March 18,2018

Fifth Sunday in Lent
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the one who draws us to himself. Amen
 
“We wish to see Jesus”
 
the request the Greeks make to Philip seems so simple
 
We identify with these strangers
who have heard great things about this teacher
 and even though they are on the outside
 
-they’re not Israelites,
nor any close connection to the people that Jesus has been living and working among-
 
 they want to be included,
they want to see Jesus,
 they want to believe that Jesus could be something for them
 as well as the disciples gathered around him,
the ones who have seen the miracles and traveled with him.
 
We want that too.
 
We wish to see Jesus
 
We never actually find out if their request is granted,
 Philip goes and tells Andrew
 and Andrew and Philip go and tell Jesus
 and Jesus starts teaching right away.
 
But I’d like to think the Greeks were there
 to hear the teaching that their request set off,
 that they were part of the crowd.
 
Philip goes and tells Andrew
and Andrew and Philip go together to tell Jesus,
 and upon hearing the request of the Greeks
 Jesus says
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
 
All throughout the gospel
Jesus has been saying “it’s not time yet.”
 
Now the time has come,
people from other nationalities are starting to seek him out,
 and in response to the Greeks,
whose simple open ended request is not attached to preconceived visions of a messiah
 or anything else,
Jesus gives the unvarnished truth
 that what he means by glorified
is to die for the sake of the world.
 
And he does this because of who he is,
 the Word made flesh
 dwelling among the people,
 
 Jesus is the unmediated presence of God,
 all along Jesus has been teaching
that to see him is to see his Father,
to know Jesus is to know God,
 to serve Jesus is to serve God,
 
the God who chose to become human,
 embracing the entire experience,
 even suffering and death.
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
 
We wish to see Jesus
But are we prepared to see Jesus as he is
 rather than as we want him to be?
 
The Jesus who says that death is a necessary reality
 
The Jesus who says the way to eternal life is to reject the life of the world
 
The Jesus who washes the disciples’ feet
and says that those who serve him
will do the same to those they encounter
 
Whether it is what we want or not
this is Jesus
 
As Jesus teaches the crowd
who has come to see him
 the voice of God comes from heaven,
 
and even though the voice speaks for the sake of the crowd
they are unable to understand what the voice says,
 
to some it sounds like thunder,
others interpret it as an angel speaking.
They don’t understand the unmediated voice of God
 just as they don’t understand that Jesus is the unmediated presence of God.
 
Many times we are like the crowd,
 we seek Jesus,
 we even follow him,
but we miss the message when the voice of God speaks
and we fail to see Jesus right in front of us.
 
And Jesus know this,
and he prays for and dies for
those who wish to see,
those who are unable to see
and those who do not yet know what it is they seek.
 
Jesus prays for all,
dies for all,
 for the whole world
 
 “and I when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself”
he tells the crowds
knowing that they have already felt his pull
even if they are missing exactly what is going on,
 
even if they will only understand
 what he was telling them after his crucifixion
when he was lifted up from the earth on the cross,
and after his resurrection when he was lifted up from the earth by God
 and after his ascension
 when he was lifted up from the earth to be seated at the right hand of God.
 
We wish to see Jesus
We are drawn to him
Like paperclips are drawn to a big magnate
We feel the pull of one stronger than ourselves
 
and Jesus calls us to himself,
even if we are not prepared to see him as he truly is,
even if we struggle to resist the temptations of the world,
 even if we balk at washing one another’s feet,
 even if we’re not sure of who Jesus is,
 
Jesus draws us to himself
offering life in the presence of God,
 eternal life,
 to all
 no questions asked,
a gift of grace.
 
We wish to see Jesus
And Jesus prays for us and draws us to him
In the waters of baptism,
in the bread and wine at the table,
 in the words of scripture and the hymns,
 in our neighbors near and far
 
Jesus is present
 
So Come,
come and see Jesus.