Bible in One Year Day 102 (John 10 - 12, Proverbs 6:1-11)

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Day 102:  Death of Lazarus 

Agape Bible Study 

John 10 - 12 

S	4. The Good Shepherd discourse - # 3 "I AM the Door of the sheep"; # 4 "I AM the Good shepherd	10:1-21
Winter	IV. THE OPPOSITION CONTINUES IN JERUSALEM during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)	10:22-42
Jesus in	BETHANY (near Jerusalem)
	V. THE OPPOSITION AT BETHANY	11:1– 2:11
	A. SIGN #6: Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead - #5 I AM the Resurrection and the Life"	11:1-44
Spring	B. The Pharisees plan to kill Jesus	11:45-57
Jesus in 6 Days	BETHANY in JUDEA: THE LAST WEEK before the PASSOVER FEAST
	C. Jesus and the Apostles stay the night at Bethany	12:1-11
	1. Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus	12:3-8
	2. Crowds gather to see Jesus and Lazarus	12:9-11
Day # 5	VI. THE FINAL OPPOSITION AT JERUSALEM	12:12-22
Nisan 10	A. The King of Kings enters Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)	12:12-19
	B. The Hour has come!	12:19-22

THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLICAL BACKGROUND OF

THE GOOD SHEPHERD DISCOURSE

Jesus' dialogue with the Pharisees on the day of Assembly after the Feast of Tabernacles continues.  It is the Sabbath and He teaches them with a parable comparing God's relationship to His Covenant people with a shepherd's relationship to his sheep.  You may have noticed that throughout the Bible God has had a special love for shepherds.

Question: Can you think of men in the Old Testament who were shepherds and who were especially close to God?  

Answer:

1. Abel, son of Adam was a shepherd who "found favor with God" (Genesis 4)
2. Abraham in Genesis 21 is described as a chieftain with many herds of sheep
3. Jacob is a shepherd for his uncle Laban in Genesis 30
4. Joseph was shepherding his father Jacob's flocks in Genesis 37
5. Moses went from prince of Egypt to shepherd of Midian in Exodus 3
6. David was a shepherd of his father's flocks in 1 Samuel 16:11
7. Amos the Judean shepherd was God's prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in Amos 1:1

Question: In the New Testament who are the first men of Israel/Judah to come and worship the Christ Child?

Answer: The shepherds from the fields around Bethlehem.  

The 23^rd Psalms, which is traditionally attributed to King David, is probably the most beautiful literary expression of the comparison between a shepherd's care for his sheep and Yahweh's faithful, merciful love for His people. 

 

1. Sheep depend on the shepherd for their wellbeing.
2. Sheep are sociable animals that travel together in a large flock but not too close together; they like their personal space.
3. Sometimes sheep loose their connection to the flock and tend to stray which can lead to disaster.
4. Often sheep are unaware of the dangers of the world.  
5. The sheep learn the sound of the voice of their shepherd so that when he calls to them they will come to him, but they will run from the voice of a stranger. In the same way that the shepherd understands his flock our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, knows our weaknesses as well as our strengths and needs.

In Sacred Scripture God the Father has often expressed His Covenant relationship to His people as a shepherd caring for his flock:

1. In terms of God the Good Shepherd caring for His sheep the Covenant people: Genesis 48:15; 49:24; Numbers 27:17; Psalms 23:1; 28:9; 74:1; 79:13; 80:1; 95:7; Isaiah 44:1; 53:6; Micah 7:14; Jeremiah 17:16; Ezekiel 34:16; Zechariah 11:9.  Jacob son of Isaac who God renamed Israel,  and who became the father of the 12 tribes of God's people, spoke of God in this way in Genesis 48:15 and 49:24 as ...the God who has been my shepherd all my life" and as ...the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. 
2. In the terms of God the Father extending this title of "shepherd" to His representatives, the prophets, priests, and kings of Israel who "shepherd" God's people in His name: 2 Samuel 5:2; 7:7; 1 Chronicles 11:2; 17:6; Psalms 78:70-72; Isaiah 63:11; Zechariah 11:4-5; 16:11; 17. In 2 Samuel 5:2 the 12 tribes of Israel acknowledged David as their king  by declaring: ...and to you it was that Yahweh promised, 'You are to shepherd my people Israel and be leader of Israel.'
3. In the terms of the final Shepherd, the Messiah who was promised to come from the house of David as God's prophet, priest and king to "shepherd" the Covenant people:
• Isaiah 40:11: I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.
• Ezekiel  37:24:  My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgments, respect my laws and practice them.;
• and the prophecy of Christ's passion in  Zechariah 13:7a-d: Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me declares Yahweh Sabaoth!  Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep! 

 As sheepherders before and during their sojourn in the land of Egypt the Israelites readily understood the "shepherd" imagery and looked to Moses as God's representative sent to "shepherd" Yahweh's people out of Egypt and to both Moses and Aaron, as God's appointed covenant mediator and High Priest, shepherds of the flock which was the Old Covenant Church established at Sinai:

• In Isaiah 63:11 the 8^th century BC prophet recalls Moses' mission in these terms: But he called the past to mind, Moses his servant.  Where is he who saved them from the sea, the Shepherd of his flock?  
• And in Psalms 77:20: You guided your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

And when Moses was coming to the end of his ministry as God's holy prophet he requested that Yahweh appoint another "shepherd" in Numbers 27:15-17: Moses then said to Yahweh, 'May it please Yahweh, God of the spirits that give life to all living creatures, to appoint a leader for this community, to be at their head in all their undertakings, a man who will lead them out and bring them in, so that Yahweh's community will not be like a sheep without a shepherd.'

Yahweh continued this analogy when He established the priesthood of the Old Covenant Church in the Covenant formed at Mt. Sinai.  The ministerial priesthood was established in the Sinai Covenant as God's representatives to his people.  They are God's "shepherds" of His holy flock, the Church. 

Background history on the holy Prophet Ezekiel: In the 8^th century AD the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and the people were taken into exile and were scattered among the Gentile peoples of the Assyrian Empire [2 Kings 17:1-6].  The Southern Kingdom of Judah remained independent until the 6^th century when it became a vassal state of the Babylonians when the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in 597BC, ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 587/6BC [2 Kings 24:10-17].  In 597BC the Babylonians took 10,000 leading citizens of Jerusalem and their families as hostages, forcing them into a forced migration to Babylon [2 Kings 24:16]. Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, was a young priest who was sent into exile with other Judahite refugees who were resettled along the Chebar canal, one of the tributary canals of the River Euphrates [mentioned 8 times in Ezekiel 1:1,3; 3:15, 23; 10:15, 20, 22; 43:3].  The refugees were located southeast of the city of Babylon, near the ancient city of Nippur [Ezekiel 3:15], in settlement they called "Tel Aviv" [Akkadian = til abubi / til avuvi], which means "mound of the flood" [Anchor Bible Dictionary, volume I, page 893; HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, page 175]. 

Ezekiel's prophetic visions from God begin in exile from the site of this community circa 593BC with his vision of God's throne as a chariot of fire at his commissioning as God's prophet in Ezekiel chapter 1.  It is significant that he was 30 years old [Ezekiel 1:1] when he was called to be Yahweh's holy prophet.  Age 30 was the when a priest ended his training and assumed his full priestly duties in the Temple [Numbers 4:3].  Ezekiel's visions lasted from the time of his call until some time after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6BC [2 Kings 25:8-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10; 52:12-14].  During the time of his ministry Ezekiel was called as the prophetic "Watchman" in service to Yahweh [3:16-21; 33:1-9] to perform a series of symbolic acts to demonstrate God's judgment on Judah and Jerusalem.  Each symbolic act, or ot, in Hebrew, was a dramatic "acting out" of each prophecy which often left Ezekiel afflicted with fits of dumbness and paralysis [3:23-27; 24:25-27; 33:21-22], and which made him an object of curiosity and ridicule among his contemporaries.  It was only after the fulfillment of his prophecies that his true greatness as a holy prophet was realized.  His mission began in the fifth year of exile which Ezekiel links to his fellow refugee and Babylonian prisoner, the Davidic King Jehoiachin of Judah [Ezekiel 1:2-3]. The most active part Ezekiel's ministry lasted from 593 to 585 BC; however it may have continued until about 571 BC according to Ezekiel 29:17.  Archaeologists have discovered a Babylonian tablet which records the date of the deportation of exiles to March 16^th, 597BC and a tablet with lists the provisions for the household of the captive King Jehoiachin of Judah which confirms 2 Kings 25:27-30 that Jehoiachin was a state prisoner of the Babylonians [Anchor Bible Dictionary, volume 2, page 714].

Ezekiel chapters 34-37.

Focusing on 34:1-31: The Judgment Against the Priesthood and the Prophecy of the Good Shepherd:

1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows, 2 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, "Shepherds, the Lord Yahweh says this: Disaster is in store for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!  Are no shepherds meant to feed a flock?  3 Yet you have fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep, but failed to feed the flock.  4 You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care for the sick ones, or bandage the injured ones.  You have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost.  On the contrary, you have ruled them cruelly and harshly.  5 For lack of a shepherd they have been scattered, to become the prey of all the wild animals; they have been scattered.  6 My flock is astray on every mountain and on every high hill; my flock has been scattered all over the world; no one bothers about them and no one looks for them.  7 Very well, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 8 As I live, I swear it declares the Lord Yahweh' since my flock has been pillaged and for lack of a shepherd is now the prey of every wild animal, since my shepherds have ceased to bother about my flock, since my shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock, 9 very well, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: 10 The Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I am against the shepherds.  I shall make my flock out of their charge and henceforth not allow them to feed my flock.  And the shepherds will stop feeding themselves, because I shall rescue my sheep from their mouths to stop them from being food for them.  11 For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.  12 As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep.  I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness.  13 I shall bring them back from the peoples where they are; I shall gather them back from the countries and bring them back to their own land.  I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the inhabited parts of the country.  14 I shall feed them in good pasturage; the highest mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing grounds; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel.  15 I myself shall pasture my sheep, I myself shall give them rest declares the Lord Yahweh.  16 I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong.  I shall watch over the fat and healthy.  I shall be a true shepherd to them.

17"As for you, my sheep, the Lord Yahweh says this: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats.  18 Not content to drink the clearest of the water, you foul the rest with your feet.  19 And my sheep must graze on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have fouled.  20 Very well, the Lord Yahweh says this: I myself shall judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep.  21Since you have jostled with flank and shoulder and butted all the ailing sheep with your horns, until you have scattered them outside, 22 I shall come and save my sheep and stop them from being victimized.  I shall judge between sheep and sheep.

23 "I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.  23 I, Yahweh, shall be their God, and my servant David will be ruler among them.  I, Yahweh have spoken.  25 I shall make a covenant of peace with them.  I shall rid the country of wild animals.  They will be able to live secure in the desert and go to sleep in the woods.  26 I shall settle them round my hill; I shall send rain at the proper time; it will be a rain of blessings. 27 The trees of the countryside will yield their fruit and the soil will yield its produce; they will be secure on their soil. And they will know that I am Yahweh when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the clutches of their slave-masters.  28 No more will they be a prey to the nations, no more will the wild animals of the country devour them.  They will live secure, with no one to frighten them.  29 I shall make splendid vegetation grow for them; no more will they suffer from famine in the country; no more will they have to bear the insults of other nations.  30 So they will know that I, their God, am with them and that they, the House of Israel, are my people declares the Lord Yahweh.  31 And you, my sheep, are the flock of my human pasture, and I am your God declares the Lord Yahweh."'  

Question: Who is Ezekiel, addressed by Yahweh as "son of man," told to prophesy against in Ezekiel 34:1-2? 

Answer: The shepherds (priesthood) of Israel: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel... Ezekiel 34:2.  In this passage the title "son of man" only identifies Ezekiel as a "son of Adam" 'a Semitic expression for a human being.

Question: When you consider that Ezekiel lived in the 6^th century BC what is significant about this prophecy which is directed to Israel and not just to Judah?  See 2 Kings 17:5-18].

Answer: The Northern Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist in 722BC.  The 10 Northern tribes were deported eastward by the Assyrian conquerors and except for a small remnant who returned to settle in the Galilee, the 10 tribes never returned to Israel. They were scattered and absorbed among the Gentile nations like lost sheep. 

In the books of the Old Testament prophets, most of the prophets use reoccurring symbolic imagery associated with covenant faithfulness, rebellion, judgment, and restoration.  One of these reoccurring images is that of Yahweh as the master of His domestic animals: i.e. the divine Shepherd who cares for His flock.  This is the symbolic imagery both Jeremiah and Ezekiel are using.  For more on the use of this type of symbolic imagery see the study "How to Study the Old Testament Prophets" in the Agape Bible Study list of available studies.

Question: What promise does Yahweh make through His prophet Jeremiah that is similar to the promise of Ezekiel chapter 34:1-2, 11, concerning the bad shepherds and the lost sheep?

Answer: God the Father promises that the bad priests (shepherds) will face judgment for their neglect of the "flock" (the Church) and as for the "flock" He promises in both Ezekiel and Jeremiah: "I myself" will come to the covenant people:

• Jeremiah 24:3: I myself shall gather from all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds....

