Year 8, Day 260: John 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

John 12 is a neat story.  We have the anointing of Jesus.  There is the triumphal entry – albeit a slightly more scaled down version from John.  These are memorable moments in the Gospel story.

That being said, we also have some other lesser known stories.  The Pharisees plan to execute Lazarus along with Jesus.  There are the Greeks who seek out Jesus.  There is the voice of God that speaks while Jesus is amidst the crowd.

There is a theme that passes through each of these stories if we are careful to look for it.  The theme is quite simple.  Jesus has come to do the work of the Father.  Jesus is not seeking to glorify Himself.  He is not seeking to win a popularity contest.  Jesus merely wants to bring about the will of the Father.

This theme is most obvious in the central story: the voice from heaven.  As Jesus is teaching, He confesses that He has come to dwell with humanity for this hour so that the Father will be glorified.  The Father replies to Jesus so that others can hear it.  Look closely at the Father’s words.  God says that He has glorified His name and He will glorify it again.  The crux of this chapter is the glory of God.

In this light, we turn to the anointing of Jesus.  Here is a joyous act that serves to glorify and worship God.  Yet, there is Judas standing by asking if it was the most effective use of resources.  I’m not going to lie, I often wonder if I had been there if I wouldn’t had shared Judas’ thought.  But there is a lesson to be learned in that confession.  When we aren’t careful, we temporal human beings can get in the way of glorifying the Father.  We can let our limited perspective prevent us from seeing the big picture.  Our humanity can sometimes cause us to forget to see that the glory of God is the focus.

Naturally, there is also the plot to kill Lazarus.  Once more we have the same issue as with Judas and the oil.  The Pharisees can’t see the resurrection of Lazarus as a good thing.  They can’t see God being glorified.  All they can see is people turning to Jesus and no longer turning to them.  In their own jealousy, they miss the picture.

In the end, the glory of God is our focus.  It is why we are here.  If Jesus came so that God could be glorified in His death as it brings salvation to us all, we should have the same pursuit.  The glory of God should be our focus, even in those moments when our humanity desires us to focus elsewhere.

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