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Love
Teaching Text: John 12: 12-27
The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Walking the Way of Jesus | Exploring the Practices of Jesus
Suffering with Jesus
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
We have looked during Lent at the Walking in the Way of Jesus - looking at the specific practices we see in Jesus’ life in the Gospels
Fasting
Resisting Temptation
Withdrawing in Prayer
Engaging in Prayer
Humble courage in confrontation
Jesus enters Jerusalem at the height of his fame.
“Now the crowd that was with Him when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised Him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that He had performed this sign, went out to meet Him.
– John 12: 17-18
Throughout His ministry, Jesus was, at times, very explicit about what would happen to Him. Even in the midst of this fanfare and celebration He says to His disciples:
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me…”
– Luke 12: 24-26a
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when Jesus turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” He said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
– Mark 8: 31-33 NIV
Peter, who I think is super relatable here in many ways, is like: hey man, no one wants to hear that—especially from someone they believe is the Messiah, the Rescuer, the coming King.
And that is one of the challenges presented to us in Palm Sunday is that Good Friday is coming—the triumphant Hero is about to die an agonizing death.
And we are faced with a real question of the soul… Is this worth it?
It is easy to praise and celebrate and follow Jesus when things are going well, but can we accept a suffering savior?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes this about the passage where Jesus rebukes Peter:
“Suffering and rejection are the summary expression of Jesus’ cross. Death on the cross means to suffer and die as someone rejected and expelled. That it is Peter, the rock of the church, who incurs guilt here immediately after his own confession to Jesus Christ and after his appointment by Jesus, means that from its very inception the church itself has taken offense at the suffering Christ. It neither wants such a Lord nor does it, as the Church of Christ, want its Lord to force upon it the law of suffering.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Jesus, at the beginning of His march toward the cross says, “whoever serves Me must follow Me.” And that is the question of faith: Will you follow Him—knowing that death is what’s required?
Jesus made a choice
I think it’s important to remember that Jesus made a choice. Jesus made the deliberate decision to head toward Jerusalem, raise Lazarus from the dead in front of many witnesses who were there to mourn with the sisters, to ride into town on a prophetic donkey, and then head straight to the temple courts to start whipping things and tossing tables. He was silent before his accusers and hung on a cross for hours in an agonizing death.
Jesus made a choice and we have a choice too
Throughout the New Testament we see the authors showing us their accounting work. They are helping the church, add up the costs of following Jesus.
Paul says:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
– Romans 8: 18
In the life of every disciple, there will be wilderness seasons. Moments when you will have to hold up the sufficiency of grace and the joy that is before you and decide whether it is worth it to keep walking.
We never really know exactly what it will mean to follow Jesus until we say yes, but we certainly have a more detailed outline than the disciples did.
“Why should we be surprised, then, that our lives are often filled with darkness and pain? Even God himself in Christ did not avoid that. But though God’s purposes are often every bit as hidden and obscure as they were to Job and to the observers at the foot of the cross, we—who have the teaching of the Bible and have grasped the message of the Bible—know that the way up is down. The way to power, freedom, and joy is through suffering, loss, and sorrow.”
– Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering
I believe that what James says is true that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Or when Peter says that faith that is tested and proven genuine, refined by fire, is worth more than gold.
Lose your life → find your life
Your weakness → power of Christ resting on you
Leave houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife children, fields → 100X + eternal life
Present suffering → revealed glory
Our confession → His forgiveness
Jesus’ wounds → our healing
Jesus’ death/sacrifice →our reentry to the garden
Hosanna means: “rescue please” – it is a desperate plea. We say Hosanna to the suffering Savior – the One who rescued us through His sacrifice on the cross. We say Hosanna to the One who can rescue us from fear and ambivalence and lukewarmness. And we follow Him in love and praise and adoration to our own death, so that we can find a shared life with Him.
PARENTS:
Ask your kids:
What is suffering?
How have you suffered in the last week?
Why do you think you have these hard times?
Pray for Jesus to do what He promises regarding our sufferings.
Pray for those who are suffering around the world
