May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: 2 EASTER
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: April 27, 2003
TEXT: John 20:19-31 – “Do not doubt but believe.”
ISSUE: The Johannine tradition of the resurrection has Jesus appearing to the disciples in a locked room. It is a moment of assurance and commissioning of his disciples to be reconcilers. What’s more is that Thomas, who suffers the depression of loss, is exhorted to be a believer. The new beatitude is given: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Accepting the commission and being faithful embracers of the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the church.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The resurrection appearance of Jesus to his disciples from the Gospel of John is read on this Sunday after Easter each year. It is one of the important traditional stories of Jesus’ resurrection experience, the commissioning of the apostles, and the call for strong faithful commitment to Jesus Christ’s resurrection and his ministry of reconciliation.
True to the Johannine style, there is rich symbolism in this resurrection appearance. The resurrection of Jesus tell essentially that Christ has burst his prison, Jesus is released from the grave and death. His ministry has been one in which he has raised the sick, the poor, the dead, and restored many people who were considered to be the expendable unimportant people. He has given a whole new appreciation of life and human existence and God’s forgiving love of his creation. Is it any wonder then, that God would raise Jesus from the dead?
How or exactly how it happened we cannot be sure, but Jesus appears to some of his disciples who are themselves locked behind closed doors for fear of the authorities. It was the first day of the week, or what we call Easter Sunday. Unlike the Markan tradition or story, Jesus appears to his disciples somewhere around Jerusalem and not in Galilee, as last week’s story told. John’s story gives the distinct impression that the fearful disciples are locked in a room. It is as if they too are locked in a tomb out of fear. Once the leader of a movement has been destroyed, it is as if the whole movement is vanquished. (It’s like out trying to get Saddam Hussein in order to squelch his whole regime, and send them all packing into obscurity.) What we have in the John story of Jesus appearance is in fact the power of the Christ bringing his disciples back to life, and ordaining them, commissioning them so that they become “apostles,” that is, men with a mission.
For those gathered there in that room there is for them no question but that this is Jesus who says to them, “Peace be with you.” It is important for us to keep in mind that the bestowal of peace upon the disciples did not mean that Jesus wished them a quiet cozy happy life. To extend peace, “Shalom” in the Hebrew language meant something like, “may all the goodness and love of God be with you always.” It is not peace in the sense of peace and quiet. Hebrews who did not like to use the word or name of God in deference to its great holiness, used Shalom, Peace, to imply that the presence of God would be in one another’s lives. Having God in your life, like Jesus did, did not mean peace and quiet; it could mean crucifixion, but God’s presence was still with you in your ordeal. So my friends, when you wish one another: “The Peace of the Lord be always with you,” you are not wishing them peace and quiet or a life of solitude, but of a lasting presence of God in their lives. Thus, in this scene in the locked room tomb, the disciples are miraculously receiving the peace of God, the presence of God is with them in the living presence of Jesus Christ their Lord.
Then Jesus does another seemingly strange thing. He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” “Receive” is not really a good translation. It means to “seize – grasp – embrace – grab hold” of the Spirit of God. Thus, grabbing hold of the spiritual presence of Jesus Christ is to have taken hold of the Holy Spirit of God. The disciples are now Apostles, those who are sent to bring the spirit of God to the world. Start forgiving sins says Jesus. Start releasing those who have a terrible sense of their self worth, and resurrect them. Raise them up. All are worthy. Jesus died for them all. Lift up all the sinners and expendable worthless folk that are unworthy of entering the Temple. Forgive the lepers, the sick, the dying, the widows without sons, all who are thought to be cursed sinners and restore them to their human dignity.
Get this dramatic picture that John’s Gospel is painting or portraying. Here’s a bunch of simple men gathered in a locked room, a tomb. In comes the empowering renewing spirit of God in Jesus Christ, and he says embrace me and breathes the Spirit of God upon them, and sends them forth. It is as if the tomb, the egg, is cracking by some mystical, mysterious force that compels a whole new creation, a new beginning, a new hope for the world, in which all are to be redeem and reconciled to God. It is a bold and dramatic creation story, just like God blowing his breath upon Adam and Eve, and the release of Noah and his family from the Ark. It is a renewing opening up of God’s creation to love and serve God and one another. It is the new once and for all creation story, the new covenant.
