God’s Glory On Display

Now in the Gospel of St. John, the signs are over, the parables are finish and Jesus begins speaking in plain language. The shouts of the Triumph entry are quiet, and a banquet has been prepared. The setting of the text is a beautiful banquet prepared in Jesus’ honor. We are back in Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, a city that has been turn on its head by the raising of Lazarus from the dead. The pharisees and elders were saying, “that the whole world has gone after him.” Every plot and trick have failed, Jesus was more popular than ever. Jesus was not seeking popularity; he is seeking the glory of God.

If we are not careful, all the world’s activities would make you think that the pandemic, protests in the street, the rise and fall of the stock market, Russian interference and stopping China is the only important things going on in the world. During that season of Jesus’ earthly, His mission was misunderstood. The crowd was wrong, the disciples were wrong, the pharisees were wrong and the Romans were wrong. Both the powerful and the powerless were wrong in their expectation, yet God had a plan and Jesus knew his agenda. In this text, Jesus sets the record straight. His only desire what that God might be glorified.

This is the turning point of the gospel of John. Jesus has a laser focus on his mission. Some theologians see this text as a “book end.” Jesus story began with wisemen from the east seeking him and now ends with Greeks from the west seeking him. The learned Greeks of our text could stand it no longer. They wanted to know the truth for themselves. They had traveled a great distance, some say from Athens, to worship at Jerusalem for the Passover. We know from references in ancient sources that there were students of Socrates who wrote about him, but the only ones whose works have survived to the present day complete are Plato (lived c. 429 – c. 347 BCE) and Xenophon (lived c. 431 – 354 BCE). Historians say that there was a large number of God-fearing Greeks who believe in the one true God. They were not satisfied with Greek Philosophy, the many gods of Rome, they sought the true God and believed in the one God of the Jews. By the time the Lord came to earth, the two leading schools of thought were the Epicureans (whose philosophy was "Eat, Drink, and be Merry, for tomorrow we die) and the Stoics, who were heading in the direction of Vulcan denial of emotionalism. Not quite there, but far inferior to the dynamic work of Plato. Neither the stoics nor the Epicureans had any concept of resurrection of the dead. These two schools of thought are mentioned in Acts 17, during Paul's visit to Athens, and they largely ignored Paul's message, because of his teaching of the resurrection.

These Greeks approached Philip who had a Greek name, Philip went to Andrew, and they approached Jesus with the request. Jesus seemed to have been waiting for this moment. “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” As a side note, I am amazed at how often we find Andrew brining people to Jesus. He brought Peter to Jesus; he brought the lad with two fish and five loaves to Jesus; and here he brings these Greeks to Jesus. We do not need to be the greatest, most popular, or most educated, yet we can all take a lesson from Andrew who just brought people to Jesus.

1. Jesus declares the necessity of His death for the glory of God. When the disciples expected glory and grandeur, the crowd expected a political leader to overthrow the Romans and the Pharisees expected a riot to overthrow them, the Greeks may have been looking for a new philosopher, Jesus makes it plain! 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.” Jesus knew this was the moment for kingdom increase, for the sin debt to be paid, for lost mankind to be saved, and the enemy’ power to be overthrown. Jesus does emphasize his miracles or popularity; He draws attention to his sacrificial death.

2. Jesus declares the necessity of His followers to die to sin and self. After Jesus draws attention to his sacrificial death, then he declares the necessity of His followers dying to sin and self. John the Baptist’s message appeared to be hard and demanding, while Jesus had proclaimed mostly the message of grace, love, and abundant life. Now Jesus speaks clearly about path to eternal life. John’s message of repentance and change was true, Jesus moves beyond curiosity and popularity. He outlines the marks of true discipleship. His disciples and all who choose to follow Him must be willing to die to sin, self, and the world. The only path to reigning with Christ is through dying with Christ. John 12:26 “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.” There is no serving Him without following him and God will always honor true servants of God.