We wish to see

Last weekend Abby had us carry her all over Chicago. I know, right now you are probably thinking that she is spoiled. Well, she might be. Mindy and I had discussions about whether we were going to do it or not, but in the end, Abby won because she couldn’t see. Abby is little, as you know, and therefore she was missing a lot of neat things. One of her key moments was looking at the stingrays. Even though the floor was glass, she wanted me to lift her up to see the stingrays. When I did, she was so thrilled to see the designs in the water and all of the colorful pieces in the aquarium display.  Only then did she realized how amazing it was that she could see the stingrays under her feet too!

This weekend our text (John 12:20-43) is all about seeing Jesus. It isn’t more than 3 sentences into the reading when it says, “Sir, we want to see Jesus!” I am pretty sure all of us have a long list of things we want to see. We want to see things that will impact our lives. It might be a physical thing or just something that we know will help us. So often we beg God to let us see this or that. The truth is, Jesus has so much for us to walk through before He lets us see this or that. While some of the pieces may fit together in our heads, the reality is that we desire to see things we can’t understand long before Jesus chooses to reveal them to us in His perfect timing.

Palm Sunday was one of the key “I want to see moments” for the people of Jesus’ day. Their minds were starting to put together just who it was they were getting to see. They were so thrilled to see Jesus – God sent to them – that they waved palm branches and put coats down to make a path. Now the problem was, as with most things in life, the thing they wanted to see (Jesus) didn’t live up to their expectations (to be an earthly king). Likewise, the things we want to see often don’t live up to our expectations either. Why? Because we are sinful people who have selfish expectations that a broken world can’t fill, and sinful eyes that are not ready to see the way that God really works.

This weekend we take time to celebrate and remember what the people saw and celebrated that first Palm Sunday. We also step into Holy Week as we take time to reflect on everything that we will see and hear this upcoming week. Finally, we take time to repent, and then see what God truly has for us when He sent Jesus to this world.