John 12 Devotional

Glory Through a Death

“Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.”John 12:24 (BSB)

Mary pours expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair, and Jesus says she has kept it for the day of his burial (12:3-7). The next day crowds wave palm branches and hail him as King of Israel as he rides in on a young donkey (12:13-15). Then some Greeks ask to see him, and Jesus says the time for the Son of Man's glory has arrived (12:20-23).

His glory comes through death. A seed must be buried and die before it can bear a harvest (12:24). Jesus says his soul is troubled, yet he will not ask to be spared this hour, because he came for it (12:27). When he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw everyone to himself, which pointed to the kind of death he would die (12:32-33). The crowd praised a king on a donkey. The world is saved by a king on a cross. Because he gave up his life, you can trust that a life given up for him is never wasted (12:25).

To think about: What would it look like to hold your own life loosely today because Jesus held nothing back?