GLORIFIED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

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 honor 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 12:20-33

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It was Monday, the day after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. After spending the evening in Bethany, Jesus came back to the city, only to find money changers and salespeople having turned the place of prayer for Gentiles, located outside the temple, into a marketplace. You’ll recall His words to those who were denigrating a holy spot:

“Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Mark 11:17

In regard to the house of prayer for all nations, Jesus was quoting the very words of the prophet Isaiah (56:7), scriptures the people should have been familiar with.

Not coincidentally, there were a group of Greeks present. It’s obvious they were God-believers but not willing to convert to Judaism, thus their relegation to pray in the court occupied by the money changers, the court outside the actual temple grounds.

We read where these Greeks approach one of Jesus’ disciples, Philip, with a request. They wished to interview Jesus (the words “to see” actually conveyed an interest to interview Jesus). Philip took the request to his counterpart Andrew and they both in turn told Jesus about it.

As we look at our passage, we find Jesus making the first comments, saying:

“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 honor 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!”

Before I go much further, we need to look at the words “glorified” and “glorify”.

The first, “glorified”, is defined as representing something so it appears more elevated or special. Through His words, we find Jesus telling His listeners that His time had come to be elevated to a high and special place. Now conventional wisdom would lead a person to believe that this would happen by doing something in life but Jesus was anything but conventional.

You see, Jesus knew that He would be glorified through death in order so He might bring life to others. This is why He uses the analogy of wheat, an analogy that would be easily grasped by those presence who were familiar with agriculture and how things grew. A kernel of wheat could not produce new life in the way of other wheat plants if it didn’t first die and fall to the ground. In other words, it provided a greater yield in death than when it was alive.

Jesus knew that in order to bring eternal life to sinners, He had to first die and pay the sin penalty that was on them. It was the only way to remove God’s judgment and bridge the separation between all people and their Maker. Before He could be lifted up in miraculous glory by God through resurrection, Jesus had to first lose His life.

This same principle applies to all people who wish to be resurrected and experience everlasting life themselves. They need to follow the lead of Jesus and be willing to give up all in order to gain everything. This means surrendering our will for the will of our Lord when we choose to believe and follow Him. Through Christ, we will enter into glory after our life of serving God through Him, just as our Savior did. Indeed, every servant of Jesus will be honored by their Heavenly Father who longs to spend forever with them.

Conversely, note that anyone who is unwilling to give up their worldly life in exchange for following Jesus will lose it when death comes. They will not be glorified but rather be damnified, not gaining salvation but entering into eternal torment. This is a place no one should want to be.

Back to Jesus who had full knowledge of what He would have to endure. Great suffering was just ahead for Him as He entered Jerusalem to live His last week of human existence. And yet, He did not begrudge His destiny. Rather, He longed to glorify the name of God through obedience.

This leads us to the word, “glorify”. It means to make magnificent by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration. Jesus longed to bring honor to God, His Father, who was supremely magnificent and omnipotent. It was His chief desire to do this through submitting completely to His Father’s will.

It’s of critical importance that all Christ believers know that are to follow the lead of Jesus. In other words, to be Christ-like. Following the will of God is not for the faint of heart. It requires great sacrifice and indeed many disciples every day are laying their lives on the line (and sometimes losing them) for the cause of Jesus and the God who sent Him.

Well, as we go back to the scriptures, imagine the amazement of the crowd gathered when suddenly a voice thundered from the heavens proclaiming this in regard to Jesus:

“I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

To which 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.”

Those plotting Jesus’ death, led by the spirit of Satan himself, were sure that killing Him would put an end to this Christian uprising. With Jesus out of the world, Satan, its prince, could reign supreme.

But that’s not the way it was going to go.

In describing His death, Jesus made it clear that His crucifixion followed by His subsequent resurrection and lifting up from the earth would drive Satan out. Jesus would have the ultimate victory and that would extend to anyone else who placed their belief, hope, and trust in Him. They would be drawn to Jesus and be lifted up into glory themselves and live with Him and God forever.

And this opportunity would be open to all, whether Jew or Gentile such as the Greeks who asked for an audience with Jesus. Through His words, He told them (and reminded us) that the best is ahead for all Christ believers but before that time comes, it’s important to surrender our own will for the will of the Father so that He might be glorified by all we do.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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