Lent 5 B

Do others see Jesus, the one who draws all people to himself, when they look at us, disciples of Jesus?

There is a story in Philip Yancey’s book What’s So Amazing About Grace? that tells about a friend of his who works in the church in Chicago. He meets a young woman (could be on a bus) who is visibly struggling in life at the moment. She looks stressed out, and nervous, but also very tired. She is with a small daughter. He starts to talk with her and she begins to tell him her story. She is homeless. She works at night “on the street” — meaning that she is a prostitute. She is sick and she can’t provide food for her daughter. She needs help, but she can’t get it. She can’t break the cycle because her shame and her drug addiction keep her where she is. Now very naively, he says, “Well have you ever tried going to the church?”

She looks at him as if he was joking. “I already feel ashamed of myself; why would I go to church to make it worse?” She believes that if she showed up on a Sunday morning, she’d be condemned for her life, not healed. And… in many cases — she’d be right.

That says a lot. As people who seek to follow Jesus, this story should be upsetting to us. This should worry us. That there are many people out there who see the church as an agent of the status quo, as part of the system that assigns blame to troubled people, and separates the good people from the bad people. As the author of that book points out — this is the opposite of Jesus’s ministry. Prostitutes and sick people and hungry people and all kinds of pushed out people flock to Jesus in the Bible. In today’s Gospel, a Greek — someone outside of the Jewish religion, someone most would believe would be outside of God’s favor — seeks the disciples out and says simply, “I want to see Jesus.” And now in our society those kind of folks, the ones on the fringes; they can’t get away fast enough.

This is a kind of tragedy — that instead of seeing Jesus as the grain of wheat that gives its life so that others may live, they see Jesus as a nice guy being choked out by weeds competing for space. Instead of seeing the church as a people spreading God’s favor, they see it as a fortress of people protecting their own.

And the greatest of tragedies: that instead of finding a place of grace and forgiveness, people find the church to be a place of judgment. [Even long time members…]

Now, because I’ve known you all here for about four months now, I know that you are grace-filled people. I’ve heard some of your stories. I’ve heard stories of redemption and grace in your everyday lives. I’ve already been the recipient of your grace when I failed to show up last Sunday, and you all were praying for me to feel better. You all are not a bunch of judgmental people. I know this.

The woman on the bus does not know this. And worse, her perception of the church — and let’s be honest, probably her past experience with the church — has convinced her that whatever Grace we share is not for her. She will never show up here to find out otherwise.

But. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to see Jesus.

When the unnamed Greek wants to see Jesus in today’s Gospel, he goes to a disciple. That disciple goes to another disciple and together they go directly to Jesus. Seems like maybe the beginning of some kind of evangelism program. Except, in response, Jesus starts using botany metaphors to talk about death.

“Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12.23–25 NRSV)

The disciples encounter a potential new member, and this is how Jesus responds? You almost think he misheard them. But, of course, he didn’t.

Showing Jesus to others is not an evangelism program, it’s not about impressing, it’s not about glossy promotional flyers showing how successful Jesus will make you. Showing Jesus to others is necessarily related to the kind of sacrificial love that Jesus shows to us. Grace and forgiveness that leads Jesus to the lowest lows and leads us to release our grip on our own life for the sake of others.

Others like the woman on the bus.

As we are sent out from worship today, our final hymn will be called “There in God’s Garden.” The words of this hymn are incredible, and they remind us with imagery from the Garden of Eden to the Cross on which Jesus was lifted up that Christ is the Tree of Life for all people.

One of its verses proclaims:

See how its branches reach to us in welcome; hear what the Voice says, “Come to me, ye weary! Give me your sickness, give me all your sorrow, I will give blessing.”

This is the Christ that church is called not just to represent but to embody in this world. This is often not the image of Christ that others see. From the woman on the bus to our children and grandchildren, to other groups of people who have been told over and over that church is not for them, so many in our world do not see the Tree of Life reaching out its branches in welcome.

You might say the church has Public Relations problem. And we might be tempted to go on the defensive, to launch a PR campaign that proves that we aren’t that bad, that there are good people in the church, and that plenty of successful people have been Christians all along.

But the model of Jesus is almost the opposite. Jesus calls us not to love our church, but to love others. We are called not to preserve our lives, but to give them away to others. To those who would never walk through these doors otherwise. To those who won’t encounter God’s love next in worship, but rather in relationship with the branches of the Tree of Life reaching out not to judge others but to offer blessing. To offer mercy.

In a way, the woman on the bus was right. The greatest gift we can offer one another is not membership in a church but the Good News of God’s mercy and forgiveness. My hope and prayer is that as a congregation, we are like branches reaching out beyond this little garden here into the world offering the life-giving and life-sacrificing message of Grace to all people, especially ones that think they are beyond the limits of God’s love.

Until, as the hymn says:

All heav’n is singing, “Thanks to Christ whose passion offers in mercy healing, strength, and pardon. Peoples and nations, take it, take it freely!” Amen!