In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Some Greeks had obviously heard of Jesus and approached Philip and asked him to show them Jesus. As you all know, a theme of our evangelism at St. Luke’s comes from John and is the phrase “Come and see.” In tonight’s passage from John, Jesus elaborates on what it means to come and see.
The word that these Greeks us for “to see,” isn’t the ordinary verb for sight. They’re not coming and asking that the light waves being reflected off of Jesus be allowed to enter their corneas and be processed so that their brain might perceive an image of Jesus. No, it’s not that kind of seeing that they’re after. The verb they use is a different one and has as sense of affirmation and knowledge, as in someone that says “I want to see my grandchildren graduate from college.” The person saying that doesn’t really mean they want to see a photograph of someone in a funny hat handing their grandchild a diploma. They mean that they want to be assured that their grandchild will make it through college. These Greeks want to be assured that the things that they’ve heard about Jesus are real.
Jesus’ response to them though is odd. He comes and tells them that unless a grain of wheat dies and is buried in the earth, fruit will not come of it. He then later says that he will be lifted up from the earth, drawing all people to himself. What Jesus is saying is that he cannot be seen in the fullness of his glory except for when he is lifted up on the Cross. You want to see Jesus in the sense of knowing who he is and being assured of God’s love in him? Then look to the Cross.
The Cross, and the parable that Jesus uses about the grain, shows us the contradictory truth of our salvation. “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life will keep it,” Jesus says. This is a paradox. It doesn’t make sense in a world where we are told “you can do anything that you put your mind to.” Very clearly, Jesus exposes that as a lie. You cannot save your own life, but trying to do so can actually cause us to lose that very life that we seek to protect.
John Calvin commented that there is nothing wrong with loving our lives, but there must always be a limit to that love and that when the time comes for us to relinquish it, we should be prepared to offer it back to God. As we all know, a closed fist cannot accept anything, nor can it let go of things that need to be released. Sin, resentment, selfishness, greed, anger, frustration, and doubt are all things that we grasp onto when we try to protect our lives at all costs. Sure, by these means we might prolong our lives or make them more comfortable, but only by letting go of the lie that we are in control do we encounter the grace that comes when we are under the rule of Christ. Unless the grain dies, no fruit will come of it.
Jesus models this in his Passion. Jesus speaks of being lifted up and thereby drawing all to him. The paradox continues. The place where Jesus is lifted up is the Cross, the instrument of public shaming, God forsakenness, and execution. But the word for “lifted up” not only means being physically lifted up, it refers to the lifting up of one’s status, as in an enthronement. Jesus’ Crucifixion is his enthronement. He becomes Messiah not by riding a chariot on a victory lap, not by being seated on a throne, not by plunging his sword into the final enemy. Rather, Jesus gives new life to the world only by losing his life in the worst possible way.
There is no way that we would have ever understood this if Jesus didn’t show us this way. This paradoxical reality is not something that we would have guessed or eventually figured out on our own. We would have continued thinking that brute force is stronger than love, we would have continued looking after our own self-interests, we would have still believed that death is final. But in looking at Jesus as he is lifted up and exalted upon the Cross, we truly see Jesus. And so if we want to know about God’s love, or mercy, or peace, we must look first to the Cross because it is the place where Jesus directs our gaze. On the Cross we see paradox that losing our life leading to eternal life. If you want to see Jesus, look to the Cross.
