Monday, March 18, 2024

Hate Your Life

John 12: 20-33 
Lent 5
March 16, 2024

 

Wheat Fields Crows and Cross
Milford

Some Greeks ask to see Jesus.

It doesn’t say a whole lot about these Greeks,

but we can infer some things.

It says that they were Greeks.

In other words, they were Gentiles by 

birth, non-Jewish people

And it says that they were in town

worshipping for the festival of the Passover.

 

Maybe they’ve converted to the Jewish faith.

Not unheard of, even in that time.

Or maybe they haven’t converted, but they’re spiritually curious,

Like people today they’re trying out different things,

hoping to find the one that fits.

Or maybe they are just religious tourists

fascinated with other people’s spiritual practices.

Like people of different faiths, or no faith,

visiting churches and temples, like people come to town

for a Irish Festival or an Italian Festival.

 

For whatever reason they’re there,

now they want to see Jesus. They said they just want to see Jesus.

They don’t want to hear Jesus or get to know Jesus.

They want to see Jesus. Jesus had developed a reputation for

doing many impressive things and they just wanted to see him.

Maybe see a miracle, if he’s up to it.

If it were modern times, they might have just wanted

to get a selfie with him to show their friends.

They just want to see Jesus. 

Maybe tell everyone they saw Jesus.  Just observe, not get involved.

Like they told Andrew, and Andrew told Phillip,

and Andrew and Phillip told Jesus.

“We want to see Jesus, please. “

They’re very polite.

 

So , I don’t think these Greeks at the festival –

or even Andrew and Phillip – were quite prepared

for the speech that they got from Jesus.

Somehow their arrival prompts Jesus to give

a short sermon to everyone around him.

He tells them that this is it.

Now is the time for Jesus to be glorified.

And for that to happen, he was going to die.

 

Uh, we just wanted to see Jesus.

 

Jesus talks about his death. He compares himself to wheat,

saying if a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies,

it spreads it’s seeds around so that more can grow.

In other words, Jesus death isn’t just a death

it’s for the benefit of all people, so that others can live.

 

Now, we understand and believe that in Jesus death there’s life,

that somehow because Jesus died and rose,

that  gives us eternal life.

 

But there’s more to it than that,

because Jesus also says this life and death cycle applies to us too:

He says, “Those who love their life lose it and those who

hate their lives will keep it for eternal life.”

Jesus is expecting us to die too. Maybe even the Greeks.

 

The Greeks are getting much more than they bargained for here.

 

So really, hate our lives?  What does Jesus mean by that?

Should we reject everything on this earth

and just focus on Spiritual things? 

Should we be negative all the time always complaining? 

Should we be outraged by everything that happens this world?

(some Christians have taken Jesus words to mean just that.)

I thought we were supposed to live with gratitude every day.

That seems more healthy and Christ-like than hating our lives.

 

I mean, I don’t hate my life, I  actually love my life.

I love my job, my husband, my home, my job, my friends.

I love doing the things I enjoy. I love my life.

Does that mean I’m going to lose it?

 

And those Greeks just wanted to see Jesus.

 

So I don’t think Jesus wants us to actually hate our lives.

Jesus is using hyperbole again, exaggeration, which he uses often,

and which often throws people off today.

 

What I think he means is this:

We should not cling to the things of our lives,

we should be willing to give them up if we need to.

We should long for God’s kingdom, God’s ways, God’s will.

And do everything to see it come to reality.

Even if gaining the kingdom means losing something

that you have grown fond of  and even love.

Hate your life.

Don’t love all the things of this world so much

that you won’t trade the gospel for them.

 

The gospel of Jesus, the gospel of serving others,

The work of justice, and love requires sacrifice.

As Christians, we are asked to give up things that

we might love in order to see God’s vision through.

 

Those who cling to the  things of this world,

the power, the comforts, the predictability,

their status, their reputations, even their traditions,

and refuse to give them up for God’s vision,

will find that the things they cling to are temporary

and unsatisfying.


Jesus is saying don’t love the things of this life so much,

that you are not willing to release them for God’s sake.

  

To quote Martin Luther in A Mighty Fortress:

“Were they to take our house, goods, honor,

child, or spouse, though life be wrenched away,

they cannot win the day, the kingdom’s ours forever.”

 

And all those poor Greeks wanted to do was see Jesus.

 

This world is filled with stories of people who cling to their

power and their money and their comfort and won’t

give it up, and this results in terrible consequences

even if it means taking many, many lives.

 

Kings and queens and presidents and pastors,

prime ministers, and CEO’s and senators and representatives ,

who hold onto their positions long after they’re time.

