November 2024
‘I, when I am lifted up ... will draw all people to myself’.
John 12:32 (NIV)
These words are spoken in response to the enquiries of a group of Greek
converts who had arrived in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. There was
a significant number of Greek-speaking, non-Palestinian Jews amongst the
members of the early church, but they were in a minority. The persecution that
followed the death of Stephen was concentrated on these Hellenists and the
scattered Greek believers went far afield and preached the Gospel to such
good effect that the Good News spread north to Samaria and south to Judea.
This confident and reassuring response from our Lord is full of the paradoxes of
the Christian faith: life through death, glory through the ignominy of the cross.
Jesus tells us that to gain life, we must lose it; to receive honour one must be a
servant; that he, by su ering the public shame of a disgraceful death, will draw
all men to himself.
The death of Jesus on the cross has been graphically and evocatively depicted
in many forms, which have made the event which occurred nearly 2000 years
ago familiar to all, Christians and non-Christians alike. The glory of a king and
the shame of a condemned man are both there in the cross. Christ is shown as
one with us in our absence from God, precisely in order that we may be one
with him in his nearness to God. The cross itself becomes the symbol by which
any place or person or object can be identified as having a share in that
relationship which we proclaim when we say ‘our Father’.
Christ says that he draws us to himself, he doesn’t force us. We try to allow the
cross to draw us to Christ, to change our lives so that we are one with God. We
begin by quietly attending to Christ hanging on the cross and opening our
hearts, our whole being, to the power of the crucified Christ.
At this time of year we dwell on the significance of the deaths of those killed in
war. The many conflicts in our world still challenge us as we try in our hearts to
feel and see that we are making our way towards God, through the loving
sacrifice of our Lord.