Reading:
John 12:20-36a
"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
Jesus is beginning to teach those who would listen about what is going to have to happen to Him. He knows that everything that He is doing is moving Him step by step closer to the moment when He will have to die for the sins of the world. He begins to experience in His humanity a troubled soul. The One that is perfect and without sin is beginning to feel what is expected of Him, to experience death.
Jesus in saying this that when He is lifted up will draw all people to Himself, is teaching that He will die by crucifixion. He will be nailed to the cross for the sin of the world. He will then be lifted up on high on the cross. To many it will look like complete foolishness but to those that God is saving it will become the power of God. Jesus on the Cross shows us the depth of the love of God, in that He would become man and die for His people. He did not deserve to die because He had no sin. But He came to live among us to fulfill the Law perfectly and then to die the death that we deserve. He did it though so that He could make atonement for our sins. He spilled His precious blood to cover our sins. It is when we stop looking at our works and our righteousness and focus fully on Jesus lifted high on the cross that we are drawn to Him and we are saved.
It is in the cross that we are assured of our salvation because of this perfect sacrifice. Jesus Christ as our High Priest willingly offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for all of the sin of the world. He died on the cross and then took His life back up three days later so that He could give His life to us. He defeated sin, death and Devil so that we who are in Christ have nothing to fear. There is the great hymn that states,
"Lift high the cross,
the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore His sacred name." (LSB 837)
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