"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."
-John 12:27-28, English Standard Version (ESV)
-John 12:27-28, English Standard Version (ESV)
I have always been partial to the Gospel of John. A few months ago I was reading and this passage leapt out at me. It has come to be one of my favorite verses at this time in life. Trial, tribulation, tragedy, nightmare, pain, stress; whatever term is preferred in any given situation, I have no loved ones, friends, or acquaintances that would not say their lives are marked by the occurrence of events of this type. The Bible does not provide any easy comfort for these situations. However, it does tell us how to face trials. I know of no other verse that speaks more deeply to me on this topic. In two short verses, our Lord, Savior, and personal life coach has explained to us how we should deal with suffering, the meaning and purpose found within it, and provides the solid assurance of God's eternal faithfulness.
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?"
Jesus does not teach us to go through trials and pretend that nothing is happening. We are not asked or expected to be afflicted with trials and somehow not let them bother us. Jesus begins this exchange with a painfully honest confession. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, is troubled, and not on a superficial level. The trial that He is to face, the cross, is affecting his very soul. I don't believe our mortal and fallen minds can comprehend the depth of this confession. Luke, in a complementary passage, refers to our Lord being in anguish as He faced his death. (Lk 22:39-44) Jesus did not make light of his coming suffering, nor did He pretend that it did not bother him. Instead, He acknowledged and confessed to the Father the depth of his sorrow. If our sinless Lord was able to honestly express how his trial affected him, certainly it is entirely appropriate for us to come before God with our struggles, fear, uncertainty, and pain. However, this is not license to just complain. Jesus followed his confession with the question that must follow ours: "And what shall I say?" After acknowledging the reality of the trial and our own fear and pain, we must decide how we are going to respond to the situation. Jesus' confession before the Father was preparation for making the decision. Whenever we face a challenge of any kind, we have the same two options for our response that Jesus had.
"Father, save me from this hour"
This is a perfect summary of our natural response to trials. We are all human and as such we don't like pain. A great deal of the advancement of civilization might be credited to finding new ways to avoid pain and unpleasantness in general. When we encounter a trial or painful situation, it is natural for us to ask God to save us. If only God would deliver us from this situation, then everything would be okay. If He does not rescue us, we are disappointed and may even find our faith challenged. This expectation suggests that we view our relationship with God as being one where He is there to make sure our lives go the way we want. The God of the universe and beyond, who is fighting a battle for the spiritual liberation of all creation, gave us "...the right to become children of God" (Jn 1:12; ESV), inheritors of the Kingdom, and brothers and sisters of Christ, so that we can live our lives undisturbed by the reality of darkness that infests God's good creation. Clearly, this view is much too narrow to bear any resemblance to reality. I am not saying that seeking ways to improve standards of living is wrong. I am simply saying that when faced with a trial, when confronted with the ugly and evil reality that the redemption of the world has not yet been finally consolidated, backing up and counting on God to resolve the situation by sparing us from its effect is not helpful to us or the Kingdom. Jesus himself immediately rejects this response as inadequate. The brevity of these two verses belies the profound truth that is being spoken about the meaning of life. Experiencing a life of purpose and meaning is not accomplished by running from pain and trouble.
"But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify you name."
Jesus has summarily rejected our first, most natural response to trials. Christ tells us not to view trials as something that we should avoid at all cost, as events which interrupt the 'natural' flow of our lives. Instead, He tells us that our trial is actually an event which God has been preparing us for, an event that will serve as a focal point for the light of the glory of God. We can be confident that wherever we are in life, whatever trial we face, we have been brought to this moment for a reason. We need never doubt that there is a purpose for our suffering; there is a plan of which our trial is a part. Why am I facing this? Quite simply, I am where I am so that the name of the Lord will be glorified. That is, we have come to this hour so that God's identity, power, character, and will for his creation may be revealed through us and our situation. This is not to say that God wants us to suffer or that He causes us to suffer. It is to say that suffering and trouble happen and God wants to use them to do good for us and others, but we must cooperate with the process. Bitterness and resentment will keep us from seeing the glory of God in what He is doing. When confronted with trials, we must confess our pain and fear to God, recognize that the trial is part of what gives our life purpose, and ask God to use us to glorify his name.
"Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.'"
As if Jesus teaching us how to respond to trials weren't enough, God sealed the deal by removing any grounds for doubt about the outcome of our trials. Jesus has confessed his pain and sorrow, recognized that the coming suffering is part of the purpose of his life, and asked the Father to use the coming trial to bring glory to God. God responds by affirming that not only is He perfectly capable of revealing his power and identity in the world (how many times in scripture and the lives of others have we seen God use broken lives and hopeless situations to reveal himself?), but promises that He will do so again through the life of Christ. Similarly, in various passages of scripture (See James 1:2-4 and especially Romans 8:18-21) we are assured that the sufferings we experience will result in the glorification of God through our lives. I don't believe we could ask for a better assurance that our suffering is never in vain.
