John 12 The Whole World has gone after him…

A New Direction in John

Who is Jesus? I think this is the most impotrant question of your whole life,

Because if he is just some guy, then fine, don’t worship him, that would be foolish.

But if he really lived, really died and really rose from the dead then you have a choice to make in your life…He is not just some teacher of moral philosophy but he is actually the Alpha and the Omega…The creator of the universe!

Today I hope to walk though all of chapter 12 in the book of John…And it is a little too ambitious…So as you know we are going though the book of John and today we are moving to chapter 12…And we have only done the first 4 chapters so let’s catch up…And we have to move today!

Chapter 11 Ends Jesus’ public ministry of three years….So chapters 1-11 are 3 years …Chapters 12-21 is one week long!

Jesus ends his public ministry because of what happens in chapter 11.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead…Now this causes such a stir and the pharisees are freaking out and they get together and decide that Jesus has to die…

So lets look at the plot to kill Jesus

John 11:47–48 NIV

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

Here is this man performing many signs! Remember how we talked about in chapter 2 that Jesus does 7 signs that draw people to himself…

And the last of these is raising Lazarus from the dead

We have not covered this yet but there is this correlation in the book of John that as Jesus grows a following and receives favor from the people, the religious establishment freaks out….

Until finally they just say what they get to the nuclear option…He has to go!

And what are the pharisee’s reacting to? How the Romans will react to them tolerating Jesus

I think when we look at the plot to kill Jesus it is obviously horrible but they are just doing what is politically prudent at the time…Look if we kill Jesus then we will save ourselves from the Romans…

They are just saving Jerusalem! that’s all

They are saving their temple and their nation…

What John is trying to show is is what comes next is two ways to save a people

Dying for your people or killing for your people…

Here is the plan they ultimately come up with:

John 11:49–50 NIV

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

The High Priest words were recorded as prophetic words.

Jesus’ vision of salvation is dying for his people while the religious leaders vision was killing for their people

By the way if any religious leader from any religion that claims to share the 10 commandments suggests killing someone…Please do not listen to that religious leader!

Jesus would die…But he would save the whole world in the process

We have so much to cover I am just going to get into chapter 12.

I put these headings over the sections because these sections offer 4 different scens of Jesus interacting with people and 4 different responses…I want to show you this amazing thread that is through each of these

Private Devotion

John 12:1–11 NIV

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He 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. “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

It starts with six days before the passover…Six days until Jesus’ hour is upon us.

And Jesus goes to be with his friend…

This story appears in all 4 gospels. That tells you something of its significance. It is an impotrant story in us understanding the good news

So let me recap the story because this is so impotrant

In order to “do for” Jesus, its all starts with “being with” Jesus…It begins with worship

Martha abandons all and takes an expensive Jar of pure Nard and pours it all over Jesus and uses her hair to wipe up the Nard!

This is such a passionate act of worship, She is lowering herself to the status of someone who is a slave

She goes all in on worshiping Jesus!

Chapter 12 starts with a beautiful act of worship…Jesus just brought her brother back from the dead! and he is there at the table with jesus just eating his dinner! He is super alive!

Not only is she communicating that she views herself as unworthy to be in his presence but she is just giving him all of her worship and adoration…

I mean isn’t this the only response to bringing someone back from the dead?

This is an act of pur worship and John wants you to put Judas and Mary up against each other

So here is what Judas says

John 12:5–6 NIV

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He 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.

John is writing this with all of his hindsight in view. He knew what Judas would do in just 6 days…He knew that Judas was there with Jesus but it was reality, it was just about the money

Mary’s concern was giving Jesus the honor he was due while Judas’ concern was his own greed

Look I have been Judas at times in my life. I have had a front row seat to God doing amazing things for people and at times I have slipped into a Judas mentality…Instead of praising God for what he is doing in the lives of others…In my own greed I have said, what about me?

I read Judas’s words this week and was like. Oh Dang…I have been Judas before! I have seen amazing things and have judged them…In my own human nature in my own greed…I have said why them God and not me?

