John 12 - ESV Study Bible

12:1 Therefore (Gk. oun) ties this verse to the previous one and is a reminder that John is constantly aware of God’s providential ordering of all these events and of Jesus’ obedience in following the path that he knew would lead to the cross. Regarding the Passover, cf. 11:55 and note on 2:13. Six days before the Passover most likely refers to Saturday, since the Passover began Friday evening at sundown. Bethany. See note on 11:1.

12:1–11 The anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany (also recorded in Matt. 26:6–13 and Mark 14:3–9) casts a long shadow forward over Jesus’ imminent arrest, trial, condemnation, crucifixion, and burial (John 12:7–8). The story in Luke 7:36–50 involves a different woman, a different place, a different reaction from Jesus, and a different time in Jesus’ ministry.

12:2 Dinner (Gk. deipnon) refers to the main meal of the day, which was usually held toward evening (cf. Luke 14:12). Reclining … at table may imply a banquet rather than a regular meal (cf. John 13:2–5,23). People at special feasts would lie with their heads near a low table and their feet pointing out away from it, resting on one elbow and eating with the other hand.

12:3 Cf. 11:2. A pound (or half a liter) is a very large amount of fragrant oil or perfume. Pure and expensive nard was imported from northern India and used by the Romans for anointing the head. The Synoptics indicate that the perfume was kept in an alabaster jar (Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3). It is recorded here that Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, while Matt. 26:7 and Mark 14:3 mention that she anointed Jesus’ “head.” Considering the large quantity of ointment, Mary apparently anointed both Jesus’ head and his feet. Attending to the feet was the work of servants (cf. John 1:27; 13:5), so Mary’s actions show humility and devotion. Her wiping of Jesus’ feet with her hair is also remarkable, since Jewish women rarely unbound their hair in public. Mary’s action indicates an expression of intense personal devotion to Christ, but no hint of immoral thoughts or conduct should be read into her actions.

12:5 Three hundred denarii represents the equivalent of about a year’s wages (see note on 6:7).

12:6 Judas’s motivation was anything but pure. Before he betrayed Jesus, he had already been a thief.

12:7 So that she may keep it may mean “keep the rest of the perfume,” but Mark 14:3 says the flask was broken, and Judas complains that it was already wasted. Other interpretations are “so that she may keep (the memory of this)” or “Leave her alone, (for she has saved the perfume) so that she could keep it for the day of my burial.”

12:8 the poor. Jesus’ response alludes to Deut. 15:11, and therefore he is not discouraging helping the poor. You do not always have me foreshadows Jesus’ impending death on the cross and subsequent resurrection and ascension, as well as the shortness of time remaining for the disciples to have a part in his earthly ministry.

12:10 When the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death, it betrayed an astounding refusal to allow their beliefs to be changed by undeniable facts. They would rather destroy the evidence than change their minds. This is not rational behavior, but sin produces irrational action.

12:11 the Jews. John uses this expression in a positive way to speak of those who are coming to faith in Christ (cf. 11:45), indicating a hope that many of his Jewish readers will do the same.

12:12 The next day is probably Sunday of Passion Week, called “Palm Sunday” in Christian tradition. See note on v. 1. The feast is Passover.

12:12–19 Jesus’ triumphal entry, with people waving palm branches to greet him, is celebrated in Christian tradition as “Palm Sunday.” His riding into Jerusalem mounted on a donkey fulfills OT Scripture (Zech. 9:9; see also Ps. 118:25–26). The waving of palm branches, which symbolically conveyed the notion of victory over one’s enemy, probably indicates that the people (mistakenly) thought that Jesus would then and there bring national deliverance from Israel’s political enemies, the Romans. Yet Jesus’ popular acclaim would not last; within a mere five days, the shouts of praise would turn to angry calls for his crucifixion.

12:13 By waving palm branches (a Jewish national symbol) the people hail Jesus as the Davidic king and echo the language of Ps. 118:25–26, hoping that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Most of the crowd probably understood the title King of Israel in a political and military sense, still hoping that Jesus would use his amazing powers to resist Roman rule and lead the nation to independence. Like Caiaphas (John 11:49–52), however, they spoke better than they knew, as his disciples later understood (12:16).

12:15 Jesus is depicted as the humble shepherd-king of Zech. 9:9, who comes to the Holy City to take his rightful place. An early messianic prophecy speaks of a ruler from Judah who, riding on a donkey, will command the obedience of nations (Gen. 49:10–11). Fear not may be taken from Isa. 40:9, where the reference is to the one who brings good tidings to Zion (cf. Isa. 44:2).

12:16 An important verse on the misunderstanding motif in John, indicating that many of the things Jesus said and did were understood only after the cross and resurrection.

12:19 The world is an obvious overstatement, highlighting the Pharisees’ exasperation (cf. Acts 17:6).

12:20 Greeks refers to Gentiles, not necessarily to people from Greece (see note on 7:35). They are “God-fearers,” non-Jews who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the Jewish festival.

12:20–50 The Approaching Gentiles and the Messiah’s Rejection by the Jews. The present section concludes the first major part of John’s Gospel, which narrates Jesus’ mission to the Jews. The arrival of some Greeks signals to Jesus that this mission is about to come to an end. But before Jesus can reach out to the Gentiles, he first must die (cf. 10:16; 11:52). His hour is now at hand (12:23–26; see notes on 2:4; 7:30).

