Devotion for Thursday 10/04/2025

John 12:27-29 (NIV)

27 “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. 28 Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

For the older generations in our church, we seldom, if ever receive any affirmation or validation for doing well or achieve something from our parents. I guess it was the traditional Chinese mindset that if you give undue praises to your kids, they will get ahead of themselves and they will not try any harder!

Now that we have a better understanding about the power of self-esteem and confidence from receiving constant affirmation from our parents, we are more willing to affirm our children.

However, it is debatable as to how much of these affirmations is too much. Do we reward mediocre efforts or give rewards for just participating without any real effort? What about building better resilience and enhancing their ability to handle rejections?

The voice of affirmation in John 12:28 listed above is much more than mere affirmation. I would like to see it as affirmation plus vindication!

The context of verse 27 is that Jesus was fully aware of his impending fate of being betrayed by his closest disciples, framed by his enemies, rejected by his own people and suffering an agonising and humiliating death. As stated in my earlier devotional, Jesus was fully human and fully divine. His humanity is fully displayed here as he wrestles with intense inner turmoil.

“Now my soul is troubled” – the word used for troubled is “tarassō”. This word implied the inner turmoil like turbulent waters - a tormenting anguish that is hard to put into words. This verse provides a fascinating glimpse into the humanity of Jesus Christ. The same word was used to describe Jesus when he was approaching Lazarus' grave (John 11:33).

Jesus knew His destiny and purpose completely and this must have been His repeated prayers to the Father as he approached the passion week.

I can see that there are at least two other times when the Father spoke (or thundered) in affirmation and vindication for Jesus, God the Son.

Once is during his baptism when the Father spoke “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” (Matthew 3:17).

Only sinful humans require repentance and baptism. Jesus set an example for us in baptism, but let us not confuse his perfect sinless nature as the Son of God. The Father spoke to affirm his pleasure and vindicate Jesus as no mere human.

The second time was during the Transfiguration in Matthew 17:5 “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”. The disciples were thinking that Jesus was one of the prophets as he was seen speaking to Moses and Elijah.

Verse 6 says “When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.”

Make no mistake, Jesus is not a mere prophet, He is none other than the Son of God and God the Son!

From the above readings, we are very encouraged that God knows our weakness and how much we need His grace and enabling as we serve Him. Take heart, Jesus knows our needs and will come to our aid when we need it. 2 Cor 1: 3-4 says “ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

How good is that?