AN INTERVIEW WITH JESUS
JOHN 12:20-33
INTRODUCTION... Adapted from "Interviewing" by Dan Gillmor (http://bayosphere.com/node/866)
I would like you to imagine that you are a journalist about to interview someone of great importance. Perhaps it is the President of the United States or another diplomat. Perhaps your interview is more local and it is a State Representative or the mayor. Your interview might be of a local teacher or coach. Whoever this person is, they are important and you want to meet them and have an interview because you want to know more about who they are and what they find important. More importantly, you have readers that are dying to read about them. How should you approach the interview? What types of questions should you ask?
I did some checking and a little research and there are several steps or tips that you can go through to have a good interview:* First, you should prepare for your interview. You should keep in mind that the person or people you are interviewing don’t have unlimited time. If you have not done some basic homework, you will be wasting their time, and they won’t appreciate it.
* Second, you should look around. You can learn a lot about someone based on the surroundings, especially if you’re in a home or office.
* Third, one of the suggestions was to not go into the interview with an attitude. Most interviews are not the kind of confrontations that we’ve come to associate with journalism due to the ambush-camera techniques of some TV broadcasts. The vast, vast majority are all about something simple: You want to learn more about a subject or person, or both, and the person you’re interviewing wants to help.
* Fourth, and perhaps the most obvious suggestion was to listen to the answers. Sometimes an interview can become derailed if one of the people involved is not listening and following up.
* Finally, one author stated that he liked to ask two questions at the end of the formal interview: "Who else should I speak to about this topic?" and "What have I not asked you that I should have asked you?" The first question helps you find other people who may be helpful but who may not have been on your list. The second often, but not always, brings out a point or two that will improve your article.
Why in the world do I talk to you about interviews and such today? I would like to share a passage today in which it seems like to me that Jesus was in an interview situation. Some people came to see Him and the interview is recorded for us in John 12:20-33. These people came because they wanted to meet Jesus and find out if all the rumors were true. These people came because they wanted to know more about Jesus. These people came to seek Jesus out, ask Him questions, and take back answers to the people that had sent them... sounds like an interview to me!
READ JOHN 12:20-33
I. PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW (John 12:20-22)
One of the first things we see is that these Greeks had prepared themselves to meet Jesus. How do we know this? Well, verse 20 tells us that these Greeks arrived in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast. If you wanted to find a Jewish religious teacher and did not know Him personally, I would think that traveling to Jerusalem at the time of a feast was probably a great idea on catching a meeting with Him. They knew Jesus would be there because that’s the way Jewish culture worked.
Another part of the preparation that the Greeks made was doing some homework on Jesus. Verse 21 tells us that the Greeks approached one of the 12 disciples to arrange a meeting. These inquisitive Greeks knew that Jesus had a small group of followers and that by contacting one of the disciples that a meeting should be arranged. I think when they approached Philip, they were also showing that they were coming in humbleness. They did not approach Jesus themselves, but waited to see if this Jewish teacher would see a bunch of Gentiles. The Greeks knew that Jews did not normally associate with Gentiles, but they had heard that Jesus was different and so He might meet with them... or He might not. They inquired through what they thought might be proper channels. Philip receives their request and takes it to Andrew. Philip and Andrew then tell Jesus (verse 22).
II. LISTENING FOR THE ANSWERS (John 12:23-31)
I want you to notice that beginning in verse 23, Jesus is answering their questions. You might say to yourself, what questions are those? That would be a valid question in that we do not have the questions the Greeks were asking Jesus. We don’t read them, but we do read in verse 23 that "Jesus replied." Jesus is speaking to His disciples and the group of Greeks that Philip and Andrew brought to see Him. They must listen to the answers and so must we.
The first answer that Jesus tells them is (verses 23-24), "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." Jesus answers the question about His identity. The Greeks probably ask Jesus who He really is because of all the miracles and healings that they know He has done. They want to know His identity. Jesus uses the Messianic term for Himself "the Son of Man." Jesus is the One for whom the Jews have waited. Jesus is also telling them that He is God on Earth and they are about to see that clearly. That is what the word ‘glorify’ means. The best way to explain what ‘glory’ means is to use a phrase that we say even today. If you "see someone in all their glory," what does that mean? It means they are naked and you see them for who they are without any covering. Jesus is saying that the hour has come for Him to be seen clearly by those in Jerusalem and by His followers.
