Seeds and Fruit [Lent 5B]
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
John 12:20-33
Seeds and Fruit
Unless a grain of wheat falls to
the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit.
His followers simply did not
understand how these words could possibly be coming from the mouth of
Jesus. The crowd who gathered to hear his
words, to see the signs, to join his revolution did not understand either. It's twisted logic. He's supposed to be the Messiah. But what can a dead Messiah accomplish? Nothing.
He was supposed to be their hope.
He has so much untapped potential. It just cannot be. Not him.
Not death. Not now. It's just not supposed to go down like this.
But fair or not, sensible or not,
Jesus knew: Suffering and death were built into the journey – inevitable,
unavoidable. His path would lead him to
a cross. The Messiah was the seed. But while he would die – too young, too
shamefully, too terribly – life would have the last word. After death, he would live a resurrected
life. He would live in the hearts and
lives of his followers. His risen life
would make all things new, in the heavens and the earth. His life blood poured out would perpetually
keep his followers in everlasting life.
God has this miraculous way of giving life the last word.
It was Tertullian who, in the 2nd century, said, “The blood of the martyrs is
the seed of the Church.” And that is
true. For generations the Church has
been encouraged and inspired the witness and courage of those Christians who gave
their lives for Jesus' sake and for the sake of the Gospel. They were seeds that God grew into new life. Our God is an Easter God. God has this miraculous way of giving life
the last word.
It was July of 1942. Months earlier the Japanese military forces
attacked Pearl Harbor. Eight months
later they invaded Papua New Guinea.
Aware that they were in danger, the Anglican missionaries on the island,
there to teach and share the love of Jesus, stayed; they refused to abandon
their mission, refused to leave the people they served, their friends for whom
they willingly laid down their lives.
One of the missionaries was a young
man named Lucian Tapiedi. While most of
the Christian missionaries were foreign missionaries, he was a son of the
island; he had been educated in mission schools. And after completing his studies, he joined
the staff, a teacher and evangelist – to pay it forward, I guess you could
say.
After the invasion, a group of the
missionaries, including Lucian, tried to hide in a nearby village but the men
of that village were unwilling to harbor Christians. They turned most of the group over to the
Japanese soldiers. But not Lucian. One of the village men took Lucian to the local
stream and killed him with an axe. He
was one of 333 Christians killed in the invasion.
But Jesus says, “If the seed falls
into the earth and dies, it bears much fruit.”
And that is the miraculous truth.
The man who killed Lucian, by the grace of God, later converted to
Christianity; he then built a church dedicated to his victim's memory. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church.” God has this miraculous way of
giving life the last word.
Manche Masemola was born in South
Africa in 1913. She was a member of the
Pedi tribe – a tribe that lived a hard life in some of the harshest lands of
southern Africa. When she was 6 years
old an Anglican mission was established nearby.
As a child she first attended the Anglican mission with her cousin. It was her first experience of the Christian
religion. Most of her tribe was
suspicious of Christianity.
Her parents fell into that camp.
They strictly forbid her from visiting the church. But Jesus was calling and she followed. Twice a week she would go to learn more about
Jesus – despite the personal cost. Her
parents tried stop her; they used witch doctor potions; they hid her clothes;
they beat her. Unable to keep their
daughter from Jesus, when Manche was just fifteen years old, her parents took
her to a secluded place and killed her.
But Jesus says, “If the seed falls
into the earth and dies, it bears much fruit.”
And that is the miraculous truth.
Forty years after burying her daughter, Manche's mother was baptized
into the Body of Christ, the same Christ who so captured her young daughter's
heart. “The blood of the martyrs is the
seed of the Church.” God has this
miraculous way of giving life the last word.
Oscar Romero once wrote, “We plant
the seeds that one day will grow. We
water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.” Tuesday is the 35th anniversary of his death. Romero was shot celebrating a mass, standing
at the altar. His assassination, it is
said, “was not caused by motives that were simply political, but by a hatred
for a faith that, imbued with charity, would not be silent in the face of
injustices that relentlessly and cruelly slaughtered the poor and their
defenders.”[1]
Romero, like Jesus, knew the path
he walked ended in death; he had watched as his friends and colleagues, the
priests he pastored as bishop, were killed – some quite publicly, some simply
disappeared. But he courageously, called
for peace in a culture of violence. He
called for love, in a time of hatred and anger.
He called for justice, in an age of corruption. He called out until he was silenced by the
bullets that killed him.
But Jesus says, “If the seed falls
into the earth and dies, it bears much fruit.”
And that is the miraculous truth.
Before his death Romero declared, “As a Christian, I do not believe in
death without resurrection. If I am
killed, I shall arise in the Salvadorian people.”[2] His faith and witness continue to bear fruit
in the lives of his people and in the lives of all those Christians who stand
for love, justice, and peace in the face of great odds. “The blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the Church.” God
has this miraculous way of giving life the last word.
These are your people, members of
your family, baptized into the same body, witnesses of the same Lord. They are the seeds; we are the fruit. We are
the fruit; but in us are the seeds of the future – the seeds for what God will
grow next.
Next week, the Passion of our Lord and
then the death. But one week later, the Resurrection. Because we are Christian; we do not believe
in death without resurrection. Suffering
and death are built into the journey – inevitable, unavoidable. But we're never left there. Our God is an Easter God. Death is never the end of the story. God has this miraculous way of giving life
the last word.
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