Some people from Greece have arrived for the festival and have asked to 'see' Jesus.  But this is more than a casual meeting. To 'see' Jesus is to enter into a profound revelation.  In Saint John's Gospel, Jesus must be 'lifted up', (Jn, 3.14) crucified in order to be seen.  For Jesus, the arrival of these Greeks is a sign that the time of universal revelation is at hand.  The Beloved Son of God has come for all people.   Yet, the way that He shows himself is paradoxical.  The image of the single grain of wheat  that  falls  on  the  ground  and  dies  in  order  to  grow  into  'much  fruit'  (v.24)  provides  the  key  to  understanding  this paradox.  For Jesus, death is never seen as a loss.  It is only the beginning of a time of change that will yield greater results than an individual life. 
 
Jesus  will  become  more  through  death,  not  less.   In  death  he  will become  universally  available.   Closer  to  us  than  we  are  to ourselves.   This  revelation  contains  crucial  instructions  for  His disciples.  It illuminates a universal spiritual process.  They are asked to see it and embrace it.  If we identify ourselves as individuals with 
separate lives, we will lose that life. Death will eventually take it from us. But if we do not identify as individuals with separate lives, the death of that life becomes a gateway into transformation. There is no real loss here, only a crossing over to eternity.  The death, resurrection and ascension  of  Jesus  will  make  this  truth  clear.   But  still  He  has  to navigate the anxiety which precedes loss.  He does this by turning to His Abba in prayer.  His prayer is answered immediately because it is aligned with the Fathers will.  It is to the glory of the Father to bring 
greater  life  out  of  lesser  death.   This  is  what  God  has  always done.   This  is  what  God  has  been  doing  through  His  Beloved Son.  This is what God will continue to do through His disciples.  Death has held sway until now but now it's reign of terror is ended.  Jesus' death will not entail the universal fate of going down into the earth.  In His death He will be 'lifted up from the earth'. (v.32). It is this kind of dying, as a transforming process, that will attract people to Jesus.  Death as extinction will bow to death as exaltation.  This will be the kind of death Jesus will die and thus will draw all people to Himself. 
 
Wheat  falls,  acorns  crack,  and  cocoons  split,  bringing  bread,  oak  trees  and  butterflies.   Seeing  death  as  a  transition  is essential for any disciple of Jesus.  In his poem, 'Holy Longing', Goethe has written, 
 
As long as you haven't experienced 
this: to die and so to grow, 
You are only a troubled guest 
On the dark earth. 
 
If this is true, perhaps we should be practicing how to die to ourselves on a regular basis!  Here is a little story in this theme. 
 
Once upon a time, a rich and generous man would freely give gold coins to various groups of people.  One day it would be widows, another day the less able, another day poor students.  The only request he made was that they should wait in silence for the gift to be given. 
 
When it was the day for lawyers, one pleaded his cause with gusto.  The rich man simply passed by.  The next day was the turn of the lame, so the lawyer put splints on his legs and posed as such.  The rich man recognised him and passed by.  The next day, the lawyer disguised himself as a widow, but he didn't fool the rich man who just passed him by. 
 
So the lawyer found an undertaker and concocted a plan that he would be wrapped in a shroud and placed in the path of the rich man.  Surely he would throw some gold coins on the shroud for a proper burial.  Afterwards, the lawyer and the undertaker would split the proceeds. 
 
The rich man did throw gold coins on the shroud.  The lawyers hand shot out and grabbed the coins. Then he jumped up and triumphantly proclaimed that he had deceived and beaten the rich man. "Do you see how, at last, I have received from your kindness?'   'Yes', said the rich man, 'but first you had to die'. 
 
