Christ Church Riverdale

5 Lent                                                                                                              April 06, 2003

            Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:11-16; Hebrews 5:1-10; John 12:20-33

Greek was the language of the civilized world in Jesus’ day, like French would be the international language of the 18th century and English is today.  So when John in his gospel mentions some Greeks who come up to speak to Philip, his readers would recognize citizens of a broader world than the world of Jesus and his disciples, where Greek was not generally spoken.  Non -Jews were coming to find out what was going on, to hear the great preacher among the simple folk, to be entertained by a few parables or perhaps a miracle or two.

Not surprisingly, these Greek-speaking men go to a disciple with a Greek name, Philip.  They don’t approach their visit like other seekers, hanging around in a crowd, waiting for Jesus to appear.  They seem to want a personal introduction.  “Sir,” they say to Philip, “we wish to see Jesus.”  Philip goes to Andrew, and together they go to Jesus with the request.

Hearing that representatives of the world beyond had come to him causes Jesus to speak of his ultimate mission.  He says in response, “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.  Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Jesus continues his teaching as the crowd listens.  The words are dark and portentous, surely not what the Greeks had come to hear.  The crowd doesn’t quite understand what he is talking about either.  The Christ suffer?  To be lifted up, as on the cross, is to be glorified?  They expected the Christ to inaugurate the Kingdom on earth.  You and I may understand from our own experience and by prayer and by meditation how the suffering of Christ for our sake is a glorious sign of God’s love: God in Christ is sharing the totality of what it means to live a human life.  But when you hear it for the first time that the Son of God is to die on a cross, it can be a cause of shock, or scandal, or confusion.  It still mystifies today.

The Greeks wanted to know what all the talk was about.  “Sir, we would see Jesus.”  Generations after, this request is still being made.  I have heard many times that there are pulpits with this request in a place clearly visible to the preacher:  “Sir, we would see Jesus.”  Put us in touch with the living and true God.

How is this done?  What is the way out of our confusion?  One of you recently loaned me a biography of Augustine of Hippo, the fourth century bishop and theologian.  Augustine knew that God is broader than the measure of our minds, to paraphrase a favorite hymn.  So if you’re a bit confused, join the club!  Augustine wrote something that I immediately put in my book of quotations.  He wrote: “Since it is God we are speaking of, you do not understand it.  If you could understand it, it would not be God.”

What did he mean?  Surely that it is impossible to encompass God, to comprehend God fully.  If we seek to, and if we think we have, we are in grave danger.  Not long ago, this was called putting God in a box, constraining God according to our own designs.  When we do this, it is no longer God’s love which speaks, but our own egos or grand designs.  We find God in scripture, but it is through our experience of life and prayer that God becomes known.  What the evangelicals call a personal relationship with Jesus is the kind of knowledge that rests on faith and not on the understanding of the mind.  This personal relationship is accessible to us, and the source of our salvation – our spiritual health and wholeness.

One of the classic books of the neo-orthodox movement was by Richard Niebuhr, titled “Christ and Culture.”  I don’t remember all of the categories, but two of them were something like “Christ against culture” and  “Christ in alliance with culture.”  In other words, was Jesus a counter cultural figure, challenging the status quo?  Or does he bless everything we choose to do which is done in his name?  Are God and country the same? In Romans 13, St. Paul exhorts his readers to obey the ruling authorities.  To what extent must we follow Paul?  Did he mean blind obedience, or did he counsel staying the course until the imminent return of Jesus, as scholars often conclude?  The debate continues.

Where and how do we see Jesus?

As we approach Holy Week, we find Jesus as God suffering for us.  He tells the disciples that his glory is in his suffering.  And St. Paul declares that he was made perfect through this suffering.  We are encouraged to be perfect as Christ was perfect.  And this must mean that we are to suffer with him, that we might also be glorified with him.

It would be unhealthy in the extreme to court suffering for its own sake.  We’re taught that the price for sin has already been paid – that in Christ, God’s love has been revealed in the ultimate way.  But suffering will come.  When it does, Jesus is in solidarity with us; He has been there.

God is beyond our intellectual knowing.  St. Paul, in one of my favorite passages, puts it this way: “The foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men.”  But the love of God is present and “knowable” in the person of Jesus, who comes to us in quiet moments of contemplation and in critical moments of pain and suffering, arms extended, to bring us close to the heart of God.

Click here for Previous Sermons

Send mail to the Webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2005 ChurchLongName.