John 12:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The people, he says, would not suddenly have turned in such numbers if they had not believed in the miracle.

When the gathered crowd of the people heard what had happened, it obediently trusted those who testified that Christ had raised Lazarus and destroyed the dominion of death, as the prophets said: "Therefore they also met Him."

Thus, according to the necessary order of events, the Lord finally performed the miracle with Lazarus. By this recent occasion He would be more greatly honored by the people.

The Pharisees, tormented exceedingly by this honor, would form a plot against Him, and in this way the Passion would take place, as indeed happened.

Thus the Pharisees said to themselves: You see that you accomplish nothing.

They see that they oppose faith in Christ in vain. In vain they turn believers away, now by arguments, now by threats.

All this, they say, is useless unless they turn to putting Him to death. Behold, they say, the whole people follows Him.

The crowd stirred up the crowd. Why then, O blinded crowd, were you filled with hatred because the world goes after Him through whom the world was made?

In a word, the whole action on the Savior's part was an answer for many to the question: Is He the Messiah?

After this, it was impossible to doubt that He wished to show Himself as such to the people.

At the same time, He wished to be the Messiah not in the popular sense. Therefore He willingly accepted all joyful expressions of feeling, although by His poor appearance He greatly moderated the heat of impatient enthusiasm.

When the people saw that the Lord had sat upon a donkey, they took this as a sign of a solemn procession to Jerusalem.

Loud cries began to fill the air: Hosanna, that is, salvation to Him, the Son of David. Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

These words come from Ps 117:25, which was used at the Paschal supper and contained other indications of the times of the Messiah.

At that time Jerusalem was filled with countless crowds of Jews who had come for the feast of Pascha.

There were also witnesses of Lazarus' resurrection, who, having themselves been struck by this miracle, could not help speaking of it.

They testified publicly that Jesus had called Lazarus out of the tomb, raising him from the dead.

This news quickly spread through the city. When the people saw Jesus descending from the mountain, they went out to meet Him with palm branches.

They were fully convinced that the long-awaited salvation and deliverance of the Jewish people had at last arrived. They believed that the Son of David, coming to them now, would declare Himself King of Israel and save them from the Roman yoke.

They cried out with joy: "Salvation! Salvation! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, our King, the King of Israel. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!"

The people took up this joyful cry, and word spread through the crowd about how He had raised Lazarus from the dead.

There the road gradually ascends the Mount of Olives, through green fields and beneath shady trees. At its summit it turns sharply north.

At precisely this turn the first view of Jerusalem opens, which until then had been hidden behind a spur of the mountain.

There, in the transparent air, rising from the surrounding deep valley, stood the city famous for its historical memories.

The morning sun, flashing on the marble towers and gilded roofs of the temple buildings, was reflected in a sea of dazzling brilliance before which the beholder had to close his eyes.

In these verses the Evangelist indicates the connection between the entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem and the resurrection of Lazarus, as the cause of His being met in this way by the people, and with the decision of the Pharisees, as its consequence.

"The people who had been with Him before" means in Bethany. These were the Jews who believed in Him (Jn 12:10-11) and the inhabitants of Bethany, some of whom probably now accompanied Him from Bethany to Jerusalem.

"They testified that He," and so on. They testified because they themselves had seen Lazarus raised, or perhaps had themselves witnessed the miracle.

In any case, they had the opportunity to know of the miracle from eyewitnesses.

The report that Jesus Christ was staying in the house of Lazarus, whom He had raised, reached Jerusalem.

Great crowds of people moved from Jerusalem to Bethany in order to see Jesus and Lazarus. When Jesus Christ went with His disciples to Jerusalem the next morning, the crowd accompanying Him grew as it met those coming from Jerusalem.

As He drew near the city, it increased like a snowball.

Despite the malice of the Pharisees and the members of the Sanhedrin, who had condemned Jesus Christ to death and had issued an order to report Christ's whereabouts, the Savior's entrance into Jerusalem was exceedingly solemn, amid the people's general rejoicing.

Hosanna, the people cried. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel. Hosanna in the highest.

Verses 17-18. "The people who had been with Him before" were those who had been in Bethany on the preceding day and had learned, through questioning, the circumstances of Lazarus' death and resurrection.

They "testified that He had called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead."

"Called out of the tomb" is an exact depiction of the greatness of the miracle and the ease with which it was performed.

The miracle over Lazarus was as much an indubitable event, against whose reality nothing could conscientiously be said, as it was the greatest of miracles.

"For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign."

This means that the meeting of Jesus in Jerusalem was the testimony of hundreds of thousands to the reality of Lazarus' resurrection. At the same time, it was the people's declaration that Jesus is the Messiah awaited for centuries.

In verses 17 and 18 it seems necessary to distinguish the people "who had been with Him before" from the people who "heard that He had done this sign."

The first were undoubtedly eyewitnesses of Lazarus' resurrection. This people testified, that is, affirmed that they had seen the resurrection with their own eyes and heard the Lord's authoritative word with their own ears.

In the mouth of the people, the account of the event splendidly and vividly portrays what they had heard and seen.

"He called Lazarus from the tomb" and "raised him from the dead."

The people understood very well that calling the dead man from the tomb did not exhaust the greatness of the miracle. Its fullness lay in giving the dead man a second life, and the giving of life could belong to God alone.