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What is the cross? For John, the cross is not the humiliation of the Son. The cross is His glorification.
Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son of Man would be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. Jesus was referring to the event recorded in Numbers when Moses put a bronze serpent on a pole to heal Israelites who had been bitten by poisonous snakes.
But Jesus was also alluding to Daniel's vision of the Son of Man.
Daniel sees four beasts come out of the sea, representing four Gentile powers that would emerge from the sea of nations. Then, he sees one like the Son of Man ascending on a cloud to receive all the power and authority and dominion of all the bestial empires that came before. As the Son of Man is lifted up to glory in Daniel, so also Jesus is glorified when He is lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. At the cross, the Father begins to exalt His Son.
Jesus claims that He came forth from the Father, and that He must return to the Father. The cross is the beginning of that return, and John emphasizes the significance of the form of Jesus' death, the fact that He is lifted up from the earth and not buried under a pile of rocks.
For John, Easter and Good Friday are part of the same event. They move in the same direction. Good Friday and Easter both lift up the Eternal Word made flesh. The resurrection does not reverse the cross; the resurrection completes the exaltation begun at the cross.
Our suffering with Christ has the same character. We are exposed to the shame of suffering, but we are to count it joy because when we share the reproach of Christ we simultaneously share His glory.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 07:10 AM
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