Friday, November 6 –
We are
continuing our reading thru the New Testament.
Today’s reading continues in John’s Gospel. Please read John 12:20 – 50,
and when you finish reading the passage, please come back to read this.
As we ended yesterday’s reading, the exasperated Pharisees had proclaimed “the
whole world has gone after him.”
John brings us to a climax of Jesus’ public ministry when some “Greeks”
come to find Jesus. These “Greeks” were
Gentiles who had converted to Judaism.
Greece, and by extension Rome, had many different deities. Judaism was monotheistic which appealed to
many Gentiles who only knew of the many “gods” of Greece. These Gentiles – Greeks – were part of the
“whole world” that now came “seeking Jesus”. The request to talk to Jesus must have served
as a “NOW” moment for Jesus.
“Now
among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So
these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir,
we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip
went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the
Son of Man to be glorified” (12:20-23).
All
the way through the first eleven chapters Jesus had been saying, my hour has
not yet come”. With this request
from non-Jewish believers, the “not yet” has been made into “now”. Perhaps some, hearing Jesus say “The hour
has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”, thought Jesus was now ready
to reveal himself to the nation as the Messiah and set up the Kingdom upon the
earth. Instead, Jesus begins to explain
the message of the Gospel – not a physical triumph over nations, but a
spiritual triumph over sin, through His sacrificial death.
“Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his
life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for
eternal life” (12:24-25).
Perhaps
no two verses in Scripture have had more of a profound effect upon my life as
these two. The central words are “if
it dies”. Jesus has come to be that
grain of wheat that falls to the ground, dies, and is buried. As the seed is planted it will grow to
produce much fruit. The church is the fruit of Christ’s death, burial,
resurrection, and ascension. Yet in our
own lives, the principle is true. “If
it dies” is the question of our own lives – will we yield ourselves daily
to Jesus Christ? Paul said it later to
the Galatians – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live
by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians
2:20).
As
Jesus came – incarnate – to dwell among us, he did not come to hang on to this
world and love it. He came to do the Father’s will – a.k.a., to love the world meant
to lose his life. The willingness to
“lose our life” for the sake of the Gospel is what it means to “serve”
Jesus. “If anyone serves me, he must follow
me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the
Father will honor him” (12:26). It
is a sobering reality that should make us pause and think, pray, reflect on
every day. Why am I here? What is my purpose for living? It was a sobering reality for Jesus too:
“Now
is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But for this purpose, I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your
name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify
it again.’ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had
thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This
voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this
world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am
lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this
to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (12:27-33).
Jesus
came to the earth, God in flesh, sent by His Father to deal with mankind’s deepest
problem – Sin. His death will bring
judgment against the fallen Sin of humans, and the blow that will stop
Satan. Yet there is nothing simple about
what Jesus is to endure – “now is my soul troubled…should I say, ‘Father,
save me from this hour? No, for this hour I have come. Father, glorify your
name” (12:27). Ever since the Fall
of Adam and Eve, all mankind has known is death. But death for Jesus, the Son of God, has
never been experienced. He who was there
at creation saw the Satanic spread of sin from person to person. The Father set in motion a plan for
redemption, and Jesus’ coming began a flesh and blood time frame in
motion. “Now, his hour has come” and Jesus
knows that death is a looming reality. Yet,
His purpose is to glorify the name of the Father. The Father’s voice in return gives approval
for what lies ahead.
There
is among non-believers, including orthodox Jews today, a negative reaction to
the idea of Jesus’ sacrificial death. “So the crowd answered him, “We have
heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the
Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” (12:34).
They had been taught for centuries that the Messiah would come to overthrow
their oppressors. Now, Jesus is talking
about being “lifted up”, and they don’t understand why he would come to
die. Jesus’ returns to his previous
teaching about being “the light of the world” – i.e., the one who came to be
light and expel darkness:
“So
Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk
while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the
darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light,
believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said
these things, he departed and hid himself from them” (12:35-36).
Jesus
has already demonstrated who he is, and now what his eventual purpose for being
here was to be. The Kingdom he brings is eternal, and life in Him – through his
death – and faith in Him, leads to eternal life.
Bruce Milne captures the meaning behind Jesus’ words to the crowd – “The
guilt of the ages cannot be swept under the carpet but must be drawn out into
the light and judged. The Son of Man must die in order to reign forever...He is
the light who has come into the world (12:35). He is still with them. If they
will but put their trust in Him, they will themselves become sons of light (12:36).
But the time of opportunity is almost at an end—just a little while longer (12:35).
And the alternative is solemn indeed. If they will not come to the light, he
tells them, darkness will overtake them.[1]
This
is the end of Jesus’ public ministry. He
retreats from all but his disciples. From 12:37 – 50, John gives a commentary
that sums up the fulfillment of Jesus’ public ministry in terms of Old
Testament prophesy. He had begun his
book writing, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God”
(John 1:11-12). There were those
along the way that clearly saw Jesus for who he was, and put their trust fully
in Him. Yet, as his public ministry
ends, John makes a sober note: “Though he had done so many signs before
them, they still did not believe in him” (12:37). Why?
Why could they not see? The
answer comes in two ways.
First,
it was their hardening of hearts that comes from God’s judgment of their
unbelief. My brother Edward grasps the
significance of this unbelief: “John takes us to Isaiah 53. “Lord, who has
believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” They
saw! They heard! They rejected him! Why?
Isaiah 6:10 records the Lord telling Isaiah to preach to the people even
though their eyes would be blinded and their hearts hardened. This is God’s
divine judgement upon unbelief. Saving faith does not rest in cognitive
affirmation. We can read and even understand, but will we submit our sinful
self to the only One who can save? Modern Man does not look to Jesus as the
Savior of the World. Yet, Jesus tells us here that man is not capable of saving
himself. In fact, man is not even able to believe on his own.”[2]
As God
acts to reveal His Grace, so also God acts to hide His Grace from those who will
not believe. Are we therefore
responsible? Yes, for the appeal to
“believe”, “trust” is never removed from our volitional will. Jesus makes this perfectly clear as he
explains the truth of the Gospel message.
“…Jesus
cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who
sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into
the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for
I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who
rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have
spoken will judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own
authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what
to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal
life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me” (12:44-50).
In
brief, here is the Gospel. The Father
sent the Son (12:44), and the Son has fully obeyed the Father (12:49). The Father and the Son are one in essence and
purpose (12:45, 49-50). Jesus came to
bring the light of God to a world of darkness under Sin (12:46-47, 50), and to
reject Jesus is to reject the Father, and stay in the darkness with the
judgment that will surely follow (12:46, 48).
Only in fully trusting in Christ, to be Savior and Lord, will anyone
find eternal life (12:50).
The
Gospel is to be believed, not debated.
It is in Christ Jesus that there is “a way, truth, life”.
Peace
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