Easter Devotional
Tuesday
Scripture Reading
John 12:20-26 (ESV)
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Reflection Questions
- It is possible that the Greeks (non-Jews) went to Philip because he was from a very a culturally Greco-Roman city (Bethsaida). The name Philip suggests a Greco-Roman cultural background. Notice, then how God used his cultural background as bridge for non-Jews to come to Jesus. How can God use your cultural background/particularities to be a bridge for the gospel?
- The long-awaited “hour” of Jesus’s glory had finally come (see John 2:4). What is strange is that the hour of Jesus’s glory is the hour of His death. How exactly does the death of Jesus glorify God? How can death be “glory” in Jesus’s (and the author John’s) thinking?
- How might this notion of glory be a stumbling block to your understanding what following Jesus might look/feel like? (See John 12:25)
- How might this death (self-sacrificial service) manifest itself in your life today?
Prayer
- Pray that God would help you to see the glory of the cross of Christ.
- Pray that God would help your life to be a bridge to others coming to understand the gospel.
- Pray that God would allow you to see and live into the glory of suffering and sacrificial service.