 then we'll proceed from there and see what else we can learn. All right, so we said that one of the greatest miracles in the ministry of Jesus had taken place and yet, you know, there were some who believed but then the others were skeptical. We particularly see the Pharisees continuing with their old attitude. What is that attitude? They are worried about themselves and their earthly life. And at that point we are told that there is a Caiaphas who is the High Priest who was the High Priest under Pontius Pilate. He was the High Priest and it's not like it says that High Priest that year but that doesn't mean that High Priest were being changed every year but it's just that he was the High Priest at that time and they kind of wanted some solution to get rid of this Jesus and Caiaphas gives an option. He says, look, usually what happens is there is someone among the prisoners who is said, you know, somebody who is, okay, just hold on, I'll say it in the words that I've given here. Yeah, it is expedient for us that one man should die, sorry, not to set them free but one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish. So what Caiaphas is saying, you see, look, there is a tradition that we follow where one man is put to death. So he is trying to point out and say that how about we do something to catch this Jesus and because we have this option, maybe we can have, we can kill Jesus, something like that, not necessarily kill in that way but do it in a formal way, try him and get rid of him some way or the other. So he wanted to do this, to get rid of Jesus but then we know that the word of God prophesies that Jesus will die and though Caiaphas mentioned it for a nation which was the Jewish nation, we know that the debt of Jesus has brought deliverance to instead of the nation dying, one man died. Now instead of the nations paying for the sin that is in mankind, the Lord Jesus paid for it. So a prophecy was being fulfilled even though people were acting in their own natural thinking. So God was working out his purposes even in adverse circumstances. Later on we see that the plot of trying to kill Jesus that became intense and the Jews started working on it in a serious way. At this point Jesus was aware that if he continues like this then they will catch him so he escapes. Now he goes to a city called Ephraim and he is over there for a while with his disciples and the Passover for the Jews was near. We know that they had all these festivals that they kept. So Passover was one of the important festivals and it was approaching and for the festival there was this tradition that people had to go up to Jerusalem, they had to purify themselves. So at that time they were simultaneously the Passover is approaching and at that time they are seeking to kill Jesus and this is what was going on. So that is as much as what we see in the passage. They are basically now preparing themselves and knowing Jesus they know this is a religious man, this is a pious man. So at Passover he will surely come to the temple. So let's see, let's figure out how we are going to catch him. So that is the plot. Let's move on to John chapter 12 here. Let's see what is going on. Alright, so now it says six days before the Passover. Why is this important? John mentions the timeline. It is important because we know that it's roughly a week before Jesus is seized. He's caught at the Garden of Gethsemane and the trial starts off and Jesus has to be crucified. So he's very close to his death and that is why from chapter 12, in fact, from chapter 12 you would read till the end of the book of John about what Jesus goes through and the end of his life. Why is John dedicating so many passages of his writing to the death and the burial and the resurrection of Christ because it is that important. He has covered 11 chapters talking about the signs of Jesus, the life of Jesus and he in the beginning showed us how Jesus is the Christ, he is the Messiah. So we have seen all that but he is focusing, zooming in on the trial of Jesus and the events that take place after that because it is equally important. So Jesus is fulfilling the purpose of his life through the sacrifice. Alright, so that is the reason he is focusing in and here when he says simply he says six days before Passover we can make a note that it's important very close to the death of Jesus. So one week prior, Passover. Now what happens? Jesus comes to Bethany, remember we read about Lazarus of Bethany. So Jesus comes to Bethany and over here we find that Lazarus who had been dead whom Jesus had raised, he was with Jesus. So there was a supper which was prepared. A supper is an evening meal generally and you notice that Martha served. It is likely that Martha, Mary, Lazarus and the family they had organized this party and writers also say that it could have been a very, very big dinner which they are hosting for the village also. Why? Because they were celebrating the resurrection of their brother Lazarus. So a thanksgiving meal if you want to call it or a no celebrating meal that the family is having here and at that meal think about this how beautiful the man who rose from the dead is also with Jesus and he is spending time with Jesus. So is he doing well? Of course, was the miracle real? Of course, four days in the tomb he was stinking. So he was dead and all the people understood that and now we are told that Lazarus was one who sat at the table with him. So this is what we understand about the power of God. You know that something that is dead is now together with Jesus. I am just saying in a figurative sense that God is able to restore in that way that the