The evangelist Justyn Rees
tells the story of his great uncle Willie.
Great Uncle Willie was a tall, gaunt man
who looked a bit like an undertaker
with his black suit and black overcoat
That impression was reinforced
by his face,
with its hollow sunken cheeks
and his strong determined jaw.
But behind it all
Great Uncle Willie was really a shy man
who preferred to keep himself to himself.
But at the same time
he believed that he should try
and engage in the task
of making new Christians and disciples.
One day he was sitting on a train
in an otherwise empty compartment
and so he prayed that the Lord
would send a fellow passenger
with whom he could share his faith.
At the next station
a teenage girl got on board
who glanced nervously at Willie
sitting in the seat opposite.
The train started
and Willie tried to pluck up the courage
to say something.
It took him a few minutes,
as he was trying to work out what to say.
All this time his steady stare
made the girl sitting opposite
feel more and more uncomfortable,
but she couldn't go anywhere
because it was one of those old carriages
which didn't have any connecting doors.
Eventually
Willie plucked up the courage to speak.
It happened to be
just as the train was going into a tunnel,
but he hadn't noticed that.
He cleared his throat,
leant forward
and said in his deep resonant voice
"Are you ready to die?"
At the same moment
everything went dark.
The girl screamed,
pulled the communication cord,
and the train screeched to a halt.
Justyn Rees doesn't say what became of the girl
and whether or not she became a disciple.
But I think that Uncle Willie
may have asked a very good question
of any would-be disciple of Christ.
'Are you ready to die?'
What I mean by this is:
Are you ready to die to yourself?
Are you willing to crucify your ambition?
Are you able to bury your dreams?
Are you ready to die?
In a sense - that is what Jesus asks
when the Greeks came seeking him
in the reading that we've just heard.
It is possible that these Greeks
were in the temple
- in the court of the Gentiles -
when Jesus overturned
the tables of the money-changers.
And having witnessed this scene,
they might have wished to know more
about this Jesus.
So the Greeks approached Philip
- perhaps because Philip is a Greek name -
and they asked a vital question:
'Sir,' they said,
'We would like to see Jesus.'
Their request is carved in stone
among many a church's pulpit..
it's the purpose of every sermon
the goal of every christian's life.
We would like to see Jesus.
It doesn't say in the reading
whether the Greeks got their wish
but I guess they did
because it was probably for their benefit too
that Jesus spoke about sacrifice.
You see, nowhere in Greek thought
is self-sacrifice seen as a virtue.
And no Greek ever dared suggest
that love
was the best thing in life
and that sacrifice
(in which love is strengthened and expressed)
is the best form of action.
To them
sacrifice meant defeat
It was a sign of weakness.
To us - it is a mark of being a disciple.
So Jesus asks the question
'Are you ready to die?'
and in doing so
he openly challenged the Greeks
in three key areas:
Firstly
he said that it is only through death
that we are able to gain life.
Jesus is suggesting that we die
to our ambitions
our pleasures, goals, dreams and agendas.
A seed - he said - does nothing
and is of no use
unless it is torn apart
and fed upon
and ultimately destroyed
or - at least - transformed into something
more extensive
more elaborate
and more useful.
The points of growth in my life
have not been when my plans
and my ideas
have succeeded;
no, they have been when they've failed;
when my plans have come to nothing
and I am forced to rely on God.
It is perhaps shameful to admit
that I don't rely on God all the time
but I am only human
and sometimes I get to thinking
that I know best;
that I can do things by myself
that my ways are bound to succeed;
but in the crucible of failure
I am reformed
and I learn - once more
to rely on God;
I put to death my plans
my ambitions
my goals
my dreams and my agendas
to depend on him
and in him - to find my life.
Paul - in 1 Corinthians 15
talks of dying on a daily basis:
'I die daily' he says:
That constant dying to self
is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple
Secondly,
Jesus teaches
that only by spending life do we retain it.
If we cling to our lives
protect ourselves
withdraw from all that endangers our security
then we may exist for longer
but we will never live.
Christmas Evans
the celebrated missionary
said that it is better to burn out -
than to rust out.
But this is not so much
about crazy levels of activity;
it's about risk.
If we just cling to what we have;
if we take no risks
embark on no new ventures
or challenge none of our cherished ways
of doing things
then we will surely die
We may need to take emotional risks;
to risk being hurt, let down or betrayed.
We may need to take risks in our relationships
to risk being misunderstood,
opposed or rejected.
We may need to risk our status
or our wealth
or our security.
We need - in the words of John Wesley -
to freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to God's pleasure and disposal.
Thirdly
Jesus teaches that it is only by service
that we will attain true greatness.
All the major symbols that Jesus used
had a severe, even offensive quality:
the yoke of burden
the cup of suffering
the towel of servanthood
and then finally the cross of execution.
The Greeks
who came wanting to see Jesus
would most probably
have gone away disappointed.
They did not want to hear
about dying to live
about giving away in order to receive
about service and sacrifice.
They would have dismissed Jesus' teaching
as foolishness
and possibly
have stayed around just long enough
to have seen Jesus arrested and executed.
Meanwhile
those who had grown excited
when Jesus described himself
as the Son of Man
would have been confused and embarrassed
when the undefeatable world conquerer
the Messiah - sent by God -
breathed his last breath
as he hung helpless from a cross.
It's no wonder the Jews failed to understand
the tragedy is
that so many gave up trying.
Saint Paul sums it up:
he says:
Jews demand miraculous signs
and Greeks look for wisdom
but we preach Christ crucified:
a stumbling block (or a scandal) to Jews
and foolishness to gentiles.
So it is only by service
that we will attain true greatness.
It is only by spending life
that we retain it.
And it is only through dying
that we are able to gain life.
Are you ready to die?
Last year - during Lent
I was talking with my (now12 year old) daughter
and we were talking about Peter's denial of Jesus.
My daughter said that, given that she was 11,
she would probably have denied Jesus too - knowing that to claim to follow him
might have resulted in her death.
And - she said -
Jesus would probably forgive her
just as he forgave Peter.
But - she said - if I was older then
I might admit to following him
as my life would not seem so great a thing
to lose.
I shall remind her of this when she's older
but - the conversation did remind me
that sometimes in certain places in this world young people have to face just such a choice.
On the 20th April 1999
two teenagers
- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold-
turned up at Columbine High School
in the United States
intent on harming other people.
In the massacre that followed
12 students were killed
and a further 23 injured.
Two of the students
Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott
were each asked at gunpoint
if they believed in God
both in turned answered yes
and - as they did so
they were shot and killed.
Pastor Bruce Porter
at Rachel's funeral
said that Rachel
had carried the torch of love, compassion
and good news of the saviour
but it has fallen from her hand..
Who will pick it up? he asked
and literally hundreds of teenagers
raised their hands
and said 'yes - we will - we will.'
They were ready to die
literally to die…
As a disciple -
we need at least to be ready to die to self
And so - yes - in answer to Great Uncle Willie
I am ready to die -
Or as Charles de Foucauld puts it
in words that resonate
with those prayed by Jesus in Gethsemane:
Father, I abandon myself into your hands,
Do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all,
Let only your will be done in me
and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this O Lord. Amen.
Robert Morris
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