John 12

John 12:1-8

• Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:1-10—This appears to be a parallel to the Synoptic story of an immoral woman washing Jesus’ feet.
  a. All of the disciples rebuke her, not only Judas.
  b. Jesus defends her and says that her kind act will be part of the “good news.”
  c. Mark 14:10—This is where Judas decides to betray Jesus.
• 12:2—This may have been a celebratory dinner for Lazarus.
• 12:3—The term used to describe Mary’s gift is pistikos, from the root word pistos (which means “faith”), although it is difficult to know exactly what this term means or how it relates to the story (Morris, p. 511-512).
• How do we feel when someone “out serves” us?
• 12:6—We do not have this aside on Judas’ character in the Synoptics? Do you find this interesting?
• 12:8—This is not to stop helping the poor, only to speak about Jesus’ burial (Lindars, p. 418-419).

John 12:9-12

• 12:10—Joining the community of faith can be dangerous.
• 12:13—Quote from Psalm 118:25-26
  a. The palm branch is the national symbol of Israel.
  b. “Hosanna” literally means “Oh, save [us]!”
• 12:15—Quote from Zechariah 9:9—"Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (NRSV).
• 12:16; cf. 14:26—The Paraclete will bring remembrance of and insight about these events.
• 12:17-19—The two groups of people are becoming even more divided about Jesus.

John 12:20-26

• 12:21—Philip was a Greek-speaking, Diaspora disciple.
• 12:23—With the coming of these Diaspora Jews, Jesus realizes that the time for His death is quickly approaching (Brown, 1966, p. 470). Yet they will not see Jesus until they see Him in the missionaries who will preach about the Cross.

John 12:27-36

• 12:30—Jesus does not need the assurance, yet the disciples do.
• 12:32; cf. 1:50-51—Jesus will be honored and revered through His death and resurrection.
• 12:34—Despite all that they have seen and heard, the crowd still wants to debate.
  a. This is an abrasive break with the crowd in which Jesus says, “No more talking!”
  b. Soren Kierkegaard compares this to someone debating about what should be done as the ship races toward the waterfall (1973, p. 374-375).
• 19:5—Pilate will present Jesus as the new Adam.

John 12:37-43

• How many of us are “people-pleasers”?
• 12:36-37—This is the official end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s Gospel.
  a. 12:36—We are reminded that Jesus will sacrifice Himself on His time.
  b. 12:38—Ultimately is the unbelief of the people that brings about Jesus’ death by fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53:1 (Morris, p. 536).

John 12:44-50

• Jesus’ motivation for Faith
  a. 12:44—Belief in Jesus is belief in God.
  b. 12:46—Belief in Jesus frees us from spiritual distress.
  c. 12:47—Hearing Jesus’ words means a responsibility to keep them.
• 12:45—Whoever “sees” Jesus understand who He really is.
• 12:50; cf. Deuteronomy 32:45-47—These are parallel passages about receiving instructions that give life.

References

Raymond Brown, The Gospel According to John I-XII, Anchor Bible 29 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966).

Soren Kierkegaard, A Kierkegaard Anthology, Robert Bretall, ed. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973).

Barnabas Lindars, The Gospel of John, New Century Bible Commentary (Greenwood, SC: Attic Press, 1972).

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, rev. ed., New International Commentary on the New Testament 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995).