To See Jesus

March 17, 2024

Rev. Mary Erickson

Hope Lutheran Church

John 12:20-33

To See Jesus

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

So there were some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. These would have been individuals who were known as “righteous Gentiles.” They’d come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival. They’ve heard all about Jesus and they want to see him.

We have a hankering to see famous people. Last Sunday was the Academy Awards. Movie stars spent the whole day getting ready. When they pulled up beside the Dolby Theatre and stepped out of their car, they walked a red carpet lined by the paparazzi. They lingered and posed so that everyone could see them.

I’ve never met a “famous person.” But speaking with people who have, when there’s a spotting, people crane their necks to catch a glimpse of them.

So that’s one way of wanting to see someone, to catch a glimpse of this rare bird. You get out your phone and take a quick shot of them so you can show your friends. “Look who I saw!”

But something tells me these Greek pilgrims wanted something more substantive than this when they asked to see Jesus. They wanted to encounter him and meet him.

“We want to see Jesus.” It’s an interesting request, because people still want to see Jesus. I think most of you are here today because you’re hoping to have some kind of encounter with Jesus. I should say, I hope you expect to encounter Jesus today, especially here in worship!

Well, I’m here to tell you the good news: Jesus never turns down a request to see him. He didn’t turn away the babies and the little children. He didn’t spurn the grateful woman who wouldn’t stop kissing his feet. He didn’t disappoint Zacchaeus who climbed a tree to see him.

Never once in the Bible does he reject someone from seeing him. And he has promised to be with you to the end of the age. The trick, though, is in recognizing him, because he doesn’t necessarily come in a form that we would expect from him.

These Greeks ask to see Jesus. And when Philip and Andrew relay their request to Jesus, he rambles on about a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying. How did he get there? What does that have to do with the Greeks’ request? Everything!

“The hour has come!” Jesus declared. These seekers from the Greek speaking world desire to see Jesus, and he’s going to show them and everyone else exactly who he is.

But he’s going to present himself to them in a way that they weren’t expecting. When he is on his cross, he’ll be lifted up for all the world to see. To really see Jesus, to really get him, to understand him, you have to view him from his cross.

When these foreigners ask to see Jesus, that request acts as the tipping point to propel Jesus to his cross. The mission he’s come to accomplish is bigger than just Israel alone. His will be a broad salvation. He has come for the sake of the whole world. And in his greatest moment, when he is lifted up on his cross, all will be able to see him there.

It's there on his cross that Jesus most wants to be seen. And from there, he will draw all people to himself. For when we see him there, on his cross, he unifies us in all our divisions. We’re no longer Jew or Greek; we’re no longer one gender or the other; we’re no longer the owners or the owned. But there, as we behold Christ crucified, there we are all made one at the foot of the cross. And in seeing him in this way, for the first time, more clearly than ever, we can also see one another.

These Greeks wanted to see Jesus. And there was no way Jesus could turn down a request like that because that’s exactly why he came. But the Greek visitors to Jerusalem weren’t and aren’t the only ones who want to have a close encounter with Jesus.

Jesus became human and dwelt among us because he wanted to be seen by us. Jesus walked this earth and interacted with people of every class and gender and tribe because he wanted to draw near and be seen. And this is why Jesus will never turn down our request to see him. Because even more than you want to see him, he wants to see you!

More than anything, Jesus wants to encounter you. He wants to have a relationship with you. But be prepared. Look for one who comes as a dying grain of wheat. He comes to you in your broken places. He comes as one who has, himself, been broken – and restored. Jesus presents himself as one lifted on a cross. He has come to give us the healing he offers, healing that can only come as we see him lifted up.