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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman Previous Section - Chapter 12:12 - 19 Next Section - Chapter 12:37 - 50 Jesus
Predicts His Death (ch. 12:20-36) John
mentions in verse 20 that there were certain Greeks who came up to These
Greeks were most likely Gentile converts to Judaism.
The Old Testament Law allowed for Gentiles to convert to Judaism as
long as the men were circumcised and they obeyed the Law. There
were two types of Gentile converts. One
was a full fledged convert where the man would be circumcised.
The others were called "God fearers."
They were not full fledged converts.
They were more supporters of Judaism, not those who practiced
Judaism.
In
verses 21 and 22 some of these Greeks came to Philip and ask, "Sir,
we would like to see Jesus." This
is an often used text for a Sunday morning message.
Here were some Gentiles whose hearts seem set on seeing Jesus. So,
Philip went to Andrew and they both went to Jesus with this request. Note
that Philip was from Bethsaida of Galilee.
The reason why John states that Verse
23 gives Jesus’ answer to the request.
It doesn’t seem to be related greatly to the exact question but
what Jesus has to say is very important.
Jesus says that the "hour has come for the Son of Man to be
glorified." A careful
study of John 17 will show you what Jesus means when He speaks of Him
being glorified. Jesus was
fully glorified when He returned to be with His Father on the day of
ascension, but, before He could ascend, He first had to descend into
death, and that hour was now at hand.
I believe the way in which Jesus was to be glorified suggests that
it was a process; a process of death, resurrection, and, most importantly,
His return to Heaven where He would experience that which He had before
His incarnation. This is what
He says in His prayer as seen in John 17.
In
verse 24 Jesus states a real spiritual principle.
He says that if a kernel of wheat doesn’t fall into the ground
and get buried, it’s only one kernel of wheat.
It will not produce any fruit.
On the other hand, if the kernel of wheat, or that seed gets
buried, it will produce much wheat. The
seed has to first die before it can bring forth fruit.
Jesus was clearly speaking of His death here, but, the same
principle applies to believers and the church as well.
Unless we die to self, we cannot live for Jesus as we should. In
order for the This
same truth can be seen in the martyrdom of Christians throughout the ages.
Every time a Christian or Christians are martyred for the sake of
Jesus, the gospel spreads. This
is what is happening in the Islamic world as I write these words.
In
verse 25 Jesus goes on to apply this principle to us.
He says that if we love our lives, we will in fact end up loosing
our lives, but on the other hand, if we hate our lives in this world we
will receive eternal life. The
Greek word "miseo" is the word translated as "hate" in
verse 25. It really does mean
"to hate". Jesus is
using a strong word here. He
says that we should hate our lives in this world.
Does this mean we should abuse ourselves?
One who hates another might even kill the one he hates.
Should we kill ourselves? I
think the answer is obvious. What
we should understand here is that there has traditionally been a big
difference in the outlook of life between eastern people groups and
western people groups. Traditionally
speaking, and this is changing to a degree to our move to globalism,
western people groups approach life from more of a rational basis.
Eastern people groups approach life from more of an emotional
standpoint. Eastern people
groups often use exaggerated language to make or clarify a point.
Jesus was an easterner. He
often used exaggerated language to make a point.
His eastern audience would have understood exactly what He was
getting at while westerners might be scratching their heads in amazement
that Jesus said we should hate our lives.
Simply put, Jesus said that we must lay down our lives, our goals,
and all of who we are to pick up what He has for us.
We must live for Him, and not for us.
In
the final analyses if we really want to find life, we must lose our lives.
Real life, from God's perspective is doing His will.
If we live for self we will not experience what God has for us.
Living for self, which would include not trusting your life with
Jesus, will end in the In
verse 26 Jesus then says that "anyone who wants to serve me must
follow me." That means we
must think, act, and live, as Jesus thought, acted and lived.
We are to follow, or imitate, Jesus and not the world.
I believe this is what Jesus is saying here. Note
the word "serve" in verse 26.
It is associated with the word "follow." If you claim to
be a follower of Jesus; meaning a disciple, you must consider yourself as
a servant, or, as the Greek text implies, a slave. The Greek word "diakonos" is translated as serve and servant here. There is another Greek word, "doulos" that is also translated as "servant" in the New Testament. Diakonos; a servant, is related to the job one performs. Doulos; a servant relates not to the job but to the one who the servant serves. Doulos as seen in first century Christianity was a "bond servant or a slave by choice".
The
word "serve" and "servant" in this verse is
"diakonos." Jesus is thus putting the emphasis on the work
we do for Him as His servant.
