Sermon for Wednesday, March 13, 2024

We have been looking, this Lenten season, at the preaching and teaching of Jesus during the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, in the temple in Jerusalem. On Wednesday and Thursday, Jesus would spend much time preparing His closest disciples for what was to come, in a more private way. But later Tuesday afternoon, He spoke for the last time to a large crowd of people gathered to hear Him in the temple. What would He say in this final public appearance?

Jesus had said, many times before, “My time has not yet come. My hour has not yet come.” But now He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

This must have sounded very promising to many in the crowd. Many were expecting that the promised Messiah, the Christ, would rise up and overthrow the Roman and Greek domination and make Israel once again one of the top nations on earth, with a leader who would rule forever in a kingdom here on earth. How glorious that would be for the people of Israel!

Instead, Jesus began to describe Himself as like “a grain of wheat” and went on to say, “Truly, truly” (literally, in the Greek, “Amen! Amen! This is most certainly true!) “I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus was predicting again His suffering and death, coming in just a few days. And it was going to be terrible suffering and a horrible death. Jesus said, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?” No! Jesus said, “For this purpose I have come to this hour! Father, glorify Your name!”

And then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd heard something, but they were not sure what it was. Some thought it was thunder, and others thought an angel had spoken to Jesus. 

Jesus knew that the Heavenly Father was affirming again that He, Jesus, must die and that He must die by being “lifted up” on a cross. To those seeing this, it might look as if Satan and the evil forces in this world that he rules had defeated Jesus and gotten rid of Him forever. Some of Jesus’ own followers thought that was what had happened when they saw Him die, and said, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel”
(Luke 24:21). But now that hope seemed gone.

But it would actually be the opposite. Through His suffering and death, Jesus would break the power of Satan and forgive all sins, suffering the punishment of God-forsakenness that we and all people deserve for our sins. Jesus would die, but on the third day, He would be “lifted up” out of death and the grave and raised to life. His grave would be empty, and forty days later, He would be “lifted up” to heaven at His ascension. This was the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer on Maundy Thursday: “Father, glorify Me in Your own presence, with the glory I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5).

Jesus was God the Son. He had existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity. He was there at the creation and ever since. But now He had willingly become man to do this saving work, which only He could do, for us and for the whole world. He was going to die for all, and that is what He did. Jesus makes this clear, as He says in our text, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” He did enough to save all people and wanted all to come to faith in Him.

People could, of course, still resist and reject and refuse this saving work that was accomplished by Jesus Christ. That is exactly what many in the crowd that Tuesday of Holy Week were doing. They said, “We have heard from the Law (from the Old Testament and what rabbis and others had told them) that the Christ (the promised Messiah) remains forever; how can you say that the Son of Man must be “lifted up” to die? That made no sense to them. They did not want to hear of a suffering and dying Messiah. Their vision was still of a glorious Messiah who would conquer all of Israel’s enemies and reign forever as their leader here on earth. If Jesus was talking about dying, He couldn’t be the promised Son of Man, in their view, though He said He was. “Who is the true Son of Man?” they asked. Jesus couldn’t be the one.

Jesus did not give up on these people, though. There was still time for them to come to faith in Him. His last words to the crowd showed that. Earlier, He had said, “I am the Light of the world.” (This is Good News for the whole world. For all!) “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life” (Light and Life now, and forever in heaven!) (John 8:12).

That Tuesday, Jesus’ last words to the crowd and to us were, “The Light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the Light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of the Light.”

What Good News that is for all of us, still today, who have been brought to faith in Jesus as our Savior. We know that it is a gift by the grace of God and not by our efforts. The Scriptures remind us that “no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3) working through the Word of God and the gift of Baptism. We know where we are now headed as children of Light, by the Light of Christ and His Word. Our eternal future is secure in Him.

And this is Good News to be shared with all, for Christ Jesus still wants to draw all people to Himself. Sadly, there are some churches and groups that don’t agree with that. They say that Jesus only died for a select group of people, and therefore, you can’t say to people in general, “Jesus died for you.” That view is totally wrong, as Jesus makes clear in this passage. On this Tuesday of Holy Week, He said even to the crowd resisting Him, “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of Light.”

There can come a time that is too late if people live and die in the darkness, apart from Christ, not knowing where they are going, as Jesus said that Tuesday. The apostle John uses these same words of Jesus in his first letter when He writes with the sadness of one who is “in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11).

That’s why we have a church and school and Bible classes and Sunday School and other activities by which to be encouraged in faith in Jesus ourselves and learn more about the Savior and His Word, and to be better able to share this wonderfully Good News about Jesus with others, even those still in darkness. They, too, need to hear of and see the Light of Christ.

Let us pray: Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus our Lord. And help us, Lord Jesus, to see and use opportunities to share that Peace and Light of Christ with others. Amen.