John 12:23

John 12:23-26 . Jesus answered, saying — This phraseology intimates the suitableness of the following discourse to this particular occasion; by attending to which, many of the beauties of it will be discovered. Our Lord might, perhaps, enlarge on some of these hints; and if his hearers took a due notice of them, and made a proper report on their return home, it might prepare the way for the apostles, when they came, by their preaching, more fully to unfold and illustrate these important doctrines. The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified — Meaning, that he should soon be honoured by the conversion of many of the Gentiles. At the same time he told them, that he was to suffer death before he arrived at this glory; and illustrated the necessity of his dying, by the similitude of grain cast into the earth. Verily, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, &c. — As if he had said, As the only way to make grain produce fruit is to bury it in the ground; so, the most proper method of bringing about the conversion and salvation of the world is, that I die and be buried. To omit other things, our Lord’s resurrection, the grand miracle on which the truth of Christianity is founded, and by which the conversion of the world was effected, happened in consequence of his death.

The late resurrection of Lazarus gave our Lord a natural occasion of speaking on the subject. “And agreeable to his infinite knowledge, he singles out from among so many thousands of seeds almost the only one that dies in the earth, and which, therefore, was an exceeding proper similitude, peculiarly adapted to the purpose for which he uses it. The like is not to be found in any other grain, except millet, and the large bean.” — Wesley. He that loveth his life — More than the will of God; shall lose it eternally. He further told them, that as he, their Master, was to suffer before his exaltation, so were all they, his disciples; for which reason they were to expect persecution, firmly resolving to lose even life itself, after his example, when called to do it; and in that case he promised them a share in his crown and glory: saying, He that hateth his life — In comparison of the will of God, and therefore exposes it to great dangers in the cause of the gospel; shall keep it unto life eternal — And secure a state of immortal glory and happiness. If any man serve me — If any one would become a faithful servant of mine, would do my will, (for his servants we are whom we obey, Romans 6:16 ,) and would serve the cause in which I am engaged; let him follow me — Let him attach himself to me as one of my disciples, even although his doing so should expose him to the loss of his life; and let him drink into my Spirit, and imitate my example.

John 12:23 . ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτοῖς , “Jesus answers them,” i.e. , the two disciples, but probably the Greeks had come with them and heard the words: Ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὧρα ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου . ἔρχεται ὧρα is followed by ὅτε in John 4:21 , John 5:25 , and by ἐν ᾗ in John 5:28 . Burton calls it “the complementary” use of ἵνα . “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” Directly the glorification of the Son of Man or Messiah consisted in His being acknowledged by men; and this earnest inquiry of the Greeks was the evidence that His claims were being considered beyond the circle of the Jewish people.

23-26. Jesus answered them, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified—that is, They would see Jesus, would they? Yet a little moment, and they shall see Him so as now they dream not of. The middle wall of partition that keeps them out from the commonwealth of Israel is on the eve of breaking down, "and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto Me"; I see them "flying as a cloud, and as doves to their cotes"—a glorious event that will be for the Son of man, by which this is to be brought about. It is His death He thus sublimely and delicately alluded to. Lost in the scenes of triumph which this desire of the Greeks to see Him called up before His view, He gives no direct answer to their petition for an interview, but sees the cross which was to bring them gilded with glory.

John 12:23 . Ἡ ὥρα , the hour ) Of this hour there is frequent subsequent mention: John 12:27 , “Father save Me from this hour,” John 13:1 , “When Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father,” John 16:32 , “Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered,” John 17:1 , “Father, the hour is come: glorify Thy Son.”— ἵνα δοξασθῇ , that—should be glorified ) with the Father: John 17:5 , “And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was,” and in the sight of every creature. The glorification of Christ and the conversion of the Gentiles fall upon one and the same time.

23 . And Jesus answered ] Better, But Jesus answereth . He anticipates the Apostles and addresses them before they introduce the Greeks. We are left in doubt as to the result of the Greeks’ request. Nothing is said to them in particular, though they may have followed and heard this address to the Apostles, which gradually shades off into soliloquy. These men from the West at the close of Christ’s life set forth the same truth as the men from the East at the beginning of it—that the Gentiles are to be gathered in. The wise men came to His cradle, these to His cross, of which their coming reminds Him; for only by His death could ‘the nations’ be saved. The hour is come ] The verb first for emphasis in the Greek as in John 4:21 ; John 4:23 : ‘it hath come—the fated hour.’ Comp. John 13:1 . that the Son of man ] Literally, in order that , of the Divine purpose, as in John 11:50 and John 13:1 , where see notes. See also the last note on John 1:51 . glorified ] By His Passion and Death through which He must pass to return to glory. See on John 7:39 and John 11:4 .

(23) And Jesus answered them, saying. —The words are rather the utterance of the thoughts of His own mind, which this visit of the Greeks suggests, than an answer. They are spoken to the Apostles, but the narrative is too compressed for us to know whether any answer was given to the Greeks apart from this. The explanation which is most probable is that the Greeks heard this discourse, and that it is in reality an answer to the thoughts of their hearts, and to the words they wished to have spoken to Him. The hour is come.—This approach of men from outside the limits of Judaism who have been admitted within its pale, and who now, when priests and rulers are seeking to kill Him, are seeking to render Him homage, brings back again the thought of the scattered sheep, for whose gathering the Shepherd’s life must be laid down (John 10:16-19). They are the first-fruits of the great flocks of humanity, and their presence is as the first stroke of the bell which sounds the fatal but glorious hour. That hour marked out in the counsels of God, and ever present in His own thoughts, has now come. That the Son of man should be glorified.—This is to be accomplished in His ascension and return to the glory of Heaven. (Comp. Notes on John 17:1-2; John 17:5.) But the immediate connection implies that He regards the extension of his Messianic work, and the acceptance of His truth by the nations of the earth, as part of the glory of the Son of man.