The Day Has Come

5th Sunday in Lent

John:12:20-33

Jeremiah 31:31-34

"The Day has Come!"

20* Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.

21* So these 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; Andrew went with Philip and they told Jesus.

23* And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.

24* 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.

25* He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

26* If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.

27* “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour.

28* Father, glorify thy name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

29* The crowd standing by heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

30* Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

31* Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out;

32* and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

33* He said this to show by what death he was to die.RSV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.

33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”RSV

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

If you noticed the title of my sermon in this bulletin this morning, "The Day Has Come" you might be thinking that we are going to preach about the end of time, the day has come when the world will end. Wrong!!! You might be thinking this is a special day of the church year, the day has come that we have been waiting for. Wrong!!.

The Day has come for us to know who we are. That’s right, the day has come to know who we are? You might think, but pastor I know who I am. But do you?? Do you really know who you are? Do you really know who you are in relationship to all the other people on the face of the earth? Do you know who you are in relationship to God? Who are you anyway?

One scientist when answering that question put it this way:

I am a (1) child of the Creator (2) temple of the Holy spirit

(3) image of God (4) redeemed disciple of Christ (5) working member of his kingdom (6) member of the fellowship of saints (7) candidate for Eternal life.

Who are you? If we think about it in that kind of way, we are very special people. Special not because of our doing but because of the work of God through Jesus in our lives.

We are special and our First lesson from Jeremiah speaks about that unique nature. The Lord said that He would make a covenant with his people. He said He would be their God and they would be His people. God established a covenant with us during the time of Jeremiah. He continued that covenant through the time of Jesus.

Jesus in our gospel lesson speaks of that relationship when he talks about His time is fulfilled. Jesus says "No, for this purpose I have come to this hour."

Jesus came to continue that covenant that God began with the people of Israel. Jesus came so that we might know who we are. We are God’s children. Children bought and paid for by the blood of the lamb of Jesus.