The Hungry Heart
Scripture: John 12:1-21
John 12:21 (The Message)
“We want to see Jesus. Can you help us?"
Michaëlle Jean has been appointed by Prime Minister Paul Martin as Canada’s next Governor General, our official representative of the Queen of England.
Michaëlle was raised in poverty-stricken conditions in Haiti before coming to Canada and rising to the status of CBC’s Rough Cuts host. She is an awarding winning reporter and has a special passion and interest for documentaries.
Jack MacAndrew of Rabble News calls her “a Governor General who looks like Halle Berry’s older sister.” (Halle Berry is a diva among movie actresses, and is extremely talented. She won the Academy Award as best actress for one of her movie roles.)
Of course there is tons of speculation regarding why Michaëlle was chosen as opposed to Rick Hansen who wheeled around the world in his chair. Some are kind enough to say it’s because she is a good choice, having worked hard and proven her worth and competence. Others will argue it is an ethnic matter. There is a camp of critics that will suggest it is all political as Paul Martin positions himself for the next election.
The rest of us look on and have to make our own determinations about why she was chosen, whether or not it matters and what significance it plays in the whole scheme of things for our Country. The responses are as varied as the personalities that pepper our Country’s wonderful, breath-taking landscape.
Jesus Christ has always been the center of controversy and conviction both in the religious and political circles of His day. Not surprisingly, He is still a political burden, a religious renegade and for those who know Him, our faith’s focus! As we come to this morning’s text, we will be challenged to make some clear concessions about who Jesus is.
We’ll focus through the experiences of the people mentioned in John 12. These people are not unlike ourselves in many ways, having the same realities facing them as faces us. Through them, we may catch a glimpse of ourselves. We may see a profile in one person that completely fits who we understand ourselves to be or we may see a little of ourselves in all of them. However, it is not the journey that matters so much as the end result and what we do with the revelations of ourselves that God gives us. First,
1. Mayhem Martha saw Him as a Guest (verse 1-2a)
This is not to suggest that Martha did not realize Jesus was the Christ of God. If she not earlier believed the reports of Him I cannot imagine that the miracle of raising her brother, Lazarus from the dead did not lead her to faith as it did many others who saw Jesus’ miracle-working power (v 45). Regardless of her understanding of Christ as the Messiah of God, she often responded as one would to a guest. While John merely says “Martha served” Dr. Luke gives us a detailed picture how, when Jesus was visiting the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" (Luke 10:40)
Martha was a very practical care-giver and while that service is of great value and necessity, it was traded for the indescribable experience of sitting at Jesus’ feet and enjoying the gracious presence of the Master.
For Martha, Jesus had become an object of her obsession as it relates to busyness and bustle. There was work to be done! She had been busy for Jesus’ sake, all the while missing the blessing of Jesus being present. As someone once said (quoted loosely), “We are sometimes so busy with the work of God that we fail to spend time with the God of the work.”
People ask the same question today – does God care? Where is He? I wish he would step in. What people don’t realize is that Jesus is already in the room! He has graced us with his presence. The problem is in our response to the presence. Because of distractions we equate the situation with God not caring.
Are you a mayhem Martha?
2. Judas the opportunist saw Him as a get-rich-quick scheme (Verses 4-6)
Judas never missed an opportunity to line his pockets with profits as a result of being an insider, a member of Jesus’ tightly knit group of twelve. While he was complaining about the waste of precious perfume for the sake of the poor, he was really lamenting what he was losing to his own wealthy agenda. Even while he spoke he may have already hatched the richest scheme of them all. Matthew tells us about it after the fact. “Judas Iscariot went to the leading priests 15 and asked, "How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?" And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. 16 From that time on, Judas began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus.” (Matthew 26:14-16)
While we wag our heads in disgust and disbelief, Judas is really not that different from our world. There are lots of people looking to make money off Jesus’ popularity. Jesus paraphernalia is everywhere! You can buy a dancing Jesus doll or a dash-board Jesus. How about the bobble-head Jesus! There is an action-figure Jesus and a Last Supper lunchbox. While this account may seem a little harmless, the next story strikes a deeper cord.
