Tuesday, April 15 ~ Jesus Speaks About His Death

~~John 12:20-36
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the death and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.  
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that 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 standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to him, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

~~Here I sit at my desk. It is 6:02 p.m. on a Friday night and I am looking out my window at the steeple of the Catholic Church which is catching the late day sun. I think about our enormous towers. One is 96 feet above the ground. The other is sixty feet up. The days are getting longer.

Now, as the sun sets, the asphalt below is covered in grey, out of the light. The towers however, catch the early evening sun, visible in five different directions. They capture the light when much of the world is sinking into murky darkness.

Jesus says at the end of this text, “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”  He knows it won’t be long now. He came to Jerusalem to face his destiny, which was to be the one who would restore a vital relationship with the living God. Jesus came to bring us back to where we ought to be. He came for us. He brought the light.

While this image of light is intentionally vague, I think we know what it means. In Biblical times when night came, it was “dark-dark.” Except for the moon and stars, there was no ambient light. You cannot find your way in such darkness.

There is a darkness in the world. We know it. Sometimes we call it evil. Evil casts a pall of blackness on the soul. We cannot see clearly the vision of the kingdom of God. We drift from God, apart, away, alone. But he “knit us together in our mother’s wombs. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.” We are his. We belong to him. He loves every fiber of our being and wants us to walk in his way.

The deep desire of God in Jesus Christ is for us to embrace the light, see the light, walk in the light of his love. The light brings us safety, warmth and shows us the way. The light brings us home. Our home is in this God who is the breadth and length and height and depth and we are called to be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19).

To know his fullness, we must be like the grain of wheat that must die to itself, before it can bear fruit. Mary died to herself when she fell to the floor and used perfume which cost a year’s wages to anoint Jesus (see yesterday’s devotion). That is as good an example as any. Her witness was beautiful, but with soulfully surgical precision, restored sight to those blind to the glory of God who were in the room.

Jesus is going to die. But he is going to teach us until his last breath. In the teaching is the light that allows us to find our way.

Jeff W. Bell