Unless a grain of wheat John 12 – 23
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honour the one who serves me.
I wonder what you might think would be one of the great moments of your life!
Perhaps it might be some happy occasion – a family celebration – a childs birth or a wedding.
If you were thinking of a moment when there was great sadness you might think of some time when there was a death or horrifying incident.
What about some time when you were highly honoured!
Maybe you won some race – or perhaps were part of a team that won a game – maybe you got a certificate for something – achieved acadaemic success or even won a community award.
Whatever it is it would have little connection with the most horrifying incident in your life.
Yet our bible passage this morning brings a suggestion from Jesus that the most horrifying incident of his life is in truth the best moment of his life.
How can this be.
This is what people describe as a paradox.
The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified.
What Jesus is referring to is his coming death on the cross.
Most people know what the cross of Jesus meant for Jesus.
The following reflection - Calvary sums up the negatives of what it meant.
You had said:- “The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified.”
It began in the threatening shadows of Gethsemene –
Beauty mingled with terror.
When that traitor Judas led the rabble of soldiers
- accusers and the vicious religious
To that spot where you had prayed.
They yelled and threatened held up flickering flames of illumination that really led to darkness
and waved their pitiful swords and sticks.
Calmly you looked at them and restored the one who had been struck by the over zealous disciple.
There followed a nightmare of trials and blows spit and torture – whips and sweat – and yes tears and further betrayals – tearing off of clothes - stripped dignity pressed down crown of thorn s piercing your skin causing blood to flow and mingle with the blood from the lash marks on your back.
Back and forth back and forth – Pilates desparation but cowardly impartiality commiting you to a criminals death – while all along the baying crowd roared Cricify him Give us Barrabas!!! Again and again until the flesh of Pilate gained ascendancy over his wifes fears as he washed his hands of you.
The long walk along the via Delarosa leading to the hill that was Golgotha. The journey – Jeers and violence – terrible pain and blood loss causing - dizziness stumbling pain beyond belief and eventually simon carrying the cross – On Golgotha Nails like sharpened bolts hammered through legs and hands producing pain that can hardly be imagined followed by scorn – laughter – jeers and viniger jammed in the mouth to add insult to injury –
Eloi Eloi Sabachthani you cried and breathed your last.
And when You had cried out again in a loud voice, You gave up Your Spirit.
Glorified? Glorified? They asked themselves
then the light faded - earthquakes shook the earth – graves opened – dead men walked – and at that moment on that day of all days – significantly
The temple curtain tore in two
then suddenly or maybe later upon reflection – Men knew
That the hour had come for the son of Man to be glorified
On the edge of this Horrific experience Jesus says –
“The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified,..”
How can Jesus refer to this violent unjust death at age 33 as such a moment that he is going to be glorified in it??
The answer is quite clear –
Because the cross had a purpose –
Of course the crass and religiously superior could not see it any more than the blindly obedient romans.
But they were mere instruments in the hands of a God who was working out his purposes in the greatest act of love the world will ever see.
Jesus death on the cross was a death blow to all that was evil in the world including the revealed source of evil in the Bible known as the fallen angel – the devil or Satan.
In Luke 10 verse 18 Jesus comments – “I saw satan fall like lightening from heaven.”
The cross gave this spiritual phenomenon – in place since the days of Eden – it’s death knell.
From now on even though bad things would continue to happen there would be put in place a permanent solution to evil or bad things. That solution, we are told in the bible will eventually dominate but even now is in place.
Jesus follows up this comment with a very brief parable.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honour the one who serves me.
In this parable Jesus uses the Metaphor of the cross as a Metaphor for our own lives.
Here he uses the picture of a Kernal of wheat.
He points out that our lives are like that kernal of wheat – if we try to save that kernal it will never reproduce – [produce new life – if we plant it then it will produce more wheat.
What important message is Jesus trying to convey here and what is He encouraging us to do?
Jesus says I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
By going to the cross – Jesus gave millions upon millions the possibility of eternal life.
Let’s try and put flesh on this for our own lives:-
There is a story about Captain Oates who went with Robert Falcon Scott to try and reach the south pole.
