Jesus had one primary, overriding concern: Glorifying God. He stood there with his disciples, looking into the face of death, knowing that he would very soon be going to the cross. Within days this would happen, and rightly so, Jesus’s soul was disturbed.
But he would not be deterred. Jesus would not be turned to the right or left. He would not be dissuaded from his mission, he would not take a detour away from his plan. No, there was only one way and that way was the cross.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
John 12:27-28
Jesus was so interested in glorifying the name of God that he would endure death. He would endure separation from the Father. He would endure the punishment of a criminal.
And he would endure all of this pain and suffering because it would bring glory to God and his name.
But why? Why would God receive glory from Jesus going to the cross? Isn’t that just senseless killing? Useless death, like many of the other killings of the prophets by the Jews, or like many of the other killings of other dissidents by the Romans?
No, this death was much different. Jesus would take the punishment for many others so that they would be ransomed – purchased with his blood – away from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. The sins of people would be paid for by one who did not deserve to be punished. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, the perfect “lamb” that would take away the sins of the world.
And because many would enter the kingdom of God, and because Jesus would open the kingdom to people all throughout the world, it would fulfill God’s mission and plan to have a people for himself, who would live to glorify him, all across the world. God’s image would finally be spread all across the face of the earth, and God’s glory would shine everywhere. Everywhere that there was a group of people, everywhere that there was a language, a nation, or a tribe, there would be those who truly represented God’s image as disciples of Christ.
This would truly bring glory to God. This would open the door such that God’s glory would fill the earth, just as the waters cover the sea, as Habakkuk said.
And as the Father replied, he has glorified his name, and he will do it again. And again. And again. God’s name was glorified through Christ and for each believer that lives for the glory of God and not for himself or herself, his name will be glorified once again.