To this point, we have traversed a chapter and a half of the Gospel of John, with all of it related in some way to the death and raising of Lazarus. On two occasions, mention has been made of the glory of God in connection with the raising. The first mention of God’s glory was upon Jesus’ hearing about Lazarus’ sickness. The second time was in response to Martha’s insistence that Lazarus would stink, having been in the tomb for four days. Both times would lead us to believe that Lazarus’ raising itself was that which would reveal God’s glory, but we will soon find out that such was not necessarily the case. Immediately after we hear the Pharisees saying, “Look, the world has run off after Him” (John 12:19b), in reference to the welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem as King, we go on to read, “Now some Greeks were among those who had gone up to worship at the feast. So these approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested, ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew, and they both went and told Jesus” (12:20-22).
We can presume that the Greeks that were in Jerusalem for Passover had seen this rousing welcome of Jesus, having also learned about the raising of Lazarus and the growing number of people that were, because of that raising, looking to Jesus as Messiah. We can also imagine that these Greeks, in making inquiries about this Jesus fellow, now being loudly hailed as Messiah, had learned about some of His rather strange practices of regularly interacting with Gentiles. It is the combination of these factors that most likely served to induce these Greeks to ask Jesus’ disciples for an audience with Jesus. Because they were in Jerusalem for Passover, and therefore in recognition of God’s covenant and His covenant people, we can also deduce that they were aware of the prophecies of messiah, and would have been especially keyed in on those prophecies which clearly showed forth the messiah as so much more than a messiah for the Jews alone, but which announced a messiah for all peoples and all nations.
It is worthwhile to attempt an examination of the scenario, in an attempt to determine why it was that they would want to see Jesus. What was their peculiar motivation? It is quite possible that, even though they were Greeks (Gentiles) that recognized the covenant and the covenant people, and even though they were in Jerusalem to recognize God’s saving deliverance in association with the Passover, that they were systematically excluded from full fellowship with those of ethnic and national Israel, as people that would probably not have borne the covenant marker of circumcision nor kept to the food and Sabbath laws. With the “Jesus situation,” combined with their understanding of the messiah as being a figure that would transcend the traditional covenant boundaries, they desired to see Jesus. A direct audience with the one being hailed as messiah would certainly put these controversial issues to rest. The question was, with knowledge that they were Gentiles, would He see them, or would He rebuff them, putting them off as unworthy because they were not of Israelite descent?
Jesus’ response to their desire to see Him is fascinating, especially in light of our attempts to determine how the raising of Lazarus was going to reveal God’s glory. When the inquiry from the Greeks is presented to Him, as they seem to stand in the place of peoples from all Gentile nations that will be brought into a desire to see God’s messiah, “Jesus replied, ‘The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’.” (12:23) The Son of Man, of course, is one of the titles of the messiah, Israel’s king, who, when he appeared, would be understood to be the physical embodiment of their covenant God. So the glorification of the Son of Man would, by extension, be the glorification of God. This must have been quite an encouragement to these answer-seeking Greeks.
The whole of the Lazarus scenario has fed into and led up to this point. Quite clearly, these Gentiles have been induced to come to Jesus because of the events and situation that have occurred because of Lazarus’ raising. Having spoken of the glorification of the Son of Man, Jesus goes on to speak about the kernel of wheat falling into the ground and dying, and its provision of grain (12:24). At this point, in the context of God’s glory, Jesus has His pending ordeal in mind, as He says, “Now My soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver Me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour” (12:27). To what had He come? The time of His death. The time of His glorification. The time that would show forth the covenant faithfulness of Israel’s God, thus bringing Him the glory that Israel had been raised up and separated out to bring to Him, but had failed in that task. In this context, Jesus says, “Father, glorify Your Name” (12:28a). What follows? “Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again’.” (12:28b)
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