Mark D. Given
Missouri State University
This scene, which is actually incomplete without vv. 34-36a, could be described using the language of the dramatic arts as the climax of the First Act of John’s tragedy (1:1 – 12:50). (“John” is only used as a gospel title in this article. The various redactors, i.e. author-editors, are unknown, as is the identity of “the beloved disciple.”) The desire of some Greeks to “see” Jesus (vv. 20-22) means that “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (v. 23). After this, Jesus’ public ministry is over and he goes into hiding (v. 36b).
As so often in John, inclusios (sub-narratives that begin and end with repeated themes) are a noticeable and important key to meaning. The passage begins with people who desire to “see Jesus” and ends with a warning that “the light,” Jesus, is “among you only a little while longer . . . so become sons of light” (vv. 35-36). Anticipation is everywhere. Greeks showing interest in Jesus anticipates the “universalism” that will be made possible by Jesus’ death (“I shall draw all people to myself,” v. 32b). The repetition of “hour” and “glorify/glorified” in vv. 27-28 forms an inclusio with v. 23, and the intervening material anticipates the paradoxical way the hour of glorification will unfold in act two (13:1 - 20:31). As so often in John, “hour” (hōra) is used in v. 23 and 27 more in the sense of kairos, the time set for a significant set events (cf. esp. 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 13:1; 17:1).
Most interpreters note that vv. 23-28 are rich in sayings similar to those of the synoptic gospels. Verse 24 has a very synoptic-like saying with no strong parallel in the synoptics (see the weak seed parallels in Mark 4). The best parallel to the idea expressed is in 1 Cor 15:36. Probably Paul and John both provide some evidence for an early authentic saying in this case. Even the Jesus Seminar, which doubts the reliability of almost all sayings in John, voted that this and the following verse may contain ideas of Jesus, though they conclude he probably never said anything quite like these words. Verse 25 is comparable to Mark 8:35: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” The expressions “in this world” and “eternal life” are characteristically Johannine. Verse 26 appears to share elements with both Mark 10:45 and 8:34, but it more closely resembles the latter where the focus is discipleship. Verse 27 is the most interesting. As in Mark 14:34, we have a Jesus who is distressed as he contemplates the fate that awaits him. But unlike Mark’s Jesus who falls to the ground praying that the “the hour” might pass from him, John’s Jesus asks himself if he would say such a thing and replies with a resounding “No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27c). Some interpreters try to minimize the difference by emphasizing that John does not deny that Jesus is genuinely troubled and Mark’s Jesus ultimately accepts the Father’s will, but such harmonizing hardly does justice to the long emotional struggle of Gethsemane in Mark (14:32-42). This strong difference, which clearly shows that the author of John 12 is familiar with the Gethsemane tradition and disapproves of it, is emblematic of the radically different portrayals of Jesus’ personality in Mark and John. Finally, verses 28 and 31 are sometimes compared with Mark 9:7 and Luke 10:18 respectively, but the similarities are hardly strong enough to suggest shared traditions.
Another intriguing aspect of the passage is the use of the title Son of Man (v. 23). While it is not used as frequently in John as in Mark, it is still quite important and often functions in a way that overlaps with its use there. In Mark it is Jesus’ mysterious way of referring to himself, and often it is not clear that the crowds are sure whether he is talking about himself or some other figure. The Passover crowd in John 12 seems to equate “the Christ” (v. 34) and “the Son of Man” with Jesus, but since they think the Christ remains forever they do not understand how the Son of Man can be “lifted up.” They are left wondering “Who is this Son of Man?” (v. 34c), a question scholars still ponder. But for Mark certainly and John probably, the answer is ultimately found in Daniel 7:13-14 (cf. Mark 14:62 and John 5:27; 18:36).