“We Want to See Jesus”
March 22, 2021
John 12:20–33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 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.’ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
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It has been a big week for Jesus. He has arrived in Jerusalem for the last time. This is a turning point in John’s account of Jesus’ life.
A quick review of how John structures his Gospel. The first 11 chapters, known as the Book of Signs, tell us who Jesus is. The “Word became flesh” who revealed his divinity by turning water into wine, healing the sick, feeding the multitudes, walking on water, healing the blind, and finally raising Lazarus from the grave. Themes prominent for John are death to life, darkness to light, blindness to sight. Jesus speaks to the spiritual blindness of his own people when he says, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
Today we shift into the second half of the Gospel, the Book of Glory: the story of how Jesus walks into the darkness, going willingly and knowingly to his death, so that he will draw all people to himself.
As Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, a spring festival was underway. City streets were awash with tourists and pilgrims. From all over the empire people were cramming into the Temple to both worship and sightsee. But this festival had a notable dimension to it. There was this Galilean rabbi creating a stir. Crowds were going after him, seeking him out, wanting to believe in him. He had paraded into the city like a king, just after reputedly raising a man from the dead.
Some visiting Greeks (Gentiles) were part of the tourist crowd in Jerusalem and it is unknown as to why. Might they have been curious about the religion and tradition of the festival? Were they on a spiritual sight-seeing expedition? Was Jesus of Nazareth one of the sights the travel brochure said was not to be missed? It is unknown what these visitors had heard about Jesus or what they expected to find: a good preacher, a fortune teller, a miracle worker, a magician — or the Son of God. What we know is this: They came seeking, searching, questioning, inquiring, desiring.
Why John tells us about these foreigner isn’t clear. But it seems that for Jesus, the presence of those from afar, beyond the empire, represent that Jesus’ word of grace has reached far and wide enough for him to feel confident that this part of his mission is complete and he can now move to Jerusalem sure that he has drawn, and will draw, all persons to himself (12:32).
The Greeks wanted a glimpse of the celebrity from Galilee. Knowing that the disciples Philip and Andrew were Gentiles, one of the Greeks tugged on Philip’s sleeve to make the request: “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” It is an honest, straightforward request.
After the request is made, Philip told Andrew and then together they told Jesus. “Some Greeks want to meet you.” To that request Jesus did not respond directly. Instead, what John tells us reads more like one of those annoying menus you get when you try to call reach customer service via phone: “If you would like to speak to Philip, press 1. Press 2 to speak to Jesus of Nazareth. Press 3 for answers to the meaning of life, or remain on the line and press pound.”
As Jesus responds to his disciples, he tells them some of the most mystifying, mysterious, and mystical stuff possible about seeds and glorification and death and life. But first he declares that the hour has come, the hour of his glory. We have been waiting a long time for this hour and time, mainly because Jesus keeps saying it “has not yet come” (see John 2:4, 7:6, 7:8, 8:20). But now it has — the hour/time of glory has arrived perhaps because of the Greeks and the realization that His mission has gone well beyond the Jews. The time of “glory” is not what we might think. It is not Olympic or Super Bowl glory, or promotion or valedictorian glory. It is cross glory, suffering glory, obedience glory. It is not, in short, glory as the world would define it.
It is a head scratching response to a simple request: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” This is the theme and the center of this story. The request is the heart of the matter. It has very tangible bearing upon us today. This request defines the task of the Christian church. The mission of the church is to make known God’s love in Jesus so that he might be seen, visible to people who are seeking him. And I would add, to everyone else, too!
The famous and saintly Mother Teresa of Calcutta gave an interview near the end of her life that illustrates this mission. The reporter noted that religious orders in the west and many churches, for that matter, had been losing numbers. But the reporter also noted that Mother Teresa’s order was growing by thousands, so she asks “Why?”
Mother Teresa answered without hesitation, “I give them Jesus.”
“Yes, I know, but what strategies do you develop? How do you manage it?” asks the reporter.
“I give them Jesus” she replied.
“Yes, I know, but can you be more specific?”
“I give them Jesus.”
“Yes, we know of your fine work, but there must be something else,” says the exasperated reporter.
“I give them Jesus. There is nothing else.”
There you have it. This saintly servant describes and defines the role, the purpose, and the mission of God’s people and church: to make known the love of God in real ways, to present Jesus as a friend, companion, guide, healer, savior. To do it in word and in action.
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” In many ways the Gospel’s Greek sightseers are patron saints for us in the 21st century. The request itself is the pursuit of millions in the USA today. Pollsters tell us that around 95 percent of Americans believe in God or a universal life spirit. However, the style of American believing is not nearly as settled as it was in previous generations. Assumptions about denominations and church attendance and “normal” forms of religion are in flux. Seekers do not measure belief as a matter of certainties and answers. Instead, to believe is to seek, to search, to inquire, to try different forms of spirituality. Instead of arrival, the posture for today’s folks is that of a question, a journey, a seeking pilgrimage.
The request of those searching Greeks in the Gospel is our request as well: “We want to see Jesus.” Sometimes it is a request that emerges out of a sense of longing for God and for a whole and holy relationship with God. And sometimes it is a request that sounds more like “Listen, I want to see the manager, and I want to see him right now!” when we do not understand what is going on, or things make no sense, or we are perplexed by the difficulties and antagonisms of this world. In both ways, we share a longing, a searching, and a seeking that are so much a part of human spirituality and experience today.
The work of the body of Christ, the mission of God’s church, is to present God’s love in Jesus so that he might be seen. It is to invite the seeking and inquiry of human beings and human hearts to find love, hope, strength, and compassion in the presence of God. As such the stance of the church is to be one of invitation not judgment, of openness not condemnation, of inquiry not pat answers.
Today’s Gospel story gives a powerful picture of what we will see as our request to see and meet Jesus is fulfilled. It is in mysterious and even elliptical language, to be sure, but it is there. “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.” “It is for this hour I have come, Father, to glorify your name.” “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”Strong, mystical expressions to be sure, and they are expressions of the cross.
What Jesus is saying is this. If you want to seek me, if you want to find me, if you want to know me, then look at the cross and my love poured out on it.
To see Jesus, to meet him, is to see and to meet the Crucified One. To see him, to meet him is to see and meet the utter love and life of God visible and given to human beings. It is to see and to meet One who is willing to give himself for others in a free and full way. And in doing so, shows us a God who is willing to see us, to meet us, to know us.
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
As seekers today, the good news is we are found by the God who is seen upon the cross showing love for all.
