Or, Who is this Son of Man?
Scripture: John 12:27-36
Date: May 26, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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Some God-fearing Greeks came to Jerusalem for the Passover and wanted to see Jesus, they wanted to meet with Him (John 12:21). First they approached Philip to see if Philip could introduce them. Philip talked it over with Andrew and both of them went and told Jesus (verse 22).
Jesus answered that “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (verse 23). Not only does that seem disconnected from the meeting request, He followed that answer with an even less obviously connected illustration about dying. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (verse 24). That has to be referring to His hour and His glory in His death, right? Yes, it does. But His next step was application in the direction of disciples.
A disciple who desires eternal life must die to his life in this world (verse 25). A disciple who desires Jesus must follow Jesus in dying. For a disciple, death leads to fellowship with God and honor from God (verse 26).
That fruit all depends, though, on Jesus’ own death, the subject in verses 27-36. Jesus continues to reveal His glory. He continues to reveal His nature, His identity. And He explores the abundant fruit of His own death. We’ll see a back and forth between Jesus and a crowd as He tells them things they didn’t understand, at least for some not until later.
Jesus follows His analogy about a grain of wheat dying and the application for disciples dying for sake of fruit with application for Himself. The conversation started here - Gentiles who wanted to see Him and He said that “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (verse 23). Glory shines brightest in His death and yet, even with that, death troubles Jesus.
”Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28, ESV)
This is sort of like a prayer soliloquy. Now is the same as “the hour” in verse 23. Jesus’ soul is troubled as He enters this time of suffering and sacrifice. Troubled is the same word used in 11:33. He is stirred, unsettled, disturbed. Herod was “troubled” when he heard about another king being born (Matthew 2:3).
Jesus didn’t face His death with stoic coolness. He agonized before and during His torture and murder. He reveals His heart and says that the struggle was real. John didn’t write about the Gethsemane prayers but this story opens the same window.
He knew better than anyone the fruit that would come from His work. He’ll specify three parts of it in verses 31-32. So why the struggle? Because He also knew better than anyone the judgment He was about to endure. He knew all the sin and all the wages of righteous wrath due that sin. We may agonize over death due to our weak faith or unclean consciences. Jesus died for those, too. No death was or could be more dreadful and no one knew more clearly the price that had to be paid.
Yet He met His sense of struggle/agony with His sense of purpose. He replied to His own trouble, And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour . It harvests the question I asked last week about the perspective of a seed. What does a seed think at planting time? It knows that being planted is its purpose. To be fulfilled it must die. It applied to the disciples and now Jesus applies it to Himself. To complete the mission assigned to Him by His Father He must die. He took on flesh in order to give His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51). He left the glory of heaven in order to be lifted up in the glory of the cross.
The trouble was deep enough that He was tempted to avoid it. But His sense of purpose deep enough that He walked toward obedience.
His ultimate passion comes out in actual prayer: “Father, glorify your name.” In other words, “Let the full revelation of who You are be made clear.”
The Father responded, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The Father spoke two other times, during Jesus’ baptism and His transfiguration, neither of which does John record. The Father already glorified His name through His Son’s incarnation and righteousness and signs and teaching. Jesus’ earthly life was marked by the Father’s getting glory for the Father through Him. The Father was not about to stop. He would glorify His name again in the death and resurrection of His Son.
That means at least this: the sacrifice of Jesus belongs to all of God. The Father glorifies His own name by the Son’s sacrifice. More than a comment about the equality of the Persons of the Trinity, this is a comment about the unity of their heart.
The crowd missed it.
The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” (John 12:29, ESV)
We’re still in the same context of Philip and Andrew asking Jesus if the Greeks could see Him which apparently took place near a crowd. Based on what John says, no one except Jesus understood the voice. Some commentators assume that the disciples heard the voice and understood it. I think the disciples understood it later, after the cross. Either way, Jesus responds to those who didn’t understand it.
Some in the crowd thought it had thundered . They took it as an omen. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” In both cases, they heard exactly what God wanted them to hear.
Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. (John 12:30, ESV)
He didn’t need confirmation from heaven. He knew that the Father always hears Him (John 11:42). So how can He say to those that didn’t comprehend the voice that the voice was for their sake?
Things that matter matter whether or not we understand them. Things that matter matter now and later, and sometimes we get it later. Some in the crowd, including the disciples, including John himself, remembered later, after Jesus’ resurrection, the voice and were taught (by the Holy Spirit perhaps) what the voice said. Just because they didn’t understand in the moment doesn’t mean that it wasn’t for their sake.
