NOTES:
1] 'Greeks' may simply mean Greek-speaking peoples, as Philip's area was largely Greek-speaking. (Do these 'Greeks' ever get to see Jesus?) 2] What Jesus spells out is very deep, & not in accord with traditional Jewish thinking. 3] Last week's snake-on-the- pole imagery (NUM 21:4-9) is to the fore again. 4] v.23 highlights JN's belief that Jesus' death is his glory.

WARMING UP: Are introductions as important today as they once were?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything this week?

ENTERING INTO THE STORY:

20-22  If people are less likely to ask straight out to 'see Jesus' these days, can we identify ways in which they may be asking that question, even if they seem to be sending unclear or mixed 'signals'? Do we ever send such signals to others about Jesus or anyone / anything else? If someone does ask the Jesus question in some way, where do we go from there? If we wouldn't feel confident enough to begin the 'introduction' ourself, is it time we did something about that? Such as.........?

23-26    What does it mean that Jesus has to first suffer as Son of Man in a very earthy way before he can be Son of Man in the divine sense? Are we any wiser than those in v.34?  Does what Jesus spells out here about following him attract us to him, just puzzle us, or, frankly, put us off, make it difficult? If Jesus' expectation is that we'll follow him as his kind of Messiah, how are we doing? Is this expectation Jesus has of us clearly recognizable in what our church teaches & encourages us in?

27-30    Do we ever pray as earnestly as Jesus does here to be saved from some situation? Are we? Saved from what, saved for what? Is there any connectedness between how Jesus feels here & how he feels later in Gethsemane? Do we usually think of Jesus as a person who has 'feelings'? How likely are we to show our feelings as openly as Jesus does here? Is not showing our true feelings ever an unhelpful, even undesirable by-product of trying to be a 'good Christian'?
             How might we react if God 'spoke from heaven' these days in some way similar to what happens here? Would we be likely to believe more, or less? Isn't it only cranks who 'see' or 'hear' such things today? Aren't such events ruled out by modern understandings, 21st C. science, etc.? Or, are 'theophanies' (the theological name given to them) still OK?

31-33    What does it mean now, for us, that the world is judged? Who or what is 'the ruler of this world' now? Do our answers to the two preceding questions have any bearing on the way we live as followers of Jesus? Is there a sense in which we, too, must be 'lifted up' with / by / like Jesus if we're to be 'drawn to him' in the way he means? What does he mean?