THE COURAGE OF JESUS
John 12:27-28 NKJV
27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."
The Book of John gives us more insight into the last days of Jesus than any of the gospels. Our passage today is not written about by the other gospel authors. And in this passage, we see the courage it took for Jesus to go to the cross.
Jesus was not on autopilot. He faced the same type of temptations we face today. This was a function of His being all God and all man. He was not half God and half man, so Jesus experienced the same kind of feelings and pressure that is common to mankind. This is a key reason He is not just our Savior and Lord; He is our example for living. In this twelfth chapter, Jesus knows His hour is coming and that the cross is looming close by.
"Now My soul is troubled." Jesus is often portrayed as being stoic. That He handled everything that came His way with a total lack of emotion. But here, Jesus exclaimed that His soul was troubled. Mark's account of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane tells us Jesus was troubled and deeply distressed. And when He went to pray, He fell on the ground. These are not the actions of one who has no emotion. Jesus felt deeply, and what He faced at the cross was an immense amount of pressure. We think of the physical aspect of the cross, but we have no idea what the spiritual toll was on Jesus. More than the physical pain was the pain of being separated from God and taking on Himself the sin of the world. We don't grasp, at this point, the pain of becoming the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who took our punishment.
But we are certainly glad Jesus had the courage to take on the cross and all it entailed. "...what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour." What a statement. Jesus knew His purpose. It was not to teach the world a new moral code. It was not to show that God was powerful. Although He did these things, Jesus' purpose was to bear the sins of mankind and reconnect God with fallen man. Jesus knew His purpose was the cross, so He did not pray to be relieved of His responsibility. He prayed that God would glorify His name. That is obedience. That is courage. To not take the easy way out but to fulfill His purpose and glorify God.
God was obviously pleased with Jesus because He spoke out of heaven. God declared that He had glorified His name and would glorify it again. The people close by said it thundered, or an angel spoke to Jesus. May God grant us ears to hear when He is speaking in our hearts. These folks missed His audible voice.
APPLICATION
This may be one of the most important prayers we pray. Father, help me to find and fulfill my purpose. In all things, I want to glorify Your name. Later, in John 17:4, Jesus was praying a prayer and expressed that He had glorified God on the earth and finished the work God had given Him to do. As we pray about God's purpose for our lives, we can incorporate this same goal. Father, that we might glorify You on the earth and finish the work You have given us to do. Jesus had the greatest purpose known to man. Our purpose is not nearly as big, but we have a purpose.
PRAYER
Father, grant me the courage to fulfill my purpose and glorify You on the earth!