John 12:20-36 tells the story of the preparation for the Passover, with the specific theme of the coming hour. Although the tone of John's narrative is vastly different from the tone of the synoptics, in this passage John relies heavily on the synoptic tradition. The passage hints at matters that have stimulated me to share a bit about finitude and death.
This passage is the climax of Chapters 11-12, as John reflects upon the nearness of the hour of glorification. It also forms a suitable conclusion to the public ministry of Jesus as John views it. From the opening, the reader is aware that something different and significant is happening. Rather than Jesus offering a sign to the world (2:11, 4:54), the appearance of the non-Jews who seek him is a sign to Jesus that "his hour" of glorification is drawing near (12:23). First, it signals the close of the account of the ministry of Jesus. From this point on, Jesus will offer no more signs to the public. Second, this passage serves as a bridge to the final discourse of Jesus to his disciples and to the passion narrative. While the opening of this scene suggests that several characters will play important roles (Jesus, the Greeks, Philip, and Andrew), the dialogue that John wants to highlight is between Jesus and the Jewish crowd.
In 12: 20-26, Jesus offers a short discourse on the meaning of his death and discipleship.
In 12: 20-22 John relates the coming of the Greeks. To confirm the Pharisees' fears, voiced in v. 19, that the world has gone after him, John immediately introduces as representatives of that entire world some Greeks seeking Jesus. Their arrival indicates that the death of Jesus is imminent. 20 Now, among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, a non-Jewish name, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, Galilee have long had association with gentiles, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see or to believe in, Jesus.” This desire to see the now notable Jesus indicates that these figures are either "God fearers" (Torah observers but not circumcised) or full proselytes to Judaism. Instead of confronting Jesus directly, the Greeks first seek out Philip. Do they hope that because of non-Jewish name he might pull some strings for them? If "God-fearers," they could not partake of the Passover lamb. However, it would be evidence of true religious searching. Following on the heels of the Pharisees' disgruntled observation, "Look, the world has gone after him" (v.19), John notes the arrival of "some Greeks" who want to see Jesus. The fact that these "Greeks" have gone up to worship at the temple during the Passover festival is indication enough of their serious search.
In many pulpits, in a place where you must be behind the pulpit to see it, is the phrase, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” It makes sense that those gathered in front of a pulpit might do so. It might sense that Greeks would be present at the Passover if they were devout and found something attractive about the Jewish faith. However, I would like to broaden the question. The Greeks are on a serious search. I want to ponder the possibility that human beings are on a search as well.
Let us consider an amazing aspect of the natural world. Certain mammals, especially dogs, are somehow able to accomplish feats of geolocating — figuring out where they are in the world — but scientists are not entirely clear about how they do it. The leading theory is that dogs have some innate ability to sense and follow the Earth’s magnetic field. It is like they have a built-in compass. Just as a compass needle swings to point unerringly towards magnetic north, something inside a dog’s body does much the same. Scientists also believe that whales, dolphins and even sea turtles share these magnetic navigation abilities.
A June 2020 study from the Czech Republic tracks how this happens. Over a three-year period, researchers equipped 27 dogs of 10 different breeds with GPS tracking devices, then released them into the woods. The dogs consistently found their way back home. They could not have been using the sun’s position, because they found their way back, even on cloudy days. Nor could they have been using visual landmarks, because there was no difference small dogs and large dogs — which are better able to see over obstructions like tall grass. If their route simply went out and back, there was an easy explanation: the dogs followed their own scent trail. But a sizable number of dogs, released from vehicles far from home, exhibited what scientists call “scouting” behavior. They began their journey home with a north-south run that the researchers believe is a way of resetting their internal compass according to the Earth’s magnetic axis. The dogs made this north-south “compass run” regardless of the direction in which their destination was located. After the compass run, they headed unerringly in the direction of home.
Do human beings have something similar that moves them toward their best life, that which gives them passion and joy, that which gives their lives meaning and fulfillment? We might call it a form of prevenient grace that keeps stirring within us the desire for more than simply satisfaction of material needs. Granted, life experiences may suppress the quest, make us content with so much less, and put us in a dark place morally and spiritually. Life is difficult that way. It can be incredibly challenging to find our unique path.
