Barnes New Testament Notes

Verse 26. Serve me. Will be my disciple, or will be a Christian. Perhaps this was said to inform the Greeks (Joh 12:20) of the nature of his religion.

Let him follow me. Let him imitate me; do what I do, bear what I bear, and love what I love. He is discoursing here particularly of his own sufferings and death, and this passage has reference, therefore, to calamity and persecution.

"You see me triumph -- you see me enter Jerusalem, and

you supposed that my kingdom was to be set up without

opposition or calamity; but it is not. I am to die;

and if you will serve me, you must follow me even in

these scenes of calamity; be willing to endure trial

and to bear shame, looking for future reward."

Where I am. See Joh 14:3; 17:24. That is, he shall be in heaven, where the Son of God then was in his divine nature, and where he would be as the glorified Messiah. See Barnes "Joh 3:13".

The natural and obvious meaning of the expression "I am" implies that he was then in heaven. The design of this verse is to comfort them in the midst of persecution and trial. They were to follow him to any calamity; but, as he was to be glorified as the result of his sufferings, so they also were to look for their reward in the kingdom of heaven, Re 3:21: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne."

{y} "If any man serve" Lu 6:46; Joh 14:15; 1 Jo 5:3

{z} "Where I am" Joh 14:3; 17:24; 1 Th 4:17

{a} "if any man serve" 1 Sa 2:30; Pr 27:18