Woman Auctioning Pierogi With Face Of Jesus
WBEN (Pointe Place, OH) Newsroom - Thursday, August 11, 2005 07:52 AM
If a grilled-cheese sandwich that looks like the Virgin Mary can bring $28,000 on E-Bay, what about a pierogi with the face of Jesus.
An Ohio woman hopes to find out. Donna Lee says the image appeared in a pierogi -- a Polish dumpling -- as she was cooking it for Easter dinner at her home near Toledo. She says she’s kept it in her freezer ever since.
She and her husband have now posted the item on E-Bay, with a starting price of $500.
Opinions of the ethics of making money at Jesus’ expense range from it being harmless to being sacrilegious but there’s no mistaking there are opportunists waiting to make a buck off His good name and person.
Are there opportunists here this morning – “I’m in it for what I can personally get from it?”
3. The Pernickety Public saw Him as a Performer on Parade (verse 9)
Pernickety means fussy, choosy, or difficult to please.
Dave Brown, author of “Entertaining Ourselves in church” speaks about “Neil Postman, a professor of communications arts and sciences at New York University wrote a fascinating book called, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.
He says, “Postman doesn’t write as a professing Christian, but he nevertheless scores this bullseye about televangelists, “Everything that makes religion an historic, profound and sacred human activity is stripped away; there is no ritual, no dogma, no tradition, no theology, and above all, no sense of spiritual transcendence. On these shows, the preacher is tops. God comes out as a second banana.”
While I reserve any judgment on televangelists, having enjoyed a few of them for my own listening pleasure, I use the illustration to suggest that this charge may be just as true in the church in many circles. It is without question a reality that some people go to church to be entertained, so if the presentation is “off” it was a bad morning and they have no idea why they bothered in the first place.
We must take to heart the words of Paul in Romans 12:2 as stated in The Message: “2Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
If the church’s connection to Jesus is about entertainment, rather than enlightenment by the Holy Spirit; if our search is for amusement rather than atoning relationship with God we may be guilty of trading the substance of spiritual experience for social connection.
Are you pernickety?
4. The Hungry Greeks, and Humble Mary saw him as the Christ of God (verses 3, 20, 21-22)
Mary could have broken that jar in such a way that only a small portion of oil could have been poured on Jesus’ feet and the rest retained for other uses (to help Judas’ poor for which he was obviously moved). But no, Mary broke the whole box and “the fragrance of the oils filled the house.” Her sacrifice in honor of the Holy One was a sweet smelling offering that touched the hearts of everyone within her reach!
Then there are some Gentiles, who may or may not have been converts already to Judaism, though it seems they likely were. The Greeks, being true to their culture as a people, would approach anything new as something to be explored and proven or disproved. Upon setting out on this quest, they proved Jesus to be the Messiah of God, the Saviour of the world, and the atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind! As a result, they became followers of Jesus Christ and now wanted to catch up with him; to see him; to get close to him!
They came to Philip, a Greek asking, "Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?" Philip took them to Andrew and together they took the men to see Jesus! These too, having known Jesus to be the Messiah of God, were a broken vessel, poured out for Christ, that others would know the touch of the Master’s hand!
The last few years have seen an explosion of life-after-death mini-series. A quick Google search will return 1,530,000 hits for mini-series on life-after-death. Why is that? Maybe it has a lot to do with an inner craving or thirst that will not let us rest. Could it be an aching obsession that there is something more to life than NOW?
If you have an insatiable desire for something more than what you have, the answer is not found in the acquisition of material possession. If you hunger for more of God, a deeper experience, it is not found in dynamic preaching or flawless worship services (though it’s nice to have these when we meet). If you need a life-changing, earth-shattering experience of holiness and cleansing, you will find it in a PERSON! You will find it when you set out to meet with God face to face, heart to heart!
Are you hungry and humble for the Christ of God?
WRAP: Who is He to you? (verse 34)
Matthew 16:13-20
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." 15 Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Is Jesus a guest you entertain?
An opportunity for your personal advantage?
A performer to satisfy your cravings?
The Christ of God for whom you hunger and always want more so you can give him away to other hungry souls?
