"Sir, We Wish To See Jesus" April 2, 2006 Fifth Sunday of Lent

(First, read the text for this sermon: John 12:20-33)

A preacher who enters this pulpit sees a strip of metal, engraved with the words, “Sir, we should like to see Jesus.” John Byerly, who was pastor of St. Stephen when this room was constructed, told me that this engraved saying was a gift from members of the Lutheran Student Association, who said that that is the goal of preaching: to make Jesus known.

To the same end, at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, about a mile and a half from here, out Jamestown Road, the same saying is attached to outside of the pulpit, so that the worshiping congregation can see it. There the quotation is closer to what’s actually in the passage: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Of course, that saying comes from this morning’s story in the gospel of John. In this passage, everything is coming together, in the gospel writer’s telling of the Jesus story. Jesus is in Jerusalem for the third and final time. This is the final scene in Jesus’ public ministry. (After this, until he is arrested, Jesus spends his time privately, teaching only the inner circle of disciples.)

As this morning’s scene begins, “some Greeks” approach Jesus’ disciple, Philip. Now, you know that nearly every Jew is a Hebrew, a blood ancestor from Abraham. But these are not Hebrews. They are irregular. They are obviously converts to Judaism – because they are in Jerusalem to worship at the Passover festival. They approach Philip because he has a Greek name, and because his accent is familiar. (It’s an accent that comes from the region of Bethsaida in Galilee, which is full of Greeks.)

Notice what’s happening. Up to this point in the gospel of John, the leaders of God’s people of have resisted and rejected Jesus. Now, from the outside, from the margins, Gentile converts are seeking Jesus! In this passage, that’s significant. That is moving us to the fulfillment of God’s promised salvation. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” says Jesus.

There is deep mystery in what the gospel writer is presenting. Not the least of the mystery is this: In Jesus’ death is glory!

What makes for glory in our culture? Isn’t it the prestigious job title? The honors received, framed and on the wall? The house and the neighborhood? The expensive car? Those are the markers of success, right?

The deep mystery in this morning’s gospel story is that glory is entirely redefined. It has nothing to do with “success,” as that is defined in our culture. Indeed, honor comes in dying to such a false image of who we should be. Honor comes in servanthood!

Listen again to how this deep mystery is expressed. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." This is mysterious, mystical stuff.

“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” What is that fruit, in the case of this passage? I suspect it is the community that is formed by Jesus’ death, and then his resurrection. It is the fruit that shows itself in those who redefine life on the basis of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is a community, into which you and I have been baptized, of people who realize that it is through servanthood that our relationship with God is restored and lived out.

Did you know you signed up for this? It’s an entire re-orientation of assumptions!

Here’s what we encounter near the end of this morning’s passage: Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. See, in the gospel of John, that victory is not reserved for the future! The defeat of the power of evil in the world happens here – in Jesus’ death and then his resurrection! (When facing those who were propping up the demonic system of apartheid in South Africa, Desmond Tutu used to love to say to his opponents, “You are on the losing side!” He would say that when there was no earthly evidence that that was true! He was being entirely Biblical.)

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” The story that we read this morning challenges any of us who have a stake in maintaining the status quo, those who are comfortable in our culture.

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

There is great hunger to see Jesus, among all who hunger for fulfillment and meaning and joy – whether they know it or not! Those who hunger for fulfillment and meaning and joy are hungering for the salvation that Jesus has brought, and that salvation is offered to the world in every encounter with the living Christ. It is the salvation that confronts and judges the culture, when its values are those of the losing side.

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

A tragic irony is that many who wish to see Jesus have been alienated by a church that they has been supporting political leaders who pander to those who have wealth, and who are not concerned with those who are poor. (In the Bible, God always takes the side of the poor.) Or, those hungering for Jesus have been alienated by a church that they have seen to be simply maintaining itself as an institution in the cultural status quo.

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

It is the community of servants who show Jesus to the world. It is those who are acting as if they are on the winning side!

Those servants of Christ who engage in political activism with the aim of building a more compassionate culture are showing Jesus to the world. Jesus is seen when our public policy is to care for children in poverty, and for others who are helpless; those who are sick; those who are disabled. (In the Bible, God always takes the side of such people.)

How do you, assembled servants, show Jesus to those who hunger to see him? For instance, where is Jesus seen among the 40 million Americans without health insurance? Where is Jesus seen among the poor, whose health care is reduced by cuts in Medicaid? Where is Jesus seen in the debate over immigration? In the debate over the minimum wage? In the moves our nation might make in Iraq?

Tough questions, huh? Lent is a time, especially, for tough questions – of how to live out of our faith, as servants, revealing Jesus’ compassion.

There is a winning side! Now is the judgment of this world: in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And what hunger there is to see Jesus.

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


Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia