The hour, the glory, the trouble of which Jesus spoke is the cross. How the cross of Christ is a place of unlikely glory! For it raises a question. “How can the brutal beating, crucifying, and death of a man be in any way described as glorious?” Does it not seem as if there is no glory in an act such as this?

Last Monday I presided at the graveside service of Mary Joy Blocki, the daughter of dear friends and gospel co-laborers Martin & Kathy Blocki. Though Mary suffered through many physical afflictions during her life that fell just short of twenty-three years, the Lord used her in mighty ways to advance His kingdom. The celebration service two days prior to her burial was a beautiful testimony to that truth. The post below is the meditation on John 12:23-24 that I gave at the cemetery.

Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

What hour brought Christ’s glory? How was He glorified?

When we think of glory, we think of splendor, awe, and the display of beauty. A fabulous fireworks display is glorious. A brilliant sunrise is glorious. Standing over the edge of the Grand Canyon is glorious.

When it comes to Christ and His glory, we know that the Lord will come again one day when the heavens open up with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. He will be accompanied by His mighty angels and come to earth to judge the living and the dead. How glorious that day will be!

Yet that is not the hour that Jesus said had come in this text. His final manifestation is not the glory of which He speaks here in these verses. There is another glory of which Jesus speaks. It is an unlikely glory.

Jesus makes it clear here and throughout this gospel what that unlikely glory is.

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