John 12:20-26 (NRSV)

Pecking order

A few decades back you could go into a store where someone would greet you in a timely manner, and ask if you needed help. Even more miraculous, that same someone could take you all the way from question to sale.

But those days are pretty much gone, with a few exceptions, like Ace Hardware.

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to wander unsuspectingly into a pecking order problem. You get passed around until (maybe) you la nd on someone who knows the answer. Or at least, you hope you do.

In today’s reading from Saint John, “some Greeks” got a bit tangled in a pecking order.

The Greeks were among those headed to Jerusalem for the Festival of Passover. The Festival was an annual celebration for Jews, not Gentiles like the Greeks. And this would be Jesus’ last attendance.

The Greeks approached Philip with a request to see Jesus. He asked Andrew, and together they would ask Jesus. Seems a lot of rigamarole for such a simple request.

Jesus began to answer the question in a way no one there and then, or even most of us here and now, would call an answer.

Except. Except the presence of the Greeks signals a major plot shift. Everyone is welcome where Jesus is, down to this very day.

In time this would become known throughout the world.

But then, on the road to Jerusalem for Passover, we catch a first glint of that amazing truth.

It makes me wonder how often the radical nature of God’s intentions are right in front of us, but like those Greeks, we still want to check it out.