THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. CLOSE OF THE PUBLIC MINISTRY 1-11. Supper at Bethany (see on Matthew 26:6 and Mark 14:3, which record the same incident). The event in Luke 7:36. is different. The supper was at the house of Simon the leper, a near relation, perhaps the father, of Lazarus and the sisters. St. J... [ Continue Reading ]
SIX DAYS] Since the Passover, according to this Gospel, took place on Friday, Jesus apparently arrived on Saturday (the sabbath), and the supper must have taken place the same evening.... [ Continue Reading ]
THREE HUNDRED PENCE (_denarii_)] about £9.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BAG (or, box)] The apostles had one purse, because they realised that those who have spiritual things in common, ought (ideally, at least) to have temporal things in common also. But though communism is the ultimate Christian ideal, and has always been regarded as such (see Acts 2:44), it does n... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HER ALONE: AGAINST THE DAY OF MY BURYING HATH SHE KEPT THIS] i.e. She has done quite right not to sell the ointment. She has kept it for today, making today as it were My burial day, by performing the prophetic act of anointing and embalming My body. But a better reading is, 'Suffer her to keep... [ Continue Reading ]
MUCH PEOPLE] RV 'the common people.' THEY CAME] doubtless into the house to watch the banquet. In the East a feast is a public ceremony, and there is a continual succession of sightseers.... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT AWAY] i.e. apostatised.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEXT DAY] This is now generally called Palm Sunday. MUCH PEOPLE] evidently Galileans.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY (see on Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29.) The purpose of our Lord's public entry was to testify to the nation and to mankind that He was actually the Messiah promised by the OT. prophets, and the person by whom the kingdom of God was to be established. St. John writes briefly... [ Continue Reading ]
PALM TREES] Among the Hebrews, as among the Greeks, palms were carried as symbols of victory and rejoicing (1Ma 13:51; Revelation 7:9).... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe the author's intimate knowledge of the sentiments of the disciples.... [ Continue Reading ]
GREEKS] i.e. Gentiles, probably from Galilee or Decapolis, where there was a large Gentile population. Their presence at the feast shows that they sympathised—as so many devout Gentiles did—with the monotheistic faith of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS AND THE GREEKS. A dominant idea of this Gospel is universalism. Christ dies for all men, Gentiles as well as Jews, and is, therefore, the Saviour of the world (John 4:22; 1 John 4:14). Appropriately, therefore, the evangelist notices that the last public utterance of Jesus was on the Gentile q... [ Continue Reading ]
The humble request of these Greeks for an interview brings vividly before Christ's mind His approaching death, through which alone salvation can be offered to the Gentiles. SHOULD BE GLORIFIED] viz. by death, which in the case of Jesus was not a humiliation, but a triumph over the powers of evil.... [ Continue Reading ]
LAST PUBLIC DISCOURSE OF JESUS. THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN. The time is probably Wednesday afternoon, the place the Temple: cp. Matthew 21:23. Jesus resigns Himself to death, comforting Himself by contemplating its glorious issues.... [ Continue Reading ]
As a grain of corn must rot in the ground before it can bring forth fruit, so must the Son of man die and be buried before the harvest of the world can ripen and be reaped. The divine life, so long as Jesus remained on earth in the body of His humiliation, was confined to Himself. But when by His de... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE I AM] i.e. where I am soon to be, viz. in heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
Deeply pathetic are these words, and deeply comforting to all who feel their load of sorrow too heavy for them to bear. Even Jesus could not face His hour of agony without a struggle. The horror of His approaching death filled Him with anguish. His soul was troubled. For a moment He almost prayed to... [ Continue Reading ]
FATHER, GLORIFY THY NAME] viz. by accepting My willing sacrifice upon the Cross. A VOICE] The voices from heaven in the NT. are objective in the sense that all present hear them and are startled by them, but only those for whom they are intended understand their meaning. Thus at the Baptism the heav... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW (i.e. within a few days) IS THE JUDGMENT (or, a judgment) OF THIS WORLD] i.e. of the persons in it. Christ's death followed by His Resurrection is a 'judgment,' because it is a deliberate challenge to mankind to accept Him as the Divine Redeemer of the world Henceforth men must take sides for an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I, IF I BE LIFTED UP (viz. upon the cross) .. WILL (after My Resurrection and Ascension) DRAW ALL _men_ UNTO ME (RV 'myself')] St. John regards the crucifixion of Jesus as a symbol. His elevation upon the cross is an emblem of His being set up as the ensign (Isaiah 11:10) around which the nation... [ Continue Reading ]
The people understand Christ's allusion to His death, and find this difficult to reconcile with 'the Law,' i.e. the OT. (see John 10:34), which teaches that the reign of the Messiah will be eternal (Psalms 45:6; Psalms 110:4; Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 7:14). Can, therefore, Jesus be the Messiah? Has He eve... [ Continue Reading ]
CHILDREN (RV 'sons') OF LIGHT] i.e. enlightened persons. The phrase occurs Luke 16:8; Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5. DID HIDE HIMSELF] lit. 'was hidden.' This was Christ's final retirement from His public ministry, and corresponds with Matthew 24:1, where Christ leaves the Temple for the last t... [ Continue Reading ]
CAUSE OF THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS. At first they could believe, but refused. By and by they became incapable of it. In this too common experience St. John sees the judgment of God: cp. Romans 9-11.... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, WHO, etc.] quoted exactly from LXX of Isaiah 53:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH BLINDED, etc.] A very free quotation from Isaiah 6:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THINGS SAID ESAIAS (Isaiah)] Strictly speaking, God said them to Isaiah about Isaiah's own contemporaries, but St. John sees in the passage a typical prophecy of the unbelief of the Jews in the time of Christ. WHEN HE SAW HIS GLORY] i.e. Christ's glory. The words were spoken at Isaiah's call w... [ Continue Reading ]
They loved to be honoured by men, more than to be honoured by God.... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGMENT OF JESUS UPON THEIR UNBELIEF. He refuses to condemn them formally (John 12:47), because His First Coming was not to judge, but to save. Yet He adds that in the Last Day they will be self-condemned. His words, which they rejected, will rise up against them in judgment. These vv. are neither... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. John 14:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. John 8:12; John 9:5; John 9:39 etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BELIEVE NOT] RV 'and keep them not.' I JUDGE HIM NOT] cp. John 5:45; John 8:15; John 8:26. I CAME NOT] cp. John 3:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
In the last day Jesus will but ratify the verdict of their own consciences.... [ Continue Reading ]
'The gospel message which the Father has committed to Me conveys to those who accept and obey it eternal life.'... [ Continue Reading ]