Jesus
goes on to say that where I am my servant will also be.
Today, Jesus is found in the midst of His people.
If we are to follow Jesus, we too will be in the midst of His
people where He is actively at work. Being
in the midst of what Jesus is doing is vital for the believer.
We are not to be what some have called loan ranger Christians.
We are to live and work alongside of those the Lord has placed us
in the Body of Christ, where He is actively working at any given time.
In
verse 27 Jesus says that His Father will honour the one who serves Him.
As Paul so eloquently says in Galatians 1, we are not to seek
honour from men, but from God. If
man does not give us honour, that is fine.
We are looking to be honoured by God in whatever way He sees fit.
That is the only thing that should matter to us.
Yes, it is nice to be honoured by our fellow man, but if we never
receive honour from man but receive it from God, then that’s all we
need. We shouldn't be seeking
honour from man because in the process we will end up pleasing man instead
of serving man, and, there is a major difference between pleasing man and
serving man. In
verse 27 we begin to see the heart of Jesus.
He says, "Now is my heart troubled."
I doubt if we can really understand how troubled Jesus is now
beginning to feel. Just think
of the worst time that you’ve had in terms of your heart being troubled,
and that is nowhere near what Jesus was beginning to feel.
Our
English word "heart" in the NIV is translated from the Greek word
"psyche," which is associated with the word "breath."
Some translations translate the Greek word "psyche" as
"soul" and that would be a good translation.
Then
Jesus asks a question. He
asks, "What shall I say? Father
save me from this hour? No, it
was for this reason I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name." Jesus
was on the brink of disaster. Human
nature would cry out to God to be delivered from this pending doom.
In His humanity Jesus felt the pressure, but in His spirit He knew
very well the impending doom was the reason why He came to this hour.
He would not turn back. He
would glorify His Father in His death.
Jesus
would do anything to give glory to His Father, which included His death.
The same should be said of us concerning Jesus.
We should do anything to give glory to Jesus, no matter the cost,
even if it included our death. Why
was Jesus, the Creator of all things so troubled?
Was He afraid to die? I
don't think Jesus was afraid to die. He
is the author and sustainer of life. Death
meant nothing to Him, or so I believe.
What I think Jesus was so troubled about was being forsaken by God
His Father while on the cross. "Why
have you forsaken me" are the well known words He spoke while on the
cross. Separation from His
Father was what troubled Jesus. Understanding
that God and Jesus were and are one, we have a hard time understanding how
God and Jesus could actually be separated while Jesus was on the cross.
This is how I view this. Jesus
was killed on the cross because of our sin.
The Jews and the Romans thought they were executing Jesus as a
criminal but God thought differently.
In reality, it was God Himself who have Jesus executed, not as a
common criminal but as one who was being punished by God on behalf of
sinful humanity. God had no
choice but to turn His back on Jesus while Jesus was inflicted with our
sin and sickness while on the cross. Did
God forsake Jesus? Well, maybe
for a brief time, but, I prefer to view it as a momentary turning of the
back of God. God did not
utterly forsake Jesus. One
thing I should note at this point is that Jesus did not stop being God
when God forsook Him. Jesus
never lost His divinity. That
is impossible. Some Christians
believe that Jesus ceased being God on the cross but that is false
teaching. In
verse 28 Jesus asked God His Father to glorify your name.
In other words, Jesus wanted God to glorify His own name no matter
the cost to Himself. Of
course, the cost meant the death of Jesus but that wasn't all.
Glorifying God's name would include the resurrection of Jesus and
His ascension into Heaven.
An
astonishing thing happens in verse 28.
In the presence of those listening to Jesus, God the Father
answered Jesus from Heaven. He
says, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."
The life of Jesus in all that He has said and done gave glory to
God. The ultimate glory would
come at Jesus' ascension where Father and Son would be reunited as was
Jesus' desire as seen in His prayer in John 17.
This must have been a strengthening word for Jesus in these times
of great sorrow and grief. In
verse 29 we note that all were in ear shot of Jesus heard this voice speak
to Jesus. Some said the voice
was like thunder. It is hard
to imagine the audible voice of God but it would not surprise me that it
did indeed sound like thunder. Others
said that an angel spoke. These
people were wrong. We know it
was the voice of God the Father Himself because the voice said, “I have
glorified it and will glorify it again.
In context the only one to whom this voice could belong would be to
God the Father. Revelation
1:15 also tells us that the voice of God sounds like rushing water.
I picture the voice of God sounding like In
verse 30 Jesus told the crowd that the voice they heard was for their
benefit, not His. Jesus
didn’t need an audible voice to hear from God.
