LENT 5B 2009
Text: John 12:25
Those who love their life lose it, and
those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
A month or so ago I signed up for face book, and while it is way too much information for me, I have enjoyed a site that one of my seminary classmates set up. We used to have a class where we preached a sermon and then the professor and students would make comments. It was not always fun. Here is what one student wrote on face book.
I remember preaching in student chapel one time and
had the text assigned me from John 12..”Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Bishop Herter was the grader. At the end, he
dryly said something to the effect that it was hoped someone had seen Jesus!”
As we come to towards the end of Lent, our Gospel lesson finds Jesus at the end of his life. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” He then goes on to share the brief analogy of the grain of wheat.
John 12:24 ( NRSV ) 24Very 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 then says:
John 12:25 ( NRSV ) Those who love their life lose
it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal
life.
This is the text that I would like to meditate upon for a few moments this morning. We heard Mark quoting Jesus with almost exactly the same words as John does here a few weeks ago. This saying of Jesus must have been very important to the disciples. And it is incredibly challenging for us today.
The gospel writer John uses the concept of the world many, many times, more than any other New Testament writer. The Greek word used is kosmos. It comes from a verb which means to adorn or regulate – our word cosmetic comes from it -- and it evolved into a word which describe the whole created order of the universe. In John’s use of the word, as best as I can discern, he means the realm of human kind which does not know God, does no care about God, and is even hostile towards Jesus. It is that realm of creation, which originally was good, but has been affected by the fall. This is really a new connotation to the word. In the Greek usage it was a word that meant beauty and order. But John sees the world differently. To John it is an amazing thing that those who are created in the image of God, inhabit this beautiful creation, and yet are hostile to the Creator and lover of the world.
So lets look briefly at some passages in John where we find the concept of the world. Right from the beginning, in the tenth verse of the first chapter, we read this:
John 1:10 ( NRSV ) He was in the world, and the
world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
At the very end of the Gospel, when Jesus is standing before Pilate, Jesus says:
John 18:36 ( NRSV ) 36Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this
world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the
Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
Just before Jesus dies, he prays for his disciples, and for us, and says this:
John 17:14-16 ( NRSV ) I have given them your word,
and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I
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.
We could look at many more passages
in John – he uses the word 78 times – but I think the message is clear. Jesus is teaching us that there are two
kingdoms, or worlds. There is the
Let me suggest two differences.
The first is where the affections of our hearts lie, or in the words of Jesus, what it is that we treasure, or value more than anything. Jesus tells us not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, but rather to store up treasures in heaven. He then says: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It is not always easy to discern between earthy treasures and heavenly treasurers, but the follower of Jesus strives day by day to learn the difference. We are constantly striving to earn the treasures of mercy and kindness and justice and love while we have to make money and survive in this life. We are constantly trying to care more about these type of treasures than simply living for ourselves in this life. Simply, those who are not of this world realize that this world is passing away, and they have a sense of eternity in their hearts, therefore they are not placing all their hopes and dreams on the things of this world.
What also occurs in the heart of the Christian is a hatred for sin, or as we say in our baptismal vows, all the corrupts and destroys the creatures of God. Hatred is not too strong a word. We begin to hate the selfishness we see in ourselves, and we hate the injustice we see in the world. We hate seeing war and gang violence and peoples lives destroyed by violence and drugs and poverty. We hate our part in it all. In this sense, we hate the world.
The writer in first John put it this way.
1 John 2:15-17 ( NRSV ) Do not love the world or
the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the
world; for all that is in the world—the
desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from
the Father but from the world. And the
world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live
forever.
So the first hint of whether we are striving to follow Jesus is being honest with ourselves about where our affections really lie. Are we striving to serve and love and follow the master of the kingdom of heaven, or do we have another lord of our life?
While this first difference between
those who have their hearts in the
The two classes, in the sight of God, are really
two widely distinct people, having hearts without sympathy with one another, in
their governing influences; having masters as opposite as the world and
heaven…..
There are times when all this becomes especially
manifest – times of affliction, when ordinary supports have failed, and human
relief is vain, and the world seems to the sorrowing heart all a desert, and
all its cistern dry. The faithful
disciple of Christ is not disappointed then, for he has expected nothing
better from the world. His consolation is not taken away, because it never
depended on anything here. He says to the man of the world, journeying with
him, “Let not your heart be troubled; God is a very present help. Our light
afflictions, which are but for a moment, may well be cheerfully borne, when we
think of the everlasting rest which remaineth for the people of God. Let the
love of Christ be our comfort, as we journey on to his kingdom.” But how little
his worldly neighbor is able to receive such consolation. It is something he
has never learned. It meets no sympathy within him. What cheers the Christian
only the more troubles him. The more the trials press, and the world grows
dark, the more in contrast these travelers appear….. (Now)
The two travelers are drawing near to the valley of
death. How different their views of that passage. To one it is the end of all
expectations; to the other, it is the entrance upon all the blessedness of his
portion. To one, it is leaving forever all that he has ever loved; to the
other, it is going to all on which his love has ever been supremely placed.
I was struck by how insightful this passage is, as it resonated with my experiences in ministry. Over and over again I am amazed at how many who have been in the Church for years react when they face trials or death. It is as if they have never really thought deeply about their faith. It is as if their whole sense of our faith has to do with being comfortable and healthy and wealthy in this life. When any of this is challenged, their faith begins to fail. I liked the line of the Bishop, describing the Christian when trials come. “The faithful disciple of Christ is not disappointed then, for he has expected nothing better from the world.”.. .. He has expected nothing better from the world.” The Christian has learned from their Lord and the example of the saints down through the ages that this life is full of many trials and struggles. The Christian has learned over time that their hope and treasures are not found in this world. And then, when death approaches, if our hearts have been set on the things of this world, as the Bishop says, death is “leaving forever all that one has ever loved.” So of course death is feared greatly. But the Christian has been striving to not love the things of this world, and thus the loss of them is not feared as greatly. The Christian, while dealing with the normal things of this world, has been striving to live in that kingdom to which they now are going.
The present economic situation is presenting many with new are real challenges, maybe some for the first time. For many around our country and the world, the loss of a job or a home is a real tragedy. It cannot be easy, just as the loss of a loved one is not easy, nor is facing our own death ever going to be easy. And yet, this is precisely why Jesus came into the world. We read last Sunday that God so loved the world.” While we often reject and ignore and fight against God, God still loves us. Jesus’ life and death and resurrection are the center of our faith because they give us peace and hope in the midst of an often hostile world, and in the face of death. If life was all good, and there were no pain or loss or death and disease, we would not need Jesus nor God.
Yes, we are in the world, and we have to deal with all this means, both for good and for bad. Yet there is another world, or kingdom to which we belong. If we can dig deep, and learn, and pray, we can draw strength from the Lord of this kingdom. We can face trials and even death with hope and faith. Next week is Holy Week and then Easter. It is here, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, that our whole faith is founded.
I pray that during this
season, in which we focus our attention
on the core of the Christian message, that all of us might be challenged and
encourage to love this world a little less,
and to see and love the