John 12:20-33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’
Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgement 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.
Where do you look to see Jesus? On the night before Easter, Carol Issak opened up a bag of Clancy’s potato chips from Aldi and as she pulled out that second chip, she exclaimed to her husband Vern, “look at this!” To which he shouted, “that looks like Jesus on the cross!” The couple took this sighting as a sign of hope in the midst of Vern’s health problems.
But if you don’t have luck seeing Jesus in your next bag of frito’s, perhaps you’ll see him seared into your next piece of meat or fishstick, as Fred Whan did back in 2003! The fried Jesus portrait is frozen safely in Whan’s freezer as he waits for the right time to sell it on Ebay.
And if you have no luck with food, maybe go for a walk in the woods and you’ll see Jesus in the trees, as some people did in a small Argentinian town. Now thousands of people flock to General Las Heras to see the fame woodworker on this work in the woods.
Or perhaps look higher in Argentina and you’ll be lucky enough to see Jesus in the clouds as Mónica Aramayo did. In 2019 she shared what she said was a perfectly-timed image she took on her camera phone to "bless" others online. i’m somewhat skeptical.
Seeing Jesus in the world around us is nothing new. For centuries, people have claimed to see a real, living Jesus on crucifixes in chapels, in visions when alone in nature, or by way of a divine stranger. Whether these encounters are true or factual or not doesn’t matter much, or at least it doesn't to me. Because what I think these stories, Jesus on the potato chip or a vision of him in the woods, really show is a desire, a longing, to not simply “see Jesus’, but to have an encounter with him and for that encounter to change something in their life. It reminds me of the Greeks from our gospel reading.
There’s this group of Greeks who have traveled who knows how long of a distance to get to Jerusalem. What’s curious to me is that these Greeks were likely not Jews, meaning they weren’t there to worship at the Passover festival like everyone else. These Greeks had their own religion. They likely prayed to Zeus and Aphrodite; made sacrifices to Ares and Athena, yet they’ve come all this way looking for something, looking for someone. No surprise that the group approached the disciple who bears a Greek name, Philip, and who comes from a mostly Greek town, Bethsaida. And they say to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”.
Maybe these Greeks were unhappy with the religion of their parents; maybe they were frustrated by their gods; maybe they were philosophers looking for an argument; regardless of why, what’s clear is they want to see Jesus.
They don’t ask Philip to tell them what he knows about Jesus. They don’t want a list of beliefs. They don’t ask to join a committee or a new member class. They ask to see Jesus. And the word “see” here in John isn’t just the physical act of light hitting retinas. It means they want an encounter, to meet him face to face, an experience with this Jesus they’ve likely heard so much about.
What’s not clear in our passage is if the Greeks wish ever comes true. As soon as they ask, Philip goes to Andrew, and then they both go to Jesus to make the request. But instead of instructing his disciples to bring the greeks to him, Jesus jumps into some discourse that on the face of it, seems completely unrelated to the request: seeds dying in the dirt, loving and hating life, the hour of glory. What does any of that have to do with seeing Jesus?
This request from the Greeks is more than just a group of people wanting to see Jesus. It’s an indication that this movement has gone beyond the Jews, reaching gentiles now too.
Which for Jesus means the hour has come for him to be glorified, to do what he came to do; it’s time to be lifted up, for this single grain of wheat to be buried in the ground, and to draw all people to himself. In other words, Jesus is telling anyone and everyone that if you want to encounter me, look to the cross because that’s where you’ll see me.
It’s in the last place we expect to look. And Jesus says this is glory? For us, glory is wealth and comfort, beauty and success; but for Jesus, it means service, suffering, and sacrifice. The best view we get of Jesus, the place we encounter his grace, and experience his love most, is standing at the foot of the cross. Because there on the cross we see service, suffering, and sacrifice for the benefit of others; that’s what it means to see Jesus.
The question for us this morning is, If those Greeks showed up at Cross of Grace, would they see what they’re looking for? Would they see service and suffering and sacrifice for the benefit of others? Because that’s what others want and need to see. Maybe people are unhappy with the religion of their parents, or frustrated/hurt by another church, or simply looking for something, someone to tell them they are loved. Regardless of why, there is a longing, a desire to encounter this Jesus that so many have heard about. Do you see that, when you come here?
I do and I know others do too. Maybe you’ve encountered Jesus through the wide welcome and affirming love we share here. Or through a meal with our friends on the Eastside through our agape ministry. I saw Christ on full display yesterday as Emily Michaelis made vows to serve all of God people out in the world as an Ordained minister of Word and Service. And throughout Lent, I have experienced God in our Wenesday rituals as we bear our grief and suffering together. Hopefully you too experience Jesus in this place.
Yet, we don’t only see Jesus in the church, nor should we.
Like me, many of you kept an eye on the weather Thursday night, hoping the storm would pass and no tornados would hit. The communities of Winchester and Selma, two small towns in Delaware county, weren't so lucky. Reports I’ve read say at least one EF3 tornado hit the towns, maybe more. 22 homes had been leveled, more than 100 buildings had been damaged, and three people died.
Scott Ries was the only ER Doctor working at the local hospital that night. In a moving Facebook post, he set the scene. Before they knew all of what happened, 10 people were brought in: limping, bleeding, screaming, terror stricken. The Taco Bell across the street had just exploded. Within the hour, nearly 40 more patients arrived, overwhelming the hospital and this doctor.
Scott says, “but then, word spread... and I found myself surrounded by medical professionals ready to help. In less than an hour, 4 local physicians and 7 nurse practitioners,
nurses from all areas and even other hospitals, some of whom had just finished working 12 hours returned to the ER... respiratory therapists... xray techs... EMS personnel of all sorts... flooded to our side, with everyone asking one singular question in unity... "How can I help?"
Other hospitals called and said they would take patients, but all of the hospitals’ ambulances were too busy bringing people to this hospital.
Just at that time, the hospital CEO said, “Dr. Ries we have 21 ambulances lined up outside ready to take patients wherever you need them to go.” By the grace of God, no lives that passed through our ER were lost. While the long haul work of recovery for the community will now begin, I am so very proud of our extended team and how each member responded with such grace and willingness to serve.”
We don’t see Jesus in glory, or in the clouds, and certainly not in potato chips. We see and experience Jesus in stories like that, where service, suffering, and sacrifice happen for the benefit of others.
There, in the places we’d least expect to look, we see Jesus. Amen.
