John 12:23-36 - Significant Appearance - March 17, 2021

If you knew you had only one last chance to speak in public, send one last Tweet or make one last Facebook post before you died, what would you say? How would you want to be remembered? What would message would you want to send to the world? Our text tonight brings us to the end of the day on Tuesday of Holy Week. It marks the final public appearance of Jesus before he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, placed on trial and crucified. Tonight we will focus on three statements which make Jesus’ final public appearance very significant.

First, Jesus says: the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. For three years, Jesus had repeatedly said that his time had not yet come (John 2:4; 7:6; 7:30; 8:20). But now, the time was right, his time had come. Everything was now ready for him to complete the mission for which his Father had sent him into the world.

He says that his mission will end in glory – but not in the way many were hoping or expecting. He would not incite a rebellion and conquer his enemies and rule with subjects bowing down to him. No, instead, his enemies would rise up against him, conquering him until his head was bowed in death on a cross. He would voluntarily offer his life as the perfect payment for sin (John 10:18). For Jesus, like a kernel of wheat, the path to glory led through death.

This is the theology of the cross that Jesus came to both teach and to live. He would not reign in a palace but hang from a cross. He would not lie on a bed of roses but on the cold stone of a tomb. He would not be wrapped in a robe of the finest fabrics but in burial cloths. While many would consider this theology anything but glorious – here is where we see his glory most clearly. Because through his death, Jesus would produce much grain. This is the central paradox, the key mystery of Christianity – that both Christ and Christians must die to this world in order to gain life – and the reason that many shake their heads in disgust at the theology of the cross. But, as Jesus’ analogy proves, it’s true – both in agriculture and salvation – life comes through death.

What’s the grain Jesus is talking about? We are. Life comes to us by way of Jesus’ death. By his death, he has destroyed sin’s power to enslave us. He has destroyed the law’s power to condemn us. He has destroyed death’s power to hold us. For us, death is no longer the end. The grave is not our final home. As Jesus told Martha just one chapter earlier: I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish (John 11:25-26). As we wade ever deeper into Lent, Jesus wants us to have a clear understanding of his purpose: that he didn’t come to live, but to die – so that by his death he may produce a harvest of life and salvation.

The second thing we see in Jesus’ final public appearance is his humanity, his vulnerability, his honesty, his transparency. He reveals to the crowds the emotions that were boiling up in his heart: now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? This is something of a preview of the words he would speak in roughly 48 hours in the Garden of Gethsemane: my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me (Matthew 26:39).

Jesus knew the horrors the future held for him. He knew that it would include being beaten and whipped, being spit on and mocked, and suffering the excruciating pain of being nailed hand and foot to a cross. None of us can possibly imagine what those final hours were like for Jesus. But he knew every gory detail far ahead of time. Can you imagine knowing ahead of time that you were going to die an excruciating death? Without a doubt, we’d do anything and everything in our power to avoid such an end. But not Jesus. Jesus is not like us. Jesus marched steadfastly toward it.

And yet, as bad as the physical suffering would be, it could not compare to the spiritual and emotional isolation he would experience. Not just abandoned by his disciples, but abandoned by his own Father. It would be so agonizing that he would cry out My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46) That’s a good question, isn’t it? Why did God forsake his only, perfect, beloved Son? Jesus had never sinned; never hurt anyone. He spent every minute of every day carrying out his Father’s will down to the last letter. Why did God forsake his Son? You know why. In fact, you are why – and so am I. He was forsaken by God because he was bearing our curse, the curse of sin that demanded that we be abandoned by God to hell forever (Galatians 3:13). Knowing this, is it any wonder that Jesus’ soul is troubled?

And yet, just like later in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus does not allow his emotions to undermine his Father’s will or sabotage the mission he came to accomplish. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus qualified his petition with the submission of perfect faith: yet not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39). In the same way, here he says no, this is the reason I came to this hour. Yes, this is the reason Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. This is the reason he spent three years preaching and teaching and healing and casting out demons. He didn’t come into this world to live, but to die. He said it himself: the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). The reason Jesus came into this world was to endure the full horror of hell – separated from his own Father’s merciful presence – so that we never would. See Jesus bear his soul tonight – note how fully human, how vulnerable, how transparent he was – and give thanks that he was determined to do whatever it took to save your soul.

Which brings us to Jesus’ final words in his final public appearance before his arrest and crucifixion. He reveals the ultimate goal of his entire life, his entire mission on earth; he says: the light will be with you just a little while longer. Keep on walking while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. What is Jesus’ ultimate goal as he presses forward to the goal of suffering and dying? Is it that we would pity him? Is it that we would imitate him? Is it that we would be motivated to live better, holier lives? No. His goal is very simple: that we would believe in him. Isn’t that amazing? In many cases, people who know they are dying might tell their friends and family to keep building the family business or to be responsible stewards of their inheritance or to somehow carry on their legacy. In other words, their concern is basically selfish –intended to influence the behavior of those who hear them. But here is Jesus, knowing the horrors that lay ahead, and his concern is not for himself or his legacy but for others; for us – that all who hear these last words would believe in him and be saved. Jesus’ last public words demonstrate that his will was in perfect harmony with his Father’s; they both want all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

Jesus’ ultimate goal is our goal too. Our message to the people of this dying world is not selfish or self-centered. We don’t do what we do to bring ourselves glory or to maintain our legacy or for our own benefit. Nor is our goal here to simply lead people to pity Jesus or try their best to imitate him or motivate people to live better and holier lives. No, our message to the world is identical to Jesus’ final message: while you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. There’s a sobering warning here, a warning I pray this pandemic has brought to the forefront of many minds – including the minds of our own families, friends and neighbors. The truth is that the clock is ticking. The clock is ticking for everyone personally and for this world generally. The light of the Gospel of Christ crucified for sinners will not be with us forever. Sadly, it appears that this light is fading in our own country right before our eyes. God has put us in this place at this time so that we might let the light of the Gospel shine. Let’s take Jesus’ last words to heart. Let’s make raising our children in this light, inviting our family and friends to bask in this light, to hearing and supporting the proclamation of this light to a very dark world the highest priority in our lives – just as Jesus did in his.

And so concludes Jesus’ final public appearance before his arrest, his suffering and his death. An appearance in which he explains his purpose – that he hadn’t come to live but to die – and through his death produce a harvest of live and salvation. An appearance in which he bears his soul – expressing his very real fear and revulsion toward the horrors he will endure in the coming days – but also his determination to go through with it for you and for me. An appearance in which he reveals his ultimate goal: that many would be drawn to him in faith as the light of the world so that they may become like him: sons of light. These are the very important things Jesus leaves with us and the world at his final, significant, public appearance. Let us take them to heart. Amen.