Into this story comes Thomas. Thomas is told that the disciples have all seen the Lord. But, Thomas cannot immediately believe. Thomas can’t get it, that Christ Jesus has risen. “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe,” says Thomas. Thomas is not unlike many people down through the centuries, and people like us from time to time in our lives, like many people in the world today. Thomas is still in his depression. He is still steeped in his grief. And Thomas is the victim of his non-spiritual world. Thomas is a victim of hopelessness; all is lost. There’s nothing new. There is no hope. Who of us have not felt like this at times in our own lives.
Strangely enough a week later Jesus appears to Thomas, and says, “Put you hands in the mark of the nail, and thrust you hand into my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Jesus Christ is saying what? He’s saying, “Receive me, seize me, grasp me, embrace me and all my suffering love. Seize and embrace my very spirit of peace, as the spiritual presence of God, the hope, the love, the forgiveness.” Finally, Thomas gets it: “My Lord and my God.”
The story concludes with the last Beatitude: Blessed, (or most honorable), are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Blessed are all of you gathered here this morning, who having not witnessed Christ in this way, but who have come to have loyalty, trust, commitment to the way of life that spells out resurrection, hope, forgiveness, and renewal. But keep in mind too, that we have seen the risen Christ in the love, the forgiveness, the wishing of peace by others who came to believe before us. The more we commit ourselves to grasping or taking the spirit of God in the ways and teachings of Christ, the more we become the living presence for those who have difficulty in believing, embracing and grasping the Spirit of God in and through Jesus Christ.
Today we are meeting to elect new vestry members and leadership. We pause to reflect on the state of our parish, its health and faithfulness. It comes as a time for our own renewal and taking hold of our mission as we face the future. As Americans who have just come through another war, it is the time for renewal and rebuilding, and for the work it takes to learn how to bring peace in the coming years and centuries without the hostilities of war and aggression. In our personal lives there may be many doubts, fears, depressions, angry feelings, old hostilities, and an inordinate love of only material things. Pray that we shall not be reluctant or unwilling to seize, grasp, renew the Spirit of God so that even though he may not be seen literally, we can be loyal believers in Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, the life, and the resurrected hope of the world.
Sunday, April 27, 2003
Sunday, April 20, 2003
EASTER
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: EASTER
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: April 20, 2003
TEXT: Mark 16:1-8 – “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
ISSUE: The women disciples just don’t get it. Nearly everything that Jesus has done in his ministry is the a matter of raising up those who were sick, dying, dead, blind, paralyzed. His parables often addressed the complete forgiveness and grace for the sinner, or fallen. Is it any wonder that, God would raise Jesus himself after such a ministry? The importance of Jesus’ resurrection is found in its meaning, and not in literal interpretations as to whether it happened or not. Sometimes, we too just don’t get it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Gospel account of St. Mark is one of the earliest traditions and stories that hint at the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a peculiar one. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb of Jesus to anoint the body for burial. Since the crucifixion had occurred so close to the Sabbath, they had to wait until the Sabbath was over. Arriving at the tomb, the find the stone, much to their surprise, already rolled away. They enter the tomb and are alarmed to see a man dressed in white linen in the tomb. The man, presumably an angel, tells the women, “He has been raised; he is not here.” The angel tells them to tell the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. The women were seized with terror, and they run away speechless. Here the Gospel account of Mark ends without any sightings of the risen Jesus, and three terrorized speechless women.
