Obedience to Death; John 12:20-33

Sermon for Sunday 02/04/06 @ 6pm
 

Don’t’ be surprised to read of Greeks in Jerusalem at Passover time. They were the great tourists of the ancient world, full of curiosity about other countries and other people; particularly the Middle East. Indeed, in the upper Nile valley there is an Egyptian statue put up perhaps 500 years before the time of Jesus on which a Greek tourist scratched his name.

As we know from Paul’s visit to Athens, what the Greeks were most curious about was religion. There were altars all over the town, including one ‘to an unknown god’ – perhaps a recognition that they had not yet found the true God. Well, here were these Greeks in Jerusalem, looking for what? Something to talk about when they got home? Perhaps they had been in the Temple Court a few days earlier when Jesus had thrown out the traders and money changers and said ‘This is a house of prayer for all nations!’ Perhaps they said to themselves ‘we want to know more of this man’.

The Greeks were the Americans of the ancient world, always in a hurry. So they lost no time about it and asked Philip who came from Bethsaida in Galilee where Greek was well understood, who asked his friend Andrew who took them to Jesus, knowing that he would not brush them off as a nuisance. We can imagine the tourists all ready with their questions. The kind of personal questions that journalists like to ask. Perhaps, ‘what do you think of your opponents? What happened next rather reminds us of the way politicians deal with questions from journalists. Sometimes on TV you could see politicians being asked a question. They know the answer but because that is not what they want to say, they answer a question they think should have been asked. The politicians have a message which they must get over to the voters. Or perhaps the writer of the Gospel just didn’t bother to report the question. From Jesus’ answer I think it might have been ‘Sir what is going on in Jerusalem?’ So Jesus told them: ‘what is going on’, he said, ‘is the glorification of the Son of Man’. What on earth did they make of that? When Great painters have tried to express it they have shown Christ on a golden throne, with a gold halo and a look of remote majesty. Is that the picture Jesus had of himself when he said it? I don’t think so. The word Glory means ‘the disclosing or revelation of the true nature of the person’.

A friend of mine visited her new mother-in-law unexpectedly and found her up to the eyes in Spring cleaning the living room. Carpet up, curtains down, furniture in the back yard. She was on her knees scrubbing the floor. With a huge smile on her face, she said to my friend, ‘HERE I AM IN MY GLORY’. In the Tyneside dialect, that means ‘This is what I am really like. As my friend discovered, her mother-in-law found joy and delight in getting things clean. Transfer that idea to Jesus that day with the Greeks. ‘What’s going on in Jerusalem? What’s going on is that the true nature of the Son of Man is about to be made manifest to all. It is to suffer on behalf of humanity.

Maybe the Greeks already knew that the term ‘Son of Man’ was traditional among the Jews and meant ‘God’s representative among us’. Whether they did or not, they could not mistake the meaning of the parable Jesus then told them: ‘if a wheat grain falls to the ground and does not die, it remains just that – dry seed. But if it dies, from it comes new life’. If Jesus had kept out of trouble and preserved his life in safety and security, we should never have heard of these Greek tourists and you and I would not be in church today worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ.

John envisaged the fullness of saving power which would be given to him to draw all people to himself; including the Greeks. Jesus final aim in his glorification was the giving of life to all believers. It is to make his death bear fruit for many. Jesus death is necessary to bring rich missionary fruits. Jesus answered the question indirectly by saying that the Gentiles were also included in the new plan.

Jesus then emphasised the necessity of dying and the meaning of death which find their significance in life and fullness which follow it. John tells us that Jesus asked the Father to remove the cup from him; he did not ignore Jesus distress at his imminent death. Jesus experiences it and accepts it, he does not back out of it or get himself saved from it. Even for John, the cross has not lost its human darkness. The Son accepts the Father’s will, submits to the attack of ‘the rulers of this world’, bears being abandoned by the disciples. But through the obedience of the Son, and through the answer of the Father, who reveals his love to the Son, this hour is transformed and its deeper significance revealed. In an impressive little parable Jesus illustrates the fruitfulness of his death, a fruitfulness which will lead to his glorification. The argument went as follow: if the grain of wheat, which is laid naked in the ground, grows up again in however many changes of clothing, how much more will that be true of the just, believers in the saving power of God.

Jesus could see what was coming and he told it plainly. He said ‘when I am lifted up’ – and his disciples and friends knew what that meant. It was the common phrase for crucifixion. The shock and horror of these words got hold of them all! But he went on ‘when I am lifted up I will draw everyone to myself’.

Through these verses, this gospel teaches us first, that salvation is for everybody, Jews and non-Jews. Greeks and all the Gentiles were equally to be included in God’s plan: no consideration of nationality, colour, sex or education. We are all included in God’s plan for salvation. The most important effect of Jesus death is the salvation of all men and women who come to him and let him guide them. This was the great message of the early Methodists. It comes in hymn after hymn. ‘NOT JUST FOR THE GOOD, BUT FOR ALL’. ‘FOR ALL MY LORD WAS CRUCIFIED, FOR ALL, FOR ALL, MY SAVIOUR DIED’ (Charles Wesley).

The second thing is that losing one’s security and following Jesus in his abandonment of personal safety leads to a new life. The disciples’ call to become missionaries later on among the Greeks is linked to the necessity of discipleship which could mean death. The disciples and the Greeks, if they were still listening, are shown that death will not be the end, but the perfection of true life.

Finally, how do we think of our discipleship? As a kind of insurance policy for permanent joy and happiness, away from suffering? Many Christians who have relapsed into unbelief sometimes say that God let them down. They had come expecting happiness but encountered suffering and pain even within the churches. This happened to the disciples too. But although they fled in terror, abandoned Jesus and hid from those who had come to arrest him, they did not hide later when they were themselves confronted by their persecutors. Indeed they, like him went bravely to death. So following Christ can bring pain, suffering, and even death.

So let us take time to think about it in these days of preparation to Easter. Like the Greeks, let us ask what is going on? And answer our own question ‘the Prince of Love is making his home in the hearts of men and women’. Amen.

By Paul Nzacahayo

© 2006