Question: In the New Jerusalem translation of Ezekiel 34:11-22 above, how many ways will Yahweh come Himself to His people?

Answer:

• I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.
• I myself shall pasture my sheep
• I myself shall give them rest
• I myself shall judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep

Question: What promise does God make in Jeremiah 23:5-6 that is similar to the promise is Ezekiel 34:23?

Answer: God promised that the day will come when He will raise up the Messiah: "The Branch", from the line of King David and He will reign as king uniting Israel and Judah.

These prophecies were imperfectly fulfilled in the return from the Babylonian captivity in the late 6^th century.  Only a remnant of the nation of Judah returned to the Promised Land, the remnant prophesized in Jeremiah 23:3 [Ezra 2:64-67].  There was no return of the lost 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom, with the possible exception of the remnant who returned to the Galilee, and there was no unification of Israel and Judah as God promised in these passages.  There was also no Messiah from the house of David who had come to "shepherd" His Covenant people after the return. Evidence that this is a future prophecy not fulfilled in the return from Babylon is even more evident in Ezekiel chapter 37 where God gives Ezekiel the vision of a restored Israel and Judah untied together under the rule of the one shepherd. 

Ezekiel 37:24-28:   24 My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgments, respect my laws and practice them.  25 They will live in the country which I gave to my servant Jacob, the country in which your ancestors lived.  They will live in it, they, their children, their children's children, for ever.  David my servant is to be their prince forever.  26 I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them.  I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever. 27 I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God, and they will be my people.  28 And the nations will know that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them forever.

Question: According to verse 26 what are the conditions of the New Covenant of peace?

Answer: It will replace the Old Covenant and will be an eternal Covenant of peace.

Question: How has the promise that Yahweh's sanctuary [Temple] will be with His people forever [verse 26] fulfilled in Christ?

Answer: It is fulfilled in the perpetual sacrifice of the Most Holy Eucharist.  When we receive Christ in the Eucharist the risen Savior lives in us.  Our bodies become the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

Question: Return to the Ezekiel passage and look at Ezekiel 34:17-22.  This is an interesting passage.  How does it relate to Jesus' ministry?

Answer: This passage is being fulfilled in Jesus' ministry to Judah in John chapters 7-10.  Jesus is judging between the "sheep" of Judah.  These "sheep" are all of the same flock, members of the Old Covenant Church, but some will come to Him and some will not.  It is what Jesus is saying in John 9:39: It is for judgment that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight may become blind.   Those who come to Him will be the foundation of the New Covenant people of God.  All the first bishops [Apostles] of the Catholic [Universal] Church were Jews including the first 15 Christian bishops of Jerusalem [see the chart of the Bishops of Jerusalem in the chart section, subsection: Church History].  The Jews and Israelites of the Old Covenant faith are the roots of the Church, the Jews who came to Christ are the trunk and the Gentile converts are the branches who will be grafted into the "Tree" of the New Covenant Church that was promised in Jeremiah in 31:31: Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah)...  It is important for us to remember the Jewish roots of our "tree" of faith.  For more on this subject read Romans chapters 9-11.  The Jews were and still are, the "first" chosen people, the "firstborn sons" of God [see Exodus 4:23].

Question: In Ezekiel 34 verses 23-25 God promises to restore His people and to make a Covenant of peace with them.  How does He identify the one shepherd who will lead the Church? 

Answer: He will be from the line of King David: I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David and put him in charge of them to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.  I, Yahweh, shall be their God, and my servant David will be ruler among them [verses 23-24]. The Old Covenant people understood from this passage that this shepherd chosen by God to be the promised Messiah would come from the family of the great King David.

Ezekiel 36:23-27: The Promises of Restoration and Purification:

36:23 I am going to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them.  And the nations will know that I am Yahweh declares the Lord Yahweh 'when in you I display my holiness before their eyes.  24 For I shall take you from among the nations and gather you back from all the countries, and bring you home to your own country.  25 I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of all your foul idols.  26 I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead.  27 I shall put my spirit in you and make you keep my laws, and respect and practice my judgments.'

What promises does Yahweh make and what does the promise of verse 25 prefigure?  5 promises are listed in this passage.

1. He promises to bring His covenant people back from the nations where they were scattered
2. To reveal to the Gentile nations that He is the one true God
3. To bring His covenant people "home" [meaning in perfect Covenant union with God]
4. To "pour clean water" over them to cleanse the people of their sins
5. To put His Spirit and a new heart in them. 

This passage prefigures Christian baptism and the establishment of the universal Church with the restoration of the "lost tribes" which were disbursed into the Gentile world.  There is also the promise that the Gentile nations will be brought back into the family of God.

The Jews saw these Ezekiel and Jeremiah passages as prophecy of the restoration of the people after the Babylonian captivity which began in 538BC, and indeed at that time these prophecies were partly fulfilled.  The people were allowed to return to their land after 70 years of exile.  But the prophecy was only imperfectly fulfilled at that time because only a remnant of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah from the Southern Kingdom of Judah returned.  The majority of the Jews stayed in Babylon and Persia and the 10 Northern tribes were still scattered sheep.  In addition, Judah was still under the domination of a foreign power and was not restored as a Davidic kingdom.  The people of God in the first century were hungrily awaiting the promised everlasting 5^th Kingdom prophesized by the Prophet Daniel in Daniel 2:44 ...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last for ever...  and the promise of the Messianic king who would rule them promised in Daniel 7:13-14: ...I say coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man.  He came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence.  On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.  His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away, and his kingship will never come to an end.

Question: When would this prophecy finally be fulfilled?  Please read the promises of Ezekiel 37:21, 25c-28: ... say 'The Lord Yahweh says this: "I shall take the Israelites from the nations where they have gone.  I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil.  [..].   David my servant is to be their prince for ever.  I shall make a covenant of peace with them an eternal covenant with them.  I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever.  I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God, and they will be my people.  And the nations will know that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever."'

Answer: This prophecy is perfectly fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, son of David, the Good Shepherd when all the nations of the world are restored by the redeeming work of Christ on the cross and are invited back into God's Covenant family, to rule over the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, their own country.

In the first century the people of Judah who suffered under the domination of the Roman Empire were still waiting for this prophecy to be fulfilled.  They were still waiting for the son of David to come and "shepherd" his people.  But there was another Old Testament prophet who spoke of "wicked shepherds" as well as of the promised "good shepherd" from the house of David who will establish a New Covenant with the God's people.  In this next passage Yahweh has required the prophet Zechariah (ministry began in 520BC) to perform an ot, a prophetic act to instruct the people of future events. Please read Zechariah chapters 11-14; focusing on Zechariah 11: 4-6; 9-12, 15-17; 12:10-11; 13:1, 7-9; and finally the strange prophecy about the Feast of Tabernacles [Shelters] in Chapter 14 verses 16-19. Zechariah was prophesizing between 520BC and 518BC, after the return to Judah from the Babylonian captivity.  His prophecies were not fulfilled until the first century AD in the ministry and self-sacrifice of Jesus and the establishment of the New Covenant Israel, the Universal Church.

Zechariah 11:4, 12-17: The Two Shepherds of the Covenant People:

11:4 Yahweh my God says this, 'Pasture the sheep for slaughter, [..].  12 I then said to them, 'If you see fit, give me my wages, if not, never mind.'  So they weighed out my wages: thirty shekels of silver.  13 Yahweh said to me, 'Throw it to the smelter, this princely sum at which they have valued me!' Taking the thirty shekels of silver, I threw them into the Temple of Yahweh, for the smelter.  14 I then broke my second staff, 'Couplers,' in half, to rupture the brotherly relationship between Judah and Israel.  15 Next, Yahweh said to me, 'This time, take the gear of a good-for-nothing shepherd.  16 For I am now going to raise a shepherd in this country, who will not other about the lost, who will not go in search of the stray, who will not heal the injured, who will not support the swollen, but who will eat the meat of the fat ones, tearing off their very hoofs.  17 Disaster to the shepherd who deserts his flock! May the sword attack his arm and his right eye!  May his arm shrivel completely and his right eye be totally blinded!'

Question: The Fathers of the Church saw verses Zechariah 11:12-13 as prophecy of what event?  Hint: see Matthew 27:3-10.

Answer: Judas' betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

Question: Referring to Zechariah 11:15-16.  Who fulfilled this role in the time of Jesus?

Answer: The former High Priest Annas and his son-in-law the High Priest Joseph Caiaphas who conspired to have Jesus killed, had Him arrested and condemned Jesus before the Jewish law court the Sanhedrin on the testimony of false witnesses.  Because they could not impose the death penalty, they forced the Roman governor to condemn Jesus to death.

 Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1; 7-9: Restoration of the Covenant people:

12:10 But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look to me.  They will mourn of the one whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child.  11 When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Megiddo.  [..].  13:1 'When that day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away.  [..].  7 Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me declares Yahweh Sabaoth!  Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep!  And I shall turn my hand against the young!  8 So will be throughout the country declares Yahweh Sabaoth, two-thirds in it will be cut off and the other third will be left.  9 I shall pass this third through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as gold is tested.  He will call on my name and I shall answer him; I shall say, 'He is my people,' and he will say, 'Yahweh is my God!'

Question: In 12:10-11 and in 13:1 what prophesy did Christians see fulfilled in these verses?

Answer: The baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the Church praying in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the Feast of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus' Resurrection and 40 days after His Ascension.  In the Upper Room praying were Mary and Jesus' kinsmen, all descendants of the House of David, and also Jesus' Apostles and disciples.  In Peter's homily to the crowd of Jews in the street outside the Upper Room, he testified that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead and was the promised Messiah [Acts 2:1-36]. After his homily the Jews realized they had rejected the Messiah and were "cut to the heart" [Acts 2:37].  They cried out to Peter and the other disciples: What are we to do, brothers? In obedience to Jesus command to spread the Gospel of salvation, many of His New Covenant believers were persecuted and many were martyred for their faith, the first Christians were all "passed through fire" and were "refined" in their suffering and testing.  These were the ones about whom Jesus said "These are my people" and they could say "Yahweh is my God!"

Question:  What is significant about Zechariah 13:7-9?

Answer: Christians saw 13:7 as prophecy of the passion of Christ, the Good Shepherd who was struck down, and of His disciples who, with the exception of St. John, were "scattered" in their fear.  The Zechariah 13:8-9 passage was fulfilled in the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah by 2/3rds of the Old Covenant Church and His acceptance by the remnant of Jews who became the nucleus of the New Covenant universal Church of Jesus Christ.  Jesus quoted Zechariah 13:7 "Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep!" at the end of the Last Supper in Matthew 26:31.

Zechariah 14:16-19: 16 After this, all the survivors of all the nations which have attacked Jerusalem will come up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh Sabaoth, and to keep the Feast of Shelters (Tabernacles).  17 Should one of the races of the world fait to come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh Sabaoth, there will be no rain for that one.  18 Should the race of Egypt fail to come up and pay its visit, on it will fall the plague which Yahweh will inflict on each of those nations which fail to come up to keep the feast of Shelters (Tabernacles).  19 Such will be the punishment for Egypt and the punishment for all the nations which fail to come up to keep the feast of Shelters (Tabernacles). 

Question: How do you suppose the Fathers of the Church interpreted Zechariah 14:16-19 in the references to the Feast of Tabernacles [Shelters]?

Answer: The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God's sovereignty and looked forward to the coming of the Messiah; therefore, the Fathers of the Church saw in this passage the spread of the Gospel in the world, the Gentile nations coming into the Covenant and joining with Old Covenant Jews to worship God as One Holy Covenant people/ One universal, the etymology of the word "catholic" Church.  Egypt represents the Gentile nations; those Gentile nations who acknowledge Yahweh's sovereignty and Christ as King of the Kingdom of God will become part of the covenant family and those who do not will be rejecting the gift of salvation; there will be salvation only through the Messiah, Christ Jesus.

This is the context in which Jesus begins to preach His "Good Shepherd Discourse" on the Sabbath, which is the 8^th , and last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Sacred Assembly and a day of rest.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD DISCOURSE

Background: The man born blind, healed by Jesus and questioned by the chief priests and Pharisees was rejected from the covenant community by the Old Covenant authorities.  Jesus seeks him out and brings him to faith in Jesus as the Messiah and then accuses the Scribes and Pharisees of being the ones who are "blind."

 John 9:40-10:1-6: The Good Shepherd Parable

9:40 Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, 'So we are blind are we?'  9:41 Jesus replied: 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty, but since you say, 'We can see,' your guilt remains.  10:1 In all truth (Amen, amen), I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit.  2 He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; 3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.  4 When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know this voice.  5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.' 6 Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them.

 Question: In this parable what is the sheepfold?  

Answer: The sheepfold is the Church, the community of God's re-born New Covenant people.  It is the Church as the sheepfold who brings the covenant people together, and through the Sacraments into union with Christ. 

Question: What then is the way or gate into the New Covenant of holy believers?
Answer: The gate is Jesus Christ, the one through whom believers have access to the community which is Christ's Kingdom of Heaven on earth.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches in citation # 754: The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ.  It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep.

Question: In this parable, what connection is there to the shepherd discourses of the Old Testament prophets?

Answer: Entering through Christ is the only way into the New Covenant He is establishing in fulfillment of the prophecies of the prophets Jeremiah [31:31], Ezekiel [34:37], and Zechariah [9-14].  Jesus is the fulfillment of Yahweh's promise when He said "I myself" will shepherd my sheep in Ezekiel 34:11, 15, and 20.  Jesus is the one promised in Ezekiel 34:23 when God promised:  I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them, to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.

Question: Are there other ways to enter the sheepfold/ Covenant?

Answer: No, only one way; though the gate.  There is only one gate and the gate is Christ. St. Augustine wrote of his role as a shepherd of Jesus' flock: I seeking to enter in among you, that is, into your heart, to preach Christ: if I were to preach other than that, I should be trying to enter by some other way.  Through Christ I enter in, not to your houses but to your hearts.  Through him I enter and you have willingly heard me speak of him. Why?  Because you are Christ's sheep and you have been purchased with Christ's blood.  St. Augustine, In Ioannis Evangelium  [The Gospel of John] 47, 2-3

Question: What is the significance of the use of the reference to thieves and bandits or robbers?

Answer: Those who try to enter the Church other than through Christ Jesus are not legitimate members of the Covenant and do harm to the Church through their cunning [thieves] by deceiving the people and violence [robbers] when they separate people from the Covenant in Christ through false teaching.  They enter "some other way" on a road or agenda of their own instead of through Christ. 

Question: Who is the flock?  See Ezekiel 34:6

Answer: The chosen people of God's holy Covenant.

Question: Who is the "gatekeeper"?  See verses 7 & 9.

Answer: Jesus is both the "gate" and the "gatekeeper."  It is only through Him that the shepherds/ministerial priesthood can enter in to shepherd the Covenant people.

Question: Who were the "shepherds" of God's chosen people in the Old Testament?  Hint: there is more than one answer.

Answer: In the Old Testament God gave the people prophets like Moses and Jeremiah, priests like Aaron and Samuel, and kings like David and Solomon to "shepherd" them.

Question:  Who is promised to come as the Good Shepherd to the chosen people and how does this "Shepherd" fulfill the imperfect roles of the Old Testament "shepherds"?

Answer: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, who was promised to come as prophet, priest, and king of Israel.

Question:  Why is Jesus identified with the gate, the gatekeeper, and the Shepherd?  What is the "sheepfold" and the "flock" in Jesus' parable?

Answer: Jesus identifies Himself as the "shepherd" and the "gate" as well as the "gatekeeper" while the Church is both the sheepfold and the flock in this parable. He applies to Himself the image of the gate or door with the understanding that He is the only way into the "sheepfold" which is the Church and those who shepherd His flock only do so under His, "the gatekeeper's" authority.  The documents of Vatican II teach: The Church is a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ (cf. Jn. 10:1-10).  It is also a flock, of which God foretold that He himself would be the shepherd (cf. Isaiah 40:11; Ez 34:11ff), and whose sheep, although watched over by human shepherds, are nevertheless at all times led and brought to pastor by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds (cf. John 10:11, 1 Peter 5:4) who gave his life for his sheep (cf. Jn 10:11-15). Lumen Gentium 6.

 the sheep hear his voice: There are dangers for the sheep if they do not recognize the shepherd's voice.  The flock or individual sheep can be deceived and led astray, just as those within the Church can be deceived and led astray by following the voice of a false teacher. Jesus will address the danger of the flock being threatened by false teachers in the next passage.

Question:  What divine truth does Jesus teach the Church today using this illustration of the shepherd's voice?

Answer: Since there are "thieves" and "robbers/bandits" who may be calling to us, we must know the voice of Christ so that we are not led astray.  To study Sacred Scripture through the teaching authority of the Church, the Magisterium, and to faithfully receive the Sacraments is the best way to become familiar with our Shepherd's voice.  

Question:  Has Jesus accused some of the priests, Sadducees, Pharisees and Scribes of being thieves and bandits as well as poor shepherds?  See Mark 6:34 and 11:17-18.

Answer: Yes He has.  In Mark 6:34 both the priests and scribes heard Jesus accuse them of turning His Father's house into a den of thieves/ bandits.

John 10:7-15: Jesus Identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd

He begins both His explanation of the parable in verses 1-5 and a second parable with the solemn double "amen."  "I AM the gate" is the 3^rd of the 7 "I AM" metaphors [without a predicate nominative] of John's Gospel.  Jesus is again stating that only those who "go in" through Him have the authority to guide the flock [Church].  He is also the gate through which the flock must enter to come to salvation.  The imagery Jesus uses in this passage recalls Psalm 118:19-20: Open for me the gates of saving justice (salvation), I shall go in and thank Yahweh.  This is the gate of Yahweh, where the upright go in.  I thank you for hearing (answering) me, and making yourself my Savior.  It is significant that this passage precedes Psalms 118:22-24, the passage Jesus applies to Himself in Matthew 21:42: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is Yahweh's doing, and we marvel at it.  This is the day which Yahweh has made, a day for us to rejoice and be glad.  As well as the next verse [Psalms 118: 24-26] which the people will shout out the Jesus as He enters the city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: We beg you, Yahweh, save us (Hosanna); we beg you Yahweh, give us victory! Blessed in the name of Yahweh is he who is coming! [see John 12:13, Matthew 21:9]; and verse 26 which Jesus will quote of Himself in Matthew 23:39

1. The Protestant Reformation when unfaithful priests scattered the "sheep" and stole them from the "fold." Catholic politicians who vote in favor of abortion.  Catholics who teach false doctrine or stand in opposition to the teaching of the Magisterium.
2. Governments that openly persecute Catholics and put priests into prison.  Adolph Hitler was both a thief from within and a robber by violence.  He was a baptized Catholic who promoted paganism and used the German government to persecute the Church.

Explaining the meaning of His parable in verses 1-5, Jesus now identifies Himself as "the gate" to the sheepfold using the significant words "I AM" which recalls the divine name revealed to Moses in the experience of the burning bush, this is a "burning bush" experience for these people but few will recognize the significance and come to belief.

Question:  In verse 9 Jesus speaks about giving abundant pasture; what does He mean?  What does Christ give to the Church in abundance?

Answer: He gives the abundant graces that will flow from Christ to His Church in the Sacraments to enrich the lives of each individual on their journey of salvation and the Church's journey through time to the final hour of mankind.

Question:  What prophecy from the books of the prophets in last week's lesson would the people listening to Jesus connect to His statement?

Answer: Probably Ezekiel 34:1-12 especially verse 9-12: The Lord Yahweh says this:  'Look, I am against the shepherds.  I shall take my flock out of their charge and henceforth not allow them to feed my flock.  And the shepherds will stop feeding themselves, because I shall rescue my sheep from their mouths to stop them from being food for them.  For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shall take care of my flock and look after it.  As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shall I look after my sheep.'

Question:  What future event is Jesus speaking of in verse 11?
Answer: His death.  

This is the first of 5 times that St. John will repeat Christ's willingness to lay down His life for His sheep:

1). 10:11	I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
2). 10:15	I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep.
3). 10:17	The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
4). 10:18a	No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will.
5). 10:18b	...and as I have power to lay it down so I have power to take it up again...

Question:  In the context of the shepherd caring for the sheep analogy why is Jesus' statement shocking to the crowd listening to Him?
Answer: A good shepherd is expected to defend and protect the flock but he is not expected to die for the sheep.

Although it may seem contradictory to us that Jesus calls Himself both the Good Shepherd in verses 11-18 as well as the Gate in verses 7 and 9, this sheepfold imagery was very familiar to Jesus' audience.  It is still common in many parts of the world, as it was in 1^st century AD Judea, to bring a number of flocks of sheep together at night into one stone enclosed sheepfold where they could be watched over by a few shepherds who protected them from predators.  It was common for stone-enclosed sheepfolds not to have a gate so the shepherd would sleep in the opened entrance to the sheepfold to protect the sheep.  The shepherd in effect used his own body as the protective "gate" to the sheepfold.  In the morning the others shepherds would return, the gateway would be opened and each shepherd would call his own sheep.  Each sheep knew the sound of its own shepherd's voice and so they would come to him to be led out of the pen.

Question:  How will Jesus' body become the "gate" into the sheepfold?
Answer: It is from His body on the cross that water and blood will flow, the water and blood of the Church in baptism and Eucharist.

For a second time Jesus identifies Himself of the good shepherd of Ezekiel chapter 34 and for the second time promises to die for His sheep.

I know my own and my own know me..  This is the essence of a relationship with Christ. This is knowledge in the sense of the "covenant relationship". In the Biblical sense "knowledge" is not simply the conclusion of an intellectual process, but it is the fruit of an experience, a personal encounter.  Knowledge of God is an intimate association through the covenant relationship.  

John 10:16-21: The Conclusion of the Good Shepherd Discourse and Jesus' Prophecy of His Death and Resurrection.

There cannot be two covenants.  There can only be one covenant and one Church because there can only be one Bride [see Many Religions-One Covenant, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger; Hebrews 8:13].  Israel the Bride of Yahweh is transformed into the new Israel, the Bride of Christ when she is born from His side at the cross in the water and the blood just as Eve, the bride came from the side of her bridegroom Adam.  Adam was not willing to die for his bride when confronted by Satan but Christ offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice for His Bride, the Church.  It is the promise of Hosea 2:18-20 and the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31.  There is one flock and one Shepherd who is Jesus Christ the supreme Shepherd over the one universal Church [Hebrews 13:20].  The spiritual authority of those who shepherd the flock as Christ's representatives [Peter and the other Apostles] is authority that comes directly from Christ who gives them a share in His saving mission [see John 21:15-17 and CCC# 553 and 754].

Question: Who are the "other sheep" who will become part of this New Covenant fold?

Answer: These are the Gentiles who will be gathered into the Messiah's flock alongside the restored sheep of Israel [John 11:52].  These "other sheep' come into the covenant relationship through Christ.  All of these who listen to His voice will be gathered into the one flock that Jesus leads to eternal life.  This is Zechariah's prophecy of the sheep who will be led by their shepherd who break out of the sheepfold and are led by their king.  Jesus is both the shepherd and the king of David's line.

Question: How is this statement proof of Jesus' divinity?  When is His prophecy fulfilled?

Answer: Only God Himself could have such absolute power over life and death.  

The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 

The crowd continues to be divided over who is this man from the Galilee but with each encounter He wins more disciples. 

THE FEAST OF DEDICATION

[The decision is made to kill Jesus]

As with all the other feast days on which Jesus has come to Jerusalem to teach, He makes a direct link between Himself and the core significance of the festival.  This is the first time Jesus will use the title "Son of God" when speaking about Himself, even though He has repeatedly contrasted Himself as the Son who does the will of God the Father.  The use of the title "Son of God" at this festival [verse 36] is a virtual synonym for "Messiah" and would be understood by 1^st century AD Jews in that way.

John 10:22-30: The Decision to Kill Jesus is Made During the Feast of Dedication

Jesus has gone to the Temple to teach.  He is pacing up and down in the portico of Solomon, a covered colonnade on the eastern side of the outer court of the Temple.  According to the 1^st century AD Jewish historian Flavius Josephus the people believed this porch was all that remained from Solomon's original Temple destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6^th century BC [Antiquities of the Jews, 1511.3; 20.9.7; Jewish Wars 5.5.1].  

The Feast of Dedication, known by the Hebrew word for dedication "Chanukah" [also as Hanukkah] is celebrated in our month of December.  It was not a Sacred Feast ordained by God, but it was instead a national feast instituted by the people.  It was instituted by the great military leader Judas Maccabeus to celebrate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in 164BC after it had been desecrated by the Syrian-Greek army and later liberated by the victorious Jewish army.  For three years from 167-164BC the Syrian Greeks had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by erecting the idol of Baal Shamen [the Mesopotamian version of Zeus] on the sacrificial altar [1 Maccabees 1:54 and 2 Maccabees 6:1-7].  This profaning of the Temple came to an end when Judas Maccabeus drove out the Syrians on the 25^th of Chislev [1 Maccabees 4:41-61].   The history behind this feast is recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees, two books that are no longer part of the Jewish or Protestant canon.  The Jewish Tanach [Old Testament] no longer has any record of the events that led to the formation of this feast.

 1 Maccabees 4:36-59 and 2 Maccabees 10:1-8.

The celebration of the rededication of the Temple became a feast similar to the 8 day Feast of Tabernacles [Shelters] which was celebrated in the early fall and which commemorated the giving to the Tabernacle in the desert and the sovereignty of God.  It was also during the Feast of Tabernacles [Shelters] that Solomon's Temple had been dedicated [2 Chronicles 5:3-7:1]. The dedication of Solomon's Temple was accompanied by the coming of the shekinah glory of God and resulted in the divine lighting of the fire upon the sacrificial altar [2 Chronicles 7:1]. As a result this feast developed an impressive light celebration enacted each night during the feast [discussed in chapter 8].   Like the Feast of Tabernacles, Chanukah became a "feast of lights" and even the palm and willow branches of the Tabernacles [Shelters] celebration became part of the ritual of this new feast: They kept eight festal days with rejoicing, in the manner of the feast of Shelters, remembering how, not long before at the time of the feast of Shelters, they had been living in the mountains and caverns like wild beasts. Then, carrying thyrsuses, leafy boughs and palms, they offered hymns to him who had brought the cleansing of his own holy place to a happy outcome.  They also decreed by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole Jewish nation should celebrate those same days every year. 
2 Maccabees 10:6-8.