On a lower level but to demonstrate the point, parents tell their kids many things that their kids only partially grasp in the moment. Kids may not put some pieces of the puzzle together until decades later when they have their own kids, but they still had the piece given to them. We are so accustomed to making immediate judgments that we assume something is wrong or useless if we don’t understand it. That’s a mistake. Jesus doesn’t always stop to make sure everyone tracks.
The cross accomplished immediate and eternal things.
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:31–33, ESV)
Two “nows” and one “when” identify three fruits.
First, Now is the judgment of this world . To say that the judgment is now does not mean that no judgment occurred before now (from Jesus’ perspective) or that no judgment remained for later. It means that the decisive judgment was made, and the decisiveness proves that the world is sinful and that the sins of many were paid for (the fruit in verse 32). Ironically, those who thought they were judging Jesus were being judged by Jesus.
Second, now will the ruler of this world be cast out . The ruler of this world is Satan, identified by various descriptors in John’s Gospel. By killing Jesus Satan ruined himself. In winning he lost. The cross was the blow to the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), the “ancient dragon” as John calls him in Revelation (12:7; 20:2). We know that Satan still exerts his power (in Ephesians 2 Paul referred to him as the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the songs of disobedience). But the cross secured his defeat. The dividing line in history was crossed. The cross changes everything. This world is judged. The ruler of this world is driven out.
Third, And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself . John comments in verse 33 about what Jesus meant. He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die . So lifted up means lifted up from the earth on the cross. By being lifted up in death, Jesus will draw all people to Himself.
A number of things should be said about “all people,” though I won’t say all of them.
Jesus will draw all kinds of people, Jews and Gentiles, yes. But He will draw each and every child, servant, elect with certainty; all of them. If He is lifted up then His drawing will certainly be accomplished. His death saves, effectively, all His people.
Right on cue the crowd missed His point again.
So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” (John 12:34, ESV)
A variety of passages in the Old Testament, the Law , indicated that the Messiah, the Son of David, would rule forever. One example would be: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). So the crowd argued with Jesus. They understand that He is speaking about death and leaving. How can this fulfill the promise? If He thinks He is the Son of Man , then Who is this Son of Man? or, “What sort of promise-fulfiller are you, Jesus?”
The crowd asks a specific question and Jesus gives them not only an answer, but an admonition.
So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness 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, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:35–36a, ESV)
The reason that they couldn’t understand His explanation about the Son of Man was that they were in darkness. It doesn’t matter how well you can describe something to a blind person, they can’t see it. The crowd was in the dark and were about to be overtaken by the dark. Darkness can’t overcome the light but it can overcome persons.
While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light . Sons are derivative. They have the properties of their parents. Jesus does, so do His children. If we believe the light then we are sons of light and reflect light to the world.
In all this Jesus is glorified (verse 23) by the Father and the Father is glorified by Jesus (verse 28). The judgment of the world, the defeat of the dragon, and the salvation of His sheep glorifies Christ.
Do you want to know the glory of God? You don’t need to know Greek. You don’t need to be literate. You don’t even need sight. Consider the cross! Glory is nailed to the tree. The cross was His triumph more than the triumphal entry. The cross was a greater victory than Armageddon will be. The cross was His glory more than the handiwork of the heavens. Jesus’ death was not only His mission. It is a revelation of what makes God great: sacrificial love to death for the life of others. Much fruit comes from His death.
Looking back at this revelation from our standpoint, we see ourselves as those who believe in the light and so are sons of light. But I wonder if we don’t see ourselves too passively, as sons of light who look forward to a great inheritance but have no motivation to work for it.
Jesus first applied the dying to disciples (verses 25-26). He promised fruit to them from dying and then described the fruit from His dying. He judged the world. He threw out the devil. He draws men to Himself. He did it as the light. And, if we are sons of light, then are we not participating in the outworking of His death? Are we not harvesting the fruit He produced? We didn’t cause the fruit, we didn’t pay for it, but don’t we pick it?
We judge the world by our daily dying. That’s why they hate true, sacrificial love: it judges their selfish-seeking “love.” We beat back the dragon, announcing to the world that the emperor has no clothes. He is a lame duck ruler. We draw men, not to ourselves, but to Jesus as we follow Jesus. This world hates us because we remind them of the God they hate in darkness.
It is part of the reason that men don’t want a dying Savior. They don’t want to worship a God who dies to bear much fruit. That sounds too painful. It is painful. And, by faith, death overcomes the world.