Mark’s gospel account seems top be implying that the women just don’t get it. They cannot imagine that Jesus is risen from the dead. Let me point out something especially curios about Mark’s Gospel. When Jesus is arrested, prior to his trial and crucifixion. There is a strange account that has baffled biblical scholars for centuries. It says that (Mark 14:51) a certain young man dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind. The question, of course, is who was that naked man. The best interpretation that I have heard of this incident was that the man wearing only a linen cloth was an angel, the guardian angel of Jesus? Not only did the disciples abandon Jesus, but even his guardian angel. Jesus is totally vulnerable to the powers of evil. Jesus is totally vulnerable to the mocking mob, both corrupted temple and Roman authorities. Without aid and hope, Mark is making the point that he is completely abandoned, and dies on the cross beyond any shadow of a doubt. How then could he possibly be resurrected? The women at the tomb are terrorized and dumbfounded. How could this be?
The women are not the only persons over the centuries to be fearful and dumbfounded, and skeptical about the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is hard to comprehend a resuscitation of a body after three days in a tomb. Even today people have a hard time understanding. We still just don’t get it.
One of the most important things we need to do to fully understand the resurrection is to be aware of the whole story, the full narratives of the Gospels of Jesus. Throughout the gospel narratives, from the very beginning, there are clues that enable a deeper profounder understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. In the birth narratives, Mary, a simple peasant girl, and Joseph, an insignificant carpenter, are raised to a new special calling in their lives. Even common shepherds have their sights turned heavenward to see the Glory of God at the birth of Jesus. In so many of the healing stories surrounding Jesus people are raised up. Jesus takes up Jarius’ daughter and raises her from death. A poor widow’s son is raised up from death. A paralyzed man is told to pick up his mat and go home. Lepers are cleansed and told to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem and show themselves to the priest. They are restored and renewed to the community. John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus, and Jesus tells them: the deaf are hearing, the blind are seeing, the lame are walking. There comes from Jesus Christ a renewing restoring elevation of the human condition. A demon supposedly knocks a child down in a seizure, and Jesus raises the child up and gives her back to her father. Notice the implications here of the being raised-up and given back to their father. Isn’t that what Jesus was about, restoring a fallen, broken world, and giving it back to God the Father.
On other occasions, Jesus takes the crowds up on hillsides. There he teaches the beatitudes in which the poor, the mourning, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the disenfranchised, are all the lowly common people are lifted up and taught to see that they are the Blessed and Honorable in the eyes and sights of God. The feeding miracle of the 5,000, are all people taken up on a grassy hillside and in their hunger they are fed and nourished for the remainder of their journey. People are led up to greener pastures. Children are taken up by Jesus and blessed by him. Widowed women, who were often taken advantage of, are held in high esteem by Jesus. His teachings in these high places are teachings of higher callings. Walk the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give you garment to those in need. He describes a new kind of community that has no guile or vengeance. The Good Samaritan parable dares to tell of one who gets into the gutter and mud to raise up a dying man on the side of the road, and then offers a fortune for his care. The Prodigal Son story tells of a Father, (The Father) who takes back a scoundrel son, putting a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, raising him up out of the pig sty. In the parable of the vineyard workers, the guys at the end of the line are called up to the front of the line to get their wages.
Jesus lives into getting down on the floor to wash his disciples feet. He is raising them up to honorable status. “I’m giving you a new commandment,” he says. “Love and serve one another as I have loved you.” Be raised up to the presence of what God is about: Love! He is always pouring himself out for the resurrection, the restoration, the raising up, the renewal of all that are fallen. “There is no greater love then that of a man who lays down his life for his friends.” Because of Christ Jesus fallen humanity is raised up through the love of God in Jesus Christ. He descends truly to the very depths of death and hell so that all may be raised and see the complete measure of God’s love, total sacrifice on the cross. Is it any wonder question that God in all of his glory would raise up Jesus from the dead? That’s the very name of the game. It’s the only possible spiritual conclusion. From the very beginning to the very end, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about the lifting up, restoration, and renewal of God’s good creation. God, in Christ Jesus, is always lovingly making new and raising-up humanity. According to John’s Gospel, Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life. Trust in him, have loyalty toward him, and you find yourselves lifted up in new hope and life.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not about resuscitation of a dead body. It is about the way of God, and how God seeks to bring a fallen creation back to God’s presence. If anything is resuscitated, it is hope not a dead body.
