Victim Or Victor—It's Your ChoiceSample

Extravagant Love

     Let’s go back to that little verse. When Judas left, Jesus said, “NOW is the Son of Man GLORIFIED.” So, what does this mean? Who is the Son of Man? Jesus is the Son of Man. Now, where does this name come from? It's an Old Testament prophetic title given to the Messiah, or the Son of God, who would come to take away the sins of the world and save all mankind. This is Jesus; He’s the son of suffering.

    So, in this verse he says, now is the time I will be glorified and God is going to be glorified in me and in what I'm doing. 

    Judas just walked out of the room to go start the whole situation of him being crucified. How does this make any sense? Now is the Son of Man GLORIFIED? Shouldn’t it read now is the son of man crucified? It doesn't make sense, right? Shouldn’t it say now is the Son of Man betrayed? Going to suffer? Going to be beaten and tortured? Crucified and humiliated would’ve made sense. But no, Jesus says now I am going to be glorified and God is going to be glorified in me.

    I had to pause and say, “God, I don’t get it. This doesn’t make sense! He’s going to be stripped down, beaten, and killed. It was the most horrific moment and yet you’re saying that at that same moment He’s going to be glorified in the suffering?” It made me want to study the meaning of the word glory deeper. I came across a prolific Christian author and theologian, J.I. Packer. He says, “Glory is excellence and praise worthiness set forth on display for all to see.” 

    Can you remember before we knew about iPhones and apps? The iPhone existed, but it wasn't until January 2007, when Steve Jobs got up and held the phone up and said, "this is going to revolutionize the world." He took 45 minutes to explain all that the phone could do. That was the moment of iPhone’s glory, when it was set forth on display for all of us to see. And the greatest glory of it all was that we were all sitting there saying "I get to experience it for myself!"

    Jesus is saying I’m not going the way of the victim. The whole reason I came to the world is to display the extent of My Father's extravagant love and grace for mankind. Now, they get to see and experience it for themselves.