5th Sunday in Lent - Pastor Susan Smith
Lent 5B Jeremiah 31:31-34
Good Shepherd, Episcopal Hebrews 5:5-10
March 17, 2024 John 12:20-33
Pastor Susan Smith
Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Jesus has come from the home of his friend Lazarus and his sisters where he raised Lazarus from the dead and now is in Jerusalem for Passover - for the last time. The crowds who are following him have grown and in this passage we hear of Greeks who have come to Jesus’ disciple Philip saying, “Sir we wish to see Jesus.” The gospel doesn’t tell us why they wish to see Jesus. Are they curious about his message or parables? Are they hoping to see Jesus perform a miracle? Maybe they want to become followers of his.
On the face of it this is such a simple request – “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” - but it cuts to the heart of the question we need to ask ourselves: when we look at Jesus, who/what do we see? Because the gospel of John is the last gospel written, this was probably a question asked by those in the early church.
We might see Jesus as miracle worker. We might see Jesus as a teacher and try to follow his teachings. We might see Jesus as a best example of how to live and attempt to emulate his life. We might see him as the Savior who gives us eternal life.
But how does Jesus want us to “see” him?
Jesus’ answer to the request of the Greeks is a bit strange: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” What does that even mean? What does the word “glory” mean? Simply put it’s this – GLORY means to see the true nature of the being – what he is about – who he really is. The time has come, Jesus says, for me to be shown for who I am – for what I am about.
The Jesus talks about planting seeds. If you want more beans, what do you do? Plant bean seeds of course! By dying, the seed that is, you get many more beans. We understand that.
Then Jesus talks about a person loving their life and hating their life. The person who wants to live for himself/herself, always getting his/her own way and advantage, that person will destroy their life.
Let’s be honest! I “know” myself and though I am not personally acquainted with many of you, yet I feel that I “know” you. There is no one here this morning who is smart enough and can look ahead and anticipate all the things they will face throughout their lives and end up on top of everything. And there is no one here this morning who can say, “I have lived my life until this moment without doing wrong.” We know what we have done and what we have failed to do. It’s as if the guilt we feel lies there like a piece of wet paper glued to the ground that we see every time we leave our home. We find ourselves unable to forget the ways we have failed to live as God would have us live. We find ourselves unable to forget the ways in which others have hurt us. The evil forces of this world would like nothing better than to keep us in the grip of guilt and anger and hurt and pain.
When Jesus is lifted up on the cross he confronts the evil of the world. He takes upon himself the sins of the world and our guilt and anger and hurt and pain. It has become fashionable to dismiss talk about the devil and the evil forces in this world that want us to never forget and be weighed down by what we have done or failed to do. Make no mistake about it, evil is present and wishes us ill. Just look at the world around us and you will not be able to dismiss talk of the “evil one.” In Jesus’ suffering and death the prince of this world loses all power over us and is driven out. The sins we are accused of that the devil never wants us to forget are paid for and we can no longer be put on the scales of justice and measured as not good enough for God to love us.
It is there on the cross that we see Jesus’ glory – there on the cross we see who Jesus is. He is not a condemning God, but a God who is about giving life to us - a God who has compassion beyond anything you and I have ever felt. In and through Jesus, God moves toward us in the only way God can – by loving us and forgiving us.
Today we echo the words in today’s gospel: “We wish to see Jesus.” We cannot see Jesus if we do not see the cross. We cannot see Jesus and are blind to the glory of God if our response to him is trying to be “good enough” for him to love us. That is creating our image of God as somehow forgiving, but not taking us as we are, but only if we behave ourselves.
In the Lutheran tradition we don’t have altar calls and yet – every day I believe that we are continually making a decision – will we find our life by trusting Jesus and following him or will we reject the gift of new life he offers us. Some days that’s easier than others. Several weeks ago, after his excellent sermon, I told Deacon John that I think of myself as “stumbling” after Jesus trying to “see” him every day so that I can live as one of his disciples.
When we “see” Jesus as revealing the heart of God to us on the cross – when we begin to trust Jesus’ love for us – we are given grace to live as his disciples in the world who “see” Jesus in the hurting and suffering of this world – in the ordinary women and men we encounter every day whether that be our families or places we find ourselves during the day and night.
We become disciples who are forgiving – disciples who carry the burdens of others as we are able – disciples who give others life as we live in God’s mercy and forgiveness.
We become disciples who “see” Jesus when we worship with others who, like ourselves, serve him in the places and situations we find ourselves each day.
When we come to God’s table of grace and are fed for our lifelong journey with Jesus, our eyes are opened and we “see” Jesus love for us.
Jesus invites us this morning to “come and see” him and to live as his disciples. Amen.
THE TIME HAS COME – Andrew King
The time is here: be lifted, Human One,
to glorify the God whose rule is love;
the hour of sacrifice is why you’ve come.
Now may we hear the voice that speaks above!
The time is ripe: be planted, Faithful Seed,
to be the grain that life abundant gives.
Teach us the death-to-self that is our need
that willingness to serve is how to live.
The time is now: shine out, O Lord of Light
into our hearts, into the shadowed earth;
show us the way to love; give us the sight
that sees in every soul eternal worth.
The time has come: be lifted, Holy One,
to draw all people to your saving grace
as children of your light may we become
the ones who share your love through time and space.