We must die to the schemer and become the receiver.  It is the posture of contemplative silence which allows us to receive the gold that the rich and generous man is giving.  As Rumi says,      
 
" The mystery of die before you die is this: 
that the gifts come after your dying and not before. 
Except for dying, you artful schemer, 
no other skill impresses God". ​

When death bites, it hurts.  The Beloved Son of God comes from above and becomes death, death on a cross.  If, when we see Him and believe in Him, Eternal Life will flow into us.  This is the wonder of it all.  That Eternal Life appears at the exact moment when human life is failing and carries us through the loss of all that we know.  Eternal Life suffuses and carries us to the other side of what we cannot yet see. This truth is grasped by looking on the crucified One, who transfigures death into the servant of life. 
 
And there is more! In Christ there is no condemnation!  This is the truth.  It is, if you like, the highest truth, or the revelation of the One who is behind all that His Beloved Son does.  Our lives are a mystery to us and we are sustained by what we cannot really understand.  But we are led to the truth that the ground on which we stand sings of the self-giving love of the Father who is dedicated to human fulfilment.  This is what Dante calls, 'the Love which moves the sun and the other stars'.(Paradiso, 33.145) 
 
The Beloved Son is sent by this Love, who cannot bear to see 
His  creation  being  unravelled  by  death.   The  Son  brings  life 
without  end.   He  does  not  seek  condemnation  but 
Salvation.  God's judgement is love and life. If we accept this gift, 
condemnation cannot touch us.  But if we refuse the gift we are 
undone.   Perhaps  this is  why,  when  we  are  drawing  closer to 
God, and the light of Love begins to shine more brightly in us, 
there is a risk that when we see the full horror of sin we might 
want  to  cover  ourselves  in  darkness  again.   But  the  Light  of 
Mercy suggests another direction. A direction which begins with 
gratitude for the Grace of God which is, and always has been, 
the source of all the good we have done. 
​A choice which keeps choosing to move more deeply into the light. 
 
When we hear the Good News that in Christ there is no condemnation we might not believe it.  We are so used to being judged - and condemned - by people.  Are we not always being put on the scales, weighed in the balance and found wanting?  We even do it to ourselves!  Husbands, wives, parents and children do it. Bosses, work colleagues, neighbours and friends have mastered the look that lets us know we are not quite good enough.  So when we hear that God has abandoned judgment and condemnation in favour of Love, we may have to work on ourselves to let this Truth come home.  Having done that, there is no sense of being off the hook.  We are, but we are now on another one.  The light of Love will reveal to us how we ourselves might live in the twilight zone of sin and the judgement and condemnation of others.  
 
In the beautiful Parable of St. John's Gospel 8.6, Jesus bends down to write in the sand, deliberately evoking a memory of undeserved forgiveness in Exodus 31.18 where God gives Moses a masterclass in Mercy.  The Pharisees claim that their only motivation for stoning the woman is faithfulness to the teaching of Moses.  But Jesus, the  true  interpreter of Moses,  wants  them  to  drop  their  cover story and  be  searingly  honest  with themselves about why they are really there.  He gives them a chance to come into the light.  But they will not take it.  They have been casting the stones of judgement and condemnation for a long time and old habits are hardest to break.  The invitation to come into the light is no match for the comfort of darkness.  One by one, they move away from the Light.  And this preference for darkness has become a free choice for self-condemnation. 
 
It is a strange truth that preferring darkness is easier than we might think.  We do not always recognise our habitual ways of relating as darkness, so first we have to see it for what it really is.  Only with the arrival of the Light does the racist, sexist, classist and separatist character of our thinking become clear.  It is easier to create a cover story for our bad behaviour than to engage in painful self-examination.  Other people seem eager to buy into our cover story and join us in our self-deceit.  They are happy to not look at what we will not look, at as long as we agree to return the favour.  The light is not welcome.  It calls for a decision to change.  Perhaps this is why some prefer the darkness.  In this fourth week of Lent, let's pray that this is not us! 