“Tell the disciples (the church), I will meet them in Galilee,” out on the edge of the remotest province. We will together lifted up in hope carry on this way of life. It is the way of lifting up and embracing all that is fallen and with the living Christ offer it all back to God. Don’t you get it? Fear not; don’t be alarmed: “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
SEASON: EASTER
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: April 20, 2003
TEXT: Mark 16:1-8 – “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
ISSUE: The women disciples just don’t get it. Nearly everything that Jesus has done in his ministry is the a matter of raising up those who were sick, dying, dead, blind, paralyzed. His parables often addressed the complete forgiveness and grace for the sinner, or fallen. Is it any wonder that, God would raise Jesus himself after such a ministry? The importance of Jesus’ resurrection is found in its meaning, and not in literal interpretations as to whether it happened or not. Sometimes, we too just don’t get it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Gospel account of St. Mark is one of the earliest traditions and stories that hint at the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a peculiar one. Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb of Jesus to anoint the body for burial. Since the crucifixion had occurred so close to the Sabbath, they had to wait until the Sabbath was over. Arriving at the tomb, the find the stone, much to their surprise, already rolled away. They enter the tomb and are alarmed to see a man dressed in white linen in the tomb. The man, presumably an angel, tells the women, “He has been raised; he is not here.” The angel tells them to tell the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. The women were seized with terror, and they run away speechless. Here the Gospel account of Mark ends without any sightings of the risen Jesus, and three terrorized speechless women.
Mark’s gospel account seems top be implying that the women just don’t get it. They cannot imagine that Jesus is risen from the dead. Let me point out something especially curios about Mark’s Gospel. When Jesus is arrested, prior to his trial and crucifixion. There is a strange account that has baffled biblical scholars for centuries. It says that (Mark 14:51) a certain young man dressed only in a linen cloth, was following Jesus. They tried to arrest him, but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth behind. The question, of course, is who was that naked man. The best interpretation that I have heard of this incident was that the man wearing only a linen cloth was an angel, the guardian angel of Jesus? Not only did the disciples abandon Jesus, but even his guardian angel. Jesus is totally vulnerable to the powers of evil. Jesus is totally vulnerable to the mocking mob, both corrupted temple and Roman authorities. Without aid and hope, Mark is making the point that he is completely abandoned, and dies on the cross beyond any shadow of a doubt. How then could he possibly be resurrected? The women at the tomb are terrorized and dumbfounded. How could this be?
The women are not the only persons over the centuries to be fearful and dumbfounded, and skeptical about the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is hard to comprehend a resuscitation of a body after three days in a tomb. Even today people have a hard time understanding. We still just don’t get it.
One of the most important things we need to do to fully understand the resurrection is to be aware of the whole story, the full narratives of the Gospels of Jesus. Throughout the gospel narratives, from the very beginning, there are clues that enable a deeper profounder understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. In the birth narratives, Mary, a simple peasant girl, and Joseph, an insignificant carpenter, are raised to a new special calling in their lives. Even common shepherds have their sights turned heavenward to see the Glory of God at the birth of Jesus. In so many of the healing stories surrounding Jesus people are raised up. Jesus takes up Jarius’ daughter and raises her from death. A poor widow’s son is raised up from death. A paralyzed man is told to pick up his mat and go home. Lepers are cleansed and told to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem and show themselves to the priest. They are restored and renewed to the community. John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus, and Jesus tells them: the deaf are hearing, the blind are seeing, the lame are walking. There comes from Jesus Christ a renewing restoring elevation of the human condition. A demon supposedly knocks a child down in a seizure, and Jesus raises the child up and gives her back to her father. Notice the implications here of the being raised-up and given back to their father. Isn’t that what Jesus was about, restoring a fallen, broken world, and giving it back to God the Father.
