Even the Greeks!

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 12th Chapter

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.

When the Greeks came to Jerusalem they stood out.  It was Passover and the Greeks were… well, Greek… not Jews.  People noticed.  They were “God-fearers” which meant they practiced the Jewish faith but they could never be REAL Jews, because they were not BORN to a Jewish mother, and if you’re not born into it, you would never be a REAL Child of God, and THAT... as they say, was THAT. 

But the Greeks had heard about Jesus.  The teaching.  The signs.  Maybe the Messiah?  Who knew?  So they wanted to see Jesus.  And not just set their eyeballs on him, but really SEE him... connect with him... because maybe, just maybe… if by some long shot this WAS the Messiah… well, then the Messiah would have the power to change the way things had always been.... the Messiah would have the power to change the world so even Greeks could become Children of God.

And this WAS the moment.  THIS was the judgement of the world, but not a “heaven and hell” kind of judgement.  This judgement is the Greek word “krisis” which is more like the Chinese characters for “crisis” with one character for “danger” and one for “opportunity” put together to form a new word.  THIS was the moment of a dangerous opportunity… an opportunity to walk out of the darkness and become the light, go from death into life… an opportunity to cast down the mighty and lift up the lowly… this was the time to turn outsiders into insiders… a time to begin changing and healing all of creation.  And all that change is EXACTLY what made all this so DANGEROUS… because people in power back then, like people in power today, did NOT want things to change.  But for the Greeks, it was worth the risk... because THIS might be their opportunity... maybe their only opportunity... to really become Children of God.  So, in spite of the danger, these Greeks chose this dangerous opportunity to SEE Jesus.

Jesus, of course, was the very center of this dangerous opportunity and this was the moment.  In John’s Gospel, everything points to this moment.  Remember the wedding in Cana when Jesus told his mother that his hour had not yet come... Well, THIS was now the HOUR he had been talking about!  This was the HOUR of his death and resurrection… the moment the world is turned upside down… the moment death ceases to have the last word… the moment that would ripple out in waves from that place and that time through every time and every place.  The Greek grammar makes this VERY clear...This was THE moment God turned the world upside down but it wasn’t a one-and-done thing… it was a particular moment for sure, but like a stone dropped into a pond, it was a moment that rippled out from that point into forever, transforming all of creation in waves, continually changing everything... year after year, all over the world, through the centuries and even rippling into here and now.  The ripples from Jesus being lifted up continue to change the world… to change us… even here… even today.  But now, just like back then, joining in with a world changer is a dangerous opportunity.  Even today, changes that feel like ripples to some, feel like world ending tidal waves to others.  

Way back then, those Greeks leaned into that dangerous opportunity.  They knew the dangers of seeing Jesus… of joining in with an earth shaker and a world changer, but they also knew that seeing Jesus meant the opportunity to be transformed… to become fully the Children of God they felt called to be… to be accepted unconditionally into a community of faith… to be wrapped up in God’s love and God's peace which passes all understanding… to not just walk in God’s light but to become the light shining the way to the Kingdom of God.  

Those same ripples… that same tidal wave (depending on your perspective) from that same moment when Jesus was lifted up then, is here for us today.  The same dangerous opportunity to join with God to do nothing less than transform the world into the Kingdom of God is here for us today.  The same question the Greeks faced all those years ago is the question we are being asked today.  Will we choose the dangerous opportunity to join with Jesus… the earth shaker, the tidal wave maker, the Kingdom bringer and transform the world?  Will we join the One who insists that a few is just not enough and that only drawing ALL to himself will do?  

If that’s the dangerous opportunity you are looking for, there’s some Good News for you today!  If you, like those Greeks, want to see Jesus, there is some Good News for you today!  Because today Jesus is lifted up, right there in the bread and the wine!  In fact, EVERY Sunday he is lifted up to draw all, all, ALL of creation to himself including you!   If that makes this dangerous opportunity something you feel called to lean into like those Greeks, then come to the table!  Taste and see!  Everyone is welcome.  Everyone… even you Greeks.  Amen.  

Pies, Potato Chips and Power

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 2nd Chapter

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

I would like to be able to tell you that this Gospel lesson today is about Girl Scout Cookies.  I’d like to tell you that this Gospel clearly forbids Girl Scouts, Brownies and especially Daisy Scouts (because their cuteness is impossible to resist) from selling me cases of Samoas.  I’d like to tell you that because, I have no self control and can only eat Samoas by the box.  So, I’d like to tell you this lesson is about evils of selling addictive cookies covered in lavish amounts of cocoanut-y, chocolatey goodness in church… but I can’t, because this lesson isn’t really about that at all.  

