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Believing is not SeeingJohn 12:20-33Lent 5March 22, 2015This was a special moment in Jesus’ ministry. It may have felt like it was right out of the blue but yet it wasn’t. Jesus influence in the world had started out so insignificantly in a manger stall. Only Mary and Joseph knew about him at first. But then he started to be known by others as the wisemen came and brought him gifts and suddenly Jesus was a local celebrity.When he grew up and started doing miracles in his ministry he became well known in all of the villages around the Sea of Galilee. It is rather like the pebble dropped into the still pond. Each ring goes out further and further until the rings bump up against the shore where they have reached the point where they have gone the furthest they can go.Such was the case with Jesus ministry. His fame had gone from family to neighborhoods, to villages, to regions and finally – to the nations. Some Greeks had come to worship at the festival and they had a request for Jesus disciples – “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”This was the sign for Jesus so that he said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus’ fame had spread to the shores of a distant land and now you didn’t just have to be Jewish to know Jesus. Now all people can know Jesus.The question for all of us is, “How do we know Jesus?” Wouldn’t it be nice to see Jesus like the Greeks did? After all there is the old adage, “Seeing is believing”. If we could see a picture of Jesus then maybe we too would be able to believe in him.A local artist – Katie or Taunja Wilken recently painted a picture of Jesus as she saw him. We used it for the Children’s sermon today. This other picture is the one that hung in our house when I was growing up. There are lots of other pictures of Jesus in the world today as well. Some come from the Shroud of Turin where a negative of Jesus seems to be burned into the cloth. That could very well be the best likeness that is available to us today.I wonder however if we aren’t barking up the wrong tree if all we are after is seeing Jesus. There is so much more to our relationship than just the “Seeing is believing” adage. In fact if you turned that phrase around just a little bit then I think we would be closer to what our relationship with Jesus is really about. Rather than “seeing is believing” we should say, “believing is not seeing”. Our relationship with Jesus is all about the faith that we have been given to believe in Christ without ever seeing him. What is the key to our mysterious relationship with Christ? You know what it is – it is the cross.The cross means that you have died and now your life is hidden in Christ with God. It doesn’t mean that you are going to die some day either. The cross means that you died with Christ – end of story. Your relationship with Christ is so much more than simply “seeing is believing”. Your belief, your faith in Christ is created within you through your death and that is the power of God.I know that this may be a rather inconvenient time for me to break the news to you about your death. I’m sure you had so many things on your bucket list that you had yet to accomplish. I know you really wanted to get new carpeting in the family room and maybe remodel the bedroom, and what about the cabin? But I’m sorry, you wanted to see Jesus and now you are dead. All of the hopes and the dreams that you had for this earthly life are gone now because the good news of Jesus Christ has put your old life to death on the cross. How inconvenient is that?But wait….can you still feel a pulse. Yes! Take a deep breath. Hallelujah we still have some life left in us. What are we to do now? Well, we can’t love a life that is dead so we must embrace the life that is hidden in the faith in Christ that we cling to. Jesus said, “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”Your eternal life is hidden with Christ in God and Christ is holding on to you in love so that when your earthly body has finally breathed its last Christ will latch on to you like a tractor beam and draw you into the kingdom of God, your new birth, your new life. Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.” We have something to do while we are waiting for the death process to be complete. Even little Lane David Gilyard, just starting his eternal life today will need a community around him to help him live and serve and understand the mystery of our life hidden in the promise of eternal life through his baptism into Christ.Friends in Christ – Believing is Not seeing. We live by the promise of God that our sins are forgiven and we are free at last from everything that would separate us from God’s kingdom - through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ................
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