John Ch. 12
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
“Bethany” (see ch.1:28) meaning “House of Dates”, - sustenance - will now live up to its name…
2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Refer back to the commentary on ch.1:27 {Ironically this was in Bethany; home to two of these women, who will bow themselves so low - beyond “tying his sandal straps”, to washing his feet and in doing so, will acknowledge their unworthiness and receive his mercy, grace and forgiveness.}
Mary is one of these women:
“Mary”
To stoop so low and display publicly, such raw and unrehearsed devotion… Through the purest form of humility, comes the highest form of worship - and the most devoted form of service (see also: Luke 7:37-47 & 1Peter 2:5)
Here is an entire pound of expensive spikenard; which, according to Judas, is worth a whole year’s wages! Mary will expend it all in one single action: And, as if, considering herself unworthy to anoint Jesus’s head, she “wastes” it gratuitously and extravagantly at his feet! (Again, see John 1:27) Then, in one final act of heroic humility, she lets down her hair to dry them!
For a Jewish woman to publicly unbind her hair was a sign of immorality (See Numbers 5:18)
But we know that Mary already understood this: She has sat at the feet of her Rabbi, supping on his Word: She knew the Gospel…her immoral, sinful state in the eyes of God - See Psalm 51:1-12: And in Christ, she knew she had found the answer that King David had been crying out for: Here is the One who will provide a covering for her shame (Genesis 3:7-8, 21) and create in her a clean, new heart - as he will for all of us, who place our trust in Him. It no longer matters that by letting down her hair in such unbridled fashion, she is likely uncovering herself in the sight of the people: Mary knows she is covered by the only One who truly can cover her!
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,
5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
Who really was Judas Iscariot? Why did he betray Jesus? Was he a zealot, who betrayed him in the hope that this would force Jesus into displaying his power to overcome the Romans? …Was he simply misguided over the mission of Jesus? Many of these theories (from movies, documentaries and the apocryphal (false) “Gospel of Judas” have painted Judas in a less negative - and almost pitiable light - some suggesting that “it wasn’t his fault that he betrayed Jesus”: Unfortunately, there is evidence for none of this: On the contrary, John, the Apostle and Gospel writer, tells us clearly and simply in this one verse, the true character of Judas Iscariot.
7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
8 For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Jesus, knowing very well Judas’s heart, gives this sound rebuke, which also comes with a warning…and another strong pointer towards his death on the Cross. It appears that Mary, by her actions in vs.7, may have known this. Whether or not she understood, Jesus makes it clear, that her act of anointing was a prophetic one.
Compare this to an event in Luke 10:38-42:
Martha is protesting:
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,
42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Martha too, has had to learn that works not done in Jesus and for his glory (in other words: works without faith) are dead works: When we try to impress God or earn his favor through works of the flesh…through social justice, we have missed the whole point of who he is and why he came. We cannot by our own efforts, earn our way to Heaven: Jesus Christ has bought and paid our way for us, through his own blood. (For further reading see Romans ch. 3 & 4)
Mary and Martha, although vastly contrasting in personality, both equally and overtly demonstrate their love and devotion to the Lord. See vs.2&3: Both display very different forms of worship and service towards him; but both, when coming from the heart, are equally valued and treasured by the Lord; a lesson that we the Body of Christ must also learn (See: Romans 12:3-11 & 1Peter 4:10-11).
Imagine the scene from this “House of Sustenance”: Crowds of people have gathered; for some of them, this is maybe their first glimpse of Jesus…their first sampling of the “Bread of Heaven” (Ch.6:35)…the first opportunity to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) …to sit at his table and “sup” with him! (Psalm 23:5; Revelation 3:20). Imagine Lazarus’s testimony!…Martha’s loving and lavish servitude!…And Mary’s equally loving and lavish display of worship and servitude! The scene is one of Thanksgiving…of Life…of Resurrection! This is why Satan hates it: And he will put it in the hearts of the Jewish rulers to kill - not only Jesus - but Lazarus - one of the most powerful testaments to Jesus Christ yet; And in the same way, he will put it in the heart of Judas Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
The Plot to Kill Lazarus
9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,
11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
The Triumphal Entry
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
It is Passover - and as usual, Jerusalem is overwhelmed; with Jews, Greeks, Romans…and hundreds of thousands of lambs, being led to the slaughter: It is in the midst of this, that the Lamb of God enters Jerusalem.
