St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
March 21, 2021● Fifth Sunday in Lent (Year B)
Gospel: John 12:20-33
At this point in the John’s gospel. The Jewish religious leaders and the Pharisees were threatened by his growing following of believers; believers who had become so because of the signs he had been performing amongst them. And when Jesus raised to life again his friend, Lazarus, it was the last straw. If Jesus was spotted anywhere, the blood-thirsty chief priests and Pharisees were ready to arrest the dangerous disrupter of their religio-political status quo. Jesus’ teaching and actions, including his miraculous signs, were disrupting the status-quo of a religious system that functioned with the tainted tentacles of Roman governance. For the religious leaders, Jesus was a newly-ignited, quickly-spreading fire that needed to be permanently snuffed out quickly before causing further damage. Killing Jesus was about the religious leaders’ self-preservation in this earthly realm. Jesus’ obedience to God’s will for him to die on the cross was about the preservation of all souls in the heavenly realm.
Jesus was a wanted man. Would Jesus risk arrest by coming out of hiding to be in Jerusalem for the Passover? Not only did Jesus show up; he did so with his dangerous triumphal entry into Jerusalem, hailed by the crowds as the King of Israel in opposition to the Roman ruler. So here we are at the start of our gospel passage with a fully-exposed Jesus for all to see. Of course, believing Jews wanted to see Jesus. Certainly, those who plotted to kill him, wanted to see Jesus. And, there was yet another group of people, who had traveled to Jerusalem, wishing to see Jesus—the Greeks. And, Jesus’ disciples, Philip and Andrew, went and told Jesus of this group of Gentiles, who had showed up at his proverbial doorstep seeking an audience with him.
Jesus’ response was a declaration to his disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (v. 23). It was “Go Time.” We know that Jesus performed signs that always pointed to God and glorified God. Consider, that the arrival of the Greeks seeking Jesus was also a sign—a sign that signaled to Jesus—that the time for the fulfillment of his purpose was now.
The arrival of the Greeks meant that there were people beyond the Jews, who were ripe to receive the truth of Jesus’ identity and purpose. It was time for the one grain of wheat (a metaphor for Jesus’ life) to be broken open so that much fruit (a metaphor for the future mission of the church) might result. Without the death of Jesus, the life of the faith community—the church—would not have come into being.
To clarify, Jesus’ “hour” was not a moment in time as we would think of as 60 minutes. Jesus’ hour consisted of the continuous movement of his death on the cross, his resurrection and his ascension to the Father—all witnessed within this temporal realm of humanity, and also inextricably bound to humankind’s salvation in the cosmic realm.
With all eyes on Jesus, his hour to be glorified had come so that all who wished to see Jesus, and even all those who did not, would see Jesus in all of his glory through his death being lifted up on the cross; being lifted up from the grave; and being lifted up in returning to the Father.
Jesus as the final revelation of God to humankind on Earth, moved in obedience to God’s plan for universal salvation, not for his sake, but for ours.
What are we to make of Jesus’ declaration and the ways in which he spoke about his death? First, Jesus said that the judgment of this world is now. In the cross event, the judgment of this world was set in motion, and is still in motion. You and I live in this present, “go time” of urgency—an hour that demands that we, as Jesus’ disciples, remain committed to the way of the cross with full understanding that our faithfulness, or disobedience, to God’s will for our lives, in this temporal realm, has consequences for the soul in the cosmic realm.
Second, there are people in this world who, like the Greeks, desperately wish to see Jesus—they are seekers, many of whom are not even aware that it is Jesus whom their soul seeks. Like Andrew and Philip, our role is not to be the gatekeepers, hoarding Jesus for our believing selves, but to bring seekers to Christ. The body of Christ, the church, participates in Jesus’ drawing of all people to himself, by lifting up his name; lifting up the good news of God in Christ, and by following in the way of His cross lifted high.
Third, God’s faithful people must be able to hold both the heavenly things and the earthly things at the same time. Focusing on the heavenly things only, as a way to ignore and dismiss the urgent evil and darkness in this world now, is a cop out, and opposes Jesus’ drawing of all people to himself. This is a critical point because Jesus’ earthly cross and his heavenly crown are inseparable.
As Biblical commentator, John Sloyan, remarked, “…The Christian’s hour of glory is identical with the hour of obedience, pain and servanthood. The adage has it, no cross, no crown.”
As America reels from the aftermath of another slaughter of innocents, by a home-grown terrorist, we must respond to this urgent human need with the loving service of transforming the unjust structures of American society which make gun violence possible over and over again.
This time, the institutionalized sin of racism—a blood-soaked stain on the fabric of this country—manifested in the targeted slaughter of eight innocent people in Atlanta, six of whom were Asian-American women. Speaking truth to power, as Jesus did in his time, means holding this country accountable to telling the truth about its self-proclaimed identity as a unified nation under God—God who commanded, “You shall not murder,” and the God who commanded, “You shall not bear false witness.” When preserving the unjust systems of a society becomes the priority over keeping people from becoming collateral damage caused by those same violent systems, it is a sure sign that we are urgently in need of a come-to-Jesus moment at this present time.
And, we cannot, with integrity, live into our baptismal covenant by dismissing the violence done to the dignity of human beings when justice and peace become negligible. Jesus’ disruption of socio-political and religious structures of his day got him killed—a slaughtered innocent.
Disrupting the oppressive institutional systems which cause great suffering—even unto death—so that an entitled few can claim crowns made of human hands—is one way that the church fights on the earthly frontlines against evil in all of its forms, so that Satan is always on the run. When we do our part of lifting up the love and light of Christ in the face of hate and darkness, people notice, and are drawn through the Church, to Christ himself—now.
Brothers and sisters, it has been “go time” for a long time. Now is the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified. By virtue of our baptism, now is our time to glorify Christ. It is our urgent life’s purpose to create an environment in which people, believers and non-believers alike, are on the lookout for Jesus, and that in seeking Him, he becomes, not for his sake, but for ours, a wanted man.
Amen.
