“No Turning Back”

John 12:20-33

Providence United Presbyterian Church

March 29, 2009 (Lent 5B)

Rev. Dr. Mary Jane Hitt

&= nbsp; It was the Sunday before Passover, and the handwriting was on the wall. All the signs were pointing in jus= t one direction. Everything was add= ing up to one bottom line: JesusR= 17; life was in danger. The relig= ious and the governmental authorities of his day each had identified him as a threat. It was just a matter = of time until they would find a way to get rid of him.

&= nbsp; On the religious side, the authorities were concerned because Jews were desert= ing the ways of the temple, with its rules and sacrifices, and following Jesus. The leaders of the tem= ple also worried that even folks from out of town were beginning to seek him out. Jesus had become one of = the best-known rabbis in town, and while his non-traditional approach might not have been a big deal if he had stayed up north in Galilee, it was a huge deal in Jerusalem. He was a threat to the religious establishment.

&= nbsp; And on the governmental side, the Roman authorities were just as concerned about Jesus. This rabbi wasn’t someone whose actions they could predict or control. He was attracting a large followin= g that included both Jews and Gentiles; he didn’t seem intimidated by people= in power; he had all the earmarks of someone trying to foment civil unrest – someone getting ready to overthrow Roman rule. He was a threat to the civil establishment.

&= nbsp; Yes, the handwriting was on the wall, and Jesus knew it. When Philip and Andrew told him th= at some Greeks who were in Jerusalem for Passover wanted to meet with him, he = could see that his time on earth was growing shorter by the day. The more widespread his reputation,= the greater the risk to his life. So he told them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.R= 21; He went on to say that his soul was troubled. Then he began to ta= lk to them about his impending death.

&= nbsp; No= w we are so familiar with the story of Jesus’ death that when hear Jesus telli= ng his disciples that he was going to be killed, we just sort of nod. We know that that is exactly what happened. But, if you think a= bout it, death was not the only option available to Jesus. He might have chosen a differen= t path. When he realized that t= he authorities were upset with his unconventional ways, he might have stepped = back a bit. He might have quit han= ging out with tax collectors and “sinners” and women; he might have stopped touching lepers, or at least made sure that he followed the mandated purification rituals after doing so; he might have quit violating the Sabba= th laws and stopped his tirade against animal sacrifice; he might have quit referring to God as his “Father,” and stopped being so visible = in Jerusalem. He might have gone= back home to Galilee, where such aberrations were more easily accepted – w= here he might have died of old age.

&= nbsp; But he did not do that. Instead, = he stayed the course that he had been on since his days in the wilderness wher= e, still wet from his baptism, he had considered – and rejected – = the easier path. Even when he kne= w that the forces of this world were circling around him, Jesus remained in Jerusa= lem, the city that had once broken his heart and soon would break his body. There would be no turning back. Jesus would remain true to his Fat= her and to his Father’s plan for his life, whatever the cost – what= ever the outcome.

&= nbsp; That outcome, as we well know, was a humiliating and painful death on a Roman cross. But let me be clear: The humiliation and the pain and t= he death were not the goal of Jesus’ life. They were the byproducts of his life. They were the worst the= world could do to the Son of Man, who came from God to show us the way to God. They were the consequence of his r= adical message of God’s love for all people. But even in the face of the very w= orst the world could do, Jesus remained true to his Father and to his divine calling. And so it was that e= ven with a troubled soul, Jesus did not pray that God would save him from his h= our of pain. No, he understood th= at he could trust his Father, even when the very worst befell him. He knew that he was walking a path= that led not just to death, but more importantly, to life as he was meant to live it.

&= nbsp; And that is true for all who follow Jesus, as well. As he taught Philip and Andrew, he= also teaches us that “those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” That was Jesus’ own choice &= #8211; to protect his life or to lose his life – and that is our choice, as well.

&= nbsp; We can, if we choose, cling to life on the world’s terms, seeking power = and possessions and popularity and fame and comfort. We can hang onto life as we know i= t with everything we’ve got, spending our time and money and energy to prote= ct things just the way they are. We can set as our goal a life free from change or conflict or pain. Or we can choose another way: We c= an be those who, in Jesus’ words, “hate their life in this world.”

&= nbsp; Now you may be thinking that this sounds a bit harsh. “Hate” our lives? Is that what God really wants of u= s? I will admit that I’ve always thought Jesus was just using a bit of hyperbole to make a point here. Surely he doesn’t really wan= t us to “hate” our lives in this world, does he? After all, he made the whole world= and declared that it was “good”.&n= bsp; Why would he want us to hate our lives? To be perfectly honest, I don̵= 7;t “hate” my life. I= enjoy it. You could even say I love= it.

I found a helpful insigh= t into what Jesus was saying here in a piece that Barbara Brown Taylor wrote. She suggests that what Jesus means= here is that we should “hate all the ways we cheapen our lives by chasing comfort, safety, and superiority in this world” – that we should hate all that enough to stop it and start chasing God instead, with the res= ult that “then there will be no end to the abundance of our lives.” [Barbara Brown Taylor, God in Pain, p. 63.] And that makes sense to me. The goal isn’t simply to hate life; the goal is to free ourselves from anything that keeps us from living eternal life in God right here and now.

And what keeps us away f= rom God’s abundance in our lives more than all those un-Godly messages th= at bombard us every day, from billboards and TV and friends and family and politicians and any other source you can think of. I don’t know about you, but = I do hate all the ways in which the world lies to us about what really matters.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I do hate the message our c= ulture sends to our youth about what will make them happy. I do hate the worldview of competition, with life winners and life losers, and a growing gap between t= he two. I do hate the not= ion that “the person who dies with the most toys wins.”

Jesus knew, and he wants= us to know as well, that clinging to life on the world’s terms is no life at all. But when we let that kin= d of life go – when we live in the reign of God, and not the reign of the rulers of this world – we find the life for which we were born. But how do we do that, you ask? How do we live in the reign of God= ? The answer is profoundly simple. We live in the reign of God by acknowledging God as Lord of our lives, above all the other little-g “gods” that entice us. We follow the path that Jesus set out for us – the way that led him to the cross – not with the goal of dying, but with the goal of living as he did, in service to all.

For us, as for Jesus, ma= rtyrdom is not the goal. But it somet= imes happens – not in a literal sense, for most of us, but in other ways.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> When you speak of Jesus’ rad= ical message of love for all people, you can expect that some forces will try to silence you. When you say “no” to that better-paying job that means you’ll have too little time with your family, you can expect folks to tell you you’re crazy. When you hang out with people no one else will touch, you can expect people to shun you. When people see you as a threat to= the religious establishment, you never know just what they’ll do.

But there really is only= one way to the abundant life that God intends for us all, and that is to trust Jesus and to follow him. He invites= us all to do just that. If you l= ove your life just the way it is, watch out.&n= bsp; But if you seek to follow Jesus, you’ll be amazed at the fulln= ess of life that God gives.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

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