However, God did not light the sacred altar of sacrifice in 165BC at the re-taking of the Temple nor did He light the altar at the dedication a year later but according to the Talmud [Megillat Taanit 9] there was a miracle.   It took 8 days to rebuild the altar and during that time the one vial of consecrated olive that was found provided a continuous supply of oil to light the golden Menorah until the priests could return to the Temple with more oil 8 days later.  Therefore, this feast was celebrated with lights, with recognition of the ministerial priesthood as the shepherds of Yahweh's flock, and as a fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel 8:1-12 and 11:22-32.  These prophecies were fulfilled in the defeat of the Syrian Greeks and the restoration of Judah to national independence for the first time since 586BC. Since this feast also celebrated freedom from foreign oppression Jews in the first century AD, suffering under the domination of the Romans, naturally were consumed with thoughts of national deliverance.  The biblical promises of the Messiah as a conquering Davidic king were foremost in the minds of the people which led to the question posed to Jesus in verse 24 which demands "don't give us parables...tell us plainly are you the Messiah?"

John 10:24-25: Jesus replied: 'I have told you, but you do not believe.  The works I do in my Father's name are my witness; but you do not believe, because you are no sheep of mine.'

Once again we have the reoccurring theme of "listening" to the voice of Jesus which is the command of Yahweh in Deuteronomy 18:19: I shall put my words into his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him.  Anyone who refuses to listen to my words, spoken by him in my name, will have to render an account to me.  Jesus has taught with authority and He has performed miracles greater than any former prophet of Israel.  He has done enough to provide his interrogators with an answer to their question.  These teachings and "signs" are greater than any verbal statement because they are all in fulfillment of the prophesies of the holy prophets of God concerning the identity and mission of the Messiah.  In Luke 22:67b Jesus tells them, 'If I tell you, you will not believe me.'  Here in verse 25 He tells them they are not His sheep therefore they do not follow Him.  It is the blindness of the Jewish leadership that prevents them from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David.  There spiritual defect is contrasted in Matthews Gospel by two different sets of blind men; one set in Matthew 9:27 and a later set in Jericho in Matthew 20:32.  In both incidents the blind men all call out, Have pity on us, son of David.  To call Jesus "son of David" is the same as calling Him the Messiah.  The irony is that these men who are physically in darkness have seen the "Light" spiritually while the Pharisees and others have physical sight yet walk in darkness.

Question: But what is the other reason He will not give them a definitive answer to their question: "Are you the Messiah, the son of David?"
Answer: Because when He does give a definitive answer that He is the Messiah that statement will be the final seal to His death sentence and He still needs a little more time. 

For the 3^rd time Jesus declares that He and the Father are one!  He makes the same claim He made in John 5:17 and 8:58.  Jesus and the Father are one because they do the same work and stand in the same relation to the "sheep".  God the Father accomplished His work in the world uniquely through the Son.

Question: How do the sheep "know" Jesus?
Answer: They know Him in a covenantal relationship.

Question:  To know Christ in a covenant relationship promises what blessings?
Answer: Eternal life and a bond with Christ which cannot be broken, unless the baptized believer personally rejects Christ as Savior and Lord.  The protection that Jesus provides for those who believe in Him and remain faithful is equivalent to the Father's divine protection. 

Question:  What does Jesus mean when He says The Father and I are one.?

Answer: Jesus is claiming unity and equality with the Godhead.  God the Father and God the Son are united in the loving embrace of the God the Holy Spirit.  The unity of the most holy Trinity cannot be divided even when we distinguish between the three Divine Persons.  

Jesus is one in substance with the Father as far as divine essence or nature is concerned, but the Father and the Son are distinct Persons.  

The Jews do not miss the implication of His words.

 John 10: 31-42:

The Jews understand Jesus to be saying that He is God but they interpret His words as blasphemy.  The punishment for blasphemy under the Sinai covenant is death by stoning [Leviticus 24:16].

Question:  As they pick up stones to execute Him, Jesus sarcastically asks them what question?
Answer: He asks them for which of His many good works will they kill Him.

Question:  What is their answer? 
Answer: They respond that it is for His claims for divinity –the sin of blasphemy that they condemn Him.

Question:  What do the "works" of Jesus reveal about Him?
Answer: The "works" of Jesus are to authenticate His mission in the eyes of the people and to support His claims to divinity.  He has show absolute power over creation and that He can suspend the laws of nature.  These works give testimony to His true nature.

Jesus' ministry is drawing to a close.  It is December and in March He will make His last journey to Jerusalem.  Therefore, He returns to the site where His ministry began on the far or east side of the Jordan River where He was baptized by His kinsman John.  John's work of preparation is still producing results.  The crowds who accepted the Baptist's message are now following Jesus.  They believe John's testimony of Him: Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God [John 1:34].

Winter: Feast of Dedication	IV. THE OPPOSITION CONTINUES IN JERUSALEM during the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah)	10:22-42
	Jesus in BETHANY (near Jerusalem)
	V.  THE OPPOSITION AT BETHANY	11:1– 2:11
Late winter/early spring	A.  SIGN #6: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead - #5: I AM the Resurrection and the Life"	11:1-44
	B.  The Pharisees plan to kill Jesus	11:45-57

 

In chapter 10 Jesus declared to the religious authorities and the people that He had come in fulfillment of the "Good Shepherd prophecies" of the prophets.  He has come as the promised King/Good Shepherd, "the Branch" from the house of David, as Yahweh Himself to shepherd His people, and as the One who will bring judgment on those who have failed as "shepherds" of Yahweh's Covenant people.  Throughout the Good Shepherd discourse of John chapter 10, Jesus has been identifying Himself with the Old Testament prophetic passages like Jeremiah 23:1-2, 5; Ezekiel 34:2-4, 11, 17, 23-25; Zechariah 11:17; 12:10-11; 13:1, 7-9 [verse 9 quoted by Jesus in Matthew 26:31 at the end of the Last Supper] and Micah 2:12-13: I shall assemble the whole of Jacob, I shall gather the remnant of Israel, I shall gather them together like sheep in an enclosure.  And like a flock within their fold, they will bleat far away from anyone, their leader will break out first, then all break out through the gate and escape, with their king leading the way and with Yahweh at their head.  He is judging the "wicked shepherds" of Israel, He is judging between the "sheep" [people] of the Old Covenant, He is Himself the Good Shepherd and He will lead the "sheep" that know His voice out of the "enclosure", the Old Covenant established at Sinai, and into the New Covenant established in His blood.  He will lead His flock as the Shepherd-King of the house of David.

In John 10:36 Jesus answers the Jewish charge of blasphemy by telling them that He is not a man who makes Himself god but He is instead the Incarnate Word of God who has become man.  He is the Living Word.  He performs the works of God with the words of God.   He has used these Sacred Scriptures in the Psalms to explain that He is not blaspheming.  Instead this passage speaks of Him.  He will arise to judge and all the nations will belong to Him. As for the charge that Jesus has "worked" on the Sabbath, they have missed the point that He has continued to confront them on the Sabbath precisely in order to reveal His divine nature as the Word of God!

The Raising of Lazarus (Duccio)

CHAPTER 11

John 11:1-16: THE SISTERS OF LAZARUS SEND FOR JESUS

Lazarus' name is literally La'zar, the shortened form of Eleazar which means "God helps" [Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, page 422].

The Synoptic Gospels cast more light on the special relationship this family enjoyed with Jesus.  This 6^th Sign took place sometime between December and March of year 29/30AD. An earlier visit is recorded in Luke. 

Time-line summary of Jesus' friendship with Lazarus and his sisters:

• Martha invites Jesus to stay at her house. She cooks dinner for Him and His disciples sometime during the first two years of His ministry [Luke 10:38-42].  Notice Lazarus is not mentioned.
• Jesus relationship with this family must have continued during each of His visits to Jerusalem during His approximately 3-year ministry because John 11:6 describes Jesus as having a loving relationship with this family: Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  Most scholars suggest that Lazarus was the much younger brother of Martha and Mary.  Evidence cited for this assumption is based on the passages in John when members of the family are listed.  Even though Lazarus is central to the "sign", the sisters are mentioned first and Lazarus is always described as their brother instead of Mary and Martha as his sisters [John 11:2, 5 & 6].  Then too, in the account in Luke 10:39-42 Lazarus is not mentioned at all.  If he had been a man responsible for the care of his sisters it would have been most unusual for them to be listed before him or for him to be ignored.
• Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead sometime between late winter and early spring of 30AD [John 11]
• Six days before the Passover [Saturday], probably circa March 30AD [John 12:1], Jesus and the Apostles have a special Sabbath dinner with the family and Mary anoints His body, prefiguring His death and burial [John 12:1-12]
• Wednesday of that same week, two days before Passover* [Matthew 26:2; Mark 14:1-3] Jesus the guest of honor at a dinner at the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany. [Matthew 26:6-12; Mark 14:3-8].

Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Simon the Leper all lived in the village of Bethany on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about two Roman miles from Jerusalem [John 11:18] or about four modern miles from the current city of Jerusalem.  Scholars debate the Hebrew meaning of the name "Bethany".  Some scholars maintain the name means "place" or "house of grace" [bet = place or house while heni is from the root hen, meaning "grace'.  Other scholars believe the name comes from the Hebrew word anya meaning "affliction" and therefore would be "place or house of affliction" [Anchor Bible: Gospel According to John, page 422].  It can at least be agreed that when Christ was present this village was indeed a "place of grace"!  The story of the raising of Lazarus is unique to John's Gospel.  It is the 6^th of the public "signs" of Jesus the Son of God.  We do not know why the Synoptic Gospels do not recount this miracle but John presents the resurrection of Lazarus as a historically accurate event that took place in the village of Bethany on the Mount of Olives during the last year of Jesus' earthly ministry.

Bethany is a rather important site in the four Gospels: 

• This village is also the sight of the two anointings of Jesus [Matthew 26:6; John 12:1-3].
• It is the beginning point of the procession of palms on Passion Sunday of Passover Week [Mark 11:1 and Luke 19:28] when Jesus rides into Jerusalem fulfilling the prophecy of Genesis 49:8-12 and Zechariah 9:9; and
• It is near the sight of the Ascension of the Resurrected Jesus [Luke 24:50; Acts 1]. 

It is interesting that John identifies Lazarus by his sisters.  The obvious reason would be that he assumes his audience is familiar with these sisters from the other Gospel accounts that mention Mary and Martha but which do not mention their brother. 

Question: There is a double meaning concerning death and glorification.  What is it?
Answer:  Jesus will be glorified by the miracle of resurrecting Lazarus [John 11:4] but the miracle will enrage the Jewish authorities to the point that it will bring about Jesus' own death [John 11:46-54] through which He will be glorified.

Jesus' statement This sickness will not end in death seems at first glance to be ambiguous. Lazarus will indeed die and be entombed.

Question: What does Jesus mean when He says Lazarus will not "die"?
Answer:   This is another example of John's play on words. Remember a "sign" always points beyond the miracle performed by Jesus.  There are two "deaths": physical death and spiritual death which is an eternal death. The reason why the sickness will not end in death is because Jesus will give life, physical life, as a sign of eternal life. This sign in the raising of Lazarus will glorify Christ, not just because people will admire Him, but because it will lead to another great sign beyond Lazarus' resurrection.

Question: What is the symbolic significance of the resurrection of Lazarus, how does it relate to the healing of the man born blind in John 9, and what greater sign, beyond Lazarus' resurrection, does it point to?
Answer: The symbolic importance of this 6^th Sign is made clear by John from the beginning.  We were told in John 9:3 that the affliction of the man born blind was for the purpose of having God's works revealed in him.  In John 11:4 we are told that Lazarus' illness is also for God's glory.  But this glory will only be fully evident when the Son is Himself glorified in His death, burial, and resurrection. 

Question: Where are Jesus and His disciples when news of Lazarus' illness reaches Him?  Hint: see John 10:40
Answer: Jesus and His disciples are across the Jordan River on the eastern side in the area known as Perea [Peraea].  

Question: Why had Jesus and His disciples withdrawn from Judea to the area of Perea?  
Answer: After Jesus' discourse at the Feast of Dedication [Chanukkah/Hanukkah] the authorities were even more determined to kill Jesus.

Question: Is there anything significant about the two day's delay?  When did Jesus and the disciples start out for Bethany?
Answer: They would have begun their journey on the third day after having received the message.  It would have taken a day for the message to come to Jesus, then two days that Jesus remained across the Jordan before leaving, plus the day's journey to Bethany will account for the four days which will be mentioned in verse 17.  That He started on the third day puts emphasis on the number 3 as the number that indicated importance and theological significance in Sacred Scripture.  Please consult the document "The Significance of Numbers in Scripture" in the Resource section of Agape Bible Study.

