Jesus's Moment of Clarity

Jesus’s Moment of Clarity

The Coming of the Greeks

Passion Sunday

Collect of the Day: We beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: John 12:20-36a

20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.

34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.

In August of 1966 the youth of my church met at the church one Saturday afternoon to go to a home with a swimming pool. When we loaded up in cars I crawled into the back seat of one of them and found myself sitting next to a 16 year old green-eyed blond. It seemed an entirely ordinary thing, but next June we will celebrate 47 years of marriage.

It seemed ordinary when some Greeks asked to see Jesus, but Jesus saw it as a sign from the Father.

1. Realization

What we read in the Gospel today happened on the Monday after our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Sunday. The population of Jerusalem swelled at Passover as people came from all over the world to celebrate the Feast. There were Jews from Palestine, and Jews who were part of the Diaspora, Jewish people scattered throughout the Graeco-Roman world.

Others came who were not ethnic Jews. Some were proselytes, Gentiles who converted fully to Judaism and were circumcised. Other Gentiles admired the monotheism and morality of Judaism and attended synagogues but did not fully convert. They did not submit to circumcision. They were called “God-fearers.” The Greeks in John 12 were probably God-fearers.

They approached one of the disciples, Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Philip went to his fellow Apostle from Bethsaida, Andrew, and together they took the request to Jesus.

The communication of this request resulted in what we might call “a moment of clarity.” Therapists talk about moments of clarity as times when the mental fog lifts and a person is able to see their situation clearly. An abused wife sees, “He’s not going to change. I’ve got to get out of this marriage.”  A person who began taking medicine for serious pain realizes, “I’ve got a problem with prescription narcotics.”

For Jesus the seemingly insignificant event of some Greeks in Jerusalem for Passover was a momentous event that brought the realization, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” In St. John’s Gospel, “the hour” is the time set by the Father for the Son to accomplish the work of salvation. Up till now Jesus has said, “My hour has not come,” but now he says that the hour has come - the hour when he will be glorified.

That would lead us to expect, especially when just a day ago the crowds were shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” that Jesus is talking about a kingly triumphant full of royal splendor. But Jesus adds unexpected words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” A grain of wheat by itself will always be just a single grain, no more. But, if it is buried in the earth, it will die and from its death will come more grains of wheat than can be counted.

The request of these Greeks says to Jesus that the time has come when he will bring into the kingdom of God not just Jews but Gentiles. Up till now Jesus has said that his mission is to seek and save the lost in Israel, but the coming of the Greeks signals that the mission is about to expand to take in the whole world.

However, if there is going to be such a large harvest gathered from the whole world, Jesus sees that he will have to be like the grain of wheat - he must die that there may be such a harvest.

2. Agitation

The coming of the Greeks impressed on Jesus that his hour had come and that, while it would lead to glory, it also meant that he must die. He said, “Now is my soul troubled.” Jesus had predicted a number of times that he was going to Jerusalem where he would be rejected, condemned, and killed.  He knew what was coming. So why did he say, “Now my soul is troubled”?

Think of a man on death row who first knew he was going to die when the judge pronounced the sentence. The realization grows when he is placed on death row. Then one day he receives a notice that the governor has set his execution date for two weeks from that day. He has known for years he is going to die, but now it hits him as it never has before that he really is going to die, and it shakes him to the depths of his being.

What Jesus is experiencing now will become most intense a few nights later in Gethsemane when he opened himself to his three closest disciples, and said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” What troubled Jesus’ soul when the Greeks asked for him, which became most intense in the Garden, was not just that he would die, nor that he would die by crucifixion, horrendous as that was, but the kind of death he would die to save the Greeks and all who believe in him. He would die under the wrath of God; he would experience the abandonment and pain of hell in order to save us.

He responded, “What shall I say?” What should he pray at this point? Should he pray, “Father save me from this hour”? Did Jesus consider praying that or did he pray it? We might think that, because he was firmly committed to dying in Jerusalem, he would not pray to be saved from the coming hour of suffering. But it is more likely that he actually prayed, “Father save me from this hour.” We know that because a few nights later he would pray in Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing take this cup from me” - this cup of suffering, this cup of the wrath of God.

But, as soon he prayed to be saved from the hour of suffering, he added, “But for this cause I came unto this hour.” “The whole reason I came into the world was to die in the place of my people in order to accomplish their salvation. If I were to be saved from this hour, I would not fulfill the purpose of my coming into this world.” Then in Gethsemane, after praying that if the Father willed he might be saved from the drinking the cup of wrath, he said, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”

Because he had come to do the Father’s will he prayed, “Father, glorify thy name.” Immediately the Father spoke, “I have both glorified and will glorify it again.” Because he loved the Father and desired the Father’s glory this was reassurance and comfort. The Father will be glorified, and, even as it is the Son’s desire for the Father to be glorified, so it is the Father’s will and determination to glorify the Son after he accomplishes salvation by his death on the cross.

3. Declaration

The request of the Greeks to see him signaled to Jesus that the hour had come for him to be glorified by planting his life in death that there might be harvest of salvation among the Gentiles. Now Jesus says something about the way he will die: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.”

At the beginning of his ministry Jesus said, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” The book of Numbers records a time during the wilderness wanderings of Israel when they indulged in their characteristic sin of grumbling against God and Moses. God sent fiery serpents among them, and people began to die. Then some of them went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned; intercede with the Lord for us. The Lord told Moses to make a serpent of bronze, to lift it up on a pole in the camp and to tell the people that all who look at it will live.” So all who believed Moses and looked up at the serpent lived.

Later Jesus said to the hostile Jews, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he…” He knows they want to kill him and will succeed, but he tells them that, when they have done that, they will see that he is the Son of the Father who has done nothing but speak the words and do the will of his Father in heaven.

Now he says, days before he is crucified, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” John adds the comment, “This he said, signifying what death he should die.” How will these Greeks - these Gentiles - be saved? When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, he will draw them to himself. And not only these Greeks, but all men - not just Jews, or Gentile proselytes, or Gentile God-fearers but all kinds of people in all sorts of conditions throughout the whole world.

Jesus in his death has a magnetic power. People are not drawn to him in his death because he died pathetically so that they feel sympathy for him or because he died heroically and they admire him. They are drawn to him because his death atoned for their sins. They are drawn and look to him in faith and are saved.

Every Sunday in the reading and preaching of God’s Word and in the celebration of the sacraments, we focus on Jesus the crucified, risen, and ascended Savior. Jesus is attracting us to himself. He is calling those who have never believed to believe in him and be saved. He is calling all who believe to keep their eyes fixed on him, to renew their faith in him, and to be assured by him that when he was lifted up he removed their sins.