“We Wish to See Jesus”

A sermon preached on 22 March 2015, Lent V at New Hope Anglican Church, Oakville, CT.       

Texts: John 12:20-33; Heb 5:5-10

I.                  The Greeks Come to Jesus

A visiting preacher climbed into the pulpit where a friend had asked him to deliver a sermon while he was on vacation.  As he placed his notes on the surface of the pulpit, he saw a sign in large letters saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  He immediately thought, “There is no better reminder of my task than that!”  As a preacher, he knew that he was tempted to show off his learning, to use flowery phrases to make people praise his skills in writing and speaking, or to use the pulpit to further the causes or ideas that he was most passionate about.  But that phrase, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus,” was a powerful reminder that the task of the Christian preacher is to point people to Christ, to what he has done for us, and how we are to live in the light of his redeeming love.  As I speak this morning, I want to do the best I can to make sense, but if I do not point you to Jesus, then my sermon is a failure, no matter how well written.  Jesus is the focus of being a Christian; he is the source and the director of our life.  Nothing can replace him, and so our hearts need to center on him.

That statement, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus,” comes from the beginning of our Gospel reading.  “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.  So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.”  The “Greeks” who came to Philip were what was known as “God-fearers,” people who were not ethnic Jews, but who had come to appreciate the Jewish faith and to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel.  They had not formally converted to Judaism, but they still revered the Lord.

One reason they came to see Jesus may have been Jesus’ cleansing the Temple.  In the other gospels, we learn of Jesus cleansing the Temple early in Holy Week.  He drove the money changers and those who sold animals for sacrifice out of the Temple.  The area that the merchants had been doing business was the outermost court of the Temple.  The central area held the Altar and, behind a high, heavy curtain, the Holy of Holies.  A second, much larger area was next, and this was where ordinary Jews worshiped.  Then came the outermost court, separated by a low wall.  This was the Court of the Gentiles, designated by God as the place for worship by those who were not Jews.  With that court occupied by the merchants, the God-fearing Gentiles who wanted to worship the Lord at the feast of the Passover would not be able to do so.  After Jesus cleared the merchants out, however, the God-fearers would be free to worship in the area appointed for them.

It is quite possible that the Greeks of verse 20 wanted the thank Jesus for making it possible for them to worship.  They were no longer excluded by the noise and clutter of the animals, money-changing tables, and the merchants.  Even if all they wanted to do was to thank Jesus, I am sure that they would have learned a lot more as they talked to Jesus about who he was and how he was going to make God even more accessible to them.

II.               The “Other Sheep” Arrive

In John 10:16, as Jesus spoke of being the Good Shepherd, he said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”  The Greeks who came that day were some of the sheep that were not from the fold of the Jews.  As they listened to Jesus, they would be hearing of the one who was their true Shepherd.

In John 11:47-50, we learn that the Jewish Council gathered to discuss what to do about Jesus.  Caiaphas, the High Priest, suggested that they seek Jesus’ death through the Romans – even if Jesus was innocent of wrongdoing, it would be better for the nation that one should die that the rest might live.  In verses 51-52, we learn, “He did not say this of h is own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

Indeed, while they did not like it, the Pharisees knew that Jesus’ appeal was far stronger than they wished.  In John 20:19, the verse before our reading, we learn that they complained, “You see that you are gaining nothing.  Look, the whole world is going after him.”  Indeed, they were – the Greeks show up in next verse!

The arrival of these Greeks who wanted to see Jesus shows us that he is a Savior for all the world.  That idea is the reason we are here – if Jesus was just for the Jews, we who are of Gentile background would be out in the cold, bereft of hope and help.  But because the Jewish followers of Jesus understood that Jesus was the Savior sent by God the Father to redeem people from all over the globe, they reached out with the Gospel, not only to their fellow Jews but to those beyond – to Samaritans and to Gentiles of every kind.  Succeeding generations have taken the Gospel to the furthest reaches of the globe.  When we are all gathered in heaven, there will be people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, as Revelations tells us in several places, for God’s mercy will be proclaimed all around the earth.

The reality of “all nations” leaves us with a challenge: what clutter and noise might there be in our hearts that would make it difficult for someone of another race or culture to worship with us?  I know that you all have taken thought about how to enable visitors and newcomers to worship with you the most easily, but I am thinking about where the most resistance comes – not so much from externals, as it does from the hearts of people.  I took a course on church growth a number of years ago and the instructor said, “Any church will tell you, ‘We want to grow.’  What they may not realize is that what they may really want could be said this way: ‘We want new members, as long as they are just like us.’”  We have to do the hard work of taking the clutter out of our hearts that gets in the way of accepting “all sorts and conditions of people,” so that anyone who wants to know Jesus will be warmly welcomed and shown who Jesus is and what he has done for us.  I think that the cluttered heart is the greatest obstacle for those who wish to see Jesus.   From all I have seen here, you all have worked on uncluttering your hearts but it is still something to be aware of.

