Chapter 12 of John's Gospel serves as a bridge from the portion of John's Gospel that deals with the ministry and life of Jesus to the passion. Interesting for me that John begins to line up with the other three synoptic gospels here.
The chapter begins with a beautiful account of Mary's anointing Jesus with $15 - 20,000.00 worth of perfume. I mention that price tag because the "300 denari" in the text doesn't express very clearly what a years wages for a laborer is. Maybe I would have nodded at Judas complaints, I hope not. The expression of adoration and love by Mary is not lost on me though. Note that she not only uses the expensive perfume, but also wiped them dry with her hair!
A brief treatment of the Palm Sunday Triumphal Entry takes place in verses 12 - 19. It seems that the anger and exasperation of the Pharisees or the "Jews" grows throughout the chapter.
Jesus speaks clearly again about his impending death, and the crowds are bewildered and their doubts grow because they do not think the Messiah would suffer such an end.
Chapter 12 concludes with a powerful, powerful pronouncement by Jesus that leads us into the passion narrative. Read it again and imagine what it must have been like to hear these words uttered by our Savor, "Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.'" John 12:44-50 NRSV
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
4 comments:
I feel bad for the leaders that did believe in Jesus, but refused to confess their faith - they were more interested in earthly rewards than heavenly rewards.
We know their eternal destination because of their refusal to confess their faith.
I know my eternal destination because of my confession of faith.
But my confession wasn't made under the threat of excommunication or death.
I can only hope that I would have made the right choice during that period of time.
I only know that I am thankful that the love of Jesus fills me today, tomorrow and forever.
And because of His love, my life has changed.
Hoo Rah!
Hoo Rah indeed! The pressure on those Pharisees was huge. I have folded under less pressure, and find my way back to my knees and fall into grace.
Lord save us from the hour of temptation, and give us courage to serve you always!
Bill
There's again that theme of power coming from laying down our power/lives - self-sacrifice.
I'm pretty sure I would have balked at anyone pouring out that much perfume. (Really, I would have balked at them having it in the first place, much less using it all up at once.) But what are we willing to give that extravagantly to? Mary gave that to God, although others didn't see that as her gift. Do I give so much to God?
It's interesting that John talks of Mary as the one who anointed Jesus with perfume and washed his feet with her hair when he references her in chapter 11, even though he hadn't told the story yet. I never noticed that before.
This really is a great story. She really gave everything she had - for many people washing another's feet with their precious hair is a big deal, almost demeaning. But that's not how she saw it - she saw it as an act of worshiping Jesus, the one true God.
That's a lot of money. Wow. It's hard to see past the fact that a dollar amount of that nature could be used for many great things - but think about it out of the literal sense:
Our chance to be saved is not always going to be here - the day of judgment will come and we won't be told ahead of time. So if that's the case, do we wait and save other s now on earth with all we have, or do we ensure that all our efforts are for Jesus?
Answer seems pretty clear according to Jesus' response to this act of Mary.
Also, I didn't realize that Judas had been betraying people all along, sneaking treasures for himself out of the money bag. He aught to have been spanked. Shame on him.
I take the Ronald McDonald House money to the bank to get it turned into cash since my bank has a machine that doesn't charge a fee(I work for McDonald's). I could totally take all that money - but common, who does that? Silly Judas.
I guess it's no wonder Jesus knew all along.
Jesus concludes with a few things. I took to heart:
Put on your light, don't live in darkness. With Jesus, we will always have light, and will always be able to find our way. Other things just don't cut it; it's dark in there.
He also says that he's not here to judge, he's here to teach and to save. He was perfect, and the God of the universe, but he said he wouldn't judge. How dare we ever judge?
Hoo Rah!
God is incredible.
In Him,
Marshall
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