situation of death can turn into a celebration. But we know that here it is about a man who was dead and now that man is fellowshiping with Jesus and when it says Martha served so you understand about the personality and the life of Martha as well. She really liked to take care and host and it's not that she was the only one serving but because I said that looks like it was a large meal there could have been others from the village helping her and even Mary. So this is going on in Lazarus in Martha's family dinner. Now at this point we read that Mary she took a pound of very costly oil of spike nut. So we are told what kind of oil it was spike nut oil and she took a lot of that oil anointed the feet of Jesus wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. So in those days they had a tradition if a guest comes and you want to honor the guest it seems they would wash the feet with water and they will put the oil on the head of the person. But Mary was so devoted and dedicated to Jesus that she is expressing her worship by pouring the oil on the feet. So in a way it is like worshipping but humbling yourself while you are worshipping. So she's pouring the oil on the feet of Jesus. She's also expressing her great worship because there was no need for her to take the whole jar of oil. Okay we can look at it in many ways and interpret it in many ways. So maybe you know she could have expressed her devotion to an extent but this is almost like the way David you know we read about him he says I cannot give to God something that does not cost me anything. So it really costed her and when we try to study how much could this this precious perfume had costed Mary you know some historians say that it could have even costed like the average salary of a of a like a regular person those days if you consider that one year salary that much of price you know you could pay for the perfume which Mary had and you're told that she used it a pound of very costly oil of spider at one go she's pouring it at the feet of Jesus or she's anointing his feet and as if that is not enough to express her worship what else is she doing she's wiping the feet with her hair okay again this is like really humbling oneself during worship and it was not a common thing people will wipe with a cloth or you know some other article but to wipe with her hair in public was to really humble herself at the feet of the Messiah and bow down and say God what you have done for us but just think about Mary and Martha they both are expressing their devotion in a certain way Martha is serving Mary has anointed the feet of Jesus because their beloved brother both of them told Jesus right but if you were here you know teacher if you were here Lord if you were here this what my brother would not have died but now Jesus is the one who has raised their brother from birth then so it shows us a heart of thanksgiving so when God does a miracle sometimes we forget and that's it but you see the family here they never forgot God raised Lazarus Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and here they are giving thanks in their own ways Lazarus is sitting with Jesus Martha is doing her part Mary is showing her devotion and we know that you know this kind of devotion that Mary showed it was very special and is talked about a lot in the area of worship so you know we say that in the presence of God in heaven our worship and our prayer is like incense it goes up before God and so we can relate it this way the costly oil of spike nut that oil that incense or that fragrance which Mary poured at the feet of Jesus it's like our worship today as we lift up our worship extravagant worship you know like David and the Tabernacle of David you can connect that to this extravagant worship costly worship we humble ourselves before God's presence we see there that the environment their house how was the house of Mary Martha and Lazarus filled with worship they were filled with it was filled with the fragrance of that oil and today it is applicable to us God is working in our lives we're seeing his miracles though we know who he is we must be walking in worship and worship should fill our lives so that is the way in which you know these people honored the Lord Jesus now when this is going on you know what what do we observe there is a Judas okay one of the disciples Judas is carrying it he is not happy when he sees a worship of of the sky we are told that Judas is the same one later we will see him you know the amount for which he betrayed Jesus it is 30 30 coins of silver I think so 30 coins of silver how can one sell the Messiah for 30 coins of silver a little bit of money that Judas wanted for that he was ready to do anything and that is the Judas who we are talking about so Judas he sees what's going on and this is his comment he says why was this fragrant oil not sold for 300 dinari and given to the poor so Judas understood look at this foolish woman expensive oil she's pouring at the feet of Jesus at that point he was in charge of the money box okay and it shows us that he was not faithful obviously he must have been taking the money out of the money box in a maybe habitual way he was doing it and so he knew that instead of pouring the oil at Jesus's feet if at all you know they had sold this fragrant oil and given he is putting a calculation to it he's like 300 dinari which was a lot of money in those days so 300 all that money would have come into the box and then you know Judas could have taken that money so it is really his ulterior motive he's not speaking out of a clear conscience but you see here Jesus understood Jesus recognized you