John 12: Palm Sunday

Now that we’re entering the second half of the book of John, John’s writing is going to shift. He’s going to go from the 3-4 years of the ministry of Jesus to the Passion Week of Jesus. He’s going to shift from touring Galilee, Samaria and Judea with Jesus to just staying in the city of Jerusalem. He’s going to shift from action-packed miracles to solely focus on teachings of Jesus. Things are going to slow down, become more local, and become more focused. Since John is slightly changing up his writing style, I am going to do the same. I’m not going to be as concerned with staying inside the chapter boundaries, the section boundaries, the paragraph boundaries or the verse boundaries. One blog post might have a couple chapters in it or it might have only a section or two in it. I might focus a long time on certain paragraphs, a short on some other paragraphs and some paragraphs I might completely ignore. Why? Since John’s writing is more central in time and location, as well as style (teachings), I don’t have to continually set the scene. For the remainder of John, the setting will remain the same, so the context will remain the same. I’m only going to pull out things that are debated, in which all sides need to be heard, or things that need a deeper explanation to fully understand. My hope is to reveal things to you that you’ve never thought about. If there’s nothing new to reveal, it will skipped over.

The first pericope (story) in John 12 stills has Jesus in Bethany. Now since we’re still in Bethany, it is important to set the scene because it’s debatable. Matthew and Mark also tell this story…or so most believe. The stories in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9 and John 12:1-8 have many commonalities. All take place at Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper. All have a woman breaking open an alabaster jar of perfume (pure nard) and using it on Jesus. All have someone object to the motion, and all have Jesus defending the woman. Yet there are differences. Matthew and Mark just say it’s a woman, while John names the woman as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Matthew and Mark says that the woman uses an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, while John tells the reader it was a pint of pure nard. Matthew and Mark say the woman poured the perfume on the head of Jesus, while John recalls the nard going on the feet of Jesus. John also adds more detail, such as Mary wiping the feet of Jesus with her hair. Mark says everybody watching opposed, Matthew gets specific and says it was only the 12 disciples that opposed, John gets even more specific, calling out Judas Iscariot to the opposer. Yet the biggest difference would be that Matthew and Mark state this happens 2 days before the Passover, while John puts it 6 days before the Passover. What are we to do? Are we to admit that the Gospel writers mixed up their facts and made mistakes in their writing? Never! It just requires some shifting through.

Let’s look at how the scholars have dealt with it. Some scholars have tried to argue that the accounts of Matthew and Mark are the same, but the account of John is a different story. Their proof is Luke 7:36-50. In Luke 7:36-50, Luke also tells a story of a woman cleaning the feet of Jesus with her hair, then anointing it with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, followed by objections. Yet it would be ridiculous to try to say it is the same event as recorded in Matthew, Mark and John. If you thought Matthew, Mark and John disagreed, wait until you see the Luke story. While all stories take place in the home of a Simon, Luke’s story is in the home of Simon the Pharisee, not Simon the Leper (Simon is very common name back then). Simon the Pharisee’s house is in Galilee, while Simon the Leper’s house is in Bethany in Perea. Luke denotes the woman as a very serious sinner, while Matthew, Mark and John make no notation of that (although some have suggested that’s why Matthew and Mark kept her anonymous). Only Luke mentions cleaning with tears, and no one else does. Luke has the opposer being one person, a Pharisee. Definitely from Matthew and John, and possibly from Mark, no Pharisees are present. Matthew and John definitely, and Mark possibly, show the objectors to be supporters of Jesus, no opponents. Furthermore, the objection is different. Simon the Pharisee objects at a sinful woman touching a righteous man. Judas Iscariot, as well as the rest of the disciples, object that it was a waste of money. Lastly, the reaction of Jesus Luke has recorded is way different than the reaction Jesus gives in Matthew, Mark and John. In Matthew, Mark and John, Jesus calls for the disciples to serve Jesus over the poor. In Luke, Jesus says that the sinful woman was more hospitable to Jesus than the so-called righteous Pharisee. So most scholars would definitely agree Luke’s pericope is a totally different story that happened earlier. Yet some people would take it further to show this anointing by women happened more than once so they conclude it happened 3 times. The first time is recorded in Luke, when Jesus was in the early years of the Galilean ministry. The second time is recorded in John, while Jesus is in Bethany six days before the Passover. The third time is recorded in Matthew and Mark, 2 days before the Passover. I will admit, I was tempted to go along with this thinking. They did have a point showing the major differences meant they were different events. Yet I could help but notice that the similarities were too strong to call them different. All of them have the same setting, all of them have the woman using expensive perfume, all of them have the opposition of wasting money, and all of them have the same reaction from Jesus. So Matthew, Mark and John have to be telling the same story, just from different points of view.

