Sir, we would like to see Jesus

 This is my homily for today, the 5th Sunday of Lent, Cycle B. 

 Note: many parishes use the Cycle A readings during the 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of Lent, even during the years of Cycle B and C.  That is because those parishes have candidates who are going through RCIA to be initiated, and the Cycle A readings are appropriate on this Sunday, regardless of the year, whenever RCIA is active, as this would be one of the RCIA Scrutiny Sundays.  Somewhat ironically in light of the homily which follows, which (spoiler alert) is about seeking and initiation, our parish doesn't have any candidates this year, so we are using the readings appointed for Cycle B.  

The Cycle B readings for today are here.  The Cycle B Gospel reading for today isn't proclaimed very frequently on weekends in our parish (as most years we do have RCIA running) - if you didn't hear it proclaimed in your parish this weekend, it may be worth taking a moment to read it before reading the homily.

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus”.   These Greeks who posed this question to Philip were seeking something.   

These Greeks were not Jews, yet they were in Jerusalem, the center of Judaism, for the high Jewish festival of Passover.  Who were these Greeks, and why were they in Jerusalem?  Of course, Jerusalem was a provincial capital in the Roman Empire, and today's inquiring Greeks may have been stationed there in the service of the empire.   But it’s also possible that they were visitors who came for this Jewish festival: they may have been a particular type of Gentile known as God-Fearers.  God-Fearers were found in cities and provinces throughout the Roman Empire, wherever Jews had settled.  The God-Fearers were non-Jews who were attracted to Judaism.  To be sure, these Gentiles had religious backgrounds of their own, as pagans, or perhaps as adherents of one or another of the mystery religions which flourished in that part of the world in those days.  But their spiritual backgrounds, whatever they were, must not have satisfied them – these God-Fearer Greeks must have felt that there was something missing in their lives, that there must be more.  And Judaism appealed to them, with its communal life revolving around the synagogue, its high moral code, its festivals, and perhaps most of all, its God who made covenants with is people and was faithful to those promises.  These Gentiles had learned to respect and reverence the God of Israel – that is, to use the old-fashioned language, they had learned to fear God.  For these spiritual searchers for something better, Judaism seemed to offer what was missing in their lives.  

So, if these Greeks were God-Fearers, they had come to Jerusalem, perhaps from far away, to be part of the Passover festivities.  And now they wanted to meet Jesus.  “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  It’s not surprising that Jesus would intrigue those who were spiritually searching.  Jesus had just made his public entrance into Jerusalem, with the crowds acclaiming, “Hosanna!”  It is no wonder that these God-Fearers, seeking for something better in their lives, wished to meet Jesus.

We have our equivalents of God-Fearers today – those who are not Catholics themselves but are attracted to Catholicism.  The term we would use today is “seekers”.  There are seekers everywhere.  It’s possible there may be some among us today.  I’ve certainly met them over the years at St. Edna: they would slip quietly and anonymously into a back or side pew.  And they observe.  They observe our preaching and our music.  They observe whether we are kind and considerate to one another.  They observe whether we welcome strangers.  They are watching us closely, because they are trying to answer the question, “Could this be the spiritual home I’m looking for?  Could this be the place I’ve been seeking?”  

Today’s seekers have various backgrounds.  Some, like the God-Fearer Greeks in today’s Gospel story, have non-Christian backgrounds.  Some have backgrounds in other Christian denominations.  Some, an increasing number these days, don’t really have a formal spiritual background at all – they were reared in households which didn’t engage much in worship and church membership.  But whatever their background, what seekers have in common is that they know that something is missing from their lives, and they are looking for it.  

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus”.  What seekers really are looking for – and some know this already, while some others might not have quite figured it out yet – what they are really looking for is to get to know Jesus.   Seekers come to St. Edna, not because we’re a nice group of people, although I think we are, but because we might possibly be a community which would help them to encounter Jesus.  You see, Jesus is the answer to what seekers are seeking.  It is Jesus who fills in the holes in their hearts and souls.  It is Jesus who provides the answers to the questions which nobody else has been able to answer so far.  Jesus is food for those who are hungry.  Jesus is the light for those who are stumbling in the darkness.  Jesus is who seekers are seeking.    

Here at St. Edna, and elsewhere in the church, we have a set of rites to help seekers who are seeking Jesus.  It is commonly called RCIA.  RCIA is wonderful.  It is through RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, that seekers are introduced to the stories and mysteries which lie at the heart of our faith.  Through RCIA, seekers are introduced to Jesus, and enkindle a personal relationship with him.  RCIA culminates each year with the Easter Vigil, when these seekers are initiated into our faith, via the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist.  These seekers will have found, sacramentally, the holy one whom they are seeking.

This rather puzzling Gospel passage I proclaimed a few minutes ago follows the seeker’s RCIA journey in miniature.  It begins with seeking: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus”.  It then proceeds with a discourse from Jesus, part teaching, part parable and part passionate prayer, with a theophany thrown in, all of which serve to introduce these seekers and draw them more deeply into the central mystery of our faith: following Jesus means following him on the road to Calvary.  Jesus’s journey will lift him up onto the Cross.  

If we are to walk that journey with Jesus as his friend, follower, servant, sister and brother, then our journey goes up onto the Cross, too.  If we want to enjoy all the good fruits which come from knowing Jesus, then we must be willing to walk this way of the Cross.  Jesus is the seed which doesn’t remain a single grain; instead, he is the grain of wheat which falls to the ground and dies.  But then the seed germinates, and bears good fruit, and becomes, for us, the bread of life. 

All of us, in some way or another, whether or not we’re already initiated, are seeking Jesus.  And like Jesus, we must be willing to die.  Even while we continue to live here on earth, there are parts of our lives and parts of our society which we must be willing to let die, so new life can spring up.  If we want a society filled with true peace and true justice, then we must be willing to relinquish the status quo of conflict and division and corruption – we must be willing to let those parts die, even at the cost of our own comfort and position.  If we want to have loving families, then we must be willing to relinquish the parts of our family life which bring about discord and dysfunction – we must be willing to let them die, even if that risks upsetting some family relationships.  If we want to have inner peace, then we must relinquish the sinful thoughts and habits which bring about internal turmoil and anxiety – we must be willing to let them die.  In order to gain, we must be willing to lose.   To live, we must die.

We are the Greeks, seeking what is missing from our lives; or we are Philip: already a follower of Jesus.  If we are Philip, then we must be willing to be conduits to Christ.  Seekers may approach us and ask us to take them to see Jesus.  Those seekers could be our children or grandchildren.  They could be our spouses or significant friends.  They could be co-workers who have observed that we are spiritual.  “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  To my fellow Philips here today, be warned: seekers may be in the house right now, and they may be watching us carefully right now.  Are we ready to take them to see Jesus?