The Gravitational Pull of the Cross Text: John 12:20-36
Introduction: The Hour of Glory
We come now to a pivotal moment in the ministry of our Lord. Everything has been building to this. The triumphal entry is just behind us, with the crowds shouting "Hosanna!" But their hosannas are fickle, their understanding shallow. They want a political messiah who will throw off the Roman yoke and restore the earthly glory of Israel. They want a crown, but they are allergic to the cross that must precede it. And right at this moment, with Jerusalem buzzing with Passover pilgrims, a new element is introduced. Some Greeks, Gentiles, show up, wanting to see Jesus.
Their request seems simple enough, a footnote in the week's events. But for Jesus, it is a signal. It is the sounding of a bell in Heaven. This is the sign that the moment He was born for has finally arrived. The coming of the Gentiles means that His mission is about to break the banks of Israel and flood the entire world. But this global expansion, this glorious harvest, can only happen one way. It requires a death. It requires a burial. The glory the world seeks and the glory God gives are two entirely different things. The world's glory is about being lifted up in pride, power, and self-preservation. God's glory is about being lifted up on a cross.
This passage confronts us with what we might call the glorious contradiction of the Christian faith. To live, you must die. To be exalted, you must be humbled. To bear fruit, you must be buried. To win, you must lose. This is not just a clever paradox; it is the fundamental law of the kingdom. It is the logic of the cross, and it is the only logic that can make sense of this broken world and our place in it. Jesus here explains the necessity of His death, the nature of true discipleship, and the cosmic consequences of the cross. This is not a suggestion for a better life. This is the declaration of the only way to life at all.
The Text
Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, 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. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
“Now MY SOUL HAS BECOME DISMAYED; and what shall I say, ‘Father, SAVE ME from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sake. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was about to die. The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how do You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”
These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.
(John 12:20-36 LSB)
The Catalyst and the Principle (vv. 20-26)
The scene opens with these Greeks. They are likely God-fearers, Gentiles who were drawn to the God of Israel. Their desire to see Jesus is the spark that ignites His discourse.
"And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.'" (John 12:23)
Notice, Jesus does not say, "Certainly, show them in." His mind immediately goes to the ultimate meaning of their arrival. The Gentiles are coming. This means the purpose of His incarnation is at hand. And what is that purpose? Glorification. But what does He mean by glory? He immediately defines it with an agricultural metaphor, the central illustration of this entire passage.
"Truly, truly, 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" (v. 24). This is the law of the harvest, and it is the law of the kingdom. A seed kept in a jar on a shelf is safe, secure, and utterly useless. It remains alone. For it to fulfill its purpose, it must be thrown into the dirt, it must die to what it is, its outer shell must break, and it must be buried in darkness. Only then can it bring forth a stalk, a head, and a hundred more seeds. Jesus is that grain of wheat. He must fall into the earth, He must die, He must be buried, in order to produce the great harvest of salvation for both Jew and Greek.
Then He immediately turns this principle on us. This is not just His path; it is the path for every one of His followers. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal" (v. 25). Our therapeutic age chokes on this. We are taught to love ourselves, to esteem ourselves, to protect ourselves. Jesus says that if your life, your ego, your ambitions, your reputation, is the thing you love and protect above all else, you will lose it. You will end up like that seed on the shelf, alone and barren for eternity. But if you "hate" your life in this world, meaning you hold it loosely, you are willing to spend it, sacrifice it, and lose it for His sake, you will secure it for eternity. This is the great exchange. Discipleship is not about adding Jesus to your already existing life project. It is about abandoning your life project entirely and taking up His.
This leads to the practical command: "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also" (v. 26). Where is Jesus going? He is going to the cross. To follow Him means to follow Him there. It means a life of self-denial, of taking up our own cross. But look at the promise. Where He is, we will be. And if we serve Him this way, the Father will honor us. The world honors those who grab, who climb, who promote themselves. The Father honors those who die like a grain of wheat.
The Agony and the Victory (vv. 27-33)
Jesus is not a detached philosopher or a Stoic sage. He is fully human, and the shadow of the cross causes Him real anguish.
