JC Disciples
Have you Seen Jesus
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 5:5-10, John 12:20-33
This semester, I'm taking a class in World Religions at Mesa Community College. I've learned that religious thought -- contemplating the order of creation, the meaning of life, and the potential for some sort of divine presence in the universe -- is a very common occurrence. Many cultures throughout time have looked at the world in which they lived and concluded "There is more here than meets the eyes." The explanations they developed for creation, the forces of nature, the process of living vary widely, but all set forth some type of divine being (or beings) for worship, supplication, and guidance.
What is quite unique in Jewish thought, particularly when it is set among other religious systems, is the kind of God it presented. Most other religions presented gods who were remote from the people. These gods were often capricious and indifferent to their worshippers. Many of the gods were at least amoral -- if not outright immoral. However, while this behavior might be acceptable for deities, most religious systems forbade people from doing likewise.
But the God of Israel was different. This God wanted a true relationship with people, to know them and to be known by them. This God spoke to a man named Abram and renamed him Abraham. This God cared for the descendants of Abraham, providing food and shelter in Egypt during a time of famine and then a way out of Egypt when the people became slaves. The people, in gratitude for their salvation, pledged to be faithful and to do all that God asked of them.
If you look at Exodus Chapter 20, you can see that, unlike Cecil B. DeMile's presentation, Moses was down among the people when God spoke the Ten Commandments. All the people, not just Moses, heard the voice of God. God personally spoke to all of them and they were terrified. The people begged Moses to speak God's words to them. They insisted they would die if they heard God's voice.
So God let them have it their way. But it wasn't too long before the people broke their promise of fidelity. Although they had all heard the prohibition against other gods and idols, they were dancing around the golden calf even before Moses came back down from Mount Sinai with the law.
These events set the stage for a pattern that would be repeated over and over by the people of God: pledges of fidelity that were soon forgotten and broken. While the people were often fickle in their affections, God remained constant and kept the promises that God had made to the people. Ultimately, the situation reached a point where God, like a loving parent, had to discipline the unruly children. So God sent them into exile.
While it may have appeared to be at the time, this exile would not be the end of the story. Even as the events leading up to the exile were unfolding, the word of God came to the prophet Jeremiah. "The days are surely coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah ... I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts ... for they shall all know the Lord."
This had been God's intention all along: that each person should know God, that God's law should be written on people's hearts -- not on tablets of stone. God wanted each person to have that same intimate relationship that Abraham, Moses, and very few others had experienced. God had allowed the people to try things their way and the experiment had failed miserably. Now it was time to return to God's original plan.
As Christians, we know that Jesus came as the author of this new covenant. In the person known as Jesus of Nazareth, God actually walked among the people. God taught them. God touched their lives with healing. God listened to their cries, to their joys, to the stories of their lives. While few at the time realized who Jesus was, many people knew there was something different, something special about him.
"Sir," a group of Greeks said to the disciple Philip, "we wish to see Jesus." Philip didn't take them to Jesus immediately; he went to another disciple, Andrew. Then the two of them went to Jesus. Did the Greeks ever see Jesus? The gospel text isn't clear. But Jesus was thrilled by the news that these Greeks, these Gentiles, these non-chosen ones wanted to see him. As Jesus explained, he had come to draw all people to himself, which is to say, to God.
"Sir" -- or "Ma'am," says a stranger who approaches you, "I would like to see Jesus." What would you say? What would you do? Do you have a picture handy that you could produce? Could you describe Jesus? Or would you simply explain that Jesus is now in heaven, still present with us somehow, yet unseen? After all, how can you possibly describe something -- Someone -- you've never seen?
Have you seen Jesus?
We are living in the times Jeremiah prophesied. God has come among us to be known by us. God's law is written in our hearts. We are God's people. So, have you seen Jesus?
