Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for our meditation is written in the 12th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 20 -33:
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 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. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27 “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. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
"We would like to see Jesus," the Greeks say in our text. You know way back in more traditional times, some pulpits had a plaque that only the priest can see, engraved with this same verse from the King James Bible. "We would see Jesus," is all it says. – Reminding the priest: "Don't show us yourself; don't show us your oratory ability, your brilliant brains, your scintillating wit, not even your deep theology. We would see Jesus!"
That’s the aim of the sermon. The priests wear robes; not to look churchly, holy, or nice. It's because robes highlight the pastor's office and diminish his person. His clothes, his physical features, and his personality are hidden under their official robes. That's why judges wear robes in courtrooms. They too are in an office. - For that same reason, judges and priests speak from behind benches and pulpits, usually big, thick wooden things. Why? Because they aren't speaking as individuals: Judges speak for the state; priests speak for the Lord. Most of their individual person is hidden behind their official bench or pulpit. Frankly, anything any priest says from their pulpit or anywhere whilst leading a service should be based on God’s word, for the purpose of developing a nurturing relationships between our Triune God and everyone who hears.
When the priest forgives, baptises, communes or does any pastoral act, it's really Christ who does it. You are to see in these robes the instrument of Christ forgiving your sins, baptising souls, and distributing His body and blood in the Sacrament of the Alter.
It is important that you see this because this is what makes the sacraments valid and certain, as if Christ our Lord is physically present and dealt with you Himself. You see if the priest was forgiving, baptising, or communing based on their person, you would forever have to wonder what kind of a person they are. Do they have enough faith? Are they Christian enough? Then any little or big flaws you find in their person would cause you to doubt, "Are my sins really forgiven? Is that baby really baptised? Can the body and blood of Christ really come from such sinful hands as those?" The focus is to be on the office instituted by God to dispense the means of grace. In their ordination priests understand and acknowledge that they do not represent their own persons but the person of Christ, because of the church's call, as Christ testifies, 'He who hears you hears me.' When they offer the Word of Christ or the sacraments, they do so in Christ's place and stead.
In worship, through the dispensing of the means of grace ‘the Word and sacraments’ you do see Jesus, but the question we must ask ourselves is ‘how do we see Him?’ I wonder, do you really want to see the Jesus shown in our text? This isn't really a glorified Jesus in the common sense of the word. This isn't a Jesus who leads millions of angels forth in glory. This isn't a Jesus who lifts high the cross in a victory parade over sin, death, and the power of the devil. This is a Jesus lifted high, crucified, dead on a cross, and then buried in the ground after.
We are kind of used to that sort of talk, aren’t we? We talk a lot about a dead Jesus during Lent. I’m concerned that we don’t really react to that. You still would like to see Jesus even if we're talking about a dead one. How about a troubled one: Would you still like to see Jesus if we're talking about a troubled one?
Jesus says plainly, "My heart is troubled." "Troubled" is too mild. Agitated, terrified, grieved, are better translations. This isn't a godly emotion. This isn't a noble feeling. Have you ever been in a shopping centre or wherever and thought you lost a child? Well, that emotion that pounced on you that you felt in your stomach, in your throat, down into your legs; that’s what Jesus felt.
Would you really like to see such a Jesus? Did you ever see your mum or especially your dad troubled? Didn't that unnerve you? We shut such sights, such memories out of our mind because they bother us so very much. We expect strength, support, and courage from our parents, and from our Jesus. We want to see the Jesus of John 14 who says, "Let not your heart be troubled." We don't want to see the Jesus who flatly tells us His heart is troubled. We don't like to see the troubled Jesus, …… but, we can get used to that too, can't we? … Many trips to dark Gethsemane over the years have made us immune somewhat to a "troubled" Jesus. We've seen Him stumble, fall, and sweat blood because He was so troubled there, so we don't mind seeing a troubled Jesus too much. But what about an "insincere" Jesus?
Some may think that I am being inappropriate at the least. The question is however, how else do you explain the text? Jesus says, "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? – ‘Father, save Me from this hour'? No, it was for this reason I came to this hour." – But wait! At least each Lent period we read of Gethsemane and what Jesus prays there? "Father take this cup from Me; don't make Me drink of it. Let this hour pass Me by." …… Who wants to see an apparently insincere Jesus? He says He won't pray "Father save Me from this hour," but in Gethsemane, according to Hebrews Chapter 5, "He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death." - Isn't Jesus being insincere?
