We wish to see Jesus.

“We wish to see Jesus”   John 12.20-26

Click to read: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012.20-26&version=NKJV&interface=print

If you want to know if Jesus is real, go to him… ask him… ask him to show himself to you, and he will. 

Just so with the Greeks … “we wish to see Jesus,” they say; their request is short and to the point.  See, if Jesus is the Son of God, they want to trust in him—they don’t want to miss out, and so they go to see for themselves.  The Greeks approach Philip, who gets word to Jesus, who responds in a most interesting way—he answers their question with, ‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.’  Yes, I am he, Jesus lets them know, and I am about to be glorified.

Glorified?  To the human mind, it means ‘lifted up, elevated for the sake of recognition’; after all, Jesus had just been glorified by all of the folks who had hailed him with palm branches, shouting ‘Hosanna’, right?  Not exactly.  In God’s economy, Jesus is announcing that it is his time to be glorified; to him, glorified meant crucified—lifted high on the cross.  This is where he loses many of the Jews because they wanted their Messiah glorified—high and lifted up—but certainly not crucified.  They did not account for a Messiah who would come and die; no, they wanted a Messiah who would set them free from their current problems and oppression.  They were short sighted. 

And then Jesus expounds on the matter, including “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”  Because to Jesus, the way to glory is dying to self… serving him by denying self… serving him by serving others.  The way up is down; the life lived for Jesus will always include humility.

“We want to see Jesus,” the Greeks said.  And many today would like to see Jesus, but only if he fits into their box, only if it can be Jesus who asks nothing, Jesus who will take his place alongside Buddhist thinking, Jesus and . . . we want to see Jesus, if we can have jesus on our terms.  But Jesus looks down from the cross to say, ‘Child, I gave my all for you, and that is what I ask of you in return—your all.’

Christine

PastorWoman.com