Scripture Reading
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
22 Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. (John 12:20–25, LSB)
Introduction
The entire ministry of Jesus Christ can come down to the realities presented in this short dialogue.
From this interaction with these Greeks, Jesus Christ demonstrates to us the requirements, and results, of following Him into eternal life.
If I could leave us with one message, it would be this one.
So, let’s examine this together.
The Greeks
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast;
21 these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
20 Ἦσαν δὲ Ἕλληνές τινες ἐκ τῶν ἀναβαινόντων ἵνα προσκυνήσωσιν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ·
21 οὗτοι οὖν προσῆλθον Φιλίππῳ τῷ ἀπὸ Βηθσαϊδὰ τῆς Γαλι (John 12:20–21, UBS5)
Context
- History
This was the folks from Macedonia and Achaia, who, coming in from the Alexandrian army, populated the known world.
Their kingdom was spread as far as India and was known for its culture and new ideas.
- Culture
Their culture was refined, orderly, and celebrated the arts.
They were in now way righteous or right before God. - Law
The introduced ideas of law which complemented the Mosaic Law in jurisprudence.
However, Greece never rose to the level of righteousness in the sense of the gods and God.
As such, the Jews despised the Greeks and saw them as heathens and pagans…and rightfully so.
Therefore, these people coming into the Temple and wanting to participate in the worship of the Jews, puts them in a unique position.
They would be known as “proselytes.”
They would be people who want to worship the true God alongside the Jewish religion in the Temple.
“Bethsaida of Galilee…”
“The oldest historical references to Bethsaida are those found in the New Testament.”1
“Apart from the New Testament our most abundant witness for first-century Bethsaida is that of Josephus.”2
“• It was a fishing village (בית ציידא) that was transformed by Herod Philip into a Greco-Roman polis named Julias.
• Philip increased the population and strengthened the fortifications of the city.
• Bethsaida contained both Gentile (Syrian) and Jewish populations (War 3:57; Jn 1:44). Among the latter were those who maintained a religiously observant lifestyle (cf. Acts 11:8).
• Accessible by boat (Mk 6:32), the city lay on the Sea of Galilee (Ant. 18:28).
• It was situated about 660 feet (200 m) from the Jordan River that coursed by it and emptied into the Sea of Galilee (Life 399).
• It was in lower Gaulanitis, opposite the higher hill country (War 2:168).
• The area nearby included a marshy plain (Life 403).”3
The city of Bethsaida is little known.
But, John’s reasoning that the Greeks came to Phillip because he was from Bethsaida of Galilee would indicate some kind of commonality with them that the others did not have.
However, Peter and Andrew were also from Bethsaida.
Did you notice who is NOT part of this event?
This other disciple is also from Bethsaida.4
Notice that these Greeks did not, and Philip did not, approach Peter.
Why not?
There is no way to know.
My guess is, though, that Peter was busy in some way with being with Christ, or was simply not approachable.
But, it is significant to me that they approached these two men, and one was the brother of the more prominent disciple, Peter.
The Disciples
**22 **Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
The approach demonstrated the difference between being free to approach Christ, or not.
The Greeks did not approach Christ on their own.
Rather, they approached His disciples, the one who might be more approachable culturally and geographically.
These Greeks were there to attend the feast and worship, which also shows their humility and genuine lack of ill-motive.
Both Andrew and Philip are from the city of Bethsaida, the house of fish.
The Messiah
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:20–26, LSB)
Most significant portion of this passage.
Here, Jesus responds to the request of the Greeks with what appears to be an unrelated statement.
The Greeks said that they wanted to “see” Jesus.
That could mean that they wanted to simply meet Him superficially.
But, it could also mean that they wanted to ask for something.
If we reconstruct what is happening around the Lord as this time, and what the Lord is doing as well, we can see a little more of what this small group of Greeks may have wanted.
The Crowd
Jesus had raised Lazarus, His friend, from the dead.
11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, •the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (John 11:1, LSB)
So when He heard that he was sick, He •then stayed two days in the place where He was. (John 11:6, LSB)
7 Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 He said these things, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him.” (John 11:7–11, LSB)
17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;
19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them about their brother. (John 11:17–19, LSB)
28 And when she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
31 Then the Jews—who were with her in the house and consoling her—when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to cry there.
32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus therefore saw her crying, and the Jews who came with her also crying, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus wept.
36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. (John 11:28–38, LSB)
41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 “And I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the crowd •standing around I said this, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. (John 11:41–46, LSB)
47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin together, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is doing many signs.
48 “If we let Him go on like this, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:47–48, LSB)
53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the region before the Passover to purify themselves.
56 So they were seeking Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast at all?”
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him. (John 11:53–57, LSB)
The Greeks who came to the feast were those who wanted to also see Christ.
The Lord had dramatically raised Lazarus from the dead.
Now, Jesus was a celebrity, famous, and the talk of the entire country.
And yet, there was the reality that if anyone knew where Christ was, they were to report it to the Jewish leaders in order that those leaders might put Him to death.
9 Then the large crowd from the Jews learned that He was there. And they came, not because of Jesus only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.
10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also;
11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus. (John 12:9–11, LSB)
12 On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.” (John 12:12–13, LSB)
17 So the crowd, who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him.
18 For this reason also the crowd went and met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him.” (John 12:17–19, LSB)
Now, we can understand the tension surrounding the Lord’s presence at the Feast. It would be the last feast for the Lord, the fourth one in the record of the gospels.
It was the attendance, and death, at the Feast that would make Him the Passover Lamb of the New Covenant.
He came in order to die.
It was the decree of the Father that He would be put to death at the hands of the Jews and the Romans.
27 “Now My soul has become dismayed; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:27–28, LSB)
The Hour
And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (John 12:23, LSB)
This “hour” is the moment of time wherein all the connections are made in order to carry out the plan of the Father.
His “hour” had to be at a certain time when all the factors were in place.
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4, LSB)
So Jesus said to them, “My time is not yet here, but your time is always here. (John 7:6, LSB)
So they were seeking to seize Him; yet no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. (John 7:30, LSB)
These words He spoke in the treasury, as He was teaching in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come. (John 8:20, LSB)
It was not His hour the prior 3 years.
But, at this Passover, it was His hour.
13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (John 13:1, LSB)
17:1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, (John 17:1, LSB)
The Jews, Israel, Rome, Pilate, the disciples, and the crowd.
The eternal plan comes down to, and issues from, this hour (and the subsequent resurrection from the dead).
The Illustration
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24, LSB)
And, as the leader that He is, He makes Himself the example to follow.
Agriculturally, the seed is planted and dissolves, and the chemical make-up of the seed with the soil, over time, breaks down, and God, from that reaction, makes plants.
The Example
25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. (John 12:25–26, LSB)
This call to follow Him, ie follow His example, is repeated in every gospel:
Matthew
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
25 “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10:24–25, LSB)
38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38–39, LSB)
Mark
34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
35 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:34–36, LSB)
Luke
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
25 “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? (Luke 9:23–25, LSB)
Conclusion
If we are to follow Jesus Christ, we are to carry a cross, our personal cross.
This calling is to live the new life that Jesus made possible by means of His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead.
It is a denial of ourselves in this world.
Consider:
3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3 For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1–4, LSB)
7But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, •I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith,
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection •from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: •forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7–14, LSB)
12:1 Therefore, •since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. (Hebrews 12:1–3, LSB)
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