Devotion - Tuesday, April 19

This morning's Gospel is from John 12:20-26. It informs us that among those who had come to worship were some Greeks. They ask to see Jesus. When Jesus hears of this, he (in the style of John's Gospel) responds to this occurrence with a statement of what all this means. The desire of the Greeks to see him signals for him that "The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified."

What triggers this? For Jesus?

Remember that in Matthew's Gospel the birth stories include a visit from the wise men from the East. These non-Jews are a sign and a symbol that Jesus' birth has significance for the whole of the creation, not merely for those who are of his clan or his congregation of faith.

Similarly, here, we find an acknowledgment that Jesus' message is finding a foothold in the lives of all of God's children. Jesus' time has come.

I am preparing a sermon for Easter sunrise service. I realize few of you will be there, so there is no harm in using a bit of that outline in this devotion. All too often we have allowed the Easter story to become a private message. We have let it turn into our little secret, the event which molds our hearts and directs our thinking. All too often we forget that the Easter message is a proclamation. That it is what it is intended to be when it is shouted out.

Jesus knows that he has completed the will of his Father when those who would have been strangers to the way of God seek him to desire more of what it is that he comes to make known. We do the will of God when we share the Good News of Jesus with those who have become separated form God and God's hope for their lives.

Be careful - this is not an invitation to join in some condemnation of undesirable behaviors. It is not a call to blast "heathens" and frighten them with warnings of Hell. It is a commitment to telling God's children, particularly those who are languishing, that they are loved and cared for and that God would not give up on them or forsake them. It is for them that Jesus came into the world and it for them that Jesus endures the cross.

The hour has come. Glorify God in your actions; make God known in your words.