'We wish to see Jesus'
A sermon for the eve of St Philip and St James
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus”.
Perhaps that is the reason that we are here tonight. We want to see Jesus. There is no better reason for coming to
church than wanting to encounter Jesus. And
here in the readings from Scripture, in the silence, in the music, in the
prayers, in the architecture, in one another, perhaps even in the sermon, there
are opportunities and pointers to help us to see Jesus. “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”. This is why we
gather for worship.
But it is not just here that we see Jesus. It is not just in church or during acts of
worship that we can encounter our risen Lord.
We encounter Jesus throughout our lives, in the people, places and moments
that make up our days. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, ‘I greet him the days I meet him,
and bless when I understand’. “Sir, we
wish to see Jesus.” Not just tonight,
but each day. The Christian life is one
of meeting Jesus day by day and walking with him.
Perhaps it might help to look back on
the last seven days and try to recall where and when we saw Jesus. Were there moments when your heart sang with
recognition? Where there moments when it
was clear to you the way to go? Were
there moments when you were drawn away from what you were doing to investigate
the possibility that something important might be found? Take a moment and just reflect on the past
week.
PAUSE
Let me share with you two moments from my week where I think
I saw Jesus. I think I encountered Jesus
in the care of a colleague who helped me to laugh when all I could see was an
enduring and awful situation. In the
care and the laughter, I became human again.
The second time that I think that I saw Jesus was in the need of a man
who I could have helped, but didn’t. I
was in a hurry; I didn’t want to stop; I recognised Jesus in retrospect. I have seen Jesus in care and laughter, in
need and rejection.
Learning to see Jesus, to recognise him when he crosses our
path, is an important spiritual discipline.
The founder of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola, taught a means of doing
this called the Examen. The Examen is a
simple discipline. It consists of reviewing the day. One teacher describes it as ‘rummaging for
God’. Go through the stuff of the day,
and see where God might be found. Where did you see Jesus in the day? The key to this is gratitude – be thankful
for what God has given you in the day; and gentleness, be kind to yourself as
you look back. Thankfulness and kindness
are essential to this spiritual practice.
You could try this in a lengthy way, spending fifteen minutes or so in
review. Or you could simply look through
the highlights, so to speak, and say thank you for one moment of encounter in
the day that has gone. “Sir, we wish to
see Jesus.” This is one way that might
help.
Seeing Jesus is not, however, a guarantee that all will be
easy and nice. It is all too easy to see
Jesus in what seems nice and well suited to us, and to take hardship and
difficulty as signs that Jesus is not with us.
But that is not true, nor is it the world we live in. We live in a world with beautiful sunsets,
and vicious and brutal wars. We live in
a world in which people are generous to us, and in which people lie and hurt
us. Jesus is present in all of
this. He is present in our weakness and
our joy, our pain and our accomplishment.
The people of Israel had been in exile for about fifty years
when Isaiah spoke to them in the words of the second lesson. Jerusalem had been destroyed, and many taken
into exile in Babylon. There they had,
almost uniquely, managed to retain and even deepen their identity as a
people. But they felt cut off, apart
from God. ‘My way is hidden from the
Lord and my right is disregarded by my God’.
This is a common spiritual mistake, and one that I certainly make frequently. To see that things going well is a sign of
the presence of God, and to see things being hard and painful as a sign that
God is distant. But it is a mistake, and
one for which Isaiah rebukes the people.
Jesus similarly tells Philip and Andrew that ‘unless a grain of wheat
falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies,
it bears much fruit.’
The truth is that we can see Jesus in our weakness and in
our hurting. Sometimes it is only there
that he can be at work, breaking down our false images of ourselves and of God
and gently building true ones. The hard
question for each of us, is where we see Jesus in our hurt and our struggle. So let me suggest that we try to get better
at seeing Jesus in our lives. Over the
coming week, try reflecting on the day that is past and asking two
questions: ‘For what moment today am I
most grateful?’ and ‘For what moment today am I least grateful?’ Then ask God to show you where he was in
those moments. Remember to be thankful
and gentle. Thankful for the presence of
Jesus with you; gentle on yourself for your failings. Try that this week, and see where it gets
you.
“Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
It is a good request. It is what
we are about in worship and in life. As
we go through this week, let us try to learn to see him better. Let me end with the prayer of St Richard of Chichester:
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day. Amen.
First given at Derby Cathedral 1.5.16.
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