Ep. 94: Hardened hearts
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JOHN 12:20-50
It was then the evening of a long weary day of teaching. And in those Temple porches, they had been hearing him, those ‘men of other tongues.’ They were proselytes, Greeks by birth but stirred up in their inmost being and it was to them that he spoke. Yet they dared not go to Jesus directly but came with their request to Philip of Bethsaida. And he also dared not go directly to Jesus but went to his friend and fellow disciple, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.
As we see these ‘Greeks’ approaching, perhaps we see a flashback to the early days. Not now in the stable of Bethlehem, but in the Temple, are ‘the wise men, the representatives of the Gentile world, offering their homage to the Messiah. But the life which had then begun was now all behind him and yet, in a sense, before him. The hour of decision was about to strike. Edersheim explains further:
‘But only in one way could he thus be glorified: by dying for the salvation of the world, and so opening the Kingdom of heaven to all believers. On a thousand hills was the glorious harvest to tremble in the golden sunlight; but the corn of wheat falling into the ground, must, as it falls, die, burst its envelope, and so spring into a very manifoldedness of life. Otherwise, would it have remained alone. This is the great paradox of the Kingdom of God - a paradox which has its symbol and analogon in nature, and which has also almost become the law of progress in history: that life which has not sprung of death abideth alone, and is really death, and that death is life. A paradox this, which has its ultimate reason in this, that sin has entered into the world. And as to the Master, the Prince of Life, so to the disciples, as bearing forth the life. If, in this world of sin. He must fall as the seed-corn into the ground and die, that many may spring of him, so must they also hate their life, that they may keep it unto life eternal. Thus serving, they must follow him, that where he is they may also be, for the Father will honour them that honour the Son.’
It is now sufficiently clear to us that Jesus spoke primarily to these Greeks and secondarily to his disciples, of the meaning of his impending death. The Jews who heard it, so far understood him, that his words referred to his removal from earth. But they failed to understand his special reference to the manner of it. And yet, because of the peculiarly shameful death on the cross, it was most important that he should refer to it. But, even in what they understood, they had a difficulty. They understood him to imply that he would be taken from the earth; and yet they had always been taught from the Scriptures that the Messiah was, when fully manifested, to abide forever, or, as the Rabbis put it, that his Reign was to be followed by the Resurrection.
But Jesus fully replied in what became his last teaching in the Temple. Yes, only for a little while would the Light be among them! While they still had ‘the Light,’ the onus was on them to believe in the Light, that so they might become the children of Light! They were his last words of appeal to them.
Although he had shown so many miracles, Israel still did not believe in him. On the other hand, their wilful unbelief was also the judgement of God in accordance with prophecy. We have seen that rejection of Jesus by the Jews was not an isolated act, but the outcome and the direct result of their whole previous religious development. In face of the clearest evidence, they did not believe, because they could not believe.
Jesus had come as a light into the world, God had sent him as the Sun of Righteousness, that by believing in Him as the Sent One from God, men might attain a moral vision, no longer ‘abiding in darkness,’ but in the bright spiritual light. But as for the others, there were those who heard and did not keep his words and those who rejected him and did not receive his words.
Israel, hardened in the self-chosen course of its religious development, could not and, despite the clearest evidence, did not believe. By contrast, we have Jesus absolutely surrendering himself to do the will and Work of the Father, witnessed by the Father, revealing the Father, coming as the Light of the World to chase away its moral darkness and speaking to all men, and bringing to them salvation, not judgment.
This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)