III.           Jesus’ Hour Has Come

When Philip and Andrew went to Jesus to tell him that some Greeks were asking to speak with him, his response is quite interesting.  He does not say, “Certainly; let them come.”  Rather, as verse 23 says, he replies, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  Then Jesus goes on to speak of a grain of wheat falling into the earth, dying, and then bearing a harvest – with the note that all who serve him must follow him in this path of dying to self.  These statements are puzzling; we wonder how they are a response to the coming of some Gentiles to speak to him.

The request of these unknown Gentiles is a sign to Jesus that a turning point has been reached in his ministry.  He has spoken of his “hour” several times already in John.  In John 2:4, after his mother has spoken to Jesus about the lack of wine at the wedding, he says, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?  My hour is not yet come.”  Then in John 7, Jesus’ brothers encourage him to go to the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem so that his ministry and he can be noticed and affirmed by many.  Jesus replied to this suggestion by saying, “My time is not yet come” in verse 6.  He repeats this in verse 8: “My time has not yet fully come.”  Jesus did go up to the Feast of Booths, however – but as 7:10 says, he went “not publically, but privately.”  Jesus knew that the time for the culmination of his ministry would eventually come, but he was not going to allow his mother or his brothers to force him to take action before everything had reached the proper stage.

Chapters 7 and 8 tell of the events of that visit to Jerusalem.  While Jesus did not go to Jerusalem in order to gather a following through an intentional claim to be the Messiah, as his brothers thought he should, he did engage in some heated debates with the leaders of the Jews.  The Jewish leaders were enraged at what Jesus had said to them, but John 8:20 tells us, “These words he spoke in the Temple treasury as he taught in the Temple, but no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.”  There was an appointed time, when all would be in place, and then he would be arrested and at the mercy of the leaders.

In today’s reading, the context is that Jesus had entered Jerusalem a triumphant procession only a short time before, had been hailed as the Lord’s Anointed and was expected to deliver the nation from its enemies.  Jesus knew that tensions were high, as those who opposed him were seeking a way to stop him.  With the request by the Gentile God-fearers to speak to him, he knew that all was ready – and his hour had come.

This hour, however, was not a time to seize control of the government, raise an army, and go to war against the Roman occupiers of the land.  That was what many wanted, but it was not God’s plan of salvation for his people.  God’s plan was not one of power, but of weakness and a seeming defeat.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  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 be my servant also.  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”  (Jn 12:24-26).

That is the plan that God has laid out.  It is not a plan of glory, with trumpets, horses, and great military victories, leading to a triumphal parade as a conquering king.  Rather, it is humble, hidden, and unappealing: it is a way that leads to death.  We can accept the death of Jesus; it is an old story to us.  But there is a frightening part: “If anyone serves me, he must follow me.”  We must follow Jesus into death.

That following into death may be quite literal, as it was for the 21 men who were beheaded by Islamic terrorists a month ago.  They had the opportunity during a month of captivity to renounce Jesus and save their lives – but they would not turn from Jesus, and as a result they were killed.  As they died, each one said, “Lord Jesus,” as they commended themselves to his care.

Our death may not be that literal – but it must still be real.  We are called to call our lives not our own, but God’s.  Rather than tell him, “This is what I would like to do; please bless it,” we are to say to the Lord, “What is your will for me?  Direct me, and I shall do it.”  That is a daily struggle.  I am always encouraged when I come here and talk with people, and learn of the various non-Sunday ministries that are carried on by people who cheerfully give up time, energy, thought, and often money to do them.  That is falling into the earth and dying – and it will bear fruit.  But it is still true that every day we need to say to the Lord, “What is your plan for me?  Lead me, and I will follow.”

We have not come to the time in this country where being a Christian can mean losing your life at the hands of the authorities or of some powerful group that the authorities allow.  That is not a danger, at least not yet.  But we live in a culture that is letting go of its roots in God, and so anything might happen.  Practice by dying daily to yourself and coming to God for life.

IV.           The Glory of the Cross

As Jesus speaks further of the consequences of his hour being present, he reveals that the hour will be a challenge.  In verse 27, he says, “Now is my soul troubled.  And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.”

