John 12:20-21

A clear view of Christ sits beyond some natural misunderstandings

Author

Nathan Harrison
March 28th, 2024

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

John 12:20-21

“We would like to see Jesus.”

Whether they knew it or not, the Greek visitors summed up the deepest longing of the soul in just a few words. And it comes on the heels of some misunderstandings of who Jesus is. John 12 unearths a few accurate-yet-incomplete glimpses of Jesus that we still carry today.

  1. Savior that eventually succumbs to death - While this notion goes against the Christian message, we’re still susceptible to it. Mary’s extravagant anointing was a show of devotion - and resignation - to death’s permanence. She (and we) couldn’t fathom that death and its derivatives didn’t have the final say.

  2. Savior that threatens our ways - As long as Jesus was around, religious leaders saw an obstacle to their ways. And they were right. But what they couldn’t see was how much more light, free, and joyful they’d be in following his ways over insisting on their own.

  3. Savior in service of our aims - The cheering crowd was a melting pot of hopes for salvation - at least some of them nationalistic in nature. And Jesus didn’t correct their view. But he had something so much broader for them - and us - whether it aligned with their aims or not.

Heavenly Father - Stir us with Jesus’ words and actions of that last week, that we’d see beyond our own misunderstandings of him, and gain a deeper and greater glimpse of your glory. Amen.