Like I said, this takes further sifting, so let’s sift. First of all, let’s talk about John’s use of names. While Matthew and Mark say “woman,” John says “Mary.” While Mark says, “those present,” Matthew says, “the disciples” and John says, “Judas Iscariot.” What’s the deal? Remember, John likes to pick on people, not in a negative connotation, but in for story-telling purposes, like character development. By giving the people names, the story becomes more real to us. So John reveals the woman to be the Mary, the one we all know, the one who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened, the one whose brother was raised by Jesus. John also reveals the objector to be Judas Iscariot. Now I’m saying that Matthew and Mark were wrong by assigning the objections to a large group of people. They easily agrees with one another. I believe that the grumbling about Mary’s actions started among the 12 disciples, as they all indignantly objected to one another. The other people observing, most likely supporters of Jesus, heard the Twelve Disciples grumble, so they followed suit. Finally, Judas Iscariot gets the balls to stand up to Jesus say what’s on everybody’s minds. If everyone was thinking this, and Judas Iscariot was the only one brave enough to say it aloud, you almost want to give kudos to Judas. Yet John uses this moment to reveal Judas is not the stereotype of a good disciple of a righteous man. John reveals Judas to be guilty of embezzlement. Like I said, character development. Also, it could simply be John’s use of details. That would also explain John saying a “pint of pure nard” instead of saying “an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume.” Pure nard was a very expensive perfume, shipped all the way from India. To get even a pint, or a half leader, a person would have to pay 300 denarii, which took about 300 days of work to save up for. This perfume was so expensive, it was put in the finest and most expensive of jars, like an alabaster jar. Simply because John does not mention it doesn’t mean it was not so.

As for where the perfume went, or how Mary anointed Jesus, I don’t think that really matters. If we were to get fussy and care about it, I would compromise and say it went both on his head andhis feet, but still, I think the grander point of this story in John 12:1-8 is all the foreshadowing going on. First and foremost, the whole event is foreshadowing the death of Jesus. Pure nard was a perfume using in burying the dead. Mary anoints Jesus likes He is a dead body. Jesus outright states that soon the disciples will not have Jesus. The ever-present danger Jesus is in becomes more obvious to Jesus, to His disciples and to everyone around him, including Mary. It’s like they all know when Jesus goes into Jerusalem, He’s not coming out alive. On that, the second foreshadowing the reader sees is Judas Isacriot’s role in the death of Jesus. It will be his own greed for money that will lead him to betray Jesus and hand Him over to death.

So that leaves us only to deal with the time frame. Matthew and Mark says it is two days before the Passover, while John says it is six days before the Passover. Well, location could be taken into account. As stated before, it seems like once Jesus enters Jerusalem, he isn’t leaving. In Matthew and Mark’s context, it would seem like Jesus would leave Jerusalem for a day to go visit the village of Bethany during that final week. Yet my ultimate conclusion is going to come from the writing style of John. Once again, I call you to remember the book of John is not a synoptic Gospel, but a supplementary Gospel. Therefore, of all the Gospel writers, John is the least concerned about the proper chronological order. His transition-of-time words have been vague throughout this entire book. If this book were to be written topically, which is most likely was, it would make the most sense to put together the two stories with the same main characters together. In John 12:1-8, Mary, Martha and Lazarus are all present, the same Mary, Martha and Lazarus in John 11. So I do believe Matthew and Mark, who would at least be slightly more concerned about time frame, do have the right time frame. As for Jesus leaving Jerusalem during Passion Week, I say it’s possible. After Jesus cleared the temple shortly after the Triumphal Entry, the Jewish leaders wanted to arrest and put Jesus on trial right there. Jesus probably had to leave the city for a day until things cooled down because it was not his time.

