The Hope of John [The Glory of It All]…

October 31, 2007 | 12:00 AM

Flash forward to John 12.  Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.  Some Greeks (not of Jewish heritage) wanted to see Jesus.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.”  Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.  Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

-John 12:23-32, ESV

What was it NT Wright said before?  “When John says, ‘We beheld his glory’, he is thinking supremely of the cross.”  And Jesus is to be lifted up.  He ascends to the cross to die a brutal and savage death at the hands of those who proclaimed to follow the very God that he actually was, and is.  Just as the Hebrews rebelled against God under Moses’ rule, the world rebels against God while Jesus, the very Son of God, walked the earth.  And just as the Hebrews, in their repentance and faith, were given physical healing from their punishment by gazing upon the bronze serpent under Moses, the world, in its repentance and faith, is given an opportunity for spiritual healing and salvation by gazing upon Jesus on the cross.  Our salvation comes not by the hands of man, but by our faith in the One who died, and rose again—who will draw all people to himself.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Posted in Christianity, Hope of John Series, Life, New Orleans, Theology