My question for today is for all of you who have ever gone to a sporting event here in the United States. My question is this: at just about any sporting event you’ve attended, what are the first words you hear before the event, itself, begins? “Oh, say can you see … by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed … at the twilight’s last gleaming …” Yes, even our National Anthem begins with a question: “Oh say can you see …”
Needless to say, today’s Gospel reading begins with a similar question or request. Today’s Gospel, according to John, starts with some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem some two thousand years ago. They had a request they addressed to Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples who was probably a fellow Greek, since his name is a Greek word meaning: “love.” They asked Philip: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
It seems like a simple request, a straightforward question. But in John’s Gospel, nothing is really simple. John uses the word “see” in a very deep way. He doesn’t mean merely “look at” something or someone. Rather John means: “I want to experience something very deeply. I want to understand as completely as possible.”
Do you remember the story at the very beginning of John’s Gospel? John the Baptist sends two of his own disciples to follow Jesus. Jesus turns to them and asks the question: “What are you looking for?” And they replied with their own question: “Rabbi … where are you staying?” And Jesus responded: “Come, and you will see.”
Do you remember one of the last stories found in the Gospel of John, the Evangelist? It’s the story of Thomas who desired to see the wounds in the hands and side of the risen Christ, before he would believe that he had truly risen. And when Thomas saw Jesus and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!” – what did Jesus say? “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
And so it was that the visiting Greeks asked Philip, if they could see Jesus. Philip, however, took them literally and went to ask Andrew what he thought should be done, since Andrew is Peter’s brother and might have a better idea of whom Jesus might or might not see. And what did Jesus say when Philip and Andrew did inquire about the Greeks who wanted to see him? “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
In the ancient world of the Jews, Romans and Greeks, a single grain of wheat is useless in and of itself. If it is placed in the ground, the seed appears to wither and die. But in some mysterious way, they also observed that, as the seed appears to die, a new plant arises. A plant which bears fruit and more seeds. From the death of a single seed, new life begins.
Jesus seems to be saying, if you really want to see him, really want to follow him, really want to understand him, really want to experience him – you need to recognize that he is like a dying seed which mysteriously yields new life, new fruit, and a new hope.
Jesus also went on to instruct Philip and Andrew and those listening to him … both two thousand years ago and here at the outset of the third millennium after he spoke. Jesus said: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.”
It appears that, individually, we, too, must be seeds whose worth resides in our potential for new life. Our worth becomes evident only when we die to the selfishness of our own desires and allow ourselves to grow, slowly, and bear fruit and a new life. Here, during the season of Lent, is our time to die to self and to grow in the darkness of Lent so that we too can yield new fruit. And how are we to do this?
Two weeks ago, I spoke about the Covenant which the Lord God made with Noah, Abraham and Moses. We continue to hear about this covenant in today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah. “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. … This is the covenant that I will make … I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
And so it is, that we now have our New Covenant made through Jesus the Christ. It is through this New Covenant we know within our hearts what we need to do in order to grow during the remaining days of this Lenten season. We have been told – and we know deep within us – that we are called to practice the disciplines … the actions of Christ. We are to engage in Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.
● Prayer which brings us into conversation with God, our Father.
● Fasting which reminds us of those parts of our lives that need to be pruned away in order to follow the Son.
● Almsgiving which unites us with others in the name of the Holy Spirit who guides us in our interactions with our neighbors.
The Greeks visiting Jerusalem during Passover desired to see Jesus. Perhaps they merely wanted to look at this man who some claimed to be a prophet. But Jesus demanded more than being a celebrity who makes a public appearance and then hides from the admiring crowds. He asks his followers to see him, to experience him, in the reality of who he is and of whom he wants us to become.
When we hear the opening words of our National Anthem … “Oh say can you see …” most of us feel a certain thrill within our hearts at being Americans standing in unity with fellow Americans. Perhaps in a few moments when we stand to speak the words of our Creed, we can feel the thrill of being fellow Christians who respond to the words of Jesus the Christ who said: “Come, and you will see.”
Fifth Sunday in Lent; March 29, 2009
Jer 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-23