1ThenG3767 JesusG2424 sixG1803 daysG2250 beforeG4253 the passoverG3957 cameG2064 toG1519 BethanyG963, whereG3699 LazarusG2976 wasG2258 whoG3588 had been deadG2348, whomG3739 he raisedG1453 fromG1537 the deadG3498. 2ThereG1563 G3767 they madeG4160 himG846 a supperG1173; andG2532 MarthaG3136 servedG1247: butG1161 LazarusG2976 wasG2258 oneG1520 of them that sat at the tableG4873 with himG846. 3ThenG3767 MaryG3137 tookG2983 a poundG3046 of ointmentG3464 of spikenardG3487 G4101, very costlyG4186, and anointedG218 the feetG4228 of JesusG2424, andG2532 wipedG1591 hisG846 feetG4228 with herG846 hairG2359: andG1161 the houseG3614 was filledG4137 withG1537 the odourG3744 of the ointmentG3464. 4ThenG3767 saithG3004 oneG1520 ofG1537 hisG846 disciplesG3101, JudasG2455 IscariotG2469, Simon’sG4613 son, whoG3588 was toG3195 betrayG3860 himG846, 5WhyG1302 wasG4097 notG3756 thisG5124 ointmentG3464 soldG4097 for three hundredG5145 penceG1220, andG2532 givenG1325 to the poorG4434? 6ThisG5124 he saidG2036, notG3756 thatG3754 heG846 caredG3199 forG4012 the poorG4434; butG235 becauseG3754 he wasG2258 a thiefG2812, andG2532 hadG2192 the bagG1101, andG2532 boreG941 what was put in itG906. 7ThenG3767 saidG2036 JesusG2424, LetG863 herG846 aloneG863: forG1519 the dayG2250 of myG3450 burialG1780 hath she keptG5083 thisG846. 8ForG1063 the poorG4434 ye haveG2192 alwaysG3842 withG3326 youG1438; butG1161 meG1691 ye haveG2192 notG3756 alwaysG3842. 9ManyG4183 peopleG3793 ofG1537 the JewsG2453 thereforeG3767 knewG1097 thatG3754 he wasG2076 thereG1563: andG2532 they cameG2064 notG3756 forG1223 JesusG2424’ sake onlyG3440, butG235 thatG2443 they might seeG1492 LazarusG2976 alsoG2532, whomG3739 he had raisedG1453 fromG1537 the deadG3498. 10ButG1161 the chief priestsG749 consultedG1011 thatG2443 they might putG615 LazarusG2976 alsoG2532 to deathG615; 11BecauseG3754 that by reasonG1223 of himG846 manyG4183 of the JewsG2453 went awayG5217, andG2532 believedG4100 onG1519 JesusG2424. 12On the next dayG1887 manyG4183 peopleG3793 that had comeG2064 toG1519 the feastG1859, when they heardG191 thatG3754 JesusG2424 was comingG2064 toG1519 JerusalemG2414, 13TookG2983 branchesG902 of palm treesG5404, andG2532 went forthG1831 toG1519 meetG5222 himG846, andG2532 criedG2896, HosannaG5614: BlessedG2127 is the KingG935 of IsraelG2474 that comethG2064 inG1722 the nameG3686 of the LordG2962. 14AndG1161 JesusG2424, when he had foundG2147 a young donkeyG3678, satG2523 onG1909 itG846; asG2531 it isG2076 writtenG1125, 15FearG5399 notG3361, daughterG2364 of ZionG4622: beholdG2400, thyG4675 KingG935 comethG2064, sittingG2521 onG1909 a donkey’sG3688 coltG4454. 16 These thingsG5023 hisG846 disciplesG3101 understoodG1097 notG3756 at the firstG4412: butG235 whenG3753 JesusG2424 was glorifiedG1392, thenG5119 they rememberedG3415 thatG3754 these thingsG5023 wereG2258 writtenG1125 concerningG1909 himG846, andG2532 that they had doneG4160 these thingsG5023 to himG846. 17The peopleG3793 thereforeG3767 that wereG5607 withG3326 himG846 whenG3753 he calledG5455 LazarusG2976 out ofG1537 his graveG3419, andG2532 raisedG1453 himG846 fromG1537 the deadG3498, bore witnessG3140. 