His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
Sermon: Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 21, 2021
St. Teresa Parish, Belleville
Queen of Peace Parish, Belleville
“We Would Like to See Jesus”
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Today’s gospel tells us that “some Greeks” approached the apostle Phillip and told him, they wanted to see Jesus. Perhaps they approached Phillip because, he too could speak Greek, whereas Jesus only spoke Aramaic. But why would “some Greeks,” come to town for the Passover, want to see Jesus? Could it be because of the amazing stories they have heard about Him?
People say He turned water into wine. He drove the money changers from the temple. He healed the paralytic. He fed 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish! He even walked on water. He promised the Samaritan woman living waters bubbling up with eternal life. He gave sight to the man who was blind from birth. AND! Most startling of all, He is said to have raised Lazarus, from the dead.
So, Philip and Andrew go to Jesus and tell him there are “some Greeks” in town who want to see Him. Notice, Jesus doesn’t ask, “Why do they want to see Me?” He doesn’t say, “I am too busy to see them.” Nor does He say, “Maybe I can squeeze them in after breakfast tomorrow?” NO, Jesus responds in a way that makes us think he did not hear the request. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, I say, to 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.’” Phillip and Andrew might have asked, “Well, Jesus, are You going to see these Greeks or not?” The gospel writer and Jesus seem to ignore the curiosity of the Greeks. Instead, they confront us with what “seeing” Jesus really means. Jesus Himself is the grain of wheat who must fall to the earth and die only to bear much fruit. Using a common symbol from nature and local farmers, Jesus proclaims that His death is just days away. But, paradoxically, His death will lead to transcendent life. The abundant fruit is the work of the Holy Spirit giving life to the Church. (Christ has died! Christ has risen! Christ will come again!)
Jesus of Nazareth’s message to the Greeks is his message to you and to me. If you really want to see Jesus, we must put aside our idle curiosity about a wonder worker. “The way to see Me is to model your lives on My teachings, so that you, like the grain of wheat, may fall to the earth and participate in the mystery of My resurrection, by dying to your selfish ways.
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Today is the 5th Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. These weeks since Ash Wednesday have been given to us so that we, like “some Greeks,” can be filled with the desire to see Jesus!
During this past week, the Church has given each of us two powerful role models of what it means to “want to see” Jesus. On Wednesday, March 17, we honored St. Patrick, the Apostle to Ireland. And on Friday, March 19, we honored St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and the protector of Jesus. Sadly, for many St Patrick’s Day is about little more than the wearing of the green, eating corned beef and cabbage, drinking green beer and talk of leprechauns and shamrocks. St. Joseph’s Day is about little more than the great food at a St Joseph’s table and legendary stories about the power of St. Joseph to help you sell your house!
St. Joseph, whose name in Hebrew mysteriously means “God adds,” is only mentioned in the gospels of Matthew and Luke and they tell us very little about him, beyond his powerful dreams, his work as a craftsman, his ancestors connecting him to the house of David and the city of Bethlehem, and that he was “a just man.” Where was he born? How old was he? Where did he die? What did he look like? Silence! Joseph is never mentioned again after the 12-year-old Jesus was lost in the temple. There is not even a mention of him at the foot of the cross when Jesus dies. The gospel does tell us that he was the strong, silent type. Indeed, St. Joseph never utters a single word in scripture. He never speaks to Mary, Jesus, the angel, or to God Himself. He simply ACTS with courage and strong faith to take care of Mary, and to protect Jesus from harm. Unlike “some Greeks” who were curious about Jesus, Joseph sees the uniqueness of Jesus and willingly cooperates with God, going on a divine adventure.
Scripture tells us that after the 12-year-old Jesus was found in the temple, He went home to Nazareth and was obedient to His parents, advancing in wisdom, age and grace before God and man. St. Joseph, living an almost hidden life, surely played a central role in shaping and forming the young Jesus, who might have worked at his side. Joseph’s life reminds us that holiness consists not in flashy, extraordinary actions, but in performing our everyday duties with fidelity to God, to others, and to ourselves and doing this as well as we can. From St. Joseph we learn that, if we really want to see Jesus, the place to start is in the places and situations where we find ourselves, as husbands, wives, children, parents, where we work, and in our neighborhood. Living lives of courageous faith, while loving others, is a sure way of seeing Jesus.
