Lent 5B 2021 John 12: 20-33
We want to see Jesus. Hopefully that happens every time you come here to worship. Hopefully you see, hear and nourish yourself on something of Jesus. In our text this request comes from Greek speakers, representing the others, the non-Jews, the non-insiders that Jesus wants to bring into this fold. But it’s a vital and healthy thing for us as Christians: we want to see Jesus, and know that he is with us, in everything that happens, the good and the bad, the delightful and fun, the painful and distressing.
It’s a good thing to hold in mind as we pray. I don’t know how you pray before you go to bed. One possible prayer is to look to tomorrow, and be aware of what you really want, and then put that into a prayer, in Jesus’ name, asking our Father to work that prayer in ways even better than we hope.
From the outside it looked like Jesus was riding the perfect wave. Just 3 kms away, in the village of Bethany, where his good friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived, he had raised Lazarus back to life after 3 days in the tomb, and the crowds were amazed, and believed in him. Oh, yes, there were death threats from the rulers, who would willingly sacrifice Jesus to save their temple and their faith, but the crowd support was so strong, and the expectations were so high, he could have taken power.
But Jesus wasn’t there to kick out Romans, to make Israel great again, to reform tainted worship practices. He was there to make all things well, to reverse all the devastations of sin and evil. There is a secret pattern to true life that even the best Christians struggle to get. To live well, we have to die. It’s the secret pattern, the way of life in Jesus. Jesus allowed himself to experience the worst that happens to humans, through his death on the cross. He took that all into himself, as a sacrifice that takes away sin. What we have done wrong to others, deliberately or accidentally, covered over. What has been done to us, covered over. Covered over with his faithful obedience, his willingness to choose the hard road, and see it through to the end. Covered over in his love. Forgiven.
That is what we are called to see and trust. That is the fruitfulness that comes from him being the single seed that had to die. Him drawing the whole world into his embrace, and saying, I’ve got you. Nothing is wasted.
You are going to die and you need to accept that positively. That was one of the 5 hard things given to me and other men, on a Men’s Rite of Passage retreat, when we were sent out into the bush by ourselves for a day. You are going to die, so don’t pretend like it’s never going to happen to you. You have to find that your life is hidden in Christ, so you aren’t constantly in fear, or constantly avoiding pain, failure, your own inability to fix everything. Love your life the wrong way, you will lose everything. Let it go into the deeper love of Christ and there is always unexpected new life.
I’d explain it to students in chapels this way. When Jesus says, your old life has to die, he’s not being mean or nasty. Your little life, your idea of who you are, isn’t big enough to hold God and God’s love for you. Your little ego, which can cause so much damage when it ids driving you has to die, and a more trusting, kinder, more hopeful less frantic you has to emerge.
What has to die????
What is being called into new life?
Think of a seed – it has to be buried, and be broken up, for it to grow.
Think of the ground that holds it and supports it.
I believe we are all ground in eternal love, a community where people care for us. I believe nothing is wasted in our lives, everything is used by God to work for good. There are limits set to evil, that God is with us, no matter what.
One way to pray, is to figure out what you want. For yourself, for those you work with or teach. For your family, your friends, your congregation. Put that into a prayer that comes from your heart.
The Greeks in our text wanted to see Jesus, to meet him, to be with someone holy and special.
What do you want? How do you want to be connected to Jesus?
