Lent 5 - Seeing Jesus from the foot of the cross: John 12:20-33 and Hebrews 5:5-10
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
In pulpits all around the world you can often find these words carved.
These words remind every pastor and preacher that this is the core task of ministry – to proclaim Jesus, to point to Jesus, to speak of him, to worship him.
I hope that you here at St John’s can hold me accountable to this holy task – to preach Jesus – I hope you can hold to account anyone who stands here to preach, saying “we wish to see Jesus.”
Not only this, but I hope that I can hold you to account in your ministry too. If you are a follower of Jesus, you will soon discover that you are called not to hide the light but rather share it, and you too will have people approach you saying, “we wish to see Jesus.”
This too is the role of the church and every Christian, to help others to see Jesus.
It might not be asked so directly, but the question will often come up sideways.
Perhaps a friend reaches out looking for hope. They have found themselves at a loss, with no sense of a future. Work hasn’t been going well and they are stuck in a rut. Nothing seems to help.
Or a family member is going through suffering and loss, looking for something to hold on to in the midst of grief.
Or maybe we know a neighbour for whom everything is going well. Life seems to be great, things look good on the outside, yet they hold a sense of frustration and emptiness, and are thirsty for meaning.
Underneath these situations and the questions that arise in the midst of them, there is often a longing for something more.
St Augustine reminds us that this longing in our deepest questions is at its core a longing for God: "God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you."
“We wish to see Jesus.”
This is the opening request in today’s Gospel reading.
A group referred to simply as “the Greeks” have come to see Jesus.
This term “the Greeks” was probably used here to refer to non-Jewish people who had come to worship at the Jewish festival of Passover. Many people known as “God Fearers” would come to join in at the Temple and certain parts of the Jewish celebrations.
Here we see that Jesus’ reputation had spread far and wide, and beyond the boundaries of Judaism – here the wider world is interested and inquiring – “we have come to see Jesus.”
Jesus disciples’ Andrew and Philip go and tell Jesus about this request.
Yet what happens next is a bit odd.
Jesus doesn’t put the kettle on and invite them in for a cuppa and a chat. He doesn’t even seem to answer the question directly.
Rather, Jesus launches into a speech.
As he does so he paints a picture of what it means to truly see Him.
And to truly see Jesus is to contemplate the cross.
Jesus says, “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
Here is the crucial moment. Jesus is talking about his death, and what it will mean.
He uses a metaphor about seeds and fruit, which we will come back to, but I want to jump ahead to verse 27.
In John’s Gospel there is no Garden of Gethsemane story – the story about Jesus praying in the garden before his death.
But here in verse 27 we hear Jesus wrestling out loud with what his death means in a similar fashion. He speaks of his soul being troubled. Shall he ask that he can be saved from this moment? No, Jesus affirms his unequivocal commitment to the mission that the Father has given Him.
Jesus knows that this is the crucial moment in the story of world history.
Here is the moment Jesus has come to set the world right – to bring healing and hope and salvation.
John 12:31-32 “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.”
Jesus has come to battle with the “the ruler of this world”, Satan, the devil. As Jesus is lifted up from the earth, as he is crucified, this is the moment that he will secure his victory over evil.
The writer John makes the point clear elsewhere in 1 John 3:8 saying: “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
To our modern, post-enlightenment ears this can all sound a bit mad.
But is the existence of evil really so hard to believe?
It seems to me that there is lots of evidence at hand.
On a global scale we know stories of slavery and racism, genocide, and brutal wars.
Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire was part of the UN peacekeeping force in Rwanda, and he watched the genocide there in 1994. And because he had only a small number of officers, he was unable to stop it. After it, he wrote a book called “Shake Hands with the Devil.” He wrote this: ‘I know that there is a God, because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I’ve seen him. I’ve smelled him. I’ve touched him. I know the devil exists. And therefore, I know that there’s a God.[1]
On a scale closer to home, we know the stories of domestic and sexual abuse, violent crime, and people living in cycles of poverty and brokenness.
The world is not all as it shall be.
Evil is rife.
The Scriptures affirm that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12).
Genuine evil exists in this world. Spiritual forces of evil undergird so much of this evil that we see playing out in our day-to-day reality.
