Encouragement

I read John 12 this morning. I'm trying to note significance in the sequence of events. Here is one: Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, poured the fragrant liquid worth a year's wages on Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair followed by the triumphal entry into Jerusalem which was marked supernaturally by the voice of God from heaven audibly to a crowd of people giving credibility to Jesus publicly.

The thing I noticed this time through this passage is that in the middle of this dramatic and intense public proceeding, between the parade into the city and the voice from heaven, some Greek folks, intentionally identified as non-Jews, had come to the temple area, to which their access would have been limited by their status, to worship the true God. They apparently hadn't originally come to witness the spectacle of this Jesus celebrity, but rather as sincere seekers of truth. They sought out Jesus but interestingly, the text drops that subplot there and we don't know anything about them seeing him or if they even did at all. But Jesus is recorded as immediately talking about dying as a seed planted and drawing all men to himself. And, once again, nobody around including his own disciples nor the threatened educated scriptural scholars understood any of this.

It occurred to me that this might have something to do with the encouragement of Jesus in the human part of his being. The triumphal entry and the voice from heaven didn't seem to do much for Jesus' spirit as he knew what was just ahead. It was a wee bit of the honor he deserved but he couldn't enjoy it. He even mentions that the Voice was not for his benefit but for those around who witnessed it. The fact that nobody, even those closest and dearest to him, had any idea of what was weighing heavily on his heart and thus could offer no support to his agony of soul, made all the public adulation of no personal value to him whatsoever. I don't imagine Jesus' face as he rode into Jerusalem smiling. I can't imagine him waving to the crowd. I would guess that if one had looked very closely, one might have seen a lonely tear in the corner of his eye. There is no amplifier of suffering more potent than suffering alone in a crowd and misunderstood. This is the kind of information about Jesus that makes my heart gush when I read that “we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4).

So, to the encouragement part. In the middle of this mayhem, those Greek folks came to see him. The fact that they did reminded Jesus in a physical, immediate way of why he was there; of the benefit of what he was about to endure. It was to save these lost sheep; souls outside of the fold of God's theretofore inner circle of chosen people. No one would have paid these foreigners much mind, I never did reading this before, but I imagine Jesus took encouragement in the Father sending them his way more than the booming voice the others heard from heaven. Only he knew the significance, and it was a moment he shared with the Father alone, just the two of them. This is a peek at how God works.