Wednesday, March 1, 2023 – Lent Two, Bystanders at the Cross

There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: “Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?” (John 12: 20 -27, The Message Bible)

             When we lived in Ottawa, I, serendipitously, would encounter celebrities, mostly well-known  politicians. On several occasions, I saw Jean Chretien, before he became Prime Minister, heading off to a luncheon appointment in a nice restaurant while I was heading to the nearest  chip wagon. (I love chip wagons fries!) When Mikhail Gorbachev, the  then Russian premier, came to town  and was laying a wreathe at the war memorial, I went to see him and actually got very close as he worked his way to the crowd, shaking hands. 

A very long time ago, I was at the Canadian National Exhibition on the same day that Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau was making the grand tour and I was in the same place at least three times as he was.

 I have had the pleasure of being in the company of Montreal Expo players, behind the scenes,  in their family room, when we lived in Montreal.

It is entirely different to see these celebrities in the flesh rather than just on television or read about them in the news. In some ways, they become more real, more interesting, more tangible, more human.

The Greeks, Gentiles, had obviously heard about Jesus. They had come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Likely, they were coverts to the Jewish Faith. But their curiosity led them, not just to see Jesus, but to meet him in person, the Word made flesh. They seem to have had some connection to Philip, one of the disciples, and they ask him for an introduction. “Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?”

A lot of people, looking in from the outside of the Christian Community of Believers, stand at the edges of our fellowship and wonder if we can introduce them to Jesus in some way. Sadly, some Christians want to keep Jesus pretty much to themselves or, at least, want you to wash your hands and face, so to speak, before you can get anywhere near the Lord.

The disciples were not always disposed to allowing people to get too close to Jesus. They once tried to chase away the children who were brought to Jesus. They were inclined to turn the hungry crowds away before the miracle of the feeding of the 5000.  They tried to silence beggars, the diseased, the hurting who needed Jesus.

Even here in this text, Philip seems a little reluctant and checks it out with the others, first. This text never lets us know whether or not the Greeks ever actually met Jesus. But let us hope so.

Outsiders, even today, are looking in and wondering whether Jesus is for real. They want to hear his message of Good News. They want to be included and welcomed. They want to experience, first-hand and personally, the hope, the joy, the peace, the justice and promises which Jesus embodies and shares.

We have to ask ourselves, are we helping or hindering that introduction?  Are we so close-minded and so closed-hearted that we would rather turn away the seeker because they fail to meet our standards or criteria? Are we so protective of Jesus and his church that we exclude the stranger, the alien, the outsider, the different? Do we forget that Jesus was all for us to go in the highways and byways and bring even the poorest and lowliest back to the banquet of his Grace?

William Willimon, an well-known United Methodist Bishop, tells the story of visiting a church which was offering breakfasts for the homeless and destitute. He met a man, a member of the church, who was frantically washing the dishes in the kitchen – a very menial and unglamorous task but necessary. Willimon commented to the man that he must really have a heart for the poor to take on such a lowly task. The man laughed and had to admit that no, he didn’t really love the poor, all that much, and, in fact, some of them scared the daylights out of him. Then why do you do it, asked Willimon. The man answered, because Jesus expects me to do it.

People are looking at us and wondering if we are truly followers of Jesus and whether we can introduce them to Jesus. Can we help them?

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” (John 13: 334 -35, The Message Bible)

Don’t just stand there – do something!

Dale