On other occasions, Jesus takes the crowds up on hillsides. There he teaches the beatitudes in which the poor, the mourning, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the disenfranchised, are all the lowly common people are lifted up and taught to see that they are the Blessed and Honorable in the eyes and sights of God. The feeding miracle of the 5,000, are all people taken up on a grassy hillside and in their hunger they are fed and nourished for the remainder of their journey. People are led up to greener pastures. Children are taken up by Jesus and blessed by him. Widowed women, who were often taken advantage of, are held in high esteem by Jesus. His teachings in these high places are teachings of higher callings. Walk the extra mile, turn the other cheek, give you garment to those in need. He describes a new kind of community that has no guile or vengeance. The Good Samaritan parable dares to tell of one who gets into the gutter and mud to raise up a dying man on the side of the road, and then offers a fortune for his care. The Prodigal Son story tells of a Father, (The Father) who takes back a scoundrel son, putting a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet, raising him up out of the pig sty. In the parable of the vineyard workers, the guys at the end of the line are called up to the front of the line to get their wages.
Jesus lives into getting down on the floor to wash his disciples feet. He is raising them up to honorable status. “I’m giving you a new commandment,” he says. “Love and serve one another as I have loved you.” Be raised up to the presence of what God is about: Love! He is always pouring himself out for the resurrection, the restoration, the raising up, the renewal of all that are fallen. “There is no greater love then that of a man who lays down his life for his friends.” Because of Christ Jesus fallen humanity is raised up through the love of God in Jesus Christ. He descends truly to the very depths of death and hell so that all may be raised and see the complete measure of God’s love, total sacrifice on the cross. Is it any wonder question that God in all of his glory would raise up Jesus from the dead? That’s the very name of the game. It’s the only possible spiritual conclusion. From the very beginning to the very end, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about the lifting up, restoration, and renewal of God’s good creation. God, in Christ Jesus, is always lovingly making new and raising-up humanity. According to John’s Gospel, Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life. Trust in him, have loyalty toward him, and you find yourselves lifted up in new hope and life.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not about resuscitation of a dead body. It is about the way of God, and how God seeks to bring a fallen creation back to God’s presence. If anything is resuscitated, it is hope not a dead body.
“Tell the disciples (the church), I will meet them in Galilee,” out on the edge of the remotest province. We will together lifted up in hope carry on this way of life. It is the way of lifting up and embracing all that is fallen and with the living Christ offer it all back to God. Don’t you get it? Fear not; don’t be alarmed: “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
Sunday, April 6, 2003
Lent 5
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Lent 5
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: April 6, 2003
TEXT: John 12:20-33 – “Now is the judgment 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.
ISSUE: Gentiles come seeking Jesus. Their initiation into his presence is the statements related to having to die in order to fully live. The passage is calling for the separation from the world as we know it into a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross, we all see the glory of God and his love.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
All human beings go through very difficult moments in our lives when life can see very out of control. Many of us Americans, and people of western civilization hate that feeling. We like things to be vividly clear and predictable but life rarely obliges that need. We need something beyond our perfectly understandable realities.
This passage from the Gospel of John seems to be to be surreal, or dream like. It has a strange quality to it. Stranger gentiles come in search of Jesus, and enter into a situation where there is the thundering voice of God revealing some strange meaning about the glorification of God and Jesus. We Americans find such passages in the Bible difficult, because we tend to be steeped in scientific realism. Fuzzy spiritual like things are suspicious or without much meaning to them. Our American thinking is actually quite different from many other cultures in the world. Dreams, visions, spiritual strange events in other cultures are more common and seem to have meaning to them.
What seems to be at the heart of this vision like passage the tells of the coming of Gentiles looking for Jesus, is the fulfillment of John’s earlier statement in the first chapter (John 1:11) of the Gospel, “{God, The Word, Jesus} He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God’s children.” Some Gentiles come ‘to see’ Jesus. They make their request to the disciple Philip. Philip is a Greek name. Philip takes them to Andrew as he is apparently concerned over why Greeks want ‘to see’ Jesus. What is important here is that the verb ‘to see’ does not mean merely that they want to lay eyes on Jesus. It means that they want to know him more closely, more intimately, or that they more specifically want ‘to believe in him.’ Remember that in the Gospel of John, the key emphasis to his community is a strong belief in Jesus Christ as Lord. They really want a more spiritual relationship with Jesus. Out of their search, Jesus begins to reveal the essence of his life as a Son of God, and what that will mean for them as well.
Assuming the Gentile seekers have been brought to him, Jesus tells the parable of the grain of wheat. Unless the grain of wheat, the seed, falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a single useless grain. The seed is only useful when it falls to the ground and is buried and in the process is re-born, it then bears a greater abundance of seed. Whoever follows Jesus into his way of life of self-giving sacrifice will be truly glorified or honored by God. Jesus himself finds the concept troubling: What should I say, “Father, save me from this hour?” To be a truly honorable and glorified follower of Jesus, to know and appreciate him, is to follow in his difficult way. “No, Father, glorify or honor your name.” Jesus himself accepts the fact that he must die and be buried in order to reveal the glory of God in and through his resurrection to new life. Out of this revelation and commitment of himself comes the voice of God in the thunder, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify or honor it again.”
For the people of this period, they believed in the voice of God speaking in the thunder. That was not a problem for them, and even in Psalm 29:3, “The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas; they glorious God thunders and his voice echoes over the ocean.” The voice of God spoke at other significant points in Jesus’ life: At the Baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And at his Transfiguration, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased. Listen to him.” These were dramatic and special moments in the life of Jesus, the beginning of his ministry, and the beginning of his turning toward Jerusalem, and now at the proximity of his crucifixion. He is proclaimed Son of God, and with that goes the entire honor from God that the world refused to give him. Now he is at the gateway of his death crucifixion. Jesus had been raised up out of the water of baptism and proclaimed the honorable title of Son of God. He has been lifted up on a mountain top and transfigured appearing with Moses and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, and honored. Now he will be raised up on a cross to he honored by a seeking searching world that seeks a closer relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus was honored by God and is to be honored once again. His dutiful crucifixion as the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known will reveal the great glory of God, who raises up by his grace all that has fallen.
In the crucifixion of Jesus what all people see is the innocence of Jesus Christ in the midst of the hateful attitudes of human beings who resist the change that leaves the teachings of the world behind and grasps a new understanding of the spirit of God. Revenge, hatred, malice, prejudice, evil is revealed as powerless and horrible, when it is confronted by the patient suffering of Jesus Christ bleeding and dying on the cross. He bruises no one, and does not blow out a dimly burning wick. He silently and patiently accepts his suffering so that the world may see the abundant love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. He is the sacrifice that God provides. He is the perfect offering that is offered, the new high priest for the human heart. He glorifies God in his patient obedient sacrifice, and God honors and glorifies him in his resurrection.
The strangers, Gentiles, are initiated and are allowed to enter into the essence of the meaning of Jesus Christ, his life of teaching and healing, his revelation of the God of love, and the meaning of servant sacrifice demanded of his followers to reveal to the world the glory and the honorableness of God’s redeeming love.
As we all approach the Holy Week season, it is our time, strangers though we all may be at times in our relationship to God, to seek what it means to know Jesus Christ, and to love God. It is a time of re-entry into the spirit of the Christian Faith.
When the strangers the Gentiles come to Philip and Andrew, it is as if they are folk throughout the ages have expressed curiosity, and human need for the presence of God. At times these strangers are a symbol of ourselves, when our lives become meaningless, or empty, or threatened, or terrified. There are times when we feel a sense of guilt, a for what we have done, or left undone, when those burdens seem intolerable. At such times there may certainly be a great need ‘to see’ Jesus, to reclaim him, to know him again for the first time, to be refreshed in meaning and purpose for our lives. I think that this story reveals and acknowledges that nearly every human being at one time or another needs to feel that presence of Jesus Christ, that proximity of his forgiveness and help, that wonderful direction that helps us to serve him, and to be the disciples that will lead others into his presence. I think that all of us at times need to have a spiritual alternate consciousness experience through prayer, through recognition of our needs to change, a vision of the world, which is often in crisis that needs the embracing image of the God of love surrounding it. In the midst of the present world and this time of war, evil is expressed and dramatized; it brings to mind in the sufferings of our own and the enemy, the painful suffering of our Lord dying on a cross that pleads for a new way of negotiation and love. We need the new vision of the human condition raised up and renewed. We need the Father, the Son of God, the Spirit of God to embrace us, and our world in a new and intimate way.
