Would You Like to Meet Jesus? – March 22, 2024

Read: John 12:20-33

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
John 12:20-22

Would You Like to Meet Jesus?

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Noah was having such a good day. His whole family had gotten tickets to the baseball game from his brother’s friend Ben, who was a bat boy for the local team. Ben took Noah and his family all around the stadium and even got them on the field during batting practice. And then, just as Noah was telling Ben about his favorite player and how cool it would be to see him, that very player walked onto the field. He waved at Ben, and Ben waved back… and then he walked over to talk to Ben and Noah and his family. Noah couldn’t believe it—not only did he get to see his favorite player, he got to talk to him too!

The people in today’s Scripture reading also wanted to talk to someone they admired. But it wasn’t a baseball player or a famous singer or a movie star. No, the Greeks who were worshiping at a festival had a request for Philip and Andrew: “We want to see Jesus.” We don’t know how long they talked to Jesus or what their conversation was about. But we do know that they wanted to see Jesus.

What about you? Do you want to see Jesus? That might sound like a silly question—after all, Jesus lived 2000 years ago, and he isn’t on earth anymore for you to see. But even though you can’t see Jesus with your own eyes like his disciples did, you can still meet Jesus.

When you have daily devotions with your family, you get to meet Jesus. When you hear and learn God’s Word with others at church and Sunday School, you get to meet Jesus. Someday, when you get confirmed and receive the Lord’s Supper, you get to meet Jesus. And so on… there are lots of ways for you to meet Jesus!

One day, you’ll get to meet Jesus face-to-face in heaven. Until then, keep learning from Jesus’ teaching and listening to what he said. You can keep becoming better and better friends with Jesus every single day. And as you become better and better friends with Jesus, you can also introduce your friends to Jesus. Maybe your friends have already heard about Jesus and want to know him better, or maybe they don’t know about Jesus at all. Through your words and actions, you can show Jesus to your friends—so that someday, they can see him with their own eyes too!

Closing Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for giving me lots of ways to meet you. Give me the desire and the words to introduce you to other people and help them meet you too. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Who is someone famous or important that you’d really like to meet?
• Who did the people in today’s reading want to meet?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• If you could meet Jesus face-to-face, what would you ask him?
• Why is it important for you to keep studying God’s Word and becoming better and better friends with Jesus?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• John tells us that the people who wanted to meet Jesus were Greeks—foreigners, not part of the children of Israel. Why is this detail important?
• Think of a specific way you can meet Jesus. What can you do to make sure you meet Jesus in this way?