Question: Jesus uses the word "sleep" to express the death of Lazarus.  Even though in Hebrew as well as in Greek culture "to sleep" could be a euphemism of someone's death, the disciples fail to catch Jesus' meaning.  In their culture "to sleep" forever was death but why is the expression "to fall asleep" especially fitting for the death of a believer in Christ?
Answer: Because a Christian has the hope of eternal life.  A Christian must face physical death but for the Christian it is only a "sleep" because Christ will "awaken" at the time of the resurrection when the Christian will arise bodily.

Question: Jesus tells the disciples He is glad for their sake that Lazarus has died.  What does He mean?
Answer: The significance of the death of their friend Lazarus includes the strengthening of the disciples' faith through the miracle of his resurrection.  It is a strengthening of faith they will all need to recall in about two months when their faith is severely put to the test.

 John 11:17-27: Jesus Teaches Lazarus' Sisters About Resurrection

The detail that Lazarus had been dead for four days is significant.  It makes it clear that Lazarus was truly deceased.  

Question: What belief does Martha express in Jesus but why doesn't she ask Him to resurrect her brother?  See verse 21-22 and Daniel 12:2.
Answer: She believes if Jesus had been by her brother's side before his death that Jesus could have healed him. She also expresses the belief that whatever He asks God the Father will be granted. 

John 11:25-27: Jesus said: 'I AM the resurrection [and the Life]. Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?'  'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.'

The additional phrase "and the Life" is omitted in some MMS [ancient handwritten manuscripts] and included in others. The addition of the phrase and the Life does fit well, however, with the flow of ideas and statements that proceed and follow the phrase. This is Jesus' 5^th "I AM" statement using a predicate nominative.   You may remember that all the previous "I AM" statements where Jesus uses a predicate nominative reference the themes of the resurrection and eternal life.

Jesus identifies Himself with the significant and symbolic words: I AM, ego ami, which reminds us of Yahweh's revelation of Himself to Moses 3 times as I AM in Exodus 3:13-14.  In John's Gospel Jesus will use these words 26 times and in 7 different metaphors [each used with a predicate nominative]:

1. 6:35	"I AM the bread of life"
2. 8:12	"I AM the light of the world"
3. 10:7	"I AM the gate for the sheep"
4. 10:11	"I AM the good shepherd"
5. 11:25	"I AM the resurrection and the life"
6. 14:6	"I AM the way and the truth and the life"
7. 15:1	"I AM the true vine"
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2003 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

St. John will also record 4 "I AM" statements in which Jesus does not use a predicate nominative:

Question: What is the significance of Jesus' statement in light of Martha's previous understanding?
Answer: The life that Jesus gives is a present reality and not just a future promise!  There are two principal ideas here:

1. "I AM the resurrection" is a direct answer to Martha's profession of faith in verse 24 and also tells her of the present realization of what she had only expected on "the last day".  Jesus is the resurrection in the sense that not only will whoever believes in Him, even though he may suffer a physical death, shall come to eternal life but there is the gift of spiritual rebirth that is offered now, in this life. The believer who is resurrected spiritually in Christ, even though remaining "in the flesh" for a time, already lives by the Spirit and when he dies physically, will live spiritually.  That is why we speak of 2 resurrections: one through baptism when we die to sin and are raised to eternal life and the other at the end of time [see Revelation 20:5-6; CCC# 686; 990; 999-1004; 1015-17; 1214-15].
2. "and the Life" is a statement related to verse 26.  The believer who is alive spiritually will never die spiritually.  Whoever receives the gift of life through belief in Christ Jesus will never die a spiritual death because this life is eternal. The "life" that Jesus speaks of is life that comes from "above" and is begotten through God the Holy Spirit.  His life conquers physical death as well as gives spiritual life.  But this gift of supernatural life is not just the life that will begin beyond the grave but is the supernatural life which sanctifying grace will bring to the Christian soul through to gift of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist.  It is the promise Jesus made to all believers in John 6:54: Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise that person up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person.

The believer in Christ has triumphed over death forever and this victory will be the sign of Lazarus' resurrection.

John 11:27: 'Yes, Lord,' she said, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.' Martha of Bethany is a wonderful example of the model Christian. She responds in faith, in love, and in obedience to the teachings of Christ in her profession of faith in Him. Her statement is one of the clearest recognitions of Jesus as the Messiah that we have heard in John's Gospel, and it is one of the fullest professions of faith found in the New Testament. 

John 11:28-44: The 6^th Sign: The Resurrection of Lazarus

The word translated in verse 28 "master" is also translated as "teacher" [Anchor Bible: The Gospel According to John, page 425].  Jesus has remained outside the town. Martha's cautious whispering may indicate the element of danger mentioned in verse 8.

Question: What is Mary's first response when she comes to Jesus? Is it similar to Martha's greeting?  Compare her actions with her other encounters with Christ in Luke 10:39 and John 12:3.  How is she always pictured with Christ?
Answer: As soon as Mary sees Jesus she falls prostrate at His feet.  Mary of Bethany is always pictured at Jesus' feet.  Both sisters are examples of the model Christian.

Question: We can understand Jesus' sorrowful response to the pain and suffering of His friends but what are the reasons for which He might be responding in anger?

Answer: It is unlikely that the anger is directed at Mary's mild reproach.  She does not understand that the reason for her brother's death is for God to be glorified through the miracle of his resurrection.  Nor is her weeping an indication of a lack of faith since Jesus Himself cried.  A better explanation may be that that He was angry because once again He is face to face with the realm of Satan and the sin that brings suffering and death, manifestations of Satan's evil influence over creation and mankind.

Saint John Chrysostom suggests that in this passage Jesus has the same mixture of emotion that He felt in the Garden of Gethsemane as recounted in the Synoptic Gospels [see Mark 14:33] which is an emotional distress caused by the imminence of His suffering and death and the climax of His struggle with Satan.  Homilies on the Gospel of John, 63.2

Whether His emotion was anger or grief or a combination of both, this passage allows us to reflect on the depth of Jesus' human feelings reminding us that He was both fully divine and fully man and  therefore experienced of all the depths of emotion that we feel.  The Navarre Commentary suggests if Jesus can be moved to tears over the temporary physical death of a friend and believer what must He feel over the spiritual death of the sinner who has brought about his own eternal condemnation?  St. Augustine writes about this passage: Christ wept; let man also weep for himself.  For why did Christ weep, but to teach men to weep.  St Augustine, The Gospel of John, 49, 19.

The crowd of mourners surrounding Mary and Jesus show no doubts about the reality of Jesus' miracle of healing the man born blind. Theirs is a natural question: Since Jesus has performed such wonderful miracles why didn't He heal His friend?

it was a cave with a stone to close the opening: Lazarus is not buried in the public cemetery but in a cave'the tomb of a wealthy man, the poor were buried in common graves.  These rock-hewn sepulchres consisted of an antechamber and an inner or lower part of the chamber in which bodies were deposited in niches in a recumbent position. Approximately a year after the burial the bones would be collected and placed in a stone ossuary or bone-box.  According to the Talmud the burial niches were usually six feet long, nine feet wide, and ten feet high.  The entrance to the burial cave was sealed by a large round stone that rolled in front of the opening in a channel specially cut for the stone or was sealed by a plug-like stone [Ancient Israel, page 280].  The fact that this family could afford a cave burial site is another indication that Lazarus' family was neither poor nor destitute.  Jesus' body will also be laid in a similar cave burial cave, which was the tomb of a wealthy man who was a disciple as well as a member of the Sanhedrin: Joseph of Arimathea [Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:43-46; Luke 23:50-54; John 19:38-42].

Question: Upon Jesus' order to remove the stone Martha makes a very practical statement; what comment does she make and why?
Answer:  It is now the fourth day and corruption has begun; the decaying flesh has a very strong and repulsive odor, practical Martha tells Jesus her brother's corpse will stink!

Jesus prays with His eyes opened and raised to heaven, as is the Jewish custom [see Matthew 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16; 18:13; John 17:1]. Jesus begins His prayer by addressing God the Father as "Abba," which was Jesus' characteristic but unusual way of addressing God in prayer.  No Jew of His generation or previous generations would have addressed Yahweh this way.  Ab is the Hebrew and Aramaic word for 'father' while abba is more literally rendered as the affectionate address of a little child = 'daddy'.  In Romans 8:15 St. Paul writes: For what you received was not the spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear; you received the spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, Abba, Father!  And in Galatians 4:6-7 St. Paul also writes: As you are sons, God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son crying, 'Abba, Father'; and so you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, by God's own act.  Jesus' loving and intimate address to God the Father has now, through our baptism and resurrection in Christ enabled us to go to our "Abba" in the same intimate union as a little child goes to the embrace of a loving "daddy". 

he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!'
Question: What is significant about the fact that Jesus calls Lazarus by name?
Answer: Although dead, Lazarus has not lost his personal identity.  Death does not end existence but transforms existence to another plane which is why Jesus stated in Matthew 22:32 and Luke 20:28 that God is not God of the death but of the living, for to him all are alive.

John 11:44a: The dead man came out...   In this 6^th sign Jesus has given back physical life as a sign of His power to give eternal life and as a promise that on "The Last Day" He will bodily raise the dead!

Question: What does this sign prefigure that Jesus spoke of in John chapter 5 verses 28-30 concerning the Final Judgment?
Answer: Jesus said ... for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: Those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgment.

The raising of Lazarus is the 3^rd resurrection miracle in the Gospels. 

The three resurrection miracles are:

1. The raising of Jairus' daughter in Mark 5:35-43
2. The widow of Nain's son in Luke 7:11-17
3. The raising of Lazarus is only recounted in John's Gospel.  It does not appear in the Synoptic Gospels.

verses 45-57: The Jewish Leaders Decide to Kill Jesus

John 11:45-48: Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees to tell them what Jesus had done.  Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting [gathered together*].  'Here is this man working all these signs,' they said, 'and what action are we taking?  If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and suppress the Holy Place and our nation.'

..the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting...  The Greek word translated as "called" is sunago, meaning "to collect" or "to convene" [Strong's Exhaustive Concordance #4863].  The council which was convened was probably the Sanhedrin, the Jewish law court which had jurisdiction over civil and religious matters with Roman approval.  The three estates of the Sanhedrin were the priests, the elders, and the scribes [most of the scribes being Pharisees].  The Sanhedrin would not have moved against Jesus if the Pharisees were not opposed to him. 

Question:  From the very beginning of Jesus' ministry what has been the ultimate fear of the Jewish authorities?
Answer: The fear that messianic fervor among the people would spark a revolt against Rome, which would destroy the relatively good relationship the civil and religious authorities had developed with the Roman authority.  Such a revolt threatened the nation and the most holy site of the people, the Temple in Jerusalem, the center of worship of Yahweh and the only site where sacrifices can be offered to God.

John 11:49-52:  One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, 'You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish.'  He did not speak in his own person, but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation and not for the nation only, but also to gather together into one the scattered children of God.

John 11:53-54: From that day onwards they were determined to kill him.  So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

The time of the Last Passover draws near:  Spring 30AD
John 11:55-57: The Jewish Passover was drawing near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves were looking out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, 'What do you think?  Will he come to the festival or not?  The chief priests and Pharisees had by now given their orders: anyone who knew where he was must inform them so that they could arrest him.

Question: Why is it that the authorities can be fairly certain that Jesus will attend the Passover/Unleavened Bread Feast?  Hint: Exodus 23:14-19
Answer: This is one of the three "Pilgrim Feasts" which by law every man of the Covenant must attend.  Jesus has previously attended each of these holy days of obligation even though His life had been threatened.

(day 6 before the Passover)	Jesus in BETHANY in JUDEA THE LAST WEEK: 6 days before the PASSOVER SACRIFICE (John 12:1-11)
	C.  Jesus and the Apostles stay the night at Bethany	12:1-11
	1.  Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus	12:3-8
	2.  Crowds gather to see Jesus and Lazarus	12:9-11
(day 5 before) Nisan 10	VI.  THE FINAL OPPOSITION AT JERUSALEM	12:12-22
	A.  The King of Kings enters Jerusalem, Palm (Passion) Sunday	12:12-15
	B. "The whole world has gone after Him!"	12:16-19

Just before PASSOVER #3

THE LAST WEEK (first day of Passover is always Nisan 14)

(days  4 – 2) Nisan 11-13	I.  THE MESSIAH TEACHES IN THE TEMPLE:	12:20-50
	A. "The hour has come!"	12:20-36
	B.  The unbelief of the Jews	12:37-50

Chapter 12 begins the countdown to the Passion of the Christ. The chapter begins with a dinner in Bethany, a village at the foot of the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. It is a dinner in honor of the Messiah and His disciples who have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts of the holy week of Passover and Unleavened Bread.

John 12:1-11: The Anointing at Bethany

It is significant that John places this event 6 days before the Passover sacrifice.  He began his Gospel with a one-week period of time from Jesus' preexistence to the wedding at Cana, which occurred on the 7^th day and now the countdown to Christ's passion begins in the last week of His earthly life.

