Dichotomy
John 12
carries the intensity of John 11 one step further. In John 11 we had the story where the Jewish
leaders began to plot Jesus’ death. The
very next story involves the beginning of one of Jesus’ own disciples turning
against Him. From a worldly perspective,
Jesus ministry is really beginning to come undone. His own disciples – His closest ones! – are
experiencing doubts. But from God’s
perspective, salvation is literally on the brink of coming into the world! What
a great chapter from the perspective of the divine. What a scary chapter with respect to the
world.
Mary, Jesus, and Judas
Jesus
picks up the final path to the cross where He had left it for a little bit: in
the house of Martha and Mary and Lazarus.
He returns to the point of no return – the point where Lazarus had been
raised from the dead. When He comes into
the house, the host family provides a meal and Jesus reclines at the table with
His followers. Then Mary takes a
“litran” of expensive oil and begins to anoint Jesus’ feet with it. {A
litran is a Roman unit of measure that was pretty close to 11.75 ounces or
roughly 325 grams}. Judas begins to
complain.
Let’s take
a moment here and compare the three perspectives that we have in this story.
- Mary simply wants to show appreciation for Jesus’ presence. After all, it was through Him that her brother was restored to her life. Why wouldn’t she want to shower Jesus with this incredible blessing? Why should any of us have any different of a perspective? We can learn so much about gratitude towards god from Mary’s example.
- Jesus is focused on the work of God – upon which He has been focused all along. He takes Mary’s gift and applies it in a direction that she could not fathom. Jesus takes her anointing and projects it to a week or so from the present when He will be dead and buried. Isn’t this pretty much the case for all of us? Do we not all find God taking what we give Him and then transforming it into something far greater?
- Judas is focused on Himself. He knows that Jesus has been talking “crazy” lately and he’s not all that happy about it. Judas doesn’t want a leader like Jesus to be “wasted” on the cross; nor does Judas want something that has such a high monetary value to be “wasted” on a moment that will never be able to be reclaimed. For Judas, it is all about his agenda and his way of thinking.
Aren’t
those three really interesting perspectives?
The Son of God shows us what it means to take up the cross of God and
focus on God. Mary shows us the
perspective of the servant who is learning but not quite there with respect to
understanding the breadth of God’s plan.
Judas shows us the person who may be going through the motions but who
is really just focused on his own agenda.
They Plan Lazarus’ Death, Too
Quickly,
let me move into a story that is so often forgotten. The Jewish leaders plan on killing Lazarus
because of the testimony that His resurrection brings to the power and identity
of Jesus Christ. Learn this lesson,
too. Proximity to Jesus increases
danger. The world hates Jesus. The closer you get to Jesus, the more the
world will look at you through the same eyes that they look upon Jesus. Nobody ever said following Jesus would be
easy. In fact, I’m pretty sure Jesus
consistently taught about how difficult it would be and the sacrifices that we
would have to make.
Triumphal Entry
Then we
have the triumphal entry. We know the
story. What struck me today – especially
after focusing on Mary’s act above – was just how clear John is about the
disciples not understanding what was going on until after Jesus was raised in
glory. Jesus had to know that they
weren’t “getting it.” But Jesus also
knew that they would get it in a few more days.
Jesus isn’t afraid to work with and through us in spite of our
shortcomings so long as we are on the trajectory of arriving at understanding
and being fully committed discipleship.
Greeks
After the
triumphal entry, some Greeks approach Jesus.
These people would likely have been “God-fearers.” These are people who heard about God and were
in the process of learning more about God and dedicating their life to
Him. But these were also people who had
not yet made that full commitment. They
were probably in Jerusalem at this time so that they could investigate the Jews
and their God in great depth during this time.
They see and hear the commotion over Jesus and they want to meet Him.
It is
during this conversation that we have another powerful image of what it means
to be Christ – and therefore what it means to be a follower of Christ. “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.” What an incredible
set of verses.
Think
about it. A grain of wheat that never is
planted is destined for uselessness. Jesus
even gives that uselessness a title: alone.
When we pursue our own agenda and put ourselves first in our life, what
fruit will we ever bear? We will be
alone. But when we put our own agenda
aside and pick up the agenda of God – in other words, crucify ourselves with
Christ so that Christ lives within us – then look at the fruit we will
bear! We will be united with the people of
God and find community. We will bear
much fruit, fruit that God will be able to use for His purposes. Christ had to die so that the fruit of
salvation would come to us. We too must crucify
our own agenda so that we will genuinely pass along to others the fruit that
God has given to us.
Many More Depart
Jesus then
teaches about His time being short and the urgency that people should have in
their life to walk in the light while the light can be seen. In spite of this, we have another sad passage
from John. Many who had been following
Him departed from Him. They still did
not believe. His teaching was hard. They abandoned the savior when salvation was
at their door! Even though the power of
God was literally on display before their very eyes … they chose their own path
and their own agenda rather than embracing the agenda of God.
This is so
sad; yet it is also so true in the world.
Many people see the power of God on display in their life and instead
choose to follow their own agenda. It is
reality. We cannot hide from that truth
any longer and not expect to reap the consequences of denying this truth. For too long we have chosen to make excuses
for those people who walk away from God instead of choosing to see their
actions for what they really are.
Receive The World
The last
passage in this chapter is Jesus’ last public teaching. From here on out all of the teaching that
Jesus gives will be to the small group of disciples and loyal peripheral
followers. Take a good look at these
last public words of Jesus. The one who
believes in Jesus does not remain in darkness.
The one who believes in Jesus receives His Word.
The word “receives”
here means “to hear with an acceptance of truth.” Jesus’ disciples do not look to escape His
truth. Jesus’ disciples do not look to
hear the truth but live their life according to their own logic. Jesus’ disciples embrace God’s Word and long
to change their life in order to follow God.
Jesus’ last public words are a warning to the world to not reject Him.
That
causes me to pause today. What are the
places in my life that I am not quick to long to receive Jesus’ Word? What is my rebellion?
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