When we think of something being "lifted up," we tend to associate this with an elevation in status or recognition. I am planning a February trip to the seminary in Philadelphia. The grant which makes that possible includes language of "lifting up leaders for the Church of the future." The Gatorade bath has replaced the practice I remember from my college age of lifting the winning coach on the shoulders of the offensive linemen.
There is even a popular Christian Praise song which speaks says, "I will lift your name on high."
In John 2 there is a reference to "lifting up." The reference includes both a look backward and a look forward. Jesus reminds his listeners that in the wilderness, Moses lifted up the serpent and so also will the Son of man be lifted up.
The serpents had come among the Israelites. Many were being bitten and dying. Moses molds a serpent and hangs it on a wooden pole. The people who are bitten look at that which had been lifted up and they are saved.
You know the story of Jesus' being hoisted onto a tree, outside of Jerusalem, at a place called "The Skull."
The very act associated with being honored (being lifted up) is the act which robs Jesus of his lift. In a wonderful twist, that which robs him of life becomes the gateway to salvation. His being robbed of life is our way to live eternally.
It is too simple to say "God's ways are not our ways," but that is certainly true here. More profoundly true is the lesson that what the world intends is thwarted by what God desires. We may need to look deeply and intently at what is happening in order to see past the simple spin placed upon events. Such attempts at spin are most often attempts to rob the event of God's intentions and make it fit our own.
"The Son of man is lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
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