Multiple Choice
Several weeks ago, my son Jacob and a fellow student Jessica, both of whom are eighth graders, participated in a history competition at the University of Memphis. Students from the Mid South were competing in three categories:
- Some were presenting papers on historical topics.
- Others constructed websites that featured historical figures.
- Jacob and Jessica competed in a category where students performed moments from history.
Specifically, Jacob and Jessica used puppets to tell the history of tobacco in America. As part of their timeline they performed a moment when Christopher Columbus arrived in America. They included this in their skit because Columbus learned of tobacco from native Americans.
In their puppet show they spent a few seconds showing Christopher Columbus and party trying to convert the native Americans to Christianity. Jacob and Jessica were followed by a team of five girls who performed a play. Ironically, in their performance these five girls also showed Christopher Columbus and party trying to convert native Americans to Christianity. What made their skit particularly interesting was that each of the five students wore a hijab, a scarf used by Muslim women to cover the head and the neck. All of these students were from Muslim families. And here they were acting out Christopher Columbus and party trying to convert people to Christianity. Perhaps eighty years ago, Memphis, TN would have never seen such a thing. You might have assumed that all the junior high and high school students at a history competition would have been Christian. But here were five Muslim girls playing Christians trying to convert non-Christians to Christianity.
It was a stark reminder to me that we live in a world filled with many spiritual options. Although Memphis, TN is one of the most churched cities in the nation, our schools are filled with Muslims and people of other religions. Religious diversity is even more prominent in other parts of the United States. In fact religious diversity is one of the primary topics raised in this year’s United States presidential campaign. We live in a world with many spiritual options.
The fact that there are many spiritual options raises a difficult question: why would a person choose Jesus? Why would a person choose Jesus over Mohammed or Buddha or some other spiritual leader? Why would we make that choice if we haven’t yet? And why would people in our family, workplaces, schools or neighborhoods make that choice if they haven’t yet?
Early Adopters
It might be helpful to go back to the beginning and to look at what was drawing people to Jesus initially. John chapters 11 through 12 record a time when many are choosing Jesus over other options available to them.
In John chapter 11, just after Jesus raises a man named Lazarus from the dead many people choose Jesus:
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him (Jn. 11:45 ESV)
So many people choose Jesus that some of the enemies of Jesus complain shortly after this that everyone will soon be choosing Jesus:
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him…” (Jn. 11:47-48 ESV)
Not long after this there is a large crowd who welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem and hails him as a great king. This scene is the origin of what is called Palm Sunday, the Sunday prior to Easter Sunday:
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. (Jn. 12:12-18 ESV)
In response to this scene where so many people are deciding to follow Jesus, the enemies of Jesus claim that the entire world seems to have made this choice:
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” (Jn 12:19 ESV)
Literally, the Pharisees say, “What we’re doing to stop people isn’t working. It’s doing nothing!”
And finally, John tells us, it is not only Jews who decided to follow Jesus. But also non-Jews, or Greeks decided to follow Jesus. These Greeks could’ve chosen from any of the Greco Roman gods or goddesses available to them in the ancient Greek and Roman religions. But instead they chose Jesus:
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” (Jn 12:20-21 ESV)
Again and again people choose Jesus over other options available to them.
Choosing Jesus Because of the Cross
And they make this decision for many reasons. Some chose Jesus because he raised Lazarus from the dead. Especially here at the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday many choose Jesus because they felt he could help them overthrow the Romans. People had many reasons for choosing Jesus.
But Jesus says there is one reason that reason will draw more people to choose him than we could ever imagine:
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (Jn 12:32-33 ESV)
In the verses before this and after this Jesus speaks about his cross. Here he also speaks about his cross. Jesus says that when he dies on that cross it will draw, it will compel, more people to choose him than ever before. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Jesus seems to be saying, “You think that many are making the choice to follow me now? Compared to how many will make that decision when they see the cross, this is just a trickle of water. Once I die on the cross, that trickle will turn into a waterfall.”
Why? What is it about the cross that would lead all people to choose Jesus over all the other options?
From the time of the writing of the Bible until today, there have been three primary ways that Christians have answered that question. They have said that we see three distinct things at the cross. They have used fancy words like substitutionary atonement, moral influence and christus victor. But we can just use three words to summarize. People will be drawn to follow Jesus because when they see him lifted on the cross they will see a power, a pardon and a passion greater than any they’ve ever seen before.
The Cross Reveals Jesus’ Power
First, people are drawn to Jesus over all other options because in his cross they find a power greater than any they had ever imagined.
John is the only gospel to record a long prayer that Jesus prays prior to the cross. Recorded in John 17 it contains some of the most touching words to ever fall from Jesus’ lips. About midway through Jesus prays for God to protect us from the “evil one” (Jn 17:15). Jesus reveals that there is a dark spiritual power at work in this world. Later in 1 Jn 5:19 John will write that the whole world lies under the “power of the evil one.”
