The Road to the Cross
John 12:12-19
Pastor Bob Hiller
4/17/2011
John 12:25-26 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.
1. Jesus says that if we are to __________ Him, we must follow Him to the __________.
2. The church has a consistent history of people who have confirmed their faith in Christ only to __________ their confession in the face of __________.
3. But, under the cross of Jesus, we are confirmed in our faith by _________ _________. The death of Christ _________ fruit in us.
Scripture Readings
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11
John 12:12-43
Take It With You!
Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the message to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with what we are hearing.
Jesus anticipates his immanent death. As I take in his words (Father, glorify your name), I realize that the roots of glory are in death and burial. This is going to take some re-learning... It looks as if I am going to have to let go of what I expected and enter a mystery.
But as with all gospel mysteries, it is not a total mystery. We are given hints and guesses. Gardeners know something about this. The flowers and vegetables that grow so wonderfully in their gardens are the consequences of seeds they planted in the ground.
Glory is what I am after. As it turns out, I am a slow learner. Glory is not just more of what I already have, or the perfection of what I already see. Do I suppose that the Christian life is my biological, intellectual, moral life raised a few degrees above the common stock? Do I think that prayer is a kind of mechanism, like a car jack, that I use to lever myself to a higher plane where I have better access to God?
The language of Jesus tells me something quite different: I become less. Instead of grasping what I value more tightly, I let it go. "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3) is the one way Jesus said it. "Those who want to save their life will lose it: and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25) is yet another way.
Eugene Peterson, Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers.