In a hospital emergency room, a young wife is being examined by a doctor as her husband of one year stands at her side. She's upset about the damage to her new car in an accident that morning. Her husband is more concerned about any damage done to her. The doctor, who is as skilled with humor as he his with medicine, sets them both at ease with a playful, yet thorough, physical examination.
Did you see Jesus?
A tired and frustrated father is finally able to unload his grocery cart after a long wait in line. As he does so, his toddler begins to express her own frustration and tiredness. It's too much for the father to bear. To his surprise, the older woman in line behind them uses tricks she's learned through years of parenting and grandparenting to coax smiles and laughs from the child.
Did you see Jesus?
A young girl is facing surgery to repair her defective heart. The night before her operation, she engages a fellow heart patient, an older man, in conversation. He is taken in by her charms. While her surgery the next day is considered a success, the girl never regains consciousness. Despite his own condition, the man seeks out the grieving family to tell them of a dream he had. In his dream, he saw the little girl, dressed in a white robe with wings and a halo, climbing a stairway into the clouds.
Did you see Jesus?
Another set of parents has lost a child. This time the child is very young, an infant, another victim of SIDS. A woman from their congregation comes to visit them. They've seen her at church, but they don't really know her. Like many others, she has come to offer her condolences. But unlike the others, she wants to offer something more. She has come to offer herself as a guide to these people, to help them journey the road of grief that lies ahead. She is willing to do this because she has traveled that very road herself. For their sake, she is willing to revisit the places of her deepest pain.
Did you see Jesus?
Two children -- babies, really -- are sitting side by side on the laps of two people who love them. One is a boy, not yet a year old, already bright and inquisitive. The other is a girl, several months older, already displaying the scars of the abuse and neglect that began even before she was born. For some reason, the boy takes the girl's hand and holds it for awhile in his own. Is it possible this boy has felt some sort of compassion for this girl? Have we seen Jesus here?
The stories are all essentially true. I've changed a few details here and there, but the stories themselves are rooted in real events. If I were to ask, everyone here could probably share at least one story like any of these. Jesus still meets us -- not just in our worship services and private devotional times, but in the events of our lives.
And maybe that's coming a little too close. Maybe like the Israelites at Mount Sinai we'd like God to stay at a distance. It's safer that way. If God came right up close, then God would see us as we truly are. God would see our weaknesses, our failings, our pains, our sufferings, the scars we bear from our journeys through life, those things we strive to hide from the world around us -- even those who are closest to us.
But this is precisely the kind of knowledge that Jeremiah prophesied. Jeremiah did not foresee a day when all the people would have heads filled intellectual knowledge about God. The kind of knowledge Jeremiah spoke of is "heart knowledge", not "head knowledge." It is the kind of knowing that develops in a close relationship -- the kind of deep, intimate knowing of one another that develops between only the closest of friends or between husbands and wives.
God has come near to know us. Jesus lived among people. He lived within a family and knew all the joys and heartbreaks family life holds. He knew the good times and the bad times that friendships bring. Like any of the rest of us, Jesus was tempted by evil. Jesus also knew physical suffering.
Jesus was no detached observer, monitoring the human condition. In Jesus, God lived the human condition. God saw as we see; God walked as we walk. Why? As Jesus told his disciples, "I will draw all people to myself." God came near to us, to know us. We, in turn, are drawn near to God, to know God.
Have you ever noticed what happens in close friendships -- particularly marriages -- over the years? The two people grow more and more alike. Each knows how the other thinks. They can finish each other's sentences. One is able to anticipate the needs of the other.
That also happens in our relationship with God. We, who were created in the image of God, find ourselves made more fully into the image of God as we are forgiven and set free from sin. We sin less and love more. We see the world more and more through God's eyes. God's ways become our ways. Truly, God writes the law within our hearts, just as Jeremiah foretold. We become living signposts pointing the way to Jesus, to God who wants to be known by all people.
"Ma'am" or "Sir", the stranger asks again, "I would like to see Jesus."
What will you say? What will you do?
Amen.