This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday March 25, 2012, the 5th Sunday in Lent.
Podcast of "Picking Up, Dusting Off, Moving On" (MP3)
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Growing up, my mother was raised in the town where I was born, Mexico, Missouri. Mexico was once known as the “saddle horse capital of the world.” Simmons Stables still stands (well, sort of) on West Boulevard between Grove and Webster Streets. She was also raised in the shadow of the Mexico Military Academy, a boy’s military school with an equine program. So horses were always a part of her life. She passed that on to me with the Triple Crown.
When I was ten years old was the perfect time to introduce anyone to the Triple Crown. It was 1973 and the horse was Secretariat, still one of the most regaled horses of all time. He won the Kentucky Derby in a time that is still a race record. His win in the third race in the crown not only established a race record that still stands, but he won by 31 lengths, an absurd distance to win a race. It’s like winning the Daytona 500 by a half a lap going away.
Over the next five years, the Triple Crown would be won in 1977 by Seattle Slew and the next year by Affirmed. Before Secretariat won the crown, no horse had completed the feat since Citation in 1948. No horse has won the crown since Affirmed either. It was a great time to learn about horse racing.
Because of this upbringing, I was unknowingly in a great position to meet Marie. As you know, she is horse crazy. I may like to watch a race, but she can tell you things about the horses and the “Sport of Kings” that I would never guess. Among the things she taught me about was race preparation.
We can begin with pedigree. The sires and dams of great horses can be traced back so many generations that Luke’s genealogy of Jesus almost looks quaint by comparison. Preparing a horse for the Triple Crown begins long before the horse turns three, it takes generations and generations.
Training begins on these horses almost after they take their first steps. There is much for a farm, trainer, and horse to do even before setting foot on a track. Just preparing a horse to run takes work, and instilling and nurturing that love to run takes the right amount of work and play.
On the day of the race there are the stable hands and horsemen that work the horse to prepare for the big day. There is feeding and grooming. There is walking and putting on tack. There is a ton of preparation before the horse goes out before tens of thousands of people, probably the biggest noise they have ever heard. This all before the jockey dresses and weighs in before the race. Then comes the post parade and the wait for the gate. That’s when the hard work begins.
While I was contemplating this scripture, this is the image I could not get out of my head.
Our Gospel reading begins not long after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the events we will celebrate next weekend on Palm Sunday. Jesus was a threat to the establishment. He was drawing crowds that made the temple leadership uncomfortable. They were uncomfortable because any large crowd around a charismatic Rabbi would make the Roman overlords uncomfortable. Momma Rome wasn’t happy; and when Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
So our reading begins with the Greeks looking for Jesus. These Greeks were pagan Greeks; the Book of Acts uses a different word for Greeks who were Jews and believers in Christ. While Rome was the political and economic capital of the Empire, Athens was the cultural center of the Empire. The Greeks were travelers. They brought art and stories and mythology and religion home with them from their journeys. Also to say “the Greeks” wanted to “see Jesus” is to say that they wanted a meeting. They wanted a sit-down.
They wanted to hear his story. They wanted to learn about him and they wanted to take the word of God and Jesus home with them to share with others. These Greeks would be among the first evangelists. I suspect they stayed in town long enough for the crucifixion and resurrection. Scripture doesn’t say whether or not they did. It doesn’t even say whether or not they ever met with Jesus at all.
With the arrival of the Greeks Jesus saw the final domino fall into place. It was at this moment that Jesus knew his message would go beyond the bounds of Palestine. Jesus knew his words and his deeds would be known throughout the world. He knew that what was coming would be told. He knew his hour had come, and after it came word of it would go through the whole wide world.
Jesus and Philip and Andrew; we first heard these names after the baptism of the Lord as Jesus calls his first disciples. In a wonderful way, the news of the Greeks comes in the reverse order of their call to discipleship. What once went from Jesus to Andrew to Philip now goes from Philip to Andrew to Jesus. The Lord saw this circle close. So with this news, with these signs, and with his knowledge; he picks himself up, dusts himself off, and moves on. This as he moves the whole world one step closer to eternity.
This is probably not how it happened, there’s very little chance it did. But I imagine when Jesus gets the news of the Greeks seeking a meeting he literally picks himself up, dusts himself off, and moves on.
As he begins to move on, he begins with a quick agricultural parable. Usually, the agricultural parables were used to describe the Kingdom of God. This is one of the purposes for this parable. He tells his disciples that unless a seed dies, it remains a single seed. But when it dies and takes root it produces many seeds. Jesus tells them that only by the death of a seed will other seeds be produced. This is the Good News of the Kingdom of God, more seeds will be produced, but Jesus shares the price of the bounty. It will cost the life of the first seed to produce all of the rest. The second purpose of this parable is to show that the fully-human fully-divine Jesus must die.
