Tuesday 07 April 2009
- Bible Book:
- John
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (v.23-25)
Background
John is the only Gospel writer who tells of this incident. Butit's very fitting to find it in the Gospel of John, as it waswritten to present the truth of Christianity in a way that theGreeks of the time could understand.
The ancient Greeks were wanderers, driven by the urge to travel andthe desire to find out new things. They travelled far and wide inthe name of trade and commerce, so it is no surprise to see them inJerusalem.
They were people of enquiring minds and seekers of truth: theystudied philosophy after philosophy and religion after religion. Ifthey had visited the Temple, stood in the courtyard and encounteredJesus (possibly even experiencing the clearing of the Temple- John2:14-16), they would naturally have wanted to know more.
The Greeks came with their request to Philip (Philip being a Greekname they might have thought he would be more sympathetic to them.)But Philip didn't know what to do and so went to Andrew, who was inno doubt that they should see Jesus. Here we see the faint hint ofa gospel (good news of Christ) which is to go out to all the world,and not just a few.
So when Jesus tells his listeners "the hour has come for the Son ofMan to be glorified" they all - Jew and Greek - would have wantedto know more. This statement would have taken their breath away. Itwas clear that there had been a crisis building and the politicalstability of the region was constantly threatened. Now the time toface that crisis had come. But Jesus would have seen it verydifferently from his listeners. The Jews would probably havethought that this meant that the trumpet call for eternity hadsounded and that the might of heaven was on the move.
Jesus' words would have excited the hearts of those who heard them.They would have led on to a number of other conversations thattalked not about conquest, but of sacrifice and death. Jesus wasturning his listeners' world and ideas upside down, replacing apicture of death and conquest with a vision of a Cross. A new orderfor all people.
To Ponder
Jesus calls us to proclaim a gospel for all. Whenwas the last time you shared the gospel message with a person ofanother faith?
What are you willing to sacrifice in your lifefor the sake of the gospel?
How far does the vision of the Cross excite youto live your life as a servant of others, so that you, and they,might have life in full abundance?