John 12:20–36

Read the passage.

Ironically, the Pharisees are accidental prophets again, because now some Gentiles are seeking to see Jesus and perhaps follow Him. These may have been literal Greeks, but in that time the term was applied to anyone from a Greek-speaking culture, similar to “the West” or “Western civilization” today including Australia or other areas not geographically “west”. These Greeks approach Philip, probably because he was the most Hellenized of Jesus’s disciples, having a Greek name. Philip gets Andrew and together they ask Jesus if He will see the Gentiles.

In typical fashion, Jesus does not answer directly. At best, it is implied they would need to give up their lives in order to follow Him, but that’s only tangentially related to what Jesus was saying. Instead, His main point is that the time is near for Him to fulfill His divine mission on the earth, to take on the wrath of God for sinners so that they may be reconciled to Him forever.

Even though that is His mission and He is committed to it, Jesus’s words reveal that He is not looking forward to the experience. This is an entirely relatable reaction, showing Christ’s humanity. However, He rejects the idea of trying to escape the suffering, and instead asks the Father to glorify His name. This shows us that Christ’s priorities are not His own human comforts, but on glorifying the Father.

For the third time we have recorded, the Father speaks directly from Heaven. (The other two were at Jesus’s baptism, and at the Transfiguration. It’s interesting that John recorded neither of those occurrences, especially since he was present for the Transfiguration.) The Father says, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (v. 28) Similar to Paul’s conversion later, not everyone present was able to distinguish the words out of the sound they heard. That seems at odds with what Jesus says next, that the voice was for their sake. What good is hearing a voice from heaven if you think it’s just thunder? Maybe that is the point: it is a benefit for those who believed God spoke to Jesus, and not to the skeptics, much the same way the parables Jesus taught were for those with ears to hear.

Jesus then makes amazing statements about what will happen because of His death. The ruler of this world will be cast out, and all people will be drawn to Him. The crowd brings up what I think is a legitimate question. They’ve heard Jesus call Himself the Son of Man over and over, and they had also figured out that probably meant He was the Christ (correctly), but they also knew that Christ was promised to rule forever, so how is that going to work if He dies on a cross? They’d get the answer in a week if they paid attention, but Jesus doesn’t even tell them that much. Instead, He tells them to keep following Him and believing Him while He is present.

I find that frustrating. I want answers to questions and clear explanations. Yet, I know that God’s ways are perfect, so I’m frustrated at my frustration about it. No one was left behind in unbelief because Jesus didn’t explain things to their satisfaction.

I will trust in You even when I don’t see how things can work out, because Your ways are higher than my ways, and Your thoughts higher than my thoughts.