“Sir, We Would See Jesus!”
J. Albrecht…Easter 3…April 26th, 2026…John 12:20-26…We Would See Jesus! 1. Think of the Desire! 2. Weigh the Response! 3. Mark the Outcome!
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “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 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Grace, Mercy, and Peace be with you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
INJ Who did not hold onto this life, but offered Himself to secure for you the life to come, DFR:
After a lifetime of mindless consumption, it reaches a point where its own skin becomes a suffocating prison. Driven by an instinct it doesn’t fully understand, it anchors itself to a branch and weaves what looks like a shroud. To any outside observer, this appears to be a quiet, lonely end. Inside that silent chamber is a total dissolution. The creature’s organs and limbs melt into a living soup, a complete unmaking of its former identity. If it had the capacity to fear, it would believe it was dying. Yet, tucked within that liquid ruin are tiny blueprints that have waited for this exact moment of collapse to begin building something entirely new.
When the walls of the chrysalis finally crack, what emerges isn’t a better crawler, but a creature of the air. It leaves the shroud behind without a second thought, discovering that the terrifying loss of its old world was actually just the price of admission for a much wider one.
The life of a caterpillar is remarkably similar to the life of a Christian in one major way. We both must “die” in order to create something new. For the caterpillar it was a total dissolution of its current structure in order to make way for something totally different. For you, the Christian, it is dying to the useless, selfish flesh – shredding any love for it, and being made into a new man by the power of the Holy Spirit. If the caterpillar knew what lay ahead of it – the beauty and glory of being a butterfly, would it not earnestly desire to make the chrysalis and receive that transformation!? Such was the desire of the Greeks in our text to see Jesus. They eagerly sought Him out because He was the way, the truth and the life. They saw the glory and beauty that could only come through Him. How, by Christ’s work, they would receive a transformation far more glorious than the caterpillar. A transformation into eternal life.
This morning, we will consider that desire of the Greeks. “Sir, We Would See Jesus!” 1. Think of the desire! 2. Weigh the Response! 3. Mark the Outcome!
Let us pray: Sanctify us by Your truth O Lord, Your Word is truth, Amen.
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
The Greeks we encounter here are proselytes, meaning they had heard and believed the tenants of the Jewish faith. Why do you suppose they had joined the Jews, going up to Jerusalem for the worship of the Passover? Due to the emptiness of their former way of course. The pagan world at this time was consumed by Epicureanism and materialism. Epicureanism is a philosophy that be boiled down to one point: The highest good is pleasure. That is, every decision made was to find the greatest possible pleasure and to avoid pain.
Even today, the goal, or pursuit of this life is still to seek the greatest pleasures for my heart. Over the last 12 months, there have been two major scandals that have rocked the sports world. Two guys who, by everyone looking in, had it made. Each had a coaching position for a prestigious team, and both had a beautiful family. But the pleasure of the heart was not satisfied with these things and they both sought to find satisfaction in adultery. Do you suppose they found what they were looking for? Perhaps for a wispy moment, but no. Think of the emptiness, the destruction that was left behind in those forsaken and betrayed. That is the end of the philosophy of this world. It promises great and pleasurable things, but it leaves you empty and void.
That is exactly where these Greeks had found themselves with paganism. They were empty and void, but found satisfaction in the religion of Grace – the worship of Jehovah. Though the Jewish religion was nothing to write home about in Jesus’ day, the temple still held to the right worship of Jehovah and the Greeks found spiritual value in it.
The desire of the Greeks is not to reach the temple, but to see Jesus. Their hearts had been moved to see Jesus as the promised Messiah, and they wanted to draw close to their God and Savior, to be made ready to follow Him. What a commendable desire! For they held tightly to the promises God had made to them in the Scriptures. Isaiah 11:10, In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of Him shall the nations inquire, and His resting place shall be glorious. Already, as Jesus stood at the threshold of death, the shining rays of His salvation are sent out and the desire to see Him is aroused in the hearts of Gentiles from afar.
Will this be your desire too? To speak with Him, to meet with Him? You have been set on the side of fulfillment. Jesus has accomplished His saving work and has grafted you onto Himself – the Branch of Righteousness. He has transformed you from the pagan nature of your heart, to the restored image of God in righteousness and holiness. But will this continue to be your desire? For so many have tasted of the sweet transformation, and gave it up. Their desire had been once to see Jesus, but not as the Greeks did. The desire stopped when it came to total transformation and putting to death the desire of the heart. Let our desire be to always see our Lord and Savior and to be transformed completely into children of God. Let us seek Him continually until all His promises for us are thus fulfilled
Such a desire compelled Philip and Andrew to bring their request to Jesus. Strangely, this is the last we hear of these Greeks. John does not tell us whether they met Jesus or not. But as we weigh Jesus’ response, we see what John is doing.