18For thisG5124 causeG1223 the peopleG3793 alsoG2532 metG5221 himG846, for thatG3754 they heardG191 thatG846 he had doneG4160 thisG5124 miracleG4592. 19The PhariseesG5330 thereforeG3767 saidG2036 amongG4314 themselvesG1438, Perceive yeG2334 howG3754 ye prevailG5623 nothingG3756 G3762? beholdG2396, the worldG2889 is goneG565 afterG3694 himG846. 20AndG1161 there wereG2258 certainG5100 GreeksG1672 amongG1537 them that came upG305 toG2443 worshipG4352 atG1722 the feastG1859: 21The sameG3778 cameG4334 thereforeG3767 to PhilipG5376, who was ofG575 BethsaidaG966 of GalileeG1056, andG2532 desiredG2065 himG846, sayingG3004, SirG2962, we wouldG2309 seeG1492 JesusG2424. 22PhilipG5376 comethG2064 andG2532 tellethG3004 AndrewG406: andG2532 againG3825 AndrewG406 andG2532 PhilipG5376 tellG3004 JesusG2424. 23AndG1161 JesusG2424 answeredG611 themG846, sayingG3004, The hourG5610 is comeG2064, thatG2443 the SonG5207 of manG444 should be glorifiedG1392. 24VerilyG281, verilyG281, I sayG3004 to youG5213, ExceptG3362 a grainG2848 of wheatG4621 fallG4098 intoG1519 the groundG1093 and dieG599, itG846 abidethG3306 aloneG3441: butG1161 ifG1437 it dieG599, it bringeth forthG5342 muchG4183 fruitG2590. 25He that lovethG5368 hisG846 lifeG5590 shall loseG622 itG846; andG2532 he that hatethG3404 hisG846 lifeG5590 inG1722 thisG5129 worldG2889 shall keepG5442 itG846 toG1519 lifeG2222 eternalG166. 26IfG1437 any manG5100 serveG1247 meG1698, let him followG190 meG1698; andG2532 whereG3699 IG1473 amG1510, thereG1563 shallG2071 alsoG2532 myG1699 servantG1249 beG2071 G2532: ifG1437 any manG5100 serveG1247 meG1698, himG846 willG5091 my FatherG3962 honourG5091. 27NowG3568 isG5015 myG3450 soulG5590 troubledG5015; andG2532 whatG5101 shall I sayG2036? FatherG3962, saveG4982 meG3165 fromG1537 thisG5026 hourG5610: butG235 for thisG5124 causeG1223 I cameG2064 toG1519 thisG5026 hourG5610. 28FatherG3962, glorifyG1392 thyG4675 nameG3686. ThenG3767 came thereG2064 a voiceG5456 fromG1537 heavenG3772, saying, I haveG1392 bothG2532 glorifiedG1392 it, andG2532 will glorifyG1392 it againG3825. 29The peopleG3793 thereforeG3767, that stood byG2476, andG2532 heardG191 it, saidG3004 that it thunderedG1096 G1027: othersG243 saidG3004, An angelG32 spokeG2980 to himG846. 30JesusG2424 answeredG611 andG2532 saidG2036, ThisG3778 voiceG5456 cameG1096 notG3756 because ofG1223 meG1691, butG235 forG1223 your sakesG5209 G1223. 31NowG3568 isG2076 the judgmentG2920 of thisG5127 worldG2889: nowG3568 shallG1544 the princeG758 of thisG5127 worldG2889 be castG1544 outG1854. 32And IG2504, ifG1437 I shall be lifted upG5312 fromG1537 the earthG1093, will drawG1670 allG3956 men toG4314 meG1683. 33ThisG5124 he saidG3004, signifyingG4591 whatG4169 deathG2288 he shouldG3195 dieG599. 34The peopleG3793 answeredG611 himG846, WeG2249 have heardG191 out ofG1537 the lawG3551 thatG3754 ChristG5547 abidethG3306 forG1519 everG165: andG2532 howG4459 sayestG3004 thouG3754 G4771, The SonG5207 of manG444 mustG1163 be lifted upG5312? whoG5101 isG2076 thisG3778 SonG5207 of manG444? 35ThenG3767 JesusG2424 saidG2036 to themG846, YetG2089 a littleG3398 whileG5550 isG2076 the lightG5457 withG3326 youG5216. WalkG4043 whileG2193 ye haveG2192 the lightG5457, lestG3363 darknessG4653 come uponG2638 youG5209: forG2532 he that walkethG4043 inG1722 darknessG4653 knowethG1492 notG3756 whereG4226 he goethG5217. 