The hour is come - The time is come. The word "hour" commonly means a definite part or a division of a day; but it also is used to denote a brief period, and a fixed, definite, determined time. It is used in this sense here. The appointed, fixed time is come - that is, is so near at hand that it may be said to be come.

The Son of man - This is the favorite title which Jesus gives to himself, denoting his union with man, and the interest he felt in his welfare. The title is used here rather than "The Son of God," because as a man he had been humble, poor, and despised; but the time had come when, as a man, he was to receive the appropriate honors of the Messiah.

Be glorified - Be honored in an appropriate way - that is, by the testimony which God would give to him at his death, by his resurrection, and by his ascension to glory. See John 7:39.

The hour is come, that the Son of man, etc. - The time is just at hand in which the Gospel shall be preached to all nations, the middle wall of partition broken down, and Jews and Gentiles united in one fold. But this could not be till after his death and resurrection, as the succeeding verse teaches. The disciples were the first fruits of the Jews; these Greeks, the first fruits of the Gentiles.

And Jesus answered them,.... Not directly and particularly; he did not in plain terms signify what was his will, whether these Greeks should be admitted or not; and yet expressed himself in such a manner as shows he was not averse to it, but was pleased with it, and takes notice of it, as an evidence of the near approach of his glorification:

saying, the hour is come, that the son of man should be glorified; by rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, and from thence pouring forth the Spirit upon his disciples, who should go and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, as well as Jews; and which would issue in the conversion of many of them, and so in his glory, of which the coming of these Greeks was an earnest. But he intimates, in the next verse, that he must first die.

Answered (ἀπεκρίνατο)

The best texts read ἀποκρίνεται, answereth.

The hour is come, that (ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα ἵνα)

This is not equivalent to "the hour is come in which." The hour is used absolutely: the critical hour is come in order that the Son, etc.

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

12:23 The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. The answer of Christ may have been to Philip and Andrew, and the Greeks may have heard and understood it. The substance is that the time of his glorification had come and that glorification would draw all men, Greek, Gentiles as well as Jews, to him.

12:23 The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified - With the Father and in the sight of every creature. But he must suffer first.

[1] answered

He does not receive these Gentiles. A Christ in the flesh, King of the Jews, could be no proper object of faith to the Gentiles, though the Jews should have believed on Him as such. For Gentiles the corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die; Christ must be lifted up on the cross and believed in as a sacrifice for sin, as seed of Abraham, not David Jn 12:24,32 Gal 3:7-14 Eph 2:11-13.

Margin Son of man

See Scofield Note: "Mt 8:20".

23-26. Jesus answered them, The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified-that is, They would see Jesus, would they? Yet a little moment, and they shall see Him so as now they dream not of. The middle wall of partition that keeps them out from the commonwealth of Israel is on the eve of breaking down, "and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men unto Me"; I see them "flying as a cloud, and as doves to their cotes"-a glorious event that will be for the Son of man, by which this is to be brought about. It is His death He thus sublimely and delicately alluded to. Lost in the scenes of triumph which this desire of the Greeks to see Him called up before His view, He gives no direct answer to their petition for an interview, but sees the cross which was to bring them gilded with glory.

12:20-26 In attendance upon holy ordinances, particularly the gospel passover, the great desire of our souls should be to see Jesus; to see him as ours, to keep up communion with him, and derive grace from him. The calling of the Gentiles magnified the Redeemer. A corn of wheat yields no increase unless it is cast into the ground. Thus Christ might have possessed his heavenly glory alone, without becoming man. Or, after he had taken man's nature, he might have entered heaven alone, by his own perfect righteousness, without suffering or death; but then no sinner of the human race could have been saved. The salvation of souls hitherto, and henceforward to the end of time, is owing to the dying of this Corn of wheat. Let us search whether Christ be in us the hope of glory; let us beg him to make us indifferent to the trifling concerns of this life, that we may serve the Lord Jesus with a willing mind, and follow his holy example.