03202021 – John 12.20-33 Lent 5B
People DO NOT understand THE TIMELINE:
As the gospel opens, we meet Jesus, six days before he was going to die.
He KNEW it was coming.
He SENSED it was coming.
He FELT it looming over him.
It was “SO CLOSE” he could almost taste it.
If you knew YOU were going to die in six days, you would be consumed, distracted, preoccupied, obsessed, and absorbed by thinking about it, as well.
Some of our “loved ones” have been there. They knew it was imminent.
OH, maybe they DID NOT know “the exact hour” and “the exact day” …but they knew IT WAS COMING. And Jesus knew it, too.
He was already there.
Present.
In the Holy City of Jerusalem.
That was important.
He had to be THERE.
It is Passover time, the third Passover that we find Jesus celebrating in John’s Gospel.
It is because of this fact, that we say Jesus’ ministry was three years in the making.
He began his ministry at the age of 30, this would now make him 33 years of age. Remember he was born in 4 BCE.
Literally, hundreds of thousands of people were gathering into the city.
Hebrews, Proselytes (you know, those desiring to become Jewish) and even Gentiles, individuals from “all over the world” found themselves present for this IMPORTANT festival celebration.
Pilgrims they called them, “religious pilgrims.” People “on a pilgrimage.”
All of whom – had to be CRAMMED within the city’s walls.
It was “a wild MASS of humanity.”
A couple of Greeks in the crowd approached some of Jesus’ disciples.
They no doubt OVERHEARD them speaking.
One, in particular had a Greek accent. It was Philip from Beth-saida. Bethsaida was the “Greek-speaking-city” in Israel.
The Greek travelers must have thought, this guy speaks Greek. He must be “one of us.” So, they approached Philip and asked him in Greek, “Can we SEE Jesus?”
In John’s Gospel, ANDREW is the first disciple to be called. So, out of deference to him, PHILIP goes to Andrew…and the two of them, go to Jesus and say: “There are two Greeks who want to SEE you.”
It is LIKE there is some kind of “pecking order.” While it may seem strange to us, it was not at all strange in the first century.
Like a “chain of command,” it was HOW THINGS were APPROPRIATELY handled.
John (the Gospel writer) leaves us “totally hanging.” We never know IF Jesus and the Greeks ever “hook-up.”
What we know IS…Jesus DID NOT apparently even respond to his OWN disciples. And if he did, it IS NOT recorded.
INSTEAD, we are told he is distracted and preoccupied. He is absorbed, obsessed, and consumed. He is unsettled, musing, and dare I say, agonizing over “what IS TO COME?”
In six short days he would be DEAD, his ministry over and his father glorified. It was ALL quickly coming to A HEAD.
So, his words are a little bit cryptic. Another metaphor is looming.
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it will remain a single seed. But if it dies, it will produce many grains of wheat.”
His words ARE VISUAL. You can SEE it happen.
There will be “life out of death.” New life will emerge. New life will emerge from the grave.
And when Jesus is “lifted up” on that cross, he will draw ALL people, ALL their brokenness, ALL their hurts and ALL their pains, ALL their suffering, and ALL their sins to himself.
And God WILL BE glorified…AGAIN!