Reflection on John 12

John 12 starts with the beautiful story of Mary anointing Jesus with "a pint of pure nard", a very expensive perfume. It was "six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany", I learned from my Jewish tour guide that there were several Bethanies around Jerusalem. Probably each tribe had its own Bethany near Jerusalem to accommodate the huge crowds who would come from everywhere else to Jerusalem to attend Festivals. The Bethany Jesus and His disciples came to was where the resurrected Lazarus lived. "Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him." When Martha was busy serving Jesus and Lazarus was busy eating with Jesus, people who knew their family must wonder where Mary was, the somewhat quiet and meditative sister of Martha and Lazarus.

Then Mary entered the room, holding "a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume". She walked directly to Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark say she poured it first over Jesus' head from an alabaster jar. The Gospel of John focused on the great humility Mary showed in her love for Jesus. John only says "she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped His feet with her hair." As Mary anointed Jesus with costly nard, as she let down her beautiful long hair which always bound in public according to Jewish custom, the men around the table might have fallen into a surprised and uncomfortable silence. As Mary knelt down before Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, she showed reverent love toward her Lord. She dropped every bit of natural and social reserve and expressed wholeheartedly her worship and gratitude toward Jesus. As "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume", some of the men must feel shocked and embarrassed. As sinful people, most likely we can't appreciate the reverent love between the Lord and His true followers who are His true lovers, His betrothed brides. The Lord and His true followers share the most sweet love which beyond my ability to describe. 

When Mary showed her unrestrained tenderness and love toward the Lord, Mark tells us: "some of those present were saying indignantly to one another". John tells us, it was Judas who first broke the silence by saying, "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." Judas "did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it." Not only Judas made a hypocritical statement and was insensitive toward Mary's tender act, he seemed to imply Jesus was not worth the honor. Judas' resentment and bitterness drew a sharp contrast with Mary's devotion.

Mary's extravagant and personally vulnerable expression of love and honor pleased Jesus deeply. He came to her defense, "Leave her alone! It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial." Jesus wasn't saying Mary should have kept the perfume until after He died. Jesus praised her for her act in line with God's will which was Jesus' impending death. Jesus tells us in Mark chapter 14, "She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand for my burial." We don't know how much Mary knew about Jesus' death and resurrection, but Mary lived out whatever she believed in Jesus. She showed her faith in a humbly and costly way. The cost was not only about money. It could be her reputation in front of people. She didn't care about her reputation in sinners' eyes; she cared her Lord wholeheartedly. She desired to give Jesus the comfort of her loyalty and her love publicly while rejection and criticism surrounded her beloved Lord. Jesus praised her in Matthew and Mark, "I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her." Little did Mary know her act of devotion and love for Jesus would be remembered by all believers forever. The Lord Himself will remember every act His true followers carried out for His sake. And the Lord wants all His true followers to learn from Mary's example.

While Mary got the Lord's defense and praise, Judas and some others felt the Lord's rebuke. After Jesus ordered them to leave Mary alone, He said, "you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." Jesus' followers ought to care for the poor all the time. But only on the special occasion would there be this opportunity to honor Him by what Mary did. Judas and some others could have stopped being hypocritical. But Judas didn't take Jesus' rebuke as a warning to repent. He became totally discontent or disappointed with Jesus. Caught by this satanical feeling, Judas decided then, in the sweet atmosphere of Mary showing her love and devotion toward Jesus, to go to the chief priests to betray Jesus.

"Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was" in Bethany, they came to see not only Jesus, but also the resurrected Lazarus. "So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well." Since Lazarus' being alive proved Jesus' divine power. "Many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in Him." The city of Jerusalem was prepared for Jesus' public entry to it. Before, Jesus had been in Jerusalem many many times. He had always avoided any attempts to honor Himself in spectacular ways. But this time was different. His appointed hour had come. He would enter the city as the sacrificial Lamb to complete the redemption pictured by the Passover celebration. He would enter the city as Messiah, the promised King, according to prophecy.

So "the next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him." Excited people, both old and young, joined Jesus' procession and walk alongside Him as He sat on a young donkey, approached Jerusalem from Bethany. They waved palm branches and shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!" The word "Hosanna" probably means "Save us now". People even threw down their own cloaks on the street to make a royal procession carpet for Jesus, their true King. But I wonder how many people who shouted praise on the street that day understood Jesus' true identity and His mission. I think, to most people, Jesus only represented the earthly King they desired. They had little idea on what kind of salvation Jesus was about to offer them. Even Jesus' disciples "didn't understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him." They made the connection how Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey completely fulfilled Zechariah's prophecy, "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."

"Now the crowd that was with Him when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that He had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet Him." When the Pharisees saw the jubilation in the streets, they couldn't believe. They were more frustrated than before and said to each other, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!" It was only right if the whole world went after Jesus. Since He was about to offer salvation to the whole world. But only the believers would receive the salvation.