know the essence of what is being said what is the the motivation behind it Jesus recognized it so Jesus said that let her alone she has kept this for the day of my burial for the poor you have with you always but need you do not have always so Jesus also recognized that Judas did not say this because he cared for the poor okay but he cared more about himself and in the statement that Jesus makes it seems like you know Jesus is being very insensitive because he's saying the poor you have with you always does it mean that God doesn't care about the poor people no that's not see we have to interpret scripture in the light of scripture okay so many passages of scripture we see that God is the deliverer of the poor God is the one who you know blesses the poor the poor have a mighty inheritance in God and he you know he stands on behalf of the poor so he's not saying that he doesn't care about the poor but instead what he's saying is you know in this situation the worship which was being offered to him was more required at that point than to consider the needs of the poor and of course Judas being a thief his intention was to grab the money so Jesus knowing that he's saying you know poor you'll have with you always so taking this line and saying that the poor don't God God is not concerned about the poor you know that would be wrong so we look at it in that manner okay so this worship is just so beautiful the kind of worship that Mary offered to Jesus and today on the basis of that we can also offer our best to Jesus now while all this is going on you know the plot against Jesus continues we know that they are waiting they're just waiting and they're just holding on to getting rid of him because now it's beginning to threaten their position in the society so we see that a lot of Jews when they knew that Jesus had come into the vicinity okay they they came not so that they can worship him but they wanted to catch him that was one thing and also they were not happy with Lazarus sometimes people are not happy with the miracle that God has done also so not only do they want to destroy you know the the knowledge of who God is but they also want to destroy the evidence so they want to kill Jesus but we also read that they wanted to kill Lazarus it has come to that now however you know Jesus is continuing with his work there are some people who did put their trust in Jesus so both things are happening you know the plot is happening as well as people are coming closer to God now the next day now that they had this wonderful meeting and worship in the dinner and Jesus you see Jesus is aware of the timings earlier he said my time has not come now when Mary poured the oil what did he say he said she's preparing me for my burial so is Jesus aware that soon he is going to die yes he is clear on that so the next day you know there was a great multitude who had come they had come for the feast and we know right the Passover is around the corner and people would you know go for their purification to the temple so all that preparation is going on so at this time you know there were those who believed in Jesus those who honored Jesus and when they heard that Jesus was around they they came to see they came to see they took with them farm branches and they went out to meet him okay and they cried out what did they say they said oh Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the king of Israel so there are those who recognize him as Messiah if you know even today with the church we follow this right a lot of traditional churches follow one week before good Friday you have Palm Sunday because that is like in recognition of the way the multitudes greeted Jesus as the Messiah so they took all these palm branches they went and they greeted him and we see that Jesus he sat on the donkey at that point and he kind of you know moved from there all of this whatever is going on it was actually the fulfillment of a prophecy okay here itself when you have that scripture it says John Wright says as it is written so look at the life of Jesus it is going by the timeline of God and it is going by the word of God prophetic word of God fulfilling you would say messianic prophecy that are I think up to around in the harmony 400 prophecies or more than that so every time something is fulfilled like Jesus being born on the climb is a fulfillment of a messianic prophecy and now Jesus sitting on the donkey in itself is a messianic prophecy so John confirms that he says as it is written fear not daughter of Zion behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's cold so no he uh uh reconfirms that Jesus is the Messiah but unfortunately the disciples did not understand that all these prophecies will be fulfilled only later no when uh Jesus died rose from the dead and you know as they the early church was birthed and things were going on uh John writes he says only later they understood oh every small incident in the life of Jesus was actually him walking in what was already written yeah so uh this is going on and uh you know people are honoring Jesus and at the same time you know the Jews are getting more and more insecure and uh remember Lazarus is raised from the dead before that the blind man who was blind from birth could see and they are thinking the crowds have started recognizing this man and one more wonderful thing is that the claims of Jesus they didn't believe okay but now they started believing uh as he said believe in the works he started believing the works also that these are supernatural works no ordinary man can do this but there is still unbelief in their hearts okay how puzzling isn't it the