Thunder or Angel or … ?

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 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. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

John’s Gospel attaches much importance to the idea of Jesus’ hour. Back in chapter 2 when Jesus is at the wedding in Cana, his mother tells him they have run out of wine. And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” (2.4)

In chapter 7 Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem at one of the great festivals. Controversy surrounds him and many are speculating that he is the Messiah. That upsets the authorities and we read, “Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come” (7.30).

In a similar way in chapter 8 he is teaching in the temple, teaching that led many to faith and many to anger. The gospel writer says “[Jesus] spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.” (8.20) Time and time again, Jesus’ hour had not yet come.

Until tonight’s text. Now is the hour. So we read, “Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’” (12.23) Or, “‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.’” (12.27) Then just a few verses past tonight’s text, in a passage we’ll look at on Thursday night, the final section of John’s Gospel begins with these words: “Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (13.1) The hour of Jesus has come.

So think with me about two questions. First, what is the hour that has come? Succinctly put, it is the revelation to world of who Jesus really is.

The world is represented in the text by the Greeks who came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” They represent all of us who were not among the first disciples. They want to see Jesus. They want to know who he really is. And so do we. So Philip goes to Andrew and they both go to Jesus and Jesus gives the answer, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (12.23)

But notice something very interesting. Jesus’ reply to the two disciples contains no answer for the Greeks. In fact, he does not even acknowledge their presence. Instead he talks about a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying in order that it might bear much fruit. And he talks about being lifted up in order to draw all people to himself. That is the theological answer to the Greeks and to us. Jesus must first die (like a grain of wheat) on the cross (being lifted up) and then be exalted (lifted up to God) before he can bring salvation to the world.[1]

The fullness of Jesus’ ministry is here. He is crucified. He is resurrected. He is exalted. All of this, and nothing less than this, is the hour which has come for Jesus.

• If Jesus had just been crucified, he might be worthy of our admiration. He might inspire us to be a little more selfless. But he couldn’t claim us as Lord.

• If the way he died didn’t matter and resurrection were the only important thing, then Jesus might overpower us and strike us with awe. But he couldn’t understand us or command our respect for the human struggle is always with suffering and death.

• If Jesus was only exalted to God, we might see him as a powerful being, a worker of great magic. But he couldn’t claim our love.

To be Lord means crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation. Without all of these together we do not have the Lord those Greeks came to see long ago or we came to see tonight.

So how do we see Lord? How do we see God in our world and in our lives? That’s the second question and it’s the most important question of all. The Greeks said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The answer the text gives for this request is in the verses where God’s voice speaks from heaven saying that his name is glorified in Jesus. Jesus said the voice was not for himself but for them. Yet the people were confused. Some thought it was just thunder. In other words, they explained it in terms of nature.

• So faith and religion becomes psychology. Everything is explainable in terms of emotions, the interactions of mind and body, instincts, needs, and upbringing.

• So faith and religion becomes sociology or anthropology. Everything is explainable in terms of mores, norms, socialization, cultural relativities.

• So faith and religion becomes morality. Do this. Don’t do that. Live a decent life and be a nice person.

Faith and religion then becomes just one of many things that humans do. Some people play bridge; some people go dancing; some people belong to Rotary; some people go to church. Some do all of these. But when we think of them as all the same, we are confusing God with natural things.

Others thought an angel spoke to Jesus. In other words, we explain things spiritually. Spirituality is big business today. Write about angels or miracles or fulfilling our true selves or how God wants to make you happy and wealthy and you’ll sell books and magazines. And the commercialization works because we are spiritual. We have spiritual needs. But we can even confuse God with spiritual things.

Our text tells us that what happens in Jesus is not natural. What happens in Jesus is not spiritual. What happens in Jesus is GOD. What happens in Jesus is REALITY. What happens in Jesus is TRUTH. What happens in Jesus is LIGHT. And God — the One who is really Real and truly True and luminously Light — lays claim on us in Jesus. Come be children of the light.

We say that and we want that but it’s not easy. Life gets in the way. Our hurts get in the way. Our fear and anger get in the way. Tom Long tells of a young minister going to her first church, a tiny congregation out in the country. She eventually called on every member except one family. Someone told her “Don’t bother with them. They haven’t been here in two years. They aren’t coming back.”

But one afternoon the young pastor drove out to their house anyway. Only the wife was at home; she poured cups of coffee and they sat at the kitchen table and chatted. They talked about this; they talked about that; then they talked about it.

Two-and-a-half years earlier she had been at home with their young son. She was vacuuming in the back bedroom, had not checked on him in a while, so she snapped off the vacuum, went into the den and did not find him. She followed his trail across the den, through the patio door, across the patio, to the swimming pool, where she did find him. “At the funeral, our friends at the church were very kind. They told us it was God’s will.”

The minister put her cup down on the table. Should she touch it, or should she not? She touched it.

The woman’s face reddened, and her jaw set. “Then whom do you blame? I guess you blame me.”

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand why such things happen, either. I only know that God’s heart broke when yours did.”

The woman had her arms crossed, and it was clear that the conversation was over. The minister left the house kicking herself. Why didn’t I leave it alone?

A few days later the phone rang; it was she. “We don’t know where this is going, but would you come out and talk with my husband and me? We have assumed that God was angry at us; maybe it’s the other way around.”[2]

It’s easy to confuse how we feel with God, especially when we suffer. Even how we think and live spiritually can be confused with God. But Jesus died to draw all people to God. Which is to say that God is always with us. As the confession says, “In life and in death we belong to God.” This is the light that Jesus gives. God is not angry with us. God is with us and for us. This is the light we are to walk in as children of the light. And when we do, the darkness will not overtake us. Thanks be to God.

[1] Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St. John, vol. 2, trans. Cecily Hastings, et al. (New York: Crossroad, 1990) 382.

[2] Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics: Sermons for Lent and Easter (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Co., 1995) 35-36.