Perhaps the profound truth that Jesus and the apostles try to teach us is that God's glory is not best revealed in the good things, in the way that things are supposed to be, but rather in how He is able to use the bad stuff, the things in life that are contrary to his will, to nonetheless establish his Kingdom everywhere for all eternity. Maybe, when we run from trials, we are running from the opportunity to have our life, our very existence, transfigured from that of a fallen mortal into an agent that, for all eternity, will live and be numbered among those that contributed to the greatest triumph of righteousness ever accomplished.
"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say?"
Jesus does not teach us to go through trials and pretend that nothing is happening. We are not asked or expected to be afflicted with trials and somehow not let them bother us. Jesus begins this exchange with a painfully honest confession. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, is troubled, and not on a superficial level. The trial that He is to face, the cross, is affecting his very soul. I don't believe our mortal and fallen minds can comprehend the depth of this confession. Luke, in a complementary passage, refers to our Lord being in anguish as He faced his death. (Lk 22:39-44) Jesus did not make light of his coming suffering, nor did He pretend that it did not bother him. Instead, He acknowledged and confessed to the Father the depth of his sorrow. If our sinless Lord was able to honestly express how his trial affected him, certainly it is entirely appropriate for us to come before God with our struggles, fear, uncertainty, and pain. However, this is not license to just complain. Jesus followed his confession with the question that must follow ours: "And what shall I say?" After acknowledging the reality of the trial and our own fear and pain, we must decide how we are going to respond to the situation. Jesus' confession before the Father was preparation for making the decision. Whenever we face a challenge of any kind, we have the same two options for our response that Jesus had.
"Father, save me from this hour"
This is a perfect summary of our natural response to trials. We are all human and as such we don't like pain. A great deal of the advancement of civilization might be credited to finding new ways to avoid pain and unpleasantness in general. When we encounter a trial or painful situation, it is natural for us to ask God to save us. If only God would deliver us from this situation, then everything would be okay. If He does not rescue us, we are disappointed and may even find our faith challenged. This expectation suggests that we view our relationship with God as being one where He is there to make sure our lives go the way we want. The God of the universe and beyond, who is fighting a battle for the spiritual liberation of all creation, gave us "...the right to become children of God" (Jn 1:12; ESV), inheritors of the Kingdom, and brothers and sisters of Christ, so that we can live our lives undisturbed by the reality of darkness that infests God's good creation. Clearly, this view is much too narrow to bear any resemblance to reality. I am not saying that seeking ways to improve standards of living is wrong. I am simply saying that when faced with a trial, when confronted with the ugly and evil reality that the redemption of the world has not yet been finally consolidated, backing up and counting on God to resolve the situation by sparing us from its effect is not helpful to us or the Kingdom. Jesus himself immediately rejects this response as inadequate. The brevity of these two verses belies the profound truth that is being spoken about the meaning of life. Experiencing a life of purpose and meaning is not accomplished by running from pain and trouble.
"But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify you name."
Jesus has summarily rejected our first, most natural response to trials. Christ tells us not to view trials as something that we should avoid at all cost, as events which interrupt the 'natural' flow of our lives. Instead, He tells us that our trial is actually an event which God has been preparing us for, an event that will serve as a focal point for the light of the glory of God. We can be confident that wherever we are in life, whatever trial we face, we have been brought to this moment for a reason. We need never doubt that there is a purpose for our suffering; there is a plan of which our trial is a part. Why am I facing this? Quite simply, I am where I am so that the name of the Lord will be glorified. That is, we have come to this hour so that God's identity, power, character, and will for his creation may be revealed through us and our situation. This is not to say that God wants us to suffer or that He causes us to suffer. It is to say that suffering and trouble happen and God wants to use them to do good for us and others, but we must cooperate with the process. Bitterness and resentment will keep us from seeing the glory of God in what He is doing. When confronted with trials, we must confess our pain and fear to God, recognize that the trial is part of what gives our life purpose, and ask God to use us to glorify his name.
"Then a voice came from heaven: 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.'"
As if Jesus teaching us how to respond to trials weren't enough, God sealed the deal by removing any grounds for doubt about the outcome of our trials. Jesus has confessed his pain and sorrow, recognized that the coming suffering is part of the purpose of his life, and asked the Father to use the coming trial to bring glory to God. God responds by affirming that not only is He perfectly capable of revealing his power and identity in the world (how many times in scripture and the lives of others have we seen God use broken lives and hopeless situations to reveal himself?), but promises that He will do so again through the life of Christ. Similarly, in various passages of scripture (See James 1:2-4 and especially Romans 8:18-21) we are assured that the sufferings we experience will result in the glorification of God through our lives. I don't believe we could ask for a better assurance that our suffering is never in vain.
Perhaps the profound truth that Jesus and the apostles try to teach us is that God's glory is not best revealed in the good things, in the way that things are supposed to be, but rather in how He is able to use the bad stuff, the things in life that are contrary to his will, to nonetheless establish his Kingdom everywhere for all eternity. Maybe, when we run from trials, we are running from the opportunity to have our life, our very existence, transfigured from that of a fallen mortal into an agent that, for all eternity, will live and be numbered among those that contributed to the greatest triumph of righteousness ever accomplished.
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