOLD HOW THAT YE PREVAIL NOTHING. LO, THE WORLD IS GONE AWAY AFTER HIM. The exaggeration of their words illustrates the alarm and hopelessness of the Pharisees. The impression made is too great to permit them to look at the facts only as t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:20. AND THERE WERE SOME GREEKS FROM AMONG THEM THAT CAME UP TO WORSHIP AT THE FEAST. A third illustration of the homage paid to Jesus. The account is given by John alone, and the time is left by him indeterminate. From John 12:36 we may perhaps infer that it was considerably later in the wee... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:21. THESE CAME THEREFORE TO PHILIP, WHICH WAS OF BETHSAIDA OF GALILEE, AND ASKED HIM SAYING, SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS. To suppose that their object is to ask Jesus to institute a mission to the Gentiles, or to come to them Himself, is to misapprehend the nature of the situation. It is their o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:22. PHILIP COMETH AND TELLETH ANDREW: ANDREW COMETH, AND PHILIP, AND THEY TELL JESUS. Why these Greeks should particularly address themselves to Philip; why Philip should be here described as ‘from Bethsaida of Galilee;' why Philip should tell Andrew; and why Andrew, as appears from the pecu... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:23. AND JESUS ANSWERETH THEM, SAYING; THE HOUR IS COME, THAT THE SON OF MAN SHOULD BE GLORIFIED. The glorification here spoken of must be that of chap. John 13:31-32, and John 17:1; John 17:5, the latter of which also follows a moment designated exactly as the present one, ‘The hour is come.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:24. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. There is a general principle lying at the root of the glorification of the ‘ _Son of man_,' This is now to be explained and illustrated. EXCEPT THE CORN OF WHEAT FALL INTO THE GROUND AND DIE, IT ABIDETH ITSELF ALONE; BUT IF IT DIE, IT BRINGETH FORTH MUCH... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:25. HE THAT LOVETH HIS SOUL LOSETH IT; AND HE THAT HATETH HIS SOUL IN THIS WORLD SHALL KEEP IT UNTO LIFE ETERNAL. The law of the physical world just spoken of illustrates the law of the moral and spiritual world. ‘Soul' is here the personality, the self, in man: yet not the self in the sense... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:26. IF ANY ONE SERVE ME, LET HIM FOLLOW ME. The words apply the law just spoken of as the law of nature and of man, and therefore also as the law of Jesus, to every individual. The ‘following' is neither general nor outward, but specific and inward, a following in that path of suffering and... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:27. NOW IS MY SOUL TROUBLED. There is no want of connection between these words and the immediately preceding verses. The connection, on the contrary, is of the closest kind. Because this is the moment of highest exaltation in the contemplation of the universal triumph symbolized in the comi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:28. FATHER, GLORIFY THY NAME. ‘Let Thy glory shine forth in Thy name, in Thy character, as Father and in all that is involved in establishing Thy fatherly relation to men.' THERE CAME THEREFORE A VOICE OUT OF HEAVEN, SAYING, I HAVE BOTH GLORIFIED IT, AND WILL GLORIFY IT AGAIN. The answer is... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:29. THE MULTITUDE THEREFORE, THAT STOOD BY, AND HEARD IT, SAID THAT IT HAD THUNDERED: OTHERS SAID, AN ANGEL HATH SPOKEN TO HIM. That a real voice had been heard is obvious from the fact that the words are actually given by the Evangelist in John 12:28, and that some at least of the multitude... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:30. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID, NOT FOR MY SAKE HATH THIS VOICE COME, BUT FOR YOUR SAKES. He needed not the voice, for he knew that He was one with the Father, and that He was carrying out the Father's will. But they might not comprehend His sufferings, the agony of soul they now beheld, the de... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:31. NOW IS THERE JUDGMENT OF THIS WORLD. The ‘now' is the ‘now' of John 12:27, the ‘hour' of John 12:23; and the primary thought to be taken into it is that of the suffering and death in the midst of which Jesus stood, and which in the purpose of God, and to the eye of faith, were so differe... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:32-33. AND I, IF I BE LIFTED ON HIGH OUT OF THE EARTH, WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO MYSELF. BUT THIS HE SAID, SIGNIFYING BY WHAT MANNER OF DEATH HE SHOULD DIE. ‘Myself' is used in emphatic contrast with, and opposition to, the ‘prince of this world.' To Himself Jesus will ‘draw' men; and any diffi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:34. THE MULTITUDE THEREFORE ANSWERED HIM, WE HAVE HEARD OUT OF THE LAW THAT THE CHRIST ABIDETH FOR EVER: AND HOW SAYEST THOU, THE SON OF MAN MUST BE LIFTED ON HIGH? The ‘multitude,' who are Jews not Greeks, have rightly understood the words of Jesus in John 12:32 to mean a lifting on high by... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:35. JESUS THEREFORE SAID UNTO THEM, YET A LITTLE WHILE IS THE LIGHT AMONG YOU. Not so much words of pity and tenderness in order to clear away the doubts of a sincere desire to learn, as words of solemn warning that they had a day of grace granted them, but that it was now drawing to a close... