John 12

When Jesus brought back Lazarus of Bethany from the dead, the chief priests and the Pharisees met to consider what could be done about Him. There was something about that miracle that seemed to move these adversaries toward action. But Jesus would not only face murderous opposition from outside His circle of followers, there would also be a betrayer who would come from among those with whom He shared His daily bread. Just six days prior to a Passover that would be forever associated with the death of Christ, Judas Iscariot faced something of a rebuke from the Master concerning the actions of Lazarus’ sister Mary. Mary had testified to her belief in the coming death of Jesus by taking some expensive burial ointment, and pouring this on Jesus’ feet. Judas corrected Mary, and Jesus said something to Judas. “The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.” The death of Christ at this time was a certain reality, and it was more important to testify to this, even at great cost, then to give money to the poor. The stir over the resurrection of Lazarus was growing, and there was tension inside and outside of the close circle of the followers of the Messiah, so that plans were being made not only to kill Jesus, but to have Lazarus put to death as well.

The crowd that had come to Jerusalem for the Passover was full of expectation, and they, together with Jesus, fulfilled things written about the Messiah from Old Testament passages like Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9. It was not just the crowd that did their part in crying out “Hosanna” or “Save us!” It was not just Jesus who came into town on a young donkey receiving the praise of men. It was that both Jesus and the crowds were doing these things and many others that the Scriptures had long ago predicted would take place. Yet all of this was not leading to the coronation that some surely expected, but to the killing of the Passover Lamb to rescue the people from the cruel bondage of sin and death.

The crowd was not without reliable outside testimony concerning the public Messianic signs that the Messiah had performed. In particular, people were made aware of the recent resurrection of Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb. Not only were Jews interested in Him, but in what might have been an anticipation of the progress of the gospel among God-fearing Greeks in the early decades after the resurrection, there were some Greeks who had come to the Passover who wanted to meet Jesus. The time had now come for something different than meetings like that. It was time for the Messiah to be glorified through His death. It was time for the one Seed of the Kingdom of God to die, so that He might bear much fruit. It was time for Jesus to lead the way for all who would follow, though in His giving of His life on the cross, He would accomplish what no follower could ever have done.

This fact of the atonement was a deeply troubling thing for our Lord to anticipate, yet He knew that it was for this one death that He had come. He knew that the pathway to the fullness of the Father’s salvation for men had to pass through this narrow road where only one man could go. Along that road a voice from heaven was heard, a voice that some thought was thunder, a voice that was not for Jesus but for us, assuring us that the Father had glorified the Name of the Son, and that He would glorify His Name again. The defeat of Satan was at hand. The Seed of the woman would soon crush the head of the serpent, and people from all over the world would be drawn to Him. Both this great victory over the angel of evil, and the subsequent gathering of the people of salvation, would come from the great event of the lifting up of the Son of Man on the cross. These two divine projects, requiring such power and wisdom beyond the scope of the strongest empires, would actually be accomplished by an event with the appearance of the most wretched weakness.

The time had come and gone for any further explanation of such mysteries. All of this would soon enough be made clear, but it would only be embraced by those who were being drawn into the church by the Father. That project would have to wait for another feast some weeks away, the Feast of Pentecost. For now, the Light of the world was walking toward the day of darkness for us. What His followers needed to do now was to believe in the light, so that they would become sons of light. But what did all that mean? He had already done so many signs, and yet so many people did not believe in Him. What is so dark within us that we insist on hating the light, and running from the light? Isaiah was given a glimpse of this light so many hundreds of years before, and he was also told that the eyes of men have a spiritual blindness that comes from the judgment of God Himself against us. Do you understand all of that?

Believing in the Messiah is not all about understanding, or believing would just be for those who were the best thinkers; and anyway, even the best of them could never come into the kingdom that way. As it is, all kinds of people are given the gift of faith, and all kinds of people are also left in unbelief. We need to believe Him and receive Him. It is a plain fact that we cannot fully understand Him. What He has brought to us is exactly in accord with the will of the Father, and it means eternal life for all the humble poor children of God who are given ears to hear, and who therefore believe.

The Pharisees were deeply concerned about Him, and they were quite sure that He was wrong about many things. Even one of the twelve, Judas was ready to turn against Him, so he must thought that he knew better for some reason. But Mary gave Him her life, and trusted Him as a child trusts with everything that she could not know. She saw the evidence of her brother’s resurrection, but more than that, she received the Word of her Teacher’s death, and now she lives where He lives.