He was in constant communication with Him in spirit.
In
verse 31 Jesus says two things. He
says, `Now is the judgement of this world and now the prince of this world
will be thrown out." So
what does this mean? The
death and resurrection of Jesus is multifaceted.
One thing that it did was to bring judgment to the world.
The death of Jesus brought judgment to the world in that every
human who has ever live and ever will lived in one real sense of the word
was judged and condemned to death by God, but, Jesus stepped into the
situation and was punished, or executed, on our behalf.
In that sense of the word judgment came to the world.
If we do not embrace Jesus' act of grace then there is nothing left
for us other than the White Throne Judgment as seen in Revelation 20.
Jesus
then says that now the prince of this world will be thrown out.
This is a confusing statement for the English reader because of the
mixture of verb tenses here. The use of the word "now" suggests
that the prince of this world, who we know is the devil, is to be thrown
out right now in present time, but, then Jesus says that the prince of
this world will be thrown out, as in some future point.
Just when the devil was thrown out, and that means thrown out from
Heaven, has been well debated. Revelation
12:7 to 9 tells us that satan was hurled to the earth with his angels.
Was he thrown to the earth at the death or resurrection of Jesus or
at some future point in history? At
this particular moment I am not sure.
Revelation 12 speaks of a great heavenly battle between the angels
of God and the angels of the devil. Just
when this took place, in part, is understood on how you view the book of
Revelation. Of course, we also
know from Revelation 20:10 that the devil will eventually be thrown into
the Here
is another thought concerning the word "now."
As we have seen throughout the book of John, when it comes to time
and the things Jesus says, something that happens in the future is often
considered as happening right now in present time in the mind of Jesus.
Jesus is from eternity where there is no concept of time.
Remember in John 4:24 Jesus said that the hour is coming and now is
that the true worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth.
How can something that will come in the future be already here, as
Jesus stated in John 4:24. The
simple answer is that if Jesus says something will happen, it is as good
as already happening, or, as already has happened.
His word is that reliable. The devil will be judged and thrown out
of heaven and into the Lake
of In verse 32 Jesus says that when He is lifted up from the earth He will draw all men unto Himself. It is clear from verse 33 that Jesus was speaking about being lifted up on the cross in His death. My best understanding of these words to date is that the cross, whether we know it or not, will cause people to come before Jesus to make a decision concerning salvation. It is clear that the Holy Spirit would have to be involved in this drawing process. Although these words specifically apply to Jesus’ death, His ultimate uplifting was at His ascension. It was only after the Holy Spirit came to earth when all men could be drawn to Jesus.
This
question should be asked at this point.
Is every last person in history thus presented with the chance to
either accept or reject the Lordship of Jesus?
This verse may suggest just this, but, how this takes place is
uncertain unless Jesus Himself or an angel speaks to the heart of those
who have not heard the gospel with their physical ears.
In
verse 34 the crowd's understanding concerning the Messiah and the Law of
Moses is noted by John. They
understood that once the Messiah came, He would stay and set up His
Kingdom and remain on earth. If
this was the case and if Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, what was He
talking about concerning being lifted up in death?
In their thinking, what Jesus was saying made no sense at all. The
crowd then asks, "Who is this Son of Man?"
They were confused. They
were wondering if the Son of Man was the Messiah or someone else.
They just couldn’t understand because they did not see the
suffering ministry of the Messiah. They
only saw the Messiah as King of Israel.
They never saw from Scripture that before the Messiah would rule
the earth He would die for the sins of everyone.
In
verse 35 Jesus speaks about the light again.
He says that those listening to him in the crowd would only have
the light a little while longer and should walk in the light while the
light is with them. As we have
noted before, Jesus was this light. When
Jesus said that the Jews would have the light for just a little while, was
this in reference to His death? That
is to say, once He died the light would be gone and those in the crowd
would be in darkness? I don't
think that is what Jesus meant. The first disciples would carry on Jesus'
witness to the Jews. They
would become that light, that is, until In
verse 36 Jesus goes on to tell these people to put their trust in the
light while they have the light so they can become sons of the Light.
This is faith, that is, trusting your life to the Light.
Trusting implies a certain measure of giving ones self to the one
you are trusting. Jesus is
asking these people in a round about way to trust Him; to give themselves
to Him. At
this point Jesus left and hid Himself from the crowd.
His time had not yet come, although it was getting closer by the
minute. Remember, Jesus was
working on a very strict time table here.
Nothing would happen before His time.
I believe every second had been planned in advance by God.
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