As we get to John 12, we are one step closer to the death and resurrection of Christ. In this chapter, Jesus becomes anointed as he was given a dinner of honor from Mary and Martha at Bethany. Mary had bought a very expensive pint of perfume to pore and anoint Jesus with which was Hebrew tradition to do when a King was present. Judas Iscariot who we know would soon betray Christ, was concerned with the money that Mary had spent on the perfume, but Jesus quickly puts an end to that dispute. A person’s heart in what they were willing to do for the Kingdom of God was always at his forefront as he recognizes a true person’s inner heart all throughout the Gospels.

After reading and discussing the resurrection of Lazarus in the previous chapter, we saw how powerful of a moment that was. What is remarkable about the next few verses is that the Pharisees now want to kill Lazarus again! You can really see the wicked heart that is stemmed through religiosity and not in their Messiah who is before them. Praise God that some of the Jews during the time ended up putting their faith in him as we see in verse 11.

Just like we see in the other gospels, Jesus then predicts his own death and hatred along with disbelief among the Jews grows even stronger. I hope everyone reading this today can see the power that Christ had wherever he was.