Sermon – Sunday 17th March 2024 – St Anne’s, Wrenthorpe (Communion by Extension)
Holy God, as we journey towards the Cross,
May our hearts, our minds and our souls be open to you;
That we might hear you and see you;
and seek your Glory, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
First, a confession…. of sorts!
I love trees.
Any size and type, including bonsai.
I love planting trees, and have planted many, over the years – hundreds, in fact – in gardens and parks, and on several by-passes in the south of England!
Some of these I have returned to many years later and marvelled at their glorious majesty. How they fill the landscape, their shelter and bounty.
Some species grow more rapidly than others – and a few, nurtured from seed, have sadly had to be cut down.
Horse-chestnuts, for example, whilst becoming lovely in themselves, do not always make for suitable trees in a moderate suburban garden!
The Oak has become one of my favourites.
I love the acorn; the shape and the colour of them.
I love to collect them, on a walk, and then plant them in a little pot, or maybe someplace more open; and then wait….
Whilst waiting, I ponder on two things:
Should I have given these acorns to our visiting squirrel, who always looks hungry…
And also, will I ever sit under the shade of this tree?
To the first, well….. he or she gets plenty of the nuts put out for the birds…. And….
To the second…. Well, I have no answer to that, really.
In planting the seed, the next stage is out of our hands…. Beyond sight….
The seed is changed and transformed… to become something else, that we might hope to see in all its glory, maybe one day.
As a miraculous source of energy, gifted by creation, it literally “dies” as a seed – giving all of its invisible resources to new life….
That the world might become better because of it.
That we too might become transformed by this amazing thing!
Now, in the context of today’s Gospel, we too are “some Greeks”.
Such people were identified as non-jewish, Gentiles, perhaps visiting from far away.
They had heard about the God of Israel, and maybe heard of a local guy, saying some good, hopeful stuff!
They wanted to know more. And why not!
As always with John – Jesus, in this passage, moves the entire narrative forward.
Jesus does not say:
“Ah ha! Visitors, nice one! Come to see what I’m up to, wanting to get in on all of this Messiah stuff, eh?”
No. Not that.
We don’t really know what they truly “wanted” to see.
Here we are offered a glimpse of what Jesus believed they – and us – would see, in time…. In God’s time.
And Jesus says: “The hour has come…”
He knows that all the former moments, the preparations, the stories, the encounters…. It all comes to “now” and, what will happen next in Jerusalem and beyond.
And He is troubled….. here is a moment where Jesus acknowledges his own frail humanity.
This is before we get to Gethsemane, and His imminent arrest and trial.
John choses to show us Jesus in this way at a time when all around, people are celebrating the possibilities that a Messiah might bring!
This passage takes place after all the palm waving and donkey riding, that we read about next week.
Such is the way of our Lectionary!
How can Jesus be The Messiah and yet talk about imminent human death?
No wonder His disciples were confused!
Yet, even Jesus feels fear – even with a relationship of perfect trust, that He has with the Father….
Whatever resurrection – whatever glory – that will come, the death that Jesus faces will be real and terrible.
“Now my soul is troubled…” He says.
And should He seek a way out? An alternative? A special deal with God?
No, not this guy.
And then the voice like thunder…
At the point where the Christ can truly see the pain before Him, amidst the whole purpose of His mission – God speaks.
Whatever is heard – what matters for us, is that God does glorify His Son, and will do so again….
Glorify, though…. What did that mean?
Well, probably not what those around Jesus had imagined.
Not the sort of glory that goes with the warrior Messiah – entering Jerusalem ready for battle against the oppressors, with a sword and an army…..!
Instead, it is the cross which will become ‘the glory of God’.
God would no longer be a distant figure concealed in fire and smoke, but grounded in the reality of crucifixion, in human suffering.
It was time for Jesus to be lifted up – crucified – so that all people could be drawn to him.
What is glory for us?
More money, more prestige, more power?
Winning and being seen as a winner…. Looking successful and not surrounded by losers and the drabness of mediocrity and failure?
Is that it?
For Jesus, glory was about giving more. Jesus gives himself to his friends by washing their feet; he gives himself to the world by dying on the cross.
Indeed His whole purpose was to give glory to God and remind the world that God’s glory was paramount.
I think we see this, don’t we? I believe that is how we try live, but…
All around us are people who want to see Jesus.
Whatever we know and understand, do other people see Christ in us?
Do they see the Servant King who washed feet?
Do they see the prophet who cleansed the Temple?
Do they see the healer who made the blind see?
Do they see us painfully letting go, dying to the past in order that we may live for the future?
For if we are to let people see Jesus in us, then we must go and sit at His feet, let Him heal us.
In the days to come, go and meet Him in prayer and sacrament, and above all stand at the cross and wonder – as the glory of God lapses, into silence and death.
And then, beyond that…. Into the silent earth, into the stone – into the darkness….
And then the Light will come….
The transformation will begin….
Hold on to this…
For what will people truly see of God in us this week?
When others come to ask us about Jesus, during this time, what will we tell them?
Will we tell them some stories from the Bible?
Maybe we can talk about Jesus as The Son of God – big picture stuff.
Encourage them to come with us to church.
Or maybe you will see how troubled they are, how unsure of how to make sense of it all.
And maybe you will show them a seed – perhaps an acorn….
Then maybe you can encourage them into the light, after darkness.
And have hope.
I pray that is so, and ask God’s blessings on us as we draw near to the cross.
Amen.
Photo by Alexander Klarmann on Unsplash