John 12:26 - Exposition

In this verse the Lord brings the light of heaven down into this deep paradox. He speaks like an anointed King and great Captain of salvation, who has ( διάκονοι ) "servants" willing to do his bidding. If any man will be my servant, let him follow me along the line which I am prepared to take, in the way of sacrifice and death, which is the true glorification; and where I am, there shall also my servant be . This association of the servant with the Lord, as the sufficient and the transcendent motive, pervades the Gospels (cf. John 14:3 and John 17:24 ; comp. also Luke 23:43 , "with me in Paradise;" and 2 Corinthians 12:2 , 2 Corinthians 12:4 ; 2 Corinthians 5:8 ; Philippians 1:23 ). It is remarkable that Christ chose the twelve that they should be "with him" ( Mark 3:14 ). There is no greater blessedness. Still, the Lord adds, If any man serve me, him will the Father honor. For the Father to honor a poor child of the dust seems almost more than we can receive. The conception of the steps by means of which the Lord makes this possible to his followers and servants produced in his own self-consciousness one of those sudden and overwhelming crises and changes from joy to perturbation, as of agony to peace and to reconcilement with the eternal Father's will, which prove how certainly St. John is always portraying the same Personage, the same transcendent character whom the synoptists describe ( Luke 12:49 , Luke 12:50 ; comp. Luke 19:38 , Luke 19:41 ; Matthew 11:20 , Matthew 11:25 ; Matthew 16:17 , etc., and 21). More than this, the whole passage that follows is a solemn prelude to that agony of the garden which the synoptists alone record, while they omit this.