XV.

ATTRACTION OF THE CROSS.

JOHN xii: 23, 24.

23. Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

JESUS uttered these prophetic words, on an occasion which would not at first seem likely to have drawn them from him. As the Feast of the Passover approached, and with it the sacrifice of the true "Paschal Lamb," certain Greeks had come to worship at Jerusalem, and desired to see Jesus, of whose fame, no doubt, they had heard.

These were Gentiles by birth and residence. But from some favourable circumstances they had become acquainted with the Jewish Scriptures and the Hebrew faith; and had turned so far from their national vanities, as to worship the living and true God, the Creator of the world. There were many such, like the centurion, whose servant was healed at Capernaum; 1 like Cornelius, whose prayers and alms had come up as a memorial before God." But as they did not profess the religion of the Jews, the apostles hesitated, when they came to Philip, desiring to see Jesus. The apostles did

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1 Matt. viii. 5.

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2 Acts x. 4.

not yet understand that his light should "lighten the Gentiles." But Jesus saw through the mist by which they were surrounded, and knew that the accomplishment of the prophecy was approaching, when "kings should come to his light, and the Gentiles to the brightness of his rising." He replied in mysterious words, saying, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

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The Son of man, coming to his own world, and his own people, had not been received with glory. The only triumph which he knew, was that accomplishment of prophecy, when a colt, "an ass's colt," bore him into Jerusalem, and the multitude spread their garments before him. But now the hour was come that the Son of man should be glorified. He should burst the gates of the grave, and ascend to "the glory which he had with the Father before the world was.”

But it is not his own glory which affects the mind of Jesus. That glory, in its proper sense, admitted of no increase. His glory is man's happiness, man's salvation; the bringing immortal souls "from darkness to light," from death to life, from "the power of Satan unto God."

And how should this be accomplished? In real truth, the words, Now shall the Son of man be glorified, were to be thus interpreted, Now shall the Son of man be crucified. The foundation of that glory must be laid on the cross, and in the grave. As the corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, in order that it

3 Isa. lxii. 2.

may bring forth fruit, and by dying send up an abundant produce, nourished by itself, partaking of a nature like its own; so should it be in the kingdom of God. The seeds of an abundant harvest, "bringing many sons to glory," must be sown in the grave.

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The time, indeed, was then near, when it would appear as if the power of darkness had prevailed, and all the hopes were extinguished of those who had followed Jesus Lord and Christ." But he himself extends his view to the consequences of his death, by which "the prince of this world should be cast out," the dominion of Satan broken, and he, the "despised and rejected of men," should draw towards himself a great multitude of all people and nations and tongues, who should look up to him as their Saviour, and acknowledge him as their Lord.

If this be so, there must be something in the nature of his Cross and Passion which has the power of affecting and attracting the heart: something through which the Spirit of God performs the office assigned to him, and "reproves the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." 5

And it is so. For, in the first place, the cross of Christ displays, by the most convincing proof, the nature of sin in the sight of God. The "lifting up" of Christ upon the cross was the inflicting upon him the worst punishment of the vilest sinners. But he was himself, confessedly, "without spot of sin." Even the Judge who delivered him to death, could "find no fault in him." They were the sins of men that he bore in his own body. And so bearing them, he displayed the

4 John xii. 32.

5 John xvi. 8.

nature and the consequences of sin by a proof which nothing can refute, and with a clearness which nothing can conceal. Words may be disputed; but facts cannot be denied. And the fact of Christ's death, when he consented to be "numbered with the transgressors," proves the sinfulness and the danger of transgression. But it shows this, not to condemn, but to save; it a way of escape from the perilous state which it discloses. And so his words are made good. Dying, he brings forth much fruit: being "lifted up from the earth, he draweth men unto him," as their deliverer "from the wrath to come; "" as the "mediator between God and

man."

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But there is another attraction of the Cross, not less powerful than the relief which it offers from the "terrors of the Lord." It removes that estrangement by which the affections of mankind are naturally alienated from God; alienated for this cause, that they are conscious of having transgressed against him. It gives a perpetual evidence of the love of God towards men: of his willingness, nay, his desire, to receive them to his favour. It enforces that gracious remonstrance of the Prophet, "Turn ye, turn ye unto me; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" These are what Scripture calls, "the cords of a man ;"6 the cords by which man ought to be drawn-ties of love in return for love. Let us suppose a son, having incurred the heavy displeasure of his father by acts of disobedience, to have betaken himself to a foreign land, and to be living there without any of the thoughts which a son ought to feel towards a father. It is the true representation of man, in his

6 See Hosea xi. 4.

natural state; "without God in the world;

"“without

the knowledge of God," because "not liking to retain him in their knowledge.”

On a sudden, tidings are brought him of a message from his father. Perhaps he sees one approaching whom he fears as a messenger of vengeance, who has overtaken him in a far country. Such has always been the first impression of the guilty heart, when surprised by a sense of the Divine presence. Even the shepherds were "sore afraid," when "the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.” But the angel said unto them, "Be not afraid; for lo, I bring you good tidings of great joy."7 And so the banished son is told not of anger, but of mercy; the messenger is come not to destroy life, but to save it. The father has not neglected his son, though he has been himself forgotten: he has sent for his restoration the one who was dearest to him on earth: one who had consented to leave the blessings of his home, and expose himself to hardship, peril, even death itself, that he might reclaim the wanderer. Surely this proof of the father's affection still existing, and showing itself by such signs, would move the hardest heart. It would prove, at the same time, the father's love, and the son's danger whilst alienated from him. Surely it would recall him to the father.

This, then, is the explanation of our Lord's words, in which he compares his death to the corn of wheat, which, falling into the ground and dying, brings forth much fruit. That death "draws men to him," by two of the most powerful affections which influence man's nature;

7 Luke ii. 9-11.