stealth, were they thenceforth to come to the gate; but the portals were to be flung wide
open, and as the golden light streamed out upon the way, He stood there, that bright
Divine Personality, Who was not only the Son of David, but the Son of Man, to bid them
the Father's welcome of good pleasure to the Kingdom.
And so, as the lengthening s hadows gathered around the Temple -court and porches,
they would fain have 'seen' Him, not afar off, but near: spoken to Him. They had
became 'Proselytes of Righteousness;' they would become disciples of 'the Lord our
Righteousness;' as Proselytes they had come to Jerusalem 'to worship,' and they would
learn to praise. Yet, in the simple self -unconscious modesty of their religious childhood,
they dared not go to Jesus directly, but came with their request to Philip of Bethsaida.42
We know not why to him: whe ther from family connections, or that his education, or
previous circumstances, connected Philip with these 'Greeks,' or whether anything in his
position in the Apostolic circle, or something that had just occurred, influenced their
choice. And he also - s uch was the ignorance of the Apostles of the inmost meaning of
their Master - dared not go directly to Jesus, but went to his own townsman, who had
been his early friend and fellow-disciple, and now stood so close to the Person of the
Master - Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Together the two came to Jesus, Andrew
apparently foremost. The answer of Jesus implies what, at any rate, we would have
expected, that the request of these Gentile converts was granted, though this is not
expressly stated, and it i s extremely difficult to determine whether, and what portion of
what He spake was addressed to the Greeks, and what to the disciples. Perhaps we
should regard the opening words as bearing reference to the request of the Greeks, and
hence as primarily addressed to the disciples,43 but also as serving as introduction of
the words that follow, which were spoken primarily the Greeks,44 but secondarily also to
the disciples, and which bear on that terrible, very near, mystery of His Death, and their
Baptism into it.
42. We mark here also the utter absence of all legendary embellishments as evidence of
truth. So far from yielding to what, even in a book like the present, is a temptation, the
narrative of the Evangelist is peculiarly meagre and void of details. We may note that only
'proselytes of righteousness,' who had submitted of circumcision, would be allowed
fellowship in the regular worship.
43. St. John xii. 23.
44. vv. 24 -26.
As we see these 'Greeks' approaching, the beginning of Christ's History seems re-
enacted at its close. Not now in the stable of Bethlehem, but in the Temple, are 'the
wise men,' the representatives of the Gentile world, offering their homage to the
Messiah. But the life which had then begun was now all behind Him - and yet, in a
sense, before Him. The hour of decision was about to strike. Not merely as the Messiah
of Israel, but in His world -wide bearing as 'the Son of Man,' was He about to be glorified
by receiving the homage of the Gentile world, of which the symbol and the firstfruits
were now before Him. But only in one way could He thus be glorified: by dying for the
salvation of the world, and so opening the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. On a
thousand hills was the glorious harvest to tremble in the golden sunlight; but the corn of
wheat falling into the ground, must, as it falls, die, burst its envelope, and so spring into