John 12:37-43

John 12:37-43 The Author’s Reflection on the Rejection of Jesus

Blinding Power of the Sin of the World

Jesus finished his historical ministry of teaching and working signs. What remained was the ultimate sign of his identity and his mission – his being lifted up in crucifixion and in resurrection.

³⁷ Though Jesus had done so many signs in their presence,

they persisted in not believing him.

The one issue that continued to confuse the disciples was the failure of the people as a whole to recognise and accept Jesus, who had so captivated and fascinated them. They could not lay the problem on any inadequacy on Jesus’ part. How could people not have recognised him? In their puzzlement, they looked to their scriptures. Isaiah had experienced a similar problem.

³⁸ In this way the message of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled,

‘Lord, who has listened to our message?

And to whom has the power of the Lord become clear?’

The quotation was taken from the opening lines of what has come to be called The Fourth Song of the Suffering Servant:

Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

… He was despised and rejected by others;

a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;

and as one from whom others hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him of no account [Isaiah 53:1-3].

In the case of the Suffering Servant, perhaps the general reaction was not unexpected, given the unpretentious appearance of the servant. In some ways, the fate of the Suffering Servant would soon be enacted in the person of Jesus. To this point of the narrative, however, Jesus had not been dehumanised – as would soon happen in his death and in the lead-up to it. Nevertheless, his claim to be the human revelation of the mystery that is God was too much for most hearers. Perhaps, members of the Beloved Disciple’s community were themselves struggling to arrive at that final insight into the identity of Jesus.

³⁹ This is the reason that they could not believe,

as Isaiah said again,

⁴⁰ ‘He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their hearts,

lest they see with their eyes,

and understand with their hearts

and turn back,

and I would heal them.’

Interestingly, the author modified the quotation from Isaiah. He chose to delete the prophet’s reference to ears and listening so that the emphasis might fall directly on eyes and looking. (Blindness, light and darkness were themes preferred by the author [verse 46]):

Make the mind of this people dull,

and stop their ears,

and shut their eyes;

so that they may not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears,

and comprehend with their minds,

and turn and be healed [Isaiah 6:10].

The author concluded that the general unbelief was somehow due to the providential action of God. It was hardly a satisfactory explanation.

Making Sense of God’s Sovereignty

To make God directly responsible for people’s blindness is a dangerous solution to reach and could lead to an unfortunate sense of God, who really wants to heal. The author wished to hold onto both the omnipotence of God on the one hand and the undeniable fact of general unbelief on the other. This was the only way that he could do both, given the limitations of culture and language. Later thinkers have learnt to distinguish what God permits to happen from what God directly causes, thus respecting both divine sovereignty and human freedom.

⁴¹ Isaiah spoke like this because he saw the glory of God.

Unlike Isaiah's contemporaries, unlike the contemporaries of Jesus, perhaps unlike most people across the centuries, Isaiah himself had been somehow able to see that it would be through the "sacred" murder of the innocent victim that humanity would be finally enabled to recognise its endemic violence, would be freed from its spontaneous connecting of God with violence, and would learn finally to find its true social and religious cohesion secured through the ways of love and constant forgiveness.

The text had stated earlier of Abraham: Your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day; he saw it and was happy ... Before Abraham was, I am [8:56-7], so now the author claimed that Isaiah had seen the glory of Jesus, and spoke about him. Isaiah’s vision was, in fact, a vision of the Lord, sitting on a throne, in the temple [Isaiah 6:1].

The Beloved Disciple interpreted that vision of the truly unknowable God as being a vision of the God revealed through the Word. Since Jesus was the Word made flesh, the fulfilment of the "suffering Servant", the Disciple believed that Isaiah had seen the glory of Jesus.

The Paralysing Power of the Sin of the World

⁴² Yet nevertheless, many of those in authority did believe in him,

but because of the Pharisees they did not make it known,

lest they be excluded from the synagogue.

Within the time setting of the historical Jesus, among those in authority could be listed Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea [20:38-39]. The author was more directly referring to his own time, however, when the danger of being excluded from the synagogue had become real.

⁴³ They esteemed human honour more than honour from God.

Within the culture, the deliberate surrender of prestige – human honour – particularly for those who had some standing in the community, was a high price to pay, and would have truly involved hating their life in this world [verse 25]. For the Disciple, the present experience of eternal life and its still-to-be-experienced fulfilment after death were worth the price: Whoever serve me, my Father will honour [verse 26].

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