“Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it (her perfume) for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.””  [John‬ ‭12‬:‭7‬-‭8‬]‬

So many times in life, we miss the signs.  Jesus was telling the disciples to get ready for his burial and they didn’t understand what he was saying. Life signposts to us what is next but we’re not paying attention; rocks ahead, curvy road, check engine light are all warning signs but we are missing it. We miss it because we are distracted (texting while driving, on Instagram/snapchat while our teachers are giving us direction). We miss it because we are overwhelmed (just too much coming at us at once).  We miss it because we are emotional and so focused on how we feel rather than what is actually happening around us.

In this chapter Jesus is signposting to his disciples about his death, burial, resurrection and glorification.  But he is also signposting to us, his disciples, about our death, burial, resurrection and glorification if we want to follow him.  Can you read the signs and see that Jesus is inviting you to a death like his?

“And Jesus answered them, “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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭

What is Jesus saying to me?  Am I supposed to be crucified with Christ and brutally killed?  Well yes, in a spiritual sense.  Am I supposed to lose my life?  Yeah, that’s what he’s saying, but what exactly does that mean. Paul the apostle explains it in his own life, echoing the same words of Jesus in [Galatians 2:20]

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  And again here:

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”  [Romans 6:5]

Sometimes we don’t see the signpost because, you don’t know what you don’t know.  The signs sometimes seem like foreign languages to us.  Until someone or something makes it clear, and I hope this moment is clarifying. That the story of the resurrection is not only about Christ, but Christ himself is inviting us to the wonderful cross. “Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.”  But not only is Jesus inviting you into death, but he’s also inviting you in a glorious and powerful resurrection from death to life and life everlasting.

So are you able to pick up what Jesus is throwing down?  He is inviting us to the cross and find our life.  Don’t worry too much if you aren’t getting it for the disciples didn’t understand it either until after Jesus was crucified.

“His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.”[John‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬]

As we march toward resurrection Sunday I want you to think about the cross of Christ and what it means for you.  And how you / we can live a life shaped by the cross:

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [Mark 8:34]