John 12 Round Two: Jesus Knows How to Make an Entrance

A king on a donkey, a jar shattered at his feet, and a voice that sounds like thunder to some and clarity to others—John 12 is where momentum turns and meaning deepens. We trace the arc from a feast in Bethany to a crowded Jerusalem street and discover why glory in God’s kingdom often looks like humility, surrender, and a cross that draws the world. With Lazarus alive at the table and Mary pouring out a year’s wages, the contrast between fearful control and fearless devotion becomes impossible to ignore.

We unpack the Triumphal Entry as deliberate fulfillment of prophecy, not a spontaneous moment. The palm branches and Psalm 118 chant frame Jesus as the promised King, yet he chooses a donkey to signal peace over spectacle. When Greeks arrive asking to see him, the tone shifts: the hour has come. Jesus names the path ahead with a seed metaphor—life through death, fruit through surrender—and then the heavens answer. Some hear thunder. Others hear the Father. Either way, the message lands: the ruler of this world is judged, and the Son of Man will be lifted up to draw all people.

From there the challenge becomes personal. Will we walk in the light while we have it, or cling to praise from people and miss the praise of God? John notes leaders who believed yet stayed silent, a mirror for anyone tempted to keep faith private to avoid risk. We reflect on Jesus’ mission to save rather than condemn, his obedience to the Father’s words, and the hope that eternal life is found in trusting him. If you’re wrestling with what “costly” looks like today—time, attention, reputation—this conversation offers a way to measure value by the kingdom’s scale, where devotion is not waste but wisdom.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can discover the hope and challenge of John’s Gospel. What part of John 12 stirred you most—Mary’s gift, the donkey, or the voice from heaven?

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast.
Every day, we take one chapterof the Bible, dig deeper, and
discover that the more we dig,the more we find.
You can find out more at theBiblebreakdown.com.
Now let's grow in God's Wordtogether.
Well, hello, and welcome back tothe Bible Breakdown Podcast with
your host, Pastor Brandon, andtoday's John chapter 12.

(00:22):
Today is one of those days thatJesus does more than we realize
in this moment.
And if I were to give a title totoday's chapter, it would be The
End Begins.
The End Begins.
And I'm going to tell yousomething.
It's going to be great.
And before we get into that,make sure you're subscribing to
this podcast.
Make sure you're liking,sharing, and subscribing our
YouTube channel.

(00:43):
And make sure you are going toour discussion, Bible breakdown
discussion on Facebook.
And let us know what you aregetting from this.
Make sure you are soapingthrough this scripture,
observation, application, andprayer as we grow and we create
this community that we justsurround ourselves with people
who are reading God's Word everyday.
And I'm going to tell yousomething, the more we dig, the
more we find.

(01:03):
And I want you to do me a favor.
I want you to go to my blog,brandoncannon.com.
And right there on the frontpage, you can sign up for a
weekly newsletter I'm doing.
And I'm in the process of tryingto resource you with things just
to help you enrich your Biblereading and help you just
navigate this world we're livingin.
And just what it is, is stuff Icome across every week.
I just send it out there to youand hope it adds value to your
life.

(01:23):
Now, we're going to jump intothis today.
And there's so many amazingthings happening in this
chapter.
And so we're just going to walkthrough this together and just
kind of just gush about thegoodness of God.
All right.
If you have your Bibles with me,I'm going to open up to John
chapter 12, your NLT Bibles.
We're going to jump right intothis and we'll stop along the
way and just hopefully maybe addsome insight to this.
You ready?

(01:43):
Here we go.
John chapter 12, verse 1.
Six days before the Passovercelebration began, Jesus arrived
in Bethany at the home ofLazarus, the man that had been
raised from the dead.
Now pause.
It says, six days before thePassover, Jesus is going to be
crucified just before thePassover.
They're going to have the LastSupper is the Passover meal.

(02:05):
And so right there during thattime, you know, the next day, so
during the Passover festival,should I say, is when Jesus is
going to be crucified.
So we're entering into, that'swhy we called it the end, the
beginning of the end, or the endbegins, is because this is where
the final week of Jesus' earthlylife begins.
He's at the home of Lazarus, andthey get ready to party.

