Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: John 12,20-26. Laetare

Monday, March 16, 2015

John 12,20-26. Laetare

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

John 12,20-26 1715

Lätare (4. Sonntag der Passionszeit) 027 „Rejoice“

Longinus, the soldier who pierced the side of the Lord, Martyr 1. century ✠

15. März 2015

1. O Thou Living and Comforting God, Your Righteous and Forgiving Word calls and saves us. Protect Your persecuted Church. Guide us during these weeks before Easter. Lead us into the mystery of Your Passion. Let Your Glory appear and hear our prayers for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord and Brother. Amen. (VELKD, Prayer for Lätare § 4)

2. Now among those who went up to worship at the Feast of Passover were some Greeks. So they approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him: „Sir, we wish to see Jesus.“ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them: „The hour has arrived for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.“

3. In John 12 we see the universal appeal of Jesus as some Greeks desire to see Him. It is possible that these are Greek God-fearers who worshiped the God of Israel and were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. These Greeks may have hailed from the Decapolis of ten Greek cities east of Galilee or perhaps from the Bethsaida where Philip was from. Their request occurred shortly after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We do not know whether these Greeks got to see Jesus or what they discussed, for Jesus used their request to launch into another opportunity to teach His disciples about the ministry of the Messiah as proclaimed in the Holy Scriptures, namely: the hour has arrived for the Son of Man to be glorified. This declaration may have been the answer to what these Greeks had been pondering in their hearts and minds. Thus, if they heard the discourse of Jesus, then the answer to their question that prompted an audience with Jesus may have been given.

4. Jesus’ glorification was manifested in His crucifixion. That’s a public execution performed by Rome for enemies of the State. These Greeks may have envisioned Jesus as a Jewish equivalent of Socrates. Jesus agitated the wise much like Socrates did when his questions revealed the prominent in Athens to be more foolish than wise. This gadfly Socrates was sentenced to death in 399 bc for holding the Athenians to a higher standard of justice and goodness. They may also have the Ides of March in mind as it had passed quite recently. 15. March is the date on which Julius Caesar was stabbed to death 23 times in 44 bc in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Perhaps these Greeks saw Jesus on similar trajectories of Socrates and Julius as His preaching irritated the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.

5. Jesus indeed verifies that He is on the same path of Socrates and Julius Caesar, for He says: »Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.« Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. He rose on the third day as the first of much fruit, that is, our resurrection on the last day.

6. When Jesus was questioned by what authority did He have to cause havoc in the temple courtyard by overturning money tables and setting sacrificial animals free, His response was: »I will destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up« (John 2,19). This was utter nonsense to the Jews! How could Jesus rebuild the temple in three days when it took over 46 years to build in the first place? Of course, Jesus was not talking about the temple in Jerusalem but His very physical body. Jesus destroyed His body in death and rose it from the dead three days later. The Apostle Paul correctly noted that »Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom« (1. Corinthians 1,22). The crucified Jesus is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks (1. Corinthians 1,23), but for we who believe: Jesus is the power and wisdom of God (1. Corinthians 1,24). Jesus is the sign of God’s forgiveness and the wisdom of His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history).

7. Thus the theme of Laetare is: rejoice! On this Sunday we cross the midway point of Lent (the Ides of Lent) and today is a day of hope for Easter is within our sight. The Psalmist reminds us today: »For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. He withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, the one who trusts in You is blessed« (Psalm 84,11-12). Jesus is the certainty of our salvation. Our sins have been paid for and forgiven. We have been redeemed back to our Heavenly Father’s good graces. We are now righteous in His eyes. All this is from Jesus who is our Sun and Shield. He bestows upon us favor and honor. When you receive the Lord’s Supper in a few moments you will receive the Lord’s forgiveness and His favor. This Holy Sacrament is Jesus’ free gift to you, and for this great and merciful gift we rejoice with great praise. Amen.

8. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Grain of wheat that fell into the earth, died and then bore much fruit, keep our eyes and faith on Your crucifixion and resurrection so that we rejoice in our salvation. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, March 16, 2015

John 12,20-26. Laetare

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