12:21 Bethsaida. See note on Luke 9:10.

12:23 hour. See notes on 2:4 and 7:30.

12:25 Here again Jesus speaks in absolute terms to emphasize a point: loves his life means “delights in his life in this world more than in God,” and hates his life in this world means, by contrast, “thinks so little of his life, and so much of God, that he is willing to sacrifice it all for God.” Following Christ entails self-sacrifice, shown supremely at the cross.

12:27 Troubled (Gk. tarassō) means “to be stirred up, unsettled”; the word or a related compound is found in the Septuagint in Davidic psalms (such as Ps. 6:3; 42:11).

12:28 This is one of three instances during Jesus’ earthly ministry where a heavenly voice attests to his identity (the other two are his baptism and the transfiguration; Matt. 3:17; 17:5).

12:29 crowd … said that it had thundered. Events of eternal consequence are occurring in the unseen spiritual realm, but when unbelievers see or hear a manifestation of them (even the very voice of God speaking from heaven), they misinterpret them as natural events, showing their spiritual blindness.

12:31 The ruler of this world in its present fallen, sinful state is Satan (cf. 14:30; 16:11; 1 John 5:19). Now, at the cross, the Devil will be cast out, that is, decisively defeated (cf. Luke 10:18; Col. 2:14–15; Heb. 2:14–15). Jesus’ triumph over Satan in his death and resurrection is the basis for his final triumph in the consummation (Rev. 20:10).

12:32 This most explicit “lifted up” saying in John complements the earlier references in 3:14 (see note) and 8:28, and echoes Isa. 52:13. All people, in context, means “all kinds of people,” that is, both Jews and Gentiles (John 10:16; 11:52; Cf. 12:20–21). The drawing, as in 6:44, is effective.

12:33 what kind of death. Cf. 21:19.

12:34 This is the final of several messianic misunderstandings featured in this Gospel (cf. 7:27,31, 41–42). The people have some inkling here that Jesus is predicting his death. What is probably meant by the Law is the entire Hebrew Scriptures, in which there are several passages that speak of the perpetual existence of the Davidic Messiah (2 Sam. 7:13; Ps. 61:6–7; 89:3–4, 35–37; Isa. 9:7; Dan. 7:13–14; for later Jewish expectations see 1 Enoch 49.1; 62.14; Psalms of Solomon 17.4).

12:35–36 Jesus’ answer is indirect; in view of the fact that the light will be with people only for a little while longer, his crucifixion is near (cf. v. 46; also 7:33; 16:16–19). He urges the people to believe in the light (see note on 8:12; see also 9:4 and 11:9–10) while there is still time. On the words walk while you have the light, see 9:4–5.

12:36 When Jesus hid himself from them, he indicated God’s imminent judgment and the completion of his revelatory work to the people of Israel (1:18).

12:37 Though he had done so many signs … they still did not believe indicates the culpability of people who had seen these miracles but still did not believe. The purpose of the miracles was to lead them to faith, and the miracles provided abundant proof of Jesus’ deity and messiahship, but people in their hardness of heart still rejected this evidence.

12:37–40 John cites Isa. 53:1 and 6:10 to indicate that the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah was predicted by Scripture and thus serves to confirm (rather than thwart) God’s sovereign plan. Isaiah 53:1 refers to the servant of the Lord who was rejected by the people but exalted by God; Isa. 6:10 attributes people’s hardening ultimately to God himself (similar to Pharaoh’s, see Rom. 9:17–18). The present verses are the first in a series of fulfillment quotations in the second half of John’s Gospel. Seen here is John’s emphasis on divine sovereignty and human responsibility. On the one hand, the people should have believed and are held guilty for disbelieving (“they still did not believe in him,” John 12:37). On the other hand, God blinded their eyes so that they did not have the spiritual ability to believe, and John can even say they could not believe (v. 39). (On the need for God to first give people the ability to believe, see 1:13; 6:44.) See note on Eph. 1:11.

12:41 Isaiah said these things is a strong argument for the entire book of Isaiah being written by one person, the prophet Isaiah (see Introduction to Isaiah: Date). The plural “these things” most likely refers to the two specific passages that John quotes (Isa. 53:1 and Isa. 6:10), but the wider context of both passages is probably also in view. John seems to be claiming that when Isaiah saw the exalted King and the suffering servant, he saw Jesus’ glory.

12:42–43 The opposition of the Jewish leaders to Jesus was not at all monolithic; an increasing number of the leaders themselves had come to faith, for many even of the authorities believed in him. However, their fear of the Pharisees was still strong, and hence they did not confess Jesus publicly. In v. 43 John penetrates the human heart, showing again that the desire for human commendation kept them from following Jesus in a public way. See notes on 5:44; 9:22. synagogue. See note on Luke 4:16.

12:44 Believes not in me means “believes not only, not ultimately, in me.”

12:46 light. See note on 1:4–5.

12:47 I did not come to judge the world refers to Jesus’ first coming, for he will come to judge the world when he returns (see v. 48; 5:22, 27–30).

12:49 Not … on my own authority indicates again that supreme authority in the Trinity belongs to the Father, and delegated authority to the Son, though they are equal in deity.