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Now there were some Greeks among
those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to
Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him,
saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip came and told
Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. (John 12:20-22)
I see a number of things I want to look
into here.
Greeks – non-Jews – were coming to
worship the God of the Jews at the most important festival in the
Jewish religion. Were these just Jews living in Greece or were they
actually Greeks? I tend to believe that they were really gentiles who
had become influenced by Jews they knew and were genuinely interested
in learning more about their religion and wanted to know their God
better. They saw validity in the teachings of the Jews and were
coming to sense the superiority of the Jewish religion over all
others. They had decided to come to Jerusalem possibly along with
their Jewish friends to see first-hand the religion of the Jews, but
in the process they became aware of reports about a radical Jewish
teacher who was rocking the whole country with His teachings and
miracles. They became so intrigued by these reports that they decided
to seek Him out for themselves and investigate Him personally.
These Greeks had not just come as
casual observers of a different religion; they had come with the
purpose of personally worshiping God. What they didn't know was that
they were about to encounter God personally in a way that not even
the disciples had experienced. Their honesty of heart, their
sincerity, their openness to truth unlike that of the prejudiced Jews
allowed Jesus to in turn open up to them new revelations about God
that He could not share with the unbelieving religious people around
Him. Like the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus could be more
transparent and direct with these Greeks because they were not
seeking to distort everything He said and taught about His Father.
These Greeks found Philip likely as
part of their process of trying to track down Jesus. How did they
know that Philip could lead them to Jesus? Very likely someone else
had steered them in his direction informing them that this man was
one of Jesus' disciples. Obviously Philip was not with Jesus at the
time but was somewhere alone when these Greeks introduced themselves
to him. I find this to be interesting as well as instructive.
Philip did not immediately take these
men to Jesus but went to look up his partner and friend Andrew.
Andrew is most known for being a person who loved to introduce people
to Jesus. Philip is more known for asking questions than for bringing
people to Jesus, but he also had learned from Jesus that it is
important to work in teams, especially when it comes to working with
souls. Jesus had sent out His disciples several times to do
evangelism and He always sent them out in pairs. He did this for
their benefit and protection so that they could compliment each
other's weaknesses with their own strengths. Just as God saw that it
was not good for Adam to be alone He knows that it is not good for us
to work for Him in the rescuing of lost souls alone. A lone disciple
is too vulnerable to work with deceived minds and darkened hearts and
it is very important that we learn this lesson ourselves.
“We wish to see Jesus.” I looked up
the Greek word for wish and found something interesting. This
word implies that they may have really said, “We would be delighted
to meet Jesus! We would love to see Jesus.”
This really grabs my attention. I
experience those same feelings myself many times. It is a symptom of
the drawing power of Jesus and His reputation working on the heart
when anyone expresses this kind of urge to meet Jesus personally. It
is the main purpose of true evangelism to awaken in hearts this very
desire. But it is also important to connect with another friend of
Jesus in order to successfully escort such a hungry, curious person
to meet Jesus in person for themselves rather than offering to answer
their questions ourselves.
How often we spoil or dampen the hunger
of people yearning to meet Jesus and to experience His power in their
own lives by directing attention to ourselves, our opinions, our
answers rather than leading them to Jesus directly to let Him teach
them. How sad that churches and religious leaders tend to get people
to depend on them to find truth and direction in life rather than
showing people how to form a direct connection with Jesus and learn
from Him personally. Imagine what would have been lost to these men
and to all of us if Philip and Andrew had not taken them to Jesus but
had rather tried to answer their questions themselves. One of the
most surprising affirmations of the divinity of Jesus would not have
occurred if these disciples had treated these seekers like we too
often do today.
I notice as well that when the
disciples arrived with these men in Jesus' presence they did not tell
the men about Jesus but talked to Jesus about these seekers. How does
this translate into our own practices in religion? Do we find
ourselves talking to people about God more than we talk to God
about people? Why do we find it so hard to encourage others to talk
to God themselves without us interfering and trying to stay in the
center of their attention? The reason God is drawing all unto Himself
is to have a personal relationship with each one, not to have us act
as constant intermediaries for others.
Certainly there is a period of time
when we need to act our part in bringing people to Jesus. They
usually meet one of God's friends first in their quest to know Him
better and we certainly can share our own testimony as we are guiding
them to meet Him in person. But if we fail to take them directly to
Jesus and instead try to nurture them ourselves, we in essence are
replacing Jesus in their lives and may actually be endorsing a false
form of religion that has all the appearances of piety and truth.
We must learn the lesson that we have
failed to learn for so long, that Jesus is to be the main focus of
attention in every true believer's life. It is essential that we get
this straight or we will fall into the scheme of the enemy who is
always waiting to enhance our pride and make us the center of
attention. God and the truth about His character is the focal point
of all true religion. Anything other than this is a needless
distraction and can easily lead all of us into a subtle form of
religion while denying its power; and the true power of genuine
religion can only be found in a personal encounter with the Son of
God.
It is not enough that we may know Jesus
personally and have a long-term relationship with Him. We must learn
the importance of duplicating ourselves by teaching and modeling to
others how they can know Him personally themselves. Philip and Andrew
modeled the right way to lead people to Jesus and we could learn a
great deal from their example. I am saddened by how far from this
model we act in relating to those around us who are hungry and
seeking to meet Jesus too.
I confess that I am often guilty of
drawing too much attention to myself instead of focusing on helping
others know Jesus for themselves. It is so easy to want to display
how much I am learning about God without taking the time and
carefulness to help others get into right relationship with Him so
they can be taught of God too. I also need to team with other
disciples in order to be more balanced and be more successful in
leading curious hearts to know Jesus for themselves.
But the wonderful benefits of getting
it right is that we can then share even greater joy as more and more
people become personal disciples of our best friend. We do not lose
these new friends by making them intimate friends with Jesus; rather,
as we encourage them to connect with Jesus directly they become even
better friends with us than if we had tried to tell them all about
the truth ourselves.
I have been learning that the true
nature of the rewards Jesus talks about that we will enjoy in heaven,
and even here today, have to do with the joy we experience as we bond
with those we have helped to encounter Jesus personally for
themselves. This is the kind of investment that will last for
eternity and is how we can store up fuel for our ever-increasing joy
forever. It is up to us now how much fuel we are willing to invest in
to produce these future and even present joys.