Captain Oates – “is remembered as a very gallant gentleman who walked to his death in a blizzard, hoping to save his comrades on Scott’s disastrous South pole expedition in 1912. As he crawled from their tent onto the ice in temperatures of –40 degree centigrade Oates achieved immortality with the famous parting remark – “I am going outside and may be some time.”
The truth is Oates thought Scott was a bungler and incompetant – but putting that aside – the picture is of one who gives up his life so that others may have the chance to live. Oates was frost bitten and knew he was holding the others back.
An example of that happening in the Christian world might be the life of someone who serves Christ instead of pursuing their own wealth, comfort or health.
Impression of India ’not at all’ changed by murder of husband and children
Anto Ankara
November 1, 1999
The widow of an Australian missionary who was burned alive in India has pledged to remain in the country "to continue my husband’s work."
Graham Stuart Staines and the couple’s two sons, Philip, aged 10, and eight-year-old Timothy were burned to death January 23 1999 as they slept in a jeep in a remote village in Orissa state. The vehicle was reportedly parked outside a small makeshift church in the village of Manaharpur, about 1000 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
An official report rejected claims that Staines and his sons were murdered by members of a Hindu fundamentalist organization. But many people here disagree with the official report. Staines, a 57 year-old Australian Baptist missionary, had been working among lepers in Baripada, Orissa since he first came to India in 1965.
In an exclusive interview on November 20, 48-year-old Gladys Staines told Ecumenical News International (ENI): "Baripada is my home. I just cannot walk away from the leprosy patients."
Mrs. Staines was in Delhi to discuss with officials of the Leprosy Mission (TLM) plans to establish a 40-bed referral hospital for leprosy patients at Baripada as a memorial to her husband.
She told ENI that many people in Australia, including her relatives, had urged her "to return home" with her 13-year-old daughter Esther who is studying in a boarding school in southern India.
"But, I told them: ’Why should I’?" Mrs. Staines said. "Graham would not have wanted me to pack up and walk away from the leprosy home."
She said the 60 patients at the leprosy home run formerly by her husband, and now by herself, included some who had arrived "even before" Graham Staines came to the center, 34 years ago. Established in 1897, the leprosy home in
Graham and Gladys Staines are examples of people who have been prepared to
fall to the ground and die, Heather and I visited a leper colony while in India and it was obvious that these people were living as outcasts in their own country.
They were virtually ostracised from any semblance of normal life in their own country.
There was nothing honorouble or impressive about ministering in that place.
To minister among them would be unfashionably Christian in an age when the horror of leprosy has been reduced.
But what does it mean to hate your life in this world of New Zealand and keep it for eternal life?
The first question surely must be what is it that most prevents me from doing the things that God would have me do?
For a grain of wheat to germinate and grow it must be planted in the soil where it will grow – what will prevent that?–
The answer being somewhere else other than in the soil God wants you to be planted.
Most seeds today are purchased in shops in paper envelopes and inside the paper envelopes are tinfoil type containers that produce conditions where seeds are most unlikely to germinate.
Stamped on the packet is a use by date.
This date indicates the time that the seed is most likely to germinate – after that date it’s potential is more than a little dubious.
Many Christians in the Western world are living in tinfoil packets and are not planted in soil.
What is the tinfoil packet?
It is the place where the person lives according to their own agenda and according to their own desires.
The rarified air of the seed packet is comfortable – secure – personally satisfying but the one thing it is not, is fruitful.
I want to describe for you the life of someone who lives in a world like ours who was prepared to fall to the ground and die in order that others may find the good news about Jesus Christ.
Many years ago a team from this church travelled to Christchurch to run a renewal program in the Hoon hay Presbyterian church in Christchurch.
Michael and Kerry Lee who were in our church at that time were billeted in the home of a lady who was then in her early seventies.
She taught bible in schools in many schools and most of spare time was spent preparing and teaching bible in schools.
Much of her teaching was focussed around planting the word of God in childrens hearts and she taught bible verses< I guess to hundreds and hundreds of Schoolchildren over several generations.
When she reached 70 she wondered if it was time to give up teaching and retire from Bible in Schools and take it easy.
She wandered down to the Brighton Beach and dedicated time to prayer asking God to show her if she should continue with the bible in Schools work.
As she walked down the beach she was interrupted from her thoughts by a young man. The man asked if she was – we will call her Mrs Jones – and she replied Yes.
He then told his story.
Mrs Jones had taught this man Bible in schools as a young boy and he had learned the verses but then had grown up and moved off to Australia.
While in Australia he had become very successful in business.
But even though he had enjoyed good success he found himself restless and a little unhappy.
One night while he was wondering about the way forward for his life the bible verse that he had learned came back to him with some force.
As he mulled it over he was literally converted to Christianity and he met with Christ and by process, eventually became a pastor.
One day it spoke to his heart that he must fly back to New Zealand and thank his old bible in School teacher for what she had done for him.
He did that with little knowledge of how he was going to meet up with Mrs Jones.
When he reached Christchurch he had a distinct impression that he should travel to Brighton beach.
He arrived there the very moment that Mrs Jones was considering giving up on bible in Schools.
We can only imagine then how much that turned the lady back to her call to the work of bible in Schools again.
Now we might regard bible in Schools as a fairly low key and unglamorous pursuit.
But so is the life of a grain of wheat as it is buried in the mud, subjected to drenching with water and is invisible to everyone above the surface.
Jesus chose this metaphor well as, if you consider it – the work of the grain of wheat is seen in the fruit and the old original kernal vanishes into the ground.
In our case Jesus says we vanish into heaven and the arms of a waiting Father in heaven.
This simple parable talks about consequences – the consequences of trying to protect our lives is the loss of our lives.
The consequence of spending our lives for God and His Kingdom is eternal life.
Once upon a time there was a kernal of Seed – the kernal lived with some other seeds in his specially sealed tinfoil packet.
One day the Master sent word to him. The word was that he was to go and plant himself in the soil.
Oh said the seed I would love to go but I am afraid that this request has come at a very bad time.
Why is it such a bad time asked the messenger.
Well said the seed – All the other seeds and I are very busy at work we have to keep the inside of this packet finly polished and gleaning white so that we are well preserved.
The packet isn’t what it used to be why years ago it used to be very shiney – but I think it is something to do with the glasshouse effect – the seeds were stored in the glasshouse – anyway we have to work very hard to stop this seed packet degenerating.
But said the messenger if you were planted – You wouldn’t need to look after the packet – the master would look after you.
What said the seed bury myself in mud after all these years of preening myself – I don’t think so – You want me to abandon my great work for the community of seeds here - do you know we discovered mould in the packet last week.
Mold I say.
Do you know what mold can do to a seed.
Well said the Messenger.
Besides said the seed – We have the big games next week!
Big games inquired the messenger.
Yep at the cake tin stadium – Turnips versus the wheat – it’s the grand final and I have special seats in the hospitality match box. At this the seed pumped out his chest so proud was he that he had secured his special seats.
Then there is the meetings – We have meetings of the Wheat housing organization that is WHO for short we manage all the local affairs and then there is the Council arranging recreation events socially C>A>R>E>S
I am fully involved in WHO CARES
The messenger said but why are you doing that instead of being planted where the Master wants you?
Well said the seed – it gives me meaning in my life!!!!!
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the son of Man to be glorified, I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My father will honour the one who serves me.
How will you know if you have fruit in your life.
Well, quite simply by the fruit that your life is producing.
Perhaps you might like to reflect on Galations chapter 5 and verse 22.
But the fruit of the spirit is -------
This coming week and particuarily the weeks leading up until Christmas I want to invite you to look at your calendar and the inevitable clashes and overlaps that occur at this time of year and just ask yourself the question what are the things that god would have me do that will grow his Kingdom in this period of my life.
Grab a felt pen and cross out the events that truly you are doing out of self interest – obligation or any motive that is less than god would have for your life.
When you are complete then etch in some key things you can be doing that will be of eternal value even though they may not be particuarily applauded by your peers or even visible to the world around you.
As you do that God will inevitably bless and encourage you and although you may not see the fruit this year – fruit will come.
