Hungry Heart
Scripture: John 12:20-36
(The Message) – “We want to see Jesus. Can you help us?" (v21)
Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers (Newfoundland comedy group) feature a song on one of their albums called “Only 19”. It is the story of a young man who married what he thought was his young bride until they got ready for their first night together. She removed her cork leg, make-up that’s equated to a gallon of paint, followed by false eyebrows and wig to expose a bald head. The song suggests “She was handier 90 than 19 years old.”
Things are not always as they appear. When we get beneath the surface of the exterior sometimes it’s a different story.
Today’s text is a lesson that Jesus is not as he appears. There’s more to Him than the fanfare of waving palm branches followed by fickle people shouting he’s the best thing that ever happened to them. When they got beneath the surface it wasn’t so pretty and they scattered like startled sheep.
The Greeks knew there was more to Jesus than meets the eye. They wanted the complete picture, the whole package, the straight goods. That’s where we pick up the story with our text and their probing question to Philip, “We want to see Jesus. Can you help us?”
If the question is ever asked of you, where will you go with it? Maybe it won’t be direct but cloaked in pain, soaked in questions or the agony of searching for an answer when no answers come.
If you want to answer that question and not run away from the opportunity there are three suggestions I offer, lessons that God impresses on us if we resolve to show them Jesus when they want to see.
“Can you help us?”
1. We can help by leading them to truth
The Greeks (Gentiles) who asked to see Jesus may have already been converted to Judaism. However, they were a people in search of truth. Their quest was to get behind the scenes of the obvious externals and explore the unattractive qualities and controversial side of this radical, unsafe, complicated Jesus.
In any quest for truth it was said, “It is not hard to find the truth; what is hard is not to run away from it once you have it.” (Etienne Gilson) Carol Gustav Jung said, “Our world is so exceedingly rich in delusions that a truth is priceless.” The Greeks’ quest is a trait we would do well to desire.
Their pursuit starts with Philip (a Greek) who didn’t know what to do and so went to Andrew; Andrew, with Philip, immediately went to Jesus. Why Philip didn’t think to simply say “let’s go” is a mystery which we’ll consider in a few moments.
In their pursuit of truth the Greeks were not exploring a philosophy but a person. It is an idea that author and minister, Lisa Bevere speaks of as she reminds us with Scripture that we must move from understanding truth as a “what” and see truth as a “Who” – John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the…truth…”
In the movie, “A Few Good Men” a young military lawyer played by Tom Cruise is prosecuting a case that challenges the orders of a veteran Colonel, played by Jack Nicholson. The courtroom becomes a shouting match to which the young lawyer demands in strong tones, “I want the truth!” The veteran leader shouts back, “you want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”
Uncertain Philip took the Greeks to Andrew and without question Andrew took charge and got them to Jesus. We can imagine the brief opening. “Excuse me, Jesus, these guys asked to see you. Guys, Jesus.” With pleasantries aside, Jesus speaks of many things after the introduction. Jesus knew why they came. He was quite familiar with the Greeks’ quest for truth and exploring the untouchable. To that reality, Jesus unrolls the truth, drawing attention to the fact that many people can’t and won’t be able to handle it; that they will find it repulsive, unacceptable and will run from it.
• Vs 23-26 – his glory was not world conquest but the cross; he explains that as death is the key to life in his act of surrender to the Father so to it is true for us. Death to our own dreams, ambitions, priorities and our way of trying to understand God through human philosophy is the key to our living.
• Vs 27-33 – Jesus shows we become greatest when we learn to completely give up to God’s plan for our lives; that servant-living is the most powerful weapon we have but it doesn’t come easy and it’s not cheap.
• Vs 34-36 – Jesus is clear about His place in God’s great scheme to save humanity. He reveals the stark contrast between life with him and without him.
• How do we respond? We don’t like it and we avoid it as much as we can … 12:37“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence they still would not believe in him.”
• Vs 24 … “I tell you the truth…” You can’t handle the truth!
We cannot avoid the straight goods about Jesus, that He creates controversy. He is not easy to comprehend though we know He partnered with Father to provide our Salvation.
If we will show them Jesus, we must deal with the truth of our questions, our doubts and the answers we lack. It’s being real; being real is necessary and it is truth. We should help people realise that though the truth of Christ leaves us with many controversial, unanswered experiences, we act on faith. To those who dare listen and believe His claims and His call Jesus says to these in John 8:31 “If you hold to my teachings, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The question is, can you trust that?
“Can you help us?”
2. We can help by living like Jesus actually lives in us
I read that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful to church attendance. If only Dad, 55% remain faithful. If only Mom, 15%. If neither attended regularly, only 6% remain faithful. The article suggests, “The statistics speak for themselves - the example of parents and adults is more important than all the efforts of the church and Sunday school.”
