So some Greeks show up at the Jewish party.
No this isn't the start of a joke, but it is the start of a massive pivot so that we might actually understand who is welcome to come to Jesus.
Now, remember, there was typically open hostility between Jews and Greeks, they did not exactly see eye to eye on things. While these Greeks were most likely “god fearers” and open to the stories they had heard from Judaism, they almost certainly did not abide by the instructions of the Torah. They were, however, curious, they were open - and that’s what matters.
In our story, here on the Monday of Holy Week we have some Greeks who approach the one disciple with a Greek name, Philip, and say the most simple, yet complex, life altering words, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
We should pause. We should allow our minds and imaginations to get caught up in the humanity of humanity and wonder, “why did they want to see Jesus?” What’s the big deal? Jesus is a Jew. Greeks are Greeks. End of story, right???
Well, we can be certain that these Greeks had heard about this rabbi and his holy walkabout adventures all over Galilee. Unique to John’s gospel is how John provides the stories of the “7 Signs”. These all attribute to the authenticity and the legitimacy of who Jesus is - the Son of God. What these signs also do is get the word of mouth going.
People will be people and people will talk. Therefore, when we consider the 7 signs → Water to Wine (2:1-11), Healing of a Royal Officers Son (4:46-54), Healing of the Paralytic (5:1-5), Feeding the 5000 (6:1-14), Walking on Water (6:16-21), Giving Sight to the Blind (9:1-7), Raising Lazarus from the Dead (11:38-48), we can be sure these signs would have gone viral in a Middle East kind of way!
You would want to know more about a person who not only turned water into wine, but could walk on water…right?!?
So I can imagine those Greeks who came to Jesus, first were sitting around a fire sharing the stories they had heard about Jesus. One person perks up and exclaims, “I heard he raised a man from the dead!” Another pipes up and states, “And he can give sight to the blind.”
Then maybe, just maybe, one of the Greeks, opened their mouth and used their voice to say, “Well I heard something else about the man - it’s not what he has done that intrigues me, it’s what he said that baffles me - he said, “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Did you catch that?
Jesus was a Rabbi and rabbis were selective - to follow a rabbi, to imitate their life, to be like them wasn’t open to anyone, only the elite, only the intellectual, only those who showed promise, only those who were “good”.
What does Jesus say, “whoever” or as the ESV states, “anyone”.
Friend, the Greeks are coming to see Jesus, not because they want a selfie with him, not to merely shake his hand, not to get his autograph. No, they are literally taking Jesus up on the invitation he gave with his voice when he said, if anyone wants to come, they can come.
The Greeks are the “anyone”.
You are the “anyone”.
Your enemy is the” anyone”.
The world is the “anyone”.
How do we know this?
Go back to how Jesus called the first disciples, Andrew & Simon Peter, in the Gospel of John, “Come… and you will see” (John 1:39). Jesus' invitation was for Andrew and Peter to see, to follow Him. Here towards the end of the Gospel of John, the invitation is being used by Greeks. Jesus has invited anyone and the anyones called the Greeks are coming. Jesus wants to be followed and the Greeks want to follow.
The whosoevers or the anyones are the drunks and skunks, the bad mouths and sweet talkers, the class clowns and those who’ve made their rounds, the AIG kids and held back kids, for the CEO and the farmer, the teacher and the lawyer, the preacher and the people of the night, the doctor and the patient. God’s great love for the world (John 3:16) means anyone in the world is welcome to receive his love and follow so as to learn how to live.
Jesus used his voice to invite people to follow him. The Greeks use their voice to say they’re in, “they want to see Jesus.” A selfie won’t do, being a fan isn’t enough, they aren’t content to be sidelined - they want Jesus and they will accept nothing less than beholding, seeing, following Jesus - God of very God.
May the voice of the Greeks witness to us this Holy Week of what it means to follow Jesus.
Amen & Amen.
To watch the video for this devotion: https://fb.watch/r3PDhAy-Xx/
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