vs.13 So they took branches of palm trees…
One explanation for why the crowds specifically did this, is connected to the time following the Maccabean revolt:
Palm branches were waved at the rededication of the Temple in 164BC and since then, seemed to have become a national symbol in Israel…which gives us a much clearer idea as to how these people are seeing Jesus at this point: As a national and political leader…and how tragically they are missing the point.
It is likely that the Jewish rulers, would also have been fully aware of the symbolism…and equally aware of the significance of what the people were shouting:
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
What is the significance of these words..? And why would the Jewish rulers be so disturbed at hearing them proclaimed over Jesus..?
These are the words of Psalm 118: The final of six psalms ~ the Psalms of the Hallel ~ that would be sung over the period of the Passover, to celebrate the goodness of the Lord, through the coming of the Messiah! Through the eyes of the Jewish authorities, Jesus is being proclaimed as both the conquering king and the Messiah! A clear threat to Caesar’s authority…and consequently, to their own authority!
(See also Matthew 21:15-16)
When we take a closer look at this Psalm, we realize that it is all about Jesus:
***19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. (See Ch.14:6)
20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. (See Ch.10:7,9)
21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. {Yeshua: meaning “the Lord is Salvation”: See Matthew 1:21}
22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (See Matthew 21:42)
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. {The Day of Salvation: The day of the sacrifice to end all others…on a Cross!We are still living in this Day!}
25 Save us, we pray, O Lord! (Hosanna!) O Lord, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (See Matthew 23:39)
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. (Isaiah 9:2)
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!…
How little do these people realize: This “festal Sacrifice” is Jesus…the very one, whom they are hailing as a conquering king, to liberate them from the Romans; is the same one whom they will bind with cords and offer up on the Altar of Sacrifice.
As this Passover Psalm is sung, Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb - surrounded by the hundreds of other “sacrificial lambs” that had been prepared for this hour - enters Jerusalem.
And the symbolism doesn’t stop there:
14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15
“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”
See Zechariah 9:9
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
{Donkeys and mules were traditionally used by kings during periods of peace. Messiah’s first coming was neither on mule or donkey, but on a donkey’s foal...the ultimate expression of humility and meekness...like a lamb to the slaughter…to bring the ultimate expression of peace - not to the earth (Matt10:34-36)... but peace between God and man(Luke2:14)... peace to the soul.
His second coming will NOT be so.}
17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
Some Greeks Seek Jesus
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
His disciples deliver this message - no doubt with enthusiasm…
We can almost hear them saying “Jesus, it’s time to go viral!” A typical carnal response, truly representative of the culture we are right now immersed into. {Human nature has not changed from then until now, and the desire to “be seen”…”be heard”…”be known”…has reached epidemic proportions - even in the Church in this hour.}
23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
So far, this is sounding good to the disciples: “Yes he’s going to do it! We’re finally going global!”
But then, as if reading the thoughts of their hearts, Jesus’s words suddenly take an entirely different direction: One that is the polar opposite to the carnal desires of humanity:
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
You can imagine how taken aback his disciples suddenly are: “Oh” is probably all they are able to utter…
In other words: It is not time to be seen…worshipped by this world; It is time to DIE to this world…and everything of it.
And the very next thing Jesus says, will drive this home even further:
26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Read also, John the Apostle’s words in 1John 2:15-17
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
“Now is my soul troubled… Father, save me from this hour’?”
