Sir, We Want To See Jesus!

WE WANT TO SEE JESUS!

Jn. 12:12-13,18-24

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: DOUBLE JEOPARDY

1. A young man named Turk felt that he had a call to study the ministry, and he asked the help of his pastor for guidance for where he felt he should use his talents. Turk decided that working with the mentally challenged was where he should begin his ministry.

2. The pastor made arrangements for a tour of the local hospital facility and as they walked through the large room full of patients, they first saw a man lying on the floor banging his head while repeating, “Linda, Linda, why did you do it?”

3. The hospital attendant explained that this poor man had been left at the altar when Linda failed to show up for the wedding.

4. As they were approaching the end of the tour, there was another man lying on the floor banging his head, repeating frantically, “Linda, Linda, why oh why did you do it?”

5. When the question was asked why this man was shouting the SAME NAME, the attendant replied, “Oh, he’s the one who married Linda!”

B. TEXT

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign [raising Lazarus], went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Jn. 12:12-13, 18-21, 23-24.

C. THESIS

1. We’re talking this morning about wanting to see Jesus. Now there’s a lot of wacky people out there, people desperate to catch a glimpse of Jesus.

2. A few years ago a woman in New Mexico was frying tortillas. One of the tortillas burned and the result was an image that looked like a face; she thought it looked like Jesus.

3. She took the tortilla to her priest and he agreed it looked like Jesus, so he blessed it. She placed it in a box surrounded by cotton to make it appear as if it was floating on air.

4. They built an altar around it and started praying there. Word began to spread about the holy tortilla and soon thousands of people visited their home to pray before the holy tortilla. (Shrine of the Miracle Tortilla).

5. Many other similar instances of shadows, wood grains, pancakes, or even Walmart receipts that seem to have a picture of Jesus on them!

6. But we’re looking in the Bible this morning, at the time when Jesus was physically on earth. Thousands of people actually saw Him. Many others wanted to see Him.

7. It’s possible to know Him today and Paul said we can see Him dimly in prayer (1 Cor. 13:12), but when He comes again, we’ll see Him face to face.

8. So my message this morning is “We Want To See Jesus!”

I. SOMETHING IS MISSING

A. SOMETHING WAS MISSING AT THE PASSOVER

1. If we’d been in Jerusalem on that day, we would’ve seen a great crowd making its way down toward the Temple. Among that crowd were Greek proselytes who’d converted to Judaism and were allowed to worship at the Temple. They came as sincere worshippers.

2. They were hungry for spiritual reality. As they watched all the rituals and attended all the meetings, they noticed that, despite all the outward ceremonies, something was missing. They were still empty.

3. But the news came about Someone there who knew the real meaning of the Passover; Jesus of Nazareth. There was an unseen magnetism around Him, because He was the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

4. The Spirit drew these Greeks to Him, like the Magi who’d been drawn to the place of His birth so many years before. These Greeks came asking, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus!”

B. FINDING CHURCH TO BE EMPTY

1. Churches today are full of people who’ve sung the songs and listened to the sermons, but they’ve never had an encounter with Jesus. They’ve had a partial experience, a distant touch of the Lord, but not enough to completely deliver them. Frankly, they prefer not to be disturbed.