He was lifted up...

I don't think it should always be this way, but I know I grow in awe of God everytime I learn something really intricate about his plan. We should always be in awe really, as we watch everyday unfold because each moment God allows to unfold is a small miracle. A gift from him to us, a token of his love.

But sometimes he gives us icing on our proverbial cakes.

I was reading a passage in John 12 this morning where Jesus predicts his death, telling us that he was to be lifted up...

27"Now my heart 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. 28Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

There's a few interesting ideas in this short piece- the concept of God's revelation to some people and not others (some perceived the voice as thunder, others as an angel), the concept of God's glory ( That even before Jesus God had been glorified, that He glorifies himself, and a total exploration of what that means and it's implications, of which I am duly interested and not even close to qualified enough to begin discussing...) and the inherent contradiction that Jesus proclaims he will NOT ask God to save him from this hour in the gospel of John, which is the only gospel to omit the prayer in the garden of Gethsamane for Jesus to achievelications his Father's will, not his own...

BUT all that aside, there's something else that's caught my attention. It's verse 33- He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

It's a strange little verse, the few commentaries I've looked at haven't even picked it up. CEV translates it 'Jesus was talking about the way he would be put to death' and the New KJV 'This He said, signifying by what death He would die'. In that respect I think the reading of it should be a revelation into how Jesus was physically to be put to death, rather then the quality or 'weight' of Jesus' death, though that is addressed in other passages.

So how was he to die? He was lifted up. Look at the preceeding verse... 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself. Jesus died on a cross. He was lifted up from the ground. He was not physically touching the earth when he left it. He wasn't stoned, or drowned or given a lethal dose of goodness knows what, he was HUNG-lifted up. Aside from all the theological connotations there's a physical presence to his words.

Mostly, this isn't read this way. The best note I could find on it was from a biblegateway commentary which addressed a reference to Isaiah...
The phrase lifting up echoes the description of the Suffering Servant in the fourth of the Servant Songs in Isaiah (Is 52:13--53:12; cf. Brown 1966:478). The description of the Servant being "raised and lifted up and highly exalted" is followed by a description of people being appalled at him because he was disfigured and marred (Is 52:13-14). This strange combination is seen in the lifting up of Jesus on the cross.
http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/John/Jesus-Hour-Arrives

My Lord was always above the earth, but physically so in death. I don't think it matters hugely from a theological perspective. There's no great fireworks or light shed onto how we should live differently. But there is another tiny piece of the puzzle that God shares with me, which more and more brings me delight in his sovereignty and faith in his complete control.

I love God.