Many in the Christian church have traditions to celebrate Palm Sunday in observance of the event known as Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. The Sunday following is set aside as Easter Sunday in observance of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The season of Lent - the season of reflection and repentance - is now past and our lectionary readings take us into the Passion Week - that period of time which emphasizes the last days of Christ’s physical life among us before the Crucifiction.
Our Scripture text comes from John 12:20-26 and says,
“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.”
Passover, the festival here attended by the Greeks, was one of the three major feasts of the Jews and we find its truth symbolized in the life and teaching of Jesus who himself became our Passover Lamb. Read this text of Scripture again. As I read and attempt to understand Christ’s words I discover that Jesus said some very hard things. Not only did he say some hard things, Christ, as our example, lived some very hard things in order to accomplish the will of God in his life. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, accomplishing the will of God meant a brutally cruel Cross upon which he would take upon himself all the sins of the world for all time.
The Passion focuses on the suffering, death by crucifiction, and burial of Jesus which he points to in saying, “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.” The Passion involves so much more than the mere death of Christ for sin. It speaks of the divine life that would be produced in all who would dare to believe in his name and receive the truth declared in the Gospel of Christ.
There’s something of merit here that needs to be addressed.
Divine life in us ... how did we happen upon it? Did it simply fall out of the sky one day? Or is this divine life that we know and enjoy the fruit produced because someone, or many people along the way, were willing to lay down in symbolic death something of themselves? No. Divine life doesn’t fall arbitrarily upon us. Yes. It is always the fruit of someone’s sacrificial labor in Christ.
All of us who enjoy divine life today owe a personal debt of gratitude to those who have gone before us sowing the seed of the word of God. And what of this and future generations? What of our responsibility toward the souls of today and tomorrow? To these questions the Lord Christ answers, “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.”
As we have freely received the Gospel which gives birth to this divine life in us, so also we must freely give of ourselves so that others may enjoy this divine life as well. This is God’s plan for the continuation of the Gospel. Working in concert with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, our lives become flesh and blood examples of the life of Christ. Not only can mankind sense the Spirit of God at work in the world and hear the Word of God that declares the truth of God, but the eyes of mankind can also see the manifestation or fulfillment of the Spirit and Word of God in the lives that we live for him.
I conclude this meditation with a prayer. “Great and merciful LORD, we are indebted to you for the painful sacrifice made for us in the week of your Passion. We are indebted to the Saints of all ages for their dedication and commitment to you manifested in their willingness to sacrifice of themselves on behalf of the Gospel of Christ. Help us in turn, LORD, to continue this heritage of service and sacrifice passed on to us by those who have traveled this way before us.” Amen. |
