What are we doing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT ARE WE DOING

John 12:20-26

20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

NIV

Here we have some Greeks in Jerusalem who want to see Jesus. Who are these Greeks? Our scholars have some opinions but they admit their thoughts are just that, opinions. They are considering the ideas, the Greeks are Jews who are living in Greece, or proselytes, that is Greeks who have come to believe in Jesus, changing their religious beliefs, or they are simply pagan Greeks who, as it is reported by historians, would come to Jerusalem to give offerings to the Jewish God, Jehovah. It would seem any of those could be right, but most likely they would be Greek believers who heard about Jesus and came to believe, now having the opportunity to actually see him. Even though their request made its way to Jesus, his response is regarding his pending near future. He makes this profound statement, of course, everything Jesus says is profound. We are not sure why he has to say that he is telling them the truth. Has he ever lied? The truth is about being born again, being a follower of Jesus. The only way to have life, have eternal life, is to die like the kernel of grain, which then produces many seeds. This is our life. If we love our life as it is on the earth, being human, then we will lose our life, life eternal. But we must die to self, be buried and grow up in Christ, bearing much fruit, many seeds. But this also speaks to the very situation at hand. One person telling another person about Jesus, and another and another. Being a follower of Jesus means more than attending, or being a member of a church. Although we are admonished to assemble with other believers, not to just be together, serving ourselves. We have been called to go out into the world and tell people about Jesus. Jesus makes it clear that we should not get too comfortable here in this world, which in fact we are told should hate this life in this world. We should be looking forward to leaving this life and entering into a new life of following Jesus. That life of sin brought us death, but life in Christ brings us life. This following Jesus must mean more they just being a believer, a Christian living under a set of rules and regulations, trying to be righteous, or holy, or religious. This following Jesus means actually dying to self, taking up our cross, being on the cross until the death of self, then being buried in the waters of baptism and being raised up out of the waters a new person, a glorified person, who will eventually ascend into heaven. Just as Jesus did. But what do we do in the meantime, as new people, as born again followers of Jesus? We tell Andrew, we tell John, or Mary, or Sam, or Jim, Dave, Eleanor, Patricia, Wilma, Bob, the list goes on, about Jesus. For the most part, we might think that if we live religiously someone might ask us why. But that is not the case, what did Jesus do? He healed people, he went around telling the truth of God, he meant people right where they were, and did miracles showing the power of God in his life. Then people followed after him. Yes, we know Jesus said he would build his church. He would just bring people into our building, or into following him. But then why did he command us to go out into the world and preach the good news to all creation. Was that just for the twelve? How could they get to all creation, which would have been impossible, even for them? No, that is an eternal command for all followers, all disciples of Jesus. If we want to be honored by the Father, then serving Jesus has to mean more the just being saved. Serving implies doing. What are we doing?