Lent 5  2012
March 25, 2012
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33

The Hour Has Come

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”  Jeremiah 31:31

“Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”  Psalm 51:11

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“We Want to See Jesus”

A simple request.  Who could have known this request would become a moment that changed everything.  That would trigger this knowledge within Jesus -- time was up:  the hour had come.

‘Those who love their life will lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”  John 12:25

In order for all to see Jesus, he would need to become the fulfillment of God’s will.

The covenant must be established.  How could that happen?

Perhaps you remember how, when the first Mosaic covenant was established -- the blood of the sacrifice was thrown upon the people.

Jesus would need to fully enter the wholeness of life.

He had to experience  suffering

                                    rejection

                                    despair

We stand here, March 25, the year 2012 -- somewhere between 2016 and 2012 years after the birth of Jesus.

How might we enter into the wholeness of life like Jesus?  How might we see Jesus today?

By being honest about the reality of the world.

By thinking upside down.

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Let’s talk about Trayvon Martin.  The 17 year old killed almost exactly a month ago, in Fla.

Trayvon Martin’s murder has been wrenching for a number of reasons.

            I still cannot conceive that George Zimmerman is not in police custody.

Perhaps you’ve seen his picture -- a young smiling kid, looking innocent as anyone.  Some were posting a more recent picture -- where he looks like a young man, striking a pose.  Some angrily accused manipulation that some were trying to make us feel sad for this innocent looking kid when in reality he was nothing but a thug.

Of course, that is exactly the point:  because people can look at the more recent picture and dismiss him, not recognize him as the human being he is.

Appearances are so important.

On Friday, I drove home, up past the drug store, the quickie mart....

there were a lot of people walking around.  A lot of people whose skin is a darker shade than my own.  It’s easy to be be uncomfortable when we drive by -- I’m always afraid someone will step into the street.  But I know some who avoid driving by altogether.

Is that racist?  Are we racist when we feel those things?

We feel those things because everything around us shapes us to feel fear when we are around people who are “different”.  Every television show.  Every time we watch the news.  Every time, images and narratives are presented to shape our reactions.

Is that racism?

Well, yeah.  It doesn’t mean - “You are awful racists”.  It means there are things, forces, shaping us and our reactions -- those forces are racism.  And all  other -isms -- all designed to divide us.

They affect the way we all think, regardless of skin color.

I posted the article by Rochelle Riley on facebook.  Rochelle Riley is a columnist for the Detroit Free Press.  She is black. 

Here’s how the story started out:

The young man walked slowly, leisurely, past as I stood and waited for Desi to relieve himself. The young man didn't speak. I didn't speak.

I walked Desi around the corner and returned just as the young man was heading back, carrying a white plastic bag, probably from the gas station a block away.

This time, Desi barked at him, fiercely, with all of his 25-pound might.

"Sorry," I said. "Ferocious dog on board."

"That's OK," he said. Then he smiled.

It was a smile I'd seen on the face of my brother, my nephew, my friends' sons. And I stood, sadly, realizing that I hadn't seen those faces when I first saw him.

What I saw was a guy with baggy pants, not in school, not at work, walking down the street in the middle of the day. I was at home recuperating from surgery. So in my mind, he shouldn't have been there. I didn't wonder who he was or whose he was. I wondered where he was going. I was suspicious.

That is the plight of black men, particularly young black men in America. Because of some, others are harassed, feared, tested and destroyed -- and in Florida two weeks ago, killed.

Appearances are so important, aren’t they?

They can make all the difference.

Note, please, that she started the article by expressing her own fear.  I already said that Rochelle Riley is black.  Fear is indoctrinated into all of us, regardless of the color of our skin.

That’s why I don’t care if George Zimmerman knows how to speak Spanish, has skin a little darker than some identified as white, has black friends -- had Trayvon been white, would Zimmerman have pulled the trigger?

On Wednesday night, I invited you to:  Think upside down. 

Imagine it was the “white kid” shot by a “black man”.

Would the black man still be walking free?

You may be thinking -- why are you talking about this in a sermon, Pastor?  This is something that happened in Florida.  An isolated incident.  Sean Hannity of Fox News suggests that it was an accident.  A horrible accident.

What does this have to do with Jesus?

Think upside down.  What would Jesus say?

I’m talking about this because racism is sin; a sin that is all around us, that shapes how we see and experience the world -- how all of us see the world.  It is evil.  It is evil.  It doesn’t take someone stalking a person with a gun in hand,  to manifest the evil.  While the shooting of a person walking down the street (guns don’t kill people, people don’t kill people, hoodies do, right) is clearly evil,   evil is present anytime there is a barrier preventing us from seeing the humanity of another person.

One of the things Jesus says in this passage is, “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.”

Trayvon’s death is an devastating tragedy.  Yet, it gives us this opportunity to talk about race, and how, in this country, race is used to divide us.

Maybe part of you is insistent, now:  “Pastor, Isn’t that a question for a sociology lesson.   What does this have to do with Jesus?”

Jesus said, “The hour has come.” 

Today, for us, for a moment of honesty, for seeing, and for repentance.

But then?  For Jesus?  The hour had come for his Passion:  the trauma and tragedy, rejection, shame, abuse, violence that would mark the end of life as he knew it, and would lead to a confrontation with death.

This is the center of our faith:  Jesus.  Not just the cross.  Jesus.  And not just Jesus resting powerfully in heaven watching over the world with that golden glow surrounding him.  Jesus being obedient to God.  Jesus entering the world’s suffering and death.

Here Jesus stands on the edge of such suffering --

we can maybe glimpse a tiny fraction.

The hour has come.

What spurred the realization?

The request.  “We  want to see Jesus.”

They wanted to see Jesus ---Why?  What makes this the hinge on which his fate turns?

Making the new covenant.  Becoming the new covenant.

Opened up a new reality -- where we see Jesus.

“Because of Jesus, we see God in all -- weeping where there is pain and alienation, rejoicing where there is wholeness and love.”  (Erlander p. 6)

It’s not just a soft heartwarming picture.

Because of Jesus’ passion -- because he entered the suffering of this world -- because he experienced the very worst which the world could give,  we see him everywhere.

We see Jesus in the good, and in the bad.  But in the bad, he is not standing apart, pointing a finger.  We see him right in the midst of that bad, suffering alongside.

Before his passion, he could be seen in one place, in one way:  right where he was.

After his passion, he would be seen in innumerable places.

Because of his passion -- no longer do we simply see with eyes.  We experience his presence in all.  We can trust:  God is here with us.

amen