LENT 5B – Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33 –

29 March 2009 – A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Following Jesus Involves Dying

INTRODUCTION – How do we pray?

Sometimes, when you or I are in a hard place, we might pray something like this:

“Lord, you know my need right now. I am (fill in the blank) feeling hurt… feeling angry… feeling scared… struggling financially… not sure where I am going with my life. I need you desperately, Lord. I really need you to show up in a powerful way and help me through this situation. Only you can help me, Lord. I know that much. I need you. Come, Lord Jesus, and transform this situation. Touch me. Heal me. Guide me. I pray in your Holy Name, Lord Jesus. Amen.”

And this is fine. We need to be real and honest with our Lord. He knows what is going on for us already, but it is important that we put it out there to Him in prayer.

And then what? Well, if we understand that a relationship with Christ is – like all relationships – a two-way relationship, and that prayer is also designed to be a form of communication that goes in both directions, then we might just remember that it is our turn to listen. And in our listening to Jesus, we just might hear Jesus saying something like this:

“I know all about that situation. I am right here with you. Come with me. I want you call (any person) Mary, or go see John, or go volunteer your service at ___________ (some non-profit organization).”

In other words, Jesus often calls us out of our situation, which for us can be associated with a very narrow focus, and says, “Follow me.” And as we follow, we begin to see things differently. Perhaps we even begin to see things more like Jesus sees things.

GOING TO A WHOLE NEW WORLD

It’s sort of like going to a foreign country, especially one that is very different from the United States. From the moment you get off the plane, you think to yourself, “Toto, we’re not in Colorado anymore.” The pace of life is different. When you eat the big meal of the day might be different. How you get around might be different. How you go about buying your produce and other food might be totally different. People seem to be walking everywhere. And when they are in a vehicle, they are packed in like sardines, hanging off the top, the sides, maybe even sitting in the trunk. And suddenly you are seeing with very different eyes. And you are hearing things differently, too. The smells are even different.

This is what it’s like to follow Jesus. It’s like going to a foreign country.

Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains 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.” (John 12:26)

WHO IS FOLLOWING WHOM?

As we were talking about his passage from John in our small group last Sunday, Janet Koelling said something like this: “I have my concerns and I invite Jesus to come to where I am. But I hear in this passage that he’s calling me to follow him and serve him, and that means that I need to go where Jesus is, which is the opposite movement of me asking him to come and be with me where I am.”

Another way to say that might be “Who is following whom?” Is the thrust of our lives more like “Hey, Jesus, come see what I’m doing! Come follow me around for a while!”? Or is the thrust of our lives more about us struggling to hear Jesus’ voice, so that we can keep following him, wherever he might want to lead us.

It makes a big difference. First of all, because Jesus says to each of us, “Come, follow me.” And second of all because we will have a very different perspective on life, depending on whether we are the ones doing the leading or Jesus is the one doing the leading.

WHICH WORLD ARE WE IN?

There are several references that Jesus makes in this passage to “this world”. Listen:

“Those who love their life [“in this world” – implied] lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life… Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” (John 12:25, 31)

“This world” for Jesus is not the place where he wants his disciples to be. Yes, he wants them to be in the world, but not “of” the world. Remember another passage from John, where Jesus is praying for his disciples just before he is betrayed and arrested? He said this, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:14-17)

In other words, when Jesus says “this world”, he is talking about a world that is ruled by the Evil One. It is that world which is bent on destruction and self-destruction, and based on lies and deceit. It is a world dominated by false selves and narcissistic selves, and not true selves grounded in God and in service and in humility.

When Jesus says “this world”, he is talking about the values of the world that you and I sometimes get tempted by and even succumb to, values that aren’t God’s values, but “the world’s” values.

What are those values? You know what they are. They are things like greed and self-absorption and status and making money just for the sake of making money. They are things like hatred and prejudice and oppression and taking advantage of the weak or the poor, in the name of keeping one’s position. The number one value of this world has everything to do with the number “1”, because the number one value of this world is looking out for number one and being number one. It’s an I-based world, with big egos and the philosophy that I am the center of the universe.

And Jesus says to you and to me, “If you want to leave this world behind and discover a whole new world, you must follow me and serve me, and – oh yeah – do some dying.” The dying is primarily about dying to self, dying to self-absorption, dying to being the center of your own little universe, dying to the lie that you can make it all on your own, without any need for God in your life.

For when you “make it” in this world, you don’t make it at all, for life without God leads to nothing but death.. And quite paradoxically, when you figure that out, Jesus says that the way out is through a process that involves dying.

Do you want to remain just a single grain, Jesus asks? In other words, do you want to stay as the apple of your own eye? Well, that option is open to you, but you will remain just a single grain, he says. But, on the other hand, if you – as a single grain – are willing to die, which is the very same thing as saying that you will make Jesus the Lord of your life, and follow him, instead of asking him to follow you… if you as a single grain, are open to the process of dying, then you will bear much fruit. And in your serving Jesus, which also takes you out of yourself, and involves dying, you will be honored by God the Father.

GOOD NEWS – This World Isn’t All That There Is!

If you have ever wondered if this world – as it is advertised and reported and shoved down your throat – is all that there is, make no mistake. Jesus, in today’s lesson, is saying, “Heck, no! This world isn’t all that there is. There’s a whole other world out there, a world where God reigns.

It’s like the “street rat” Aladdin tells Princess Jasmine, who has been locked up in her very sheltered world in the castle:

“I can show you the world

Shining, shimmering, splendid…

A whole new world

Don’t you dare close your eyes

A hundred thousand things to see

Hold your breath – it gets better

I’m like a shooting star

I’ve come so far

I can’t go back to where I used to be…”

- Lyrics from “A Whole New World”, from the Disney musical, Aladdin

The good news is that Jesus invites us into a whole new world – a world of love and life and light, a world of compassion and community and connection, a world of service and sacrifice and sacraments and Spirit, a world of true abundance and adoration and action, a world of honesty and humility and healing and hallelujahs, a world of grace and gratitude and generosity.

This new world doesn’t hold a candle to the other world, which makes total sense if one is ruled by Satan and the other is ruled by our Lord.

THE BEST WORLD

The new world is not always an easy world. It involves some pain, some suffering, some dying. The one who leads us and helps us cross over into this new world is the One who said, “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – “Father, save me from this hour”? [That is, the hour of his death] No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” (John 12:27) Our Lord did not shy away from his calling, though it involved pain and suffering and dying.

If you want to stay safe and play it safe, you can hold on to your life in this world. But what you get is just some crappy, non-abundant, dead-end life, which isn’t really life at all. The message of our Lord is that some pain is often necessary, and some dying is definitely necessary, if you want to really live.

It is often the case that when we die to what we think we know, when we die to what we think we see, when we die to what we think we believe, when we die to what we think we want… then, and exactly then, we are transported into a whole new world, and once there, we know that we can never go back to where we used to be.

There’s only one catch. Jesus, or if you prefer – God the Father, or the Spirit – is the only one who can take us to this new world. We must be willing to come out of ourselves enough so that we can follow Jesus, who will take us into this new world – the very best world.

So… are you ready to do some dying?