Lifted Up

Lifted Up

Holy Monday – April 14, 2025

John 12:1-26

Rev. Nathan J. Wille - Trinity Lutheran Church, Clinton, IA

That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our third reading from the holy Gospel according to St. John in the twelfth chapter.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ our Lord said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” The evangelist then tells us that Jesus did this so as to show us by what kind of death Jesus was going to die.  To be lifted up is to be exalted, to be honored and praised by man.

And Jesus will be exalted, but only in jest. But Jesus also knew that His lifting up would not be in vain. And Jesus told His disciples that when He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself, that is to say, that the many would know Him as He who was lifted up. Jesus’ exaltation came when He was lifted upon the cross, having been crucified by the Jews whom He came to save, and at the hand of the Greeks, those who are Gentiles.

It is for this reason, and others, of course, that the apostle Paul has written, “We preach Christ crucified.” But Paul did not end the thought there. No, he continued, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The Gentiles, at Jesus’ exaltation upon the cross, laughed and derided Him. They had mocked Him, giving Him a sham of a coronation behind closed doors, hitting Him with the reed they had forced into His hand as His faux scepter. His royal diadem was thorns, not jewels, and His royal robe was scarlet, even before it was saturated with His precious blood. The Jews, those who claimed to be the sons of God, demanded that their brother, the faithful Son of God be condemned and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Those who stood and heard Jesus call to His Father heard the Father’s response, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Those who heard this thought that it had thundered, others attributed these words to an angel. But none, save those who believed Jesus to be the Christ, heard the voice of the Father. To the others, the Jews, it was a stumbling block, for He could not be the Son of God because they had so blinded themselves to the Word of God that they were planning to kill the long-awaited Christ. And to the Gentiles, it was folly, folly that a man could be the incarnate Son of God, especially in a world of many gods. And for this pathetic Jew to make such claims as to be the only-begotten Son of the one True God was simply heinous. 

The murderous Jews did not yet know what Jesus had foretold. They knew they wanted to kill Him, as they had wanted to kill Lazarus. They fell for the ancient lie that, if you want to make something disappear, you kill it. Cain tried to silence Abel’s voice in death, yet his blood cried from the ground. Lazarus had died, but was raised by this Man they hated to the point of death, yet also gladly received as the King of Jerusalem not many days before. The Jews were conflicted - either this Man is truly somebody important, or He is a fraud. He performed signs, but they attributed His great power to the fallen sons of darkness, the devil and his legion that fell with him. They had wanted Him to be king after He fed the thousands with the contents of a boy’s lunchbox, but they didn’t like when He spoke, for He often befuddled them and made them out to be liars and fools. He was rejected by the Jews, but the Gentiles wanted to see Him. Such a pattern would form the early life of the church, the bride of Christ.

It is Philip, a disciple of Jesus, who brought some Greeks to see Jesus. Well, they told Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew, and together the two went to Jesus with the report. To this Jesus responds, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus told the men that, “If a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus adds, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” He concludes this seemingly odd discourse by telling them, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. ”Jesus caps this discourse off by adding, “Now my soul is 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.” At this point, the Father speaks, and many do not hear what He said. 

The Greeks, desiring to see Jesus, will see Him suffer and die, having been crucified, and will see Him buried, only to sprout from the earth again in order to bear much fruit, no longer alone, but with His beloved bride at His pierced side.

And so you see that to know Jesus means to know His people, His bride, she who is with Him one flesh. When you think of the word “Church,” to not think of some gothic building out in who-knows-where. Think of the church as those who are with Jesus, where He has gone before.

Think of the church as she who is grafted into His pierced side, who, having been buried with Him, now bears much fruit that serves Him. In this, the Father glorifies Jesus, and through Jesus, He glorifies His beloved church. In this church, we see Jesus, not as some hippie pacifist, not as some role-model or life coach. We see Jesus as He wishes to be known here, as the apostle Paul portrayed Him, as Jesus Himself had said - lifted up, having been crucified. He hated His life in this world, as He saw first-hand the pain and toil that life here requires of His dear church. But His desire to rid the world of suffering was founded first by His Father, whose will it was that the sinner should not die, but live.

And so Jesus willingly embraced death, gladly took the shame and the scorn of those who mocked, beat, spat upon, and derided Him. As such, and in such a way, Jesus draws people to Himself, when they see Him having been crucified, lifted up, exalted above the earth in horrendous death, so that what was planted in the earth might with Him burst forth from the dead on the third day.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.