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+--- Thread: NT Doctrine -- John 12:20-50 (/thread-1111.html)
NT Doctrine -- John 12:20-50 - Ed Hurst - 06-18-2022
There is no strong consensus for the sequence of some events during Passion Week. But it was sometime during these very busy days when Jesus was teaching and performing miracles in the Temple Plaza that He reminded His disciples yet again that He was going to die.
The occasion was when some Gentile believers managed to get hold of one of the Twelve, Philip, and asked him how they could meet Jesus. Whether or not the bazaar returned to the Court of Gentiles is not known, but Jesus typically taught in the Court of Women where Gentiles were not permitted. So Philip went to find his brother Andrew and mentioned this request. The two of them came together to let Jesus know some Gentiles were asking to meet Him.
Jesus had already said that He did not come to minister to those outside the Covenant of Moses until after His resurrection. However, He also said that the Covenant was to make Israel able to be that witness to the Gentiles, and His clearing the Court of Gentiles was a pointed reminder of that mission. Did anyone notice how His ministry was already drawing them? Whether or not Jesus acceded to this particular request, it reminded Him of bigger things.
Did His disciples understand? He said it was almost time for Him to be glorified. This carried connotations far beyond the mere words. It's most literal meaning is that He would return to Heaven. But that wouldn't happen before certain critical events came first. He had to die a grisly death and be buried for a few days, and then He would rise again in a glorified body. Having said that several times, His disciples still could not absorb it. They were stuck on the notion that Jesus was about to declare Himself the Messiah and King, and by miraculous powers remove all resistance and take an earthly throne. This image was so deeply ingrained in their minds that talk of dying just passed right in one ear and out the other.
So He offered a parable about how grain cannot produce fruit without dying in the soil. Then He spoke that enigmatic epigram about loving your life and losing it, versus detesting this life and living eternally. Thus, serving in His royal court meant walking the same path of not caring about this life, so that His servants could always be near Him, including when He came into the Presence of His Father, where His servants would be honored in Heaven, not on this earth.
If their fleshly minds could not grasp this, His fleshly nature was deeply agitated, clearly knowing that death was near. Still, this was why He came to have a fleshly body in the first place. Wouldn't it be crazy to ask the Father to deliver Him from this awful fate, if that's why He came? No, instead He would simply ask His Father to glorify His own Name, knowing what that meant for Him as the Son.
To which the Father audibly replied that everyone could count on Him for that very thing. Those who were spiritually sensitive heard that Voice for what it was, but those less perceptive said it was just thunder. Jesus noted that He had no particular need to hear that Voice in His flesh, but that it was the Father doing precisely what He promised, making sure His people received His Word.
Then Jesus used a Hebrew phrase indicating that Satan would lose his lien against the human race arising from that awful choice back in Eden. It was no longer obligatory to fear death and cling to this world. People would be granted an awareness of Eternity on a scale previously unimaginable. So, when Jesus was glorified, these believing Gentiles seeking an audience with Him would be among a whole world of people who would have open access to Him in their spirits.
As was typical of the Hebrew language, Jesus used an ambiguous phrase about being elevated. The meaning His disciples were thinking about was glorification on a throne, but it also referred to crucifixion. The Cross would be His throne on this earth. Everyone who came to Him as Messiah would have to own that Cross as their just penalty for the Fall.
Some of His audience caught onto that second connotation, and asked how the Eternal Messiah was going to be crucified. Was this "Son of Man" the title of some other fellow Jesus referred to? No, He had explained it over and over again. They should look to the light of His teaching, to memorize it and cling to it. They needed to absorb it and live it until it became their nature. Thus, they would be Children of the Light.
The whole conversation reminded Him of just how frustrating this was, and He went off to be alone, actually hiding from His entourage for a while. Despite the miracles, the majority of the crowds did not believe His claims. John reminds us that Isaiah prophesied it would be like this. In his prophetic visions, Isaiah saw how it would be, that everything God does comes with plausible deniability for the majority who simply cannot see spiritual truth.
Still, a significant number of senior Jewish leaders believed, but kept it to themselves, lest they face harassment at the hands of the Pharisees. They were just fleshly enough to fear that kind of social pressure.
When Jesus could no longer contain Himself, He stood in a very public place and shouted to the crowd around Him. Anyone who embraced His teaching was embracing the Father. Those who could discern what He was saying were the kind of people who could discern the Father, too. Jesus was the light, calling people out of moral darkness. He wasn't going to bother forcing people to accept His word as law; His mission was to pay the penalty for their sins, not punish them. Rejecting His message would mean standing before the Judge of mankind, and that judgment would be according to that same message.
Then Jesus reiterated that His message was only what the Father sent Him to say.