I invite you to turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 12, v. 20.
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told 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.
Those in the Hellenized world were called ‘Greeks,’ whether they were connected to Greece or not.
We don’t know why these Greeks wanted to see Jesus. Perhaps Jesus the teacher and occasional miracle worker was a local tourist attraction to check off while they were in town.?
They chose to approach Jesus by way of Philip who – John points out – was from Bethsaida in Galilee. We know Galilee was called the Galilee of the Gentiles – one of the reasons is that there were plenty of Gentiles living around there. And Bethsaida itself was full of Gentiles. So perhaps these Greeks saw Philip as a bridge between them and the Jewish Rabbi.
It’s quite a statement to Philip, kinda beautiful for its brevity. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” I was at a university that held a chapel, and on chapel days they would cycle through the people in religious studies to lead in prayer. When my turn came I remember ascending the pulpit before the student body and noticed engraven on the pulpit was that sentence from the KJV – ‘Sir, we would see Jesus.’
For a couple reasons, I didn’t know what to preach today. When in doubt with what to talk about, Sir, we would see Jesus. You’re tasked with leading a Bible study or giving a little challenge and don’t know where to start. Sir, we would see Jesus.
Conservative, cautious Philip doesn’t directly approach Jesus. He had heard Jesus say that his ministry was limited to lost sheep of Israel. So, Jesus might not be interested in these folks. And yet he’d also heard Jesus allude to the fact that someday there’d be an expansion – I have other sheep…
So, he brings the matter to his friend from Bethsaida, Andrew. Andrew thought that it’d be something Jesus would want to hear, so they go to Jesus with the request. Sometimes asking in pairs is the way.
Jesus listens to them. And then, in his mind, something hums. Hmm, Gentiles in Jerusalem for the Passover feast asking to see Him. For some reason this scenario tells Jesus that he has entered a new, final corridor. The hour has come.
It’s time. The day, the hour, the moment is here. My ministry, yea my whole life, yea the long story of God saving the world – all has been laying the groundwork for…now.
The Greek word: ἐλήλυθεν – it is come. And in a few days – tetelestai – It is finished.
Jesus lived to a unique purpose, just as we all do. Unlike us, that purpose was contained in a particular event that occurred at a specific point in time. The crucifixion is why Jesus was present to humanity. Apart from the crucifixion the arrival of the Son of Man serves no unique or enduring purpose.
Yes, in this sentence he speaks about the crucifixion: The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified. Everything beforehand in Jesus’ life had been leading up to now. Because Jesus is the central figure in the history of the world (more on that next week), everything in human history in the globe has been leading up to this. The ancient prophecy of the Son of Man being glorified, given a worldwide, permanent dominion, is about to go down and he is raised up on a cross on his way down to the grave.
Jesus, the Son of Man exalted in His death because of what was accomplished by His crucifixion. He is glorified at the cross because at Golgotha, the place of skulls He frees men and women, stewards of the creation, from the slavery of evil by stripping the evil powers of their primary weapon: human guilt. He propitiates in His body the anger of God that stood against our well-being. He fully and finally reconciled Creator and creation, making peace by his innocent blood falling onto a corrupted land.
In short, in his death Jesus completely atoned for humanity’s falling short. For our survival provides His body. In His body the old corrupt order of humanity is taken to the grave so that a new humanity could be born and rise up to take its place.
God loves the world, humanity in all its crookedness and corruption that, urged on by the Devil, keeps trying to set up existence apart from him. Repeat, he loves this defiled world. He doesn’t want any single individual to perish. In Jesus’ death and resurrection God says ‘Yes’ to every man and woman, boys and girls. So that the atonement isn’t just some theory; it expresses the warm, reconcilable disposition of God toward man.
His crucifixion in a way portrays some of this – his arms are extended wide – opened to people who have been bored by God, suspected him to be a petty bully, who had worshiped and served the I-phone more than the Creator.
And the spear goes into Jesus and pierces His heart, and what was in the heart of the Son of Man runs out, streams toward those who had pierced Him. As one of his Apostles will say later to the Church, “My heart is wide open to you.”
Can you see it? On the cross He is pinned, poised between Heaven and earth – One mediator between God and men. The bridge between heaven and earth, the Portal from darkness into light, the Prince of Peace, the Beloved Son sent by the Father to make right sinners, and from there to bless and restore the whole creation order.
Simply because He is the Crucified One who redeems, the principalities and powers of Heaven arise to honor this Man. Actually, the elders of Heaven arise only to fall on their faces and cry “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.”
The Peacemaker.
The Life Giver.
The Man who allows all mankind to retain our dignity, to preserve meaning, to give reason for more human babies, to look to the future with hope.
The great Sacrifice who gives importance and final meaning to any lesser sacrifices.
Hail Redeemer.
Coming back to earth, though, notice how Jesus illustrates what will happen 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.
