John 12 — Read & Listen Online | Father's Heart Bible™

Mary's Extravagant Love

Chapter 12.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, the one Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and anointed Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, "Why was this perfume not sold for about a year's wages and given to the poor?" He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the moneybag and used to help himself to what was put in it.

So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial." "You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me."

Meanwhile a large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, and they came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus.

The King Comes Riding

The next day the great crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Sovereign Father — the King of Israel!" ^a

Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, just as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey's colt." His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard he had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are getting nowhere. Look, the whole world has gone after him!"

The Greeks Seek Jesus

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus replied to them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." "Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him."

"Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name."

Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

The crowd standing there heard it and said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, "This voice came for your sake, not mine." "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out." "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"

So Jesus told them, "The light is among you for only a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going." "While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." After Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them.

Walk While You Have the Light

Though he had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Sovereign Father, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of our Father been revealed?"

This is why they could not believe, for Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, nor turn — and I would heal them."

Isaiah said these things because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. ^b Yet even so, many even among the rulers believed in him; but because of the Pharisees they would not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from people more than the glory that comes from our Father.

Then Jesus cried out, "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me." "And whoever sees me sees the one who sent me." "I have come into the world as light, so that no one who believes in me would remain in the darkness." "If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world." "The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge: the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day." "For I have not spoken on my own; rather, the Father who sent me has himself commanded me what to say and how to say it." "And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

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