PASSION SUNDAY – JOHN 12 V20-32
Today is Passion Sunday. Today throughout the world people will meet together to worship God and to recollect the Passion (the life, death, resurrection of Jesus). I want us together to look at an incident in the life of Jesus as recorded for us in John’s gospel chapter 12.
VERSES 20-22 SIR, WE WOULD SEE JESUS.
But as we begin let me ask you a question: Do you remember as a child pushing and shoving your way to the front of a crowd of people? Maybe they were your contemporaries and you wanted to see what they were seeing. You may have even shouted ‘let me see, let me see.’ Or you may remember a time when you asked your mum or dad: ‘can I see?’ In today’s gospel reading we have some men who come to Philip, one of Christ’s disciples, and they ask ‘Sir, we would see Jesus?’ How often I wish someone would come up to me and ask that question. You know only a few weeks ago someone asked that question going out of church and what rejoicing there was that day as we prayed together and they accepted Jesus into their heart and life.
These Greeks come to Philip – what was it about Philip that whenever we meet him in the Bible he is bringing people to Jesus? We cannot be certain but there must have been something about him that led people to come and ask him questions about Jesus. I think he must have been a man who was sympathetic, approachable and easy to talk to. Not a pushy disciple, just content to bring people to Jesus. You know there must have been something about Philip that made these men know he was a disciple of Jesus and that he could introduce them to Jesus. Now here are two questions for us all at the beginning of this sermon – Do people know I am a disciple of Jesus? Would they approach me to be introduced to Jesus? Well Andrew and Philip may not have had all the answers but this they did know, and this we all need to know this morning, no seeker was a nuisance to Jesus. They do not shrink back from bringing people to meet with Jesus. They had no fear that he would say ‘I am tired, now is not the right time.’ They may not have known much but this they did know there was (and is) and ever open door into the presence of Jesus. So they bring these Greeks to Jesus.
Who were these men? John does not tell us, but it is just possible that these Greeks were Gentile converts to Judaism. It is just possible that they had been in the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple when Jesus overturned the tables and drove out the money changers. They come to Philip because of all the disciples he has a Greek name. They come and they ask him to introduce them to Christ Jesus.
VERSES 23-26 LIFE COMES THROUGH DEATH.
Philip takes them to Andrew and they together take them to Jesus and out of this encounter Christ proclaims that the ‘hour of his glory is now come.’ I want to concentrate this morning on what Jesus meant by that statement.
Turn with me to verse 23. John records here for us Jesus’ response to this request of Andrew and Philip. ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ Then to help his hearers understand exactly what is being said her Jesus uses a grain of wheat to teach about life coming only through death.
Look at this grain of wheat. A single grain of wheat. Small, hard, gnarled and yet within it is all the potential of a healthy stalk and many ears of wheat. Yet this grain of wheat will never bear fruit in my hand. It will never bear fruit, never fulfil it’s purpose in life if I do not plant it in soil and allow it to die. It is by being planted in the ground, in the tomb of the earth, dying and being changed that it becomes a stalk from which many ears sprout. Friends Jesus is teaching a profound truth here about his own life and about our lives. Let me deal with each for a moment.
JESUS LIFE.
The whole understanding of what Jesus is saying here hinges on a right understanding of what he means when he says ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ For the Hebrews amongst his hearers this phrase would have almost taken their breath away. Their minds would immediately be cast back to Daniel 7 and the prophetic picture of the Son of Man who would bring in a new era of peace and harmony in contrast to the tyrannical rule of mankind. By the time of Christ the ‘glory of the Son of Man’ was wrapped in hopes of military victory and political freedom for the nation of Israel over those who occupied their land. So their idea of glory was one of might and power, of battles fought and great victories achieved. For them when they heard ‘the Son of Man glorified’ they would have thought the mighty champion of heaven is come, the trumpet call of eternity has sounded and the might of heaven on the march. Yet to Christ nothing could have been further from his mind. To help them, and us, understand ‘glory’ Jesus takes a grain of wheat and teaches that his ‘glory’ is found in ‘death.’
To Jesus ‘glory’ meant the cross, it meant crucifixion, rejection, abandonment and death as a common criminal.
Our Life.
Look at what he says in these verses. Death leads to life. If I seek to hold tightly to my life then I will lose my life. What? How can I lose life by holding on to life? That seems to be a contradiction. But when you read the Greek it is not a contradiction at all because John uses two different words that the translators have used ‘life’ for.
The first word ‘life’(which a man seeks to hold on to) is ‘psyche’ in Greek which denotes the soul, the individual personality and life experience.
The second ‘life’ (which you can lose), is ‘aionis zoe’ which denotes eternal life, spiritual vitality that is the experience of God.