(02:25):
But here we go, verse 2.
The dinner was prepared inJesus' honor.
Martha served, and Lazarus wasamong those who ate with him.
Then Mary took a 12-ounce jar ofexpensive perfume made out of
essence of nard, and sheanointed Jesus' feet with it,
wiping his feet with her hair,and the house was filled with
fragrance.
But Judas Iscariot, the disciplewho would soon betray him, said,

(02:49):
That perfume was worth a year'swages.
It should be sold and the moneygiven to the poor.
Not that he cared about thepoor.
He was a thief.
And since he was in charge ofdisciples' money, he often stole
some for himself.
Can we just pause and just takethat in?

(03:10):
I want to try to find a way togive Judas the jerk just a
little bit of room.
But this idiot was stealingmoney from Jesus.
But how about the same time?
Jesus knew him and didn't throwhim away.
I mean, say law on all of thatstuff.
Okay, here we go.
Jesus replied, verse 7, Leaveher alone.

(03:33):
She did this in preparation formy burial.
You always have the poor amongyou, but you will not always
have me.
When all the people heard ofJesus' arrival, they flocked to
see him and also to see Lazarus,the man that Jesus had raised
from the dead.
Then the leading priest decidedto kill Lazarus too, for it was
because of him that many peoplehad deserted them and believed

(03:55):
in Jesus.
So how by the way, we're goingto kill the man that Jesus
brought back to life.
Think about that for a minute.
But what just got throughhappening is Mary was so happy
and she was so thankful for whatJesus had done, and she took
something expensive and sheworshipped Jesus by anointing
his feet.
Now, what's amazing about thatis many times throughout many
cultures, before a king wascrowned, there would be a

(04:17):
coronation process where therewould be times when they would
be given gifts and they would behonored as the king was getting
ready to step into his throne.
And that's what Jesus is sayingis I, as the king, am getting
ready to take my throne.
And so she is just celebratingme in preparation for what I'm
about to do.
And then what he's about to donext is deceptively, to our

(04:38):
Western eyes, phenomenal.
So let's read this, verse 12.
The next day the news that Jesuswas on his way to Jerusalem
swept through the city, and alarge crowd of Passover visitors
took palm branches and went downto the road to meet him, and
they shouted, Praise God,blessings on the one who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hail to the king of Israel.

(04:59):
By the way, that is a psalm,Psalm 118.
Jesus found a young donkey andwrote on it, fulfilling the
prophecy that said, Don't beafraid, people of Jerusalem.
Look, your king is coming,riding on a donkey's colt.
His disciples didn't understandat the time that this was a
fulfillment of prophecy.
But after Jesus entered into hisglory, they remembered what had

(05:21):
happened and they realized thatthese things had been written
about him.
Many in the crowd had seen Jesuscall Lazarus from the tomb,
rising him from the dead, andthey were filled, and they were
telling others about it.
That was the reason so many wentout to meet him, because they
had heard about his miraculoussigns.
Then the Pharisees said to eachother, There is nothing we can

(05:42):
do.
Look, everyone has gone afterhim.
Now, what was so significantabout this moment?
Well, first of all, this wouldhave been just crazy crowd.
Like Jerusalem during that time,let's say 50,000, 75,000 people,
which is a big town at the time.
During a fest a festival likePassover, which was a high holy
day for the Jewish people, itwould go from 50,000, 75,000 to

(06:04):
swell to like 200,000.
So it would be packed full ofpeople.
And then everybody comes in.
And then here was the thing.
Everybody knew one of the thiswidely used prophecies, that
when the king comes, he willdeclare himself by showing his
humility by riding through thegates of Jerusalem on a donkey.

(06:27):
So when Jesus did this, he didthis on purpose.
Now the Bible says that the thedisciples were so wrapped up in
the moment that they forgot theprophecy.
Here's the thing a lot of thosepeople wouldn't have, because
this was a prophecy that was topoint to, you know, the dis the
Messiah is come when he ridesthrough town on a donkey.
So Jesus was openly declaringhimself at that moment to say,

(06:52):
Yes, I am the one you've beenwaiting for.
It's amazing.
Verse 20.
Some Greeks who had come toJerusalem in the Passover
celebration said, uh paid avisit to Philip, who was from
Besseda in Galilee, and theysaid, Sir, we want to meet
Jesus.
Philip told Andrew about it, andthey went together to ask Jesus.
Jesus replied, Now the time hascome for the Son of Man to enter

(07:14):
into his glory.
I tell you the truth, unless akernel of wheat is planted in
the soil and dies, it remainsalone.
But its death will produce manynew kernels, a plentiful harvest
of new lives.
Those who love their life inthis world will lose it.
Those who care nothing for theirlife in this world will keep it
for eternity.
Anyone who wants to serve memust follow me, but my servants