Jeremiah the prophet knew well that law of God was written on tablets and given to Moses. Jeremiah was also well aware that humans needed more than tablets. He taught and looked for a new covenant relationship with God, when the law of God would be written on the human heart: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people . . . . . . for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
What are the crises of each of our own lives: Alcoholism in the family; serious illness, cancer, family members in the Armed Forces, a divorce, a strained marital relationship, financial strain and stress, the stress of aging and our human confrontation with our mortality? All of these kinds of stresses in our lives can make us feel alone and out of control. Often they make us realize our greater need for God in our suffering and stress. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ, he knows it all and has endured it all, and understands. Turn to him, see him, get to know him, and enter into him, and let his way and love, forgiveness and hope be written on your hearts, that we may know his glory and receive his hope.
SEASON: Lent 5
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: April 6, 2003
TEXT: John 12:20-33 – “Now is the judgment 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.
ISSUE: Gentiles come seeking Jesus. Their initiation into his presence is the statements related to having to die in order to fully live. The passage is calling for the separation from the world as we know it into a deeper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. In the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross, we all see the glory of God and his love.
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All human beings go through very difficult moments in our lives when life can see very out of control. Many of us Americans, and people of western civilization hate that feeling. We like things to be vividly clear and predictable but life rarely obliges that need. We need something beyond our perfectly understandable realities.
This passage from the Gospel of John seems to be to be surreal, or dream like. It has a strange quality to it. Stranger gentiles come in search of Jesus, and enter into a situation where there is the thundering voice of God revealing some strange meaning about the glorification of God and Jesus. We Americans find such passages in the Bible difficult, because we tend to be steeped in scientific realism. Fuzzy spiritual like things are suspicious or without much meaning to them. Our American thinking is actually quite different from many other cultures in the world. Dreams, visions, spiritual strange events in other cultures are more common and seem to have meaning to them.
What seems to be at the heart of this vision like passage the tells of the coming of Gentiles looking for Jesus, is the fulfillment of John’s earlier statement in the first chapter (John 1:11) of the Gospel, “{God, The Word, Jesus} He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God’s children.” Some Gentiles come ‘to see’ Jesus. They make their request to the disciple Philip. Philip is a Greek name. Philip takes them to Andrew as he is apparently concerned over why Greeks want ‘to see’ Jesus. What is important here is that the verb ‘to see’ does not mean merely that they want to lay eyes on Jesus. It means that they want to know him more closely, more intimately, or that they more specifically want ‘to believe in him.’ Remember that in the Gospel of John, the key emphasis to his community is a strong belief in Jesus Christ as Lord. They really want a more spiritual relationship with Jesus. Out of their search, Jesus begins to reveal the essence of his life as a Son of God, and what that will mean for them as well.
Assuming the Gentile seekers have been brought to him, Jesus tells the parable of the grain of wheat. Unless the grain of wheat, the seed, falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a single useless grain. The seed is only useful when it falls to the ground and is buried and in the process is re-born, it then bears a greater abundance of seed. Whoever follows Jesus into his way of life of self-giving sacrifice will be truly glorified or honored by God. Jesus himself finds the concept troubling: What should I say, “Father, save me from this hour?” To be a truly honorable and glorified follower of Jesus, to know and appreciate him, is to follow in his difficult way. “No, Father, glorify or honor your name.” Jesus himself accepts the fact that he must die and be buried in order to reveal the glory of God in and through his resurrection to new life. Out of this revelation and commitment of himself comes the voice of God in the thunder, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify or honor it again.”
