No Time Left

Sermon for March 29, 2009 The Fifth Sunday of Lent Text:  John 12:20-36 Title:  "No Time Left" A.  A certain fellow had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination.  He decided to stop at the next city he came to, and park somewhere where it was quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city's major jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back for a snooze then there came a knock on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. "Yes?" he said. "Excuse me, sir," the jogger said, "Do you have the time?" The man looked at the car clock and answered, "8:15."  The jogger said thanks and left. The man settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger.  "Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?"  "8:25!" the man replied. The jogger said thanks and left. Now the man, seeing other joggers passing by, knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid that, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign on his window saying, "I do not know the time!" Once again he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. "Sir, sir?" the innocent jogger said, "It's 8:45!"        Jesus didn't have to check His car clock to know what time it was, as He told His disciples in this morning's passage of Scripture:  "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified!"  It was the moment when the last grain of sand falls from the hourglass of history.  No time left for the development of new disciples.  No time left for miracles to convince the people.  No time left for debates with the religious leaders.  No time left, the final stage of the Master's journey to the Cross had begun.  But the crowds said it was time for Jesus to raise up His army, to mount His white horse, to unfurl His banner, and to knock the Romans upside the head!  That's what the people were hoping for -- justice at the point of a sword!!  That is why they turned against Jesus when He didn't seem to come up to their expectations.  It was time for the Kingdom to come, all right, but only at the foot of the Cross, only with the death of the Messiah Himself.   B.  This particular story is unique to John's gospel.  Some "Greeks" approach the disciples and ask to see Jesus.  These folks were not Jewish; they were Gentiles -- foreigners, if you will -- coming from a far corner of the Empire, to attend the Feast of Passover.  Maybe they were what the Apostle Paul called "God-fearers", that is, folks who admired the practices and ethics of the Jewish faith, and who perhaps even believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but who hadn't yet made the leap into Judaism.  It doesn't matter who they were; what matters is that they were seeking Jesus out because they wanted to meet and believe in Him.  The Pharisees had inadvertently declared a prophetic truth in verse 19, immediately before this morning's passage:  "Look how the whole world has gone after Him."  The Greek-seekers of the Lord had proven them right; the world was and would forever be going after Him.  The Gospel message is for the salvation of the whole world.   This passage signals the close of the evangelist's account of Jesus' ministry.  From this point on, Jesus will offer no more signs to the public. The passion narrative is to follow.  With the arrival of the Greeks, John is telling us that the Gospel is no longer confined to Jerusalem or to strictly Jewish circles.  The hour for Jesus' glorification had come.   It would now take root in the secular, Hellenistic world.  His coming crucifixion and resurrection will open the door fully to Jews and Gentiles alike.   Now it's interesting to notice that we are never told whether or not the Greek inquirers' request to see Jesus is ever granted.  Their request fades into the background after they encounter Philip, and both he and Andrew bring their petition to the Master.  The coming of the Greeks gives Jesus an opportunity to expound upon His coming death, and the significance of it for all humanity.  Jesus' crucifixion will be the moment of judgment, exaltation, fruition and challenge. The Prince of the World, who is Satan, will be judged and defeated.  In the crucifixion all humankind is lifted up.  Jesus is lifted up to die, but in dying, all are included in the life-giving promise, except for those who don't accept Him.      Now in contrast to the Crucifixion accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each of which offers the reader a window into Jesus' agony and struggle, John gives the reader a description of Jesus' confidence and readiness.   In John's Gospel there is no sign of weakness, no sign of wondering, no agony, no pain, no request to "let this cup pass"; Jesus is in control throughout.  He lays down His life in obedience to God with His own free will.  Again, here is more evidence that John was written later than the other three Gospels.  John didn't want to write a strictly historical account – that had already been done.  Rather, John wanted to write an account that shows Jesus as the Son of God.  As I said last week, it is a missionary document, designed to help people believe in Jesus and be saved.    The climax of this story is the voice of God coming from Heaven, confirming Jesus as the glorified one.  But for the crowd, the sound is misinterpreted.  Some think it is thunder; some think it is the voice of an angel.  None of them are able to hear, see, and understand who Jesus is, and what He has to do to complete His mission on earth.  As I said, they don't understand what kind of Messiah He is.  They don't hear the voice of God aright, and if we are going to be true followers and disciples of Jesus, we have to discern the voice of God from the cacophony of voices that pull on us in the world today.   C.  So what does this passage challenge us to do and be, especially during the season of Lent?  Well, I want to suggest that this passage challenges us to remember that the life of the disciple is a life of both letting go and holding on!  This is true all year, but is especially important to remember during the Lenten season.  The life of the disciple is not just one of giving up – like giving up chocolate or TV or ice cream during Lent.  Oh, that's part of it, mind you, and if in our giving up we are led to a deeper letting go, then all the better!  But we have to practice letting go, of consciously releasing that which is of the world and which blocks our deepening relationship with God.    We begin by letting go of ourselves to God.  Sounds easy.  But we will practice it every day for the rest of our lives to get it right.  