3The Gospel Reaches Out: A Preview of Gentile Salvation  (John 12:17–26)

So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.” Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (12:17–26)

Clearly God commanded that the gospel be preached to all people, of every nation and ethnic background (Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10; cf. Matt. 26:13; 28:19–20; Col. 1:23; Rev. 14:6).

Yet it was God’s desire that the gospel be offered first to His chosen people, Israel (Amos 3:2; cf. Deut. 7:6–8; 10:15; 14:2; 1 Kings 3:8; 1 Chron. 16:13; Pss. 105:6; 135:4; Isa.41:8–9; 44:1–2; Ezek. 20:5). Jesus told a Samaritan woman that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22); that is, not only did it originate with them (since Jesus the Messiah was a Jew), but it also was offered to them first. When He sent the Twelve out on a preaching mission, the Lord charged them, “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5–6). And when a Gentile woman (Mark 7:26) begged Him to heal her demon-possessed daughter, Jesus tested her faith by telling her bluntly, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). It was only after His death and resurrection, after Israel had officially rejected His ministry, that Jesus commanded the disciples that “repentance for forgiveness of sins …be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Paul and Barnabas declared to the hostile Jews in Pisidian Antioch, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46; cf. 18:5–6). The gospel, Paul wrote to the Romans, “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

In contrast to the privileges and blessings Israel enjoyed (cf. Rom. 9:4–5), the Gentiles were “separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12; cf. 1 Thess. 4:5). They were ignorant of God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture (Rom. 2:14; cf. Ps. 147:19–20), and as a result were enslaved to idolatry (1 Cor. 12:2; cf. 10:20; 1 Chron. 16:26; Ps. 96:5; Jer. 2:11), with its resulting futility (Eph. 4:17–18) and corruption (Eph. 4:19; 1 Thess. 4:5; 1 Peter 4:3–4).

As the recipients of God’s Old Testament covenant promises, the Jews considered themselves to be superior to the pagan Gentiles because of their God and had no interest in letting Gentiles in. For example, rather than proclaim God’s message to the Gentile city of Nineveh as he had been called to do, Jonah fled in the opposite direction. He deeply resented the idea that Gentiles could know his God. After he (reluctantly) went and proclaimed God’s impending judgment on the city, the people of Nineveh repented. Predictably, instead of bringing him joy,

So deeply ingrained was the Jews’ prejudice against Gentiles that even the Jewish believers in Christ were slow to accept them as “fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6). Peter reminded the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius’s house, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him” (Acts 10:28). It took a vision from God (10:9–20, 34–35) to convince him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. When Cornelius and the other Gentiles heard Peter’s message, believed, and received the Holy Spirit, “all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also” (10:45). When Peter returned to Jerusalem, “those [believers] who were circumcised took issue with him, saying, ‘You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them’” (Acts 11:3). In his defense, Peter related his vision and the salvation of the Gentiles (demonstrated by their receiving the Holy Spirit [vv. 15–17]) at Cornelius’s house (vv. 4–17). It was only then that his accusers “quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life’” (v. 18).

But the blessings of salvation were never meant to be limited exclusively to Israel. On the day the ark of the covenant was brought to Jerusalem, a song of thanksgiving was sung that included a reiteration of Israel’s duty to declare the true God to the nations:

The Jews’ narrow, provincial, prejudicial attitude overlooked the Old Testament promises and their national mandate to proclaim the salvation of God to the Gentiles. In His covenant with Abraham, God promised him, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3; cf. 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). Commenting on that promise, Paul wrote, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you’” (Gal. 3:8). In Deuteronomy 32:21 God said of Israel, “They have made Me jealous with what is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation;” in Romans 10:19 the apostle Paul appealed to this passage as proof that the gospel would be extended to the Gentiles. In Psalm 22:27 David wrote, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You,” while in Psalm 102:15 the psalmist added, “So the nations will fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth Your glory.” Isaiah predicted that God would “make [Messiah] a light of the nations so that [His] salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6; cf. 42:6). In Isaiah 45:22 God graciously calls to sinners, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”

In Romans 15:8–12, Paul emphasized that it has always been God’s plan to bring Gentiles into His kingdom:

In that brief passage, Paul quoted from all three divisions of the Old Testament (cf. Luke 24:44), the Law (Deut. 32:43), the Prophets (Isa. 11:10), and the Psalms (18:49; 117:1), demonstrating to the Jews from their own Scriptures the truth of God’s plan for Gentile salvation.

In this same vein, John 12:17–26 illustrates three perspectives on Jesus: that of the Pharisees, that of some Gentiles, and then that of the Lord Himself.

