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Jesus enters Jerusalem, anonymous stained-glass window, France
12:16 All four Gospels recount the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and the acclamations of the people who recognize him as the promised Messiah, the “king of Israel” (12:13). John emphasizes that only in light of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection would they begin to understand the deeper meaning of this incident: Jesus’ entry is the ful llment of the prophecy of Zechariah (9:9). Jesus comes as a gentle, humble king, not a military commander, and he comes for all people, both Jews and Gentiles. The passage from Zechariah continues: “His dominion will be from sea to sea, / and from the River to the ends of the earth” (9:10).
JOHN 
The Entry into Jerusalem.* 12i On the next day, when the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13they took palm branches* and went out to meet him, and cried out:
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
[even] the king of Israel.”j 14Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written:
15“Fear no more, O daughter Zion;*
see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt.”k
16His disciples did not understand this at rst, but when Jesus had been glori ed they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this* for him.l 17* So the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from death continued to testify. 18This was [also] why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world* has gone after him.”m
The Coming of Jesus’ Hour.* 20Now there were some Greeks* among those who had come up to worship at the feast.n 21* They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”o 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.p 23* Jesus answered them,q “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glori ed. 24* Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;r but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25Whoever loves his life* loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.s 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.t
27“I am troubled* now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.u 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glori ed it and will glorify it again.”v 29The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”w 30Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.x 31Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler
..* [12:15] Daughter Zion: Jerusalem. Ass’s colt: symbol of peace, as opposed to the war horse.
* [12:16] They had done this: the antecedent of they is ambiguous.
* [12:17–18] There seem to be two di erent crowds in these verses. There are some good witnesses to the text that have another reading for Jn 12:17: “Then the crowd that was with him began to testify that he had called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead.”
*[12:19] The whole world: the sense is that everyone is following Jesus, but John has an ironic play on world; he alludes to the universality of salvation (Jn 3:17; 4:42).
* [12:20–36] This announcement of glori cation by death is an illustration of “the whole world” (Jn 12:19) going after him.
* [12:20] Greeks: not used here in a nationalistic sense. These are probably Gentile proselytes to Judaism; cf. Jn 7:35.
* [12:21–22] Philip. . .Andrew: the approach is made through
disciples who have distinctly Greek names, suggesting that access to Jesus was mediated to the Greek world through his disciples. Philip and Andrew were from Bethsaida (Jn 1:44); Galileans were mostly bilingual. See: here seems to mean “have an interview with.”
* [12:23] Jesus’ response suggests that only after the cruci xion could the gospel encompass both Jew and Gentile.
* [12:24] This verse implies that through his death Jesus will be accessible to all. It remains just a grain of wheat: this saying is found in the synoptic triple and double traditions (Mk 8:35; Mt 16:25; Lk 9:24; Mt 10:39; Lk 17:33). John adds the phrases (Jn 12:25) in this world and for eternal life.
* [12:25] His life: the Greek word psychē refers to a person’s natural life. It does not mean “soul,” for Hebrew anthropology did not postulate body/soul dualism in the way that is familiar to us.
* [12:27] I am troubled: perhaps an allusion to the Gethsemane agony scene of the synoptics.
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i. [12:12–19] Mt 21:1–16; Mk 11:1–10; Lk 19:28–40.
j. [12:13] 1:49; Lv 23:40; 1 Mc 13:51; 2 Mc 10:7; Rev 7:9.
k. [12:15] Is 40:9; Zec 9:9.
l. [12:16] 2:22.
m. [12:19] 11:47–48.
n. [12:20] Acts 10:2. o. [12:21] 1:44.
p. [12:22] 1:40.
q. [12:23] 2:4.
r. [12:24] Is 53:10–12; 1 Cor 15:36. s. [12:25] Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:35;
Lk 9:24; 17:33.
t. [12:26] 14:3; 17:24; Mt 16:24; Mk 8:34; Lk 9:23.
u. [12:27] 6:38; 18:11; Mt 26:38–39; Mk 14:34–36; Lk 22:42; Heb 5:7–8.
v. [12:28] 2:11; 17:5; Dn 4:31, 34.
w. [12:29] Ex 9:28; 2 Sm 22:14; Jb 37:4;
Ps 29:3; Lk 22:43; Acts 23:9.