Introduction

In Chess, a master player playing a less experienced player may look, at points during the match, like he’s losing. The master doesn’t care about how the game appears while it’s being played, he only cares about the outcome. The less experienced player might capture his opponent’s pieces not realizing he’s being led into a trap. When the master springs the trap, it becomes obvious that sometimes what looks like defeat is actually a victory. This is also true of Jesus. He is conscious that his victory on the cross will appear like a defeat and so he prepares his disciples to understand why he’s willingly headed to his death.

In John 12, A group of Greeks asks Jesus’ disciples to set up a meeting with him. This, (for reasons scholars can’t agree on) tells Jesus the end is close. So he starts telling his disciples that his glory will be revealed in his suffering:

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince 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 show the kind of death he was going to die. John 12:23-33 (NIV)

Details In the Passage

Glory and Suffering

Jesus doesn’t think glory comes from wealth or power, but from his love, revealed in his suffering death. He uses the metaphor of a seed being planted in the ground (like a dead body) producing a whole plant with many seeds. Jesus’ death will lead to life for many people. Jesus says that the one who hates (i.e. gives up) their life in this world will have eternal life. This is a call for Jesus’ disciples to follow his lead. Jesus isn’t saying he’ll suffer so we don’t have to. Jesus’ followers are called to give themselves up for the sake of others. We see this same idea at work in the life of the Apostle Paul. Writing to the church in Corinth, Paul Describes the apostle’s suffering in much the same way Jesus sees his death: that it gives a multiplication of life to others. Paul says, “For we [apostles] who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal [i.e. dying] body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you” (2 Corinthians 4:11-12, NIV).

Jesus shows us this willingness to suffer on others’ behalf. He says his soul is troubled. This reminds us that while Jesus is God, he is also fully human. He isn’t cool as a cucumber when faced with suffering; he dreads it as any normal person would. It’s not a lack of fear that sets Jesus apart, it’s how he responds to that fear. Jesus asks a rhetorical question: Should I ask God to save me from my predicament? This reminds us that Jesus understands our temptation to seek the easy way out when God asks us to do something hard. He dismisses the temptation, instead recognizing that the suffering he’s about to undergo is necessary for God’s glory (the thing that truly motivates him).

God speaks, affirming the plan. Jesus isn’t a guy with a martyr complex. The Father is asking him to suffer. God speaking in thunder calls to mind a passage in Exodus where God speaks in thunder from Mount Sinai. Jesus says that this voice was for the benefit of those around, so obviously they were meant to understand. That they didn’t suggest they were unwilling to understand.

The Hour of Judgment

Jesus says the hour of judgment has come on the world. This seems odd because most observers would assume that it was Jesus who was being judged. By going to the cross, Jesus exposes the carefully crafted narratives the Jewish religious establishment and the Roman political establishment tell about themselves are lies. The Jewish religious leaders see themselves as just and upright, totally submitted to God’s law. But when they conspire to murder Jesus because he is a threat to their privilege, they reveal themselves as hypocrites. Rome tells everyone that they are a force for good in the world, bringing civilization, peace and prosperity to the places they rule. They say that Caesar is a gift from the Gods. At the crucifixion, they show their naked brutality. Like the master chess player, Jesus has set a trap to expose Satan’s lies.

Lifted Up

The word translated as ‘lifted up’ (ὑπσοω in the original Greek) has a double meaning. It is a reference to Jesus’ crucifixion, where he would be lifted up. Crucifixion was meant as an ironic form of execution. It was reserved for people who seemed to think themselves above their lot in life (slaves who tried to get free, rebels who wanted to shake off Roman rule). It was trying to make a statement, “This person thought they were so important, we’ll lift them up, until they die from it). But ‘lifted up’ can also mean exalt. The idea of crucifixion and exaltation seem mutually exclusive, but In Jesus’ mind, they aren’t. No doubt Jesus is thinking about the song of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah. One part of that reads, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness” Isaiah 52:13-14 (NIV). The suffering servant is exalted, but he also seems to have been beaten to a pulp. Jesus sees this as a description of his calling. When Jesus is lifted up by those who conspire to kill him, what was intended as an ironic execution becomes, counter-ironically, his enthronement? When Jesus is lifted up he shows God’s love and it draws people to God.

Putting It Into Practice

What can we learn from this passage? It says a great deal about how we should conduct ourselves as Jesus’ disciples. As Jesus surrenders himself, so we should too. After all, Jesus says, “Where I am, there my servant will also be”. We are to follow his example. When our behaviour demonstrates Jesus’ self-giving other-oriented love, we show people what Jesus is like and people are drawn to him. At the same time, the opposite is also true: when we live in ways that are inconsistent with Jesus’ self-giving love, we distort people’s understanding of God, and so repel them from him. 

Revealing Jesus

A missionary felt called to an unreached people in a remote part of the Amazon jungle, so he went in via river. No one heard from him again, and so it was understood that he had died. Years later, the mission agency sent other missionaries to the area. They made contact with locals and told them about Jesus. “Jesus came to be present with us, and showed us how to forgive others, he showed us how to love each other. He showed us how to be unified even when we are different. He laid down his life for us” 

The people in the village responded, “We know this person. He lives in the next village over.” When they journeyed to the next village, they found the lost missionary. His life had been so much like Jesus’ that when the new missionaries had described Jesus, the villagers felt like they already knew him. When we tell people we know about Jesus, do they feel like they’ve already met Jesus through us? Do they hear about our beliefs and say, “That’s why they act like that?”

While Jesus’ self-giving love is clearest on the cross, it is consistently there in everything he does. A couple of examples: In Mark 6, Jesus’ and the disciples’ lives have been so busy that they decide to go away for a retreat. They set sail for a desolate place, but a crowd, working out where they are going, gets there ahead of them. Jesus could send them all away, saying they need a break, but he has compassion on them, teaching them and feeding them. His own needs took a back seat to the needs of the crowd. Another story, from John 4, happens when Jesus sits down at a well in Samaria while his disciples go into town to buy food. A Samaritan woman comes to the well, and Jesus engages her in conversation. When the disciples show up with Food, Jesus ignores it because “my food is to do the will of the one who sent me.” Jesus prioritizes the needs of others over his own needs. How do we respond when others’ needs interfere with our agenda? Are we generous or are we self-focused?

Obscuring Jesus

When we act like Jesus, people understand Jesus’ love and are drawn to him. When we act unlike Jesus, we warp people’s understanding of Jesus’ love and drive people away from them. I have a friend whose grandfather, now in his 90s, went to Catholic school as a child. While he was there he was badly abused by the nuns who oversaw the school. To this day, he wants nothing to do with Jesus. It seems his experience with Christians told him all he wanted to know about Jesus. 

We’re probably also familiar with kids who have left the faith because their parents lived piously when everyone was looking, but not when they were at home. They leave because they can’t stand the hypocrisy.

Conclusion

Our Lord’s great victory appeared, at the time, as a defeat, but resurrection shows he beat death. We need to understand this to grasp the kind of victory God has in mind for us. Victory in Jesus is not staying safe, or comfortable. It is not about getting power & influence, it is about faithfully embodying God’s love. We might feel like this is an unimportant thing to do but our faithfulness to the example of suffering love will draw people to Jesus.

But Satan is setting a trap for us: trying to distract us from true victory, trying to persuade us that glory comes from money, power or recognition. But Because we have Jesus’ example, we can see the trap for what it is. So let’s bring glory to God, by demonstrating what God’s love looks like to the world.