Placeholder Study Title
x
x
x
John 3:16-17
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Reflection Questions
x
x
x
One Thing to Try
x
x
x
x
x
John 3:16-17
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
As I walked through Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, I looked up and saw The Foot Soldier. Ronald McDowell's statue shows us a young black boy being manhandled by a stern officer as a ferocious dog lunges at his chest. When police disrupted the children's march in 1963, they thought they'd won. But now their suffering sits on a bronze pedestal, forcing us to look up at them, and give them honor.
John 12:20-36
Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, "Sir, we want to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus replied to them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus responded, "This voice came, not for me, but for you. Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate what kind of death he was about to die. Then the crowd replied to him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus answered, "The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn't overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn't know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light." Jesus said this, then went away and hid from them.
Inside 16th Street Baptist Church, boys and girls watched video of their people being assaulted at lunch counters. They'd heard stories of lynchings. They'd prepared themselves for nonviolence. They felt the terror, they worshipped, and then they opened the church doors and walked toward the firehoses. Jesus has come to his hour, and his glory will be strangely revealed through suffering. His soul isn't troubled in a sentimental way. His eyes are dilating with revulsion and horror. He's fully conscious of the cost. So should Jesus ask for deliverance? No. He dismisses even the suggestion of self-preservation, because he has come to deliver. I've planted many seeds in the ground. It's never bothered me that they will break open and be destroyed to create plants. Still, I would want to stay inside the church and sing more songs. I don't know if I could allow my kids to walk out those church doors. But Jesus says that self-preservation is spiritual death. Could we hear God glorifying his name as children screamed? The Jews and Greeks who want to see Jesus at a political parade will miss the point, because the only way to see Jesus is to look at him in agony on the cross. As his life is cracked open for us, his light shines in the darkness, and he transforms us into the children of God. In Kelly Ingram Park, the suffering is the monument. In Jerusalem, the cross is the throne.
Jesus immediately dismissed the idea of self-preservation. What's your gut reaction?
Where in your life right now are you staying inside the church, singing one more song?
What would you have to believe about Jesus to walk out the doors?
Take a walk with a friend this week. While you're walking, take turns finishing this sentence out loud: "The thing I'd rather stay inside the church than face is _____."
Get a daily, five-minute Bible study to discuss with a friend.