Passiontide: Knowing and Seeing

17/3/24
Lent 5

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33

O God, we give you thanks because,
in the carnation of the Word,
a new light has dawned upon the world,
that all the nations and peoples may be brought out of darkness to see the radiance of your glory.

How has Lent been treating you? Has it been a time of learning new things about yourself and God? At this point in Lent, I think that many people get tempted to give up on the whole thing. Others may think it does not make any difference so carry on as normal.

Whichever way we are marking it (or not) this season of Lent is moving on rapidly. If we take a brief look back at the Gospel readings of the last few Sundays we can see how far we have come.

We began on Ash Wednesday with Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery and the offer to those without sin to cast the first stone. Then Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness immediately after his baptism. The third Sunday saw Jesus beginning to teach his disciples that he was to undergo great suffering, be killed and rise again in three days. This was followed by Jesus’ rant in the temple and the turning over of tables. We lightened up a bit last week for Mothering Sunday!

This Sunday, the fifth Sunday, begins the final push towards Easter. The churchy name is Passiontide and it runs these next two weeks until Easter Sunday. There is a turning in the Gospel reading this morning as Jesus narrows down the time frame with ‘the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified’. In the previous Gospel readings there has been no time specified. This threw the disciples and the Jewish authorities into confusion over when things were to happen.

In these last hours there are two serious questions to be considered in the prophecy of Jeremiah and in the Gospel of John. The first question from Jeremiah is: Do you know God?

Jeremiah is speaking to a group of broken, disillusioned people who are far from home and suffering. This happened in the sixth century when the Israelites (God’s chosen people) had been run out of Judah and Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. Jeremiah had faithfully and persistently spoken to the people and they would not listen.

The exile largely resulted from the Israelites disobedience to God. This in turn made God angry and out they went. A fair follow up question is why would I want to know a God like that?

Knowing God is a choice that each of us have to make and something that needs to be worked out. Like any relationship, it does not just happen. Nor can it be done on our behalf by another person. Sadly many people disregard God completely when He does not act in the way they/we think He should.

God requires very little from those who choose not to follow or believe in Him. There are of course consequences. The ultimate consequence is separation from God when this life is over. This is what Jesus came to save us from.

Life is difficult for many people, too many people. Hardship, war, famine, financial and relationship troubles, health issues, poverty, lack of opportunity, lack of love. Name your own difficulty. It is hard to comprehend that change or improvement will come.

Jeremiah was telling the exiled Israelites that better times were coming; the Lord will make a new covenant with them. God will put his law within them and they will be his people. The new covenant was needed because the old had been broken. The previous law had been written on stone tablets when Moses was on the mountain with God as written in the book of Exodus.

Rather than on stone tablets, the new law would be written in people’s hearts. They would not be compelled to follow that law; but would desire to follow the law. The Israelites were to become a community that knows God intimately and shared the knowledge of him together. This leads to them becoming a faithful community and the Lord will put the former sins behind them. This is the God that I want to know. This is the kind of community I want to be a part of. We have to desire it and want to stay around long enough to see it through.


The second question is: Do you want to see Jesus? The Greeks that appeared at the festival asked to see Jesus; there is no indication of why. Are they curious about his message and his parables? Are they chasing spectacle and hoping to see Jesus walk on water or heal a blind man? Maybe they are sceptics or troublemakers, looking to pick a fight. There is no way to know. All we can do is guess. I believe that one day everyone will meet him face to face.

Do you want to see Jesus?

If yes, which Jesus do we wish to see? The teacher? The healer? The peacemaker? The troublemaker? Why are we interested? Or if we are not asking and seeking, then the question shifts, and we have to ask it differently: why do I not want to see Jesus? What has been lost?

Many people may not want his presence, his guidance, his example or his companionship but still want things from him. Like safety, health, wealth, immunity from suffering or a life of ease. If we want to see Jesus then we have to see it all. The death, the suffering, the difficult teaching, the call to die to ourselves, to love Him first and everything else second. Those who serve him must follow him.

My heart for Jesus expands and constricts; my desire to see him waxes and wanes, and my motives for seeking him grow purer and coarser by turns.
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” On its face, it is such a simple request, but it cuts to the heart of so many kinds of spiritual growth, stagnation, and defeat. If we, like the Greek Gentiles, want to see Jesus, the place to look is to the cross. Jesus was and is many things: teacher, healer, companion, and Lord, and it is essential that we experience him in all of these ways.

The centre, the heart of who he is, is revealed at the cross. The cross makes true sight possible. Jesus is the one who draws and gathers all people to himself. He is the one who allows himself to be lifted up, so that what is unclear or overwhelming or frightening becomes visible. Jesus wishes to see us far more urgently than we will ever wish to see him. This is not a rebuke. We love because he loves first. We love because the cross draws us towards love; its power is as compelling as it is mysterious.

The cross pulls us towards God and towards each other. Whether or not I want to see Jesus, here he is, drawing me. Whether or not you want to see Jesus too.
In the next two weeks of Passiontide, we are drawn into the drama of the final days of Jesus’ life. We should be drawn to Him; we should want to be drawn to Him. We can be drawn in by reading the accounts of what happened and paying attention to the details and praying. The Hebrews reading this morning tells us that Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed with loud cries and tears, the messy, snotty kind. No stiff upper lip here. Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who listen and follow him. This is worth saying a few prayers for and some messy crying.

