Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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John
Book: John
Chapter: 12
Overview:
Christ anointed
By Mary.
(1-11) He enters
Jerusalem.
(12-19)
Greeks apply to see
Jesus.
(20-26) A voice from
Heaven bears
Testimony to
Christ.
(27-33) His discourse with the people.
(34-36) Unbelief of the Jews.
(37-43) Christ's address to them.
(44-50)
1-11 Christ had formerly blamed
Martha for being troubled with
much serving. But she did not leave off serving, as some, who
when found fault with for going too far in one way, peevishly
run too far another way; she still served, but within hearing of
Christ's gracious words.
Mary gave a token of
Love to
Christ,
who had given real tokens of his
Love to her and her family.
God's Anointed should be our Anointed. Has
God poured
On him the
Oil of gladness above his fellows, let us pour
On him the
Ointment of our best affections. In
Judas a foul
Sin is gilded
over with a plausible pretence. We must not think that those do
No acceptable service, who do it not in our way. The reigning
Love of
Money is
Heart-
Theft. The
Grace of
Christ puts kind
comments
On pious words and actions, makes the best of what is
amiss, and the most of what is good. Opportunities are to be
improved; and those first and most vigorously, which are likely
to be the shortest. To consult to hinder the further effect of
the
Miracle,
By putting
Lazarus to
Death, is such wickedness,
malice, and folly, as cannot be explained, except
By the
desperate
Enmity of the human
Heart against
God. They resolved
that the
Man should die whom the
Lord had raised to
Life. The
success of the
Gospel often makes wicked men
So angry, that they
speak and act as if they hoped to obtain a victory over the
Almighty himself.
12-19 Christ's riding in triumph to
Jerusalem is recorded
By
all the evangelists. Many excellent things, both in the
Word and
Providence of
God, disciples do not understand at their first
acquaintance with the things of
God. The right understanding of
spiritual nature of
Christ's kingdom, prevents our misapplying
the Scriptures which speak of it.
20-26 In attendance upon holy ordinances, particularly the
Gospel Passover, the great desire of our souls should be to see
Jesus; to see him as ours, to keep up
Communion with him, and
derive
Grace from him. The
Calling of the
Gentiles magnified the
Redeemer. A
Corn of
Wheat yields
No increase unless it is cast
into the ground. Thus
Christ might have possessed his heavenly
Glory alone, without becoming
Man. Or, after he had taken
Man's
nature, he might have entered
Heaven alone,
By his own perfect
Righteousness, without suffering or
Death; but then
No sinner of
the human race could have been saved. The
Salvation of souls
hitherto, and henceforward to the
End of time, is owing to the
dying of this
Corn of
Wheat. Let us search whether
Christ be in
us the
Hope of
Glory; let us
Beg him to make us indifferent to
the trifling concerns of this
Life, that we may serve the
Lord
Jesus with a willing mind, and follow his holy
Example.
27-33 The
Sin of our souls was the trouble of
Christ's soul,
when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an
Offering for our
Sin.
Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed
to be saved from suffering.
Prayer against trouble may
Well
agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of
God
in it. Our
Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy
God's injured honour,
and he did it
By humbling himself. The voice of the
Father from
Heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his
Baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming
that He had both glorified his name, and would
Glorify it.
Christ, reconciling the world to
God By the merit of his
Death,
broke the power of
Death, and cast out
Satan as a
Destroyer.
Christ, bringing the world to
God By the doctrine of his
Cross,
broke the power of
Sin, and cast out
Satan as a deceiver. The
soul that was at a distance from
Christ, is brought to
Love him
and trust him.
Jesus was now going to
Heaven, and he would draw
men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the
Death of
Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the
Gospel that
which exalts free
Grace, and we have heard also that which
enjoins duty; we must from the
Heart embrace both, and not
separate them.
34-36 The people drew false notions from the Scriptures,
because they overlooked the prophecies that spoke of
Christ's
sufferings and
Death. Our
Lord warned them that the
Light would
not long continue with them, and exhorted them to walk in it,
before the
Darkness overtook them. Those who would walk in the
Light must believe in it, and follow
Christ's directions. But
those who have not
Faith, cannot behold what is set forth in
Jesus, lifted up
On the
Cross, and must be strangers to its
influence as made known
By the Holy
Spirit; they find a thousand
objections to excuse their unbelief.
37-43 Observe the method of
Conversion implied here. Sinners
are brought to see the reality of Divine things, and to have
some knowledge of them. To be converted, and truly turned from
Sin to
Christ, as their Happiness and Portion.
God will heal
them, will justify and sanctify them; will
Pardon their sins,
which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions,
which are as lurking diseases. See the power of the world in
smothering convictions, from regard to the applause or censure
of men.
Love of the praise of men, as a
By-
End in that which is
good, will make a
Man a
Hypocrite when religion is in fashion,
and credit is to be got
By it; and
Love of the praise of men, as
a base principle in that which is evil, will make a
Man an
apostate, when religion is in disgrace, and credit is to be lost
for it.
44-50 Our
Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed
On him, as his true
Disciple, did not believe
On him only, but
On the
Father who sent him. Beholding in
Jesus the
Glory of the
Father, we learn to obey,
Love, and trust in him.
By daily
looking to Him, who came a
Light into the world, we are more and
more freed from the
Darkness of ignorance, error,
Sin, and
misery; we learn that the command of
God our
Saviour is
Everlasting Life. But the same
Word will
Seal the condemnation
of all who despise it, or neglect it.