Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 12:34

"The multitude therefore answered him, We have heard out of the law that the Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?" — John 12:34 (ASV)

The crowd was puzzled by Jesus’ prediction of his death. According to their understanding, the Messiah would be a supernatural person who would inaugurate his final and eternal reign as God’s Anointed, the Son of David. In the OT (expressed by the word “Law” here), God promised to David that his descendants would reign “forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–13, 16; cf. Psalms 89:26–29, 35–36). The people were confused by Jesus’ reference to the “Son of Man” and wanted to know who he was.

Although John 12:32 uses the first person pronoun “I” rather than “Son of Man,” Jesus undoubtedly was speaking of himself by this title (see comment on Mk 8:31). The query of the crowd, “Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” implies that his concept of its meaning was different from theirs. To them, the apocalyptic Son of Man (cf. Daniel 7:13–14) would not die. Jesus was enlarging the concept of “Son of Man” by applying it to the whole of his work: his true humanity, his suffering, his exaltation, and his judicial work.