” ‘Now My soul is troubled… It was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ The crowd that was there heard it and said it had thundered… ‘This voice was for your benefit, not Mine. Now is the time for judgment… and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.” (John 12:27-33) “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a Judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them.” (John 12:47-48)

Jesus knew that the hours before He was to go to the cross were dwindling down to only a few, so He did all He could do to convince the crowds and the religious leaders that indeed their time was running out as well. He was saying these final words to them in hopes that they might remember them and “be drawn to Him” after His resurrection. For Jesus, it had to be a sad time because, in spite of all the signs He had performed in their presence, “many eyes were blinded and hearts were hardened” just as Isaiah had prophesied. (Isa 6:10/John 12:37-40). But as we look back now at the cross, do we still view it sadly? Is it the sad symbol of a plan gone wrong?

“No! The cross shouldn’t make you ashamed. It should stand at the epicenter of your boasting: ‘But far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Gal 6:14) The history of humanity would be a sick and dreary story if it weren’t for the rough-hewn tree of death on the hill of Golgotha. The scene where they killed the world’s only innocent man doesn’t seem to be a place that excites celebration. But such is the paradox of grace. Hope is sung to suffering’s tune. God composes hope from tragedy’s notes. The songs of hope by the company of the redeemed will never end. It is the cross of Jesus Christ that gives you reason to hope, sing, celebrate, and live. It was never a defeat, but always a victory.” (Paul D. Tripp) Don’t leave the cross stained with Jesus’ precious blood in the darkness of lost hope and defeat. Let us lift it high! (Rev 5:9-12)