We like to think that we are in complete control of our lives. But the truth is we are not. There are dark spiritual forces at work in this world. Every day they punch the clock and they work full time to make sure we fail as a friend, we do the wrong thing at school, we mess up at work, and we make a complete mess of things at home.
But writing later in 1 John, John will tell followers of Jesus that in Jesus they have “overcome the evil one” (1 Jn 2:13-14). They have won against these forces. How? Through the cross. Through the cross Jesus overcame all the dark and evil spiritual forces.
Ernst Neizvestnys was one of the most celebrated artists in the Soviet Union. He was even chosen to sculpt the tombstone for Nikita Khrushchev. But one of his final sculptures for the Communist Party created a controversy. Party officials asked Neizvestnys to sculpt a massive concrete facade for the Communist Party building in Turkmenistan. It consisted of separate pieces. Each piece was approved separately by Communist officials. When finally installed the sculpture was of a large gothic face, with the very prominent eyebrows running horizontally and the very prominent nose running vertically. What created great anger among the authorities was that when you stepped back far enough, the two lines of the eyebrows and the nose created the shape of a cross, a shape that was often prominent in Neizvestnys work because of his Christian beliefs.
Soviet officials expelled him for this. At least one notable author stated that this was Neizvestynys way of saying that despicable cross had a power far greater than the glorious USSR. And sure enough, today the cross remains. And the USSR does not.[1]
Something powerful happened in the cross. Jesus was taking on the most powerful forces of even on the cross. And he won! The grip which Satan and his dark forces held over this world and over you was broken. And while we still feel their influence, they have no ultimate power over us. They have met their match in the cross.
The Cross Reveals Jesus’ Pardon
Second, people are drawn to Jesus over all other options because in his cross they find a pardon greater than any they ever imagined.
John writes about the pardon of the cross in this way in 1 John:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 Jn 2:1-2 ESV)
The word “propitiation” means that on the cross Jesus took the punishment that was rightfully ours so that we could have the pardon that was not rightfully ours. The cross did not do away with punishment. In fact, at the cross we see just how bad sin actually is. When you look at that bloody body of Jesus nailed to those timbers you see what sin looks like. But at the cross Jesus took our punishment so that we could be pardoned.
A movie called “The Revenant” recently won numerous awards including the 2016 Academy Award for best actor. It starred Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie was based on details of an actual man who lived in the American west named Hugh Glass. Once, when I was in high school, I read one of the books about Hugh Glass. It was called Lord Grizzly.
It is interesting that this movie would gain such acclaim. The movie’s theme is revealed by its title. The word “revenant” refers to one who returns, even one who returns from the dead, in order to seek revenge. And, at its heart, that is what this film and the books of Hugh Glass are about. It is a story about revenge.
Hugh Glass was a trapper in the 1800’s in the Upper Missouri River in the United States. He and his party were attacked by an Indian tribe so they escaped by boat down the river. When they left the river and started traveling by land hoping to eventually reach a fort, Glass was viciously attacked by a bear. Barely alive, his party did their best to patch him up. They strapped him to a stretcher and tried to continue their arduous hike toward the outpost. Eventually it seemed clear to them that Glass would not survive. Thus the captain of the party paid for a few men to stay behind and to bury Glass when he died. The rest of the party pressed on. Once the others were out of sight, one man named Fitzgerald tried to smother Glass rather than wait for him to die. Glass’ adult son who had also stayed behind intervened and Fitzgerald killed him. Fitzgerald hastily buried the still living Glass in a shallow grave and then lied about Glass’ supposed death to a third man named Bridger who had also stayed behind. Taking Fitzgerald at his word, Bridger and Fitzgerald left, resuming their journey toward the outpost. Miraculously, Glass survived the bear attack and the burial. He climbed out of the tomb and crawled hundreds of miles. The rest of the story contained in the movie and the books tells of a man who responded to all this injustice and all this unkindness by doing all he could to give punishment.
The story of the cross is a story that is just the opposite. It is a story of a Father and a Son who responded to all our injustice and all our unkindness not by doing all they could do give punishment, but by doing all they could to give pardon. And not just pardon to some of us. Pardon to all of us. In the cross, we find pardon greater than any we could have ever imagined.
The Cross Reveals Jesus’ Passion
Third, people are drawn to Jesus above all other options because in his cross they find a passion far greater than any they ever imagined.
