Chapter 12 contains the conclusion of Jesus public teaching ministry. It begins with the symbolic anointing of Jesus' feet in preparation for His burial, which is just days away. Judas' objection is quite hypocritical. He didn't care for the poor (vs6). He was just putting on a display of self-righteousness.
It is interesting that the chief priests were seeking not only to kill Jesus, but Lazarus as well. We saw in the last chapter how Jesus powerfully raised Lazarus from the dead. Because of that "sign," many were believing in Jesus. This caused the jealousy of the chief priests to seek to put an end to the "believing" by removing the one who's life pointed to the power of Jesus. However, wouldn't that have been a bit self-defeating? Hadn't Jesus already shown that He had the power to resurrect Lazarus? If the chief priests had put Lazarus to death, what made them think that Jesus wouldn't have just resurrected him again, with the result of even more people believing?! This just shows how blinding sin is in the human heart!
Vs20-50 record the final public address of Jesus (chapters 13-17 are in private with His disciples). In this address, we see the glory of Jesus Christ predicted in His coming death. He speaks of being "lifted up." To "lift up" can refer to being put in a place of prominence, but it can also refer to being lifted up on a cross to die. The reality is that both of these definitions apply with Jesus. He was lifted up to die and in doing so, He was lifted up to the prominent place of being the Savior of the World! When He was lifted up, He drew all men to Himself--not just Jews, but Gentiles as well. In the middle of this teaching from Jesus, John puts in an aside (vs37-43). In this aside, he quotes from Isaiah, showing how Jesus fulfilled these prophesies. The powerful point in this comes in vs41 - "Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him." It is powerful because the passages in Isaiah that John quotes are attributed to Yahweh. Therefore, vs41 tells us that Jesus is Yahweh in the flesh. Another extremely clear proof of the Deity of Jesus Christ!
Vs42-43 are really tragic. There were some of the religious leaders that did believe in Jesus, but they did not admit this publicly because "they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God." How sad! Yet how many times do we commit this same sin?! Let us not be paralyzed by the fear of man. Let us be liberated by the fear of God!
Chapter 13 takes us into the final private teaching of Jesus with His disciples. He begins this time with a wonderful display of humility. He washed the feet of His disciples. This was the task of a lowly servant, and yet the Lord of the universe took it upon Himself. The primary point that Jesus was demonstrating was humility, and in the middle of it He gives a lesson on forgiveness of sin. In response to Peter's request to have a bath, as it were, Jesus says that one who is clean needs only to wash his feet. The picture is that once a person has been regenerated initially ("washed"), then the continued cleansing from sin that he needs is the daily forgiveness of sins that he commits along the way ("washing his feet"). The beauty of this picture is that both types of forgiveness come from the same source - our Savior, Jesus Christ!
The "new commandment" that Jesus gives (vs34-35) is not a completely "new" commandment. The command to love one another surfaces throughout the OT. The newness of this commandment is the "pattern" for loving one another. In the OT, the Jews were commanded to love their neighbor "as yourself." Here Jesus says, "love another as I have loved you." So, the newness is that no longer is it "enough" to love your neighbor as yourself, but now the bar is raised. You are to love others the way Christ has loved you! Truly, we must have God's grace to be able to obey such a command! And when we do, we prove to be His disciples (vs35).
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