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A FULL LIFE
- by Rev Gilbert Wong Opening Prayer: Gracious Father, you gave your Son out of love for the world: lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion, that we may know eternal peace through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood, Jesus Christ our Lord. SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Christ calls us to give ourselves to a cause greater than self so that we might become fruit-bearing Christians.
VERSES 20-22: SIR, WE WISH TO SEE JESUS "Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks" (v. 20). These Greeks could be from Greece or the Decapolis (a group of ten Gentile cities near Galilee with large Greek populations). Given the Passover setting, it is likely that they are Jewish proselytes (circumcised converts to the Jewish faith) who are permitted to participate in Jewish festivals (Exodus 12:45, 48). However, it is possible that they are "God-fearers" -- uncircumcised Gentiles who worship the God of Israel. Whatever their status regarding the Jewish faith, "they are to be seen as anticipating the coming of Gentiles into the believing community as part of the universal scope of Jesus' saving death" (Lincoln, 348). "They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee" (v. 21). They are probably drawn to Philip because he has a Greek name (named after the founder of the city of Philippi) and is from Bethsaida, near the Decapolis. "and said to him, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus' " (v. 21). Jesus has become quite popular -- the Pharisees, after all, are complaining that the whole world is following after him (v. 19) -- so, as outsiders, these Greeks are looking for an introduction. "Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus" (v. 22). This Gospel earlier identified Bethsaida as the city of the brothers, Simon and Andrew (1:44). Andrew is also a Greek name (from the Greek, andros, which means man). Philip and Andrew go together to tell Jesus of the Greek's request. This is the last that we hear of the Greeks. They are important to the story, because their visit illustrates the truth of the Pharisees' statement, "Look, the whole world has gone after him" (v. 19) --and their visit prompts Jesus to acknowledge that his hour has come -- and Jesus will announce that, when he is lifted up, he will draw "all people" to himself, an obvious reference to Gentiles (including Greeks) (v. 32). However, John obviously considers the continued presence of the Greeks unnecessary, so they immediately disappear from view. John does not tell us whether they ever got to see Jesus. VERSES 23-26: THE HOUR HAS COME "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (v. 23). There are three earlier references in this Gospel to Jesus' hour: -- At Cana, Jesus said to his mother, "My hour has not yet come" (2:4). -- In Jerusalem, "they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come" (7:30). -- In the temple, "no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come" (8:20). Now, finally, Jesus announces that his hour has come. The turning point was the raising of Lazarus, in response to which the world (including these Greeks) comes seeking Jesus, causing the opposition to Jesus to harden (v. 19). "Jesus is about to be slain, but the hour of his death is his lifting up, his exaltation, his glorification, his self-gift for the life of the world, the moment of gathering" (Moloney, 352). There is an allusion here to Isaiah's suffering servant, "See, my servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high" (Isaiah 52:13). We will soon see a paradox at work, because the world is fickle. Those who shouted "Hosanna" on Sunday will shout "Crucify him" on Friday. "The world is a thoroughly unreliable place; neither its hostility nor its adoration can be trusted" (Gaventa, 238). Jesus' opponents will succeed in killing him, but their apparent victory will turn to dust as Jesus emerges from the tomb and begins to draw all people to himself (v. 32). "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (v. 23). SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1The title, Son of Man, comes from Daniel 7:13, where God "delegated his power of absolution to a "Son of Man' who carries out his gracious will in the earthly sphere; therefore, 'upon the earth the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins" (Marcus, 223). (NOTE: The NRSV translates Daniel 7:13 "human being" rather than "Son of Man".) This title, Son of Man, has the advantage of having none of the militaristic connotations associated with the title, Messiah. People expect the Messiah to raise an army, to drive out the Romans, and to re-establish the great Davidic kingdom. They have no such expectations regarding the Son of Man. Jesus frequently refers to himself as Son of Man. Only four times in the NT (John 12:34; Acts 7:56; Rev 1:13; 14:14) does anyone other than Jesus use the phrase, and then always to refer to Jesus. Guelich gives three possible meanings for the title, Son of Man. It might mean (1) humanity in general; (2) it might mean, "I who speak to you," or (3) it might be a Messianic title (Guelich, 89-90). Jesus' frequent use of the title in connection with his passion suggests a veiled Messianic title. The title obviously has meaning to Jesus, but the meaning will not be clear to the disciples until after the resurrection. "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (v. 