So what Jesus says is this: You can seek to hold on to your physical life here and now, it can consume all your days, all your desires, passions and strength but the result of such self-centredness will be that you lose eternal life. The way to ‘eternal life’ is to die to self-love, self-centred life and to follow the example of Christ – which as we will see was God-centred, God-obedient and God-filled life.
Before moving on I want to say to you that when Christ says here ‘hates his life’ he is not speaking of a self-loathing, nor a self-hatred which leads to self-harm or suicide. It is a manner of speaking of the day called ‘hyperbole’. Where in order to emphasise something it was overstated or stated in outrageous terms. Jesus says to his hearers, and to us: there is a life you must not centre on – this world and there is one you must centre on – eternal life. You cannot desire to keep this life, live only for here and now, live only for the physical if you wish to have eternal life. You see the grain of wheat must die in order to bring forth abundant life. Unless a man dies to self he will not bring forth lasting fruit in his life. You cannot love God and be self-centred. Friends I want to say to you, with all humility, God would say to some of you this morning – it is time to stop being self-centred. You want to know why you do not grow spiritually? You want to know why there is no spiritual fruitfulness in your life? You have never died to self. The grain of wheat which is your life is still exactly that ‘your life’. I cannot do anything with it until you get out of the way. It is time for some of you who claim to follow Christ to stop gazing into the mirror of self and to die to that self, to crucify that self and to focus your gaze upon Christ. For the grain of wheat to bear fruit – it must die, it must lose its own identity and be transformed into a stalk to bear fruit. That does not happen over night – it takes time. But it all begins when the grain is planted in the depths of the earth, buried in the cold, cold tomb of the soil. Let me ask you: When are you going to bury the grain of self in the cold, cold tomb of Christ and experience the transformation of your life by his Holy Spirit? Only you can answer that question.
Well let us move on, I think I have laboured that point long enough. Look at verse 26. Hear what Jesus says here. When you die to self, when by faith we have been buried in the grave with Christ and risen to new life (eternal life) – then we follow Christ. Note the sequence – buried in death with Christ, risen with Christ to eternal life – then we follow Christ. It is not that you start to follow Christ and then some way down the road you die to self. No, dying to self comes at the start because that is what repentance and being born again is all about my friends. Look at what Jesus says here – follow me, follow my example and your reward will be to be where I am. When I read this verse my mind immediately went to two other things which Jesus said. The first was this from John 10 – The Good Shepherd discourse. Jesus says that those who are his sheep know his voice and they follow where he leads. So if you are his sheep you know his voice, you recognise his voice and you follow his voice. You follow where he leads and he says he leads us into ‘eternal life via death’ and that from this comes ‘service.’ Friends you want glory in your life – then serve. This world will tell you – look after number one, get all you can, gain every promotion, use people – put self first. Jesus says – yes do all that if you want to lose your life. You want the glory of Christ? You want to be where Christ is? Then die to self and follow his example of service. The second passage that my mind was drawn to when I read verse 26 was John 14 where Jesus promises that he is going (via death on the cross) to prepare a place for his disciples that he might come and take them to be with him. Friends you want to be with Christ? You want to be where he is? Then follow him, follow his example and hear his voice when it calls. But let us move on.
VERSES 27-32 THE TENSION AND THE TRIUMPH.
Now Christ turns his gaze, and his hearers hearts, towards the cross. From the moment of his birth the cross has overshadowed his every moment. From the moment of his birth satan has sought to kill this Jesus. It was for this very hour that he was born. From before the foundations of the world were laid God the Father had predestined this moment in history – the crucifixion of his Son.
Turn with me to verse 27 – here is deep turmoil in the soul of a man. He is facing death and he naturally recoils from it. Why? Why did Jesus’ soul trouble him so at the thought of death? The Greek word used by Christ here is one which speaks of shock, of agitation and even of revulsion. Christ is revolted by death. There is anguish and agony of the soul here. This is John’s anguish of Gethesemane – where the other gospels record the anguish of Christ as he turns to his Father in prayer in the face of impending death on the cross. Death for Jesus is not a natural event. Man was not created to die – remember that – the wages of sin is death. God did not create man sinful – no man sinned from freewill. Death is not part of the created order but a result of the fall. So Christ recoils at the thought of death – as do all natural men. But he also recoils because he knows why he is going to die. He knows that he will take upon himself the sin of mankind. He will shoulder the redemptive purpose of God for all the world. In his death he must take my place, your place, the place of all mankind. He must die my death, your death, their death in order that I, you, they might be free from death for ever. He must face death. He must face the Father, not in a warm embrace of love which he alone fully knows from eternity to eternity but in rejection because he has become sin for us. He must face the wrath, the righteous anger, condemnation and punishment of his Father towards sin. He must face death as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin. Hw was ‘troubled’ and he had every reason to be.
