“Warning: Jesus is Calling Us to be Very Weird” Fifth Sunday of Lent March 29, 2009

(First, read the passage for this sermon: John 12:20-33)

Jesus Christ is a superstar, at this point in John’s gospel. It’s the biggest time of the year in Jerusalem, for Jews. It is Passover. Great crowds have gathered in the city, from all over the hinterlands, for the annual celebration of God’s delivering the people from slavery in Egypt. And Jesus is providing extra excitement! Here’s what we read in John’s story, just before this morning’s reading begins: The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord --
the King of Israel!"

You know what we call our celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? That’s right: Palm Sunday, or the Sunday of the Passion. It’s next week! In John’s story, though, Jesus’ enemies react badly to all of this acclaim: The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!"

As to confirm the Pharisees’ worst fears, about the whole world going after Jesus, this morning’s story begins: Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. Jesus’ followers are now expanding beyond those of the Chosen People who think Jesus is the Christ. Now Gentile converts are coming, too.

We read, They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. The Greek converts approach Philip, because his name is Greek, and because he comes from Bethsaida, which is a town close to the Gentile area. Philip picks up his fellow disciple, Andrew (who also has a Greek name), to approach Jesus, and Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

You do know where the story is going to go from here, right? (Here’s a clue: what’s going to happen two weeks from this Friday, on the day we call “Good Friday?” Yes, that’s where the story is going from here.)

And here’s what strikes me at this point. At Jesus’ greatest fame and power, he does not build a mega church. He doesn’t begin writing best-selling books outlining the path to spiritual success and psychological happiness. He doesn’t respond to the request for a cover story, from the reporter from Time magazine. He doesn’t accept the President’s invitation to pray at the inauguration.

Instead, here’s what Jesus does. He tries to frighten away as many followers as he can!

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Well, you and I have certain expectations of what that means, according to the way our culture adulates the rich and powerful. ButGod has different ideas. Jesus says these shocking things: “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."

And: "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

And: "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

You and I are called to die to ourselves? We are called to “lose” our lives (which means that we are not to be the center of our own little universes?) We are called to servanthood? Then I must warn you: Jesus is calling us to be very weird – at least according to our culture’s criteria of glory and fame.

I am very pleased to see how many of us are well along the path into weirdness, following Jesus’ call! For instance, you and I are right now worshiping the God who created us! (What a weird thing to do; an act of resistance against the culture that does not consider this to be the sabbath day, with any sense of holiness – but to be “the weekend.”) In this community of faith, you and I encourage each other to give away money! (That’s weird. The first thing many financial planners advise is to stop tithing to the church.) In this community, we practice taking seriously and listening to those we disagree with. (That’s really weird.) In this community, we practice loving those we don’t even like. (How weird is that?)

All of this weird behavior is a sign that you and I are bearing fruit. The key to understanding what Jesus is talking about are these words: “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.”

Jesus is saying that he, the Son of Man, is glorified by dying on the cross – which is about as strange a thing as Jesus could possibly say. (Remember how offensive that would have been? Remember that today’s equivalent to the cross is the lethal injection syringe?)

Jesus is saying that it is necessary for him to die, so that he can bear fruit.

Using the Bible to provide commentary on the Bible, here’s what that means. In John’s story, two chapters further on from where we are this morning, Jesus alerts his followers to the lasting fruit that will come from his death and resurrection: "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit continues Jesus’ work in the world.

And, again using the Bible to provide commentary on the Bible, I think of one of the most important sentences in all of St. Paul’s writings: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

There is a direct line, then, from the work and words and presence of Jesus the Christ who dies to bear fruit, and that fruit of the Spirit that shows up in you and me, when we die to ourselves!

Here’s another description, from Paul, of what this looks like: As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13)

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness? Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive?

Warning! Jesus is calling you and me to be very weird – at least, according to what is usually honored and celebrated in our culture.

You and I are called to be very different from that.

You and I are called to be church: “a new and alternative public;… a new and distinct society, a new and extraordinary social existence where enemies are loved, sins are forgiven, the poor are valued, and violence is rejected.”

You and I are summoned “to take the reign of God seriously, and it is an invitation to allow our lives, commitments, and relations to be ordered within that deviant politics called the church.”

You and I are called to be church, “a people whose lives are marked by such practices as forgiveness, enemy-love, inclusive table fellowship, and a sharing of material possessions.”

All of these behaviors are “subversive of an old order that, since Jesus, is passing away.” (Quotes from Bryan Stone, Evangelism after Christendom, page 179, 180)

How can we possibly bear such fruit? By imitating Christ. By dying to ourselves.

And that’s not a heavy or onerous thing! Instead, it leads to a better way to live! We die to what exhausts us and dehumanizes us – holding grudges, competition that creates winners and losers, coercion, thinking that you are valuable according to what you produce, imagining that there is scarcity. We die to all of that which deadens us – so that God can raise us, to be what God created us to be! So that we can bear the fruit of the Spirit, as individuals formed in community. So that the Spirit will form us in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness; in mutual forbearance and forgiveness.

Why do we gather as church? One reason is so the Holy Spirit can form us in this weirdness, as we practice the faith.

Can you do that alone, without gathering as church? Man, I sure can’t.

Here are some provocative sentences, from Bryan Stone: “Salvation is impossible apart from the church, not because the church has received salvation as a possession and is now in a position to dispense it to or withhold it from others. It is instead because salvation is, in the first place, a distinct form of social existence. To be saved is to be made part of a new people and a new politics, the body of Christ.” (Stone, page 188)

In this community of St. Stephen, then, we practice what that looks like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; compassion, kindness, humility, meekness; mutual forbearance and forgiveness.

As we embody that life, we are the body of Christ. And others are attracted to it – because it is a better way to live. It is a more joyous, grace-filled way to live!

Thanks be to God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia