Main point:v.13b They began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” (NET) In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. In addition, Jesus rode on a young donkey and that fulfilled the Scriptures for the humble king who was coming v.15. Then more and more people joined in because of the testimony of Jews who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus v.17. At a time, even the Pharisees acknowledged that loss and said, “You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!” v.19.
Irony: (PNTC) For by the end of the chapter John will insist that the overwhelming reaction to Jesus was unbelief (12:37ff.), so that here, as elsewhere (2:23–25; 6:60; 8:30ff.), the Evangelist [John] does not accord a very high place to the crowd’s positive response to Jesus.
Reflection: Jews welcome Jesus with great effort and enthusiasm. The group who testified for Jesus about Lazarus’ testimony worked hard, too. However, they did not believe in Jesus as seen later on in this chapter. If we do not have faith in Jesus Christ, all the efforts will go in vain.
Comments