What Do You Want To Find?

John 12:20-33

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

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Do you ever wonder if the Greeks, the gentiles, who came looking for Jesus ever found what they were looking for? I do; I wonder if they walked away feeling discouraged or filled with hope or somewhere in-between. What is it that you're looking for as you come to see Jesus? What pushes you forward to seek after the life that only Christ can offer? What do you hope to find? This is the question that I find myself asking, especially as I consider the shootings in Atlanta and the significant rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans. This question of "What do you hope to find?" is an important one. Because if our quest leads us to embrace our fears and hate, what we find won't be genuine or authentic. What we'll find is a monstrous manifestation of xenophobia, misogyny, and racism,  covered in the blood of innocence. So once again, I'll ask, "What do you hope to find on your Jesus journey?"

As we draw closer to Holy Week and the events of Good Friday and Easter, there's a chance that you already know what you are looking for when you come before Jesus and ask the same question that the Greek gentiles did. However, there's a greater chance that you're not sure what it is you are looking for when you come before Jesus, and that is where I would assume most of us find ourselves. Over the course of Jesus' ministry, many people searched for something that would satisfy their hearts' longings. Our hearts are longing to be filled, yet we soon quickly learn that what we thought we needed was not actually required or necessary. We may think that sticking to people who are like us will fill our souls. We may believe that pitting our group against another will fill our souls. But none of these things are actually a part of the life that Jesus offers. None of these things are a component of what Jesus offers when we ask, "What do I need to gain eternal life?" Our lives together are messy and complex, and we must be willing to cast aside what is not needed and call out evil it truly is. Then we may discover that we are a few steps closer to discovering what we are looking for. 

For the Greek gentiles who came to Jesus, one might assume they had the Greek diaspora, dispersion of the Greek people, on their mind. When they heard that Jesus was going to depart, they assumed that meant Jesus was going to leave Jerusalem and go to the gentiles and focus on their needs and concerns. Yet, that isn't what Jesus had in mind. Our Jesus journey will reveal that Jesus doesn't want us to stay within the confines of our culturally homogenous bubble. Jesus wants to draw people in from all four corners, from the places that go beyond our cultural horizon. Jesus is looking for us. Looking for different people who speak different languages, who come to the cross from different ideological and philosophical backgrounds, are of different genders or sexualities. That is what Jesus is looking for. Jesus won't hop from one bubble to the next. Jesus will tear down whatever barriers we try to erect and show us that our life together is not complete until we accept the fact that Jesus came for all and Jesus welcomes all. That is the truth and good news of the gospel. We should stop and really ask ourselves, “Are we really ready to hear and embrace that good news of Jesus?”

Our quest to answer the question, "What do you hope to find on your Jesus journey?" takes a deep level of commitment. In Jesus' pondering after the Greek gentiles ask if they can see him, he responds by saying that they need to take our desire to follow Christ to the next level. It's not enough that the Greeks wanted to see Jesus. It's not enough for us to want to see Jesus unless we are ready to witness the trauma of Christ's crucifixion and continuation of Christ's death on the cross whenever we commit acts of oppression that lead to death or cause hopelessness in someone else's life. It is also not enough to want to see Jesus unless we are ready to witness the resurrection's transformative power that spurs us to denounce the ways of death we have mastered and turn to the light and life of Christ. Friends, it is not enough for us to simply want to see Jesus. We must desire to experience Jesus wholistically. Then we may find what we have been searching for, the truth that Jesus has always shown us from the beginning, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12, NRSV)

At the end of the day, we aren't told what happens to the two Greek gentiles who came to see Jesus. Again we ask, did they walk away being filled with hope or dismayed at the words of Jesus? Likely, it was somewhere in between. Whenever we come to Jesus looking for something, the offered words will most likely feel like an abrasive surface is rubbing up against us. That is what Jesus does, though; Jesus' truth is abrasive; it rubs away our fear, our distrust, our hate, and malice to reveal a life that should and could be if we lean hard into the promises of God. And I know it's scary to move beyond life as we know it. Jesus doesn't ask us to settle for the status quo, as Jesus himself says that the rulers of every age will eventually fade away. They will fade away to reveal that Jesus came to gather all unto himself. That type of community will look different for sure. Perhaps that is what we have been looking for, but we aren't sure how to get there. It requires trust, and it requires vulnerability; it requires us as a church to not back down from having hard conversations about things going on in our community. 

I want to end on another thought that may seem paradoxical, so stay with me. What if we can't find what will fill our soul unless we invite the "other" into "our" space and welcome them on our pilgrim's journey. Andrew and Philip, disciples of Jesus, certainly did not have the answer, yet they still sought to be in the presence of Jesus in their quest to know. They might not have figured it out at that moment, but Andrew and Philip helping the Greek gentiles was part of the solution. They didn't know what they were looking for yet, the Greeks didn't know what they were looking for, yet they all realize Jesus is related to the solution. So how are we welcoming people to Jesus like Andrew and Philip welcomed the Greek gentiles? How will we welcome those who are not like us? I think once we have an answer to that question, we'll be closer to understanding what Jesus wants us to find in the fellowship we share with all humanity. Our Jesus journey is not an individual journey or a journey made up of people who look, talk, or believe the same things as us. It's a rainbow tapestry, which tells the tale of every pilgrim who wants to see the Jesus, who gathers people of everyone, and I mean everyone, together. Amen.