“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’”’ (John 12:20).
I’m not
exactly sure who these “Greeks” are, but I can definitely relate to them. Obviously they’ve heard of Jesus and now they
want to see him. Maybe they’ve heard of
his first miracle where water became wine and they want to see what this
blessing stuff is all about. Maybe,
like Nathaniel who openly wondered if anything good could possibly come out of
the ghetto of Nazareth, they want to see what this guy from the wrong side of
town looks like. Maybe they’ve heard of
his healing a lame man on the Sabbath, or his speaking with a Samaritan woman
and they want to see what this boundary-breaking radical is all about. Maybe they’ve heard how he fed 5,000 and they
want to know his trick or at the very least his business strategy. Maybe they’ve heard that he’s been teaching
in the Temple and they want to know by whose authority. I don’t know why they wanted to see Jesus or
even what they wanted to see. But I know
this: They wanted to see Jesus. And so do I.
There, I said it: I want to see
Jesus.
We live in a
broken world, albeit a crappy one, where the rich get richer on the backs of
the poor; where an unarmed 12 year old black child is shot and killed by police
while armed white men are allowed to lay siege to a federal building with very
little consequence; We live in a world where the 2nd Amendment right
to bear arms supersedes one’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. We live in a world where we
are bombarded by media images designed to scare us into unreasonable fits of
ethnic paranoia.
Honestly,
I’ve had enough. I want to see Jesus. And I have.
It all started
on that Friday before Christmas when dozens of folks from around the city and
county gathered together to remember the 14 homeless who died in our community
this past year. On that day, the names
of those whom the world has long forgotten were remembered. I saw Jesus that day, and his name was Luis,
John, Alonzo, Brian, Jessica, Elmyra, Jeffrey, Mark, Jose, Thomas, Ernest,
Shawn, Kevin, and Pierro.
I saw Jesus
the following Tuesday evening, when a small group of folks with St. Mary’s Homeless
Initiative journeyed under railroad bridges, down alleyways, and in the subway
tunnels searching for the chronically homeless; bringing food, warmth, and hope
to the invisible among us.
I saw Jesus
in the faces of those whom we fed this evening at REACH Home as well as in
the volunteers and staff who have
dedicated their lives to lifting up the lowly and binding up those who are
broken.
In the darkness
of this cold winter night; In the darkness of this world, I have seen
Jesus. He is the light that shines in
the darkness. He is the light no
darkness can overcome. He is the light
no fear, no poverty, no amount of brokenness can overcome. He is the light that not even my darkness can
overcome. He is God incarnate, made
flesh and dwelling among us: And I’ve seen him in the most surprising places. Blessed Epiphany everyone.
Peace and
love,
Pastor Doug
