On Line Bible Study - For the Week August 6-12
John 12:9-19
Raymond Brown categorizes this and the following section as "Scenes Preparatory to Passover and Death".
The passage under consideration for this study is the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. We are going to highlight several concepts specific to John's telling of this story. While it does appear in Mark, Matthew and Luke, John has a particular rendering that merits attention.
John 12: 9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
People are there not only because of Jesus, but because of Lazarus. In John's Gospel Jesus has been to Jerusalem a number of times; the cause of excitement is less Jesus coming back to the city and more the fact that Lazarus is with him. The chief priests were plotting to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus.
Notice in John 12:12-14 that only after the crowd shouts "Hosanna" does Jesus look for the donkey. The shouts of the crowd suggest they were looking for a secular king. There is no reference in the quote from Zechariah of "humility" or "lowliness" -
John 12: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
(Compare this to Matthew 21: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.")
What kind of king are the people looking for? The kind that can raise the dead? The kind that will "turn back your enemy"?
Father Brown suggests that more in John than the other gospels, the people are looking for a new Jewish nationalism. After Jesus hears their proclamation, only then does he look for the donkey - a way of attempting to call to mind the prophetic notion (in Zechariah 9:9) of God's saving presence.
"Hosanna" was a prayer for help. During the Feast of Tabernacles it was often used as a prayer for rain. Literally it means: "Save ... (please)". Salvation will come, but notice what the gospel writer tells us:
John 12: 16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
I think Christians are still trying to understand salvation as the Scriptures mean for us to understand it.
Raymond Brown categorizes this and the following section as "Scenes Preparatory to Passover and Death".
The passage under consideration for this study is the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. We are going to highlight several concepts specific to John's telling of this story. While it does appear in Mark, Matthew and Luke, John has a particular rendering that merits attention.
John 12: 9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
People are there not only because of Jesus, but because of Lazarus. In John's Gospel Jesus has been to Jerusalem a number of times; the cause of excitement is less Jesus coming back to the city and more the fact that Lazarus is with him. The chief priests were plotting to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus.
Notice in John 12:12-14 that only after the crowd shouts "Hosanna" does Jesus look for the donkey. The shouts of the crowd suggest they were looking for a secular king. There is no reference in the quote from Zechariah of "humility" or "lowliness" -
John 12: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
(Compare this to Matthew 21: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.")
What kind of king are the people looking for? The kind that can raise the dead? The kind that will "turn back your enemy"?
Father Brown suggests that more in John than the other gospels, the people are looking for a new Jewish nationalism. After Jesus hears their proclamation, only then does he look for the donkey - a way of attempting to call to mind the prophetic notion (in Zechariah 9:9) of God's saving presence.
"Hosanna" was a prayer for help. During the Feast of Tabernacles it was often used as a prayer for rain. Literally it means: "Save ... (please)". Salvation will come, but notice what the gospel writer tells us:
John 12: 16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
I think Christians are still trying to understand salvation as the Scriptures mean for us to understand it.
posted by Mark D at 5:57 PM
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