I come before you John 12:20-33

I come before you to stand behind you, to tell a story I know nothing about. Last night, in the middle of the day, two dead boys came out to play. Back to back, they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. A deaf policeman heard the noise. He came and shot those two dead boys. If you don’t believe me, go ask the blind man down the street. He saw it all.

I learned this story when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I think that its contradictions are perfect for understanding the text that we have just heard.

Today, our text follows a number of really important events in the Gospel of John. We don’t get to hear those other events, but they are important for understanding what is going on. In chapter 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and people are worshipping Jesus because of it. Some are even worshipping Lazarus because he has broken through the bonds of death.

In this chapter, Jesus has previously eaten supper with Martha and Mary along with Lazarus. Here we find that the people are so excited about Lazarus being raised up from the dead that many people are believing in Jesus. Jesus’ popularity has created so many believers that the priests and the elders have now decided to not only kill Jesus, but they have added Lazarus to the list of undesirables as well. Then, before any of that can happen, Jesus enters into Jerusalem in order to celebrate the Passover, and people spread palm branches on the road before him celebrating Jesus’ entry as a conquering king.

After all of this has taken place, some Greeks come wanting to see Jesus. But wait a minute, Palm Sunday isn’t until next Sunday! You see? I come before you to tell you a story that happens after the events of next Sunday, and yet these events have all already taken place for your sake and for the sake of the world. Are you confused yet?

As we come to the end of Lent, we are challenged to question: Who is this Jesus we follow? Do we follow because of the miracles he performs? Is it because he has changed the water into wine? The teaching of Nicodemus? Because he traded banter with the woman at the well, cured the cripple at the baths, fed the 5,000, healed the blind man, forgave the woman caught in adultery, or raised Lazarus from the dead?

Or, do we believe in Jesus himself? Is Jesus, by himself, enough to believe, or do we need something more concrete? As we come to the Passover festival, do we, like the Greeks of this text, need to physically see Jesus? What will that personal introduction mean for us?

So, Philip goes to Andrew to ask, “What to do? What to do?” Andrew apparently doesn’t have the right answer and only volunteers to accompany Philip when approaching Jesus with the request. And then, Jesus doesn’t say, “Show them in.”

Instead Jesus starts talking about seeds, dying and rising, and something about glorification, driving out the ruler of this world, and being raised up. Our time seems out of joint. And yet, it is this very sense of time being out of joint that prepares us for this final week of preparation before Holy Week when we will again witness the events that lead to the cross and death of Jesus, to those events that turn our world upside down.

As we come to see Jesus entering into Jerusalem, eating his last supper with his disciples before his death, as we witness the trial and crucifixion, and then enter into that time of rest at the end of the world, in that moment of not knowing the power of God’s ability to conquer death and the joy of the new creation resurrection start of the world, in that time, we will see all that the Greeks wanted to see. We will see in Jesus, the power to put death to death. We will see the ruler, that is Satan, be driven out of the world, and we will see all people, that is, the nations of the world, being gathered, drawn, to this one, this Jesus, our Messiah, the Christ God’s word revealed to us, enfleshed, who lived and lives among us.

We are not yet able to shout those words of joyful resurrection, but in Jesus’ words today, we are prepared for saying, “Hosanna, Lord, save us!” and rest in the assurance of God’s promise of salvation wholeness that comes to us through Christ himself.

Okay, I might have fibbed a little at the beginning. I have come to tell you a story I really do know something about. There is one who was dead who comes out to play. That one who comes out to play has got our back. While his words may, like a sword, cut us to the quick, the core of our lives, they also have the power to heal, to give the wholeness that brings hearing to the deaf and vision to the blind.

In the midst of all of the contradictions we hear in our world today, there is one thing that is constant and true: Christ has come into the world so that that the world might be saved, not just the people of the world but the world itself and all who dwell there. Christ has died. Christ is risen! Christ will come again. In the relationship we have with the risen one is the truth that gathers us to himself and sets us free to be in relationship with one another.