Sir, We Wish to See Jesus | Dave Sloop

So glad that you guys are here. If you have your bible, or even if you don't, grab one. We have some in the pews. We're gonna be looking at John chapter 12 beginning in verse 20. We're just gonna walk through those seven verses, and I would love for you to walk through it with me. If you don't have a Bible easily accessible, you can pull up an app on your phone.

But before we go to that passage, I want to remind you how the passage that we looked at last week ended in verse 19, and this will be a framing for us of how I think John wants us to see this passage this week. If you remember, last week was the triumphal entry of the Messiah into Jerusalem. Jesus comes into Jerusalem to be the fulfillment of Zechariah's king who would come low riding on a donkey, the colt, the foal of a donkey. And he comes in not only in that posture, but also the streets were lined with people who were giving him messianic praise. They were shouting out, "Hosanna," which means "save us."

Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. — John 12:13

Jesus unashamedly and unapologetically says, "This is who I am. I am Israel's king. I am the messiah, the Christ come to save the world." But instead of being overwhelmed and overcome with this sight of biblical prophecy being fulfilled in real time in front of their faces, listen to how the Pharisees respond to this.

The Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him." — John 12:19

They did not mean that as a compliment. They saw this enthusiasm around the person and work of Jesus Christ as a massive failure on their part, and they hated it, and they hated him for it, and they wanted him dead. But then notice the very next verse.

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." — John 12:20-21

John says the whole world went out to see him, and then he says among those who came up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. That was another wave of John saying some non-Jewish people, some Gentiles. Here you have this Jewish feast at the Jewish temple in worship of the Jewish God, and among those who came to celebrate were Gentiles.

Why were they there? And maybe even a second question would be, why were they looking for Jesus? I think John is being intentional here. We're gonna see later that the fact that these Gentiles are looking for him becomes the trigger for what Jesus says in response to Philip and Andrew coming to him.

Why were they there? These were Gentile converts to Judaism. They were men and women who had forsaken the gods of their fathers, and they had seen the empty sham of the Greek gods, but something in the true God of Israel irresistibly drew them. And they came to worship alongside all of these Jews, knowing that they didn't have a right to your God, but we're here wanting to see him, wanting to know him.

It wasn't uncommon, actually, for Gentiles to come up during the feast—God-fearing Gentiles. In fact, they had a place inside the temple that was called the Court of the Gentiles, where Gentiles were allowed to gather inside the temple gates. Do you want to guess where that was? The very outer ring of the temple. It was as if they were saying, "You can come in, but not too close."

In fact, archaeologists have discovered that there were signs on the wall that separated the Gentiles from the rest of the temple that said, "Pass by here at pain of death." In other words, "You can come worship our God, but don't get too close."

But the truth is, if you zoom out from the temple, what you see is that the temple itself is a microcosm of two things: man's greatest need and his greatest problem, and they're wrapped up together. Man's greatest need is to see God, and his greatest problem is that he can't.

If you look at how the temple is structured, you have the Court of the Gentiles on the outside, and just inside that, you had something called the Court of the Women, where women who were Israelites were allowed to be. Then inside that ring, you had what they call the Court of Israel, but it was really just the court for the men. Only the men were allowed in that second ring. And then inside that was the Court of the Priests, and then inside that was the Holy of Holies, where only one was allowed to go in—the High Priest—to offer sacrifices for all the people that could not get close to God.

See, this was the problem: people needed God, but they could not get to him.

He was inaccessible, hidden behind this curtain where the presence of God was said to have dwelt. This hiddenness of God, and yet man's need to see him, is the biggest problem of our existence. And you have to ask the question, where did all of this go so wrong, and when? The answer to that question is a long time ago, in the Garden of Eden.

You see, God, if you just imagine, God who existed in all eternity, completely satisfied in himself, he needed nothing, but he decided to create you and me out of his fullness. In fact, this sounds a little bit scandalous, but I think that it's true that God created us, and in so doing, he almost made himself incomplete without us. He made himself to need us in a sense. But at one point, this creation of God, Adam and Eve, who were created in his image to know him, to experience him, God put a spirit in them so that they can connect with his because he is spirit, that they could be satisfied with him, they could experience delight in him. The whole posture of their life was to be dependent upon him for everything.

But one day, Adam listened to a different voice that said, true life is found when not when you look at God, but when you look at yourself. In fact, God does not want you to do for yourself because he does not want you to be like him. And he began to whisper these lies, and Adam and Eve believed them, and they did exactly what Saint Augustine calls curving in on yourself. That is his picture of sin. It is when we look away from God into ourself to satisfy ourself, to follow our own ambitions, to follow after our own wisdom for what we think life is all about. And the moment that we do that, we lose God.