works they've recognized it and they themselves are saying oh Lazarus better kill him because this is the man who rose from the dead but are they ready to um you know give him his position as Messiah no so just shows how deceived people can be how taken over people can be by worldliness they were happy with uh everything the world had to offer them and they did not want anything to take it away from them so they're continuing to do what plotting okay we better get rid of this man he may be uh the Messiah but you know it's okay we are we just want our life to be comfortable so unbelief and their their hardness of heart is what is uh you know again coming to uh coming to the picture here now when this is going on there are some people they come and they are to meet Jesus they come to Philip and they say um sir we wish to see Jesus some Greeks they came and uh they wanted to see Jesus and uh uh I don't know why Philip goes and he tells Andrew instead of straight away going to Jesus and Andrew uh in turn and Andrew and Philip okay they together they go and they tell Jesus but you know Jesus makes a statement he says this he says uh the hour has come that the son of man should be glorified so he recognizes he recognizes that this is the time when he's going to die and he's making a statement about his death and uh you know not really uh responding to what uh Philip and Andrew are telling him that okay some Greeks have come and they want to see you Jesus so what is Jesus saying he's saying look unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it produces much grain he who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life if anyone serves me let them follow me and where I am there my servant will be also if anyone serves me him my father will honor so you know Jesus has begun speaking more and more about what is going to happen to him in about a week's time okay now these Greeks take it to meet Jesus um now why they came to meet Jesus the exact reason uh at that point even Philip and Andrew did not know but Jesus is recognizing that you know now there is this this whole um uh mixed crowd some are believing and some are going to give him up to death but he's talking about fulfilling the mandate for which God sent him and he is saying this in a figurative way initially he's saying a grain of wheat which is himself which is himself you understand that it is about himself it falls to the ground and it dies now when we talk about seeds okay you put it into the ground what happens you know is it the death of the seed what do you think you put a seed in the ground is it the end of that seed no it's not the end of the seed isn't it a seed will always produce but for the producing or the multiplying of the seed a death is required so Jesus is saying that once he dies though Satan and even at that point you know the the people who are against it they thought that it's going to be the end of all these wonderful works that Jesus is doing actually it is going to be the beginning of life flowing out of him so he says but if it dies it produces much grain you know so the way God works sometimes it's mysterious we think it is the end but it is actually the beginning okay and over here we we also you know we can apply the scripture and we say that in our lives as we allow the spirit of God to lead us you know Paul wrote he said be led by the spirit walk in the spirit be don't be drunk by one but be drunk in the spirit okay and when we do these things we will glorify God for us to walk in the spirit one more requirement is that we must die to our flesh they are the way you know Paul wrote about dying to self I died daily so death actually produces life okay when we are walking in obedience to God and Jesus knew that and Jesus was trying to reveal this to his disciples and say that look I'm not even the kind who's going to fall down to my own life but I'm going to obey God and when I die I know that this life which is in me it is going to multiply it is going to touch the nations many are going to be saved and a mighty work of God is going to be done so that's what he's saying when he says the wheat of grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it produces much grain okay and he wanted he expected the same kind of a commitment from his disciples so he told them also if you're going to lose your life you'll actually find it okay and if you want to follow me if anyone says I want to follow God you know in other passages also we've seen Jesus say this he says like you cannot follow two masters you cannot be a follower of money and of God also okay where does our commitment lie who are we willing to die for if we are here to serve Jesus you know it is it is not always going to be pleasant sometimes it is going to take sacrifice sometimes it could take sacrificing one's life and that is something see John who is writing this this book he was one of the disciples who lived longer than the others but he has observed the martyrdom of his colleagues okay the other disciples you see before his eyes James died Peter died and so many people actually the martyr for the gospel but John lived on he lived up to an old age right before he died so how come John is John also has an understanding of the sacrifice because he understood that it's not just about dying okay some may sacrifice to that extent but the important thing is to have a heart that says God even if it comes to that I'm willing to walk a committed life to you remember Thomas he said okay God Jesus you are okay let us go with him let us also die with him so it's the state of our heart which says I'm committed to that extent it's not whether or not you know we are going to die literally die for Christ but then we can also say that physical death yeah that that is one subject to discuss about but the sacrifices the dying to the flesh the dying to our own desires you know that is also a very hard thing on a day-to-day basis and that is why we say especially ministers of God right it is a high calling and it's going to take high standards it's going to take you know a high commitment it's going to take that that passion and devotion to God where we are saying okay I'm going to serve God and you know I'm going to honor God and even if it means that I need to lose some of the things I desire I'm willing I'm willing to live that life so basically it's about a high commitment that we see Jesus revealing here let's move on at this point we'll see we'll start observing that Jesus himself okay he's fully mad remember so he'll go through his challenges preparing himself for what is coming up you know in a natural sense but also preparing himself in a spiritual sense having a full understanding that what is going to take place now is the word of God and that he is fulfilling that prophetically so it says that Jesus he was troubled is he says my soul is troubled and what shall I say he's really showing his humanity he even says father save me from this hour but then it's like that battle which is going on within him he's so close to doing what God has called him to do he's saying God save me from that hour and then in the next breath he's saying but this is the purpose for which I have come father glorify your name so it's like the final battle is going on inside of him and he is preparing himself and God also affirms him God strengthens him because there is a voice that comes from heaven and and that voice says I have both glorified it and will glorify it again so God what is God doing through the life of Jesus God is glorifying his name and look at this with the son of man the son of God call him whichever way now the people who greeted him when when he came on the docket he said king of Israel call him whatever as the messiah but what was the purpose of his life the glory of God so today you know my life and your life each one of our lives what is the purpose of our lives we can have certain positions we can have responsibilities so we can be serving in certain areas but whatever it is whatever we are here to do the purpose of God for each of us ultimately what is the goal of our lives to glorify God and that is what you see God saying here to Jesus yes I have both glorified it and I'm going to glorify it again but the people around they did not hear what was told it looks like Jesus heard the word words but the people around him they heard something thunder so it was noise to them then again you know Jesus says that this voice did not come for me because Jesus did not need supernatural things to believe in God at this point he had yet very comfortably established a strong relationship a good relationship with the father but he's saying that look all these signs and we know right the Jews were people who wanted signs all the time so in a way it was for their sake and that's what Jesus said look this thunder happened for you and I want you to recognize that you know I am in the purpose of God and Jesus makes a wonderful statement verse 31 he says now is the judgment of this world now the ruler of this world will be cast out and I if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself so this Jesus is proclaiming confirming all that will take place together with his death see one thing he knows is that he's going to die okay and that God is going to be glorified now what are the results or what is the outcome of such a death that God has asked Jesus to go through there are other results what is one thing here verse 31 it says that the judgment of this world is now okay and the ruler of this world will be cast out so when Jesus dies this was also an ultimate cold what is it that Satan would be judged that Satan would be passed out now people ask the question Satan is still in the world why did Jesus say that the ruler of this world but that is one of the ways of describing Satan Satan is described in many with many names Satan the accuser he is the the adversary you know he is the the God small God not G capital G but small G God of this world so he has many names like this but here it is mentioned as the ruler of this world referring to Satan he's still in the world he did not really get thrown out of this world but what did Jesus mean he meant the victory where the authority has been shifted so cast out really refers to the authority and the influence that Satan had on the world if we know what did Jesus say you know before he was like before he ascended he said all authority on the heaven and earth is is mine now I give it to you unless Jesus had taken the authority from Satan how could he give it to us okay and how is it that Satan got this authority because of sin that entered the world sin entered through the disobedience of Adam and Eve okay and because of that when we read about the temptation of Jesus there we see what what does Satan tell Jesus okay come I will give you look at all the kingdoms of the world I will give you the authority of all these kingdoms because by that time the authority had been taken over by Satan because man had sinned now what was the task that Jesus had before him through his death he needed to take back that authority and that is why we see it says the ruler of this world will be cast out it has to do with authority the authority which he has Jesus is going to take it away from him and that's what he's saying he's saying if I die then the ruler of this world will be cast out his authority is going to be taken away from him so now we are believers okay and the death of Jesus this is our victory why we say good Friday why is it good one of the reasons is that you know the ruler of this world has been cast out or Christ Jesus has brought back that authority and given it to mankind and now you and I can walk in authority because of what Jesus had done and that is why we see that struggle within Jesus he's saying you know save me from this heart and other breath he says but for this purpose I came he's going through it but he wants to make sure that he does what the Father has asked him to do so that the ruler of this world will be cast out and that authority will be given back to us and at the same time he also says another purpose for which he has come is that he says when I lift it up I will draw all peoples to myself now notice this whole this whole work that God was planning to do was yes for the children of Israel now when Jesus ministered even to that lady whose child was demon possessed earlier we saw that you know the side of Phoenician lady we see he says the children's bread cannot be given to the dogs so he has come here with an agenda for the Jewish people for Israel but look at this when Jesus is crucified on the cross he's saying one is Satan is going to be defeated second is that I will draw all people to myself so not just the Jews but the gospel will be able to go out to the Gentiles even to the name other communities different communities green just no end to the ends of the earth that is why before his ascension Jesus was able to say go into all the world and make disciples of all nations so he's able to do this through the death that he's going to die so Satan will be defeated the gospel is going to go out to everyone now people you know when they hear Jesus saying all these things they are confused you see the understanding of the prophetic word people were not aware at that point so they are asking this question so they are saying we have heard that the Christ remains forever so how can you say the son of man must be lifted up who is the son of man in their hearts in one way they were you know they were happy with Jesus they were convinced that here is a miracle worker here is a man who is able to perform signs and wonders he is with us okay maybe we we found the ruler who we are looking for and of course you know we know that people had also put their faith in him as the messiah so they did not want this person to go away so they are saying look in our understanding people that this Christ is supposed to be that you know the government shall be upon his shoulders you're going to be there forever as our ruler what are you talking about so what does it mean for the son of man to be lifted up and you know the who is this son of man they're getting confused but again Jesus is reiterating and he's kind of trying to prepare their hearts for what is going to come up soon you know matter of a week all these events are going to start uh transpiring so he says look a little while longer the light is with you remember what did Jesus say about himself he said I have the light of the world how did John introduce Jesus the light shines in the darkness so Jesus is saying I'm going to be with you that that question is who is the son of man Jesus is trying to tell them again I am only that son of man and he is using the term light to describe for a little while I'm with you while you have the light okay uh uh you know you you just you just be strong don't let the darkness overtake you and believe in the light believe in the light that you might become the sons of the light so in a hidden hidden way okay or you could say um Jesus is speaking directly but they be that spiritual understanding to grasp what he's saying so uh overall he's preparing their hearts he's preparing them to receive what uh is going to happen that the the burial the resurrection of himself and he's saying that he is the messiah okay so what I'll do is I think I'll just pause at this point and we will take some time uh to just hear from each of you if there's anything from today that has touched you or you've learned from it maybe you could share and with that we will close we will pray towards the end we will close so yeah is there anything that you feel has touched you okay so you could think about it because uh you know we have really seen some wonderful things right today we've seen the resurrection of Lazarus we've also seen the uh the way Jesus was worshiped with that uh spikened fragrance okay and we we see how Jesus is so committed to his purpose so a lot of a lot of things for us to really meditate on so I'm just going to leave you with that uh and how about we close uh with award of prayer I just want to request either of them or Kiran one of you to please pray so we can wrap up today's session thank you for letting us know the truth from the book of um John oh lord let us be joining our life with you lord give us all the um compassion and love us we um represent you in this world lord and lord let us all walk by faith not by sight even in the lowest day of our life so lord so so that so that we won't be shaken by any storm so lord let us all fix our heart our mind our eyes in you a lot till our last breath so lord father bless everyone and I separate the rest of the session into your loving hand in Jesus name I pray amen thank you thank you yes thank you both of you god bless okay and uh we will meet in the uh next session thank you pastor yeah thank you bye for now