This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Stephen’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 17 March 2024. The Bible Reading was John 12:20-33.
Prayer
Heavenly Father
I thank You for Your word
By the power of the Holy Spirit
May You speak to my heart
And change my life
In the precious name of Jesus I pray
Amen.
Introduction
I’m sure you’ve all experienced, when you have children in your car, the what I call the ‘Are we there yet’ syndrome. You know, you’ve set off on your journey/holiday, you’ve not even joined the motorway and a voice pipes up from the back: “Are we there yet”. And in a sense, that’s what we’ve had all through the first half of John’s Gospel. The ‘are we there yet’ syndrome. And just as going on a journey/holiday is exciting, there’s been an increasing level of excitement through the first half of John’s Gospel.
Let’s remind ourselves how John’s Gospel began, 1:1-2: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” And 1:14: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. He lived among us!
Jesus came so that we can be ‘born again’ (have our lives renewed) as he put it in chapter 3. He came to bring us new life; spiritual life; eternal life. And all through the first half of John’s Gospel, Jesus performs various signs which prove His claim to be the son of God visiting His people. Alongside his claim to be the bread of life, the good shepherd, light of the world, the way, the truth and the life, the resurrection. Quite astonishing claims.
C.S. Lewis, one of the intellectual giants of the C20 and writer of the Narnia Chronicles, said:
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher, he’d either be a lunatic – on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg – or else he’d be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse … But don’t let us come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.
And that’s exactly what John’s Gospel has been proving for us by recording the various signs of Jesus. Signs like changing water into wine; feeding the 5,000; healing the sick and raising the dead. And whenever people asked Jesus a question his stock answer was: My hour has not year come.
No, we’re not there yet. You’ll have to be patient. I’ll tell you when we’re nearly there. My hour has not yet come! But in chapter 12, the answer changes, Jesus states: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. We’re nearly there. I’m about to do what I came for. My hour has come.
- Desperately Seeking Jesus vs20-23
There are some outsiders who are desperately seeking Jesus, vs20-21: Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”
One of my spiritual heroes is Charles Simeon. He was vicar at Holy Trinity in Cambridge for over 50 years and had a significant influence on the CofE in the C18&19. In his pulpit he’d inscribed the words: “Sir, we would see Jesus” as a reminder of the purpose of preaching. Interestingly, these same words were inscribed in the pulpit in the college chapel at Oak Hill Theological College where I trained: “Sir, we would see Jesus.”
NB. You can read all about Charles Simeon below – but you may want to leave this until after you’ve read the rest of my talk!
The word see in John’s Gospel has the sense of ‘have a meeting with’. They wanted to sit down talk to Jesus about life and death, heaven and hell. Don’t you love those conversations? They’d been attracted by the God of the OT and now they were being attracted to Jesus the Messiah. They were what the NT calls God-fearers. Non-Jewish people who went to the synagogue and heard the bible being taught but not allowed to go into the inner court of the Temple with the ‘real people of God.’ They were people who were attracted by the Bible’s teaching but who were sitting on the outside looking in.
And maybe that’s you! Maybe something’s happened in your life, or you have a feeling you can’t explain. You’re attracted to the Bible, and you’re being drawn towards Jesus. You don’t understand it all, but you sense there’s something in it. And if that’s you, then what do you do? Well, in vs20, the Greeks didn’t go straight to Jesus – they go for a little NT social networking. They went to Philip, a disciple with a Greek name. Someone they could relate to.
If people have got spiritual questions, most people don’t contact the vicar/priest out of the blue – though I’ve met many people for a chat over a coffee/beer/curry when they’ve responded to one of my posts on social media or an impromptu invitation after a Lent Course session! However, most people aren’t so brave, so they talk to their Christian friends.
So be ready and prepared to answer their questions about Jesus. And if you don’t know how to answer the questions of your friends, then perhaps an Alpha Course in due course might be helpful. If you’re on the outside looking in this morning and wanting to meet Jesus, then you’re in the right place.
- The Hour Has Come vs23-24
Vs23: Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” What does that mean? What’s about to happen that would glorify Jesus? Was he about to replace Herod as King? Was he going to start a revolution and kick out the Romans? None of those things. Vs32: [And] when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself.
Being lifted up was a euphemism, like when we say we’re going to spend a penny. And just in case we missed the subtly of it, John spells it out for us in vs33: (Jesus) said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. But Jesus insists that this is his greatest hour. But how can being killed in such a horrific way be someone’s moment of glory?
In the OT, lambs were sacrificed in the place of God’s people as a sacrifice for sin. But John chapter 1 tells us that Jesus was the lamb of God who was going to take away the sins of the world. Not just the Jews, but the sins of the Greeks and the sins of all people. The Gospel’s tell us that Jesus took the punishment so that all people could be forgiven. This is the heart of Christianity and the centre of what it means to be a Christian.
If you’ve been a Christian for a number of years, this will be totally obvious to you. But we always need to be careful not to become complacent. But all this may be new to you. Maybe you thought Christianity was all about being good enough for God; about how you can earn enough brownie points to get into heaven; maybe you thought that Jesus was just a good moral teacher to help you lead a life good enough to pass the test to get into heaven. If that’s you, then maybe we need to meet for a coffee/beer and a chat!
- An Example To Follow vs25-26
In v25& 26, Jesus gives us an example to follow. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.
Jesus’ death on the cross is an example of self-sacrifice. This opens up a very important topic that we probably don’t talk about enough – Jesus expects his followers to live lives characterised treating others the way he treated others. Of putting the interests of others first. To do something you’d rather not, because it’s got benefits for other people not for you.
It means that we’d be prepared to risk our lives for the sake of someone else, someone who’s spiritually drifting away from Jesus. So, for us, it might mean noticing who’s not here and ringing or visiting them. It means being committed to attend church regularly, not just because it’s good for our own spiritual health but because we want to build others up. Vs26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me. That’s the pattern Jesus has laid down for us.
- Discipleship Isn’t Easy vs27-30
Just because Jesus knew his journey to the cross was God’s will, it didn’t make it any easier. Vs27-28a: Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father glorify your name. His heart was troubled. And if Jesus was troubled/stressed out, why are we surprised when the Christian life seems tough and hard? Jesus never promised it would be anything else.
But maybe you’re thinking, that’s a tough call. I’ve got a job to hold down – and it’s not exactly 9-5. I’ve got my family or ageing relatives to care for. I’m so exhausted I need a rest on Sundays. And Jesus says, I know. I didn’t promise anyone an easy life. Vs25: The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Now some people would laugh at this and say: ‘it’s all pie in the sky when you die’. And that’s what religious people have done with Jesus for over 2000 years. They’ve made a Jesus to their own liking; a Jesus in their own image and reject the real Jesus in the process. Why? Because the real Jesus doesn’t fit their expectations of what he should be like.
They want Jesus the baby in the manger who never makes any demands on them. They want Jesus the social worker or even Jesus the communist. And. most commonly, they want the Jesus who asks nothing of them. I wonder, what kind of Jesus are you looking for? Where are you in your journey of faith?
Are you there yet? No, neither am I. But I’m all I can to follow Jesus in the way he would want me to. Perhaps we can take this journey together?
And on this Saint Patrick’s Day, part of Saint Patrick’s Prayer to finish:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
Amen.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
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