Sunday Mar 29, 2009
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus reacts pretty strangely to these Greeks who wanted to meet Him. The use of the word Greek can generally be understood in the same manner as the word Gentile is used in the Bible. Greeks are always presented in contrast to Jews, so a reference to Greeks is a reference to Gentiles. What’s important to recognize by the arrival of these two Greeks is that now there are people outside of the bounds of Judaism seeking to know Jesus.
And when Andrew and Phillip tell Jesus that these Greeks would like to meet Him, Jesus reacts strangely. In fact a superficial reading of this might come to the conclusion that Jesus was kind of blowing them off. Jesus’ response almost seems to suggest that He doesn’t even hear them. Jesus says “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” He doesn’t even seem to acknowledge what He has just been told.
But the truth is, Jesus responds the way He does because of these gentiles. The extremely contemporary translation of the Bible, called “The Message” has Jesus saying, in response to the news about these Greeks, “Time’s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Now, I am not a big fan of these overly contemporary translations, but I like the inclusion of the phrase ‘Times up.’ It underscores the truth that the event of these Gentiles seeking to know Jesus is significant. The arrival of these Greeks is nothing less than a prelude of the Kingdom of God which is about to burst forth and to no longer be constrained by the boundaries of geographic Israel and Judaism.
The Gentiles are at the gates and they are desiring a share of the Kingdom, and to that Jesus says “Times up!! Time for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus does not stick around and chat with these men. Instead He proclaims truth for all generations to come. Christ Jesus knows that with the arrival of these Gentiles the time has come for Him to fulfill His calling and His role as the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus knows that with the arrival of these Greek Gentiles, the time has come for Him to be made the perfect source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
But Jesus’ explanation for how this is going to happen flies in the face of what the disciples, these Gentiles, and every one of us if we were there, would have been expecting. The time has come for Jesus to be glorified. So when you think of someone being glorified, what do you think of??
Maybe you think of throngs of people surrounding someone in adoration. Maybe you think of people having great regard and esteem for someone to such a degree that they leave their homes and families to follow this person and tell others about Him. And Jesus had experienced much of that prior to this. But now the time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now things were going to change.
On His way to being glorified, Jesus would see the ones who were waiting with baited breath to hear His next Word, one-by-one deny Him in one way or the other. He would see the people in these very same crowds that once adored Him as the blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord, soon would be calling for His crucifixion, and the release of a murderer named Barrabbas.
This is what our Lord is talking about when He says that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. The glorification that Christ Jesus was preparing to enter into is a glorification that would come through His suffering and death. And His suffering and death would bring forth much fruit, especially among the Gentiles. It is through suffering and death, that He fulfills His role as our High Priest, becoming the source of our salvation.
And it is through the suffering and death of Christ Jesus, on our behalf, that the new covenant is brought forth. It is through Christ’s suffering and death that He will draw people to Himself, Jew and Gentile alike. What will look to the world like a moment of despair and sadness for Jesus, as He is dying on the cross, is actually the moment of His glorification and the continuing work of God to bring forth His new Kingdom. We see a foretaste of this with the arrival of King David when he united the two separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
And now with the arrival of the Gentiles, Jesus knows that the hour of His glorification has come. The time has come for the bursting forth of the New Covenant. But this will be about much more than simply bringing together two Kingdoms, or even bringing the Gentiles into God’s Kingdom. For the fulfillment of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus is not just about the bringing together of two earthly kingdoms, but the coming together of God and man. It is about the restoring of the relationship between God and man that we destroyed with our sin.
And this covenant is not limited to geographic Israel or Judaism. In fact it has little to do with a place or a religion. This has to do with our Lord calling His people to Himself through His perfect life, death and resurrection. It is about a new Kingdom and a new creation, created and brought forth by the Gospel of our Lord. It is about our Lord making all things new by laying down His life on the cross, fulfilling all righteousness for you, bearing the punishment of your sin.
The glorification of our Lord Jesus is the continuation of the coming forth of His Kingdom, which is not of this World; which is not defined by geography or religion but faith; faith that began with Christ Jesus’ perfect faith that took Him to the cross, even as His heart troubled Him, because He knew that it was for that very hour of His glorification that He came; faith that led to God the Father acknowledging that the faithful obedience of Christ was in fact glorifying God’s name. And this continues with the faith that you receive in baptism.
