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The Rev. Frank
Logue We Wish to See Jesus
In the passage from John’s Gospel I just read, we hear of Jesus’ notoriety spreading. A group of Greeks request an audience with this Jewish Rabbi with a growing following. They go to Philip, the one of Jesus’ disciples with a Greek name. The request is simple: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Those words—we wish to see Jesus—are the words I would like to have painted into this pulpit. Right here across the top so that the preacher sees the words as he or she preaches. “We wish to see Jesus.” These words of the Greeks are the words that many of us don’t dare to speak as the time for the sermon comes. In many churches, we wish to see Jesus, but we’ll probably get three points and a joke or three points and a poem or prayer. At King of Peace we wish to see Jesus, but Frank will probably show us an amusing clip from some movie and keep us entertained for 10-15 minutes. The goal of a worship service could perhaps not be better stated than that the congregation should see Jesus through the words of scripture and the sermon and the words and actions of the service as well as the bread and wine of communion. Why else bother to get out of bed, get dressed and drive to church on the morning after the time change? Why else would we bother with church? We each want, in fact we need to see Jesus. Of course, the word “see” is a problem. It was straightforward enough for the Greeks that day. Jesus was walking the earth, preaching and teaching. They could easily see Jesus in the flesh. So what we expect to have happen in the Gospel is that Philip escorts the Greek entourage over to Jesus for a nice chat along the lines of his famous night visit with Nicodemus or even the noontime discussion with the Samaritan woman he met at a well. Instead Jesus talks in that odd mysterious way he does from time to time and more so in the Gospel of John. Philip goes to Andrew and the two go to Jesus to give word of the visitors. Then Jesus answers their request for an audience by saying, 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. To which the disciples would surely have replied, “So does that mean you want to meet with these guys or you don’t want to speak with them?” Let’s dig just a bit deeper to understand how Jesus’ answer relates the visitors and then I hope we’ll be able to perceive how this helps us to see Jesus more clearly. Jesus’ ministry during his life on earth was primarily to the Jews. In fact his ministry was almost exclusively to the Jews. Now as a group of Gentiles wish to speak to him, Jesus senses that his ministry is changing. And Jesus knows that the move toward being a light to all peoples will come by the power of the Holy Spirit after his death. Sure, Jesus can speak with this one group. But to reach all the nations, Jesus will need to die just as the grain of wheat must die in order to bear much fruit. The interest of this group of Greeks is a signal to Jesus that the time of his earthly life and ministry is coming to a close. Jesus answer also tells us that the time has come for him to be glorified. In John’s Gospel and elsewhere in the New Testament, the word “glory” is very much connected to Jesus’ crucifixion. It is through the cross that glory comes to Jesus. Certainly this is true historically, for only by way of the cross do we get to the joy of Easter, and only by way of Easter do we get to the point that Jesus’ timid followers get empowered by the Holy Spirit to go out and transform the world. Paradoxically, Jesus’ shameful death on a Roman cross leads to not only to more people knowing about Jesus, but more people come to actually have a relationship with him. Jesus mentions this in his answer in today’s Gospel reading. This is why Jesus says that a single grain of wheat remains just a grain, unless it falls to the earth and dies after which it bears much fruit. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus’ ministry will become exponentially more fruitful. If you wish to see Jesus, you will have to walk to Calvary—the hill where he died. In Hebrew the name of the hill along the main road into Jerusalem was called Golgotha—the place of the skull or skull hill. There on that barren hill we see three crosses. Two thieves and between them God’s own son. This is what glory looks like in the upside down kingdom which is the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ glory comes through faithfulness, obedience. Jesus has been beaten mercilessly, made to carry the heavy beam of his cross through taunting crowds. Then metal tore through flesh and Jesus was lifted up from the earth. He hangs bloody and beaten. This is where you must go to see Jesus. For here you not only see Jesus’ scars, but you can see your own. The world has also given you its share of bumps and bruises, or maybe the world has bloodied you and left you for dead. No matter how bad your wounds, you only heal them by lifting them up to God. And Jesus’ whole life is lifted up on, of all things, a cruel instrument of torture. Jesus said, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This is what Jesus has done in the centuries, the two millennia in fact, since his death on the cross. Jesus has drawn people from all over the world to himself. And they and we do not come first to the empty tomb, but here to the foot of the cross where a wounded healer holds out his wounds to heal your wounds. The Prophet Isaiah foretold that by his wounds we would be healed. It makes no sense at all until you look into the eyes of love on that cross. Jesus, the Lord of Life, embraces death in order to defeat death. I know it seems all twisted around for wounds to heal, but can any but a wounded healer heal a heart? How can someone who has known no pain or sorrow understand it when you are hurt, lost, alone, grieving? The God who stands far off in heaven peeking down at the world would no nothing of our sorrow, our loneliness, or our fears. It is this Jesus we see lifted up on the cross who knows suffering and it is this Jesus who can redeem pain. This Jesus is the wounded healer. If you wish to see Jesus, you can not see him only on a throne. You must see him on the cross. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, also known as the Sunday of the Passion. Passion in the old sense of that word which meant suffering. Next week we will read together the story of Jesus’ death on the cross. We will take the part of the crowd yelling “crucify him” as we know that we have at times caused others to suffer. We will hear him cry out those painful words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as we realize that this is the God made man who can really know my sorrows. Then we will begin the journey of Holy Week as we make our way back through Jesus last week until we find our way to an empty tomb on Easter. If you want to see Jesus, you will not want to miss this journey. This early spring trek through Jesus last days is where we must go to learn to see Jesus most clearly. For having found our way to Jesus on the cross, we come to learn that we can see the face of Christ in lost and hurting people everywhere. Jesus taught that if you show love to people in need, you are showing love to him. So having seen the wounds of Jesus we come to know that we can find Jesus in other wounded people. Then we can offer them our wounds. Someone is going through grief and you don’t have to offer up stories of your own loss, but if you have experienced grief, you can use that pain and those healing scars to know how to reach someone else. If you have experienced the pain of friends talking bad about you behind your back, then you will know better how to reach out to someone experiencing this as well. I could go on. But you get the idea. Jesus used his wounds to heal us. We can use our wounds to help us reach out and share the love of God with others. For if you wish to see Jesus, you must first find him at the cross, but then you can find him wherever you see someone in need. Amen.
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