Now is the Judgment of this World: A Meditation on John 12 for Palm Sunday

And Jesus answered them, saying,

The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,

 it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He that loveth his life shall lose it;

and he that hateth his life in this world

shall keep it unto life eternal.

If any man serve me, let him follow me;

 and where I am, there shall also my servant be:

if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

 

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour:

but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name.

Then came there a voice from heaven, saying,

I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it,

said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

 

Jesus answered and said,

This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of this world:

now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,

will draw all men unto me.

 

John’s twelfth chapter describes several events surrounding Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which kicks off the Church’s solemn remembrance of Holy Week.  There we find the Pharisees seeking ways to destroy Him; Lazarus and those flummoxed by Jesus having raised him from the dead; Greek visitors to Jerusalem for the Passover who sought to see Jesus; and crowds that perceived Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Hebrew prophecies of the coming Messiah, but misunderstood both those prophecies and Jesus.  To all, Jesus continued teaching, knowing that many of their hearts were darkened through unbelief, and that no one would really understand what He was there to accomplish until it was done.  Jesus would suffer as a man, though He was fully God, so that the sins of the world—including all those who surrounded Him, misunderstood Him, and even plotted to kill Him—might be restored to fellowship with God the Father, born from above by Water and Spirit unto eternal life, and saved from sin, death, hell, and the devil, all by grace through faith in Christ alone.

 

What Jesus would accomplish by His Vicarious Atonement through the suffering and death of the Cross, would accomplish no less than the judgment of the entire world, together with every evil spirit which ruled and manipulated it since the fall of man.  The King of Glory had come to His people, not to secure a meager political victory or overthrow transient political leaders, but to free mankind from the satanic legions who enslaved their souls in this world and led them into the fires of perdition in the next.  The war Jesus came to fight was not won with weapons of military design, but by the only Sacrifice which could satisfy both the Justice and Love of Almighty God, and rescue all mankind from a hellish fate:  the Lion of the Tribe of the Judah would become the Paschal Lamb, so that Jesus might reign as both High Priest and Final Sacrifice, the only fully divine and fully human Intercessor between God and men.  Jesus’ victory would not be secured by subterfuge and clever strategy, but through His own omnipotent power, His own omniscient wisdom, and His own omnipresent transcendence, all made flesh to dwell among us full of grace and truth.  Though surrounded by many, it is Jesus alone who walked into the spiritual war for the souls of men and came out the eternal Victor—He alone who did what only He could do, all for the love and salvation of His people.

 

In our own day, it is not uncommon to hear the cacophony of voices who misunderstand, malign, or even plot to silence the Word of Jesus.  They come as people with dark minds, both inside and outside the Church, living in a love of worldly life that is alien to the life Christ has won for us all.  In every age there are those who would persecute the Word of Life by embracing the transient pleasures of a culture of death, and in every age the Word of Life remains victorious.  What can any darkened spirit do to those who dwell in God’s providence by grace through faith in Christ alone, but howl and bemoan their own ultimate defeat?  What plotting of global cabals, what fraud of international industrialists, what fecklessness and corruption of local and national leaders can separate the people of God from the love of God in Christ Jesus?  Can even the devil himself, with all his demonic hordes, undo the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?  Can they undo His descent into hell to preach liberty to the captives?  Can they unseat the Chief Corner Stone whom the worldly builders rejected, but whom God has made the unshakable ground of His Church?  Nay—the infernal ruler of this world has been cast out by the Cross of Christ, and Jesus stands alone victorious.

 

Even so, the temptation to see in Jesus something other than who He is and what He has done to save the world, is an enduring war inside each human heart.  For as long as we sojourn in this fallen world, we will be tempted to see in Jesus a path to personal comfort, prosperity, and worldly acclaim, prompted by a self-serving inclination in our fallen nature, goaded on by the now impotent voices of defeated demons.  Into the misunderstanding, malice, and even deadly suppression of our fallen hearts, the Word of the Lord returns to bring light and life.  By the Word of God Incarnate we hear the Word of God written, and the Holy Spirit working through His Word brings to us life-saving Faith and Repentance.  His Word to us in Holy Baptism seals us in His New Covenant, just as His Word to us feeds us through Holy Eucharist, and absolves us by His Holy Absolution.  Into every soul who will hear Him, He pours grace and mercy, love and light, that where He is, there His servants may be also—both in this world, and in the next.  Such divine love poured out upon us, gives us a love for eternal life in the fellowship with the Author of Life that does not worship the things of this world before the face of our Savior and King.

 

As we enter into this high celebration of Holy Week, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, who alone has entered the deadly fray for you, and for all people.  There you will see your Savior take not only the abuse of earthly malefactors, but the scourging of the whole demonic host, all in an attempt to divert Jesus from the mission for which He had come.  There you will see Jesus stand alone before the Father on behalf of a fallen world, and take upon Himself the justice of divine wrath each soul has earned, so that each soul might rise up in Him and live forgiven and free, forever.  Hear the Word of the Lord as He comes to you this day, declaring His victory over every enemy of mankind, that your life and your victory may be found always in Him alone.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.