And…
Jesus makes it clear that he has come to do something about it.
Here in John, Jesus makes the point that the decisive moment of battle will be won on the cross.
But how does this make any sense? Evil still seems rife today. How can we account for its presence and still assert the victory of Jesus over the powers of evil?
This is where we come back to the metaphor of the seed and the fruit.
Two major points are made by this image.
1) It Illustrates Jesus’ death and resurrection
2) It makes sense of the life of discipleship
Jesus death & resurrection:
What looks like tragedy on the cross will be a triumph.
What appears to be dead and buried actually sprouts new life.
Jesus says: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Firstly, this speaks of Jesus’ death.
Jesus is executed at the hands of the Roman and Jewish authorities and it looks as though all is lost.
He is executed like a simple criminal.
Like sowing seed into the ground, at first there are no signs that there is more to come.
Holy Saturday is that moment where the disciples are staring at blank soil – no signs of life.
Yet on the third day, Jesus is raised from death by God.
Fruit bursts forth from the seed.
Our life of discipleship
Secondly, Jesus speaks of his disciples who will follow him being like a seed that is buried in the ground, dies, and bears fruit.
This image is a powerful one for what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus.
In our baptism, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, we are buried with him.
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4)
As we follow Jesus, we will follow the way of the seed that is planted in the earth. Death and resurrection is the pattern of discipleship.
We are called to follow in the way of Jesus, who gave away his life for the sake of the world.
This is why Jesus speaks of not holding onto our own lives with tightly clasped hands. To do so is to buy into the lie of the devil in the first place – that God is not good and cannot be trusted. This is the original lie in the garden and the lie that weaves its way through humanity causing destruction.
Evil comes forth from selfish desires to have things our way. Greed, lust, violence, and other expressions of evil are borne in our hearts as we believe the lie of the devil that we don’t need God and that we should do what seems right to us, and for our own sake rather than for love of God and neighbour.
It’s worth pausing here and noting that amongst all of this talk about evil and Jesus’ victory over evil – it is quite plain to see that evil and suffering still exists.
And for many atheists, the very existence of evil itself proves problematic and goes to show that God doesn’t seem to have done much about it.
The metaphor of the seed buried though holds a wisdom in regards to this.
It captures the very reality of the life of faith lived in the mess and the muddle.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is the decisive moment in which the battle over evil is won, but it isn’t the end of the story.
The final moment is referred to in Scripture- Jesus will come again and judge the living and the dead. Satan and the forces of evil will be destroyed, every tear will be wiped away and all shall be well.
But in between the times, we are called to be a people of faith, whose lives are planted like seeds which will sprout and bear fruit.
That space of “betweenness” is the agony of faithfulness. To trust, even when the odds are stacked against hope.
I think in many ways that today we live in cynical times.
It can be hard to hold on to hope.
Global politics has us questioning the integrity of leaders and governments.
Covid-19 has put our presumptions about our safety and security under the spotlight.
Digital technologies have amplified spaces for the worst kinds of human communication – gossip, slander, and mockery.
I guess what I am saying is that in lots of ways, in today’s world it is easy to be discouraged. There is a deep cynicism that runs through the veins of 21st century life.
In the face of this cynicism, easy answers will not do.
Over summer I drove past a church billboard and printed out the front it said: “Looking for answers?” Come find out on Sunday.
I just don’t think that is an honest pitch for a church.
The promise of the gospel is not answers to every question we have.
Rather, the good news of Christianity is found in a person – Jesus.
What is crucial in the Gospel passage we read today is the promise of Jesus to be with his disciples, to be with you and with me as we live this life of faith.
Jesus says:
“If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.” (John 12:26)
The metaphor of the seed and the fruit makes the point that we do not suffer needlessly and alone.
Jesus doesn’t deny the suffering of the world.
Jesus doesn’t offer an easy answer to the suffering of the world.
Rather, Jesus enters into the suffering of the world, his soul is troubled as he truly wrestles with it.
In today’s reading we hear the request of the Greeks “We wish to see Jesus!”
As we read on, we discover that we are invited to more than just seeing him, we are drawn to his love for us expressed on the cross.
This is what the world needs, this is what you and I need more than anything.
[1] Alpha Course – session 13 “How can I resist evil”