No longer is the focus on these men. But rather, that Jesus’ response is meant for all Christians of all time.
23 And Jesus answered them, “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.
Up to this point it has always been, “My hour has not yet come.” The hour of which he speaks is an hour of bitterest anguish, the suffering and death on the cross. And yet, it is an hour full of glory, for it is the hour of victory over all of Christ’s foes, and which brings endless blessings to His disciples.
Thus, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ stands as something glorious. Jesus was glorified in His obedience to His Father, even unto death, and in the redemption He won for fallen mankind; He was glorified when the Father exalted Him and gave Him the name above every name and has seated Him at His right hand. Jesus is glorified by the work of the Holy Spirit which leads a countless host to the feet of the Savior.
Jesus qualifies His glorification with a short parable about a grain of wheat. You don’t have to be a farmer to have a rough idea about how plants grow. If you have a grain of wheat and leave it by itself, it will remain by itself. It will not grow or produce more wheat. But, if you plant it in the ground, yes, the grain itself dies, but the germ of life within it grows and produces much fruit. Who is this grain except Christ our Lord! “The death of Christ was the death of the most fertile grain of wheat.” – Augustine.
Thus, with these Greeks, Jesus sees the harvest beginning and that it will continue on and on as the product of the Great Grain of Wheat which fell to the earth and died. The death of the Son of God brings forth many other children of God so that every time the Gospel goes forth, the Grain of Wheat bears more and more fruit. And for each fruit born of this grain, salvation is the inheritance because of the death of the Savior. With this response, Jesus would set at ease the hearts of all who come after these Greeks. Though you cannot meet Jesus face to face right now, truly blessed are you if you can truly count yourself as a fruit of this Grain of Wheat!
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me;
Jesus here is warning against a love of oneself to such an extent as to sacrifice nothing. In spiritual matters, a law of self-preservation is a law of self-destruction. The word here isn’t just that you lose your life, but to utterly destroy it. This would have been true of Christ if He love His life so much as to refuse to give it up. So with man; he who loves himself to an extent as to refuse to kill the old Adam in himself, or refuses to humble himself before God as a sinner, or refuses to accepted Christ and the necessary sacrifices involved, has for the time being, preserved his life, his old Adam, but day by day is losing and destroying his spiritual life.
On the other hand, he who hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. He who loathes, detests, yes hates, this life of sin and depravity, he shall guard and keep it unto eternal life. Which life do you guard and keep? Not the natural, depraved life, but the spiritual life that is empowered within you by the Grain of Wheat which was laid into the ground. Your life comes from the death of Christ. Let us, by Christ’s power, hate well this wicked life we live and do so by willingly serving our Savior.
Those who serve Christ receive eternal life and one can only serve Him if he follows Him. The Son of Man has many admirers, but few followers. But where the Savior beckons follow, comes a promise of why this service is worth it: where I am, there will my servant be also. Here a true promise of a glorious union with Christ in heaven.! As we read last week in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there you may be also.
It’s not to say serving Christ will be easy or pleasant. Many of the patriarchs in Scripture were shattered by affliction, broken under trial, but they continued to serve willingly because of the promises of God. Luther writes, “When what is ours is condemned and ruined, it will all become better…as was the case with Christ. For when they crucified Him, they only accomplished that He became King eternally. So when the world persecutes you for hating them, know that the only thing they accomplished is making you a servant of that King, a servant whom the Father will honor.
It would be rewarding enough to simply be united with Christ for serving Him. But Jesus declares the Father’s honor will come to those who serve willingly. It was something great when Joseph was honored by Pharaoh and likewise Mordecai by King Ahaserus. But it is something immensely greater for the Blessed and Only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords to honor the servants of Jesus Christ. How the honor exceeds the service! And when the Father honors those who serve Him, it will glorify the Son of Man. For if the Father so honors the servants of His Son, how much more will He honor the Son Himself after the service He rendered to redeem us! When we mark the outcome of Christ dying for us, we see a glorious future. One that is already secure for us. One that allows us to embark in the work that God has set before us. Not to our glory, but to the glory of the Father.
These Greeks found something very attractive and desirable in Jesus to come with their request. They saw the key to eternal life and treasured it. Jesus’ response concerning Himself show us what is indeed most desirable of Him – our salvation that comes from His death, and the ability and willingness to serve Him, not for merit’s sake, but out of love to our God. Honor and glory be to our God and to the Son now and forevermore, Amen!