Do you want to ‘see’ Jesus?

IN York two Sundays before Easter, I slipped into the Minster for morning communion, forgetting that Stephen Cotterell, Bishop of Reading from 2004 to 2010, is now the Archbishop of York. I remembered when he stood to lead the service. He took his sermon from John’s account of a group of Greek guys who approach the disciples saying “We want to see Jesus”.

The Archbishop said many people want to ‘see Jesus’, but they hold off. First, he said people’s mistaken views of God put them off pursuing Jesus.

Second, religion blocks people’s pathway to true faith. He recognised the irony of saying this in the Minster, dressed in his regalia, following traditional Anglican rituals. But, he urged, these and all mere religious practices are simply people’s vain attempts to reach up to God. Uniquely, Christianity is about God reaching down to us in Jesus, reaching down in humility and suffering. Third, people’s feelings of unworthiness hold them back from seeking Jesus. But, he assured us, he is certainly unworthy and surely no human being can be truly worthy! It was the unworthy Jesus mixed with and today he invites the unworthy to come to him. Finally, the Archbishop challenged us. We who call ourselves Christians are often guilty of hindering others from seeking Jesus.

I left the Minster musing at an unexpected message, but with the sense that the Archbishop’s Christian viewpoint was well worth sharing with others.

ANDY HOW

Lead Elder, Glendale Church