"Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Today the Church remembers Sts. Philip and James, Apostles.  The appointed Gospel reading for the Daily Office today is taken from the Gospel according to St. John where we read:

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.  (Jn. 12: 20-26).

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Charles Simeon was born in England in 1759.  He came from an aristocratic family and attended King’s College at Cambridge as a young man.  While at college, he was told that he had to attend chapel on Easter Day and receive Communion.  Up to this point, Simeon's main interests were horse racing, gambling, and other associated activities.  To say the least, he didn’t consider himself too good a candidate to receive communion, and he said that “Satan himself was as fit to attend [the sacrament] as I am.”  Still, he sought hard to see how he might sort out his conscience.  He began to read the Scriptures and various devotional books.

As he read about the sacrifices in the Old Testament, he thought, “What, may I transfer all my guilt to another?  Has God provided an offering for me, that I may lie my sins on his head?”  As he later recalled, “I immediately laid his sins “upon the sacred head of Jesus.”

On Wednesday of Holy Week, Simeon wrote, "I began a hope of mercy.  On the Thursday, that hope increased.  On the Friday and Saturday, it became more strong.  And on the Sunday morning, Easter Day, April 4, I woke early with these words upon my heart and lips: Jesus Christ is Risen Today!”  His life was changed.

He became an Anglican priest and was sent by his Bishop to serve the congregation at the church down the road, Holy Trinity in Cambridge, England.  The congregation didn’t want him; they wanted another minister.  They quickly alienated him.  They blocked access to the pews.  They made his life a living hell, and he considered resigning.  

Simeon wrote: "When I was an object of much contempt and derision in the university, I strolled forth one day, buffeted and afflicted, with my little Testament in my hand … The first text which caught my eye was this: 'They found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; him they compelled to bear his cross.'" 

He had carved on the inside of the church pulpit, where only the preacher could see, the words that we heard in today’s reading, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”  He took those words to hear and lived them out.  By his life, Simeon had to be Christ-like to others, to be the hands, the feet, the ears, the eyes, the voice of Jesus.  That plaque was a reminder to him to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ purely and simply, not his agenda, whatever that could have been. 

Slowly the pews began to open up and fill, not primarily with townspeople but with students.  Simeon was untiring; he helped found evangelistic organizations, the British & Foreign Bible Society, Church Missionary Society, and he inspired dozens of young men from his church to take the gospel to the far corners of the world, so that that phrase, “Sir, we would see Jesus” is in pulpits from England to India, from Australia to Canada, from South Africa to China.  Simeon remained at Holy Trinity for over fifty years.

You and I encounter people in our lives everyday who are seeking for something.  They are seeking for Jesus and some of them don’t even know it.  All they know is that they feel empty, tired, lost, beaten by the world.  How do you and I respond when these people say to us: “We wish to see Jesus”? 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

TREE PLANTING: This Saturday at 9:00 a.m. please join in planting new oak trees to replace the ash trees that have been taken down.  The oaks trees are four years old and have been generously donated by Bob Newding.

ART CLASS WITH LEE RUNION: Friday evening, 11 May (Wine & Art), and then Saturday, 12 May.  The class will be making stepping stones.

PRAYER LIST: Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Sabino Gonzalez, who is a young married man with a family who is suffering from cancer.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550