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The Eve of Saint Joseph
The Fifth Sunday In Lent
O Almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The Fifth Sunday In Lent
The Eve of Saint Joseph
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Scripture citation(s): John 12:20-33
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
John 12:20-33
✛
Seeds of Hope
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How do you want to be remembered after your death? If you look around this church and, indeed, countless churches throughout the world you will see memorials – not just beautiful objects or works of art, but remembrances of people long gone from this earth. As Rector, I often begin a liturgy standing on a stone taken from the place where Archbishop Thomas Becket was martyred at Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. At the time of his death, most Europeans did not even know of the existence of North America – but we remember him here in this Church.
How do you want to be remembered?
In today’s Gospel story, some Greeks say to the apostle Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” And the response of Jesus to Philip and Andrew is quite extraordinary – “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.”
The Greeks who want to see Jesus do not appear again in the story but the answer Jesus gives to their question is key to understanding the character of the Christian discipleship “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” What did they expect to see? Human glory? Celebrity status? The answer of Jesus is as startling as it is dramatic. “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
And what is most shocking for the disciples is their discovery of how Jesus will be glorified – “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” His glorification is the antithesis of worldly glory – it is his self-offering on the cross.
There now follows in John’s Gospel, in quick succession, how that same glory will be revealed through the lives of his followers. We hear a summary of Jesus’ teaching in which he speaks of his union with the Father (12:44-50). He then, dramatically, shows the depth of his love by washing his disciples feet (13:1-20) – setting them an example and linking it to mission. Significantly sandwiched between a prediction of his betrayal and the denial of Peter, Jesus gives a new commandment “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” (13: 34-35). He then prepares his disciples for his departure and tells them that he is going to prepare a place for them (14:1-7) in which our own patron saint, Thomas, questions Jesus and receives that most beautiful answer, used at so many funeral liturgies, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” And then, and only then do we return to the question of the Greeks, except, Philip changes their question from human curiosity to a statement of faith: “Lord, show us the Father and we shall be satisfied.”
Last Sunday, Fr Ritter asked us to contemplate what God’s love looks like and the kind of shape it takes. In today’s Gospel reading and the verses after it, Jesus indicates the kind of shape that will characterise the lives of his followers.
Like Jesus, we are to make ourselves small – as small as a grain of wheat that apparently dies. In setting an example of washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus expects our Christian service to be the same – unconditional and, therefore, beautiful. Love (as Fr Ritter reminded us) is cruciform in shape and, therefore, Christian love reflects that – characterized by self-offering; of putting others before oneself. In so doing, we unite ourselves with the Father’s will as Jesus, similarly, was united in his Father’s will.
That love has been revealed by countless Christians throughout the centuries and who, even as I speak, particularly Christians in the Middle East, are being asked to put their faith into action.
Next Saturday, with Anglicans around the world we shall commemorate the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. It may very well be that he had never heard of the martyrdom of another Archbishop over 800 years ago in Northern Europe. But he had heard the words of Jesus and knew something of the shape of Christian discipleship. He was a champion of the poor and the downtrodden and was prepared to stand with his Lord as he cared for his people. I find it extraordinarily poignant that the last homily he preached, in a small chapel at a hospital for people with cancer, was on this very same Gospel reading of the grain of wheat that must die. He knew that Christian discipleship came at a cost, even for those in privileged positions like his. In his last homily he said this: “You have just heard in Christ’s gospel that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us, and that those who try to fend off the danger will lose their lives, while those who out of love for Christ give themselves to the service of others, will live, live like the grain of wheat that dies, but only apparently. If it did not die, it would remain alone. The harvest comes about only because it dies, allowing itself to be sacrificed in the earth and destroyed. Only by undoing itself does it produce the harvest.”
Moments later, a shot rang out and Archbishop Romero was dead.
One would expect the funeral of a murdered Archbishop to be glorious and sumptuous. Instead, the account of his burial a few days later is, in itself, a kind of parable echoing, yet again, the words of Jesus that we heard today.
At his funeral, a quarter of a million-people gathered in and outside the Cathedral…but someone had planted bombs. After the mayhem had subsided, Cardinal Corripio managed to get to the coffin:
“Give me the hosts so I can continue the mass” he said,
“There aren’t any, your Excellency”.
“Give me the wine.”
“There isn’t any.”
“How about a prayer book so we can at least do the responsorial prayers…”
“There’s no book either, your Excellency.”
Then Bishop Samuel Ruiz, the Bishop of Chiapas, took the little book of prayers out of his pocket and they used that to say a few prayers before burying him…and even more quickly, the masons started to close it over with cement and bricks and cement…until they were done.” (Maria Julia Hernandéz – from ‘Oscar Romero – memories in mosaic’ ed. Maria López Vigil)
Jesus said to his disciples, and he says to you and me today, “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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”
How do you want to be remembered after your death?