The disciples and all the people will see that He is the Messiah and the Son of God. And when they realize who He is as He dies, this will change them and produce spiritual fruit in them. The Cross shows who Jesus truly was and is. The tomb and resurrection shows who Jesus truly was and is. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection will change their lives and will produce spiritual fruit in the disciples and a harvest among the people. But, they had to be listening to get the answer to who Jesus was.
The second answer that Jesus tells them is (verses 25-26), "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." Jesus answers the question about how one goes about following Him and becoming a disciple. The Greeks probably ask how they would go about becoming a follower. Jesus answers that a disciples leaves the worries and cares of this world behind. Jesus tells the Greeks that a disciple follows after Jesus and patterns themselves after Him. Jesus tells the Greeks that a disciples is one that serves Jesus.
The Apostle Paul in Colossians chapter 3 tells us the very same thing, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (verses 1-3). Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (verses 9-12)."
ILLUSTRATION... http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/christlikeness.htm
On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait with the following inscription: "James Butler Bonham--no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom."
No literal portrait of Jesus exists either, yet we know what Jesus was like because the likeness of the Son of God can be seen in the lives of His true followers. To follow Me, Jesus told the Greeks, means that you must leave this world behind and pattern yourself after Me and serve Me. That is what it means to follow me. But, they had to be listening to get the answer to what it means to be a disciples of Jesus.
The third answer that Jesus tells them (verses 27-28), "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ’Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’" The Greeks probably asked Jesus how He was feeling at that moment. The Greeks could have asked Him what He thought about the upcoming week and the Feast. This question opened up His heart! Jesus was struggling as He would struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knows that He was born and lived a perfect life for the Cross. He knew that He would be mistreated and beat. He knew all this. He knew it and willfully submitted to the plan of God which would be revealed in Jesus on the Cross.
ILLUSTRATION... http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/c/crucifixion.htm
On February 15, 1947 Glenn Chambers boarded a plane bound for Quito, Ecuador to begin his ministry in missionary broadcasting. But he never arrived. In a horrible moment, the plane carrying Chambers crashed into a mountain peak and spiraled downward. Later it was learned that before leaving the Miami airport, Chambers wanted to write his mother a letter. All he could find for stationery was a page of advertising on which was written the single word "WHY?" Around that word he hastily scribbled a final note. After Chambers’s mother learned of her son’s death, his letter arrived. She opened the envelope, took out the paper, and unfolded it. Staring her in the face was the question "WHY?"
No doubt this was the questions Jesus’ disciples asked when He was arrested, tried, and crucified. And it was probably the questions Joseph of Arimathea asked himself as he approached Pilate and requested the Lord’s body (v.58). It must have nagged at him as he wrapped the body in a linen cloth, carried it to his own freshly hewn tomb, and rolled the massive stone into its groove over the tomb’s mouth. In the face of his grief, Joseph carried on. He did what he knew he had to do. None of Jesus’ relatives were in a position to claim His body for burial, for they were all Galileans and none of them possessed a tomb in Jerusalem. The disciples weren’t around to help either.
But there was another reason for Joseph’s act of love. In Isaiah 53:9, God directed the prophet to record an important detail about the death of His Messiah. The One who had no place to lay his head would be buried in a rich man’s tomb. Joseph probably didn’t realize that his act fulfilled prophecy. The full answer to the why of Jesus’ death was also several days away and the plan of God would fully be revealed.
The Greeks could have asked Him what He thought about the upcoming week and the Feast. This question did open up His heart and if they were listening they would have heard about the plan of God to save each of us through His one and only Son.
III. WHAT ELSE SHOULD BE KNOWN (John 12:32-33)
I can imagine these Greeks asking Jesus one last question. Is there anything else we should know? A good interview perhaps ends with this type of question. Jesus answers them (verse 32), "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Actually, verse 33 tells us why He shared these words with them. Jesus was telling them that He would be nailed to wood and lifted up for all to see. The Cross was looming ever closer to Jesus.
The day would soon come when Judas Iscariot would make a deal for Jesus’ life.
The night would soon come when He would eat with His disciples and share in the Last Supper.
The time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane would soon be upon Him.
He would be arrested.
The time would come when the disciples would scatter.
He would be beaten.
He would be falsely accused and tried.
He would be nailed to a cross.
CONCLUSION
This was the week that was facing Jesus. He knew all of this was coming and yet He spent time teaching the people and ministering to them. He spent time talking with a group of Greeks that had traveled to meet Him. Maybe they had listened maybe they did not. Perhaps the more important question is, did you listen?