Question: Can we determine on what day of the week this dinner occurred?  Hint: Take into account that the next day will be Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah.
Answer: Tradition ascribes Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a Sunday[Catechism of the Catholic Church #560].  The Church calls this day Palm or Passion Sunday.  From the earliest surviving writings of the Church this day has always been identified as a Sunday.  Accepting this tradition as accurate then the dinner in Bethany took place on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. According to Jewish tradition, the Sabbath meal began at the 6^th hour Jewish time, or 12 noon in our time (Josephus, Life 54).

Question: If the dinner at Bethany occurred on the Sabbath, Saturday, and the Passover is 6 days later, then can we determine the day of the week that the Passover sacrifice took place?  This would be the day that would be the 14^th of Nisan [Abib/Aviv] as prescribed by the Law in Exodus chapter 12 as the day of the Passover sacrifice. 
Answer: If Saturday is day "one" of the 6 days before Passover, then the 14^th of Nisan would have fallen on Thursday as day six.  Counting as the ancients counted from the Saturday meal in Bethany as day #1, then day #2 is Sunday (the day of Jesus' entry into the city of Jerusalem), day #3 is Monday, day #4 is Tuesday, day #5 is Wednesday, and day #6, the day of the Passover sacrifice, is Thursday.   The identification of Thursday, the day before Jesus' crucifixion, as the day of the Passover sacrifice is in complete agreement with the Synoptic Gospels and with Church tradition.

It has always been the tradition of the Church that the Last Supper fell on a Thursday, which the Church calls "Holy Thursday."  We can also arrive at determining this day of the week from the information in the Gospels that Jesus died on "Preparation Day" which is Friday:  (Mark 15:42) It was now evening, and since it was Preparation Day, that is the day before the Sabbath'there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent member of the Council, who himself lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God, and he boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus"  [also see Matthew 28:62; Luke 27:50-54; and John 19:31].

Holy Friday was from sundown the night of the Passover Feast to sundown after the afternoon of Jesus death on the cross.  That makes the day of the Passover sacrifice, the 14^th of Nisan, a Thursday.  That St. John's Gospel identifies Thursday, the day before Jesus' Passion, as the day of the Passover sacrifice agrees with the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke [see Matthew 26:2, 17-19; Mark 14:1, 12-16; Luke 22:1, 7-15]: On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him, 'Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?' (Mark 14:12).

The Gospel of John mentions that the day Jesus was taken to be judged by the Roman governor Pilate was "the day of Preparation" in John 19:14, but St. John is identifying that Friday before the Sabbath which fell within the week long celebration of the holy feasts.  Later in 19:31 St. John defines "Preparation Day" as Friday, the day before the Saturday Sabbath: It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath'since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity..."  St. John identifies "that Sabbath" as a special solemnity because it was the Sabbath that fell within the Holy Week of Passover and the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The day after "that Sabbath" was the Feast of Firstfruits [Leviticus 23:11-14], which from the time of the Sinai Covenant always fell on a Sunday, and counting 50 days (as the ancients counted) from the Feast of Firstfruits yielded the date of the Feast of Weeks, called Pentecost in Jesus' time [Leviticus 23:15-21].

Gospel Passages which mention the phrase "Preparation Day" include:

• Matthew 27:62 (After the burial of Christ in 27:57-61): Next day, that is, when Preparation Day was over, the chief priests and the Pharisees went in a body to Pilate...
• Mark 15:42 (after the death of Jesus in Mark 15:33-41): It was now evening, and since it was Preparation Pay'that is, the day before the Sabbath...
• Luke 23:52-54: (after the death of Jesus in 23:44-49): This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud and put it in  tomb which was hewn in stone and which had never held a body.  It was Preparation Day and the Sabbath was beginning to grow light [or "was shining" perhaps referring the approaching hour of the beginning of the Sabbath, which was at sundown when the oil lamps would be lit.]
• John 19:13-14 (Jesus' judgment before Pilate):  Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated him on the chair of judgment at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha.  It was the Day of Preparation, ...
• John 19:31 (after the death of Christ in 19:28-30): It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies remaining on the cross during the Sabbath'since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity'the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. 
• John 19:42 (the burial of Christ): Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was nearly, they laid Jesus there.

Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31 clearly identify "Preparation Day" as the Friday before the Sabbath.

In the Jewish tradition the Friday before the Sabbath [Saturday] is designated the day of preparation for the Sabbath observances.  It was forbidden to shop or to cook or light a fire, in fact, it was forbidden to do any work on the Sabbath, therefore, all preparations for the necessities of the Sabbath had to be carried out on the day before the Sabbath (Mishnah: Shabbat 1:1-24:5), hence the term "Preparation Day" was applied to the Friday before the Sabbath, which began at sundown [the Jewish day began at sundown].  Friday, the day after the Passover sacrifice was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the day of Jesus crucifixion, would have been the 7^th day.  Counting backward that identifies the dinner at Bethany as a Saturday.  Jesus enjoyed a Sabbath dinner with His Apostles and His dear friend.

John 12:2: They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table.  Most Biblical scholars assume that since Judas is mentioned by name in the account of the dinner in John 12:2-11 that all the Apostles were present at this gathering along with the family Jesus loved: Martha, Mary, and Lazarus of Bethany.  You will remember that in chapter 11 Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead as His sixth "sign."

The key point which supports two dinners is that Judas could not betray Jesus and set the events of Jesus' arrest and crucifixion in motion until Jesus' "hour had come."  There is no mention of Judas' betrayal in the events during or after the dinner recorded in John 12:1-11.  Jesus' "hour" in the Gospel of John does not come until John 12:23 on what would have been Wednesday, His last day teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem.  When the Gentiles ask to speak to Jesus His response is: "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified."  The next mention of His "hour" in the Gospel of John is in 13:1: "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."  This passage sets up the events of the Last Supper described in John 13:2-18:1.

Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities after the Wednesday dinner at Bethany but before the Passover sacrifice.  The liturgical rites and the sacrifices of the Passover festival began in the Temple on Thursday, Nisan the 14^th (the 6^th day from the Sabbath dinner in Bethany), and the celebration of the sacrificial meal began that night in the Upper Room at sundown.  At sundown it became the 15^th of Nisan and the beginning of the Jewish Friday, the "Preparation Day" for the "Great Sabbath" of Passover Week.

The Gospel accounts all agree that during His last week in Jerusalem, Jesus and the Apostles withdrew to the Mt. of Olives every evening to spent the night and on at least one occasion stayed in the town of Bethany, located on the Mt. of Olives (Matthew 21:17; 24:3; Mark 11:11-12; 13:3; Luke 21:37; 22:39).  It is reasonable to assume that Jesus and the Apostles dined with friends in Bethany on more than one occasion with more than one family bearing the joy, and the expense, of entertaining the Messiah and his Apostles, dining at the Sabbath meal with the family of Lazarus and on Wednesday at the home of Simon.   Note: Simon "the Leper" of Bethany was probably a man healed by Christ. The Dead Sea Scrolls do confirm that a leper colony did live on the outskirts of Bethany at this time [11Q Temple 46:16-18].

John 12:3: Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment.

Question:  What is interesting about the descriptions John offers of Lazarus' sisters in verses 2-3?
Answer: The description of the two sisters, Martha serving and Mary worshipping, is once again consistent with Luke's portrayal of these two women in Luke 10:38-42.

Spikenard is fragrant oil derived from the root and spike of hair stems of the nard plant which grows in the mountains of northern India.  It was extremely costly.  A pound of genuine nard in the 1^st century would cost approximately 300 denarii as Judas will accurately estimate in verse 5.  A denarius was a day's wage for a common laborer in the first century; therefore, the ointment would have amounted to almost a year's wages.

It is not unusual to anoint the head of an honored guest as Jesus rebuked Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7:46: You did not anoint my head with oil...,  or to anointed the head of a priest or king as in Exodus 30:30: You will also anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to be priests in my service.  But it is most unusual to anoint the feet of one who is still living.  Anointing the whole body to include the feet was part of burial practices and in fact Jesus will equate Mary's actions with preparation of His burial in verse 7.  Mary is unconsciously performing a prophetic act by anointing Jesus.

John 12:4-7:Then Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him'said, 'Why has this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?'  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contents.  So Jesus said, 'Leave her alone; let her keep it for the day of my burial.  You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.'

Question: Do you recall the comments about Judas in chapter 6:70-71?
Answer: "Jesus replied to them, 'Did I not choose the Twelve of you?  Yet one of you is a devil.'  He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot [Iscariot = man of Kariot], since this was the man, one of the Twelve, who was to betray him."

Note: the town of Kariot is in the province of Judea.  Judas name in Hebrew is Yehudah.  It is the name of the 4^th son of Israel/Jacob who is the father of the tribe of Judah.  Like Jesus, Judas is of the tribe of Judah.  In each of the lists of the Apostles in the Gospels the note is added that he is a traitor [Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; and Luke 6:16].  There is also another Apostle named Judas, a faithful Apostle who is identified as "Judas of James," meaning he is either the son or brother of a man named James (Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13).  Like the nation of Judah, these two disciples named for the tribe/nation of Judah are split in their response to Jesus: Judas of James accepting Jesus as the Messiah and his Savior and Lord and Judas Iscariot who fails to receive Jesus into his heart and who rejects Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Question: Why is Judas Iscariot protest about the wastefulness of the ointment insincere?
Answer: He does not care about the poor.  He is a thief.  

Question: What has led to Judas' downfall?  
Answer: He is led into sin through his love of money and becomes a tool of Satan.

Jesus defends Mary by saying: Let her use it for the day of my burial...

Question: To what event does this statement refer?
Answer: At the end of chapter 11 the Jewish law court known as the Sanhedrin will condemn Jesus to death.  On interpretation of this passage is that Mary's action prepares Jesus' body for the event of His Passion. Another interpretation is that there is some ointment left in the bottle and Jesus forbids Judas to take the rest because Mary will need it a few days to prepare His body for burial.

John 12:8-11: Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.  Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

The "Jews" in verse 9 refers to the crowd of the covenant people present in Jerusalem for the holy week of the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread and not the religious authorities.

Question: What was it that many people believed about Jesus and how was that "belief" related to Lazarus of Bethany?
Answer: They believed that Jesus was a divine Messiah because only God could give life as Jesus has given live back to Lazarus after he had been dead for 4 days and had experienced corruption of the flesh.

Question: How has Jesus' miracle put Lazarus' life in jeopardy and why?  See John 12:17-18.
Answer: As long as witnesses could point to a living, breathing Lazarus there was physical proof of Jesus' power, but if Lazarus was dead the evidence no longer existed.

 John 12:12-19:  The Messiah Enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

Question: Can you determine the date of this event in the Jewish calendar?  If Saturday was the day before then this day is of course, Sunday but it is also then 5 days before the Passover sacrifice which must always take place on the 14^th of Nisan [Abib/Aviv in Hebrew].  If Thursday is the 14^th what date is this Sunday and why is that date significant for the crowds of people who have gathered?  Hint: Read Exodus 12:3-6.

Answer: If Thursday is the 14^th of Nisan [Abib] than Sunday has to be the 10^th.  This is the day, according to the Law, that the lambs for the Passover sacrifice must be chosen. Exodus 12:3, 5, 6: On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock for his family, one animal for each household. [...] It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may choose it either from the sheep or from the goats.  You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight [literally = between the twilights]. 

It was not coincidence but Divine Providence that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the 10^th of Nisan. Jesus, identified as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world  by St. John the Baptist in John 1:29, is now coming into the holy city of Jerusalem on the very day the perfect victims are chosen for the Passover sacrifice!  Jesus is the perfect sacrificial victim to be offered up for sacrifice for the sins of man.  Every sacrificial animal offered up as a sin sacrifice for the sake of the people has only been a prefigurement of the Messiah as the sacrificial Lamb of God.  Jesus was the chosen male sacrificial victim, visible for all to judge His perfection.  He was the victim personally selected by the High Priest to die for the sake of the people: But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.'  He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad [John 11:49-52].

Question: What is significant about the Scripture verses the people are shouting?  They are quoting from Psalms 118:25-27.  You may recall that this passage is sung on the Feast of Tabernacles and is considered to be a Messianic psalm. Why do the people sing this psalm now and how does this passage relate to Jesus? 
Answer: He is the stone which the "builders", the priests/religious authorities, have rejected [verse 22].  It is Jesus' claim that He comes from Yahweh [Psalm 118:23].  By quoting from Psalm 118:25-26 the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as the promised Messiah and 118:27, he gives us light,  is what Jesus declared Himself to be at the Feast of Tabernacles ,I am the light of the world, a few months earlier [John 8:12].  The "Light" is the promised Messianic Davidic King [2 Samuel 7:16], which is what the people proclaim Jesus to be in the last line of John 12:13: "the king of Israel."

they took branches of palms:  palm branches were used each time the Hallel Psalms [113-118] were sung.  These psalms were traditionally sung during the feasts of Tabernacles, Chanukah (Hanukkah), and Passover. Only John mentions that the crowd acclaims Jesus by waving palm branches [John 12:13a]. Palms did not grow in the heights of Jerusalem and had to be brought in from Jericho.

