Lent V, Cycle B

“Unless a Grain of Wheat Dies…”

April 6, 2003

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Lessons:  Jeremiah 31:31-34;  Hebrews 5:5-10;  St. John 12:20-33

“Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain;  but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” 

     In some ways, this is a rather hard saying.  It’s hard, in that in it, Jesus confronts us with the reality of our own death.  And that’s a difficult thing for all of us to accept.  In a commentary on this passage, St. Cyril of Alexandria, writing in the fifth century, tried to help us understand Jesus’ words, saying, “The human race may indeed be compared to spikes of wheat in a field, rising, as it were, from the earth, awaiting their full growth and development, and then in time being cut down by the reaper, which is death.”  Ah, the grim reaper, which is death.  That’s what makes this passage so, hard—the grim reaper—death.  And boy, the grim reaper is hard at work.

     The young stalks of wheat, serving our country in Iraq, continue to be cut down before their time.  Innocent victims in Israel, sitting at sidewalk cafes, or standing in crowded market places, continue to be cut down, by the grim reaper, dressed in the garb of terrorists.  In our country, we can’t step onto an airplane, or go to a major league baseball game, without the grim reaper crossing our minds, giving us a chill as we try to live under the threat of an orange alert—as we try to live life fully, unafraid, without being terrorized;  and sometimes, we succeed.  Sometimes, we go on with life as if our young men and women aren’t dying in Iraq;  as if innocent civilians aren’t dying as collateral damage;  as if terrorism and violence, disease and illness, automobile accidents and tragic mishaps, AREN’T ever-present realities.  Sometimes, we’re able to live without thinking of death.  And then, we come to church, and there it is;  the scriptures remind us, the pastor preaches about it—and we can’t avoid it.  Jesus, himself, says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain—but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  If it dies—IF, Jesus says.  As if we have a choice.  Funny thing is, many of us live, as if we have a choice.  Many of us live as if we will never die.  Many of us live, never making peace with our spouse, our parents, our neighbors—as if there’s all the time in the world to make up, so, let’s not bother with it today.  Many of us live--working, playing, sinning, as if we will never die, so, we never have to make amends, we never have to repent, we never have to be reconciled with God.  I guess if you’re never going to die, you’re never going to be judged, so, why go to church, why commit your life to Christ, why give up, sex, drugs and rock and roll—if you’re going to live forever?  We all know the temptation—to live as if we will never die.  To live as if there is no grim reaper.  Most of us are quite skilled at living as if we will never die.  Many of us live like we are immortal, and then, we seem, shocked, surprised caught off-guard, when the grim reaper comes calling.  “Why, we didn’t have time!”  “We never got right with God!”  “We might’ve done things differently in life, if we’d known we were going to die!”  And that, of course, is why God, and His Word, try so hard to bring us face to face with our own mortality.  That’s why, this morning, Jesus, the Word of God, proclaims, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it’s of little use.  Because Jesus wants us to accept our own death.  In fact, he wants us to see, that it is through death—that we come to eternal life.  He wants us to see death, not as something to be afraid of—but as something that is transforming!  And he wants us to see that death is transforming, because He, too, died—but He died, so that He might also be raised.  St. Cyril says, “Now Christ became like one of us;  he sprang from the holy Virgin like a spike of wheat from the ground.  Indeed, he spoke of himself as a grain of wheat when he said, ‘I tell you truly, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains as it was, a single grain; but if it dies its yield is very great.’   And so, like a sheaf of grain, the first-fruits, as it were, of the earth, Jesus offered himself to the Father for our sake.”    

     Indeed, it is for this reason that Jesus came—to be lifted up, from the earth;  to be lifted up on the cross, to be a sacrifice for us, that through death, Jesus might win for us, and give to us, the hope and promise of eternal life.  And how could Jesus give us eternal life, by his own death on the cross?  It is a mystery.  But the mystery is this.  Unless a grain of wheat die, it is useless.  But if it dies, it then finds new life, bearing much fruit.  In other words, a grain of wheat serves no good purpose, if it withers on the stalk.  But when the grain falls to the earth, dying to itself, it can then be gathered up, to become something new—it can then be gathered and ground, and turned into…bread, for example—life-giving, life-sustaining, bread!  That, symbolizes the life-changing, life-transforming power of God.  The power of God that we see, each Sunday, as Jesus, once dead on the cross, becomes, the bread of life, for us, in the Sacrament of the Altar.  The power of God that we will see, on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, as we see Jesus lifted up on the cross, dying as a sacrifice for sin, then rising on Sunday morning, to give life to the world!  The power of God that we see, whenever one dies in the Lord, with the hope and promise of eternal life—robbing death of it’s sting; robbing death of it’s life-ending power;  giving to the deceased, and to his or her loved ones, comfort, and courage, and joy, because the grim reaper—death, will not have the final word, but God!  And God’s final word is LIFE!  Which is why we want all in our world, to hear that word of God, now;  so that after death, they will hear that word, again, as God commands the ashes, the dust, the dry bones, saying, “LIFE!  COME TO LIFE, AGAIN!”  So that then, indeed, Jesus will draw us all to himself—to be Lord, not of the dead, but of the living!”  Because this is why Jesus came—this is why Jesus was lifted up—this is why the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies—that it may arise, and bear much fruit.  And may God grant it to be so, for us—for you and for me, and for our loves ones—now, and at the hour of our death!  May God grant us not to be afraid of death, but to see death as merely, the gateway, the threshold, the passage, to eternal life.

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.