But look at his response to his impending death. He asks a rhetorical question: Shall I ask the Father to save me? You know it is not the first time he was in such a situation. Remember his temptation by satan. This is in fact the temptation of his whole life – to go other than the way his Father has willed for him. No, he will not seek his own will – he dies to self (like the grain of wheat), and he faces the moment of his destiny. For this I have come he says. This is the moment for which I left the Father’s side and was born of a virgin. Then in verse 28 he says profound words, words which speak of his desire, his life’s purpose and will: ‘Father glorify your name.’ My friends do you know when he first said these words? Let me remind you – the disciples say Master teach us to pray. And his response – ‘when you pray say ‘Father glorify your name, thy will be done…’ He was not saying anything new here, it was not something his disciples had not heard before. When the crisis moment came in his life. When he was faced with death and doing the Father’s will – he prayed as he had taught his disciples to pray – Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done… I could go on but it is easy, I hope, to see how the Lord’s Prayer is fulfilled in the cross, in his death. You see all prayer is founded on that statement of verse 28 – concern for the Father’s glory. Not sure what to pray in a situation – whatever brings God glory. Not sure what to do in a situation – whatever brings God the glory.
The response from heaven is immediate – divine assurance and approval. The other times when the divine voice spoke from heaven where at his baptism and at his transfiguration – other public moments of decision. At his baptism when he identified with us in our sinfulness and commenced his public ministry. At the transfiguration where Moses and Elijah proclaimed that he was the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. Now standing at the precipice of his sacrificial death his Father once again assures him, approves of him and affirms him.
{as an aside here can I say to fathers – your children need your approval, your acceptance, your assurance and your affirmation more than you realise. And they need to hear it publicly sometimes}.
His Father’s voice thunders from heaven – not all who hear it understand and some misinterpret and misapply it. And that still happens – not everyone who hears the Word of God hears the voice of God. Even in here this morning that is true.
Jesus tells them that it was not for his benefit but for theirs that God has spoken. God spoke that they might understand and that we might understand. Understand what? That life, eternal life, abundant life, fruitful life only ever comes through death.
Finally Jesus explains to them exactly what he means by the grain of wheat dying and bearing fruit. Once again it is only those with spiritual ears that will hear and understand what he is saying to them. Look at verses 31-33.
Verse 31 it is Judgment time. They thought that by hanging him on a tree they were passing judgment on him. After all did the Law not say ‘cursed is everyman that hangs on a tree.’ The reality was that the powers of this world were being judged on the cross. All the power, all the majesty, all the wealth, all that this world had and has to offer was judged and found wanting by the cross. Satan thought it was his victory – the Son of God dying on a cross, cursed by God, abandoned and rejected not just by the ones he had created but even by his Father – but the reality was that it was satan who was being defeated. Sin was being atoned and death defeated. This is his glory. Hear me this morning – the glory of God is seen in the crucifixion of his Son. You want to see the glory of God – turn your eyes to Jesus hanging on the cross. I know he rose again. I know he ascended into heaven – but his glory is his death. Listen again to what he said ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ And ‘Father glorify your name.’ Friends the glory of Christ is seen in the Cross of Christ. You want the glory of God – then turn your eyes to Jesus and as the hymn writer said ‘the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.’
Jesus goes on to say that it is by his death on the cross, by being lifted up – suspended between heaven and earth that he will draw all men unto himself. The end of this story is not the turmoil of Christ’s soul. The end is not the tension between the soul of man not wanting to die and the will of the Father that his death would atone for sin. The end of this story is triumph. The triumph of God’s love for sinners over sin, death and satan. The end of this story is the triumph which resounded all around heaven, all around the world and the universe when the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. Triumph because obedience defeated death. Triumph because he rose victorious over sin and the grave. Triumph because as he we lift our eyes by faith to him on the cross the burden of our sin rolls away. And between the Tension and the Triumph the Voice of God. Do you see that? Between the tension of the soul recoiling in horror and the triumph of his death on the cross – the booming, thundering voice of God approving and assuring him he is in the Father’s will. My friends this morning there are some of you and your souls are in turmoil – turmoil because of sin, turmoil because of pain, turmoil because of confusion and fear and you long for the triumph of victory. You long for triumph over circumstances, over sin and over the suffering and pain. Friends listen to me, listen to me – if you would lift your eyes to Jesus, and look full in his wonderful face. If you would listen to the voice of God which this morning has whispered into your soul his grace, his love and his mercy, maybe it has even thundered in your heart this morning – but listen to it and obey it. You want eternal life? You want abundant life? You want life in all its fullness? You can’t have it without Jesus. You can’t have it without dying to self and living for Christ. Hear his voice calling you this morning. Hear his voice calling you in love and mercy to be embraced by his love. You want to know how much Christ loves you? Look at the Cross. You want to know how valuable you are to your heavenly Father? Look at the Cross. You want to see the glory of God? Look to the Cross.
Illustration: £20 what is its value?
