The magnetic appeal of Jesus

Joe Wittwer | December 22, 2011

Scripture:

John 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

Observation/application

When Greeks come looking for Jesus, He gives an extended speech on his death and glorification. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This glorification or exaltation or honoring of Jesus would happen through his death. It is a paradox: glorified in death. It is not the way we humans would organize things!  We glorify someone with pomp and circumstance; Jesus was glorified in humiliation and death.

The words “lifted up” are used by John in three places (3:14, 8:28, here).  In each instance, there is a double meaning (the Greek term is ambiguous): literally lifted up from the earth (referring to crucifixion), and metaphorically lifted up (or exalted).  Here again is the paradox: exalted in death. 

When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He suffered a criminal’s execution.  He should have been abased; instead he was exalted. He should have been humiliated; instead he was glorified.  It is all backwards! 

And the result of this backwards exalted/abased Jesus, lifted up on criminal’s cross, is that He will draw all people to Himself.  “All people” means “all kinds of people”—such as the Greeks who had just come to see Him.  It doesn’t mean all individuals without exception, but all kinds of people without distinction. 

There is something magnetic about the crucified Christ!  This was Paul’s message: Christ crucified—foolishness and power!  1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-25, 2:2. When we tell the simple story of Jesus, of God indwelling human flesh and then dying a criminal’s death, there is power and there is attraction.

Jesus attracts people to Himself.  He does it in the most unusual way possible: by being lifted up on a cross.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to trust the story and tell it simply.  Use me to draw others to yourself.