TEXT: John 12:27-28

SUBJECT: Humanity of Christ #3: Bravery

This week, I’ve been trying to teach you something about the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We often hear sermons on His Deity—and rightly so—but in affirming His Divinity, we mustn’t deny or ignore His humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ was—and is—as human as you and I are. Someone has said that in times of grief and loss it’s good to know that inside the chest of our God there beats a human heart! The One who is very God of very God is also—and permanently—

After stating the doctrine of our Lord’s humanity, we turned to the kind of Man He was and is. The Gospels make clear that He is the most generous of men—and man willing to give His time and money and attention and even His own life—for the good of others.

Now we move on to a second trait of our Lord. It is distinctly human. It’s not something you’d say about God the Father or the Spirit. I suppose you could attribute it to Them, but it seems awkward—to me at least. The trait we’ll now look at is our Lord’s bravery.

All you kids know what bravery is: it’s what you see in movies. The good guys, the action heroes, are always brave. You know they are because they kill a lot of people who need to be killed!

Is that bravery? Maybe not.

What does it mean to be brave? Most people say it’s the opposite of being afraid. But this is not true! Both stupidity and pride will make a man unafraid. He rushes in to danger because he doesn’t know it’s there. Or, he stands up to great peril because, if he backs down his friends will laugh at him. Russian Roulette is dangerous, but the man who plays it is not brave; he’s stupid and proud.

True bravery respects danger and accepts it as part of doing God’s will. It does not like danger or look for it, but when scary thing get in the way of doing God’s will, bravery fights through them.

Our Lord’s courage is on wonderful display in our text. He knows what lies ahead. A few verses earlier He Himself says, "the hour has come". What hour? The hour of His death. He was used to suffering. He was ridiculed at home and rejected in the synagogue; He did without His whole life and made far more enemies than friends.

But as appalling as His sufferings were up to that time, they were nothing compared to the sufferings to come. In the next few days, the malign powers of earth and hell would be unleashed on Him. And, what’s worse: the judgment of heaven would crash down on His head.

The disciples thought He was on His way to a Throne; but He knew better: He was heading for the cross. The prospect made Him shudder—"My soul is troubled". A bit later, His terror would become visible in great drops of blood.

Everyone here has suffered—and some more than others. But no one here—no one outside of hell—has any idea of the gut twisting agony that He knew was near.

But though He knows what’s ahead for Him and has an inkling of how bad it must be, He’s willing to face it without hesitation, without whining, without regret. His Father has willed the cross for Him and he accepts the Father’s will!

Not because the cross is pleasant or "not that bad", but because it is God’s will for Him.

Which means bring on the cross!

This is bravery! Not recklessness; not pride; not machismo. There’s not wise-cracking or squinting his eyes as our movies heroes are so fond of doing. No, there is fear—real, terrifying fear—not yielded to!

That’s what courage is: Knowing your duty, you do it, even if it’s hard and scary.

The Lord’s bravery was not a one-time act. I suppose the biggest sissy in the world stands up to danger once-in-a-while. But for Christ, it was a lifelong commitment to doing the right thing whatever the cost to Himself.

You see it in His preaching.

When He left the wilderness for Galilee, He began a tour of the county with a message of repentance. And that’s a message no one likes to hear. Especially from a young man who—in their opinion—didn’t have the learning or the credentials to preach with His boldness. Yet, here He is, looking old devout men in the face and telling them if they do not turn from their selfish ways, they will perish.

At the synagogue of Capernaum, He was even more intrepid. He was a recognized teacher in that church and no doubt had the respect of the people who knew Him well. But one Sabbath Day, He flouted their fond feelings and told them what desperately needed to know—but didn’t want to hear. Reading from the Sixty-First Chapter of Isaiah, He rolled up the sacred scroll and preached the shortest and most powerful sermon in history:

In other words, the Messiah you and your fathers have prayed for from time out of mind is…Me! The people were shocked at what He said, and when it began to sink in, they tried to run Him off a cliff. A carpenter calling Himself Christ! This put Him in jeopardy with His own people—and not only them. It wouldn’t be long until the Rulers of Israel heard about the claim. And they were the kind of men who didn’t cotton to anyone angling for power. The Sanhedren, the Herods, and of course, the Romans had a way of putting bold men in their place.

The Lord was no fool; He knew what He was saying and the cruel passions and the wicked plots it would stir.

The Sermon on the Mount was even braver. For there, standing before thousands (some of whom were no doubt spies for the enemy), He threw down the gauntlet.

Was our Lord a reckless and indiscreet preacher. No He wasn't. His sermons were full of wisdom—both in their content and in the delivery. Yet He did not confuse prudence with cowardice. He knew the difference. The most discreet preacher was also the bravest man to ever stand on a pulpit and speak for God to a people who didn’t want to hear it!

Our Lord’s bold witness for God stands in sharp contrast to the Apostles preaching. Of course He would preach better and deeper sermons than they did, but that’s not the point. They too, were good preachers—when their preaching was in favor. In Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 10, they come back from a preaching tour full of joy!—"Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name".

But later, when the Lord’s name wasn’t so popular, they were so eager to preach it. At the betrayal, they all left Him—not just Peter! Peter, of course, denied Him three times under pressure. And when the Lord was finally pinned to the cross—only John paid His respects.

