This verse has been misunderstood and misinterpreted by ecclesiastical Christian teachers.
Jesus is not talking about physical light here, as many have sentimentally purported. Jesus is using symbolism here to communicate something that not necessarily everyone wants to understand. Why did Jesus use symbolism and parable so many times? Jesus told his close students:
He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'" (Luke 8:10)
So we can see here that Jesus' intention as he used symbolism was to communicate to those who were serious about hearing his message. For those who were simply caught up with the excitement of his miracles or the large crowds, and not interested in hearing his message, they typically get snared within the language of the parable - completely missing the message being transmitted.
This is the case with this verse.
Here Jesus is using the word light, translated from the Greek word φῶς (phōs) to symbolize his teachings.
This metaphoric use of the word light is confirmed in Strong's Greek lexicon, which states that φῶς can be used metaphorically: "derived of truth and its knowledge, together with the spiritual purity associated with it."
And where are truth and knowledge coming from in the case of Jesus' life? Through his teachings. Jesus was saying this as he stood in the temple square in Jerusalem, with a large crowd surrounding him. What was he doing with this large crowd?
He was teaching them about God.
He was speaking of God, glorifying Him and saying things like:
"The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:25)
In other words, Jesus was trying to teach those around him to focus their lives upon God, and not the trappings of the physical world. Jesus was trying to convince them to love God and serve God.
Jesus was using symbolism to illustrate the ability of his teachings to provide clarity, direction and happiness in our lives.
And because Jesus foresaw that his body was going to be murdered at the hands of the Romans and Jewish high priests, he was telling his students that soon they would no longer be able to directly hear his teachings.
So he proposes following those teachings after he has left them. This point is set up as Jesus continues the symbolism of light and darkness:
"The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going." What does this mean?
Here the person who "walks in the dark" indicates someone going through life without knowing or following Jesus' teachings. Since light allows someone to see as they walk at night, Jesus is communicating that his teachings can illuminate our path in life, and allow us to see where we are going, even through the darkness of the physical world.
The physical world is compared to darkness here, and also with the statement in John 12:25 above because here in this physical world, most of us do not know who we really are, or what our purpose for existence is. This is why "who am I?" and "what is my purpose for living?" are the two most asked questions when one begins a serious search for happiness.
This is because we are falsely identifying with these temporary physical bodies. Just as a driver steps into a car and drives it, we, spiritual children of God, are driving these temporary bodies. But just imagine if we got into a Chevy Camero, and then thought "I am a Camero". This is the equivalent to identifying with our temporary physical body. This is ignorance, or darkness.
Jesus, on the other hand, is offering a way out of the illusion of false identification. Getting out, however, requires trusting his teachings.
This is confirmed as Jesus says: "Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light." How can a person trust a light? What is there to trust in a physical light?
But when light is being used to symbolize Jesus' teachings, we can see how trusting in Jesus' teachings can provide clarity to ones life.
Jesus never taught this teaching that ecclesiastical Christian teachers proclaim today: That all we have to do is accept that he died for our sins and we are saved. If this were true, why did Jesus ask us to pray to God to forgive our sins: "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." (Luke 11:4)
In other words, Jesus' teachings were not intended to give us a free pass to heaven. We have to change. Jesus' is teaching us to change our consciousness, from being self-centered to being God-centered. Jesus wanted us to come to know and love the Person he knew and loved: the Supreme Being. This is clearly communicated by Jesus in his most important teaching, which, if we follow, will illuminate our lives, making each of us "sons of the light":
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)
This verse has been grossly mistranslated and misinterpreted.
What Jesus really said here is significantly different than the translation of this verse indicates. Does this translation even make sense? If so, why, after Jesus left the planet some two thousand years ago, are billions of men still here, if "all men" were "drawn" up to Jesus as he was "lifted up from the earth."
And if being "drawn" to Jesus is being used metaphorically, as in being attracted to him, this also is not true, as so many billions of people throughout the world over the past two thousand years have not even heard Jesus' teachings, and many who have, have rejected Jesus' teachings. So "all men" being "drawn" to Jesus is a nonsensical statement. That's because Jesus did not say it.
The reality of this verse can be understood by studying the Greek carefully:
The first clue to Jesus' real statement comes from the Greek word ἐάν (ean). This does not mean "when" as translated here. It means "if" or "in case" according to the lexicon and typical use of Greek. It is a word that clearly communicates uncertainty and the possible connection between two events. "If" and "when" are two completely different words and concepts.
Next, the Greek word ὑψόω (hypsoō) does not mean "lifted up" as translated here. It means to be "exalted" or put on a pedestal: "to exalt, to raise to dignity, honor and happiness" according to the lexicon. To translate this to being physically lifted up form the earth like some kind of elevator is to see Jesus and the situation on one dimension - physically. It is seeing Jesus without any vision, in other words.
The Greek word ἐκ (ek) can certainly mean "from," but it can also mean "by." The most appropriate use here is "by" - see below.
The Greek word γῆ (gē) can mean "arable land," "the ground," "land," "the earth as a whole," and "the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animals" according to the lexicon. Is Jesus referring to physical land here? The land cannot exalt anyone. Rather, Jesus is referring to the physical world - as he referred to in his previous statement, when he talked about the "prince of this world." He is talking about the "world" as someone might say, "He was the best in the world." In the statement, "he was the best in the world," we are not talking about the "world" as physical land. We are talking about "world" as the populace of the world.
What Jesus is talking about is the possibility of his being exalted by the populace of the world. He is saying:
"If I am exalted by the world."
The reason for the "if" here is that Jesus is seeing how most of the population - including the ecclesiastical Jewish temple priests and Romans - has rejected his teachings, even to the point where some were plotting for his execution. Thus, while he was being exalted by some of his followers in Jerusalem while he was there, being "exalted by the world" was a different matter. This is why the word "if" is so important to Jesus' statement.
The Greek word πᾶς (pas) here is being translated to "all men." Where does this come from? πᾶς can certainly mean "everyone," but also "all things," "the whole," "all" and collectively, "some of all types." In other words, "everyone and everything." Let's look at the word "draw" in this connection:
The Greek word ἕλκω (helkō) is correctly translated to "draw," but the usage is not correct. The usage makes it look like Jesus is some sort of magnet that physically attaches people to him as he is "lifted up." Rather, the correct usage indicates inclusion, or to bring along. Jesus is saying that if he were to be exalted by the world, everyone and everything would also become exalted.
The Greek word πρός (pros) here is being translated here to "with," but it also means, first and foremost, "to the advantage of." It can also mean "at," "near," or "by." But "to the advantage of" is its primary meaning, and this begins to clarify Jesus' statement.
The Greek word ἐμαυτοῦ (emautou) does mean "I, me, myself" as the translation uses, but it is important that the previous word is better translated to "with," and as such, the best use of this word would be "me," as in "with me."
The concept of Jesus saying "when" he is "lifted up from the earth," he will "will draw all men to myself" is completely missing the point of Jesus' statement. Jesus was not making himself out to be this big magnet-man - like some kind of super-hero. He saw himself as God's humble servant, and the servant of humanity. He sought not to rule over people, but to help others come to the platform of loving and serving the Supreme Being - whom Jesus also loved and served.
Jesus wanted everyone to come to this point, not just himself. Therefore, he wanted to bring everyone along with him. He wanted everyone to love and serve God, and be exalted - spiritually.
So Jesus was utilizing the word "exalted" as a double entendre - a word with two meanings. While he was referring to it as being "exalted" by others - or being praised and glorified by others - he was also using it in the context of "spiritual exaltation," or being raised to the platform of spiritual grace - becoming one of God's humble loving servants - as Jesus was.
Thus, the most appropriate translation of Jesus' statement would be something to the effect of:
"If I were to be exalted by the world, everyone and everything would become [spiritually] exalted with me."
Just consider this in context. Jesus said, just before this, that "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out." (John 12:31). While the interpretation of that verse has been twisted by ecclesiastical Christian teachers (see commentary on this previous verse), we can see, with this new translation of this verse, how the two statements are connected. If the world were to exalt Jesus, then the world would become exalted - spiritually exalted - with him; and "the prince of this world" - selfishness - "will be driven out."
The physical world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, everyone loves and serves God, and loves and serves each other with respect to their loving relationship with God. In the physical world, we love ourselves. We serve ourselves. We strive to make ourselves happy, typically at the expense of others. This is called greed and selfishness. We are each trying to become exalted. We want fame and fortune, and all the goodies that come with them. This is diametrically opposed to the spiritual world, where everyone wants to exalt God and God's representatives: Which makes them spiritually exalted.
Should everyone in the physical world suddenly decide to exalt God - by glorifying Him and His loving servants - those who populated the world (who are glorifying God and His loving servants) would become spiritually purified. We would all become ready to return home to the spiritual world after the death of our physical bodies.
This is Jesus' dream. While not likely (as he did use the word "if"), Jesus certainly hoped that everyone would sincerely hear and follow his teachings, because he knew that by following his teachings, we can become spiritually purified - and spiritually exalted. And what, according to Jesus, were his most important teachings?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt. 22:37-40)
What Jesus really said here is significantly different than the translation of this verse indicates. Does this translation even make sense? If so, why, after Jesus left the planet some two thousand years ago, are billions of men still here, if "all men" were "drawn" up to Jesus as he was "lifted up from the earth."
And if being "drawn" to Jesus is being used metaphorically, as in being attracted to him, this also is not true, as so many billions of people throughout the world over the past two thousand years have not even heard Jesus' teachings, and many who have, have rejected Jesus' teachings. So "all men" being "drawn" to Jesus is a nonsensical statement. That's because Jesus did not say it.
The reality of this verse can be understood by studying the Greek carefully:
The first clue to Jesus' real statement comes from the Greek word ἐάν (ean). This does not mean "when" as translated here. It means "if" or "in case" according to the lexicon and typical use of Greek. It is a word that clearly communicates uncertainty and the possible connection between two events. "If" and "when" are two completely different words and concepts.
Next, the Greek word ὑψόω (hypsoō) does not mean "lifted up" as translated here. It means to be "exalted" or put on a pedestal: "to exalt, to raise to dignity, honor and happiness" according to the lexicon. To translate this to being physically lifted up form the earth like some kind of elevator is to see Jesus and the situation on one dimension - physically. It is seeing Jesus without any vision, in other words.
The Greek word ἐκ (ek) can certainly mean "from," but it can also mean "by." The most appropriate use here is "by" - see below.
The Greek word γῆ (gē) can mean "arable land," "the ground," "land," "the earth as a whole," and "the inhabited earth, the abode of men and animals" according to the lexicon. Is Jesus referring to physical land here? The land cannot exalt anyone. Rather, Jesus is referring to the physical world - as he referred to in his previous statement, when he talked about the "prince of this world." He is talking about the "world" as someone might say, "He was the best in the world." In the statement, "he was the best in the world," we are not talking about the "world" as physical land. We are talking about "world" as the populace of the world.
What Jesus is talking about is the possibility of his being exalted by the populace of the world. He is saying:
"If I am exalted by the world."
The reason for the "if" here is that Jesus is seeing how most of the population - including the ecclesiastical Jewish temple priests and Romans - has rejected his teachings, even to the point where some were plotting for his execution. Thus, while he was being exalted by some of his followers in Jerusalem while he was there, being "exalted by the world" was a different matter. This is why the word "if" is so important to Jesus' statement.
The Greek word πᾶς (pas) here is being translated to "all men." Where does this come from? πᾶς can certainly mean "everyone," but also "all things," "the whole," "all" and collectively, "some of all types." In other words, "everyone and everything." Let's look at the word "draw" in this connection:
The Greek word ἕλκω (helkō) is correctly translated to "draw," but the usage is not correct. The usage makes it look like Jesus is some sort of magnet that physically attaches people to him as he is "lifted up." Rather, the correct usage indicates inclusion, or to bring along. Jesus is saying that if he were to be exalted by the world, everyone and everything would also become exalted.
The Greek word πρός (pros) here is being translated here to "with," but it also means, first and foremost, "to the advantage of." It can also mean "at," "near," or "by." But "to the advantage of" is its primary meaning, and this begins to clarify Jesus' statement.
The Greek word ἐμαυτοῦ (emautou) does mean "I, me, myself" as the translation uses, but it is important that the previous word is better translated to "with," and as such, the best use of this word would be "me," as in "with me."
The concept of Jesus saying "when" he is "lifted up from the earth," he will "will draw all men to myself" is completely missing the point of Jesus' statement. Jesus was not making himself out to be this big magnet-man - like some kind of super-hero. He saw himself as God's humble servant, and the servant of humanity. He sought not to rule over people, but to help others come to the platform of loving and serving the Supreme Being - whom Jesus also loved and served.
Jesus wanted everyone to come to this point, not just himself. Therefore, he wanted to bring everyone along with him. He wanted everyone to love and serve God, and be exalted - spiritually.
So Jesus was utilizing the word "exalted" as a double entendre - a word with two meanings. While he was referring to it as being "exalted" by others - or being praised and glorified by others - he was also using it in the context of "spiritual exaltation," or being raised to the platform of spiritual grace - becoming one of God's humble loving servants - as Jesus was.
Thus, the most appropriate translation of Jesus' statement would be something to the effect of:
"If I were to be exalted by the world, everyone and everything would become [spiritually] exalted with me."
Just consider this in context. Jesus said, just before this, that "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out." (John 12:31). While the interpretation of that verse has been twisted by ecclesiastical Christian teachers (see commentary on this previous verse), we can see, with this new translation of this verse, how the two statements are connected. If the world were to exalt Jesus, then the world would become exalted - spiritually exalted - with him; and "the prince of this world" - selfishness - "will be driven out."
The physical world is a perverted reflection of the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, everyone loves and serves God, and loves and serves each other with respect to their loving relationship with God. In the physical world, we love ourselves. We serve ourselves. We strive to make ourselves happy, typically at the expense of others. This is called greed and selfishness. We are each trying to become exalted. We want fame and fortune, and all the goodies that come with them. This is diametrically opposed to the spiritual world, where everyone wants to exalt God and God's representatives: Which makes them spiritually exalted.
Should everyone in the physical world suddenly decide to exalt God - by glorifying Him and His loving servants - those who populated the world (who are glorifying God and His loving servants) would become spiritually purified. We would all become ready to return home to the spiritual world after the death of our physical bodies.
This is Jesus' dream. While not likely (as he did use the word "if"), Jesus certainly hoped that everyone would sincerely hear and follow his teachings, because he knew that by following his teachings, we can become spiritually purified - and spiritually exalted. And what, according to Jesus, were his most important teachings?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt. 22:37-40)
"Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out." (John 12:31)
What is Jesus saying here? Ecclesiastical Christian teachers will have us believe that Jesus is talking about his upcoming murder at the hands of the Romans, and how this crucifixion will save mankind, because he "died for our sins."
The ecclesiastical Roman Catholic Church and the many sects that followed their interpretations have arrived at the conclusion that all we have to do is "accept that Jesus died for our sins" and we will be "saved." So now we have a collection of various "Christian" sects around the world who are led by professional (paid with salaries) teachers, trying to get us to join their church (and pay their salaries) so they can "save us" by getting us to stare at the cross and proclaim "Jesus died for my sins and now I am saved!"
Does this really make sense, however? Is it consistent with Jesus' teachings? And why does this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching virtually ignore Jesus' actual teachings?
And more importantly, if it were true, why did Jesus even bother teaching anything, and instead, simply say "just accept that I will die for your sins and you will be saved"?
If this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching is true, then this means that Jesus was wrong when he taught:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)
Those who are teaching and those who are practicing this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching fall under this category of people who are saying "Lord, Lord" in the above verse. They are proclaiming Jesus as Lord without doing what he is instructing them to do. And what is that? "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven:" serving God, in other words.
