John 12:12-33

Author: Abby Marshall

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna![d]”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;

    see, your king is coming,

    seated on a donkey’s colt.”[f]

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Jesus Predicts His Death

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[g] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Key Verses

19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Devotional

I’m no expert, but I believe that we tend to live our lives for specific moments in time. Our biggest dreams are not aspects of life in their entirety, but rather the single moments of contentment in the middle of all the difficulty that the dream entails. Little girls dream of walking down the aisle at their wedding, not of all the sacrifices that being in a marriage requires. Growing up we dream of careers that will make us feel strong and purposeful at certain times, but if we are honest a job is a job, and a job requires lots of work.

As we have seen in this year especially, it can be a bummer to be a human being, so it is no wonder that we strive from small dream to small dream, from blissful moment to blissful moment, to keep our hopes up and feel like we are truly alive. But what happens when our pursuit of these small dreams keeps us from living the grandest dream of all?

The key verse I want to focus on in this chapter of John is verse 19. I know that as you read the chapter as a whole you might have missed it or thought it was utterly inconsequential compared to all the goodness in the scripture surrounding it, but it stopped me cold as I read. It says “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’”

That last part gets me. “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” Look how the whole world is chasing after Jesus! Isn’t that our biggest dream? If that statement was true of our world today, wouldn’t it solve every issue we have? We should want desperately for this to be true of our world. We should want desperately for this to be true of the people that don’t look like us or vote like us or live like us.

As followers of Jesus, to watch and worship with all of humanity as Jesus Christ takes his rightful place as King has to be our wildest dream and our top priority, and if it isn’t I don’t know how to break this to you, but you aren’t actually following Jesus. You are just following small dreams of comfort, of momentary goodness, of certainty, or of your own control. This is where the first part of this verse comes into play. The Pharisees couldn’t stand to watch the most beautiful dream unfolding right in front of their eyes at the triumphal entry of Jesus. They couldn’t lay down their prideful dreams and understand the magnitude of what they could’ve been a part of. They saw Jesus as an obstacle standing in the way of their dreams instead of an opportunity to be a part of the dream that God had for them, which is the same dream for us today, to live forever with Him and worship Him forever.

What are the small dreams that are standing in your way of living and rooting for the beautiful dream of following Jesus? You’ll have to let go of them. Following Jesus requires sacrifice. It’s more about conviction than convenience, but if Jesus went through a few hours of suffering to bring thousands of years of salvation. You can go through a short life of surrender that leads to an eternal life of goodness.

Stop chasing the small dreams. Run after Jesus. He will never let you down. I promise. I’m running with you and rooting for you.

Abby Marshall

Abby is the daughter of Scott and JoAnna Marshall and grand-daughter of Larry and Bobbie Marshall.  She has grown up at Saturn Road.  Abby is currently a sophomore at Abilene Christian University.  She enjoys traveling, reading, writing, running, and spending time with friends. Her dream is to be a published author and speaker someday to lead others to know Jesus.