Well, good morning, everyone. It's good to be with you.
Let me pray.
Lord Jesus, pour your Spirit out on us.
Open your Word up to us. Let us see you more clearly.
Let us know you better, be more like you, and follow you more closely.
Amen.
I always love preaching from the Gospels.
I think I say this every time I preach from the Gospels,
because it is a chance to stop and look closely at Jesus and study Him.
Everything Jesus said and did was catalytic.
It was meant to transform the people who were around Him.
And our passage this morning from John 12 is no different.
I also like the Gospel of John probably a little bit more than the other Gospels.
I also say this, I'm not supposed to have favorites.
John's my favorite.
And I think I even read some of our ones that everybody has a favorite Gospel,
one that they connect with the most.
And some people even try to draw some personality or psychological meaning
from why somebody likes this Gospel versus another,
what it all means.
And that's not what today's about, but I just thought that was kind of interesting.
But in a big super generalization, Mark focuses on what Jesus did.
Matthew focuses on what Jesus taught.
Luke focuses on who Jesus paid attention to.
John focuses on who Jesus is.
So you can have favorites, but you kind of need them all.
And they're all carefully constructed, but John's narrative is especially well constructed in my view.
He communicates a lot of what he says as much restructure as it's actually what he says about Jesus.
So there's a lot going on into today's passage.
And I want to look at how John brings us to this moment in John 12,
to the conversations that happen between different actors,
and then what happens within those interactions.
It's always about what Jesus says and does and what he tells us about him.
So let's start with how did John get us to this moment.
So it all starts back in chapter 11, when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
And that episode starts a pattern that characterizes each scenario that we come across
as we make our way to today's passage.
It's a pattern of positive and negative reactions to Jesus that are driving him towards the cross.
It's a pattern of opposite reactions plays out against a general movement
of greater and greater visibility and prominence for Jesus.
So let's look at this pattern briefly.
So when Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, there are two reactions.
Some of the crowd are deemed under faith in Jesus,
but others quickly head back to Jerusalem to convene an emergency meeting to kill him.
There are really strong opposite reactions.
There's no question about the fact that a miracle happened.
It's the difference in reactions.
And not only that, but if the council didn't already know who Jesus was,
they all know who he is now.
And not only that, but after this episode,
this is where it went back to Jerusalem,
and the crowds in Jerusalem in the temple were gathering for the festival,
were all talking about him and looking for him.
Jesus was creating more reactions to himself and becoming more prominent.
And in a small way, this pattern repeated.
There was a quiet dinner of my friends in the home of Martha and Mary afterwards.
And Mary adores Jesus by anointing his feet with an extensive ointment.
It's a beautiful time of adoration, gratitude, and even worship.
Judas, however, criticizes Mary in front of everyone for her actions.
Once again, strong polar opposite reactions to Jesus and who he is.
And not only that, but when the chief priests hear that the crowd is coming to see Jesus
and also to see Lazarus, they decide they're going to kill Lazarus too.
It's amazing.
Jesus continues to be prominent.
Of course, it gets even better.
Jesus rises to Jerusalem triumphantly.
Crowds come out.
They're praising him.
They're waving palm branches.
And all of their praise expresses a messianic faith.
The Pharisees, on the other hand,
all complain how terrible it is that the whole world is going after him.
Polar opposites.
Faith and worship, on the one hand.
Resistance to Jesus, on the other.
And all in a moment, even greater prominence for Jesus.
Every single one of these moments are on this trajectory of greater prominence
and of stronger and stronger, polar reactions to Jesus.
And so in this moment in John 12,
there's this atmosphere that's charged with the tension between adoration
and acclaim, on one hand, and disparagement,
even a murderous hate, on the other.
A tension that grows as Jesus' own prominence grows.
So, in our passage,
there's this hothouse of fervor,
both for and against Jesus.
And two of Jesus' disciples, Philip and Andrew,
have a moment in this part of our readings.
It starts with some Greeks who want to come see Jesus.
Though John deliberately evokes
an earlier moment in the gospel for the disciples
who came to Jesus at the end of chapter one.
And it signals to us that this is really,
this passage is really the passage of our discipleship.
At the end of chapter one,
Nathaniel,
Andrew approaches Simon
and brings Simon to Jesus.
And similarly,
Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and brings him to Jesus.
In this passage,
some Greeks come to worship,
God fears,
and they approach Philip,
asking to see Jesus.
Philip goes to Andrew,
and then they go to Jesus with three groups' request.
Philip and Andrew have,
I know,
a good instinct,
a well-developed instinct
for how to come to Jesus
and how to bring people to Jesus.
We see this in the earlier chapter
in chapter one.
But even so,
those instincts,
in this moment,
need to be developed,
refined,
and refocused a bit.
