John 12 - NIV Bible Study Commentary

There were great crowds in Jerusalem for the Passover (11:55). They had been looking for Jesus to come (v.56) and had been alerted by their leaders to report it to them (v.57). When Jesus came, however, the crowds rushed into the street, gathering palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna! … Blessed is the king of Israel” (12:13). Even his own disciples did not understand the significance of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Only after his death and resurrection did they understand, for they then saw the whole of his ministry in light of the OT (v.16).

John, however, keeps the reader fully informed as the events happen by supplying the relevant OT texts (Zec 9:9, quoted in Jn 12:15). Jesus was the King foretold by the OT prophets. He was the son of David, promised in 2Sa 7, and he was the Son of Man, promised in Daniel 7:9 - 14. The fact that Jesus entered Jerusalem at the time of the Passover (11:55; 12:12, 20) shows that Jesus fulfilled the OT; he was the Passover Lamb. The words of John the Baptist in 1:29, who was the last of Israel’s prophets, were also being fulfilled.

When Gentile Greeks came to Jesus during the time of the Feast (12:20 - 23), Jesus saw this as a sign that the Son of Man was to be glorified. John probably has in mind the fact that in Da 7, the glorification of the Son of Man is marked by “all nations and peoples of every language” coming to worship him (Da 7:14; see also Jn 12:32).

In John 12:37 - 50, John gives a final summary of the response to Jesus’ self-revelation (1:15 - 12:50). The Jews’ rejection of Jesus is explained from the Jewish Scriptures. The greatest of the OT prophets, Isaiah, had long ago seen “Jesus’ glory and spoke about him” (12:41). John explains Jesus’ rejection, first as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (v.38, quoting Isa 53:1). Second, John shows that the reason for the people’s unbelief lay in God’s blinding their eyes (v.40). But John was not content to let this be the last word; he immediately added the fact that “many even among the leaders believed in him” (v.42). That is, the unbelief of the people lay rather in the heart of those who had rejected Jesus (v.43).