Friday, March 30, 2007

Lifted up

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

"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. Father, glorify your name!"

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die (John 12:20-33).

When Jesus was brought to the Place of the Skull on Good Friday, the cross was laid down on the ground. Our Savior, who had been up all night, beaten and whipped, was made to lie down on that cross, His arms spread wide. After the large metal nails had been driven through His hands and feet, securing Him to the rough wood, the cross was pulled upright and fixed into place beneath the merciless Palestinian sun—our Lord had been lifted up from the earth, in order that He might die.

It sounds odd to our ears, to hear Jesus describe His crucifixion as being ‘lifted up.’ Ordinarily when we think of lifting something up, we think of positive things like lifting up our voices in praise, or lifting up our hearts in thankfulness. Good news is said to lift our spirits. When we are happy, we say that we are feeling ‘up’.

‘Up’ is the traditional direction of heaven. The Bible uses this kind of imagery everywhere. In Psalm 25 David prays, To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God; at the grave of Lazarus John tells us, Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me" (John 11:41-42). When Elijah reached the end of his earthly life, Scripture records, As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). On the day of Jesus’ Ascension Luke tells us, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight (Acts 1:9). And God often appeared to men in high places. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush on a mountain. The 10 Commandments were given by God on a mountain. The Temple (along with Jerusalem) was built on a mountain. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain. Since the Bible directs our attention upward towards God, it is not surprising that we associate ‘looking up’ with good things.

But it is for precisely these reasons that it is appropriate to look up at the cross and find something good there as well. Scripture teaches us to look up to find God; when we look up at that person dying on the cross above us, who is it that we see? None other than the very Son of God Himself. Scripture directs us to look up for mercy; when we gaze upon our suffering Lord, we find in Him God’s mercy, because the suffering that Jesus underwent was the suffering that we deserved for our sin-corrupted lives. God our Father created us to serve Him, but we instead live lives of continual disobedience to the will of God; in order to spare us from our heavenly Father’s justified anger, Jesus stood in as our substitute. When we look up at His nail-pierced hands, His whip-lacerated back, His beaten head, His spit-upon face, the blood dripping from where the crown of thorns cut His forehead, when we see these marks we realize that all this was endured to spare us from our deserved punishment. Jesus accepted His Father’s anger at our disobedience so that we can be forgiven. When we look up at the figure on the cross, we do indeed find God and His incredible mercy.

The cross is a terrible thing, and yet it is also a wonderful thing. It is a terrible thing, because although our Savior was completely obedient to His Father, He nevertheless was sentenced to die—it was the greatest injustice of history that condemned Jesus to death. It is a terrible thing that our lives have been so filled with evil thoughts, words and deeds that our Lord had to endure such pain in order to free us from God’s wrath. But the cross is also a wonderful thing. No where else in history has God demonstrated His love for us in such a powerful, life-changing way. No other gift of God can come close to the miracle of love that allows all of our wrongs to be set aside and forgotten.

Looking up at the dying Savior is indeed a good thing, for us. But it is also a good thing from God’s perspective. Our God does not willingly send anyone to hell; the cross is proof of how far our Lord was willing to go to break our fascination with evil things and focus our devotion on Him alone. The cross is God’s way of calling us to Him; Jesus said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Over and over throughout the Bible, God commands us to love Him, and to demonstrate that love by putting Him first in our lives. But these commands of God consistently fail to maintain our devotion; this is because commands do not create relationships; commands just set up opportunities for relationships to be shattered when the rules are broken. God’s Law does not save, it condemns. But love and forgiveness build relationships. When we learn that Jesus offered everything He had in order to provide us with forgiveness for our mistakes, we are moved to respond, not with rebellion, but in grateful love. When we experience the load of guilt for years of mistakes lifted from our souls, our response is to want to thank Jesus for this incredible gift; it is not fear of God’s Law that motivates us to try and do good works, it is thankfulness for all that Jesus did for us on the cross. This is how Jesus draws us to Himself—not through threats, but through the forgiveness which He earned the right to give on the cross.

There is a lesson here for our inter-personal relationships as well. What is at the center of most fights between husbands and wives? What is at the center of most conflicts between parents and children? All too often, it is a power struggle. God tells husbands that He holds them accountable for what goes on in their families, but frequently husbands misuse their authority and become dictators, with the result that their wives find ways to resist being ordered around. God tells parents that He holds them accountable for the raising of their children, but frequently parents misuse their authority, with the result that their children begin to hold them in contempt. Power struggles take homes that should be places of love and structure and turns them into chaotic prisons of resentment.

Jesus’ example to us is to draw us to Him through loving sacrifice and forgiveness. Let’s imagine two wooden poles connected by a clothesline. If one pole weakens and falls away from the other, the rope will pull the other pole down as well, but the poles will not end up any closer together when they hit the ground. However, if the weakened pole falls towards the second pole, the rope will pull the second pole closer, with the result that they end up falling into each other and supporting each other. Now instead of wooden poles, let us substitute a husband and wife, or a parent and child. Instead of clothesline, let us connect the two people with a relationship of love. Now, when one person feels as if the other is emotionally far away, he or she can tug on the relationship, trying to get the other person to move—but if he or she falls towards the ground away from the other person, all that will happen is that both will be pulled down, yet never end up any closer together. But if the one who feels wronged instead kneels towards the emotionally-rigid person, as he or she falls towards that other person the connection of love will pull both people towards each other, with the result that they end up falling into each other and supporting each other. Giving to another person in love is much more likely to win them over than by making demands in anger.

We are all weakened by sin. Our resolve to love and forgive is a brittle thing, all too easily broken by selfish impulses and a desire to protect our sinful pride. This is why we need Jesus living in us. Jesus said, I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (John 14:20). When Jesus lives in us, He makes it possible for us to love and forgive in a way that we never could on our own. When Jesus lives in us, we begin to see that our own needs for attention and respect are not as important as the needs of those who look to us for love and forgiveness. Jesus shows our hearts that it is better to devote your love to others instead of insisting on being the center of attention; it is better to forgive another instead of insisting that your rights be respected. Jesus shows our hearts that the way to build relationships is to give, not demand.

Because Jesus was lifted up, mankind is drawn to Him wherever the Good News of Christ crucified is spoken about. As Jesus is lifted up in our hearts, we see God and the gift of His mercy free us from shame and guilt. And as Jesus is lifted up in our lives, He will use our witness to draw even more to Him, and unite us together as one people at the foot of His cross—one people united in spending their lives looking up at the face of salvation.

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