In Matthew, Mark and Luke’s Gospels this story at the end.  This rampage in the Temple square is part of what motivates the authorities to arrest Jesus and have him killed, but here in John’s Gospel, it's at the very beginning of the book.  My dad was a career Air Force officer and he always said when you give a briefing you first tell them what you are going to say.  Then you say it.  Then you tell them what you said.  With these actions… Jesus was beginning his briefing.  He was telling the world what he was going to say with his whole life.  

Jesus was telling the world that he was about pulling down barriers and turning over antiquated ideas that kept people separated from one another and from God.  The Temple was the place Jewish people came to get right with God.  But over the years, it had also become a place where human relationships got flung apart.  Men could go here, but women had to go over there.  Jews could go here but Greeks had to stay there.  The clean could go here, the ritually impure had to be way over there.  To make matters worse, just the practical requirements of getting an animal all the way to Jerusalem for a sacrifice, favored the wealthy.  The wealthy could afford to just simply buy the best animals right there on the spot.  The poor could not.  The wealthy could pay to move to the head of the line.  The poor could not.

When Jesus cleansed the Temple he was showing the world the character of his whole life’s work… which was leveling the playing field so that EVERYONE could come to God on a level and equal playing field.  It’s the same thing St. Paul talks about in our second lesson for today.  There, Paul focuses just on equalling the difference between Greeks and Jews but in Galatians, Paul uses the long form of the same list and says, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  As quickly as the world sets up one table for some people and a different one for others, Jesus will be there to turn them over. 

Now, of course, not everyone was super excited about Jesus’ idea to change things around.  The wealthy Jewish men who’s great, great, great grandfathers had built this Temple by carrying heavy stones, in the snow, uphill, both ways…  THEY thought it was fine just the way it was!  Thank you very much!  “Jesus, we’ve always done it this way!”  “Doing it THIS way is beautiful... it's part of our identity!”  “Jesus, doing things differently, letting others in, changing the order of what goes on here... You're asking us to give up a part of who we are!”  

And you know what?  They weren’t wrong.  Jesus WAS asking them to change.  To do things differently.  To give up their privileged position of being the only ones who could easily connect with God.  For them… that was scary.  It was scary because human nature whispers in our ear and tries to convince us that if I share this thing that’s so important to me with someone else, that means there’s going to be LESS of that important thing for me!  And that little, whispered voice makes a bit of sense because if I have a bag of potato chips and give you some, then I have less chips for myself.  If I slice up a pie and give you a piece, that’s one less piece for me.  If one church joins with another church then your church is going to want a say in how things go and I won’t have as much power as I had before.

That little voice says “you won’t have it like you’ve always had it.”  It says, “You’ll have to do it differently and everything will be LESS than what it used to be!”  That little voice is hard to resist because for so much of what we experience in this world that little voice is right.  But here’s the thing Jesus knew as he crashed his way across the Temple square… God’s love, compassion, forgiveness and presence doesn’t work like potato chips, pecan pie or power.  

God is different.  When we share a handful of the forgiveness and grace we first get from God with someone else, there’s still an entirely FULL BAG of God’s forgiveness left over for us!  When we take that love we get from God and cut it into slice after slice after slice after slice and give it and share it and give it and share it wider and wider and deeper and deeper… when we look back… that pie plate is ALWAYS still FULL of God’s love… an endlessly powerful procession of pie for us and for all of creation!  

Folks, I’m here to tell you… I am the poster child for the fear of scarcity.  My “not having enough” button is the size of Montana and I’ve lived in Montana… believe me… it’s huge!  But when it comes to God’s love, God’s grace, God’s forgiveness and God’s care for us.  There isn’t a limit.  We need not worry that there will be less for us if we join with Jesus and turn over the tables and throw open the doors.  We don’t need to fret that there won’t be enough.  We don’t need to play the games of this world and constantly jockey for positions of privilege, power or place.  Because ALL that we have comes to us as a gift from God.  May we let down our guard, open the doors, flip over the tables and share all that we've been given with the world.  Believe me, after we’ve shared it, there’s still plenty more where that came from.  Amen.