5th Sunday in Lent

I wonder whether and how you celebrated St Patrick’s day yesterday?

My first experience of St Patrick’s day was of the green everywhere. Leaping green Leprechauns with large green hats and green hair. The larger than life St Patrick, the famous bishop wearing green and yellow. (It’s sad that NI bishops didn’t catch that trend in fashion). There were fluttering shamrock banners. I didn’t quite figure what the Leprechauns and all the green had to do with St Patrick’s…but was told it’s Irish and so it fits.

I hadn’t heard much about St Patrick before I arrived in Ireland. The first thing Paul (my husband) told me was that St Patrick had driven all the snakes out of Ireland. I hate snakes, so that endeared the holy man to me, and won my respect.

But I have read learnt more about St Patrick since then.

Amidst all the legends, one fact leaps out.

St Patrick returned to Ireland, the place he was trafficked to as a 16-year-old child slave! Why did he return? Because when he escaped to Britain, he encountered Christ there. And he eventually felt that God was calling him to bring the message of Christ back to Ireland.

I want to suggest to you, that St Patrick was a grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died. Like Jesus. A grain of wheat that bore a great harvest. Like Jesus did.

 

Today’s gospel reading is a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. It is when Jesus begins to speak openly about his death and crucifixion. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” – the hour when Jesus begins his journey towards the cross. During the weeks of Lent, we remember these weeks and events leading up to the crucifixion.

Jesus presents himself as the grain of wheat that would fall to the ground and die. His death, and resurrection would bear much fruit. In fact, we are here this morning as the fruit of his sacrifice and resurrection.

To set the scene for our gospel reading, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. The Chief Priests and Pharisees were plotting to cover it up by killing both Jesus and Lazarus. Meanwhile, the news about Lazarus had spread to the crowds at the Passover festival. So, on the day we now call Palm Sunday, the crowds flocked to see Jesus as he entered Jerusalem.

The Greeks were in Jerusalem for the Passover and had probably heard about the miracle of Lazarus – news like that travels fast! And so they wanted to see Jesus. But because of the crowds milling around Jesus, the Greeks approach Andrew, who tells Jesus about them. Jesus’ response suggests that Greeks probably had indicated that they wanted to follow him Jesus.

Now Jesus was well used to crowds flocking to him, attracted by his miracles. People often told Jesus they wanted to follow him. And equally often, Jesus responded with warnings – if they want to follow him there is a cost. Foxes have holes and birds have nests, he told once said, but he had nowhere to lay his head…it would be the same for those who followed him.

We here Jesus for the first time declare that his death and resurrection will draw all people to him – not just Jews. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, nailed to its wooden beams, on the first Good Friday, he was opening his arms wide to a broken world that included Gentiles and Greeks. And when God lifted him up in the resurrection, eternal life was offered to all, including the Greeks.

Jesus then describes himself as a grain of wheat that would fall to the earth and die and bear much fruit. In his love for the world and for us, Jesus did not value his life above ours. You could even say, he hated his own life in comparison.

And so, he warns, “Unless,” says Jesus, a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a single grain. If it dies, it bears much fruit.” To all, including the Greeks who wanted to follow and serve him Jesus has a caution. They (and we) cannot follow unless they accept his call to be a grain of wheat that dies and bears fruit. Like him.

But aren’t we all like the Greeks and the crowd there. We want the miracles. We like the blessings and the assurance of eternity. We are so glad to be redeemed. We even want to follow him. And Jesus’ warning makes us uncomfortable.

As Tom Wright puts it, we focus on the fact that Jesus who redeems us from sin and death. But we forget that Jesus redeems us for.

So what are we redeemed for? To follow him and be that grain of wheat.

But it isn’t by any means easy to follow, to be that grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies. We find that even Jesus struggled, as his soul is troubled when he thinks of the cost. He finds it hard to be that grain of wheat. Yet Jesus is clear and uncompromising in this. And it is uncomfortable to hear. Jesus tells us that if we love our lives, we will lose it. The phrase – “those who love their life will lose it” – is found in all the gospels. Why? Because the gospel writers understood that this was a vital part of Jesus’ uncompromising call to follow him. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says “if anyone wants to be my disciple, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Many of Jesus’ followers and disciples were persecuted in the first century and lost their lives for his sake. And Christians continued to lose their lives today.

What does it mean for us to be that grain of wheat falling to the earth and bearing fruit? It means being willing to put the Kingdom of God and his righteousness first. Losing our life for Christ’s Kingdom, just as he lost his life for our salvation.

Jesus describes himself as a grain of wheat. But in the Gospel of John, Jesus also tells us that he is the Bread of life. He tells us that the Father gives us the true bread from heaven – that Bread of life that gives life to the world. At communion we feed on the bread made from wheat that had fallen to the ground and died to bear much fruit. The grain of wheat, that fell to the earth, and died was made into the bread that we might eat and live.

 

Let me close by returning to St Patrick. The public celebrations of St Patrick’s Day often forget the legacy of this deeply Christian saint, who had a powerful and lasting enormous influence on Ireland. St Patrick returned as a missionary and became Ireland’s second bishop. He brought the message about Christ’s to many who had never heard. He baptised thousands of people. And it wasn’t easy.

He describes how his life was at risk, and how he was sometimes imprisoned by the local non-Christian chiefs. In his Confessio he says: “How I would have loved to go to my country and my parents, and also to Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to see the face of the saints of my Lord! God knows it! that I much desired it; but I am bound by the Spirit.” St Patrick was that grain of wheat that fell to the ground and died. His life bore the fruit of the thousands who followed Jesus.

As we seek to follow Jesus, are we willing to be that grain of wheat?