To See Jesus is to See Him Suffer and Die

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Lent 5, Year B – 22 March 2015

Text: John 12:20-33

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

+ INJ +

I grew up watching my mom garden, and watching her parents garden, and watching my dad’s mother garden, too. I grew up with my hands in the dirt; I grew up watching plants live and die – not always knowing why some plants lived and others died – but realizing that it was all a part of how plants work.

The first plant I ever took care of myself was an aloe vera. I was in college, and my mom had given me a shoot off of one of her aloe plants. I put the shoot into a cute little green-striped mug, and I named the plant “Vera.” I even made a cute little sign for her. And she grew a bit, and grew a bit more, and then…she died. I think I gave her too much water.

The first plant I ever grew from seed was an avocado plant. I was out of college and feeling very adult in my own apartment with my own bills and rent to pay. I felt very adult as I did what my mom often did with avocados – I took the seed, shoved toothpicks into the sides, balanced it on the top of a glass of water, and watched the roots grow in the water. Eventually, I planted the big seed, and a plant sprouted up – with leaves and everything! This avocado plant grew and grew, and then… it died, too. I don’t remember why.

Some of you know that I love gardening. I love getting plants into soil, I love watching them grow, I love watching their life-cycles as they grow bigger, and bloom, and then die back, only to have them resurrect the next year. We have some plants resurrecting in our flower beds at home, right now. Even after all that ice and snow that piled on top of the new shoots that popped up in February, the plants are resurrecting.

It’s the right time of year for us to read today’s mini-parable contained in John 12: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” Jesus says. “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.”

He’s saying this because he is thinking ahead to what he knows is coming for him. He knows he’s about to suffer and die at the hands of others. Some Greeks say to Jesus’ disciples that they want to see Jesus – they are intrigued by this man they’ve heard so much about. And Jesus reminds his disciples – again – that to see him is to see him suffer and to see him die. This is all part of it. There can be no resurrection at all – without his death.

This is difficult. And so Jesus does what he often does – he uses an everyday image – that of a grain of wheat (a seed) sown in the ground - to describe what he means. The grain of wheat dies; the stalk of wheat that emerges lives, and it produces more and more grains of wheat, to die themselves, to produce more and more grains of wheat. And on and on it goes.

Jesus may not be a great botanist, but he understands enough about how plants work to realize that a seed gives of itself in order that the plant may emerge and grow and thrive – thrive enough for more seeds to develop in order that more plants may emerge and grow and thrive. He sees that his death will ultimately end in life – new life – emerging and growing and thriving.

Next week, we begin what Christians call “Holy Week.” We begin with Palm Sunday – a festive day, of sorts, in which we remember Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. He is headed towards his death, but the people in the crowds don’t know that, and so they hail him as a king and ask for him to save them.

The mood changes as we progress through Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, we remember the night that Jesus is betrayed. On Good Friday, we remember that Jesus dies, and, like a seed, is shoved into the darkness of the ground. And then, of course, on Easter, we remember that after three days, Jesus is given life again, raised from the darkness of the grave.

We spend time every year remembering these events because these stories shape us as Christians. As followers of Jesus, we are buried with Christ in our baptisms – just like those grains of wheat. In our baptisms, we are also raised to new life again – just like a stalk of wheat. And, out of our baptisms, we are called to be faithful and fruitful, never doubting that God can make any seed grow.

Let us pray: Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, but always to your glory and the welfare of your people, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (ELW p. 86)

Amen.

+ SDG +