And yet, it will be for the JOY set before him, that Jesus will endure the Cross…and despise the shame (Hebrews 12:2)…
For “surely he had born our griefs and carried our sorrows…” (Isaiah 53:4)
Why? Because: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Ch.3:16)
27 cont. But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
Again, John the Apostle desires to leave us in no doubt: There was no “plan B” in God’s mind: See Genesis 3:15 & Revelation 13:8…There was only One Perfect and Eternal Plan, from before the foundations of the Earth.
28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
See Ch.14:12-14 & 15:7-8: What Jesus will do: Firstly for us, through his death…and then through us, after his resurrection…will all be for the glory of the Father.
29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
…So that the people will know that he truly has come from His Father in Heaven.
{It is perfectly understandable why these people didn’t recognize this as being the Voice of God; their ancestors would not have known the Voice of God from Mount Sinai, were it not for Moses’s mediation (Exodus 19:16-20 & 20:18-19)…but now One greater than Moses is here (Hebrews 3:3). Whether or not they will hear this greater mediator, the Messiah, will depend upon whether or not they have “ears to hear”.}
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
31 Now is the judgment of this world; (which he Jesus will take upon himself ~ ch.3:16)
32 now will the ruler of this world be cast out. (Through Jesus paying our debt - the price for our sin)
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
Think back to Jesus’s words to Nicodemus in Ch.3:14-15: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (See also Ch.8:28)
But this “lifting up” will not be to his glory; quite the opposite: He will be lifted up in the most shameful way possible at that time: Again, see Hebrews 12:2.
So how is the serpent on the pole connected to Jesus’s crucifixion?
Read Numbers 21:4-9
{“The serpent” is the image of original sin (See Genesis ch3): G-d makes Israel look at the serpent, and in this Way, confronts them with their own sin (Zechariah 12:10; John19:37). Without this honest acknowledgement of transgression before the L-rd, there can be no repentance; and no true healing(vs9)✝️❣️In the same Way, when we, under the New Covenant, found the courage to “look at” - to acknowledge Yeshua on the cross, we were confronted with our own sin, which led to repentance.
Now is the time to look to the Cross - for healing, for deliverance - for Salvation! And this is the ONLY Place…and He is the ONLY Way to be saved - from sin and its consequences…from judgment…from Hell! (Acts 4:12) Read Numbers ch. 21
Furthermore, in Galatians 3:13 we read: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—a powerful illustration of both the bronze snake on the pole - and its fulfillment: Christ’s crucifixion.
Bronze: Can also be symbolic of sin & transgression. (Exodus 27:1-7). The alter of burnt offerings (foreshadowing the Cross) along with everything else in the outer court of the Tabernacle, was overlaid entirely with bronze; We also see in Revelation 1:15, the feet of Yeshua as burnished bronze: Both these signify not only our fallen nature, but how G-d through His Son, has dealt with - conquered it. (Genesis 3:15)
Excerpt from: http://sarahshalom777.blogspot.com/2020/12/where-is-jesus-3.html
34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
vs34 They are missing the vital component in Daniel ch. 7:13-14 - the Son of Man; & ch. 9:26 - who will be cut off…
Jesus will further hint at this in the next vs: 35-36
35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
The Light? Compare ch.1:1 with Psalm 119:105: The Word is the Light.
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
Again, refer back to the bronze serpent on a pole: In the same Way, when we under the New Covenant, found the courage to come out of darkness and into the Light (1Peter 2:9)…to “look at” - to acknowledge Yeshua on the cross, we were saved. This is best explained by the Apostle John, when later he writes, in 1John 1:5-10:
5 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. See 1John 1:5-10
To come out of hiding and into this Light, requires HUMILITY - a virtue which the Jewish authorities are sadly lacking in. But what an assurance, for we who have been able to come.
