5th Sunday in Lent at Epiphany on March 29, 2009

John 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. 27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30 Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. 32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Christianity is supposed to be hard

Years ago, when the Betty Crocker Company first began selling their cake mixes, they offered a product which only needed water. All you had to do was add water to the mix which came in the box, and you would get a perfect, delicious cake every time. (Even some of you guys could make a cake like that.)

It bombed. No one bought it and the company couldn’t understand why, so they commissioned a study which brought back a surprising answer. It seemed that people weren’t buying the cake mix because it was too easy. They didn’t want to be totally excluded from the work of preparing a cake; they wanted to feel that they were contributing something to it. So, Betty Crocker changed the formula and required the customer to add an egg in addition to water. Immediately, the new cake mix was a huge success.

Unfortunately, many people make the same mistake when it comes to “packaging” or presenting the Christian religion. They try to make the call of Jesus Christ as easy as possible because they’re afraid people won’t “buy it” if it seems too hard.

It was time for the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. Some Greeks had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The Greeks go to Philip, the disciple with the Greek name, and request, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” The visit by the Greeks prompts Jesus to speak of His impending death later that week – His hour had come; the hour of His death; the hour of His glory. The hour is at hand. It is time for the last grain of sand to fall from the hourglass. No time left for development of new disciples. No time left for miracles to convince the people. No time left for debates with the religious leaders. No time left, the Passion is upon Him. The grain of wheat is leaving the stalk and making its descent to the soil below. Its death is a certainty. Its rebirth will then begin.

Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.”

Jesus said, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it bears much fruit. Hold onto the seeds, try to preserve them by keeping them from the ground, and you get nothing in return. Bury your seeds in your garden and they die. Leave the seeds alone for a few weeks and they will rise and grow to be plants that bear fruit with lots of seeds. The point is this: in order for a seed to fulfill its seedy destiny, it must die. If it doesn’t, it remains alone and fruitless.

Jesus explained what He meant by saying, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it.” It’s true in life isn’t it? If we are going to get anything out of it we have to invest ourselves in it. Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.

Jesus invested everything into our salvation. Death was Jesus’ destiny. It is why He came. It’s what was in store for Jesus later that Passover week. He would go the way of death and the grave like a grain of wheat cast to the ground. He will lose His life in order to take it back up again. He will die to live. And in His dying and rising, He will bear much fruit – your salvation.

That’s the way it is for all of us, too. If we love our life so much that we put it first, that we do all we can to get everything out of this life, then one day we will die and lose it all. But if we hate our life by putting Jesus first, then worldly living loses its attraction for us. Everything worldly carries sin’s taint and becomes hateful. Only in Jesus does the good life, eternal life, become ours.

Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be.” Death and resurrection are the only way. We prefer to look for some other way, an easier way – a way that will allow us to hang on at least to some of our life. But then we wouldn’t be following Jesus, would we?

We are willing to sacrifice for Jesus, but not if it hurts too much. We are willing to give a little extra in our offerings, but only a little bit more. We are willing to help out the homeless person on the street, but only with a few bucks. We are willing to drive a few minutes to worship at church, but not if we have to travel a great distance, like an hour – that’s too much. We are willing to be different from others at work, but not so different that people actually start noticing how different we are. We are willing to change our lives for Christ, but not drastically.

We don’t know what it is to truly sacrifice. To truly be a servant. To give up everything in order to have everything. And we wonder why blessings don’t always come our way. We say we are willing to sacrifice for the Lord, for His Church, for His ministries, but are you really willing to sacrifice? What would you give up for your Lord? Staying out late on Saturday nights if they interfere with your Sunday morning worship? Your job or certain friends if they don’t match your Christian morals? Your HD cable, your high speed internet, your family vacation, your retirement fund, your jewelry, your Sportscenter, your golfing or fishing or shopping or child’s sports or whatever else may come first in your life? If anything is interfering with your worship life, your prayer life, your devotion life, your witnessing, your stewardship, your family life, then you need to get rid of those things. Are you willing to do that?

We are to have the heart of servants. We are to follow where Jesus leads. Even if we don’t like where He is leading us; even if we may not like what He is asking for us to do for Him; even if it hurts to sacrifice and serve Him, we will do it. That’s what being a follower of Christ is all about.

