Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Jesus completely ignores the Greeks and speaks, apparently to Philip and Andrew, although the Greeks may have been close enough to hear all that He said. It is obvious that Jesus sees their coming as very significant. His mission has now reached its climax and He must now die for the world, including the Gentiles. Barrett notes that “Here John does not represent Jesus in direct conversation with the Greeks; this however is not careless writing, for the rest of the chapter winds up the ministry of Jesus to the Jews in order that the true and spiritual ’conversation’ of Jesus with the Greeks may begin – on the other side of the crucifixion.” “The gospel is a gospel for the whole world only because of the cross.” (Morris)
“The hour has come” = see also 2:4, 7:30, 8:20, 13:1. The hour of which He is speaking is that of His death as may be seen in the next verse. But there is no sense of tragedy here, but triumph, as He speaks of His hour resulting in His glorification. The glorification of Jesus comes by way of the cross.
John 2:4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”
John 7:30 At this they tried to seize him, but no-one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.
John 8:20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no-one seized him, because his time had not yet come.
John 13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
“Son of Man” = is the term used most by Jesus when referring to Himself, occurring 78 times in the gospels. Nobody uses it for Him except Stephen (Acts 7:56) and the people in this gospel who are asking Jesus what He means by this term (12:34). This probably indicates that it was not a messianic title. Its origin is from (Dan 7:13-14) which is speaking of a heavenly being who is “like” a son of man. Thus it had divine implications and at the same time had human overtones. The context of His coming (Dan 7:1-12) are a description of four cruel world powers that have crushed others, including Israel, under their feet. The beasts could refer to the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Greeks (under Alexander the Great), Romans, or Syrians. But the One like a son of man is different. He is not depicted as a terrifying beast that rips and destroys its prey. “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Dan 7:14) Jesus used the term “Son of Man” to indicate that He was God while at the same time being human, but He also used it to show us that the prophecy in Daniel was speaking of Him. (Php 2:6-11)
Acts 7:56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
John 12:34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain for ever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
Daniel 7:13-14 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Daniel 7:1-12 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. “As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
Philippians 2:6-11 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
“glorified” = doxazo = the expression of honor and praise because of a high opinion. Barclay comments, “When He said that, the listeners would catch their breath. They would believe that the trumpet call of eternity had sounded, and that the might of heaven was on the march, and that the campaign of victory was on the move. But Jesus did not mean by glorified what they meant. By glorified they meant that the subjected kingdoms of the earth would grovel before the conqueror’s feet; by glorified He meant crucified.”