Lent 5 - John: Following

Lent 5 – John
John 12.20-33

Whoever serves me must follow me… (Jn 12.26)

I’m troubled by the images I see when I read this passage.

“Some Greeks”—whose simple request “to see Jesus” starts the whole discussion. Jesus’ ministry—the work he is doing, preaching, teaching, healing, standing up for those who are suffering—has attracted people outside his community, the gentiles, the “other.” This frightens the religious leaders and speeds up his timeline, but it also shows that Jesus is not just for the chosen ones. His is a universal message of new life.

But it is also a message of death…a dying grain of wheat that only “bears fruit” when it dies (v 24). “Those who love their life lose it”—not a punishment, but a statement of how life is. The reality of a life too-well-loved is that, lived only for itself, it does not produce any fruit. When it dies nothing is left.

Then I come to “those who hate their life in this world”—these are the ones who have eternal life? These must be the ones whose lives bear fruit—leave something behind when they die, like the grain of wheat which dies, falls to the earth and sprouts again. Like Jesus.

And in the next breath Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me…” (v 26) So this is not a really a story about Jesus, but about us. Living and dying, living life in a way that uses life up, so that new growth sprouts from the dying….

I’m thinking about Hana Shalabi again. Choosing to use her life—all of it—so that she can get a message out to the world: People are dying here in Palestine….look at us! This life we are living—we hate what is happening to us! We are treated as subhuman, humiliated at the checkpoints, arrested without being told why, kept in prison without ever having been convicted of anything. To the Israelis, our lives are worth nothing….but my life has

worth. I will do the only thing I can do behind these bars…..refuse to cooperate in this unjust system in the only way that is left to me…..refusing to eat.

Lying in prison, waiting for her life to end—in pain, mental confusion, debilitating weakness, difficulty breathing. Determined to continue her struggle. Confident that something new will come from her death, that new growth will sprout from her dying. Trusting that God will bring something new from her sacrifice. [Photo: Hana Shalabi's mother holding her picture--Reuters]

What is there for me to learn from this? Who will receive new life from her death?

If you have not done this yet, go to Amnesty International’s action alert and sign the petition for Israel to end its policy of administrative detention.

Gracious God—of those who love their lives too much and of those who hate what their lives have shown them—give us courage to walk where you lead. Amen.