For the people of this period, they believed in the voice of God speaking in the thunder. That was not a problem for them, and even in Psalm 29:3, “The voice of the Lord is heard on the seas; they glorious God thunders and his voice echoes over the ocean.” The voice of God spoke at other significant points in Jesus’ life: At the Baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And at his Transfiguration, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased. Listen to him.” These were dramatic and special moments in the life of Jesus, the beginning of his ministry, and the beginning of his turning toward Jerusalem, and now at the proximity of his crucifixion. He is proclaimed Son of God, and with that goes the entire honor from God that the world refused to give him. Now he is at the gateway of his death crucifixion. Jesus had been raised up out of the water of baptism and proclaimed the honorable title of Son of God. He has been lifted up on a mountain top and transfigured appearing with Moses and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, and honored. Now he will be raised up on a cross to he honored by a seeking searching world that seeks a closer relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus was honored by God and is to be honored once again. His dutiful crucifixion as the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known will reveal the great glory of God, who raises up by his grace all that has fallen.
In the crucifixion of Jesus what all people see is the innocence of Jesus Christ in the midst of the hateful attitudes of human beings who resist the change that leaves the teachings of the world behind and grasps a new understanding of the spirit of God. Revenge, hatred, malice, prejudice, evil is revealed as powerless and horrible, when it is confronted by the patient suffering of Jesus Christ bleeding and dying on the cross. He bruises no one, and does not blow out a dimly burning wick. He silently and patiently accepts his suffering so that the world may see the abundant love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. He is the sacrifice that God provides. He is the perfect offering that is offered, the new high priest for the human heart. He glorifies God in his patient obedient sacrifice, and God honors and glorifies him in his resurrection.
The strangers, Gentiles, are initiated and are allowed to enter into the essence of the meaning of Jesus Christ, his life of teaching and healing, his revelation of the God of love, and the meaning of servant sacrifice demanded of his followers to reveal to the world the glory and the honorableness of God’s redeeming love.
As we all approach the Holy Week season, it is our time, strangers though we all may be at times in our relationship to God, to seek what it means to know Jesus Christ, and to love God. It is a time of re-entry into the spirit of the Christian Faith.
When the strangers the Gentiles come to Philip and Andrew, it is as if they are folk throughout the ages have expressed curiosity, and human need for the presence of God. At times these strangers are a symbol of ourselves, when our lives become meaningless, or empty, or threatened, or terrified. There are times when we feel a sense of guilt, a for what we have done, or left undone, when those burdens seem intolerable. At such times there may certainly be a great need ‘to see’ Jesus, to reclaim him, to know him again for the first time, to be refreshed in meaning and purpose for our lives. I think that this story reveals and acknowledges that nearly every human being at one time or another needs to feel that presence of Jesus Christ, that proximity of his forgiveness and help, that wonderful direction that helps us to serve him, and to be the disciples that will lead others into his presence. I think that all of us at times need to have a spiritual alternate consciousness experience through prayer, through recognition of our needs to change, a vision of the world, which is often in crisis that needs the embracing image of the God of love surrounding it. In the midst of the present world and this time of war, evil is expressed and dramatized; it brings to mind in the sufferings of our own and the enemy, the painful suffering of our Lord dying on a cross that pleads for a new way of negotiation and love. We need the new vision of the human condition raised up and renewed. We need the Father, the Son of God, the Spirit of God to embrace us, and our world in a new and intimate way.
Jeremiah the prophet knew well that law of God was written on tablets and given to Moses. Jeremiah was also well aware that humans needed more than tablets. He taught and looked for a new covenant relationship with God, when the law of God would be written on the human heart: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people . . . . . . for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
What are the crises of each of our own lives: Alcoholism in the family; serious illness, cancer, family members in the Armed Forces, a divorce, a strained marital relationship, financial strain and stress, the stress of aging and our human confrontation with our mortality? All of these kinds of stresses in our lives can make us feel alone and out of control. Often they make us realize our greater need for God in our suffering and stress. Look at the Lord Jesus Christ, he knows it all and has endured it all, and understands. Turn to him, see him, get to know him, and enter into him, and let his way and love, forgiveness and hope be written on your hearts, that we may know his glory and receive his hope.
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