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:36. AS YE HAVE THE LIGHT, BELIEVE IN THE LIGHT. Nay, not only let them come to the light, but let them take a higher step and ‘believe in' the light, that is, commit in trust their whole being to the light. THAT YE MAY BECOME SONS OF LIGHT, light your father, the element of your being, and... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:37. BUT THOUGH HE HAD DONE SO MANY SIGNS BEFORE THEM, THEY BELIEVED NOT IN HIM. The words of chap. John 1:10-11 seem to echo in our cars, ‘He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world knew Him not He came unto His own home, and His own accepted Him not.' All... [ Continue Reading ]
The public ministry of Jesus has been brought to a close, and the moment has been marked by words the melancholy pathos of which can hardly be mistaken, ‘Having gone away, He was hidden from then' (John 12:36). These words, applied in the first instance to the outward circumstances of the Saviour, r... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:38. THAT THE WORD OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET MIGHT BE FULFILLED, WHICH HE SAID, LORD, WHO BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM WAS THE ARM OF THE LORD REVEALED. I The quotation is from Isaiah 53:1; and one or two expressions in it require notice before we endeavour to ascertain its exact force and me... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:39-40 . FOR THIS CAUSE THEY COULD NOT BELIEVE, BECAUSE ISAIAH SAID AGAIN, HE HATH BLINDED THEIR EYES, AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART, AND BE TURNED, AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM. ‘For this cause' does not refer so much to the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:41. THESE THINGS SAID ISAIAH, BECAUSE HE SAW HIS GLORY; AND HE SPAKE CONCERNING HIM. When we remember that the chapter of Isaiah from which the quotation of John 12:39-40 is taken is that in which the prophet sees the glory of the Lord, it may appear at first sight as if it were only the glo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:42. NEVERTHELESS, EVEN FROM AMONG THE RULERS MANY BELIEVED IN HIM. The language which John has used is general: as a nation Israel has rejected Jesus. But His mission has not been without effect on many individuals (comp. chaps. John 1:11-12; John 3:32-33): even from among the members of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:43. BECAUSE THEY LOVED THE GLORY OF MEN MORE THAN THE GLORY OF GOD. It may seem at first sight as if these words were inconsistent with those of chap. John 5:44, and the apparent inconsistency is not to be removed either by giving to the word translated ‘glory' its etymological signification... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:44. BUT JESUS CRIED AND SAID. In what sense are we to understand the cry and utterance about to be mentioned? Was it public or private? Or is it strictly speaking no utterance of Jesus at all, but only a summary by the Evangelist himself of the main points of that teaching of Jesus which he... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:45. AND HE THAT BEHOLDETH ME, BEHOLDETH HIM THAT SENT ME. In chap. John 6:40 (see note) we have the same combination as in these verses: ‘He that beholdeth the Son and believeth in Him.' A little later the same thought finds fuller expression in words addressed to disciples (chap. John 14:9)... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:46. AS LIGHT I HAVE COME INTO THE WORLD, THAT EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME MAY NOT ABIDE IN THE DARKNESS. Here we have the substance of the Saviour's last words to the multitude (John 12:35-36) and the earlier sayings of chap. 2 John 1:9; 2 John 1:9:5; but nowhere has it been as clearly ta... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:47. AND IF ANY ONE SHALL HAVE HEARD MY SAYINGS AND HAVE GUARDED THEM NOT. It is necessary here to introduce an unusual word in the translation. To ‘keep' the sayings or words of Jesus is a phrase which often meets us in this Gospel (chap. John 8:51, etc.): ‘guard' is an un common word with t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:48. HE THAT REJECTETH ME, AND RECEIVETH NOT MY SAYINGS, HATH ONE THAT JUDGETH HIM: THE WORD THAT I SPAKE, THE SAME SHALL JUDGE him IN THE LAST DAY. From the ‘forgetful hearer' whose carelessness or indifference has let slip the words he should have ‘guarded,' Jesus passes to the man who sets... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:49. BECAUSE I SPAKE NOT OF MYSELF; BUT THE FATHER WHICH SENT ME, HE HATH GIVEN ME A COMMANDMENT, WHAT I SHOULD SAY, AND WHAT I SHOULD SPEAK. With the first words compare chap. John 3:34; John 5:19; John 7:16-17; John 8:28; John 14:24. Of receiving a ‘commandment' from the Father Jesus has sp... [ Continue Reading ]
John 12:50. AND I KNOW THAT HIS COMMANDMENT IS ETERNAL LIFE: WHATSOEVER I SPEAK THEREFORE, EVEN AS THE FATHER HATH SAID UNTO ME, SO I SPEAK. The substance of the Divine commandment is contained in the word of Jesus, and His word gives life eternal, His word is life (chap. John 5:24; John 6:63; John... [ Continue Reading ]