Words whispered over a coffin...
OBC
6/30/02
John 11:54-12:50
Final Worship
The most sacred words I have been privileged to hear as a pastor are not the vows heard at weddings, prayers for salvation, but “Words whispered over a coffin...”
·Regrets that things that should have been said were left unsaid.
·Amazing love gets poured out. Sacred words from father to daughter; son to a father. Usually it is unrestrained emotionally and uninhibited by the presence of others. John 12 is that kind of section of Scripture:
I. Extravagant worship of Mary (12:1-8)
II. Expectant worship of the multitude (12:12-19)
III. Seeking worship of the Gentiles (12:20-36)
Stifled worship of the rulers (12:37-50)
Extravagant worship of Mary (12:1-8)
Six days before Passover. Amazing dinner with a fascinating guest list.
(Mk. 14:3 says it was at the home of Simon the leper)
Jesus, Simon, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Judas, John, etc. (Mt. 26:6-13 Mk. 14:3-9)
Two guys…each one “one-upping” the other with story after story. My skin was white and coming loose! Mine was rotting and deteriorating. Simon was unwanted. Lazarus was a wanted man in that they wanted to kill this walking miracle. Simon talking about being “whole” and Lazarus talking about being brought out of a “hole!”
During the course of the evening, Mary enters the room. She has come for one purpose; to worship Christ in an extravagant way. She comes carrying a jar of pistic nard.
It was:
Costly –grown in the Himalayan mountains - a year’s worth (300 denarii =$40,000)– perfume was usually saved for festivities or funerals – Jesus links it to his death. As the fragrance of extravagant love made its way through the house, Judas makes a stink. Judas objects to this expenditure of resources. This is the passage from which we learn that Judas was dishonest. Judas was a con man. Yet, he was trusted by his peers. He objected because it was so opposite to what was going on in him. He could not fathom this.
This moment is to be felt emotionally. (Each gospel has an account of anointing (Luke has Mary Magdalene’s) – everywhere the gospel goes…
Uninhibited – she used her hair (At that time, only a prostitute would have let her hair down in public).
Humbling – not just his head, but his feet with her tears and hair (it was a servant’s work to attend to the feet).
Mary is impelled by overpowering emotion and oblivious to the censure of those around her. Mary worships with extravagant love.
One day a plain village woman
Driven by love for her Lord
Recklessly poured out a valuable essence
Disregarding the scorn
And once it was broken and spilled out
A fragrance filled all the room
Like a prisoner released from his shackles
Like a spirit set free from the tomb
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of you, Jesus
My most precious treasure
Lavished on thee
Broken and spilled out
And poured at your feet
In sweet abandon
Let me be spilled out
And used up for thee
Lord you were God’s precious treasure
His loved and His own perfect Son
Sent here to show me the love of the Father
Just for love it was done
And though You were perfect and holy
You gave up Yourself willingly
You spared no expense for my pardon
You were used up and wasted for me
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of me, Jesus
My most precious treasure
Lavished on me
Broken and spilled out
And poured at my feet
In sweet abandon
Let me be spilled out
And used up for Thee (me) Gloria Gaither and Bill George
Kneel to worship (if you are physically able) in an intimate season of worship this morning.
II. Expectant worship of the multitude (12:12-19)
John's account of our Lord's so-called triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem is very brief:
(read Jn. 12: 12-15) The traditional view of this event is that it was a well-deserved recognition by our Lord of his Messiahship; that at last he was receiving a proper welcome as a King, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah which is quoted here. The crowd cried out, "Hosanna!" which means, "Save us now!" They saw him as a conqueror and acknowledged him to be the king of Israel. Most of us have grown up with the traditional idea that this was indeed a moment of joy and triumph for our Lord; that he was at last being received as he ought to be. There are hints of a different picture.
A reading of the other gospels makes clear that this was not actually a welcome by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. John himself tells us in Verse 12, "a great crowd who had come to the Feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem." These people who welcomed Jesus were not residents of the city, but pilgrims, in the city for the feast, many of them perhaps from other places. In fact, in Matthew's account of this incident, he says that the whole city was stirred when they saw this procession coming down the Mount of Olives. But instead of joining in the "Hosannas! " they suspiciously asked, "Who is this?" The crowd making up the procession had to inform them, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth." No one seems to have truly understood the nature of this event, as John makes evident in the next verses:
16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17 And so the multitude who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, were bearing Him witness. 18 For this cause also the multitude went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him." Jn. 12:16-19
Even the disciples were bewildered by this turn of events. They had been with Jesus in Galilee when the crowd had tried to crown him king following the feeding of the five thousand, but he would have nothing to do with that. Here, however, they see he is willing to receive the plaudits of the crowd. They must have been very confused at what was going on. In fact, we are told they did not know what this meant until after Jesus was glorified.
Here also was the bedazzled multitude, caught up with the exciting news that Jesus had raised a man who had been dead four days. They were all anxious to see the Wonderworker who had done this amazing thing.
Then there were the belligerent Pharisees who had decided (we learn from the other gospels) not to take Jesus prisoner during the Passover feast because they feared the reaction of the multitude. But now, as they see the whole populace seemingly swept along by this appearance of Jesus, they say, "You see that you can do nothing (i.e., their plans to delay arresting Jesus were unavailing); look, the whole world has gone after him." This event changed their schedule. They had to act now.
If the palm branches of the visiting crowds were spontaneous, the rest of these events were most likely carefully orchestrated by Jesus. He had a room prepared. He told the disciples they would find a donkey with its colt tied beside it. "Loose them and bring them both to me" {cf, Matt 21:2}, he told them. "If anybody asks you what you are doing, tell them, "The Lord needs them," {cf, Matt 21:3}. Either He knew those things supernaturally or He had made arrangements during an earlier visit. Either way, He had known weeks or months, perhaps even years earlier, the exact day when this would take place.
How did Jesus know that? Well, he knew that the prophet Zechariah had predicted that Messiah would come, riding into the city on a colt which no man had ever ridden. That is a remarkable feat in itself. But so complete was our Lord's control that this unridden colt behaved as meekly as if he had often been ridden.
More than the prophecy of Zechariah, however, Jesus had read in the ninth chapter of Daniel, in one of the most amazing prophetic passages of the Old Testament, that a special period of 490 years (7x70) of Jewish history would begin to run its course when the command was given to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity. When 483 of those years had elapsed, Messiah, the Prince, would then be presented to his people. Two very interesting books by Sir Robert Anderson, "Messiah the Prince," and "Daniel the Prophet," trace the fulfillment of this prophecy, pointing out that on the very day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem 483 years had elapsed from the time of the issuing of the commandment to build the walls of Jerusalem! This was a strategic day in the history of Israel. Our Lord was fully aware of it and that is why he had chosen this day.
This was not all that you would want in a triumphal entry. Although it had all the outward appearances of one, it was far from that in our Lord's thoughts. We find proof of that in these words from Chapter 19 of Luke's gospel: "And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it," {cf, Luke 19:41}.
When he came over the brow of the mountain and saw the city spread beneath him, tears rolled down his cheeks. Not only was he not happy or excited, rejoicing in the acclamation of the multitude, he was actually weeping. He then said,
41 And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. "For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
They did not believe the calendar of events which Daniel the prophet had outlined would occur. Jesus uses this occasion to predict the coming of the Romans, 40 years later, and the destruction of Jerusalem, exactly in line with his words. That is hardly a triumphal entry.
But this was a tearful entry by Jesus. He was coming as King, not to receive a throne, but in tears to pronounce a sentence of judgment upon the nation. The other gospels say that he went immediately to the temple. Standing there, having once again cleansed it of the greedy moneychangers, he pronounced these words, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. You will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,'" {cf, Luke 13:35 RSV}. According to John's account, that is what the crowd coming down the mountainside had been saying. But that was a crowd of strangers, not the residents of Jerusalem.
Then an event happened that captured the focus of Jesus.
IV. Seeking worship of the Gentiles (12:20-36)
It is the record of the last public utterance of Jesus before he went to the cross, found in John 12, Verses 20 through 26.
Perhaps he thought something like this: "These Greeks have asked to see me. What does it mean to 'see me'?" Picture a grain of wheat in your mind. Kansans can do this. Can you see that grain, so tiny, so obvious? Outwardly you can see what it is, but can you really see it? No. In order to see the life of that seed you have to plant it in the cold, dark earth. If you watch it, eventually a green sprout will appear, then the blade, then the plant, then the stem, and finally a head. At last it turns golden; the harvest has come. But have you seen everything in that grain of wheat? No, not yet. You must plant those grains again and again. At last, when you stand one day beside a shimmering field of wheat, rippling in the breeze, golden in the sunshine, you can say you have seen a grain of wheat. You have seen all the possibilities of it; all of it has been unfolded and now is visible to the eye. That is what Jesus meant. The world would not see the full outcome of his work and his life until he went to the cross. Jesus was conscious that the entire world was seeking Him.
