John 12:37-50

 John 12:37-50

This ends the first half of the Book of John. The rest of the book will be Jesus's passion as the sacrifice and His resurrection. It is interesting that the first half or the public Ministry of Jesus ends with what seems to be a pessimistic note. The moment of the light has passed, the signs have been performed but there is still a lack of faith on the part of the Jewish leaders. Without violating their free will God has done all that can be done and yet the leaders continue in their unbelief.

Jesus points out two kinds of rejection. First are those who have blind eyes and hard hearts. These leaders have the unbelief that is mentioned earlier in John. They suffer not from doubts or questions about who Jesus is, but rather a rejection that stems from the heart. This has more to do with hostility to the Lord than with a lack of information. These people will receive from God not Grace but a further hardening of their heart.  There is a second rejection mentioned by Jesus.  These are those who loved the approval of men more than the approval of God. They have weighed the cost of being a disciple and have that cost too high.  They are lingering at the crossroads of decision. For these that cost was expressed in being put out of the synagogue. They may yet commit themselves to follow Jesus but they do not perceive it as worth it yet.  

What is the cost of following Christ that is highest in our lives? Sometimes it is power, pleasure, un-forgiveness or the approval of men. The list is endless. What trinket do we hold that keeps us from grasping heaven?

“Lord, let me hold all that this world offers as trash compared to the wonder of knowing You. AMEN”

John 12.20-36

 John 12.20-36

We hear a lot about praise and worship.  That phrase has come to be synonymous with the specific music which has a style, volume, and tempo that pleases us.  If it is the kind of music that we can “get into”, that moves us in some way, we label it as praise and worship.   That understanding is, I think, foreign to the New Testament.   I am not advocating one style of music or another.  I have been blessed with a profound lack of musical talent.  My preferred style of sacred music is Gregorian chants.  This is not about hymns vs. choruses; it has nothing to do with organs and/or guitars. 

In John 12:23 Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  We would do well to pay attention and understand what Jesus meant when He was talking about His glorification.  Antecedent to that statement about glorification some Greeks had come to Phillip because they wanted to “See Jesus”.  In John’s Gospel, to “see” was more than a visual encounter.  It meant to place faith in Jesus as the Messiah.  We must not miss this point.  A group of Greek non-Jews, perhaps converts to Judaism, had come to the conclusion that Jesus was in fact the Messiah; they were placing their trust in Him.  This is a momentous moment, it is so powerful and so important that the Greeks fade into the background and we hear nothing of them.  Instead we find Jesus talking about His glorification.  The context is critical.  The good news of faith in Jesus, of people crossing barriers and of ‘outsiders’ committing themselves to Him; this is the occasion of Jesus’ glorification.  It is not the perfect four-part harmony of a song written in the1800’s; it is not a praise chorus that repeats a catchy phrase.  It is outsiders becoming followers.  

This is not an anti-music harangue.  Music is wonderful and powerful and needs to be a part of every disciple’s life.  But we have made the mistake of thinking that the apex of praising the Lord is in a sing along or a concert.   In Jesus’ mind the apex is what we would call evangelism.  At the confession of faith the very angels in Heaven join in the celebration and the glorification of the Son.  

But Jesus points out that there is a cost to this glorification.  The cost is high.  In this same context He tells the disciples that if you keep your life you will lose it.  And of Himself He alludes to His death on the cross.  The Gospel message that results in the glorification of the Son is expensive.  At times it has meant missionaries leaving family and home and never returning.  It has called followers to die, in some cases their blood, as a witness to their faith becoming the seed of the Gospel.  It calls churches to reorient their ministry to focus on reaching the lost rather than serving their own whims.  To die to self is an extraordinarily high price to pay to glorify Christ.  So was being lifted up on the cross.  

Maybe we need to realize that music is, relative to the cross, not a very big deal.  In that realization, focus on efforts to present the Gospel to non-believers and when they come to faith, no matter the cost, we will know we have glorified the Son.  

“Lord, help me praise You by sharing the Gospel. AMEN”

John 12: 12 - 19

 John 12: 12 - 19

The picture of unbelief continues on the part of the religious leaders. The refusal to believe, their hard-heartedness is so extreme that they plot to murder Lazarus. A hard heart will go to any lengths to deny or suppress the evidence. Rather than believe in Jesus they see others coming to faith based Lazarus and his resurrection. So the Jews will try to hide the evidence by killing an innocent man. This would not be the last plot to do so. Proof or lack of proof was clearly not their problem.

In this passage we see a swelling multitude. The first is the multitude that went to see Jesus and Lazarus. Add to this first crowd another multitude of the pilgrims who came to Jerusalem for Passover.  They also went to see Jesus. At the core of this multitude were eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Lazarus.  John's description is falling all over itself to express the size of the crowd. We often picture the triumphal entry as Jesus and a few dozen disciples making their way into town. In reality this was a massive demonstration in a crowded city. It was a political powder keg and Jesus was being proclaimed as king. The Roman charge that Jesus was “King of the Jews” was no stretch of fantasy. At the moment of the triumphal entry it appeared that a revolution is only a word away.

The final phrase of this passage is an admission of Jesus' popularity and could be an indictment of the American church. The Pharisees state in frustration that “the world has gone after Him”. How grand it would be that every enemy of the Lord ought to say that as they look at every Church.

“Lord, help me to be so engaged in the life of faith that those near me are going after Jesus as well. AMEN”

John 12: 1-11

 John 12: 1-11 

Jesus returns for dinner to the place where he has raised Lazarus from the dead. It is informative that we hear nothing of Lazarus' comments of what happened to him while he was dead. In fact we never hear anything from people who came back to life about what it was like to be dead. In all the scripture about a half dozen people come back to life from the dead and not one word is given to us about them moving toward a light, or whom they met, or their warm safe feelings.   At this dinner is Lazarus who was recently dead and Jesus who soon we'll be dead.  Of all occasions to talk about what it is like to be dead we would think this is the time. But not a single word about life on the other side.

What we do have is the description of the life of the living. Martha is serving. Martha gets a bad rap because on one occasion she got a little bent out of shape about the distribution of labor.  But that notwithstanding this was a woman of great faith and love, who demonstrated that love by serving. Mary is there, she is more contemplative and expresses her love symbolically in the sacrifice of the nard perfume. We see Judas grasping and trying to find a way to work this to his advantage. His heart already turned; he was intending to betray Jesus. We see a description of people living on this side of the grave but not a word about what is on the other side.  

By all means we need to prepare for the end of our lives. We will one day be there on the other side. But what we see on the occasion  of this dinner is people living lives.  The way we prepare for life after death is by living and paying attention to how we live here and now.

“Lord, help me prepare for eternity by the way I live my everyday life. AMEN”