The Light of Christ – John 12:20-36

The verses that led me to the title for today’s message are the last verses in the reading from the Gospel of John.  Starting in Chapter 12 John recounts the last days in the earthly life of Jesus. He begins the chapter with the anointing of Jesus by Mary – the sister of Martha and of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. He then describes the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  The crowd that had witnessed the raising of Lazarus and the other miracles of Jesus continued to praise Jesus declaring him to be the one who comes in the name of the Lord and declaring him to be the King of Israel.  John even tells us that Greeks had come to Jerusalem for the festival and they came to Philip and asked to see Jesus. It seemed like the whole world was coming to Jerusalem and that they were delighted to know that Jesus was there.

But while many people want to see Jesus, Jesus knows that the time for him to be in the world is drawing to a close. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”  Jesus then goes on to relate the image of a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying’ yet its death is not something to be mourned for the purpose of its dying is that it might give life to many by becoming a shaft of wheat.  A seed is planted but inside the seed there is life. The shell of the seed falls away and in a sense dies but the life within it grows and gives life to more than it ever could if it remained a seed.  The words love and hate seem out of place as it seems that we are to hate our life in this world.  But I believe that the real intent is to join the image of the seed with our life and so begin to understand that the body we inhabit is like the seed.  If the seed is never planted in the soil and watered and tended, it will never become anything. If we love the seed more than the plant or tree it can become, we deny the seed the opportunity to fulfil its destiny. And loving it more than we love what it can become, it is lost.  But if we are willing to let the seed die and the life inside it grow, the seed will fulfil its destiny  and give birth to a mature plant.

Our life in this shell we call a body can only find its fulfilment when we are less concerned with how many years it survives in this life and more concerned with what it can become.  The point Jesus is making that we will be willing to let go of this body, this shell if we are ready to serve God by following Jesus wherever that may lead.  Jesus knows that the time is coming when his seed will fall into the ground and die yet it will bring forth life. So too the disciples are challenged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what should I say? Father, save me from this hour?” The words remind us of the temptations of Jesus.  How much would it take for Jesus to ask the Father to save him from the life he knew he was destined to live and what would it take now to save him from the death that he knew awaited him.  Jesus’ answer to his own question is: “No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” The reason he is referring to is the overcoming of everything that has ever kept humanity from living eternally in the presence and company of God – to be the Lamb whose blood will cover the sins of the world and allow death to eternally pass.   The name of God was glorified at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and it would be glorified again at the end.

One of the hardest concepts for any of us to grasp is that of deliverance or salvation.  As much as the Old Testament prophecies described the Messiah, his mission and his sufferings, there was an expectation among the people of Israel of a mighty warrior who would bring freedom to the people and restore the kingdom of Israel to its former glory.  As a people who had been oppressed over and over throughout their history and who had experienced any kind of freedom for relatively short periods of time, they were looking for a physical freedom from the tyranny of those who had subjugated them.   The deliverance that Jesus was talking about went beyond the bounds of this world and beyond the limits of flesh and blood.  The first Passover was very much about freedom from tyranny but it was a freedom that preserved the life of the people to fulfil the destiny of being the people of God. The deliverance that Jesus would effect was the second Passover – one that would not be about freedom from the tyranny of this world but freedom in the deepest sense – a freedom of body, mind and spirit that would transcend the present reality and deliver those who believed into a realm where nothing could ever sever the bond between God and humanity.  Jesus was the Son of Man – born of Mary – and the Son of God – born of the Spirit.

Into the darkness that pervaded the world in more than just the absence of light, Jesus shone with words of hope and actions of healing.  Every restoration of sight, of hearing, of speech, of movement and of mind was light being shed on the darkness that had afflicted those he touched. His teachings had pierced the darkness that people had felt as they struggled to understand how God could truly love them when they felt so inadequate and powerless to do what they thought was pleasing to him.

Jesus was a light in the darkness, a light that shone brighter than any other light had ever shone before.  I have walked in darkness many times and I know how dangerous and how frightening it can be. In darkness we cautiously put one foot in front of the other hoping and praying that we will not suddenly fall.  But just one point of light can give us a focus and we can move toward that light with hope.

Jesus said, “While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” In those last days when the light of the world was with them, Jesus encouraged them to believe in his words and to follow his path and so become children of light. And we are children of light when we make the decision to serve God by following the path of our Lord. “

“I am the light of the world”, declared Jesus, “ Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

AMEN