The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 22 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
12:4-12:28
[12:4] But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that should betray him, saith,
[12:5] Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred shillings, and given to the poor?
[12:6] Now this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the bag took away what was put therein.
[12:7] Jesus therefore said, Suffer her to keep it against the day of my burying.
[12:8] For the poor ye have always with you; but me ye have not always.
[12:9] The common people therefore of the Jews learned that he was there: and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.
[12:10] But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death;
[12:11] because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.
[12:12] On the morrow a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
[12:13] took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.
[12:14] And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
[12:15] Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.
[12:16] These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
[12:17] The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bare witness.
[12:18] For this cause also the multitude went and met him, for that they heard that he had done this sign.
[12:19] The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Behold how ye prevail nothing; lo, the world is gone after him.
[12:20] Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast:
[12:21] these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
[12:22] Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: Andrew cometh, and Philip, and they tell Jesus.
[12:23] And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
[12:24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
[12:25] He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
[12:26] If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the Father honor.
[12:27] Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour.
[12:28] Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
Jesus expresses personal emotional turmoil ('Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?') and the Father responds with audible speech from heaven, attributing human-like affect and voice to the divine.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Jesus declares 'for this cause came I unto this hour,' asserting that his suffering and glorification are the purposeful, divinely-ordered end of his mission, and the heavenly voice confirms this providential design.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The disciples 'understood not' the prophetic fulfillment at first but remembered it only after Jesus was glorified, indicating an outer event concealing an inner meaning accessible only later.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The passage centres on the 'Son of man' who came, will be buried, and will be glorified—explicitly a divine figure in a bounded human body facing death and resurrection as a discrete embodied event.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The Father actively responds from heaven with a spoken declaration, and Jesus acts as a dynamic, purposeful agent who came 'for this cause' unto this hour.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
Jesus teaches that 'he that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal' and that the grain of wheat must die to bear fruit—using deliberate reversal to destabilise ordinary understanding of self-preservation.
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
The passage culminates in Jesus's direct address to the Father ('Father, save me from this hour... Father, glorify thy name'), a clear instance of petitionary and doxological prayer.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
Jesus prays 'Father, glorify thy name,' treating the divine name as an ontologically significant entity that can be glorified and is the object of heavenly affirmation.