JOHN 12:27-36 DELIVERING TO LIGHT

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. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. 36 Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

As his sacrificial death approaches we see an indication of its cost and its purpose. Only Jesus can know the full cost, but we get a glimpse through his wrestling with his temptation to petition God to deliver him from the experience. But the divine love is a self-sacrificial love and Jesus loves the Father and all humankind more than his own comfort and life itself. This is no naïve ignorance, but rather a knowing realism upon which Jesus makes the decision to achieve the purpose of the Father. Although the cross fulfills the curse of the broken covenant with God and becomes the vehicle through which we can know reconciliation with God, its ultimate purpose is to reveal to us who God is. Jesus is the light of revelation that informs our sin-darkened minds about God’s real nature. At the same time he is the light that is the lamp unto our feet as we seek to live according to God’s will in a world of evil and sin.

One who would be Jesus’ disciple will have Jesus’ purpose as his purpose. Through our obedience to God we make God known to the world. As imperfect disciples we can only point to the Son as the perfect revelation, but our purpose is still to love God by obeying him and thus making him known to the world. The other-centered character of our obedience is also to be manifested through our ministry of love to our neighbors by making God known to them. This love is not without cost. First we must be willing to die to our own selfish ambition and self-preservation. And second, we must be willing to suffer rejection and worse by a world that is hostile to the idea of a sovereign God and ultimate judgment. The prayer of faith is not “Deliver me from the valley of the shadow of death,” but rather “Walk with me through the valley of the shadow of death.”

Heavenly Father, as you revealed yourself to the world through your Son Jesus Christ, use me as a reflection of his light so that the people with whom I live might be attracted to the pure revelation. May I ever seek to shine with the light of your glory rather than the polished gloss of my own darkness. Amen.