I want to briefly discuss three things that stood out to me as I read this chapter.

1) The damage that occurs when we are selfish: The hostility of the religious leaders toward Jesus we saw in the last chapter has turned into pure evil in chapter twelve. In verses 10-11 they were plotting to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus because so many people believed in Jesus as a result of His having raised Lazarus from the dead. Remember their real motive was to protect their own status and position of leadership (John 11:48).

Selfish interests can make people do truly evil things – thus each of us should guard our hearts against selfish desires and thoughts. Allowing the Holy Spirit to confront us even when we have small moments of selfishness is a way to prevent our selfishness from growing into something larger that actually hurts others.

2) The power of emotions and how to deal with them: Jesus knew the time of His crucifixion for the sins of humanity was near and we begin to see His emotions in verse 27. As fully God and fully man, Jesus had emotions. That is part of being human. In this passage of scripture, as well as others in the New Testament, Jesus shows us how to deal with them so that they don’t defeat us and move us to do something wrong.

Notice what Jesus did when He was “troubled” at the thought of suffering a painful death (verses 27-28). He focused on doing God’s will and glorifying the Father.

My Driver’s Ed teacher in high school told us that whatever we stared at while driving is the direction the car would gradually travel. He was right – we just naturally drift in the direction we look. The same thing is true in life with our thoughts and emotions. If we focus on the negative, we become negative. If we focus on our fears, we become paralyzed with fear. If we focus on our doubts, we have more doubts. If we focus on temptation, we end up sinning.

Likewise if we focus on the positive, we become positive. If we focus on Jesus, we become more like Him. If we focus on God’s word, we are encouraged toward obedience and godliness.

When we are emotional, we must use our mind and will to choose the right focus. Our behavior and our future depend on it.

3) The judgment day: Jesus says something interesting about the judgment day in verses 47-50. He tells us that our judge on the last day will be “the word I spoke” (verse 48). He adds that He had spoken what the Father had given Him and those words or commandments are the source of eternal life. God’s word will not change as time passes and it will say on the judgment day exactly what it says today.

How committed are you to reading and obeying God’s word?

Pastor Steve Hogg