With the new covenant comes a new Kingdom and your place in this Kingdom is not built upon your being born into the right earthly family or your ability to follow the law. It is built upon your Lord Christ Jesus coming to you in the waters of baptism and claiming you as His own. It is built upon the perfect obedience of Christ Jesus, your High Priest, going into death for you so to become your perfect source of salvation, calling you to Him and producing in you seeds of faith, and nurturing and cultivating those seeds of faith through the hearing of His holy Word and the receiving of the sacraments.
And so now that you have been called to the foot of the cross; now that the Holy Spirit has called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified you in the faith and you have been filled with faith, now you are told that you are to hate your life in this world. But, as a new covenant has been established and a new kingdom has been brought forth, know that this is not the type of hatred that one experiences in the temporal old Kingdom of the flesh. It’s simply the comfort of knowing the promise of Christ- that you belong to Christ and that He has prepared a place for you in His Kingdom, and that nothing will snatch you out of His hands, and knowing that nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord.
But you still must contend with the old Kingdom and the old creation in you, and Satan. As we read in this lesson, the prince of this world, or Satan has been driven out. This is to say that ultimately Satan has no power. But he is still at work in this world. We know that he has been defeated, and when Christ returns, Satan will be permanently removed from our presence. But we must still contend with him. And nothing scares the old sinner more than dying. And death and the fear of death is one of Satan’s most fearsome weapons, and he uses it on us whenever he can-tempting us to cling not to the cross of Christ, but to the temporary things of this world, to our money, our cars, our homes etc.
And so the One who was glorified by laying down His life on the cross for you, continues to call you to Himself in Word and sacrament; clinging to you, holding onto you when you are tempted to cling to this dying old world. And this ultimately is the answer that Jesus gives to these Gentiles who want to see Him-that a New covenant was being established and it would begin with His glorification on the cross, upon which He would call them and you to Him, as He is doing right now, for He is your High Priest and your perfect source of salvation, and you are included in His new covenant and He promises to keep you in this new covenant.
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus reacts pretty strangely to these Greeks who wanted to meet Him. The use of the word Greek can generally be understood in the same manner as the word Gentile is used in the Bible. Greeks are always presented in contrast to Jews, so a reference to Greeks is a reference to Gentiles. What’s important to recognize by the arrival of these two Greeks is that now there are people outside of the bounds of Judaism seeking to know Jesus.
And when Andrew and Phillip tell Jesus that these Greeks would like to meet Him, Jesus reacts strangely. In fact a superficial reading of this might come to the conclusion that Jesus was kind of blowing them off. Jesus’ response almost seems to suggest that He doesn’t even hear them. Jesus says “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” He doesn’t even seem to acknowledge what He has just been told.
But the truth is, Jesus responds the way He does because of these gentiles. The extremely contemporary translation of the Bible, called “The Message” has Jesus saying, in response to the news about these Greeks, “Time’s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Now, I am not a big fan of these overly contemporary translations, but I like the inclusion of the phrase ‘Times up.’ It underscores the truth that the event of these Gentiles seeking to know Jesus is significant. The arrival of these Greeks is nothing less than a prelude of the Kingdom of God which is about to burst forth and to no longer be constrained by the boundaries of geographic Israel and Judaism.
The Gentiles are at the gates and they are desiring a share of the Kingdom, and to that Jesus says “Times up!! Time for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus does not stick around and chat with these men. Instead He proclaims truth for all generations to come. Christ Jesus knows that with the arrival of these Gentiles the time has come for Him to fulfill His calling and His role as the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus knows that with the arrival of these Greek Gentiles, the time has come for Him to be made the perfect source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
But Jesus’ explanation for how this is going to happen flies in the face of what the disciples, these Gentiles, and every one of us if we were there, would have been expecting. The time has come for Jesus to be glorified. So when you think of someone being glorified, what do you think of??
Maybe you think of throngs of people surrounding someone in adoration. Maybe you think of people having great regard and esteem for someone to such a degree that they leave their homes and families to follow this person and tell others about Him. And Jesus had experienced much of that prior to this. But now the time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now things were going to change.
On His way to being glorified, Jesus would see the ones who were waiting with baited breath to hear His next Word, one-by-one deny Him in one way or the other. He would see the people in these very same crowds that once adored Him as the blessed One who comes in the name of the Lord, soon would be calling for His crucifixion, and the release of a murderer named Barrabbas.
This is what our Lord is talking about when He says that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds. The glorification that Christ Jesus was preparing to enter into is a glorification that would come through His suffering and death. And His suffering and death would bring forth much fruit, especially among the Gentiles. It is through suffering and death, that He fulfills His role as our High Priest, becoming the source of our salvation.
And it is through the suffering and death of Christ Jesus, on our behalf, that the new covenant is brought forth. It is through Christ’s suffering and death that He will draw people to Himself, Jew and Gentile alike. What will look to the world like a moment of despair and sadness for Jesus, as He is dying on the cross, is actually the moment of His glorification and the continuing work of God to bring forth His new Kingdom. We see a foretaste of this with the arrival of King David when he united the two separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
And now with the arrival of the Gentiles, Jesus knows that the hour of His glorification has come. The time has come for the bursting forth of the New Covenant. But this will be about much more than simply bringing together two Kingdoms, or even bringing the Gentiles into God’s Kingdom. For the fulfillment of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus is not just about the bringing together of two earthly kingdoms, but the coming together of God and man. It is about the restoring of the relationship between God and man that we destroyed with our sin.
And this covenant is not limited to geographic Israel or Judaism. In fact it has little to do with a place or a religion. This has to do with our Lord calling His people to Himself through His perfect life, death and resurrection. It is about a new Kingdom and a new creation, created and brought forth by the Gospel of our Lord. It is about our Lord making all things new by laying down His life on the cross, fulfilling all righteousness for you, bearing the punishment of your sin.
The glorification of our Lord Jesus is the continuation of the coming forth of His Kingdom, which is not of this World; which is not defined by geography or religion but faith; faith that began with Christ Jesus’ perfect faith that took Him to the cross, even as His heart troubled Him, because He knew that it was for that very hour of His glorification that He came; faith that led to God the Father acknowledging that the faithful obedience of Christ was in fact glorifying God’s name. And this continues with the faith that you receive in baptism.
With the new covenant comes a new Kingdom and your place in this Kingdom is not built upon your being born into the right earthly family or your ability to follow the law. It is built upon your Lord Christ Jesus coming to you in the waters of baptism and claiming you as His own. It is built upon the perfect obedience of Christ Jesus, your High Priest, going into death for you so to become your perfect source of salvation, calling you to Him and producing in you seeds of faith, and nurturing and cultivating those seeds of faith through the hearing of His holy Word and the receiving of the sacraments.
And so now that you have been called to the foot of the cross; now that the Holy Spirit has called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified you in the faith and you have been filled with faith, now you are told that you are to hate your life in this world. But, as a new covenant has been established and a new kingdom has been brought forth, know that this is not the type of hatred that one experiences in the temporal old Kingdom of the flesh. It’s simply the comfort of knowing the promise of Christ- that you belong to Christ and that He has prepared a place for you in His Kingdom, and that nothing will snatch you out of His hands, and knowing that nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord.
But you still must contend with the old Kingdom and the old creation in you, and Satan. As we read in this lesson, the prince of this world, or Satan has been driven out. This is to say that ultimately Satan has no power. But he is still at work in this world. We know that he has been defeated, and when Christ returns, Satan will be permanently removed from our presence. But we must still contend with him. And nothing scares the old sinner more than dying. And death and the fear of death is one of Satan’s most fearsome weapons, and he uses it on us whenever he can-tempting us to cling not to the cross of Christ, but to the temporary things of this world, to our money, our cars, our homes etc.
And so the One who was glorified by laying down His life on the cross for you, continues to call you to Himself in Word and sacrament; clinging to you, holding onto you when you are tempted to cling to this dying old world. And this ultimately is the answer that Jesus gives to these Gentiles who want to see Him-that a New covenant was being established and it would begin with His glorification on the cross, upon which He would call them and you to Him, as He is doing right now, for He is your High Priest and your perfect source of salvation, and you are included in His new covenant and He promises to keep you in this new covenant.
posted by Steve at 9:30 AM
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