The waiting of Lent is speeding up; the hour is coming. Those who love their life will lose it. Fruit is born through death. This waiting will come to an end on the cross when Jesus is lifted up. The time is coming when we will see him face to face. Better days are coming to those who follow. Let’s be ready.

Easter 1: The Resurrection Accounts – Thomas

Easter 1
16/4/23

Acts 2:14, 22-32
John 20:19-end

This is an exciting season in the church calendar after having just celebrated Easter. The tomb is empty, Jesus is risen, death has been defeated, love wins, we are a resurrection people, nothing on earth will ever be the same again. Right?

Of course right! This is what we and Jake who is being baptised this morning need to come to understand and embrace.

On the Sundays of the Easter season we explore the events that took place after the resurrection of Jesus. We re-read the accounts of the people who were there and the building of the early church. We look with fresh eyes at what these events say to us today. I also want to look at what this means for Jake, his parents and godparents.

The Gospel for the first Sunday after Easter traditionally features the story of Thomas. We are off to a good start as Jake’s middle name is Thomas. Thomas is usually portrayed as the dogged disciple, often accused of being slow on the uptake, the doubter. Poor Thomas. Not that most inspiring choice for week one. There is very little mention of Thomas in the gospels; he first appears as a name on the list of the chosen disciples. There is no information about what he did for a job, where he came from or his family, only that he was a twin.

Many a sermon has been preached as a warning to not be like Thomas. Thomas the 50% believer; the one who needed everything proved and crystal clear before he could believe.

We live in an age where doubt has become the predominant form of belief. Fake news, fake images, filters to make photos look better, everything needing to be verified due to a lack of trust. There is more government legislation now than at any other time in history due to a breakdown in trust. Daily we put ourselves in a high number of situations that we should doubt more than do. We doubt both what we see and what we do not see. So often we doubt the wrong things. Misplaced doubt can be a dangerous thing. We and Jake need to work out the right things to doubt, to question.

Maybe Thomas was the disciple who was asking the questions that everybody had but didn’t want to ask out loud. Before his comments that made him the poster-boy of doubt for all eternity, Thomas is quoted on two other occasions.

The first is found in John 11 in the story of Jesus’ friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha. The disciples were trying to dissuade Jesus from going to be with them as it was dangerous for Jesus to be travelling around. The disciples are worried but Jesus is not concerned with the threats to his life. In the middle of this Thomas declares, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him’. The other disciples were ready to run the other way but not Thomas, he was prepared to go wherever Jesus did.

The second account is in John 14. Jesus is explaining to the disciples that he is going to leave them. The chapter starts with the reassuring words ‘do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house…’ Jesus is explaining where is going and what he is going to do there; he also tells the disciples that they know the way. It is Thomas who says, ‘we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?!’

Jesus responds to Thomas with some of the most beautiful words ever to fall from his mouth; ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

Thomas has been told; he has seen the Father in the Son. This doesn’t sound like a man who doubts. Maybe Thomas was the disciple who didn’t say much but when he did everyone else listened? Know anyone like that?

So where was he on the evening of that first day of that week when Jesus appeared? The disciples were together but Thomas was not with them. That following week must have been torture for Thomas. I am sure we have all had to miss events due to circumstances. Then those who did attend the event talk incessantly about it, down to every last detail, the play by play of every moment. And no matter the minutia of detail – you still weren’t there!

It would be reasonable to believe that Thomas became more entrenched in his declaration to see the nail marks and the side wound. Jesus returns again. This time just for Thomas and he invites Thomas to put his fingers in his hands and on his side. The text doesn’t say if he did or not. All it gives us is Thomas’ reply of ‘My Lord and my God.’ In this moment, Jesus firmly but gently reminds Thomas that he believes because he has seen. Thomas is responsible for the blessing that the whole rest of the world gets for not seeing and yet believing.

Thomas was part of a community where he openly voices his doubt. Like I said, Thomas has been portrayed negatively as the doubter, one of weak faith, the cynic, the holdout. These are often seen as spiritual flaws. Thomas was not weak; he was a man who wanted a living encounter with Jesus. Thomas was not going to settle for someone else’s experience of the resurrection. He wanted his own. Thomas was willing to admit his uncertainty in the midst of those who were certain. This is bravery. I hope that Jake will become a brave man – someone who wants living encounters and will work to get them.

In Acts 2, St Peter and the disciples (we can assume that Thomas was there) were standing up and telling the crowds about the wonders of the resurrection. This is what Thomas would spend the rest of his life doing.

Tradition holds that when the apostles were dispersed after Pentecost, Thomas was sent to evangelise through central Asia before he ultimately reached the Malabar coast of southwest India. There remains a large native population there calling themselves ‘Christians of St Thomas.’

Unlike most of the other disciples/apostles who were killed for their faith in quite gory ways, it is thought that Thomas was killed in a tragic peacock hunting accident when the hunter missed the bird and hit Thomas instead.

This is not a man of weakness but rather one we can learn from, even if uncomfortably. The things that make Thomas seem weak or doubtful are what makes him strong, his willingness to press on and ask the questions that others won’t. Thomas shares his doubts willingly and Jesus responds and meets him where he is at.

We can pray today for Jake Thomas, that he too will follow the example of Jesus and Thomas, seek his own experiences, ask questions, learn to doubt the right things, show compassion and love to all he meets.

The good news for us the week after Easter is that Jesus still meets us where we are at too. He is not afraid of our doubts, our wavering or our slowness. We, like Thomas, can hope for more. So let’s.