The Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 22

If You Want to See Jesus, Look in the Mirror
John 12:20-33

Some Greeks came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

It’s interesting to speculate who they were and what motivated them to seek out Jesus. They are Jews, come to Jerusalem for Passover. In John’s Gospel, the stories we heard read this morning take place immediately after Jesus’ “Palm Sunday” triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The events of Jesus’ life and ministry are building toward their conclusion.

We don’t know anything about these Greeks. At the most basic level they are what today we would call seekers. They want to actually see Jesus, to have a personal encounter Jesus. Perhaps they had heard about Jesus. But now they wish to see him, to know him, maybe to be known by Jesus.

Interestingly, John doesn’t tell us if they actually do get to see or meet Jesus. But John does show us Jesus. The Jesus whom the Greeks seek… John shows us who he is. Just in these few verses John identifies three qualities of Jesus.

1) He is glorified by God. The divine voice from heaven says: My name is glorified in you. Elsewhere in the Gospels, of course, the divine voice proclaims Jesus as God’s child, God’s Son, God’s beloved. Jesus is beloved of God and bears the presence and glory of God.

2) Right after the conversation with Philip and Andrew, Jesus talks about his coming death, and about the cross as the way of life. The Jesus who is on his way to the cross and, after three days, resurrection embodies the transformational journey from suffering to hope, from death to life. And by his death and resurrection he shows that, with God’s power and love, love and life are more powerful than fear and death.

3) Finally, Jesus asks for people to serve him. Those who follow Jesus serve Jesus. And to serve Jesus is to serve those whom he served. People who are outcast, poor, lost, hungry, sick. To be with Jesus is to bring hope and healing to the people whom Jesus cares for.

Jesus is beloved of God and bears the presence and glory of God. Jesus embodies the power of God’s transformational journey from suffering to hope, from death to life. And Jesus brings God’s care in tangible ways to people who are in need.

Apparently in some faith traditions or other denominations, it is customary to carve the words of the Greeks on pulpits. “We wish to see Jesus.” For better or worse, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in an Episcopal Church.

Among some of the commentators I read this week, there was a great deal of angst about whether or not present-day seekers really would encounter Jesus in our worship services. Are we preaching the right sermons, singing the right music, sharing the right liturgy, so that a seeker would, if fact, see and encounter Jesus in our churches? These are certainly good questions to ask. And it should be a legitimate expectation of anyone coming through the doors of a church for worship to meet Jesus here… at least from time to time.

BUT. If. YOU. really. want. to. see. Jesus…. LOOK IN THE MIRROR!

Look in the mirror. The face that you see is a beloved child of God. Someone in whom the glory and presence of God abides.

Look in the mirror. You will see someone in whom God’s love and power is working transformation. Someone on the journey—now—from suffering to hope, from death to life. Someone in whom, by God's grace and power, life and love are triumphing over fear, hatred, darkness and death.

If you want to see Jesus, look in the mirror. You will see the voice and hands of Christ today serving people today who are poor, marginalized, sick. The voice, the hands, the care of Christ made real in our world today.

We are the Body of Christ, in all of the fullness that that means. God’s sons and daughters, beloved and glorified by God. People on the transformative resurrection journey. People called to serve the world in Christ’s name.

And, if each of us can look in the mirror and at least glimpse the face of Jesus looking back at us, and carry that awareness with us throughout our lives… Then we don’t have to worry quite so much about whether or not seekers we see and encounter Jesus in the rituals of the Church. Those who seek for Jesus, whether we meet them here in church or out there somewhere in the world, will see Jesus in us.