The time has (finally) come

This is the outline for the lesson of 2013-12-01. Something weird happened: We actually got through it all.
One disturbing thing: If you look at my previous outlines, you see lots of places where I wrote “ASK,” but there are none of those in this outline. I still managed some questions for the class, but figuring out where I asked them is left as an exercise for the reader. (I’ve always wanted to write that!)

Intro

• Up to now, we have worked our way through most of Jesus’s public ministry. What we will be looking at through February will almost all be contained within a single week. It was a busy week.
• In chapter 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, demonstrating Jesus’s authority over death.
• But before that, Jesus already said one of the most important things you must understand about his own death. READ John 10:17–18
  • Jesus wasn’t killed by the Romans.
  • Jesus wasn’t killed by the Jews.
  • READ Isaiah 53:10

Annointed for burial

• READ 12:1–3
• READ 12:4–8
• The perfume
  • Factlet: Nard was imported from northern India. The transportation alone increased the price.
  • 300 denarii was roughly equivalent to $20,000. (based on $8.00/hr in a 6 day work week).
    • Trivia: This is about the price of 10 bottles of Clive Christian Number 1.
  • The “pound” John mentions is a Roman pound, i.e., 12 ounces.
• Judas wasn’t a good guy until Satan entered into him (chapter 13) — he was already bad.
• Jesus explains why it was okay for Mary to do this.

Entry into Jerusalem

• READ 12:12–16
• Just unraveling all the Old Testament quotations and allusions in John’s gospel would take a lifetime.
• READ Psalm 118:25–26
• “Hosanna” means “Save now,” so even that is a quote from the psalm.
• The palm branches were a symbol of the revolution in which Judas Maccabeus kicked the Gentiles out of the temple. This made the Jewish leadership nervous.
• The reaction of the Pharisees: READ 12:19. And what should happen next?

The time has come

• The world (i.e., Gentiles) came to Jesus.
• READ 12:20–21
• The thing the Gentiles said was written or engraved on the preacher’s side of Charles Spurgeon’s pulpit where he could see it when he preached.
• It is uncertain whether Jesus’s reply was for Andrew and Philip or for the Greeks. But it was important:
• READ 12:23
  • Up to now Jesus was concious that his time had “not yet come.”
  • READ John 2:4 (Wedding at Cana)
  • READ John 7:30 (Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths))
  • But now his time has come.
• READ 12:31–33
  • Jesus has said this “lifted up” thing before (3:14, 8:28). Here, John makes it explicit that Jesus is talking about his own crucifixion.
  • Jesus is also pointing out that this was prophesied. The Jews who knew their O.T. could not miss the reference to READ Isaiah 52:13.
• Paul understood what Jesus meant about the time being right: READ Romans 5:6
• Repeat from earlier:
  • Jesus wasn’t killed by the Romans.
  • Jesus wasn’t killed by the Jews.
  • Jesus put down his life himself to pay for our sins.