A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, March 29, 2009
Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34; Psalm 51: 11 – 16; Hebrews 5: 1 – 10; John 12: 20 – 33
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
These words, spoken by Gentiles, Greeks, who were not followers of Jewish ways,[1]express a desire to become a disciple of Jesus.
In this sermon, then, let’s look at the matter of discipleship. For our Lord sets a very high mark for His followers as they seek to become disciples….hear His words, “If anyone serves me, He must follow me.”
What does it mean to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ?
What can we learn about discipleship from Jesus’ actions and words, as He models discipleship for us?
These are two questions we will attempt to wrestle with in this sermon.
But first, we begin with a reminder about the context of today’s text (as we often do):
In chapter eleven of John’s gospel account, Jesus has raised His friend, Lazarus, from the dead. In the Fourth Gospel, this miracle is the direct cause of Jesus’ death, for the Chief Priests, the Pharisees, and their allies, set about making plans to kill Jesus.[2] (Lazarus’ raising also presages Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead, we ought to note here.)
Now, with the beginning of chapter twelve, we read of Lazarus’ sister, Mary’s anointing of Jesus.[3] Next, we read that the ruling elite of Jesus’ day[4] determine that Lazarus, also, must be killed.
And then, beginning with verse twelve, Jesus makes His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week.
With Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the stage is now set for Jesus’ pronouncement about His coming death, and about the matter of discipleship.
Let’s turn, then, to the matter of Jesus’ death…..
We note immediately that Jesus is using another agricultural image to depict the meaning of His coming death, that of the matter of a grain of wheat that falls into the ground, where it gives up its own life in order for new life to spring forth.
Jesus’ image is mysterious, as mysterious as is His death.
For a grain of wheat disappears into the earth, and then ceases to exist once it has germinated, creating a new shoot which arises from the ground, and which forms a stalk that will support a cluster, a head, of many grains of wheat.
Just so, Jesus’ death (described here, as in many places in John, as “lifted up from the earth”) and burial (in the ground), leads to His disappearance from us, but then to the “new shoot” of His resurrected life, which will give way to the new stalk of the Church, and its cluster of new disciples.
Once it is ripened, these grains (both the literal grains of wheat and the figurative grains of Jesus’ disciples) then serve two purposes:
- To be grain for new shoots, new stalks, new clusters of grain, and,
- To serve as the basic ingredient for the bread which will feed the world.
You see, to become a disciple of Jesus Christ entails the loss of our own life, our own falling into the ground, by which we imitate Christ’s death. But then, we are raised to new life with Him, and are called into a mature discipleship whereby we produce much fruit (grain), in order that new life may be created, and in order that we might become the raw material by which the world is fed.
In all of these things, we imitate the Lord.
In all of these things, we see connections throughout John’s gospel account to other sayings and teachings of Jesus.
Let’s make some of those connections:
- New life: “You must be born again/anew/born from above,” Jesus told Nicodemus.[5] As part of His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus goes on to say that a person who experiences this new life “Must be born of water and the spirit.”[6] A clear reference to baptism (during which a person descends into the waters to be “buried with Christ in a death like His,”[7]), Jesus instructs us that we must experience a new birth, which leads to a new life - eternal life – with Him.
- Lifted/raised up to create new life: Like our Lord, we are raised to new life, in order that we might produce “much fruit” (John 15: 5), remaining connected to Jesus Christ, who is the “true vine”.[8]
- A never-ending supply of bread: Just as Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves of bread and the fish (Chapter six, read last Sunday) indicates/foreshadows His never ending ability to feed His people, so, too, our offering of ourselves assists the Lord in the multiplication of His miraculous ability to continue to feed the world. (More on this in a minute.)
- This generation of disciples, like a grain of wheat, generates the next generation of disciples: In chapter seventeen, we read what has become known as “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer”. It is that time, just before His arrest, passion and death, in which Jesus prays not only for Himself, but for His original disciples, and then for those who will become disciples as a result of the work of those original twelve (who become Apostles as they are sent out to “make disciples of all nations”.[9]) In this way, each generation of disciples makes possible the creation of new life, new disciples.
Now, how might we serve as the seed for new life to spring forth in Jesus Christ? How might we be the raw material by which the world is nourished?
Some practical suggestions – intended to spur your own reflection and consideration - come to mind, such as these:
- To serve as seed for sowing the Good News of Jesus Christ, we must remain connected to Him: Regular attendance at worship, regular study of God’s Holy Word (the Bible), regular devotions and a lively prayer life, all of these are intended to keep us close to God, in order that we might resemble Him in all that we do and say and think. We cannot bear fruit for the Kingdom of God if we ourselves do not carry the seed of new life that comes only from God.
- Feeding the flock and the world: Another reason for regular gatherings of God’s people, in worship, in working together, and in fellowship, is that we might feed one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, and share one another’s burdens. I made the comment the other day that we – especially in the United States – often lack the sense of community, of mutual sharing of burdens, that Christ’s vision for the Church entails. We tend to “go it alone”, thinking that no one else could possibly be interested in hearing about our problems and burdens. But just the opposite should be true: When we read in the Book of Acts (2: 44 – 47) that the early Church “held all things in common”, we tend to think only of the material goods that those early believers sold in order that the proceeds from the sale might be given to the Church. But the entire passage makes clear that the early Church gathered for quite a number of other reasons, reasons which indicate that they “held all things in common” in other ways as well. Some of those ways, this same passage indicates, were: being together; spending time together; breaking bread together; and praising God. No doubt, the sharing of burdens and problems was part of that “holding all things in common.” By maintaining the close knit nature of the Church that Jesus “High Priestly Prayer” calls for, the early Church grew, in spite of persecutions, martyrdoms, and troubles. The modern day Church will grow, too, if it is marked as a place where the love of Christ is to be found, experienced, and shared in (see I John 3: 11 – 24).
So, in summary, these two questions come before us, arising out of today’s gospel reading:
- Do we faithfully bear Jesus Christ’s likeness, being rooted firmly in Him?
- Do we bear fruit for the Kingdom of God, serving as seed for a new generation of believers and as the raw material by which the world is fed?
Both are worthy questions that we should ask ourselves during this holy season of Lent.
AMEN.
[1] Those Greeks who were followers of the Law of Moses (Torah) were often called “Hellenists”.
[2] See John 11: 45 – 57.
[3] John 12: 1 - 8
[4] Those to whom John is referring whenever we read the phrase “the Jews”
[5] John 3: 3
[6] John 3: 5
[7] St. Paul’s description as we read it in Romans 6: 3 – 11.
[8] John 15: 1
[9] Matthew 28: 19
