The Moment (John 12:19-50)

Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC... 

 The Moment (John 12:19-50)

 

Death: Jack! Your time is up. I'll take you now.

Jack: Not today please, I have a lot more to do.

Death: Oh no, you're the first on the list to die.

Jack: Alright, let me finish what I'm doing first. I'll make you some coffee while you wait. After that, then we can leave.

(Jack put sleeping pills in the coffee and when Death fell asleep, Jack erased his name and placed it at the end of the list)

Death: Woah! My friend, I slept well. You're a good person Jack, you treated me very well. Because of that, I'll just start with the last one on the list.

 

The hour has arrived. It’s time for Jesus to return to the Father by way of the cross. All the pieces are falling into place. The Sanhedrin have decided Jesus must die.

 

The High Priest Caiaphas said, “…it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” (Jn 11:50)

 

After the raising of Lazarus, multitudes flocked to Jesus. As Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover festival, the crowds greeted him as their king. The Pharisees fretted, “You see, we can do nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him!” (Jn 12:19)

 

News of Jesus had reached beyond Israel. Now Greeks visiting Jerusalem wished to speak with Jesus. Jesus knew that his message would soon reach the whole world. The moment had arrived. Now was the time for the glory of God to be revealed in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Now the devil, sin, and death will be defeated. God’s love will prove to be the very power of life. Life conquers death. Faith conquers cynical unbelief. Love conquers all that the devil might employ to destroy us.

 

This is a unique moment in the gospels. John writes of this pivotal moment when Jesus knows his time has come. His ministry has reached the crucial moment. Everything he has said and done has led him to this hour. Even the crowds know something amazing is happening when a voice from above speaks.

 

I don’t know why, but every time I read this story, I think of the Wizard of Oz when the Wicked Witch of the West startles Oz by writing in the sky “Surrender Dorothy!” The people of Oz are frightened. Dorothy is dispatched by the wizard to go and get the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West, which meant she would most likely have to kill the witch. That event, in Dorothy’s adventure in the Land of Oz, was the pivotal moment. The witch desired the ruby slippers which Dorothy wore. The only way to get her hands on those slippers was to kill Dorothy. She either accepts the mission to get the broom, or she must flee the Emerald City and spend her life on the run from the witch.

 

In our life’s journey there will be pivotal moments that come. There’s life before such a moment and the changed life after. When such moments arrive, will we be prepared to make the right choice?

 

When Jesus knew the moment of his death was soon to come, he said,

 

“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. ²⁵ Those who love (fond of) their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it (Guard or Keep watch) for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.” (John 12:24-26)

 

This saying of Jesus is similar to Matthew 16:24-26.

 

Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their soul?

 

Jesus connects life to a choice to die to self. When we choose to deny our selfish desires, and serve the mission of Jesus Christ, we find the way to Life abundant.

 

The moment for Jesus’ death had arrived, but it was also the moment for judgement. The prince of this world is cast out. Jesus will draw all people to His cross. The devil draws people through selfish desires. This moment of judgment reveals to the world the empty end of self-seeking and the life-giving destiny of selflessness.

 

Thomas Aquinas wrote about the seven deadly sins: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth.

 

Pride is an excessive view of oneself. It produces arrogance. A prideful person tends to ignore the needs of others and only focuses on their own wants and desires.

 

Greed is an excessive desire for more and more material goods and wealth. The greedy take more than their share, producing poverty for others.

 

Lust is a selfish desire for sex. Lust uses others for personal pleasure, sex for sex sake. Lust is not an expression of love, but of appetite. As Paul wrote, “Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” (Php 3:19)

 

 

Envy is to covet, to want what other people have. Envy leads to dissatisfaction, an inability to enjoy what one has with gratitude. Envy leads to theft, manipulation, and the exploitation of people and resources. Envy can lead to hating those who have what you do not.

 

Gluttony is about overconsumption. Gluttony is not just overeating, it’s overconsumption of all kinds of resources. America represents less than 5% of the world’s population, but we consume way more than our share.

 

America consumes

16% of energy resources

25% of oil

23% coal

33% of paper

27% aluminum

19% copper

 

Our consumption of resources is 35 times more than citizens of India and 53% more than people in China. Americans are overweight and overdrawn. We live paycheck to paycheck as we consume, consume, consume. Consumption of goods and services may be good for business, but it creates need for others.

 

We produce 30% of the world’s garbage. On average, each American uses about 160 gallons of water per day. Water down the drain, down the toilet, the shower, the laundry, the kitchen and garden. Our overconsumption puts a strain on the environment through greenhouse gas emissions and land degradation. The extinction of plant and animal species on this planet has grown to 100 times higher than what is natural. The loss of habitat, climate change, hunting and pollution are bringing about the extinction of 30,000 species each year. When will this madness stop?

 

When will we learn that enough is enough? Overconsumption is not a good thing. It is harmful to personal health and the health of this planet.

 

Wrath leads to suffering, violence and murder. Sloth is an excessive laziness. We enjoy our creature comforts. But the Proverbs warn

 

Go to the ant, you lazybones;
    consider its ways and be wise.
⁷ Without having any chief
    or officer or ruler,
⁸ it prepares its food in summer
    and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
⁹ How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
    When will you rise from your sleep?
¹⁰ A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
¹¹ and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want, like an armed warrior. (Prv 6:6-11)

 

These sins are deadly because pursuing life selfishly can lead to an early grave and cause suffering for many along the path. This is how the devil draws people to their destruction. He makes it all seem so good and yet we miss the way that leads to life.

 

The way that leads to life is not attractive. Jesus bids us to die to ourselves, to deny our personal desires. He calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him into selfless ministry. There’s nothing attractive about that. The call of Jesus runs counter to the flashing appeal of consumerism. And yet, it is by dying, that we find the wellspring of life. It is by learning to do with less that we discover how much we are blessed with the things that last. These are things like love, friendship, family, faith, and hope.

 

The moment we make our faith about our personal benefit is the moment we step off the path that leads to life. In the film Field of Dreams, the main character Ray Kinsella, builds a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, putting his family farm at risk. He did so because he heard a voice and received a vision. “If you build it, they will come.” Ray’s journey meant sacrifice. He was blessed along the way by momentous encounters and allies.

 

At the end of the film, one of his allies was invited to the great beyond into the depths of the tall corn, but Ray was not invited. This upset Ray. He was the one who built the field after all. “What about me?” he griped. One of the heavenly visitors, Shoeless Joe Jackson, urged Ray to think about what he was saying. Ray decided to let go of his complaint.

 

Just then he saw the spirit of his estranged father, and the two of them played pitch and catch, a symbolic moment of redemption where all Ray’s pain was healed. That moment would not have arrived had Ray continued grumbling, “What about me?” It came precisely because he obeyed the call of God to serve others.

 

Jesus said,

 

Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 

³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” (John 12:35-36)

 

Jesus is the light that will lead us to Life. If we love Jesus, we will obey his commandment to love, for love fulfills the law. Self-denial and selfless love leads to eternal life. Eternal life is to know God who is love, and Jesus Christ who showed us the example of love by laying down His life for us.

 

In Jerusalem, that last week of His life, Jesus knew his time had come to die. He made his choice for you, and for me, so that we might live forever in the love of God.

 

May God grant you grace that, when your moment comes, you may choose to die to self, that you might live, for God’s glory, for all time.