Sowing for the Future
Jeremiah 31:31-34, John 12:20-33 

Context before reading the John 12 passage:

             Passover – Jerusalem very crowded… Picture the crowds that were recently here in Seattle for Seafair events… downtown, Seattle Center, Pike Market, Lake Washington…  people wall to wall… some who have come from quite a distance to participate in the parades, see the Blue Angels, or watch the hydros race.  That’s the way it was for Passover, with hundreds of thousands of people from all over the Roman world crammed into the city walls of Jerusalem.

That’s the setting for our Gospel reading… listen now for God’s Word to you…

(Read John 12:20-33)

Greeks go up to Philip, who was from Bethsaida, a Greek-speaking city in the Galilee.  They ask to see Jesus.  When Philip and Andrew relay this request to Jesus, he says to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified“ ... and then goes on to talk about seeds falling into the earth and dying…

What?!  What just happened here?  It doesn’t say how Philip and Andrew responded, but they must have been mystified by Jesus’ answer.

Clearly, Jesus was on a different track… he was preoccupied… preoccupied with his own thoughts…  In fact, the interest of these Gentiles in him further confirmed for him that his earthly ministry was about to come to an end.  He is preoccupied with death… his impending death… and what that means for him… and what that means for those who follow him… for us.

The little parable that he tells paints a vivid picture.  “…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.”  (Pick up bowl of wheat kernels)   If a seed is planted into the ground and it does not die, it remains a seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds which will yield an abundant harvest.

(Look at wheat kernel)  Outer, protective coat on this wheat is very hard, which is good.  It will protect the inner seed until conditions are safe for it.  But when the conditions are right, that hard, protective coat has to break open… if the seed is going to have a chance to grow and reproduce.

(Pass bowl(s) around)  Hold a few seeds… feel them… let them help you think about what this scripture means for your own life…

What has to happen for the shell to crack and for the seed to grow?  Things have to change.  There has to be good soil, water, the light and heat of the sun, and time to create the right conditions to soften and crack that hard, protective coat and allow the seed within to sprout and grow.  We can participate in the process, but it is essentially God who makes it all happen.  You can plant the seed in good soil, you can water it, but without sunlight and time, nothing is going to happen… except possibly the seed will soften and rot.  God is the major player in this process of transformation.

And the process begins with the seed dying.  Could it be that the key to life is death?  Could it be that the key to living is dying… not just once, but on an ongoing basis?

That’s what Jesus seems to be saying.  Certainly he is saying that if we hold onto the things of the world that seem to be protecting us, we will not experience an abundant and fruitful life.

Things have to change if we are to experience fullness of life.  Each of us hangs onto thoughts, assumptions, ideas, and material things with which we build our lives… which we use to protect us from the things we fear… especially from a sense of vulnerability or powerlessness.  We do it as individuals, with our family, as a congregation, as a nation.

Jesus invites us to let go of our fears, our anger, our disappointments, our material things and stuff, and our self-focused goals, plans, and illusions… and follow him into the heart of God.  For that is where true love and life are found.

Story in the Seattle Times last year on the Faith & Values page – Saturday – about David Fleming’s book called “Noah’s Rainbow,” subtitle: “A Father’s Emotional Journey from the Death of his Son to the Birth of his Daughter.”  David Fleming is a talented sports writer who was an NFL writer with Sports Illustrated and now writes features for ESPN The Magazine.

On Aug. 10, 2000, David and his wife Kim lost their first-born child during an emergency C-section.  They were devastated.  A week later, Fleming, being a writer, began filling a black binder notebook with everything he could recall, everything he was feeling.  He needed to save it.  At first it was just in response to his own need.  Later, he would realize that what he had written could be helpful to others.

On the night before Noah’s funeral, their home was filled with family.  David and Kim needed a place to go so they could talk about what was happening to them and ask the questions inside of them.  So they went to the bathroom, locked themselves in, and spent the whole night talking… processing their grief.  They refer to it now as The Bathroom Summit… and they emerged with a game plan.

They decided to confront their grief together and they would not let it tear them apart.  They were going to continue to look for God, “even in the ugly things,” and make it their goal to try and find God in the midst of it all.  And… they were going to live their lives in a way that would honor their son.  They decided to let this deeply distressing loss change them for the better.

Being different personalities, they each approached it a bit differently.  Kim turned to her Bible and became part of a weekly prayer group at her church.  She found God to be so present that she could feel God hugging her.

David, who was trained to ask tough questions, eventually came to see that he didn’t need to know why Noah had died.  God knew why, and that was enough.  Before Noah’s death, David says he was “blissfully disconnected – a talented sports writer at the top of his profession… His creed then: ‘Oh, I deserve this wonderful little life.  It’s my plan.  I’m in control.’

“Reality, though, shattered everything he thought was true.  His creed now: ‘We’re not in charge.  Our job is to live with decisions God makes.”  He tries to live one day at a time… to be more grateful… “to realize there’s more to life now than just him.  ‘The world teaches you to be selfish,’ he says… ‘Now I need to be completely selfless.’”

Two hours after they laid Noah to rest, David and Kim looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow arcing across the blue sky in front of their house.  They called it Noah’s rainbow, and have embraced it as a symbol of their story and the new family they have made after Noah.  Two daughters have been born… beautiful, healthy girls whose middle names are Hope and Grace.

Death precedes life, says Jesus.  Not the other way around.  Not life precedes death, as we usually think… as our world goes to great lengths to convince us is true.  We believe that fending off loss and death will save us, but Jesus says that such an attempt will always destroy us.  That if we give up our lives and fall into the ground, we will find the ground to be God… and we will sprout and grow into a new life.

It is hard to believe.  It doesn’t make “sense.”  (Biggest paradox leads to the deepest truth)  Dying… is the way to life?  Letting go of what we treasure… is the way to have what we most need and want?  Yes, it turns out to be so, and Jesus knows it because he led the way.  The seekers who came to Philip and wanted to see Jesus were probably not expecting this… and neither were we.  But Jesus will teach this to us, if we let him.*

In the passage from Jeremiah that Ray read for us, God says, “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…  I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

That new covenant was not cut in stone like the first one; it was delivered in the body of Jesus Christ.  Here at this Table we celebrate and give thanks for the new relationship that we have with God because of Jesus’ willingness to follow through on the tough task of dying so that there can be abundant life for us all. 

When you receive this Sacrament today, I invite you to ask God to help you let go of whatever is standing in the way of your experiencing abundant life; to show you the protective coat that needs to be cracked open so that your true self can emerge and sprout and grow into fullness.

God is eager to begin the miraculous work of spiritual transformation in you, in your family, and in this congregation.  There is no better time to begin that now.  Amen.

(*From “Sacred Ground,” Sermon by Rev. Debra Metzgar Shew  2003)