The Unbelief of the People
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
God does not play hide and seek with those who are earnestly seeking him: On the contrary, he promises he will be found by those who earnestly seek him (Jeremiah 29:13-14); And yet, he seems to continually withdraw and hide himself from this people. The next verse explains why;
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (See Isaiah 53:1)
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.” (Read Isaiah 6:8-9)
Why has God done this? Because these people were unrepentant; and desirous to remain so: After all, even if you can lead a stubborn horse to water, how can you make it drink…when it doesn’t realize that it is thirsty? This is why the Lord, through his prophet David, exhorts us is Psalm 32:9
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
And again in Psalm 95, the Psalmist exhorts us:
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10
See Psalm 95:7-11.
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Looking again at the Scripture just quoted by John from Isaiah Ch.6:
Isaiah saw his glory - the Revelation of Jesus Christ…and crumpled, under the sudden “revelation” of his own sinful state;
Likewise Peter, having realized through the Holy Spirit, who Jesus Christ was, also crumpled up under the sudden weight of his sin: “leave me…I am such a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8);
And finally, John the Apostle, the writer of this Gospel, is confronted by this “Revelation of Jesus Christ” - and falls as a dead man, to the ground. (Revelation 1:9-18):
For without the Sacrifice of Christ…without his shed blood, atoning for our sins…and speaking a better word than Abel, we too are “dead”.
And yet, on all three occasions, we see mercy…because of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross:
“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Read Isaiah 6:1-7
No one can see the unveiled glory of God and live - Exodus 33:40: Therefore we must die - to the old self. By acknowledging our sin and repenting of it, we place ourselves on the cross with Christ and are crucified with him: In effect, the only way to new Life is through death (to the old) - Romans 7:9…a concept that tragically, is utterly foreign and backward to so many of the Jewish ruling authorities.
And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Isaiah 6:9
Here are the Jewish leaders of Jesus’s time! They who think that they hear…but don’t really understand; they who claim that they see…but fail to perceive!
Remember Jesus’s sobering words to them, in Ch.9:39-41
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Remember ch.9:18-23? This is proving to be a deadly snare that has already sent so many on the wide road to Hell and damnation.
This will become clearer through Jesus’s words to his disciples in Ch.15:18-25
See also 1John 3:13; Proverbs 9:10 & 29:25 - and Matthew 10:28
Therefore, we know: It is not enough to believe in him: Satan believes “in” him - and is trying to kill him; the demons believe “in” him - and they tremble: Therefore, we must do more than simply believe in him: We must throw our lives entirely on to his mercy; putting all our trust in his sacrifice on the Cross; we must deliberately separate ourselves from this world and the love of it - and step over to the side of God, surrendering ourselves entirely into His hands: It is not enough to believe in him: We must, in a sense, believe on him.
Jesus Came to Save the World
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. (The Father)
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. (The Father - Ch.14:6-11)
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
{See 1John 1:5-10; 2:7-11
Again, we must come out of hiding and into his Life-saving Light…and once we have done this, we must ABIDE (remain/dwell/live out our lives) in this Light: This is the only way we can be free - and remain free - from the terrible penalty of sin:
He will never condemn us…never reject us: But rather, it is this Light that makes us aware of our sin: If there is no knowledge of sin, there can be no repentance…and without repentance there is no salvation - no reconciliation with God - and no sanctification from our sin: This is the entire purpose for Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross!}
47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. (Remember Ch. 3:17-18)
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
(Remember Ch.3:19)
All have now heard the Truth; all are now without excuse: (Jesus will explain this further in Ch.15:22-24)
So what they (the people) have heard, will either save them…or condemn them. The choice is now theirs - as it is also ours.
This is the Power of the Truth: It is Light shown on one in shame…medicine administered to a dying soul…a double edged sword, that cuts away dying flesh: It can be painful…bitter-sweet for our sinful flesh…and hard to swallow - that is, until, like the Apostle Paul, we realize: Our flesh counts for nothing! All that matters is a new creation; that which is born again by the Spirit. (Ch.6:63 & Galatians 6:14-16)
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. (Ch.6:38)
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
At this point, we the reader should no longer be in any doubt: The man Jesus Christ, is the Son of the Father who is in Heaven: Therefore Jesus Christ is God…Ch.1:14-18
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