REJECTION BY THE PHARISEES

So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.” (12:17–19)

As noted in the discussion of 12:12–13, some people accompanied Jesus from Bethany, while others came out from Jerusalem to meet Him. The two groups coalesced into a huge crowd that escorted Jesus into the city. On the way, those from Bethany who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. Their enthusiastic witness to the people who went out from Jerusalem and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign, amplified the powerful effect of the miracle to the masses coming for Passover (11:45; cf. 5:36; 10:38).

John’s note that the people flocked to Jesus because they heard that He had raised Lazarus from the dead reveals the superficial nature of their faith. Their desire was that Jesus would accept the role of political ruler and military deliverer that they expected of the Messiah (cf. John 6:14–15; 12:13). They probably reasoned that since He had the power to raise to life one who had been dead for four days, He could surely use that power to free them from the yoke of Roman oppression. As was the case with so many other crowds that followed Jesus (cf. 2:23–25; 6:2, 14–15, 26, 60, 66; 12:42–43), this one consisted chiefly of thrill seekers. By the end of the week, when it became obvious that Jesus was not going to be the political Messiah they expected, the people followed the lead of the Pharisees and other leaders in rejecting Him. Many of the same voices that shouted “Hosanna” at the triumphal entry must have screamed “Crucify Him” on Good Friday.

In contrast to the crowd’s superficial, fleeting attachment to Jesus, which ended in rejection, His true disciples persevere in believing in Him. The Lord said to “those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine’” (John 8:31). The writer of Hebrews warned that true believers “are not … those who shrink back to destruction, but … those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). A professed faith that does not “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8) is dead, nonsaving faith (James 2:14–26). “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ,” the apostle John noted, “does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9). It is impossible for a true believer in Jesus Christ to fall away from Him permanently and completely. Those who do so prove that their faith was never genuine. In 1 John 2:19 John wrote of such people, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

The Pharisees, meanwhile, looked on the tumultuous scene with increasing frustration and alarm. It seemed to them that events were spiraling dangerously out of control; if Jesus led this rabid crowd in an armed revolt against the Romans, all would be lost. (Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees refused to compromise with the Romans. But unlike the Zealots, they did not physically assault them.) Further, they had ordered that anyone knowing Jesus’ whereabouts was to tell them so they could arrest Him (11:57). Ironically, there, in plain sight, was the very one they wanted desperately to seize, surrounded by thousands of people. But instead of turning Jesus over to the authorities, the crowds were loudly hailing Him as the Messiah. Afraid of the crowd’s reaction if they arrested Jesus openly, the Pharisees could only look on in frustration and dismay. Not surprisingly, they lashed out at one another, saying, “You see that you are not doing any good.” Confronted with Jesus’ incredible popularity, in spite of their best efforts to silence Him, they began to blame each other. They would have been wiser, as the eminent rabbi Gamaliel would later advise the Sanhedrin, to not have been “found fighting against God” (Acts 5:39), who overrules the plans of men to accomplish His purposes (cf. Gen. 50:20;1 Kings 12:15; Jer. 10:23; Dan. 4:25–35).

The Pharisees’ exclamation, “Look, the world has gone after Him,” expresses the depth of their consternation. The statement is hyperbole; the term world refers to people in general, not everyone in particular (cf. v. 47; 1:29; 3:17; 4:42; 14:22; 17:9, 21; 18:20; 21:25; Acts 17:6; 19:27). As with Caiaphas’s prophecy (11:49–52), John probably intended the Pharisees’ statement to be understood as an unwitting prediction of the gospel’s spread throughout the world (Matt. 24:14; 26:13; 28:19–20; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8). Eventually they succeeded in turning the people against Jesus with such hostility as to demand His execution in an act of final rejection by the nation.

ATTENTION BY THE GENTILES

Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. (12:20–22)

As if to illustrate in a small and symbolic way the truth of the gospel’s spread to the world, John introduced some Greeks, who were among those who were going up to worship at the feast. They were most likely Gentile proselytes to Judaism (or at least God-fearers [Acts 10:22; 17:4, 17; cf. 8:27]; Gentiles who had abandoned their pagan religion and turned to worship the true God), who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Their wish to see (i.e., have an audience with) Jesus stood in direct contrast to the open hostility of the Jewish religious leaders, as well as the superficial interest of the fickle crowd. Significantly, just days before Jesus’ own people would verbalize their final rejection in the cry for His crucifixion, Gentiles sought to know more about Him. Israel’s willful rejection would be sealed by divine judgment, as God set the nation aside and turned to the rest of the world (cf. 10:16; 11:52) with the gospel and the commission to be a witnessing people on His behalf.

