Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Year B Proper 19 WED 2018 Blood is Thicker than...

Year B Proper 19 WEDNESDAY, 19 September 2018 
St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 
“Blood is Thicker than…” 

John 12:20-26 (NRSV) 20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, 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. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor. 
 
Stay with me and this may actually make sense. 
 
Taken individually we have no problem with any part of this story, but when we look at it as a whole, a single, unified narrative we may go cross-eyed attempting to make sense of it. 
 
Context is key. This is the point in John when Jesus is winding up.  
  1. Chapter 12 begins with Mary anointing Jesus feet in preparation for his burial.  
  2. Then the religious leaders show how scared they are of this young upstart. There is even talk of killing Lazarus, the guy who was brought back from this dead (ironically), is now being threatened with death because the miracle of his resurrection is so threatening that they think it is better to kill him than to let him live. His living is sending too many to Jesus. 
  3. Then we have the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Talk about scaring the powers that be, this definitely was a scare. In fact, the last verse before today’s reading is this: The Pharisees then said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!” 

And at that point we see Jesus’ world expand. We had the Syrophoenician woman, and Jesus said that she was not part of those to whom he came to minister. Those who were considered Gentile were not an active part of Jesus ministry, but here he alludes to an opening.  

So Phillip is approached by some Greeks, most likely practicing believers in the Hebrew God. They probably were not circumcised, so they could only go into the Court of the Gentiles at the Temple. But they knew enough to recognize that in Jesus was someone special. Now notice two things: they approach Phillip, who has a Greek name. (Phillip means lover of horses: philos love, hippo horse.) And he approaches his brother Andrew. (Another Greek name meaning manly or brave from androsman.) Could these Greeks have known these two Greek-named Jewish boys from Galilee? Galilee was often called Galilee of the Gentiles. We don’t know, but maybe some acquaintances or friends from back home asked for an intro to Jesus. 
 
So they go to Jesus and he has some utterances. 
  1. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  
  2. Very truly, I tell you, 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.  
  3. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  
  4. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.  
So Jesus will be glorified. He has already alluded to what that means previously, suffer, die, rise again. Like a seed, one must sacrifice it all to bear much fruit. Those that do that gain eternal life. His servants follow his path, and if they do they will be with him. 
 
In the context of that final week, this all makes more sense. He is no longer sending the “Outsiders” away. They are about to be invited in. Where blood was thicker than water before, something huge is about to take place. Tribal allegiances are about to be overturned. The Children of Abraham were by blood relation. The Children of God come about through faith. These who are “Outsiders,” Greek gentiles, if they believe, follow, and serve, are the real family, the ones who God will honor. Blood may be thicker than water, BUT FAITH IS THICKER THAN BLOOD. Jesus realizes (in John’s Gospel anyway) that the world is about to turn upside down. That’s why you and I can be here, THANKS BE TO GOD! Amen 
  

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Blessings, Rock