The Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2018
(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 119:9-16; Hebrews 5:5-14; John 12:20-33)
Over the last two decades there has arisen a practice among Christians to wear WWJD wrist bands or t-shirts. The acronym stands for ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Of course, this is a great question to ask in every situation.
It implies, however, that we know what Jesus would do. It implies that we know the true Jesus.
And Jesus glory was revealed most fully at Easter.
Our gospel reading opens with an approach to Phillip, one of Jesus’ disciples. Some Greek visitors to Jerusalem have come to join in the celebration of the Passover. They are here for a stated purpose: ‘to worship’. Perhaps they are also attracted to a big event. Perhaps to the grand buildings that make up this world-renowned city of God.
Something, however, turns their attention to Jesus. They find Phillip and respectfully make their request: ‘Sir, we want to see Jesus’
What an inspirational example these people are. Do you want to see Jesus? Do you want to know the true Jesus? The one who created the galaxies. The one from whom the miracle of life originates and is sustained. The one the disciples boldly claim to be ‘full of grace and truth’ toward you. Who wouldn’t want to see this one?
If you want to see the heart of Jesus, look to easter.
Of course, this approach could be closer to celebrity worship and tourism than a genuine seeking after God. They take the polite path through the correct hierarchical channels. Eventually they find themselves face to face with the most sought after person in the city.
Yet, before they can request and autograph, Jesus takes the initiative:
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 honour.
I like the thought that these foreign visitors are baffled and leave mulling over these strange sentences. Maybe they became, like our psalmist with God’s law, ‘fixated’ with them. I can see them asking one another: What did he mean by ‘glorified’? What are we to make of this falling and multiplying seed? What did he mean by loving and hating, losing and keeping, life? How does one follow and serve this one? Who is this Father offering honour to those who serve?
These questions are, at least for the moment, unanswerable. With these words Jesus plants in these visitors a seed of curiosity. Jesus intends that their minds will race, search, and wonder.
As with all of Jesus’ parables there is a risk here. Some may quickly dismiss him as a crazy peddler of unfathomable riddles: Why waste more time meditating on these words? Others, however, may trust enough to continue to roll these sayings around their heads.
I also like the thought that they stayed around for the rest of the Passover. Only a few short days after this superstar encounter Jesus has the whole of the holy city in an uproar. An arrest. A rushed trial. An execution. And then a rumour of an uprising. A resurrection. The empire that terrifies the known world with the threat of crucifixion has been overthrown. Death has been defied and need no longer be feared.
I hope they heard. I hope they revisited Jesus’ strange words. I hope they reconsidered their meaning in light of the events of the first easter.
And I hope you do too. The weekend of Jesus death and resurrection was the pinnacle of Jesus’ ministry. It was his glorification. It is the point at which we see the heart of God most clearly: ‘full of grace and truth’. As a seed falls, dies, and grows, Jesus’ death and resurrection is a start – not an end. It is also an example inspiring us to sacrificially give of ourselves in the same manner. Those who take Jesus’ path God will honour.
The gospel – the good news – is told in these few verses and then fleshed out in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Holding these words next to the easter story reveals the heart of God. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the clearest picture of the heart of God. It is the opportunity for us to know God. It is the opportunity for us to follow.
Is it any wonder the early Christians took on the symbol of baptism as their own? After all, baptism is a uniting of ourselves with Jesus in both death and resurrection. A dying to self and a rising to new life in Christ. And so, next Sunday – just before Easter – you are invited to come to church and renew your baptismal vows. To reclaim the path Jesus made as your own.
It is as we learn to follow this dying and rising Jesus that Jeremiah’s message becomes a reality: I will write my law upon your heart. At the core of this invitation, as Jeremiah points out, is forgiveness. God’s stance toward you is the gift of a fresh start. Hear God’s promise again: ‘I will remember your sins no more’.
Our psalmist delights in, and meditates upon, the law of God. The writer is literally ‘fixated’ with the law of God. After all, here is the essence of life. How much more should we allow ourselves to become ‘fixated’ with learning and following the way of the dying and rising Jesus?
We do well to begin answering the question ‘What would Jesus do?’ by asking ‘What did Jesus do?’ and turning to the most revealing episode of this God-life: the death and resurrection of Jesus. For it is here that we see the glorified and revealed heart of God: forgiveness, sacrifice, a path to follow, and the hope of glory.
All you are asked to do is trust this Jesus with everything and follow him.
So hear Jesus words once again and hold them next to the story of easter that we will celebrate soon:
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 honour.
What did Jesus do? He gave of himself that you might learn to do the same.
Amen.