By contrast, we know almost too much about St. Patrick, but most of his story is legendary. We begin by acknowledging that he was NOT Irish, even though he was a principal proclaimer of Christianity in Ireland.
We believe Patrick was born in 385 in modern-day Scotland. In the opening lines of his book Confession he writes: “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father, Calpurnius, was a Deacon; my grandfather, Potitus, was a Priest. I was taken prisoner when I was 16 years old.”
Before he was a prisoner, Patrick’s Christian faith meant very little to him. That changed during his captivity. Gradually, his faith became stronger and stronger and sustained him through the long, dark days of his imprisonment. Once he escaped, he committed himself to his faith with great zeal. He realized that he really did want to see Jesus. He became a Priest and, because of his concern for the Irish pirates who kidnapped him, he returned to Ireland with the goal of seeing what he called “pagan Ireland” converted to Christ. He wanted them to “see Jesus.” The local non-Christian king initially rejected Christianity and Patrick faced danger and even threats on his life. In spite of many challenges, Patrick persisted. Eventually, the king converted and was baptized by Patrick and many of the people of Ireland were baptized as well.
Patrick, the “Apostle of Ireland,” established churches initially in Northern Ireland, near Belfast. He gradually established churches throughout the Irish countryside. Scholars doubt that Patrick rid Ireland of stakes, since snakes were NOT indigenous to the area. Others doubt that Patrick used the shamrock to teach the unchurched about the Trinity, that God is one in being and three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Long standing tradition says Patrick died on March 17, 461, but scholars argue that it is not possible to be certain of this date.
A great deal of popular piety is associated with Patrick and his story and his legend play a key role in the culture and identity of people from Ireland. Ireland eventually became one of the most deeply Catholic countries in the world, sending missionaries to the corners of the earth, including the United States, proclaiming good news of Jesus Christ to all who wanted to see Him.
Of course, in recent decades, the Catholic identity of Ireland has declined dramatically. A once-pious Christian culture has been transformed by a kind of post-Christian secular culture-humanist which rejects many traditional Christian beliefs concerning the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death, the meaning of human sexuality, the nature of marriage and the structure of the family. Some Catholics in Ireland, who remain committed to the Christian faith, have expressed a longing for a new St Patrick to rise up, because the people of modern-day Ireland NEED to see Jesus anew.
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“Some Greeks” approached Philip and said, “Sir we want to see Jesus.” If you were listening to the Gospel story attentively, you noticed that it never tells us whether or not “some Greeks” got to see Jesus at all. This is because the Gospel writers were not concerned about this. The sentence about “some Greeks” is simply to get our attention. It is a hook that is used to lead into Jesus’ long discourse about his coming death. “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.”
Lent is almost over. Do you want to see Jesus? St. Joseph and St. Patrick teach us that seeing Jesus is not a spectator sport. It requires action. We have to get involved. It is a Way to be followed, a Truth to be embodied, and a Life to be lived. It’s being a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies so that it might bear much fruit. That’s where we see Him. It’s the letting go, the emptying, the leaving behind, and the dying to self that makes space for the new life of Christ to arise and then we see Him.
As you know, St. Patrick wrote many prayers. One is called the Lorica, or “The Breastplate of St. Patrick.” For your meditation during this last week of Lent, I encourage you to google this extraordinary prayer. It is Patrick’s answer to “some Greeks” and to all who want to see Jesus this Lent. Here is a part of this great prayer:
“I bind to myself today the strong power of the Holy Trinity.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I bind to myself today,
The power of the Incarnation of Christ, with that of His Baptism,
The power of His Crucifixion with that of His Burial,
The power of His Resurrection and His Ascension,
I bind to myself today the power of Christ coming in glory at the end of time. Amen.”
St. Joseph, pray for us!
St. Patrick, pray for us!
Praise be Jesus Christ. Both now and forever. AMEN! AMEN!