John 12:26

26 If a man wishes to be my servant, let him follow me; and where I am, there too shall my servant be. If a man wishes to be my servant, the Father will honour him.

John 12:26 Meaning and Commentary

John 12:26

If any man serve, me
Or is willing to be a servant of Christ, and to be esteemed as such;

let him follow me;
as in the exercise of the graces of love, humility, patience, self-denial, and resignation of will to the will of God, and in the discharge of every duty, walking as he walked, so in a way of suffering; for as the master, so the servants, as the head, so the members, through many tribulations, must enter the kingdom; to which he encourages by the following things:

and where I am;
in heaven, as he now was, as the Son of God; or "where I shall be", as the Syriac and Persic versions render it, even as man, in the human nature, when raised from the dead:

there shall also my servant be;
when he has done his work, and the place is prepared for him, and he for that, and where he shall ever abide; and as a further encouragement, he adds,

if any man serve me, him will [my] Father honour;
by accepting his service, affording him his gracious presence here, and by giving him eternal glory hereafter, to which he has called him.

John 12:26 In-Context

24 In most solemn truth I tell you that unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains what it was--a single grain; but that if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.

25 He who holds his life dear, is destroying it; and he who makes his life of no account in this world shall keep it to the Life of the Ages.

26 If a man wishes to be my servant, let him follow me; and where I am, there too shall my servant be. If a man wishes to be my servant, the Father will honour him.

27 Now is my soul full of trouble; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

28 Father, glorify Thy name." Thereupon there came a voice from the sky, "I have glorified it and will also glorify it again."