December 20, 2015 John 12:23 – 37
Download discussion questions: John 12_23-37 Glorify Your Name
Circumstances prevented me from attending on this date. Since the inductive method we are using is simple, reproducible, and transferable the group continued to have lively discussions. Even though (sadly) I was not part of the group discussion, I wanted to include a few of my own thoughts on this passage.
This passage contains a number of “if-then” type statements. Some of these may express cause and effect, others may be expressing a correlation or link between factors. Whatever the connections, Jesus is using those links to make His point. Death is necessary for fruit (v. 24). Loving life leads to loss (v. 25a), while hating life of one kind (“in this world”) preserves life of another kind (v. 25b). Serving the Son results in honor from the Father (v. 26). Execution by torture attracts others to Him (v. 32). The thread through all these associations is contrast: the honored servant, the hated life, the dying fruitfulness.
Jesus is continuing to reveal more and more about the essence of His mission, the mission He repeatedly ascribes to being sent by the Father. He never actually says, “I will be crucified,” perhaps because that would have been too shocking. He comes as close as possible, and the audience understood exactly what He meant by being “lifted up” (v. 32-33). He had used this metaphor more than once in the past. In John 3:14 He used the phrase to connect His ministry with the saving ministry of Moses (Numbers 21:9), and in John 8:28 He made one of His provocative “I AM” statements in the context of being “lifted up.” In these earlier instances the possible ambiguity of the words might have been understood simply as being “respected” or “honored.” Perhaps in the context of His immediate statements about dying and hating life the crowd recognized the weight of what He actually meant.
Jesus’ teaching starts with more general statements about seeds dying and hating life. Then He becomes unmistakably clear about being lifted up, dying by crucifixion. It is almost as if (from a human perspective) at first He didn’t even want to talk about that horrible expectation. The transition hangs on another of His pivotal statements, “Father, glorify Your name” (v. 28). Any human hesitation, any fears, any doubts were countered by that brief prayer. His commitment to the Father’s mission meant pursuing the Father’s glory at any cost to Himself.
As we will learn later in John’s story, this is exactly what Jesus meant at the beginning of this passage about our fruitful dying and hating life, and being where He is (v. 26). Our mission is like His: “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21; cf. John 17:18). Dying, losing our life, hating our life means, at a minimum, placing our highest value on God’s glory. Most of us (d.v.[1]) will not face martyrdom or physical abuse. But we have opportunities every day to die to our pride or comfort or convenience for the sake of someone else. In that way we display the character of Christ and the glory of God. A choice not to respond to an insult, or not to complain about the slow clerk in the grocery store checkout line, or to shovel the snow from a neighbor’s walk – each of these small decisions are ways we can put aside our own ease or security in a conscious effort to choose God’s glory, whether anyone else actually notices or not.
Believing in the Light to become sons of Light (v. 36) was the summary statement Jesus offered in His answer to the perplexed crowd. “Sons of Light” sounds like those who are living in the radiance of the Father’s glory, those who know that glory is the most fulfilling and satisfying source of joy. That was the purpose for which Jesus came into the world (v. 27). This passage is a timely reminder as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth: the Father’s glory is the true meaning of Christmas.
[1] Deo Volente, “God willing.” This is an abbreviation that occurs frequently in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 2004, 2007). His usage stirred me to imitate that reminder of our constant dependence on God’s gracious providence.