Jesus goes on to say:
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)
Isn't this precisely what the ecclesiastical Christian sects of today are doing in Jesus' name... prophesizing in Jesus' name, performing miracles and driving out demons in Jesus' name? Yet Jesus is calling them "evildoers," saying "Away from me." Why? Because they didn't follow his instructions, which was to serve God ("does the will of my Father who is in heaven.")
So now that we can see that these Christian sects are doing almost precisely what Jesus warns us not to do, should we believe their teaching that all we have to do is "accept Jesus into my heart" and "Jesus died for my sins"? All the while ignoring Jesus' real teachings?
This "Jesus died for my sins" is the teaching that the Roman government promoted in early Christian times, because it supported their ability to control the Christian world with one doctrine that could be consistent with their continued materialism. The doctrine was begun by Paul, who was not a direct disciple of Jesus, and who in fact worked directly for the Roman government, spying on the early Christians. In fact, Paul's teachings challenged the teachings of James, who was Jesus' direct disciple. James' teachings were consistent with Jesus' - which were consistent with the teachers who preceded Jesus, including John the Baptist, Job, Samuel, Joshua, David, Moses, Solomon, Eli, Abraham and so many others. It was Paul - who never heard Jesus' teachings directly, but rather claimed to have a vision of Jesus - that the Roman government decided to base their interpretation of Jesus' teachings on. So they completely ignored James' teachings - basically editing him out of the Bible. James not only taught what Jesus taught: He was also murdered by the Roman government.
James' teachings, however, were recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls ("James the Great"), which the Romans banned, and burned, except for what was secretly buried by devoted followers of Jesus.
Remember that it was the Romans - the same government who murdered Jesus and many of his followers, and the same government who murdered millions of Jews in the first century - who governed the process of selecting (and editing) the books of the Bible. It was the early Roman Catholic Church - organized by Constantine in the early fourth century - who dictated the meaning of Jesus' teachings, and authorized Paul as its supposed first "pope." Meanwhile, they de-emphasized Jesus' actual teachings, and those direct disciples who were passing on those teachings.
Jesus' real teachings instructed us that in order to return to the spiritual world, we would have to change. Jesus strictly applied the teachings of David, Moses, Abraham, Samuel and others, who emphasized that we need to learn to love God and dedicate our lives to God. This means changing our consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered. This is supported by every teacher from the Old Testament, and the instructions by Moses, who summed up the meaning of God's commandments with this single instruction:
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:4)
But the ecclesiastical Christian teachers would have us believe that we don't have to change our consciousness. They want us to continue to love ourselves. They teach that we can still focus upon our self-centered dreams and ambitions, and simply come into church once a week and wipe off our sins on Jesus and we're clean and pure again. They even go further to say that we can turn to Jesus and ask him to help us achieve our self-centered dreams. So Jesus is not simply our doormat to wipe our sins off on, but also our waiter: We just order up what we want and he gives it to us.
Some ecclesiastical Christian teachers go to the extent that they will help us ask for the "stuff" we need. We can write up a prayer-wish and send it to the preacher, and the preacher will "pray on it" to help us get what we want. So people are praying to get into good schools, or win football games or whatever, and the ecclesiastical teachers are supporting this by offering to "pray on it" for us. Is this what Jesus taught?
Certainly not. Rather, these activities are part of what Jesus is describing here as "the prince of this world".
So who is "the prince of this world"? Is it some horned character with a pitchfork who lives underground in fiery-hot caves? Is it someone who sits on our shoulder tempting us? These characterizations are not only fictitious: They are comical.
"This world" is being translated from the Greek word κόσμος (kosmos), which means, according to Strong's lexicon, "universe" or "world", but also, "world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly; a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc."
If we accept this meaning, we can understand that "this world" isn't simply a place: Jesus was talking about the consciousness that pervades this world: A consciousness of greed and desire.
And the use of the word "prince" is being translated from the Greek word ἄρχων (archōn), which means, according to the lexicon, "ruler, commander, chief, leader." So just who is leading or ruling this consciousness of greed and desire that pervades the physical world?
"The prince of this world" that Jesus is discussing is selfishness. This is the root cause of greed, envy and sin. Being selfish is putting ourselves at the center. Being selfish is "loving ourselves" (another teaching of many ecclesiastical Christian teachers). Being selfish is putting ourselves first and everyone else last - including God if we even believe in His existence.
Selfishness is the "prince of this world" because this is the opposite consciousness that Jesus was teaching about. Jesus was teaching us to be God-centered, while selfishness is being self-centered.
So why is Jesus saying that "Now is the time for judgment on this world" and "now the prince of this world will be driven out"? What was happening at that moment in time that would refer to this? Ecclesiastical teachers insist Jesus is talking about his dying removing everyone's sins because in the next verse, he mentions, "when I am lifted up from the earth."
This fails to include what preceded Jesus' statement: That was God's voice, saying "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." after Jesus asked God, "Father, glorify your name!" and Jesus stating after God spoke, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine" directly afterward. (John 12:28-30)
So the word "now" is the key word, coming from the Greek word, νῦν (nyn) which means "at this time, the present, now," according to the lexicon.
Jesus was not dying on the cross "at this time" and in "the present." Rather, Jesus was teaching a crowd that surrounded him by the temple in Jerusalem, and they had just heard God speaking to them, and God glorified His Name. That is what was happening "now."
God glorifying His Holy Name brings "judgement on this world" because the consciousness of "this world" - this physical dimension - is selfishness, and glorifying God is the opposite consciousness of that. This creates a contrasting moment, dividing those who are self-centered from those who are God-centered. Those who are God-centered were marveling and giving thanks at hearing from God, while those who were self-centered were not. They - such as the pharisees and priests who were observing - were envious - saying "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" (John 12:19)
So why do ecclesiastical Christian teachers not see this meaning? They would rather ignore the meaning, precisely because of why Jesus said it. That glorifying God and focusing upon God brings judgement upon their teachings - notably because their teachings do not glorify God, but rather, are focused upon maintaining doctrines meant to attract followers and maintain their professional positions and salaries. This is diametrically opposed to Jesus' teachings, which instructed us to devote ourselves and our whole lives to God:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
The ecclesiastical Roman Catholic Church and the many sects that followed their interpretations have arrived at the conclusion that all we have to do is "accept that Jesus died for our sins" and we will be "saved." So now we have a collection of various "Christian" sects around the world who are led by professional (paid with salaries) teachers, trying to get us to join their church (and pay their salaries) so they can "save us" by getting us to stare at the cross and proclaim "Jesus died for my sins and now I am saved!"
Does this really make sense, however? Is it consistent with Jesus' teachings? And why does this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching virtually ignore Jesus' actual teachings?
And more importantly, if it were true, why did Jesus even bother teaching anything, and instead, simply say "just accept that I will die for your sins and you will be saved"?
If this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching is true, then this means that Jesus was wrong when he taught:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)
Those who are teaching and those who are practicing this "Jesus died for my sins" teaching fall under this category of people who are saying "Lord, Lord" in the above verse. They are proclaiming Jesus as Lord without doing what he is instructing them to do. And what is that? "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven:" serving God, in other words.
Jesus goes on to say:
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)
Isn't this precisely what the ecclesiastical Christian sects of today are doing in Jesus' name... prophesizing in Jesus' name, performing miracles and driving out demons in Jesus' name? Yet Jesus is calling them "evildoers," saying "Away from me." Why? Because they didn't follow his instructions, which was to serve God ("does the will of my Father who is in heaven.")
So now that we can see that these Christian sects are doing almost precisely what Jesus warns us not to do, should we believe their teaching that all we have to do is "accept Jesus into my heart" and "Jesus died for my sins"? All the while ignoring Jesus' real teachings?
This "Jesus died for my sins" is the teaching that the Roman government promoted in early Christian times, because it supported their ability to control the Christian world with one doctrine that could be consistent with their continued materialism. The doctrine was begun by Paul, who was not a direct disciple of Jesus, and who in fact worked directly for the Roman government, spying on the early Christians. In fact, Paul's teachings challenged the teachings of James, who was Jesus' direct disciple. James' teachings were consistent with Jesus' - which were consistent with the teachers who preceded Jesus, including John the Baptist, Job, Samuel, Joshua, David, Moses, Solomon, Eli, Abraham and so many others. It was Paul - who never heard Jesus' teachings directly, but rather claimed to have a vision of Jesus - that the Roman government decided to base their interpretation of Jesus' teachings on. So they completely ignored James' teachings - basically editing him out of the Bible. James not only taught what Jesus taught: He was also murdered by the Roman government.
James' teachings, however, were recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls ("James the Great"), which the Romans banned, and burned, except for what was secretly buried by devoted followers of Jesus.
Remember that it was the Romans - the same government who murdered Jesus and many of his followers, and the same government who murdered millions of Jews in the first century - who governed the process of selecting (and editing) the books of the Bible. It was the early Roman Catholic Church - organized by Constantine in the early fourth century - who dictated the meaning of Jesus' teachings, and authorized Paul as its supposed first "pope." Meanwhile, they de-emphasized Jesus' actual teachings, and those direct disciples who were passing on those teachings.
Jesus' real teachings instructed us that in order to return to the spiritual world, we would have to change. Jesus strictly applied the teachings of David, Moses, Abraham, Samuel and others, who emphasized that we need to learn to love God and dedicate our lives to God. This means changing our consciousness from being self-centered to being God-centered. This is supported by every teacher from the Old Testament, and the instructions by Moses, who summed up the meaning of God's commandments with this single instruction:
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:4)
But the ecclesiastical Christian teachers would have us believe that we don't have to change our consciousness. They want us to continue to love ourselves. They teach that we can still focus upon our self-centered dreams and ambitions, and simply come into church once a week and wipe off our sins on Jesus and we're clean and pure again. They even go further to say that we can turn to Jesus and ask him to help us achieve our self-centered dreams. So Jesus is not simply our doormat to wipe our sins off on, but also our waiter: We just order up what we want and he gives it to us.
Some ecclesiastical Christian teachers go to the extent that they will help us ask for the "stuff" we need. We can write up a prayer-wish and send it to the preacher, and the preacher will "pray on it" to help us get what we want. So people are praying to get into good schools, or win football games or whatever, and the ecclesiastical teachers are supporting this by offering to "pray on it" for us. Is this what Jesus taught?
Certainly not. Rather, these activities are part of what Jesus is describing here as "the prince of this world".
So who is "the prince of this world"? Is it some horned character with a pitchfork who lives underground in fiery-hot caves? Is it someone who sits on our shoulder tempting us? These characterizations are not only fictitious: They are comical.
"This world" is being translated from the Greek word κόσμος (kosmos), which means, according to Strong's lexicon, "universe" or "world", but also, "world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly; a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc."
If we accept this meaning, we can understand that "this world" isn't simply a place: Jesus was talking about the consciousness that pervades this world: A consciousness of greed and desire.
And the use of the word "prince" is being translated from the Greek word ἄρχων (archōn), which means, according to the lexicon, "ruler, commander, chief, leader." So just who is leading or ruling this consciousness of greed and desire that pervades the physical world?
"The prince of this world" that Jesus is discussing is selfishness. This is the root cause of greed, envy and sin. Being selfish is putting ourselves at the center. Being selfish is "loving ourselves" (another teaching of many ecclesiastical Christian teachers). Being selfish is putting ourselves first and everyone else last - including God if we even believe in His existence.
Selfishness is the "prince of this world" because this is the opposite consciousness that Jesus was teaching about. Jesus was teaching us to be God-centered, while selfishness is being self-centered.
So why is Jesus saying that "Now is the time for judgment on this world" and "now the prince of this world will be driven out"? What was happening at that moment in time that would refer to this? Ecclesiastical teachers insist Jesus is talking about his dying removing everyone's sins because in the next verse, he mentions, "when I am lifted up from the earth."
This fails to include what preceded Jesus' statement: That was God's voice, saying "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." after Jesus asked God, "Father, glorify your name!" and Jesus stating after God spoke, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine" directly afterward. (John 12:28-30)
So the word "now" is the key word, coming from the Greek word, νῦν (nyn) which means "at this time, the present, now," according to the lexicon.
Jesus was not dying on the cross "at this time" and in "the present." Rather, Jesus was teaching a crowd that surrounded him by the temple in Jerusalem, and they had just heard God speaking to them, and God glorified His Name. That is what was happening "now."
God glorifying His Holy Name brings "judgement on this world" because the consciousness of "this world" - this physical dimension - is selfishness, and glorifying God is the opposite consciousness of that. This creates a contrasting moment, dividing those who are self-centered from those who are God-centered. Those who are God-centered were marveling and giving thanks at hearing from God, while those who were self-centered were not. They - such as the pharisees and priests who were observing - were envious - saying "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" (John 12:19)
So why do ecclesiastical Christian teachers not see this meaning? They would rather ignore the meaning, precisely because of why Jesus said it. That glorifying God and focusing upon God brings judgement upon their teachings - notably because their teachings do not glorify God, but rather, are focused upon maintaining doctrines meant to attract followers and maintain their professional positions and salaries. This is diametrically opposed to Jesus' teachings, which instructed us to devote ourselves and our whole lives to God:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"This voice was for your benefit, not mine." (John 12:30)
This statement reveals things that most ecclesiastical Christian teachers completely miss about Jesus.
Here Jesus is reflecting on the crowd around him having heard God's voice after Jesus asked God to glorify His Name. Here is the text:
[Jesus said]"Father, glorify your Name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. (John 12:28-29)
This directly precedes Jesus' statement, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine."
What can we take away from this event and this exchange? A number of things:
First, we can know clearly that Jesus is not God. First Jesus asks God to glorify His Name. If Jesus were God, why would he need to ask someone else?
We also know that Jesus is not God because the voice that "came from heaven" did not come from Jesus, since Jesus was standing in front of them.
Secondly, we can know from this event that there is a relationship between Jesus and God. What kind of relationship?
The type of relationship that exists between Jesus and God is made clear by Jesus' statement, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine." What does this indicate? It indicates that Jesus did not need to hear God's voice spoken for all to hear. Why? Because Jesus already enjoyed an intimate loving relationship with God. He already trusted in God's existence. God did not need to prove anything to Jesus.
And this leads to the third lesson of this event. God spoke so those around Jesus could believe in God's existence, but He only spoke after Jesus requested that He glorify Himself.
God, as the Supreme Controller, can speak to all of us with a booming or angel-like voice all the time if He wanted to. He could appear in front of each of us all the time, and could announce that He is God all day long. But He doesn't. Why not?
God is currently hidden from our view and our hearing range for a reason. God is hidden because we don't want to see Him. We don't want to hear from Him.
And therein lies the reason we currently occupy these temporary physical bodies in this physical dimension. We are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies change throughout our lives while we occupy them, and then they die and we leave them. The body we had on as a baby is not the same body we have on today. Every atom and molecule that baby body contained is gone and the body we have on now is made up of entirely new atoms, molecules and cells. Logically, since the body is different, yet we are still the same person, we cannot be these physical bodies.
We are not physical at all. Our actual identity is spiritual. Beneath each physical body is a person: an individual with unique feelings, able to exchange love with others.
But somehow we are now stuck occupying a physical body, and worse, we are incorrectly identifying ourselves with this temporary structure. Why?
We have fallen from the spiritual realm because we no longer wanted to maintain our relationship with God. We wanted to escape this relationship. So God let us escape. He allowed us to take birth in the physical world and pretend to be someone we are not for awhile so that we could effectively ignore Him.
Therein lies a glorious feature of God's personality. God created us to exchange a loving relationship with Him. But love requires freedom. So God does not force Himself upon us. We choose whether we want to love Him or not.
Those who exchange a loving relationship with God dwell in the spiritual realm. They are eternally happy and blissful as they care for and serve God with all their hearts. Thus they see and hear God every day.