 

The president of Syria refused to leave office,

even though it has meant 14 years of war,

and his beautiful country basically destroyed.

And we have our own issue in this country with that, don’t we?

 

73% of our Senate and 50% of our congress is over 70 years old.

And both of the people running for president now

were born in the 1940’s

And one of them just promised a “bloodbath” if he loses.

 

And you and I cling to our love of fossil fuels and plastics

and other conveniences, even though it’s wreaking havoc

with our environment. We’re just beginning to see the results now

and our children and our grandchildren will have

to deal with more repercussions in the future.

 

We cling to our right to own guns so hard in this country

And just in the first three months of this year

5000 people already have been killed by gun violence.

  

And we see what’s happening in our own churches.

I don’t have to go in to statistics and details because you know.

Is it because we can’t let go or let in new ideas?

Is it because we’re afraid of the changes that

younger generations will bring?

Are we loving and grasping so hard to it that it’s losing its life?


 Pr. June, we didn't want to hear all this.


Hate your life.

Be uncomfortable with the way things are.

Be uncomfortable with the privileges you have and

see where you can give your power to someone else.

Don’t be so attached to the way it is that you fight the change

that the Holy Spirit is trying to make.

Be willing to let it go so that the Kingdom of God can come to earth.

Let go of your life, so that the Kingdom of God can flourish.

 

Pr. June, we just wanted to come and see Jesus today.

 

So see Jesus. See what Jesus did.

Jesus loved his life, I’m sure. He loved his friends,

he loved his ministry, he loved to eat and drink.

He loved healing people and telling stories about God.

And then he stepped aside in death and let his followers take over.

 

Jesus had the ability to live eternally on earth and rule forever.

But Jesus didn’t do that.

Maybe it would have been nice to have him around.

But he didn’t want to be about him,

he wanted it to be about us, and about future generations

who will share the gospel with their future generations.

Jesus became the seed that bore much fruit.

Generations and generations of fruit.

 

Like those Greeks at that festival.

We want to see Jesus.

And certainly we certainly have.

We have seen the light in the world

that scatters the darkness,

and we can testify to that.

We have seen death and life again.

 

But Jesus doesn’t just want us to see him.

Jesus wants us to be him.

Jesus doesn’t need religious tourists who

just say they saw him and behave the same as they did before.

Jesus wants disciples.

Jesus saved us, so we could be him to the world.

Be his hands and feet, and do his work.

And also, when the time comes, Jesus wants us to

“hate our lives” to let go of what we have,

and let the seeds fall, so that others can live.

 

“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. 

Those who love their life lose it,

and those who hate their life in this world

will keep it for eternal life. “

 

Let us see Jesus.

Let us truly see Jesus.

And let us be Jesus for the sake of the world.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Just As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent

Crucifixion 
Paul Chester

John 3:14-21  4 Lent March 11, 2018

 

The Book of Numbers is a book which shows

to its readers or hearers how God was present

with the Israelites even during 

their 40 years in the wilderness.

 

In this time in the wilderness, God is an unpredictable

and sometimes dangerous character, 

and in this early stage 

of their relationship between the Israelites and the 

all-mighty and powerful creator of the universe,

the people aren’t really sure how to handle this new relationship.

 

Some people have likened dealing with God in this time

to dealing with a nuclear reactor.

If everything goes well, things are wonderful and 

great power is harnessed. But if one piece is forgotten or overlooked,

it’s disaster for everyone involved.

 

It’s main character in the book is Moses.

The one with the direct link to God.

God and Moses and the people had a complicated relationship.

God would talk to Moses, Moses would tell the people what God said.

The people would talk to Moses,

and Moses would tell God what the people said

 

In churches we were told to avoid triangulation as much as possible.

Having a conversation with someone through another person

to try and influence their behavior is not a good idea.

But right at the beginning, our first biblical hero is caught in the worst one.

 

By the time of Numbers, the Israelites

had been out in the wilderness for a few years.

The miracle of the Red Sea was a distant memory to some of them.

And the people were cranky and frustrated.

“Why did we ever leave Egypt” they said over and over.

“Oh, we should have stayed in Egypt.  


Things were so much better there.”

Meaning while they were slaves to the Egyptians.

The people turn on Moses and his brother Aaron repeatedly.

Then God would threaten to do something horrible to the people

and then Moses would beg God not to do it.

And God would usually give in.

And this would be repeated over and over.

It was not a healthy relationship.

In Chapter 21, which we read today,

Moses and the Israelites find themselves again by the Red Sea.

Where it all started, where God had done such amazing things for them.

But instead of remembering God’s saving acts,

the people again start whining and crying,

“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to die?

We used to have food there.

We hate this manna that you’ve given us.”

In other words, we have nothing to eat . . .

and we don’t like it anyway. Like toddlers.

 

Finally, the story says, God had had it.

The people had forgotten about what he had done at the Red Sea.

And they insulted food that God has made them.

The nuclear reactor was springing a leak.


So God released poisonous snakes and the people

were bitten and many of them died.

The people begged Moses to go back and tell God they were sorry

and they asked Moses to ask God to take away the serpents.

 

Now, I always ask, “did God actually send snakes to them?

Or were God’s chosen people having such a terrible time

and they reasoned that God’s anger with them was the cause?”

This is something I debate whenever we read the Hebrew Scriptures.

Regardless  --  Where the snakes came from

is not the most important part of this story.

The remedy is the most important part.

 

After the snakes, Moses went back to God and,

asked God to take the snakes away and of course, God gave in.

But the remedy was unusual, a paradox really, a mystery.

The people wanted God to “take away the serpents from us”

But God did not just take the serpents away.

God doesn’t even make the serpents stop biting them.

Deliverance does not come in the way that they expected.

 

The remedy was this:

God tells Moses to make another poisonous serpent --  

a permanent reminder of this episode with the snakes --

and set it on a pole and raise it up in front of the people.

Moses did it, he made the serpent out of bronze and put it on a pole.

It doesn’t go into any detail about how Moses established 

a bronze workshop in the middle of the desert.

Regardless, he made this bronze snake on a stick and

Whenever those who were bitten and destined

for death looked at the serpent, they would live.

 

God didn’t take the serpents away.

The snakes didn’t stop biting,

the remedy wasn’t to remove the evil.

The remedy was to look at the evil,

see the problem, remember the pain, and then they would live.

The only remedy was for them to look at the snake that bit them.

 

In the John story, Jesus tells Nicodemus

that he will be like that snake, he will be lifted up

so that we can look at him.

Jesus, on the cross, is lifted up, so we can look at the snake of violence

and in the same way, we will live.

 

We have lived with Jesus death and the cross

as a symbol for so long, and we have tamed and 

domesticated it so much, that many people forget what it was:

it was an instrument of torture, capital punishment, 

a public display of the power which some people have

to control and subdue, to silence, and oppress others.

The cross is a symbol of our violence towards others.

 

It’s violence that still used today to the same ends.

Like in war, when we dehumanize others in order

to feel good about killing them.

In the systemic racism that has existed in our country

since its foundation and still drives our economy and function.

In mass incarceration of large portions of our population,

in our stubborn refusal in this country to join most of the rest of the

developed world and abolish the death penalty,

In our neglect and suspicion of the poor around us.

In our hatred of immigrants, which seems to rise

to ugly levels during election years.

In our worship of guns and when we turn our head 

and shrug our shoulders at the gun violence in this country 

as if there is nothing we can do about it an we just have to live with the killing.

This is the same violence that we see represented

in the cross of Jesus: violence that dominates and oppresses.

 

And like the Israelites blamed God for the poisonous snakes,

The church has often said that Jesus died on the cross

to satisfy God’s anger at us for our sins.

That makes it easier for us to take, as if it was all God’s

idea and doing.

 

But the cross was not God’s invention, it was our invention.

Humans made this method of torture and have made

other, countless methods of torture too.

God did not kill his son to satisfy God’s wrath,

God heard our wrath. God heard our constant 

request for someone’s blood --  And gave us his own blood instead.

God said, “You want someone to die? I’ll die for you!”

 

God’s remedy for all this violence and blood lust was

not to just take it away and pretend it wasn’t there.

Instead, God lifted it up, made it the central symbol of our

religion, a constant reminder of what we are capable of.

 

Like that serpent in the wilderness,

the remedy to our evil is to look at it, recognize it

deal with it, acknowledge it as a society,

as a country, as a whole species.

To look at the violence that we cause, aid, abet,

demand, ignore, and avoid.

And maybe one day, we will put an end to it.

 

As Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness,

Christ has been lifted up on the cross for us.

Look at the cross, look into the snake of human violence that bites us all.

Because deep in that cross is also God’s power of resurrection,

God’s power to make life again.

 

Because, in spite of all we can do and have done to each other,

in spite of the violence, in spite of the hatred,

and cries for blood, and apathy, and greed, and unchecked privilege,

in spite of our comfort with other people’s suffering,

 

God still so loved this world that he gave his only son

to die for us, in front of us, at our own hands.

In order that one day, we, as the human race,

will really learn the lessons of the cross,

and maybe, one day, the world might choose life instead of death.