John 12:20-33[1]
From the days when our
culture re-discovered the worth and value of the individual, we have had a hard
time viewing reality apart from our own point of view. We perceive most of our reality
from that perspective. I’m not passing judgment on that mindset. It’s simply
the way we have learned to function in our culture. There are benefits and
weaknesses to any way of looking at human life. Focusing on the individual can
lead people to great achievements that benefit everyone. But it can also lead
us into the pitfall of filtering everything through the lens of “What does this
mean for me?”
We do this with our
faith as much as the rest of our lives. We hear the lofty promises of Scripture
about the kingdom of God and eternal life that can be hard for us to wrap our
heads around, and we simplify them into a rather mundane system by which “I”
get to go to heaven when I die. We take everything that God has done from
creation to salvation, and we turn it into the notion that God is somehow
“peddling” tickets to eternity. The grand scope of God’s amazing grace and
unfailing love become a simple “transaction”: God making salvation available
through Jesus, and we come up to the “counter” and “do” our part in order to
complete the deal. It’s a perspective that makes what God is doing in our world
incredibly trivial, but it’s the perspective that has dominated the thinking of
believers for centuries.
In contrast with that
way of thinking, I believe our Gospel lesson for today points us to a much
bigger vision of what God is doing in our world. There is a great deal of irony
in this section of John’s Gospel. After Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from
the dead in John 11, the Jewish leaders became increasingly worried about how
their “whole world” was turning to him, meaning the Jewish world. And into that
setting walk two “Greeks” seeking Jesus. The irony is that while they were
wringing their hands about their power over the Jewish people, there was a much
bigger world that was turning to Jesus!
In response to the
appearance of these Greeks, Jesus declares that “The hour has come for the Son
of Man to be glorified” (12:23). Prior to this point in John’s Gospel, there is
an emphasis on the fact that Jesus’ “hour had not yet come.” Something about
the appearance of these “Greeks” leads Jesus to determine that his “hour” had
indeed come. This theme in John’s Gospel signifies that Jesus has a sense that
his mission and ministry are heading toward a conclusion. That conclusion is
defined here, as elsewhere in the Gospel, as being “lifted up.” In John’s
Gospel, that refers not only to Jesus’ being “lifted up” on a cross, but also
to his being “lifted up” by being raised to life again, and his being “lifted
up” by ascending to the glory he had with the Father from the beginning.
Since his “hour” has
come, Jesus expresses a very understandable concern—his soul is “troubled” and
he wonders whether to ask the Father to save him. Although the scene is similar
to Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, here Jesus expresses his resolve
to glorify the Father in all that he does, even by his death. And Jesus is
answered by a “voice from heaven:” “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it
again” (Jn. 12:27). The focus of Jesus’ ministry in John’s Gospel has been
glorifying the Father. The implication here seems to be that as Jesus glorifies
the Father, the Father will glorify Jesus through his death, resurrection, and
ascension.
The whole point of
what Jesus does in his life and in his death is to glorify God. And in response,
God promises to glorify Jesus. In truth, this is purpose and goal of the God’s
whole project in the Bible from the beginning of creation to the fulfillment of
salvation. In one respect, it’s not primarily about us at all; rather, it’s about
the glory of God, which is revealed as his grace, mercy, and love are fulfilled
throughout all creation. But, of course, this takes place as Jesus is “lifted
up” in order to draw “all people” into that grace, mercy, and love. The glory
of God is fully revealed when all people and all creation are set free to live
in the love of God.
God’s whole saving endeavor
is about more than just the fate of individuals. It’s about the fate of the
whole creation! We will see the glory of God fulfilled when the whole world of
humanity is restored to share the love that binds together the Father, Son, and
Spirit. We will see the glory of God fulfilled when the whole realm of nature is
healed so that all life can thrive together. We will see the glory of God fulfilled
when the whole created cosmos comes together to accomplish the purpose for
which God made it in the first place: to serve as a beautiful demonstration of
the grace and mercy and love of God.[2]
The framework of what
God is doing in this world is much bigger than the destiny of any one
individual. In a very real sense, this framework is defined by the Lord’s
prayer: that God’s name would be honored throughout the whole creation, that
God’s grace and mercy and love would reign over all things, and that God’s “will”
that all people share the bond of love that unites Father, Son, and Spirit
would be fulfilled. The glory of God is not just some ethereal presence that
happens in a dream. It’s a very real purpose that involves the restoration and
renewal of all things and all people. When that happens, then God’s glory will
be fulfilled.
[1] ©2021
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 3/21/2021 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the
Kingdom, 209-222.
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