The Greek Brothers, The Vatican, and RuPaul

 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.

The Greek brothers, Nick, Gus and Nick pulled into town along with everybody and their mother!  The traffic was terrible.  They, like everyone else, had come to Jerusalem for Passover, which was out of the ordinary, because they weren’t Jews.  They were Greeks!  But they weren’t the usual sort of Greeks either.  They were what were called “God-fearers.”  They faithfully practiced the Jewish faith and yet, would never be welcomed in as REAL Jews, because they were BORN and Greeks and not Jews, and you can't change how you were born!

But recently, scrolling through social media, they had stumbled upon a the video of a man who was teaching with authority, doing great signs, who might… just might… be the promised Messiah.  Nick, Gus and Nick really wanted to see him.  Not just to set their eyeballs on him, but REALLY SEE him… get to know him... follow him in his footsteps… because, you see, if this man really WAS the Messiah, well… HE would have the power to change everything.... even the power to include Greeks as Children of God!

Nick, Gus and Nick arrived right at the moment of “judgement.”  But it wasn’t a “guilty/not-guilty” sort of judgement.  The Greek work translated as “judgement” is “Kresis” and in spite of sounding like the English word “crisis” it’s not exactly that either, with that word’s almost exclusively bad connotations.  It was a dangerous moment to be sure, but it also contained all the elements of infinite possibility as well.  THIS was THE moment that God had taken to do the DANGEROUS work of transforming the way all of creation worked, which would create the beautiful OPPORTUNITY for ALL to be included.  

God at work in the world to include ALL, sounds great, but not everyone gets excited about change.  In fact some people are willing to do anything… even kill… to stop things from changing.  But Nick, Gus and Nick thought it was worth the danger.  THIS was the moment to which everything in John’s Gospel had been pointing.  Remember the wedding in Cana when Jesus told his mother that his hour had not yet come?  Well, THIS was now the HOUR!  This was THE moment!  But even the moment itself was unique.  This wasn’t a moment that just came and then went.  THIS was the sort of moment that comes and then ripples out in never-ending waves through all of time and all of creation.  The Greek grammar make that clear… God was turning the world upside down and THEN, the implications of God’s work would continue to ripple out, changing everything, through all of time, for everyone… everywhere… forever.     

But the world isn't always a fan or change. Even when that change comes from God!  Because change means that “the way we’ve always done it before” needs to die and “the way we’ve always done it before” rarely ever goes quietly into that good night.  So even here in John’s Gospel where Jesus seems most in control, this isn’t a cake walk.  Even Jesus himself says his soul is troubled.  Even for Jesus... even for the good… change is hard.  But like it or not, God's change rolls on right into today, where we too now have the very same dangerous opportunity to really SEE Jesus! 

Now, before you get all excited about that, I have to warn you... SEEING Jesus isn’t the same as HEARING about Jesus.  It isn’t the same as intellectually agreeing to a list of doctrines ABOUT Jesus.  SEEING Jesus means allowing all that we’ve grown comfortable with to be lifted up and crucified with him to make room for what God has in mind to bring to new life in us next!  It means letting go of the way it is now and fully embracing the Kingdom of God.

That’s what the Greek Brothers wanted… that’s what they NEEDED!  Because they knew that nothing short of death and resurrection would have the power to change the world enough to fully include them as Children of God!  This was the hour… their hour… and in ways I can’t wrap my head around, it is our hour today as well.  The moment of God’s radical inclusion of all people came 2000 years ago and is, at the same time, this particular moment as well.    

The sad truth of that is that now, like then, the powers of the world, both religious and secular will fight God's change for full inclusion.  They will continue to decide who is “out” and who is “in”, who’s a saint and who's a sinner.  Greek brothers and sisters then... gay brothers and sisters now.

But the take home message of this Gospel story is that in spite of all that persistent ugliness then, they couldn’t stop Jesus from drawing the Greek brothers into God’s loving embrace then and they can’t stop Jesus from drawing all people into that same loving embrace today!  

The Dangerous Opportunity that God brought into this world as a child in a manger has NOW become the judgment of this world!  And that Judgement IS, that each and every one of you, no matter where you were born, no matter the color of your skin, no matter who you love… the judgement of Jesus is that YOU ARE A FULL and COMPLETE and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT CHILD OF GOD just as you are!  

The rulers of this world who continue to sell division, hate, exclusion, and anxiety are annoying as hell... but they ARE being driven out!  And as that Dangerous Opportunity named Jesus is lifted up from this earth, he will draw all people… all people… ALL PEOPLE to himself, and include each and every one as a beloved Children of God.  There will sadly always be people who don’t like it, but as St. Ru of Paul says, “If they ain’t payin’ your bills don’t pay them no mind” because for God, ALL… MEANS… ALL!  Amen.