Teach Us, Oh Lord, To Die
Posted on Mar 22, 2015 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen
Our gospel story today is what most scholars would consider the end of Jesus’ public teachings in the Gospel of John. After this, Jesus teachings would be directed solely toward his disciples. But, as we come to the end of Jesus’ public ministry, we are told, “some Greeks” came and said, “we wish to see Jesus.” Now, first, I think we have to ask, who are these Greeks? Well, we don’t know, but an educated guess is that they were what were called “God-fearers.” That is they were most likely people who were attracted to Judaism, but they did not care to become fully Jewish. They did not want to be circumcised. They liked what the faith tradition taught and said, but they weren’t willing to go all the way. They had their reservations. Now, they have heard about this amazing Jew, Jesus, so, they decide to see if they can meet Jesus. In their request, the words we translate as “to see,” more literally meant, “Sir, we would like to talk to Jesus and get to know him better…”
Now, as we read this story, we learn that Philip doesn’t know what to make of this request from the “Greeks,” so he takes their request to Andrew, who in turn says, well, let’s go tell Jesus. According to John, bringing people to Jesus is what Andrew does. Remember, Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus and Andrew is also the one who brought the boy with five barley loaves and two fish to Jesus in the story of the feeding of the 5000 (6:8-9).
So
they go tell Jesus, “Hey, there are some Greeks here who wish to see you…” to which
Jesus offers this weird response, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to
be glorified. Very 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…” (12:23-24). What kind of
response is that? Will Jesus see these
guys, or not? Will these guys get to
talk to Jesus or not? Once again, it
seems like Jesus is talking crazy talk.
But, Jesus’ response is
actually very clear. If these Greeks are
“God-fearers,” that is those who want to follow Jesus, but not commit fully to
all his ways, Jesus has but one response, “If you want to get to know me; if
you want to follow me, then you will have to get to know me in my glory.” What does that mean, you might ask? Well, when Jesus said, "The hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” what he was literally saying was the
time has come for me to die, be resurrected and ascend to my Father. For Jesus, his glorification was his death,
resurrection and ascension, all in one.
So, if you really want to know Jesus, you really must start at the
cross. To really know Jesus you must
start with death. According to Jesus, if
you want to truly follow him, you have to be willing to commit to death. For in death, new life becomes a
reality.
But, let’s be honest, who wants to talk about or think about death? According to studies, almost 70% of all people fear death. Experts say that this fear is closely associated with our fear of the unknown. We fear death, because we don’t know what death really is, or what will happen to us in death. One author I read said, “the truth is, we fear death because we really don’t like the idea of someone else moving into our house and putting their trash in our trash cans.” Whatever the reason, seven out of ten of us fear death and so to think that to truly know Jesus we have to face death is not a pleasant idea. This fear of death is not a new problem either, it was alive and well in Jesus’ day, also, and so Jesus offers those who wish to know him a new perspective on death. “Very 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” (12:24). A grain of wheat that dies will bear much fruit Jesus said. In other words, if, like those Greeks, we want to be followers of Jesus; if we want to “see” Jesus, then we need to “die” to our old ways, and be willing to serve this world that is bear much fruit.
In scripture, “to know” someone had a very intimate meaning. In the Gospel of Luke, when the angel told Mary she would conceive a child, her literal response was, “How shall this be, for I have not known a man” (Luke 1:34). In scripture to know someone was to be intimate with them. So, to truly come to know Jesus, we must intimately enter into his life, death and resurrection and ascension. To know Jesus means we must be willing to die to our ways.
Last week, Pastor Jen shared with you a little of both of our call stories. As you heard, for me I feared losing the things that gave me security. I feared the loss of income and other things that gave me a sense of security, and, so, for a long time I was unwilling to die to the ways I had grown accustomed. But as long as I allowed that fear of the unknown to control me, I could get no closer to Christ. The more I hung to my ways, the less secure I became in my life and the more unsure I was with what I needed to do. I was afraid to die to my old ways.
But Jesus has said that in death, new life is promised. A seed that dies will actually grow new fruit. The truth is, I didn’t fear dying to my old ways, I feared that Jesus’ promise might not be true. What if, I gave up my old ways and I didn’t bear new fruit? Personally, I found it really hard to imagine the truth of resurrection. I found it hard to believe that there would be life after death. What made me finally give up my old ways? I don’t know if I really know the answer to that. I think I finally got to the point where I took a leap faith and I gave up my old ways and you now what, that promise of new life was true. So for me, every time I am faced with letting something go, letting my old ways die, I remember that promise that unless a grain of wheat dies, it can bear no fruit and I remember that second promise he made in our text this morning, 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12:32). For it is in this promise, we are offered hope, but for that hope to be realized, death must happen first. For this hope to be realized we must be willing to die to our ways and our self-centeredness and that is scary and hard to do. Change is never easy.
You know, any time I speak of change, inevitably, someone come to me and says, you know pastor, we don’t just want to change for change sake. And usually I say, oh, I agree with that. But, I don’t think that is true anymore. If we really want to see Jesus, I think we need to be willing to constantly die to our old ways, even ways we think are working so that we might truly come to know Christ and to come to experience new life.
This past Friday we experienced the vernal equinox. Every year whether we need it or not, spring comes and new life comes forth. Why don’t we allow ourselves to do that? Why do we fear this death that Jesus has promised will bring us new life. Why do we want to hang on to our old ways even though we know they are not the best ways? Maybe, the truth is we just don’t quite believe in the promise of resurrection.
Brothers and sisters, as journey closer to the cross, it is time we learn to die. It is time ask Jesus to teach us to die. Please pray that prayer with me, Teach us, O Lord, to die! Amen.