Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 21, 2021 – Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

When I was a little boy, one of the most popular television programs for children was “The Howdy Doody Show.” And next to Buffalo Bob Smith, the most important character on the show, one of the other few live actors, was Clarabell the Clown. And, one time, the Ringling Brothers Circus came to New York City, and one of its main attractions was Clarabell the Clown, who was making a personal appearance, and all the children could meet Clarabell. So I begged and pleaded and my mom took me to the circus. We all had to get on line to meet Clarabell the Clown, and the line moved very, very slowly, and we waited very, very patiently. And, finally, I got to shake Clarabell’s hand. And Clarabell smelled funny. I didn’t find out until years later that the funny smell was booze.

When I was in college, I got tickets to watch a taping of the Jimmy Dean show. That was back before the sausage days, when Jimmy Dean was a really good singer, and had his own variety show on ABC television. And, when you watch a taping of a television show, it’s start and stop, start and stop. They do a little bit, and then they reset, and then do a little bit more, and then someone makes a mistake and they have to do that over again. And whenever Jimmy Dean was on camera, he was casual and he was friendly and he was warm, and he sang very well. The minute the cameras were turned off, he was really nasty to the cameramen and crew. It was appalling to see. And I was very disappointed.

During the time that I had my radio show, the radio show won an award from some religious organization, and I had to fly down to Washington DC for the reception. I found out, when I got there, that there were about twelve people who were receiving awards. And the key award was being given to Johnny Cash. And there was a reception for all the award winners. We all had to get on line and people came by and shook our hands. But first, all the other award winners went up and shook Johnny Cash’s hand and June Carter’s hand. And I thought to myself, well I’m on the dais with him, maybe I can get to talk to him a little bit. I went up and shook his hand. H said what you might expect, “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” And June Carter said, “Hi, I’m June Carter Cash.” And I started to say something, and his attendants whisked me away.

When we were producing the television show the archdiocese had on channel 11, one night, the guest we were able to get was Dorothy Day. I was very excited because, at that time, Dorothy Day was a very important person in the anti-war movement and in the anti-discrimination movement. And about five minutes before we were going to begin, someone else arrived instead of Dorothy Day and explained that she had come down with a terrible cold, and he was sent to fill in for her. I was very disappointed because I didn’t get to meet Dorothy Day, who’s now up as a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church.

One of my jobs with channel 11 was, when they did the midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s, and whenever the Pope came to Yankee Stadium, to sit next to the director and tell him what was happening at the altar. And so, when Pope Saint John Paul II came to New York and celebrated mass at Yankee Stadium, he was getting dressed in the room right next to the broadcast room. But I was not allowed to leave the broadcast room to ever catch a glimpse of him and, perhaps, kiss his ring.

Seeing is a tricky thing. I almost got to see, or I got to see too much of people, several times in my life. And almost all of us have a secret desire to see somebody famous or somebody very good. But ‘see’ is also a weasel word. When people say, “Oh, I see,” it might be expressing enthusiasm. “Oh I see!” Or disappointment, “Oh, I see.” Or they might be being sarcastic. Or it might be an expression of anger. That was my mother’s go-to phrase when she was mad at me - “Oh, I see.”

Nevertheless, we also want to see things all the time. Right now we’re trying to see the depth of division in our country. We’re trying to see, that is to understand, how pained and humiliated a large portion of our nation has been because of ethnic divide. We’re trying to see the shattering experience of having lost half a million of our fellow Americans to a disease that some people refuse to believe, or accept, as being as deadly as it really is. We’re trying to see. What prevents us from seeing? That’s where we get to today’s gospel.

I asked you to listen and see if you thought Jesus answered the request of the Greeks who came and said, “I want to see Jesus.” First of all, why Greeks? Well, in the Hebrew thought pattern, there were believers in Yahweh God, and everybody else in the world. So everybody else in the world was an alien or foreigner. Since almost all the foreigners at that time in history spoke Greek as their regular language, Jews referred to all foreigners as Greeks. So two foreigners, two aliens, want to see Jesus. And they go to Phillip. Why to Phillip? Well, St. John tells us he lived in Bethsaida in Galilee. That was right along the edge of pagan territory. And so people who lived in Galilee had a lot more involvement with the secular world, with the non-Jews, than most other Jews did. And they were more open to interaction between the two groups. So, Phillip goes to Andrew. Why to Andrew? Not only is he Peter’s brother, but Phillip and Andrew have Greek names. The root of Phillip’s name means “to love.” The root of Andrew’s name comes from the Greek word for a human being, an “andros.” And so, these are lovers of men; lovers of people. They are the ones who are most likely to allow someone else to see Jesus. But does Jesus grant the request? Jesus’ answer is broken down by St. John into three movements.

The first movement is about imitating Jesus. He says, “Those who want to clutch their lives, will lose them. But those who surrender their lives will save them, until life everlasting. And those who want to follow Me must be where I am.” That’s part one of the answer.

Part two of the answer, St. John allows us a peek into Jesus in the process of seeing. He is frightened by the hour to which He has come. But then He says to Himself, “But the whole reason I came was for this hour. And so, Father, Thy will be done. Glorify Your name.” Part two of the answer.

Part three of the answer. He begins to see the meaning of his crucifixion. “If I am lifted up, then everyone will be drawn to Me; then everybody can see Me.” So, yes, Jesus answers the request of the foreigners, but not the way they thought He would.

The answer is in three parts. If you want to see Jesus, you have to be like Jesus. If you want to be like Jesus, then you have to enter into the process of dying and rising. The seed by itself produces nothing. The seed that falls into the ground produces a lot. And once you do that, you’ll be able to see. You’ll be able to see a lot of things. Not only Jesus, but also the meaning and the way forward for lots of things in this world. So the point of the reading is very simply this. If it’s all about me, I’m never going to see.