The pericope ends with the chief priests planning to kill Jesus, and Lazarus as well, because Jesus raising Lazarus is bringing so many people to believe in Jesus. I’m not going to talk about in-depth any further because that was already done for last chapter. But I will point out that it further foreshadows the fate of Jesus: Jesus is not coming out of Passover week alive.

By the time the reader gets to John 12:12, the reader hits the story familiar with Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry. Notice while all 3 Synoptic Gospels go into detail on the preparations for the Entry into Jerusalem, but John does not. Once again, Johns knows and expects his readers to have already read the Synoptic Gospels. They know how the disciples prepared, and John has nothing new to add, so he skips over the preparation details. I will mention that it seems like the only preparations the disciples made were the donkey ride for Jesus. It was the greater crowd of followers that did the rest. What did they do? They pull off palm branches and palm leaves to put on the ground and to wave. The Synoptic Gospel writers even add some people put their cloaks on the ground. Then they begin shouting and cheering when Jesus enters. I’ve written down what they are saying below from all 4 Gospel accounts.-

-Hosanna!
-Hosanna to the Son of David!
-Hosanna in the Highest!
-Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
-Blessed is the king of Israel!
-Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
-Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

If you want any further proof that the Twelve Disciples didn’t orchestrate this, John 12:16 tells the reader that Twelve Disciples saw what was going on and had no idea why this was happening. So what’s so important about this? In this second half of the Gospel of John, John’s going to start to portray Jesus as the Son of God by aligning the Son of God portrait with the portrait of Jesus according the Synoptic Gospels. The Synoptic Gospel that John will agree with in John 12 is the Gospel according to Matthew. Both Matthew and John see Old Testament Prophecy being fulfilled. The explicit one both Matthew and John mention is Zechariah 9:9, in which Zechariah sees the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Riding on a donkey has a lot of symbolism within itself. In Bible times, a king would either ride into a city on a horse or on a donkey. If the king rode on a horse, it meant he was going in an act of aggression, such as declaring war or taking control as the conquering king. If the king came riding on a donkey, it meant he came in peace, like making a peace treaty or an alliance of some sorts. Jesus did not come to Jerusalem to start a violent revolt to overthrow the Romans, but to peacefully proclaim and establish the kingdom of God on earth. The implicit Scripture being fulfilled is Psalm 118:25,26. Most Bibles have footnotes that connect the crowd’s shouting to the verse. Both Matthew and John have noted this, but they did not write it down. Perhaps they both assumed it was common knowledge to their Jewish reader. Indeed, this Psalm is believed to a Messianic Psalm. Thus, the crowd shouted it when Jesus entered Jerusalem because they believed this man was their messiah.

What do these people do after they give Jesus His parade? They go out and spread the news that Jesus has come to Jerusalem. What’s their tagline? It’s the Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead! So the people of Jerusalem come out to see this Jesus, hoping to see a miracle. Their faith seems a little shallow, but it’s working. How can a reader know it’s working? Well, for starters, it’s frustrating the Pharisees. So a crowd has assembled large enough to annoy the Pharisees. But on top of that, look at whose attention they get.

