Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2024

Jeremiah 31:31-34+Psalm 51:1-13+Hebrews 5:5-10+John 12:20-33

There is a lot going on this short reading from John that we have just heard. We've skipped over nine chapters since last week and now find ourselves on what we would call Palm Sunday, just after Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, something that is still a week out in our order of observing the beginning of Holy Week.

And because there is so much happening here, I found myself focusing on one part in particular that seems kind of random and that sent me down an agricultural rabbit hole.

Jesus answered (Philip and Andrew), ‘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. (John 12:23-24)

I do not remember much about 8th grade biology when we studied botany and photosynthesis and hybridization and all those sorts of things, so I thought I'd do a little investigating because sometimes the way John writes things is not quite as straightforward as it might seem. And this is where the rabbit hole comes in.

Did you know that seeds have embryos? I don't remember that part of biology, but if you open up, say a peanut like this one, this papery part is the seed covering and the nut itself is the seed. If you open up that, you will see a little nub down at the bottom, and that's the embryo. And apparently all seeds have them, although most seeds are so small you can't see them easily. These seeds can lie dormant for hundreds of years, but if you give them enough light and water and fertilizer, the little embryo will spring to life, sending roots into the ground and leaves up and out.

Peanut plants grow wide rather than tall. Wheat and corn grow tall rather than wide. No matter the pattern of growth, the seed sacrifices itself to nourish that embryo. As that happens, the roots are sent down into the ground, the stalk shoots up into the air, and the leaves spread out like this (arms outstretched).

What an image that is (like a crucifixion).

If Jesus is that seed that goes into the ground, his purpose is to give up himself to nourish that embryo so that it can grow. In our case, that embryo is us - the Church. That grain, that seed, buried in the ground bore much fruit.

And here's the other thing. If you plant a peanut seed, you're going to get a peanut plant. If you plant wheat seed, you'll end up with wheat, and corn will grow into corn.

When Jesus gave up his body as seed for the church, the church that grew bears that same DNA - we are imprinted with the DNA of Jesus. A Jesus seed grows a Jesus people.

But what's all this talk by Jesus of being glorified, of his glory, of his hour having come? Way back in the beginning of John when Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana, his mother Mary asks him to do something, and he says to her that his hour has not yet come (John 2:4). So why is now the correct hour for Jesus?

This morning, we read from Chapter 12, but in Chapter 11, Jesus brings a dead man back to life. It is so upsetting to the religious order, at least according to the temple authorities, that they plot to have that man, Lazarus, killed. Because you see, there is only one being who can bring life out of death and that’s the One who created life in the first place. If this Jesus can do that, then he might just be who the people say that he is. And if that’s true, then it’s game over for the systems and structures that support empire by enforcing order on the multitudes while hoarding privilege for the few.

Just before our reading begins today, John says,

So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. The Pharisees then said to one another, ‘You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!’ (11:17-19)

And the very next thing that happens is some Greeks (probably not from Greece but Gentiles of Greek heritage living somewhere in Palestine) come asking about seeing Jesus. But what they wish to see is not likely the same thing as what they do see. Because Jesus is telling everyone that what they will see is himself lifted up drawing all people into his embrace. His glory is not in the power of this world; his glory is in the cross.

A seed buried in the ground gives life to the world. His willing sacrifice on the cross reconciles all of humankind to God. If you, too, wish to see Jesus, this is where you will find him.