John chapter 12

vs 12

Ok, you know how earlier it said that Passover would be in about 6 days. Well, Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for this Passover, but this time, it's going to be different.

vs 13

I'm sure this would have been quite the greeting. Things would have been really buzzing. I'm sure you know as well as I do that this time, Jesus isn't going to enjoy his stay in Jerusalem. Take a moment to look at what chapter we're up to. Only 12. There's what, 20 or 21 chapters of John. And at chapter 12 we are already at the week of his crucifixion. This is obviously an important time.

The people were greeting him with palm fronds etc because that's how you greet a king, or someone exceedingly special. But oh how fickle people can be.

vs 14-15

Jesus even fulfils a little bit of OT Scripture here, by riding on a donkey. I don't think there's anything particularly special about that - he just does it so that, anyone who had their OT glasses on would see a picture that was there, pointing to him.

vs 16

Clueless. They probably knew their OTs better than us, but they still didn't get it. At least, not till afterwards.

vs 17

This miracle was bigtime stuff. I mean, he was really quite dead when Jesus got there. That's powerful. And so many people saw it happen - it was really undeniable. Someone big is here. But how many will remember that Jesus raised people from the dead when the crowd is shouting "Crucify"?

vs 18

Even if they weren't drop dead supporters, they wanted to at least hear him now. News of a resurrection brings a lot of interest. Remember also that there was a theological debate at the time about resurrection - the Saducees didn't believe in it - and so the idea that someone actually got brought back to life after a fair period of death would be a big event theologically.

vs 19

They must have felt between a big heavy thing and a large igneous thing. Poor Pharisees. They didn't believe he was the Christ, and yet he was attracting so much attention! They thought he was going to cause riots and trouble, and that Rome was going to come and crush them. They were frustrated and afraid.

vs 20

Greeks? What are they doing in Jerusalem over Passover? They are probably proselytes - gentiles who have gone through all the rigmarole of becoming full believers in God. They still are ranked second to a Jew, but they are convicted enough of the truth of Judaism that they want to follow it anyway. I doubt that they came just for the cake and parties anyway.