"We Want to See Jesus"1
03-29-09
A few years back, a popular movie was My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Great Movie! Toula, a thirty-something single woman is looking for more in life than working in the family’s Greek diner. Her father tells her, "Nice Greek girls are supposed to do three things in life: marry a nice Greek boy, make babies, and feed everyone till the day we die." So you can imagine that Toula runs into problems when she falls in love with Ian. Ian is not a Greek boy and Toula’s Mr. Right becomes her parents’ Mr. Wrong.
You can almost hear the us and them screeching and colliding as the story develops. Ian’s proper, wealthy parents agree to meet with Toula’s family for a get-aquatinted party. You can imagine Ian’s parent’s horror and embarrassment as they pull up to the curb and there amidst the modest suburban homes is Toula’s house, a miniature version of the Parthenon complete with large Corinthian columns and statues, and horror of all horrors, Toula’s family is having a lamb roast on the front lawn.
It is a scene that when the audience peers in on this interaction they are both embarrassed for the participants and humored by the glimpses of their own family portrayals being played out on the screen. And by the movie’s end, our pale uppity family finds in the Greeks a robust and exotic community, though unorthodox, and both cultures are able to move beyond their suspicions to form a new family. But you just never know what will happen when the Greeks arrive.
Greeks. That’s who arrive at Passover in our gospel lesson. Now, technically, the word Greek refers to Toula’s kin, people of Greek descent, languages and culture. Yet in Jesus’ time Greek meant anyone influenced by Greek or what was dubbed "Hellenistic culture", and that was most anyone in Jesus’ part of the world whom lived in towns and cities rather than those who existed in the rural countryside. Among the pious Jews in Jerusalem the word Greek had an even broader meaning. For them there were only two groups in the world: the Jews, a group of people held together by descent, language and culture, and Greeks, the rest of the world.
In this morning’s story John tells us that some non-Jewish types had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and they pay a visit to Phillip. These "Greeks" or Gentiles, ask Phillip if they could "see" Jesus. Funny thing is Phillip isn’t sure of the protocol concerning Greeks so he says, "Um please wait here a minute, and I’ll get right back to you," and he hightails it around the corner to confer with his other disciple buddy Andrew. So here is Phillip out of breath saying, "Hey Andrew, we’ve got a problem-some Greeks want to see Jesus." These Greeks who came to see Jesus came with new eyes. They came hoping to see Jesus, not some reflection of their own desires. Spirituality is, more than anything else, the art of seeing, first, seeing things "as they are," and second, seeing things as they can be. These Greeks, want to see Jesus, they want to experience Jesus in their lives. Tired of all the rational philosophies and salvation systems Greek culture offered them, John's God-fearing Greeks asked for a direct encounter with experiential knowledge -- "Sir, we wish to see Jesus!"
Andrew’s response, "Greeks? Are they good Greek boys, from a good Greek family? Are they respectful? They aren’t a part of our system, and our rules." Here are these people who desire to see Christ and know Christ, and Christ’s disciples are hesitant about letting them in the door because they don’t quite fit the mold. So apparently undecided on how to proceed Phillip and Andrew go as a team and approach Jesus together to tell him about the Greek guys wanting to see Jesus.
At this point in the story we are uncertain what Jesus will say about these Greek outsiders. After all Jesus never ceases to amaze us with his unconventional ways does he? Will he ask a question or tell a parable? Furthermore, it is one thing to share the gospel message with a group of Jews. Life had been so nice and tidy up to this point- the Israelites? No problem all of his disciples were true-blue Jews. They spoke the same language, ate the same foods, swapped the same fish stories, lived in the same towns and shared a common history. Hellenized Jews would be a little harder to deal with. Most of them lived outside of Jerusalem, spoke different languages, and didn’t adhere to the Torah quite a strictly. Yet our author pushes the church of his day even further doesn’t he? "What about the Greeks?" That’s everyone else in the world. Where is there place in the Gospel for them? Bringing them into the group might be risky. A gospel that includes the Greeks? Imagine that! Phillip does imagine that and it freaks him out a little so he and Andrew form a committee of two and approach Jesus.
It is interesting that the Greeks approach Phillip of all people in the first place. You would think they would have approached Peter, James, or the Beloved disciple. It may have been a totally different story if they had approached Peter who tends to talk with out thinking. "Little far from the Acropolis, aren’t’ we, boys? What? What do you mean you want to see Jesus? This is a private membership club, so sorry boys no room."
There is something about Phillip and Andrew you should know; both have Greek names. Phillip’s name means "lover of horses" and Andrew’s name means "manly". So perhaps there was a level of comfort approaching a disciple with a Greek name. And another thing the author wants us to know, in the Gospel of John, Andrew and Philip were the first people to become disciples, and not only that, but right from the start they are mission–driven.
