NOTES for Joh 12:19-36
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him. |
20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: |
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. |
22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. |
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. |
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. |
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. |
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. |
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. |
28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. |
29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. |
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. |
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. |
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. |
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. |
34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? |
35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. |
36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. |
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When it comes to the Savior's earthly ministry, we understand that something unique is at issue: indeed, He alone was destined to be born and to live His earthly life as the Messiah; this was given to no one else. And yet His life became a kind of spiritual model suitable for every one of His followers. Moreover, there is simply no other model that allows one to enter the Kingdom, and apparently there cannot be, at least in our world that has undergone the fall.
This model is very simple in theory and not so simple in practice: a person must agree to part with his own life in order then to receive it again, but now as another life, in a new quality suitable for the Kingdom. The one who loves his life ("soul") as it is, in its present condition, cannot count on the Kingdom. The demand appears excessively harsh, but as we can see, this harshness is caused precisely by the specific nature of the fallen world, of which the life of each of us is a part. Even Jesus Himself, over whom original sin has no power, was not, during His earthly ministry, completely free from this specific nature: He, being fully and to the end an inhabitant of our untransformed world and part of it, became subject, if not to sin, then to death - though, of course, not in the same way as we are: death was possible for Him, not inevitable as it is for us.
And the only thing that can help us is readiness to renounce our life in its present quality, what Jesus calls "hating one's own life." It is worth remembering that in biblical language love and hatred denote not the emotional states we often mean by them, but an attitude of acceptance or nonacceptance toward that to which our will is directed. Nonacceptance of life, including first of all one's own life, in its present quality and state, and readiness to part with it for the sake of another, new life, constitute the necessary preliminary condition for beginning the path into the Kingdom: the path during which our former life will be remelted into a new one, fit for eternity.
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Readings for 19 May 2026
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