I have found the following description of what nard is;
1. from Wikipedia; Spikenard; also called nard, nardin, and muskroot, is a flowering plant used in the manufacture of an intensely aromatic amber-colored essential oil. The oil has, since ancient times, been used as a perfume, as a medicine and in religious contexts, particularly in connection with historical Judaism. The identity of the plant used in manufacturing spikenard is not certain; Nardostachys jatamansi from Asia, and lavender from the Middle East have been suggested as candidates.
Judas, who later betrayed Jesus, was angry. The perfume could have been sold on average for a year's pay. He claimed the money could be given to the poor. Judas held the disciples' money and often stole from it, so the money from the perfume would have been a nice thing for him to have at his disposal. In the midst of Judas' anger, Jesus told him to leave her alone, saying she did that in preparation for (or anticipation of) Jesus' burial. Jesus went on to say the poor will always be with them but He would not always be here, meaning there will always be hard times and the poor in the world but His time on earth is limited. There would always be time to help the poor but there was only a very short time to show love to Him.
The people heard Jesus was back and they rushed to see Him and also Lazarus whom they heard Jesus had raised from the dead. They wanted to see this man who could and did raise the dead and also the dead man who is now alive. Because of Lazarus' being raised from the dead, crowds of people were flocking to Jesus, the healer, and were believing in Him. Because of their new found faith in Jesus many had deserted the high priests and the Temple to follow Jesus, so the High priests decided to also kill Lazarus. (I guess they figured if they were to get rid of the evidence, it would change everything.) What got to them in vs. 11 is that because of Jesus and particularly Lazarus walking around many people had "deserted" them (the leading priests) and believed in Jesus. They did not seem to be interested in the truth, they did not seem to be interested in what Jesus did or could do for mankind but were upset because the people were leaving "them." It was about them not about the people nor about what was good for the people. Even today, so much is driven with the "it's all about me" kind of thinking. So many have fallen into the mindset that all decisions and happenings are judged or valued based on what good it does for the person doing the evaluating. Things have not changed much from the mindset of the leading priests to today. It is sad, isn't it?
The very next day, word got out that Jesus was coming back to Jerusalem. Remember, there were a lot of visitors in town for the Passover. Between the everyday residents and the visitors, a large crowd gathered, took palm branches and lined the road into town to greet Jesus. Jesus had rejected their desire to make Him king but maybe they felt He would change His mind. They saw Him as liberator and king which is why they waved palm branches. Palm branches signified victory. They may have thought it appropriate because after all that had happened, surely He had come to bring them victory over the Roman rule. The religious leaders plotted and planned to arrest Him over and over again and He always avoided capture. It seemed no one could stop Jesus.
They shouted at Him as He passed by;
"Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hail to the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a donkey and rode it into town. That act fulfilled the prophecy that the Messiah would enter in such a way. That is found in Zechariah 9:9
"Don't be afraid, people of Jeruselem.
Look your King is coming,
riding on a donkey's colt."
The disciples didn't understand that this event was fulfilling prophecy until Jesus entered into His glory. (We read about Jesus' glory often but how do we see it? What is it?
Jesus was about to go through days of lies, brutality, beatings, and abuse. It was an effort to ridicule Him and beat Him down and to humble and humiliate Him. He was to be nailed to a cross and be lifted upright for all the world to see He was a nobody. Being crucified was the pinnacle of being humiliated. For most men being crucified would bring the greatest humiliation but when Jesus was raised on the cross, He was raised for all to see that He would become victorious over those who mocked Him. He would be victorious over the religious leaders who thought they could get rid of HIm. He would be victorious over sin, evil, and death itself for He would be resurrected in victory and be glorified. His glory was dying to live again, His glory was to complete the will of the Father. His resurrection was His glory in which the truth of who He is shone brightly. Once all these things transpired, the disciples remembered all the things Jesus taught and went through and then realized the prophecy was about Him.)
Many who were in the crowd of onlookers saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and went about telling others what they had seen. As more people heard about the miracle of Lazarus, more and more people came to welcome and praise Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.
The Pharisees were overwhelmed saying (vs 19) "There's nothing we can do. Look everyone has gone after Him." (in Greek "everyone" is actually "the world")
(Isn't that what is still going on now? The people who want to control the world fear Jesus and have been trying to get rid of him for centuries. People do keep going to Jesus and do keep walking away from those in the world wanting people to lift them up. This battle is age old but Jesus continues to win souls - and we know the victory is His! That is something we can all rest in.)
Greeks even came to Jerusalem for passover. Greeks at that time were great searchers of wisdom and truth and were known to travel all over to gain wisdom. They were in Jerusalem for Passover as God fearing people. In that picture we can gain the symbolism of the other sheep of God scattered all over the world coming to submit to Jesus. They would represent the Gentiles of the world that Jesus talked about in His three talks about the shepherd and His sheep in chapter 10. The Greeks went to Phillip to see if they could speak to Jesus. Phillip may have been the guard, for many people most likely were trying to get to Jesus.