(07:37):
must be where I am.
And the Father will I lost trainof thought there, and the Father
will honor anyone who serves me.
Now my soul is deeply troubled.
Should I pray?
Father, save me from this hour?
But this is the reason I came.
Father, bring glory to yourname.
Then a voice spoke from heaven,saying, I have already brought

(07:58):
glory to my name, and I will doso again.
When the crowd heard the voice,they thought it was thunder,
while others declared an angelhad spoken to him.
But Jesus told them, The voicewas for your benefit, not mine.
The time for judging this worldhas come, when Satan, the ruler
of this world, will be cast out,and when I am lifted up from the
earth, I will draw everyone tomyself.

(08:20):
He said this to indicate how hewas going to die.
The crowds responded, Weunderstood from Scripture that
the Messiah would live forever.
How can you say the Son of Manwill die?
Who is this Son of Man anyway?
Jesus replied, My light willshine for you just a little
longer, and walk in the lightwhile you can, so the darkness
will not overtake you.

(08:41):
Those who walk in darknesscannot see what they are doing.
Put your trust in the lightwhile there is still time.
Then you will become children ofthe light.
After saying these things, hewent away and was hidden from
them.
So Jesus is telling them, I amthe light, but my mission is so
much bigger than yours.
They were saying, I thought theMessiah would live forever.
I wonder if Jesus is almostlike, well, yeah, I mean, but I

(09:04):
got something else I need to dofirst.
So I'm gonna go do my thing, andthen I'm gonna be back.
And I love this about Jesus.
Jesus knows.
He keeps telling them, I'm aboutto die.
I'm about to die.
I'm a but here's the thing.
So he knows he's gonna die.
But listen to this, he doesn'tstop moving forward.
He has a date with death sixdays away, and he never stops

(09:29):
moving forward.
That's how much he loves you,that's how much he loves me.
All right, let's finish thischapter, verse 37.
But despite all the miraculoussigns Jesus had done, most of
the people still did not believehim.
This is exactly what Isaiah theprophet had predicted.
Lord, who has believed ourmessage?
And to whom has the Lordrevealed his powerful arm?

(09:50):
But the Lord, but the peoplecouldn't believe, for Isaiah had
also said, The Lord has blindedtheir eyes and hardened their
hearts, so that their eyescannot see, and their hearts
cannot understand, and theycannot turn to me and have me
heal them.
Isaiah was referring to Jesuswhen he said this because he saw
the future and spoke of theMessiah's glory, and that many

(10:11):
people did believe in him,however, including some of the
Jewish leaders, but theywouldn't admit it for fear that
the Pharisees would expel themfrom the synagogue, for they
loved human praise more than thepraise of God.
Jesus shouted to the crowds, Ifyou trust me, you are not
trusting only me, but also Godwho sent me.
For when you see me, you areseeing the one who sent me, for

(10:34):
I have come as a light to shinein the dark world, so that all
who put their trust in me willno longer remain in the dark.
I will not judge those who hearme but don't obey, for I have
come to save the world, not tojudge it.
But all who reject me and mymessage will be judged on the
day of judgment by the truth Ihave spoken.
Don't I don't speak of my ownauthority.

(10:55):
The Father who sent me hascommanded me what to say and how
to say it.
And I know his command leads toeternal life.
So I say whatever the Fathertells me to say.
So I love this idea that Jesusis saying, I am coming with
mercy.
Receive what I am saying.
He's not coming to judge theworld at this point, he's coming

(11:17):
to save the world.
But it is our choice if we putour trust in him and obey him.
So I would encourage you, let'schoose him today, because the
king is coming to his throne.
Let's pray together and we'll bedone for the day.
Father, thank you so much forsending your son into this
world.
Jesus, thank you that from thefoundation of the world you are

(11:39):
God.
And you came on a rescuemission.
And God, what we are beginningto see is that the end is about
to begin, but also we are justbeginning.
That God, you are doing amazingthings.
And as we're walking throughthis, I pray that we will
experience the life that youwant us to experience.
And that by experiencing thatlife, Lord, we will have the
power to walk after you everyday of our lives.

(12:01):
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Don't forget, John 20 says,These things are written that
you may continue to believe thatJesus is Messiah, the Son of
God, and that by believing inhim, you will have life by the
power of his name.
I hope you experience that lifetoday.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Johnchapter 13.

(12:22):
It's gonna get crazy.