Monday, March 18, 2024 | Trey Comstock
My three-year-old, Susanna, has recently discovered the game of “whispering,” where you speak softly into somebody’s ear. She thinks it’s hilarious! Even though she just “whispers” nonsense, or sometimes nothing at all. She hasn’t quite gotten the grasp of the concept. It’s fine until she wants you to understand what it is she’s trying to tell you. She’ll try to “whisper” something important to you, and when you repeat it, but it isn’t quite right, she gets irritated. We have to ask her to repeat herself–NOT in a whisper–so she can get her point across. We have to lean in and really listen to the message that she is trying to get across.
Do you remember that old game Telephone that we used to play as kids? Where you would say a phrase to one person on one end of the line, who would whisper it in the ear of the next person in line, and so on and so forth until it reached the end of the line where it was inevitably changed into something hysterically different than the original message? When you play that game as a kid, it can be hilarious fun. When you play that game as an adult, it can be frustrating! Have you ever tried to get your point across to somebody, but they only got your message “through the gossip grapevine.” Or worse, has information about YOU ever been twisted and turned through a gossip train? By the time the message is received at the end of the line, it’s been changed or twisted just enough that they miss the point entirely. It’s aggravating, isn’t it!? It’s sometimes difficult when the message gets mixed up.
I imagine today’s scripture is one of those vexing times for Jesus. The disciples play their own game of telephone here. The Greeks go to Philip, who then goes to Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip both go tell Jesus… His message of reconciliation for ALL people is still being questioned by his closest disciples. By this point, he has preached about God’s message of reconciliation multiple times. Jesus has explained to his disciples that he is going to lose his life for their sake. And, that if they plan on being followers of Jesus, they need to plan on giving something up as well. Those who cling to this life will lose it, but those that lose their lives for his sake will find eternal reward. God has been trying to get this message across to both Jews and Gentiles. Jesus makes clear that this reconciliation is for ALL people. This new upside-down kingdom of God is not going to look like what they think it will look like. It won’t look like earthly victory. In fact, it will look like defeat first; a painful and humiliating death on a cross. But God is doing something new through Jesus!
The onlookers that day finally get to hear God’s voice come directly from heaven with the message. No more game of telephone, no misheard whispers, no miscommunication. Just the truth about God’s glory, straight from the source! And they still don’t get it right away. They call it thunder or an angel. At that time it was common for people to hear the messages of God via those routes. But Jesus still has to explain it to them! They still don’t quite understand what it means for Jesus to be “lifted up from this earth.” Jesus was alluding to the fact that he will be lifted up on a cross. And then lifted up from death.
Of course, it’s easy for us to look back at this scripture passage from a place of judgment because we understand it. It’s easy for us to scoff at the disciples when they don’t understand the message. We are on the other side of Jesus’ resurrection and know what it is that Jesus is trying to tell the disciples that day. But the message of reconciliation that is coming with the cross is a radical one! We sometimes forget that from this side of Easter.
That’s why it’s good that we slow down every year and listen during this season of Lent. We slow down and remember that miracle that is coming in Christ’s Easter resurrection. We slow down and listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit so that we can comprehend anew the reconciling power of God that came when Jesus was lifted up from this earth.
I invite you to lean in with me. Lean in and listen, really listen, to what the Holy Spirit is whispering to you today. As you encounter this scripture and these messages of Lent & Easter with fresh ears and eyes, I invite you to hear again –or perhaps for the first time– the message of love and reconciliation that God is trying to tell you and the rest of the world.