Philip, John 12: 20 – 26
I love this guy, and I like the way the author writes about him. Philip says he doesn’t always understand what Jesus means even after being with Jesus for 3 years. Many of us have been following Jesus for a lot longer than 3 years and we don’t always understand him either.
In John’s gospel, this conversation happens right before the Last Supper. I would imagine things are getting intense. There are enough folks in Jerusalem for the Passover that have heard about Jesus’ teachings and miracles and they are trying to meet this famous but mysterious teacher. The only way to get to Jesus is through his disciples.
That is the same today. To get to Jesus, folks are going to have go through us. Even 2,000 years later there is still a lot of hype and talk about Jesus, but not always a lot of understanding — What did he really say? What does that mean today? How does that affect me? We are now the hands and feet, eye and ears, even the mouthpiece of our Lord on this earth – and that is scary. It hard to witness to others about Jesus when we really don’t even understand what the bible says. But this passage tells us what to do when we don’t get it – bring them to Jesus. Bring them to church. Bring them to the place where God speaks and we listen. Bring them with you to get their questions answered, and their answers questioned. It is OK to say we don’t know. Our job is just to be faithful, God will take care of the rest.
Easter services are at 7:30 and 10:30 so bring a friend.