23). Jesus has not sought his own glory, but has sought to glorify the Father (8:50, 54; 12:28). "Jesus' being glorified is closely bound up with his refusal to seek his own glory… (and his willingness) to be utterly expended that God's purpose may be fulfilled, to disappear from sight as completely as the grain of wheat when the earth covers it over, to die in order that new life may spring up" (Bruce, 264). "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (v. 24). Jesus introduces the divine paradox (a paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself). The seed must die if it is to bear fruit. "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (v. 25). This is a second expression of the divine paradox. Those who love their life will lose it, but those who hate their life will keep it (see also Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; Matthew 10:39). This is an example of hyperbole -- exaggeration for effect. Jesus is not saying that happy people will lose their lives and depressed people will keep them. He is saying that people whose lives are cantered on self will lose them, because the Father will not honour them (see v. 26). People whose lives are cantered on service even at the cost of sacrifice will keep them, because the Father will bless them with eternal life. The road to glory is servant hood. That was true for Jesus, and it is true for all who would follow him. "Preachers should preach regularly on the apparent failure the Gospel invites to, ending in death. A message of 'success' has to contain large elements of a siren song of 'this world'…. In John, cross and crown are one" (Sloyan, 156). Like Jesus, we are expected to be faithful even unto death and to trust that God will vindicate us. "By argument 'from the lesser to the greater,' 'If the grain of wheat, which is buried naked, sprouts forth in many robes, how much more so the righteous, who are buried in their raiment' (b. Sanh, quoted in Kostenberger, 378). "If Jesus' willingness extends to the point of death, his 'deacons' must follow him there. It is a hard place to go, … but if (this step) is taken, it is rewarded with a great gift: 'honour' from the Father" (Howard-Brook, 281). "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also" (v. 26a). The Synoptic expression of this idea is found in Jesus' challenge to take up the cross and follow him (Mark 8:34; Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23). To be Jesus' disciple is to follow him and to become a servant even as he became a servant. "where I am, there will my servant be also" (v. 26a). Jesus' ultimate destiny is to return to the Father, so this constitutes Jesus' promise that his servant-disciple will join him in that glorious setting. However, the process by which Jesus will be glorified will begin with the cross, so Jesus is also saying that the servant-disciple can expect to experience suffering along the way. "Whoever serves me, the Father will honour" (v. 26b). This is a third expression of the divine paradox. God will honour the servant rather than the ruler. VERSES 27-30: IT IS FOR THIS REASON THAT I HAVE COME TO THIS HOUR "Now my soul is troubled" (tarasso) (v. 27a). Jesus' echoes the Septuagint (Greek) version of Psalm 42:6, where the Psalmist says, "My soul is cast down within me." This Greek word, tarasso, was used earlier at 11:33 to tell of Jesus' troubled soul at Lazarus' tomb. "And what should I say -- 'Father save me from this hour' " (v. 27b). This Gospel includes no account of the Gethsemane story with Jesus' prayer, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matthew 26:39). Jesus' question here is the closest that this Gospel comes to that experience. Jesus' answers his rhetorical question with a resounding, "No!" adding, "it is for this reason that I have come to this hour" (v. 27). Instead of offering a prayer for his own safety or glorification, Jesus prays, "Father, glorify your name" (v. 28). "Then a voice came from heaven" (v. 28). In this Gospel, there is no account of the Transfiguration, with its voice from heaven. We might think of this incident as the Johannine equivalent. "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again" (v. 28). "Jesus' prayer is met by 'the Father's answer' " (Schnackenburg, quoted in Moloney, 353). "The Father's name has been glorified in the revelation that has taken place through the ministry of Jesus…, and… now the revelation is about to be climaxed in the obedience of the Son on the cross and in his exaltation by the Father" (Beasley-Murray, 212). "The servant who does not stoop to his own will, but who performs the will of the one who sent him…is the one who glorifies God" (Carson, 440). "The crowd standing there heard (the voice from heaven) and said that it was thunder. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to him' " (v. 29). The crowd does not know what to make of the voice. In their speculation, they do not include the possibility that this is God's voice. It has been so long since Israel has heard a prophetic voice (except for the recent voice of John the Baptist) that rabbis teach that the best that they can expect until the coming of the messiah is a bath qol (literally, "daughter of a voice") -- a mere echo of the divine voice (Kostenberger, 382). Jesus responds, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine" (v. 30). How can the voice be for the crowd's sake unless they understand it? -- For one thing, the rumble in the sky signals that something significant is happening. While the crowd does not understand the voice, they interpret it as an angel's voice or thunder (which in scripture is often associated with God's voice -- Exodus 9:23-33; 19:19; 1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 18:13, etc.). In other words, for these people, both thunder and an angel's voice are Godly sounds. -- Second, the disciples will remember the voice. While they do not understand it at the moment, after Jesus' death and resurrection this voice will take on new meaning. Often, in our Christian walk, we understand only after time passes. Some things become clear as we mature spiritually. Others will become clear only when we see God face to face. VERSES 31-33: WHEN I AM LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out" (v. 31). The twofold "now" ties in with Jesus' announcement, "the hour has come" (v. 23). We think of God rendering judgment on the world at Jesus' second coming, but Jesus says that the judgment began with his first coming. In this verse, he speaks twice of "this world," and we are reminded that he earlier said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (3:16). While we are tempted to treat that verse as a promise of universal salvation, Jesus continued, "Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God" (3:18-21). Now that "the hour has come" (v. 23), Jesus' sacrifice on the cross "will hold up to the light the evil of rejecting Jesus' words, deeds, and person" (Williamson, 152). The world will be judged based on their decision to come or not to come to the light. "now the ruler (Greek: archon) of this world will be driven out" (Greek: ekblethesetai -- from ekballo) (v. 31). Note the reversal: "The one behind the world's driving-out of Jesus and the synagogue's driving-out of Jesus' followers (cf. 9:34) is himself driven out" (Lincoln, 352). Jesus' glorification constitutes "nothing less than the transfer of power over the present God-hating world into the hands of the Son of Man" (Ridderbos, 438). Until now, John used the word archon to refer to Jewish authorities who, with the exception of Nicodemus, were hostile (3:1; 7:26, 48). The last time that we heard the word, ekballo, "the Jews" -- meaning the Jewish leaders -- were responding to the blind man who dared to answer their hostile interrogation by testifying of Jesus, "If this man were not from God, he could do nothing" (9:33)-- so they drove him out (exebalon -- from ekballo) (9:34). "It has been the 'rulers' in this world, Caiaphas, the priests and Pharisees, who have been opposing Jesus, to keep their power here and now. But behind them is the 'ruler of this world' who will now be 'cast out' " (Burridge, 543). "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (v. 32). This is the third time that Jesus speaks of being lifted up (3:14; 8:28). It is clear that he is speaking of the cross, because in 3:14 he draws a parallel between his being lifted up and Moses lifting the serpent up on a pole. For anyone who misses the point, John appends the explanation that "He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die" (v. 33). However, in being lifted up, Jesus will also experience exaltation. His being lifted up on the cross will constitute an act of obedience to the Father's will -- a carrying out of the mission for which Jesus has come to the earth (v. 27). By his death, Jesus will "draw all people to myself" (v. 32). "All people" includes us. "The Johannine church, separated by time and space from the initial events of Jesus' ministry, needed very much to hear this word of the presence and availability of Christ…. And we, too, need to hear that. We are not second-class disciples at a distance, born at the wrong time in the wrong place" (Craddock, 164). The phrase, "all people," (v.32) does not suggest universal salvation any more than do Jesus' words in 3:16. "Jesus is not affirming that the whole world will be saved; he is affirming that all who are saved are saved in this way. And he is speaking of a universal rather than a narrowly nationalistic religion. The death of Jesus would mean the end of particularism" (Morris, 531-532). The phrase, "all people," testifies to the fact that "there is no limit to Jesus' saving power -- except the resistance of unbelief" (Schnackenburg, quoted in Beasley-Murray, 214). "It is the people's response to this offer that sets limits, not Jesus himself" (Perkins, 713). "He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die" (v. 33). While the rest of the world was able to see power only in its traditional forms (money, military might, political influence, etc.), Jesus saw power in the cross. History has shown that his vision was true. His suffering and sacrifice have indeed drawn people to him -- people of every race, nation, and gender. The Jewish authorities who called for Jesus' death will soon see their temple levelled and their nation in ruins. Rome, the personification of worldly power, will fall to barbarians soon enough. But Jesus, who chose the path of suffering and servant hood, called into being a kingdom that has survived where everything else has fallen. Sophisticates scorn Christ and tyrants kill his disciples, but the church has weathered every criticism and outlived every tyrant. Closing Prayer: Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever..
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Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |