John 12:20-33 (Grains of wheat, broken to make bread.)

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--' Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus, the man of the moment! On a number of occasions Jesus had tantalizing said, ‘My hour has not yet come’, but now it had. Jesus says, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ 

This admission had been prompted by some Greeks wanting to see Jesus. The setting is a busy Jerusalem as people from all over the place were gathering for the Passover Festival. Even King Herod would make sure he was in residence. The Governor, the King and the Temple elite were all present, but the Greeks wanted to see Jesus. He was now the ‘go to’ leader. Jesus was now the new power base. He was the one who gave bread to the hungry. He was the one who raised the dead. More significantly, he was the one who was challenging the status quo and no-one seemed to be able to stop him. As the Pharisees had just said of him, ‘Look how the whole world has gone after him.’ And Jesus wasn’t going to let his followers down. The time had come for him to be glorified. Now ‘glorified’ has a special meaning: it means ‘to be seen as you really are’. And so Jesus is saying that now the world will see what he is really about. Like a great performer he is saying ‘Now, watch!’ But what will they see? Was the great miracle worker about to perform his greatest miracle? Was the great teacher about to deliver his greatest lesson? Yes and yes, but not as the crowd expected. Jesus was trailing his crucifixion. 

At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had faced and overcome some extraordinary temptations in the desert. The scene was set right at the start that something very big was about to happen. The first miracle gave a hint as Jesus turned water into wine. The big event was going to be transformational. The feeding of the five thousand challenged the authority of Rome, because it was the Emperor who traditionally provided wheat for the poor. Jesus’ healings and exorcisms directly challenged the authority of the religious leaders. And now the one who had just raised Lazarus from the dead had entered Jerusalem. No wonder the Greeks wanted to see him. There was a new ‘Big Man’ in town, and yet confusingly he had ridden into town humbly on the back of a donkey. Everyone was being drawn not to a new boss who was tightening his grip on power, but rather to the one who was giving power back to where it really belonged – in the hands of the people. No longer labelled a sinner, and no longer a slave, people were being energized by the possibility of abundant living. But could Jesus deliver? Or were the old power-brokers about to crush him? Such doubts were addressed by a voice from heaven. The people who heard it couldn’t work out what was being said. They thought it had thundered. A storm was definitely brewing. The moment of truth was drawing near.