[First posted in the March 2016 Week 4 newsletter.]
In John 12:27-33 we read:
“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.”
The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 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.
During this time of year Christians are caught up in thinking about Jesus’ death and resurrection. And many people do see it as a victory. Others see it as a legend, or a kind of symbol of spring. Some may not even think about the actual event but just see this time as embodying a religious observation.
It is difficult to say anything about this time that has not been said before, and I don’t pretend to. But if there is one thing I would like to accomplish in writing this, it is to shed a different light on the event upon which this time centers.
If we think back to the fall in the garden, we see that the serpent tempted Eve by making what she thought was a better offer. God was holding out — if she did what the serpent said, she’d gain things that God was denying her.
And throughout history to the present day Satan has portrayed himself as our friend, as some kind of liberator. But Jesus put his finger on something important when he said in John 8:44 that the devil is a murderer and a liar. Practically the first thing that happened after the fall was a murder, and throughout history people have built society on the twin pillars of violence and deceit.
From what Jesus says it is clear that the battle is joined. This is D-Day for God’s plan. Jesus shows us that he is of two minds about it. Shall he run for cover? Shall he preserve himself? Shall he pray that God save him? Or … shall he give himself to the battle?
He prays that God’s name be glorified. And at that moment we know that the battle will be won because God himself witnesses to that fact. God’s name will be glorified.
And on that basis the world will be judged — the Day of the Lord will come. And the ruler of the world — Satan — will be cast out.
But why? How? What does this “glorify God’s name” mean after all?
Clearly God glorifies nothing and wins nothing if he just monotonously goes along with Satan’s methods — lies and violence. If God just gets the bigger army, just brings a bigger gun, where’s the glory in that? And would not such a god be even scarier than Satan?
Instead Jesus does something completely unexpected. He lets himself be “lifted up from the earth.”
What does that mean? John makes it clear that this lifting up means the death of Jesus — and in particular the shame of death on a cross. That will “draw all people” to Jesus? That will win the battle? Why?
The answer becomes clear if we understand that the prize being fought for is humanity itself. Satan won a battle when he tricked Eve into thinking his way was better than God’s. But now, having given Satan thousands of years to demonstrate the merit of his rule, God will show that he is a completely different kind of ruler. He does not rule by force and deception. He rules by self-sacrifice and love.
Most rulers throughout history have sent their people into battle to fight for them. They have survived by the blood of their subjects. Here we see a different kind of ruler: one who gives his own blood that his subjects may survive. And let’s be honest: that’s better.
The deception that the serpent practiced on humanity is reversed when the Creator himself allows his Son to be killed on our behalf. The name of God is glorified when the reign of Satan is seen for the bloody pit of corruption that it is. And the result has been that “all people” — people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” — are ransomed for God.
C. S. Lewis tells us that love is Satan’s blind spot. The possibility that “the king of glory” would die completely escaped Satan’s though process. For Satan had a hammer — death — and we are all nails to him. But he finally overreached himself. He hammered on the nail that could not be driven, the rock that could not be broken, and death itself shattered.
And finally we see God’s true attitude toward us. Satan pretends to be our friend and liberator and everywhere he goes he leaves a trail of blood. But God comes with another kind of blood — a saving blood that speaks on our behalf. And that blood is the gift of God. It tells us that God “so loved us” that he gave his most precious possession for us. And Jesus — the Son himself — was willing.
And so death is swallowed up in victory. We can indeed rejoice with shouts of triumph:
Lift, O gates, your heads;
Be lifted, O ancient doors;
That the Glorious King may enter!
Who is this Glorious King?
Yahweh, mighty and heroic!
Yahweh, heroic in war!
Lift, O gates, your heads;
Be lifted, O ancient doors;
That the Glorious King may enter!
Who is this Glorious King?
Yahweh, at the head of armies!
He — he is the Glorious King!