Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 12:23

"And Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified." — John 12:23 (ASV)

Curiously enough, John never writes whether Jesus either gave these Greeks an audience or sent a reply back to them. Nevertheless, Jesus’ action itself is an answer to their inquiry, because he announced openly that the great hour of his life had arrived. He felt the pressure of the Gentile world and realized that the time had come to open the way to God for the Gentiles and to fuse Jewish and Gentile believers into one body. To accomplish this objective, he had to sacrifice himself (cf. 10:16).