John 12:26

26 if any one may minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my ministrant shall be; and if any one may minister to me -- honour him will the Father.

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 verily, verily, I say to you, if the grain of the wheat, having fallen to the earth, may not die, itself remaineth alone; and if it may die, it doth bear much fruit;

25 he who is loving his life shall lose it, and he who is hating his life in this world -- to life age-during shall keep it;

26 if any one may minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my ministrant shall be; and if any one may minister to me -- honour him will the Father.

27 `Now hath my soul been troubled, and what? shall I say -- Father, save me from this hour? -- but because of this I came to this hour;

28 Father, glorify Thy name.' There came, therefore, a voice out of the heaven, `I both glorified, and again I will glorify [it];'