22 Philip went and told Andrew, another non-Jewish name; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. The Greeks of this story do not receive further mention. The reader receives no indication that Jesus grants the request of the Greek inquirers. Some scholars suggest that these "Greeks" are also a final temptation to Jesus before he heads down the passion path. Might these Greeks not represent the lure of a Gentile mission that Jesus could turn toward at this time, instead of continuing his clashing mission among "the Jews" and its tragic outcome? There is little textual evidence for this tempting interpretation, however. However, this passage suggests that Jesus no longer has a place in Judaism. The gospel will now take root in the Hellenistic world. His coming, crucifixion and resurrection will open the door fully to non-Jews to believe in the Lord God of Israel, and John is dramatically foreshadowing this shift here. Jesus has already said that he will welcome other sheep into the fold as part of his universalism. The appearance of Gentiles suggests now is the time to lay down his life. Thus, the appearance of some Greeks seeking him doubtless prefigures the spread of the good news about him beyond Judaism. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for God to glorify the Son of Man. References to the hour of Jesus in the first eleven chapters of John point forward. Abruptly, in 12:23, the situation changes, and Jesus announces that the hour has now come. What prompts Jesus to make this pronouncement about his crucifixion? Although the Greeks themselves disappear, they usher in a new age. The hour arrives because opposition to Jesus reaches its inevitable outcome: the officials will seek his death. Nevertheless, the hour also arrives because of Jesus' very success with the world. John is concerned that if these Greeks must "see" to believe, they then had better "see" the right Jesus. Those who want to "see" Jesus most often "see" him only through his reputation as a great teacher, healer, and miracle worker. Glorification has nothing to do with becoming an admired teacher and healer among the Gentiles as well as the Jews. At this "hour" of his "glorification," however, John reveals Jesus (again) as enduring suffering and death if one is to understand his mission. This hour refers to a return to the Father through crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This glorification because of death is the fullness of saving power that is universal in scope. Jesus draws attention to the meaning of the hour, given to all people, death bearing fruit to all.
We now have a series of sayings that form commentary on the theme of death and life. They have hints of the Synoptic gospels. We may think it better if we did not have to deal with our temporality and the pain of death. Some stories may make us think twice.
I begin with a beautiful little story about one of the Greek gods. Zeus fell in love with a mortal woman. Mercury told him, "Look, you are Zeus; you can do anything you want. So why do you not declare a little war down in Greece, so her husband, who was a young general, will have to go off. You can go down masquerading and make love to his wife." Zeus thought this was an innovative idea, so he did it. When he came back to the heavens, Zeus is very reflective on what the gods are missing by being immortal. "She was saying, 'when I am young,' or 'when I am old,' or 'when I die.' This stabs me Mercury. We miss something Mercury. We miss the poignancy of the transient, the sweet sadness of grasping for something we know we cannot hold."
During his travels, Gulliver came to the land of the Luggnaggians. Among them was a group of persons who were born with a red spot on their foreheads. They were exceedingly rare, only once in an age, they told Gulliver. He was curious as to what that meant. They told Gulliver that they were the immortals, those who would never die. Gulliver was excited at this possibility. He told them that if he were fortunate enough to be among this group, he would want to learn as much as possible, and then be a wise counselor to those who were ruling the country. He would want to be of the greatest value to the race. They told Gulliver, however, that these people were the most pitiable of their people. Gulliver assumed that immortality meant eternal youth, and this was far from the truth. These people aged like everyone else and had all the physical and mental declines of old age. When they reached 100 years old, the country gave their land over to their children, they became wards of the state, and the country forced them to live on a small amount of funds. It was not long until, precisely because they were immortal, they no longer cared for anything.
Our finitude and temporality can lead us to appreciate the precious time and space we have the privilege of participating in today.
