John 12:20-26

“Now there were certain Greeks…”

There has not lived a more certain and self-possessed people than the Greeks. Even Americans pale by comparison.

Curious that Greeks should attend a Jewish festival. Cosmopolitan knowledge-seekers, these certain Greeks wanted to know Jesus.

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” John surcharges the honorific “Son of Man” to a divine claim, but these certain Greeks, steeped in the ancient literature, would not have understood the immortality of the soul as other than a claim of divinity—all are divine souls using a mortal body.

Christians are tempted to think Jesus confounded these certain Greeks. Instead, Jesus offered a conventional ethic. “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.” Epictetus, writing at very nearly the same time as John, set a similar qualification for the philosopher. A practiced detachment from circumstance always has been the currency of a moral life, in whatever religion or philosophy.

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be…” This is the new idea to confound these certain Greeks. At his death, Socrates hoped for God’s favor—“the risk is a noble one”—but he had no certainty. To these certain Greeks, Jesus offered a certainty.

                                                                                          —Chris Wiers