WTMJ – Lutheran Radio Church Service Lent 5 – “We would like to see Jesus” – John 12:20-33

WTMJ – Lutheran Radio Church Service
Lent 5 – “We would like to see Jesus” – John 12:20-33
Rec. Date 1/30/06 – Air Date 4/2/06 – Vicar Matthew Peters, St. Paul’s Lutheran, Union Grove – LCMS

Synopsis of Sermon:
In the gospel lesson from John chapter 12, some Greeks make a request to the disciple Philip, saying, “We would like to see Jesus.” When presented with this, it appears that Jesus ignores the request and talks about something else. But His intentions here were not to deny anyone from seeing Him, rather, Jesus wanted to show everyone His true reason for coming; to glorify God through the salvation of the whole world.


Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“We would like to see Jesus.”

In our gospel lesson for this morning, these are the words of a particular group of people as they come to investigate who this ‘Jesus’ is.
If a request like this one had come from a group of Israelites, it might not seem very surprising, but these were not Hebrews asking to see Jesus. As we hear from our gospel lesson this morning; John chapter 12:
“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir”, they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.”

If we remember what the Greek and Roman religious culture consisted of, we will quickly join in the feeling surprise that Philip seems to exhibit in our lesson. Greeks especially had a culture that worshipped many different gods – they had a god or goddess for everything it seemed – and for some Greeks to take time to see Jesus meant that something about this ‘Jesus’ – this God-Man – was very special indeed! For the people of the philosophically advanced Greek culture to come and listen to, and possibly worship this Messiah of the Jews was a momentous occasion!
Perhaps they too had begun to figure out the truth about Jesus – how He was the Savior – the one that they really needed… and they hoped that maybe He might even find time to speak to them. …It was not unheard of for foreigners to become believers in the One True God – and it seems that these particular Greeks were given the extra privilege of knowing Jesus.
In verse 19 of John chapter 12, the verse just prior to our gospel lesson this morning, those jealous Israelite rulers, the Pharisees, commented on this very same aspect of Jesus’ ministry; how everyone seemed to be coming out to see Him:
They said, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!”

Now, naturally the whole entire world had not actually started following Jesus at this point, but if people of other nationalities, people like these Greeks especially, if they were following Jesus, the whole world might as well be going after Him as far as the Jewish authorities were concerned.

Given this gesture of admiration by the Greeks, you might expect Jesus to take some time and talk to them for a while. But instead of sitting down for a discussion, Jesus begins talking about something that at first hearing might seem quite unrelated to the request of some foreigners.
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, 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. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
And He goes on for a few more verses…
Where did this response come from? The Greeks just wanted to see Jesus, and He replies with a lengthy discourse, talking mysteriously about being glorified… about dying. What kind of response was that? What is Jesus saying?
The Son of Man was to be glorified. Jesus was to be glorified. He would be given a position of glory – of desirability – as viewable by all nations. Because His work and His message – are for all nations.

But as we are regularly reminded throughout this Lenten Season, the ultimate goal of Jesus Christ is to die upon the cross… How can Jesus appear to be desirable to the nations if His ultimate goal is to die? What is desirable about that? In fact, by human standards, from the point of view of the nations, that is a failure…
And certainly death on a cross was not desirable even to Jesus Himself. Being fully God and fully Man, He did not desire to die a painful death. Jesus had lived a perfect life, unlike all of us who have lived sinfully, making mistakes and throwing away God’s commands as if they did not matter at all. But Jesus had no sin. He was undeserving of death, and yet this is what He was about to face. And just because He is God doesn’t mean that He wouldn’t feel it, on the contrary, He did feel it, and He did die. And Jesus knew that He had to die… in order to save the world. In the next few verses He explains the seemingly poor logic of the situation:
“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”

Glorify your name! Make it desirable! Desirable not in the sense of power or earthly authority, but glorious in the realms of eternity. God was about to glorify His name by showing His love for the world – through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus.
As Jesus would soon go to the cross to die, He would do so without any guilt – any just reason for deserving death. And His innocent sufferings would serve to take the place of our rightful punishment, our guilty sufferings. “…it was for this very reason…” That Jesus came into the world; to suffer and to die. To die in our place, so that by His sacrifice we would be found without any sin!
And Jesus did this for you. Jesus died for you, willingly! We know from this gospel reading as well as others that He knew what was about to happen to Him.
“…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.”
“But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

So perhaps now it can make a little more sense as to why Jesus responded to the request of the Greeks in a manner that seemed so odd. No, we’re not given any record of Him conversing directly with these Greek seekers who came to talk. But we do know that when God’s name was glorified through the death of Jesus… through that sacrificial act of love and compassion… we know that there, upon the cross, Jesus gave His ultimate answer to the Jews, the Greeks, and to the whole world. He hung upon that cross and died to save everyone from their sins, and as Jesus prayed,
“Father. Glorify your name.”

God has been glorified. And through His Word – the Bible – we are constantly hearing and rejoicing with the believers from all ages in this glorious and desirable gift that He has given us. He has provided His Son to save us, faith to believe it, and His Word to sustain us until our last day.
Praise be to God that when we say like those Greeks, “We would like to see Jesus.” You can take up your Bible and look to the cross and say, “Thank you God for showing me your salvation, your love, and your glorious name.”

Amen.