Change the World

March 21, 2021

Jeremiah 31:31-34
John 12:20-33

[Video above]

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But in dying, it bears much fruit.” This is as close to a parable as we’ll get in John’s gospel account. And it’s Jesus’ response to hearing that there are Gentile Greeks wanting to see him. It’s a weird response. But if we look closely, it makes sense.

Consider the parable of the mustard seed—the tiniest of seeds, hard to see if you’re not looking for it. But when it is planted, it grows an invasive, insistent, and impossible-to-miss shrub. Just a seed. But it bears much fruit. Hard to see—until it has become what it was created for. Tiny in its singleness—overbearing and powerful in its fullness.

At the end of our passage, Jesus goes on to say that when he is lifted up, all people will be drawn to him. All nations will see him. All of creation will gaze upon him. When he is lifted up—on the cross; lifted up—from the tomb; lifted up—in ascension. The seed that dies is lifted up in its fullness. And then, we will see—we will see God’s love; we will see the world through the lends of the cross; we will see ourselves as children of God.

But do we really have to die? Do we really have to hate our lives in order to be welcomed into heaven? I think that over the centuries, we’ve managed to twist Jesus’ words a bit here. And we’ve ended up with the notion that suffering is always noble, that Jesus expects his followers to be superheroes of courage, and that in order to achieve salvation in heaven with God we have to sacrifice anything enjoyable and good, lest we experience too much pleasure.

And I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind.

There is some Greek language I need to lift up here. First of all, the word translated as ‘life’ is psuche, or psyche. Self. Soul. It’s a challenging translation because how we understand the psyche today has more to do with one’s mental state. And while another perfectly fine translation would be ‘soul,’ our understanding of ‘soul’ is quite different than 1st Century Greek as well. And if Jesus had meant ‘life’, as in our bodily lives, he would have used a different word. So, ‘self’ is about as good as we can get here.

The other aspect is that, while translated in the future tense—“they will keep their life”—the Greek is all in the present. The losing and keeping of life happens now—in what we destroy and what we build up. Jesus isn’t saying have to mortgage this life in order to enter the next—this life matters. Now matters. So, we might translate this passage this way: “Anyone who holds onto the ways of life destroy life; but those willing to let go of life in reckless love already experience the abundance of life.” When we give life away so that others may live, we experience even more life. When we give love away, we know the incredible beauty of love’s power. When we forgive through mercy, we recognize God’s forgiveness of us. When we fall into the ground and allow ourselves to let go, we produce more than we could ever imagine.

I think about the ways of this world and the ways we often imagine service and sacrifice. We watch the movies that glorify the kind of sacrifice that seems to mean little unless it literally risks life and limb. Frodo taking the one ring into the heart of Mordor. Harry Potter giving his own life to kill Lord Voldermort. It’s always in the context of a great and noble battle. A war between good and evil. But my friends, Christ has already won that war. Death is defeated.

So, I don’t think that death is necessarily the ministry of every person. Certainly, the apostles and martyrs were killed because they wouldn’t deny their faith. Christians in Europe were killed for harboring Jews. But for many of us, our challenge may never call for such drastic measures. Our challenge may simply be to risk getting uncomfortable for the sake of the gospel—to hear something that challenges or even convicts us and let it move us—to do something meaningful for someone who couldn’t do it for or by themselves. Jesus is saying that we bear fruit when we let go of our ways of self-preservation, security, and honor—when we give without asking if they deserve—when we help without expecting to get paid back.

In the movie, Trevor says that his plan is to fix people. And what it doesn’t show is that the people he tried to help didn’t stay fixed. He thought that in taking care of a need, he could kill their demons. And when he discovered that the demons came back, he thought he failed. He thought that his plan to change the world had been in vain.

What he didn’t know is even in their brokenness, the people Trevor helped still helped three more people. Trevor didn’t fix them, but he changed their lives. And they changed the lives of others. And the seed that died bore much fruit.

So often we don’t know the impact we have. All we can do is plant seeds—seeds of hope. The Gentiles came to Philip and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” And in his teaching, Jesus showed them that until he died and rose from death, they would see only the seed. But after he was lifted up, they would see the full glory of God.

And the fruit of the tree planted in Christ still thrives among you. When you show the love of God to family as well as strangers, you bear witness to the tree of life that grows within you. And from that tree, God gives you the power to change the world.

Pastor Tobi White
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church
Lincoln, NE