If he had not died, we may not have heard of him at all, so meager were the results of his teaching. Only a relative handful stood with him to the end. Because of the cross he was able to do something he could never have done otherwise: He was able to share his life with millions of people. How do we explain men like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli and others who changed the entire Western world during their lifetime? In our own day, how do we explain the change in the hatchet-man of the Nixon administration, Charles Colson, who is now changing the prison system of this country in the name of Jesus? All has come about because of the cross of Christ.
Jesus applies this to us in the next two verses:
25 "He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. 26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Jn. 12: 25,26
Here is the great Christian paradox, the unmistakable mark of an authentic gospel: It begins with dying, with a cross. If the gospel that you have heard preached does not begin with a cross, does not begin by telling you that something in you has to die, it is not the true gospel. This is the identifying mark.
These words of Jesus cut across the philosophy of life today! Every television program, every magazine, every popular song, all present a common philosophy, "Your life is your own! Live it the way you please! Watch out for No. 1! Do your own thing! Live so that you can join with Frank Sinatra singing, 'I Did It My Way'!"
But Jesus declares that if you follow that philosophy you will lose everything. Life will slip through your fingers no matter what you do. You can gain all the material abundance you could ever wish for, the plaudits of the crowd, recognition by the whole world, but if you live that way you will end up with nothing; your life will have been a total waste of time.
‘He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.’
-Ray Stedman (sermoncentral.com) “That doesn't mean you have to hate yourself. It means you must recognize that living for yourself will never supply what you really want out of life. Only as you surrender to the Lordship of Christ can that be brought about. That is why the gospel includes a cross, and why the cross has become the symbol of Christian faith. If the message you are hearing today does not begin there, then it's a false gospel. If you are being told that the way to gain a deep and wonderful sense of self-esteem is to simply come to Jesus and let him build you up and make you feel good about yourself you are not hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It does not begin that way. It starts with a cross.”
Dr. A. W. Tozer, the great preacher of last centruy:
The cross is the symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of the human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck swift and hard and when it had finished its work the man was no more. That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of man is false to the Bible and cruel to the soul of the hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world. It intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our life up on to a higher plane. We leave it at a cross. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. That is the beginning of the gospel.
Also it's not the end. The end is, "If it dies, it bears much fruit." That is where life begins. There is a life we are all born with that must end. It is a self-centered life, that thinks only of itself, seeks advantage for itself, is ambitious and proud. That life has to die. That is the beginning of the gospel. But if it dies, then another life takes its place, a life that is gracious, loving, lovely, peaceful, filled with joy, gladness and a deep sense of self-esteem, knowing who it is and what it was made to be. That is the rest of the gospel.
In terms of daily, practical experience, what does Jesus mean, "He who comes after me must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me"? {cf, Luke 9:23}. What does it mean to bear your cross daily? It means two things: First, it means a once-for-all decision; and secondly, a continuing series of choices. That is what the cross stands for:
First, it is a surrender of the rule of your life to Jesus. It is a recognition that your life is not your own. The key words of the Christian faith are, "You are not your own, you are bought with a price," {cf, 1 Cor 19b-20a}. Actually, you never were your own. That is an illusion that the world is perpetrating upon us through the media. They tell us that we belong to ourselves, that we have a right to ourselves. That is a lie. It's not true. It never was. "You are not your own; you are bought with a price."
That hurts. It cancels out your own plans. It confounds your ambitions at times. It feels like death. It is death; it's a form of dying.
Second, it also means to daily follow up on that decision. Keep doing what is right. Stop doing what is wrong, and do it all in the strength of Jesus' love and companionship! The result is that you will truly begin to live. New power will come, to do what is right. New joy will be yours, an inner peace that nothing can take away, a new ability to love even those you could not love before, because a new life is yours. You have found a new Lordship and a new life.
IV. Stifled worship of the rulers (12:37-50)
So I have been asking myself, and I want you to ask with me this morning, "What in me must die?" What must die for my life and ministry to bear more fruit? Is there a corporate dying that we have to go through in order to bear more fruit? What in our church must die for us to bear more fruit? It’s a scary question -- personally and corporately.
That is, what lives when all dies that ought to die is love.
It has a lot to do with love. Love is the topside of this dying.
vv. 35,36 & v.46 Jesus cries out… “I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.”
When Major Ian Thomas was with us he taught us a little formula which I have found very helpful. He said of Jesus, "He had to be what he was in order to do what he did." He could never have died and rose again had he not been what he was -- God become man, indwelt by the Father.
Then, "he had to do what he did in order that we might have what he is." We could never have what he is if he had not done what he did. That is the meaning of the cross and the resurrection.
But, finally, "We must have what he is in order to live as he lived." That is what Christianity is. It is not you and me struggling along, trying to be like Christ, but Christ himself living again through us in these days. That is Christianity. We must have what he is in order to live like he lived.