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6 days before the Passover celebration, Jesus had dinner with Martha and Lazarus. Martha began anointing Jesus' feet with expensive perfumed oil. Judas, noticing all this money going down the drain, inquired as to why she had to use the oil rather than sell it and give the money to the poor. Jesus answers, "You will always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." (John 12:8). Then, once others realized Jesus was there, they wanted to kill him (and even Lazarus) because they feared for the kind of power He had.
The next day, Jesus comes to Jerusalem where a great crowd welcomes Him with palm branches. They are so excited to see Him. The Pharisees mention that "the whole world has gone to see Him" perhaps as an allusion to Jesus' truly universal mission (John 12:19).
Some Greeks are there who want to see Jesus (they are probably Gentiles--so pagans--who were prosletyzed by Jews). It is fascinating that Philip and Andrew go to them and act as mediators to Christ. Philip and Andrew are very Greek names, and Galileans were mostly bilingual. Jesus suggests that it is time for the Son of Man to be glorified. Then he declares these brilliant lines (some of the most beautiful for me in the Gospel of John):
"Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me." (John 12:25-26).
Now is the time of judgment for the world. A sound like thunder echoes from heaven, helping the people understand the gravity. Jesus says that He will draw everyone to Himself when he is lifted up from the earth (another universal claim).
There is unbelief among the Jews there--one that the author of John describes, historically, as fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that some will see Jesus and not believe. Jesus says that He does not come to condemn these people, but that if they do not believe in Him, they've granted themself a meter stick by which they could be judged. Jesus says that God's commandment "is eternal life" (John 12:50).
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