John’s Gospel is the origin of the most famous verse in the world: John 3:16. It is a verse that focuses on God’s passion for the world. A passion demonstrated through the death of his son. Someone has broken it down in this way:
John 3:16
GOD
-the greatest Lover
SO LOVED
-the greatest degree
THE WORLD
-the greatest number
THAT HE GAVE
-the greatest act
HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
-the greatest Gift
THAT WHOEVER
-the greatest invitation
BELIEVES
-the greatest simplicity
IN HIM
-the greatest Person
SHOULD NOT PERISH
-the greatest deliverance
BUT
-the greatest difference
HAVE
-the greatest certainty
EVERLASTING LIFE
-the greatest possession
John wants us to know that in Jesus we find the greatest love possible.
Elsewhere in John’s gospel, Jesus will say that the greatest love happens when someone lays down his life for another:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (Jn. 15:13 ESV)
The cross was the ultimate example of this. God, in the form of his son, laying down his life for all of us. In the cross we find the greatest example of passion.
The Nightingale is a novel by Kristin Hannah about a father and his two daughters who suffer in France during World War II. When Isabelle and Vianne were young their loving and joyful father Julien went off to fight in World War 1. The man who returned was not their father. He was distant and broken. And when their mother died a few years later from an illness, Julien became even more distant and broken. Vianne escaped by marrying at an early age. Isabelle was packed off to school. For the rest of their lives Isabelle and Vianne were estranged from their father. As far as they could tell he remained an uncaring drunk who lived in a small apartment in Paris. Vianne and Isabelle eventually reunited and lived close to one another in a small town called Carriveau.
Then their world turned upside down.
The Germans invaded France, taking over both Paris and Carriveau. The sisters were filled with fear and rage as Nazi soldiers and tanks roared into town. Vianne became preoccupied with protecting her daughter and other children in Carriveau. Isabelle decided to join the resistance movement. Eventually she accepted an assignments in Paris. There, the resistance continued to find more and more Allied airmen who been downed by the Nazis. They realized the need to help these airman escape France and return to their own countries. Isabelle put together an escape route and created a network of safe houses and resources. Soon a steady trickle of downed Allied airman made their way to safety through Isabelle’s network. She became known as the Nightingale.
The Nazis searched for the Nightingale with urgency and frustration. Still airman after airman made it to safety. Then one night, just as Isabelle reached a safe house with another group of airmen, a group of armed Nazies stormed in and captured everyone, including Isabelle. During intense interrogation, the Nazis demanded to know one thing: “Give us the name of the Nightingale!” They didn’t realize Isabelle was the Nightingale.
News of Isabelle’s capture reached Paris and the ears of her father Julien. Though he had been absent for much of her and Vianne’s life, he had recently reconnected with Isabelle. She has confided in him and told him the details of her life as the Nightingale. He quickly secured transportation to the place where his daughter was being held. He demanded to see the person in charge. He claimed to have important information. And in one touching scene the guard throws Isabelle clothes and tells her they are done with her. She is freed from the chair in which she has been chained for days. As she is led out of the interrogation room she is shocked to see her father Julien led into the room. She is even more shocked to hear him saying again and again “I am the Nightingale. I am the Nightingale.” The next day he is executed is his daughter’s place.
There’s nothing like the love of a parent who lays down his life for his child-except the love of a Savior who lays down his life for us. And that’s what happens at the cross. There is no greater love than the love we see at the cross. No greater passion. Because at the cross Jesus steps in and takes our place. Out of great love, he takes our takes death so that we might have life.
Lifted
And Jesus says when that happens, when he is lifted up, and when people truly get a glimpse of this–his power, his pardon and his passion–nothing can keep them from being drawn to him:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (Jn 12:32 ESV)
All people will be drawn to him. Doesn’t matter how young they are. How old they are. Doesn’t matter how white they are. How dark they are. Doesn’t matter how poor they are. How rich they are. Doesn’t matter how little they know. How much they know. When they get a glimpse of this, they will be drawn to him.
And what John seems to be emphasizing in this text is that nothing will be able to stop it. Time and time again the enemies of Jesus try to stop the people from coming to Jesus and they fail. Eventually, they literally say, “It’s no good; we’re gaining nothing; the whole world is coming to Jesus.” And once Jesus gets lifted on that cross, how much more true will that be. Once Jesus gets lifted on that cross nothing will stop all people from coming. Because no one’s ever seen such power. No one’s ever seen such pardon. No one’s ever seen such passion as we see in the cross of Jesus.
So, here’s what I urge you to do this week: choose Jesus and lift him up so that others may choose him as well.
If you’ve not chosen Jesus, I urge you to do that today. Baptism is how you indicate you’ve made that choice. Choose Jesus. Be baptized.
Lift him up by inviting someone to be here next Sunday.
[1] [http://www.uzbekjourneys.com/2015/01/ernst-neizvestnys-last-soviet-sculpture.html; Phillip Yancey, Vanishing Grace (Zondervan, 2014), p. 272]
