THE DRAWING POWER OF CHRIST
#010 THE DRAWING POWER OF CHRIST
Scripture John 12:20-32 Orig. 1/7/64 (1/75)
Rewr. 8/21/87
Passage: 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 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. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 “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. 28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[a] from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Purpose: To show the superior magnetism of Christ for the work to which He came.
Keywords: Christ, Nature Commitment
Introduction
We watched with abandon as a unique event unfolded in our back yard. It was a Sunday afternoon in New Orleans. One of the girls was at home from college and had brought a friend along. The drama had nothing to do with anything that night precipitate from normal Sunday pursuits.
It all started, unknown to us, some weeks before when a wood duck had laid her eggs in a tree across form our house. The ground below the tree was boggy wet at the time the eggs were laid, but now, in early summer, the only water in sight was in a swimming pool, beyond our fence, in the adjoining yard.
It was time for her ducklings to get to water. One after the other she pushed them from the nest, followed them to the ground, and led the determined charge to the water she had seen from the tree. The first thing we knew was that they were all in our back yard, stymied by our fence, and now joined by every child within four blocks of our house. We were impressed by this mother duck. She showed remarkable daring, supreme devotion, and an almost unsettling determination to provide the necessary thing for her charges.
Fortunately, a knowledgeable neighbor came to her rescue. Duck and ducklings were soon rounded up and taken to safe water not far away. From time to time, when I see wild wood ducks, I wonder if any are offspring of those who passed suddenly through our yard and our lives on a busy Sunday afternoon.
It is with even more daring, and devotion, and determination that the Christ seeks to make His presence known in our hectic lives. Sidlow Baxter refers to “the most remarkable characteristic of Christ’s preaching [as] its sublime egoism.” He knew that His work was the most important work in the world. He knew that to “be lifted up” would be to “draw all” people unto himself.
I. Consider, First, the Superlative Daring of His Message. V32 “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” This statement is worthy of our closest personal scrutiny. Note the use of multiple personal pronouns—I, me, my. Note the strong reference to the crucifixion—“If I be lifted up.” How much easier for us to understand; the disciples did not have His example and yet, because we see so clearly, we come to take it for granted. Note the certainty of assumed success—“I will draw all . . . unto me.” Don’t overlook the descriptive adjective and superlative form, “all.”
The burden of this text for nearly two thousand years is that Jesus could say “all.” And there have been variant interpretations. “All” come to grace or to judgment. “All” come under the sway of the gospel. “All” are participants in this millennial age. “All” are defined in relation to the church. “All” are without distinction instead of “all” being without exception.
Clearly, Jesus did not expect such a total assimilation of people into the kingdom. Consider the Beatitudes, so clearly distinguishing between those in and out of the kingdom. Reread the parable of the sower, contemplating those gospel seeds never brought to fruition.
We must also understand better the developing circumstances of this event. The day began with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem just days before the crucifixion. Some Greeks approached Phillip about an interview with Jesus. Phillip, uncertain because they are Gentile, seeks out Andrew for assistance. Together, they go to Jesus for advice. Jesus acknowledges that a staggering moment has come. V23 “The hour of the glorification of the Son of Man.” It reminds us of John 11:4, where Jesus said of Lazarus’ illness, “it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified.”
As best we can infer, Jesus did not grant the interview. In life, He was the Jews’ Messiah. Only in death would He be the world’s Saviour. There was a battle years ago over Ted Clark’s book Saved By His Life; this seems to refute such a concept. It is this message that has sent gospel chroniclers to the end of the earth.
II. Consider More, Now, the Supreme Devotion of His Manner. V27f “Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I to this hour. (What shall I say?) Father, glorify Thy name.”
Observe His capacity for love of God. We marvel at our natural world and creature things done out of instinct, such as the wood ducks leaving the nest. The greater marvels are the human acts of self-sacrifice: On flight 255 out of Detroit in 1987, a mother, realizing that the plane was going down, unbuckled her own seat belt and draped her body over that of her 4-year-old daughter; the child was the only survivor of the crash.
Jesus offers Himself in love. The Shema is a Hebrew prayer based on Deuteronomy 6:5—“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, soul, and strength.” So, also, He taught in Luke 10:27, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thine heart, soul, strength, and mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
Observe His compassion for those around Him. To this end He would stay on track. To this purpose God had brought Him forth. I John 4:19 “We love Him because He . . . loved us.”
Observe also His hatred of sin—not hatred of “sins,” particular ones, but rather His hatred of SIN. How can we, claiming to be His followers, take delight in anything that brings Him such displeasure. We are sinners, but it is not us He hates, but the unrenounced sin that robs us of victory, and robs our Lord of the fellowship He seeks to have with each of us.
III. Finally, Consider the Superior Dedication to His Mission. V25 “He that loveth his life shall lose it, He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” In loving life, the sacrifice becomes the more acute, the destiny more provoking. Jesus loved life with a purpose achieved by no other.
The one thing that He could not love, nay, that He hated, was this necessary separation from the Father. But He would endure it forever if necessary. It was in losing what He loved (the world) that He gained what He loved the more (His place at the Father’s side).
Conclusion
The Indian mystic Tagore (w43p126) has written a piece which should speak yet to all of us. He pictures life from the unwholesome vantagepoint of a dismal alleyway of a great, crowded, uncaring city. Occasionally, one sees a patch of blue sky, feels a sudden cool breeze, is warmed by some broken passage of the sun. And always we ask, “Are these things real? Sky, breeze, warmth of sun!” But, day in and day out, there are those other experiences that are never questioned. There are dust and rubbish, and they are real. The noise of traffic, jolting carts, and jostling crowds in the marketplaces: No one asks, “Are these real?” Refuse and smoke and corruption and death are all too real to inquire. But so are the blue sky, and cool breeze, and warming, life-giving sun; and so is the SON, WHO CALLS US TO Himself. He reminds us that by His stripes we are healed.