"We Wish to See Jesus"

Sermon by The Rev. Cindy Carter 

March 17, 2024

The religious leaders knew they had to do something. When they heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, they knew they had to do something. And, John’s Gospel tells us that “from that day on they planned to put him to death.”

So, Jesus laid low with his disciples in the wilderness for a while. But, as the Feast of the Passover drew near, Jesus headed toward Jerusalem and a final confrontation with the powers that sought to destroy him and the message he brought. 

First, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, just outside Jerusalem. Bethany was the hometown of Lazarus – the one Jesus had raised from the dead - and his sisters Mary and Martha. And when Jesus arrived in Bethany, these three good friends threw a dinner party for him. After dinner, Mary anointed Jesus’s feet with expensive, aromatic oil and then wiped his feet with her hair, in an extravagant, faithful act of love and devotion that filled the whole house with a beautiful fragrance. Perhaps Mary knew that this dear friend would not be with them much longer. 

When word got out that Jesus was back in Bethany and at Lazarus’ home, a great crowd gathered there. They gathered not only to see Jesus, but also they came to see Lazarus – this one who had been dead and now was alive. Now the religious leaders knew they had to do something – not only about Jesus but also about Lazarus.

The following day the crowd that was already gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover festival heard that Jesus was coming into town, and they went out to meet him with palm branches and shouts of Hosanna. 

And, they kept talking. Talking about Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb, talking, talking, talking about Jesus. And, the religious leaders knew that things were out of control – everyone was going after Jesus to follow him. They had to do something.

That is the ominous and threatening setting for our Gospel reading today.

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 

We don’t know exactly who these Greeks were. They may have been Gentile converts to Judaism, but more likely they were Jews who had been dispersed from their homeland. We don’t know exactly why they had come to Jerusalem for the Passover festival this year. 

But, I am guessing that in Jerusalem they had heard all this talk about Jesus, because they came to one of the disciples, Philip, with a request –

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?

Then, Philip went and told Andrew about this request. 

Now I have a special place in my heart for Andrew.  First, because Andrew is the saint for whom the parish in Kansas City where I first acknowledged God’s call to ordained ministry is named. It is the place where my call was shaped and challenged, and the place where clergy and lay people helped me discern more fully the call I was hearing. I never hear the name Andrew that I do not see in my mind the beautiful stained glass window of Andrew high above the back of the nave there. 

But there is another reason that Andrew holds a special place in my heart. I love Andrew, because he seems be the guy who over and over again brings people to Jesus.

It is often said that “it’s all who you know.” Connections are important, and John’s Gospel makes it clear that if you wanted to know Jesus, then it was good to know Andrew. 

First, it was his brother Simon Peter – when Andrew told Simon that he had found the Messiah and then brought him to Jesus. 

Then, it was a boy who had five barley loaves and two fish with him, when Jesus and his disciples were faced with thousands of hungry people and nothing with which to feed them. It was Andrew who said, “There is a little boy here..” and then connected that little boy to Jesus. 

And, now it is Andrew who takes these Greeks who are seeking to see Jesus to the master.

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?

I have found myself wondering – If those Greeks (or others like them) were to show up here at All Saints his morning would they be granted their heart’s desire? Would they be able to see Jesus? Could we help them with their request?

If people came here today, with this request that these Greeks made, would they be able to see the Jesus who reveals the heart of a loving God by giving up all of himself and going to the cross? Would they see Jesus, whose love knows no boundaries? Would they see Jesus, whose table always has room for more? Would they see Jesus, who brought people into his work of ministry, who shared that ministry with them so they could share the love they had found? 

Or, would they leave disappointed? Still seeking to see Jesus?

Of course, I would like to think that we, like Andrew, would point them to Jesus. Not that they would simply hear about Jesus (although that is important), but that they would truly see Jesus. That Jesus would be real for them in what they saw and experienced here at All Saints. 

What does it mean to show people Jesus? 

I think this is more than a passing question for a Sunday morning sermon. I think it is something for us to think seriously about – individually and as a congregation. Because how can we claim to be Christ’s body in the world – Christ’s eyes and ears, head and heart, feet and hands – if how we live does not show people Jesus?

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, the Bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in Britain and Ireland from 1957 to 2003, said that “We should try to live in such a way that if the Gospels were lost, they could be rewritten by looking at us.”

Following the example of Andrew who showed others the way to Jesus, may it be so with us.

AMEN.