This is true of anything. Example seems to be the most powerful tool or weapon that influences people toward or away from something. That may help us understand why Jesus’ teaching of Matthew 5 is so critical to responding to people who “want to see Jesus.” He essentially tells us that when they want to see him, they should be able to see him in us as we are salt and light in their lives. What does that mean? Salt adds flavour to an otherwise bland situation. Salt heals. Salt preserves. Salt purifies. So, when people need flavour to a bland life, or need healing from painful wounds or need to feel worth when they’ve made bad choices we are to ‘add salt’ to that situation. When they need encouragement and inspiration we come alongside and try to be Christ to them. In being light we are called toward innocence, to provide direction in a maze of conflicting values and morals that are often void of God’s place. Light drives darkness away. Jesus is telling us that these good deeds lead to those same people praising our Father for what they see.
Probably one of the best examples of salt and light living is the plot in the movie Dead Man Walking. It’s the story of a man (Matthew Poncelet played by Sean Penn) who is on death-row for a brutal crime. As the clock counts down to his execution a nun (Sister Prejean played by Susan Sarandon) offers him counsel and tries to guide him to peace and salvation. It is a picture that speaks of the corrupted nature of all of us and inspite of our destitute condition, God, through Christ offers salt and light. He extends favour not deserved. That is the picture of living that reflects the presence of Jesus.
Helping people see Jesus is not a short term process but a long-term investment. It is all about being in relationships with people who want to see Jesus.
“Can you help us?”
3. We can help by letting go of our comfort zone
To help people see Jesus we realize we cannot always use old methods in a post-modern society. The old methods are a hit-and-miss proposition at best with the slightest return, if any return, for our efforts. It involved cold-calling tactics that are void of relationship. In any effort to help people see Jesus we must realise that to promote a dynamic, personal relationship with God we will have to understand our role in working toward relationship with them. Brad J. Kallenberg paints one possible scenario. In his book Live to Tell, he shares that the practice of evangelism can be enriched in at least three ways. He suggests we have to embody the story of Christ in the web of relationships, conversations and then tell the gospel story. It is similar to Pastor and author Bill Hybels’ teaching. In his book “Just walk across the Room” he talks of developing friendships, discovering stories and sharing the Good News of God’s love and desire to be in relationship with the people He created.
If we will help people see Jesus we must decide we have to get to know Jesus better than we do and with that relationship share with other people what we learn. Part of our problem that keeps us from taking people to Jesus is highlighted by Mark Hall. We’re often afraid to engage people about Jesus. Mark Hall is the lead singer and songwriter for Casting Crowns. He wrote a book called “Lifestories”. In it he tells the stories behind much of the music in their albums. One of those songs is Here I Go Again. Mark says this song “speaks mostly to the person reluctant to share his faith, but it also encompasses those times when we don’t really know what to say to someone who is hurting.” The first-person theme lets us into Mark’s heart as he struggles with the same roadblocks many of us face.
Here I go again, Talking ‘bout the rain,
And mulling over things that won’t live past today…
Maybe this time I’ll speak the words of life with your fire in my eyes.
But that old, familiar fear keeps tearing at my words.
What am I so afraid of?
Mark tells how he thinks of a friend whose wife died and his friend became angry with God and he drifted away. The safe zone for Mark was keeping the distance because he didn’t know how to talk Jesus to him because he didn’t have the answers to give his friend to deal with his grief and anger. Well, his friend came back to God through another person and Mark said whenever he sings or hears that song he always thinks of his friend and how he let him down by not committing to their friendship when his friend needed him most. He couldn’t let go of his comfort zone and help his friend work through the truth, the uncomfortable side of Jesus. There’s not a person here who hasn’t felt like Mark, not if you’re serious about satisfying hungry people in their quest for truth and God.
Businessman Bill D. Robinson talks about Jesus at his business or while he’s sitting on a bench in the mall waiting for his wife. His approach uses the analogy of a football field where a follower of Jesus and an unbeliever are at two opposite ends of the football field and dare not speak about more than the weather, sports or their jobs. That’s their comfort zones. However, in the process of engaging people he moves from his comfort zone toward the unbeliever and shows us how we must go from general conversation to getting personal about our walk with Jesus. We speak out of our own life and experiences which in many ways looks as normal as anyone else. We have to be real. We face the fact that we don’t have all the answers, that Jesus is controversial and sometimes He even makes us uncomfortable.
But, if we’re going to help people see Jesus, we can’t pretend we’ve got Him all figured out and He comes neatly packaged with all the answers spread out in front of us. Until we get there, we’ll be Philip’s who refer people to someone else – “you need to talk to my pastor.” No, that’s not what they need. They need you.
WRAP
We want to see Jesus.
Can you help us?
Lord, grant that it be so.
Amen.
Reflection song: “Jesus, all for Jesus”
