John 12:12–36a – “The King and the World”
(Josiah Hall)
John 12:12–36a The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
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In two Sundays we’ll celebrate the events this passage narrates. While we often label these events the “triumphal entry,” John reminds us there was a deeper meaning to these events than even those participating in them were able to grasp (v. 16). John’s account focuses on Jesus’s kingship, illustrating the type of king Jesus is in three ways.
First, Jesus is the true and humble king. John cites Zechariah 9:9 to help us interpret these events but the imagery here goes back to when Solomon, David’s son, became king of Israel. Adonijah, another of David’s sons, had proclaimed himself king and was traveling to Jerusalem in a war chariot and with great fanfare. David, however, demonstrated that Solomon was his true heir by sending him into the city humbly, on the back of a donkey. Solomon’s entrance signaled to the city his father’s approval of his claim to kingship and removed the fear of a contested transition. In contrast to Roman kings who would enter cities on horseback accompanied by their armies and signs of their power, Jesus, like Solomon, enters the city in humility on a donkey, signaling that he is the true king, approved by his Father.
Second, Jesus is the king who gathers God’s scattered people. John states that certain Greeks—most likely Greek-speaking Jews from elsewhere in the Roman empire who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover—were seeking Jesus. Intriguingly, Jesus, upon learning of them, never speaks to them, but instead declares that his hour of his glorification has come (12:23). What is it about these Greeks approaching Jesus that signals that his hour (which John had earlier told us had not come [John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20]) has now come? One common expectation for Israel’s Messiah was that he would gather God’s people who were scattered throughout the world. The Greeks thereby signal the beginning of this gathering. Jesus is the expected Messiah who will regather God’s people, not through military conquest, but through his death, which will expand the gathering to include gentiles: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:32; see also 11:52).
This leads to the third aspect of Jesus’s kingship that John highlights and the one most challenging to Jesus’s audience. Jesus is a king whose kingdom will not come in its fullness until he, like a grain of wheat, dies (12:24). Jesus predicts his death in every Gospel, but only in John does he speak of it as a lifting up and as a departure. The phrase “lifting up” has two meanings, for Jesus will literally be executed by being lifted up on a cross, and John makes clear that in dying, Jesus will be lifted up, that is his glory will be fully displayed and his victory over this world’s ruler (Satan) will be complete (12:31–32). Furthermore, notice that while crucifixion was the most shameful form of execution in the ancient world, the crowds in John are more troubled by the implication that Jesus’s death results in his departure from this world and an apparent end to his kingship (12:34).
John’s depiction of Jesus’s kingship here leads to two points of application for us. First, it shapes how we read the Gospel. Today’s section is the Gospel’s hinge, where Jesus’s hour has come, and the story begins to move inexorably towards its climax on the cross. By highlighting the challenges of Jesus’s death and physical absence, John begins to prepare us for how the Gospel will address both these challenges through the triumph of the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Second, it points us to the unexpected heart of the Christian message. To every ancient bystander the cross signaled Rome’s power and the shameful defeat of the one crucified. Yet through the resurrection, which we will celebrate in just under three weeks, the cross becomes the scene of God’s triumphant revelation of his glory and victory over sin and evil. When we now look at the cross, we are reminded that our king, the true king, reigns and he will return and gather his people to himself.
Weekly Prayer Focus: University/Medical Community
Daily Prayer Request: “CMU.” We have many college and graduate students from CMU who attend church with us. In particular, we have a small group of CMU students that seeks to support those attending. Pray that our ministry to the CMU campus will be sustained and beneficial to the students.