dies

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “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. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. (John 12:20-33, NRSV)

I always thought Jesus answer to the Greeks looking for Him was an interesting one.

What does the glory of the Son of Man have to do with Greeks seeking to see Jesus?

Everything!

You see Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah, who was to save God’s chosen people. But the Greeks, the heathens, were getting it also. They were seeking after Jesus. And because of the nations coming to Him, it was time for Him to fulfill the plan.

You see He is the grain of wheat. As if we didn’t already know that, but we need the reminder sometimes. And because He was lifted up and died, many will live. If He had not died, many would not have lived. Just as the wheat falling into the earth, that one piece of wheat becomes many!

So see His glory! And know that His death, gave you life!

gain the whole world

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Matthew 16:21-26, NRSV)

We want things the way we want them. Because we know that the way we have worked out the events of the world in our own heads is the best way for them to happen!

Have you ever had an event go the way you imagined it?

Usually things don’t work out the way we imagine them. Sometimes they are way more cooler and wonderful than we could have possibly imagined them!

But here we have Jesus, predicting His death, Peter not seeing it the way it has to be, and Jesus warning all of us.

Don’t focus on yourself or your plans for this world.

Did you create it?

Did you set the planets in motion?

Can you actually make things happen the way you imagined them?

No we can’t and we will not only lose our mind by trying to make it happen, we will lose our soul. We can’t gain the world, but if we turn from His plan, we could lose the life He has for us.

So follow after Him, even when His plan doesn’t fit your imagination, because His plan will be better than your could ever imagine!

give me what I want

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles;  they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.” James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:32-45, NRSV)

I am amazed at the disciples, but know that I am going to be in good company when we all finally arrive at the great banquet!

I mean James and John must be really thick skull individuals! Jesus just gets done telling them that when they get to Jerusalem, that He will be handed over and condemned to death and then He will be mocked, spat upon, flogged and killed. And then James and John pull Jesus aside and say, “Do what we want, and here it is, we want to sit with you in glory, one on your right side and one on your left side.”

Did they just miss the conversation? I mean I know I don’t always hear everything, but really!

And Jesus replies, “you don’t know what you’re asking, can you drink the cup I will drink?” Meaning, can you take the death I will. And they will, but to sit on His right and left is not Jesus’ to grant.

Plus who is sitting at Jesus’ left hand in glory? We confess it every week, that He (Jesus) ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. If Jesus is at God’s right hand, then God the Father is at Jesus’ left hand. So James or John wants to take the Father’s seat! Not what I want.

But thanks be to God, that James and John were apostles and disciples, because that gives all of us hope!

servant of all

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:30-35, NRSV)

Is there someone in your world that you just can not image serving?

That one person if Jesus said to wash their feet, you might just walk away?

Now be honest, because if we are honest, we all have at least one person that we do not really want to serve in our lives.

Now do you have a good mental image of them?

And now picture yourself with them and Jesus, and Jesus asks you to wash their feet, and you do it.

That is what this verse says to do. To serve as Jesus served, remember that Judas was there when Jesus washed the disciples feet.

We must be a servant to all, because that is what He told us to do!

Follow

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38, NRSV)

If you want to follow Jesus, you must lay down your life, take up your cross and follow Him.

If you try to save your life, you will lose it, but if you lay it down and lose yourself in His life, then you will gain His life!

You see Peter said to Jesus what He was saying could not be. That the plan that Jesus had from the Father was not the actual plan and that Peter had it all worked out.

And isn’t that how all of us are?

So Jesus reminded Peter of what he told him back on the shore when they first met, ὀπίσω μου, or Get behind me… Or as we read it back at the beginning of Mark, Follow me…

You see the proper perspective is what we need. Peter had his mind-set on the plan he wanted to happen and could not allow God’s plan to be made known. He needed to see the back of Jesus’ head to get back into place.

So follow Jesus and don’t let your plan get in the way of God’s.

Many gifts

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: (Romans 12:4-6a)

We are the body of Christ and it takes all of us to do the ministry He has called us to. None of us are the same and we all have a different gift. Paul goes on in Romans and talks about prophecy, ministering, teaching, giving, exhorting, diligence, and cheerfulness. This is not an exhaustive list of gifts we have in the body of Christ. We all have a gift given to us to use in the mission and ministry of Christ in the world.

So if none of us have the same gifts, it really does take all of us to do the ministry God has set before us, doesn’t it?

I am not Pastor Zamzow. We have different gifts, and talents. We do things differently. And while this may be something for some of us to get used to, it is also a good thing. I was told that when the call committee was looking for a new pastor they were asked to find someone different than Pastor Zamzow and they did.

We are different in our gifts, talents and the way we do things. But there is one thing I know we are exactly the same on- our love for the St. John’s community and congregation. There is nothing I would not do for any of you. I will be there for you in need and in joy. I will help you in any way I can.

Now granted I will do this differently than you may have known in the past, and having a pastor for a while you get used to their way of doing things and a new pastor throws a wrench in the mill. But I want to assure you that I am here for the congregation and the people of St. John’s when you need me.

Call me, email me, Facebook message me, text me, all of these things come to my mobile phone. And I have it with me or close by all the time, much to the chagrin of my wife! Any time day or night if you need me, I will be there for you.

And if you feel I have dropped the ball and was not there for you, please come and see me to talk about this. I had a wonderful conversation with a congregation member about this type of situation. I can only grow as your spiritual leader if you walk with me and help me. We are all disciples of Christ together on this journey, and we need to walk it together. Remember Matthew 18:15, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.” Talk to others who have sinned against you.

I am here for the long haul and want to work with the people of St’ John’s to build a thriving center of discipleship, where we can gather in the name of Christ, grow in our love and understanding of who we are in Him, together as a body and individually, and then go out into the world to show forth the love and mercy He has given to us.

Help me make St. John’s to be a lighthouse to our communities and a beacon of God’s love in the world!