John 12:27-30 27“Now my soul has been troubled, and what will I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29Then the crowd that stood and heard it said that it had thundered; others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered and said, “This voice has come not for my sake but for your sake.
Jesus gives himself as an illustration of what he just said in verse 25. He is the supreme example of self-denial and full obedience to God. Jesus had a difficult road to walk in the coming days. The hour had come, referring to his time of suffering and death. No one in his or her right mind wants to die on a cross. It is one of the most painful, cruel, and humiliating forms of death. The verb troubled (tetaraktai) is a strong word that means shaking, disturbing, unsettling, or agitation. It is in the perfect tense, showing that this had been a journey for Jesus. He was fully divine but also fully human. As Hebrews 5:8, he learned obedience through his suffering. The suffering only increased the closer he got to the cross.
He faced the ultimate decision. He could go the way of the world and preserve his life by walking away from it all. This option is assumed in verse 27 with the two rhetorical questions. He could ask the Father for some other option. These questions echo what Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane before his arrest, though John does not record the time of prayer like Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Jesus answered his own question with a strong affirmation. He knew why he came into the world. He was born to die. Everything he said and did was leading up to the time of his sacrificial death as the Lamb of God. His decision was firm and never wavered. His goal was to glorify the Father, and if this meant death, he was willing to follow that path. He had full confidence and faith that the Father would raise him from the dead. That is the ultimate faith, to trust in a promise beyond death. Jesus gives a simple and direct prayer, asking for the Father to glorify his name. His goal was not about himself but about glorifying God, his Father.
The Father answered the challenging words of Jesus and his simple prayer. This is only one of three times recorded in the Gospels of a voice from heaven during Jesus’ ministry, the other two at his baptism and transfiguration. Verses 28-29 indicate that all that Jesus had been talking about was for the disciples and the people gathered around him. He never doubted the Father’s promises, but some of those around him may have feared, doubted, or been confused.
The heavenly voice uses two tenses of the verb for “glorify” (doxō). The past tense refers to how the Father had been present throughout Jesus’ ministry, which has been one of the supporting themes up to this point in John’s Gospel. Clearly, Jesus could not have done the miraculous signs without divine approval. Everything Jesus did pointed to God. The people gathered to Jesus at that moment could agree with this statement either by personal witness or the testimony of others, such as those who witnessed the raising of Lazarus. The future tense of the future gives assurance to crowd that what was about to happen would be to God’s glory. The disciple may not have understood this statement at that moment but could reflect back on it in the future and see God’s hand in everything that happened during holy week.
The people gathered there heard the voice, but Jesus told them it was for their sake, not his. The voice accomplished several things. One is that it confirmed to the crowd that Jesus had God’s approval. An audible voice from heaven is very rare in history and is only mentioned a few times in the Bible. This moment was special and unique. A second is that it gave the disciples confidence, if not for the coming week, surely after Jesus’ resurrection when they looked back at what had happened on that day. Jesus did not need the voice because he continually prayed and communed with the Father and was confident in the path he must take. We are far on the receiving end of the confirmation of God’s plan of salvation through the cross and resurrection.
Although the testimony comes to us through the words of John and in the inspired Scriptures, we must trust in Jesus and be willing to follow the same path of self-denial and full obedience to God’s plan of salvation for us and what this might be in how we live on this side of death. Faith in these events gives us hope and confidence that eternal life is real and that we can experience it now and in resurrection.
For older posts, click here.