36WhileG2193 ye haveG2192 lightG5457, believeG4100 inG1519 the lightG5457, thatG2443 ye may beG1096 the childrenG5207 of lightG5457. These thingsG5023 spokeG2980 JesusG2424, and departedG565, andG2532 was hiddenG2928 fromG575 themG846. 37ButG1161 though heG846 had doneG4160 so manyG5118 miraclesG4592 beforeG1715 themG846, yet they believedG4100 notG3756 onG1519 himG846: 38ThatG2443 the sayingG3056 of IsaiahG2268 the prophetG4396 might be fulfilledG4137, whichG3739 he spokeG2036, LordG2962, whoG5101 hath believedG4100 ourG2257 reportG189? andG2532 to whomG5101 hath the armG1023 of the LordG2962 been revealedG601? 39ThereforeG5124 G1223 they couldG1410 notG3756 believeG4100, becauseG3754 that IsaiahG2268 saidG2036 againG3825, 40He hath blindedG5186 theirG846 eyesG3788, andG2532 hardenedG4456 theirG846 heartG2588; thatG3363 they shouldG1492 notG3363 seeG1492 with their eyesG3788, norG2532 understandG3539 with their heartG2588, andG2532 be convertedG1994, andG2532 I should healG2390 themG846. 41These thingsG5023 saidG2036 IsaiahG2268, whenG3753 he sawG1492 hisG846 gloryG1391, andG2532 spokeG2980 ofG4012 himG846. 42NeverthelessG3676 G3305 amongG1537 the chief rulersG758 alsoG2532 manyG4183 believedG4100 onG1519 himG846; butG235 becauseG1223 of the PhariseesG5330 they didG3670 notG3756 confessG3670 him, lestG3363 they should beG1096 put out of the synagogueG656: 43ForG1063 they lovedG25 the praiseG1391 of menG444 moreG3123 thanG2260 the praiseG1391 of GodG2316. 44JesusG2424 criedG2896 andG2532 saidG2036, He that believethG4100 onG1519 meG1691, believethG4100 notG3756 onG1519 meG1691, butG235 onG1519 him that sentG3992 meG3165. 45AndG2532 he that seethG2334 meG1691 seethG2334 him that sentG3992 meG3165. 46IG1473 am comeG2064 a lightG5457 intoG1519 the worldG2889, thatG3363 whoeverG3956 believethG4100 onG1519 meG1691 shouldG3306 notG3363 abideG3306 inG1722 darknessG4653. 47AndG2532 ifG3362 any manG5100 hearG191 myG3450 wordsG4487, andG2532 believeG4100 notG3362, IG1473 judgeG2919 himG846 notG3756: forG1063 I cameG2064 notG3756 toG2443 judgeG2919 the worldG2889, butG235 toG2443 saveG4982 the worldG2889. 48He that rejectethG114 meG1691, andG2532 receivethG2983 notG3361 myG3450 wordsG4487, hathG2192 one that judgethG2919 himG846: the wordG3056 thatG3739 I have spokenG2980, the sameG1565 shall judgeG2919 himG846 inG1722 the lastG2078 dayG2250. 49ForG3754 IG1473 haveG2980 notG3756 spokenG2980 fromG1537 myselfG1683; butG235 the FatherG3962 who sentG3992 meG3165, heG846 gaveG1325 meG3427 a commandmentG1785, whatG5101 I should sayG2036, andG2532 whatG5101 I should speakG2980. 50AndG2532 I knowG1492 thatG3754 hisG846 commandmentG1785 isG2076 lifeG2222 everlastingG166: whateverG3739 IG1473 speakG2980 thereforeG3767, even asG2531 the FatherG3962 saidG2046 to meG3427, soG3779 I speakG2980.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY. (
John 12:1-
John 12:11)
six days before the passover--that is, on the sixth day before it; probably after sunset on Friday evening, or the commencement of the Jewish sabbath preceding the passover.
2 Martha served--This, with what is afterwards said of Mary's way of honoring her Lord, is so true to the character in which those two women appear in
Luke 10:38-
Luke 10:42, as to constitute one of the strongest and most delightful confirmations of the truth of both narratives. (See also on
John 11:20).
Lazarus . . . sat at the table--"Between the raised Lazarus and the healed leper (Simon,
Mark 14:3), the Lord probably sits as between two trophies of His glory" [STIER].
3 spikenard--or pure nard, a celebrated aromatic (
Song 1:12).
anointed the feet of Jesus--and "poured it on His head" (
Matt 26:7;
Mark 14:3). The only use of this was to refresh and exhilarate--a grateful compliment in the East, amidst the closeness of a heated atmosphere, with many guests at a feast. Such was the form in which Mary's love to Christ, at so much cost to herself, poured itself out.
4 Judas . . . who should betray him--For the reason why this is here mentioned, see on
Mark 14:11.
5 three hundred pence--between nine and ten pounds sterling.
6 had the bag--the purse.
bare what was put therein--not, bare it off by theft, though that he did; but simply, had charge of its contents, was treasurer to Jesus and the Twelve. How worthy of notice is this arrangement, by which an avaricious and dishonest person was not only taken into the number of the Twelve, but entrusted with the custody of their little property! The purposes which this served are obvious enough; but it is further noticeable, that the remotest hint was never given to the eleven of His true character, nor did the disciples most favored with the intimacy of Jesus ever suspect him, till a few minutes before he voluntarily separated himself from their company--for ever!
7 said Jesus, Let her alone, against the day of my burying hath she done this--not that she thought of His burial, much less reserved any of her nard to anoint her dead Lord. But as the time was so near at hand when that office would have to be performed, and she was not to have that privilege even alter the spices were brought for the purpose (
Mark 16:1), He lovingly regards it as done now.
8 the poor always . . . with you--referring to
Deut 15:11.
but me . . . not always--a gentle hint of His approaching departure. He adds (
Mark 14:8), "She hath done what she could," a noble testimony, embodying a principle of immense importance. "Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her" (
Matt 26:13;
Mark 14:9). "In the act of love done to Him she had erected to herself an eternal monument, as lasting as the Gospel, the eternal word of God. From generation to generation this remarkable prophecy of the Lord has been fulfilled; and even we, in explaining this saying of the Redeemer, of necessity contribute to its accomplishment" [OLSHAUSEN]. "Who but Himself had the power to ensure to any work of man, even if resounding in his own time through the whole earth, an imperishable remembrance in the stream of history? Behold once more here, the majesty of His royal judicial supremacy in the government of the world, in this, Verily I say unto you" [STIER]. Beautiful are the lessons here: (1) Love to Christ transfigures the humblest services. All, indeed, who have themselves a heart value its least outgoings beyond the most costly mechanical performances; but how does it endear the Saviour to us to find Him endorsing the principle as His own standard in judging of character and deeds!
What though in poor and humble guise
Thou here didst sojourn, cottage-born,
Yet from Thy glory in the skies
Our earthly gold Thou didst not scorn.
For Love delights to bring her best,
And where Love is, that offering evermore is blest.
Love on the Saviour's dying head
Her spikenard drops unblam'd may pour,
May mount His cross, and wrap Him dead
In spices from the golden shore.
KEBLE.
(2) Works of utility should never be set in opposition to the promptings of self-sacrificing love, and the sincerity of those who do so is to be suspected. Under the mask of concern for the poor at home, how many excuse themselves from all care of the perishing heathen abroad. (3) Amidst conflicting duties, that which our "hand (presently) findeth to do" is to be preferred, and even a less duty only to be done now to a greater that can be done at any time. (4) "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not" (
2Cor 8:12). --"She hath done what she could" (
Mark 14:8). (5) As Jesus beheld in spirit the universal diffusion of His Gospel, while His lowest depth of humiliation was only approaching, so He regards the facts of His earthly history as constituting the substance of this Gospel, and the relation of them as just the "preaching of this Gospel." Not that preachers are to confine themselves to a bare narration of these facts, but that they are to make their whole preaching turn upon them as its grand center, and derive from them its proper vitality; all that goes before this in the Bible being but the preparation for them, and all that follows but the sequel.
9 Crowds of the Jerusalem Jews hastened to Bethany, not so much to see Jesus, whom they knew to be there, as to see dead Lazarus alive; and this, issuing in their accession to Christ, led to a plot against the life of Lazarus also, as the only means of arresting the triumphs of Jesus (see
John 12:19) --to such a pitch had these chief priests come of diabolical determination to shut out the light from themselves, and quench it from the earth!
12 CHRIST'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. (
John 12:12-
John 12:19)
On the next day--the Lord's day, or Sunday (see on
John 12:1); the tenth day of the Jewish month Nisan, on which the paschal lamb was set apart to be "kept up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening" (
Exod 12:3,
Exod 12:6). Even so, from the day of this solemn entry into Jerusalem, "Christ our Passover" was virtually set apart to be "sacrificed for us" (
1Cor 5:7).
16 when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, &c.--The Spirit, descending on them from the glorified Saviour at Pentecost, opened their eyes suddenly to the true sense of the Old Testament, brought vividly to their recollection this and other Messianic predictions, and to their unspeakable astonishment showed them that they, and all the actors in these scenes, had been unconsciously fulfilling those predictions.
20 SOME GREEKS DESIRE TO SEE JESUS--THE DISCOURSE AND SCENE THEREUPON. (John 12:20-36)
Greeks--Not Grecian Jews, but Greek proselytes to the Jewish faith, who were wont to attend the annual festivals, particularly this primary one, the Passover.
The same came therefore to Philip . . . of Bethsaida--possibly as being from the same quarter.
saying, Sir, we would see Jesus--certainly in a far better sense than Zaccheus (
Luke 19:3). Perhaps He was then in that part of the temple court to which Gentile proselytes had no access. "These men from the west represent, at the end of Christ's life, what the wise men from the east represented at its beginning; but those come to the cross of the King, even as these to His manger" [STIER].
22 Philip . . . telleth Andrew--As follow townsmen of Bethsaida (
John 1:44), these two seem to have drawn to each other.
Andrew and Philip tell Jesus--The minuteness of these details, while they add to the graphic force of the narrative, serves to prepare us for something important to come out of this introduction.
23 Jesus answered them, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified--that is, They would see Jesus, would they? Yet a little moment, and they shall see Him so as now they dream not of. The middle wall of partition that keeps them out from the commonwealth of Israel is on the eve of breaking down, "and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto Me"; I see them "flying as a cloud, and as doves to their cotes"--a glorious event that will be for the Son of man, by which this is to be brought about. It is His death He thus sublimely and delicately alluded to. Lost in the scenes of triumph which this desire of the Greeks to see Him called up before His view, He gives no direct answer to their petition for an interview, but sees the cross which was to bring them gilded with glory.
24 Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit--The necessity of His death is here brightly expressed, and its proper operation and fruit--life springing forth out of death--imaged forth by a beautiful and deeply significant law of the vegetable kingdom. For a double reason, no doubt, this was uttered--to explain what he had said of His death, as the hour of His own glorification, and to sustain His own Spirit under the agitation which was mysteriously coming over it in the view of that death.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal--(See on
Luke 9:24). Did our Lord mean to exclude Himself from the operation of the great principle here expressed--self-renunciation, the law of self-preservation; and its converse, self-preservation, the law of self-destruction? On the contrary, as He became Man to exemplify this fundamental law of the Kingdom of God in its most sublime form, so the very utterance of it on this occasion served to sustain His own Spirit in the double prospect to which He had just alluded.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: If any man serve me, him will my Father honour--Jesus here claims the same absolute subjection to Himself, as the law of men's exaltation to honor, as He yielded to the Father.
27 Now is my soul troubled--He means at the prospect of His death, just alluded to. Strange view of the Cross this, immediately after representing it as the hour of His glory! (
John 12:23). But the two views naturally meet, and blend into one. It was the Greeks, one might say, that troubled Him. Ah! they shall see Jesus, but to Him it shall be a costly sight.
and what shall I say?--He is in a strait betwixt two. The death of the cross was, and could not but be, appalling to His spirit. But to shrink from absolute subjection to the Father, was worse still. In asking Himself, "What shall I say?" He seems as if thinking aloud, feeling His way between two dread alternatives, looking both of them sternly in the face, measuring, weighing them, in order that the choice actually made might be seen, and even by himself the more vividly felt, to be a profound, deliberate, spontaneous election.
Father, save me from this hour--To take this as a question--"Shall I say, Father, save me," &c.--as some eminent editors and interpreters do, is unnatural and jejune. It is a real petition, like that in Gethsemane, "Let this cup pass from Me"; only whereas there He prefaces the prayer with an "If it be possible," here He follows it up with what is tantamount to that--"Nevertheless for this cause came I unto this hour." The sentiment conveyed, then, by the prayer, in both cases, is twofold: (1) that only one thing could reconcile Him to the death of the cross--its being His Father's will He should endure it--and (2) that in this view of it He yielded Himself freely to it. What He recoils from is not subjection to His Father's will: but to show how tremendous a self-sacrifice that obedience involved, He first asks the Father to save Him from it, and then signifies how perfectly He knows that He is there for the very purpose of enduring it. Only by letting these mysterious words speak their full meaning do they become intelligible and consistent. As for those who see no bitter elements in the death of Christ--nothing beyond mere dying--what can they make of such a scene? and when they place it over against the feelings with which thousands of His adoring followers have welcomed death for His sake, how can they hold Him up to the admiration of men?
28 Father, glorify thy name--by a present testimony.
I have both glorified it--referring specially to the voice from heaven at His baptism, and again at His transfiguration.
and will glorify it again--that is, in the yet future scenes of His still deeper necessity; although this promise was a present and sublime testimony, which would irradiate the clouded spirit of the Son of man.
29 The people therefore that stood by, said, It thundered; others, An angel spake to him--some hearing only a sound, others an articulate, but to them unintelligible voice.
30 Jesus . . . said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes--that is, probably, to correct the unfavorable impressions which His momentary agitation and mysterious prayer for deliverance may have produced on the by-standers.
31 Now is the judgment of this world--the world that "crucified the Lord of glory" (
1Cor 2:8), considered as a vast and complicated kingdom of Satan, breathing his spirit, doing his work, and involved in his doom, which Christ's death by its hands irrevocably sealed.
now shall the prince of this world be cast out--How differently is that fast-approaching "hour" regarded in the kingdoms of darkness and of light! "The hour of relief; from the dread Troubler of our peace--how near it is! Yet a little moment, and the day is ours!" So it was calculated and felt in the one region. "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out," is a somewhat different view of the same event. We know who was right. Though yet under a veil, He sees the triumphs of the Cross in unclouded and transporting light.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me--The "I" here is emphatic--I, taking the place of the world's ejected prince. "If lifted up," means not only after that I have been lifted up, but, through the virtue of that uplifting. And truly, the death of the Cross, in all its significance, revealed in the light, and borne in upon the heart, by the power of the Holy Ghost, possesses an attraction over the wide world--to civilized and savage, learned and illiterate, alike--which breaks down all opposition, assimilates all to itself, and forms out of the most heterogeneous and discordant materials a kingdom of surpassing glory, whose uniting principle is adoring subjection "to Him that loved them." "Will draw all men 'UNTO ME,'" says He. What lips could venture to utter such a word but His, which "dropt as an honeycomb," whose manner of speaking was evermore in the same spirit of conscious equality with the Father?
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die--that is, "by being lifted up from the earth" on "the accursed tree" (
John 3:14;
John 8:28).
34 We have heard out of the law--the scriptures of the Old Testament (referring to such places as
Ps 89:28-
Ps 89:29;
Ps 110:4;
Dan 2:44;
Dan 7:13-
Dan 7:14).
that Christ--the Christ "endureth for ever."
and how sayest thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up, &c.--How can that consist with this "uplifting?" They saw very well both that He was holding Himself up as the Christ and a Christ to die a violent death; and as that ran counter to all their ideas of the Messianic prophecies, they were glad to get this seeming advantage to justify their unyielding attitude.
35 Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, &c.--Instead of answering their question, He warns them, with mingled majesty and tenderness, against trifling with their last brief opportunity, and entreats them to let in the Light while they have it in the midst of them, that they themselves might be "light in the Lord." In this case, all the clouds which hung around His Person and Mission would speedily be dispelled, while if they continued to hate the light, bootless were all His answers to their merely speculative or captious questions. (See on
Luke 13:23).
36 These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them--He who spake as never man spake, and immediately after words fraught with unspeakable dignity and love, had to "hide Himself" from His auditors! What then must they have been? He retired, probably to Bethany. (The parallels are:
Matt 21:17;
Luke 21:37).
37 It is the manner of this Evangelist alone to record his own reflections on the scenes he describes; but here, having arrived at what was virtually the close of our Lord's public ministry, he casts an affecting glance over the fruitlessness of His whole ministry on the bulk of the now doomed people.
though he had done so many miracles--The word used suggests their nature as well as number.
38 That the saying of Esaias . . . might be fulfilled--This unbelief did not at all set aside the purposes of God, but, on the contrary, fulfilled them.
39 Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, that they should not see, &c.--That this expresses a positive divine act, by which those who wilfully close their eyes and harden their hearts against the truth are judicially shut up in their unbelief and impenitence, is admitted by all candid critics [as OLSHAUSEN], though many of them think it necessary to contend that this is in no way inconsistent with the liberty of the human will, which of course it is not.
41 These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him--a key of immense importance to the opening of Isaiah's vision (
Isa 6:1-
Isa 6:13), and all similar Old Testament representations. "THE SON is the King Jehovah who rules in the Old Testament and appears to the elect, as in the New Testament THE SPIRIT, the invisible Minister of the Son, is the Director of the Church and the Revealer in the sanctuary of the heart" [OLSHAUSEN].
42 among the chief rulers also--rather, "even of the rulers"; such as Nicodemus and Joseph.
because of the Pharisees--that is, the leaders of the sects; for they were of it themselves.
put out of the synagogue--See
John 9:22,
John 9:34.
43 they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God--"a severe remark, considering that several at least of these persons afterwards boldly confessed Christ. It indicates the displeasure with which God regarded their conduct at this time, and with which He continues to regard similar conduct" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
44 Jesus cried--in a loud tone, and with peculiar solemnity. (Compare
John 7:37).
and said, He that believeth on me, &c.--This seems to be a supplementary record of some weighty proclamations, for which there had been found no natural place before, and introduced here as a sort of summary and winding up of His whole testimony.