The agony that came fully when Jesus prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane touches Jesus briefly here.  He knows that he will endure the agony of the cross and the even greater agony of abandonment by his Father.  It is an appalling thought.  In our reading from Hebrews, we find these words, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”  (Heb 5:7-10)  Just as an aside, Jesus did not move from imperfection to perfection or from disobedience to obedience.  Rather, just as a perfect rosebud can bloom and turn into a perfect rose, as he lived out his life Jesus’ perfection and obedience deepened and was actualized in the midst of challenges.  There were times when he was tempted to quit – but he never did.

After Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify your name,” a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  This was the third time Jesus was encouraged by his Father’s voice from heaven: the first time was at his baptism at the beginning of his public ministry, and the second time was at the Transfiguration, as he entered the stage of his ministry when he taught his disciples that he was going to die and be raised to life, and as he began the slow journey to Jerusalem for his Passion.  Now, as the challenging events of Holy Week are about to unfold, Jesus is encouraged again.

As the crowd wondered at the sound from heaven, Jesus said, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.  Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

That being “lifted up” is of course being nailed to a cross and lifted up on it.  Back in John 3, when Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus, he said in verses 14 and 15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”  During the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites after they were freed from Egypt, they had grumbled against God.  He sent poisonous snakes among them as a punishment for their lack of trust and gratitude – and when they repented of their grumbling, the Lord instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it above the people.  Whenever a person was bitten, if he looked up to that bronze serpent, he was healed immediately.  When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, he will become the remedy, not for snakebite, but for something far more deadly: sin.  As sinners, rebels against God, we deserve his rejection.  We should be banished from his presence.  But on the cross, Jesus was banished from God’s presence.  We know that from his anguished cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Most kingdoms do anything they can to protect their king.  A notable example comes from the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.  British Prime Minister Winston Churchill desperately wanted to join the expeditionary forces and watch the invasion from the bridge of a battleship in the English Channel.  U.S. General Dwight David Eisenhower was just as desperate to stop him for fear that the Prime Minister might be killed in battle.  When it became apparent that Churchill would not be dissuaded, Eisenhower appealed to a higher authority: King George VI.  The king went and told Churchill that if it was the Prime Minister's duty to witness the invasion, he could only conclude that it was also his own duty as king to join him on the battleship. At this point Churchill reluctantly agreed to back down, for he knew that he could never expose the King of England to such danger.

King Jesus did exactly the opposite.  With royal courage he surrendered his body to be crucified.  On the cross he offered a king's ransom: his life for the life of his people.  He would die for all the wrong things that we had ever done and would do, completely atoning for all our sins. The crown of thorns that was meant to make a mockery of his royal claims actually proclaimed his kingly dignity, even in death.

Crucifixion was the most horrible way to die that the Roman world knew.  It was a punishment reserved for only the worst of crimes, murder and treason.  And it was used only on those who were not Roman citizens.  Those who were crucified were regarded as the scum of the earth.  The death that Jesus faced was going to be utterly dreadful.  He would be regarded by the world as a wretched, worthless man, worthy only of the most painful and degrading death possible.  And he would be regarded by his heavenly Father as a worthless, despicable sinner.  In 2 Cor 5:21, we read, “For our sake, [God] made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus took our sin and bore the consequences of being a sinner, even though he was perfectly righteous.  The cross is the place of the great exchange: Jesus took our sin, and offers us his righteousness.  When we look to him, we are freed from the guilt of our sin, and are blessed to have the Father regard us as beings as perfect as Jesus was in his earthly life – and so we are accepted in Jesus Christ, and become children of God.

On Good Friday, most people in Jerusalem would think of Jesus’ death as the death of a dreadful man.  He would occupy the depths of shame and horror in their regard.  But what the world regarded as the depths of shame was actually the height of glory.  Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

That God the Son would leave the glory he enjoyed in heaven in order to redeem us by the agony of the cross shows the amazing love that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have for us.  God has no need for us, and had every right to reject humanity entirely once humanity had rebelled against the Kingdom of Heaven.  But while God does not need us, he loves us and reaches out to us – indeed, he stooped down to us.  This is God the Son’s glory – that he willingly endured shame and horror for our sake.  No greater love, no greater gift, can be imagined.  And so Philippians continues, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Greeks, the Gentile God-fearers, came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  As we look at the cross, we see Jesus, degraded in shame yet in the fullness of glory, offering his perfect life for imperfect sinners.  He is our hope, our only hope, of eternal life, and in him we find release from our sins and fellowship with the God who loves us and wants us for his own.  To Jesus, high and lifted up on the cross, be glory now and evermore.  Amen.