Among the crowds, some Greeks came to Jesus' disciple Philip with a request, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." "Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus." Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." His meaning of being "glorified" was far beyond political rule of Jewish nation as a powerful political leader who would overthrow the Roman occupation. Jesus accomplished His fullest glorification as Savior of the world only through His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to heaven. His death, resurrection and ascension complete the work His Father entrusted to Him in His first coming. Jesus illustrated this great gospel with a word picture of "kernel of wheat" which represents His own life. He said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." Without "death" and burial of the kernels, there would be no productivity. But when a kernel buried in the earth, its life is reproduced over and over in new life. Our life is also like "a kernel of wheat", God infuses Jesus' life into the believers. So we are the new seeds produced by Him, the first kernel of wheat. We possess His new humanity so we desire to bring new life to others in proportion to our surrender to Him.

Jesus continued, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." The one "who loves his life" in this world chooses to entertain his sinful desires out of his sinful heart. He thinks he will be fine to live in his body carrying a sinful soul. But eventually he will lose the life he has been treasured. He will lose it eternally. On the other hand, the one "who hates his life in this world" is the one who sees clearly that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. He comes to the realization by God's grace that he doesn't want to keep his sinful life, but desires wholeheartedly the new life Jesus offered. This means denial of one's natural human desires and inclinations by submitting to God's will. This kind of death to self must be the experience of anyone who follows Jesus. Only in this way, we will reach the full development of the humanity and personality God intended for us to have. And we will have eternal life. Jesus wants us to remember, "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." If we follow Jesus to deny self and answer the holy call, then God the Father will be pleased.

To demonstrate the "dying to self" experience He described in the "kernel of wheat" picture, Jesus used His own deep inner struggle as an example. He told us, "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" He showed deep distress as He was anticipating the anguish that would engulf Him at the cross and in the grave. If there is other way to save the world, He would rather not die on the cross and not stay in the grave. But there is not. So He chose to obey His Father and glorify His Father's name. No doubt that Jesus understands us when we wrestle with what we know is God's will and what we secretly or deeply want. He set His example for us by going through it with total submission to His Father's will. Jesus did this to show His love to His Father and His dependence on His Father. And His Father gave His beloved Son His approval before the Son experienced the extreme humiliation of the cross. The Father thundered, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." Jesus did not need to hear His Father's audible voice to get His affirmation. The Father's voice was to strengthen the crowd's faith in Jesus and to show them the close relationship between the Father and Son. Jesus reminded the crowd, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine."

Then Jesus said two things would happen at the same time. He told us, "Now is the time for judgment on this world" and "now the prince of this world will be driven out." Jesus' cross represents God's judgment on humanity because of sin. On His cross, Jesus took on Himself the punishment of all those who would trust Him. God intends "the judgment on this world" falls on His Son now to save the fallen people who by grace believe in the Son. At the same time, Satan, "the prince of this world will be driven out." Satan lost his power over every person who believes in Jesus. Satan has held power over fallen humanity ever since Adam and Eve listened to him instead of to God. But Satan held no power over the people redeemed by the Son. Of course, just as the final judgment of the world is certain but has not yet happened in history, Satan's ultimate eternal casting out is still in the future.

Jesus then said something "to show the kind of death he was going to die". He claimed, "When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Jesus did not mean every human being would eventually come to Him, actually, maybe only a small percentage of them would come. But Jesus' sacrifice on the cross would definitely bring salvation to people from all nations. Nothing else draws people to Jesus as when they see His love at the cross. Also, nothing else keeps people away from Jesus as when they see Him on that same cross.

The ones who considered that a sacrificial death on the cross did not fit their hopes for the Messiah spoke up, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?" They still didn't choose to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of Man. Out of His grace, Jesus called them to "believe in the light while" they "have the light, so that" they "may become the children of light." Their window of opportunity to trust Jesus' works and words while He was physically present was closing quickly. After Jesus finished speaking those words, He "left and hid Himself from them." 

God chose Israel to receive His revelation and give the same revelation to the world. But sadly, "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in Him." John said that the people's unbelief fulfilled "the word of Isaiah the prophet" who said, "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" The prophet also told us the "reason they could not believe, because: He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them." The people would hear but not understand, see but not perceive. Those who chose to be indifferent to Jesus or to repeat conventional doubts about Jesus would be blinded and hardened by God Himself, so they could not believe. But the Lord said "I would heal them" if they voiced their questions in prayer and paid attention to the genuine record of Jesus in the Scripture. Isaiah lived long before Jesus was on earth, but Isaiah "spoke about" Jesus because "he saw Jesus' glory" in faith.

Some of the leaders "believed in Jesus. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the Synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God." Their faith was so close to be the genuine, yet so for from the real. It made Jesus so sad. He cried out to them, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." Jesus called those who claimed to serve God, but set themselves against the Son of God to repent, to receive the true light which is Jesus Himself. Only after people acknowledged who Jesus is and decided to follow Him, they would be able to stop chasing after "praise from men", but seek "praise from God". Do we hold back from openly following Jesus because of what some others think? We need to know that the some others who now reject Jesus need Him as we do.

At the end of this chapter, Jesus gives a warning. He says, "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day." Jesus came to save when He first came to the world. But all the words He spoke at that time will be used to judge and condemn those who reject Him "at the last day" before God's throne. Jesus guaranteed whatever He said will happen as He said, because He had His Father's approval. Jesus says, "I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that His command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." The ones who have eternal life are those who believe in Him. Are you one of them?