John 12

Mary Anoints Jesus

1-3 Six days before Passover, Jesus is a dinner guest at Lazarus’s home, when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of nard, wiping his feet with her hair, filling the house with fragrance.

According to Coffman,

Spikenard was a perfume highly prized by the ancients, and was produced from Nardostachys jatamansi, a small plant (which is) a native of the Himalaya Mountains. The high cost derived partly from the transportation of it thousands of miles from India to Jerusalem. There were "cut" varieties of it, but this was expensive pure nard itself.

4-6 Judas Iscariot objects, saying the ointment should have been sold and the money (nearly a year’s wages for a laborer) given to the poor, though he didn’t really care for them; he was a thief. Judas may have thought this showed his piety, but he was de-valuing his Master.

7-8 Jesus: She has prepared it for my burial. You’ll always have the poor with you.

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

9-11 When the Jews learn Jesus is in Bethany, they come to see Jesus and also Lazarus, whom they plan to kill, because his resurrection is causing many to believe and desert them. As if by killing Lazarus they would erase a witnessed miracle. It would instead have made Lazarus a martyr. Hatred messes up people’s reasoning.

The Triumphal Entry

12-13 The next day (Sunday) the Passover crowd, hearing Jesus is coming into Jerusalem, meets him with branches of palm trees, praising him as the King of Israel.

14-16 Jesus, on a young donkey, is fulfilling a prophecy, though his disciples don’t realize it until his glorification (his death, burial and resurrection).

17-20 The crowd includes those who witnessed Lazarus’s resurrection and others who have heard of it, frustrating the Pharisees who say to each other, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!” You can hear their envy and exasperation in this statement.

Some Greeks Wish to See Jesus

20-26 When Andrew and Philip tell Jesus some Greeks (Gentiles)wish to see him, he answers:

• It’s time for the Son of Man to be glorified.
• A grain of wheat must die in order to bear fruit.
• If you love your life, you’ll lose it; if you hate your earthly life, you’ll gain eternal life.
• Whoever serves me must follow me, and the Father will honor him.

Note: It doesn’t say whether or not the Greeks ever saw him, nor whether this was the message to the Greeks or to Andrew and Philip. From the People’s New Testament:

The answer of Christ may have been to Philip and Andrew, and the Greeks may have heard and understood it. The substance is, that the time of his glorification had come and that glorification would draw all men, Greek, Gentiles as well as Jews, to him.

Jesus Speaks of His Death

27-36a Jesus: My soul is troubled, but this is the reason I have come. “Father, glorify your name.”

Voice from heaven: I have, and will glorify it again.

The crowd: We hear thunder – or – It’s an angel!

Jesus: The ruler of this world is about to be driven out. When I am lifted up, I will draw people to myself (indicating his manner of death). I wonder if the crowd interpreted the first statement as applying to the Romans,

Crowd: But the law of Moses is forever! What to you mean, “lifted up”? (Another indication they are expecting an earthly ruler.) Who is this Son of Man? (See verse 23.)

Jesus: “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

Unbelief of the People

36b-41 Jesus leaves and hides from them. Though they have seen his signs, they don’t believe, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecies (Isaiah 53:1; Isaiah 6:10).

42-43 Many of the authorities believe in him, but don’t speak up for fear of being put out of the synagogue by the Pharisees, loving their “glory” more than God’s. This tendency is not exclusive to the Jewish authorities in the first century.

Summary of Jesus’ Teaching

44-50 If you believe in Me, you believe in the One who sent Me. I have come as the light; those who don’t believe remain in darkness. I come not to judge, but to save; judgment will come at the last day. I have spoken only the word of God, which gives eternal life. These are the last words of Jesus’ public ministry.