What did HE say? (continued)
IF I BE LIFTED UP
We ended our discussion on being born again with the end of the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus which says: “and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15-15). (See note) ↓ Our discussion today begins with consideration of a similar saying by the Master from Chapter 12 of the same Gospel of John: “and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). We discussed the first instance at length yesterday and will repeat only a part in saying that in comparison to Moses lifting the serpent as a healing device so we can see the lifting of Jesus in the same light. Whether we speak of the crucifixion or the resurrection or His ascension the result is the same; the healing power of the Love of God in Christ is at work in all.
In the second instance this saying by the Master comes after a long dialogue which we should discuss so as to rightly understand the saying. This part of John’s gospel comes just after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and sometime later returned to Bethany where many people gathered to see them both. The next day after a dinner Jesus began His final trip to Jerusalem and many people were there to welcome Him and praise Him singing Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel. The Pharisees and did not care much for this and here we will begin the dialogue.
“For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him. And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying , Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am , there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (John 12:18-32).
This is a long segment but necessary to understand how the Master gets to the last sentence. We begin with unhappy Pharisees who are here acknowledging that Jesus has a great effect on the people (whole world) by way of His miracles and His teaching; that He is drawing all men to Himself. From here begins a strange dialogue which seems to have little or no purpose and that is the arrival of the Greeks (these are not Greek Jews or Hellenists but Gentiles****) who wish to see the Master. He does not ever answer His disciples about the Greeks but goes directly into the idea that the hour has come. There is no clear reason for this to be included in such detail so one can only surmise; of course, a variety of opinions abound. Let us say that these are Gentiles and this may be a notice to Jesus as of something for which He was waiting, for the Gentile world to know of Him as well as the Jews; His sign that all He had to do in His time on Earth had been accomplished.
Here the Master begins in telling His disciples and the gathered people in parable terms that it is in death the we have life. As the corn of wheat dies it brings forth a new plant and new fruit so too with man is His basic message here but let us look carefully. “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal“. Again, here is a saying that needs to be looked at from a spiritual perspective for it to make any real sense. One who loves his life in this world, this mortal life, is one who focuses upon it and attends to it and does not understand or see the Inner Man. He that hates his life in this world is one who does not attend to it or focus upon it but has found the Kingdom of God and dwells in the Presence so that his Inner Man, the Christ Within, is displayed through life in the world. This latter man will keep his life in the Kingdom for ever as a steady stream of consciousness. The allusion here is that the former man who loves this life will find that it ends abruptly at death; this is a discussion for a another post and a different subject.
The next statement is a another that seems to be just floating with no relevance but if we relate it to the analysis above of the previous verse it can be very meaningful. “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am , there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour“. If we look at this as saying that those who hate this life, those who value and focus upon the Kingdom, will serve Him and if we serve Him we should follow Him also. The idea of follow here is from the Greek word akoloutheo which the lexicon defines as to follow one who precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him to join one as a disciple, become or be his disciple, side with his party**; the Strong’s definition is similar. So these go together; to hate the world is to love the Lord and to choose His Kingdom and the spiritual life; in doing so we serve the Master and are told we should be His disciple also. For an example of what it means to serve the Lord we need only to look at this: “Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:37-40). This is a hard saying but it is from the Master and it is woven from Love.
Jesus now begins a dialogue with the Father and there are some differing opinions on some of it: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again“. The beginning of this could just be out loud comment matter-of-factly presented and then Father, glorify thy name or it could be one longer address to the Father. It matters not for the Father hears all; most especially when we are in His Presence and are living this life as a Spirit in form. Then the thunderous voice of God; all the people heard something, most knew not what it was.
We now get to our subject verse which is set up by the one preceding as well as this dialogue regarding the final hours. “Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” First the acknowledgement of the voice of God and His intent in letting the people there know that this is all real; real God and real Christ. Let us try to understand the word judgement in the next verse as to get a feel for its use here. It is from the Greek word krisis and is translated mostly as judgement; the lexicon says a separating, sundering, separation; a trial, contest, selection, judgment; opinion or decision given concerning anything, esp. concerning justice and injustice, right or wrong; sentence of condemnation, damnatory judgment, condemnation and punishment, the college of judges (a tribunal of seven men in the several cities of Palestine; as distinguished from the Sanhedrin, which had its seat at Jerusalem); right, justice**. Those who believe in and teach the ‘fire and brimstone’ theory of God and life automatically select the condemnation related definitions of the Greek word; we get to choose.
For our purposes we will define this as a separating or a selection which follows into the next idea of the prince of this world be cast out and the following of will draw all men unto me. Much of the Christian world looks at the prince as Satan or the devil; we should look at the prince as the qualities of these evils; as the lust and the anger and the greed that drives men’s lives. Let us look at it this way. The crucifixion or the resurrection or the ascension is the lifting up of the Christ, the symbol to all humanity of the Love of God. In this lifting up He will draw all men away from the prince which is the life of those noted above that loveth his life; who care for themselves and what is theirs. They will go willingly because of what is shown to them by the lifting up of the Christ and will be drawn to Him. A willing flow of men separating themselves from the reign of the prince and being drawn to the reign of the King. This is the whole story of the movement of men from darkness to light or from evil to good; from selfishness to group consciousness. This is the story of the last 2000 years and it continues. There was no timetable in Jesus words. If you look around the world over the centuries you will see evidence of the world coming to Christ. This as the Love of God permeates the Earth being grasped and understood and practiced by more and more people every day.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace, even among the troubled.
Live in joy, without possessions.
Like the shining ones.
The winner sows hatred because the loser suffers.
Let go of winning and losing and find joy.
There is no fire like passion, no crime like hatred,
No sorrow like separation, no sickness like hunger,
And no joy like the joy of freedom.
Today’s Quote of the Day is from the Dhammapada (on JOY) ; a collection of the saying of the Buddha. Much the same as what we discuss In the Words of Jesus. And what is freedom but the release of our hearts and minds loving this life in this world and being in His Presence.
↓ Note: The remainder, from verses 16 through 21, are thought by some to be John’s words and not Jesus’ although they are in red print in many bible versions. Vincent sets forth several reasons for the view that they are John’s based on tense and the selection of words used****.
- ** from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- *◊ The Dhammapada Translated by Thomas Byrom