In chapter 1 Jesus calls out to Andrew and Andrew comes with a friend, and as a result of his conversation with Jesus, Andrew returns with his brother Simon. The next day the same thing happens to Philip. Jesus calls to Philip and Philip reacts just like Andrew. He rushes off to share this invitation with Nathaniel. John wants us to remember that Andrew and Philip are mission minded people, and so it is appropriate that the Greeks should come to them, in there interest to meet Jesus.
Yet what is so astonishing about this story is even such staunch missioners as Phillip and Andrew are unsure of Jesus’ policy toward Greeks. These disciples have followed Jesus for quite some time, and they honestly don’t know what to do with the outside. Maybe this is a boundary-issue story; a church boundary issue. There must be some kind of limit as to whom Jesus is inviting into our groups. So they wonder: Jewish? Alright; Hellenized Jews? Most probably; God-fearers? Maybe with a little education; But Greeks? We got to ask about them.
Let’s play with the broadest definition of Greeks to mean anyone on the outside of our respective communities of faith. If we say that Greeks are anyone who is clearly different from us then first of all, who are the "Greeks?" They are older or younger than us, a different race, a different sexuality, those with no faith system, those with a non-Christian faith system. Maybe they wear blue jeans and t-shirts, or body jewelry? Do they drink Ensure or need help with their meds? Do they like opera or techno? Do they worship the latest music star or actor more than Jesus? Do they sing "I Care 4 U" better than "Amazing Grace"? Are they more familiar with USA Today than with NRSV, and Dutch Bros than the Bread and Cup?
"We want to see Jesus." People today want to see Jesus. They want to feel the covenant burning in their hearts. Experiential knowledge does not just inform, it transforms. Christ's story is not yet finished. We are called to complete the story of Christ by spreading the gospel. We are called to help lift Christ up before the rest of the world. The living experience of "seeing Christ" must ignite a fire in us that compels us to make Christ known to others. It seems we set up attitudes, sometimes unintentionally, in our congregations that have worked against us in mission: believe like us- adopt the same brand of doctrine as we do. Behave like us- value the same rules as we do,- share our experience, adopt our experiences and in short, become like us, talk like us, dress like us, see the world like us. We do well to keep the sheep already in the pen happy. I wonder if in the context of the gospel lesson, we need to recover the ability to engage the Greeks?
So Philip and Andrew take the request to Jesus, "Jesus there are some Greeks who want to meet you." And in that rare powerful moment something connects deeply and passionately within Jesus. The mere mention of the Greeks triggers one of the greatest speeches in favor of blowing open every closed door, every locked door that the Church owns.
"This is it! This is the hour of my glorification. I’m going to die, true enough. But that won’t be the end. In my death will come forth a harvest of people, Jews and Greeks, who will benefit from my life. Just like a seed must die to give forth fruit, I’m giving my life away, same as you need to do, as you dedicate your lives to my way to mission to the world. It is not the time to say, save me! That’s why I’m here to bring honor to the Father. And when I’m lifted up, I will draw all people - Toulas and Ians, meticulous moralists and loose living immoralists, the discouraged, the defeated, whoever- to myself."
Indeed God’s name was glorified in that act of possibility when the Greeks pushed Jesus into a momentary vision of the totality of his entire mission, one that would impact all people everywhere with overflowing, lavish, life-satisfying, abundant possibilities that Jesus would offer the world as his legacy.
The mission continues as we invite all and everyone to see and experience the transforming power of Christ. This welcoming must be intentional. A graduating student at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, had just received his appointment from the bishop. He was grousing because the appointment didn't fit what he felt he deserved. Another United Methodist student, loving but unsympathetic, patted him on the back and said, "You know the world is a better place because Michelangelo didn't say, 'I don't do ceilings." That's it! The world is a better place because a German monk named Martin Luther didn't say, "I don't do doors." The world is a better place because an Oxford don named John Wesley didn't say, "I don't do fields." The world is a better place because Moses didn't say, "I don't do rivers." Noah didn't say, "I don't do arks." Jeremiah didn't say, "I don't do weeping." Amos didn't say, "I don't do speeches." Rahab didn't say, "I don't do carpets." Ruth didn't say, "I don't do mothers-in-law." David didn't say, "I don't do giants." Peter didn't say, "I don't do Gentiles." Mary didn't say, "I don't do virgin births." Mary Magdalene didn't say, "I don't do feet." Paul didn't say, "I don't do letters." Jesus didn't say, "I don't do crosses." How sad for us to say, "I don't do outsiders."
Just as a grain of wheat must die to bear much fruit we are called to die to the ways, the fears, the attitudes that prevent Christ’s vision and mission, a harvest of all people both Jews and Greeks working together for the glory of God. The mission continues. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 I preached a large portion of this sermon in 2003. I had a note that says that it is based on a Sermon by Rev. Thomas Hall. I didn’t site any more information. I’m not sure how much of it is his work and from what sermon or commentary it came from. My apologies.
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3 An illustration from the Homiletics article, "Deserving Our Warning Signs," March-April