Israel’s rejection had been foreseen in the Old Testament. In Romans 9:25–27 Paul quoted from Hosea and Isaiah to show that Israel will ultimately be restored to God. That necessarily implies her alienation from Him. Later in that same epistle, Paul explicitly stated that Israel has been judicially hardened by God: “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). God has temporarily set aside the nation aside in favor of the church, which consists of Gentiles and the believing remnant of Israel (cf. Rom. 9:27; 11:5, 17). Thus God’s setting aside of the nation as a whole does not preclude individual Jews from being saved (cf. Rom. 10:1). Nor is it a final abandonment of Israel. Paul is clear in affirming the future salvation and restoration of Israel:

This is an absolute guarantee based upon God’s sovereign election and faithfulness to His irrevocable, unilateral, and unconditional covenants with and messianic kingdom promises to Israel (the Abrahamic covenant, Gen. 12, 15, 17; the Davidic covenant, 2 Sam. 7; and the new covenant, Jer.31).

The text does not state who these Greeks were, where they were from, why they wanted to see Jesus, or why they came to Philip. Perhaps Jesus was then in the part of the temple to which they were not permitted to go (Gentiles could go no farther than the Court of the Gentiles). In that case, they may have seen Philip passing through the Court of the Gentiles, recognized him as one of Jesus’ disciples, and approached him. That Philip and Andrew are Greek names is not significant, since many Jews also had Greek names. But John’s note that Philip was from Bethsaida of Galilee may suggest that the Greeks singled him out for that reason. Bethsaida was near the Gentile region known as the Decapolis (Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:20; 7:31), and they may have been from that region. Further, as a native of Galilee, Philip likely spoke Greek.

Unsure of how to handle these Gentiles, Philip came and told Andrew about their request. Perhaps Philip hesitated to take them directly to Jesus because he remembered the Lord’s admonition to the Twelve: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans” (Matt. 10:5), and His declaration that He “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). The Lord was also undoubtedly hard to reach in the crowds, and Philip may have wondered if it was possible or appropriate to interrupt Him. Furthermore, with Jesus’ enemies watching His every move, Philip may have surmised that it was dangerous for the Jews to see Him talking with Gentiles. It was natural for him to approach Andrew, since they were both from Bethsaida (John 1:44), and Andrew was more of an insider among the Twelve (along with Peter, James, and John). Together, Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus about the Greeks’ request for an interview.

The question arises as to why such an open-ended incident is included. Since there is no record that Jesus ever spoke to them, the best that can be said is that they represent Gentile interest—the wave of the near future as the Lord called the church, a new people made of Jews and Gentiles, to be His witness in the world.

THE SAVIOR’S PROVISION FOR AN INVITATION TO ALL

And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (12:23–26)

Jesus’ reply appears as a puzzling response to the apostles. It does not appear at first glance to address the Greeks’ request for a meeting. In fact, John does not even mention them again (though they may have been in the crowd that heard Jesus speak [v. 29]). The Lord’s response is directed neither to Jews or Gentiles, but to all who choose to follow Him. Yet the coming of these Gentiles triggered the Lord’s declaration, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (cf. 13:31–32; 17:1, 5; Isa. 52:13). Significantly, this is the first time that Jesus spoke of His hour as being present; in all previous references in John’s gospel, it had not yet arrived (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; cf. 7:6, 8). From this point on the Lord referred to it as imminent (v.27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1).

In the context of the triumphal entry, the crowds no doubt interpreted Jesus’ words to mean that He was about to overthrow the Romans and set up His earthly kingdom. They would have remembered the prophecy of Daniel 7:13–14 concerning the Son of Man (unmistakably a title signifying messiahship to those who knew the prophecy) and the establishing of His kingdom:

Jesus’ next statement, however, shattered any illusions the two men had, turning their dreams of conquest into a vision of death. The Lord introduced it with the solemn phrase truly, truly, I say to you (cf. 1:51; 3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24, 25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:51, 58; 10:1, 7; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 14:12; 16:20, 23; 21:18), underscoring its significance. The Son of Man would be glorified, not by conquering the Romans and immediately establishing His kingdom as they so eagerly anticipated but by dying. Using an agricultural illustration that would have been familiar to His audience (cf. 4:35–38; Mark 4:1–32; Luke 17:6), Jesus told them: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The Lord’s point was that He would be glorified, but through death and resurrection. There could never be the establishing of His glorious kingdom with all its features promised in the Scriptures without the cross. Anyone who thinks that Jesus came to offer the kingdom to Israel without the cross, and thinks the cross was only a reaction because of Israel’s unbelief, is a fool. That is the very word Jesus used to describe that assumption. He said to the disciples on the road to Emmaus,