Adam and Eve lost God in the garden, and he comes looking for them. And God actually says, Adam, where are you? And Adam was hiding. God has been out of our reach ever since. This posture of complete dependence and enjoyment that we were meant to have in the person of God who made us to know him, who made us for himself, we've lost him. And all of life is a searching for a replacement for that which instinctively we know that we've lost. And wise people have said, the man that knocks on the brothel door is looking for God. There's something in you that is chasing, reaching, grasping to be satisfied in all of the wrong places, and the reason that you are and that I am is that apart from God, we are blind.

Just like a car is designed to drive and an airplane is designed to fly, you and I were created with a design, and the ultimate purpose of your human existence is one thing. It is to know God and adore him and love him. And apart from that ultimate purpose, nothing makes sense. In curving in on ourselves, do you know what we've become? We've become the kind of people of which the Bible says, no one seeks God. No one understands him. No one is righteous.

Or I stumbled upon this verse in Job earlier this week that I thought I marked, but it looks like I didn't. But it's a good verse. You should go read it some other time. There's this verse in Job that essentially says, we're not interested, God. Who are you that we should be interested in you and your laws that we should want to follow after them? This is what we become. When we curve in on ourselves, we cannot see. Our greatest need is stripped from us, and we're blind. It's like we're wearing this big blindfold that says self, and we try to make sense of life with that blindfold on. And maybe we even try to search the scriptures to understand some things about God, and it's like we're putting glasses on top of a blindfold that we just can't see. Turn the lights on. We cannot see because we are blind, because life is about me. My greatest need and my greatest problem is that I need to see God, but I can't.

And yet, here are some Gentiles, the least likely people in the temple. And not only are they there to try to discover who God is, but notice who they're looking for. They're in the temple to worship God. And who are they looking for? They're looking for Jesus. We wish to see Jesus. They were looking, in other words, in the right place. In fact, they were looking in the only place that anyone can discover who God is in our blindness.

Listen to what happens. In verse 22, it says this. After they said, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew, and 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. — John 12:23-24

Now, I want to set this up for you and do a little dramatic reenactment because this seems like a non sequitur. And by the way, it's not that uncommon for people to come to the disciples seeking to see Jesus. If you follow the chronology of Mark's gospel, in Mark chapter 11, you see the triumphal entry. Do you know what happens in Mark chapter 10?

The little children come to the disciples, they say, we wanna see Jesus, and they rebuke them. They rebuke the kids, and Jesus says, let them come. Bartimaeus says, son of David, have mercy on me. And the crowd says, he didn't have time for you. And Jesus says, bring him here. And now, here are some Gentiles. And you can imagine that this is a pretty slam dunk. They've already rehearsed it. They've seen it in Mark 10. And here come Philip and Andrew to Jesus and say, hey, there's some Gentiles. They'd like to see you, Jesus. Can they see you? And Jesus says, the hour for the son of man to be glorified has come. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears as much fruit.

To which Philip and Andrew say, okay, but the Greeks—the Greeks who want to see you, can they see you? What's going on here? What triggers Jesus' response? Because here's what I think John wants us to see. If you look at verse 23, it says, Jesus answered them. What seems like a non sequitur is not. It is an answer to their question. Can they see you now? And let me summarize in advance what Jesus' answer is. Not quite yet, but imminently, and not in the way that you think.

Can they see you? Can the Gentiles see you? And something about that request makes Jesus say, now—now is the time. He says, the hour of the son of man to be glorified has come.

The Son of Man Must Be Glorified

Let me give you a thumbnail sketch of what Jesus is saying here. We could take a week on each clause of that, but let me just give you an overview. First of all, Jesus says, the son of man. This is not a general term. This is a very specific reference to Daniel chapter seven, where Jesus claims to be the fulfillment of Daniel's vision of one coming on the clouds. He has this vision of the heavenly throne room, and here comes one as the son of man and is presented before the ancient of days, the creator of all things. And to this one—this man who does not belong in the scene—because that one is given dominion and glory. And then here's the catch: in order that all people and all nations and all languages might serve him.

Here comes the world represented by these Gentiles who are searching for Jesus, and he says, the time is now. The world is coming after me. Did you notice in these Old Testament readings from Isaiah 49 and 52, it's too little a thing that my servant would just gather the people of Jacob to himself. I will make him a light to the nations, that my salvation would go to the ends of the earth. That is who he came to be—not just Israel's messiah, but the savior of the world. And here come the Gentiles. Can they see you? Not yet, but soon, and not in the way that you think.

Secondly, Jesus says, the son of man must be glorified. There are some words that we say often at church—glory, glorified. I wonder if you've ever really considered what that word means. Glory is another way of saying what is good. When Moses said to God on the mountain, let me see your glory, what he was saying is, I wanna see what's good about you. Show me your goodness.

Do you remember how God responded? He said, I will let my goodness pass before you. And when he passed before him, he said:

The Lord, the Lord, compassionate, gracious, forgiving the sins of a thousand generations, steadfast love and mercy.

When God says, if you wanna see my glory, let me tell you what my glory is. It is my love and graciousness towards sinful people who do not want me.

Jesus says, the time has come for the son of man to be glorified. Paul would say this about Jesus in Second Corinthians 4:6. He described Jesus in this way. He says:

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In other words, if you want to know the goodness of God, there is one place that mankind has that he might look, and it is at Jesus' face. He is the embodiment of the goodness of God. In fact, in John 1:14, he said:

We beheld his glory as the only one from the father, full of grace and truth.

It's the same two things that God said when he passed in front of Moses—steadfast love and faithfulness. Grace, truth, that is who I am. If you want to see the light of the glory of God, you have to look at the person of Jesus Christ who is the visible image of the invisible God.

The reason that we can't see him, as Hebrews 12:14 says, is that no one can see God apart from holiness. Now when we think of holiness, I think most often, what comes to mind is moral perfection. But I would encourage you to think of holiness as something that has been set apart. That's what the word actually means. It is when you take something ordinary and you say, I'm going to use that only holy—w-h-o-l-l-y—devoted to one purpose. We can't see God because we are not wholly devoted to him. We have our eyes on ourself. God said, if you want to see me, there is one who is wholly devoted to me. Only one.

And when you look at him, you will see what I'm like. But he goes further. Because you see, the hour of his glorification throughout the gospel of John, it is always one thing. It is the moment of his death. And all throughout the gospel, it's not time yet. It's not time yet. When his mother comes to him at the wedding at Cana of Galilee and said, would you do this miracle? Jesus says, my time has not yet come. When they try to arrest him and seize him, he says, my hour has not yet come. But when he sees the world coming to him, he says, time is now. And it is time, he says, to die.

He describes his death in this way:

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Jesus is suggesting that the only way that you and I can see him is if the holy one of God comes to provide a holiness that we could not provide for ourselves, and to die upon a cross as if it were me and you in order that we might see the god that we were made to see. Can the Gentiles see me only if I die in their place in order that they can?

I'm reading a book right now. It's actually titled, We Would See Jesus, and he borrows the title off of this passage. He says, this is the heart cry of every human being on planet Earth—that we would see Jesus. It's actually what we're looking for. This is what we desperately need. And he said that when God created man, all he had to do was speak. But in order to redeem him, he had to bleed. He had to come and buy back, purchase back what was his by right. He had to come be what man could not be for himself on a cross that man deserved.

But then Jesus, after showing us the crowning achievement of God's glory, which is not only the face of Jesus Christ, but the face of Jesus Christ on the cross of Jesus Christ, he says this. He turns to his disciples and he says:

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, my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the father will honor him.

Jesus says, if the world is gonna see me, I gotta do something and you gotta do something. I must die, you must die.

There's two places in John's gospel where Jesus says that phrase, "where I am, there you may be." The first one is here. The second one is in John 14. That one is far more popular. You hear it at most funerals:

In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.

And what Jesus is saying is, look, this world's gonna be hard, but I'm going to heaven and you're gonna meet me there. That's not what he's saying here. He says to his disciples that where I am, you may be also. Where is he going? He's going to the cross. He's saying, if you want to see me, I mean, really see me, you have to be willing to die to yourself.

In Luke 9:23, he'd put it this way:

If anyone would come after me, he must take up his cross daily.

There is something that has to be done for us in order to have the possibility of seeing God for which we were made. But then there's something that we need to do every single day to cooperate with what he has done, which enables what he has done for us positionally to function in our life practically. Are you seeing him? Let me just ask that question to us right now. These guys, their heart cry. We wish to see Jesus. Is that yours? Is that what you long for?

The Greatest Trap

Paul tells us that it is possible to be someone who has been saved, who has the spirit of God living in you, but you are not operating in his power. In Galatians 5, he's writing to a church that he says has begun in the spirit, but is trying to be perfected in the flesh. In Romans chapter 7, it's the same thing. It is someone who has been saved and captured by God, but is trying to do it in the flesh. It is the greatest trap, I think, that exists today in the hearts of God's disciples—that we would try to, in a sense, strive to be like him without using the power that's in us.

What is the enemy of his life inside of us? It is the same thing that keeps you from seeing him to begin with. Self. It's whenever I'm offended, whenever I need my needs to get met, when I feel that instinct to defend myself or to prove that I'm right or to take credit for something, it is the moment that the life of God begins to diminish. Because we can't see and savor and be satisfied in God when we are clinging to the very thing that obscures him, and it's self. Self has got to die.

But I think there's something else that John wants us to see here. Just to recap, can the world see me? Can the Gentiles see me? If I die and if you die, they will. This is not the first place in John's gospel that Philip and Andrew and Jesus have a conversation. There's one other place, and the similarities are remarkable.

I'd never noticed this before this week when I was studying this passage. In a different passage, it also is at the time of the Passover. There is a huge crowd coming to Jesus. Philip and Andrew and Jesus have a conversation about what to do about this crowd that's coming. Do you know what it is? He says to Philip to test him, "Where can we feed these people? Where must we get bread to feed these people?"

Philip says, "200 denarii won't feed a crowd this size. It's almost a year's wages."

Andrew says, "Here's a boy. He's got five loaves and two fish. But what are they for so many?"

Jesus says, "Bring them to me."

In that story, a little boy, a young man gives up his lunch to feed hungry stomachs. What happens in this passage? The Son of Man gives up his life to feed hungry souls. All the same ingredients are there. You have the feast at hand, a crowd coming, a conversation between Philip, Andrew, and Jesus. "Where can we feed these people?"

You know, at the end of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus said to Philip and Andrew and all the disciples, "Gather up the fragments from the five loaves that nothing may be lost." How much did they get? Twelve baskets. One for every single disciple who was looking down, realizing Jesus just fed the Jews in the wilderness, and there's bread left for the world.

Jesus did not just come to be Israel's Messiah. He came to be the Savior of the world. He is the hope for every living human being on the planet, and the world will begin to see him when they see him dying and when they see us dying.

Dying to Self and Manifesting Christ

You know, I think that's what Paul means in Colossians chapter one. This is a really odd, peculiar phrase that he says. Maybe you've seen it before. He says:

In my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. — Colossians 1

It's a weird thing to say. It almost sounds like he's saying that there's something missing in what Christ has done for us, but that is not what Paul means. What is the only thing lacking in the afflictions of Christ? It is that they are no longer bodily present except in the lives of his disciples who hate their lives in this world, who've chosen that they will not love their life, that they will not have their own agenda, that they will surrender their life and die every day and wake up every single day and ask the question: "God, where am I still alive? Where do I need to die? Where do I need to remember that I am dead in order that your life might be manifest in me?"

Yesterday, I was with my friend, Ellie Dermot. She was turning three years old, and I was sitting with her as she was eating a piece of cake. I'm watching her with her fork, and it's turned the wrong way. She's using the butt end of the fork, and every time that cake got to her mouth, it would fall off that little sliver. She'd still put it in her mouth and wasn't eating anything. I thought, I'm using that tomorrow because I think that's what we do.

God, your ability to see him is the most satisfying thing that you could possibly experience in this life, and it is what you need more than anything. And I think so often we set out to try to be satisfied in him through our flesh. We give ourselves a list of rules, and we've created a new Christian law that we will attain God by doing these things. "I'll have my quiet time. I'll go to church. I'll sing songs loud. I'll raise my hands." We're trying to get him in our flesh. We're trying to be more patient, more loving. We're trying to strive to have all of the fruit of the Spirit become mine.

But here's the truth. You can't be more patient, you can't be more self-controlled, more loving. The only way for you to be those things is to stay dead and let Christ's life actually take over.

Paul was not just speaking metaphorically when he said:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. — Galatians 2:20

He said it over and over again:

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory. — Colossians 3:3-4

He saw Christ as his very life. It wasn't just a metaphor. It was for real.

There is a power that enables us to live in a way that is pleasing to God, and it is not through striving. It is through dying. It is through staying dead and allowing his life to just flow through us.

When we see him dying for us, and when we recognize that where he is on the cross is where we are—which means, of course, that when he raises from the grave, we're in him there too, that he was raised to newness of life and we have a new power in our life—the world sees people who are otherworldly in a sense. This is who we're meant to be, and it's the only way that the world can see God: when his church starts letting Christ shine through them.

Let's be who he has already made us.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for what you did on the cross.

Thank you for saving us, not by any righteous deed, but because of your love. And we thank you that the ultimate crowning achievement of the glory of God is not a throne, but a cross where you died in our place in order that we might be where you are. Help us to live. Help us to die in order that Christ might live in us, that a dying world might see. In Christ's name. Amen.