The waving of palms was a custom associated with the feasts of Tabernacles [Shelters or Booths/ Sukkoth] and Chanukah but was also a custom associated with the celebrating of military victories and the welcoming of national rulers [see 1 Maccabees 13:51; 2 Maccabees 10:7; 14:4; and Josephus The Jewish War 7.100-102].  Palms will also be the symbol on the Judean coins struck by the Jewish rebels during the First Revolt against Rome in AD66-73 and again in the Second Revolt in AD 132-135.  The point is that the crowds are clearly hoping that Jesus will be a nationalist warrior-king prophesized in Daniel 7:13-14 and in Zechariah 9:10.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem 

John 12:14: Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it, as scripture says: Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; look, your king is approaching, riding on the foal of a donkey.

Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem is also described in Matthew 21:4-9; Mark 11:7-10; and Luke 19:35-38.

Question: What Scripture passage is John referring to and to what other Old Testament passage does it point?  Hint: see Zechariah 9:9-10 and Genesis 49:8-12
Answer: The reference is to Zechariah 9:9-10: Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion!  Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem!  Look, your king is approaching, he is vindicated and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished.  He will proclaim peace to the nations, his empire will stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the limits of the earth.

Entry into Jerusalem (Giotto)

John 12:16-19: At first his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him.  The crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept bearing witness to it; this was another reason why the crowd came out to receive him: they had heard that he had given this sign.  Then the Pharisees said to one another, 'You see, you are making no progress; look, the whole world has gone after him!'

Once again John comments that these events were only fully understood after Christ's resurrection [also see John 2:22].  It is only after the resurrection of the Messiah that the disciples will remember the Biblical prophecies that were fulfilled on that day Jesus rode into the Holy City.

There is an irony to the Pharisee's statement that "all the world has gone after him!"  It will be fulfilled in the commission that Christ will give the Church in Matthew 28:19-20: to baptize and make disciples of all nations.

Question: How has Lazarus' resurrection divided the people?
Answer: Those who witnessed the event see Jesus as the promised Messiah sent by Yahweh and their faith influences many people who have come to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast.  But the Pharisees are still lost in their "blindness" [John 11:53; Isaiah 6:10] and are more determined than ever to seek His death.

The study of John 12:20-50 will be the subject of the next lesson.  The end of chapter 12 will be the conclusion of Jesus' public ministry.  

BOOK 4 – THE PREPARATION OF THE DISCIPLES

BY THE SON OF GOD 12:23-17:26

Just before PASSOVER #3

THE LAST WEEK (first day of Passover is always Nisan 14)

(days 4 – 2) Nisan 11-13	I.  THE MESSIAH TEACHES IN THE TEMPLE:	12:20-50
	A. "The hour has come!"	12:20-36
	B.  The unbelief of the Jews	12:37-50

Last week's study of chapter 12 part I opened with the announcement that there were six days until the Passover Sacrifice.  The events in chapter 12 begin the countdown of the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry. In chapter 12 part II, Jesus will announce that His "hour" has come, the hour of His death and glorification.

 John 12:20-36: Jesus prophesizes His death and glorification -

John 12:20-23: ²⁰Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, 'Sir, we should like to see Jesus.' ²²Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus. ²³Jesus replied to them: 'Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.'

Question: After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem where is Jesus teaching?  Hint: see Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:11; Luke 19:45-47.

Answer: St. Luke provides the information: He taught in the Temple every day.  The chief priests and the scribes, in company with the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they could not find a way to carry this out because the whole people hung on his words.

Question: Why so the Greek Gentiles want to have an audience with Jesus?  Is there anything significant about their request "to see" Jesus?

Answer: The request "to see" Jesus may only mean that they want a private audience but in John's symbolic and spiritual Gospel "to see" may also mean "to believe in" Jesus.  That these Gentiles have come seeking the Messiah shows that Jesus' Gospel of salvation has spread beyond the Jews.

Question: What makes this event significant?  What does Jesus mean when He says that His "hour has come"?

Answer: For the first time people outside the Sinai Covenant have come in search of Christ which would make them the "firstfruits" of the spread of the Gospel among Gentiles in the Gentile world outside of the Holy Land!   In this verse Jesus is referring to His "hour" of glorification in terms of His death and resurrection.  At times Jesus has used the term to refer to the "hour of judgment" as in Matthew 13:32 and John 5:25, but in this case as in Mark 14:41 and the passages in John 2:4; 4:23; 7:30; 8:20; 12:27; 13:1; and 17:1, Jesus is speaking of the hour of His Redemption through His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.  This request of the Gentile Greeks has now set the "countdown" to His glorification in motion.  It is His sacrificial death that will secure eternal blessings not only for God's covenant people Israel but for all mankind who will become partakers in the gift of eternal life; see John 1:29; 4:42; & 1 John 2:2: He is the sacrifice to expiate our sins, and not only ours, but also those of the whole world  [1 John 2:2].

John 12:24-26: In all truth [Amen, amen] I tell you, unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.  Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me, must follow me, and my servant will be with me wherever I am.  If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.

This is the little parable of the seed that dies.
Question: In the parable what does the seed represent?
Answer: Jesus' body.

Question: What comparison is Jesus making between a seed and His body?
Answer: He is speaking of His sacrifice being a condition of His glorification, and of death as the means of gaining life.  Just as a seed must be covered in the earth before it sprouts new life so too must Jesus endure physical death to bring us new life that lasts eternally.

Question: How is this same principle true for each of us who follow Christ? What does Jesus mean in verses 25-26?  To help you with your answer break down the opposites presented in these verses:

1. Anyone who loves his life [more than me] destroys it
2. Anyone who hates his life in this world preserves it to live eternally.
3. Anyone who serves me must follow me
4. Anyone who follows me will be rewarded

Answer:  This same principle holds true for the disciples and each of us who "follow Christ" [the command given in John 12:25].  We must die to ourselves and to this world and we must live for Christ to receive the fullness of life from God and to become channels of life to others. Through the Sacrament of Baptism we die to sin and to this world.  After our spiritual rebirth in the "water and the word" we must go forward in our faith journey in which we must daily take up our cross and die to sin to live for Christ.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

• CCC# 1213: Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments.  Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water and the word."
• CCC# 1214: This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to "plunge" or "immerse"; into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as "a new creature." [See 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12]
• CCC# 1215: This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God." [Quoting Titus 3:5; and John 3:5].
• CCC# 1816: The disciple of Christ must not only keep the faith and live on it, but also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it:"  All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks."  Service of and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation: "So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." [Quoting from Matthew 10:32-33].

 St. Paul wrote of the necessity of dying to sin and living in Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:11-12:  Indeed while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.... We will also, like Jesus, face physical death at the end of our faith journeys but with the promise of "new life." St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:35-38: Someone may ask: How are dead people raised and what sort of body do they have when they come?  How foolish!  What you sow must die before it is given new life; and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but only a bare grain, of wheat I dare say, or some other kind; it is God who gives it the sort of body that he has chosen for it, and for each kind of seed its own kind of body.

In Mark 8:34 Jesus made a similar statement: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.  A living, and dying reminder of faithfulness to this teaching is found in the life and death of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, a disciple of St. John the Apostle, who went to a martyr's death in 107[110]AD. In his last letters written before his martyrdom he expressed the willingness to hate his life in this world in order to live eternally with Christ.  In his death he gave us an example of how a faithful servant should follow Christ.  He ended his last letter to the Church in Rome with the words "I am God's grain!"  [St. Ignatius of Antioch, Romans 4:1]

John 12:27-30: Jesus said: ²⁷'Now my soul is troubled.  What shall I say: 'Father, save me from this hour?'  But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name!' A voice came from heaven, 'I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it.' ²⁹The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, 'It was an angel speaking to him.' ³⁰Jesus answered, 'It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.'

Question: What emotion does Jesus feel at this moment with the realization that His "hour has come"?  What does He do?
Answer: Jesus feels deep emotion at the thought of what awaits him and so He turns to the Father in prayer seeking refuge, strength and love. This very human feeling of anxiety and fear will be intensified at the Garden of Gethsemane [see Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; and Luke 22:42] and serves as a reminder that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human.  It is the same human anxiety and fear that the sinless and immortal Adam must have felt when confronted by the Serpent at the time of our original parent's fall from grace, but in Jesus' case, as the second Adam, He will triumph over death and Satan in His willingness to die for the salvation of humanity for as Jesus says in John 12:27d: It is for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

Question: What does Jesus mean when He says "Father, glorify your name!" in John 12:28?
Answer: In ancient cultures one's name signifies the entire person.  Jesus worked for the Father's glory and His sacrificial death, now freely offered, is the fulfillment of that work because it shows the Son's love for the Father as the Father will show His love for the Son.

Question: What message is there for us in this passage concerning Jesus desire to pray?
Answer: If Jesus, in a moment of trial and sadness turns to the Father in prayer, shouldn't we follow His example when we are burdened with the struggles of life?  We also have King David's example.  He continually turned to Yahweh in prayer when he was surrounded by his enemies or when he needed the comfort and reassurance of God's love.  In Psalm 31 a beleaguered David cries out: In you, Yahweh, I have taken refuge, let me never be put to shame, in your saving justice deliver me, rescue me, turn your ear to me, make haste. [...] Draw me out of the net they have spread for me, for you are my refuge; to your hands I commit my spirit, by you have I been redeemed.  [..]. Be brave, take heart, all who put your hope in Yahweh [Psalm 31:1, 4, 34].

A voice came from heaven, 'I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it.'  In John 12:28b God speaks from heaven, divinely and publicly sanctioning Jesus' coming death.  The crowd hears thunder just as the Israelites heard thunder when Yahweh spoke to them from Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:19.

Question: Can you identify the 3 times when God the Father spoke from heaven to the Son during His ministry?
Answer: On the 3 occasions when the Father bears witness to the divinity of the Son:

1. At Jesus baptism [Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22].
2. On the Mt. of Transfiguration [Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35].
3. Here in John 12:28b, sanctioning Jesus' self-sacrifice.

John 12:31-36: Sentence is Passed on This World and the Passing of the Light

 

Question: Who is the "prince of the world" who will be driven out?  Hint: see Luke 4:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; Revelation 12:9.

Answer: Satan is the lord of this world.

Jesus will refer to Satan as the "prince of this world" 3 times in the Gospel of John:

1. John 12:31
2. John 14:30
3. John 16:11

Question: How will Satan be "driven out"?
Answer: Jesus' sacrificial death breaks Satan's dominion over humanity which began with Adam's fall in Genesis 3:1-19.  Jesus will defeat Satan on the cross and will destroy him when He comes again in glory in His Second Advent [see Revelation 20:10 and CCC# 550, 2853]

John 12:32: And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.

This is Jesus' third reference to His "lifting up."  The other 2 references are found in:

1. John 3:14 "as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him."
2. John 8:28  "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am [He] and that I do nothing of my own accord."

Question: When will He be "lifted up"?
Answer: In the sense that He will be "lifted up" on the cross in His crucifixion as well as to His "lifting up" in His resurrection and later to heaven in His ascension.  The cross and the resurrection/ ascension are both aspects of the same mystery, and when Christ ascends to the Father's right hand in glory He will send God the Holy Spirit through whom all mankind will be called to Him and His kingdom will spread across the earth.

But Jesus may also be alluding to the prophecy of the 8^th century prophet Isaiah in the fourth Servant Song which is found in Isaiah 52:13-53:12.  The fourth Servant Song is a prophetic vision of the suffering of Jesus the Messiah.  Both quotations are from the New American translation:

• Isaiah 52:13-24: See, my servant will prosper, he shall be raised high [lifted up] and greatly exalted.  Even as many were amazed at him'so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals...
• Isaiah 53:3-6: He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.  Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, while e thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.  We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the LORD [Yahweh] laid upon him the guilt of us all.

John will begin his summation of Jesus ministry at the end of this chapter with a quote from the Suffering Servant passages of Isaiah in 12:38.

Question: How is Jesus' statement in John 12:32 an answer to the request of the Gentiles in 12:21?
Answer: This passage is the answer to the Greeks request to "see" Jesus.  The crucified Christ will be set before the eyes of the world, Jews and Gentiles, as its Savior and Lord when He is "lifted up".  CCC# 662: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself".  The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it.  Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands...but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf."  There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw near to God through him."  As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.

The crowd challenges Jesus in John 12:34: The Law has taught us that the Christ will remain for ever.

Question: What problem does the crowd have with Jesus' statement in 12:31-32?
Answer: The crowd understands that Jesus was referring to His death in His statement.  Their reference to "the Law" refers to Sacred Scripture [Old Testament] as a whole not just to the Law of Moses in the Torah.  Many Old Testament prophesies of the Messiah promise the Messiah who will come as prophet, priest and king will reign forever.  The passage the crowd probably has in mind that speaks of the Son of Man as a divine and eternal king is Daniel 7:13-14 which Jesus has already frequently alluded to in His discourses.