And God is like, Have I not completely cared for you? Why shouldn’t you be worshiping?

See and the comparison here is that Mary is so grateful to Jesus for what He did to Lazarus that she is the polar opposite of Judas.

She gives freely to worship Jesus because she knows who Jesus is…The living embodiment of the resurrection and the life and…. Jesus tells Judas

John 12:7–8 NIV

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

Leave her alone…She get’s it! She has been paying attention..>She knows I have to die…She is taking what I have been saying literally!

And again this isn’t about not helping the poor, my goodness that is a biblical mandate..>What this is about is the imminent departure of Jesus!

Then there is a scene shift…The next day:

But before we shift Scenes: There is a pattern that will emerge though all of this: Jesus gets affirmation as to who he is and someone else will tear it down

Martha Know’s who Jesus is…And she anoints him…Jesus says for burial but anointing is also something done before someone becomes king!

But Judas tries to tear it down…He tries to take an amazing thing she does and make it sound sinful!

Public Acclamation

John 12:12–19 NIV

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him. 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 performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

So John is wanting to point out that Jerusalem at passover is a frenzy…The passover of 66ad Josephus records 2.7million people in Jerusalem “not counting the defiled foreigners”

So this is a massive crowd and they are singing this mashup of old testament scripture of Psalm 118 and Zechariah 9 but the one verse that is not an old testament reference but a realization of the crowd is something that is mentioned back in chapter 1 of the book of John

See one of Jesus’s Disciple Nathanael recognized

John 1:49 NIV

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.”

See what Nathaniel saw privately…Now is seen publically.

The public is calling Jesus the King of Israel!

So Jesus just had a private anointing by Martha and now he is getting public legitimacy

And then the crowds…who were many that were with Jesus when Lazarus was raised from the dead….are now putting it all tother with Zechariah 9 when the text says…See your king comes riding on a donkey

What I love about them quoting the Zechariah 9 text is that what would have been on their minds is this verse that comes right after the verse of see your king comes to you riding on a donkey!

Zechariah 9:12 NIV

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

The text calls all of those people to return to their fortresses

But the reality is if you study Zechariah, these people didn’t have fortresses they just had rubble!

And the text of Zechariah is almost saying..>look return to your rubble and hope for the day when the king of the universe steps into humanity and rides into town on a lowly donkey

Because in one sense they just saw the glory of Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and now he is coming into town in the most humble way

So go back to your rubble…There are no fortresses…and hope for the day that you will be set free from the cosmic exile of sin

and these people are witnessing Jesus and can not help themselves from declaring him as king

They are saying, We are those prisoners of hope! That is all we have, hope that the messiah will be with us!

And this whole scene ends with the pharisees saying..See this is getting us nowhere…the world is going after him

There is a political reality at play here

Millions of people in Jerusalem calling Jesus king…

This is making the Religious establishment nervous…I mean they are in charge of the religious life of Israel and they hate the romans but if they were to recognize their own independent king then they would officially be in rebellion from the romans

and the Romans will come in and wipe them out

Its what eventually leads us to this point

John 19:15 NIV

But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

These words reverberate through the Gospels…

Which king will you choose? Who will have your hope and your trust?

These are key questions

So let’s Recap:

John is doing something really special:

Martha Anoints Jesus, She know’s who he is and that anointing is lavish its crazy it really reveals his position as messiah

But there is a dissenting voice! Its Judas!

Then Jesus comes to Jerusalem: And the crowds now recognize who Jesus is, he is the king!

But there is a dissenting voice it’s the pharisees!

Who is Jesus? This is the most impotrant question of your life!

But wait there is more!

Divine Affirmation

John 12:20–36 NIV

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “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. Very truly I tell you, 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. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my soul 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!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Now there is a lot here but because we are covering an entire chapter I just want to focus on a couple of key things I want to focus on a couple of things that are key

There were greeks at the festival…The words that Pharisees said, “The whole world is going after him” are all true …

Jesus says his soul is troubled…The hour is here…He is going to be like wheat that falls to the ground and when it hits the ground the seeds scatter but then rise up like crazy….

He cries out Save me from this hour but then says, No it was for this hour that I came!

He knows he is going to die

Then a voice thunders from heaven

It is the father speaking so all can hear:

John 12:28 NIV

Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

Ok Back to the pattern

Martha worship’s Jesus

Judas judges it!

The crowds Call Jesus a king

The Pharisees say it has to be stopped

Now the father from heaven Speaks up and responds audibly to Jesus though his prayer and says I will Glorify my name though you!

But Jesus tells us..>there is an advisory…Satan who wants to stop all of this

Do you get that pattern…Its all the way through chapter 12…

The pattern says that whenever there is a private act of devotion to Jesus or even a public dsiplay or God himself speaking! There is opposition to it!

Judas is the opposition to Mary

The Pharisees are the opposition to the crowd

Satan is the opposition to the father

So Again this sections asks the question..>Which voice will you listen to about Jesus?! Who is Jesus!

Now I know we have barley scratched the surface of these verses but there is one more big chunk

Prophetic Testimony

John 12:37–50 NIV

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.” Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God. Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing 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. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

John tells is that The great prophet Isaiah saw the Glory of Jesus and then spoke about him!

So Martha anoints Jesus

The crowds call him king

The father speaks from heaven and now

In the book you have all been reading for a thousand years, Isaiah testifies to Who Jesus is…

But at the same time…even though some believed in him….They wouldn’t acknowledge Jesus

Why? They loved human praise more than praise from God!

Look worshiping jesus and honoring him and declaring him as God will put you at odds with the world

This is what John is trying to show you all though chapter 12

Later John will be writing a letter to his church and I think he is reflecting on this thing that he has experienced his whole life

that there is always a dissenting voice to the praise of Jesus:

1 John 2:15–17 NIV

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

See what seems like 4 different stories

Jesus’s anointing

Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey

The prayer of Jesus

and the belief and unbelief among the Jews all reveal a much bigger pattern!

They all call for a decision and it is summed up in this rhetorical phrase toward the end of Chapter 12

The question Chapter 12 preaches and asks is who is Jesus and what side of the fence will you be on

John wants to tell you not to be on the side of the Pharisees…Why:

They loved human praise more than praise from God.

And this is one of the core problems in life

We seek praise of our peers rather than pleasing God…

So the question has to be asked.

John confronts us with the living God

Jesus is the one who raises people from the dead

He is the one who turns water into wine

The one who walks on water

who heals the sick

He gives sight to the blind

He is the king of the universe the one who takes the cross for my sin

The question at the end of the day is what side of this conersation will you fall on…

Will you take Marth’s word for it? Will you listen to the crowds that call Jesus a king? Will you hear the affirmation of the father? Will you listen to Isaiah?

Or does your inner Judas get the last word

Does your inner pharisee come out?

There are two positions you can take

You can take the one who gives Jesus all the honor or the praise

Or you can worry about what other people think about you!

There is no fence to straddle…

what is it going to be?

the chapter ends with this piercing line: 'They loved human praise more than praise from God'

That's the choice:

You could Join Mary—pour out your life in extravagant worship, no holding back.

Or join Judas/Pharisees/leaders—cling to approval, greed, fear, and miss eternal life.

Who is Jesus? This is the most impotrant question you will ever answer!

There's no fence. No neutral ground. Jesus draws all—or judges by His words.

Today—right now—the hour is here for you. The light shines. Will you walk in it?

If you've never trusted Jesus as Savior and King:

Believe! Confess Him openly. Say yes to him. He died for you so that he can make you new!

If you're a believer but hiding your faith for fear of man: John talks about that as living in darkness!

Repent! Step into the light—praise Him publicly, serve extravagantly.

Let's pray: Jesus, we choose You. We love Your praise more than the world's. Draw us, forgive us, fill us. Amen.