For you see, it's all too easy to take back what we let go:  it's all too easy to take back anger when we release it to God, and then once taken back we spew it out over the person we are angry with once again.  It's all too easy to take back greed, or jealousy or envy when we let go of it and give it to God.  It's all too easy to forgive someone one minute, and then point the accusatory finger or direct harsh words towards them the next.  This is why Jesus directed us to live for today, and not to worry about tomorrow.  Let tomorrow's worries take care of themselves, tomorrow.  I stand a better chance of letting go of my bad habits for just one day, than giving letting them go for the rest of my life all at once.   I've been reading a book entitled Total Forgiveness, and one of the points the author makes is very helpful.   I don't know about you, but I've always been taught to forgive and forget.  Do it once and then move on.  I've often wondered why that was easier said than done.  Well, R.T. the author of the book, teaches that forgiveness doesn't work that way.  Oftentimes it has to be renewed daily, or perhaps many times a day.  We want to hold onto our anger when we need to forgive someone.  We want to get back at the person we are angry at, to see them fail or falter.  Unforgiveness, like so many worldly traits, has to be surrendered in inches, not in miles.  But the rewards of letting go are great.  The more we let go of our anger, our envy, our pride, our hurt, and our hatred, the more we allow God's blessings to flow into our lives, and the easier it becomes to keep them in our lives.   Remember what Jesus said, that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it bears much fruit.  Jesus then explained what he meant.  He said, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it."  First we have to let go.  We have to let go of our love of living as the world would have us live.  We have to let go of selfishness and gain at all cost.  We have to let go of the "me first" mentality and approach to life.  We have to desire to surrender those things that keep us from God.  And we have to keep on doing it.  We can't just commit to God once in prayer and go on.  Our sinful natures are liable to take back that which prevents us from receiving an anointing of God's Spirit.   This is a little bit before most of our times, but you might remember Gracie Allen, who played the scatterbrained wife in a comedy team with her husband George Burns.  Once, Gracie called in a repairman to fix her electric clock. The repairman fiddled with it for a while and then said, "There's nothing wrong with the clock; you didn't have it plugged in." Gracie replied, "I don't want to waste electricity, so I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is."   The life of the disciple is not mastered by doing it every now and then.  We have to keep working at it.   Success in being a disciple of Jesus Christ not only requires us to let go.  We also have to hold on.  These two concepts may seem contradictory, but in actuality the two go hand in hand.  We let go of self.  We hold on to God's Spirit.  We let go of the things of the world.  We hold on to the things of God.  It's like exhaling the bad air, and inhaling the good air.   We accomplish this first through prayer, study, and fellowship with God's people.  We encounter God through the Word, and through conversation with Him.  Other believers support us in our efforts to walk as disciples of Jesus Christ.  This allows us not to misinterpret what God is saying to us.  Like the crowds in this morning's passage, who heard God's voice but thought it was the sound of thunder, or perhaps the voice of an angel, we too have many different voices in the world clamoring for our attention.  It's all too easy to misinterpret the voice of God without immersing ourselves in Scripture study, in prayer, and in checking things out with other believers.  There are times when the voices and temptations of the world sound like the voice of the angel, or appear to be attractive and Godly, but they are not.  Fortunately, the Prince of this world, the Devil, has been defeated.  If we face up to temptation, it will flee.   Jesus also makes it plain that we hold on to Him by serving others in His Name.  "My Father will honor the one who serves me."  Later in John it is clear that by serving others we serve and love the Lord.  After His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and they had breakfast together.  Jesus turned to Peter, and asked Peter if he loved Him.  "Of course, Lord, you know I do!",  is the prompt reply.  And then Jesus made it clear that the evidence of love for the Lord is service to others:  "Feed my sheep", Jesus declared to Peter, and to all of us who read the account.  We hold on to the Lord by serving Him.  We serve Him by serving others.  We find Christ in the faces of the least, the last, and the lost.  The Lord took our sins upon Himself on the Cross, covering them over for all time by His blood.  And it is in the lives of those most in need that we find Christ most closely present.  Do we want to hold on to Jesus?  Visit the sick.  Declare the saving love of Christ to those who don't know Him.  Feed the hungry.  Give to the poor.  It is in the faces of others that we find the face of Christ.   Standing upon the top of the Empire State Building, looking down into the city below, all one can see is swirling light and color.  Automobile headlights move swiftly down darkened roads.  Neon signs light up the faces of buildings.  Light from a billion windows wink on and off.  The city is awash in light.  But where, I was once asked by a Professor and mentor who also stood atop that high perch beside me, are the people?  From a thousand feet up, all one can see is light.  The people, he reminded me, are in the dark spaces!   Jesus concludes this morning's passage with these words:  "You are going to have the light just a little while longer.  Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.  The one who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.  Put your trust in the Light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light."  The people who hurt, who suffer, and who don't know Christ, are in the dark.  At some time or other, we are all in the dark.  To come out into the Light, we must let go of all that which separates us from God, and we hold on to the precious Name and presence of Jesus in our lives.  And then we can reflect the Light of Christ into those dark spaces and into those dark lives who occupy those spaces.  Granted, maybe only one at a time.  But that is enough.  Amen. Keith Almond P.O. Box 4388 Leesburg, VA  20177 703-344-3569 almond_keith@yahoo.com