Today's Devotion
Monday, June 8, 2026 - John 12:20-36a
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
It is Holy Week. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” says Jesus. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus is talking about Himself as the sacrifice through which the world will be redeemed, by which those who believe in Him will be saved. And as a preview of what is to come, there “were some Greeks” who had heard about Jesus. They find His disciple Philip, and ask him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Indeed, what will soon happen at Calvary will become known throughout the Roman world – both in the Greek half of the empire, and in the Latin.
And all those who wish to see Jesus, who wish to follow Jesus, will carry forth His example: “Whoever loves his life will lose it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” To follow Jesus means to follow Him to the cross, to the tomb, and to the resurrection. To follow Jesus means, in the words of the Great Litany, “to beat down Satan under our feet” (LSB 289) even as our Lord did that very thing on the cross (Gen 3:15).
As Jesus begins to preach about His upcoming sacrifice, “a voice came from heaven.” The people heard it as thunder, and many recognized this as a voice from an angel: a message from God. For it points to the coming glorification of Jesus that will happen at His victory on the cross. “And I,” says Jesus, “when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” The Greeks will see Jesus, as will those Jews who believe that He is the Christ.
Even at this late hour, there are those in the crowd who are questioning Him. They refuse to believe that He is the Son of Man. Our Lord warns them: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
It is in this light – the light of the cross, the light that Jesus is the Son of Man as prophesied in the Old Testament, that He is the Christ, the resurrection, and the life. And as John testifies, “and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). It is in this light, and to this light, that the Greeks, and indeed all people, will see Jesus.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thank you.