Jesus came to save the world
I came not to judge the world, but to save it.
All men are drawn to Christ
Jesus Predicts His Death
John 12:20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, 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. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever 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 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. 28Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ[f] will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Have you noticed there are some people who seem to know the reason they were born from the time they were small children? Then, there are those who more or less fall into the path they take on this earth. Jesus is one of those who knew His destiny early on. I often wonder just when Jesus became aware of who is was and what he would have to do. I imagine by the time he was twelve and teaching in the temple God’s plan had been revealed to him.
Jesus knew the reason he left his throne in heaven–he knew the life he would live, the friends he would make, the disciples who would follow, and those who would not. And now, as he neared his death, he knew the agony that would soon be his, but the glory that would be his Father’s. May we continue to glorify the Father and the Son by seeking holiness and turning away from the darkness, and into the glorious light.
Two hundred feet ahead
Ribbon of road stretches
toward tomorrow, night
looms larger, vision
impaired, but car
lights illumine
the path
before me, and
I can see clearly
two hundred feet ahead.
Ribbon of life stretches
toward the unknown,
precarious, ever
changing, vision
impaired, but
God delivers
me through
the dark shadows,
for He can see clearly
the pitfalls ahead.
If I can depend on car
lights to transport me
over potholes and around
the next bend, how much more
can I depend on my Savior,
whose vision is limitless
whose love never ends.
God is always with me
of that I am sure,
the need to know
unimportant,
the need to see,
petty somehow, faith’s
headlights shine the way
before me, and I am
two hundred feet closer now.
(c) 2009 Carol J. Grace
Jesus enters Jerusalem
The Triumphal Entry
John 12:12The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna![c]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[d]
“Blessed is the King of Israel!” 14Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15″Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”[e]
16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
Have you ever been in the crowd when the President of the United States was speaking? When I was twelve years old President John F. Kennedy came to Arkansas to dedicate Greers Ferry Dam. He addressed the crowd on October 3, 1963, and later that day spoke at the State Fair and Livestock Show. My aunt checked my sister and me out of school so that we could be in the crowd.
I wonder how many twelve year olds were in the crowd that day when Jesus entered triumphantly to the sound of hosannas and the waving of palm branches? Did they realize the import of what was happening? Did they feel the electricity in the crowd? Did they know how that week would end?
It is important to remember that those crying “hosanna” were not the same people who one week later would be spitting upon Jesus as he went from court to court so that the authorities could legally put Him to death. And it is equally important to see that Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah as he rode into town. After all, most of the travel in Jesus’ day was on foot, so the fact that He arrived in Jerusalem on the back of a donkey was unusual for Him. And, a donkey was an animal of submission, a work animal, rather than a powerful steed which could have reinforced His followers’ belief that Jesus was a conquering King come to set the Israelites free from Roman rule.
Jesus, of course, was in Jerusalem to set His people free, but not from the bondage which they wanted to escape. Instead, He was there to set them, and all people, free from the bondage of sin.
Have you been set free from the bondage of sin, or are you still waiting for someone to free you from debt or some other obsession? The same Jesus who entered Jerusalem 2000 years ago is waiting to make a triumphant entry into your heart. Open your heart’s door and let the King of Kings make His home within you.
Mary anoints Jesus with perfume
John 12
Jesus Anointed at Bethany
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5″Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.[b]” 6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7″Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. ” It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.
During the first century A.D. it was a common practice when a visitor entered a home in the Middle East to have a servant wash his feet. The roads were dusty, chances are the visitor had traveled by foot for a long distance, and foot washing was a sign of hospitality. But in this case, it was not a servant who washed Jesus’ feet, but a beloved follower, Mary, the sister of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. And, Mary did not use water to cleanse Jesus’ feet, but a rare and expensive perfume.
Judas, ever concerned about money, criticized Mary for her generosity, saying she had foolishly wasted this precious substance. Jesus, however, made the point that what Mary did was good, and that this perfume had been saved just for this purpose.
I want Mary’s heart. I want to be so in love with my Savior that I am willing to spare no expense to show Jesus the love I have for Him. Father, let it be.
The plot to kill Jesus
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place[c] and our nation.”
49Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53So from that day on they plotted to take his life.
54Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
55When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the Feast at all?” 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might arrest him.
Footnotes:
John 11:48 Or temple
Can you imagine yourself in the crowd outside of Lazarus’ tomb when the dead man walked from the darkness of the tomb and into the light of day? Would you believe a dead man was resurrected, or would you think it some sort of trickery?
The interesting thing about the Scriptures we are reading today is that the Chief Priests and Pharisees of the Sanhedrin did not suffer from disbelief. Instead, they were concerned that if Jesus were left alone to perform even more miracles that everyone would believe He was the Messiah, and the Romans would take both the temple and the nation, perhaps even dispersing the Jews again.
It is hard for us to understand how religion and politics were so intertwined during the time Jesus lived. And, for those of us who live in the United States we still are sometimes unable to comprehend the blending of these two elements that still exists in places like Iran and Iraq today. The fact is that the Sanhedrin (a judicial body made up of leaders from each sector in Israel) were less concerned with whether Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah than with the possible negative implications toward the power they enjoyed by virtue of the Roman authorities.
I was talking with some Christians the other day who are also of Jewish descent. In fact one of them was raised in the Jewish faith and later converted to Christianity. They were attending a Bible study where the leader boldly proclaimed that the Jews were to blame for Jesus’ death.
It has been almost 2000 years since Jesus died yet we are still accusing the Jews of His death? Neither the Jews nor the Romans killed Jesus, but merely played their part in the sacrifice that was planned from the foundation of the world. Jesus left His home in heaven, voluntarily, to be born into this world to become the spotless lamb for sinnners slain (Phil 2:5-11). Jesus allowed the authorities to capture Him, voluntarily, and sentence Him to death upon a cross. And, Jesus remained on the cross, voluntarily, until He had taken the sins of the world upon Himself and His blood was shed to cover those sins and restore each of us to a right relationship with God the Father. Lastly, Jesus’ body remained entombed for three days, voluntarily, until He arose on that first Easter morning, victorious over sin, death and hell.
Do not be deceived. Regardless of how powerful the Sanhedrin thought itself to be, regardless of how much authority the Romans carried, neither of them could have captured, tried and put to death our Lord without His consent. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.
Believe.
Seeking Holiness 