First, Jesus offers a parable of the seed that dies. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The point is that Jesus is speaking of death as the means of gaining life. The point stresses the productivity of the seed. In context, it refers to the death of Jesus in analogy to death as bearing fruit. Although this parable has some similarities with the seed parables in the synoptic gospels and with I Corinthians 15:35ff, it is not the same. Jesus illustrates the fruitfulness of his death. The death of Jesus is necessary to bring abundant missionary fruit. Death, as the carefully chosen image of the grain of wheat illustrates, brings forth life, not only for Jesus, but also for all those who follow and serve him. The attitude of Jesus toward his impending death becomes a model for all believers. Jesus does not propound some Gnostic-like absolute denial of the goodness of physical life, but he does connect his own death with a certain understanding that one cannot hoard life away; only those prepared to give up everything can receive the gift of eternal life, both now and hereafter. Although Jesus never addresses the Greeks directly in response, he does offer yet another lesson on discipleship. Like himself, his disciples must be willing to follow the plan of God to the end, even death itself, if they are to "bear fruit."
Second, Jesus offers a saying on loving and hating one’s life. John offers his version of the idea that whoever would save their lives will lose them/whoever would lose their lives will find them teaching, a truth found in all four gospels (Mark 8:35; Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24). 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Eternal life does not come sequentially after death. Eternal life is the life promised now to all who become disciples of this glorified one. Jesus confronts the disciples with the necessity of discipleship even unto death. Death is not the end, but the perfection of life. Jesus refers to his death, and now he refers to the death disciples of Jesus must experience. The call to discipleship is a call to suffer, sacrifice, even die for others to live as God lives, to live as Jesus did. This unexpected nature of messiahship is a messiahship that embraces servanthood and dying is not an easy pill to swallow, not even for Jesus himself. He is ready, resisting the temptation to have his Father save him from this hour. The implied answer to the Greeks from Jesus is no, but only because Jesus must first undergo death before his followers can bring salvation to the Greeks.
A little boy had a sister who needed a blood transfusion. The boy had recovered from the same disease two years before. Her only chance for recovery was to have a transfusion from someone who had recovered from the disease. The boy had the same rare blood type and recovered from the disease. He would be the ideal donor. The doctor asked if he would be willing to do this. At first, the boy hesitated. His lower lip started to tremble. Eventually, he said, "Sure, for my sister." Attendants wheeled brother and sister into a hospital room. They were side by side. They did not speak, but when their eyes met, the boy smiled at his sister. He was so healthy, while she was very pale and sickly. The nurse put the needle into the arm of the boy, and his smile faded. He watched his blood flow into the tube. When the ordeal was almost over, his voice slightly shaky, he said, "Doctor, when do I die?" Only then did the doctor realize why the boy hesitated, and why his lip trembled. In that moment, he made a great decision.[1]
John Wesley, on his 85th birthday, said that for the rest of his days he wanted to spend to the praise of Jesus Christ, who died to redeem the world. Many or few, he owed and devoted the rest of his days to Christ.
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. On the night before his death, he gave a speech in which he said, "Like anybody, I would like to live a long life -- longevity has its place. However, I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. Moreover, he has allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land."
A third saving concerns the following of Jesus, parallel to Mk 8:35. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. The reward for following Jesus is to be with him and to receive honor from the Father. It emphasizes the unity of serving and following Jesus, with the promise of the presence of Jesus and receiving honor from the Father. It suggests readiness to face death, since it takes seriously following Jesus as referring to the cross.
"The blood of Christians is seed," wrote Tertullian, a North African Christian, in about 197. "[It is] the bait that wins men to our school. We multiply whenever we are mown down by you." Tertullian, of course, wrote with rhetorical exaggeration. Pagans hardly flocked to the church after witnessing the death of Christians. Martyrdom eventually made a large-scale impact on pagans but not before two centuries of sacrifice. Ordinary citizens in Tertullian's day were not impressed with Christian deaths. In fact, they took pleasure in the persecution of Christians. "Faggot-fellows" and "half-axle men" were nicknames of contempt for people who allowed themselves to be tied to a half-axle post or have faggots (wood chips) heaped around them in preparation for being burnt. Many viewed Christians as only a sect or school that opposed the established order, dabbled in black magic, and practiced incest and ritual child-murder. The Romans saw them as a dangerous cult, disliked and despised. One ancient mocked them. They trust in resurrection. They have brought into the world strange and new worship. They despise former terrors, going readily and joyfully to death. Let us see if they rise again, and if their god can help them, taking them out of our hands. From Tertullian's time, many Christians became "evangelists to the death." Only in the fourth century did martyrdom become a serious factor in the church's growth. So long as the empire flourished and the values of Roman civilization prevailed, many saw Christians as an illegal and disloyal minority. Martyrs merely displayed their zeal to a hostile or indifferent populace. The Great Persecution seems to have flipped the scales. After the conversion of Constantine, martyrs became part of a "Golden Legend." In Rome, for example, the Spanish poet, Prudentius (d. 402) embellished the story of the martyrs with miraculous details of their legendary heroism against pagan governors. Yes, Tertullian was right, though his statements took time to see their fulfillment. For him, the martyrdom of Christians was the supreme influence that drew people (himself among them) to Christianity: "For who that beholds [martyrdom] is not stirred to inquire what lies indeed within it?"[2]
One problem with the argument of Tertullian is that while many people have enough goodness within them to have the suffering another move them to sympathy, some people do not. What they see weakness that they need to abuse and kill. The history of humanity is full of atrocities that good people find repulsive. We will refer to the people who do such things as monsters. They are not. They are human beings capable of great evil.
