12:16
“His disciples did not understand these things”. They did not understand the true nature of Jesus’ kingship. At the time they, like the crowds, probably saw release from the oppression of the Romans as being the primary benefit of salvation. It was only after His glorification, i.e. after His resurrection and ascension that they began to understand. By the way, any attempt to understand Jesus purely in terms of a “good man” and a “great teacher” is doomed to failure. The glorification of Jesus is essential to understanding Him, and John places great emphasis on the glorification of Christ. A Jesus without the glorification, as well as being completely wrong and inadequate, allows men to stand in judgement over Jesus, deciding where He was right and where we can ignore or correct Him! We must see Jesus as Lord of all, and as our Lord, otherwise we do not see Him at all.
12:17-19
There were two groups of people. One was those who had witnessed Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. And these people affirmed to the others, those from Jerusalem, that this had actually happened. For the religious leaders this only affirmed to them that they needed to get rid of Jesus. Their minds were not fixed on truth, but only on protecting their own position.
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