John 12 - NIV First Century Study Bible
12:1–11 Anointing at Bethany. This anointing was a great reversal of royal expectations and figuratively prepared Jesus for burial. Apparently Mary was the unnamed woman in the anointing accounts found in Mt 26:6–13 and Mk 14:3–11. Christian tradition combined details of this story and the story found in Lk 7:36–50 of the anointing of Jesus by a “sinful” woman, a woman believed by some to be Mary Magdalene (see Lk 7:37; 8:2). Mary Magdalene was declared a former prostitute in many Christian traditions, which was almost certainly not the case.
12:13 Palm branches. Palm branches were symbols of victory in Jewish and Roman imagery. They were used originally during the Festival of Tabernacles (sukkot) in acts of worship and in thanksgiving for the harvest. The prophetic words of Zec 14 regarding the festival, the Maccabean revolt and the ideology of the Zealots had given the palm branch Messianic overtones as a symbol of freedom (see notes on Jn 7:1–24, 37, 38; 10:22). Later rabbinic literature said of the coming Messiah: “It is the one who takes the palm branch in his hand that we know to be the victor.” (Leviticus Rabba 30:2, quoted in Arnold, Backgrounds Commentary, 2:122.)
12:21 Philip of Bethsaida. It’s possible that Philip understood Greek and was therefore approached by Greeks and Greek-speaking Jews. New archeological evidence suggests the presence of a small Roman temple in Bethsaida from the first century. (I learned this from a personal conversation with Ronny Reich, an archaeologist of Bethsaida.) If this is the case, the village was probably a mix of Jews and non-Jews, where Greek would have been the language of trade.
12:24 Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies. Harvest festivals often celebrated the death and resurrection of the agricultural year, particularly related to wheat. Many pagan mystery cults celebrated these ideas. Jesus related this powerful symbol to his own life. Paul also used a similar metaphor for Jesus’ death and resurrection and subsequently the resurrection of the believer (see 1Co 15:35–44).
12:36 Children of light. This was a very important image for the Dead Sea Scrolls community (see note on Lk 16:8) and for Pauline theology (see Eph 5:8; 1Th 5:5).
12:42 Put out of the synagogue. The synagogue was the center of religious life, particularly after the destruction of the temple in ad 70. Much of the tension within the early church revolved around contact with the synagogue—more tension perhaps than that surrounding the context of Jesus’ life. The liturgy of the synagogue, in what was known as the Eighteen Benedictions, may have been altered sometime after the temple was destroyed to include a line condemning the newly established Christian community (see note on Mt 6:9–13). Though there is debate about the true meaning of the possible revision, it reads: “Let the Nazarenes [Nosrim = Christians?] . . . be destroyed in a moment.” (Quoted in Arnold, Backgrounds Commentary, 2:95. See the discussion there concerning the identification of “nosrim.”)
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