Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus. (John 12:20-22)Next week is Palm Sunday, the Sunday Jesus makes his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. People just do not know what to do with him. He is phenomenally popular, so the religious leaders can’t figure him out. The others, the regular people, want to see him and meet with him and to talk with him. His popularity is growing.
But there is a problem. He is a volatile figure. Those who consider themselves to be in charge are always having confrontations with him. And those confrontations are getting worse the more popular he gets.
Jesus calls them dishonest, unethical, murderers – since they stand in the line of the people who killed all the prophets who came before him. He is out of control in their eyes and they have to do something. They just do not know what.
Even people who are not supposed to care about what the Jews are doing are coming to talk with him. Everybody (but them) likes him and his firebrand style of preaching and theology. He brings a fresh new way of looking at things and it scares them.
They have to do something. But what? They cannot quite outright kill him. The crowds love him and that would turn them away from them. And they have no real charges against him. So what do they do?
They bide their time. They wait. Waiting is the best thing anyone can do anyway.
And it works. In their minds, Jesus goes just a bit too far. In Mark 14, Jesus said that they could destroy this temple and he would raise it up in three days. Even though he was talking about his body and that he would rise again, they took it another way, and they had what they wanted.
They set the stage for his arrest (quietly with Judas) and for his subsequent trial and execution. In just a week, he comes into Jerusalem in a publicly popular procession and then adds to their anger by clearing out the temple of all the money changers.
Of course, the waiting worked two ways. They got what they wanted, but it turned out to be exactly what God wanted too. It was time for Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. That was the part they didn’t mean, but it was perfect.
Next week, Palm Sunday, and the plan of God begins to be revealed.
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