Bible Passage: John 12:20-33
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 17, 2024

Bulletin March 17, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Our text this morning finds Jesus in Jerusalem during Holy Week.  He is there, as we well know, to celebrate the Passover, and die.  But early in the week, the event of our text takes place.  There are some Greeks in Jerusalem for the Passover.  These would have been non-Jews who had come to faith in Israel’s God and now worshiped just like the Jews according to the laws of the Old Testament.  But there is something interesting about these Greeks.  They are drawn to Jesus. They find Jesus’ disciple Philip.  Sir, we would like to see Jesus. (v. 21)  Why did they want to see Jesus?  Curiosity?  Faith?  What is it that drew them?  We are not told.  Only that they wanted to meet Jesus.  Philip talks to Andrew about it.  Andrew and Philip both go to Jesus.

We do not know what exactly drew those Greeks.  But we do know what draws us to Jesus.  It is his cross.  We are drawn to the cross.  That is really what Jesus goes on to talk about in this text.  He talks about being Drawn to the Cross.

It may surprise us that before Jesus talks about us being drawn to the cross, he talks about how he himself is drawn to the cross!  Jesus declares, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (v. 23)  “The hour has come.”  Jesus is saying that a very specific, significant, profound point in time has been reached.  It is the hour of the cross.

But Jesus does not shrink from this hour.  Rather, he is drawn to it.  He knows exactly what this hour, what this cross, will bring.  He knows it means death.  Referring to himself, he says, Unless a kernel of wheat dies. (v. 24)  At the end of our text we are told, But I, when I am lifted up…He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (v.  32-33)  The cross was no surprise to Jesus!  The death was no surprise!

For Jesus knew that this was the path of glory.  It is a hidden glory on the cross, but if we look carefully we will see it.  There, under the wounds and blood and suffering and shame and humiliation is the glory of God.  It is not the bright, shining glory of God, like what the shepherds saw on the night Jesus was born.  The cross is the saving glory of God.

The cross is the reason Jesus came.  Jesus says in our text, Now my heart 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. (v. 27)  Jesus does not see the cross and say, “Whoa!  Wait a minute!  This was not part of the deal!  When I left the throne room of heaven for incubation in the womb of a virgin, I didn’t know it was all a lead up to a cross!  I’m out!”  That’s ridiculous!   The cross was THE reason the Son of God came!  Jesus knew it from the beginning.  Jesus would not run away from the cross.  He would run to it.

He knew that the cross was the seed of the Church.  He speaks a little parable in our text, but it is not difficult to understand.  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. (v. 24)  Jesus puts before us a wheat seed that is put in the ground.  It sort of looks like it dies. It sort of starts to decay.  But that is just germination.  Then it grows and finally produces many seeds.  Jesus is the kernel of wheat.  He dies on the cross.  And that death has brought about many seeds.  How many?  In John’s vision of the throne room of heaven in Revelation 7 he tells us, After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. (v. 9)  Too many seeds to count!  And all of those people are in heaven for one reason and one reason alone – the cross of Jesus!

There is one last reason Jesus mentions he is drawn to the cross.  Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. (v. 31)  On the cross, the sins of the world will be judged.  The “guilty” verdict that justly should be spoken over every inhabitant of planet earth will be spoken over the head of Jesus.  On the cross, in the person of Jesus, the world hangs judged and condemned.  And in this act, the Prince of this World, Satan, is driven out.  How is Satan driven out by the cross of Jesus?  Think of it this way.  Think of Satan being driven out of God’s courtroom.  Remember, Satan is the accuser.  He wants to accuse you before God so that God will damn you.  But with the death of Jesus on the cross, Satan loses his ability to accuse because your sin and guilt are gone.  When we stand in God’s court, we can say to Satan, “Get out of here!  You’ve got nothing to say in here!  Be quiet and be gone!”  This is the ultimate exorcism!  It is the cross of Jesus that “exorcizes” Satan out of God’s courtroom.

Jesus was drawn to the cross for all those reasons.  And now we are drawn to Jesus’ cross.  Jesus says, But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. (v. 33)  That’s you and that’s me!  We are “drawn” to it.  We are “drawn” to things that are winsome and welcoming.  It is good.  It is safe.  It is healing.  It is peaceful.  It is comforting at the cross.

We get lost in it.  That is what Jesus says.  The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (v. 25)  The person who loves living  life on his own terms without Jesus and his cross will finally lose that life.  But something else happens for the person who is drawn to Jesus’ cross.  We hate our life in this world.  How does that happen?  We hate sin.  The sin within us.  The sin around us.   We hate that we are not yet home and safe with Jesus.  We hate the way the world treats the Savior we love.  But the person who “hates” this life because of love of the cross has eternal life with Jesus!

And that is why it is no mystery why Jesus was, and we are, drawn to the cross!  Because the cross means life and salvation!

Amen.