Readings
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-13
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
Today’s dramatic Gospel passage brings to a head what it means to understand the purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion. In this passage we hear Jesus speak specifically about the purpose of his death and our call to follow in his footsteps. Jesus’ words offer comfort even as they challenge us to, as Jesus said in the Gospel a few weeks ago, take up our cross and come after him.
Today we hear Jesus say, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”
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. Here is the great mystery of our existence. Here is the thing which our world, our society, the system within which we live neither understands nor accepts. Namely that failure, endings, loss, and even death are a necessary and important part of the journey and that without them life, real life, is at best limited or even absent.
The great mystery, friends, is that failure is the path to success. Loss, even as it causes deep pain, is the path to wholeness. And death is the path to life. This is the mystery of the resurrection. A mystery which we have already discussed a couple of weeks ago. But Jesus goes further with this mystery today.
Today’s Gospel passage communicates that this reality has purpose and meaning. It is not strictly for ourselves alone, but for the sake of the whole world. It is salvific in nature and a source of deep transformation and wholeness.
And what is at the heart of it. Love. The love of Jesus for his Father. The love of Jesus for us. And the love of Jesus for all of creation.
You see, despite what most of us have been taught. In John’s Gospel the point of the crucifixion is not for the forgiveness of our sins individually. Nor is its purpose to serve as some kind of substitutionary atonement, through which Jesus takes on the divine punishment that human beings deserve, in order to relieve us of our condemnation and guilt.
No, as Jesus says in this passage, his crucifixion judges “the world” and drives out the “ruler of the world.”
Now it is important for us to understand that the word that is commonly translated “world” does not mean all of creation, or even more limitedly, this planet. No, “world” means the fallen realm that exists in estrangement from God and is organized in opposition to God’s purposes.
A better way of saying this might be to substitute for “the world” the phrase “the system.” It is a reality bigger than ourselves that is embedded in our structures and institutions, that aggressively shapes human life and seeks to hold human beings captive to its ways.
And this system is driven by a spirit or force. What Jesus calls the “ruler of the world,” whose ways are domination, violence, and death. In reality, in this passage, crucifixion is interpreted as an exorcism, in which the system is judged and its driving force is “cast out” by means of the cross.
So, what is this system that I am referring to. Well to get at it let’s look at some of its primary aspects.
Consumerism is an example of the system at work today in our world. How many of us consume and consume, even though we know that such consumption is not giving us life. How many of us continue to layer our lives with material goods even though we know it is killing others in sweatshops throughout the system? How many of us continue to practice this pattern of existence even though it drives us into debt, making some if not many of us so financially indebted that we become virtual slaves of the financial institutions in our society?
Another aspect is domination. We live in a system that is shaped by hierarchies of winners and losers. Whether in the trivial pursuit of game shows, the serious and global impact of politics, or even our understanding of the judicial system we are hard pressed to find any area of our life that isn’t dominated by a win/lose paradigm in which those with power and control are ready and willing to do virtually anything to maintain that power and control. Such a reality creates structures and institutions that perpetuate racism, sexism, and heterosexism.
And finally, although not exhaustive, let us consider violence. The biblical scholar Walter Wink has suggested that the “myth of redemptive violence” is the primary myth of the system. Such a myth teaches that the way to bring order out of chaos is through violently defeating “the other.” And the way to deal with threats from enemies is by violently eliminating them. This, ultimately, is what the system did with Jesus. So such a way of thinking and acting isn’t new. It is this myth of redemptive violence that leads to a system of retributive justice, exemplified in the current conflict in Gaza. But it is also present in acts of terrorism, invasion, war, and even the death penalty.
Jesus, however, chooses a different path from the system. He, in fact, refuses to participate in the system’s patterns. He chooses the path of peace. He does not resort to armed rebellion and insurrection to the Roman authority when arrested. He does not embrace using his popularity to overrule and overturn the temple system and its authorities.
With the cross Jesus publicly and dramatically judges the system by exposing it for what it is not—neither a divine mandate nor the savior of the world. Further, his choosing to go non-violently to the cross exposes the system for what it is: an opponent of God’s purposes and not the way of life, but the way of death. And by exposing the system in such a way, he casts out its driving spirit. Once we have seen the system for what it is, we are no longer captive to it and can begin to choose an alternative path. We are set free to die to a life shaped by the system and to live a life in the shape of Jesus’ own life.
If you are looking for an example of how this is the case you need look no further than the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. Through the vision and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a nonviolent approach to address both individual and systemic racism was inaugurated. When the non-violent protesters were attacked both verbally and physically the world saw the system for what it was. Dr. King knew that this would happen. He said, “Let them get their dogs, and let them get the hose, and we will leave them standing before their God and the world splattered with the blood and reeking with the stench of their Negro brothers.” He saw that it was necessary to “bring these issues to the surface, to bring them out into the open where everybody can see them.” And while we still have far to go, the subsequent changes to our laws and our general understanding of race in this country changed dramatically.
This is part of the Paschal mystery, beloved. Through the cross Jesus exposes the system, and by exposing it he judges it and casts out its ruler. Through his own nonviolence and willingness to become the saving victim of the world he demystifies the demonic powers of this world and delegitimizes them. This is how and why he is “glorified.” The cross ultimately is an act of love that calls the whole world to be that love as well. But not as some namby-pamby sentimentalism. No, this is a sacrificial love that seeks nothing less than the transformation of our world into the kingdom of God.
We are being called to be that love today. We are being called to embrace our own cross and to be glorified by it. We are being called to reject the ways and patterns of the system in our own day and time. How might we do that? Where might we start? Where will we stand up to the forces of consumerism, domination, and violence? Let us not be satisfied with a domesticated religion that does not engage the world. Let us be brave as Christ was brave and choose the alternative path. Let us choose to have the shape of our life match the shape of his. Let us worship him who died upon the cross and take up our cross. And as he was glorified on it, may we in our own cross find the peace, joy, and glory promised for us all.