This takes us to something important to remember about Jesus. Our Lord did not have a death wish. Jesus did not approach the hour singing “Get Me to the Cross on Time.” We hear this speech in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we hear it here too.
His heart is troubled. Jesus knows what’s going to happen, and now happen soon. But he’s not in a hurry to meet his fate. I guess he has always known his time with his apostles would be short, but he has just gone from an indefinite “one day” to a very finite “the hour.” He has gone from “some day” to “not long from now.”
What troubles him? Perhaps it is the coming crucifixion. Surely the humiliation, indignity, and pain would be troubling. He knew he would soon be paraded like someone worse than a common criminal. Rome saved crucifixion for special cases. Rome saved crucifixion for people who were to be made examples for all to see. He knew he would be writhing. He knew the pain would be unbearable. He knew the thirst of the day’s sun would scorch his body inside and out. He knew the flogging and mocking would come.
Yet, Jesus knew that it was for this very reason that he came to this hour. In all of the horror, terror, and glory; Jesus both dreaded and embraced the hour and his destiny.
In this knowledge, in this hour Jesus cried out “Father, glorify your name.” And the reply came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” While the crowd didn’t hear the thunder of God at the baptism of the Lord, they heard this. They heard the voice from Heaven in all its glory. Jesus declares this word is not for him. After all, Jesus is confident with his relationship with his Heavenly Father. This voice is for the disciples. This word is for us so that we may be confident. Confident in the Heavenly Father and confident in the one he sent to us, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord Incarnate, Emmanuel—God with us.
Friends, I have never heard this thunder so clearly in all my life. I feel like we, this part of the Body of Christ, is that race horse being led to the gate. We have been made ready to run the race of our lives. Unfortunately, we don’t have the benefit of knowing the track is a dirt oval and the race is going to end after ten furlongs. Horses and NASCAR drivers have the benefit of knowing it’s nothing but left turns for the whole distance. We don’t.
So what do we need to know to run the race? What do we need to know about this hour for this congregation? The first thing we need to remember is that if we try to hold onto our life, surely we will lose it. Jesus warns his disciples and I can’t imagine this warning doesn’t pertain to the Body of Christ as well.
Jesus says the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This English translation isn’t quite what Jesus means. This is an expression, like “month o’ Sundays” meaning “a long time” and not “thirty weeks.” What Jesus means is that those who love their life more than Him will lose what they hold onto so dearly. It is when we hold the Lord and the love of God above everything else that we will keep our lives for eternal life.
Yes, I say again, eternal life is available to us on this side of the grave. It is not something we wait for while on this earth. It is available to us now when we love God more than anything else. Because of this, because of this gift, because of God’s good grace, we are called to respond faithfully. This is how we live eternal life, not just have it. To live life, we must share. We are called to take what God has given us and share it with the world.
So if we love the building and the programs and the denomination and all other manner of things more than we love the Lord our God we have surely missed the point. If we love our history more than we love the Lord we have missed the point. If we love our polity and Confessions more than we love the Lord we have missed the point.
We are called to love the Lord who loved us first more than everything else. Jesus leads us to places we would have never considered going without him. In its way, this should be troubling to us. It was troubling to Jesus so it would be awfully conceited of us to not be troubled too. But like Jesus we are called to embrace this hour. In Christ, we are called to approach the hour with confidence in our relationship with the Almighty, not in the trappings we put around Him.
We are called to love God and one another, not history, buildings, and paperwork. I found a way to describe a healthy relationship with the church a couple of weeks ago on the wall of a fellowship hall in Dallas—“Cherish our past—Support the present—Embrace our future.” This is a good plan for any congregation.
So, am I about to share my five point plan with you? Am I about to tell you it’s going to be in the newsletter so stay tuned? Oh how I wish it were so. If there is one thing that has been revealed to me recently it’s that thinking has put the church in the place it is now, and it’s not more fancy thinking that’s going to get us out of it.
I’m a smart man, I’m a learned man, I have great knowledge and training, and right now it’s not changing the world. If all it took was good thinking, a smooth voice, and an internet presence; I’d have this thing licked. But that’s not what it takes, not at all.
We have to begin again with the basics. We have to begin with establishing Godly priorities. Our first priority is this, establishing a relationship with the Lord. That’s where it has to begin. It begins with walking the word. It begins with prayer. It begins by keeping company with those who walk in the word and live life bathed in prayer. It begins by realigning our priorities.
We need to hear that voice again, the voice that came from heaven saying “I have glorified my name and I will glorify it again.” Only by listening and responding to the voice and its glory will we ever, ever make it out of the starting gate.
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