Yesterday was the first day of spring, and while I saw crocus, daffodils and pear trees blooming, the wind was piercing, reminding me that we are still many weeks away from the last threat of frost or a hard freeze. We are living in this ‘in-between time’ of “already but not yet.”
We are experiencing this ‘in-between time’ as the pandemic continues as well. Percentages of positive cases are falling and, slowly, vaccination rates are rising. We have come through more than a year of precautions to keep each other safe, but risk remains. “Already but not yet.”
Today’s gospel is set in another ‘in-between time.’
In this chapter of the Fourth Gospel we hear the last words Jesus speaks during his public ministry – a discourse that could be read as “an interpretation of the “final sign in the Gospel: Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.”[i]
Promising “the ruler of this world will be driven out”, he speaks of Satan’s loss of authority over the world, even as the religious authorities were plotting to arrest him and kill him. (John 11:57) Jesus isn’t wearing rose-colored glasses or being a Pollyanna; he recognizes the evil in the world but has unshakeable confidence that God will be victorious over it.
And then Jesus makes his third reference to his being “lifted up”. We first heard that phrase last week in John 3:14 where it said that Jesus is the source of salvation to all. It appears a second time in 8:28 when Jesus first speaks with the disciples about his death. And now he is telling everyone who is listening to him what is about to happen, and he is promising that when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw all people to himself. (12:32)
Remember, that in John’s gospel, being lifted up is not only about the crucifixion but also the ascension, creating a way to the Father through Jesus.
Death is all too familiar -whether that death is physical death of someone you love, the death of a long-held belief, the death of a trusted relationship, or the death of a cherished dream. What is unfamiliar and challenges us is to imagine that there is something beyond death. God’s power to transform death into new life and make a way where there has been no way makes the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension exceptional.
This power is the wonder we experience when we see new blooms opening above frosty flowerbeds or the exhilaration we feel when a loved one has been vaccinated against the coronavirus. It is the realization that God continues, again and again, to do something new in the face of long odds and difficulties.
New Testament scholar Father Raymond Brown writes, “The victorious hour of Jesus constitutes a victory over Satan in principle; yet the working out of this victory in time and place is gradual work of believing Christians.”[ii] We are in an ‘in-between time’ of “already but not yet” as we live in the world as it is and long for a world where God is glorified.
The dilemma we face is that we are simul justus et peccator or “both saint and sinner.” If achieving the glory of God is our responsibility alone, we will fail. If driving Satan, or the prince or ruler of the world out, and resisting and condemning all evil is our task, the future is grim. Like Peter, we passionately swear our commitment to Jesus as Lord but within hours, we deny him. We have to echo what Saint Paul named in Romans 7 where he said, “19 I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”
But the Good News we have in today’s gospel is that it isn’t our work alone. Remember, God gets all the verbs. Jesus draws people to himself. That doesn’t give Christians a free pass to do nothing. Instead it is a promise that we are empowered by God to do God’s work in the world. As the author of First John wrote
4 …whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:3-5)
In faith and by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we are given the authority to create this life-giving world where evil is resisted and defeated, and where God is glorified.
Of course, as quickly as we recognize the gift and authority God has given us, we also ask how?
So, let’s return to the parable Jesus began with. There we are permitted, and even instructed, to let things die so that new life may come, and new fruit may be born.
We cannot cling too greedily or clutch too tightly to what is already ours. We have to hold things loosely and even be willing to give them up - to let things die and be buried so that there is space for new things to grow.
Honestly, this isn’t easy, even for congregations, churches and church-goers, even when we know God promises there is life after death.
But especially as we approach Holy Week and Easter, as spring advances and the pandemic’s shadow grows smaller, let’s remember that death never gets the last word and think of what may need to die and imagine what new life or fruit may be possible in our lives and our ministries.
Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for Your Son Jesus, the source of salvation for all, and for the abundant life you promise to all who know Him.
Forgive us when we hold things too tightly and forget to trust You.
Help us believe that You will make something new when all we see is death.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
[i] Karoline Lewis. Commentary on John 12:20-33, Luther Seminary. workingpreacher.org
[ii] Raymond Brown. The Gospel According to John I-XII. 477.
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