Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 22; Are we missing Jesus?
Transcript
- Episode 22: Hello, everybody. Welcome to Finding Jesus Again. This is our journey to find who Jesus is and to find out who He has called us to be and what He has called us to do. Today we're going to pick up where we left off from last episode. We're going to be reading from John chapter 12, and we're going to be reading verse 27. We're going to kind of getting into some very important parts of the book of John where It's coming down to the point where Jesus is getting ready to lay down his life. And so we really want to pay close attention to what he says because the the last words of of a man are important. When you know that you're going to be leaving this earth, you're going to be saying the things that are most important, and you're going to be expressing to the people around you the things that you want them to understand more than anything else, because time is short. So this is where we are. With Jesus, he's getting down to the point where he knows he's going to be given his life. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in in one of the last episodes, and they celebrated him, but he knows that this is actually his entry into the final days of his life. And he's going to be giving up his life. And the same people who celebrated him are going to be the same people that will actually be calling for his crucifixion. But there's a plan God has a plan. He knows the plan. But at the same time, he's still struggling with the plan from his humanity. And this is where we're going to start. John chapter 12, verse 27. Now my soul has become troubled. This is Jesus talking. And what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. I just want to stop here for a minute. Because this is such a powerful verse. Jesus here is struggling with the thought of what he is going to have to go through. Here he shows his humanity. This wasn't an easy task for him. I think that sometimes we think that because Jesus is God, that it was simple for him to come and die on a cross, then we really kind of take it for granted and we really don't think about. the pain and the struggle and the emotional struggle and the psychological struggle, all the things that he had to go through as a man to face what he faced. I think we forget that. I think we just think, well, he was God and it wasn't no big deal for him and and he laid down his life. I think just at this moment here in verse twenty seven that we can really see his humanity when he says, My soul has become troubled. And what am I to say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this hour. So he's saying, I I don't inside I know that this is my purpose. I know that I've come here to do this. But he is expressing that his soul is troubled. And he's telling the people around him, Hey, my my soul's troubled. But in verse 28, at the very beginning, he says, Father, glorify your name. That's what it's about. Glorify your name. And sometimes we go through things like that. Sometimes we go through struggles like that. You might be going through a struggle like that right now, where it it's difficult. Maybe a sickness, maybe something with your family, maybe something in your marriage, or something with a friend, or whatever. And it's a struggle. And you're like, Father, save me from this hour. Save me from this hour. Save me from from what's going on. However, Glorify your name. If this is your purpose that I walk through this. If this is important that I walk through this, I know that you have a plan that's bigger and broader than what I understand. Father, glorify your name. And I've often said that about my family. I've often prayed, God, if if if something needs to happen to me or take place in my life, so that you can be glorified in my family's life, that I surrender my life. I s I surrender. myself to that greater good, to that greater purpose. So Father, glorify your name. It's interesting to think that Jesus could have pulled out of this. It's interesting to think that Jesus at any moment could have said, you know what? No. I'm not, I can't do it. I'm not going to go through with this. You guys are on your own. I just it it's interesting to think that that could have happened. What would have happened to humanity if Jesus would have decided to pull out? But instead, he went through it, and we're going to read about the things that he did go through. So let's pick up verse twenty eight. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came out of heaven, I have been glorified, and will glorify it again. So the crowd who stood by and heard it was saying that it had thundered. Others were saying, An angel has spoken to him. Jesus responded and said, This voice has not come for my sake, but for yours. So Jesus was determined, but I think he allowed us to see his his vulnerability so we could know that he could sympathize with us. I think it was important for him to to show us that he did feel this, that he did feel every bit of the anxiety and and the pain and the struggle. And the depression, all those different things that we deal with on the daily, Jesus went through the most extreme amount of it all so that we could understand. And then this voice that came out of heaven that validated him, he said, That voice wasn't for me because I already know, but that voice was for you guys so that you would understand. He said in verse 31, Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. This is an important part. Jesus said, Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. To me, it's like Jesus is saying this is the beginning of the end for the devil. Now is the time. Now is the time for him to be defeated. Now is the time for the ruler of this world to be dethroned. And now is the time for me to give up my life. First thirty-two. And if I'm lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Now he was saying this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die. We know of the cross, dying on the cross, he would be lifted up. The crowd then answered him, We've heard from the law that the Christ is remaining forever. And how is it that you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So again, interestingly enough, they're saying the law tells us that the Messiah is going to live forever. And here you're talking about dying, or the son of man is dying. Who is this son of man that you're talking about? So Jesus said to them, Look, for a little while longer, the light is among you. And again, here he's referring to himself as the light. And then in the beginning of this of this book, he referred to himself as the light, as the light of the world. The light is coming to the world. And he says, For a little while longer, the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness will not overtake you. Also The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of the light. So they understand the scripture, they think, but they don't understand Jesus. The problem was not that they don't understand scripture, but the problem is that they couldn't imagine Jesus fulfilling scripture different than they expected. They wasn't rejecting him because they didn't have knowledge of God. But they rejected him because he didn't fit into their mode. You understand what I'm saying? This wasn't unlearned people. This wasn't people who had never read the word, who had never studied the word, but these are people who studied and understood the word. And so the problem wasn't that they didn't understand the word, but the problem is that they didn't understand Jesus. They didn't understand what he had come to do and why and why he had come to do it. He was fulfilling scripture different than they understood it to be. And so they didn't know what to say. Who is this son of man that you're talking about? What are you talking about? Dying. That the Messiah is supposed to live forever. What's going on here? So my deconstruction and and reconstruction challenge that I've put on myself has been to understand Jesus. Not just to understand the things that I've read in the Word in the lens that I've been taught, but to understand Jesus. For who he really is. And maybe you should challenge yourself in the same way. I want to understand Jesus beyond what I've been taught, beyond what I've been told. Because there's a lot of different denominations and a lot of different ways of looking at scripture. And a lot of times we are framed by by how we're taught or how we're brought up or where we went to church. So our understanding of scripture a lot of times is framed by that. Now the Jewish people wasn't wrong. About the Messiah. The Messiah is going to live forever and going to reign forever. But they misunderstood at this moment what Jesus had come to do. And so that's that's that's a big challenge for us is to be open to understand the word differently than the way that we've understood it before, or to be open to understand Jesus differently than how we have understood him before. Why do we believe the way we do? Did man reveal this to me, or is this really a revelation of Jesus? And that's some of the things that I've struggled with. Is where did this revelation come from? Did it come from a commentary? Did it come from a preacher? Did it come from the way that it was explained to me by someone else? Or was this a revelation that I receive from Jesus? Am I willing to be challenged? Am I willing to allow all my teaching? That I've ever received to be challenged. Am I willing to change if I'm challenged to think differently than the way that I've thought? What if God is trying to challenge a traditional way of thinking? Am I willing to receive that and accept that? And this is where the disciples are. Than what they've always learned. And how many times do we reject what God is doing because it doesn't look like what we think it should look like or what we've been taught? Maybe that we don't know as much as we think we do. Maybe we don't understand as much as we think we do, especially when it comes to eschatology and revelation. There are so many people who think that they've got the end times completely figured out and completely mapped out. Maybe we don't understand quite as much as we think we do. And maybe we need to quit trying to act like we understand as much as we think we do and ask God to reveal something new to us about what he is doing and what he wants to do in our lives. They asked, Who is the Son of Man? He told them it was him. Why are they doubting it now? Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode. We'll see you tomorrow as we continue our journey of finding Jesus again.