Preaching when everyone agrees with you only takes a gift of gab; witnessing to sinners who have despaired of themselves and want to know what they must do to be saved demands nothing more than a Gospel tract.

But speaking up for God when people don’t want to hear it, that takes courage. Especially if the opponents are smart! As the scribes, Pharisees, and Saducees were! The disciples didn’t have it at the time; many of us are sorely lacking it too. But not the Lord. He dared to preach the Word even when it meant a cross. That’s bravery.

His courage is seen in His choice of friends.

In a cultural way (not doctrinally or spiritually, I hope) conservative Christian churches are very much like the synagogues of the First Century. Most of us are distinctly uncomfortable around sinners. Not only do we disapprove of their ways (that’s right), but we’re also nervous about what people will think of us if we strike up a friendship with a homosexual or invite ex-cons into the home.

If we have a ministry to the gay community or preach in jails, that’s good! But to get closer to these people—to do things like eat and drink with them—that makes our kind of people a little edgy. So, we don’t do it.

But the Lord did. He was—and is—"A friend of sinners". He knew very well that the conservative, religious parts of society would hold it against Him. And did they ever! Don’t you think He heard the whispers? Letting a prostitute (maybe) wash His feet—you know what that means! Eating with Zacchaeus, who was not only a crook, but a traitor to Israel! Maybe the Lord was taking a bribe from the disgraceful, but rich—little man. Or, maybe He wasn’t a patriot, kowtowing to the dirty servants of the Roman Empire.

Why would the Lord do such a thing? Why would He offend the conservatives and alienate big chunks of society for the sake of publicans, harlots, and sinners?

The short answer is: Because God is the friend of sinners! Israel was the chosen race, but who were their ancestors?

The grandparents of Israel were nations steeped in idolatry and vice. Yet God loved them and chose to build His Kingdom in the world from Abraham and Sarah who were very much not our kind of people.

A few months ago, I talked to a professor of Church History (who, by the way, is both conservative and Evangelical). He told me that Christians are being persecuted in America as we never have been before. I asked him why and he told me, "It’s largely our fault." That was not the answer I expected! He went on the say that in the last thirty years, the Church has become increasingly strident! Alarmed by the flouting of God’s Law, we have not responded with understanding and love. We have been defensive, ugly, self-righteous. That’s what the professor told me.

I think his view is one-sided, but there’s a lot of truth in his one side.

Confronting the world without being ugly takes great wisdom. But that’s not all it takes: it takes guts! Our Lord Jesus Christ had that. We would do well to mark His example—and follow it.

Although the Lord was brave His whole life long, His courage stands out especially in the last hours of His life. Think of:

• The Last Supper. He was among friends and one of them was a traitor. He could have sicked them on Judas and never been betrayed. But He didn’t. He knew who the traitor was, but did not expose him to slip out of danger.

• The Arrest. When the mob came to grab Him it was nighttime and it was hard to see by torchlight. Remember, when they found the Lord, they didn’t recognize Him! "Whom are you seeking? Jesus of Nazareth. I am He!" Is that what you would have said? I think I might have said, "Never heard of Him" or "He went thataway!" But the Lord didn’t. Because He was willing to face danger if that’s what His Father wanted Him to do.

• The Crucifixion. Twelve legions of angels stood ready to save Him if He but gave the signal. But it was never sent.

This is but a small sample. But they show a consistent and lifelong pattern of bravery at its best. There is no machismo, no strutting, no thumping His chest. It’s just doing God’s will whatever the cost. No soldier or policeman or fireman was ever more courageous than our Lord Jesus Christ. The most decorated hero is a coward before Him.

Why was the Lord so brave?

It was not self-confidence that urged Him on the face of danger. In fact, quite the opposite is true: It was confidence in God!

His Father could be trusted. He didn’t put Himself in harm’s of His own doing—because He was reckless! He put Himself in harm’s way because God told Him to!

Trusting His Father did not get Him off the hook; more often, it got Him on the hook. But it was God’s hook and His Father knew best. There’s a hymn to this effect; I’ve sung it many times, but I wonder if I ever meant it?

The secret of His courage, therefore, was not in big muscles or a brilliant mind, a quick wit or influential friends. No, it was something more substantial than these things—which can all fall to pieces when you need them most. It was His simple belief in His Father’s promise that supported Him in times of rejection, persecution, and death.

We have that same promise. "I will never leave you nor forsake you…This light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working in us an eternal weight of glory…All things work together for good to those who love God…"

If we meditated on the Promise of God as our Lord did, we too, could "Play the man, be strong, and fight".

Our Lord’s great courage makes us admire Him. The bravery of an angel does not impress us, for as far as we know, nothing threatens them. But men are threatened; our Lord was a man—more threatened than any other. Yet He never yielded to fear—He felt it keenly. But feeling fear and giving into it are two different things. Oh, how we ought to respect Him for His courage.

We ought to thank Him for ratcheting up His courage when He needed it most. For your salvation is a result of the cross—which, in turn, is a result of His courage.

We ought to follow His example. How many of us are manly when it comes to witnessing or doing the right thing even though the price is high for doing it? It’s easy to bargain with your conscience, but it is not right. You’ll be afraid whether you trust God or not. But trusting Him will give you the power and the patience to face your fears. And to be—in some small measure—like your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.