John 12:20-33
21 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.” 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 from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
Death, Glory & Delayed Gratification
It had been two days since Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey to the praise of an entire city that was already swelling with pilgrims. Faithful believers from all over the known world had traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. When word spread that Jesus of Nazareth – the miracle-worker, the powerful preacher, the controversial challenger to the status quo – when news spread that Jesus was coming, people wanted to see him.
A week from today we’ll talk even more about that triumphal entry with the psalm-singing and the palm-waving. But evidently Jesus’ celebrity lasted beyond just that morning. Two days later curious festival-goers were still hoping just to catch of glimpse of Jesus’ glory.
We don’t know how these Greeks found out about Jesus. Had his fame spread across the Mediterranean before they had even left for Jerusalem? Did they first hear about him when they got to town earlier that week? We don’t know. What we do know, though, was that they hadn’t seen him yet, but before the festival was over, they at least wanted to lay eyes on the guy they had heard so much about. So, they asked Philip (who in turn enlisted Andrew) to take them to Jesus.
What’s curious, though, is that as suddenly as these random Greeks show up asking to see Jesus, they disappear. They’re never mentioned again anywhere in Scripture. But Jesus does reply, not to any question that we heard anyone ask, but maybe simply to the situation of his celebrity. He’s drawing a crowd of people from all over the world who just want to see him, and he takes the opportunity to discuss his glory.
For most people, what happened on Palm Sunday is the epitome of glory. A spontaneous parade broke out just because Jesus was coming to town. People literally gave him the shirts off their backs and laid them out like a red carpet for him to walk on. For days, people were still looking just to have a chance to see Jesus. That sounds like glory to me. But not to Jesus.
He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,”[1] but then he explains what he means. He says, “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.”[2] To Jesus, glory and death go hand in hand. Jesus didn’t come to Jerusalem for the parades. He came to die. And in his eyes, that’s the most glorious thing he could have done.
A kernel of wheat. By itself it’s just a seed. It doesn’t look particularly nice. It wouldn’t make a very satisfying snack. But if you sacrifice that seed – if you stop looking at it, you give it up and bury it in the ground – before you know it you have a whole stalk with hundreds more kernels of wheat. Now you’re baking with butter! You can make a whole loaf of bread.
In a similar way, Jesus wasn’t much to look at. Those Greeks, who just wanted to see Jesus, would have had a hard time picking him out a lineup of other Jewish men his age in Jerusalem. It was even prophesied, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”[3]
He was also just one man. He could have spent all day every day healing the diseased people of every town and village he went to visit and never even leave Judea before he died of old age. That’s not going to accomplish a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Nor is that why he came.
Jesus came to die, and that was most glorious thing he could have done, because by his death, he gives life to everyone who believes in him. “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.”[4]
To be sure, people from all over the world were already drawn to him – just ask those Greeks – but not everyone in the world, not yet. To be sure, Jesus was lifted up on a donkey just two days earlier, like a coach hoisted up on the shoulders of his players when they win the big game. But this wasn’t a game; it was judgment. And it wasn’t his disciples’ shoulders he’d be lifted up on; it was a cross.
Jesus came to Jerusalem to die on a cross to pay for the sins of the whole world. “Anyone who loves their life will lose it,” he said, “while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”[5]
You see, there’s a problem in our hearts. It’s not a leaky valve or clogged arteries. The problem is love. We love too much. We love the wrong things too much – not bad things (not all the time anyway) just wrong things.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of things to love about life. My seven-week-old son is starting to smile. I could die a happy man when I see that toothless grin. The weather is finally breaking after a long winter. It’s so nice just to get out of the house for a while, let alone see the beauty of this world we live in or enjoy the company of family and friends. There’s music and food and work to love too, if you’re lucky. There are a lot of things to love about life on earth.
There are a lot of things to love too much. There are a lot of good things – blessings from our God in heaven – that we can love so much that we end up cherishing the gift more than the giver. We can spend more time in the world he gave us than in the worship of his Son Jesus. We can expend more energy on our family on earth than we do praying to, or even thinking about, our Father in heaven. Our love for the people and things of this world can quickly and easily surpass our love for the God who gave them to us.
And if we’re so focused on the life in front of us that we forget about the eternal life ahead of us, we may just lose both. “Anyone who loves their life will lose it,”[6] Jesus warns. There are all kinds of trite expressions that share a similar sentiment, e.g. “there are no hitches on hearses;” “you can’t take it with you.” But this isn’t just about leaving earthly possessions behind when you die; it’s about jeopardizing your eternal life altogether.
Jesus warns that if you love your life in this world more than you love your God, you’ll lose your life forever in hell. You don’t cease to exist when you die. There is no neutral place where you can go. You either go to heaven or hell. And there are no second chances. “Now is the time for judgment,”[7] he says. What you do today makes a difference for eternity.
Have you loved this life too much? Have you cherished the gifts more than you treasure the Giver? Do you show more respect to people than to God? Do you put your trust in the things of this world instead of the one who created it?
Do you hate your life, as Jesus says you should? Would you rather leave this world behind in preference for the promised glory of heaven? Or are there certain things that you’d miss too much? Are there certain things you haven’t done that you feel you need to do before you die? Are you so attached to this world that you’d have a hard time letting go? That’s a problem.
We can all make this life the be-all and end-all of our daily existence, but that’s a departure from God’s very First Commandment. It’s a sin that God will judge, and a sin – like every other – that deserves damnation forever in hell.
But that is why Jesus came – not to parade around Jerusalem amid the praise of all the pilgrims, but to fall to the ground and die, like a single kernel of wheat so that many more may live. Jesus came to be lifted up on a cross and judged for your sin so that you could be forgiven. Jesus extended his arms on that cross to draw all people to himself with the promise that if they only believe in him then they will live with him forever in heaven.
Jesus’ actions speak for themselves. He could have sought out the glory from the Greeks that day or prolonged Palm Sunday’s parade, but he set all earthly glory aside and loved you more than life itself so that you could live eternally with him in heaven. That’s what true glory looks like. That’s why he didn’t ask his Father to save him from that hour, but he prayed, “Father, glorify your name!”[8] He brought glory to his Father’s name by fulfilling the mission he was sent to accomplish. Jesus died for your salvation. Jesus died so that you could live.
So live! Live a life that seeks the true glory of Jesus. Love your God more than life itself, just as he loved you and gave himself for you. Be content with the delayed gratification that comes from the gospel of God. And know that when you stop seeking the glory of this world and start seeking the glory of heaven, you may miss out on a drunken party on Saturday night – you may stop hanging out with friends who are fun but who don’t share your faith – but you’ll gain an eternity at Jesus’ side; you’ll receive his promise that his Father will honor you for following him. The gratification may be delayed but it won’t be disappointed and the glory that will be yours is the glory of Jesus your Saviour who lived and died in love for you.
God give you a heart like his that through him and through faith in him you may share in his glory forever. Amen.
[1] John 12:23
[2] John 12:24
[3] Isaiah 53:2
[4] John 12:31,32
[5] John 12:25
[6] Ibid
[7] John 12:31
[8] John 12:28