Question: Why does the crowd demand: "Who is this Son of Man?" in 12:34c?  Why doesn't Jesus give an answer?
Answer: Of course, that IS the question everyone must answer! What the crowd wants to know is if Jesus is indeed the "Son of Man/eternal Davidic King" of Daniel 7:13-14, why would He be "lifted up from the earth" [verse 32]? Shouldn't they expect that He would rule forever over His people, as the prophet Daniel promised in Daniel 2:44: In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this kingdom will not pass into the hands of another race: it will shatter and absorb all the previous kingdoms and itself last forever...; after all, Jesus has already identified Himself as the "son of Man" from Daniel 7:13-14?  It is the mystery of the Messiah and Jesus does not provide a direct explanation to the crowd.  That answer will only be fully realized after His resurrection and His ascension when He returns to heaven to sit at the right hand of God to rule His kingdom of heaven-on-earth, the Church, the eternal 5^th kingdom promised by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 2:31-45.

John 12:35-36: Jesus then said, 'The light will be with you only a little longer now.  Go on your way while you have the light, or darkness will overtake you, and nobody who walks in the dark knows where he is going.  While you still have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light.'  Having said this, Jesus left them and was hidden from their sight.

These are Jesus' last words to the crowd and this is the end of His public ministry.  He ends His ministry to the Jews by using the light and dark metaphor St. John has repeatedly returned to in his Gospel and by issuing a challenge.

Question:  What is the challenge?

Answer: The challenge is to listen and believe in Him so that they may become "children of light."

Question: What is Jesus' message to the people?

Answer: The message is clear: Since the "hour" has come this means that it is time for the "Light" to pass from this world.

Satan, the power of darkness, is preparing for the final struggle.  The time of judgment/crisis has come. Now is the time for the people to follow Jesus, the "Light of the world" in order to receive His light and become "children of light" [verse 36a].  

The title "children of light" is very similar to the frequent use of  the title "sons of light" to distinguish the members of the Qumran community, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, versus the "sons of darkness" which identified the follows of the corrupt Temple authorities in Jerusalem.  If members of that community were present during Jesus' discourse, this language certainly would have resonated with them! [See Dead Sea Scroll documents 1QS 1:9; 2:16; 3:13, 20-21, 25; 4:11; 1QM 1:1].

 John 12:37-43: The Continuing Unbelief of the Jews

In each of the Gospels Jesus cites the Isaiah passages to explain the lack of belief in His ministry by many Jews and Israelites.  The Isaiah passage 6:10 quoted in verse 40 is repeated 5 times in the New Testament as the description of the Jewish people in the latest stage of their stubborn rebellion against Christ in Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; and here in John 12:40.  This citation will also be St. Paul's last words in Acts 28:26-27 as his explanation of why the Jews have not come to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ that he has preached.

Question: John's summary of Jesus' ministry in verses 37-43 and his citation of Isaiah 53:1, taken from Isaiah's book of the Suffering Servant, may also be meant to remind the reader of the words of what other great Old Testament prophet who chastised the Children of Israel for their unbelief despite the "signs" Yahweh had worked in their sight?  Hint: see Deuteronomy 29:2-4.
Answer: In Moses' last public address, recommitting the Children of Israel to the Sinai Covenant, he charges the people as a whole with unbelief despite the signs God had worked for them in their journey out of Egypt to the Promised Land:  Moses called all Israel together and said to them: 'You have seen everything that Yahweh did before your eyes in Egypt, to Pharaoh, to his servants and to his whole country, the great ordeals which you yourselves witnessed, those signs and the great wonders.  But until today Yahweh has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear [Deuteronomy 29:2-4].  It is interesting that Moses called the people who had rejected Yahweh a "perverse generation" [Deuteronomy 32:5 & 20] just as St Peter will use the same words to condemn his generation of Old Covenant people who reject Jesus the Messiah in Acts 2:40.

Question:  John ends his summary in John 12:41 with a claim about the prophet Isaiah.  What is that claim and in what in passage in John's Gospel does Jesus make a similar claim about an Old Testament patriarch?  Hint: see John 8:56
Answer:  John claims that Isaiah "saw his glory, and his words referred to Jesus."  It is similar to the claim that Jesus made of Moses in 5:45-47 when He said "it was about me that he was writing..," and of Abraham in 8:56 when Jesus said that Father Abraham "rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad."

Question: When would Isaiah have seen Christ's glory?  Hint: see Isaiah 6:1-4
Answer: Perhaps during Isaiah's vision in the heavenly Temple.  Isaiah prophesized Jesus' ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection in the Servant Song passages found in Isaiah 42 ff.  In 52:13 Isaiah prophesizes that Yahweh's humble servant will be "lifted up" [New Jerusalem translates "raised to great heights"] which is a reference Jesus has made repeatedly in John's Gospel [John 12:22; etc]

 John 12:44 - 13:1: Jesus' Final Public Discourse and the Conclusion of His Public Ministry:

John now summarizes Jesus' message to the Covenant people.  This is the 3^rd time Jesus has identified Himself as "The Light" [see John 8:12 and 9:5] but the 23^rd time John as referred to "light" and the 15^th time as a metaphor for Jesus.

Question: What does it mean to "believe in Him [verse 44]?"b
Answer: Those who accept and believe all that Jesus and His Church taught and live in His "light"/teaching will be resurrected to eternal life [see 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18; Revelation 21:1-8]. For those who believe this belief will lead to the second resurrection [the first was their re-birth in baptism]. The blessings of the Old Covenant were temporal but the blessings of the New Covenant are eternal! Just as the blessings of the Covenant in Christ are eternal so are the punishments/ judgments eternal!  Jesus' words/ teachings that are affirmed and taught by the Church and if we do not accept and obey, our unbelief will condemn us.  Those who rejected Christ and the Church and live according to their own understanding will face eternal punishment [Revelation 20:11-15].  To believe in Jesus is to believe everything He said and everything He taught.  The decision to follow Him will be the most important decision we will ever make because the consequences are eternal!

Question: Why does Jesus say that His word is final and absolute?
Answer: His word is final and absolute because it is not only His word but His words based on the authority of God.  It is God who sent Him and it is God's words He speaks.  It is on the authority of God's Word that men will be judged.

Question: What themes, introduced in the Prologue and repeated through John's Gospel, do you recognize in these final verses in John 12:44-50?

Answer:

1. Faith: The need for faith /belief in Jesus the Messiah [verse 44].
2. Jesus' relationship to God the Father: Christ the Incarnate Word is One with the Father. Yet even though the Father and the Son are united as One they are also distinct from one another: the Father commands and sends the Son and the Son is sent and obeys [verse 45]
3. The Light: Jesus is the Light and the Life of the world [verse 46, 50].
4. Judgment: Judgment will fall on all men in accordance with whether they accept or reject the Son of God [verse 47-49].

JESUS' LAST WEEK IN JERUSALEM Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany...  John 12:1 [note: the Jewish day begins at sundown]
Day #1: Saturday, 9 Nisan [also Abib]		Arrival in Bethany.  Dinner with Mary, Martha, Lazarus and the Apostles. Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus' feet [Jn 12:1]
Day #2: Sunday, 10 Nisan		The triumphal entry into Jerusalem [Mat 21:1-11; Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:28-44; Jn 12:12-19] 8 days from entry into Jerusalem to resurrection! The Passover victims are chosen for sacrifice [see Ex 12:3]
Day #3: Monday, 11 Nisan		Jesus cleanses the Temple for a third time* [Mat 21:10, 17(Sunday); Lk 19:45-48(Sunday); Mk 11:15-18 (Monday)]. Jesus curses the fig tree [Mat 21:18-19; Mk 11:12-14]
Day #4: Tuesday, 12 Nisan		Jesus teaches at the Temple: a day of controversy and parables [Mt 21:23-24:51; Mk 11:27-13:37; Lk 20:1-21].
Day #5: Wednesday, 13 Nisan		Dinner at Bethany at the home of Simon the Leper. An unnamed woman anoints Jesus' head [Mt 26:6-13; Mk 14:3-9]. Judas betrays Jesus [Mt 26:14-16; Mk 14:10-11; Lk 22:3-6]
Day # 6: Thursday, 14 Nisan		The Feast of Passover also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the 1st century AD. Passover was the first day of the celebration that lasted for a week known as Unleavened Bread [8 days total]. Both names are used see Mk 14:12. Preparation for the Sacred Meal [Ex 12:1-20; Lev 23:5-8; Num 9:1-14; 28:16-25; Mt 26:17-19; Mk 14:12-16; Lk 22:7]. The Temple liturgy began at 12 noon and the Passover lambs and kids are sacrificed at the Temple 3pm [Mk 14:12]
Day #7: Friday, Nisan 15 ["Preparation Day" Every Friday is called "Preparation Day" because it is the day to prepare for the Sabbath]. At Sundown on our Thursday the Jewish Friday began, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which lasted from 15-21 Nisan [Ex. 12:17-20; Lev 23:5-8].		The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins at sundown [our Thursday night] with the Passover meal [Ex 12:17-20; 13:3-8; Lev 23:5-8; Num 9:1-14; 28:16-25] Jesus and His disciples celebrate the Last Passover and the First Eucharist. Sundown is the beginning of the Jewish Friday but our Thursday night [Mt 26:20-35; Mk 14:22-25;Lk 22:15-20; Jn 13:1-20]. Jesus and the disciples withdraw to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mt.of Olives [Mt 26:36-46; Mk 14:32-33; Lk 22:40-46; Jn 18:1]. Jesus is arrested [Mt 26:47-56; Mk 14:43-50; Lk22:47-53; Jn 18:2-12]. Dawn: He is condemned by the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin [Mt 26:57-75; 27:1-2; Mk14:53-65; Lk 22:54-55; 66-71; Jn 18:24]. Jesus is taken to Pilate the Roman governor [6th hour Roman time = 6AM] at the Antonia Palace [Mt 27:1-2; Jn 18:28-32; Mk 15:1; Lk 22:66-23:1]. Pilate sends Him to Herod Agrippa I [Lk 23:6-12] Jesus is crucified at 9AM, the 3rd hour Jewish time [Mk 15:25]. The 1st daily Tamid lamb is sacrificed at the Temple 12 noon, the 6th hour Jewish time, the sky turns dark and remains dark until 3PM, the 9th hour Jewish time, [Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33; Lk 23:44]. 3PM, the 9th hour Jewish time, the 2nd Tamyid lamb is sacrificed at the Temple and Jesus willingly gives up His life on the altar of the Cross [Mt 27:45-50]. The veil to the entrance of the Holy of Holies in the Temple is torn in half [Mt. 27:51; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:45].
JESUS: from the tomb to the Resurrection
Day #1 in the tomb Friday afternoon	Jesus is laid in the tomb of a rich man. The tomb is sealed [Mt 27:57-61; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-55; Jn 19:38-42].
Day #2 in the tomb Saturday	Jesus descends to the abode of the dead and preaches the Gospel of salvation [1 Pet 3:19-20; 4:6].
Day #3 in the tomb Sunday dawn	The Jewish Feast of Firstfriuts: Jesus is raised from the dead! [Lev. 23:9-15; Mt 28:1-8; Mk 16:1-8; Lk 24:1-10; Jn 20:1-10]

*3 cleansings of the Temple:
#1 = John 2:13-22, at the beginning of His ministry
#2 = Matthew 21:12-17, on Sunday, the day He rode into Jerusalem;
#3 = Mark 11:15-19, on Monday, the after His entry into Jerusalem [Mark 11:11-12].

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A Daily Defense

Day 102   Science and Scripture 

CHALLENGE: “Science is superior to faith, as shown by the way Christians adapt parts of the Bible to the findings of science.”
DEFENSE: All truth is God’s truth, and the fact that we learn new things in one field does not mean it is superior to another field. This is true within the scientific disciplines themselves. What is learned in one field has ripples that affect others. For example, a discovery in physics may impact astronomy or chemistry. The reverse is also true. The scientific fields thus exist in a state of creative tension with respect to one another, and this is true of every other area of study, including theology. Yet this does not mean that one form of study is superior to another. They are all explorations of different aspects of the truth. When we learn something new in one field, it is natural to seek to relate it to other fields, including religion. If a scientific discovery is well established and seems to contradict a common religious view, it is natural to revisit that view and see if we have understood the matter correctly (see Day 184).

Thus when astronomical discoveries suggested that the earth might not be the center of the universe, or paleontological and biological discoveries suggested that the earth might be much older than commonly thought and that biological evolution occurs, it was natural to revisit certain texts of Scripture to see whether they had been understood correctly.

In both cases, a careful reading showed that they were not, in fact, in conflict with the new scientific perspectives. 

Passages that talk about the sun rising and setting merely describe natural phenomena according to the language of appearances and do not imply the motion of the sun around the earth any more than we do today when we speak of “sunrise” and “sunset.” Similarly, long before the rise of modern science, perceptive exegetes like St. Augustine had pointed out features of Genesis 1 that indicated its days were not literal (see Day 90; cf. St. Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis 1:10[21–22]). 

Investigating the proper way to harmonize Scripture and science is no different in principle than investigating how to harmonize the discoveries of physics with those of astronomy. The findings of every field are properly understood in harmony with the others.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist