John 12:20-22

After Jesus made His “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, it’s no surprise that everyone would be interested in getting a glimpse of this Man who can raise dead men to life and who the crowds are convinced is the promised Messiah.

In an interesting turn of events, a group of Greeks ask the disciple Nathaniel to set up an audience with Jesus.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. John 12:20-22 NIV

These Greeks would have been polytheistic tourists who had traveled to Jerusalem to see the spectacle of the Passover celebration in person. There is no reason to believe that these Greeks had converted to Judaism or that they fully understood the implications of the coming Messiah or the Passover celebration.

These men heard from the crowd that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and that He was the Son of God. This was enough to pique their interest and so they desired to meet this famous Man in person.

It is very interesting that John reports that Andrew and Philip go to Jesus and share the desire of these men to meet with Him, but John doesn’t share if this meeting ever took place. We will never know. I think we can surmise that, writing 60 years after the death of Jesus, John wanted us to know that, from the very beginning even before the crucifixion occurred, the “whole world” was indeed going after Jesus as the Pharisees feared. (see 12:19)

2000 years later, we know the whole story about Jesus and His desire to save the world through His sacrifice on the cross. We haven’t heard about Him second hand in a crowd while visiting a foreign city. We don’t need someone else to set up a time we can meet with Jesus-we can meditate on the Scriptures, pray, and spend time with Him each and every day.

Unfortunately, too often we fail to seek Him. Our busy schedule crowds out the time we would spend with Him. Our priorities are upside down and we get preoccupied with other things. If we are in Christ, we will have a yearning in our heart to reconnect with Him, to meet with Him and sit in His presence. We would see Jesus.

Questions to consider:
What most regularly keeps you from seeking after Jesus daily?

What do you need to change to make meeting with Jesus a greater priority?