"Amen, Amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The one loving his life loses (or destroys) it, and the one hating his life in the world will keep it to life eternal." (verses 24, 25 in more literal translation)

 

         The season of Lenten renewal brings us to the cross of Jesus. Today we look at a very brief parable of Jesus: A seed falls into the ground, and sprouts, and bears much fruit.

         If one planted seed yielded only one grain to be harvested, then no one would ever become a farmer, and we would not have enough food to eat, nor would the birds of the air. But a single grain that is planted and sprouts yields a great, fruitful multiplication of what was planted.

         The seed of course does not actually die. But the focus here is on the motion of the seed. It is described as "falling into the ground." That is a very vivid image of death and burial.

         So, Jesus, at age 33, concludes his ministry of teaching and healing. He says, "The hour has come." Jesus is now falling, he is relinquishing his life. This is not suicide. In fact, evil men are plotting his death and will carry out their plans. Jesus will be crucified; he will die and be buried. The Apostles' Creed states, "He descended into Hades." Jesus is falling into the ground.

         If he chooses to protect his life, if he somehow escapes the cross, then he might go on to teach and heal for another 50 years. Think of the good he could do in that time! But, he says, if he preserves his life, he remains alone. That is a harsh word. The seed sits in storage, in a sack or on the floor in the corner of the barn. It is never planted. It remains alone, of no true value.

         So even Jesus' extending his life is of no value compared to the life of Jesus poured out on the cross. The hour has come for Jesus to be lifted up. On the cross forgiveness comes to the world. Lifted up in resurrection, raised from the tomb, Jesus becomes a first fruits of a great resurrection. In being lifted up in Ascension to Heaven, Jesus is glorified, ruling, preparing a place for us, and drawing all people to himself.

         When we come to the Lord's Table, we remember Jesus falling to the ground, and bearing much fruit. So we are prepared at the table to be overwhelmed in the ocean of God's love, to receive the full remission of sin, to experience soul healing and life renewal.

         How are we then to live?

         The parable has a second meaning. It also speaks of our lives as seed falling into the ground. If we love our lives, and so refuse to be falling, we lose or destroy our lives. Leon Morris writes, "Jesus means us to understand that loving our life is a self-defeating process. It destroys the very life it seeks to retain." The word for "life" here is defined as "the natural life, with all its appetites, desires and affections which seek their gratification without regard for the will of God." It is life focused on self-enjoyment. Donald Carson says, "To love one's life is a fundamental denial of God's sovereignty, a brazen elevation of the self to an idolatrous level."

         Jesus says we are to hate that way of living. Now, "hate" is a difficult word for us. It is always used in a very negative and absolute way these days. Hatred today is seen as settled anger that desires to destroy someone, and is often a symptom of prejudice. But in the ancient world, "hate" could be used as an idiom showing preference. It was a way of talking about comparison: "Compared to my love for the things of God, I am not interested in the self-centered rewards of the world." In this sense, to "hate" your life is to not make what you want always uppermost in your mind. You commit yourself to the will of God.

         Some time ago, I heard a message by Jim Sundholm, the director of Covenant World Relief. Since we grew up in the same church at about the same time, it stuck with me, it seemed true to my experience. He said that the generation that was our parents held faith in Christ to be the highest value, and did all they could to pass on that faith to us. But since they had gone through the Great Depression in their youth, and since many were children of immigrants and had known poverty, they also wanted life to be materially better for their children than it was for them. This was always secondary in their minds. What happened of course was far beyond their imagining, and we became prosperous to a degree that was never anticipated. The problem was that the next generation confused the two priorities. We received the wealth of the world into our lives and the privileges that came with it, and accommodated our faith to the world's values.

         So when I was growing up we talked endlessly in youth group about the evils of social dancing and moviegoing, but not about the temptations of prosperity and privilege. The dancing issue was an attempt to try to draw a line somewhere between the world and the kingdom of God. Now we have moved far beyond that time. Yet, people and families still struggle with these issues. How do we live for Christ in this world? What do we let into our lives, and what must we die to in order to live for Christ? Are we loving our lives in this world, where we can seem to have everything we desire? Or do we practice a denial of our worldly desires for the sake of eternity?

         I think there are some better choices and commitments we can make.

         One choice is to make a commitment to live in this world as an influence and witness for Christ. We may find ourselves in places of leadership and responsibility. Our forebears talked about being like the yeast in the bread. A few people can make a big difference in systems and organizations. When we first arrived here, I had a funeral for Lester Harman, and I will never forget how people talked about how he used his role as a school administrator to bring significant resources to the North Chicago schools. Maybe what he did was not always seen by others, but he made his life count for Christ in a community that has many needs. Our lives can make a difference in this world, but it takes courage and deep unwavering faith.

         The other choice we can make is to intentionally step out of what the world expects us to do, a kind of "falling," a changing of behavior, in order to do God's will.

         Rick Warren was a very successful pastor of Saddlebrook Church. Long before the "Purpose Driven Life" book, he was leading seminars on how to create a growing church. Then he came face to face with the ravages of AIDS in Africa, and realized that neither he nor his church was doing anything to help. So he made a commitment to do something. He has become a leader of an evangelical Christian movement to address the issue of AIDS in our world. He "fell" from the expectations of a megachurch pastor to live more fully in the mission of Christ.

         Obviously, not everyone is Rick Warren. But I see many of you making significant changes to your lives; to care for orphans in Haiti, to support ministries in Sierra Leone, to welcome children from Eastern Europe, and to support the church in Congo. I see some of our young people giving a year or more of their lives in Suriname and China and Alaska. I see you taking a Saturday night at PADS, and going to the Food Bank each Tuesday, and I see you on Wednesday nights bringing the kids in the neighborhood to church to hear about the love of Jesus. All of this is an intentional "falling away" from the desires of the world, to live for Christ.

         As we come to this season of reflecting on the meaning of the cross, we can make a variety of commitments of moving away from a "world"-centered or self-centered life, to following Jesus, the one who fell to the ground and died, so that we might bear fruit.

         Amen.