​To some people, the Gospel story for the Third Sunday of Lent, unfolds in the Temple in Jerusalem.  But 
Jesus has another name for this building.  He calls it, 'My Father's House' (v14). We can see the problem.  If 
the building is a Temple, there is business to be done and deals to be struck.  Here, worship is a commercial 
venture.   Exchange  is  the  name  of  the  game.  Worshippers  give  God  something  and  God  gives  them 
something.  The basic exchange is flexible enough for all the versions of, "You scratch my back and I'll 
scratch yours."  And if you can offer an animal without blemish, you go to the front of the queue.  The mindset 
of the marketplace so fills the Temple that it has become a place for making deals with God. 
 
Jesus’ Father is not a deal maker.  He does no exchange favours or forgiveness for sacrifices.  The Father 
is Free and the flow of Love from His Heart cannot be bought, bartered, bargained for or gained  with a 
bribe.  Hard cash and animals are useless to those who know they are in the Fathers House.  So, you set 
the animals free and you chase out the cash converters.  They may be needed in the Temple but they are 
not needed in 'My Father’s House' (v.16). What is more, when Jesus entered into a conversation with a 
woman who came to draw water at a well, He tells her that the building itself isn't necessary. (Jn 4:23-24) 
Worship can unfold right where we are.  We don't have to move towards anything.  Anyone who asks for the 
gift of the Holy Spirit and is moved by the Spirit is worshipping The Father!  Since Jesus is the fullness of 
Grace  and  Truth  from  whom  all  receive  the  Spirit,  (Jn  1:14,16)  His  presence  stirs  up  a  sense  of  the 
Sacred.  Jesus may be doing more than a clearance of the Temple, He may be replacing it! 
 
This isn't going to be well received by the Temple Authorities.  What Jesus has done is dangerous.  His zeal 
will consume Him and it will provoke conflict.  He will be consumed by the anger of others who profit from 
Temple commerce.  They arrive on time and they know that His cleansing actions and words can belong 
only to the Messiah.  So they ask for a sign of authenticity, a miracle or two might do.  But what He offers 
only  baffles  them.   They  take  literally  what  is  offered  symbolically.   They  cannot  see  the  spiritual 
revelation.  So Jesus says, 'Destroy this Temple - His Body - the dwelling place of God - and by the power 
and presence of God he will rise again because of His communion with His Father.  Their malice and violence 
will only reveal more of the Fathers face.  But the sign they seek is a sign they cannot read. 
 
So let's go back to our favourite pastime - deal making.  It isn't hard 
to see how an activity that is so embedded in our lives could be 
carried into our spiritual lives.  How do we get what we want from 
God and how does God get what He wants from us?  We think we 
have to bargain with the Father to get what we want.  This is more 
than  a  little  theological  error.   It  is  a  huge  obstacle  to  any  real 
spiritual development.  And it can turn ugly when so called religious 
'elitists' set themselves up as brokers of the deal.  Jesus rejects this 
approach. "Beware of the scribes who ... devour widows’ houses 
and  for  the  sake  of  appearance  say  long  prayers"  (Mk  12:38). 
These  intermediaries  are  being  paid  to  pray  to  God  for  poor 
widows.  It is an unscrupulous manipulation by callous people.  But 
the  sad  truth  is  that  it  is  easier  to  destroy  the  Temple  than  to 
eradicate the deal making God. 
 
In the film, "A House of Sand and Fog", the son of an Islamic man is shot.  His distraught father instinctively 
begins to pray for him.  He says to God, "If you let my son live, I will lay in the park, put bird seed in my eyes, 
and let the birds eat out my eyes". The deal emerges from the depth of his suffering and wells up to the heart 
that he shares with all people. Stress, hurt and tragedy bring it out of hiding.  For most of us it is hard to move 
beyond the deal making default.  Or perhaps the Father of Jesus who is often not at home with images of 
buying and selling, is at home when we are grateful for the gift of life and serve life in any way we can.  We 
can receive and give, and when both make us truly happy, we can be said to be at play in God's Temple.  In 
fact, we have been admitted to the 'Holy of Holies' (Heb 9:3).   Here, our 'sacrifice' mingles with the divine 
'sacrifice' which makes life holy by pouring Himself out.  The challenge and the gift is not in making a good 
deal, but in getting beyond deals and into .................