Jesus and Stephen Stills John 12:20-26, 32 Saint Marks UMC, Charleston, WV Fifth Sunday of Lent (March 18)

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1 1 Jesus and Stephen Stills John 12:20-26, 32 Saint Marks UMC, Charleston, WV Fifth Sunday of Lent (March 18) 2018 John 12:20-26, 32 [The Message] There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the Feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us? Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together told Jesus. Jesus an-swered, Time s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and re-produces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you ll have it forever, real and eternal. 26 If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me. 32 And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto me and gather them around me. Today s sermon title made me realize something, but I m not sure what. I had one person tell me that they thought it would be about how the message of Stephen the Martyr was still applicable today. (No, that would be in Acts, chapter 7) And someone else said that they thought since the Legislature was in session, that it was about the moonshine stills in West Virginia, perhaps owned by the Stephens family. No. No. No. Jesus said in today s Gospel lesson: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, So once every three years, in the Lectionary, these words are read. When else? In the graveside committal of almost every funeral I preach. I never read them, standing there beside a yawning hole six feet deep in the ground that I don t hear the words of Stephen Stills playing in my head. It s only a two minute song, with most of that guitar instrumental, but I always hear it. Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground. Mother Earth will swallow Those are the entire lyrics. And I wonder, when Jesus said them in today s lesson, if He were talkikng about what lay ahead for Him, for if He were talking about what we all need to deal with and to not wait until we are in the cemetery, or outside at the columbarium, to deal with it.

2 2 There s another prayer sometimes used in funerals that brings it more into focus: Teach us how to live as those who are prepared to die. Or, as my predecessor at Saint Marks, the Rev d Dr. J. Clair Jarvis used to say: I am ready to leave, but prepared to stay. Let me share a story, a very, very old story: The Parable of the Chinese Farmer Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer, who lost a horse ran away. All the neighbors came around that evening and said, That s too bad. The next day the horse came back and brought seven wild horses with it. All the neighbors came around that evening and said, That s great. The next day, his son was attempting to tame one of these horses, and fell and broke his leg. All the neighbors came around that evening and said, Well, that s too bad, isn t it. The next day the conscription officers came around, looking for soldiers to draft, and rejected his son because he had a broken leg. All the neighbors came around that evening and said, Isn t that wonderful?

3 3 From the parable of the Chinese farmer we can learn how the whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity. And it really is impossible to tell -- in that moment -- if anything that happens in it is good or bad. Because you never really know what will be the consequences of misfortune. And you never really know what will be the consequences of good fortune. But we can also learn that what is good in one time may indeed be not so good at another time. I am in the process of doing something I have never done before: I am retiring. And in that process, I am learning that so many of the things that I hankered after in my life before now things for which I was willing to sacrifice in order to buy things that I really thought I NEEDED are now things that have lost their lustre. They are things that I need to get rid of, to find them a good home, but which I am afraid will only end up in the landfill. The movement along the pathway we call life is a slow, generative process of picking up and letting go until we eventually get to the place where we discover the real important things in life. It s about love It s about relationships It s about being connected to people and to Mother Earth. It s about being in the arms of a loving God. And that s what s been important all along. Sometimes we squander a lot of our living in order to finally discover what is really important.

4 4 And the sooner we learn what is really important the more fruit our lives will bear. At funerals we see the fruit our life has borne most often in our children. And the nature of that fruit is often based on what they have seen in our lives. If it has taken us until we stand at the edge of the grave to learn to let go of things, and to cleave unto relationships, then we probably will have children who believe that the accumulation of things is all that is important. Me. Me. Me. But, if at funerals, we see children who have begun early on to discover how important are relationships, loving, sharing, giving, then we will realize that we are burying someone * who early on found the cost of freedom, * who early on discovered how to lay down the pleasures of their own body for the sake of others, * who early on discovered how to let go and to live a really good life. I had a revelation this week, as I was meditating upon these scriptures. It was a revelation that when it is stated out loud, it doesn t seem quite as porofound as when it was realized in the heart. Many revelations are like that. Here was mine: JESUS WAS HUMAN. Oh boy! How long did that one take, preacher? --- See, what I told you! The impact of that for me was that although I have spoken for all of my adult life the theology we Christians espouse: Jesus was fully God and fully human, what really struck me was that as a young adult, Jesus

5 5 wanted an ipad, and iwatch, and a Mercedes Benz (or the first century Palestinian equivalents) as much as every other human. I realized that I have too often said in my mind, Oh, he was the Son of God. It was easy for Him. (I even capitalize the H in typing Him to give Him this out.) But, no, he was fully human and had the same desires as I do. When He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, God, please don t make me go through with this, we get a glimmer of this revelation. He did not want to be swallowed by Mother Earth. He did not want to die and bear much fruit. He just wanted to live, not as one who was prepared to die. What was it that allowed Him to claim His position of Son of God and go about being the Savior of the world, when He really would have liked an ipad, iwatch, and Mercedes Benz? How did he, at the age of 30 understand: I m trying to discover that answer. I think that my staying in touch with Jesus, in really honest prayer is a big help. promised: And I also think that it gets easier as I get older. And I take great comfort in the final words of verse 32, when Jesus And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto me and gather them around me.

6 6 Because that means that regardless of how well I have done it, that what really matters is how well Jesus did it. And because He did it so well, I too will be included in the all things (or all persons depending on which translation you read) which will be drawn to Him in Heaven. But I want more than that. I want to be able to get it while I m here. I want to be able to get it because I want to be able to bear much fruit before I die. I want to be a living example of what Jesus came to show us. I want the little ones to be able to see it in me and in you and to not have to simply rely upon a story written in a book that fewer and fewer of them are reading because they don t see much of any strong witness about how important it is -- about a Man Who was the Son of God, who said things like: I want to get it, so I can help them to get it not so they will go to heaven Jesus got that covered when He said that when He was lifted up on the cross He would draw all people and things unto Him. Not I want to get it, so I can help them to get it so that they can live a good life NOW, and not waste so much of it going hankering after those things that they will eventually let go of as unimportant. How did Jesus get it so early on in life? I m trying to discover that answer. I think that my staying in touch with Jesus, in really honest prayer is a big help. I hope you will try to discover it with me. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.