17 March 2024 John 12:20-33
John wrote his gospel in Greek, as the other gospel writers did. He also, unlike the other gospel writers, wrote it largely to Greeks, largely with Greeks in mind. He translated many Hebrew terms, something you don’t do if your audience is Jewish. He used puns and figures of speech that only work in Greek, that only Greeks would get. By the end of John’s gospel, the Greeks are seeking Jesus (John 12:20-21), and when they did, Jesus declared that his “hour” had come (12:23).
Why would Greeks do that? Why would Jesus do that? What was going on in their world that would make Greeks look for Jesus, and why does Jesus see this as so powerfully significant?
In the early 30s A.D. Tiberius was emperor, ruling both Romans and Greeks, and was not nearly so popular as his predecessor, Augustus. Tiberius did not shrink from the title imperator, “Ruler”, as Augustus had. Augustus had invented a new word for his position – princeps, which he said meant simply, “First Citizen.” He said he was honoring all the sacred institutions of the Roman Republic. There were still elections to high office (though the First Citizen quietly chose all the candidates). The courts were open, and there were still trials (though the First Citizen quietly approved all the laws and chose all the judges). There was just enough play-acting that people could believe they were still free, and the First Citizen was a very good actor.
Tiberius was not.
He didn’t act. He ruled. He didn’t even stay in Rome to do it. He lived the larger part of his reign in his villa on the island of Capri while his flunkies said the quiet part out loud: “The Roman Republic has been gone for ages, and Augustus played you for the tools that you are. Don’t blame me that you are ruled. I am just telling you the truth that you were too complacent, too stupid to see for the 50 years that Augustus was in charge.” Tiberius showed his contempt for the ruled Roman state finally by appointing the depraved Caligula as his successor.
Tiberius was just saying the quiet part out loud. He didn’t create any of the political realities of his time; he just admitted them.
But when the rulers of this age start saying the quiet part out loud, it is a shocking and terrifying alarm to the many who have been at a comfortable enough distance from the sordid and shabby realities of their times that they could say, “Sure, there are some imperfect and unfortunate realities out there, but they don’t really affect me, or hardly anyone I know. So it’s not all that bad.” When they hear the quiet part out loud, they can’t say that anymore. They start seeing how close the sordidness and shabbiness really are.
They start thinking that maybe their old view of the world is the problem, and they need a new one. They start looking around.
“Some Greeks… said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” That’s when “Jesus Hour” arrives.
For many years now the center of gravity of the Christian world has been shifting south – South America, Africa, the Pacific rim. Some Asian countries, like S. Korea, are sending missionaries to the United States. They see the U.S. as the home of the unconverted, as the new mission field. Some estimate that by 2030 the largest Christian country in the world will be China. The Pew Research forum predicts that by 2060 six of the ten countries with the largest Christian populations will be in Africa.
It is pretty clear that they have seen Jesus. They have already heard the quiet part out loud. “Jesus Hour” has arrived there.
The quiet part is getting louder here. It isn’t subtle anymore. The only question is not whether we can see Jesus. People are already starting to look around. The only group projected to lose adherents by 2050 is the “nones.” The only question is, do we want to see Jesus.
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