Sermon – John 12:20-26 The Hour Has Come

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – John 12:20-26 The Hour Has Come

March 22, 2015

We have arrived at the fifth Sunday in the season of Lent, one more Sunday and then our Easter celebration. We have been guided in this journey by the tearing of the boundary between heaven and earth at Jesus' baptism. Now that God is with us, our own behavior changes. We begin to worship our triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rather than gods we construct in our own image. We open up our church to reflect the great diversity of God's creation. And we live our lives with the confidence of eternal life. Today we will see that with the barrier between heaven and earth gone, God becomes a farmer, planting seeds. Let's get started with prayer.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and redeemer.

Let's start with a story about seeds.

“Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kids laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!" ¹

Jesus also told us a story about seeds. Let's listen from the gospel of John.

John 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

We are worshiping at the time of the vernal equinox. This is when, each year, the amount of daytime and the amount of nighttime are the same. Spring is here. And farmers are beginning to plants seeds.

All seeds are made by God with an embryo fully capable of becoming a plant. This embryo is encased in a shell by God which protects it from oxygen in the atmosphere which would kill it. And God has designed in all seeds an on/off switch. For example, some seeds if planted in ground at 20 degrees Fahrenheit will just sit there turned off and eventually die. But if the ground temperature rises to 40 degrees for a certain number of days then seed is turned on and a miracle happens. It begin to shoot out roots into the ground and stalks towards the sun. As a result of all this God blesses us with the food we need and produces enough seeds to do this again next year. In this way God continues to bless us with manna from heaven year after year.

Jesus used the seed as a metaphor to explain his death, resurrection and ascension and the mission God has given us today. Let me explain.

Jesus had been waiting for a sign from God that would tell him that the time had arrived for him to end his ministry here on earth and return to heaven. Finally this sign arrived. When this happened Jesus announced that the hour had come for him to end his public ministry and prepare himself and his disciples for crucifixion. What was this sign from God? Let's go back to John chapter 12 where we read:

John 12:20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

So what happened? A group of gentiles, non-Jews came to see Jesus. Jesus had come to earth to draw all people, Jews and Gentiles, to himself. And when he saw gentiles coming to him, Jesus knew that he had accomplished his mission on earth and was ready to return to the Father. A few weeks ago we saw how angry Jesus got when gentile believers in God were barred from entering the temple. He quoted Isaiah by saying that temple was to be “a house of prayer for all people.” Gentiles were not to be excluded. And now when he sees non-Jews coming to him he knows that finally his work in finished. Now Jesus must begin to prepare his disciples for his crucifixion, and here is what he said.

24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Jesus has told us why he must die. By dying on the cross, he will bring others, many others, to faith. He is like a seed. During his ministry it was dormant in the ground. But when gentiles started coming to Jesus he knew that it was time for him to die so that many, many, many more would come to faith in him. By staying alive he could have evangelized a few gentiles here and there. But by dying and rising from the dead Jesus knew that he would be evangelizing the entire Roman Empire and eventually the world.

For this to happen Jesus needed a church. We are the seeds he left behind. If we are planted in the good soil of faith and if the conditions are right each one us will bring many, many, many, people to faith. And the church will be filled in the abundance that grows from us.

Let me tell you a story about a seed planted in the ground that is now growing. A young woman came to see the pastor. He was expecting this visit because he had spoken at her mother's funeral a few days before. The two of them talked briefly about her mother and her new job. But then the young woman told the pastor a story.

Last week she held her mother's hand as she died. This could not have happen but for the saving grace of God. You see this young woman was an alcoholic. Her drinking had strained the relationship with her mother so much that they barely talked with each other. But then she got involved with AA. Her drinking stopped. After a while she called her mother requesting forgiveness. They met. They cried. And their relationship was restored. Shortly thereafter the mother was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Throughout her illness her, now sober, daughter cared for her. And so last week this young woman had the great privileged of holding her mother's hand as she took her last breaths.

God had put a seed inside this young woman. It lay dormant throughout her years of drinking. But when the drinking stopped the seed grew into abundant love. This love allowed her to care for her mother. This is the experience she shared with her pastor.

God has planted a seed inside each of you as well. For some of you it is growing in abundant love. For others it remains dormant. I urge you to nurture this seed. To do this you need to pray and meditate on scripture every day. You must attend worship every Sunday and learn as much as you can in Bible Studies. And you must support the work of God generously. Do these things and the seed of God's love will grow in your heart into abundance. And when you are filled with God's love you will overflow with love for others. This is the harvest we can expect as Christians. Let's pray.

Father in heaven. We thank you for the seeds of faith you have planted in us. We ask that you let these seed grow. Fill us with you love, and let your love overflow to others. This we pray in your Son's name who was filled with so much love for us it overflowed on the cross. Amen.

1http://jadelbg.blogspot.com/2008/10/inspirational-story-emperors-seed.html