Bible Verse of the Day Saturday March 16th, 2024

John 12:20-21 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.  They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”  Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Some young children had stopped to gaze at the large picture of Jesus in the entryway of the church one Sunday morning. The Pastor came along and saw this as a teaching moment. He explained to the children that the image of Jesus in this painting came from the artist's imagination. The Pastor explained that we do not know what Jesus looked like. After that, one of the children said it sure looks like Jesus to me. That begs the question: what does Jesus look like?

Some Gentiles were attending the festival of the Passover, came to Philip and said to him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." That's the collective need of all humankind, for somebody to show us what Jesus is like! It is the hunger that gnaws at the heart of every person who has ever walked this earth, even though they may not be able to give a name to it, and even though, because of the baggage the name Jesus carries in the world, some may violently disavow such a need. The beggar in the slum of Calcutta and the banker on Wall Street both have this same basic craving, "Sir, we would see Jesus."

We need Jesus for life. We need Jesus to give meaning to our existence. We need Jesus to forgive us our sins. And so, we ask with those Gentiles at the festival that day, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus. Where do we see Jesus?" First, we see him in the historical records, the Word of God, and the writing of some historians like Flavius Josephus (37AD -Death in Rome date unknown). Josephus once wrote: "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was the doer of wonderful works, and a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles." 

We also see Jesus in the hearts and minds of those in need. The story tells of a widow down to her last few pennies with no food in the house. She stood out on her porch one morning, prayed out loud, and asked Jesus to bring her some food. Unbeknownst to her, the next-door neighbor, an Atheist, was hiding in her bushes and heard the prayer. He bought a few sacks of groceries and placed them on her front porch late that night. The next morning, the lady discovered several sacks of food on her porch and began to pray out loud, thanking God for answering her prayers. The atheist jumped from the bushes and said see there; I told you there was no such thing as God; I bought those groceries. She went back into thankful prayer and said, thank you, Jesus, for providing this food, and you even got the devil to pay for it."  

We also see Jesus in the hearts and lives of His followers. I believe all of us who love and follow Jesus can attest that God answers our prayers in His time and in His way. The answer may not come exactly as we desire, but Jesus knows what we need better than we do and will answer our prayers. As followers and believers in Christ Jesus, we all accept that He answers our prayers in His way and in His time and see that as a blessing. Although the answer to our prayers may not be as we had imagined, it is fascinating to realize that God sees our needs at a deeper level than we can humanly perceive.