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Lent 5, Year B
April 6, 2003
Christ Church, Covington
“They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to
him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus’” (Jo. 12:21).
Two images this morning, the first a familiar one: the faces of American
soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company, waylaid by enemy soldiers
early in the invasion of Iraq, their column shot up and their buddies
killed, themselves captured and questioned and presumably imprisoned. The
image of these familiar American faces, male and female, was flashed all
over the world. I heard a Navy Captain interviewed on National Public
Radio, a rather serious retired career officer, who commented on some of
our reactions to seeing these pictures. She said something like this at
the end of the interview, “You can almost see those guys fighting back
their fear, trying to look brave” (Captain Laurie Manning, NPR Morning
Edition, April 2). Very disturbing and unsettling, and even
anger-provoking.
The second image may not be as familiar, though I think these pictures, or
versions of them, have also appeared on American television. I found them
on the web site of Al-Jazeera, the international Arab satellite station. I
wasn’t looking for these images, just for some news; but of course some
web sites give you more than you bargained for. I didn’t find any news I
could read (just columns of Arabic script), but when I clicked on a small
icon, images began to appear. Pictures, that is, of young people, and
children, Iraqis wounded and maimed by American aerial bombardment in the
early days of the invasion. Not presumably the targets of this
bombardment, but sufferers none the less. Disturbing and unsettling, and
even anger-provoking. I don’t know how many there were; I couldn’t look at
them all, for pity’s sake.
So what’s the point? Indeed, what is the point? There are very important
issues involved here: of life and death, of peace and war, of love and
judgment. Faith seeks understanding. The pitfalls around us are the ones
of posturing, positioning, and platitudes. But the crucial issue for
Christian faith, for me right now, in the light of these images, is
discerning God’s presence here, in the midst of what is disturbing and
unsettling and even a challenge to faith.
So it is that in our Gospel today, the worshipers at the feast come to ask
Philip to show them Jesus; they are seeking the Lord who (in John’s
Gospel) has just ridden into Jerusalem in triumph. “We wish to see Jesus”,
they say. And what is it that Jesus says to them when they find him? Does
he congratulate them for their assiduity? Does he commend them for their
zeal? No, not at all, but instead he tells them, “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” (Jo. 12:24). Jesus, at
the moment of triumph, is pointing toward his own death and the fruit it
will bear. He is pointing toward the disciples’ own sharing in that death:
“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…”
(Jo. 12:25-26). When the world asks to see Jesus, the Church holds up the
cross.
That’s the point. God’s presence is here, specially in the midst of
suffering. Not because Jesus brought us some great ideas, or because he
was such a great man, or even because he was God. God’s presence is here
because Jesus Christ became one of us, suffering and dying on the cross so
that all suffering and death could be overcome. It’s a riddle as old as
the world as to why there is pain and grief, but in Jesus Christ the old
riddle is unraveled and an answer given by God.
It’s this death that brings salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ. To
be washed in the blood of the Lamb (and remembering our images, we ought
to understand what blood means) is to have our sins forgiven. It’s a
costly price: thank God that he has paid it. We know we are in need of
forgiveness, because this world and our own lives are not as they ought to
be. Here, the justice of what God might demand has bowed to the love that
God has for us. God has born injustice, the just for the unjust, and
brought us salvation
We believe that the death of Jesus Christ is fruitful, leading to life;
and that we are called to share in his death so that we may live with him.
We offer up the pain and grief of the world, seeing there the pattern of
Jesus Christ by which God is at work overcoming it all. This cross which
he bears, which we bear, which the world bears, is the station we keep on
the way to resurrection. New life is on offer, in the midst of what is
disturbing, unsettling, and anger-provoking, if the eyes of faith will see
it. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to
myself” (Jo. 12:32).
The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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