Jesus knew that after the cross the gospel would spread far beyond the borders of Israel to all the nations of the world. Thus, He responded to the Greeks’ interview request by pointing to His impending death. The Greeks wanted to see Him. But Jesus knew that the only way they could truly enjoy fellowship with Him was through His atoning sacrifice. Just as a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies to produce a rich harvest, so also Christ’s death would bear much fruit by providing salvation for many, of every tribe and language (Matt. 20:28; 26:28; Heb. 9:28; Rev. 5:9). That fruit would include countless Gentiles like these Greeks who desired to meet with Him.

Regardless of race, every person who through faith in Christ receives eternal life is part of the spiritual harvest that resulted from His death. Jesus’ obedience “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8) was also the ultimate manifestation of His submission to the Father (John 4:34; 5:19, 30; 6:38) and refusal to seek His own glory (John 5:41;7:18;8:50).

Jesus then applied that truth with a general invitation illustrating the heart attitude required of one who receives His gift of salvation. The one who loves his life in this world (cf. 1 John 2:15–17), by preferring it over the interests of God’s kingdom, ultimately loses it. On the other hand, the one who hates his life in this world by making Christ, not self, his first priority will keep it to life eternal. Hating one’s life is a Semitic expression that has the connotation of giving preference to one thing over another (cf. Gen. 29:31; Deut. 21:15 [the word translated “unloved” by the NASB in those verses literally means, “hated”]; Luke 16:13; Rom. 9:13). In this context it refers to preferring Christ over one’s family, possessions, goals, plans, desires—even one’s own life (Luke 14:27). This call to sell all to buy the pearl, to purchase the treasure (Matt. 13:44–46), is the constant, unmistakable demand of the Gospels.

Jesus repeatedly cautioned those who would follow Him to consider the extreme cost that could entail:

In Luke 9:23–24 “He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it’” (cf. 17:33). Therefore “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12; cf. Luke 14:11; 18:14). In Luke 9:26 Jesus warned, “Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Though it may not be required, being willing to give up everything to follow Christ is what separates true disciples from false professors. Jesus does not identify true saving faith by its perfection but by its affection. Those who truly come to Christ love Him above all else—all sin, all self-righteousness, all relationships, and all self-will.

The one who serves Jesus must follow Him; “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6; cf. 1:7;3:24;4:15; 1 Cor. 11:1; Eph. 5:1; 1 Thess. 1:6). So true salvation is not only affection but also direction. To those who follow, Jesus made two ultimate and glorious promises. First, where He is, there His servants will be also. That is nothing less than a promise of eternal heaven. In John 14:3 Jesus told His disciples, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (cf. 17:24). In contrast, His enemies did not know where He was going (John 8:14; 9:29) and could not go there (John 7:34;8:21).

The second blessed promise to the one who serves Jesus is that the Father will honor him. All human honors pale into insignificance compared to the eternal honor God will bestow on those who love and serve His Son. Those who “obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus [gain] with it eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10). Through the death of Jesus Christ, God was “bringing many sons to glory” (Heb. 2:10). Though the world may hate those who serve the Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:18–19; 16:2; 17:14; 1 John 3:13; cf. Matt. 10:22; 24:9; Luke 6:22; 21:17), God’s promise still holds true: “Those who honor Me I will honor” (1 Sam. 2:30). That promise, originally given to the Jews of the Old Testament, now extends through the cross to all people who truly believe.

Less than a week after Jesus spoke these words, He would die as God’s once-for-all perfect and complete sacrifice for the sins of God’s chosen. Through that sacrifice, He would abolish the social and cultural barriers that had previously separated Jews from Gentiles. In Ephesians 2:14–16 Paul wrote,

As a result, “the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3:6), and “there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11; cf. Rom. 3:29; 4:11–12; 9:24; 10:11–13; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28).

Out of the tragedy of Israel’s rejection of her Messiah came good, in keeping with God’s eternal plan. “By their [the Jews’] transgression,” Paul explained, “salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:11). Israel’s loss was the Gentiles’ gain, as the blessings of salvation reached out to embrace to them. And, in the future, the salvation of the Gentiles will, in God’s perfect time, provoke the Jews to jealousy and to salvation. Paul spells it out:

This will occur when in God’s purpose He acts on the Jews, as described in Zechariah: