Listen to Sermon
Pastor Tom Johnson, March 18, 2018
The Greek delegation requests a meeting with Jesus. “We wish to see Jesus,” they say. Instead of a face to face meeting Jesus, they have an encounter with Jesus through his Word. And that Word for them is, “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.” Jesus is speaking about the hour of his crucifixion, death, and burial. It is just days away. He says his death is like the planting of a seed into the ground. His resurrection is like the seed which springs to life out of the earth. His ministry will bear even more fruit beyond the resurrection. This is what it means to know God: to believe in his Son Jesus Christ who was lifted up on the Cross for our forgiveness, buried, and raised again on the third day to bring us eternal life. This is the Gospel—the Good News.
But to know Jesus is also to follow him—to be his learner—to be a disciple. If someone wishes to see Jesus—to hear him—to know him—to have a relationship with him, it will come through the Gospel and will transform their very lives. Jesus says, “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.”
In a few minutes, our Confirmands will stand up here and confess their faith. They will tell us that they have seen Jesus in their Baptism by which they know they are royal children of God. They will share that they have a relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. They will say that they have planted the seed of their lives in the Kingdom. They will live as Christ’s disciples “even to death.” And they will bear the fruit of their faith and “suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.” When I went over these weighty words with them, I reminded them of what we already know and believe to be true: to live without Jesus is not to live and to die in Jesus is not to die. To live our lives outside of a relationship with God is not really to truly living a meaningful and purposeful life at all. And to die with confidence in Christ is not really to truly die at all but to go home to the loving arms of our Heavenly Father and a joyful reunion with all of the company of heaven. “For if we are united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united in a resurrection like his” (Rom 6:5). If we plant our lives into the soil of Christ’s Kingdom we die to ourselves. But we spring up transformed and ready to have a positive and godly impact on those around us—to bear fruit.
Just days from Jesus saying these profound words, he will die and be buried in the ground alone. And like a seed, by itself, it looks lifeless—a single kernel of grain. We see death but we know there is eternal life. In a short time farmers will begin bury seed in the ground. And they will do so with full confidence that individual grains of seed will spring to life. Soon after Easter you will be able to drive through the country and see green stems and leaves rising out of the ground. We will be no less surprised to celebrate Jesus who rises and lives again on Easter Sunday. Confirmands, parents, sponsors, Christian sisters and brothers, there is a world of people who need to see and know Jesus. God has planted you where you are...at church, school, work, play, or your community. The Gospel is the fruit that gives faith, forgives sins, and assures us of eternal life. You and I are the fruit that God gives to enrich and nourish the world. Through you, they will taste and see that the Lord is good.
My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh and die.
Here might I stay and sing
No story so divine!
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine
This is my friend,
In whose sweet praise
I all my days
Could gladly spend!
("My Song Is Love Unknown," LSB 430 vv. 1 & 7)
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