5th Sunday in Lent
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; Psalm 119:9-16; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33
Gospel: John 12:20-33
20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very 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. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27“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. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
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Because We Are Troubled
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees were worried. When Jesus returned to Jerusalem to observe the Passover festival, he first stopped in Bethany to bring his friend Lazarus from the dead. If you remember, Lazarus was very dead. It had been 4 days, and there were concerns his body could be already decomposing. When Lazarus rises from the tomb, it is a public spectacle powerful enough to convince many to become Jesus’ followers and grant him a joyful welcome to Jerusalem. It also convinced the nay-sayers it was time to have him killed.
The world’s light was shining brighter than the surroundings. I wonder if this brightness is what caused these Greeks who did not belong to the covenant to come to Jerusalem. See, the world – or the Kosmos – was indeed coming to Jesus (John 12:9), and the ones who, from the shadows, kept others out would not have that. When the entourage of foreigners arrived, Jesus was possibly at the temple grounds reserved only for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Where Jesus was, they could not be. Therefore, their desire to have an audience with him must be passed along to the disciples to make Jesus aware of their presence.
Suddenly, the outsiders disappear. The ones who came to see the light of righteousness become unseen even to the writer of the gospel and, consequently, to the readers. Where did they go? It does not matter. They don’t matter. They have filled their role. Their arrival alerted Jesus that the hour had come. Their job is done, and they are now an afterthought. They must be forgotten, cease to exist, and die so Jesus can be glorified by the Father and the kingdom of heaven bear its fruit. Whatever the reason brought them from afar to be seen by Christ is irrelevant. What matters now is that the hour for Jesus to vindicate all who had followed and know him has come. He will now make fools out of the powers and the lords of this world. They will throw the worst at him, but he will rise victorious to prove that evil, death, and lies will not win. Yet, where did the outsider go?
However, Jesus’ soul is viscerally troubled, so troubled that his body is feeling the pain of the heart. The last time the savior of the world felt this disturbed was when Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, greeted him upon his arrival at Bethany and let him know her brother would still be alive if he had come sooner.
Jesus gets troubled when our souls are troubled.
Jesus’ soul gets troubled because he has come to know our shame, fears, grief, and sorrow. Jesus sees every single one of us and understands what troubles do to us. Jesus draws all the people to meet him at the foot of the cross so they can die to despair and rise again with him in new life. I wonder if those strangers came to meet the light of the world carrying heavy burdens, and his own soul became troubled so that theirs could be set free.
When Jesus says he will draw all people to himself, he means it. He has that desire, he has that pull, he has that power. His sheep come to listen to him, and Jesus sees every single one of them for who they are. They know him, and he knows them. He, too, was their creator. He, too, was responsible for their upbringing. He, too, is their protector. The foot of the cross is not where the journey ends. Jesus was never bigger than his promises or his love. He will lift them up from the dread and the pain and bring them along through the shadows of death to the place where, together, their joy will be complete.
You belong to the promise; we belong to the promise, and the promise is for all who come to him. Jesus is forever our Lord and forever we will be his people. He wants you seen, and he wants you restored. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Amen.
Bridging Faith 