Lent 5B Wishing to See Jesus, Greeks, Phillip, Andrew. John 12:20-33, St. Mark’s March 21, 2021
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
No two people encounter Jesus in precisely the same way, writes the late Rachel Held Evans.1(p. 151 Inspired) Nicodemus comes under cover of night. Zacchaeus seeks Jesus from the top of a tree. A 12-year-old girl sees Jesus as he brings her back to life and tells her to get something to eat. A hemorrhaging woman follows him and touches Jesus’ garment. A woman without a name comes into a Pharisee’s dinner party from off the street, washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints his feet with an alabaster jar of costly oil (Luke 7:37). A Samaritan woman at the well gives Jesus a drink of water at noon and becomes the first person he tells that he is the Messiah. Next week on Palm Sunday, we will hear a centurion at the foot of Jesus’ cross look up and declare him indeed as God’s Son immediately as Jesus draws his last breath. There is no formula, no blueprint.1
The good news becomes good because it will vary from person to person and community to community. Today we learn that a relationship with Jesus has a different impact on Andrew, Phillip, and now the Greeks. This is what the New Testament is about; the story of encounters with Jesus as told from multiple perspectives.
Today we once again meet Phillip, a disciple from the Greek-Jewish town of Bethsaida, and Andrew, a disciple who also has a Greek name. We first come-upon Phillip in John’s gospel when Jesus simply sees him and says, “Follow me” (John 1:43). Phillip then invites his friend, Nathanael, from the village of Cana to come to meet Jesus. John Claypool calls Phillip the careful realist.2 Earlier, when Jesus asks Phillip to feed a large group of people, Phillip tells Jesus there is not enough money to buy even a tiny amount of bread for each person. Next week we will hear Phillip still tell Jesus at the last supper the night before Jesus dies to “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Why is Phillip never called “doubting” Phillip? Today we get a glimpse of another side of Phillip. Herbert O’Driscoll tells us that perhaps the Greeks first come to Phillip because he has a welcoming face.3 Maybe that is why when Jesus first sees Phillip, he only needs to say, “Follow me.”
So, why does Phillip go to Andrew to decide what to do about this Greek situation? Does Phillip have difficulty making decisions, or more likely he is someone who is not too proud to seek help when he encounters an unusual or difficult situation,/ unlike Peter, who just barges right in.2 /
Andrew is the next disciple in our story today and is the first disciple called in John’s gospel. He is once a disciple of John the Baptist and is with John around four in the afternoon when the Baptist sees Jesus and says, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.”/ Andrew follows Jesus. Then Jesus asks him, “What are you looking for?” (John 1:35-39). Practical Andrew responds, “Where are you staying? Jesus answers, “Come and see” (John 1:39). Andrew then has a similar impulse as Phillip to share the good news of Jesus with his brother, Simon Peter. “We have found the Messiah.” Later on, when Jesus is with a crowd and asks Andrew to help feed them, Andrew looks for a solution and goes through the crowd to find a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish”(John 6:9) and brings him to Jesus. A little different from Phillip’s “half empty” response at the hungry gathering crowd. Today we meet Andrew, who affirms that his ministry has become bringing people to Jesus. He brought his brother, the young boy, with fish and bread, and now the Greeks.4/
“No two people encounter Jesus in exactly the same way.”1//
So, who are “some” Greeks asking politely to get a first-hand view of Jesus with their request, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Why are they in this story? Rachael Held Evans again tells us, “The gospel means that every small story is part of a sweeping story, every ordinary life part of an extraordinary movement” (Inspired 157). Are these Greek Jews coming to the festival of the Passover/ or are they pagan Greeks who are seeking to learn more about Jesus?4
I know you remember last Sunday when we heard the famous John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” Note the word, the world again. Jesus came to us for the world, not just to Jews, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, or even Episcopalians! That message is now emphasized again today as Greeks come to learn about Jesus. Jesus hints at this earlier as he intermittently goes back and forth across the Sea of Galilee from the land of the Jews to the home of the Gentiles. Remember also how he goes through Samaria to the “unclean” Jews and meets that fascinating woman at the well.
God loves the whole world, China, England, Russia, all of Africa. Today Jesus also says, “When I am lifted up (on the cross) I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32). Not some, but all.
William Willimon tells us this is the Sunday we remember God gives his life for all humanity. Jesus Christ stretches out his arms on the cross to reach ALL of us, especially those who may seem like a pain in the neck, those on the other side of the aisle, on the other side of the ocean.5 Hopefully, this story teaches us to see those different from ourselves still as children of God./
Let us remember this as we say the prayers of the people that we are praying for all the different people of the world who, like all the characters in the gospels, will each have a unique encounter with Jesus, just as you and I do. Every one of us has life and world experiences that only we have had. Jesus meets us exactly where we are and where we have been. Treasure that. Treasure this unique gift from Andrew and Phillip, who bring the Greeks to Jesus// and now, in turn, to us. //
Barbara Brown Taylor imagines that when Jesus hears that the Greeks have come to be with him, he knows it is time. It is finished. The future has arrived. The foreigners have come to take the gospel from Judea and plant it everywhere else in their own language. Jesus is now assured that God’s message of love will be heard throughout the universe.6 /
Do you see yourself in this story?/ This story is about us./ We are in the story./ Imagine Jesus looks with wonder at his Greek visitors and sees beyond them/ to the host of those far from Judea and Galilee/ to all over the world,/ who will now be drawn to the Father/ for centuries to come./ Among them are you and me,/ coming to worship at St. Mark’s today, who “wish to see Jesus.3”
1Rachael Held Evans in Inspired (Nelson Books 2018).
2 John Claypool in The First to Follow, “Phillip” Morehouse 2008).
3Herbert O’Driscoll, The Word Today, Year B Volume 2 (Anglican Book Center 2001)pp. 37-38.
4 John Claypool in The First to Follow, “Andrew,” (Morehouse 2008).
5 William Willimon in “5th Sunday in Lent, Drawing All to Himself,” Pulpit Resources (March 22, 2015) pp. 50-52.
6Barbara Brown Taylor in Always a Guest (Westminster John Knox Press 2020) p. 216.
Joanna Seibert joannaseibert@me.com