We may not always be comfortable with where Jesus asks us to serve. I know I wouldn’t be comfortable doing a prison ministry. You may not be comfortable with a ministry for the mentally handicapped or with rape victims. A graduate from the Seminary had just received his first call into the ministry. He was grousing and grumbling because he didn’t think this ministry was what he deserved. He felt he could be more valuable to the Kingdom somewhere else. Another graduate, in a loving but unsympathetic way, patted his friend on the back and said, “You know, the world is a better place because Michelangelo didn’t say, ‘I don’t do ceilings.’ The world is a better place because a German monk named Martin Luther didn’t say, “I don’t do doors.’” Then he pointed to this Bible story and asked his friend if he really understood that following is service.

And if you stop to think about it, that’s the spirit of servanthood. Go from the beginning of the Bible to the end, and you will see over and over again the story of men and women who had servant hearts, minds and spirits. The world is a better place because: Moses didn’t say, “I don’t do rivers.” Noah didn’t say, “I don’t do arks.” Jeremiah didn’t say, “I don’t do weeping.” Abraham didn’t say, “I don’t do kids.” Rahab didn’t say, “I don’t do carpets.” Ruth didn’t say, “I don’t do mothers-in-law.” David didn’t say, “I don’t do giants.” Mary didn’t say, “I don’t do virgin births.” The other Mary didn’t say, “I don’t do feet.” John the Baptist didn’t say, “I don’t do deserts.” Peter didn’t say, “I don’t do Gentiles.” Paul didn’t say, “I don’t do letters.” And Jesus didn’t say, “I don’t do crosses.”

St. Paul had a good idea. He wrote to the Romans, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” (12:10) This is another of God’s upside-down secrets of the happy life – those who put themselves last will come first. Those who lose will win. Those who make other people feel important will be praised. Those who cheerfully act like servants will be treated as heaven’s nobility.

We often like to ask, “What would Jesus do?” That answer is summed up in two words: die and rise. That’s what Jesus would do. That’s what those who follow Jesus must do as well. “Where I am,” Jesus says, “there my servant shall be also.” There on the cross, there in the tomb, and there at the right hand of God.

We don’t like this kind of talk. I don’t imagine Philip and Andrew were too pleased with it. And I can’t imagine the Greeks were terribly impressed. If the Greeks were hesitant about circumcision (and who wouldn’t be), you can only imagine what they thought of dying to live. Here is the strange paradox of faith in Jesus – to live we must die, not just once, but every day. Dying and rising is a way of life for the Christian. It is the only way of life.

We love Easter Sunday, but stay away from Good Friday. We are drawn to the open tomb, but we shun bearing the cross. We teach our children to pray, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.” But then we cringe when we hear them pray, “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Death makes us uncomfortable. And so we try to deny and duck death, hiding from it. We try to shelter our children from the harshness of death, whether the death of a pet or a loved one. And we fail to teach our children the one thing they need know to understand the world in which they live – that dying is the only way to live in a fallen world. The kernel of wheat must die. Jesus must die. You must die.

We try to hold onto the things of this world so tightly. But our grip on things is tenuous, uncertain, unsure, and in the end we only wind up losing the very things we were trying to save. Instead of holding onto things, we should hold onto the hand of the One who was dead and is now alive. The One who lost it all and in order to win it all for you. So that when you literally lose your grip on this life, He will not lose His grip on you. Unless the grain of wheat dies and is buried in the ground, it cannot bear fruit. You can’t hold onto to the grain. You must let it go, bury it. To be a kernel of wheat planted in the ground is to give up all that you are and all that you aspire to be. It is to be utterly at the mercy of God. It is to rest in the damp soil of God’s goodness. It is to surrender all that you are and all that you have to Him. And then receive everything from Him as a gift.  

“A League of Their Own” was a popular movie a few years ago based on the female major-league baseball teams of the 1940’s. In one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, the star catcher of the Rockford Peaches, played by Geena Davis, threatens to quit. She’s tired; she’s worn out; she’s worried about her husband who has gone to war; and in a low moment, she is ready to “throw in the towel.” This star catcher, by far the best player in the league, complains that the game is just “too hard.” The manager of the Rockford Peaches, played by Tom Hanks, tries to talk her out of quitting. When she says, “It’s too hard,” he replies, “Well, baseball’s supposed to be hard. If it weren’t hard, everybody would do it.” And then he says, “Hard is what makes it great!”

Following, service, cross, death. The same thing could be said about the Christian life: “Hard is what makes it great!” Amen.