John Chapter 12: 1-50
Learning points:
- God might work contrary to ways we expect but we must still acknowledge His is the sovereign Lord that knows all things.
- We must choose to fear God and not men and remain faithful as workers.
Read John 12:1-11
Background:
We see that the account of Mary’s anointing of her Lord is also found in Matt 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9. But it must definitely not be confused with the account given in Luke 7:36-50, where a former harlot had anointed Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee. This is because Mary was a virtuous woman she anointed Jesus in the house of Simon (who was the former leper) of whom we saw in Mark 14:3. The Luke 7 event had taken place in Galilee, while the account that we are now considering occurred in Judea. It is no surprise that there are two “Simons” involved in both stories as Simon was a very common name in that day.
So..
Jesus was well aware of the fact that the Jewish leaders were out to arrest Him and kill Him, but He still returned to Bethany only two miles from where His enemies were at.
Why do you think so?
Perhaps to spend some quiet time with His dear friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus.
If you were at the dinner that day, who do you think you would be?
Martha (the worker)? Mary (the extravagant worshipper)? Lazarus (the living evidence of Jesus’s power) or Judas (the traitor)?
In what manner did Mary pour the perfume?
v3 Mary did it with her own hands she could have simply ordered one of her servants to have done it. She did not, as usual, anoint his head with it, but instead she anointed his feet. True love, as it does not spare charges, so it does not spare pains, in honouring Christ. Considering what Christ has done and suffered for us, we are very ungrateful if we think any service too hard to do, or too mean to stoop to, whereby he may really be glorified!
The result of her act caused the house to be filled with the fragrance of the perfume, not only that Jesus even said that the blessing of her deed would even be spread all around the world and be a blessing to others who will hear of this centuries to come (Matt 26:13; Mark14:9).
However, as we see later, this was met with criticism by Judas.
But we ask ourselves, what was his intention for questioning her actions?
v6 Note to how Judas feigned caring for the poor. Judas cared for no one but himself and used the poor to cover his greed. Selfishness and pride are most evil sins. Judas loved the world and the things of the world.Hence we are clearly told to do otherwise in (1 John 2:15)
Jesus’s response to Judas:
Jesus rebuked Judas for his objecting to Mary's compassionate act. His statement about Mary's anointing His feet for His coming burial was referring to the custom of the Jews to put spices and ointment on the dead for embalming.
Jesus had persistently mentioned His coming death. After His transfiguration Jesus instructed His disciples not to tell of the vision they had seen until He was risen from the dead. (Matt. 17:9, 22-23)
Mark also records that Jesus explained to His disciples that He would be betrayed , killed and He would rise on the third day. (Mark9:31)
Luke records that after Jesus cast the demon from the child in which the disciples had failed to do, He said to them, when they marveled at His power, (Luke 9:44) Verse 45 states that the disciples did not understand what Jesus was telling them, but we know that after His resurrection what He said came back to their minds and the then understood.
Jesus' statement concerning the poor always being with them was not against charity, but rather was said to bring attention to closeness of His betrayal and death. We see that Mary was the only one who understood what was happening and this seems to have prompted her to anoint His feet. To his disciples, who did not understand the situation, Jesus commended Mary. Again we are reminded of what Jesus said in Mark 14:9 and Matt 26:13.
The disciples, who were the closest to Him, missed the significance of her act.
Would we as children of God be sooo caught up with so much doing and serving that we miss the main message that God is trying to tell us daily?
Read 12:12-19
Note: the 3 different crowds that were out there
1) The Passover visitors from outside Judea (John 12:18)
2) Local people who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus (John 12:17)
3) Religious leaders who were greatly concerned about what Jesus might do at the feast (John 12:19)
What do you think these the people in the crowd actually expected Jesus to do?
Incite a revolution? Establish Himself as King of Kings? Defeat the Romans and set the nation of Israel free?
There was great expectation that now finally, they would see Jesus demonstrate His great power and take charge of ruling the nation. Israel would be restored to its former glory and the nation would prosper as the Messiah brought peace by destroying their enemies, ruling with a rod of iron. (Psa. 2:9, 29:11, 72:1-20)
However, today we look back at these events and see the tragedy of what their unbelief brought upon them. In their short sightedness they sought only a temporal peace and restoration when Jesus was offering then an eternal one. Jesus said "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew6:33) Jesus was offering them the promised kingdom, the kingdom of God, but they only wanted a worldly one.
Read John 12:20-36
Background:
Philip's name was Greek and he was from Galilee the area of Israel where Greek culture prevailed and their language spoken. These were Gentiles who believed God and surely had studied the Old Testament. They too knew of the promises concerning the Messiah and the promised kingdom. They came wanting to inquire of Jesus personally about His being the Messiah. Philip told Andrew of the Greeks inquiry and they both went to Jesus.
What do you think Jesus meant in v24-25?
Jesus' response revealed what was about to happen. He responded with the illustration of a grain of wheat, stating if the seed did not fall into the ground and die it would not produce fruit. Clearly, He was speaking of Himself. The Greeks may have, like the Jews, thought that Jesus was presenting Himself as the civil Redeemer of Israel who would conquer the Romans. However, Jesus did not speak of His forming an army or beginning a great civil conquest, but rather that He would soon die. Those that would follow and serve Him, He said if they loved their life they would lose it, and if they lost their life for His sake they would find it. What does it mean for us then?
As children of God we are all like seeds. They might seem small and insignificant but they have life in them, God’s life. However, that life cannot be fulfilled unless we yield ourselves to him and permit him to “plant” us. In order to do that we must first die to ourselves and live unto Him (Gal 2:20). Jesus is therefore challenging us to surrender our lives to him today so that we can be used mightily by our master.
Read John 12:37-50
NLT version:
The Unbelief of the People
37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. 38 This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:
“Lord, who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?”[a]
39 But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,
40 “The Lord has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts—
so that their eyes cannot see,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and have me heal them.”[b]
41 Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. 42 Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.
Footnotes:
a. 12:38 Isa 53:1.
So do you personally believe that Jesus is the Messiah? How would you respond to your friends / family / co workers who are skeptical about your experience with God?
Even Jesus had to deal with skeptics, despite the fact that he had performed many miracles some people would not believe that he was the messiah. But as John writes, Isaiah predicted that people would not believe. This is hard to imagine since Jesus had just performed one of the most amazing miracles in the previous chapter which was raising Lazarus from the dead. We have to understand that there would just be some people who would never believe even though the facts might be undeniable.
So as we know that skepticism towards Jesus’s identity has always been the rule and not the exception. Most people that we speak to might not believe our witness about Christ. But does that mean we should not speak about him? Did Jesus stop preaching to the people or healing when they did not think he was the Messiah and was criticizing him in all that he was doing? In the same way, we must learn to be like him, to be faithful to the task his father set out for him regardless how the people responded.
There is quite a fair bit to cover in this lesson but I believe all of the lessons being taught here in John chapter 12 are very important lessons that Christ wants to teach us today but I pray that as leaders of your various groups you would know your sheep better and I pray that you would be guided by the spirit to speak forth about what they need most at this point in time.
End with a time of sharing about ways God has worked contrary to their expectations, instances they find difficult to fear God instead of men.
Pray for one another.
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