I Will Draw All People to Myself — Astor Yelangueuzian

Jesus Draws All People Through His Crucifixion and the Holy Spirit

From the Gospel of John, chapter 12, verses 31 and 32. Jesus said, Now this is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So what does this mean? I will draw all people to myself. How does that happen? What does Jesus mean by myself? To myself? Well, he's talking about his ascension, forgive me, he's talking about when he is crucified.

But beyond that, he's talking about those who come after his time, if you will. And that's us, everybody after the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. He will draw all people to himself by the Holy Spirit.

For the scriptures tell us that no one can confess that Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit initiates, warms our hearts, draws us closer to the Father, but through the Son. So the Holy Spirit is what draws us to Jesus.

Saul's Encounter With the Risen Christ

But what does that mean, myself, now, 2 ,000 years removed from those words? I think what's helpful is if we look at the Acts of the Apostles, a book, one of the books in the New Testament, here in chapter 9 where Saul, a persecutor of the church, who's been imprisoning Christians, they are blasphemers, they are marring the name of God, and he's out there arresting and imprisoning those who say Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

And as a zealous, very passionate Pharisee, he's on his way, on the road to Damascus, and he's confronted with Jesus. And Jesus says to him something very, very interesting. He says, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Well, what does he mean by that? Why do you persecute me? Well, Jesus at that point is really in heaven, he's ascended already. What does Jesus mean by me? What he's referring to is his people, his body.

You see, Saul, who later becomes Paul, St. Paul, was persecuting the church, the people of God. Jesus connects himself and his people as one and the same. That is his body on earth. Jesus has a body. Of course, we know he resurrected, bodily resurrected, and he ascended to the Father 40 days later, after his resurrection.

The Church as Christ's Body on Earth

And he's there at the right hand of God, and we await his second coming, his return. But Jesus also has a body in some way on earth. Yes, that body is the church. So there's a mystery to what we would call the incarnation, when God became flesh and dwelt among us, he tabernacled, right?

Jesus is God in the flesh, the enfleshment of God, as some would say. But equally mysterious is the church. The church is just as mysterious. It's quite odd. How does that happen? It's something that we believe, because scripture speaks of this.

Jesus refers to the church as his body. We are his body. The Apostle Paul refers to the body having many parts, an eye, an ear, a hand, a foot. And though there is one body, there are many parts. The word there for body in the Greek is soma, right?

And this is always referred to as the body of Christ on earth. There's something beautiful about that, that we who believe in Jesus, we who follow the Lord, Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our King, as our God in the flesh, are part of his body on earth.

The Eucharist and Participation in Christ

Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul, St. Paul says, because there is one bread, we who are many are one body. The bread there is a reference to the body of Christ as well. As Jesus prepared this whole theology in the upper room at the Last Supper, when he took bread and he said, this is my body, broken for you, given for you, right?

And so there the beginning of that mysterious theology begins. Yes, in the bread, mysteriously, that becomes a great theology for the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Thanksgiving, but also is a prefiguring or a foreshadowing of the theology and the teachings of St. Paul that we too are the body of Christ, right?

That we are, in some respects, the bread as well for the life of the world. And so we are one body in the church. What's the importance of all this? It's because to have a relationship with Jesus is to have a relationship within a community, right?

Fellowship and Koinonia in the Body of Christ

We can't be isolated. I believe in Jesus and I worship Jesus. He is my Lord and my Savior, but we can't, and at the same time, we can't be disconnected from the body, His body on earth, right? And that's what it means to be in fellowship, koinonia, right?

To participate, another reference in 1 Corinthians 10, he uses that language of participation. If we drink from the cup of blessing we bless, is it not sharing in the participation, the koinonia in the blood of Christ?

And likewise, the bread we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ, right? Koinonia in the fellowship. So we fellowship with Christ in His death, when we partake in the bread, and we fellowship with Christ in His death, again in the blood, when we drink that wine, in the fellowship of His blood and His suffering.

But we do this, this language of koinonia is also fellowship within a community, right? We can't be disconnected from the body of Christ on earth, and just have a solo relationship with God, right? Because that's not what scripture teaches us.

Mutual Encouragement and the Necessity of Christian Community

I know too many people who believe in God, who worship, who believe in Jesus as Lord, but are not in fellowship with other believers. And I lament, I lament for that. Why? Because they and we are missing out in one another's company, in each other's encouragement, in each other's prayers, in each other's loving of one another.

You see, we are many parts in the body. We all need one another. We're all equally important in the body of Christ, as the body of Christ. The hand can't say to the foot, I don't need you, or the eye can't say to the ear, I don't need you.

We all need one another. So if you believe and confess that Jesus is Lord, then you and I should be in fellowship with one another, and worshiping God together corporately, coming together and praying for one another, encouraging one another, helping one another, serving with one another, going out into the world with one another.

The Twelve Disciples and the Church as a Called-Out Community

You see, that's the mystery of the church, the ecclesia, the ones who are called out, plural. Jesus didn't just pick one disciple. He could have picked Peter, and only Peter if he wanted to. No, but he picked 12 disciples.

Yes, that was a reconstitution of the patriarchs of the old, or the 12 tribes of Israel, but I think it's beyond that. What Jesus is showing here in the picking of the 12, he's creating a community. And so God wants us to worship him in community.

And so we celebrate, and we practice certain, if you will, rituals that shape and form us equally together, and guide us together in the object of our worship, together in a context of community. So we are one in the Lord.

One Lord, One Faith, and One Body

There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And there's one church, there's one body. And so I want to encourage you to be part of a fellowship, so you're not alone in this world, and that you're not trying to carry all your burdens by yourself.

Forgiveness, Healing, and the Church's Witness

And as I've mentioned before, if you've been hurt by the church, the body of Christ, forgive us. And that's the separation, that's the difference between the body on earth versus the body in heaven. The body on earth can hurt, can abuse, and forgive us for doing such, whether in word or deed.

But the body in heaven will never hurt, will never abuse, will always love, will always be there. But that's our job, is to be obedient, to practice what we preach, to come together, to sharpen one another, to build each other up.

Serving Together as Christ's Body

We are the project of God on earth for the sake of the world. So I encourage you to come, come and be one, so I can receive blessings from you, and the gifts that God has given you. I need you just as much as you need me.

We need one another, and all the parts make one body, and Christ being the head. To Him be all the glory, praise, and honor.