Lent 5

Lent 5 (John 12:20-33)

“I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to me.”

The beloved apostle John remembered that when Jesus was in Jerusalem, some Greeks asked to see him. This statement slides through our minds with little context and so little impact.

Greeks and Jews normally did not mix. When they did, there was a tendency for Jews to give up their distinctive beliefs and customs. This so disturbed the religious leaders of Jerusalem that they adopted strict measures to prevent it.

There were also some Greeks, as well as Romans, who admired the strict monotheism of the Jews. They recognized the moral quality of the Law. They did not convert to Judaism since they found many of the traditions and customs of the Jews to be offensive. They did adopt the broader moral principles and monotheism of Judaism. And, they did what they could to help the synagogues throughout the Roman Empire. It was these so called “righteous” Gentiles who wanted to see Jesus.

Many people in Israel wanted to see Jesus. Some wanted to witness his miracles. Some wanted to be healed. Others wanted to be fed. Still others wanted to gain his favor just in case he turned out to be the Messiah, just in case he became the new king. Others wanted to analyze and criticize every word he said.

Others wanted to practice the curious human form of dialog known then as now as critique by character assassination. And so some of the religious leaders accused Jesus of being a drunkard. Others claimed he violated the Sabbath. Still others spread rumors he taught Jews to violate the Law of Moses. And some even accused Jesus of being possessed by demons.

In absence of fact, in absence of dialog, the last resort and the only resort of religious and political authorities is misdirection through slander. The enemies of Jesus knew they could not prove their accusations. They also knew that proof grounded in fact was not necessary. As with the false prophets, they only had to confuse people to subvert the message of hope Jesus brought. They only needed to instill fear. The fear would distort the seed of faith in the people. Why? They knew fear was fundamental to maintaining their power.

The Greeks who asked to see Jesus that day came from a culture that valued fact. The Greeks had produced advanced mathematics that accurately calculated the circumference of the earth and the orbits of the earth and the planets around the sun. Some Greek philosophers in Egypt were even experimenting with steam engines.

Sadly, the mass culture of the time rejected this science (the Greek word for knowledge). The Romans took from science what they needed to build their cities and roads and military and ignored the rest. The various factions in the political/religious establishment in Jerusalem judged all data and all people from a rigid inflexible uncompromising set of inherited beliefs. These beliefs gave them power and preserved their power. They had no incentive to listen to an alternative voice such as Jesus. They actually feared such a voice. Their reaction in fear, the fear of losing power, the fear of admitting they and their ancestors might be wrong, led to the crucifixion.

Jesus knew this was the fundamental problem that keeps our species lost in separation from God. If you want to see Jesus you must at some level be willing to be wrong. You must have even the smallest measure of humility that acknowledges the possibility that at least some if not much if not all of what you inherited as a belief system is flawed. Even the apostles had difficulty with that.

Jesus responds to the honest curiosity of the Greeks by teaching his heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. It was a difficult teaching. It offended the Greek esthetic sense of balance, harmony and beauty. It certainly offended the Jewish sense of rewards and punishments based on strict obedience to an inflexible system of beliefs and behaviors.

Jesus answers the Greeks and the Jews and indeed all people everywhere with the Father’s Plan of Salvation. It is not a political plan. It is not a plan that is easily expressed in the terms of sociology, philosophy or economics. It is a profoundly organic plan. It is a deeply spiritual plan.The Plan of Salvation is for Jesus to bear within himself the power of separation, sin and death. As a  mortal man Jesus can experience the abomination of desolation which is separation from God.

As the co-eternal Beloved Son of the Eternal Father, Jesus can transform separation into reunification, sin back into virtue, death back into life. As the fullness of humanity unified with divinity, Jesus can offer reunification and transformation as a free gift for all people to choose.

The Greeks asked to see Jesus out of curiosity shaped by a culture of inquiry and experimentation. Jesus told them: look to the cross. The evidence of divine love is the incarnation. The proof of divine love is the crucifixion. The triumph of divine love is the resurrection. The ongoing outpouring of divine love is the blessed sacrament of divine love at the altar of sacrifice.

Jesus says to the people of his time and says to the people of all time: As I am lifted up on the cross I embrace the fullness of fallen humanity. I experience the pain of separation, the distortions of sin and the devastation of death. I experience it universally and personally so I can take it from you and transform it for you.

Jesus said, and as I am lifted up at the altar of sacrifice in the real presence of Holy Communion I offer myself to you. The image of the Plan of Salvation is the elevation of Christ on the Cross and in the Holy sacrifice of the Mass. It is the image of divine love embracing and transforming separation, sin and death. It is the image of the co-eternal Beloved of the Eternal Father offering himself to us and to all people by the power of the life giving Holy Spirit.