Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event. The Greeks seek Jesus. This is found in John, chapter twelve, verses 20 through 36. Follow along with us as we read.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: Now, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified.
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.
Whoever loves his life loses it. And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
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.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him. We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that? The son of man must be lifted up. Who is this son of man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light.
So in this event, these Greeks are. They're wanting to speak to Jesus. And most likely they see him as the messiah, but they have this earthly view of him as the messiah. Someone who's going to come and throw out the Romans and set up a government. And as it said later that they would live forever, the messiah would live forever.
They have this view, and so they're wanting to come. So they come to Philip and ask Philip to see Jesus.
Philip doesn't go straight to Jesus, does he?
[00:03:50] Speaker B: It seems that Philip is not used to lead people to Jesus Christ. I'm using some evangelistic language here.
And this is why he went to Andrew, who is used to lead people to Christ, because he started with his brother in John, chapter one, his brother Simon Peter.
And to lead your older brother to Jesus is not quite easy. Later, Andrew led to Jesus, that young boy who had a couple of loaves of bread and some fish as lunch prepared by his mom.
And Jesus multiplied that food and fed thousands of people.
So among the disciples, Andrew is known as someone who leads people to Christ. So Philip went to get some help. So they do this job together like a teamwork.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
And they come to Jesus. And Jesus doesn't really go and listen to the Greeks. He just starts this dialogue, right, that the hour has come.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: It's very interesting if we analyze, and I listen carefully while you are reading the response of Jesus Christ.
The theme of his response is death, and it's primarily death on the cross. He will be lifted up talking by what kind of death?
He will die.
And by the way, the response of Jesus Christ is quite intense in verse 27. Now, is my soul troubled?
What shall I say? Talking to God? Father, save me from this hour? No. For this purpose, I have come to this hour. And he says he is like the seed that has to be planted in the ground and die in order to bear fruit.
From Jesus response, it seems that he was able to read, or it was revealed to him by his father, that those Greeks, as good as intention, they had that desire to talk to him, to meet him face to face. Maybe that will elevate them to a new level of their spiritual experience.
Those Greeks were being used by Satan to divert the road to the cross and to make Jesus avoid the cross. So Jesus will not die.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: I don't know. I think Satan was very willing for Jesus to die.
But I think maybe Satan was willing for Jesus to overthrow the Romans. Like, hey, why don't you be messiah here on the earth? Why don't you buy into this, what it says, and you can rule this kingdom here, and I'll let you rule this kingdom if you bow down to me.
[00:06:44] Speaker B: Also, this event happened after he was tempted multiple times by all religious groups, starting with the Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians and scribes. And he was eventually rejected. And Satan knew because he was in charge of the plot to kill Jesus Christ. So maybe the. The temptation of these Greeks was, look, everyone has rejected you here. Come over to Athens, and we value wisdom. You are such a wise man, everyone is amazed by your teachings, except the leaders of the nation. If you come over, we will embrace you and you will start to save the world. From Athens.
I'm not sure, but maybe that was one of the temptations crafted by Satan to make Jesus avoid a cross.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah, but regardless, Jesus has committed to this, and Jesus is our creator, right?
[00:07:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: The Bible says everything was made by him, and without him, nothing was made that was made. So the three, God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, created this universe, everything that we know, and Jesus could have snapped his fingers, and all of heaven would have been empty. There would be angels surrounding him, could have gone back and just wiped this planet out and started over. He could have cloned it. He could have just thought the word and Satan and his angels wouldn't have existed and none of us would have existed and then just started again. He had so much power that he could have done all these things to avoid the pain of going to the cross.
But he doesn't.
He willingly goes forward with this as much as he doesn't want to do it.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: As a human being.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah, as a human being, he does not want to do this. He's not looking forward to this, but.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: He'S faithful to the initial plan. He is faithful to his father. He is faithful to the mission that he came to accomplish.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Well, and if he's not, if he were just to snuff out this world and Satan and everything, I would think there'd be a lot of fear in the universe.
Well, when's it gonna happen to me? Does God really love me? There'd be a lot of questioning. Is love true?
Is the law of love true, and is it universal?
So I think for the whole universe, this is for Jesus to go through this. It was necessary.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was necessary for a reason related to the initial rebellion in heaven.
Satan wanted to lift himself up, to rise and get on the throne, to be equal with the most high. Or Jesus Christ came to humble himself, and that road of humility was going down, and I had to reach the cross and to reach the death, primarily the second death as the separation from the source of life from God.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: It's interesting.
Well, two things I'm going to ask this. This is kind of a tangent, but this might be for someone who's listening, who's curious. In their Bible, I have what you call a red letter Bible, where the words of Jesus are in red. But then we have this voice from God that's in black. I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again. Why is that not red?
[00:10:46] Speaker B: I ask myself the same question every time God speaks. Should be in red. Here they just limit the words of Jesus Christ. That was the voice from heaven, by the way, was the voice of the Father.
And it is the same voice that spoke to Jesus at his baptism. This is my beloved son that spoke to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and is speaking to him to validate.
It's a voice of approval.
Even if Jesus says, the voice has come for your sake, not mine, that means the conviction of the strengths of relationship with the father was so deep that he didn't need that voice of approval. It was necessarily like a sign, like a witness for people nearby, people around Jesus Christ. But he continues in verse 31, now is the judgment of this world.
Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
It is the climax of the great conflict that started in heaven, which was of the universal magnitude. And now it is a head on encounter with the ruler of this world. That is Satan. And Satan has stolen the dominion of this planet from Adam and Eve. And now, very soon on the cross, Satan was about to lose it.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I made verse 32. This is the theme of my ministry as a pastor.
Jesus says, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. He's quoting from the Old Testament, and this is referring to him being placed on the cross. But when Jesus is lifted up, he draws all men and women and children unto himself. And it's our job as pastors or as christians or as followers of Jesus to point people to a lifted up Jesus, to lift him up in our lives, to allow him to shine through and to be seen. And I found that's the most effective way of sharing Jesus with other people, instead of giving them all the promises of, oh, you'll get this, this or this, or try to, try to bribe people into the kingdom, show them Jesus, and he does the work of drawing people close to him.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: Our road to God doesnt go straight to heaven. There is a middle point, a stop, and that is on the cross of Jesus Christ. We are lifted up on the cross, and from the cross we are lifted up to heaven.
This is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity.
For some reason, a gospel of prosperity is being preached that God will bless you right away and you'll feel like living in heaven, or when you die, right away you make it to heaven. There is this intermediate step.
We are lifted up on the cross. And Jesus said, if you want to follow me, you have to deny yourself daily.
Take up my cross, and after that, follow me. And Jesus. Sorry. The apostle Paul said, I die daily.
Somehow reflecting on these words of Jesus Christ.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to finish with this. The light is among you for a little while longer.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. Let's pray. Father God, we are children of the light, and we want to dwell in the light. We want to dwell with you. We want to see Jesus working within us. And Jesus died on the cross, and he rose again so that we might have eternal life.
And, father, we pray that we can lift Jesus up in our lives, that he can shine through us, that when people see us, they don't see us, that we're not glorified, but they see Jesus. And all honor and glory go to you. Father, I pray that we can be ready on that day when he comes again.
[00:15:27] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: To meet him in the clouds. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: Amen.