In 12: 27-31 we find a concern for the hour of glorification and the heavenly voice. One finds victory in submission to the plan of God. Jesus rejects the option of deliverance. 27 “Now my soul is troubled. John stresses that the sacrifice and death that loom in his future troubles his soul. Now is not the time to draw back or try to sidestep the messianic future. Moreover, what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. We have a version of the Gethsemane scene in Mark 14:32-42. Hebrews 5:7 refers to the agony of Jesus before his death. This account of the agony of Jesus and his submission to the will of his Father comes from the traditional account of the Mount of Olives. Though the cross is the culmination of glory, it has not lost its human darkness. The verse shows Jesus fully accepting the terms of his messianic identity and readily accepting the "coming" of his hour. His obedience mirrors the call to discipleship Jesus extended to others. He refuses to try to save himself. Instead, 28 Father, glorify your name.” A Christ crucified, that stumbling block to all rational thinking people. John transforms that very humiliation into nothing less that complete glorification. Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified (aorist tense) it in the course of the life of Jesus, and I will glorify (future tense) it again in the resurrection and ascension.” The heavenly voice answers the prayer of Jesus. Jesus comes to terms with the hour by turning to his Father, who gives assurance of glorification. Doxa is part of the kabod of the OT, a revelation of God's presence. It is clear John has picked up a theme in early Christian preaching and expanded upon it. The cross becomes a rich and vivid symbol. God is acting behind the external events. John begins a symbolic approach. Also, the whole earthly ministry of Jesus becomes a revelation of divine glory. God has come to dwell among people. Finally, there is a unity of the historical Jesus with the glorified Christ. One could object that the Christ presented in John is simply God striding across the earth. However, the purpose of John's language of glory is to bring the distant God closer to us. This God would otherwise be inaccessible and unintelligible. The voice from heaven responds directly to the obedience of Jesus, affirming his understanding both of his identity and of his future. Here is the Johannine form of the Lord's Prayer, requesting God to do the sanctifying of the name. Reassurance from the Father meets with the submission of Jesus to the plan of the Father. This is the first time in John that there is a voice from heaven. There is similarity with the Synoptic baptism and transfiguration stories. Strongly associated with the death of Jesus, it acknowledges Jesus as the Son. John has altered the impact of the Synoptic account. The synoptic accounts offer the reader a window into Jesus' agony and struggle. In contrast, John gives the reader a description of Jesus' confidence and readiness. In John's gospel there will be no sign of weakness, no sign of wondering, no agony, no pain, no request to "let this cup pass"; Jesus is in control throughout. The death of Jesus is the climax of his obedient life. The heavenly voice confirms Jesus' obedience and echoes the description of Jesus' transfiguration and baptism described in the Synoptic Gospels. 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” John notes the presence of the crowd and they become the collective foil for the remainder of the drama. While this voice is not a private communication with Jesus, what the voice said is not clear to the crowd. Though John suggests that all those gathered near heard something, there is considerable disagreement over what that something was. Just as for some, the message of a Suffering Servant, a crucified Christ, a mortal Messiah, was beyond the pale of their comprehension, so for some who witnessed the heavenly voice's response to the obedience of Jesus, the message is impenetrable. To others, those who had listened to Jesus' teachings and heard his calls to discipleship and service, the heavenly voice sounded like that of an angel. Though they could not yet discern the whole implication of what was to come, they sensed the presence of the divine in their midst. For a great many, however, the teachings of Jesus remained scrambled, turning whole notions of messianic leadership, divine power and glorification over hard and on their heads. To those who simply cannot "get it," the voice is only so much noise, like the din of thunder. 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now God will drive out the ruler of this world (Satan). That the Greeks recognize what the Jews do not is the cause for the judgment of the world and the casting out of the "ruler of this world." John identifies the Jews as being part of Satan's world - reminiscent of the connection John has made between the Jews and Satan, or the devil, before (8:44). Judgment takes place through unbelief itself. The world has come under the tyranny of an ungodly force, the prince of this world.[3] The eschatological truth is already a present reality even if in hidden form. Thus, judgment as well as life is already present with Jesus Christ in the world.[4] From where is God casting out this ruler? The verse may refer to a loss of influence over believers, thereby becoming powerless.
