Year B Fifth Sunday in Lent 25 March 2012
Jeremiah 31: 31-34 Psalm 119: 9-16 Hebrews 5: 5-10 John 12: 20-33
The Psalm begins with a riddle and its answer:
Psalm 199:9 “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
By living according to your word.
This morning I was thinking of those students from years ago who confronted me with the statement that they didn’t believe in God because their Grandfather had died. I thought of the action I wish I’d taken: I wish I had taken into the class room a perfect flower and asked the class how long the flower would live.
We know that there is a life cycle of birth, growth and death – it is all around us as something very natural and yet when it comes to people dying we can’t accept it. I found the same thing myself. When Joe died, it struck me very strongly that even people who were prepared for the inevitable, (me), could not accept it. It is as though our whole being rejects and cannot compute what we know to be “natural”.
More strongly than ever I believe that God created us to live eternally. It may be an old theological explanation to talk about how it is because of sin that came through Adam that we now die, but it is the only explanation.
Without this explanation of the fundamental consequence of sin, the story of the scriptures makes no sense.
We are nearing the end of the season of Lent. It is a season which is set by the church to remind us of our sinfulness, our need for God and God’s sacrificial gift of eternal life for us.
1. Our sinfulness:
We live in a society where children rarely experience the consequence of their actions. We are conditioned by society to overlook the deeds of children and teenagers because of their youth. We need only to listen to contemporary songs to know that rebellion is glorified as something admirable. We have bred a generation of people who think they can do no wrong, and when things don’t go their way they blame everyone and everything else around them instead of acknowledging their own guilt.
While there has always been an element the “youth being rebellious” and behaving contrary to previous manners throughout generations, I think the difference with now is that there is no “watch dog” to point out the error. In fact, we all try to be “youth” and “cool adults”.
An example of “cool adults” would be of a subject that came up on my school reunion’s facebook page:
One lady posted about her teenage daughter going to parties where they were all drinking alcohol. Other mothers got on and commented about how they buy the drink for their kids and informed her that it is normal and fine. Hmmm… of course I was the unpopular one who said it is illegal.
When we give our kids alcohol and they are underage, we are teaching them to break the law!!!! We are teaching them that they are “okay” and doing nothing wrong when they break the law.
I have known people who were involved in sexual abuse cases who didn’t think they did anything wrong. Eg. She said no, but her body language said yes….. ! They don’t see that they did anything wrong. They don’t see themselves as sinful and they don’t see any need to “repent”.
Our society does not see itself as sinful! And most importantly, we, the people in society do not see ourselves as sinful. Why are there so few people in church? No one can see any need for church. Everyone thinks they can be “good” without it and without God.
2. Our need for God:
Our first reading comes from the prophet Jeremiah at a time when the people had broken the covenant of God. In many ways this ancient group was like our society today. They refused to live God’s way and when they were left to live in the consequences of their actions, many still refused to believe and follow God.
Being taken over by another people and sent to live in exile was a natural phenomenon, and so the people still refused to turn to God. But somewhere in their sadness some did turn to God. There was an element of “Lamenting”. For certain, they became aware that they could not fight these battles in their own strength.
At this time God sent a message of hope:
Jeremiah 31:33 “33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Previously God had made a covenant to be the God of the people of Israel and he gave them His law, but the people broke the law.
God knows that we, in our human strength, can’t keep his law, but do we know how unable we are?
It is the New Testament readings that shed light on this subject. There was the Pharisee who prayed in the temple, “I thank you God that I’m not like this sinner…..” and then there is the wonderful passage from Matthew’s Gospel that tells us that even if you have been angry with your brother and had hurled angry words at him you’ve as good as committed murder.
Maybe you are like me. I get into conversations with people and start talking about things that bother me. In the process I don’t necessarily say anything wrong or untrue, but perhaps things that are not my place to say - things that are possibly harmful. Some things do need to be said, but every now and then I get a stab of “something”, which I believe is the spirit of God telling me that I crossed the line and need to shut up. This comes from the promise of God to plant his law in our hearts. It isn’t just a general conscience that we like to think everyone has. Not everyone is awake to the promptings of the Spirit.
Without the Spirit of God we cannot discern what is of God and what is not. We have generations of God’s people in the Bible who can testify to this. WE NEED GOD. Not just to save us from our sin, but to help us to keep his law.
3. God’s sacrificial gift of eternal life:
Our Gospel tells about that grain of wheat which dies. If it dies it bares much fruit. It reminds me that I have one marigold flower in my garden. When that flower dies I can pull the petals off and discover numerous seeds which I will scatter and then have lots of flowers in the future – hopefully.
Jesus was talking about his own life. The purpose for Jesus’ life was to die as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of humankind.
Jesus was seen as a leader, a good man, a prophet and a threat. Jesus was a threat to the power that was held by the religious leaders at the time. He was a threat to all the powers of evil in the spiritual realm.
I can remember going to youth camps and feeling frustrated as the leaders would say, “God has a wonderful plan and purpose for your life”. I couldn’t see any wonderful things happening. I saw people being exalted to positions of power within the church and community, but I seemed to only ever get myself into trouble. I wrote letters to the paper about issues and received people’s anger. I wrote one letter about the brothel coming to Mackay and had my family telling me that I needed to be quiet and just let people do what they want. I have had blatant lies spread about me and Joe, which cost me at least one job and have had other lies spread about me in the past also. So I’m kind of confused about this “Wonderful plan and purpose”.
I had always felt a calling to preach. After speaking to one speaker I was encouraged to write. Be faithful to that calling in whatever way was in my control and the rest would fall into place….. Still waiting.
Many others would, and have, used events like these, like losing a loved one, lies spread about them and other things, to serve as an excuse to give up on God and church. It does get hard sometimes and I do get despondent, but we have been told that following Jesus does involve “taking up your cross”.
There is a wonderful plan but it isn’t always the way we see it and often won’t be realized as wonderful until we are living in eternity. Even Jesus was really not keen on being a sacrifice.
Hebrews 5: 7-10 “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
Jesus was perfect and sinless, but he also became perfect – or proved his perfection through obedience to God’s plan for his life.
If we don’t understand or accept the truth of God’s plan we can not accept that our saviour had to die for us. If we don’t understand this we will not truly grasp the eternal salvation that he has gifted us with.
In many ways, even when we do accept the message of God, we still find its truth beyond our comprehension. We really do need the help of the Holy Spirit and this new covenant where God writes his law in our minds and hearts. And this new covenant could only come into being through this death and resurrection of Christ and his gift of the Holy Spirit.
When the going gets tough, St John’s Gospel tells us that:
John 12:26-28 “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!”
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