John 12:20-26:

Joh 12:20  And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Joh 12:21  The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Joh 12:22  Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.

My teenagers are from a different generation, and are sometimes a little slow to believe that my generation was superior.  :- )  We were all three of us strolling through a store a few months ago, when I saw a DVD with Michael Jackson music videos.  Born in the '90's, they had literally never seen a single Jacko vid...

Hey!  Kids!  Check this out!   :cue groans:  Oh, Dad, c'mon, not another one of your Jurassic Park DVD's...

In the early 1980's, Jackson was the biggest pop star in the world... and THEN he put out an album called "Thriller."  If you're older than 25, you might have heard of it; it sold 45,000,000 copies.  He also put out a 15-minute soap opera vid on the title track...

I forced my kids to watch the first three seconds of "Beat It" and they were done for the rest of the night.  Who does this solo?  Eddie?  No WAAAYYYYY...

I remember standing in line at TicketMaster, circa 1984, to get some sports seats.  Two metalheads behind me, Metallica and Ozzy shirts, or maybe that's those MTV kids?  Anyway, they go, "Hey, you going to the Michael Jackson concert?"  "Yeah, man, just to see the phenomenon."

Around 1983-1985, Michael Jackson was the closest thing this generation has ever seen, to the Beatles.   The madding crush was amazing.

..................

On a far nobler level, John chapter 12 is that time period for Christ.   He spent John 5-10 arguing with the Jewish powerbrokers, but in John 11 He raised Lazarus -- in one of the few major miracles He did near Jerusalem.  In John 12 you see the Triumphal Entry, with a crazed ticker-tape ... er, palm-branch ... parade.  The crowd thinks this is the Son of David, the One who will put a lamb in every pot and will leave silver (literally) lying in the street as Solomon did.

.....................

The Gentiles come and ask to see Jesus.  Not Greek-speaking students of Moses:  these are pagans.  They have a simple request.  May we talk to Him, find out more about His teachings?

The answer was No.

.....................

Jesus has a much grander plan for these men, than for them to come to church one time.  Oh, yes, these men will find Him ... but they will have to seek Him by His means.

First the church will have to be purchased.  In blood.  Then the gospel will be preached to them -- in completeness.

Can they have some of His bread, they ask?  I'll get right on it, Christ says:  I'll go get on a cross, and then we'll talk.

.....................

Recently P.G. Mathew visited Calcutta and preached in William Carey's 200-year-old church.  He sat down in a 200-year-old chair behind a 200-year-old pulpit, while waiting for the songs to end.  On that pulpit, he saw a sign that only the preacher could see:

Sir, we would see Jesus.

Bible preaching allows its audience to see Jesus.

........................

John Madden, the great sports analyst, once said that most analysts make the mistake of deciding what the game storyline is before the game starts -- and then hammer the square peg of game action into the round hole of their preaching on-air.   Madden preferred to watch the game, find the storyline, and then describe it.

Our big temptation is to open the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John AFTER we have decided Who and What Jesus is.

What if we started with a completely blank sheet of paper, read the Gospels for the first time, and asked prayerfully to See Jesus?

Perhaps many of us would find Somebody who is markedly different from the Jesus usually preached in denominations today?

Warm regards,

Jeff