In 12: 32-34, the theme is the lifting up of Jesus and the problem of the Son of Man. Darkness is closing in, but the hour brings judgment upon the Prince of this world and life to those who follow Jesus. The glorification of Jesus brings expulsion of the enemy. The victorious hour of Jesus is a victory over Satan in principle; yet the working out of this victory in time and place is the gradual work of believing Christians. Jesus' death is not a sign, but the realization of God's plan. John stresses the announcement of the crucifixion. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth on the cross and later ascend to the Father, will draw all people to myself.” The more important and positive aspect of Jesus' hour is the salvation of believers, extended to all persons. John draws together triumph over the enemy and drawing people to Jesus. Jesus' crucifixion will be the moment of judgment, exaltation, fruition, and challenge. The Prince of the World, who is Satan, God will judge and defeat. In the crucifixion, all humankind is lifted up. Then, in an editorial comment, 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. Crucifixion indicates a monstrous Roman capital punishment, but to John the gruesomeness of crucifixion becomes a gracious posture of an open-armed welcome. John de-emphasizes the bloody spectacle of the suffering of Jesus. Thus, this gospel can call the crucifixion exaltation, a statement possible only in the light of the resurrection and the return to the Father.[5] Thus, the text concludes with Jesus revealing more of the events that make this the hour for his glorification. It is a time for judgment, a time for the Devil ("the ruler of this world") to get his due and be run out of this world. The power that can accomplish these feats, which also draws all people to the risen Christ, offers readers the smallest hint of what the glorified Jesus will be like. His primary message here is that he will achieve this glorification through a shocking means: suffering and death. Nevertheless, his Father will raise him in glory and power.
[1] Robert Coleman, Written in Blood.
[2] -William H.C. Frend, "Evangelists to the Death: It took centuries for Christian martyrs to impact pagan society," Christian History, September 23, 1998, www.christianity.net
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 108.
[4] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 605.
[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 365.
[6] I have not followed the critical stance some take toward what happens in this passage. For some scholars, even though this passage promises the inclusion of all, John has shaped it at the expense of the Jews who - to John - exclude themselves from the salvation offered in the "lifting up" of Jesus on the cross. John places his presentation of Jesus in stark relief against the Johannine portrayal of the Jews. The context of this passage is the Passover festival, and the scene is rich in bitter and tragic irony. The Jews gather in Jerusalem to remember a passing over of God's spirit at the Exodus that spared the children of Israel and killed the first-born of the Egyptians. John juxtaposed this Jewish event with the early Christians' celebration of the memory of the crucifixion of God's first-born son. Jesus is lifted up to die, but in so dying, all are included in the life-giving promise, except for those who do not accept who Jesus is (i.e., the Jews). The fourth gospel, which scholars see as an expression of a more exclusive sect within early Christianity, here highlights the inclusive nature of the crucifixion at the expense of the perceived exclusivity of Judaism of the first century. John goes as far as to imply that God will pass over the Jews again; however, this time it will not be for freedom from slavery but for judgment and, according to the author of the gospel, for damnation for their decision to stubbornly cling to the ruler of this world.
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