11.17.09
Dying to Live (Part 2)
Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me” (John 12:26). Where was Jesus going? What direction was he heading? He was heading toward the cross, and if we’re going to be his disciples, we have follow him there.
But where is there, exactly, in our lives today? What does it mean for us today to go to the cross? Well, first, we have to go there in our hearts. We have to, in our heart of hearts, surrender everything to him. We have to make a decision that our lives are no longer about us, about our happiness, about our comfort, about our selves – our lives are about honoring the Father. That was the focus of Jesus’ life, and that’s got to be the focus of our hearts.
If we follow Jesus completely in our hearts, then it will show up in our lives. It will affect our priorities and the choices we make about everything from our daily schedules to our family budgets to how we treat the people we really don’t like.
This doesn’t sound easy, does it? It wasn’t easy for Jesus, either.
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!” (John 12:27-28a)
Even though Jesus’ heart was troubled, he knew that it was something that he couldn’t avoid. On a much smaller scale, we are all called to act this courageously. I remember this verse coming to mind when I first moved to Africa – I had spent years preparing, but when the time came, I wanted to say, “Father, save me from this hour!” But the only way the Father could be glorified was by me going through with what he had prepared me for.
There are times that we plan and prepare for something, sometimes for years, but when the time comes to go through with it, it’s very scary. Maybe it’s going to college or getting married, or starting a family, or starting a business. Maybe it’s sharing Jesus with someone – someone who’s as different from you as the Greeks were to Philip and Andrew. Maybe it’s that decision that you’re not going to live for yourself anymore, that you are going to be baptized into Christ and die to yourself and live for him. It’s scary, but God has brought you to this point, and now he calls you to act courageously.
And when you do, you make your Father so proud.
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. (John 12:28b-33)
The death that Jesus had to die is both repulsive and attractive. It was certainly repulsive to Satan, to the prince of this world, who was defeated on the cross. It’s repulsive to those who are too proud to admit that they need someone to take their place, to bear the load of their sin. But it’s attractive to those of us who recognize that there is no other way, who are overwhelmed by the love of Jesus that gave him the courage to obey his Father, and who pray that we, too, may live courageously – with the courage to lose our own lives, so that we may find new life in him.