And they want to see Him. God is the most beautiful person. He is not old with gray hair as depicted by many. God is ever-youthful, and the most beautiful being in existence. Those that have the opportunity to look upon Him become fulfilled just by seeing Him. And when He speaks to them, they are in awe of His wondrous musical voice.
We can look around us at the physical world and see that there are so many different relationships going on between people. All of these types of relationships have their source in the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm is full of so many types of relationships, and God has a unique relationship with each of us simultaneously.
This is why some of the crowd surrounding Jesus heard God's voice differently. This is also going on amongst each of us: He speaks to each of us differently, according not only to our unique relationship with Him, but whether or to what extent that relationship is currently being ignored.
In other words, we are in the physical world because we wanted to get away from our relationship with God. So God programmed this dimension to give us the facilities to forget Him. Here we can pretend to be someone else, and even come to the conclusion that God does not exist.
Yet God never gives up on us. We may not love Him, but He always loves us. So He is always still available to us. And He speaks to us from within according to our current consciousness.
The clarity of God's communications to us are proportional to our sincere desire to hear from Him and return to our relationship with Him. If we are not very serious, His communications come in the form of the various lessons of the physical world. These are the consequences of our actions, along with a distant voice - some call intuition or insight - that embarks the lesson to learn from the situation.
This consequence form of communication is strongest for those who fully reject God. For these, He speaks in lessons. He speaks in situations. The events that unfold amongst the families, jobs, so-called friends and other situations of this world speak to us. They speak to our need to love, and our need to care for others. They attempt to teach us that we are not takers by nature: We are each care-givers, and the consequences of this world gradually teach us that.
To this end, we are each learning our own unique lessons simultaneously. This is how God is communicating with us as we journey through time within the physical dimension.
Then there are those who God has sent here to represent Him and teach us about Him, such as Jesus. Jesus speaks to God and speaks of God not as God (as proposed by many): He speaks to and of God as God's representative. God embarked Jesus to teach us about Him, and to request that we return to our lost loving relationship with Him. This means that Jesus is executing his own loving relationship with God while he is teaching us to re-develop our own loving relationship with God.
This reveals the intimate relationship between Jesus and God. After all, God only spoke after Jesus asked Him to. This indicates that God is not just accepting service from Jesus. There is an exchange within their relationship. A loving exchange.
And herein lies the critical lesson of Jesus' statement in John 12:30. Jesus is loving God, and caring for God. He is serving God. He does not need God to prove His existence. Jesus is saying that God's voice is not for his benefit because Jesus is completely comfortable with his current situation: Jesus is doing what is pleasing to God.
A person who loves another - truly loves another - with all their heart, is focused upon doing what is pleasing to that person. In the case of loving God, the loving servant of God doesn't care if he is being sent to a hellish place (like earth), even if that place results in their physical suffering. They are experiencing a higher taste: they are simply consumed by love for their beloved, God. Their service to God is all they need, and their mission is doing what God wants. They don't need God to appear to them physically because they are already connected with Him within their service to Him. Their love and their loving service is all they need.
Jesus wants us to also have this relationship with God. He wandered the countryside on foot for years, simply asking us to re-develop our loving relationship with God. Thus Jesus' most important instruction to us is very clear:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
Here Jesus is reflecting on the crowd around him having heard God's voice after Jesus asked God to glorify His Name. Here is the text:
[Jesus said]"Father, glorify your Name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. (John 12:28-29)
This directly precedes Jesus' statement, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine."
What can we take away from this event and this exchange? A number of things:
First, we can know clearly that Jesus is not God. First Jesus asks God to glorify His Name. If Jesus were God, why would he need to ask someone else?
We also know that Jesus is not God because the voice that "came from heaven" did not come from Jesus, since Jesus was standing in front of them.
Secondly, we can know from this event that there is a relationship between Jesus and God. What kind of relationship?
The type of relationship that exists between Jesus and God is made clear by Jesus' statement, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine." What does this indicate? It indicates that Jesus did not need to hear God's voice spoken for all to hear. Why? Because Jesus already enjoyed an intimate loving relationship with God. He already trusted in God's existence. God did not need to prove anything to Jesus.
And this leads to the third lesson of this event. God spoke so those around Jesus could believe in God's existence, but He only spoke after Jesus requested that He glorify Himself.
God, as the Supreme Controller, can speak to all of us with a booming or angel-like voice all the time if He wanted to. He could appear in front of each of us all the time, and could announce that He is God all day long. But He doesn't. Why not?
God is currently hidden from our view and our hearing range for a reason. God is hidden because we don't want to see Him. We don't want to hear from Him.
And therein lies the reason we currently occupy these temporary physical bodies in this physical dimension. We are not these physical bodies. These physical bodies change throughout our lives while we occupy them, and then they die and we leave them. The body we had on as a baby is not the same body we have on today. Every atom and molecule that baby body contained is gone and the body we have on now is made up of entirely new atoms, molecules and cells. Logically, since the body is different, yet we are still the same person, we cannot be these physical bodies.
We are not physical at all. Our actual identity is spiritual. Beneath each physical body is a person: an individual with unique feelings, able to exchange love with others.
But somehow we are now stuck occupying a physical body, and worse, we are incorrectly identifying ourselves with this temporary structure. Why?
We have fallen from the spiritual realm because we no longer wanted to maintain our relationship with God. We wanted to escape this relationship. So God let us escape. He allowed us to take birth in the physical world and pretend to be someone we are not for awhile so that we could effectively ignore Him.
Therein lies a glorious feature of God's personality. God created us to exchange a loving relationship with Him. But love requires freedom. So God does not force Himself upon us. We choose whether we want to love Him or not.
Those who exchange a loving relationship with God dwell in the spiritual realm. They are eternally happy and blissful as they care for and serve God with all their hearts. Thus they see and hear God every day.
And they want to see Him. God is the most beautiful person. He is not old with gray hair as depicted by many. God is ever-youthful, and the most beautiful being in existence. Those that have the opportunity to look upon Him become fulfilled just by seeing Him. And when He speaks to them, they are in awe of His wondrous musical voice.
We can look around us at the physical world and see that there are so many different relationships going on between people. All of these types of relationships have their source in the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm is full of so many types of relationships, and God has a unique relationship with each of us simultaneously.
This is why some of the crowd surrounding Jesus heard God's voice differently. This is also going on amongst each of us: He speaks to each of us differently, according not only to our unique relationship with Him, but whether or to what extent that relationship is currently being ignored.
In other words, we are in the physical world because we wanted to get away from our relationship with God. So God programmed this dimension to give us the facilities to forget Him. Here we can pretend to be someone else, and even come to the conclusion that God does not exist.
Yet God never gives up on us. We may not love Him, but He always loves us. So He is always still available to us. And He speaks to us from within according to our current consciousness.
The clarity of God's communications to us are proportional to our sincere desire to hear from Him and return to our relationship with Him. If we are not very serious, His communications come in the form of the various lessons of the physical world. These are the consequences of our actions, along with a distant voice - some call intuition or insight - that embarks the lesson to learn from the situation.
This consequence form of communication is strongest for those who fully reject God. For these, He speaks in lessons. He speaks in situations. The events that unfold amongst the families, jobs, so-called friends and other situations of this world speak to us. They speak to our need to love, and our need to care for others. They attempt to teach us that we are not takers by nature: We are each care-givers, and the consequences of this world gradually teach us that.
To this end, we are each learning our own unique lessons simultaneously. This is how God is communicating with us as we journey through time within the physical dimension.
Then there are those who God has sent here to represent Him and teach us about Him, such as Jesus. Jesus speaks to God and speaks of God not as God (as proposed by many): He speaks to and of God as God's representative. God embarked Jesus to teach us about Him, and to request that we return to our lost loving relationship with Him. This means that Jesus is executing his own loving relationship with God while he is teaching us to re-develop our own loving relationship with God.
This reveals the intimate relationship between Jesus and God. After all, God only spoke after Jesus asked Him to. This indicates that God is not just accepting service from Jesus. There is an exchange within their relationship. A loving exchange.
And herein lies the critical lesson of Jesus' statement in John 12:30. Jesus is loving God, and caring for God. He is serving God. He does not need God to prove His existence. Jesus is saying that God's voice is not for his benefit because Jesus is completely comfortable with his current situation: Jesus is doing what is pleasing to God.
A person who loves another - truly loves another - with all their heart, is focused upon doing what is pleasing to that person. In the case of loving God, the loving servant of God doesn't care if he is being sent to a hellish place (like earth), even if that place results in their physical suffering. They are experiencing a higher taste: they are simply consumed by love for their beloved, God. Their service to God is all they need, and their mission is doing what God wants. They don't need God to appear to them physically because they are already connected with Him within their service to Him. Their love and their loving service is all they need.
Jesus wants us to also have this relationship with God. He wandered the countryside on foot for years, simply asking us to re-develop our loving relationship with God. Thus Jesus' most important instruction to us is very clear:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Name!" (John 12:27-28)
What is Jesus talking about here? Many ecclesiastical Christian teachers have claimed that Jesus is describing the hour that he will be crucified.
Yet there is no mention here about Jesus’ murder in the preceding verses. Rather, they describe how Jesus was glorified as he came towards Jerusalem, and then praised and glorified by many who had seen the rising of Lazarus from the dead:
Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. (John 12:18)
This is confirmed by the Pharisees who were watching all the attention Jesus was getting:
So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" (John 12:19)
And Jesus mentioned that this was a moment in time when he was to be glorified:
"The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified." (John 12:23)
So the “hour” being referred to has nothing to do with the time Jesus was brutally murdered. The “hour” refers to a time when Jesus was being praised and glorified by many.
The statement above (John 12:27-28) actually illustrates an intimate portrait of the real Jesus. Jesus was not a proud, boisterous person. Jesus was a humble person who saw himself as God’s servant. And this is reflected by various other statements that Jesus had made, such as:
"But He Who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world." (John 8:26)
and
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt. 23:11-12)
These verses indicate that Jesus saw himself as God’s messenger and loving servant and the servant of others. He was simply not comfortable with all this praise and glorification.
And the verse above (John 12:27-28) illustrates that Jesus’ heart was troubled because he was not comfortable with the personal praise. His purpose was not to become glorified, but to glorify God with his life.
Therefore, after stating that his heart was troubled by all this praise, Jesus states that, “what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?” This indicates that while Jesus was struggling with the praise, he was also not perceiving God as being his servant.
This, in fact, is what many ecclesiastical Christian teachers are teaching today. They are teaching that our relationship with God is founded upon God giving us stuff. That we are to ask God for all the stuff we need, and He will give it to us. This focuses our relationship with God around the idea of God being our servant – getting us whatever we want – rather than us being God’s servant.
Jesus, however, did not perceive his relationship with God in this way. He saw himself as God’s servant, and thus, he saw that the situation before him – being praised by so many in Jerusalem – was actually an opportunity to bring attention to his loving Father, the Supreme Being.
Therefore, Jesus says, “No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Name!" He sees this “hour” where he is being praised as an opportunity to have God’s Holy Name be glorified.
The glorification of God’s Holy Names is the critical missing component that so many miss about Jesus’ life. Jesus was focused upon his students and disciples glorifying God’s Holy Names. This is why he was glorified by his students as he came into Jerusalem with:
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:13)
And why Jesus also said:
"For I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matt. 23:39) (“again” was not in the original text)
Consider also these verses, illustrating the importance of glorifying God in Jesus' teachings:
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:43)
And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (Luke 24:53)
When all the people saw him walking and praising God… (Acts 3:10)
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. (Acts 10:46)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Eph 5:19)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Col 3:16)
These statements about and by Jesus’ students illustrates Jesus’ most confidential and important teaching: To praise and glorify God and His Holy Names.
In other words, we can see that Jesus was pleased not with being personally glorified, but pleased when his students were glorifying and praising God’s Holy Names. This singing and glorifying of God’s Holy Names is an ancient teaching that has been passed down for thousands of years, and Jesus was echoing this. (See this commentary for verses showing this ancient practice.)
And the activities of Jesus’ students also indicates his teachings. The fact that they would praise God, and he wanted God’s Name glorified illustrate the emphasis in Jesus’ teachings to praise God and glorify God.
Why is this important? This is a key part of the process of our re-developing our own loving relationship with the Supreme Being.
God is not a vague force or light or simply a booming voice. God is a Person. He is the Perfect Person. God is that person we are searching for as we look for our soulmate.
And the reason we look all over for that perfect person in the form of our soulmate is because we have forgotten God, and we lost our natural relationship with Him.
We were created by God to care for Him and exchange a loving relationship with Him. That is the purpose for our existence. But because God also gave us the freedom to love Him or not, some of us chose not to love Him, and were sent here to the physical world where we’ve gotten wrapped up in the false temporary identities of our temporary physical bodies. This has allowed us to effectively forget our eternal natural relationship with the Supreme Being.
Those who wish to return to God are shown the way by Jesus. Jesus wanted us to re-develop our natural position of being God’s loving servant.
This concept of being a servant rather than a master is the key to our identity. As we search for happiness within this physical world we find that we continue to be empty as we try to consume things for ourselves. Even the wealthiest and most famous people feel empty, because even though they have everything we dream of, it is not fulfilling.
Yet when we give to someone else – whether it be our time, care or gifts – we find that flicker of happiness. We find that we feel more fulfilled by giving than by receiving – and thus the oft-used quote “'tis better to give than to receive.”
People feel this especially around the holidays. As a person becomes more mature, and has experienced getting all kinds of gifts and other things from others, they soon realize that they feel better when they give to others. And even the wealthiest, most famous people, as they mature, feel more joy when they give to poor people or others in need.
Why is this? Why do we feel better when we give?
It is because by nature we are servants. We are givers. We care by nature. This is our natural position, because God created us to be His care-givers, and the care-givers of each other.
And this is why Jesus wanted us to do God’s will:
"Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:35)
This statement by Jesus indicates that he too, sees himself as God’s care-giver (as doing God’s will means being God’s care-giver). This is why he sees peerage among those who are also caring for and serving God.
God, on the other hand, is by nature the Enjoyer. We are His servants and care-givers, and He is the Enjoyer. This means that caring for God gives us fulfillment. This is our natural position, and it is what Jesus is teaching.
A loving servant and care-giver is not the same as a slave. When a person loves another, they naturally care for them and do things that please them. This requires a relationship, and this is what Jesus is trying to teach us. This is reflected by his most important teaching:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
Yet there is no mention here about Jesus’ murder in the preceding verses. Rather, they describe how Jesus was glorified as he came towards Jerusalem, and then praised and glorified by many who had seen the rising of Lazarus from the dead:
Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. (John 12:18)
This is confirmed by the Pharisees who were watching all the attention Jesus was getting:
So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!" (John 12:19)
And Jesus mentioned that this was a moment in time when he was to be glorified:
"The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified." (John 12:23)
So the “hour” being referred to has nothing to do with the time Jesus was brutally murdered. The “hour” refers to a time when Jesus was being praised and glorified by many.
The statement above (John 12:27-28) actually illustrates an intimate portrait of the real Jesus. Jesus was not a proud, boisterous person. Jesus was a humble person who saw himself as God’s servant. And this is reflected by various other statements that Jesus had made, such as:
"But He Who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world." (John 8:26)
and
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt. 23:11-12)
These verses indicate that Jesus saw himself as God’s messenger and loving servant and the servant of others. He was simply not comfortable with all this praise and glorification.
And the verse above (John 12:27-28) illustrates that Jesus’ heart was troubled because he was not comfortable with the personal praise. His purpose was not to become glorified, but to glorify God with his life.
Therefore, after stating that his heart was troubled by all this praise, Jesus states that, “what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?” This indicates that while Jesus was struggling with the praise, he was also not perceiving God as being his servant.
This, in fact, is what many ecclesiastical Christian teachers are teaching today. They are teaching that our relationship with God is founded upon God giving us stuff. That we are to ask God for all the stuff we need, and He will give it to us. This focuses our relationship with God around the idea of God being our servant – getting us whatever we want – rather than us being God’s servant.
Jesus, however, did not perceive his relationship with God in this way. He saw himself as God’s servant, and thus, he saw that the situation before him – being praised by so many in Jerusalem – was actually an opportunity to bring attention to his loving Father, the Supreme Being.
Therefore, Jesus says, “No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your Name!" He sees this “hour” where he is being praised as an opportunity to have God’s Holy Name be glorified.
The glorification of God’s Holy Names is the critical missing component that so many miss about Jesus’ life. Jesus was focused upon his students and disciples glorifying God’s Holy Names. This is why he was glorified by his students as he came into Jerusalem with:
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:13)
And why Jesus also said:
"For I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matt. 23:39) (“again” was not in the original text)
Consider also these verses, illustrating the importance of glorifying God in Jesus' teachings:
Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:43)
And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (Luke 24:53)
When all the people saw him walking and praising God… (Acts 3:10)
For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. (Acts 10:46)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Eph 5:19)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (Col 3:16)
These statements about and by Jesus’ students illustrates Jesus’ most confidential and important teaching: To praise and glorify God and His Holy Names.
In other words, we can see that Jesus was pleased not with being personally glorified, but pleased when his students were glorifying and praising God’s Holy Names. This singing and glorifying of God’s Holy Names is an ancient teaching that has been passed down for thousands of years, and Jesus was echoing this. (See this commentary for verses showing this ancient practice.)
And the activities of Jesus’ students also indicates his teachings. The fact that they would praise God, and he wanted God’s Name glorified illustrate the emphasis in Jesus’ teachings to praise God and glorify God.
Why is this important? This is a key part of the process of our re-developing our own loving relationship with the Supreme Being.
God is not a vague force or light or simply a booming voice. God is a Person. He is the Perfect Person. God is that person we are searching for as we look for our soulmate.
And the reason we look all over for that perfect person in the form of our soulmate is because we have forgotten God, and we lost our natural relationship with Him.
We were created by God to care for Him and exchange a loving relationship with Him. That is the purpose for our existence. But because God also gave us the freedom to love Him or not, some of us chose not to love Him, and were sent here to the physical world where we’ve gotten wrapped up in the false temporary identities of our temporary physical bodies. This has allowed us to effectively forget our eternal natural relationship with the Supreme Being.
Those who wish to return to God are shown the way by Jesus. Jesus wanted us to re-develop our natural position of being God’s loving servant.
This concept of being a servant rather than a master is the key to our identity. As we search for happiness within this physical world we find that we continue to be empty as we try to consume things for ourselves. Even the wealthiest and most famous people feel empty, because even though they have everything we dream of, it is not fulfilling.
Yet when we give to someone else – whether it be our time, care or gifts – we find that flicker of happiness. We find that we feel more fulfilled by giving than by receiving – and thus the oft-used quote “'tis better to give than to receive.”
People feel this especially around the holidays. As a person becomes more mature, and has experienced getting all kinds of gifts and other things from others, they soon realize that they feel better when they give to others. And even the wealthiest, most famous people, as they mature, feel more joy when they give to poor people or others in need.
Why is this? Why do we feel better when we give?
It is because by nature we are servants. We are givers. We care by nature. This is our natural position, because God created us to be His care-givers, and the care-givers of each other.
And this is why Jesus wanted us to do God’s will:
"Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:35)
This statement by Jesus indicates that he too, sees himself as God’s care-giver (as doing God’s will means being God’s care-giver). This is why he sees peerage among those who are also caring for and serving God.
God, on the other hand, is by nature the Enjoyer. We are His servants and care-givers, and He is the Enjoyer. This means that caring for God gives us fulfillment. This is our natural position, and it is what Jesus is teaching.
A loving servant and care-giver is not the same as a slave. When a person loves another, they naturally care for them and do things that please them. This requires a relationship, and this is what Jesus is trying to teach us. This is reflected by his most important teaching:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." (John 12:26)
Here Jesus is clarifying the role of his students and disciples, and the fact that he is not God, but rather, the loving servant of God.
Serving the servant of God is an exalted role, one that Jesus had extolled:
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt. 23:11-12)
Jesus here defines what he prefers his servants (disciples and students) do: "Whoever serves me must follow me." What does it mean to "follow" Jesus?
The most basic element of following Jesus is simply to hear his teachings, and follow those teachings. As we follow his teachings, we begin to understand what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus is very clear about this:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)
So Jesus is saying that it is not enough to be praising Jesus as "Lord." Jesus clarifies that to follow him ("enter the kingdom of heaven") we must do the will of Jesus' Father. Who is Jesus' Father? God, the Supreme Being.
What does doing the will of God mean? To do someone else's will means to care about them, and act in a way that is pleasing to them. This requires a relationship.
We can compare this with any relationship that involves our caring about someone else. Let's say that we get married and have a relationship with our spouse. After we are married, do we just run off and continue to do what we want? No. We begin to find out what pleases our spouse, and do things that please them. This becomes the glue of our relationship: Doing things that please our spouse.
This is not like reading a menu. In order to do what pleases our spouse, we have to find out what pleases them, yes? This means that we begin to focus on them, and discover what pleases them. Sometimes it takes just observation, other times it takes asking questions and engaging in communications. This is called relating. As we relate more and more with our spouse, we gradually find out what pleases them the most, and then we do those things.
This entire process is called a loving relationship, and it defines Jesus' call to do God's will. In other words, Jesus wants us to turn to God, focus on God, relate with God and do what pleases God. This is following Jesus.
Jesus' statement about doing God's will (Matt. 7:21 above) also clarifies the meaning of his statement here, "where I am, my servant also will be." How so?
In Matt. 7:21 above, Jesus states that "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven," "will enter the kingdom of heaven." This assumes that Jesus too is doing the will of God and is also in or will enter the kingdom of heaven. This means that those who do the will of God will be where Jesus is, in the "kingdom of heaven."
Yes, the "kingdom of heaven" is the spiritual realm. But it is also a particular consciousness. A person who is doing God's will is already in the spiritual realm, even though they may still be wearing a temporary physical body.
Everything is part of God's kingdom. The physical world is also part of God's kingdom, but it is that part where we have the opportunity to ignore God and chase our self-centered desires.
But those who are in the physical world who are not ignoring God, and choosing to do God's will rather than their own, are by all tense and purpose in the spiritual realm already. They are engaging in a loving relationship with God.
Jesus was engaging in a loving relationship with God while he was on the planet, and he told his students that he would be returning to the spiritual realm after the death of his body. So we know that if we truly follow Jesus' teachings, we will also re-establish our loving relationship with God and return to Him. We also know that by following Jesus we can be engaging in a relationship with Jesus and His Father, God, now.
Jesus confirms the mechanism of this as he says: "My Father will honor the one who serves me."
Just consider how this works. Let's say that we want to have a relationship with the President of the United States. How do we accomplish this? The best way to accomplish this is to have a relationship with the best friend of the President. If we have such a relationship with the President's best friend, the friend will introduce us to the President, and the President will recognize our friendship with his friend and open up a possible relationship to us. This is how relationships work.
It isn't automatic, though. We still would have to make an effort to relate with the President in order to become a trusted friend of the President. We also would never try to "leap-frog" our friendship with the President's friend to get to the President. Rather, we'd remain focused on our relationship with our friend, as well as develop a relationship with the President, while maintaining sensitivity about their relationship.
The relationships that exist within the spiritual world are much more intimate than being the best friend of the President. They are full of love and caring, and practical service. Someone who re-establishes their natural relationship with God gives their life to God in love. Such a person is most dear to God, and by following and serving such a person, we can capture the attention of God.
This is the first step in re-establishing our own relationship with God. But it is not as if we then leap-frog the lover of God to get to God. We continue to do what is pleasing to the loving servant of God, because we know what is pleasing to the loving servant of God is also pleasing to God. As we focus our life more and more in this way, we begin to experience the love that exists between God and His loving servant. As this takes place, we begin to relate with God more and more - but never losing our service attitude to God's loving servant whom we follow.
This is the process, as handed down through all the ancient loving servants of God. We find it among Solomon and David, David and Samuel, Samuel and Eli, Joshua and Moses, Jesus and John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples, and many others - who followed and served their teacher in their lives and teachings, and maintained a personal loving relationship with God. It was not as if they simply took over their teacher's position. They still saw themselves in the position of servant of the servant. We can see this clearly in Joshua's teachings, reflecting on his teacher, Moses:
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul." (Deut. 22:5)
Joshua abided by and taught the same teachings as Moses, because he was Moses' student and follower. And these very same teachings were echoed by Jesus thousands of years later, as Jesus also quoted Moses:
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
Serving the servant of God is an exalted role, one that Jesus had extolled:
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt. 23:11-12)
Jesus here defines what he prefers his servants (disciples and students) do: "Whoever serves me must follow me." What does it mean to "follow" Jesus?
The most basic element of following Jesus is simply to hear his teachings, and follow those teachings. As we follow his teachings, we begin to understand what Jesus wants us to do. Jesus is very clear about this:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)
So Jesus is saying that it is not enough to be praising Jesus as "Lord." Jesus clarifies that to follow him ("enter the kingdom of heaven") we must do the will of Jesus' Father. Who is Jesus' Father? God, the Supreme Being.
What does doing the will of God mean? To do someone else's will means to care about them, and act in a way that is pleasing to them. This requires a relationship.
We can compare this with any relationship that involves our caring about someone else. Let's say that we get married and have a relationship with our spouse. After we are married, do we just run off and continue to do what we want? No. We begin to find out what pleases our spouse, and do things that please them. This becomes the glue of our relationship: Doing things that please our spouse.
This is not like reading a menu. In order to do what pleases our spouse, we have to find out what pleases them, yes? This means that we begin to focus on them, and discover what pleases them. Sometimes it takes just observation, other times it takes asking questions and engaging in communications. This is called relating. As we relate more and more with our spouse, we gradually find out what pleases them the most, and then we do those things.
This entire process is called a loving relationship, and it defines Jesus' call to do God's will. In other words, Jesus wants us to turn to God, focus on God, relate with God and do what pleases God. This is following Jesus.
Jesus' statement about doing God's will (Matt. 7:21 above) also clarifies the meaning of his statement here, "where I am, my servant also will be." How so?
In Matt. 7:21 above, Jesus states that "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven," "will enter the kingdom of heaven." This assumes that Jesus too is doing the will of God and is also in or will enter the kingdom of heaven. This means that those who do the will of God will be where Jesus is, in the "kingdom of heaven."
Yes, the "kingdom of heaven" is the spiritual realm. But it is also a particular consciousness. A person who is doing God's will is already in the spiritual realm, even though they may still be wearing a temporary physical body.
Everything is part of God's kingdom. The physical world is also part of God's kingdom, but it is that part where we have the opportunity to ignore God and chase our self-centered desires.
But those who are in the physical world who are not ignoring God, and choosing to do God's will rather than their own, are by all tense and purpose in the spiritual realm already. They are engaging in a loving relationship with God.
Jesus was engaging in a loving relationship with God while he was on the planet, and he told his students that he would be returning to the spiritual realm after the death of his body. So we know that if we truly follow Jesus' teachings, we will also re-establish our loving relationship with God and return to Him. We also know that by following Jesus we can be engaging in a relationship with Jesus and His Father, God, now.
Jesus confirms the mechanism of this as he says: "My Father will honor the one who serves me."
Just consider how this works. Let's say that we want to have a relationship with the President of the United States. How do we accomplish this? The best way to accomplish this is to have a relationship with the best friend of the President. If we have such a relationship with the President's best friend, the friend will introduce us to the President, and the President will recognize our friendship with his friend and open up a possible relationship to us. This is how relationships work.
It isn't automatic, though. We still would have to make an effort to relate with the President in order to become a trusted friend of the President. We also would never try to "leap-frog" our friendship with the President's friend to get to the President. Rather, we'd remain focused on our relationship with our friend, as well as develop a relationship with the President, while maintaining sensitivity about their relationship.
The relationships that exist within the spiritual world are much more intimate than being the best friend of the President. They are full of love and caring, and practical service. Someone who re-establishes their natural relationship with God gives their life to God in love. Such a person is most dear to God, and by following and serving such a person, we can capture the attention of God.
This is the first step in re-establishing our own relationship with God. But it is not as if we then leap-frog the lover of God to get to God. We continue to do what is pleasing to the loving servant of God, because we know what is pleasing to the loving servant of God is also pleasing to God. As we focus our life more and more in this way, we begin to experience the love that exists between God and His loving servant. As this takes place, we begin to relate with God more and more - but never losing our service attitude to God's loving servant whom we follow.
This is the process, as handed down through all the ancient loving servants of God. We find it among Solomon and David, David and Samuel, Samuel and Eli, Joshua and Moses, Jesus and John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples, and many others - who followed and served their teacher in their lives and teachings, and maintained a personal loving relationship with God. It was not as if they simply took over their teacher's position. They still saw themselves in the position of servant of the servant. We can see this clearly in Joshua's teachings, reflecting on his teacher, Moses:
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to obey His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul." (Deut. 22:5)
Joshua abided by and taught the same teachings as Moses, because he was Moses' student and follower. And these very same teachings were echoed by Jesus thousands of years later, as Jesus also quoted Moses:
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
"The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:23-25)
Here Jesus is responding to Andrew and Philip, who told Jesus about some Greeks who came to Jerusalem to worship and approached Philip, asking him:
"Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." (John 12:21)
Jesus was also reflecting on the fact that he was just ceremoniously welcomed as he walked through Mount Olives into Jerusalem by his students and disciples, who chanted:
"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:13)
Coming "in the name of the Lord" means that Jesus was recognized by his students not as God, but as God's representative. Someone who comes in someone else's name is an emissary or messenger for that person. This is confirmed by Jesus when he said earlier in John:
"But He Who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world." (John 8:26)
The Hosanna chant of his students and disciples also testifies to the importance of God's Holy Names. See this commentary for a discussion of this chant.
Jesus' students and disciples are appreciating this fact - that Jesus is God's representative - and the Greeks who came to worship in Jerusalem also had heard this.
So Jesus, seeing that he is being praised and sought out as he comes into Jerusalem, comments that this is a moment in time when he is being glorified. (Note that "son of man" is better translated to servant of humanity - see this commentary for explanation). But then he characterizes being glorified, and what this praise means to him.
Jesus compares it to a kernel of wheat. What does this mean?
The kernel of wheat that drops to the ground and "dies" as a seed - sprouts, in other words - symbolizes those who commit their lives to serving and pleasing God, and being of service to others. The seed that does not end up sprouting in the ground stays alone - symbolizes the empty and lonely person who does not exchange a loving relationship with God.
The physical world is populated primarily by empty, lonely people. Even those who are surrounded by big families and lots of so-called friends are lonely without a loving relationship with God. Those of us who ignore our relationship with God are truly alone, and those who surround us might give us the illusion of loving relationships, but these relationships are all conditional relationships: They care about us as long as we care about them, and/or we fit their other requirements (status, money, family, etc.) The bottom line is that these relationships are dependent upon the physical body. Those we are relating with - family and friends - identify us and themselves as these temporary physical bodies. Therefore, they are not reaching the real us - the person who temporarily occupies the physical body.
This might be compared to two cars driving down the freeway together. The cars might look like they are relating because they are driving so close to each other, but the drivers within each car are not relating. They don't even know each other. And then the cars separate, never to be seen together again.
Jesus presents our two choices quite clearly. We can either focus on our false identities within this empty physical world, or we can resume our natural position as one of God's loving servants. The later course produces other "seeds" as we naturally influence others with our spiritual consciousness.
Jesus confirms this with the next sentence, as he states that, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." What does this mean?
The "his life" in the first phrase is the same as "his life in this world." Jesus is talking about ones physical existence.
The person and the physical body are not the same. They are independent of each other. We wear these physical bodies for a temporary period of time, and we leave them then they die.
Our physical lives can either be a platform for learning about God, re-establishing our loving relationship with Him and coming to serve Him; or they can be about chasing the fleeting physical pleasures of the world. This chasing of the pleasures of the physical body is described by Jesus as "The man who loves his life."
So then he says that if a man "loves his life" in the world, "he will lose it." What will he lose? Jesus clarifies this as he describes that "the man who hates his life in the world will keep it for eternal life."
Why does "eternal life" go to one who "hates his life"? If a person realizes that this physical world and its empty pleasures run counter to the state of being one of God's loving servants, then that person will hate the physical world.
The physical world, populated by physical bodies and physical elements, is not eternal. It is all temporary. It is changing dramatically, and every body dies. For each of us the physical world is temporary because our bodies will die within decades. Most bodies die within about 5-8 decades. A few live a little longer, but every body dies. This makes this physical world temporary for each of us.
"Eternal life" is our natural position in the spiritual realm. We are each spiritual beings, who are temporarily occupying a physical body. This physical realm was developed by God as a place where those who wanted to be away from God could go and pretend to be someone they're not for awhile.
Thus while the physical world allows us to play out our temporary identities and ignore God for awhile, it is also a place of learning - a place of rehabilitation. If we use this lifetime to follow Jesus - sent by God to help us re-develop our relationship with God - then we can return to our natural position - our permanent home - in the spiritual realm. If not, then we will stay here, and continue to assume temporary physical bodies and be away from God.
Jesus confirms that he's come to teach us to re-establish our loving relationship with God with his most important teaching:
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." (John 12:21)
Jesus was also reflecting on the fact that he was just ceremoniously welcomed as he walked through Mount Olives into Jerusalem by his students and disciples, who chanted:
"Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (John 12:13)
Coming "in the name of the Lord" means that Jesus was recognized by his students not as God, but as God's representative. Someone who comes in someone else's name is an emissary or messenger for that person. This is confirmed by Jesus when he said earlier in John:
"But He Who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world." (John 8:26)
The Hosanna chant of his students and disciples also testifies to the importance of God's Holy Names. See this commentary for a discussion of this chant.
Jesus' students and disciples are appreciating this fact - that Jesus is God's representative - and the Greeks who came to worship in Jerusalem also had heard this.
So Jesus, seeing that he is being praised and sought out as he comes into Jerusalem, comments that this is a moment in time when he is being glorified. (Note that "son of man" is better translated to servant of humanity - see this commentary for explanation). But then he characterizes being glorified, and what this praise means to him.
Jesus compares it to a kernel of wheat. What does this mean?
The kernel of wheat that drops to the ground and "dies" as a seed - sprouts, in other words - symbolizes those who commit their lives to serving and pleasing God, and being of service to others. The seed that does not end up sprouting in the ground stays alone - symbolizes the empty and lonely person who does not exchange a loving relationship with God.
The physical world is populated primarily by empty, lonely people. Even those who are surrounded by big families and lots of so-called friends are lonely without a loving relationship with God. Those of us who ignore our relationship with God are truly alone, and those who surround us might give us the illusion of loving relationships, but these relationships are all conditional relationships: They care about us as long as we care about them, and/or we fit their other requirements (status, money, family, etc.) The bottom line is that these relationships are dependent upon the physical body. Those we are relating with - family and friends - identify us and themselves as these temporary physical bodies. Therefore, they are not reaching the real us - the person who temporarily occupies the physical body.
This might be compared to two cars driving down the freeway together. The cars might look like they are relating because they are driving so close to each other, but the drivers within each car are not relating. They don't even know each other. And then the cars separate, never to be seen together again.
Jesus presents our two choices quite clearly. We can either focus on our false identities within this empty physical world, or we can resume our natural position as one of God's loving servants. The later course produces other "seeds" as we naturally influence others with our spiritual consciousness.
Jesus confirms this with the next sentence, as he states that, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." What does this mean?
The "his life" in the first phrase is the same as "his life in this world." Jesus is talking about ones physical existence.
The person and the physical body are not the same. They are independent of each other. We wear these physical bodies for a temporary period of time, and we leave them then they die.
Our physical lives can either be a platform for learning about God, re-establishing our loving relationship with Him and coming to serve Him; or they can be about chasing the fleeting physical pleasures of the world. This chasing of the pleasures of the physical body is described by Jesus as "The man who loves his life."
So then he says that if a man "loves his life" in the world, "he will lose it." What will he lose? Jesus clarifies this as he describes that "the man who hates his life in the world will keep it for eternal life."
Why does "eternal life" go to one who "hates his life"? If a person realizes that this physical world and its empty pleasures run counter to the state of being one of God's loving servants, then that person will hate the physical world.
The physical world, populated by physical bodies and physical elements, is not eternal. It is all temporary. It is changing dramatically, and every body dies. For each of us the physical world is temporary because our bodies will die within decades. Most bodies die within about 5-8 decades. A few live a little longer, but every body dies. This makes this physical world temporary for each of us.
"Eternal life" is our natural position in the spiritual realm. We are each spiritual beings, who are temporarily occupying a physical body. This physical realm was developed by God as a place where those who wanted to be away from God could go and pretend to be someone they're not for awhile.
Thus while the physical world allows us to play out our temporary identities and ignore God for awhile, it is also a place of learning - a place of rehabilitation. If we use this lifetime to follow Jesus - sent by God to help us re-develop our relationship with God - then we can return to our natural position - our permanent home - in the spiritual realm. If not, then we will stay here, and continue to assume temporary physical bodies and be away from God.
Jesus confirms that he's come to teach us to re-establish our loving relationship with God with his most important teaching:
“ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Leave her alone. [It was intended] that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me." (John 12:7-8)
Jesus said this in answer to Judas, after Mary had begun massaging Jesus' feet with scented oil (likely frankincense). Jesus had walked to Bethany, so it was likely that his feet were sore. She used her hair to spread the oil.
Mary has often been referred to as a prostitute, but there is no foundation for this. In reality, we find that Mary, and her sister Martha as well as their brother Lazarus - who had been revived from the dead - were all students of Jesus. This is clear from the following:
And after she [Martha] had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. (John 11:28-29)
Notice Martha referred to Jesus as "the teacher." Jesus had many, many students and disciples. While ecclesiastical Christian teachers have focused on the "twelve," we know from this and other texts that Jesus had many more students and disciples.
So Mary, one of Jesus' students, was simply massaging the feet of her spiritual teacher. This was a custom from the oldest of times, as washing and massaging the teacher's feet was seen as not only pleasing to them and building humility in the student, but had a practical purpose, because most spiritual teachers walked through the countryside preaching.
So this act by Mary was not some kind of sexual gesture as many have interpreted. It was a simple act of devotion: It was service rendered to the spiritual teacher, the representative of God. This makes it service to God.
This was confirmed by Jesus' statement, made in response to Judas' comment, who said:
"Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." (John 12:5)
We see by Jesus' statement that service to God's representative is seen as a priority over charity to the poor. Why?
God's representative comes to save humanity from suffering all together. How so? Each of us, rich or poor, is suffering because we are wearing and identifying with these temporary physical bodies, trying desperately trying to find happiness where there is none. This physical world is not a place of happiness. It is a place of suffering.
Our bodies suffer from the time we exit the womb. We come out of the womb writhing in pain, and screaming. For the first five years there are so many pains, symptomized by so much crying. Once in childhood, we suffer from growing pains, peer pressure and the struggle for attention. As teenagers we suffer from lonliness and trying to fit in. As adults we now must work hard, and report to a boss we don't like - if we are able to find work. We struggle to pay for food, housing and clothing. Most of the world is too poor and can't afford much. And then, we get sick, we get older and older, and then we can't work anymore. We must rely on others. Then our bodies die. Where is the happiness in this? Where is the fulfillment?
And while we keep looking for enjoyment despite all the suffering, we find no fulfillment here.
Why? Is God a mean God who just wants to make us suffer?
No. We are here in this physical world because we wanted to be away from God. We wanted to be happy without our relationship with God. Because God gives us the freedom to love Him or not, we can always choose not to. For those who chose not to love God, God created the physical world so we could ignore Him for awhile and chase our dreams.
But should God have made a perfect abode for us to live away from Him? What would that say about His love for us? God knows we will only be happy when we are loving and caring for Him in our original position within the spiritual world. So why would He make a perfect abode only to see us continue to be lonely and empty - as even the wealthiest, most powerful people are - without our relationship with God?
In other words, God made the physical world with multiple purposes. One is to be a place we could ignore Him for awhile and pretend to be someone we are not.
The other purpose is to be a place of rehabilitation.
This physical world is a place of learning. It slowly and methodically, through cause and effect - the law of consequences - teaches us about love, caring, and who we ultimately are. Even those who resist God by claiming He doesn't exist can learn these lessons, slowly and gradually, through action and reaction. These reactions take place not on us directly, but upon our temporary physical bodies. It is like driving a car and getting into a fender-bender. The damage takes place to the car, and the driver is unaffected by the mangled bumper.
Eventually, as we learn more and more, we rise to a state of higher intelligence.
Those who have risen to this level become faithful in the existence of God. While God remains hidden to our physical vision - on purpose - those who maintain a confidence in His existence are guided back to Him.
The Supreme Being uses His loving confidential servants as His representatives to bring those who are ready to return to Him back. He sends His representative to teach us about Him, and re-introduce us to Him. In other words, the Supreme Being sends His representative - in this case Jesus - to save us by bringing us back to Him.
This activity is far more important than helping the poor. Yes, it is good for us to help out our brothers and sisters who are in a troubled state. But we can only do so much. We cannot prevent the suffering of the physical body. The physical body was intended for a life of consequences.
This was Jesus' point. Using our lives in the service of God - trying to please Him and His representative - is the highest activity. This is our natural function. God created us as His playmates - to care for Him and serve Him lovingly - out of volition. In the spiritual world, we can serve God directly and personally.
But while we are still rehabilitating ourselves, we can also begin to re-develop our relationship with God and begin to serve Him. We can sing and praise His Holy Names. We can pray to Him. We can offer things to Him. We can think of Him. These are the activities that will help us re-develop our original relationship with Him, and eventually, make it so we can leave behind the suffering of the physical world and these temporary identities.
And this is why Jesus taught:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
Mary has often been referred to as a prostitute, but there is no foundation for this. In reality, we find that Mary, and her sister Martha as well as their brother Lazarus - who had been revived from the dead - were all students of Jesus. This is clear from the following:
And after she [Martha] had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. (John 11:28-29)
Notice Martha referred to Jesus as "the teacher." Jesus had many, many students and disciples. While ecclesiastical Christian teachers have focused on the "twelve," we know from this and other texts that Jesus had many more students and disciples.
So Mary, one of Jesus' students, was simply massaging the feet of her spiritual teacher. This was a custom from the oldest of times, as washing and massaging the teacher's feet was seen as not only pleasing to them and building humility in the student, but had a practical purpose, because most spiritual teachers walked through the countryside preaching.
So this act by Mary was not some kind of sexual gesture as many have interpreted. It was a simple act of devotion: It was service rendered to the spiritual teacher, the representative of God. This makes it service to God.
This was confirmed by Jesus' statement, made in response to Judas' comment, who said:
"Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." (John 12:5)
We see by Jesus' statement that service to God's representative is seen as a priority over charity to the poor. Why?
God's representative comes to save humanity from suffering all together. How so? Each of us, rich or poor, is suffering because we are wearing and identifying with these temporary physical bodies, trying desperately trying to find happiness where there is none. This physical world is not a place of happiness. It is a place of suffering.
Our bodies suffer from the time we exit the womb. We come out of the womb writhing in pain, and screaming. For the first five years there are so many pains, symptomized by so much crying. Once in childhood, we suffer from growing pains, peer pressure and the struggle for attention. As teenagers we suffer from lonliness and trying to fit in. As adults we now must work hard, and report to a boss we don't like - if we are able to find work. We struggle to pay for food, housing and clothing. Most of the world is too poor and can't afford much. And then, we get sick, we get older and older, and then we can't work anymore. We must rely on others. Then our bodies die. Where is the happiness in this? Where is the fulfillment?
And while we keep looking for enjoyment despite all the suffering, we find no fulfillment here.
Why? Is God a mean God who just wants to make us suffer?
No. We are here in this physical world because we wanted to be away from God. We wanted to be happy without our relationship with God. Because God gives us the freedom to love Him or not, we can always choose not to. For those who chose not to love God, God created the physical world so we could ignore Him for awhile and chase our dreams.
But should God have made a perfect abode for us to live away from Him? What would that say about His love for us? God knows we will only be happy when we are loving and caring for Him in our original position within the spiritual world. So why would He make a perfect abode only to see us continue to be lonely and empty - as even the wealthiest, most powerful people are - without our relationship with God?
In other words, God made the physical world with multiple purposes. One is to be a place we could ignore Him for awhile and pretend to be someone we are not.
The other purpose is to be a place of rehabilitation.
This physical world is a place of learning. It slowly and methodically, through cause and effect - the law of consequences - teaches us about love, caring, and who we ultimately are. Even those who resist God by claiming He doesn't exist can learn these lessons, slowly and gradually, through action and reaction. These reactions take place not on us directly, but upon our temporary physical bodies. It is like driving a car and getting into a fender-bender. The damage takes place to the car, and the driver is unaffected by the mangled bumper.
Eventually, as we learn more and more, we rise to a state of higher intelligence.
Those who have risen to this level become faithful in the existence of God. While God remains hidden to our physical vision - on purpose - those who maintain a confidence in His existence are guided back to Him.
The Supreme Being uses His loving confidential servants as His representatives to bring those who are ready to return to Him back. He sends His representative to teach us about Him, and re-introduce us to Him. In other words, the Supreme Being sends His representative - in this case Jesus - to save us by bringing us back to Him.
This activity is far more important than helping the poor. Yes, it is good for us to help out our brothers and sisters who are in a troubled state. But we can only do so much. We cannot prevent the suffering of the physical body. The physical body was intended for a life of consequences.
This was Jesus' point. Using our lives in the service of God - trying to please Him and His representative - is the highest activity. This is our natural function. God created us as His playmates - to care for Him and serve Him lovingly - out of volition. In the spiritual world, we can serve God directly and personally.
But while we are still rehabilitating ourselves, we can also begin to re-develop our relationship with God and begin to serve Him. We can sing and praise His Holy Names. We can pray to Him. We can offer things to Him. We can think of Him. These are the activities that will help us re-develop our original relationship with Him, and eventually, make it so we can leave behind the suffering of the physical world and these temporary identities.
And this is why Jesus taught:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I knew that You always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me." "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:41-43)
How much clearer could Jesus be about himself? How, with this kind of clarity about Jesus' role and his position with God, could so many professional ecclesiastical Christian teachers and their respective organizations possibly teach that Jesus was God?
What does it mean when one person hears another? It means there are two persons: The person speaking and the person who hears the speaker. Jesus clearly indicates that God has heard him, and that God has always heard him. This clearly indicates that there are two persons here: Jesus and God.
Furthermore, it clarifies the relationship: "You sent me." God sent Jesus. This means that Jesus is God's messenger. He is God's servant.
Many ecclesiastical Christian teachers will say that "God became man in Jesus." If this were true, then Jesus would not be engaging in this sort of exchange with someone else. This would mean that Jesus was either lying about himself or he was trying to trick the people around him.
Rather, we see here that Jesus is obviously exchanging a relationship with God. When a person speaks to another person in this way - first thanking them and then clarifying that they know the other hears them - it is a clear indication of a relationship.
We can also see from Jesus' statement that the miracle that is attributed to Jesus - the reviving of Lazarus - is not coming from Jesus. It is coming from God.
But because Jesus is talking about God hearing him at the same time, we can know that Jesus requested that God bring the person of Lazarus back into Lazarus' body. God did the miracle, but Jesus requested that God do it.
This indicates an entirely different purpose for this and the other miracles attributed to Jesus.
While many believe and teach that Jesus' miracles were meant to create the belief that Jesus was our savior, or even create a belief in God, neither of these were their true purpose.
If God wanted to prove that He exists then He could do this at any time. He could appear before our physical eyes at any time and prove without a doubt that He exists.
But He doesn't. Why? Does this mean He doesn't exist? In fact, many people will say this: They will say, "God if you exist, then prove it to me." As if God is their genie or something. As if God is their servant, and will appear at our beck and call.
Rather, this is not the reality at all. Our natural position, in fact, is God's servants. God is our Superior and we are His inferiors. An inferior does not demand that the superior appear in front of him. If we were a private in the army, and we demanded that the General come and appear in front of our bunk in the barracks, would the General come? Certainly not. The General would likely have the private peeling potatoes in the kitchen for the next month for demanding that he appear in front the private's bunk.
Rather, we currently cannot see God because we do not want to see God. We do not want to exchange a loving relationship with God. We have turned from God. So He gave us the ability to ignore Him and virtually be away from Him within these temporary physical bodies. It is for this reason that we cannot see God, even though He is always present everywhere.
Our physical eyes were intentionally designed by God not to see Him. This is because we wanted to run away from God. We wanted our independence. We wanted to enjoy like God and try to be happy without God. So He created these physical bodies to allow us to try to enjoy ourselves without Him.
Our physical eyes were designed to focus upon certain types of physical objects. What physical objects might these be? Those objects that allow us to maintain our false sense of independence. Just consider, assuming that we are an adult now, that only a few decades ago, we occupied a child's body. At that time, we thought we were so independent of our parents. We thought that everything revolved around us and our parents were simply there to serve us. We learned how to get the things we wanted from them. And when we didn't, we cried. Or we learned to manipulate.
But then after our bodies got older, we began to identify with ourselves as an adult - male or female. When we look back to our childhood, we see how we were so mistaken. The world didn't revolve around us - we just wanted it to. We were completely dependent upon our parents. Our parents worked hard to take care of us, and gave us stuff when we cried because they didn't want to put up with all the noise.
So most of us learn at least two things as we look back to our childhood: We learn that we mistakenly identified our position with respect to our parents. And we also mistakenly thought the world revolved around us.
While we know a little more about reality than we did when our bodies were young, we still are in the illusion that the world is meant for our enjoyment; and that we can become happy with the things of this temporary physical world. This too, however, is not reality. For example, while we might think that we'd be happy if we had a million dollars, most multi-million dollar lottery winners become depressed after they collect their winnings. And each of us - even the richest man in the world - will leave all our wealth behind when our bodies die. So none of the wealth, fame or other goodies we acquire here even belongs to us, let alone will make us happy.
These sorts of illusions - from childhood through adulthood - illustrate that this physical world simply provides an environment where we get to pretend for awhile. We get to pretend that the "world is our oyster" while we chase around one desire after another.
The reality is that the world was not only designed to allow us to pretend that God doesn't exist for awhile and chase our desires around: It was also designed to teach us. These physical bodies might come with some pleasurable responses, but they also come with a significant amount of pain, disease and old age. These elements were designed to teach us that this world is not our home.
This relates to the reason for Lazarus' revival, along with all of the other miracles attributed to Jesus. What was their real purpose?
Jesus indicates this as he says, "but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me."
Why is it so important that the people around Jesus understand that God sent Jesus, and why was it important that they hear this exchange where Jesus thanks God for hearing him?
It is because Jesus and God wanted to show those people around Jesus - as well as those of us reading about it - that Jesus had a relationship with God: That Jesus and God loved each other, and did things for each other.
This is spiritual life. Spiritual life is not about "being saved." It is about exchanging a loving relationship with God. It is about caring for God and serving God with love and devotion. And it is about accepting God's love, and His activities that show how much He cares about us. This is the "stuff" of spiritual life that both Jesus and God were trying to show us.
Yes, we know from Jesus' statement that God sent Jesus here, but then the question is, why? Why would God send Jesus? If God wanted to tell us something - being the Supreme Person - He could write it in the sky. He could announce it at any time, place and manner. He doesn't need to send someone else to tell us something.
But He sent Jesus - and every other loving servant He's sent - to show us how we can exchange a loving relationship with God. He sent Jesus to show us what love really is. Just consider the kind of sacrifices that Jesus made on behalf of his beloved, the Supreme Person. Just consider his ultimate sacrifice: Allowing others to murder his body because of his teachings. What did this show us? It showed us the extent of his love. It showed just how much Jesus loved God.
And it is this loving exchange that can save us, and give us eternal life.
Should we understand and participate in the loving relationship between Jesus and God, as we hear and follow through on Jesus' teachings, we realize that he not only talked the talk, but walked the walk:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
What does it mean when one person hears another? It means there are two persons: The person speaking and the person who hears the speaker. Jesus clearly indicates that God has heard him, and that God has always heard him. This clearly indicates that there are two persons here: Jesus and God.
Furthermore, it clarifies the relationship: "You sent me." God sent Jesus. This means that Jesus is God's messenger. He is God's servant.
Many ecclesiastical Christian teachers will say that "God became man in Jesus." If this were true, then Jesus would not be engaging in this sort of exchange with someone else. This would mean that Jesus was either lying about himself or he was trying to trick the people around him.
Rather, we see here that Jesus is obviously exchanging a relationship with God. When a person speaks to another person in this way - first thanking them and then clarifying that they know the other hears them - it is a clear indication of a relationship.
We can also see from Jesus' statement that the miracle that is attributed to Jesus - the reviving of Lazarus - is not coming from Jesus. It is coming from God.
But because Jesus is talking about God hearing him at the same time, we can know that Jesus requested that God bring the person of Lazarus back into Lazarus' body. God did the miracle, but Jesus requested that God do it.
This indicates an entirely different purpose for this and the other miracles attributed to Jesus.
While many believe and teach that Jesus' miracles were meant to create the belief that Jesus was our savior, or even create a belief in God, neither of these were their true purpose.
If God wanted to prove that He exists then He could do this at any time. He could appear before our physical eyes at any time and prove without a doubt that He exists.
But He doesn't. Why? Does this mean He doesn't exist? In fact, many people will say this: They will say, "God if you exist, then prove it to me." As if God is their genie or something. As if God is their servant, and will appear at our beck and call.
Rather, this is not the reality at all. Our natural position, in fact, is God's servants. God is our Superior and we are His inferiors. An inferior does not demand that the superior appear in front of him. If we were a private in the army, and we demanded that the General come and appear in front of our bunk in the barracks, would the General come? Certainly not. The General would likely have the private peeling potatoes in the kitchen for the next month for demanding that he appear in front the private's bunk.
Rather, we currently cannot see God because we do not want to see God. We do not want to exchange a loving relationship with God. We have turned from God. So He gave us the ability to ignore Him and virtually be away from Him within these temporary physical bodies. It is for this reason that we cannot see God, even though He is always present everywhere.
Our physical eyes were intentionally designed by God not to see Him. This is because we wanted to run away from God. We wanted our independence. We wanted to enjoy like God and try to be happy without God. So He created these physical bodies to allow us to try to enjoy ourselves without Him.
Our physical eyes were designed to focus upon certain types of physical objects. What physical objects might these be? Those objects that allow us to maintain our false sense of independence. Just consider, assuming that we are an adult now, that only a few decades ago, we occupied a child's body. At that time, we thought we were so independent of our parents. We thought that everything revolved around us and our parents were simply there to serve us. We learned how to get the things we wanted from them. And when we didn't, we cried. Or we learned to manipulate.
But then after our bodies got older, we began to identify with ourselves as an adult - male or female. When we look back to our childhood, we see how we were so mistaken. The world didn't revolve around us - we just wanted it to. We were completely dependent upon our parents. Our parents worked hard to take care of us, and gave us stuff when we cried because they didn't want to put up with all the noise.
So most of us learn at least two things as we look back to our childhood: We learn that we mistakenly identified our position with respect to our parents. And we also mistakenly thought the world revolved around us.
While we know a little more about reality than we did when our bodies were young, we still are in the illusion that the world is meant for our enjoyment; and that we can become happy with the things of this temporary physical world. This too, however, is not reality. For example, while we might think that we'd be happy if we had a million dollars, most multi-million dollar lottery winners become depressed after they collect their winnings. And each of us - even the richest man in the world - will leave all our wealth behind when our bodies die. So none of the wealth, fame or other goodies we acquire here even belongs to us, let alone will make us happy.
These sorts of illusions - from childhood through adulthood - illustrate that this physical world simply provides an environment where we get to pretend for awhile. We get to pretend that the "world is our oyster" while we chase around one desire after another.
The reality is that the world was not only designed to allow us to pretend that God doesn't exist for awhile and chase our desires around: It was also designed to teach us. These physical bodies might come with some pleasurable responses, but they also come with a significant amount of pain, disease and old age. These elements were designed to teach us that this world is not our home.
This relates to the reason for Lazarus' revival, along with all of the other miracles attributed to Jesus. What was their real purpose?
Jesus indicates this as he says, "but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me."
Why is it so important that the people around Jesus understand that God sent Jesus, and why was it important that they hear this exchange where Jesus thanks God for hearing him?
It is because Jesus and God wanted to show those people around Jesus - as well as those of us reading about it - that Jesus had a relationship with God: That Jesus and God loved each other, and did things for each other.
This is spiritual life. Spiritual life is not about "being saved." It is about exchanging a loving relationship with God. It is about caring for God and serving God with love and devotion. And it is about accepting God's love, and His activities that show how much He cares about us. This is the "stuff" of spiritual life that both Jesus and God were trying to show us.
Yes, we know from Jesus' statement that God sent Jesus here, but then the question is, why? Why would God send Jesus? If God wanted to tell us something - being the Supreme Person - He could write it in the sky. He could announce it at any time, place and manner. He doesn't need to send someone else to tell us something.
But He sent Jesus - and every other loving servant He's sent - to show us how we can exchange a loving relationship with God. He sent Jesus to show us what love really is. Just consider the kind of sacrifices that Jesus made on behalf of his beloved, the Supreme Person. Just consider his ultimate sacrifice: Allowing others to murder his body because of his teachings. What did this show us? It showed us the extent of his love. It showed just how much Jesus loved God.
And it is this loving exchange that can save us, and give us eternal life.
Should we understand and participate in the loving relationship between Jesus and God, as we hear and follow through on Jesus' teachings, we realize that he not only talked the talk, but walked the walk:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Where have you laid him? Take away the stone. Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:34-40)
Within and between these statements by Jesus indicate an often-hidden aspect of who Jesus was and a critical part of his teachings.
Here is the text surrounding these statements:
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:33-40)
Why did Jesus weep? Was he crying because he was mourning the death of one of his students?
Certainly not. After all, Jesus taught his students not to mourn for the dead, and to discern between life and death:
"Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matt. 8:22)
Rather, Jesus was responding to the sadness of those around him for the death of Lazarus' body: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
This means that Jesus was not troubled by the death of Lazarus' body. He was troubled by those around him not understanding the difference between the living person and the physical body.
The physical body is merely a temporary vehicle we drive around for a few decades and then leave. The physical body is also not even a permanent structure while it is alive. It is always changing. Science has determined that all of the atoms and molecules making up our body today will be gone and replaced by new atoms and molecules within five years. This also means that within five years we have changed bodies.
Meanwhile, each of us - spiritual beings who drive each body - continue to live, unchanged, within the body. And when the body dies, the spiritual being leaves the body.
Jesus knew this. So he was not saddened by Lazarus' death. He knew Lazarus would be fine. But he was saddened by the fact that those around him did not understand this most basic tenet of spiritual life.
Martha did understand that the living person lives on, as she had commented on resurrection (see previous verse).
But sadly, this basic lack of understanding among the others regarding the physical body has continued through the centuries of ecclesiastical Christianity. Furthermore, because of this lack of understanding regarding our spiritual identity, the interpretations and even translations of Jesus' life and teachings have often been faulty.
And it is this very lack of understanding by those around him that deeply troubled Jesus. Jesus loved these people. He truly cared for them, and he was saddened by their lack of understanding. He was trying to teach them, but they were focused upon the physical trappings - Jesus' miracles and so on. They were not trusting in his message. They were too engorged in their identification with their bodies and their own goals for physical happiness.
The false self-identification with the physical body is very strong. This is because we want to be away from God. God has allowed us to forget Him by creating a false identity. Because love is based upon freedom, God gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those of us who chose not to love God landed here in the physical world and took on temporary physical bodies in order to exercise our freedom.
It was necessary for us to take on temporary physical bodies to escape our real selves because by nature each of us was created to love and care for God in our own unique way. Therefore, loving service to God is our natural activity, and our spiritual bodies - ourselves - are shaped around our particular relationship with the Supreme Being.
In other words, in order to get away from God, we must take on a false identity and live in the illusion that He doesn't exist.
We often see this type of activity elsewhere - where people will assume another identity in order to escape. A wife and mother might dress up in some tight jeans and toss her hair and go out to a young-person's night club to escape her identity as a wife and mother for a night on the town, for example.
In the same way, we are "dressed" in our physical bodies so we can forget God's existence and chase our fantasies for awhile in the physical world.
The question now is whether we want to return to God or not.
Should we decide we want to return to God, the question then is whether we are really ready to return to our natural position of loving and caring for the Supreme Being.
This is precisely why this physical world isn't just fun and games. God created the physical world to allow us to ignore Him, but He also designed it in such a way as to help us rehabilitate. For this reason, the physical world is also a place of consequence, where every selfish activity has a consequence.
God also sends His representatives to bring those who want to return to Him back home. This was Jesus' mission, and how he described himself:
"If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent me” (John 8:42)
So Jesus is clear that the Supreme Being sent him to help us return to Him. So it troubled Jesus how few were actually hearing his message.
This is precisely why Jesus said the above statement: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
Many of today's ecclesiastical Christian teachers like to interpret "believed" as believing that Jesus died for our sins. They say that this is all we need to do and we are saved. But is this really what Jesus was saying?
Jesus was standing right in front of them. He had not been crucified. So he was obviously not talking about them believing he died for their sins.
The word “believed” is being translated from the Greek word πιστεύω (pisteuō). This means, according to the lexicon,“to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.” What is being described, then, is trust.
Jesus was telling the people around him - the Jews and his students - that if they simply trusted his teachings then they would see God's glory. In other words, they would return to God. Jesus provides the means to return to God. It is his teachings. He was asking them to hear his teachings and follow his instructions. He was trying to teach them to give up their false identification with this temporary physical body and the illusions of happiness - materialism - of this physical world. He was essentially asking them to re-develop their loving relationship with the Supreme Being:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
Here is the text surrounding these statements:
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept.
Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:33-40)
Why did Jesus weep? Was he crying because he was mourning the death of one of his students?
Certainly not. After all, Jesus taught his students not to mourn for the dead, and to discern between life and death:
"Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead." (Matt. 8:22)
Rather, Jesus was responding to the sadness of those around him for the death of Lazarus' body: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
This means that Jesus was not troubled by the death of Lazarus' body. He was troubled by those around him not understanding the difference between the living person and the physical body.
The physical body is merely a temporary vehicle we drive around for a few decades and then leave. The physical body is also not even a permanent structure while it is alive. It is always changing. Science has determined that all of the atoms and molecules making up our body today will be gone and replaced by new atoms and molecules within five years. This also means that within five years we have changed bodies.
Meanwhile, each of us - spiritual beings who drive each body - continue to live, unchanged, within the body. And when the body dies, the spiritual being leaves the body.
Jesus knew this. So he was not saddened by Lazarus' death. He knew Lazarus would be fine. But he was saddened by the fact that those around him did not understand this most basic tenet of spiritual life.
Martha did understand that the living person lives on, as she had commented on resurrection (see previous verse).
But sadly, this basic lack of understanding among the others regarding the physical body has continued through the centuries of ecclesiastical Christianity. Furthermore, because of this lack of understanding regarding our spiritual identity, the interpretations and even translations of Jesus' life and teachings have often been faulty.
And it is this very lack of understanding by those around him that deeply troubled Jesus. Jesus loved these people. He truly cared for them, and he was saddened by their lack of understanding. He was trying to teach them, but they were focused upon the physical trappings - Jesus' miracles and so on. They were not trusting in his message. They were too engorged in their identification with their bodies and their own goals for physical happiness.
The false self-identification with the physical body is very strong. This is because we want to be away from God. God has allowed us to forget Him by creating a false identity. Because love is based upon freedom, God gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those of us who chose not to love God landed here in the physical world and took on temporary physical bodies in order to exercise our freedom.
It was necessary for us to take on temporary physical bodies to escape our real selves because by nature each of us was created to love and care for God in our own unique way. Therefore, loving service to God is our natural activity, and our spiritual bodies - ourselves - are shaped around our particular relationship with the Supreme Being.
In other words, in order to get away from God, we must take on a false identity and live in the illusion that He doesn't exist.
We often see this type of activity elsewhere - where people will assume another identity in order to escape. A wife and mother might dress up in some tight jeans and toss her hair and go out to a young-person's night club to escape her identity as a wife and mother for a night on the town, for example.
In the same way, we are "dressed" in our physical bodies so we can forget God's existence and chase our fantasies for awhile in the physical world.
The question now is whether we want to return to God or not.
Should we decide we want to return to God, the question then is whether we are really ready to return to our natural position of loving and caring for the Supreme Being.
This is precisely why this physical world isn't just fun and games. God created the physical world to allow us to ignore Him, but He also designed it in such a way as to help us rehabilitate. For this reason, the physical world is also a place of consequence, where every selfish activity has a consequence.
God also sends His representatives to bring those who want to return to Him back home. This was Jesus' mission, and how he described himself:
"If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent me” (John 8:42)
So Jesus is clear that the Supreme Being sent him to help us return to Him. So it troubled Jesus how few were actually hearing his message.
This is precisely why Jesus said the above statement: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
Many of today's ecclesiastical Christian teachers like to interpret "believed" as believing that Jesus died for our sins. They say that this is all we need to do and we are saved. But is this really what Jesus was saying?
Jesus was standing right in front of them. He had not been crucified. So he was obviously not talking about them believing he died for their sins.
The word “believed” is being translated from the Greek word πιστεύω (pisteuō). This means, according to the lexicon,“to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.” What is being described, then, is trust.
Jesus was telling the people around him - the Jews and his students - that if they simply trusted his teachings then they would see God's glory. In other words, they would return to God. Jesus provides the means to return to God. It is his teachings. He was asking them to hear his teachings and follow his instructions. He was trying to teach them to give up their false identification with this temporary physical body and the illusions of happiness - materialism - of this physical world. He was essentially asking them to re-develop their loving relationship with the Supreme Being:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)
This statement by Jesus has been taken out of context and largely misinterpreted by many ecclesiastical Christian teachers.
Jesus’ statement follows one of Jesus’ students, Martha, saying the following:
"I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (John 11:24)
This followed Jesus saying:
"Your brother will rise again." (John 11:23)
We can see by the other statements regarding this event that both Martha and her sister Mary (who had also put scented oil on Jesus) were trusted students of Jesus, as was their brother, Lazarus, whose body lay dead two miles away in Bethany.
First we should consider Martha’s statement. Martha, a student of Jesus, was reflecting on an accepted principle among Jesus' students as she discussed resurrection. The “last day,” translated from the Greek phrase ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳἡ, does not refer to some end-of-the-world scenario thousands of years later. It refers to the last day of our physical body. This is the time of death. In other words, what she understood from Jesus’ teachings was that the person within the body will rise out of the body at the time of death. This is taken from the Greek word ἀνίστημι (anistēmi), which means “to cause to rise up, raise up” or “raise up from laying down” or “to raise up from the dead” according to Strong’s Greek lexicon.
So Mary understood that a person will leave the body after death, and will hopefully rise and return to the spiritual dimension - which Jesus previously referred to as the “resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).
But then Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.” What did he mean by that?
Let’s consider this carefully. Who did Jesus say he was? Jesus had previously described himself clearly:
“For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” (John 5:36)
If God has sent Jesus, then that makes Jesus God’s messenger, and thus God's representative. Just consider what this means in terms of the authority of Jesus. He is representing God’s authority.
Let’s compare this to, say, the ambassador of the United States living in a foreign country. When the ambassador of the U.S. goes to the Prime Minister of Britain and makes an official statement on behalf of the U.S., this statement carries the weight of the U.S. President and all the U.S. government behind it. While the ambassador is himself or herself not the President, nor the entire U.S. government, he represents it. Therefore, such an ambassador could say something like “I am the power of the U.S. government,” or something to that extent, and be absolutely correct, because he represents the U.S. government.
Jesus was trying to convey the same type of message to Martha. He was stating that because he was representing God, he provides a doorway back to God.
Then Jesus says he is the “life.” What does this mean? Jesus also described life indirectly when he told a prospective student to:
“Let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matt. 8:22)
In both this case and in the statement above, Jesus is describing “life” as loving, serving and pleasing God. Doing God’s will out of love is Jesus’ purpose and mission. This is truly “life” to Jesus. The “dead” people who were burying a dead relative were dead because they were not loving and serving God with their lives. Rather, they were focused on the temporary things of the physical world. They are focused upon things that die.
Jesus confirms these definitions as he says “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Actually, this has been misunderstood and misused by ecclesiastical professional Christian teachers, who teach that this means all we need to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins and we are saved.
Actually, the word “believes” here comes from the Greek word πιστεύω (pisteuō), which means: “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in,” according to the lexicon.
This means that Jesus was talking about “trust” here. He was asking them to trust what he was teaching them. Since he was standing in front of them, there was no need for them to believe he existed. And they had seen his miracles so they didn't need to believe that he performed miracles. And since he had yet to be crucified when he made that statement, he surely was not talking about his dying for anyone’s sins.
Rather, Jesus’ statement was quite simple. He was indicating to Martha and her sister that if they trusted his teachings and followed his instructions, they would return to God. And what was Jesus’ most important teaching and instruction?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
Jesus’ statement follows one of Jesus’ students, Martha, saying the following:
"I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." (John 11:24)
This followed Jesus saying:
"Your brother will rise again." (John 11:23)
We can see by the other statements regarding this event that both Martha and her sister Mary (who had also put scented oil on Jesus) were trusted students of Jesus, as was their brother, Lazarus, whose body lay dead two miles away in Bethany.
First we should consider Martha’s statement. Martha, a student of Jesus, was reflecting on an accepted principle among Jesus' students as she discussed resurrection. The “last day,” translated from the Greek phrase ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳἡ, does not refer to some end-of-the-world scenario thousands of years later. It refers to the last day of our physical body. This is the time of death. In other words, what she understood from Jesus’ teachings was that the person within the body will rise out of the body at the time of death. This is taken from the Greek word ἀνίστημι (anistēmi), which means “to cause to rise up, raise up” or “raise up from laying down” or “to raise up from the dead” according to Strong’s Greek lexicon.
So Mary understood that a person will leave the body after death, and will hopefully rise and return to the spiritual dimension - which Jesus previously referred to as the “resurrection of the righteous” (Luke 14:14).
But then Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.” What did he mean by that?
Let’s consider this carefully. Who did Jesus say he was? Jesus had previously described himself clearly:
“For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.” (John 5:36)
If God has sent Jesus, then that makes Jesus God’s messenger, and thus God's representative. Just consider what this means in terms of the authority of Jesus. He is representing God’s authority.
Let’s compare this to, say, the ambassador of the United States living in a foreign country. When the ambassador of the U.S. goes to the Prime Minister of Britain and makes an official statement on behalf of the U.S., this statement carries the weight of the U.S. President and all the U.S. government behind it. While the ambassador is himself or herself not the President, nor the entire U.S. government, he represents it. Therefore, such an ambassador could say something like “I am the power of the U.S. government,” or something to that extent, and be absolutely correct, because he represents the U.S. government.
Jesus was trying to convey the same type of message to Martha. He was stating that because he was representing God, he provides a doorway back to God.
Then Jesus says he is the “life.” What does this mean? Jesus also described life indirectly when he told a prospective student to:
“Let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matt. 8:22)
In both this case and in the statement above, Jesus is describing “life” as loving, serving and pleasing God. Doing God’s will out of love is Jesus’ purpose and mission. This is truly “life” to Jesus. The “dead” people who were burying a dead relative were dead because they were not loving and serving God with their lives. Rather, they were focused on the temporary things of the physical world. They are focused upon things that die.
Jesus confirms these definitions as he says “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Actually, this has been misunderstood and misused by ecclesiastical professional Christian teachers, who teach that this means all we need to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins and we are saved.
Actually, the word “believes” here comes from the Greek word πιστεύω (pisteuō), which means: “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in,” according to the lexicon.
This means that Jesus was talking about “trust” here. He was asking them to trust what he was teaching them. Since he was standing in front of them, there was no need for them to believe he existed. And they had seen his miracles so they didn't need to believe that he performed miracles. And since he had yet to be crucified when he made that statement, he surely was not talking about his dying for anyone’s sins.
Rather, Jesus’ statement was quite simple. He was indicating to Martha and her sister that if they trusted his teachings and followed his instructions, they would return to God. And what was Jesus’ most important teaching and instruction?
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Your brother will rise again." (John 11:23)
Here Jesus is answering to one of his students, Martha, who said:
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." (John 11:21-22)
This is an important statement by Jesus' student Martha, because it explains the process of Jesus' miracles. "But now I know" indicates that Martha has been a student of Jesus' teachings, and understands the relationship between Jesus and God. She is clear, in other words, about Jesus' role in relation to God.
She is clear that Jesus and God and two independent persons. For Jesus to ask God to bring Lazarus' body back to life (bring his spirit back into his body) means first, that God is ultimately performing the miracle. And second, it means that Jesus is God's subordinate, since Jesus must ask God to do it. This elucidates Jesus' role as God's loving servant.
Martha has not confused God and Jesus, as so many of today's professional ecclesiastical Christian teachers have. These teachers are claiming that Jesus is God. This is an abomination of Jesus' teachings and his whole life. It is completely offensive to Jesus, as Jesus stated directly:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)
This statement confirms Martha's statement about Jesus' role and position in relation to God. Jesus is clearly stating that it isn't enough to be extolling and praising Jesus as "Lord, Lord." Even if someone is performing miracles and prophecy in the name of Jesus, Jesus does not accept them. He even says, "I never knew you." and "Away from me, you evildoers!" This illustrates clearly that Jesus is offended by those who worship Jesus as though he were God - essentially ignoring the Supreme Being.
Rather, Jesus says clearly that it is "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" who is pleasing to Jesus, and who "will enter the kingdom of heaven."
This is a very clear statement by Jesus, and it is obvious by the exchange between Martha and Jesus concerning Lazarus that Jesus is pleased with Martha's understanding about Jesus' relationship with God.
Understanding that Jesus did not perform miracles, but rather, asked His Beloved, the Supreme Being to perform them is critical:
"I have shown you many great miracles from the Father." (John 10:32)
Yet it is also critical to understand why Jesus asked God to perform them, and why God indeed did make them happen. We can see why when we see the immediate result of these miracles:
When he [Jesus] came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen (Luke 19:37)
Note that these were Jesus' disciples - his students - who were praising God as a result of the miracles. And they were acting in a way that was pleasing to Jesus. Why? Because they were praising God. And they were not only praising God: They were praising God in "loud voices."
Loudly praising God means to chant God's Holy Names and glories. Let's compare this to the chanting we often hear in political assemblies. When the crowd of a political assembly begins praising the politician they usually chant his or her name very loudly, possibly with a slogan. The crowd might chant, for example, "Billy for 2012" (fictitious name) or something, all in unison, and very loudly.
Note that Jesus' disciples could have been chanting Jesus' name as he walked through Mount Olives, especially if they believed that Jesus performed all those miracles. But they weren't praising Jesus. As Jesus stated in Matt. 7:21-23, he would not have been pleased with that.
Rather, the crowd of disciples were praising God. They were chanting God's Names and glories, and they were doing that loudly because they knew this was pleasing to Jesus.
We can understand from these verses Jesus' message and intention. He was not trying to raise the dead and perform other miracles to prove that he was God, and earn everyone's respect as God.
Rather, his teachings were about Someone Else: Someone Who Jesus loved, and wanted others to love: The Supreme Being.
This is why Martha said: "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." She knew the Supreme Being would give Jesus whatever he asked of God because Jesus and God had a personal loving relationship. Jesus loved God and served God out of love. And God reciprocated that love. This is called a relationship, and Jesus was trying to get each of us to also come to that point where we could exchange such a loving relationship with God.
This is why Jesus' most important instruction was:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." (John 11:21-22)
This is an important statement by Jesus' student Martha, because it explains the process of Jesus' miracles. "But now I know" indicates that Martha has been a student of Jesus' teachings, and understands the relationship between Jesus and God. She is clear, in other words, about Jesus' role in relation to God.
She is clear that Jesus and God and two independent persons. For Jesus to ask God to bring Lazarus' body back to life (bring his spirit back into his body) means first, that God is ultimately performing the miracle. And second, it means that Jesus is God's subordinate, since Jesus must ask God to do it. This elucidates Jesus' role as God's loving servant.
Martha has not confused God and Jesus, as so many of today's professional ecclesiastical Christian teachers have. These teachers are claiming that Jesus is God. This is an abomination of Jesus' teachings and his whole life. It is completely offensive to Jesus, as Jesus stated directly:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)
This statement confirms Martha's statement about Jesus' role and position in relation to God. Jesus is clearly stating that it isn't enough to be extolling and praising Jesus as "Lord, Lord." Even if someone is performing miracles and prophecy in the name of Jesus, Jesus does not accept them. He even says, "I never knew you." and "Away from me, you evildoers!" This illustrates clearly that Jesus is offended by those who worship Jesus as though he were God - essentially ignoring the Supreme Being.
Rather, Jesus says clearly that it is "only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" who is pleasing to Jesus, and who "will enter the kingdom of heaven."
This is a very clear statement by Jesus, and it is obvious by the exchange between Martha and Jesus concerning Lazarus that Jesus is pleased with Martha's understanding about Jesus' relationship with God.
Understanding that Jesus did not perform miracles, but rather, asked His Beloved, the Supreme Being to perform them is critical:
"I have shown you many great miracles from the Father." (John 10:32)
Yet it is also critical to understand why Jesus asked God to perform them, and why God indeed did make them happen. We can see why when we see the immediate result of these miracles:
When he [Jesus] came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen (Luke 19:37)
Note that these were Jesus' disciples - his students - who were praising God as a result of the miracles. And they were acting in a way that was pleasing to Jesus. Why? Because they were praising God. And they were not only praising God: They were praising God in "loud voices."
Loudly praising God means to chant God's Holy Names and glories. Let's compare this to the chanting we often hear in political assemblies. When the crowd of a political assembly begins praising the politician they usually chant his or her name very loudly, possibly with a slogan. The crowd might chant, for example, "Billy for 2012" (fictitious name) or something, all in unison, and very loudly.
Note that Jesus' disciples could have been chanting Jesus' name as he walked through Mount Olives, especially if they believed that Jesus performed all those miracles. But they weren't praising Jesus. As Jesus stated in Matt. 7:21-23, he would not have been pleased with that.
Rather, the crowd of disciples were praising God. They were chanting God's Names and glories, and they were doing that loudly because they knew this was pleasing to Jesus.
We can understand from these verses Jesus' message and intention. He was not trying to raise the dead and perform other miracles to prove that he was God, and earn everyone's respect as God.
Rather, his teachings were about Someone Else: Someone Who Jesus loved, and wanted others to love: The Supreme Being.
This is why Martha said: "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." She knew the Supreme Being would give Jesus whatever he asked of God because Jesus and God had a personal loving relationship. Jesus loved God and served God out of love. And God reciprocated that love. This is called a relationship, and Jesus was trying to get each of us to also come to that point where we could exchange such a loving relationship with God.
This is why Jesus' most important instruction was:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up." "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (John 11:11-15)
At the time he said this, Jesus was in Bethany, where he had heard from two of his students (Mary and Martha) that their brother Lazarus was sick.
How do we know that Martha and Mary were students of Jesus? In John 11:28, Martha told her sister: "The teacher is here and is asking for you." A person who qualifies someone as their teacher is a student.
According to John 11:18, Bethany was about two miles away (in Greek, fifteen stadia, which is about three kilometers) from where Jesus was.
Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, but suddenly Jesus knew that Lazarus' body had died. When Jesus said at first that Lazarus had fallen asleep, his disciples did not initially understand what Jesus meant. So Jesus had to clarify by saying, "Lazarus is dead."
So how did Jesus know that? We can tell from the verse that no one around him knew this, because Jesus' disciples had understood "asleep" to mean Lazarus was sleeping and not dead. This is confirmed:
His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. (John 11:12-13)
Therefore, we know that Jesus had information about Lazarus that no one else around him had. How did he know that?
The physical body is a vessel of the spiritual living being. We are each spiritual living beings who are each temporarily operating a physical body. Just as one steps into a car and drives the car for awhile, the living being (or self) steps into the body and drives it for awhile. Then at some point the self must leave. This is the time of death. When the self leaves, the physical body is lifeless and begins to decompose.
Clinical death research has established that the self will rise up over the body at the time of death and look down upon it. Then the self will travel to locations where their loved ones are. At that time, the self will attempt to say goodbye. Most relatives will not realize this, as we cannot see spirit with the physical eyes. However, in some cases, relatives have reported that they felt the presence of the person whose body had died. Some of these were clinical death reports where the dead body was revived and the living being returned to the body to report their death experience, including going to visit the relative who also experienced a sensation of the "dying" person's presence at the same time the revived person reported going to the relative for the visit.
Unlike those around him, Jesus had spiritual vision. He could see that his student Lazarus' body was dead, likely because Lazarus came to see Jesus after he left his body. In other words, a devoted student will follow his teacher in life and in death.
The lesson here is that the direction of a person's life while they are occupying a physical body propels them to their next destination. Their attachments in the world will continue. It is not as if a person is attached to someone while they are in the body, and as soon as they die, that attachment ceases.
This is important to consider because the attachments we make in the physical world will continue after the death of our body, and those attachments will determine our destination after death.
If we are attached to our dog, for example, there is a strong likelihood that we will follow that dog into our next life. This means that our next body will likely be a dog's body. We might even take birth as a neighborhood dog that comes to play with our dog from this life. Or perhaps our dog gives birth to a litter after our body dies, and we are one of the litter. Or we will go where the dog goes in their next life. Whatever the means, we will follow that relationship after death.
Of course our relationship with our dog may not be as strong as our family relationships. So instead of following our dog, we may follow our family. For example, in our next life we might take birth in a family where the mother and/or father of our current body is also in that family. Our mother of this lifetime might be our brother of the next. Or our older sister of this lifetime might be our aunt of another lifetime. Or we might even marry our former brother, sister or even mother or daughter in our next lifetime, depending upon who dies first and how strong our relationships are. In other words, families tend to transmigrate together.
While this might seem like a nice thing, it also has tremendous risk. For example, if the whole family also became attached to the family dog, the entire family may take birth in a family of dogs.
Many even say how nice it would be to be a pet dog: "What a life," they say. But an animal body is a body of lower consciousness. It leads to further loss of consciousness in successive lifetimes. These lower consciousness forms of life also experience significantly more pain and suffering, as they tend to be chased and eaten by larger, more vicious animals.
On the other hand, if we become attached to Jesus' teachings, and re-develop our natural love and attachment to God, we can transcend the physical world after this body dies. We can leave behind all the pain and suffering this world is known for and return to our natural position as one of God's loving servants within our real family of the spiritual world. This is what Jesus was trying to teach his students. He wanted them to become attached to God.
Becoming attached to relationships with those who want to remain in the physical world - a place of selfishness, suffering and pain along with temporary (and short) glimpses of pleasure - cements our continued existence in the physical world. It guarantees our continuing to remain separated from our Best Friend and Beloved, God. It guarantees that we will keep seeking pleasure where there is none. It guarantees that we will remain in the illusion - body after body - that we are each of these physical bodies, while we ignore our real spiritual identity.
We know that Jesus taught his disciples about this transmigration of the spiritual living being. This is why they asked him, when they saw a man crippled from birth:
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1)
The only way the man's sins could have caused his being crippled is if he had a former life.
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.” (John 9:2)
Jesus' answer indicates that the man's actions in his previous life could have caused his being crippled - though it actually had another purpose.
Jesus knew that Lazarus had left his body because he had spiritual vision. And he wanted those around him to become freed of their ignorance of God and their false bodily identification. This is why Jesus said: "for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe."
What does Jesus want them to believe? The physical world and our illusion that this is all there is is quite strong. This is part of God's design to enable those of us who chose at some point in the past that we wanted to get away from God. So God created a world where we could pretend that we are these bodies, and this physical world is all there is, so we could ignore God's existence.
God had to create this world of illusion because we can't really get away from God. He can go everywhere. He is unlimitedly expandable. He can expand and duplicate Himself without limit. Therefore, He is always with us, following us where ever we go. This is what a friend does. A real friend never abandons their friend, even if that person wants to get away. So God designed an illusory force that allows us to feel we are away from God.
This is why we forget our former lifetimes in other bodies. For example, researchers who have used hypnosis to establish past life regression have found that children under the age of seven readily regress back to former lives. But after about age seven, their recall typically dwindles. Many children under the age of seven will remember their past lives without hypnosis. As the research continued - led by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a medical doctor and professor of research at the University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatric Medicine - it was found that their past lives could be historically verified. Dr. Stevenson and his associates conducted hundreds of regressions. While most regressions revealed personal things about the former person, they confirmed repeatedly that there was no way the child could have known these things otherwise.
Other peer-reviewed research has been conducted to confirm Dr. Stevenson's findings over the years. Leaders of this research have included Dr. Helen Wambach (1978), Dr. Morris Netheron (1978), Dr. Edit Fiore (1978), Dr. Bruce Goldberg (1982), Dr. Joel Whitton (1986), Dr. Brian Weiss (1988), Dr. Christopher Bache (1994), Dr. Winafred Lucas (1993), Dr. Marge Rieder (1995; 1999) along with others.
Consider the rationale of God's design that we forget our former lifetimes. Consider James Leininger, who at the age of 2-1/2 began to suddenly communicate knowledge of aviation he could not have otherwise known. He remembered being a fighter pilot in World War II, and remembered being shot down. He described the events of Lt. James McCready Huston's life in detail, only in a way that the pilot could. He also remembered being shot down.
This continued for over five years, until James was eight. This period was very rough on James and his folks. He had nightmares and a lot of trauma. He was confused about who he was. He had a rough time in school.
At eight, James' memory of his former lifetime began to fade. Today, James is finally absorbed into his present life, and is a healthy boy.
This memory of our past lives may fade differently for most of us, but for the most part, we all forget as children, as we become wrapped up in our current physical environment. This is God's design, which allows those of us who wanted to get away from God to identify with these bodies.
Jesus is God's loving servant, sent by Him to bring those of us who want to to, to go back home to God, and leave behind this cycle of birth and death in the physical world. This means he had to jolt his students out of their comfort zone. The phrase "so that you may believe" clearly indicates Jesus' desire that his students trust what he was trying to teach them.
The word "believe" here is derived from the Greek πιστεύω (pisteuō). This means, according to the lexicon, "to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in." Jesus wanted his students to have confidence in his teachings. He wanted them to trust what Jesus was telling them about God.
Jesus was telling them not only that God existed. Jesus was teaching his students that they could have a loving relationship with God. This is why his most important instruction was:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
How do we know that Martha and Mary were students of Jesus? In John 11:28, Martha told her sister: "The teacher is here and is asking for you." A person who qualifies someone as their teacher is a student.
According to John 11:18, Bethany was about two miles away (in Greek, fifteen stadia, which is about three kilometers) from where Jesus was.
Jesus was told that Lazarus was sick, but suddenly Jesus knew that Lazarus' body had died. When Jesus said at first that Lazarus had fallen asleep, his disciples did not initially understand what Jesus meant. So Jesus had to clarify by saying, "Lazarus is dead."
So how did Jesus know that? We can tell from the verse that no one around him knew this, because Jesus' disciples had understood "asleep" to mean Lazarus was sleeping and not dead. This is confirmed:
His disciples replied, "Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. (John 11:12-13)
Therefore, we know that Jesus had information about Lazarus that no one else around him had. How did he know that?
The physical body is a vessel of the spiritual living being. We are each spiritual living beings who are each temporarily operating a physical body. Just as one steps into a car and drives the car for awhile, the living being (or self) steps into the body and drives it for awhile. Then at some point the self must leave. This is the time of death. When the self leaves, the physical body is lifeless and begins to decompose.
Clinical death research has established that the self will rise up over the body at the time of death and look down upon it. Then the self will travel to locations where their loved ones are. At that time, the self will attempt to say goodbye. Most relatives will not realize this, as we cannot see spirit with the physical eyes. However, in some cases, relatives have reported that they felt the presence of the person whose body had died. Some of these were clinical death reports where the dead body was revived and the living being returned to the body to report their death experience, including going to visit the relative who also experienced a sensation of the "dying" person's presence at the same time the revived person reported going to the relative for the visit.
Unlike those around him, Jesus had spiritual vision. He could see that his student Lazarus' body was dead, likely because Lazarus came to see Jesus after he left his body. In other words, a devoted student will follow his teacher in life and in death.
The lesson here is that the direction of a person's life while they are occupying a physical body propels them to their next destination. Their attachments in the world will continue. It is not as if a person is attached to someone while they are in the body, and as soon as they die, that attachment ceases.
This is important to consider because the attachments we make in the physical world will continue after the death of our body, and those attachments will determine our destination after death.
If we are attached to our dog, for example, there is a strong likelihood that we will follow that dog into our next life. This means that our next body will likely be a dog's body. We might even take birth as a neighborhood dog that comes to play with our dog from this life. Or perhaps our dog gives birth to a litter after our body dies, and we are one of the litter. Or we will go where the dog goes in their next life. Whatever the means, we will follow that relationship after death.
Of course our relationship with our dog may not be as strong as our family relationships. So instead of following our dog, we may follow our family. For example, in our next life we might take birth in a family where the mother and/or father of our current body is also in that family. Our mother of this lifetime might be our brother of the next. Or our older sister of this lifetime might be our aunt of another lifetime. Or we might even marry our former brother, sister or even mother or daughter in our next lifetime, depending upon who dies first and how strong our relationships are. In other words, families tend to transmigrate together.
While this might seem like a nice thing, it also has tremendous risk. For example, if the whole family also became attached to the family dog, the entire family may take birth in a family of dogs.
Many even say how nice it would be to be a pet dog: "What a life," they say. But an animal body is a body of lower consciousness. It leads to further loss of consciousness in successive lifetimes. These lower consciousness forms of life also experience significantly more pain and suffering, as they tend to be chased and eaten by larger, more vicious animals.
On the other hand, if we become attached to Jesus' teachings, and re-develop our natural love and attachment to God, we can transcend the physical world after this body dies. We can leave behind all the pain and suffering this world is known for and return to our natural position as one of God's loving servants within our real family of the spiritual world. This is what Jesus was trying to teach his students. He wanted them to become attached to God.
Becoming attached to relationships with those who want to remain in the physical world - a place of selfishness, suffering and pain along with temporary (and short) glimpses of pleasure - cements our continued existence in the physical world. It guarantees our continuing to remain separated from our Best Friend and Beloved, God. It guarantees that we will keep seeking pleasure where there is none. It guarantees that we will remain in the illusion - body after body - that we are each of these physical bodies, while we ignore our real spiritual identity.
We know that Jesus taught his disciples about this transmigration of the spiritual living being. This is why they asked him, when they saw a man crippled from birth:
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:1)
The only way the man's sins could have caused his being crippled is if he had a former life.
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.” (John 9:2)
Jesus' answer indicates that the man's actions in his previous life could have caused his being crippled - though it actually had another purpose.
Jesus knew that Lazarus had left his body because he had spiritual vision. And he wanted those around him to become freed of their ignorance of God and their false bodily identification. This is why Jesus said: "for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe."
What does Jesus want them to believe? The physical world and our illusion that this is all there is is quite strong. This is part of God's design to enable those of us who chose at some point in the past that we wanted to get away from God. So God created a world where we could pretend that we are these bodies, and this physical world is all there is, so we could ignore God's existence.
God had to create this world of illusion because we can't really get away from God. He can go everywhere. He is unlimitedly expandable. He can expand and duplicate Himself without limit. Therefore, He is always with us, following us where ever we go. This is what a friend does. A real friend never abandons their friend, even if that person wants to get away. So God designed an illusory force that allows us to feel we are away from God.
This is why we forget our former lifetimes in other bodies. For example, researchers who have used hypnosis to establish past life regression have found that children under the age of seven readily regress back to former lives. But after about age seven, their recall typically dwindles. Many children under the age of seven will remember their past lives without hypnosis. As the research continued - led by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a medical doctor and professor of research at the University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatric Medicine - it was found that their past lives could be historically verified. Dr. Stevenson and his associates conducted hundreds of regressions. While most regressions revealed personal things about the former person, they confirmed repeatedly that there was no way the child could have known these things otherwise.
Other peer-reviewed research has been conducted to confirm Dr. Stevenson's findings over the years. Leaders of this research have included Dr. Helen Wambach (1978), Dr. Morris Netheron (1978), Dr. Edit Fiore (1978), Dr. Bruce Goldberg (1982), Dr. Joel Whitton (1986), Dr. Brian Weiss (1988), Dr. Christopher Bache (1994), Dr. Winafred Lucas (1993), Dr. Marge Rieder (1995; 1999) along with others.
Consider the rationale of God's design that we forget our former lifetimes. Consider James Leininger, who at the age of 2-1/2 began to suddenly communicate knowledge of aviation he could not have otherwise known. He remembered being a fighter pilot in World War II, and remembered being shot down. He described the events of Lt. James McCready Huston's life in detail, only in a way that the pilot could. He also remembered being shot down.
This continued for over five years, until James was eight. This period was very rough on James and his folks. He had nightmares and a lot of trauma. He was confused about who he was. He had a rough time in school.
At eight, James' memory of his former lifetime began to fade. Today, James is finally absorbed into his present life, and is a healthy boy.
This memory of our past lives may fade differently for most of us, but for the most part, we all forget as children, as we become wrapped up in our current physical environment. This is God's design, which allows those of us who wanted to get away from God to identify with these bodies.
Jesus is God's loving servant, sent by Him to bring those of us who want to to, to go back home to God, and leave behind this cycle of birth and death in the physical world. This means he had to jolt his students out of their comfort zone. The phrase "so that you may believe" clearly indicates Jesus' desire that his students trust what he was trying to teach them.
The word "believe" here is derived from the Greek πιστεύω (pisteuō). This means, according to the lexicon, "to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in." Jesus wanted his students to have confidence in his teachings. He wanted them to trust what Jesus was telling them about God.
Jesus was telling them not only that God existed. Jesus was teaching his students that they could have a loving relationship with God. This is why his most important instruction was:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)
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