◄ John 12 Devotional Commentary ►

John 12:3

Mary is a beautiful example of a woman who loved the Lord Jesus and who was loved by her Saviour. Although the Jewish leaders plotted how they might destroy Him, Mary was a devoted disciple who regularly worshipped at His feet, honoured His presence in her home, and drank deeply from the fountain of life.

The love and respect Mary had for Jesus caused her to anoint His feet with an extravagantly costly perfume, which she read more...

John 12:21

There was a point in Christ's ministry, when the hour had arrived for the Son of Man to be glorified. This time had been scheduled from the foundation of the world and Christ's whole life, from His birth in Bethlehem, had been a journey towards this historic moment.

He had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and had been baptised by John in the River Jordan to fulfil all righteousness. He had declared His read more...

John 12:23

Three times during His ministry, the Lord Jesus said His hour had not yet come. He first said this to His mother at the wedding in Cana of Galilee at the start of His ministry. The second was to His siblings, near the end of His ministry, when they mocked their brother about his Messianic claims.

The third time was as He taught in the temple, laying out His Messianic proclamation to the people and testifying that God was His read more...

John 12:24

The truth of the glorious gospel of Christ is very easy to understand, and many everyday activities and occupations were used, by the writers of the New Testament, to illustrate important biblical principles and various godly precepts.

Jesus used stories like the good Samaritan, the wise and foolish builders, and a fishing dragnet, to illustrate some of His teachings, while Paul utilised the patience of a long-distance runner or read more...

John 12:27

For three and a half years, the Lord Jesus ministered in Israel declaring that He was the promised Messiah. He boldly proclaimed that He was anointed by God to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to teach deliverance to the captives, to recover sight to the blind, and set at liberty those that are bruised. Like John the Baptist, He taught that the kingdom of God had come to earth, for He was their rightful King - but on many occasions, He read more...

John 12:28

The final few days before Christ's crucifixion were packed with signs and happenings that overflow with meaning. Jesus had eaten a meal in Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper, where Martha was busily serving food. In an outpouring of love, her sister Mary came to Jesus and breaking her costly alabaster oil of spikenard, she anointed His feet and wiped them dry with her hair.

While Judas and the other disciples criticised this read more...

John 12:31

For three and a half years, the Lord Jesus was on a journey towards a pivotal point in the history of humanity when the world would be examined and found wanting. It was God's appointed time for this fallen world system to be judged and for Satan, the illegitimate ruler of this earth, to be cast out. The hour had come for God's terrible verdict to fall upon a world that spurned God's offer of salvation and rejected His only begotten Son - it was the time that the read more...

John 12:46

At the beginning of Christ's ministry, His identity as the LIGHT of the world was revealed to us. And here, as Jesus nears the end of His time on earth, this theme of illumination is reiterated: "I have come as Light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness."

God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all, and Jesus was sent by the Father to give light the Gentiles and to enlighten those who sit in darkness read more...

John 12:48

Old Testament writings pointed to Christ, and He fulfilled each aspect of the Law and every prophetic Scripture relating to the earthly ministry of Israel's long-awaited, promised Messiah.

Jesus was the incarnate Word of God. He was the fulfilment of God's written Word - for this Man was the Word made flesh about Whom the Scriptures spoke and towards Whom the prophets pointed. Jesus Himself said, "It is the Scriptures read more...