It's A Mess - John 12:20-50

Jesus was very popular in the temple and “there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast,” and they went to Philip “saying, Sit, we would see Jesus.” Their message was passed along the chain until it finally came to Jesus. Jesus’ response to the Greeks coming to see Him is pretty complicated for me. It’s like one of those really abstract speech that goes on for several verses and covers topics that don’t seem to go together, so we’re going to be tackling that today. My first question is, why is this the appropriate response to the Greeks who want to speak with Jesus? I’ll have to think about that. Jesus answers them with a parable about “the hour is come, that he Son of man should be glorified,” saying, “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” This is where I started saying, “ok I have no idea what he is talking about.” But after thinking about it for a while, I realized that he was talking about a “corn of wheat” probably meaning a “wheat seed” and it was not an “either/or” as much as it was “this/then.” If a seed falls into the ground and dies then more plants and fruit can grow out of it.” So basically, the death of one allows others to live, and this is the case with Jesus’ upcoming death, because of His sacrifice, all else who close can live again spiritually. He’s the “corn of wheat” that dies and goes into the ground, and because of his death, “much fruit” can come forth.

There are several statements about “he that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal,” and “if any man serve me, let him follow me,” etc. that are important but I just feel like we’ve covered excessively. But interestingly, Jesus says “Father glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” But the IM doesn’t mention this at all and neither does JTC, so I wonder if maybe I’m reading it wrong or something. Ok, a little bit of research has the three sources I read saying that it means an “articulate” voice, which would make sense, not necessarily a booming voice from heaven, but a still, small voice that could shake people to their core. When Christ appeared to the Nephites, the voice from heaven was indeterminable at first, but had the strength of an earthquake. The people that heard this voice in Jerusalem at the temple “said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.” They didn’t know where it came from, just that it was powerful. Jesus explained to them that the voice didn’t come to comfort him, he knew what he needed to do, “but for your sakes,” to strengthen their testimonies.
It’s just really abstract here, and difficult for me to follow. Jesus says “if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” I don’t know why the “if” is here, Jesus knew that he was going to die, I don’t get it. But I have thought a lot about the “draw all men unto me,” bit. I know that all the apostles were murdered shortly after Jesus was, but that definitely wasn’t the end of Christianity. Even without the direct influence of Jesus with his true gospel, Christianity spread like wild fire throughout the whole entire world, so Jesus is incredibly accurate when he says that with being lifted up on the cross, he will draw all men unto him, physically because of the spread of the religion, and spiritually because all can be forgiven by going to Jesus.
But the people are confused, they don’t know who the “Son of man” is or why he’s going to be lifted up. Jesus doesn’t answer their questions directly but encourage them saying, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” The IM quotes Elder Robert D. Hales as saying, “We are engaged in a battle between the forces of light and darkness. If it were not for the Light of Jesus Christ and His gospel, we would be doomed to the destruction of darkness… The Lord is our light and, literally, our salvation. Like the sacred fire that encircled the children in 3 Nephi, His light will form a protective shield between you and the darkness of the adversary as you live worthy of it. You need that light. We need that light.”
Maybe needing some time alone, John tells us that after saying these things, Jesus “departed, and did hide himself from them.” While reading the next part it’s important to remember that John is making an overall commentary on the situation as a whole. At first I didn’t read it that way and thought that the narrator was speaking of the specific group that had just heard the voice from heaven and had sought Jesus out, like the Greeks. John is speaking of the Jewish leadership as a whole, not specifically this group of disciples.  John comments that the many miracles that Jesus had performed for them had not convinced the Jews as a whole to believe on him and that this disbelief fulfills the words of “Esaias” which says, “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, not understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” I don’t feel that the “he” referenced here is Jesus.
Jesus would never blind the eyes or harden the hearts of anyone, he seeks to do the opposite and respects the agency of people to make their own choices. My guess is he’s talking about Satan, but he doesn’t have the power over people’s choices either, so he probably is saying that the people had allowed themselves to become blind and hardened to spiritual things. The IM says, “John confirmed that the Jews fulfilled prophecies of the prophet Isaiah when they rejected Jesus. Isaiah had prophesied that the Jews would despise and reject the Messiah because of the blindness of their eyes and the hardness of their hearts. John also confirmed that Isaiah had seen the glory of the Savior in vision. By connecting Isaiah’s vision and prophecies with the ministry of Jesus Christ, John reinforced one important theme of his Gospel- that Jesus Christ was indeed Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Lord of Hosts.”
Even though he just said that while most of the Jews as a whole did not accept Jesus, “among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” We just talked about the seriousness of being put out of the synagogue and why it was such an effective deterrent for many people to keep them from accepting Jesus. Interestingly, these men who were supposed to be the leaders and understand the scriptures, they recognized Christ for who he was, but was so scared of being shunned that they would not actually spiritually lead the people to the Messiah that they had been waiting for. Imagine how different world history would be if these men had been brave enough to give up the wealth and power that they were so desperate to hold on to and actually done what they should have done.  
The IM quotes Elder Robert D. Hales again as saying, “Every time we make choices in our lives, we should weigh the ultimate effect our decisions will have on our goal of attaining eternal life… We make poor and irrational decisions if we are motivated by fear: fear of man, fear of not being popular, fear of failure, fear of public opinion.” The IM also quotes Elder David A. Bednar as teaching, “To not take counsel from our fears simply means that we do not permit fear and uncertainty to determine the course in life… To not take counsel from our feras means that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ overrules our fears and that we press forward with a steadfastness in Him.” It’s such a fine line between fear and faith. On the one hand, fear is important to our curbing of poor choices and survival, but on the other hand, it can also keep us from doing what need to progress.
Finally, Jesus concludes, “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” I didn’t understand why this was significant, but the IM explains, “Judaism held staunchly to the belief that the law of Moses, given by Jehovah, was the standard by which His people would be judged at the last day. When the Savior declared, ‘The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,’ He stated that He was Jehovah, the God of Israel, by equating His words with the words of Jehovah. Jesus the testified that H had said only what God had commanded Him to say, affirming that He is God’s messenger- ‘the Word-of God.” Taking the standard of righteousness from actions (the Law of Moses) to being (His higher gospel), Jesus let them know that they can ignore Him all they want, they will still be held accountable before His Father, God, for who they became. And I guess that is true of us too. Those of us who know can’t deny that we never did, and should be working at doing our best to become like Him.