Crossing Paths With a Celebrity

Today’s blog is from a sermon I preached at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Yuba City last Sunday, March 18th, the Fifth Sunday in Lent:

Have you ever had the chance to meet some well-known person, a celebrity such as a pro athlete or rock star? I have; in fact, I actually met several presidents before they took office, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, the Russian Boris Yeltsin (no collusion involved!), and Martti Ahtisaari (who became President of Finland and won the Nobel Peace Prize, in case you didn’t recognize his name!). But the real celebrity champ was a friend of mine who with confident boldness could almost always talk his way backstage to meet big-name performers – except for the time the Ohio State Police stopped him in his tracks from meeting the performers at the Ohio State Fair. They would not be fast-talked into letting him through. I was with him at the time, and for a moment I thought we were going to be arrested!

In last Sunday’s Gospel, we read about a group of Greeks who wanted to meet a famous celebrity of their day – Jesus of Nazareth. They approached one of the Disciples, Philip, and said, “We wish to see Jesus.” Now, we don’t know why they wanted to meet Jesus: maybe they had heard of his great miracles such as the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead; maybe they were attracted to what they had heard about his teachings; maybe they hoped that he was the long-awaited Savior, the Messiah. Or, maybe they were just thrill-seekers, wanting to add Jesus’ name to their list of famous people they had met.

We don’t know their motivation, though from the text we can learn a few things about them:

1) They were “Greeks” which could mean either gentiles, or Greek-speaking Jews. We are told that they were among those who had gone up to Jerusalem to worship during the Feast of Passover, which would have meant they were Jewish either by birth or conversion. Of all the disciples they could have approached, they chose Philip, who bore a Greek name and was from Bethsaida, a town in a region of Galilee where Greek was commonly spoken.  Philip took them to Andrew, who also had a Greek name.

2) Jesus treated their request with respect, not challenging or testing them as he so often did with the religious leaders like the Pharisees. That would lead us to believe their inquiry was due to genuine interest in Jesus, which he recognized.

3) They got more that they asked for, because Jesus laid down some heavy teachings about his impending death, including the purpose for his death and even the way he would die.

So, what did Jesus have to say to them that was so important? Let’s look at that by comparing what Jesus said to what celebrities today commonly talk about:

• Celebrities boast of all they have gained in life: fame, money, and accomplishments in their fields; Jesus talked of losing his life and what that would accomplish for our sake.
• Celebrities boast of their many fans, endorsements from other celebrities, and what future presidents they have met; Jesus spoke of his endorsement from God the Father.
• Celebrities glorify themselves; Jesus glorified the Father and said he would be glorified by him.
• Celebrities are raised up by adoring fans for their own benefit; Jesus said he would be raised up – on a cross – to benefit the world.

Jesus spoke clearly about his approaching death and compared it to a seed which falls to earth and dies. So why such a somber message from our Lord? Why would he say things that might scare off these potential Greek or Greek-speaking followers? The answer lies in the promises that came with his prophesied death:

1. First, he promised that his death was the seed whose death would produce much fruit. Jesus’ death was not going to be a failure of his ministry. It was not the end of the road for those who believed in him. It would not be a defeat, but a victory. His death would bring about much good by producing eternal fruit in the lives of all who would believe in him. Before coming to Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus made this promise to Martha, sister of his friend Lazarus who had just died. On his way to raise Lazarus from the dead, Jesus promised Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

How did his death accomplish this? In Mark 10:45, Jesus said that he, the Son of Man, came “to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mankind was held hostage by sin, death, and the devil, unable to free itself from the consequences of its sins, so the One who was without sin had to pay the ransom price in our place. He took our punishment upon himself, and we were set free. As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

How abundant would the fruit of Christ’s death be? 2000 years earlier, when God called Abraham, he promised that all the nations of the earth would be blessed by one of his offspring; and Revelation gives us a vision of heaven populated by a vast multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, and language. The effect in the world is such that 2000 years after the small group of disciples and women watched their Lord die, the Christian faith has more adherents and is wider spread than any other faith ever.

2. The second promise Jesus gave that day was that God the Father will honor whoever follows and serves Christ. I’m reminded of the great scene in the movie, Chariots of Fire, in which the British athlete, Eric Liddell, refuses to run in his favored race because it was to be held on a Sunday. Everyone, even the King of England, appeals to Liddell’s patriotism, but he won’t run on the Sabbath. So instead, he runs on a different day in a different race, not his best distance, as his third race of that day. Just before the race begins, an American runner slips him a note that says, “It says in the old Book, ‘He who honors me, I will honor.’” Eric goes on to win the race. But the greatest honor was yet to come, for the following year Eric Liddell went to serve the rest of his life as a missionary in China, eventually dying in a Japanese prison camp.

Jesus didn’t say the honors would come easily; elsewhere he said that his followers had to take up their own crosses to follow him and that the world would hate them, for Christ’s sake. But the rewards of discipleship, of honoring God before others, will be great. Jesus promised that those who acknowledge him before the world, he will acknowledge before his heavenly Father (Matthew 10:32). Imagine how great that day will be, when we stand before the Judgment Seat of God: our name is read, and Jesus calls out, “It’s okay – she’s with me . . . or . . . he’s with me . . .”

3. The third promise Jesus made was that his death would defeat the devil and all the evil that rebellious creature had brought into the world. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” By referring to Satan as ruler of this world, he is not denying his own or his Father’s sovereign ownership of all creation. He is referring to the fact that much of the world is living in rebellion against the true God and has made the devil their god, whether overtly through idols and demon worship, or more covertly through pursuit of wealth, material possessions, fame, pleasure, or power. To the world, the devil is their ruler; but Christ’s unjust murder by the powers of evil has revealed their bankrupt nature and brought judgment upon them. Christ’s death won victory over sin and the devil his resurrection completed the victory by defeating the wages of sin, death as well.

Of course, we still see the effects of sin everywhere in the world. It shows itself blatantly in hatred and violence, murders and wars. But it also permeates even the best of our efforts to live good lives, hurting our relationships and corrupting our institutions – whether political, economic, or religious. Even our own personal sins and mortality show that world is not yet freed of the consequences of evil.

But the difference is that evil is a defeated enemy. Like a rattlesnake that can still bite soon after it is killed, evil is still dangerous. But we know that Christ has won the victory, and that no evil can separate us from Christ’s love or final victory.

And what is the sign of Christ’s victory? His death and resurrection.

Recently I was in Indiana, where I drove past a tire shop that had a sign out front that read, “Jesus will rise, but our prices will not.” I was pleased to see a statement of Christian faith proclaimed publicly. Of course, I couldn’t help but silently correct it each time I drove by, “He already rose! It’s we who will rise, even if your prices won’t!”

As Jesus finished his message to the Greeks and those others who had gathered around him, he said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John tells us that Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die – being lifted up on a cross. But Jesus was also lifted up from the grave and from the earth at his ascension. Together, Jesus’s being lifted up means you and I will also be raised up from our graves, and lifted up from the earth to meet Jesus in the air, to be with him forever.

That’s quite a promise, and quite a message those Greeks took with them that day.

And it’s the message we should take with us in our hearts and in our mouths for the sake of all for whom Christ died. For we are ones who have “crossed” paths with the greatest Celebrity of all.

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: John 12