"The Whole World Has Gone After Him!" John 12:12-36

The above words were said by the enemies of Jesus in 12:19, and they had not a clue of how right they were. Verses 20-33 describe the Greeks who request to see Jesus. The Pharisees treated Jesus like the leader of an authorized cult leader inside the Jewish faith. The "whole world" was just an exagerrated phrase to say that things were getting way out of hand. But John sees the future coming, when Gentiles would become the dominant responders to the Christian witness. The verse that brings this all together is verse 32,

"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

When I was a teenager we sang a chorus called "Lift Jesus Higher." It sang, "Lift Jesus higher, lift Jesus higher. Lift him up for the world to see. He said, 'If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.'" It was a vibrant praise song, but I have often thought about the double meaning of being "lifted up." We lift Christ up in praise now, but it was his being lifted up through crucifixion that created a worldwide movement.

The chanting of the crowd was for a revolutionary people's champion. The quote about the donkey comes from Zechariah 9:9. This image is also part of Mexican history. But Jesus did not come as they expected. He was a revolutionary of a different kind, a ruler over an alternative kingdom. The passage says that even the disciples didn't understand what was really happening.

I find in vs. 24 a spiritual principle that this true at many levels.

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

The work of God has "cross experiences" in which the price is paid for a later yield. Sometimes that means in following Jesus, we are called to pay the price for the benefit of others. It also means that God can take our loss experiences and do great and mighty things with them.

Finally, one of the questions often raised about the Palm Sunday ride is how the crowd turned from "Hosanna" on Sunday to "Crucify Him" on Friday. We all know that people can be really fickle. We enjoy setting people as heroes only to revel in bringing them down (a few athletes, entertainers and politicians come immediately to mind). As true as that is, I believe there is another answer - that the crowd on Good Friday is a different one. The area around Golgotha was actually quite small, a far cry from the movie depictions. The trial of Jesus was perfectly orchestrated by his enemies and the crowd that hollered "Crucify him" had been invited to do just that. Those sympathetic to Jesus were simply not invited.