Jesus talked about His time of glory coming near. His death was at hand and through His death and paying for the sins of all men in obedience to the Father, He and the Father would be glorified. Jesus used the kernel of wheat as an example. By one kernel of wheat going into the ground and dying many new kernels will come and create a magnificent harvest. On the other hand if that one kernel would not die there would be no harvest. He related that to His death. If He were to die many would believe and be saved thus creating a great harvest of saved souls. If He were not to die, there would be no harvest. (It is interesting that the evil plotted and planned to kill Jesus but in that plan, he fell right into God's plan. Theoretically, if the evil one had ignored Jesus and just left Him alone there would not be a complete harvest.)
Jesus then explained that those who love their life in this world will lose it. He was telling them that if they could not turn away from living a life devoted to themselves and their pleasure they would not have the life Jesus offered. They must hate their life and be completely devoted to Christ and His teachings. On the other hand those that do hate this life and are devoted to following Him, those who have set aside self serving goals and ambitions to do His work would find a life with Him for all eternity. He continued by saying if one is to be His disciple they must follow Him, because true disciples must be where He is. Following in such a way will bring them honor from the Father. Some of His disciples did follow Him right into death and their death for Christ did bring them honor and glory just as Jesus' death brought Him honor and glory.
Following Jesus in the Father's will had a cost just as it did for Jesus. In vs. 27-28, Jesus said, "Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, "Father, save me from this hour? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name." There is a choice that can be made but why are you following Him? Are you following Him that the will of the Father will be made complete? Jesus could pray that the Father would rescue Him from the sacrifice and death that awaited Him and so could they. They could walk away from the work of God. Jesus reminds them He was there to accomplish the Father's will and plan. That being said, is that not the same choice they had made? Acknowledging the reason He was to endure death, he declared He was totally committed to bringing glory to the Father and following His plan.
When Jesus prayed the Father would bring glory to His name, A voice from heaven spoke saying, "I have already brought glory to my name and I will do so again." God had already been glorified by what had been done and will be glorified again when Jesus would be raised on the cross. Those who were deaf to Jesus' teaching heard thunder but others who were more spiritual heard what they thought was an angel speaking. Jesus told them they heard the voice for their benefit and the time for judging the ways of the world and Satan had come. Satan would be cast out and when Jesus was raised on the cross before mankind He would draw everyone to Him. At the time of His death on the cross Satan would be defeated and mankind would see His victory over evil, Satan, and the things of the world. All would see the truth and follow after Him.
The crowd questioned that if He was the Messiah, how could He die, for the scripture said He would reign forever. Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man and they thought maybe the Son of Man and the Messiah might mean two different people. If that were the case, who is the Son of Man?
Jesus told them He is the light of the world and would only be with them for a little longer. Walk and believe in Him now, while He was still among them. That way they would know where they were going and with whom. The darkness is coming when evil will have a strong hand over the world and those that did not understand who Jesus is would be lost in that darkness having no idea what was in store for them. By putting their trust in Jesus as the light, they would not be over taken by the evil that was to come but they would become children of the light or children of Jesus. Jesus encouraged them to do so now while there was still time. Then He disappeared from sight.
The Word tells us that despite all Jesus had done and all His miracles, still "most" of the people did not believe in Him. Even that was predicted in the book of Isaiah, "Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed His powerful arm?"
Isaiah 53 is referring to how the death of Jesus will wake Israel up to the fact that they made a mistake by not understanding He died on their behalf. Isaiah continued that Israel would confess it made the mistake of seeing Jesus as an ordinary man rather than the Savior He is. Even with all He did, they would miss it and not see Him for Messiah. They would not see Him as coming from God nor doing what He did by the strength of God.
Also, in Isaiah 6:10 he wrote of the continual disbelief of Israel to the point that God blinded them to the truth and let their hearts be hardened. Now they could not see the truth that Jesus was Messiah nor could they understand it in their hearts. They had become too hardened to even turn to God to ask Him to help heal them of the errors of their disbelief.
All of this pertained to Jesus, for Isaiah saw what was to come and spoke of the Messiah's glory. Many people including the religious leaders came to believe in Jesus and who He is. However, they were unwilling to profess their faith for fear of being expelled from the synagogue by the Pharisees. The reason given for this fear is that they were more interested in being praised by men/other religious leaders, etc. than to receive the praise of God for having faith in Jesus.
Chapter 12 ends with Jesus shouting at the crowds saying that if they trust Him, they would be not only trusting Him but also God who sent Him. He told them that when they see Him they see the one who sent Him, God. In the same vein of thought, if one sees all that Jesus has done and if they feel His heart and love, then they would be seeing the very qualities that are true of God. Jesus spoke to the fact that He came into the dark, evil world to be a light that would shine so that all who trusted in Him would not continue in darkness but be rescued and then walk in His light. Jesus explained that if one was to hear His words but not obey or believe, He would not judge them. He came not to judge the world but He is here to save it. However, those that go on to reject Him will be judged later at the time of judgement. They will be judged against what He has said and taught. Jesus told them He was not speaking by His own authority nor in His humanness but by the authority of the Father. The Father had instructed Him as to what to say and how to say it. Jesus spoke the Father's truth and commands and He knows the Father's commands lead all who believe to eternal life. Knowing this, He always says what the Father tells Him to say.
TOMORROW IS MAY 1ST SO WE WILL GO FURTHER INTO JOHN. WE WILL BEGIN THE STUDY OF JOHN 13, 14 AND 15.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. YOU ARE DOING AN AMAZING THING IN YOUR LIFE.