"Sir, we would like to see Jesus"

5^th Sunday of Lent

Hebrews 5:5-10

John 12:20-33 (p1080)

At the theological college where I trained, words from our Gospel reading, the words of John chapter 12, verse 21, were on the pulpit facing the preacher:

When you stood there to preach you saw a little plaque which said:

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

It was meant to politely remind the preacher of his job.

The preacher is to show people Jesus from the Bible.

The point of the sermon is to help us to meet Jesus for the first time, or to see him afresh, in the pages of Scripture.

So the preacher’s not meant to talk about himself, but about Jesus.

You could play sermon bingo sometime and count how often the preacher mentions himself and how often he mentions Jesus!

It could be a telling comparison!

The sermon is meant to be more than Thought for the Day or best thoughts from the Vicarage.

The preacher isn’t meant to just sound off – even if there are a few things he could do with getting off his chest!

Listening to a sermon is meant to be like listening to a taxi-driver.

(apologies if there are any cabbies in today!)

Why should we particularly care what the Vicar thought of that week’s headlines, or the chancellor’s budget?

There are probably better stand-up comedians in the world than the Vicar.

He’s not there just to crack a few corny old gags.

If we just wanted to be entertained, we’d have tried the Sky box, or something else.

But we do want to see Jesus.

Certainly that’s what we need.

It’s what we ought to want.

And those words of John 12v21 make a good prayer too.

“Lord, we would like to see Jesus”.

(As we sang in our hymn just now)

It’s good to pray when you come to church, or to your own Bible reading, that God would show you Jesus.

The purpose of the Bible is, after all, that we should meet Jesus there.

Earlier on in this gospel, Jesus said to his opponents:

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.

These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

If we miss Jesus in the Bible, we miss the whole point.

The Bible is written so that we might come to Jesus and put our faith in him and have life.

That’s the aim of the Bible and of this sermon.

Christianity is about a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And the Bible is the means to that end.

Jesus is the one we need to see.

He answers our deepest needs.

The Bible says he is the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z, the beginning and the end.

Jesus is the whole deal.

Jesus is the one we really need.

There’s no one greater, no one more important, no one more relevant to us.

In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:3)

Whatever our questions, Jesus is the answer.

It’s in Jesus we’ll find rest, and peace, and joy, and security, and purpose and meaning.

We are hard-wired for friendship with Jesus.

It’s knowing Jesus that enables us to flourish, and reach our potential and be who God intends us to be.

There are no simplistic magic formulas, and there aren’t neat answers to all our questions.

Jesus doesn’t take away all our struggles but he is like water to the thirsty, bread to the hungry.

Jesus satisfies.

Jesus is the world’s true Lord.

He is the only Saviour of sinners like you and me.

If we want to know God, Jesus is the place to look.

As Hebrews said, he is the unique Son of God. (Heb 5v5)

Jesus is our perfect High Priest for ever. (Heb 5)

Jesus is the one who puts us right with God.

One the cross, Jesus offered the perfect once-for-all-time sacrifice for sin.

Jesus is the only go-between between us and God.

He’s “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5v9)

One day, Jesus will be our judge – so we ought to get on good terms with him now!

He’s the most attractive person who ever lived.

He’s spiritually compelling.

He overflowed with love.

He makes sense of our world like no one else.

Who on earth would we rather see?

Who else is there like him?

Jesus is beyond compare.

Where else is there to look?

We want to see Jesus.

And our job as a church is to help others see Jesus:

To see him in all his greatness and glory.

To see his relevance and power for their lives.

(That’s what we want for the people in our home group Bible studies)

(That’s our aim for the families who come to 4 for all)

(Or for those at Little Warbler’s Toddler Group)

(And for the kids at the after school club and Sunday club, and so on)

Yes, of course, we want to be friendly and welcoming and nice and kind but above all, we want to introduce people to Jesus.

The church isn’t like the golf club or the History society.

We don’t come here because we like singing hymns or because we’ve got nothing better to do on a Sunday morning.

It’s our loyalty to Jesus that brings us together and which brings us here.

We are here because Jesus has captured our hearts.

And we want others to have a vision of him too.

Have you met him?

Have you been introduced?

Maybe God would use us, like he used Philip and Andrew in our reading, to bring others to Jesus.

Perhaps there’s someone we could invite to something at church this Easter.

Or someone you could bring to the Identity Course which starts on Wed 25^th April.

(Invites at the back).

Our prayer is that people might even see Jesus in us.

We want to reflect the family likeness of Jesus, our elder brother.

God’s plan for us as Christians is that we should become more and more like Jesus.

In Acts chapter 4 we’re told that when the Sanhedrin saw the courage of Peter and John and realised they were unschooled ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that they had been with Jesus (v13).

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people could see what a difference having been with Jesus made to us?

“Sir, we would like to say Jesus”.