The Gospel of John - Outline Part 30 - Seeing the Trees but Missing the Forest

TITLE

John 12:12-19 – Seeing the Trees but Missing the Forest

EXPLANATION

The day after the dinner party in Bethany, Jesus entered Jerusalem.  In fulfillment of prophecy, He rode into the city on a colt.  The people greeted Him joyously, praising Him and exalting Him as King.  This had the effect of making the Pharisees even more jealous and desirous to destroy Him.  This entry into Jerusalem was a hugely significant event.  It represented the restoral of God’s glory to Jerusalem.  His glory had departed hundreds of years ago, during the time of Ezekiel.  And now, the visible and physical image of the glory of God returned in the form of Jesus.  The Lord’s disciples did not understand the significance of this event at first.  But later they did recall the prophecy and came to understand the importance of these things.

APPLICATION

We are so often like the disciples were.  We become too focused on the minutiae of our lives, stressing over the details, as Martha did a few chapters ago.  In fact, at times we become so myopic and concerned with the situation “on the ground”, as it were, that we fail to recognize God at work in His larger story that we are caught up in.  As Jesus said back in chapter 5, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”  We need to be a people who look for the hand of God at work at all times.