Look, the World has Gone After Him!

John 12:1-19

The Anointing at Bethany

1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 5 "Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

7 But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always."

The Plot to Kill Lazarus

9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

"Hosanna!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
The King of Israel!"

14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion;
Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey's colt."

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!"

Jesus finally did come out to be seen again as the Pharisees and chief priests were out to capture and kill their Messiah.  He came six days before the Passover to Bethany once more where He raised Lazarus from death to life.  Martha served while Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive oil to honor Him as well as for His burial while drying the Lord’s feet with her own hair that was her crown of glory (1 Corinthians 11:15) given as a sacrificial gift to Him.  As she did so, the aroma of that oil expanded to fill every nook and cranny of the room they were in just as God’s Spirit fills us (Acts 2:4, Ephesians 5:18) out in ever increasing areas in His sanctifying work after filling us with all of Himself and sealing us (Ephesians 1:13-14) at our conversion.  We do not therefore need or ask to acquire more of His Spirit but yield to His rule in us to have more of us as He fills us out in every nook and cranny of our souls like the fragrant aroma of the priceless oil which Mary used.  Those who are not of God like Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who betrayed the Lord will not understand the sacrifices we make of laying down our lives for the Lord’s use to glorify and honor Him with the first fruits of all our increase (Proverbs 3:9).  We do these things because we have been given the first fruits of His Spirit (Romans 8:23) in us until the purchase of His possession (Ephesians 1:14) which He purchased on the cross.  Jesus made it clear that Mary’s gift was to honor His burial after the His crucifixion and death and they should honor that over any mere monetary value of the ointment.  We always have opportunities to use the money we have been given to help the poor, but we must give the best of what we are given to Him first.  After these things, we see Jesus triumphantly enter Jerusalem as the King of Israel as promised in Psalm 118:25-26 and Isaiah 40:9 as Zechariah 9:9 also predicted would be on a donkey in humility and not on a horse to conquer the Roman occupiers.  The people cried out praise to the coming Lord as their Sovereign King while even the disciples were still blind to the true importance and implications of this event.  Only after He ascended Himself from the grave as He had raised Lazarus would they be able by the Spirit of God filling them to understand the scriptures which spoke of Him (1 Peter 1:10-11, Luke 24:26-27) coming to suffer and die and rise again to save His people from their sin.  All who had witnessed Lazarus being called out of death to life by Jesus were there also bore witness to Jesus as the Savior and Christ and others joined in as they heard this testimony of the power of God over death.  The jealousy of the Pharisees, however, angered them in their inability to stop Him and exasperatingly exclaimed how the world had gone after Him.  We who know Jesus as the Christ also exuberantly cry out that all who hear and believe do receive Him as Lord and Savior and therefore go after Him!  Yes, all who have their eyes opened to the person and work of Jesus as the Christ are those about whom the world exclaims, “Look, the World has Gone After Him!”