The same week Jesus is in Jerusalem, there are also Greeks in Jerusalem. Most likely these Greeks are Greek proselytes (Greeks converted to Judaism), who are in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and worship in Jerusalem, but they could also be Greek philosophers learning about different cultures. Some of these Greeks have heard about Jesus. These Greeks ask Philip if they get see Jesus. Philip asks Andrew, and Philip and Andrew ask Jesus. Let’s pause right there. First of all, notice how popular Jesus is getting. Word is getting around fast about Him. The resurrection miracle really helped, too. It’s nowhere near as many followers as Jesus had around the miraculous feeding, but it’s got to be the second highest spike. Also, we see Jesus getting famous on a bigger scale. While it’s possible these Greeks are from Decapolis, a region east of the Sea of Galilee and northeast of the Jordan River, if these Greeks actually came from Greece, the name of Jesus is getting around fast. People all over the world want to marvel at him. But it’s even bigger than popularity or fame. The Greeks wanting to see Jesus is a sign to Jesus that His ministry is about to explode…in a good way. No longer is it just the Jews looking for the Messiah, but now the world will seek a Christ. But Jesus knows that there’s an important in between step: His death on the cross. Jesus uses the analogy of a kernel of wheat that “dies” and is placed in the ground to produce many more seeds. (Quick note: This is not an error in the Bible, nor does it mean the Bible is not inerrant. This is called the “Phenomenon of Appearance.” A seed looks like it’s not living, and when someone puts it in the ground, it almost looks like it’s being buried. We in the 21st century know it’s not true, but it sure looks like it.) In the same way, Jesus must die in order that many more believers will believe in Him.

In John 12:27,28, Jesus seems to go into a little soliloquy of sorts. When he realizes His time is near, his heart is troubled thinking about taking on the sin of the world, as well as taking upon the pain and suffering of the cross. He states it is very tempting to ask the Father to remove the responsibility, but He stays on task and instead asks the Father to glorify the name of God. A voice from heaven reassures Jesus that the name of God has been gloried and it will be continued to be glorified. Jesus makes clear that this voice from heaven wasn’t to reassure him, but to reassure the disciples and the greater crowd of followers. Yet check out the reaction of the people in Jerusalem. The believers know it’s the voice of God the Father from heaven, but they are the only ones who can make the connection. The non-believers and rationalists try to rationalize it with a natural occurrence, like thunder. The skeptics, those who are 50/50 or those who think Jesus is merely a rabbi or a prophet, try to compromise it by using something indirect, like an angel. Either way, we still see division among the Jews. But the amazing part is that even some of the Jewish leaders, who are unbiased towards Jesus, realize and admit Jesus has to be the Messiah. Yet most of the Jews, especially Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests and Sanhedrin will not come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. How is this possible?

John continues to go back to the Old Testament prophecy in John 12 to show Jesus is Messiah and God. The two remaining quoted passages are both from the prophet Isaiah. The first is from Isaiah 53:1. Isaiah 53 is most famous for its Suffering Servant passage, describing the Messiah’s death and how it will bring about salvation. John sees it even before we get to the events of Good Friday. John believes that the opener to the chapter is stating that despite the Christ revealing Himself to the people as the Messiah, they will not believe in his message. If you’re thinking that’s pushing it, John gives another passage from Isaiah that’s a little more specific and a little more close. The passage is Isaiah 6:10, and it is quoted numerous times in the New Testament. If Isaiah 53:1 is saying the Jews would not listen to God’s Message, then Isaiah 6:10 is saying the Jews could not listen to God’s Message. Both seem to be true in John 12. John concludes both passages are saying the same thing because Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, so Isaiah spoke about Him. Wait a minute, I thought Isaiah saw God, not Jesus. Bingo. This is another way John is telling us Jesus is God. Isaiah recognized Jesus is God, the Jews failed to recognize Jesus as God, so now the reader has to choose to decide if Jesus is God or not.

So in closing John 12, Jesus turns to plea to the crowd to listen to Him and follow Him. Jesus knows His time on earth is running short, so he wants to get as many last minute converts as possible until He leaves up totally to the disciples. He is also well aware this is the last chance for many people, for they won’t convert, even after his death and resurrection. Jesus is no longer playing games. He’s not playing games with Pharisees and Sanhedrin, like dodging trick questions or hide-and-seek. Jesus has to get His Father’s business done. With Christ’s final message comes a stern warning: accept the light now or forever walk in darkness. Jesus puts a strong sense of urgency on the gospel. My prayer is we also carry that same urgency.