Author: Rev. Jean Baptiste Rock, Ph.D.
May the word of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer.
In the name of the living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated.
Good morning, my brothers, and sisters in Christ. It is a blessing to worship God with you in your house of prayer.
Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. Lent is a season of prayers for forty days, from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday’s sunset. So, there are 11 days left in the season of Lent.
Now, I would like to reflect on the conditions for seeing Jesus.
In today’s gospel, some people want to see Jesus.
First, let’s talk about the context of this passage. John tells us this is the third and last time that Jesus went to the festival of Passover at Jerusalem.
He went there at this time on a donkey not to cleanse the Temple but to die on the cross.
Less than eight days before his crucifixion, some Greeks want to see you. The question is, why did they want to see Jesus?
They want to see Jesus; maybe they have heard he did many miracles, particularly the raising of Lazarus very recently at Bethany.
Philippe and Andrew said to Jesus,
Jesus, some Greeks want to see you.
Jesus said to them:
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains the same, but if it dies, it bears a lot of fruit.
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I will be, my servant will be there also. Whoever serves me, my Father will honor him.”
This is not what the Greeks expect to hear, including the disciples and the crowd.
Jesus just presented them with the conditions to meet to see him, and I would like to explain them in 3 sections.
First, understand death as a priority for Jesus.
Second, those who want to serve Jesus must follow him.
Third, hate your life in this world. This is the tough one.
Understand death as a priority for Jesus.
One of the primary purposes of Jesus on earth is to die or to be lifted on the cross, as the serpent was lifted on a pole by Moses in the wilderness so that he may glorify the name of his Father and draw all people to himself.
This is a fulfillment of what we find in the book of Numbers, chapter 21, verses 8 and 9.
Those who serve Jesus must follow him.
Paul beautifully explains that in his letter to the Galatians chapter 2:20.
We need to have a great desire to be crucified with Christ and say, as he states, “If I live, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Hate your life in this world. As I said previously, this is a tough one.
I want you to understand the three different meanings of this statement: hate your life in this world.
The first meaning is to move yourself in the center of your life.
The second meaning is to take the identity of a servant.
The last one is to die to yourself.
Hate your life in this world is to move yourself in the center of your life and put Jesus instead to control your destiny. In this case, Jesus’ plan becomes your priority, as Jesus made the plan of his Father his priority.
Listen to what Jesus says in today’s gospel:
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—’ Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”
Jesus did everything to please his Father.
Jesus moved himself to the center of his life and put his Father in instead.
Hate your life in this world is to take the identity of a servant. That means we need to put servant before our title.
For instance, if you’re a leader in the church, you a servant leader, if you are an altar guild, you’re a servant altar guild, if you’re a husband, you’re a servant husband; if you’re a wife, you’re a servant wife.
We all are called to serve others rather than to be served.
Jesus has already told us in Mark 10:45, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
I want to remind you that to hate your life in this world does not mean to be careless about yourself and your loved ones, but it simply means to move yourself to the center of your life and put Jesus instead.
Hate your life in this world is to die to yourself:
What does that mean to die to yourself? Here are some biblical examples of dying to yourself:
– Forgive those who hurt you, as Jesus did on the cross by saying, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
– Bless those who persecute you, and pray for them.
– Love those who hate you (Matthew 4: 43-45).
Indeed, you need to die to yourself.
For instance, you get in the office for an appointment, and somebody pushes the door out and hurts you, and you say sorry to that person even though she did not say anything to you.
Is it an act of weakness? No, it is an act of dying to yourself, an act of hating your life in this world. Those who hate their life will keep it for eternal life.
Every single day, we need to die to ourselves; we need to hate our life in this world.
Jesus did it on the cross to produce life in all his servants, followers, and us.
Every day, let’s create a time to meditate on Jesus, who died on the cross for you and me.
He did not push back when the people insulted him and mocked him to the cross at Golgotha.
On the cross, he was bloody and isolated; he was humiliated, and he was a total mess.
He endured all that we deserve for our sins.
Understand Jesus’ death as his priority, serving and following him all day long;
Forgive those who hurt you, bless those who persecute you, and love those who hate you.
Those are the conditions that Jesus requires the Greeks, the crowd, his disciples, and all of us today to see him face to face in his eternal glory.
Go now into the world to serve and follow Christ, and let your old life, your sinful life, fall like a grain of wheat into the ground and die so that it may bear a lot of fruit. Amen.
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