"'Now MY SOUL HAS BECOME DISMAYED; and what shall I say, ‘Father, SAVE ME from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.'" (John 12:27-28a LSB)
Here we see a preview of Gethsemane. The Lord's soul is troubled, dismayed. He feels the crushing weight of what is to come. He contemplates the prayer of self-preservation, "Father, save me from this hour," only to reject it. Why? Because this hour is the very reason He came. It is His telos, His purpose. So instead of praying for His own deliverance, He prays for the Father's glory: "Father, glorify Your name." This is the ultimate prayer. It subordinates all personal comfort, all fear, all desire for safety, to the greater purpose of God's glory.
And the Father answers audibly from Heaven. "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (v. 28b). He has glorified His name in the life and ministry of Jesus, and He will glorify it again, supremely, in His death and resurrection. The crowd, spiritually dull, misses the point entirely. Some think it was thunder, a natural event. Others think an angel spoke, a supernatural but impersonal event. They hear the sound, but they do not understand the words. Jesus tells them the voice was for their sake, to validate Him and His mission. They were given a sign, and they explained it away.
Then Jesus declares the cosmic significance of what is about to happen. "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (vv. 31-32). The cross is not a tragedy; it is a triumph. It is D-Day. First, it is the judgment of this world, this fallen cosmos organized in rebellion against God. Second, it is the casting out of the ruler of this world, Satan. At the cross, Satan, the great accuser, played his hand and lost. He was disarmed (Col. 2:15). His legal claim on humanity was broken. Third, the cross becomes the great gravitational center of the new world. When Jesus is "lifted up," a term that means both crucifixion and exaltation, He will begin to draw all men to Himself. Not every last individual without exception, but all kinds of men, without distinction. Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. The cross is God's great magnet, pulling a new humanity out of the ruins of the old.
The Light and the Darkness (vv. 34-36)
The crowd is still stuck in their own categories. They cannot process what Jesus is saying.
"The crowd then answered Him, 'We have heard from the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how do You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?'" (John 12:34 LSB)
Their theological framework has no room for a suffering, dying Messiah. They have a theology of glory without a theology of the cross. They can quote the verses about the Messiah's eternal reign, but they have ignored the verses about the suffering servant (like Isaiah 53). Because Jesus does not fit their preconceived grid, they are left with a question born of unbelief: "Who is this Son of Man?" He is standing right in front of them, and they are blind.
Jesus does not answer their question directly. The time for talk is almost over. The time for decision has come. He gives them one final, urgent appeal. "For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you... While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light" (vv. 35-36a). He is the Light of the world. He is present with them, but not for long. He commands them to act, to walk, to believe while the opportunity exists. To refuse the Light is not to remain in a neutral state; it is to be overtaken by darkness. The man who walks in darkness is lost, stumbling, confused. But those who believe in the Light do not just receive light; they become sons of Light. They are fundamentally transformed by it.
The passage ends on a somber, terrifying note. "These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them" (v. 36b). This is an act of judgment. The Light they refused to walk in was withdrawn from them. When men love the darkness rather than the light, the most frightening thing God can do is give them what they want. He hands them over to the darkness they have chosen.
Conclusion: The Only Way to Live
We are confronted with the same choice as the crowd. Jesus stands before us as the Light of the world, explaining the fundamental law of His kingdom. Life comes through death. Glory comes through the cross. Fruitfulness comes from being buried.
This is true of Him, and it must be true of us. Are you trying to keep your life, your reputation, your comfort, safe on the shelf? If you are, you will remain alone. The call of the gospel is the call to fall into the ground and die. It is the call to lose your life for His sake. This is not a call to morbid introspection. It is a call to joyous abandon. It is the only way to bear fruit. It is the only way to be honored by the Father. It is the only way to truly live.
The cross was not a defeat but a victory that dethroned the prince of darkness and established a gravitational pull that is drawing the nations to this day. The Light is still among us in the preaching of the gospel. The call remains the same: Walk in it. Believe in it. Become a son of the Light. Do not be like the crowd, who, when confronted with the Light, debated theology, asked skeptical questions, and were ultimately overtaken by the darkness. The hour is late. Walk while you have the Light.