READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
To you all who are beloved of God called as saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today, we once again look to the only place God is speaking these days, pointing to His cross, saying,
“Sir we wish to see Jesus”
When we talk about the cross, we are not talking about the actual piece of wood that killed our God, as if a true piece of it would create marvels and miracles among us. This sort of thing is what started this festival in the Church, when back in the 4th century, it was thought that a piece of wood was a piece of the cross. We do not deal with a magical, smoke and mirrors god.
When we talk about the cross, we talk about the crucifix, the cross with Jesus on it. We talk about the cross with Jesus on it, because of what the Greeks demand of Phillip an Andrew today, saying, “Lord, we desire to see Jesus”.
Now, the desire to see God is not unique to Christianity. Every religion, indeed, every person desires to see God. Whether or not they believe God is Who He says He is, or what He says He is, they desire to commune with whatever mysterious power is controlling things and making things what they are.
What is unique to Christianity is the world can see God. when we ask to “see God” we don’t need a golden calf, or a superman, or any other imaginary image to at best pretend to see god. We worship a God Who locates Himself.
This is why the Greeks from the Gospel can ask Phillip to see Jesus: because He can be seen and He says He’s God. They must have been very familiar with Isaiah 55:6 when God says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” They knew that they didn’t have to search their feelings, they could just search for a man.
For Jesus doesn’t seem to answer the Greeks, at first listen. He appears to go on a side rant talking about seeds of grain and hating life. Jesus does it again as He continues, talking about glory and hours. He concludes that it will only when He is lifted up off the earth that anyone will truly see Him.
So it is that the Gospel reading ends with Jesus hiding Himself. Not because He was tired. Not because He needed to recharge. It is because He is directing us to where He is going to be found; where we can go to see Him.
Dr. Martin Luther said,
“Of this I am certain, that God desires to have his works heard
and read, especially the passion of our Lord. But it is impossible
for me to hear and bear it in mind without fanning mental images
of it in my heart For whether I will or not, when I hear of Christ,
an image of a man hanging on a cross takes form in my heart, just
as the reflection of my face naturally appears in the water when I
look into it. If it is not a sin but good to have the image of Christ
in my heart, why should it be a sin to have it in my eyes?”
So when we ask God to show us Jesus, He tells us to seek the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and produced much fruit. That is, the seed of the Word of God Who suffered, died, and was buried.
When we ask God to glorify His Name in all the earth, He turns our eyes and ears towards the Son of God, high and lifted up upon the cross, drawing all men to Himself by way of His death. The light we are to walk in is hidden, but it is hidden behind means in order that it shine more brightly.
You think of the bright light of the Resurrection, as this light, and you are half-right. It is the light of the Resurrection, but it is that light shining through the cross of Christ. For even after the lights of Resurrection and Pentecost fame, the Apostles remain firm in their preaching, telling only of the crucified Christ (1 Cor. 2:2) and boasting only in His cross (Gal. 6:14).
The continued focus of the Apostles’ preaching and teaching was finding Jesus on the cross, whether it was baptizing everyone in His death and resurrection or communing with that same body and blood that hanged on the cross. The Lord of all hides Himself in means of the Spirit so that we might engage Him in all 5 senses.
And we hear that in God’s Word. He expressly teaches us that Jesus is the Divine Image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). The Son of Mary is the image that God fashions for Himself for the world to see. An image that the entire world can look at, contemplate, and come to no other conclusion than God offers Himself in the place of sinners for the forgiveness of sins.
Why would we not want this image in front of us? Why would we not keep it close to us and look to it in times of trouble and doubt? Yes, there is the fear of turning it into an idol, but come on man. Idols are supposed to be comfortable, reassuring, and desirable. It is very hard to make a dying man on a cross sweet and cuddly.
Yet, this is comfort for the Christian. It is comfort because it is not glorifying capitol punishment. It is glorifying a God Who is gracious and merciful and loving. God gave His only-begotten Son to suffer and die in our place. It is comfort because there is the promise. The promise that if Jesus dies and is buried, like our grain of wheat, that there will be hope.
Moses prophesied Christ’s crucifixion in the bronze serpent, which was also lifted up for the healing of all who looked at it and believed. Hidden in the crucifixion is the narrow way to the healing of God, for by His wounds we are healed (Isa 55:3). Since we will imagine those wounds in our head when we hear of it, we can, in all godliness, fashion a picture of them outside of our head.
So, the goodness of God is hidden in the suffering and death of Jesus, Who is exalted for His work on the cross. To find that goodness for ourselves, we have no choice but to turn to the only place where it is given: the same Body and Blood that worked out our salvation of the cross.
For this reason, the crucifix has been one of the most treasured images of the church throughout the ages. And, as Moses showed, even before there was a “church” proper. It is our central message, as Christians. It is the center of Jesus’ work for us sinners.
So much so, that we “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). the crucifix becomes this point of symbolism, teaching, and reinforcement of the important truths of God’s Word.
that is that in sin, God is hidden. He does not allow Himself to be found in the things of this world, even though it be the holiest work ever done. God hates sin. He hates sin so much that He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all and now through Him graciously gives us all things (Rom 8:32).
At the very same time, the crucifix proclaims how much God loves you. God is gracious, merciful, and loving but only in the cross of Christ. God is all inclusive, but He only leaves the door open at the Baptismal font. God is all forgiving, but His hand of mercy only rests on His Supper at the Altar.
God is hidden and yet not. The Greeks cannot see Him because they are not yet looking through Jesus’ crucifixion. Everyone is following Him in the Gospel, because they have not yet witnessed the suffering of God. The world is waiting for a shining throne, shield, and sword to proclaim God’s presence on earth, yet they miss the light of the cross.
Seek first the kingdom of God where He is to be found: in His Word and Sacraments and in the holy images and icons that reveal that truth to us. For the Image of God will return and in order for us to recognize it, we need to acquaint ourselves and memorize it now. It is good, right , and salutary to keep Christ in front of us, literally.
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