Wait. We Wish to See Someone Else!

John 12:20-33
Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say--'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven,
"I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Interesting, isn’t it? That we never hear about Jesus actually meeting the Greeks? Or, should we say, the Greeks seeing Jesus? In some way or another, the seeking is more interesting for the story, than the actual meeting. Perhaps it serves the story to leave that open, so that we might all place ourselves in there, and OUR meeting of Jesus. I can’t help but think that the Greeks - and you and I - would like to meet a Jesus a little less oriented toward the cross. Willimon has a nice opening in a sermon on this text. . .

“…I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (John 12:32)
The latest ruckus to hit the house of God here at 435 Summit Drive was precipitated (as was the previous one) by the pastor. All I did was to suggest to an amateur woodcarver in the congregation that it would be nice if he turned his talents toward the carving of a processional cross for our church.
I had in mind something simple, modern and clean, something congruent with Northside Church’s minimalist architecture, something light enough for a white-robed adolescent to carry on Sundays. What we got on the first Sunday of Lent was a dramatic sort of cross, heavy, complete with a realistic, bleeding corpus, a hanging, crucified Christ, blood and everything.
. . . many were upset because it was “more Catholic than Methodist,” “gory and depressing,” or didn’t “go with our colors.”
What is a modern, progressive, slightly liberal, well-budgeted Methodist church to do with a bloody cross these days?
A few Lenten seasons ago, my friend Ed Covert put up three crosses draped in black on the front lawn of St. Stephen’s Episcopal and received a dozen calls complaining that the crosses made the neighborhood look bad.

What is ANY modern to do with a bloody cross these days?
Or, is the question to ask, "What will the cross do to us?" or "How do we proclaim this one whom the Greeks wished to see? Or, more accurately, the Jesus they didn't know they wished to see, rather than the Jesus they [probably I guess, but I suspect I'm right] thought they wished to see? "