A grain of wheat is placed individually into the shallow trench and then covered over with dirt. Inside that grain or seed coat are two things: the tiny plant itself along with some food to live on until it can access outside nutrients. But here’s the thing, in order for the plant to emerge from the grain that coating has to decay – the dirt around it acts as an abrasive and the water corrodes it.
In the ground, the “death” of the grain allows the root of the plant to emerge and draw nutrients from the soil and then the stem to make its way to the surface where it can grab some photosynthesis, and the plant grows, producing flowers or spikes each with 35-50 more grains of wheat. The wheat in the ground is no longer alone!
Out of decay, multiplication. From death, life.
In his first canonical letter to the Corinthians, Paul broadly categorizes people’s response to the crucifixion: it’s a scandal to Jewish Messianic hope; it’s an absurdity to Greek doctrines. And we should appreciate how initially strange it seems that God did His great life-giving work through the crucifixion.
And yet didn’t the Passover and indeed the whole sacrificial system point to this – life coming through death.? And as Jesus is pointing out here: in the natural world we can easily trace out the pattern of death producing life.
So after all, what is strange about the Crucifixion being the portal to Life with a capital ‘L’?
That Man, that Good Man, that Perfect Man, that Chosen by God, the Inheritor of God’s choosing, the One who was from the beginning, God – like a seed in the ground over His 30 years on earth was worn down with work and meeting needs, frustrated by those He was liberating, annoyed by his proteges, grieved by His exposure to the human predicament, forsaken, betrayed, mocked, spat upon, scourged, crowned with long thorns, stripped of clothing, nailed, suffocated, my God, why did You forsake me. He went into the Grave alone
But not alone now. His suffering was fruitful, multiplying. Now we see him among a great company. Revelation 7:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
In conclusion, let’s notice smomething else. As he often did, Jesus speaks firt of his death and then immediately follows with instructions on those who want to be Christians. Learn from my death. You should expect death too.
True, the death of Jesus was unique in itself and what it accomplished. And yet it is a pattern for us who would follow him. We should not try to hold on to our lives, protecting our interests no matter what.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The cross is laid on every Christian… As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.
The cross of Jesus directs us thus: If you prioritize the protection and promotion of your life – your whole existence or some feature of it – it’ll slip right out of your grasp.
- I’m going after what I want, full stop.
- I’m going after “likes,” people noticing me, thinking about me, taking me seriously
- I’ll serve as long as it’s recognized, appreciated, enjoyable, consistently satisfying.
- I’ll click on what feels good
- I’ll eat and drink however I want.
- Sleep when I feel like it.
- If I want to indulge sexually I will
- If I don’t feel like working I won’t.
- I have main character syndrome – everything revolves around me, becomes about my happiness. I’m constantly watching myself.
- My kids are there to make me look good, feel happy.
- I’m going to speak however I want; I’m going to laugh at whatever I want; I’m going to be entertained however I want
- If I want to indulge in some feelings, I will. If I want to be sad, I’ll be sad. My thought life is mine.
- If I don’t feel like seeking after God, I’m not going to force myself
- If people hurt me, I’m outta here.
- I’ll make self-care and being true to myself the ultimate commandment.
- No one tells me what to do – not the government, not the boss, not my parents. The God-given counselors and directors of my life I’ll ignore.
- I need to hold on to my dignity at all costs; never admit to being wrong; never enter an awkward situation; never say “I’m sorry”;
- If something isn’t soon fulfilling, rewarding, immediately energizing – count me out.
- I’m going to choose a livelihood largely on the bases of status or the potential for wealth. I’ll direct my children the same way.
- My way or the highway. Pushing our weight around. Giving people the silent treatment if they’re not compliant.
- I’ll follow God until it’s difficult or dangerous or uncertain or unpopular
- If it’s boring that’s not for me; if it’s repetitive that’s not for me; if it takes endurance that’s not for me
Me, me, me. Whether loving one’s life is accompanied by or covered over with religious jargon, or success, or intellectualism, or casualness, or boisterousness, or timidity or people pleasing or sentimentalism – Me, me, me.
The problem with loving your life, grasping on to what you want no matter what, is that it doesn’t work. You lose what you were aiming for. People get hurt. Your loved ones suffer. You are stressed and irritable. The seed remains alone.
But rather than being in love with my life, and ultimately losing it, the cross of Jesus Christ directs us that the way to ultimately possessing life is by hating one’s life in this world, that is, as one commentator paraphrases: “die to the supremacy of one’s self-preservation and [die to] advancement at all costs.” (Bruner)
Or another commentator: he chooses not to pander to self-interest but at the deepest level of his being declines to make himself the focus of his interest and perception, thereby dying. (Carson)
In this world – you understand that this world – the system as it is in this age – is not all that there is. And you decide to aim for a “better country, that is a heavenly one.” And so you surrender all, you as it were go down into the soil and die. You give up on trying to prove yourself in and achieve something ultimate in and lay ahold of this age. Rather you lay yourself open, particularly your thought life, simply to the will and commands of Jesus Christ. He went to the cross and died and then multiplied. And so, you die too. This is the way forward.
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