123. Chapter 10 - Final Appeal to the Nation
Chapter 10 - Final Appeal to the Nation Mark 12:41-44;Luke 21:1-4;John 12:20-50 Calm Amid the Storm The debate of this final day of Jesus’ ministry seems to have occupied the morning hours. At noon the people have returned to their homes for the noon meal. It was in this period of relaxation that Jesus sat by the treasury and watched the rich and the poor present their gifts to the Lord. The gift of the poor widow who gave her all drew from Jesus divine approval, even as it offered miraculous proof of His claims in His ability to read her heart and life. He knew that this tiny gift was all she possessed. He did not need to make an investigation of her circumstances in order to declare her financial status. Jesus set forth the principle that it is not how much a person gives to God, but how much he keeps for himself, which furnishes the actual test of generosity and devotion. The sacrificial giving of this godly woman Is a bright light shining amid the darkness of bitter hatred and murderous plots. This gem, which Mark and Luke have recorded for the ages, pictures a scene in the treasury which is the eerie calm in the center of the wild, swirling hurricane. It reminds the reader of the beautiful devotion of Mary of Bethany a few days before when she had anointed Jesus. The brief record concerning this poor widow stirs many questions we cannot answer. Now that she had given her all to God, where and how did she live until her further toil could earn means of living? She was sure God would see to that. Had she listened enthralled to the hours of fiery debate? Was this gift her own personal answer to the grand emphasis she had just heard Jesus place upon loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength? The Greeks Seek Jesus From the afternoon of this final day of Jesus’ ministry we have the record of His last sermon to the nation. We have heard in America during recent years a number of eminent preachers speak on the theme: “If I Had Only One More Sermon To Preach.” What would it contain out of a lifetime of study and effort? How would it be delivered? What effect would it have? Jesus knew and spoke. Like so many of His sermons it arose out of a startling event of the day. Greeks came seeking Jesus with that immortal request: “We would see Jesus.” Jesus could be seen by all at this very time as He taught in the temple. Evidently they desired a personal meeting with the Master. Their careful and almost timid approach to one of the disciples who had a Greek name, Philip, and his consultation with another disciple who also had a Greek name, Andrew, suggest how extraordinary the request was. They might come into the Court of the Gentiles where undoubtedly Jesus was teaching, but might they hope He would talk with them? We are not told specifically of a personal conference with them, but this last sermon Jesus preached bears all the marks of an answer to their appeal and problems.
“The Significance of Life and Death” is the title usually given to this sermon. Could any more searching inquiry be made in one’s last sermon? For some reason the request of the Greeks, as it was relayed to Jesus by His two disciples, deeply moved Him. Did their earnest search for the truth at His hands bring out in more poignant contrast the sin against knowledge with which He was surrounded in the temple among God’s chosen people? Did their coming from afar like the wise men at His birth bring now the vision of a world so lost in sin and degradation, but about to find redemption in the supreme gift of life? How far these Greeks had come or at what cost, we do not know. We naturally think of Athens, the great intellectual center, but they might have come from any part of the widely disseminated Greek population of the first century.
God’s Answer The immediate, decisive response of Jesus to the appeal was: “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified” (John 12:23). That the unspeakable shame and suffering of His torture and death on the cross should be hailed as the hour of glorification, savors of heaven rather than earth. Jesus explains how this can be that His death is to be the open door to life. The grain of wheat planted in the earth offers illustration. The selfish hoarding of one’s life is placed in the scales against the sacrificial surrender of life. Heaven offers the welcome of God. Jesus declares its gates open to all who serve Him. Deeply troubled in soul, even as he has just declared His hour of glorification at hand, Jesus prayed in the midst of His sermon. As in Gethsemane a little later in this week, He considers the fearful prospect before Him. He refuses to pray, “Father, save me from this hour,” but rather affirms this is the very mission which has brought Him into the world. Bernard denies the appropriateness and hence the historical merit of the record of such personal meditation and petition in the hearing of the people, but it is in perfect harmony with the entire record of His life. It gives them insight into the tragic hours ahead and brings from heaven a miraculous confirmation of His claims. It reminds one of the touching prayer in the midst of His sermon on “John the Baptist and the Unbelief of the Nation” (Matthew 11:25, Matthew 11:26). It combines infinite humility with sublime self-assertion as Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify thy name.” God answered from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” At the baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration, He had glorified His name as Father. He answers now to glorify it again. In all that Jesus had said and done, God had glorified His name as Father. In the death and resurrection of Jesus there will be supreme glorification.
Reaction of the Crowd The fact that the startled crowd heard the sound, but did not understand the words that were spoken, suggests the probable reaction of the crowd at the baptism of Jesus. It is parallel to the experience of the men with Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:7; Acts 22:9). This entire sermon with its tenderly-intimate revelations, which were yet veiled in meaning, had probably the same puzzling effect on His hearers. Jesus spoke thus in parables frequently during his ministry to stimulate the effort of the zealous to understand and at the same time to rebuff the aggressive worldlings. His hearers show that they understand He is talking about His death. He has spoken to them frequently of His approaching death at the hands of His enemies. He had pictured this very day, in their hearing, the Son as sent by the Owner of the vineyard and slain by the wicked husbandmen. But the people cannot see how such predictions are to be harmonized with a glorious reign of the Messiah. They offer a perplexed protest: “We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?” (John 12:34). Here is the clearest evidence in the New Testament on the vexed problem as to whether the Jews of the first century had come to understand enough of the Messianic predictions of the Old Testament to see that the Messiah was to be a supernatural Being. They had now received three years of instruction from Jesus on the subject. They show by their citation that they have been searching in the Old Testament for light on this subject. Isaiah 9:7 would have been a suitable passage with which to substantiate their assertion: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Only God abides for ever. Were they now fumbling for the sublime truth that the Christ is indeed God-in-the-flesh? They had just heard Jesus give powerful demonstration from the Old Testament that David had been inspired of God to declare that the Messiah would be “Lord.” Are they now not trying to fit together this assertion of deity which His enemies had not been able to contradict, with His present resignation to death at their hands? Can Jesus really be the Christ? They have joyously proclaimed Him as the long-promised King at the triumphal entry, but if He is not going to use His miraculous power to destroy His enemies, and continues to talk in such a meek manner of surrendering to them to be slain, what then? Who is this Son of man? What sort of a Christ is this? The answer of Jesus is a characteristic enigma. He urges them to believe. His final words are: “While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light.”