Closer to Jesus...
A little boy went along to a prayer meeting one day with
his father. It was quite an intense prayer meeting where everyone prayed very
loudly. Later the little boy remarked to his father, ‘If they lived nearer to
God, they wouldn’t have to shout !’
Lent is a time when we traditionally seek to get closer to
God, to live a little bit nearer to him, and today in our readings (Jeremiah
31:31-34, Hebrews 5:5-10 & John 12:20-33) we are reminded of some of the
promises that we are given by him. We are reminded of the new covenant, the
promise that Jesus has made to each one of us, a promise of new life offered in
love through his death and resurrection.
As we get closer to the commemoration of Palm Sunday, Holy
Week, and ultimately to Easter Day, I think it’s worth just spending a short
time reflecting on new life. And in the gospel reading I think we find some
points on the subject.
The first is the request to Philip from the Greeks, ‘Sir,
we wish to see Jesus’. It is the most simple, most basic thing of all in a
quest for new life in Jesus – that we want it…
There are people who talk of new life, many people profess
faith, attend Churches and so on, and they do so for all kinds of reasons –
Truly saying ‘we wish to see Jesus’ means that we want to get a closer
relationship with him, we want to identify with his pain and suffering, we want
to share the love that he shared, we want to meet people as he met them –
filled with love and forgiveness, filled with compassion and understanding,
filled with a desire to offer people a second, a third, a fourth chance, and
many more if they’re needed….
To enjoy the new life that Jesus wants for us, and that
Jesus has promised for us, we need to want it – we need to accept his gift and
then begin a journey of discovery – discovery of ourselves, discovery of the
world around us, discovery of the message and character of Jesus…. Faith doesn’t
stop at saying we believe in Jesus, or that he lived and died for us and that
he rose again to give new life, faith certainly doesn’t stop at baptism or
confirmation or regular church attendance.
Faith means wanting to be more like Jesus...
And this journey of discovery will lead us to consider a
second point and that is to try and understand the words of Jesus as he said,
‘Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world
will keep it for eternal life’. Sometimes I hear quotes from people and I
really haven’t got a clue what they mean – sometimes it’s from politicians who
are very clever at giving a statement which could mean almost anything but
sounds impressive... Sometimes it might be from really clever people who possess
incredible knowledge but very little in the way of communication skills...
Jesus was good at statements which challenged, and which
immediately made people think, and this was one of them... Was he saying that
life in this world is pointless ? That if we enjoy our lives then we won’t get
anywhere near him or the promised eternal life ? Was he saying that we had to
miserable all the time – some Christians seem to think that ! Or certainly look like it in services
sometimes ! Was he saying that we had to be judgmental of all the people
around, because we obviously know the truth and others don’t – again some
Christians seem to think that !
But I don’t think he meant any of that – he was speaking
to an audience who needed to assess their lives. He was speaking to an audience
who lived by superstition, and by love of material wealth, an audience who had
so many other things going on in their lives that they had little time to
really think about Jesus or other people…
New life involves an assessment of our lives now – to see
what things we are doing, or failing to do, which are preventing us from
getting closer to Jesus. A new life for us, by it’s very nature, must involve a
surrendering of our old life.
In the marriage service one of the things that the couple
do immediately after their vows and the announcement that they are now married
is to walk up towards the altar – and there is lots of symbolism in that action
– they are walking towards the altar, a symbol of God, and in doing so they are
seeking his guidance and strength for their married lives, and they are also
walking away from their families as a newly created family.
But of course in doing that they are not ignoring the
families they are walking away from – they still remain part of the wider family,
part of the group that have shaped them and so on. And when we seek the new
life of Jesus, and surrender our old lives, we don’t surrender the memories
that we have and the lessons we have learnt, and we certainly don’t walk away
from people we know… We simply walk with a new perspective shaped and
influenced by Jesus as our role model.
And the third point of new life in Jesus that I want to
think about involves the words of Jesus as he talked about what was to come on
the cross for him – he asked if he should pray that he be saved from the
suffering, and then answered his own question as he said, ‘it is for this
reason that I have come to this hour… Father, glorify your name…’
Sometimes our lives won’t turn out as we hoped or planned
– but God is there... Sometimes we don’t understand things, and we don’t need
to be afraid to say that, but God is there... Sometimes it doesn’t even seem
like he’s there, but he’s there...
In the Lords prayer we pray, ‘Thy will be done’ and I’m
sure we sometimes pray it with a kind of extra sub conscious bit built on –
‘Thy will be done as long as it kind of suits me and I can manage it’.
But to follow Jesus isn’t to get an easy life, but to
respond to a display of love greater than any before –the display that involved
a man living to die, not just for one person, but for every person, whatever
they may have done or thought of him.
History is full of people who have died for a cause, who
have died for someone they cared for, and there are many great heroes amongst
them, but only one person has accepted death for all – even for those who
killed him.
Following such a man faithfully, seeking to live as he
lived, is never going to be easy…
But following Jesus is also a response to an offer of
fullness of life…. Again, I stress, not an easy life, but fullness of life, and
I think the 2 are very different… An easy life judged by our earthly standards
may involve good health, lots of money, a comfortable house, a nice car, no
money worries, good relations with all the people we meet and so on… it’s a
life that’s often desired but rarely really achieved…
But fullness of life can be attained – it is the sort of
life that offers us peace in turmoil, that offers hope in despair, comfort in
times of discomfort, that helps us to understand that we are loved no matter
what we may have done or said or thought…
St Augustine said that within each one of us there is a
God shaped hole waiting to be filled, and fullness of life can be achieved when
we ask God to start filling that hole…
He could fill it instantly if we really let him – we could
know perfect peace, but being human that doesn’t often happen and we hold back
and only let him do it slowly as we get closer to him, and understand and trust
him more… We often allow him to do it only on our terms...
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