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Dear Friends,
Here is the link to today's sermon on YouTube, and the manuscript is attached. Hope you can join us on Zoom next Sunday!
Blessings,
Pastor Chris
Sermon – "Dying to Live" – John 12:12-26
March 28, 2021
Chris Coon, PBPC
Introduction
If you've ever experienced a riptide, then you know that it is both terrifying and disorienting. I've never experienced it as a swimmer, but I have in a small rubber raft when I was a teenager. The effect is that the tide keeps pulling you out towards the open ocean; people can swim (or paddle) against it as hard as they can until they are exhausted; countless people have drowned this way. The secret of dealing with a riptide, as signs posted at the beaches will tell you, is to relax and let it carry you outward; once you're out a bit from shore, you can swim sideways, parallel to the beach, for a short distance, and the same tide will actually bring you back into shore. This is completely counterintuitive – the natural instinct when being pulled out is to fight against it; but it is actually swimming in a different direction that you eventually get back to shore. This is an example of a paradox: swimming away from shore to get to shore. Today we will consider the life and mission of Jesus, which defined by paradox.
John 12:12-26
12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
the King of Israel!"
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written:
15 "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Look, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!"
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him. 17 So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify. 18 It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him. 19 The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!"
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 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. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it 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.
The Ironic Entry
We traditionally call this story of Jesus entering Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week the "Triumphal Entry." This is because the scene is filled with royal and messianic references. The palm branches which the crowd carry often symbolized goodness or victory in the ancient world. In the other gospel accounts people lay their cloaks down on the road for Jesus to walk upon, a sign acknowledging his kingship. The term hosanna literally means, "save now," and is a way of expressing special honor to the one who saves. The symbolic entry into the city is the way the people would welcome a conquering king or general. This entire scene is a spontaneous and enthusiastic – and hopeful – acclamation of Jesus as the promised Messiah, the one who would be the king and savior of Israel.
This amazing outpouring of excitement and support is not entirely unexpected, at least not to Jesus himself. He actually encourages it by procuring for himself a donkey to ride on; in doing so, he is fulfilling a messianic image taken from the Old Testament prophetic book of Zechariah, "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" The significance of this could not be lost on many of the people, who would have been familiar with the scripture and with messianic hopes and expectations. Jesus was effectively proclaiming himself to be the Messiah.
However, in light of the subsequent events of Holy Week – the developing plot against Jesus by the religious authorities, the betrayal by one of his own disciples, the arrest and mock trial, the humiliating treatment and punishment, and finally the public execution – we need to ask in what way this entry into Jerusalem was triumphant. The crowd that so enthusiastically welcomed Jesus into the city either melted away or turned against him. He was apparently just one more failed Messiah.
The Paradox of Jesus
The life and mission of Jesus, and indeed the life and mission of Jesus' followers, are defined by paradox. A paradox is defined as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. Popular expectation held that the Messiah would lead an armed revolt against Israel's foreign conquerors, crush all of the unrighteous opposition, and re-establish God's kingdom in Israel. A conquering king would typically ride on a horse, and yet Jesus consciously chooses to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, an animal associated with peace and humility.
This humility is central to the paradox of who Jesus is and what he will do. He is by his very nature God, and yet he set this godhood aside to become human. God and man at the same time, ultimate power and ultimate humility. And he had predicted to his disciples many times that he would suffer and die, but this was incomprehensible to them because the Messiah by definition had to live in order to successfully save his people. Yet it would be by facing the powers, both earthly and spiritual, and allowing them to do their worst to him that Jesus would engage his mission to save. By suffering and dying on the cross, Jesus took the sins of the world, and their consequences upon himself and defeated them. And it was through death that Jesus fulfilled his words, "I am the resurrection and the life."
Jesus' words following his entry in to Jerusalem describe the paradox of his mission: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 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." A tiny seed carries within it the potential for an incredible amount of life. The largest and most long-lived things in our world – think of the giant sequoias – are born from the tiniest of seeds. But the seed itself will not do anything on its own if it remains what it is, just a seed. It is only by dying to what it is that it becomes something more, what it is intended to become. It was only through death, and being "buried" like a seed, that Jesus burst forth from the tomb with the power of new life. Life comes from death, the ultimate paradox.
The Paradox of Following Jesus
Now we must recognize that not only is Jesus' life and mission defined by paradox, but the lives of his followers are as well. Numerous statements throughout Jesus' teachings challenge our natural understanding about the way that life works. Take, for example, this one: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Or, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." And right here in this passage, Jesus is clearly saying that what applies to him also applies to his followers. Just as Jesus had to die in order for resurrection and life to take place, so also must we.
Now in a big picture sense, Jesus is promising us that just as he would rise from the dead, so will we; we have the promise and hope of eternal life with him. But Jesus is also saying that the paradox of his life must become the paradox of our lives in this world if we are to be his followers. "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus is clearly speaking in hyperbole here – his point is not that we despise every aspect of our earthly lives, but rather that our love for God and God's kingdom would be so important to us, that everything else in our lives would pale in significance, and indeed would even be placed in service of God's purposes.
"Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor." The servant is not greater than the master; if we follow Jesus as his disciples, we will grow to love him more and more; and if we love him, we will obey him and trust that his calling on our lives is good and is the path of life. Our ambitions, our resources, our relationships will all come under the lordship of Jesus, the King. Our approach to our life will be patterned after that of the humble Messiah. The paradox of Jesus will apply to our lives as we value God and God's kingdom above all else, and are willing to die to ourselves in order to experience the new life that Christ promises.
Conclusion
The life of Jesus is filled with paradox: A God who becomes human; a king who comes to his people in humility; a Messiah who suffers and dies in order to save the world. Understanding these apparent contradictions is the key to understanding Jesus and the incredible love that God has for the world in sending Jesus to us. But the paradox also applies to us if we are to truly be not only believers but followers of Jesus: the servants must be like the master, loving and serving as he did, and trusting that it is in the laying down of our lives that the life of God is born within us.