“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

 This week's Gospel is one of those Scriptural passages that I find to be confusing. There's a bit of a non-sequitur in it; Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast ask Philip if they can speak with Jesus. Philip goes with Andrew to tell Jesus, and Jesus starts talking about His Crucifixion.  The Gospel writer makes a point of mentioning that Philip is from Bethsaida in Galilee. 

It makes me wonder how we go from “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” to "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be Glorified." Every time I hear this Gospel passage I want to say "Wait, what? Did I miss something?" Most certainly, I did. In my quest to understand, I look at the clues we're given.

What I discovered: Philip and Andrew are both names that have Greek origins. Bethsaida is the place where Jesus gave sight to the blind man. In Hebrew, the name "Bethsaida" means "house of the hunt." The place where Jesus fed the 5,000 was near Bethsaida. It is perhaps worth noting that the Books of Maccabees tells us about a time when the Greeks occupied and oppressed Israel. 

So how does any of this fit together? Well, if the Greek men were somehow a sign, we can be sure that they weren't a sign for Jesus; they were a sign for us. It's reasonable to assume that the Greek men were Jewish because they were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This may intimate a conversion of sorts, because they are identified as Greeks. Perhaps if we are witnessing Greek Jews seeking Jesus, we are to understand that it was now time for His mission to begin to move past the boundaries of Israel. And this is the sign given to us, before His Crucifixion, that the Good News was meant to be spread throughout the world.

Or maybe not. What do you think?

                            + Theophilus