Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 12:27-30

"Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, [saying], I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: others said, An angel hath spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes." — John 12:27-30 (ASV)

(27–28a) Turning from how the crisis would affect the disciples, Jesus revealed how it affected him. His dilemma here corresponds to what happened in Gethsemane as recorded in Mt 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42; Lk 22:40-46. John reveals that that struggle, which he does not record, was the culmination of an earlier struggle. In these words spoken publicly in the period of crisis, Jesus indicates that he is breaking under the strain of the crisis; its dangers and irrationality are overwhelming him. Should he ask the Father to spare him from the cataclysm that was so rapidly approaching? Had he done so, he might have averted seeming disaster at the price of failing to achieve his redemptive purpose. But Jesus adhered boldly to his original purpose of completing the mission God had entrusted to him. His resolution was final. He wanted the Father’s name to be glorified, no matter what the cost!

(28b–30) The voice from heaven is the third and final instance recorded in the gospel narratives, and the only one in John (cf. the voice at his baptism, Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; and at his transfiguration, Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7). On each occasion it was a public acknowledgment of the sonship and authority of Jesus and an endorsement of his work by the Father. John asserts unmistakably that the voice was a genuine, audible sound, though the crowd did not understand it. Jesus explained that the voice from heaven was intended to encourage the disciples and to inform the crowd, not to encourage him.