The Cross Of The World

The Cross of the World

John 12:31-36

Rev. Dr. Michel H. Koplitz

Today we need to start or chat at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. We can read in the Gospels that Jesus was first sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus Himself tells us this in several different places in the Gospels. When we examine the journey that He took, we find with very few exceptions, He stayed within Judea and the Galilee's boundaries. One time Jesus ventured over to the Decapolis, cured a man who was infected by several demons. Still, the people of the town told Him to leave immediately. There are a couple stories of His interaction with Samarians. These events took place on the border of Samaria and Galilee.

Let us be honest about Jesus' Earthly ministry. He had twelve disciples who were Hebrews. His friends were people who came from Jewish homes. Oddly enough, His enemies were not Romans but rather from His own people. A vast number of His miracles and signs were done for the benefit of the Hebrew people. The people looked for miracles and signs because they believed that the Messiah would do this. That was not a Scriptural belief but rather a traditional idea. It was a longing for an oppressed people who desperately wanted their freedom from tyranny.

Jesus anticipated a ministry that would become encompassing of all people. If Jesus had more time on Earth, I am confident that His ministry would have touched many more people. He wanted to accomplish this not because there were enemies of His among His people but rather because He knew that His mission was to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is open to every person regardless of religion, nationality, or race. He did not have the time to fully accomplish this in His lifetime. John 10:16 supports Jesus' desire.

16 "I have another sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become bone flock with cone shepherd. (John 10:16 NAU)

An event was recorded in Matthew's Gospel about a woman who came up to Jesus and poured alabaster on Him. Jesus' disciples objected to what they thought was a waste of money. They were rebuked by Jesus. He told them that this event was a sign that the Gospel message must be taken out into the world. Since Jesus referred to His death in this event, we can easily deduce that it was going to be Jesus' disciples who were to take the message out into the world. Jesus said in Matthew 26:13

13 "Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her."

Even though Jesus' ministry was confined to the House of Israel, He told His twelve disciples that the Gospel needed to be brought to the world. The Gospel is an instructional guide to life under God's laws. When Israel received God's word through Moses at Mount Sinai, they also accepted the responsibility to take it out into the world. Something like that happened over the centuries but more by luck. Sharing the word of God with the world was not a priority to them. Jesus' mission could be viewed as His teaching Israel what it really means to follow the word of God. Once they understood how God wanted things to happen, He reminded them of their responsibility to take the word of God out into the world. Since that latter part was not occurring, and frankly still does not happen today, Jesus told His disciples what they needed to do.

As the time of the cross approached, Jesus became more intentional about getting His disciples to understand that they had to take the word of God with His instructions out into the world. But how did Jesus' death on the cross cause the disciples to come to an understanding of what they were supposed to be doing? Our first step is to understand that when we say Christ's death, we are talking about something completely different than our death. Our death is the cessation of activities. Our direct influence in the world will come to an end. There will be remnants that remain at least for one to two generations. Sadly I must tell you the truth that eventually, each of us will become unknown. There are people whose memory remains long after death, but their influence in society weakens over time.

This cannot be said of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. He did not look upon His death as a final episode. He saw His death as the next logical step to bring His message of love and grace to a desperate world. He knew that when He preached love for your enemies, the people who disagreed with that statement would become His enemies. Actually, Jesus loved everyone. He did not envision anyone as His enemy. That is the key to loving all people. He believed that no one was His enemy. Some people disagreed with Him. However, He never saw them in that negative way. If you have no enemies, then you can love all people. Right?