SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Today's sermon comes from the alternate text for Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: The Gospel of John, according to the 11th, I'm sorry, to the 12th chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
SPEAKER_00: So they came to Philip, who was from Beth Seda in Galilee, and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Philip went and told Andrew, Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
SPEAKER_00: But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever loves his life loses it.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone serves me, the Father will honor me, honor him.
SPEAKER_00: Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour?
SPEAKER_00: But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
SPEAKER_00: Father, glorify your name.
SPEAKER_00: Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
SPEAKER_00: The crowd that stood there and heard it said, It had thundered.
SPEAKER_00: Others said, An angel has spoken to him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
SPEAKER_00: Now is the judgment of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
SPEAKER_00: He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
SPEAKER_00: So the crowd answered him, We have heard that from the law that the Christ remains forever.
SPEAKER_00: How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?
SPEAKER_00: Who is this Son of Man?
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer.
SPEAKER_00: Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.
SPEAKER_00: The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
SPEAKER_00: While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
SPEAKER_00: Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, who has believed what he heard from us?
SPEAKER_00: And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore they could not believe.
SPEAKER_00: For again Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, many of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be thrown out of the synagogue.
SPEAKER_00: For they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel of our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So let us see Jesus as he shows himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: Today, our Savior rides in on a colt of a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we expect to see but great wonders and signs in heaven and on earth?
SPEAKER_00: And yet the glory of God in St.
SPEAKER_00: John's Gospel is always found in the cross of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Read St.
SPEAKER_00: John's Gospel, and we find that God's glory is demonstrated in weakness instead of strength.
SPEAKER_00: It's demonstrated in suffering instead of ease and comfort.
SPEAKER_00: It's demonstrated in humility instead of pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's demonstrated by riding in humbly on a donkey instead of regally on a steed.
SPEAKER_00: And one must die for there to be life and abundance.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, the motivations of the heart of man compared to the motivations of the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: Just look at how we act in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in who we associate with and who we know.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in our own might and strength.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in self-sufficiency.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in the American way and pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's just as true for us as it is for the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: We love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
SPEAKER_00: Who here desires weakness?
SPEAKER_00: Just raise your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Who here desires suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Who here desires to take up the crosses given to them and not the ones you want to choose and follow Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: The honest answer is none of us.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in hardiness and power.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in pride with our chest sticking out to here.
SPEAKER_00: We glory in what we can accomplish and where we will go and what we will do with our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And then maybe, maybe, if we think of it, we'll give glory to God for his daily work in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: And by this we fail to see how Christ is glorified most clearly.
SPEAKER_00: And that is in crossbearing, in suffering, and finally in death.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't want that kind of glory now, do we?
SPEAKER_00: Dear beloved baptized children of God, are you not bound to Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Did you not have his name poured over your heads, dripping with water, each and every one of you?
SPEAKER_00: Were you not all rescued from sin, death, and eternal damnation by the name that is above all other names?
SPEAKER_00: So then, how else are we to be recognized if we are called sons of the Most High, sons of light?
SPEAKER_00: It's not by the blessings of money or house or spouse, even evildoers who hate God have those material blessings.
SPEAKER_00: None of those look like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Are we not recognized by the sufferings in this life and how our Lord and Savior sustains you through them?
SPEAKER_00: God took what seems foolish to the entire world and uses it to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let it shame you.
SPEAKER_00: How wonderful and devastating it is for us when the Lord exposes our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Christ will be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: But take note how we as Christians see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It will affect how we see ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: If we're willing to see that the glory of God is demonstrated most clearly in humility and suffering, then we are willing to finally meditate on what our Lord is preparing to do for us, for everyone, for the whole world this holy week as he rides into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But if we believe that God shows his greatest might by defeating great cities with fire and brimstone, or in a great earthquake, or that his power in victory over one nation over another, well then we'll never understand when the Lord tells St.
SPEAKER_00: Paul as he wrestling with his own suffering in life, my grace is sufficient for you.
SPEAKER_00: For my power is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_00: How we see Jesus will affect how we see ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: If we want to see Jesus as the great victor over sin and death, then we must see him as the great victim, the Lamb of God, which allowed himself to be humbled into the form of a man, not counting himself equal to God as he should have.
SPEAKER_00: But to be stripped of all his dignity and his honor, and to be beaten and flogged and stabbed and wounded and suffer the rejection of the Father while hanging on the cross to die in our place.
SPEAKER_00: Christ on the cross is the source of our salvation because there is no other payment for sin except death.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're concerned about glorifying the resurrection, then take a moment to realize there can be no resurrection without the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: The sign of an empty cross is not the depiction of Christ risen from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: Every Jew had to be taken down from the cross the very same day.
SPEAKER_00: Every cross of every criminal in Jerusalem was empty the same day.
SPEAKER_00: If you want a symbol for the resurrection, look to the empty tomb.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to see what it looks like when Christ conquers death, well look to the linen claws that lie empty in the tomb.
SPEAKER_00: But dearly beloved, if you want to see the source of your salvation, look to where Christ died for you.
SPEAKER_00: Weighted down with the sins of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Only his shoulders were capable of carrying the weight that led to death.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the glory of God looks like.
SPEAKER_00: If we want to see Jesus as the Greeks did when they came to Jerusalem for the Passover, then we must see Jesus as he gives himself to be seen, humble and lowly, riding into the place of his conviction and sentencing on the colt of a donkey for you and for me.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to see the eyes of faith to see Jesus, well then you mustn't be blinded by the glory of man, but see that the glory of God is found just as Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
SPEAKER_00: But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: John 12.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what it means to be Christ-like.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it means to be baptized into Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If we share in a death like his, we most certainly will share in a resurrection like his.
SPEAKER_00: But don't take your eyes off of where Christ atones for your sins.
SPEAKER_00: For when you do, you will only see Jesus how you want to see him and not how he shows himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: Nor will you understand how his power is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_00: So then let us see Jesus as he shows himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: For how we see Jesus will affect how we see ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say?
SPEAKER_00: Father, save me from this hour.
SPEAKER_00: But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
SPEAKER_00: Father, glorify your name.
SPEAKER_00: And then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, I will glorify it again.
SPEAKER_00: And the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.
SPEAKER_00: Others said, An angel has spoken to him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
SPEAKER_00: Now is the judgment of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
SPEAKER_00: And when I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
SPEAKER_00: And there's no other place where Christ was lifted up from the earth than on the cross of his crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: That is where he drew you to himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's because he paid for all of your sins right there.
SPEAKER_00: Look to where Christ was lifted up on the cross, lifted up from the earth, and you will know, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt, your sins are forgiven you.
SPEAKER_00: All of them in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then look to where he shows himself to you this very day.
SPEAKER_00: In water and word and body and blood, the forgiveness of sins for all of you.
SPEAKER_00: Let us see our Lord Jesus Christ as he shows himself to us.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.