Mobile Ed: NT221 The Wisdom of John (13 hour course)

Here is a transcript of segment 30, Predicting the Passion, in John's Gospel:

Passover in Jerusalem

There are several unique elements to the telling of the triumphal entry in the Johannine account. One is the proclamation of the Pharisees, who stand by the side of the road and say, “See, this is getting us nowhere—look how the whole world is going after him.” They are frustrated that their efforts to sort of stifle the ministry of Jesus have not succeeded; in fact, He seems to be gaining fame.
Now, we need to understand a few things about Passover. The normal population of Jerusalem in a non-festival season was about 50,000. Estimates range from 300 to 500,000 as to how many people would go to—especially the Passover festival, which was the most famous of the festivals at all. So you can understand why both Jewish and Roman authorities would be very nervous at the time of the Passover season, because there were just far too many pilgrims there for them to be able to exercise any kind of reasonable crowd control.

The Greeks at Passover

And one of the things we are told quite specifically, just in the Johannine account, is that it is at that time that there were some Greeks amongst those who went up to the worship at the festival, that were seeking Jesus. “We would see Jesus,” they ask. “Would you take us to Jesus?” In many ways, the Gospel of John is the seeker Gospel. Rather than Jesus seeking out people, people seek out Jesus—including Nicodemus and, here, the Greeks.
So in a sense this is the seeker-friendly Gospel. But who are these Greeks? Well, since they’re coming to the Passover festival, we must assume they are Greek-speaking Jews. They are diaspora Jews who have come all the way to the Holy Land, to Jerusalem, to go to the most celebrated of all the festivals. And what’s remarkable is that they represent the cosmos, the world, that has heard about Jesus and is going after Him. Ironically, what the Pharisees have said earlier in the story is in fact true: that already the world—in the person of diaspora Jews—is coming after Jesus, wants to meet Jesus, needs to know more about Jesus.

The Hour Has Come

Here, at the apex of Jesus’ fame and wide recognition, and with considerable praise on the lips of many—even some saying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming king”—here, this hour, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly (amen, amen) I say to you, 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. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for everlasting life.”
“If you would follow me and serve me, you must go where I am going.” In other words, this is the Johannine version of the passion prediction—and notice it begins with the words, “My hour has now come.” We’ve gotten to prime time in the Gospel of John: the hour when God is going to consummate His plan for the salvation of the world in the person of His Son, who is both Son of Man and Son of God. And what Jesus tells His disciples is, you need to take up your cross and follow me, though in the Johannine scheme of things, that particular phrase is not used. He predicts that He is going to die, but He also tells His disciples they need to be prepared to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the call, as well.
So this particular segment ends this way: “And now is my soul troubled, and what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason that I came into the world, that I did the ministry I’ve done, that I came to this hour”—this prime time, the key moments which will save the world.

The Crux of the Story

Sometimes I like to ask my students, If we had never had the parable of the Good Samaritan, could we still be saved? Of course they say yes. If Jesus had never raised Lazarus from the dead, could we still be saved? They say yes. And then I say, If Jesus had never come to Earth or had never died on the cross or had never risen again, could we still be saved? And of course they say no. So when in the Johannine account of things we hear, “Now is my hour coming and has come,” we are being told this is the moment of key salvific merit and worth. This is the crucial part of the story that you need to get right and need to get straight—and so it is that we are told that, paradoxically, Jesus will be glorified by doing God’s will, by dying on a shameful Roman cross.