With all the heightened fervor
and the greater prominence
that Jesus is experiencing,
the request of the Greeks
would have seemed like
a good next logical step
in Jesus' current trajectory.
Sitting at the pinnacle of acclaim
by the crowds in Jerusalem
that Gentiles are now also asking
to come and see Jesus
could signal
the beginning of a wider ministry for Jesus
to the wider world,
a greater platform
and a greater reach.
So Philip and Andrew,
as part of Jesus' entourage,
as part of the inner circle of 12,
tried to facilitate
what they thought
was Jesus' next phase,
a next big step
where Jesus would hit the big time.
So Jesus replies,
the hour has come
for the Son of Man
to be glorified.
And you can all text your hand
or to Philip
fist bumping each other
and saying,
I told you so.
It's the time for Jesus
to be glorified.
This is the moment
we read the situation correctly.
We were right to do that.
But then,
and it's a big but then,
Jesus reframes the situation.
It's kind of jarring in some ways.
He totally upends
the whole thinking
about what's going on
and all that he says next.
He says three things
about discipleship
that needs to unpack you.
Before we get into that,
I want to focus you on something.
Something I want you to see
about Jesus
and his response
to the disciples.
He's not mad at them.
He's not angry,
disappointed,
exasperated,
or in any way critical
of their response,
of the way they're coming to him.
His words,
that reframe the situation,
are entirely
without judgment.
And what I want you to see,
the first thing
I want you to take away
from this morning
is that as his disciple,
Jesus is the same way
with you
as he is with them.
He is never disappointed,
exasperated,
or in any way critical
of you
when your intentions
are right,
but you still get it
a bit wrong.
Jesus,
the way he was
with Philip and Andrew,
he is like this
with you right now.
There is no condemnation,
not now or ever.
Let's look at how Jesus
reframes the situation.
First thing Jesus says,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth
and dies,
it remains alone.
But if it dies,
it bears much fruit.
This is the first phrase,
the first thing
that Jesus said
that would have been
really jarring.
Jesus drops a death metaphor
on them.
A dying metaphor.
And all the fist bumping
probably came to a halt
right at that moment.
But it's not entirely
all about death
because Jesus articulates
a spiritual principle
that it's only through death
that new life
and fruitfulness
is possible.
This is not the way
of the world.
It's not the way
even of Washington, D.C.
Then Jesus says
something next
and he takes this metaphor
and he extends it
to people.
Whoever loves his life
loses it.
Whoever hates his life
in this world
will keep it
for eternal life.
It just keeps getting better.
In other words,
by letting go
of the world
and the flesh,
by letting go
of all that is dark
and empty,
by letting go
of prominence,
platforms,
influence,
and all that narrative
of impact
on all the world's terms,
the very things
that Philip
and Andrew
and likely
the other disciples
thought was happening
for Jesus right now,
by letting go
of these things,
you get a higher life,
a whole life,
true life
and eternal life,
a real life
that lasts forever.
And then Jesus
says this,
if anyone serves me,
he must follow me
and where I am,
there will my servant
also be.
If anyone serves me,
the Father
will honor him.
In other words,
the path
to this higher
real life
that lasts for eternity
is by serving,
following,
and being with Jesus.
And the disciples
would find out shortly
that to follow
and be with Jesus
is to go through death
and ultimately new life,
his pattern
of the cross
and resurrection.
So a second thing
I want you to see,
the words themselves
I'll come back to,
but a second thing
that I want you to see
about how Jesus
interacts with his
two disciples
is that as much
as he gently
but powerfully
reframes the situation
for Philip and Andrew,
you should expect him
to be the same way
with you.
We should not miss
his gentle nudges
and whispers
of follow me.
In this regard.
So already,
if this passage
had stopped there
and the sermon
stopped there,
there'd be a lot
to unpack,
but it kind of
keeps going
and it honestly
gets a bit wild.
There's this four-way
conversation that starts
between Jesus,
his two disciples
who are listening,
God,
his father,
and the crowd
around him.
We find out
in verse 34
that Jesus
and Philip
and Andrew
are not in a quiet
room somewhere
trying to talk
to Jesus
about his next
big moves,
but they seem
to be in the midst
of a crowd.
How much
of all this
conversation
between Jesus
and Philip
and Andrew
the crowd
could hear
isn't clear,
but they must
have heard
some of it.
But all that
follows definitely
happens in the
hearing of the crowd
and Jesus
is every bit
as intentional
with this moment
as he is
with his two
disciples.
So Jesus
drops these
heavy metaphors
on his disciples,
but then he
does something.
He gets vulnerable.
He shares
that his soul
is troubled
and he feels
a bit like
asking his father
to save him
from this hour.
And maybe
a third thing
I want you to see
and notice about Jesus
apart from his words.
He's vulnerable,
open,
and emotionally
expressive.
The way he is
with Philip
and Andrew
is how he is
or at least
how he wants
to be with you.
You should expect
him to be vulnerable
and emotionally
accessible to you
when you talk
with him.
And then Jesus
seems to raise
his voice a little
and prays out loud,
Father, glorify
your name.
And this all
by itself
would have been
an encouraging
and an inspiring
example of a
righteous person
making the right
choice in a hard
moment,
but more happens.
an audible voice
comes from heaven
affirming that
the Father
has glorified
his name
and will do
so again.
The crowd
around Jesus
heard this.
They heard his
prayer to the Father
and then they heard
this noise
coming from the sky.
Some thought
it was thunder,
some said,
well,
they thought it was a voice,
but they thought
probably an angel.
Jesus heard it
as a voice
and he understood
whose voice it was.
And even further,
he discerned
that the voice
was actually
for their sake,
not his.
It confirmed
all that Jesus
said to Philip
and Andrew
prior to this
and maybe even
to some of the
crowd around him.
And then Jesus
makes the full
connection
between his
statements
and how the path
of death
leads to new life.
Jesus draws
this four-way
conversation together
by foretelling
to the crowd
what kind of death
he was going to die.
Though the crowd
doesn't seem to pick
this up right away.
Jesus states
that his death,
the death he's going
to die,
will result
in the ruler
of the world
being cast out,
the one who is
ultimately responsible
for all that is wrong
with the world.
And it will also result
in all people
being drawn to himself.
Jesus' death
will bring new life.
So there are things
to see in this passage.
Jesus
related to his disciples
in a certain way
and we should take
some learning from this
about who he is.
And he said some things
that should challenge us.
Jesus is never angry
or disappointed with you.
Come with your good intentions
and don't worry
if you might get it wrong.
He's very,
he's interested
in the conversation
with you.
He will not judge you.
You can expect him
to reframe
and direct you on things.
It doesn't mean
he thinks you got it wrong.
He just wants to
set you straight
because he loves you.
So be open to him.
Be open to who he is
and how he is.
And more than just open,
actually ask him
to let you experience him
in these ways.
Jesus' three statements
to his disciples
should challenge all of us
but honestly,
they challenge me personally.
Probably like some of you,
my day job
has a lot to do
with strategy
and building partnerships
and communications.
There's getting leadership
and getting the organization
on platforms,
having a more prominent voice
on policy debates.
There's a lot of messaging
and talking points
and trying to influence people
and power
to make the decisions
that you want
for the cause
that you're trying to advance.
And in some ways,
when I read this passage,
I recognized
what Philip and Andrew
were doing
because I look for ways
to do the same thing.
It's kind of my daily bread.
Like some of us in this room,
I work hard
at all of these things.
Changing the world
is what gets
many of us
out of bed in the morning.
And I can make
a clear connection
between my kingdom values
and my day job.
But as valuable
and important
as all those things are,
they are in the end
not the ways
of the kingdom.
They're not going to work
when it comes
to how I follow Jesus.
So,
I'm not about
to quit my job.
None of you should either.
So don't go away
saying,
Rob thinks I should
quit my job.
It's not a kingdom job.
That's not what I'm saying.
Keep your jobs.
But we should all
have the spiritual sensitivity
and the discernment
that Jesus walked in
in today's passage
to be able
to see the kingdom
and the ways
of the Father
at work around us.
I think it means
recognizing
that for all
our efforts
to be successful
in changing the world,
there are limits
to what we can do.
It means recognizing
that in the end,
it's the Father
who will glorify
his own name
and that he will
change the world
in his own way
and in his own time
to a level
and a depth
that our best
collective efforts
probably can't achieve.
That's a humble posture.
It also means
that if we are serious
about serving Jesus,
about following him
and being with him,
we should expect him
at times to ask us
to walk the path of death
to have new life.
Are we open to that?
It might mean
that when we're out there
doing what we do
to change the world,
praying that God
works through us
and gives us the wisdom
to do it,
that we have the heart posture
of John the Baptist
who said,
he must increase,
but I must decrease.
It's hard.
So I want to give us
a moment now
to reflect quietly
on Jesus' words
from this passage.
I want to ask you
to ask Jesus,
what are you saying
to me right now
through these three statements
that you said
to your disciples?
So let's just take
a quiet moment
and then I'll close
us in prayer.
Amen.
Lord, as I prayed
at the beginning,
pour your spirit
out on us.
We want to see you
more clearly,
know you more deeply,
be more like you,
and follow you
more closely.
And as always,
if you want to talk
about any of what
I talked about today,
if you feel like the Lord
is stirring things up
in you and you want
prayer,
please reach out.
Any of us would love
to talk with you
or pray with you.
Amen.