Of course He isn't. He can't be. He is true God, He can not and did not sin: But remember He is also true man who is about to suffer incomprehensible pain and humility; He is about to die, cut off from God, bearing the full burden of the sin of mankind, to the grave. The events in our text take place Tuesday of Holy Week. Here Jesus makes no such prayer to be saved. But over the next two days till Thursday night we see the troubling progress from His heart to His spirit and ultimately to His very soul. The pressure gets so great it squeezes the prayer out of Him that He would not pray on Tuesday, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me”
Do we want to see such a Jesus as this? Believe it or not, this is the Jesus we need to see. We need to see this Jesus specifically because of the apparent inconsistency in Him between Tuesday and Thursday of Holy Week, specifically because it is this Jesus in whom we can really aspire to follow and take hope. A Jesus who in the face of agonising suffering can in faith remain obedient unto death, just for a bunch of unworthy beggars like us. You see we can relate to a Jesus who has experienced troubles like we have; One who gets so troubled that His prayers tumble out of Him just like ours do sometimes. One who shudders at the thought of a violent and prolonged death; just like we do.
I can relate to this Jesus because He tasted death, as I and all of us will in time. He didn't face death like a stoic or a movie war hero striding confidently toward the cross saying “I’ll take care of this” No, in the words of Psalm 18 “The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”
Because Jesus had anguish over suffering the horrible consequences of our sin and went on to die in the most grisly way under the most horrific circumstances; we can look forward to a peaceful and endurable death, regardless of the circumstances. Because He was overcome by trouble and sorrow, then death holds no sting for us. Because He called on the name of the Lord, "O Lord save me!”, we too know that we have been saved!
The truth is, for us, we will be heard where He wasn't. He wasn't heard so we would be. The Lord will deliver our soul from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from stumbling because the soul of Jesus was given not only to death but to hell; His eyes were given not only to tears but to bruises, and His feet were given not only to stumbling but to nailing. Because Jesus wasn't delivered from death and suffering, we will be.
Filled with shame and guilt, I want to see this Jesus - a Jesus who suffers in my place for my many sins - because this is the only Jesus who is capable protecting me from the dark prince of this world. Note Jesus doesn't say that He is driving the dark prince, Satan, out of this world, for indeed He doesn't. What Jesus does, according to Revelation, is drive the dark prince of this world out of heaven. The death of Jesus prevents Satan from doing to us what he did to Job. Jesus dying for our sins makes it impossible for Satan to stand before God in heaven and accuse us on the basis of our sins.
That means the answer to our feeling accused; the answer to our feeling like we have to defend ourselves; the answer to the ever-present guilt resting heavily on our minds is not in anything we can do or think. Learning to think positive thoughts doesn't cast Satan out. Trying to esteem ourselves highly won't drive Satan out of heaven or our heart. Vowing to ignore the accusations of the prince of this world won't throw him out of our heads let alone out of heaven. Only Jesus does that, and He does it not by force but by meekly submitting to torture and crucifixion in our place. Satan can no longer accuse us before God because there are no sins of ours left that Jesus hasn't already suffered and paid for. Satan has no standing in heaven because Jesus went to the depths of hell standing in our place.
For Christians, Lent is a time where we are compelled to move out of our comfort zone; sin can not be sanitised by complacency. We must look upon the ugliness of Jesus on the cross and clearly see the ugliness of our own sin. The words of Isaiah 53 ring loud in our ears: “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
In our text Jesus says, "When I am lifted up from the earth (That is, when I am crucified), I will draw all mankind to myself." The Greek is stronger. Jesus says literally, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will drag all (without exception) to Myself." This is the Greek word for dragging deadweight, a weight that doesn't in anyway help to be moved….. Do you see and can you accept just what this means? This means our deadweight, with all our sin, with all our doubts, our reluctance to submit, our fears, and all our human burdens will be literally ‘dragged’ by Jesus to where He is going eternally. The Grace of God rules in our lives through the unconditional love that drove Jesus to the cross of suffering and shame.
Would you like to see Jesus? – look to the Crucifix on the alters of the world; look at the lead light window in the churches and cathedrals – our conscience may lead us to guilt over the suffering servant; but think of the confession and absolution in our worship services where Jesus pronounces that ‘Our sins are forgiven’ and suddenly we will see in the crucifix the king on His victory throne and with the Psalmist we can rejoice (Ps 95)“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” Amen.
The love and peace of our great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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